Chapter 144 : The Rematch: Sasuke Vs Naruto

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 144 : The Rematch: Sasuke Vs Naruto

"If I'm late, then why are you still here?" Naruto ignored his teammate for a moment and glanced over Kiba's body.

There was still some movement, so he was alive. But with all that blood loss, he was going to need urgent medical attention to survive.

"That was a bit excessive, don't you think?" Naruto added. Kiba had obviously disregarded his advice and engaged in direct combat with Sasuke.

The numerous marks on the ground indicated that Kiba had been using his signature jutsu. But he was sure that Sasuke could have defeated the dog boy without causing so much damage and put him on death's door.

Sasuke grinned. "I needed someone to test my new power with. And you were taking too long. So I used him."

"You were waiting for me? " Naruto wondered if his teammate was now suffering from memory loss and had forgotten the duel they had earlier this week.

Sasuke must have guessed what he was thinking because he grew angrier. "It won't go like that again!" As he shouted this, his curse seal activated.

The restriction placed by Kakashi had been removed, so Sasuke had no issues using the curse seal this time.

Black lines spread from the seal and covered his left side, indicating that he had successfully activated the first level.

Sasuke grinned widely as he felt the incredible rush of power.

"Fight me, Naruto!"

'What a troublesome teammate I got...' Naruto lamented his bad luck, why couldn't he have gotten someone like the lazy guy or the one who is always eating?.

It had only been a few minutes since his encounter with Kimimaro, and his right arm wouldn't be usable for at least another hour, so fighting right now was a bit inconvenient.

The truth was he had never intended to stop Sasuke from leaving. As far as he was concerned, Sasuke should be free to pursue his goals in any way he wanted.

However, there were certain methods he did not approve of, mostly those that involved sacrificing innocent lives. But he never went out of his way to stop these demonic cultivators either.

As long as they didn't attempt despicable deeds in front of him or interfere with his personal matters, he didn't care much.

However, Sasuke was not willing to take the chance that was being offered to him and leave just like that. Since the day of the Uchiha Massacre, his goal has been to kill the perpetrator.

But he couldn't ignore the fact that his supposedly useless teammate could surpass him in such a blatant manner.

If he wanted to move forward toward a future where he could finally kill his brother, he first had to defeat Naruto and remove those demons from his mind, only then he could move on.

He let out a loud sigh, Sasuke was not going to back down without another fight. "Okay, fine. Let's get this over with, Sasuke." Naruto waved at him to begin. He had to finish this quickly and get Kiba to the nearest medical facility.

He may not be close friends with the dog boy, but he couldn't just let him die.

Sasuke noticed that Naruto's right arm was in a sling and rightly assumed it was from his fight with Kimimaro.

What he didn't know was just how strong Kimimaro was, as he'd only seen him for a couple of minutes after leaving the container.

But what infuriated him was that despite his obvious injuries, Naruto was still not taking him seriously.

"You think you can still beat me with one arm? Don't be so arrogant!" Sasuke shouted.

"Hey, stop barking so much. You're the one who wants to fight. If you want to leave, then just leave. I won't stop you." Naruto frowned. He couldn't stand it when people acted so spoiled.

"I'll show you what I can do now!" Sasuke went for a direct attack against Naruto's right side, knowing it would be difficult for Naruto to defend from there. With the first level of the cursed seal, he was now moving at least twice as fast as before.

"Take thi—urgggg!"

Sasuke felt an indescribable pain between his legs, almost causing him to fall over. "Y-You…shameless!"

"It wasn't a bad idea to attack there, but don't forget I can still use my legs." When Sasuke tried to punch his face, Naruto twisted his body to avoid it while using his left knee to strike Sasuke's most vulnerable area.

Sasuke's legs trembled as he clutched his injured area, glaring at Naruto with rage-filled eyes. His teammates always seemed to find a way to humiliate him further.

After recovering for a few seconds, Sasuke attacked again, this time with ninjutsu. Realizing Naruto was still too dangerous at close range, he opted for a distant attack.

"Fire Release…Phoenix Sage!"

A large ball of flames exploded into smaller projectiles that flew directly at Naruto.

Naruto detected that hidden inside the small balls of fire were shurikens.

Using his left hand, Naruto quickly performed five hand signs.

"Wind Release…Great Breakthrough."

A powerful gust of wind pushed all the projectiles away and extinguished the flames.

On top of that, it also pushed Sasuke back with such force that he nearly fell off the rocky cliff.

Frustrated by his lack of success, Sasuke decided to finally get fully serious.

He was about to fully utilize his cursed seal when he heard someone shouting at them.

Naruto thought it must be Shikamaru or one of the other genins who had finished their business.

But it turned out to be someone unexpected.

"Stop!" Sakura jumped in between them.

She was completely exhausted after running at full speed for hours, but she had managed to catch up to them.

"Stop this fight!" she shouted.

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