Naruto

Pairings: NaruHina, SasuHina, SasuSaku

Prologue: Final Battle of the Naruto Retrieval Mission!

"Why, Naruto?" he gasped, breathing heavily after their battle. He stared at his friend with pleading eyes, while a pair of red, cat-like ones glared back at him.

"Why?" Naruto growled, the orange fox cloak bubbling around him in an erratic dance. The boy's hands were now claws, and they itched to clasp around his opponent's throat and throttle the life out of him. "Everyone hated me. Everyone doubted my strength. All because of this demon inside of me." Naruto crouched lower, the cloak's tail swaying back and forth with the anticipation of another arduous battle. "Now, I will show everyone the true power of the kyuubi. I will show them how deep my hatred runs!"

The raven-haired boy closed his eyes, remembering his own words those long months ago, when Team 7 was first assembled. Back then, Naruto was such a happy, go-lucky kid. He had no idea what the boy's true feelings were. He opened his eyes again, the characteristics of the Uchiha's sharingan forming in his irises. "You are a hypocrite, Naruto," he said slowly, keeping his voice from trembling as much as possible. "Remember what you told me after the final stage in the chunin exams, when the village was getting attacked? You said revenge wasn't the answer. You told me whoever it was I wanted to kill for slaughtering my clan wasn't worth my time. It may have been mere pretty words to get me to cooperate with you while we were fighting Gaara, but I believed you. You gave me a new reason to get stronger- to protect those close to me. During that battle, I fought to protect Sakura, and now, I will fight to protect you!" He focused his chakra to his hand, the chidori sparking in his fist. "Even if it means I have to critically injure you and drag you back to the village."

"Just shut up, Sasuke!" Naruto snapped, producing a shadow clone to form the rasengan in his right palm. "If you won't let me pass, then I'll kill you!"

"Then kill me," Sasuke said, raising the chidori and preparing to charge. "Because I'd rather die than let my best friend join forces with my brother."

The monster charging at him looked like Naruto, but Sasuke only remembered the spunky troublemaker who rivaled him. He remembered watching this boy's power grow and becoming both jealous and impressed. He remembered the boy who stood up in class one day and declared loudly he would become Hokage one day.

He isn't Naruto, Sasuke thought bitterly. This is a monster consumed by hatred. He must be stopped.

And there, in between the statues of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, the rasengan and chidori clashed, sparking a black explosion of concentrated chakra and emotion.