When Naruto heard Sasuke say he wanted to fight him, he knew this would not be a sparring match, but a real battle. They would have to fight with the resolve to kill each other. Naruto had never expected Sasuke to make such a request out of the blue, and he sank into thought.
Seeing Naruto remain silent, Sasuke said indifferently, "Forget it. If you don't want to, I won't force you."
Although Sasuke acted as if he did not care, Naruto could clearly sense the disappointment in his eyes. Naruto thought, Forget it. So what if I fight Sasuke here, just as it happened in the original history? I'm still me. I'm no longer the Naruto I used to be. Neither so-called history nor so-called fate can bind me, and they can't bind Sasuke either. Our destinies are already different from what they once were. So what if we follow fate's arrangement just this once?
Naruto had originally wanted to avoid fighting Sasuke here at all, because it would feel as though he had accepted fate's arrangement. A battle with Sasuke in the Valley of the End would be their first fight, and, as Naruto remembered it, their final battle had taken place here too. He believed that was fate's design, and he wanted to reject it this time. Yet when he saw the disappointment in Sasuke's eyes, something inexplicable made him ready to accept.
Naruto looked at Sasuke and said seriously, "All right, I agree. But I won't hold back in this fight. I hope you won't either."
Hearing Naruto's answer, Sasuke immediately brightened. "Heh, you idiot. I don't need you to remind me. This time, I won't hold anything back, and I expect the same from you."
Naruto leaped onto the surface of the water. When Sasuke