Soulmating

A/N: Well, this is where the story really starts. What will the encounter with Itachi do with Sasuke? What will it do to Naruto? And what will it do to their friendship? That's for me to know, and for you to read!

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Sasuke was running. He was running like he never had before, like his life depended on it. The moment he heard that Itachi was in town, he knew that moment he had been waiting for was finally there. He had been training his entire life, and now he would kill Itachi. He would avenge his clan, and then he could finally move on. So he was running like he never had before, because he had to get there in time. If he didn't, then Itachi would also kill his only friend, and he wasn't planning on letting that happening.

"It's been a while, Sasuke..."

"Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke said to his brother. "I will kill you!"

"Sasuke, be careful!" Naruto shouted.

"Stay out of this Naruto, he is mine to kill." Sasuke replied, charging at Itachi with a chidori in his hand.

"You are the one who should stay out of his, little brother." Itachi said as he threw Sasuke into the wall. "I'm here for your friend Naruto."

"What?!" Naruto yelled. "Why would you be here for me?"

"Our organization has given the us the mission of capturing you. I'm sure you know why that is." Kisame replied, swinging his sword at Naruto.

"Not so fast." Jiraiya interrupted, as he suddenly appeared with one of his toad summons between Naruto and Kisame. "I, Jiraiya, expert of the feminine psyche, will not fall so easily for a woman trying to distract me."

"Oh really? Why did you go with her in the first place then?" Naruto replied.

"Uhm... Well, in any case, it's those two guys we need to worry about right now."

"We didn't think such a simple diversion would stall one of the sannin long enough anyway, but it was worth a shot."

"So Akatsuki really is after Naruto?"

"I see. It is quite a feat for you to have so much intelligence on our organization, Jiraiya."

"You won't lay a finger on Naruto, because right here you two will die by my hands."

"Don't do it. This guy is mine!" A wounded Sasuke said as he got back up.

"I have no interest in you right now, little brother." Itachi replied, as he kicked Sasuke through the wall.

"Sasuke! Activate the connection, we will do it together!" Naruto shouted.

"NO! This is my fight."

"Teme! We talked about this, just do it before he kills you!"

"I'm curious, what is this connection you two speak of? Show me!" Kisame said.

"Fine. Double sharingan team mode." Sasuke replied, both boys activating and linking their sharingan.

"Naruto-kun, how did you get those eyes?" Itachi asked.

"That's none of your business, murderer!"

"Fine, it doesn't matter anyway, because you will be coming with us."

Both boys charged at Itachi. Naruto summoned four shadow clones, giving two to Sasuke to control and keeping the other two for himself. But before they could even do a single attack, the clones had been destroyed and the boys had been kicked against the wall. Itachi lifted Sasuke up against it.

"Tsukuyomi."

"AAAAAAARGH!" Sasuke screamed in extreme agony.

"You bastards!" Naruto yelled, lunging forward once more.

"Ninja art: Toad mouth bind!" Jiraiya said, summoning an esophagus of a giant toad all around them.

"You are weak, Sasuke." Itachi said as his little brother was sucked into the walls. "Still not enough hate for me."

---

"It's a good thing we were already looking for this woman, because she is the best healer in this world. She'll be able to heal Sasuke, Naruto. Don't worry about it." Jiraiya said to his pupil.

"I guess... So Akatsuki is after the Kyuubi?"

"Yes, this has confirmed the intelligence I have gathered, though there is still no telling what they will do with it."

"Well then, you'll have to teach me some awesome techniques so that I can defend myself against them."

"My plan exactly. I've got a technique in mind that would be perfect for you..."

---

His mind was broken. All he could do was lie in that stupid hospital bed and look up at the ceiling. No moving, no talking. Just think. And even that was limited. All he could think about was Itachi. How he was too weak to kill him. How little he had grown since he was a little boy. And then there was Naruto. Sasuke had always seen him as a weakling, a nuisance. But then Naruto saved his ass against Gaara. Naruto stood his ground against Itachi, while Sasuke had been defeated an hospitalized. For him, it already felt like he had been in that damn bed for months. Years. Another side-effect of Itachi's genjutsu. And the words he had spoken still lingered in Sasuke's mind. Not enough hate. What did he mean? He hated his brother with every fiber in his body, like he always had since the murder of his clan. How could it not be enough? The ease that Itachi had defeated him with was almost scary. He knew that it had to do with those eyes he had. Mangekyo sharingan. Sasuke had read about them on the secret stone beneath their clans hideout. He knew what he had to do to get them. And he refused to do that. But he had to do something to greatly increase his power before the next time he ran into Itachi again. And he could only see one way of that happening. He would have to go to Orochimaru. Naruto would be pissed about it, but it was the only way. He himself didn't like the idea anymore then the blonde did, mainly because he knew the snake was after his body and he found that to be a bit disturbing, but also, and he would never admit this, because it would mean breaking all ties with Naruto. He hated the damn boy for making him get attached to him, but there was no denying that he would miss him. Naruto had been a great friend, always giving him good advice, telling him to do the right thing. But now, he had to do the wrong thing. The only problem was their connection. He was sure that Naruto would be coming after him, looking for him until he had brought him back to the village. And through their connection, this would be a piece of cake. However, being trapped in his mind, he had found exactly where the connection was located. He wouldn't be able to destroy it without destroying his mind, but with one of Orochimaru's sealing techniques, he would probably be able to lock Naruto out. But first he wanted to do something. He needed to know if Naruto was stronger than him.

"Sasuke."

...

"Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Wake up you teme!" Naruto yelled.

"Shut up, dobe."

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried as she hugged him. "Thank you Hokage-sama, thank you!"

"Well, I'm going to check on how Kakashi and Lee are doing." Tsunade said as she left the room.

"Naruto."

"What Sasuke?"

"Fight me."

"What?! Sasuke, you have just woken up from a serious injury, you can't just go and..." Sakura said with a look of shock on her face.

"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you."

"Naruto, you can't..."

"Fine. I've been thinking about fighting you for quite a while now. I'm going to kick your ass with my new technique."

"Like hell you will, dobe."

They were on the roof of the hospital. Sakura stood there scared, begging them both to stop, but they had already decided.

"Sasuke. I know what you are planning, I've seen it through the connection. But let me tell you that I will put you back in a hospital bed any time you want to leave, you got that?"

"Hn. You may have become stronger Naruto, but you're still nowhere near my level."

"We'll see about that! Rasengan!" Naruto yelled, using his new technique.

"Chidori!"

Both boys flew at each other with full intensity. Their chakra flared up and then suddenly, everything froze. Their minds connected and suddenly, they were standing across each other in some kind of temple.

"Where are we?" Naruto asked.

"You are still on the roof of the hospital. This is just a place for your minds to talk with each other. See it as some kind of a failsafe mechanism. When you are about to hurt each other, you will be sent here. It's part of the connection." A mysterious voice said.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.

"It is too soon for me to show myself, just know that I am the one who cast the mind connection jutsu. Now talk things out, or I'll keep you here until you do."

"Wait! What is this connection for?" Naruto asked, but there came no reply.

"Hn." Said the raven as he started walking away.

"Sasuke! Don't walk away from me! I'm still going to kick your ass!" Naruto yelled as he ran to Sasuke and tried to punch him. However, he flew right through him.

"You know what Naruto? I'm sick of you judging me for this! If you knew that someone killed your entire family, you would do exactly the same thing!"

"No I wouldn't. And do you know why? Because I focus on what I do have: friends. Sure family is more important than friends, but neither of us have any family. But we do have friends, so you should stop complaining about what you don't have and start thinking about your friends too."

"I don't have any friends, only you. Do you think I would prefer leaving to join Orochimaru over staying in Konoha and having a good life here? Of course not! But I have no choice. I'm different than you are, for me this life here in Konoha can never be enough if I know that Itachi is still out there. And you have seen what happened when we tried to fight him, we didn't stand a chance. He won in a battle with four jounin, one of them being Kakashi. There is nobody in this village strong enough to beat him, so how can I become strong enough here?"

"We could become strong enough together, Sasuke. If we train everyday with the most powerful shinobi's Konoha has, we would be as strong as all of them together."

"Naruto, Itachi has mangekyo sharingan. Do you know what you have to do to get them? Kill the person closest to you. And it's the same for every technique that is that powerful, you need to do something bad to get it. So yes, I have to go to Orochimaru, because otherwise the only thing I can think of is killing you, and we both wouldn't like that."

"..."

And suddenly they were back on the hospital roof, still flying at each other, rasengan vs. chidori. But then, Kakashi appeared and threw them both against a water tower.

"You idiots! You nearly killed each other! You nearly killed Sakura! You boys better get it together, or you will see that hell hath no fury like a Kakashi scorned!"

"Sasuke is the idiot! He's thinking of leaving to join Orochimaru!" Naruto yelled.

"He will do no such thing! Sasuke?!"

"Hn."

"Sasuke?!" Kakashi yelled, with the scariest face either of them had ever seen.

"Fine! I will not go to Orochimaru! Happy now? But I am telling you, if neither of you can think of any better way for me to gain power, I swear to god I will!" Sasuke shouted as he ran off.

---

Naruto was worried sick. He knew that Sasuke still hadn't made up his mind yet. Somehow, the idea of losing him was terrifying to Naruto. It had made him think about their relationship. They were friends, rivals, part of some weird connection. But Sasuke had said that Naruto was the person closest to him. Naruto had never thought about who the person closest to him was. A logical choice would be Iruka-sensei, who had been like a father to him, but he felt closer to Sasuke. Sakura then, the girl of his dreams. Then came the realization. He was closer to Sasuke than he was to the girl he was in love with. Or, like he now realized, thought he was in love with. It was so obvious now. He had only been in love with her because she was the girl that every boy was in love with, because it was what everybody else did. But in reality she was more like a sister to him. So if Sasuke was more important to him than the people that he saw as his family, then...
He had to go tell Sasuke now, before it was too late.

"Naruto, it's a good thing I've ran into you. You need to go on a mission with me. Something has happened..." Shikamaru said.

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A/N: Whoa, that was a lot of talking and thinking for me to write. I'm pretty happy with it though, lots and lots of story progression! And a meeting with the person who cas the connection jutsu :o Who is this mysterious man? What are his intentions? That is for me to know and for you to find out :p And Naruto has finally realized something! Will this keep Sasuke from joining Orochimaru? So many questions to which I already know the answers, but you guys will have to wait a while for some, while others will be answered next chapter already!
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vampireunicorn: Well, I try to keep it in agreement with canon a lot, because I think the only thing wrong with it is that Sasuke and Naruto aren't together xD But there will be some diverging from canon starting in the next couple of chapters. Sasuke at least intends to go to Orochimaru, but will Naruto be able to stop him? There will be so many things happening in the Valley of the End in the next chapter, so stay tuned!