Tell me who I am

Tell me what I'm hearing

Is it God or man

Leads us to our fate

Darkness turns to light

While my soul is healing

I know I must fight

This war deep inside

It's my heart calling

It's my heart calling

It's my heart seeing

What it wants to see

It's my heart crying

It's my heart flying

It's my heart trying

To set me free

The ravens filled the air of the clearing and flew in

circles, while the few of them, flew chaotically; they

made the typical sound of the group that gathered

and that noise hurt Sasuke's ears. He gritted his

teeth enraged and shouted

"Show yourself!"And he looked around, looking for

the blond, knowing that he was still close. He

turned to look behind, narrowing his eyes and saw

his former teammate's face emerge from the air,

as it formed from the few ravens that merged with

each other. It caused the face to be seen only

partly, as here and there were feathers, and the

wings and tails of these birds still moved, overall

making him cringe at the picture. He wondered

how he was caught in this illusion if he was using

his own doujutsu, and noticed that the red eyes of

the blond no longer had black dots in them, but

the mangekyo Sharingan, in the shape of shuriken,

that Itachi used to have. These eyes gazed at him,

almost sadly, and he wanted to hurt him, to make

him feel pain, and to take those eyes away,

because they were not his.

He activated his mangekyo too, and attacked with

his blade, covering it and himself in lightning, as

he rushed to the side and pivoted on his left heel,

swinging the sword horizontally. It was stopped

with the same kunai, which was now covered in

the thin layer of the wind chakra. It didn't budge,

as if the sword was a mere stick that had no sharp

edges, and the strength behind it was nothing but

the push from a child. Sasuke glared at the blond

who fully emerged from the illusionary ravens and

pushed with all his might, trying to prove that he

was stronger. The blond merely observed him as

very slowly, his gaze was turning hateful too, and

their battle of stares began.

"You traitor…"Hissed Sasuke, baring his teeth,

almost like a snake, that was ready to bite and

poison its prey or attacker. His former teammate

responded to it with a whisper, that had more

hatred and pain in it than it ever did.

"You, murderer,"

Simultaneously they pushed and parted their

weapons, only to swing with them once more,

creating a loud clang. Sasuke pivoted on the left

heel again, but this time to hit the blond's head

with his right leg, only for it to be blocked with

Naruto's right hand. He scowled at it and gritting

his teeth visibly, bent his right knee and lowered

his leg to hit the blond in the guts with a foot. It

was caught and sharply turned, causing the

avenger to fall and roll on the ground. He quickly

stood up and started to make hand seals, inhaling

deeply, before blowing out the wide fire ball, that

covered one third of the clearing easily.

In the smoke that it created, he couldn't see if it

reached the target, but something just told him,

that it didn't. Maybe it was the confidence that his

former teammate sported, or just a feeling, but he

knew he didn't even scratch him. He narrowed his

eyes, seeing that the few ravens that were still

flying above, merged together, forming the blond,

who landed on the ground on his feet and faced

him. From the inside of the smoke, the blond he

fought walked out, without a hint of being touched,

and stopping beside the second Naruto, faced him

too.

"Clones…" Realized the black haired teen and

scowled, hating the fact that Naruto preferred to

fight him with copies of himself, instead of facing

him himself. It was insulting, because it looked

like he didn't think that Sasuke was strong enough

to having to be fought by original. He bared his

teeth in anger and concentrated on his body, which

after quicker than before, he moved and attacked

the clones, curving like a snake and avoiding any

hits with fluid moves. In a quick motion, his sword

pierced one of the clones through the stomach, as

the second was immobilized by the snakes that

encircled his ankles from under the ground. But

before the second clone was destroyed by

Sasuke's sharp blade, he managed to cut Sasuke's

shoulder, making it bleed. In the puff of smoke the

avenger looked left and right, and his bangs

shifted, raised by the wind. He put his sword on

his back, under the lilac sash, that was made of

rope, and turned around, looking for the true

Naruto; fisting his hands in anger he spoke,"I

suggest you fight me yourself, instead of wasting

chakra,"

A moment later the blond started to emerge from

under the ground in front of Sasuke and the black

haired teen glared at him, seeing the body slowly

rise above the earth. He focused his chakra on the

illusion of the blond being pierced in lungs, heart,

sides, back and hips with sharp, black, tinted red

feathers, and almost felt pleasure at the sight he

himself created, but the blond didn't even react to

it, continuing to stand and gaze at him with

emotion hidden behind the coldness; and then the

feathers strangely slid down, turning into dark red

snakes, that crawled to Sasuke's feet and turned

into red, sticky, bloodied ropes that mercilessly

encircled his knees and wrists; the ropes pulled

him down to the ground and he pulled them up

using all of his strength, not willing to fall; he

wanted to gag at the amount of blood and the

stains it left on his hands, and pulled himself out

of genjutsu, sweating with the effort. He panted

and looked up, only to see his former teammate

stand in front of him untouched, unscathed, and

what was even more insulting, calm and relaxed.

There wasn't even the drop of sweat on him and it

was hurting his pride. He was composed as if this

fight didn't mean anything, and Sasuke was just a

child, that the blond let get close and play games,

for his own amusement.

They stared at each other with Naruto keeping all

of his feelings inside, while Sasuke's gaze was

hateful, and unable to keep his emotions controlled

Sasuke attacked the blond with his fists.

Shikamaru landed with Inoichi in the clearing and

his eyes went wide seeing the corpses; bloody

bodies of anbu, and shockingly, the Hokage. The

white mantle of the leader of the village stood out

mockingly against the background, dark, dirty,

dusty and red. He looked to the right and saw

Sasuke's companions stand at the edge of the

scene not moving. Their gazes met, and he glared

at the frowning swordsman, known now to him as

Suigetsu. Inoichi observed them too, and they did

not move to attack. At their puzzled expressions,

Karin spoke adjusting her glasses.

"Sasuke-kun asked us not to interfere in his fight,"

Shikamaru blinked and turned to look ahead, where

in some distance, were seen the best friends, and

now, enemies, fighting each other in a hand to

hand combat. The day turned evening, and the lack

of light didn't let the spectators see the details,

but when the opponents were close enough, they

could hear them.

The raven haired teen's fist hit the ribs, and his

elbow hit the chest of the blond, pushing him.

Naruto stopped the next hit catching the right fist

in his own right, and left in his left, crossing their

hands, which after he pulled Sasuke down and his

raised foot hit his stomach, and releasing Sasuke's

arms, he kicked him in the face, throwing the

teen's head back. Sasuke felt the taste of blood in

his mouth and knew that now on his jaw formed a

large bruise; he turned in his fall to roll on the

ground, instead of falling on his back, and quickly

stood up, unsealing shuriken from his wrists and

throwing them in direction of the blond. He

skillfully dodged and in the back of his mind

Sasuke wondered how strong the blond was. Was

he on par with Itachi? Or Itachi was stronger?

The black haired teen reached for his sword and

attacked again, now faster, with more effort and

strength behind each move he made. The blond

blocked his swings with kunai, and seeing the

opening, hit him with the elbow. Surprisingly,

Sasuke turned into the mud, revealing to have been

a clone, and Naruto looked behind from the corner

of his left eye, waiting for his opponent to appear.

Then, for a moment, his vision was covered in

black, and his reflexes forced him to block the

punch, aimed at his side, and dodge the swing,

that could cut off his arm. He released himself

from illusion in time to see the sword descending

down to cut him in half from above, and acting

quickly turned to the side, only to feel that his legs

were caught in a wire, and the avenger put the right

foot over his from behind and pressed the sharp

edge to his neck ready to cut it.

Sasuke's left arm held the blond in a dead grip,

but Naruto still seemed to be coldly calm, as if he

expected it. Irked by it greatly Sasuke narrowed his

eyes and hissed. He barely controlled his anger,

and knew it would only take an inch, a slight move

of his wrist to kill the blond…

"How could you… you keep saying that you're my

friend… that you want to save me… to help me…

and yet… right behind my back… you… fuck… with

him…"His grip tightened and became painful and

he shook with fury, speaking in a hoarse voice,"…

what have you done… to him? You… manipulated

him… you used him… how smart of you, Naruto.

You… you betrayed me. You lied to me. How… how

could you… kiss his hands?"

The blond scowled and threw his head back to hit

Sasuke's face as his elbow hit him in the ribs,

pushing him back. Naruto's red eyes that were

spinning wildly became framed with the red

eyelids, and he slowly turned around, to look at

Sasuke who tightly held his sword at his side and

was looking down on the ground, panting in anger.

"How could you, kiss the hands that killed my

family, my parents… How could you?!"He shouted

looking up and trembling with emotion.

On Naruto's face was a sad expression, and he bit

his lip as the tears threatened to escape his

eyes,"I loved him,"He whispered. He watched his

friend grace him with nothing but fury and hatred,

as his body was ready to attack and kill, to

destroy. "And you… you killed him, Sasuke,"He

continued, and one salty drop slid down his left

cheek, trailing between the lines that decorated his

face. A grimace formed on Sasuke's face, and his

body started to cover with small shining sparks of

his element. Above them in the sky appeared the

dark storm-clouds and was heard the thundering,

indicating the closing in storm.

"I am glad I did,"He answered with venom, and he

raised his head, looking down on his former

teammate, now burning with disgust at the

memory, where he saw them together…

"So much hatred…"Whispered the blond narrowing

his moist eyes. Sasuke called for the lightning and

almost roared, when he ran to shut this mouth up;

he raised his arm to swing the blade and caught

the lightning, that suddenly descended from the

sky and connected to him through the metal of his

weapon and he prepared for the swing that will kill

this traitor once and forever and expected the

blond to evade, but when he got close enough to

him, Naruto stood still, and then, his right arm

calmly rose and bent, when he hit Sasuke on the

side of the head with the back of his hand. The

move of the arm was simple, fluid and easy, while

the force of the blow was so great, that it made

Uchiha fly horizontally across the clearing, severing

his connection with the storm, and making him hit

the tree with the grunt. Not even a second later,

the blond was above him and raised him by the

neck up, pressing him to the trunk of the tree.

The new witnesses of the scene, Tsunade and Ino,

who barely was able to keep up with the Godaime,

stared at it with shock, and the girl wanted to run

to stop the blond, not wishing for any of them to

get hurt, when she was stopped by Tsunade's arm

on her shoulder. They caught the sight of the

bodies on the ground, and loudly gasped.

The right hand of the blond squeezed the pale neck

tightly, and Sasuke raised his arms to stop it, he

gripped the arm but could do nothing, the hold

was too strong.

"Tell me, Sasuke, what is it, that you truly hate? Me

…betraying you, with your brother, or me… being,

with your brother?"The blond asked in a soothing

whisper, gazing at the struggling Uchiha.

"You… kissed… his fucking… hands…"Sasuke

managed to take out, trying to free himself from

the grip. At his speech the blond tilted his head

slightly, and curiously looked into Sasuke's eyes.

"Ah… are you jealous, Sasuke?"He inquired softly,

like Itachi would do. Sasuke widely opened his

eyes to stare at him and then glared with passion,

recognizing the manner, in which the blond spoke.

"Maybe… you hate the fact that it was me, and not

you,"The blond continued, leaning closer to

Sasuke's face,"that it was me , who forgave him,

instead of you,"The blond tilted his head to the

other side, observing Sasuke,"Or maybe… you hate

me for being closer to him than you, ever could?"

Sasuke shut his eyes not willing to show his

emotions, but he wanted to scream, to shout so

loud so that someone would finally hear him, hear

his pain, that he held inside. He just didn't want to

admit it to anyone, ever, even himself, that he felt

this, that he couldn't understand this.

"Tell me, what do you have, Sasuke? His three,

most powerful techniques? How wonderful,"Naruto

smiled,"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I… have

all the rest. I, have everything , so your three nice

powers, aren't impressive much,"He said with a

slight shrug. And then his left hand rose with a

kunai, the same he had from the beginning, and he

played with it, before his body tensed, and his cold

gaze pierced Uchiha.

"I hate you for killing him, Sasuke,"The blond said

lowly,"Do you share that hatred with me?"He asked

softly, pushing and pulling Sasuke's nerves and

strings further, wishing to break him, to hurt him,

and remind him, of what he did,"I want to hurt you

so much…"

"Let me go… you fucking traitor…"Muttered the

avenger, desperate to be free and tired of being

held in the grip. The blond leaned closer to his

face, and examined it.

"Me, traitor? Look at yourself, Sasuke,"He replied

sadly,"Look at you…"He repeated to himself. "You

are so much alike… on the surface,"He started;

sounding almost fascinated, and looked at

Sasuke's eyes. "And yet… there's nothing

resembling him inside,"He continued bitterly, and

the eyes he stared in filled with pain, and sorrow,

and Sasuke didn't want to, but agreed, even though

no word left his mouth,"I want to kill you. To have

my revenge… and yet I can't,"Naruto said, leaning

to whisper in Sasuke's ear,"…because I swore to

protect you, otouto, and I will,"He almost

embraced Sasuke with these words, but then his

left hand pierced, through Sasuke's skin, plunging

the kunai in his stomach, causing the black haired

teen to soundlessly scream, and then grunt and

hiss with pain,"After I get over my hatred for you,

that is,"the blond finished, twisting the knife before

pulling it out; he let go of Sasuke's neck,

uncaringly grabbing his white shirt and putting,

almost throwing him on the ground on his back.

"I believe you can take care of the rest, Tsunade-

sama,"The blond spoke turning to the woman,"I

don't want to see his face for now,"He added,

leaving the scene with the cold look. The

spectators stared at his back with shock as he left.

____________________________________