Prologue: Dangerous Play
Sounds of metals clashed. Only blurs of orange and white can be seen. Both as fast as the other. Both as injured as the other; both sporting a fatal hit from the other. One with a harsh rip from Chidori and one suffering from a forming internal bleeding. Nobody can say who will top the other. A really good and dangerous match from two former friends and ninjas.
"Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!!" An enormous barrage of pointed and poisoned kunai was freed by the first ninja hoping that it will stop the latter ninja yet the latter was dodging the pointed knives effectively and oh-so-smoothly. Unbeknownst to the first ninja, the latter was releasing poisonous snakes crawling down his arms.
"Gaaahhh!! Teme! Why are you doing this? He's gone, right? You overpowered and had killed Orochimaru. You can always return to us in Konoha!!" The first ninja shook palpably as the snakes' venom entered his system. Lucky for him to have the almighty Kyuubi no Kitsune; because of the bijuu he might have been dead for a matter of seconds. Though he had successfully deflected the snakes' venom, pain is still evident making his attack sloppier and slower than he could actually do.
"Face it, Naruto. I will never return to that village. I thought I have said that from the moment I cut our bonds. Forget about me and move on with your life." His sharingan is swirling dangerously every second. "I am an avenger of my clan. A clan that was killed by a pathetic excuse for a ninja, no even a pathetic excuse for a human. I must seek and take revenge from the psychotic brother of mine."
"There's nothing to avenge! Itachi's innocent," Naruto said in a dejected voice. "He's out in a mission when the massacre had happened. When he returned, only then he realized that he's alone in the bloody compound!"
"I have seen it in my own eyes! He's the criminal. He's the one who made me like this!" Tears are now threatening to fall. Every haunting memory flooded his mind. From the relatives who barely knew to his beloved parents being killed by his so called brother.
"You are the one who made yourself, Sasuke. Like I said, Itachi's innocent. You are wrong about him," Naruto surprisingly calmed himself with the situation he's into. His head was down when he was talking so he hasn't noticed the approaching menace courtesy of Sasuke.
"Then tell me who the hell murdered my family!! Chidori!!!" Sasuke fully charged at his former teammate not knowing that the other was merely a clone. The real Naruto appeared out of nowhere to Sasuke's back and used a simple move that we all know-the move that the missing ninja used to Sakura. A fast yet powerful thrust in the neck making the body undergo to unconsciousness.
"Sasuke," Naruto said. "I will bring you back to Konoha like I had promised." A tearful yet real smile escaped to his lips while carrying his fallen ex-teammate.
"You will know the answer soon."
TBC