AN: I wrote this during Linguistic Phonetics so excuse any mistakes and let me know about them. Umm... I can't really say anything else without giving away parts of the story so enjoy my little naggy plot bunny!

Now edited for the little mistakes I found when going over it to enter in a contest!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I would SO have the Mangenkyo Sharingan and lots of people would be burning... I mean... No, that's actually what I mean.

Sacrifice and Saving a Friend

"Did you even stop to think about how that makes me feel Sasuke? That your revenge and pointless vendetta always come before me? That Itachi was more important than me?" Naruto sucked in a shaky breath. "How can you just now be saying it's over!"

"Naruto, I—"Sasuke began. He hated seeing the blonde so hurt, and he resented that he was the one to make him feel that way.

"No! Just shut your damn mouth and listen to me for once." Naruto cut the brunette off. "It's been over for a long time, Uchiha. You leaving to go to Orochimaru was a pretty good sign that I'd never come first in your book. I mean, fuckSasuke! It was Orochimaru of all people. You chose the creepy snake bastard who bit you in the middle of the woods over me!" Naruto wiped at his traitorously stinging eyes. "I'm a shinobi of Konoha. A tool of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I have orders to kill you on sight. Get out of here. I'm giving you a head start. Next time we meet, you won't be walking away."

"Hn. You think you could kill me. How cute, Naru-chan," Sasuke sneered. "You're right though, you are just a tool. A worthless one at that." Why did he insist on hurting Naruto? Maybe it was because the pain in his chest he felt when he saw the blonde's eyes went misty from the harsh words he said gave him the only hint of feeling he had had in a long time. "Maybe I should save them some trouble and help them discard their broken tool." The missing-nin walked forward and fisted his hand into blonde shaggy hair.

Naruto couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. Sasuke was so close and his mind was screaming Konoha's orders at him and the kunai in his hand. While his heart… well, he didn't exactly know. He fell to his knees, causing the hand on his head to tear out chunks of his hair. The Konoha ninja clutched his aching chest, dropping his kunai in the process, and azure eyes met Sasuke's Sharingan ones. The world went fuzzy and soon he found himself unconscious at the criminal's feet.

Sasuke watched as Naruto hyperventilated and lost consciousness, falling face first into the slush. He carefully picked up the small blonde and gently rested him against a tree. The idiot hadn't thought to wear a cloak and was already shivering, teeth chattering. Sasuke reached around the blonde's head and removed the cold metal hitai-ate. He looked at the thing with disgust before picking up Naruto's discarded kunai and slashing it across the offending metal symbol. Carefully, he leaned Naruto forward and tied his wrists tightly together then attached the bound hands to the tree trunk with the kunai. When he finished with that he took out a spool of thin wire and began wrapping it around the tree and the unconscious ninja. Once the raven was satisfied that the blonde wouldn't be able to free himself, he grabbed an extra roll of bandages and gagged the Leaf ninja, careful to make sure he wouldn't choke. The raven tied the gag behind Naruto's head a little tighter than necessary, pulling some golden strands out in the process.

Standing, he slowly removed his cloak, leaving him in only his black sleeveless shirt, revealing red bloodstained bandages that had otherwise been hidden. Working quickly, he covered the Konoha-nin with his cloak and clasped it tightly behind his neck to keep him warm.

As he stood the blood soaking through his bandages dripped onto the unconscious body below him. Violent coughs tore through his body as he coughed up blood. It splattered just above the blonde silky locks and some misted down to land on Naruto's face.

Once the coughing subsided, Sasuke sent a bolt of his Chidori Nagashi through a nearby tree, causing it to start on fire. 'There. Now they should be able to find him,' the missing-nin thought. Clutching his abdomen he slowly made his way through the forest. He stopped to catch his breath, blood now running freely as if the bandages weren't even there, when he heard voices just ahead of him.

He stumbled his way toward the two men, coldness and blood loss making his movements clumsy. 'How convenient. Both the men I need to kill in one place.' The raven smirked, the next second his eyes were glowing Sharingan red with bloodlust.

Ahead, Kabuto and the man who called himself Madara were making a deal. Sasuke knew what the bargaining chips were, him and Naruto. Perhaps because his mind was hazy from blood loss or because he had been around Naruto too much, he ran into the clearing no plan in mind.

"I won't let either of you lay your filthy hands on Naruto," he growled. The two men turned to look at the blood-soaked youth. Kabuto's face, or what was left of it, broke into a scaly smirk. Sasuke didn't hesitate to use his Amaterasu to wipe the bastard's face off the Earth. Why should he care? He was dying anyway and he needed to finish this quickly. The raven heard Madara laugh sadistically as he watched his business partner burn to death, writhing in Sasuke's hellfire.

The young missing-nin felt more of his precious lifeblood run down from his left eye. He could no longer find the strength to stand and he fell to his knees in the mud created by his blood. 'No. I…need to finish this… I need to protect Naruto. They… they can't get their slimy hands on Naruto.' It was getting difficult to even form a coherent thought.

A sharp pain registered behind Sasuke's ribs and he looked up to see Madara standing over him. "You're in the way, Sasuke," he sneered as he twisted the kunai embedded in the raven's chest. Sasuke tried to draw a breath but found he couldn't. This was really it. His last chance.

Mustering the little strength he still could, he focused all his chakra into one last attack, gasping "Chidori Nagashi." Madara was caught by surprise and didn't have time to react as his insides were boiled from the electricity coursing through his body and he slowly died.

As Madara's body fell to the ground smoking, Sasuke's vision swam and he fell forward into the bloody mud. He drew a few shallow breaths and fought to keep his eyes open for just a few more seconds.

"Sasuke!" They dying ninja imagined he could hear Naruto calling his name. He pictured a blur of gold and orange entering his failing vision. The raven imagined callused tan hands turning him over… No. He wasn't imagining it. The blonde really was there holding his trembling body.

"N-Naru…" The boy rasped as Naruto held his head in an orange clad lap.

"Shh, Sasuke. You're hurt. Just concentrate on staying alive," the worried blonde whispered, afraid if he spoke too loud he might break Sasuke's fragile concentration on life. He looked to where Sakura, Sai and Kakashi stood, just watching the scene unfold.

"Sakura!" He screamed at his teammate, "Help him! Sakura!" The pinkette just turned her face away and Naruto's agonized scream pierced the air.

"N-Na… y-you're… s-safe…" Sasuke gasped as his eyes slid closed. With his final exhale he breathed, "I'm glad."

Naruto screamed himself hoarse, pounding on the still chest. He screamed for the injustice of it all. When he had screamed himself to exhaustion, Sai picked him up and cradled the fragile boy to his chest.

"Sasuke," the blonde whimpered and curled himself into his teammate's chest.

Without another word or glance toward the three corpses in the clearing, Team 7 made their way back to Konoha. Sasuke's body, along with Kabuto and Madara's, was left to rot deep in the forest, where no one would stumble across them. Out of sight and out of mind. No one would remember the three traitors of Konoha. Their deeds and the name Uchiha were wiped from the history books forever. Konoha forgot the burden the clan had placed on the village, all but their blonde haired, blue eyed Rokudaime Hokage.

"How could I ever be Hokage? I couldn't even save a friend. Isn't that right…Sasuke?"

AN: Sooo! What did you think? Let me know! I know I tweaked the quote a little to make it fit the story, but I call artistic license! Did ya'll see that coming? Kinda sad that Sasuke made Naruto get pissed at him but he knew he was going to die and thought it would make it easier for Naruto if he thought the raven didn't love him. I think it's cute though that Sasuke did everything just to protect Naruto.

Oh and if you're wondering why the rest of Team 7 did nothing to help, they were just following their orders from Konoha. It hurt them as much as it did Naruto, they just didn't show it!

Review guys!