PURPOSE by Kiraya

Disclaimer: I just wish I'd thought of it all first… Le sigh.

Warnings: Oodles of spoilerific fun for those who haven't read the manga up to the end of part I; slightly AU (hey, I can't predict what Kishimoto-sensei's going to do with 'em now that they're all grown up, though I must say WOO GAARA!). Tangled-up incidences featuring various degrees of SasuNaru; whether they stay platonic or not remains to be seen.

For this installment specifically… the language and the violence, they keep on comin'.

Author's Notes: After this installment, updates will only be available at http / www. livejournal. com / users / shadowrival. Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

--

Uchiha Sasuke sat up with a gasp, drenched in cold sweat, chest heaving. The Sharingan had activated automatically, and in the faint, grey predawn light he could see the Hokage, standing by the window, pause in the fastening of his jounin vest and turn towards him with that damn sympathetic expression. "Sasuke…?"

"Don't fucking look at me like that!" he snapped.

Naruto's eyes hardened, and he scowled a little. "Fine. Fuck me for trying to give a shit."

Sasuke glared at him a moment longer, then lay back down as if he were going back to sleep… as if he didn't care why the Kyuubi's vessel was awake this early when he usually never rose before the sun.

But Naruto knew him better than that.

"I'm leaving the village for a while," he commented casually, never turning from the window.

Sasuke was interested in spite of himself. The Rokudaime hadn't left Konohagakure in almost a year… since his last ANBU mission had brought back a lost child of the village, unconscious and in chains. "Why?" he asked.

A long pause. "…There's something I need to take care of."

Almost before thinking, Sasuke had disentangled himself from his blankets and dressed in the utilitarian garb he'd adapted since his return to Konoha: a uniform that, like those outfits of his childhood, bore no insignia save the symbol of a clan doomed to extinction by its last sons.

"What are you doing, Sasuke?"

The Sharingan user paused in the act of slipping his scarred hitai-ate into its customary pocket. "Coming with you, of course. They don't trust me alone, or haven't you noticed?" His eyes narrowed. "Still… won't they be upset that their precious Hokage is running off?"

"I don't think so," came the reply, and Naruto turned to face him, his eyes glowing softly, eerily, like a fox's in the light. "They should be used to this by now."

--

Sasuke wasn't sure where he'd expected to be going… and thus was a little surprised when the Hokage led him out the north gate, toward ruined Otogakure… the Sound village.

He looked questioningly at Naruto, but the Rokudaime said nothing as they set out, moving at high speed even for shinobi of their level.

After a couple hours, they passed a stretch in the middle of the forest that looked to have been struck by an earthquake, huge pits and piles of rubble leaving scars in the land.

Sasuke looked questioningly at Naruto, but the blond said nothing as they continued on.

It was almost midday when they passed a wide swath of destruction, seeing the weak sun for the first time in hours. The remains of dozens upon dozens of trees, severed cleanly in half by some unknown force, lay rotting among their own stumps, and here and there a brave young sapling strove for the heights its parent had reached.

Sasuke looked questioningly at Naruto, but the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki said nothing as they continued on.

The clouds had grown darker and thicker by that afternoon, when they passed through a dense thicket of white spikes rising out of a great lake of sand. The last Uchiha was a little unnerved to discover, after touching one, that the projections were bleached bone.

He looked questioningly at Naruto, but his rival only glanced at a skeletal torso that seemed to grow out of the highest spike like some macabre flower, and said nothing as they continued on.

There was an ominous rumbling in the distance when they reached the edge of the vast forest. As they picked their way among the rocky paths, it sounded almost like thunder, but when they finally stopped…

They stood, as they had once before, in a valley at the border of the Fire Country. The sound they'd been hearing the past several minutes had been the steady roar of the great waterfall that cascaded to the stone feet of two enormous statues whose unseeing eyes stared impassively at each other across the rushing river.

Sasuke stared at the scene for a long, long moment, then gazed back over his shoulder at his rival, dark eyes hooded.

For the first time since they'd left Konohagakure, Naruto spoke.

"It's hard to believe it's been thirteen years since that day, isn't it?" He walked forward to stand next to the black-haired man, looking at the gaping pits and gashes in the rock that had softened slightly with time and weather. "I've come here every year since, and wondered what I could have done…"

The Hokage was silent for a long time.

Then… "Put on your hitai-ate."

With deliberate slowness, Sasuke did so.

It was the same fight, and yet completely new. The steps of their deadly dance, vividly remembered, were unchanged — but the increase in their power, speed, and skill made this a remarkably different game, and their emotions…

It was almost cathartic.

They came together with the same explosive force that had marked the end of that last battle — and were left staring at each other across the violently roiling waters of the river.

Naruto grinned ferally, and Sasuke smirked back.

Shall we continue?

Of course.

--

When the rain started Naruto ignored it, too intent on the battle to care. Sasuke, though, froze, straightening from his fighting stance.

The blond swore, barely checking himself so he didn't disembowel his sparring partner. "Fuck, Sasuke, you want to die, or—?"

But his rival, ignoring him, had taken off his hitae-ate and stood gazing heavenwards. Naruto couldn't quite decipher his expression, but there was something about that look in his eyes…

"What is it?"

He looked down. "Sometimes, I…"

Naruto's eyes asked the inevitable question.

Sasuke shook his head, scattering raindrops. "Never mind," he replied, turning back to the sky.

Naruto didn't press the issue. He simply stood in silence, watching the last Uchiha as he stood motionless with his face tilted up to the rain, eyes closed, rivulets of crystal running down his pale, pale cheeks.

--

End Act XI. 30 July 2005.