Hope you enjoy. Yes this is a Prequel but you can read it separately.

Disclaimer: This literature is purely for recreational purposes. I gain no profit from the story. I do not own any rights to 'Naruto'.

Naruto runs. He heard the explosion and he was sure the rest of his team had, wherever they may be. Hours before he had broken free of them when he felt the dangerous chakra, now it was so strong Naruto feels Kyuubi begin to react.

The demon growls in his cage as Naruto rockets through the trees. He feels his canine's elongate a bit. Branches chip from the force he applies as he flies off of them.

His red eyes widen when he breaks free into the battle ground. Snakes slither by him and he stomps them dead. He sees his target up ahead.

"Sasuke!" he screams. The ninja he addresses growls as forms the hand signs of a fireball jutsu. It sails toward his enemy, but Orochimaru easily evades it. Naruto quickly sees Sasuke is struggling to defeat the man. The battle is pushed dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. He joins the fray, hand whirling with the rasengan.

"Bastard!" he misses, leaving a huge crater in the already scorched dirt. Orochimaru hisses out a laugh. He's thoroughly enjoying this fight. The battle grows more intense, Naruto and Sasuke throw everything they can at the man.

Finally, with one punch to the temple, Naruto sends Orochimaru flying. It's a kill shot. Naruto breathes out in relief and turns around to face his friend. They are both breathing heavily and covered with dirt. Sasuke's sword is nowhere to be seen.

"I'm taking you home bastard." Naruto growls in exhaustion. Sasuke deactivates his sharingan and feels exhaustion setting in as well. Then his eyes widen.

"Naruto!" but the blonde is too late. In a split second, Sasuke is in front of Naruto. He takes the blow Orochimaru aims at Naruto and it sent him flying. Naruto feels as if he's stuck in place as he watches his friend fly over the cliff. He starts to run over but Orochimaru distracts him. Naruto feels the Kyuubi take over and the battle begins.

Sasuke lay on the ground frozen, unable to move. He was able to see the light above the wide chasm he was in. His eyes feel dry and he blinks to rewet them. His fingers twitch with the effort to move but they remained on the stony ground. Sasuke closes his eyes to better hear the events. He can still hear the battle taking place above. He can hear metal clash against metal and Sasuke silently puts his faith in Naruto for the first time. He had to win this fight. There's a loud enraged shout and Sasuke snaps open his eyes. Sasuke watches in horror as a boulder falls toward him.

Sasuke fights to move. He tries to activate his sharingan and summon susanoo. It doesn't work. He can't even feel his chakra. The previous fight had taken it all out of him.

He lurches forward as the rock slams into his lower legs. His bones crunch under the weight. His heart rate accelerates as he tries to push it off of himself. But he can't feel his body; his hands barely reach to touch the grainy surface of the boulder. Sasuke tries to think of a plan.

"Sasuke!" he sees Naruto glide down to him. Alongside him are Sakura and Kakashi.

"Idiot." Sasuke insults in acknowledgment.

"You're the idiot! Why did you save me?" Naruto hollers before getting hit by Sakura. She rolls the boulder off of Sasuke and takes in the damage. She crouches next to him.

"Sasuke you have to keep your eyes open." Sakura says as she sees him close them yet again. Sasuke curses, he's starting to feel the extent of his damages.

"What happened?" Kakashi demands. Neither Sasuke nor Naruto answer him. Naruto feels guilt begin to consume him as he realizes Sasuke wouldn't be hurt if he had dodged in time. Naruto crawls over to him; he needed to know why Sasuke had done it. Sasuke, someone who had forsaken his bonds, had saved him? Sasuke lay prone on the ground and doesn't flinch when Naruto grabs him. Naruto searches Sasuke's face for the answer. Temporarily, he feels madness overwhelm his mind.

"Why?" Naruto asks frantically as he grips the Uchiha's shoulder.

"I don't know," Sasuke began breathlessly; he could feel the life leaving him. "My body just moved on its own." Sasuke coughs out, "Idiot."

Naruto remembers these words. Sasuke had spoken those words after protecting him from Haku, the ice ninja from the mist. Sasuke had spoken them when he was dying. He feels tears prickle his eyes but he fights them back.

"Shut up," he whispers forcibly, getting up off the ground so Sakura could have more space.

"Sasuke." Naruto barks when the Uchiha closes his eyes with a small smile. "Sasuke open your eyes."

Sasuke curses as pain races up his spine. He cannot feel his lower half. He tries to get up nonetheless, away from Sakura's chakra laced hands.

"Please don't struggle." Sakura says gently as he tries to preps the Sasuke for travel. His wounds are too extensive for her to heal there. She disinfects the wounds as best she could and binds his legs. She lifts up his shirt to inspect the blood spot gathering on his shirt and gasps. Wedged right underneath his ribcage, is a metal shard. It seems to be the head of a kunai. Sakura does not pull it out. She stabilizes it with gauze and then pulls back down his shirt.

She stands up. Kakashi gently pulls the Uchiha onto his back. Sasuke protests weakly but Kakashi pays him no heed. Sasuke eyes close again and the team realizes they need to preoccupy him.

"Hey Granny Tsunade will take care of you! She'll fix you right up!" Naruto says optimistically but he's not smiling and his eyes are wet. Sasuke's eyes rove over to the ninja. "This is nothing for her." Naruto chokes out. Sasuke sighs at the ninja's expression. Naruto cared too much.

"It's going to be alright." Sasuke looks away from the ninja's tears. They both knew it wasn't.

The next part is 'Return'. Check that out if you're interested.