</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Gabriel Angelfire &#064; Dec 7 2003, 02:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>The people that I know that watch Naruto either dont like Sasuke for what he did or they always hated him from the begining. That includes girls to, well i only know 8 girls that watches and read the manga though.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
Another girl here who also dislikes Sasuke pretty much. I don&#39;t hate him only because I know that the show, frankly, needs him for some drama to take place. On the other hand, I highly dislike him and hope Naruto will kick his ass at some point ^^

However, such ass-kicking will not happen now. Even if Naruto fights Sasuke, at some point (whether Naruto is winning or losing) the fight will be stopped by either Orochimaru or Kabuto, who will take Sasuke away.

Regarding the other, lets remember that Shizune (Tsunade&#39;s lieutenant or second in charge) is close, along with other three jounins. I&#39;m sure that they were following the Sound Nins to a distance just to see what did they want to do - it&#39;ll be a matter of time before they find dead?Chouji, Severlywounded&#33;Neji and so forth.

SO my theory is;
Shikamaru leaves, fights, kills and almost dies,
Kiba leaves, fights, kills almost dies,
Naruto and Sasuke fight,
Orochimaru and/or Kabuto appear and take Sasuke away,
Naruto goes back, finds Kiba, drags Kiba back, finds Shikamaru, drags Shikamaru back,
Jouning team finds Naruto and the other two, they already have Neji and Chouji with them.
Shizune says that mostly everyone&#39;s condition is critical, they hurry back to Konoha, everybody ends up in the hospital except Naruto, who only spends one night there.
Lee gets his operation,
Naruto finds Sakura. He apologizes for not bringing Sasuke back, but promises he will do so one day - soon, of course.
Sakura cries, hugs Naruto.
End of Story Arc&#33; Introduce new storyline&#33;