Goodbye, but not forever.

xxxxx

Debris shot through the air; burning his eyes as it rushed passed him, being hurriedly carried by the wind. Naruto brought a hand up to his face, wiping his eyes and clearing away the dust remnants from the battle. Carefully, making sure Sasuke didn't leave his sight, he moved his hand from the one eye to his other.

Several yards away from him, Sasuke knelt on the ground; holding his tattered body up with his sword, which he had stuck into the earth. Sasuke's shirt had been torn apart during the battle against the Madara impersonator, Tobi, what was left of it clung to the waistband of his pants.

Naruto had lost his jacket at some point; having had to struggle out of it in order to get away from Tobi. Right after the battle he had been gasping for breath and was bleeding profusely out of various wounds on his back, chest, and arms. But now, thanks to Kurama's chakra, Naruto was nearly healed. It pained him to see Sasuke look so tired. How had they come to this point?

Another powerful gust of wind shot by, bringing with it a small cloud of dust that blurred Naruto's vision once more. His hair blowing wildly and his eyes stinging; Naruto brought both hands up to shield his face and then rub his eyes again. After cleaning them, he looked up in time to see Sasuke stand up.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled across the dessert plain as Sasuke turned away from him.

Sasuke cocked his head around, half turning to look back at Naruto. "What do you want dobe?"

"Why are you leaving?" Naruto was surprised that Sasuke didn't seem as tired. He wasn't sure how he had pulled it off but Sasuke, always the genius he figured, was healing alarmingly fast as well; not as fast as himself though.

"What else did you expect me to do?" Sasuke yelled back.

"But you helped us defeat the masked man! Everyone knows it. They're on their way now to congratulate us! Now that he's dead, can't you come back to Konoha? Or do you still want to destroy it?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Then why?" Naruto was screaming. It was alright though. Soon all of their friends would be there and together they could make Sasuke stay.

"Are you really that stupid?" Sasuke mumbled, but Naruto could still here him; probably because of the Kyuubi again.

"Yes! I am! Explain it to me," Naruto could feel his voice getting horse. The battle had been long and the desert air was dry and scratchy.

"What's left for me there?" Sasuke yelled back. "Aside from you and Sakura, what do I have to look forward to when if I go back there?"

"Oh I don't know, a—" Naruto was going to say 'a life back home' but Sasuke cut him off.

"No you don't know!" Sasuke continued. "You think everything is going to be great once I get home, but there are only two things that can happen to me if I return." Naruto had a stupid look on his face so Sasuke, much to his chagrin, spelled it out for him. His voice was calmer now. "I'm either going to end up in prison for the rest of my life. Or, one of the Kage's will demand my head on a silver platter, and to avoid confrontation, you know as well as I do that Tsunade would have to do it. I've done too much to be forgiven, even if I did help you kill that bastard."

Naruto looked down. He couldn't believe it, but Sasuke was right. Naruto could try though, he could continue to try and convince everyone to let Sasuke live and be free from prison, but that would be selfish of him. Plus, he knew there was no convincing the Raikage, and he was positive that Raikage-sama would be the one demanding Sasuke's head. Could he get Bee's help? He could try.

"THEN WHAT DO WE DO!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs as Sasuke continued to walk away. They were forever apart. Nearly distance wise too by now.

Sasuke sighed. He wasted too much time explaining to Naruto. He could already see their friends' bodies blurred in the distance. The large group was getting closer.

He turned around again, his sharingan activated. "We put up a show."

In a burst of unreal speed, Sasuke was in front of Naruto, his Chidori-empowered sword swinging wildly. Naruto jumped back and instantly summoned Kurama's power. He continued to dodge at Sasuke's uneven swings, wondering why Sasuke was fighting him so half-assed.

Naruto created a few shadow clones in between dodging Sasuke, not that it really amounted to much. He didn't want to hurt Sasuke, but Sasuke could tell that Naruto wasn't giving his all so he started swinging with more precision.

xxxxx

Their friends had drawn closer after their battle had gone on for a while. Both of them were panting from exhaustion. Sasuke took another leap into the air and used chidori once more. He landed on Naruto and forced him to the ground, Naruto moaning out in pain.

"Don't move Naruto, feign defeat," Kurama said within Naruto's being. Naruto realized what was happening. The attack wasn't that powerful, and he was about to stand up and fight back, but he complied with Kurama. He looked at Sasuke and stayed lying on the ground. Sasuke stared back at him and then deactivated his Sharingan.

"Someday we'll see each other again," Naruto said. His friends were so close he could hear them.

Sasuke nodded his head and, before turning to leave, gave Naruto one last smirk. Then he was gone.

The others finally arrived.

"Naruto are you okay?" Sakura asked.

"Oh man, my body hurts so much. I can't move," Naruto said half-heartedly, a smirk on his face.

Sakura knelt beside him to heal his wounds, but most of them were illusionary. "What's going on?" she asked him.

"Can't you tell, Naruto let him escape," Shikamaru explained.

"Maybe we should change that a bit and just say Sasuke was too strong for him," Kakashi suggested. The group agreed. They could do that for Naruto and Sakura at least.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered, indicating for her to lean closer with his hand. He knew that others would soon be coming, and he needed to appear hurt, so he didn't stand up yet.

Sakura bent down to his head. "What is it Naruto?"

"I promise you, and so does he, that we will see him again."

She pulled away from him and looked at him shocked. Then an earnest smile spread across her face and tears filled her eyes. "Thank-you Naruto."

xxxxx

AN: This is a one-shot theory/idea thing about how I personally thing the whole "bring Sasuke back to the village" thing will be resolved. I always viewed that it would be something like this and that he and Naruto have a weird friendship where they never see each other but Naruto can summon him for help whenever he needs him. There's a whole bunch of other stuff that comes off of this idea and could probably make a story... idk. Stuff be in meh head. If enough people are interested I may write that story out but if not no biggie cuz I got other stories in mind too.

Also: I didn't describe their fight at length because I figure that should be left to the real creator and I'm expecting him to draw out something completely bad ass :D

TY for reading!