IC: CONTACT

[findpeace]

Yo, you've reached Uzumaki Naruto,
Sorry ya missed me but I had to go!
Leave a message at the beep,
To let me know where to meet.
Your concerns are extremely precious,
So let Naruto handle your stresses.
I'm here to save the day.
Then you will want to say
That I'm the best around,
Will never let you down
Because that is my ninja way.
And now that I am here to stay,
Just look for the orange glow!
Hell yeah, dattebayo!

Comments

[findpeace]

[It's probably a crazy answer, one that a lot of people wouldn't agree with. Actually there was a time when even Sakura told him to give up even though it pained her to do it. To Naruto the answer is very simple. And that answer is - that they're friends. Sasuke was the first person he ever felt a connection to and he honestly cannot just give it up so easily. Even if it costs him his life. An arm or a leg are nothing in comparison to the loss he'd feel if their bond was broken.]

I'm not crazy! It's everyone else who's crazy!

[As much as he cares for his friends, Naruto couldn't ever agree with their decision to turn their back on Sasuke. Does he understand it? Sure. It's reasonable to take in all that Sasuke has done and have no other choice but to make the decisions they did. They weren't as close to the Uchiha as he was, hadn't been through the things they have. They don't understand the pain of being alone like they do.

He watches as Sasuke flies back and hits a tree so hard that its trunk snaps. Naruto isn't all that worried about the individual who caused it because his friend has taken harder hits than that - ones hard enough to break stone. Instead he leaps forward, intent on following it up with another punch to the stomach.]

What is wrong with wanting to save my best friend? What is wrong with never giving up on something I want?

[Naruto - who never had anybody growing up just can't let go of the bonds he's made. He lost Neji and he's not losing Sasuke just because of some stupidity. Because that's what it is. It isn't that Sasuke's idea of changing the world is stupid - no, it's how he's intending to go about it. About how he is going about it. Sasuke is pushing aside all of the people who care about him and intending to use force to change the world. That makes him no better than the bad guys they've been fighting against. No better than Madara and Obito and all those others.

That isn't the way to change the world.

He's close to where Sasuke had impacted with the tree when his friend suddenly uses the rinnegan to close the distance. Naruto doesn't have time to block and so the blow strikes. It knocks him back, unbalances him until he's lying on his back in the dirt. Blue eyes glare up at Sasuke even as he lifts a hand to wipe across the area of his cheek where the fist connected.]

What kind of friend would I be if I did that? There's no way. No way I could turn my back on you.

[Naruto gets to his feet, slowly. Still intent on fighting until this truly is settled once and for all.]

[vindicavi]

[ The feeling of fist connecting with face is disgustingly satisfying, though that satisfaction is short-lived. He won't make another hasty attack, allowing time for Naruto to get to his feet. If he could find it in himself to walk away, he would, but that's just... not possible right now.

He hasn't gotten the answers he wants. ]

You can't have everything you want! Only a selfish child would think otherwise. [ Pot, meet kettle.

He doesn't understand it. Why should Naruto bother with him? It's not as if he hasn't done everything humanly possible to distance himself from the blond and try to force that tie to be severed. Why on earth would he want to hang onto someone like that? After everything he's done, why won't Naruto just wash his hands of him and be done? Why does he always have to get in the way of everything?

...of... whatever there is here to get in the way of.

This isn't home. Cerealia may not be huge, but there's enough space that they can just avoid one another. They can have their space without encroaching on each other's territory... so why are they fighting?

Oh. Yeah. Because he wanted to punch Naruto in the face for leaving. And for coming back. And for making people worry about him. And for several other reasons he can't recall at the moment. Not at all because somewhere inside, he was worried, though. Nope, not in the slightest.

It actually takes a lot of self-restraint to keep his voice at a normal volume -shouting outside in public is probably not the best idea given that most anyone in earshot doesn't know about what went on at home, nor is it any of their business- but somehow he manages, even if he's got to growl out the words through clenched teeth. ]

Why should you get to decide whether or not I need "saved"? Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don't want you to? What right do you even have to make that decision? Why the hell does it matter so damn much to you?

[ Why do I matter so much to you? ]

[findpeace]

[It probably wouldn't help to know that the pain from the hit is already fading, that it won't leave a bruise as Kurama's healing regeneration takes hold to heal this minor injury. Naruto doesn't move right away.]

I have never wanted anything as much as I want this. Even more than being Hokage. [Which is saying something considering how long he's proclaimed he's going to become the Hokage one day.

Naruto and Sasuke understand a lot about each other but what he feels for their bond... maybe Sasuke doesn't understand that. Not in its entirety. Sasuke has never known what its like to feel as though he never had a bond to start with - he had his parents and Itachi growing up even if they were taken from him. But for Naruto, Sasuke had been the first.

Two kids who could understand what it was like to be alone even in a crowd of people. Two kids who were angry at the world because none of them knew what it was like. Two kids who would go home at the end of the day to an empty apartment that would never truly be home because it was empty. As time has passed, they've come to have more understanding.

And they're fighting because it's them and they've always fought, even when they were on the same team. They cannot possibly be in the same room without some kind of fight... or in the same vicinity as they are now. This is just one of the times when they're using their fists.

Unlike Sasuke, Naruto doesn't care about the volume of his voice - doesn't care if other people can hear them. His feelings on this matter cannot be contained.]

Because you're too stupid to realize that you do need to be saved! That's what friends are for! I know exactly what you want me to do but do you think that I could just give up? This isn't just about you, you know. This is about the both of us! And I can't give up on that. You're my friend. My best friend, my first friend. You were the first person I bonded with, the first person who I knew understood what it was like and I have the right to fight for that.

[Honestly, there aren't any words that he can possibly use that would describe just how much Sasuke matters to him. It isn't something he can say.

He rushes forward, ready to knock some sense into the other.]

[vindicavi]

[ In a way, he does understand what Naruto is saying. After he'd lost everything, he'd actually been rather glad to know there was someone else just like him - someone else who had nothing, who went home to nobody, who was just as trapped as he was. But then Naruto started forming bonds with others and began to have something... where he didn't. Naruto had never had anything to lose, so he didn't understand what it was to have those bonds torn away. Suddenly, Naruto wasn't like him anymore. He became like everyone else and even though a part of Sasuke had wanted to try again, he was still afraid of it all going away again. He'd been left to stare at Naruto's back, just like he'd always trailed behind Itachi.

And he hated it.

They'd become as close to best friends as Sasuke would allow himself to have, but all the while, he'd been incredibly jealous of him.

To him, this fight is meaningless, because as far as Sasuke is concerned, there's nothing to be fighting for. ]

Maybe you need to start getting used to disappointment!

[ At home -and the last time Naruto had been there- he'd wanted him dead. A final sacrifice and the beginning of a new world order. But then Naruto had disappeared, and suddenly everything he'd been wanting so badly seemed so out of reach. He'd questioned whether or not Lee's memories were real. He'd put together every possible theory he could think of for how things worked and why Lee would remember something beyond his own memories -which had clearly meant he'd died, or else why wouldn't he remember any of that?-, he'd questioned Sakura, he'd come so close to making Sarada cry, he'd even ripped down everything Boruto had suggested about the man the kid called 'sensei'.

...but Naruto was different too. His story about the missing arm thing fell more in line with Sarada and Sakura. And he hates it.

Even as the blond rushes at him, Sasuke can see him move, can follow and predict with practiced ease.

Naruto, Sakura, Sarada, Boruto, even Lee... Every single one of them remembered things he didn't.

Blocking is second-nature. Counterattacking, as well.

They'd all passed him up, leaving him to watch their backs as they went on ahead.

...but he's not in the right emotional state to focus on this fight. He's angry, he's hurt, he's frustrated. This fight doesn't matter... and that knowledge is slowly bleeding into his actions. He's never lost his cool like this before -except for when he fought alongside Itachi, and when he was a child- and it's making things a bit sloppy, taking swings that are just shy of their mark (getting to punch him had felt really good, though) and taking hits he should've been able to guard against easily. ]

Friends? You expect me to believe that?! You left me behind!

[ ...Not that it was actually Naruto's fault he'd left, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. ]