11

Not Far From You

"Now" Naruto started again. "I'm not going to hide it anymore." Neji could see the gathering of chakra around the blonde's eyes. "I want you to take a good look at them Neji" The genin continued. "The eyes, that unlike you, I'm not proud of!" Naruto finished as he raised his head and looked at Neji straight in the eye.

Neji along with everyone in the stands gasped as one word entered all of their minds "Sharingan".

Silence…

"I don't understand; those are Uchiha's eyes…"

"Those can't be real, that has to be one of the brat's tricks"

"Is he really an Uchiha?"

"Is this a trick from the fox? That brat cannot have the Sharingan!"

"I thought that there was only two Uchiha left"

"What's going on here?"

"Uchiha…"

"Demon…"

"Sharingan…"

"Those eyes…"

The sound of a rock crumbling was heard throughout the stadium. Immediately, the eyes from everyone in the audience shifted from the blond to the terrace. "Sasuke…" Sakura whispered, she had feared that something like this would happen.

The place were Sasuke's hand was lying was surrounded by dust and pieces of the terrace were falling into the arena. Sakura had to retain a gasp as her eyes focused on the raven haired boy's. Sasuke's Sharingan had been activated; both eyes were shaking with fierce intensity as they stare at the blond genin down at the arena.

Sasuke did not completely understand, he remembered when his father told him about their bloodline, he remembered the day he had achieved his Sharingan, those eyes had awaken to save Naruto.

Beyond his feeling of confusion, the raven haired boy felt kind of happy, maybe, just maybe, he was not alone as he believed. The thought of another Uchiha filled the genin with hope.

The feeling of happiness was soon overshadowed by the stronger feeling of confusion, the fact that a new Sharingan had appeared before him had sent the Uchiha into shock, Sasuke had yet to realize that his body was trembling uncontrollably, his fist tightened to a critical point, and his Sharingan eyes fixed on his teammate.

Back in the arena, Neji had been able to keep his posture, but his mind was just as confuse as the rest of the villagers. "Is this some kind of trick?" The Hyuuga thought as his Byakugan looked directly at the blond in front of him. "This is not a genjutsu, I would have been able to notice if he had cast one." The prodigy came to that conclusion. "What are you planning?"

"It's really careless of you to let your guard down at this point of the match." Naruto's voice reached Neji's ears; immediately, the black haired boy's eyes widened as he realized that the blond had appear behind him. Neji managed to jump out of the way less than a second before Naruto had swiped his arm right through where the Hyuuga had been standing.

Naruto's eyes moved upward as his Sharingan bore into the still airborne genin just as Neji's Byakugan was directed at Naruto.

A second later, the blond appeared right in front the Hyuuga, driving his fist right towards the prodigy's face. Neji was obliged to block the punch with his right forearm due to the attack's great speed.

Even if the black haired genin was able to prevent the full impact of the attack from connecting, the punch had been strong enough to send the Hyuuga flying towards the wall at the edge of the arena.

Naruto's feet touched the ground, his eyes never leaving the black haired boy. The blond took a second to examine that crow; even now, a vast majority of the villagers were still in a state of shock because of his Sharingan. Naruto snapped out of it just in time to move his head and prevent Neji's strike from connecting. "At least it seems that he has been able to overcome his confusion." The blond thought as he kept on dodging the Hyuuga's incoming attacks.

As the exchange of blows continued, the blond was able to stop the black haired boy's assault for a moment. Then, Naruto raised his right leg and directed a kick towards the prodigy.

Responding instantaneously, Neji raised his knee to stop the blonde's attack, but the kick was strong enough to send the Hyuuga back.

Without wasting any time, Naruto dashed towards his opponent, gathering chakra in his fist. Just before the punch reached the black haired boy, the blonde's attack was stopped by Neji's Fudou Kaiten.

The boy could feel his skin burning away as his fist tried to break through the Hyuuga's shield. Naruto started to gather chakra in his feet and in his fist until the point that Neji's own chakra was started to be pushed back by Naruto, much like Sasuke's had done back in the forest.

The fact that his chakra was been push back was not lost to the prodigy. Acting before it was too late; Neji sent a strike towards the blond, only to be stopped by Naruto's forearm, the blond made sure that the attack didn't hit his tenketsu. Immediately, the trading of attacks was resumed.

"What is the meaning of those eyes?" Neji ask without breaking the exchange of attacks and blocks.

Naruto's voice remained monotonous as he responded. "This just is who I really am" The blonde's eyes narrowed slightly. "It's just an aspect of myself that I got tired of hiding." Naruto took at risk and tried a frontal attack, swinging his left fist towards the Hyuuga.

Immediately, Neji register the opening and prepared a strike directed at the blonde's chest. Right before his attack connected, the black haired boy became aware of the glint that had appeared in Naruto's eyes, but it was already too late.

Suddenly, the left hook that was traveling towards the black haired boy changed direction and grabbed his arm, that way it prevent the Hyuuga's attack from connecting, but also stopped him from retreating.

Before Neji could do anything about his current situation, the black haired boy found himself slammed against the wall at the edge of the arena once again, but this time he could feel a strong hold on his neck.

The Hyuuga struggled to remove the blonde's hold on his neck, but no matter how much he tried, the grip never loosened. "I promised" Naruto's voice reached Neji's ears; the monotonous tone had now become extremely cold. "That I was going to make you pay for what you did to Hinata." The strength of the hold increased and the prodigy was starting to find it hard staying focused.

Neji managed to send a glare in Naruto's direction. The Byakugan met the strange Sharingan, neither had any signs of backing down. Suddenly, the black haired boy heard the blond speak once again, if anything his voice had become even colder. "Tsukuyomi" It was the only thing Neji was able to hear before he realized that he wasn't in the arena anymore.

He couldn't feel the blonde's grip on his neck anymore. The Hyuuga looked around and found himself in a field, actually it was more like a wasteland since there was a no sign of life as far as he could see, but it wasn't the lack of flora and fauna that that caught the black haired prodigy's attention. The sky was tainted an ominous crimson color while the land and the dead trees he could see were as black as the darkest night.

After analyzing the surrounding field, as far as his line of sight would allow him, Neji tried to move his body, but, to the boy's horror, he found himself bonded and unable to move.

"How many times…?" Naruto's voice reached the Hyuuga's ears. Immediately, Neji became aware that the blonde was standing right in front of him, and, just like everything else in that weird place, he was nothing more than a black silhouette.

Neji tried to force the binding that tied him but without successful results. "What the hell is this?" The black haired boy demanded the blond in front of him.

The Sharingan user did not make any sign of acknowledgement to the Hyuuga's question, but merely continued. "How many times, after you came to the Hyuuga state exhausted from a mission, were the other members of the Branch House waiting for your return?" Naruto asked quietly.

"What…?" The black haired boy asked, confused by the blonde's questions.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he regarded the prodigy in front of him. "All my life," The blond began. "I had to come into an empty apartment, if I was able to make it back at all." Naruto let out something resembling a laugh that could only be describe as cold and dry. "Also, there were those times when I would come in to find the whole place completely destroyed, those days I would sleep in the least trashed corner of the apartment, if I was lucky, because most time it didn't exist, and I would sleep outside by the door while thanking Kami that they at least didn't burn down the place."

The Hyuuga's glare stayed in place as he looked at the blond, trying to figure out where he was going with telling him about his past.

"There was only one person that gave a damn about my wellbeing, but he had so many responsibilities that there was no way for him to always be there for me." A joyless smile appeared on Naruto's face before he continued. "I specifically remember one occasion, I was around six years old if I remember correctly, and there was a festival. I was really happy because I had some extra money that day and decided to spend it at the festival." The same cold dry laugh came from the blond once again. "I found this merchant that had come from the Border town to sell his masks at the festival; I remember finding the mask of a fox, I was fascinated with the mask, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world with its orange color and the three whiskers on each cheek, all my extra money went into buying that mask…" Naruto stopped as though he were lost in his own thoughts.

Taking the chance to analyze what was been told to him, Neji couldn't help but feel that there was something terrible at the end of the blonde's story.

A slight, ominous chuckle escaped the Sharingan user before he continued. "I was walking back to my apartment, I was really happy since it was rare for me to have something 'cool', but then I came across a group of villagers, and the sight of me wearing that mask infuriated them, they immediately started shouting things like 'Monster' and 'He's going to attack', and started to gather wooden clubs, pipes, or anything they could find. Of course I started run, it wasn't much for fear of my safety my safety but because I didn't want them to take my mask away from me. I ran as fast as I could and took every shortcut I knew to try to get away from them," The smile in Naruto's face became one of sadness. "But I was still just a little kid back then, it wasn't long before I couldn't continue to run anymore and they caught up to me."

Neji's eyes widened at the blonde's revelation, the Hyuuga didn't need to hear the next part to figure out what happened, but he couldn't believe that something like that would happen in a 'peaceful' village, a mob gathering to beat up a child just for wearing a mask seemed unreal to the black haired boy, but for some reason he believed every word of it.

"The beating was longer than usual because of the festival" Neji became aware that the blond had started to speak again. "I guess that they didn't have to worry about someone coming to stop them with all the celebrations, but really, who would have come for me anyways." Yet another dry laugh escaped the Sharingan user. "It's not like it hadn't happened before, but this time I was too far away from my apartment, I didn't know if I had the strength to make it back, and it wasn't long before I started to think that I wouldn't be able to make it out of this one, but that's when she…" Naruto's eyes seemed to be lost in the distance.

– Flashback –

The resonance of his steps could hardly be heard over the festival's music, even far away from the festivities, the villagers' cheers shrouded his suffering. Naruto felt his body's weight increase with each step he took, still many blocks away from his sanctuary; the blond boy was starting to lose hope of making it. "It got destroyed…" The boy whispered, his thought had drifted once again to the mask he had happily been wearing before the mess had started.

Almost as if the planet itself wanted to participate in the kid's 'punishment', gravity brought down the blonde's body into the floor. Naruto tried his best to stand up, but no matter how much the young boy tried, neither his legs nor his arms were able to support him.

Panting, the boy continued on his way by crawling, dragging his body with his weak, broken arms.

He hadn't even made it to the end of the alley, but he already felt extremely exhausted. Naruto's eyes had become heavy, and the hard, cold ground was starting to feel pleasantly comfortable. "Maybe…I'll just sleep for a couple of minutes…" The blond whispered to himself as he started to close his eyes.

Right before all light was blocked from his eyes, the boy heard something. It sounded like steps; they were too light to be an adult's, probably some kid that got curious by seeing an orange and red mass on the floor. Using the little strength he had left, Naruto looked up. Sapphire blue eyes met pearly white.

She seemed to be about the same age as him, her skin was almost as white as her eyes, her short blue hair didn't even reach her shoulders, except for the two bangs on each side of her face, she was wearing a yellow kimono, and her face radiated with innocence.

The girl looked curiously at him, at though he was the first person she'd ever seen. Naruto remained quiet as he stare back at her, his mind had already made its own prediction about what was going to happen next.

A little gasp escaped the girl before she turned around and ran off the blonde's sight, it had been just like Naruto had predicted, it had happened every time another kid had found him after a beating, the blonde imagined the girl running towards her parents saying something about a dirty orange thing she had found.

Sighing, the boy started to wonder what he should do next. Sleeping right there on the ground still seemed as a good idea; if he was lucky, he would just wake up in the morning, and if he was really lucky, he wouldn't. His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of steps once again, except that this time they seemed rushed, whoever was approaching had broken into an all out run.

Looking up, Naruto gasped in surprise, the same girl was running towards him, her innocent face was now a mix of fear and worry, and she was also carrying some sort of bottle in her arms. Surprising the blond boy once again, the girl knelt down in front of him.

The blue haired girl opened the bottle she was carrying and placed the mouth opening by the boy's lips. Not knowing what to do, Naruto just drank whatever was in the bottle, needing the girl's help to tilt it so he could drink the solution entirely.

Naruto felt something almost immediately, whatever was in the bottle was amazing because the boy could feel his strength returning and the pain receding. The blond looked up and gazed directly at the girl's eyes.

She simply smiled at him. Naruto was left speechless; only two persons had bothered to give the blond a smile before. The boy couldn't help the blush that spread on his face, he tried to say something; he tried to thank the girl for helping him, thank her for coming back for him, thank her for simply smiling at him.

"Hinata-sama, where are you?" The call reached the two kids, immediately the girl gasped and stood up. She turned around started on her way, Naruto tried to stand up and say something to her but found himself unable to do so.

The girl stopped for a moment and turned around to look at the boy one more time, her eyes were still showing her worry about the blond. "Hinata-sama!" A second voice was heard and the she looked away from the boy and continued on her way.

Naruto could only watch her disappear from his sight as he tried to reach her, as he tried to thank her for caring about him, but as hard as he tried, she was already too far away.

– End Flashback –

"Later I found out who she was." Naruto continued as another cold smile. "Imagine my surprise when I learned that the person that helped me was practically Konoha royalty; Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan." For a second, Naruto's eyes were shrouded by a melancholic look. "I was heartbroken, I couldn't even get close to her to say 'thank you', she was already treated badly as it was, and if they found out that she helped me, she would only be treated worse."

Neji remained quite; he was now starting to understand the reason behind the blonde's action back in the preliminaries. "One of the only persons that gave a damn about him…" The boy thought as he saw the look on Naruto's eyes hardened.

The blonde's gaze fell completely on the Hyuuga; all sense of sadness had left the Sharingan user and was replaced by a dark, ominous feeling. "I did the only thing I could to return my gratitude for her kindness; on that day I promised that I would protect her, I would become her shield, and I would always be there to guard her from the darkness." Naruto's eyes were completely void of emotions now and the tone on his voice spoke of doom and destruction. "That's why…" Something started to materialize between the two Genins. "I can't forgive you for hurting her." A long, black sword was hovering in mid-air in front of the two boys.

The black haired boy could only stare at the blade as it inched towards him.

"And now you have to pay." Naruto's words came as a cold whisper. Neji's eyes widened in terror as the sword shot towards him.

It had been less than a second for the crowd in the arena since Neji was pushed against the wall by Naruto. The spectators did not know what was going on as the blond stepped away from the Hyuuga.

Kakashi's normal eye narrowed as he watched how Neji's whole body shook. The copy ninja had half a mind to use his Sharingan to understand this battle better.

As he struggle to stay up, Neji tried to focus his eyes to look at Naruto. "That was only a third of its power." The younger genin stated. At that moment, the Hyuuga could have sworn that the look in the eyes of the blond in front of him had softened. "It's not too late for you." Naruto's voice reached the black haired boy, snapping him out of the trance he had gotten into; the words were so soft that he was sure that not even the other shinobi in the crow could hear them. "You have a whole family supporting you, looking out for you, wishing for your well being. Please…" It seemed to the black haired boy as though the blonde's eyes were pleading. "Don't let their wish go to waste." Naruto whispered.

Neji did not know how to respond, he wanted to say something, maybe tell the blond that he knew nothing about his life, but he couldn't. Everything that the younger genin had said was true, Neji had tried his hardest to deny, the Hyuuga did not want to feel any connection to anyone else, but, as much as he tried to push them away, the other members of the Branch House had always been there, waiting for him at the door, to treat any wound, or just to simply ask how he was. Neji's body gave up on him and he found himself falling forward.

The Hyuuga was surprised when he didn't meet the floor, but that he had fallen on the blonde's shoulder. "Think back." Naruto's voice words reached him once again. "How many times, as you returned home, did you saw Hinata sitting by her window, waiting for you…?" He asked with the same soft voice. Neji's eyes widened as the memory of every homecoming rushed back to him, and in each one, he could see a girl by her window smiling at him.

As feelings of regret and guilt overwhelmed him, Neji's world turned into darkness.

Naruto caught the falling body, preventing him from hitting the floor. "I think this match is over" The blonde said as he looked at Genma.

Snapping out of his own trance, the proctor raised his hand. "The winner of this battle is Uzumaki Naruto!" He exclaimed.

The crowd remained quite; they didn't know what had happened as they watched the medic-nins walk into the arena and take the Hyuuga inside, no one dared to say or do anything as Naruto walked back to the participant balcony in a silent stadium.

The blond jumped into the terrace without saying a word, just like that rest of the people present in the stadium. As Naruto started walking towards the back, his Sharingan eyes shifted to the side, for a single second, and focused on Sasuke.

Shock, the initial surprised of the existence of another Sharingan had still yet to leave the raven haired boy. Anger, at himself for letting himself get so weak while his teammate had acquired so much strength. Fear, Sasuke had recognized that jutsu, so many times he had relived his experience with it in his nightmares, it was the same jutsu that his brother had obtain along with the Magenkyo Sharingan, but how could Naruto have it? The genin had already become aware of his shaking, but he was unable to will his body to stop.

Naruto walked until he reached the opposite wall. The blond sighed as he turned around and leaned back against the wall. "Just like I expected…" The genin thought as his gaze fell down to the floor, the Sora Sharingan leaving his eyes.

DRIP

The sound of a drop falling on snapped the blond out of his trance. Naruto looked at his hand where blood was streaming down from his knuckles. "It must have been when I punched Neji's Kaiten" The boy determined as he observed his fist.

Suddenly, Naruto heard a tearing sound and piece of cloth fell on his bleeding hand. "Clean up and stop making a mess." Shikaramu's voice reached the blond.

Looking up, the Sharingan-user could see the Nara standing in front of him; a piece of his jacket's sleeve had been tore. "Thanks…" The blond said in a soft voice as he cleaned his fist.

"Each time I think that I'm beginning to understand you, you come up with something completely unexpected." Shikarmaru commented as he crossed his arms and smirked. "Sharingan, uh? I can honestly say that I did not see that coming." He added as the blond returned the smirk.

The medical team had finally left the arena. "I wonder what surprise this next match will bring." Genma thought. "I ask all the participants of the last match, Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara, please come down to the arena." Genma exclaimed.

Immediately, sand started to spin around Gaara, the redhead disappeared to later reappear standing in the middle of arena, many people in the audience shivered at the insane smile that he's face wore.

Sasuke was finally able to stop shaking. The black haired Uchiha looked back at the blond by the wall, for a fraction of a second, Naruto's blue eyes met Sasuke's Sharingan. Without saying a word, the black haired genin jumped into the arena and started to walk towards his opponent.

As soon as the Uchiha came into view, many of the spectators found their voice. The talk started right away, some talk about how a true Konoha elite would show everyone what a real shinobi is all about, a number were wondering how he would defeat the sand-nin, but others were thinking what Sasuke's thoughts were about the possibility of not been the last Uchiha in Konoha.

Genma waited until Sasuke reached the center. When it became apparent that there would not be any thrash-talk between the two genins, Genma raised his arm. "The fourth match of the finals is about to begin. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara" The jounin looked at the two boys beside him. "I hope we're ready for this." He thought before he brought his hand down. "Commence!"

In less than a second, a stream of sand shot out of Gaara's gourd straight towards Sasuke. Moving quickly, the Uchiha jumped back out of the way, the sand seemed to bounce back from the ground and chase the black haired genin.

Sasuke kept moving back and dodging until he reached the sand. The Sharingan users jumped to his right as the stream of sand crushed the place he had been standing. As soon as Sasuke's feet touch the ground, the Uchiha ran towards the redhead, he hadn't gotten half way through when a wall of sand had already formed in front of him.

Gathering chakra in his feet, the black haired boy jumped out of the sand's reach. The leap was strong enough to land at the same distance he had been from Gaara, but on the other side.

The redhead was starting to get irritated; his hands went through a series of signs as he glared at Sasuke. "Sabaku Ame" The sand-nin said. Immediately, the sand around him shot into the air, just to drop towards the Uchiha at an incredible speed. The raven haired boys started to move at an incredibly speed to dodge the descending shots of sand. "Those moves" Gaara thought. "They remind of that other one…"

"Kakashi, you…" Gai begun as he looked at his comrade.

The copy-nin merely sighed. "The only way that he could beat Gaara's defense, was to use to move of the one that already had." The gray haired man stated.

Gai's eyes narrowed. "And he achieved it in three months?" The jounin asked.

"He was only able to imitate his movie." Kakashi begun to explain. "But there was no way that he would be able to duplicate Lee's speed."

The answer surprised Gai. "But I could have sworn that he just…" The eccentric jounin stopped as he noticed that his rival had lower his head slightly, realization hit the black haired man. "Is his body able to endure it?" He asked.

Down at the arena, Sasuke had been dodging all of the sand shots that were coming violently from above. "Now!" As he saw an opening, taking out a kunai tied with an exploding tag, the Uchiha threw it towards Gaara.

Immediately, the sand stopped the kunai, but it couldn't prevent the explosion created by it.

Gaara had been protected by the sand, but the blast had raised a cloud of smoke, preventing the redhead from seeing anything. Unexpectedly, the sand shot forward, startling the sand-nin. "Did he decide to attack?" He wondered.

Suddenly, the redhead heard a sound, his head turn slightly and his eyes widened, he could see the leaf-nin finishing a set of symbols. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke exclaimed as a blast of fire came from his mouth towards the sand-nin.

Fortunately for Gaara, the sand had blocked the fire jutsu before it had a chance to connect. The redhead willed the sand to attack the raven haired boy, driving the Konoha genin back into the wall, the sand returned to the sand nin.

"Good, I have him on the defensive." The Uchiha thought. Sasuke was about to move forward when he felt a jolt of intense pain on his leg. "Not yet…" He whispered to himself as his eyes drifted to look at his teammate in the participant's balcony.

– Flashback –

Sasuke was panting as he struggle to stay up. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to achieve the same speed that, according to Kakashi, Lee had used to get pass Gaara defense. "It seems you can't reach Lee's speed." The grey haired shinobi said.

The raven haired Uchiha glared at his sensei for stating the obvious.

"Well, it seems that we would have to use something else." Kakashi said. The look of irritating in Sasuke's face make seem as thought he were about to attack his teacher. "Naruto" The jounin said without even acknowledging the glare from his student.

Immediately, Sasuke's face had a look of confusion, the single mentioning of his teammates name caused the prodigy to start wondering what had happened to the blond. Ever since the start of the Chuunin Exam, Sasuke's mind had not stop trying to figure out what was going on with Naruto.

Without looking at the younger shinobi, Kakashi continued. "Remember back during the bell test and the first time we face Zabuza?" The grey haired man asked. Kakashi waited for Sasuke to nod before carrying on. "For a single moment, during both occasions, Naruto show a moment of incredible brightness, in which he was actually able to take Zabuza and me by surprise." The copy nin said.

A frown formed on Sasuke's face. "And what does that have to do with everything?" The raven haired boy asked.

"I'm getting to that." Kakashi said, it seemed to the Uchiha that his sensei was enjoying the fact that he was building suspense. "In both of those occasions, nobody expected that from Naruto, we all made assumptions according of what we have observed from him, and were unaware of the potential he had." The grey haired shinobi explained. "And that's how you can get pass Gaara's sand defense."

The Uchiha recounted his sensei's speech in his mind, but as much as he tried, he was unable to see the connection between Naruto and him bypassing the Gaara's defenses.

At the look of confusion in his student's face, Kakashi decided to explain even further. "Gaara's sand reacts according to motion. Lee was so fast that the sand was unable to keep up, but sense you can't maintain that type of speed, you have to lure the sand and, at the last second, boost your speed for a single moment in order to get pass it. Just like in Naruto's cases, Gaara would not expect it." Kakashi stopped for a second to make sure that the younger nin understood. "But I do have to warn you, using this type of strategy would cause a heavy burden on your body." He warned.

Sasuke remind silent as he analyzed everything that his teacher had said. "Just like Naruto…?"

– End Flashback –

The raven haired boy dashed towards the sand nin. The sand move forward in response but missed the Sharingan user by less than half an inch. "How was he able to dodge it?" Gaara thought as Sasuke merely side stepped the streams of sand.

Without halting his run once, Sasuke reached the redhead, driving his fist to the side of the sand nin's face.

The other genin's punch was strong enough to lift Gaara from the ground and flying back. Due to the attacks' force, Gaara's body turned in the air, the redhead could see the sand already coming to catch him, but before that could happen, Sasuke appeared in front of him, hitting him across the face with his forearm and sending the sand nin crashing facedown into the ground.

Gaara hit the ground so hard that the impact caused him to bounce back up into the air. Immediately, the redhead felt an extreme jolt of pain from his side as Sasuke kicked him on his side, sending the redhead flying away once more.

"Now!" Sasuke shouted in his mind as he released on of the binding in his left hand.

– Flashback –

"Sasuke-kun" At the sound of his female teammate's voice, The Uchiha turned around. Sakura walked timidly towards the raven haired boy, her gaze fixed on the floor.

They were in the hospital, after his collapse during the matches, Sasuke was finally going to be released and be able to start his training with Kakashi. "What is it Sakura?" The boy asked, a little colder that he might have intended.

The girl did not look up from the floor. "It's about Naruto…" She said with a low voice. The mentioning of his other teammate immediately caught Sasuke's attention. "During the finals," Sakura started again. "If you-I mean when you get to the second round…I-If you have go against Naruto. Please, don't fight him!" She exclaimed.

Sasuke was taken back by what the pink haired girl and said, she had left him speechless.

"Please…" Sakura said as she tried to keep her voice even. "I-I don't want it t-to happen again…Not like last t-time!" Even thought her eyes were directed to the floor Sasuke could see that she was at the verge of tears. "I d-don't want you two to k-kill each other…I don't want to see you f-fight like that day…"

Something jolted in Sasuke's memory, something that he had dismissed as a nightmare back in the Forest of Death. He remembered he felt like he was drowning in a dark ocean, at first he enjoyed the blissfully feeling it bestow upon him, but then he realized that the darkness was overwhelming him. He desperately tried to reach for the surface, as he got close he noticed someone standing on the dark ocean, when he got even closer he recognized to be Naruto. The black haired boy tried to reach his teammate, but when he tried to raise his hand above water, and extremely powerful and cold gust of wind started to push the Uchiha back through the water, for some reason it seemed to the drowning boy that the wind was originating from the blond. The raven haired genin was starting to become desperate, he called for his teammate, but Naruto merely looked down at him for a couple of second before he turned around and started to walk away, leaving Sasuke to drown in the ocean of darkness.

The boy broke out of his trance, his eyes narrowed as he regarded his pink haired teammate. "What do you mean by 'last time' Sakura? What happened in the forest?" Sasuke asked as he took a step forward.

Sakura merely shook her head. "N-Nothing" She said with a breaking voice. "I'm sorry, it's nothing!" The kunoichi said as she turned around as started off.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted as he started after her. "Sakura wait!" He exclaimed as went through the hospital's exit, but she was already gone.

Sasuke eyes snapped open. He was lying flat on the ground, his whole body ached. "You passed out because of the pain." Kakashi's voice reached him. "I warned you of the burden."

Struggling to stand up, the raven haired boy couldn't force back the memory of his conversation with Sakura a week prior, even the intense pain his body, specially his legs, felt couldn't detour his mind. "Tell me the true…" The Uchiha started in a low voice as he looked at his teacher. "At our current states, who's stronger? Naruto or me?" Sasuke asked, his eyes fixed on the older Sharingan user.

Kakashi regarded his student for a moment. "The true is…" He begun, his words were just above a whisper. "Right now…"

– End Flashback –

Sasuke hands flashed through hand signs at jounin speed as he gathered his chakra. The crowd gasped as the raven haired genin's chakra became visible in the form of lighting. "You thought him that…?" Gai said to his comrade, he disbelieved what he was seen.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted as he launched himself forward.

Chick, chick, chick, chick, chick

The sound of birds engulfed the stadium. Gaara willed his sand to stop the leaf nin, but just like before, the raven haired boy was able to sidestepped in the last second possible. As a last act of desperation, the redhead raised four walls of sand in front of him.

Brining his left arm forward, the Uchiha rammed through the first two walls. "It's not you…" Kakashi's responds drifted back into his mind as he broke through the third wall.

"I will win this match. Naruto, just wait, I will be your opponent for the second round!" Sasuke declared as he closed his left hand into a fist and punched the last wall.

At the sign of his last defense been taken out, Gaara jumped back trying to get away from the leaf nin's chakra-charged fist. Gaara was able to get away when the raven haired boy's fist was less than an inch from his chest.

Sasuke was panting; he mentally cursed himself for not driving his punch a little longer and put an end to the match once and for all. Looking up as his opponent landed away from him, the Uchiha was taken back by the insane smile in the sand nin's face.

The gourd on Gaara's back fell; the raven haired genin's attack had cut what attached it to the redhead's back. As soon as the gourd fell to the ground, it dissolved into sand. "Sabaku Rou!" The sand nin shouted as he brought his hand together into a sign.

Immediately, the sand surrounding him encased his body into a sphere. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he regarded the orb of sand in front of him.

"HAHAHA!" Gaara's laugh was heard throughout the stadium, its mere sound send chill through the spine of many spectators. "Sabaku Kyokan!" The redhead shouted from inside the sphere. Sand started to gather in front of the orb, creating the massive figure of a 12-feet tall golem. "Daisan no Me" Was heard next, as an eye formed out of sand in encrusted itself on what would be the golem's face.

With a slow movement, the giant raised one of his arms as the limb increased in size. When the arm was almost completely extended in the air, the golem brought it down with a powerful crash, Sasuke had to jump to the side to prevent been crush by the gigantic arm.

As soon as the Uchiha's feet touch the ground again, the raven haired boy had to jump into the air as the other arm went right through where he had been less than a second ago, hitting the wall at the edge of the arena and leaving a crack behind. Sasuke started hand went through a series of familiar hand signs. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A fireball shot out of the leaf nin mouth again.

The flames blocked the sand golem from Sasuke's view. The Uchiha was sorry for his plan of action as an enormous sand hand appeared through the fireball and grabbed the raven haired boy in mid air.

Watching what was going on through the single eye on the golem, Gaara willed the giant to slam the other genin full force into the ground. The crowd gasped in horror as the prodigy met the ground with a terrible sound.

The Uchiha laid inert on the ground as the golem raised its arm once again, its fist increasing in size as it hover above the leaf shinobi. In the participant's balcony, Naruto tightened his fist to the point that blood started to run down again.

Down in the arena, Sasuke was aware of the danger he was in, but the force in which he hit the floor had left his body unresponsive for the time being. The boy could see the monstrous sand fist coming down as his sensei's words drifted back into his mind, the answer of the question he had asked during the training, the reason why he needed to win. "It's not you…"

With another thunderous sound, the golem brought his fist down, many gasps and screams were heard from the audience.

A cloud of dust and sand had filled the arena, preventing the spectators from seen what had happened to the Konoha prodigy. Suddenly, a black silhouette was seen falling down from the air, when it touch the ground it dissipated some of the dusk, revealing the raven haired boy standing on the arena.

"I refuse to lose…" Sasuke whispered as he released another one of the bindings in his left hand. "Watch this, Naruto…" The boy thought, his hands going through a new set of signs as the golem started to move towards him.

Gai's eyes widened once again. "Those are not the hand signs for Chidori." He said in disbelief as he looked at Kakashi once again.

The gray haired man's face was unreadable. "Sasuke…are you sure you can pull this off…?" The jounin said softly.

A huge amount of chakra started to gather in raven haired boy's hand. "Right now, you might have surpassed me, but know this…" The lighting appeared once again but not only in his palm, this time it kept increasing to the point where it was no longer in his hand but it completely covered the Uchiha's body. "I'm not far from you!" Sasuke's chakra burst and shot into the sky.

Sabaku Ame – Desert Rain

Chidori – Thousand Birds

Sabaku Kyokan – Desert Giant

Daisan no Me – Third Eye