(Nice Dream)

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Hokuto

Chapter Text

The compound was too dark; even from outside Sasuke could see it. Maybe he had stayed out training a little too late, but there should still be some places open, some lights on somewhere...

He ran through the gates (why wasn't anyone there?) into empty streets and glanced up at the moon, just to make sure it hadn't gone out with all the other lights, and saw a shadow against it.

It was a clear night, there shouldn't be any shadows, and anyway it wasn't a cloud shape, it was a person, crouching on top of a telephone pole. Before Sasuke could see anything more the shadow vanished.

Sasuke looked back down and saw the street properly, the moonlight gleaming on lumps and puddles that hadn't been there this morning, and he put his hands over his mouth so he wouldn't scream. It couldn't be, not his clan, not lying all over the road like that, not the people he'd seen every day of his life, it couldn't be and that shadow went towards my home...

He ran through the doors and it was too quiet and too dark and all he could hear was his own panting until he covered his mouth and concentrated. There - voices starting to argue, getting louder, in his parents' oh no no no - he ran to their room, crying for them, "Father! Mother!" and as he put his hand on the door-handles a low and awful, familiar voice came out of the darkness:

"Don't come in..."

Sasuke froze.

A different voice, older, angry: "They'll never allow it. It won't work - that man will never -"

"That's my concern," Itachi said, sounding colder than when he had threatened their cousins, colder than Sasuke could have imagined. "You're done here. Leave."

"I promise you, Itachi," the other voice said, "there will never be a day of your life when you will not regret this choice. Foolish boy, wasting the power you've gained..."

"Get out," said Itachi, and Sasuke couldn't stand it anymore and threw open the doors.

"Niisan! Niisan, are you -"

But Itachi stood alone in the room, turning to face Sasuke; he smiled, the way he used to, and said, "Sasuke - welcome home," and blood dripped from the katana in his hand onto Father and Mother's bodies.

Sasuke woke up in bed with a start, and winced at the light from the window. He could hear someone cooking in the kitchen, and that made him wince, too; his head really hurt this morning, and there was something missing - something he should remember, something from last night...

He jumped up and dashed through the house, through the kitchen and outside to the street.

There was nothing there. No bodies in the dust, no blood, nothing out of place - but also no neighbors or cousins, no aunts or uncles, no one who ought to be there. It was late morning by the sun and lots of people would be at work already, but even the people who worked in the Uchiha compound weren't there. It was too quiet, just like -

Sasuke took a step back into the kitchen, and behind him Itachi said, "Ah, Sasuke, you're up."

Sasuke stopped, one hand still on the door's frame.

"I told the school you were sick so you could sleep in, if you needed to," Itachi continued, and Sasuke could hear water boiling for tea, rice grains clicking against each other as they were measured out. "But if you'd rather go to class, that's fine... I was just making breakfast for us, you should eat before you -"

Sasuke bolted for school.

He ran all the way, but he was still late, and when he opened the door to his classroom Iruka-sensei said sharply, "Decided to join us today after all, Sasuke-kun? All right, take your seat..."

Sasuke sat down and tried to pay attention as Iruka-sensei resumed the lecture on calculating the wind's effects on thrown weapons. It was easy and hard at the same time; easy because it was interesting and normal, hard because it was so temptingly normal that it only made him think more about last night and this morning. Last night couldn't have really happened, not when school was going on just as usual, Iruka-sensei talking and sometimes yelling at the students who couldn't stay still. Last night must have been a dream, just a dream, and maybe everyone had just had to go somewhere this morning. A big mission, that was it, a big important mission that he was too young to know about. And Mother and Father, they were just - Itachi had been letting them sleep in, too, he was letting them sleep in and making breakfast for them to make up for how cold he'd been lately. Making breakfast for an apology wasn't really like Itachi, but it was still possible, wasn't it? The other wasn't. It had all been a dream, a dream, a silly dream.

He realized he was biting his knuckles and forced himself to stop.

At the end of classes they always practiced making copies of themselves. It was a basic jutsu, but only a few people in class could make a good one, and Sasuke's was always the best. He went to the front of the classroom with his usual confidence, but as he made the first seal he heard Foolish boy, wasting the power you've gained and lost his concentration, and his clone, instead of standing straight and perfect next to him, was a washed-out ghost that slowly crumpled to the floor.

"Ah - do you want to try again, Sasuke-kun?" Iruka said, as Sasuke stared at the fallen clone in sick horror. "That's not exactly up to your usual standard..." From up in the desks came a big burst of laughter, and Iruka shouted, "Naruto! Don't laugh - not unless you're going to come down here and do better?"

The blond boy sitting halfway up the room made a face, but he jumped down to the front. Sasuke recognized him, sort of - he sat a few seats over, but Sasuke had never paid attention to him, just because he was always so loud and irritating and trying to get attention that he obviously didn't deserve any. Sasuke glared at him now for having laughed, but Naruto just stuck out his tongue and started making the seals for the jutsu, all sloppy and half out of order.

Of course, his clone looked even worse - it didn't even start off standing up, and there wasn't any color to it at all - and Sasuke said "Hmf," though with less disdain than usual. The fallen clones looked terribly dead, sprawling across the floor...

Naruto's face turned red. He opened his mouth, probably to say something stupid, but just then a grey-haired jounin in an ANBU jacket opened the door, and Sasuke saw him make a quick series of hand signals to Iruka-sensei.

"All right, class, that's it for today," Iruka said. "Get out of here, and don't forget to do your homework! Especially you, Naruto!" Everyone else got up and headed for the door, laughing and talking, and Sasuke went with them gladly as the jounin stepped past him to talk with Iruka. He was going to go home and everything was going to be fine, even if he did have to elbow his way past Naruto to get through the door and Naruto elbowed back and had extraordinarily sharp elbows.

He was just considering the strategy of kicking Naruto in the ankles really, really hard when he heard Iruka-sensei say "What?" Naruto took advantage of his distraction and got past him with an almost-friendly fist to the stomach, and while Sasuke was catching his breath Iruka said, "Wait a minute, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned around, but stayed at the door, trying to lean on it casually. Sensei and the jounin were both looking at him; he didn't want them looking at him, he wanted to go home and bug Itachi to help him train and eat rice balls with Mother. There wasn't any reason for Iruka to look at him with such a sad expression...

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry," Iruka-sensei said, "I have some bad news."

"No you don't," Sasuke said. "You can't have any bad news, because there isn't any. Everything's fine."

He couldn't read the ANBU jounin, who had a mask covering most of his face and his forehead protector over one eye. But Iruka's face crumpled up like he was going to cry, and he said, "Sasuke-kun, please listen -"

"Everything's fine!" Sasuke screamed, and he turned and ran for home. They couldn't make bad news happen, they couldn't make nightmares real, they were wrong, wrong wrong wrong.

He'd barely gotten through the school gates when an arm caught him around the waist, and he found himself scooped up and tucked against the jounin's side. "Sorry, kid," the jounin said, setting off the wrong way at a jog. "Orders. The Hokage wants to see you."

Sasuke would've kicked him if he'd thought it would do any good. He settled for sulking, and said, as meanly as he could, "This is stupid. You're stupid. I want to go home, I told you it was fine already."

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time," the jounin said, but he didn't put Sasuke down. Sasuke drooped, staring at the ground as it flashed past, and when he went to push his hair out of his eyes he found tears trying to escape.

Even at the end of the hallway Sasuke could hear people arguing in the Hokage's office; by the time the jounin reached the door and put him down he could make out the words, although the jounin put his hands over Sasuke's ears to keep him from listening. "- threw away a perfect chance," a man was saying. "Is there any possibility you could persuade him you've changed your mind?"

"No," came Itachi's voice, muffled through the door and the jounin's hands, but always recognizable. "I made the choice, and he knows it. You'll have to find another pet ANBU for that."

"Don't play the fool with me," the first voice said, getting louder and angrier and easier to hear, "you know there's no one else powerful enough to be convincing!"

"If you have such a high opinion of my strength, then stop testing my patience," said Itachi, and Sasuke remembered the day Itachi had attacked their cousins and tried not to listen to himself thinking, maybe things aren't fine after all.

"That's enough," the Hokage said, breaking through Sasuke's unhappy thoughts. "Kakashi, stop eavesdropping and come in."

The jounin opened the door and said, "Sorry, Hokage-sama, I didn't want to interrupt."

Sasuke didn't care; he flung himself at Itachi and buried his face against Itachi's side and refused to look at anything else. He was tired and Itachi was here and he didn't care what had happened anymore, it was time to go home.

Itachi put his hand on Sasuke's head and messed up his hair, and the grey-haired jounin said, "He was in class, Captain."

"Ah, good - thank you," said Itachi, and knuckled Sasuke's head. "Say something before you run off like that, okay? I was worried..."

"Sorry, Niisan," Sasuke said, and someone else snorted. Sasuke looked away from Itachi and saw an old man with a bandaged eye by the Hokage's desk; he was glaring at Sasuke like he was dirt, and Sasuke thought that he must be the one Niisan had been arguing with. He grabbed Itachi's hand; he was too old for it, really, but he couldn't pretend everything was okay anymore, and Itachi might be all he had. At least Itachi didn't mind, and squeezed Sasuke's hand back.

The man said, "So that's what you're throwing away Konoha for? You'll be regretting this for the rest of your miserable life, Uchiha Itachi."

Sasuke flinched at the echoed words, but Itachi didn't seem bothered at all; he said lightly, "There's no need to call me Uchiha anymore, if it pains you so much to say it."

The old man snorted again and gave Sasuke another contemptuous look, then stalked out of the room. The Hokage said, "You can go now too, Kakashi," and the jounin bowed and vanished. The Hokage turned to look at them with a strange expression, which made Sasuke want to be rude to him, but he stayed quiet. If they were in trouble, he didn't want to make it worse. "I don't like to admit it," the Hokage said, "but Danzo may be right. Are you sure this is what you want, Captain Itachi?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Itachi said, sounding calm, but his grip on Sasuke's hand tightened a little.

The Hokage sighed, pushing a sheaf of paper on his desk to the side. "I'm sorry that it's come to this, Sasuke-kun," he said.

The comfort of Itachi's hand around Sasuke's was suddenly a cold weight.

The Hokage talked for a long time. Sasuke stopped paying attention after the first sentence; it didn't even seem like a very good lie for someone as old as the Hokage to come up with. Sasuke thought about school instead, the stuff Iruka-sensei said he needed to work on, when he'd be able to practice throwing shuriken next, and the Hokage's words washed around him and he could almost imagine that he wasn't standing next to Itachi.

By the time the Hokage stopped talking, Sasuke didn't even hear it; he was thinking so hard about how to do an even better clone than usual next class that Itachi had to nudge him and tell him to bow to the Hokage before they left.

As soon as they were out of the office Sasuke pulled his hand away from Itachi's and tried to walk faster, keeping space between them.

Itachi touched his shoulder to stop him from getting too far away. "You didn't believe the Hokage, then," he said.

Without turning around, Sasuke shook his head.

"That's all right," said Itachi. "I'll look after you - it'll be fine, Sasuke. I promise."

Sasuke looked back and saw Itachi smile at him, the same tired smile as always, but all Sasuke could think of was blood.

Chapter Text

Sasuke never said "I'm home" anymore. It didn't matter; however quiet and stealthy Sasuke was, the moment he stepped into the apartment Itachi knew, and always called out, "Welcome home, Sasuke" - at least, if Itachi was there. He was gone on missions a lot. Sasuke didn't care. The tiny apartment wasn't his home; his home was big and perfect and locked away with the rest of the Uchiha compound.

It had been half a year since that night, and everything was different. Almost everyone had believed the Hokage's ridiculous story about the missing-nin and they either pitied Sasuke or avoided him, whispering and pointing; the few people who apparently didn't believe it were more bearable, although they mostly either ignored him or looked at him as if he were some kind of monster. The only people who didn't treat him differently were Iruka-sensei and that obnoxious Naruto - and Itachi, but that was also different.

Even the people who believed the Hokage's story didn't seem to pity Itachi, or talk to him beyond what was absolutely necessary. Sasuke suspected, for no solid reason, that it was because of the man with the bandaged eye; he had been so angry with Itachi, and he knew enough of the truth that even if he couldn't tell people outright, he could still scare them away from Itachi. That was probably a good thing, but it also pissed Sasuke off for some reason.

Sasuke put off going back to the apartment as long as he could every day, and he had found lots of good excuses, but the best one was training. No one could argue with it, and Sasuke could spend hours and hours running or throwing shuriken or practicing seals and not have to think about anything else at all. Today he'd decided to practice the fireball jutsu. He hadn't tried it since the day he'd done it successfully for his father, and he didn't want to forget it; it was an important Uchiha tradition, and he was the only Uchiha left, and it had made his father proud. The river seemed like the best place to practice, so after school and some warm-up exercises, he started off. On the way he passed a group of little kids, all complaining about having to leave so early and shepherded along by their parents.

Sasuke looked after them for a minute; not crying, but feeling older and more tired than he ever had before. It hadn't been that long since he had been as careless and happy as those kids, but now he could barely remember what it had felt like, to be fussed over so much and loved and taken care of without the shadow of death behind every word and movement.

Sasuke went on. As he got close to the river he could see where the kids had come from: a little playground that was now deserted, except for one blond boy sitting on the swings. He looked up at Sasuke's approach, and Sasuke felt for a moment that he was looking into a mirror, seeing his own worn-out face looking back at him.

He realized a second later that it was Naruto.

Sasuke looked away, embarrassed. So that was why the parents had made their kids leave the playground early; most people had always avoided Naruto the way they avoided Sasuke and Itachi now. Sasuke had never cared why before - he had only ignored Naruto because he was annoying - but he suddenly had a little sympathy for Naruto, who was irritating but not worse than plenty of other kids, and hadn't murdered anyone that Sasuke knew of.

He stopped and looked back, and Naruto grinned a little and waved at him. Sasuke nodded back, and walked on to the river.

Only a faint red glow remained on the horizon when Sasuke decided it was time to go back. He was exhausted from practicing, and if he stayed any later, Itachi would be worried at him, which was unbearable.

But when he returned to the apartment and silently slid open the door, there was no response; Itachi must have gone on a mission. Breathing out in relief, Sasuke went in and found a covered dish full of cold noodles on the table. He investigated further; there were three more bowls of different things in the fridge, a little paper envelope with money in it under the rice cooker, and lots of cup ramen and instant miso and rice in the cupboards. On a hunch, he checked between the miso and the bag of rice, and found a note: Sorry, Sasuke, I'm going to be away for a while on a long assignment. There should be enough food for you until I get back, but in case you need anything, please ask Anko-san and she'll help.

Sasuke made a face at that. Mitarashi Anko lived in the apartment under theirs; she was, if possible, louder and more obnoxious than Naruto, but Itachi seemed to like her for some reason. She even ate with them sometimes, though mostly when she'd run out of money for takeout.

The note had only one more line: Do your homework and be careful. Itachi.

Sasuke crumpled it up, threw it away, and sat down to eat. He doubted that Itachi would really be gone all that long - Itachi always finished his missions quickly - but Sasuke planned to enjoy having the place to himself while it lasted. At least he could relax for a little bit, he thought, and steadfastly ignored the apartment's oppressive silence.

Four days later, Sasuke was - not worried, precisely, but slightly concerned. There was still plenty of food, but it wasn't like Itachi to take so long on a mission, and the apartment's emptiness was starting to feel less like freedom and more like a trap, almost as bad as when Itachi was there.

He went down to the river after school, thinking he might practice the fireball jutsu again, but when he got there he didn't feel like practicing anything; he sat on the bank instead and made grass-whistles. Itachi had played them for him when he was little, but it was Mother who'd shown him how to make them himself...

A pebble hit the ground next to him and bounced into the river, and Sasuke looked around. Naruto was standing on top of the bank with his usual silly grin and another rock in his hand. "Sorry," he said, "I was aiming for your head, yanno."

"Don't apologize for not hitting me, stupid," said Sasuke, getting up. "What do you want?"

"Well, I was kinda thinkin'," Naruto said. "You aren't doing anything right now, right? I thought maybe we could, yanno, train together or something..."

"Why would I want to train with you?" Sasuke said. "You're totally hopeless..." But he was tempted anyway; if nothing else he could put off going back to the apartment for a while longer, and even if Naruto was hopeless, it could be fun, or at least funny to watch him fail at everything.

"I'm not hopeless!" Naruto insisted. "I'm going to be Hokage one day, just watch!"

"Whatever," Sasuke said, turning away and shrugging. "Are you going to come train or not?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto yelled, and jumped down the bank to follow him.

They ended up at the training grounds on the other side of the river, which were usually empty in the afternoons. Sasuke set up the targets for shuriken practice and went first. As usual, he hit every one dead in the center; unable to resist showing off, he threw the last shuriken from a spinning jump and still got a perfect hit. He pulled the shuriken out and looked to see if Naruto was impressed.

Naruto grinned at him and said, "Whatever, I can totally do that!" He grabbed a handful of shuriken and started hurling them at the targets.

Sasuke ducked behind a tree and waited for him to run out of shuriken.

When he finally stopped throwing, Sasuke risked a look. Shuriken were scattered in the grass, stuck in the trees, almost anywhere but where Naruto had been aiming. One lone straggler had hit a target, but only on the edge.

"So - you want to be Hokage," Sasuke said. "Maybe you should try for something realistic, like ramen cook."

Naruto scowled at him. "I can do this!" he said, picking up one of the closer shuriken and preparing to throw it again.

"Wait," Sasuke said, grabbing his arm to stop him, "wait, seriously - you're never going to hit anything if you hold it like that. Niisan showed me - you have to stand right, like this, and grip it like this - not that tight..."

By the time it got too dark to practice, Naruto could hit the targets more often than not, and even get close to the center. "Haha! I told you I could do it," he bragged while Sasuke was collecting the shuriken. "I'm awesome, yanno!"

"Only because I helped," Sasuke said, but not too harshly; it had been fun to practice with someone for a change, and for being a total loser Naruto had worked pretty hard.

Naruto hopped on a log and watched him. "So, it was your brother who showed you how to throw like that, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, wishing he hadn't mentioned that. He put one foot on the tree in front him to brace himself as he tried to pull out one of the shuriken; Naruto's aim was awful, but there was a lot of power behind his throws.

"Your brother must be pretty cool," said Naruto, sounding wistful. "Wish I had a cool brother like that..."

"He's not," Sasuke said, and yanked the shuriken out.

"Huh?"

"He's not cool," Sasuke said. He went to the next target.

"But he taught you stuff, right?" Naruto asked. "Hey, he's that Itachi guy, isn't he? I heard he was really tough and awesome..."

Sasuke whirled around and glared at him. "He's evil, you dumbass," he snapped. "He murdered our whole family and your precious Hokage let him get away with it!"

Naruto stared back, shocked; then he started to grin again, although even in the dim light it looked forced. "Haha, good one," he said, "you had me going there. There's no way the Hokage would do something like -"

Sasuke reached back, pulled a shuriken out of the target, and aimed. It thunked into the log by Naruto's hand and shut him up. "You believed the Hokage's stupid story, didn't you?" he said. "About the missing-nin who came back to kill the Uchiha... It's a lie. There was someone else there, but it was Itachi, he did it. I saw him -" He stopped, turned away - he didn't want to talk about it, not with anyone, definitely not with stupid Naruto who didn't know anything, who couldn't possibly understand.

He heard Naruto slide off the log and take a step toward him. "Hey, that's awful," Naruto said. "Did you tell the Hokage that part? If he knew he'd have to do something!"

Why wouldn't Naruto just shut up and stay shut up? "The Hokage already knows!" Sasuke yelled. "He knows, and he still told everyone that stupid story and I still have to live with my brother like nothing happened and I -" He slammed his fist into the side of the target and then leaned against it, suddenly bone-weary from more than the practice. "I just don't get it," he said. "Why would the Hokage let him stay in Konoha? Are they waiting to see when he'll kill me, too? I don't understand..."

He wished he hadn't said all that. He was just angry and tired and he didn't know what he meant and he hadn't wanted to talk about it with Naruto at all. He wanted to go home and he couldn't and he never could again, and it was the worst.

For a minute they were both quiet. Then Naruto said, "Sasuke - hey, Sasuke, it's okay, all right? I got a plan."

"So," Sasuke said, "your plan is - camping."

"Nah, that's just for tonight," said Naruto, adjusting his backpack. From the look of it, it was full of nothing but cup ramen. "The weather's great, and I know this really nice spot - you gotta sneak out past the wall but I'm super good at that, I do it all the time. It'll be awesome, just wait!"

"And the plan?" Sasuke asked, as Naruto handed him a second, heavier pack.

"Oh yeah - well, that's awesome, too," Naruto said, grinning from ear to ear. "You can just stay with me! I got my own place, there's enough room for both of us, and if anyone tries to fight us about it we'll beat 'em up. Yeah! Just like that!"

Sasuke stared at Naruto as he struck what he apparently thought was a heroic pose, and then he started to laugh. "That - that's the most ridiculous plan ever," he said, trying to hold the laughter back. "Seriously, just ridiculous - no one's going to let two kids live on their own..."

"Hey, don't knock my great plan," Naruto said, and punched him in the arm in a friendly sort of way. "It's the best, just wait and see. C'mon, the sooner we get started the sooner we can make dinner!"

Naruto was right for once; they got past the wall without getting caught, and the secret camping spot was amazing - a quiet pool in the river created by a great jut of rock, which kept off some of the wind without stopping the breeze entirely, and also made a great look-out point. The weather was clear and comfortably cool, showing no signs of changing, and the moon was bright...

Even Naruto's snoring on the other side of the dying campfire couldn't ruin Sasuke's good mood. He'd never hung out with someone like this before, but he thought that he liked it, and Naruto's plan was starting to seem pretty good after all. Well, he might want to kill Naruto a couple of times a day, if they both didn't die of ramen overdose first, but even that sounded sort of like fun.

Something boomed off to the south, startling Sasuke upright. His first thought was thunder, but that didn't make any sense. Naruto rolled over, mumbling something about fishcakes, and Sasuke heard two more booms, sharper and definitely not thunder.

He scrambled up and kicked dirt over the fire's embers, and whispered, "Naruto! Get up!"

"Huhwha?"

"I think someone's attacking Konoha," Sasuke said, keeping his voice down. "Listen..."

" 's just thunder," Naruto said, yawning, and he rubbed at his eyes.

Somewhere closer there was a cracking explosion and a scream, and Naruto jumped up and looked around frantically. "Crap! Someone's attacking!"

Sasuke would've rolled his eyes, but this was too serious; he hissed, "Ssh! Stay quiet - we've got to get back into the village before someone finds us."

But Naruto had already taken off - towards the explosions to the south. Sasuke ran after him and grabbed his arm. "What do you think you're doing?" he said, forgetting about staying quiet. "You'll just get yourself killed if you try to fight!"

Naruto glared at him. "I'm going to protect Konoha, of course," he said stubbornly. "That's what the Hokage does!" And he took off again.

"You're not Hokage yet!" Sasuke yelled, following him. "At least wait up and we can both fight -"

They weren't even halfway to the main gate when two kunai thudded into the ground in front of them. Sasuke saw paper fluttering from their handles, grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt, pulled him back and dragged him down just as the explosive tags went off. "Holy crap!" Naruto said.

"Told you this was a bad idea," said Sasuke, reaching for his kunai pouch and scanning the area. "Stay low..." He didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean anything... There, to his left, where the exploding kunai had come from - a shadow that was just slightly the wrong shape for a tree; Sasuke drew, threw, drew another kunai before Naruto could say more than "Hey -"

The shadow stepped into the moonlight, twirling Sasuke's kunai around one finger. "Just a couple of brats, I see," the shadow said in a deep, unfamiliar voice, and he flipped the kunai back at Sasuke, who barely dodged in time. "How boring..." In the moonlight Sasuke could see his forehead protector, the symbol on it scratched out too deeply to identify.

"We're not brats, you jerk!" Naruto shouted, proving the enemy's point fairly well. "I'll show you -"

He got up, clearly intending to charge right in, and Sasuke held him back. "Don't just run at him, dumbass," he said, "we've got to think this through," though all he could think of right now was to run.

"Pretty brave, for a brat," said the shadow, taking a step closer, while Sasuke tried to come up with a plan that would keep him and Naruto alive. "It's almost going to be a shame, killing you both and -"

Black fire blossomed from the enemy's head and he screamed, throwing himself to the ground and clawing at the flames. Sasuke and Naruto recoiled as one.

Another shadow dropped to the ground beside them. Sasuke instinctively ducked away from it, too, then froze as it turned to him and he recognized the pinwheel sharingan.

"Sasuke! Are you hurt?" Itachi asked. He put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and glanced back at the burning man, and the black flames vanished, leaving the enemy in a scorched, groaning heap. He looked back to Sasuke and Sasuke saw the pinwheels shrink into regular tomoe, then fade entirely. "You little - I was worried about you," Itachi said, and poked Sasuke's forehead. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? When I got back and you weren't there, I -"

Sasuke stepped back, away from Itachi's hand, and muttered " 'm fine."

"Ah, good," Itachi said.

If he meant to say anything more, he didn't get the chance; Naruto popped up beside Sasuke, saying, "Hey, hey! So you're Sasuke's brother, huh?"

"Yes," said Itachi, giving Naruto an unreadable look. "And you're Uzumaki Naruto-kun, aren't you? What are you doing out here with my little brother?"

"Nothing," Sasuke said, at the same time that Naruto said, "Camping!"

"Mmm," Itachi said. "And whose wonderful idea was this?"

"Mine!" Naruto said, gesturing as he spoke. "Me and Sasuke are friends now, yanno! He's gonna stay with me and we're gonna train together and be the best shinobi ever and it'll be awesome, so there!"

Itachi said, "I see," and Sasuke's half-raised hopes crumbled. "Well, that's a nice idea, but you should go home. I'm sure someone's worried about you by now... Sasuke, I'll take you home, too, it's too dangerous out here."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, whose whole body was radiating misery at his plan's quick failure, and at once he was more furious than he was scared. He reached over and took Naruto's hand, and said, "No - I'm staying over at Naruto's."

The surprised joy on Naruto's face was totally worth the embarrassment and possible death to come. For an endless moment Itachi said nothing; then, with a hint of exasperation, he said, "All right, just as long as you two get back inside the wall before -"

Just then Anko jumped down from the trees with someone in an ANBU uniform in tow, shouting, "Itachi! There's another squad of them at the main gate with more explosives!"

"Understood," Itachi said. "Gekka, take care of that one," he told the ANBU member, indicating the enemy nin, who was trying to bury his still-smoking head in the grass. "Morino will want to talk to him. Anko-san, would you please take my brother and Naruto-kun back to Konoha?"

"Got it," Anko said cheerfully, and she took hold of both of their shoulders. "C'mon, kids, let's get out of the war zone, yeah?"

Sasuke reluctantly upped his opinion of her when she didn't try to make Sasuke go back to the apartment; she just made sure he and Naruto were safely inside the village, then took off back to the fight. Naruto looked after her longingly, but even he wasn't dumb enough to suggest trying to fight again, especially not when he was yawning already, and they went straight back to Naruto's apartment.

Naruto's place wasn't all that big, but to Sasuke it still seemed pretty spacious for one kid, and there was enough room for a sleeping mat for Sasuke on the floor, which was the important part. He was exhausted, and the thought of getting up for school in the morning was horrifying. Maybe if they were lucky, school would be canceled because of the attack...

Naruto apparently couldn't sleep yet; after two minutes of rolling around on his bed, he said, "Hey, so that was your brother, huh? I can see how he's scary - but still, he was kinda cool out there."

"Shut up," said Sasuke.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Naruto said, and was quiet for maybe a whole thirty seconds before said, "Hey, Sasuke..."

"What?" Sasuke said, rolling over and trying to glare up at him without actually opening his eyes.

"Thanks," said Naruto, grinning. "For stayin' over and - stuff. It's the first time I've ever had a friend over, yanno? So thanks."

"Just go to sleep already," Sasuke said, rolling back over, but he smiled a little into his pillow.

Someone kept knocking on the door. Why didn't Itachi just answer it already? Sasuke wasn't ready to get up yet, even if it was probably time for school.

"Mmm - fi' more minutes," someone mumbled next to him, and Sasuke's eyes shot open. He wasn't at home, he was at Naruto's, and that meant -

The patient knocking continued. Sasuke heard Naruto get up, still mumbling something, and as strongly as he willed Naruto not to answer it he heard the door open. "Sorry to wake you, Naruto-kun," came Itachi's voice, and Sasuke's hands clenched into fists, "but I came to pick up Sasuke... Isn't it almost time for school to start?"

Sasuke could have cried. Even here he couldn't get away from Itachi. He was never going to get away.

"Huh?" said Naruto sleepily, and then said, "Hey! Hey, wait - no way, I know about you!"

No no no, Sasuke thought, don't say it, Naruto...

"Sasuke told me what happened!" Naruto said, and Sasuke cursed inwardly. "You killed all the other Uchiha, he told me about it - there's no way I'm letting him go with you! I told you yesterday, Sasuke's gonna stay with me, so he'll be safe from you!"

He'll kill us both, thought Sasuke numbly, but he couldn't move. He had to get Naruto out of here, they had to get away, but he couldn't make himself move...

Itachi said, "Ahh. Well, what if I made you a promise?"

"Huh? What kind of promise?" Naruto asked, sounding suspicious.

"Hmm - an older brother's promise," Itachi said. "I promise that I'm not going to hurt Sasuke, all right? I just want to protect him, like you."

Don't trust him, Naruto, Sasuke thought desperately, and Naruto said, "Hmm - hmmmmm..."

"Well, you can make up your mind later - I have to go report to headquarters," Itachi said. "Make sure you both go to school, okay?"

Sasuke heard him step away, Naruto closing the door and walking back through the kitchen, and he was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Naruto said, "Awww crap!"

Finally Sasuke could move, exploding out of bed and reaching for the kunai. "What's wrong?"

"We're gonna be so late!"

They were late, and Iruka-sensei made them both stay after school, which was monstrously unfair; if anyone was at fault, Sasuke tried to point out, it was the enemy nin for attacking the village, though presumably their punishment was being dead or in questioning. Iruka-sensei was immune to this logic, and Sasuke was stuck washing blackboards with Naruto until Iruka finally decided to let them go.

Itachi was waiting for them at the school gates. Sasuke looked down and away from him - of course Itachi would wait for them, especially after the attack last night - but Naruto's jaw dropped. "Ahhh! It's you again! Dude, Sasuke, your brother's a total stalker!"

"I'm just here to pick up my little brother," Itachi said. He almost sounded amused. "Isn't that normal?"

"How would I know, huh?" Naruto said, scowling at him. "Anyway, I haven't made up my mind yet! You're pretty suspicious, yanno?"

"Really?" Itachi asked, and Sasuke shivered.

He couldn't let Naruto do this anymore, it wasn't fair; Naruto shouldn't get hurt because Sasuke was a coward who kept running away. He took a step away from Naruto and towards Itachi and said, "Just drop it, Naruto. It's fine. Go home."

Naruto's face fell. "But - Sasuke, yanno," he said "that's kind of - it doesn't seem right -"

"I said it's fine, stupid," Sasuke said, and reached over to punch Naruto's arm as if that could make it true. "We'll train together tomorrow, all right?"

He waited for Itachi to reject this plan, too, but all Itachi said was, "That sounds like a good idea - and you can come over for dinner afterwards, if you'd like."

"Well - okay, I guess," said Naruto, looking back and forth between them. "Sasuke? You sure?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, and turned away. "See you tomorrow."

Back at the apartment, Sasuke worked on his homework while Itachi made dinner and read Sasuke's report cards; the same routine as ever for the last six months, when Itachi wasn't away. Sasuke would rather have burned the report cards, but Itachi always got them first.

Usually Itachi would say something about how he was proud of Sasuke's grades and how smart Sasuke was, just as expected of an Uchiha, which made Sasuke want to crawl in a hole and never come out. Tonight he said instead, "So you've made friends with Uzumaki Naruto? I'm glad - he seems like a good kid."

Sasuke stared down at the next problem, but the words didn't make any sense, and some of them were red.

"Top grades in everything again," said Itachi, stirring a pot of boiling noodles. "Very good - you'll graduate in no time if -"

"If you hurt Naruto, I'll kill you," Sasuke said, looking up from his homework and directly at Itachi.

Itachi looked surprised. "Why would I -" He stopped there to take the noodles off the stove, and said, "Don't worry, Sasuke. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could seriously hurt Naruto-kun..." He came and sat down next to Sasuke, and reached out to mess up his hair. "And," he said, "I certainly don't want to."

Sasuke flinched away from Itachi's hand, and Itachi let it drop. He got up and went back to the stove, saying, "Hmm - maybe we should invite Anko-san for dinner, I think I made too much again..."

If he had to put up with Anko hanging around and making tasteless jokes, Sasuke thought he might actually explode with rage, and then Itachi would kill him. "No."

"All right," Itachi said. "Actually, it's better to have more leftovers, I guess... Sorry, Sasuke, I'm going to be gone for a while again. Since I left the mission early, I have to go back out and finish it."

As fantastic as this news was, Sasuke was confused. "But you always finish your missions," he said.

"I found information about the attack," Itachi said, "so I had to come back and make sure you were safe... Sasuke, I'm glad you have a friend, but at least hang out with him inside Konoha, all right?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Sasuke." He could feel Itachi looking at him, waiting for a reply. "Please, promise me you won't go outside the wall again."

Sasuke had started writing the answer to the next homework problem, and now the point of his pencil snapped. He looked at the paper and saw that instead of the answer, he had written stop just stop, because he was a coward and he couldn't say it to Itachi, he couldn't tell him stop pretending that I don't know, stop pretending you care; as bad as things were, they could always get worse.

Itachi sighed. "Just be careful," he said, "especially while I'm gone."

"Mmm," said Sasuke, a sound that could mean anything, and he tasted blood in his mouth.

Chapter Text

Itachi had been away for a week, back for two days, and then he'd left again. Sasuke was getting tired of reheated noodles and instant miso and the apartment's endless silence. He'd stayed over at Naruto's twice already; that helped, a little, but he didn't dare stay there too much, partly because he didn't want to wear out his welcome (not that Naruto seemed to be complaining), and partly for fear of what Itachi would do if he didn't find Sasuke at home again.

So in the apartment Sasuke stayed, most of the time, and by the fourth day of Itachi's latest absence he could hardly stand it. He couldn't even concentrate on homework, and was thinking of giving up and going to practice taijutsu with Naruto when he heard bells chime outside, and then a soft knock at the door.

Sasuke got up to answer it, then hesitated. Anko and Naruto would always burst in without knocking, and no one else visited them; he thought of Itachi saying just be careful, especially while I'm gone, and sat down again. Whoever it was, they could leave a note or something.

There was another knock, a little louder, and Sasuke tensed up.

When the door exploded open, he was out of sight behind Itachi's bedroom door and breathing silently, the way he had learned at school.

"Oh dear," a strangely dry, cracking voice said, "it seems that someone doesn't want to meet us. Come out, little Uchiha, come out..."

"This is supposed to be a reconnaissance mission," said a second voice, which sounded like a young man's. "Please don't draw attention to us and waste our time on your own business; the host obviously isn't here."

"It's just a little side-trip, Sasori," the dry voice said. Sasuke heard footsteps in the main room and wished desperately that he hadn't left his kunai pouch out there. "We won't be long. I only want to talk, Uchiha - you don't have to hide."

It would be worse to wait and be found than to act. He kept one hand behind his back as if he had a weapon there, slid open the door, and looked through it. "What do you want?" he said.

There were two of them that he could see, both in long black coats with a pattern of red clouds, and wearing conical straw hats that hid their faces. Somehow, only being outnumbered two-to-one didn't make him feel any better; he couldn't even count on the noise bringing someone to investigate, since both of the apartments beside theirs were empty.

The taller of the pair tipped his hat up slightly to reveal a pale, square chin and colorless lips. "Only the younger brother, I see," he sighed. "What a pity - I was so looking forward to meeting the renowned Itachi..."

"Orochimaru," said the other one, who had to be Sasori. "That's enough. We came to locate the host, not - play."

"There's no need to rush, Sasori," said Orochimaru, taking a step towards Sasuke and leaning over, so that Sasuke could see that under the hat he had a snake's eyes, golden and unblinking. "This one will still be useful, I'm sure - won't you, Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke clenched his fist behind his back and said again, "What do you want?"

"Itachi," Orochimaru said, and smiled, sending a shudder down Sasuke's back. "Where is he?"

"He's not here," Sasuke said. He realized that his hand on the door was shaking and stuck it in his pocket, trying to look casual about it and keeping his face perfectly still, even when he felt the edge of a shuriken slice his fingers.

Orochimaru said, "You don't have to lie to protect him, Sasuke-kun. I only want to - see him."

Sasuke was suddenly much less afraid of Orochimaru, since he was stupid enough to think that Sasuke would stick up for Itachi, and he said, "I'm not protecting him. He's on a mission, I don't know anything about it. Who are you?"

"Ah, what a pity indeed," Orochimaru said, ignoring Sasuke's question. He straightened up, looming again, and Sasuke shrank back a little, his fingers tightening around the shuriken. "It's Itachi that I really want..."

"Enough - let's go," Sasori said, stepping up beside Orochimaru and a fraction in front of him. "I told you, we don't have time for your little games. Itachi isn't here, and we need to find the host."

"You're in far too much of a hurry, Sasori," said Orochimaru, not moving. "Itachi would be preferable, but still - I do like to start with them young..."

Everything exploded into motion at once: Orochimaru's tongue lashing out, impossibly long, and Sasuke pinning it with the shuriken before he could realize what it was just as Sasori grabbed Orochimaru's arm and smoke boiled up from the floor.

Smoke? But I didn't have any smoke bombs, Sasuke thought as he slammed the door shut and dropped to the floor, and then he heard a familiar voice saying, "Sorry to drop in and spoil your fun - Orochimaru-sensei. Oh, shuriken got your tongue?"

Sasuke groaned in his soul. Of all people... He would almost rather not be rescued at all.

There was an unpleasant tearing noise, and then Orochimaru said, sounding pleased, "Anko - it's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Not long enough, probably," Anko said, and for once she sounded serious; staying down, Sasuke moved back to the door and slid it open just enough to peek through. He could only see a sliver of the scene, but it looked like Anko was behind Orochimaru with a kunai at his throat. Sasori was out of his sight entirely. "What did you come back here for, Orochimaru?"

"Just a little sight-seeing trip," Orochimaru said, and glanced down, directly into Sasuke's eyes. "To see how dear old Konoha is doing..."

He hissed as the kunai dug into his throat, and Anko said, "Nice try - want to go again? I know what that coat means, so tell me - what the hell do you think you're doing in my friend's apartment?"

"So cute, Anko," said Orochimaru. "I almost regret throwing you away - if only you had been a little stronger, like Itachi."

He dissolved into mud and Anko leaped back, out of Sasuke's range of vision.

Sasuke scrambled up, forgetting he was unarmed, and threw open the door. He saw snakes twined around Anko's arm, ready to strike across the main room at Orochimaru, who was half-melted into the wall over the kitchen sink; Sasori had retreated to the door, still staying out of the action, although his hat had gotten knocked off and Sasuke could see that he looked rather ordinary, though even younger than Sasuke would have guessed. Now he said, sounding less detached, "That's it - we're leaving, Orochimaru."

The doorway sprouted branches that wrapped around him, and an unfamiliar woman's voice said, "Not just yet, I think. You haven't answered a single question that I've heard..."

"Nice timing, Kurenai," said Anko, grinning, and her snakes sprang and caught Orochimaru's arms, holding him in place. "Now we'll get some answers out of you two... Hey, Sasuke, do us a favor and go outside to play, yeah? Itachi'll kill me if he finds out you got mixed up in this."

Orochimaru laughed at that, an unpleasantly harsh sound, and Sasuke said, "No, I want to know, too." He sounded a lot tougher than he felt, but he was sick of being lied to and shuffled off as if he were still just a child. These people knew Itachi; they might know something useful, something that could help Sasuke break free...

"I suppose I could leave you one little hint, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said, laughing again; the snakes binding him withered away as Anko cursed in pain, grabbing at her shoulder, and Sasori fell apart into a pile of lifeless puppet limbs. "Did you know? It could have been your dear brother in this coat, knocking on your door today."

Anko acted before Sasuke could take this in, hurling a storm of kunai at Orochimaru, but one of the puppet's arms leaped into the air and blocked every one.

Sasori rose from a corner of the main room, under his hat again. "No more playing around," he said, vanishing and reappearing beside Orochimaru. "Let's go. You can explain to the leader yourself why you haven't located the host..."

They disappeared.

"Damnit!" Anko said, taking a step to go after them, but she staggered, her hand going to her shoulder again. "Got to catch him..."

A dark-haired woman in a striped dress stepped out of the doorframe and went to her. "Not like this, you won't," she said, and made Anko sit down on a bit of non-muddy floor. "I alerted ANBU before I stepped in, they'll track him. Just rest."

"Thanks, Kurenai," Anko said. "But damnit, I thought I had him this time... Hey, Sasuke." Sasuke dragged his eyes away from the kitchen window that the two men had escaped through. "Sorry for the late arrival - you okay?"

Sasuke said, "Yeah," and stepped out of Itachi's room, shutting the door behind him.

"I think I'll go check with ANBU," said Kurenai. "See you later, Anko..." She went back out and away, leaving Anko and Sasuke alone.

"You knew those men," Sasuke said.

"Let's be fair, only one of them," Anko said, wincing as she stood up again, "and most days I wish I'd never met him. Today? Totally one of those days."

"But you know who they are, who they're working for," Sasuke persisted. "You know what that guy meant about Itachi, don't you? Tell me what he -"

"Hold it right there," said Anko, and she looked serious enough that Sasuke stopped. "I can't tell you that - it's classified information, it'd be more than both our lives are worth. But yeah, I know Orochimaru, and I can tell you right now that anything he said to you, he said for his benefit - not yours. Don't even bother listening to him, okay?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Orochimaru had been creepy and oozed untrustworthiness, but Sasuke thought that he'd been telling the truth, and he wasn't going to be put off by Anko, who was on Itachi's side anyway.

"All right, then," Anko said, "let's - oh crap, this place is a mess."

It was, Sasuke realized with dismay. The floor was covered in mud that was already drying, the pieces of the broken door had gotten mixed up with the puppet parts Sasori had left behind, someone had broken the table in half, and Sasuke couldn't even see what had happened to his homework. Itachi's gonna kill me, he thought, and then seriously, he's going to kill me...

"Um, so," Anko said, wearing a guilty grin, "if I help you clean this up, will you not tell Itachi this happened? He's gonna be pissed enough when he finds out those two were in Konoha..."

"Okay," Sasuke said, a little relieved not to be facing doom alone, but Orochimaru's final words kept racing through his head.

By the time the apartment looked presentable again, it was dark out and Sasuke was exhausted. He'd thought about going over to Naruto's to tell him about the men in coats so they could plan an investigation, but now he didn't have the energy; all he wanted was to eat cold noodles and finish his homework before the words stopped making sense. Anko had gone off to check with ANBU and Kurenai after the bulk of the work had been done, and the apartment was too quiet again.

He was working on the second-to-last problem when the new door slid half-open, and his hand went to his kunai pouch, his first thought that Orochimaru had come back; instead he saw Itachi leaning on the doorframe, saying "I'm home, Sasuke..."

Sasuke stared back down at his homework, keeping silent as usual, and then he heard a flat whump. He looked up.

Itachi was on the floor.

"Itachi?" Sasuke said, but there was no response. A cold feeling crept down Sasuke's back. "Itachi? Niisan?" and he hated the way his voice wavered, but he couldn't help it. This was wrong. Itachi was always fine when he came back, he never got hurt; Itachi being invulnerable was a fact of life, however much Sasuke hated it and wished that he would never come home and now Sasuke was wishing that he'd never made such a stupid wish. This was all wrong, not what he'd imagined at all.

He got up and went to Itachi. He could see that Itachi was still breathing, in thin whistling breaths, but his eyes were closed and his face was terribly pale and drawn. Sasuke reached out to shake him awake, felt dampness on Itachi's side, and drew back a hand stained with red.

Sasuke recoiled, and for one terrible moment felt the room around him grow dim and shaky; then it steadied, and he ran downstairs and pounded on Anko's door, shouting for her, forgetting that she had gone back to work.

She must have come back without him noticing, because the door opened and she was there, wearing a too-big shirt and a pair of pants with holes in the knees, and with a half-empty stick of dango in one hand. "Chill, chill, I'm here," she said. "What's the racket about?"

He saw the blood on his hand, still raised to keep knocking, and he felt faint again. "Niisan is," he said, fighting the tremor in his voice, "Niisan's hurt, please help, I can't -" He didn't know what to do, part of him was yelling that he should let Itachi die on the floor but even louder was the voice that shouted against it, the part of him screaming no, no, please not my brother too, please make him be all right, he has to be all right...

"Shit," Anko said, and took off upstairs. "That freakin' idiot! I'm going to kill him!"

Sasuke followed her, obscurely reassured by her anger. She was like Naruto, getting mad instead of worrying; as long as she was angry things probably weren't too bad.

When they got back to the apartment and Anko saw Itachi she said "Shit" again, but not as loudly, and Sasuke's little bit of comfort fled. Anko knelt down and checked Itachi over with the quick surety of experience, finding the blood on his side, and said, "Sasuke, help me get him into bed, okay? Then I'm going to get a medic for this stupid jerk." She slid her arm under Itachi and hefted him up onto her shoulder, and he made a little half-conscious pained noise; Sasuke hesitated, then ran to open the door to Itachi's room and turn the light on.

Anko shoved the table out of the way with one foot and got Itachi into his room and onto the bed, where she stripped off his ANBU vest and shirt to get a better look at the wound. Sasuke couldn't see past her, but whatever she saw made her hiss through her teeth and pull the blanket up to Itachi's shoulders; she turned, absent-mindedly licking blood off her fingers, and leaning down she rested her forehead against Itachi's and said quietly, "Jerk. You're so paying for this when you wake up."

She got up and said, "All right, I'm getting a medic, you stay with him - if he tries to move, stop him, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can."

No sooner had Sasuke nodded than she was gone, slamming the doors behind her.

Sasuke thought briefly about leaving Itachi and going to bed, but all of his earlier exhaustion had turned to nerves and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. Instead he sat by the door, fiddling with his kunai, and watched Itachi for signs of life.

He'd counted out four of the longest minutes of his life to date, listening to Itachi's labored breathing, when he saw Itachi open his eyes and blink against the overhead light, trying to focus. He started to push himself up and Sasuke said, "Anko said you have to stay in bed."

Itachi gave up the attempt and closed his eyes again. "Forgive me, Sasuke," he said. "I didn't mean to worry you..."

"I wasn't worried. I don't care what happens to you," Sasuke said, which was only partly a lie. For some reason it made Itachi smile; with some effort he sat up and beckoned Sasuke over.

Despite the feeling that it was the worst idea ever, Sasuke went. As he approached the bed he could see that Itachi's whole left side was scraped raw, almost to the muscles, and he swallowed, feeling a little sick. Distracted, he noticed too late that Itachi was lifting his hand and flinched as Itachi's fingers hit his forehead with the familiar tok.

Itachi opened his mouth to say Forgive me again and Sasuke said, "Don't," realizing he was trembling all over. "Don't act like - it's not the same, it's just a lie and I won't, I'll never forgive you, I never will -"

"All right," said Itachi, and yet he looped his arm over Sasuke's shoulders and leaned against him anyway. "You don't have to."

Sasuke wondered if it was possible to be a genius and really, really stupid at the same time. But he had said what he'd thought he didn't have the courage to say, and was still alive, and if that was because Itachi was stupid, then -

An idea flashed across his mind, quick as lightning, and just as quickly he shoved it down, afraid that Itachi would sense it. Later, he could think about it later.

"Sorry," Itachi said, his voice fading. "I thought it'd be easier this way - didn't trust him. Just want you safe..." His eyes closed again.

Sasuke carefully pushed him off and back into bed, pulling the blanket over him. Itachi didn't stir. Sasuke sat down by the bed, muttered, "Stupid brother," and pulled his suppressed idea back up for consideration.

He hadn't gotten very far into his thoughts when Anko burst back into the apartment with a grey-haired medical nin right behind her and threw him out of Itachi's room; he would've been mad, but after she shoved the medic in she came back out and flopped down next to him. "Sorry it took so long," she said, "half the staff's out on missions and the rest are doing double shifts, it was all I could do to grab an intern, seriously."

"Whatever," Sasuke said. He wished she'd leave so he could go back to planning in peace, but he didn't think that was going to happen.

"Well, aren't you the coldest little brat," said Anko. "And for a minute there earlier I thought you might actually care about your big brother... Yeah, yeah, I know better," she said when Sasuke opened his mouth to protest. "You could still go a little easier on him, yanno? He's working his ass off for you and Konoha."

"You don't understand," Sasuke said, looking away from her so she wouldn't see his thoughts on his face and suspect anything.

"Nah, not really," she said, and he looked back to see her grinning. "Think about it anyway, okay? Watching the two of you mope around all the time is getting on my nerves."

"Mm," said Sasuke, and looked down as if he were thinking about it. He didn't mope, though. Neither did Itachi; Itachi never looked unhappy that Sasuke had noticed.

Itachi's door opened, and they both turned around at the same time and saw the medic, who looked intimidated by their combined stares. "Well? Spit it out already," Anko said.

"Ah, right," the medic said, adjusting his glasses. "The wound on his side looks worse than it actually is - I've cleaned and bandaged it already, it doesn't really need anything else. It might not even scar, but it's hard to say right now. What worries me is -"

"Right," Anko interrupted, "let's finish this in privacy, yeah?" and shepherded the medic back into Itachi's room, shutting the door again.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, went into his room, and put his ear against the wall.

"- never seen it on this level before," the medic was saying. "Amazing he made it back - the chakra is only just beginning to replenish itself. With rest he should be back up to his normal levels in a few days, but I'd like to keep an eye on him to be sure..."

"Mmm," Anko said. "I'll tell the people who need to know and you keep your mouth shut about this, got it?"

"Of course, Mitarashi-san," the medic said, and Sasuke realized that, for no immediately apparent reason, he didn't like the man at all. "Just let me know when the bandage needs changing and such. Ah, he's waking up - I have a sedative -"

"No, wait," said Anko. "I need to talk to him - go on back to the hospital, I'll call you if I need you. Hey, there."

Sasuke could barely make out Itachi saying, "Anko-san..."

"You dumbass," Anko said, biting off the end of the word. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop going out alone? What am I supposed to do, tie a chuunin to you?"

"More people - too noticeable," said Itachi, his voice still hardly audible. "- safer this way..."

"Safer for who? You're a wreck, even Sasuke was worried - Danzo's just trying to get you killed, yanno?" Sasuke started at the familiar name and made a note of it for his plans. "Stop letting him, damnit. I'll pick a team for you if you're too lazy to do it, but you are not going back out there by yourself."

"Thank you, Anko-san," Itachi said, and something else, too softly for Sasuke to catch.

"Yeah, yeah," Anko said, her voice a little softer, too. "Go to sleep, jerk, and if I see you at work tomorrow I'm gonna skin you alive, got it?"

Sasuke pulled away from the wall, not wanting to hear any more of Anko's idea of sweet nothings, and went back into the main room only to find the medical nin still there, messing with his kit. He looked up and Sasuke felt a sudden chill; then the medic smiled, and he looked perfectly harmless again. "Sorry, just packing up," he said. "Don't worry, I think your big brother is going to be fine..."

Sasuke almost said I wasn't worried - he was sick of people thinking that - but he bit the words back and nodded. He would have to be careful with what he said from now on.

The medic picked up his kit and left, and a moment later Anko came out of Itachi's room, closing the door quietly instead of slamming it like usual. "I am so done for the night," she announced to the room at large. "Think you can handle the rest from here, Sasuke?"

"Yeah," he said, and she left, and the apartment was silent again; a welcome silence, this time.

Sasuke sat down to finish his homework. He had a lot to do before tomorrow.

In the morning Sasuke waited at the school gates for Naruto, despite the risk of dire lateness. Naruto failed to disappoint this one time and showed up a minute and thirty-two seconds before they had to be at their desks. "Morning, Sasuke!" he said. "Hey, guess what I heard yesterday! I heard -"

"Not now," Sasuke said, despite a certain curiosity. "Meet me after school's out, I have something really big to tell you. And don't get detention, I'm not waiting for your slow ass."

"Sure, sure," Naruto said, and then they had to dash for the classroom before they could be marked late and both get detention. Sasuke slid into his seat just in time, and so did Naruto, who grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. Sasuke ignored him.

Today at the front of the room with Iruka was a second teacher, a grey-haired man whom Sasuke vaguely recalled teaching a few genjutsu lessons - Mizuki, that was his name. He hadn't been very memorable. After Iruka had taken attendance, Mizuki said, "Good morning, class! Before we get started, I have a couple of important announcements I have to make. The first is that some suspicious people have been seen in Konoha recently. If you see anyone wearing a black coat with a red-and-white cloud pattern -"

Sasuke froze.

"- don't approach them! Find an ANBU member as soon as you can and tell them where you saw that person. If they talk to you and ask you any questions, lie! You should also be careful not to walk around alone; stick with your friends as much as possible, and don't go anywhere that looks deserted. Everybody understand?"

"Yes, sensei," the class chorused; Sasuke tried to relax, telling himself it didn't mean anything, of course the village would want everyone to be on alert.

"Great," said Mizuki. "The other announcement is that starting today, every class will have extra lessons, and -"

A mass of protests drowned him out; the entire class appeared to be infuriated at the idea. The boy who sat in front of Sasuke said, "Geh, what a pain in the ass. That's going to cut way into your snack time, too, Chouji."

The fat kid next to him looked troubled and said, "Yeah, but you know, maybe it's because -" Sasuke couldn't hear the rest over a pink-haired girl yelling, "What do you mean your stalking time, you pig?"

Iruka slammed one hand down on the teacher's desk and shouted, "Shut up, all of you!"

The class quieted down, and Iruka said, "This isn't a punishment. You've all noticed lately, haven't you? How busy your parents and families are, and how hard everyone's working... There's a lot going on outside of Konoha, and it's more important than ever that all of us, students included, do everything you can to help. Which means -" He gave Naruto a particular glare. "- no goofing around! You all need to work hard to graduate and become great shinobi of the Leaf, got it?"

"Yes, sensei!" the class said, most of the students sounding much more enthusiastic. Sasuke's response was half-hearted; he was busy working the new information into his plan. It had sounded bad at first, but maybe it was exactly what he and Naruto needed...

At the end of the lengthened day, when he was about to leave with Naruto, Iruka and a pair of vaguely familiar chuunin stopped them both. "Hey, you two - you need to be especially careful," Iruka said. "Don't ask why, Naruto!" Naruto shut his mouth, looking sullen. "Just be careful, and don't ditch your chuunin and go wandering around alone."

Sasuke tensed up - there was no way he could talk to Naruto properly with a couple of chuunin babysitting them - but Naruto just grinned and said, "Hah, whatever! Just try and catch me!" and took off.

The chuunin sighed and ran after him. "Hoi, Naruto! Get back here!" Iruka yelled, and looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, could you please knock some sense into that brat?"

Sasuke shrugged, said "Probably not," and went after Naruto.

Two streets over, he saw the chuunin pause to look around for Naruto. He did a quick clone jutsu, then, keeping one a copy of himself, turned the other into Naruto and sent them both to run past the chuunin and split up.

He met up with the real Naruto again at one of Naruto's favorite spots, a flat place in the hair of the Fourth Hokage's monument; between the extra lessons and escaping the chuunin, most of the afternoon was gone and the sun was getting low, but Naruto was as full of energy as ever. "Hey, hey, can I tell you what I heard now?" he said, and Sasuke nodded. Better to get it out of the way first. "Okay, so I heard there was this big fight outside of Konoha yesterday! The chuunin were talking about it - no one got killed, I think, but some of those ANBU people got really hurt. Do you think it was those cloud-coat guys Mizuki-sensei talked about? I bet it was!"

"Mm, probably," Sasuke said. It would make sense, though he had a feeling no one had died only because the one called Sasori had been in such a hurry to get away.

"I don't think the chuunin wanted me to hear about it," said Naruto, "but one of them was like, 'I heard they were after the Kyuubi brat,' and the other one was all, 'They should've just asked, then,' and then they saw me and wouldn't talk about it anymore. Hey, do you know what they meant?"

"No," Sasuke said, equally puzzled. "The Kyuubi's sealed, but I don't know where... I did hear Sasori say they were looking for 'the host,' but who'd be dumb enough to seal something like the Kyuubi in a person?"

"Huh," Naruto said, looking thoughtful; then he jumped up and exclaimed, "Wait, Sasori? Who's Sasori? Did you actually run into those coat guys?"

Sasuke said, "Yeah," and told him everything that had happened the day before, even about Itachi, although he left out the really embarrassing bits.

Naruto listened to it all, barely fidgeting, and when Sasuke finished he said, "Holy crap, that's wild. So like, do you think your brother got hurt fighting those guys, or what?"

"I don't think so," Sasuke said, considering it. "Neither of them looked like they had a weapon that could do something like that... But I bet it's all connected - Sasori and Orochimaru and what Orochimaru said, and whatever happened to Itachi on his mission, and why he killed our family, and that Danzo guy, and just - all of it. And," he said decisively, "I'm sick of not knowing. I'm going to find out what the hell is going on, and then -" He had to stop there because he didn't know yet what he was going to do then, besides kill Itachi, which he didn't think Naruto wanted to hear.

Naruto looked impressed anyway. "Wow, cool," he said. "I can help, right? I'm totally great at finding stuff out, I wanna help!"

"Why do you think I told you, dumbass? Of course I'm going to need your help," Sasuke said, and Naruto practically glowed. "I didn't know you had chuunin watching you, though..." Having to hide stuff from them could make things more difficult.

Naruto's face clouded over slightly as he said, "Oh, them. Yeah, there's a bunch of 'em that take turns, they're supposed to make sure I eat breakfast and don't get in trouble and junk like that, since I don't have parents... But they're not like actual parents or anything, I can ditch them really easily! So I can still investigate, right, right?"

"Sure," Sasuke said, after a moment's thought; the chuunin sounded annoying, but he and Naruto could probably work around them, maybe even use them. "It doesn't really matter about them yet, anyway. The main thing we have to do first is graduate, so we have more chances to investigate and better access to information."

"Huh, so - it's actually good we're going to get extra lessons at school, yeah?" Naruto asked, though he didn't look too happy at the prospect.

"Yeah, but we're going to have to work hard outside of school, too," Sasuke said. "We need to to be strong enough to handle guys like Orochimaru and Sasori and whoever fought Itachi, and we might have to qualify to enter ANBU, too, to get into their records."

"ANBU - those're the ones with the masks, right?" Naruto said doubtfully, leaning back against the cliff-face. "I dunno, that's not really my style..."

"Okay, you can concentrate on something else, like getting information from other villages," Sasuke said, trying not to roll his eyes. "I'll take the ANBU stuff - it'll be easier for me anyway, because of Itachi. And -" He hesitated for a moment, looking out across Konoha; he hated this part of the plan, but he couldn't see any way around it. "There's one more big thing I have to do, too... You can do it if you want, but you don't have to."

"Sure, I'll totally do it," Naruto said instantly, and Sasuke felt a little twinge of guilt. "What is it, huh?"

Sasuke told him.

When Sasuke opened the apartment door he was only a little bit surprised to see that Itachi had dragged himself out of bed and was sitting at the table with a pot of tea. Sasuke shut the door and said, "You're supposed to be resting."

"I was," Itachi said. "But I felt like some tea..."

Tea seemed like a terrible reason to get out of bed when you were badly injured, but Sasuke didn't want to argue the point. He leaned back against the door and looked off to the side, thinking, and then said suddenly, "I'll make dinner. You should go back to bed."

Itachi looked startled by this grudging offer, and then ridiculously happy. "All right," he said. "Welcome home, Sasuke."

"Yeah," Sasuke said, looking away.

Later Anko came up with a bag of medical supplies she'd snagged somewhere, and she and Sasuke changed Itachi's bandages together. He had fallen asleep at the table before Sasuke had started making dinner; Sasuke had left him there while he cooked, unsure of how to move him without waking him up, but he barely stirred even as Anko peeled the dressing off the wound, which looked worse than Sasuke remembered, oozing and bubbly. Anko didn't look disturbed at all. She just said, "Cut off some strips of gauze for me and get out the roll of bandages, okay?" Sasuke did, and she set to work.

Before she could cover the wound completely Sasuke leaned in to get a closer look, morbidly fascinated by the mess, and saw a strange little mark at the edge, just under Itachi's shoulderblade. It looked a little like a sharingan pattern, but it was too mixed up with the chewed-up skin to make out clearly.

Anko stuck a strip of gauze on top of it and said, "Get your nose out of there before you give him an infection, idiot," and Sasuke sat back hastily. Anko took the roll of bandages out of his hands and started wrapping them around Itachi's chest to keep the gauze on. Sasuke helped by holding Itachi's arms up and out of the way, which felt weird, like Itachi was an oversized puppet.

Anko finished wrapping and said, "Okay, I've got him from here - I can't believe he got up just to make tea. Genius my ass." But she was smiling as she said it. "Thanks for the help, Sasuke. It means a lot to him, yanno?"

(Naruto had looked a little sick. "I know he's evil and stuff, okay," he'd said, "but like, it sounds really bad to just say how awesome it is your brother got hurt like that. Really, really bad."

"Sorry," Sasuke had said, but he hadn't meant it. "It's still the best opening we're going to get. He's already willing to believe me, I think, and some other people, too...")

Anko came back from putting Itachi to bed, startling Sasuke out of the memory. "I have work tonight, so you're on your own unless you can get hold of Kurenai or someone," she said. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will be," said Sasuke, and this time he did mean it.

Chapter Text

Not as many people came to the graduation ceremony as Sasuke had expected, but it made sense when he thought about it. There had been attacks almost every month for the last two and a half years - mostly little raids that would do focused damage somewhere before the attacking nin withdrew - and anyone who wasn't patrolling or on guard duty was working to keep the village in repair. At the same time, Konoha was so swamped with mission requests that even the teachers were getting sent out, and they'd had to combine several of the classes that were at the same level just to keep from canceling lessons.

Fewer people were coming back from missions, too. Sasuke tried not to think about that very much.

Itachi was at the ceremony anyway. Sasuke hadn't asked him to come, exactly, but he'd made sure Itachi knew when it was, which was just as good. Seeing Itachi in the crowd was still strange, though; it reminded him of when he had entered the academy, only switched around and more painful than he had thought it would be. Still, it was better than no one coming - or not graduating at all, like Naruto, who was stuck watching the ceremony from the swing in the yard.

After it was over, Sasuke went to him first and said, "Sorry." They had been training together almost every day, sometimes with Itachi's help, but it hadn't been enough; Naruto was getting better, but his grades were still too low for him to graduate early. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was because he was a bad teacher, or if Naruto really was just hopeless.

"'S fine," said Naruto, and kicked at the ground. "It's not your fault, yanno. I'll totally knock 'em dead next time, just wait... Yo, Itachi."

Sasuke turned, instinctively taking a step back towards Naruto, and saw that Itachi had followed him over. "Congratulations, Sasuke," he said. "Graduating at eleven - I'm so proud of you... Naruto-kun, I'm sure you'll make it next time, you've been working very hard lately."

"Yeah, I totally will!" Naruto said, cheering up a little. "I mean, I almost passed this time! Mizuki-sensei was gonna let me, but stupid Iruka-sensei was all picky about my clone jutsu... At least it stood up this time, right, Sasuke?"

"Yes, but it looked like a ghost," Sasuke said.

"A ghost clone could be totally useful! Like, I could pretend to be dead, and -"

"Yes, I see," Itachi said, and only Sasuke noticed that he was suppressing a smile. "Well, you're welcome to come over later for dinner and we can practice..."

"Sure," Naruto said, "then I can show you my awesome new jutsu too! It's so great it almost knocked out Iruka-sensei!"

"No," Sasuke said. "You're not showing my brother that useless crap."

Itachi said, "I'm looking forward to seeing it," as if he didn't have enough experience with Naruto's terrible ideas by now to know better, and Naruto grinned. "I think one of the teachers is looking for you, though..."

Sasuke looked over at the little crowd of new genin and family, and saw Mizuki approaching them. "Okay - see you later, Sasuke!" Naruto said, and went to talk to Mizuki.

Itachi was determined to make a fancy dinner to celebrate Sasuke's graduation, and dragged Sasuke through the whole market to get ingredients. Most of the shopkeepers wouldn't talk to Itachi except to name a price when something wasn't labeled and to give totals; by the time they were done Sasuke was seething with rage and didn't care who noticed. No one else had a right to treat his brother like that, they didn't even know what he'd done, they were just being jerks and Itachi let them get away with it.

Maybe he hadn't even noticed; as soon as they got home, he started sorting out what needed to cook right away and what could wait, planning out what sounded like an entire five-course meal. Sasuke briefly considered the possibility of dying from an overdose of domesticity, but Itachi was a really good cook when he put his mind to it, so it was probably worthwhile to live a bit longer; Naruto and Anko could eat a five-course meal each, anyway. And when Naruto came over they could go practice before dinner and work out what to do about Naruto not graduating...

But it got later and later and Naruto still hadn't shown up. Sasuke wondered if maybe he'd been more disappointed than he'd let on, but even disappointed, Naruto wasn't the type to miss out on free food, and Sasuke began to worry as he watched the clock.

Itachi seemed worried, too, but that might have been because he thought Anko was ruining her appetite with dango. "I'm almost done," he was saying, while Sasuke fidgeted with his new forehead protector. "And I made appetizers, they're right there -"

"Rice balls? Nah, thanks," Anko said, popping another dango in her mouth. "I told you, I have a separate stomach for dango, quit worrying."

Someone knocked on the door, providing a welcome interruption; Sasuke jumped up to answer it, but Itachi abandoned the stove and stopped him. Sasuke grudgingly sat back down, taking one of the rice balls from the plate on the table, and Itachi opened the door.

"Captain, it's an emergency," said the person outside; Sasuke recognized the voice as one of Itachi's new team members, a woman called Uzuki. He tried to edge a little closer to the door to hear what the emergency was - it might be another raid, though they should've heard the noise by now if it were - but Anko blocked him. All he could catch was Uzuki leaning inside to whisper into Itachi's ear; whatever she said made Itachi flinch and glance over at Sasuke, but he only said, "I'm on it. Where are the others?"

"Yoshimoto's on call tonight and can't leave the hospital," Uzuki said, "and I called Sei first, she's talking to the chuunin who were on duty."

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked. The secrecy made him suspect the men in black coats - even after two years of subtle digging, he hadn't been able to find out anymore about them - and if Naruto was out there where they could find him...

"It'll be all right, Sasuke," Itachi said, going back to the stove and turning it off and not looking at Sasuke at all. "Everything's done - you two should go ahead and eat, I'll be back later..."

"Oh, like hell," Anko said, getting up. "I'm going too, if it's this big."

"There's no need, Anko-san, it's your day off," said Itachi.

"It's yours too, don't think that you're going to -"

Without turning around Itachi made a hand signal that Sasuke didn't recognize, and Anko paused, then sat back down. "You're gonna pay," she said, but with less bloodthirsty enthusiasm than usual. "Don't take too long or I'll kill you."

Sasuke bit his lip to stop from asking what was going on again, since it was obvious no one was going to tell him, and said, "Yeah, don't let the food get cold."

Itachi did turn, then, and tried to smile at Sasuke, but it wasn't very convincing; "I'll try not to," he said, and he left with Uzuki.

Anko got up again, this time to check on the food on the stove and say, "Crap. I don't even remember what this is - where does your brother keep the serving things, anyway?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and went to help her; as they got the food sorted out onto plates, he asked casually, "What's the emergency, anyway? It's not those guys in coats again, is it?"

"Akatsuki?" Anko said, and Sasuke filed the name away with grim triumph. "Nah, it's - it's just a village problem. Which you don't have to worry about yet, baby genin."

"I do too," Sasuke said irritably, and sat down to eat. "Just because I'm a new genin doesn't mean I can't help protect the village..."

Anko sat across from him, already halfway through her plate, and said, "It does this time. Eat your vegetables, or I will."

Sasuke ate the vegetables and waited for Itachi to get back.

Eventually the food got cold, so they had to wrap it up and try to cram it all in the fridge, which wasn't really big enough for that many leftovers. Almost all of their store of dishes were dirty, too; for once Anko didn't weasel out and helped wash them, which almost made Sasuke start worrying again, except she wouldn't put any away. She claimed that she didn't know where they went, even though Sasuke could have told her, and sat around watching him clean up instead and told him horror stories about her early genin missions, most of which Sasuke didn't believe.

She stuck around for a while after the dishes were done and tried teaching Sasuke how to play a dice game she'd learned on a mission, but neither of them could concentrate on it; Sasuke didn't see the point of games that didn't help you practice real skills, anyway. When Anko finally left, he sat against the wall that faced their rooms and read the guidelines for registering as a new shinobi, over and over, because they would stop making sense and then he would realize that he'd accidentally skipped a line and have to start over.

He wasn't waiting up for Itachi, that would be dumb. He needed to study a little more, that was all, he wasn't tired or anything...

A soft noise startled him awake, and he blinked at the diffuse morning light filling the apartment. Damn, he ached all over - he should've just gone to bed... He covered up a yawn, looked for the source of the noise, and saw that Itachi had just come in and was taking off his shoes.

"Hey," Sasuke said; Itachi looked up, and Sasuke was struck, not for the first time, by how exhausted Itachi looked. He'd looked a little tired all the time for as long as Sasuke could remember - it was just the way his face was - but it seemed worse lately. One night's lost sleep shouldn't wear out an experienced shinobi like Itachi.

"Good morning," Itachi said, interrupting Sasuke's train of thought. "Sorry I couldn't make it back earlier - was everything all right here?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, hiding another yawn. "I only stayed up to study - what was the emergency?"

Even tired, he couldn't miss that Itachi hesitated before saying, "It was a false alarm. Sasuke, you should get some rest, you have a lot to do later."

Sasuke said "Fine," and got up, stretching, but instead of going to his room he decided to take a chance and said, "I wish Dad could've come to graduation."

"He and Mother would have been proud of you," said Itachi, barely hesitating at all this time. "They always expected a lot of you, and they wouldn't be disappointed."

Sasuke thought, I'll kill you. It was nearly an automatic reflex by now, running through his mind without really registering, and no trace of it showed on his face. It was always the same when he took a chance and brought up their family; Itachi didn't say they were pathetic or anything bad about them, didn't get defensive, wouldn't say anything except stuff about how they'd be proud of Sasuke or whatever. It was sickening.

Sasuke said "Mm," looking down, and was taking a step towards his room when Itachi said, "Sasuke, about Naruto..."

"What about him?" Sasuke said, looking back at Itachi, his heart beating a little faster. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine," Itachi said. "But maybe you should try to be a little nicer to him..."

"I am nice to him," Sasuke protested, "he's just annoying." Had there been a pause before "nicer," as if Itachi had started to say something else? But Sasuke couldn't immediately think of what else Itachi might want to say about Naruto. He was probably over-thinking it because he was tired; he felt like he hadn't slept at all.

Itachi just said, "Right, right," and waved Sasuke off toward his room. Sasuke went, and fell asleep the moment he collapsed into bed.

When Sasuke finally managed to track Naruto down late that afternoon, he couldn't see why Itachi had been concerned; Naruto looked as energetic and obnoxious as ever, maybe even more so because of the slightly battered forehead protector he had gotten somewhere. Sasuke stole the seat next to him at the ramen shop - didn't Naruto ever eat anything else? - and said, "Hey, dumbass, where'd you steal that?"

Naruto jumped, gulped down a mouthful of noodles, and said, "I didn't! Iruka-sensei gave it to me because I graduated, yanno? I learned this totally awesome jutsu all by myself and sensei said that was enough and gave me his headband! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Huh," Sasuke said. "Really?" Naruto nodded and scooped up another clump of noodles. "That'll make things easier, I guess... At least, as long as we can get on the same team."

"We totally can!" Naruto said. "And we'll go on lots of important missions and find out about your brother and everything! We'll be the best team ever, yeah?"

"Yeah," said Sasuke. He started checking his money to see if he had enough for a bowl of ramen - he hadn't had anything to eat yet, and he was here anyway - when he noticed that Naruto had stopped eating.

"Hey, Sasuke," he said, sounding a little less confident than usual, "yanno, about that host thing..."

"What about it?" Sasuke asked. After Sasori and Orochimaru's visit they had tried to find out more about the possibility of the Kyuubi being sealed in a human host, but had given up quickly; none of the scrolls they could access had any information, and the adults, who despised Naruto, became even more hateful if either of them mentioned the Kyuubi, even in passing.

Naruto swirled the few remaining noodles in his ramen around and said, "Well - if, um, if it turned out the Kyuubi really was in a person - would you be scared of them? That person?"

"Why would I be?" Sasuke said, and asked the owner for a bowl of ramen with tomatoes. "Dumbass - pay attention in class sometimes. Just because the Kyuubi's sealed in a person doesn't make it not sealed. They would probably be mostly normal, except for having a lot of chakra... Anyway, the Fourth Hokage was a master of seals, he wouldn't put a leaky seal on something like the Kyuubi. And definitely not if he were sealing it in a person."

The girl who worked in the store handed Sasuke his ramen, and he paused for a moment to split a pair of chopsticks, then asked, "Did you find out who the host is, then? There was some kind of emergency last night and Itachi got called in - was it about them?"

"Nah, nothing like that," Naruto said, smiling a little too widely. "I was just thinking about it, yanno! In case we ever find out who it is."

Sasuke let it drop. If Naruto had discovered something he'd let it spill eventually, but trying to force anything out of him was pointless. They had more immediate worries, like the team assignments being given out the next day.

Sasuke had come up with a couple of contingency plans in case he and Naruto ended up on different teams after all. He was especially proud of the codes he'd worked out that were simple enough for Naruto to remember but would still be tough to crack; it was almost disappointing to hear a strangely battered-looking Iruka call both their names and assign them to Team Seven along with Haruno Sakura. Things would be easier this way, though. Maybe he could use the codes for something else...

Naruto hopped down from his seat to grab the empty one on Sasuke's left, stretched, and said, "Haha, we're super lucky! We get to be on the same team with the cutest girl in class - totally awesome!"

"Don't get distracted," Sasuke muttered, and winced as a bright-eyed, pink-haired girl shoved her way to the seat on his right.

"Sasuke-kun!" she said; he could almost hear the sparkles in her voice. "Isn't this wonderful? We can finally be together! Ah, I mean - on a team, not - you know - well..." She blushed.

Sasuke slouched deeper into his chair and tried to ignore Naruto's frantic whispers about switching places.

"It's too bad we're stuck with that totally useless Naruto," Sakura went on, "but -"

"He's not useless," Sasuke said loudly, and Naruto and Sakura's jaws both dropped. He felt ridiculous the second it was out of his mouth, since he called Naruto useless at least twice a day, but that wasn't the same. The girl didn't know them or train with them; she didn't know how hard Naruto worked trying to keep up with Sasuke, or that he let Sasuke stay over whenever he couldn't stand sharing an apartment with his brother for another second, and it didn't matter if Naruto was a terrible ninja, he wasn't useless.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, biting her lip, but she shot Naruto a glare that could have killed a jounin. Naruto didn't seem to notice; he was grinning in a way that Sasuke knew meant he'd never live down admitting that Naruto was useful. Damn. He looked to the front of the classroom to see if their team leader had shown up yet, but Iruka was the only one down there. All of the other teams had already left.

Naruto leaned over the desk and yelled, "Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei! Where's our team leader, huh?"

"He must be running a little late," said Iruka, who looked a bit worried. "I've got classes to teach - just hold on, I'm sure he'll be here soon..."

He left, and the members of Team Seven were on their own.

They waited for what felt like hours. It would have been bad enough waiting just with Naruto, who couldn't shut up about his cool new jutsu (which actually did sound useful, for a change), but the pink-haired girl fawning over Sasuke was a whole new level of irritating. He would rather have been stuck in a room with Anko, who at least could have taught them something.

Either out of pity or because he really was interested in Sakura for some reason, Naruto started trying to distract her by making a human pyramid out of his shadow clones. It half-worked; she was frowning at him as she said to Sasuke, "He really doesn't know how to behave, does he? I guess it's because he doesn't have any parents... Still, he's lucky! My parents are so annoying, they're always nagging me about eating enough and homework and -"

"Shut up," Sasuke said, filled with a sudden vicious hatred for her and her cheerful ignorance. "You don't know anything - just getting annoyed because your parents nag you, that's nothing, it's nothing like not having them. Just shut up!"

"Hey, Sasuke, Sakura-chan," said Naruto, precariously balanced on top of the clones' backs, "don't fight, okay? It's totally uncool for -"

The door behind him opened and the unsteady pyramid of clones collapsed in a burst of smoke, dumping Naruto on top of the unfortunate door-opener.

Sakura immediately started protesting - "It was Naruto's stupid idea! I didn't have anything to do with it, I was just talking with Sasuke-kun!" - while Sasuke could only stare in unhappy recognition at the jounin who was standing up with a struggling Naruto dangling from one hand.

"Hmm - my first impression of you all," said Kakashi, "is that - I don't like you."

Chapter Text

By the next morning, the dislike was mutual on Sasuke's part. The pointless self-introductions had been bad enough - at least Kakashi didn't seem to have recognized him, though he'd had to lie about his dreams and say he wanted to join ANBU, like his brother - but being ordered to skip breakfast for a crappy test was even worse.

Listening to Kakashi explain it wasn't helping, either. "- and if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't have a chance," the jounin said. "Now, when I say 'start' -"

Sasuke stomped on Naruto's foot before he could charge in ahead of time and hissed, "Just follow me, I'll come up with a plan." Naruto nodded, glancing over at Sakura for some reason.

Kakashi reached for a pouch and Sasuke tensed, but all he pulled out was a book with a weird cover, which he opened as he said, "All right - start."

Sasuke darted for a small clump of trees on one side of the training grounds, then slipped into a big stand of bushes a few yards away without stirring a leaf; through the branches he could even get a good view of Kakashi, who didn't seem to have moved from the center of the cleared area.

He turned around to make sure that Naruto had kept up with him, and saw that Naruto had - but also that he'd grabbed Sakura and dragged her along with him. Naruto looked immensely pleased with himself; Sasuke could have killed him. He settled for finding a spot where he could watch Kakashi and glare at Naruto at the same time, and whispered, "What did you bring her for?"

The girl's face fell. "I didn't want to go with stupid Naruto," she said - at least she was keeping her voice down - "I just - I only wanted to come help Sasuke-kun, you don't have to be so mean. I - I just want to help..."

She sounded like she was about to cry, and now Naruto was glaring back at Sasuke. "Sakura-chan's part of the team, too," he said, "we can't ignore her! You aren't even trying to get along!"

"Okay, sorry," Sasuke muttered, though he wasn't. "Just keep it down so Kakashi doesn't find us. That guy's not just a jounin, he's former ANBU, so he's tougher than he looks -"

"Sasuke-kun, how do you know that?" asked Sakura.

"I've met him before," Sasuke said, and resolutely squashed the memories of that day trying to rise. "It doesn't matter when. Anyway, he's tough, so we'll need a good plan to get those bells."

"But there are only two," Sakura pointed out. "Even if we get both of them, one of us will still go hungry - and get sent back to the Academy..."

"I'll share my bento with you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said - strange, he usually guarded his food jealously.

"I don't want to share with a useless - with you! Anyway, I bet Kakashi-sensei would just say that it was against the rules..."

"No, it's a good idea," Sasuke said, thinking it over. "Working together's pointless if one of us is falling over with hunger. Anyone who gets a bell shares with whoever doesn't - just keep it hidden from Kakashi. If we all do a good job, maybe he'll change his mind about sending someone back... We just have to get the bells first." He hadn't seen Kakashi move yet, except to turn a page in his book, but it would be stupid to assume that he wasn't prepared for the team to attack.

"Actually," Sakura said, "I think I have an idea..."

A few minutes later Sakura sprang out of the bushes, running towards Kakashi and crying, "Sasuke, you big jerk! I'll show you!"

Kakashi looked up and said, "Hm?" Sakura's hands were full of kunai, and she began throwing them at the jounin - but every single one went wild, landing in the ground around him.

"I was expecting a bit more from one of the year's top students," Kakashi said, "but -"

Sakura dropped down and shouted, "Now!"

A crowd of Narutos burst out of the bushes behind her, all with something in their hands - clear wires, with the other ends tied to the kunai surrounding Kakashi.

Sasuke, who had transformed and hidden among the Naruto clones, felt a glow of pleasure at the smooth operation of the plan so far. While Naruto and his clones kept Kakashi tied up with the wires, Sasuke could sneak through the crowd and grab the bells from the -

- log. Damnit, the jounin had done a switching jutsu! He could be anywhere... Sasuke dropped the transformation, dodged away from the wire-wrapped log, and shouted, "Get out! Meet at the -"

"Not bad," Kakashi said from behind him, and Sasuke spun around and pulled a kunai. The clones had all vanished, and Sakura with them; Naruto should still be concealed in the trees that he'd moved to after making the clones, as long as Sakura could get back to him they would be fine. Sasuke just had to get through the jounin and rejoin them, and they could come up with another plan.

"I might even have to put this away," said Kakashi, snapping his weird book shut. He looked perfectly calm and composed; Sasuke wanted to punch that composure off his face, but held back, calculating the most useful moves he could make. "Let's see - Itachi's little brother, right? Seems like you've gotten a little too big to pick up and carry..."

Sasuke meant to stay calm. Losing your temper in battle was always a terrible idea. It made you careless, kept you from guarding yourself and thinking things through. Sasuke was good at keeping his emotions under control; he wouldn't have survived two years of living with Itachi otherwise.

He went straight for Kakashi's throat, forgetting the bells. He jumped up, twisted to avoid shuriken and drove the kunai into the side of Kakashi's neck, shoved off from the log Kakashi had switched with and reached for another kunai as he landed and looked for the jounin. You won't stand in my way, you bastard, I'll kill him and if you get in my way I'll kill you too -

Sasuke saw movement in the corner of his eye, ducked, and felt the kick pass just over his head. He thought briefly of grabbing Kakashi's leg and trying to pull him down, but he didn't have the strength for that yet; instead he rolled away and came up facing Kakashi, his hands already making a familiar set of seals.

He took a deep breath and spat fire at Kakashi.

He'd practiced the fireball jutsu more than any other technique, and the practice had paid off; the fireball was larger than he was, the flames white-hot as they burst around that bastard jounin.

"Your personality's about the same, though," Kakashi said, and even as Sasuke tried to reach for his shuriken he knew it was too late, Kakashi had both of his arms pinned and there was nothing he could do.

Then smoke covered everything; he heard a chorus of Narutos shouting out some ridiculous attack and Sakura's worried voice in his ear, whispering, "Sasuke-kun, come on, we've got to get out of here!" Kakashi's grip was gone, and Sasuke's head cleared enough to realize she was right. He ran for the trees with Sakura beside him and found the place they'd agreed to meet at earlier, a tree with particularly thick clusters of leaves and sturdy branches that also had a good line of sight to the training grounds.

Before Sasuke could catch his breath Naruto had appeared, bruised and grimy but triumphant. "Sasuke, Sakura-chan, didja see how cool I was?" he exclaimed. "I was so cool, for real! I mean, that jerk teacher got away from me but I was totally beating him, you saw that, right?"

Sasuke was suddenly very interested in watching the clearing, where Kakashi was now leaning against the monument and reopening his book, while Sakura said, "Um - well, you know, we couldn't really see you - because of the smoke bombs..."

Sasuke could almost hear Naruto wilting and said, "You did a good job, though," and added a grudging, "Thanks."

"Are you all right, Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura. He could sense her right behind him. "What did that jerk - I mean, Kakashi-sensei - what did he say? You looked so angry, I -"

"It doesn't matter, okay? Just leave it," Sasuke said, turning away from the gap in the leaves and swallowing the humiliating memories. He wasn't a child any more, he wasn't the same tiny, useless Sasuke who could get hauled off to the Hokage's office and lied to, and he wasn't going to let that bastard Kakashi get to him, he wasn't.

Sakura and Naruto still looked worried, and Sasuke forced himself to relax, even to smile a little, as unnatural as it felt. "Thanks," he said again. "For getting me out of there. Now we've got a better idea of how this guy fights, so we can come up with better plans..."

When the alarm clock rang at noon, the fledgling team had gone through two plans that Sasuke made, tried another plan of Sakura's, and spent a little too much time seriously considering Naruto's idea about sneaking around and stealing the bento. None of them had managed to do more than touch the bells in passing, and Sasuke thought, as they lined up in front of Kakashi, that they must be a pathetic sight.

Kakashi looked as unruffled as before, except for some light scorching at the ends of his grey hair; he put away his book again and said, "I'm actually rather impressed by you three. For a new genin team, you do a halfway decent job of working together, even knowing that not all of you are going to pass."

Naruto was glowing the way he always did at being praised, and Sakura smiled and glanced shyly over at Sasuke. Sasuke waited.

"I guess I'll have to give you all another chance after lunch," Kakashi continued. "But since I only brought two bento - Sakura, Naruto, dig in."

"What?" Sasuke said, while Sakura and Naruto stared in shock at the bento that had just been thrust into their hands.

"Wait, huh?" said Naruto. "But Sasuke's the one who -"

"Sasuke's the one who lost his temper, so he doesn't eat," Kakashi said.

Sakura and Naruto yelled, "But that's not fair!" at the same time, then glared at each other.

"There's no fair in war," said Kakashi, his voice harsh, "and the only fair here is what I tell you. A good shinobi keeps control of their emotions - the three of you ought to know that by now - and Sasuke put both of you at risk by losing that control. You're not playing around in the Academy anymore; if you're going to become a real team, you have to consider how your actions are going to affect all of you, or you're going to get each other killed."

Kakashi turned away from them, facing the monument. "Do you see the names carved here?" he asked. "These are all names of shinobi who are considered heroes of Konoha."

"Awesome!" Naruto said. "Heroes, huh - I wanna be on that monument! Yeah, I'll totally be a hero and get my name on there! Just wait and see!"

"It's only for a special kind of hero," said Kakashi.

"What kind, huh? What kind of heroes are they?"

"Dead ones," Kakashi said.

The enthusiasm drained out of Naruto's face, and he looked at the ground. Sasuke was no good at comforting gestures, but he edged a little closer and bumped his shoulder against Naruto's, glaring at Kakashi's back. It was irritating, defending Naruto as much as he had lately, but Sasuke had to stand by his only ally against Itachi, and for some reason seeing Naruto disappointed or upset was even more irritating.

Kakashi didn't turn around. "All of the shinobi on this monument died on missions for Konoha," he said. "My best friend's name is on here, too..." He looked back over his shoulder at Team Seven and said, "Like I said, you three have one more chance to pass after lunch - but if either of you share those bento with Sasuke, you'll all fail."

With that, he vanished and left the three genin on their own.

Sasuke sat down with his back to one of the posts by the memorial and resigned himself to fighting on an empty stomach; he couldn't let himself fail by breaking the rules of the test, no matter how good an idea it had seemed earlier.

"Aren't you going to have any, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. She was sitting a little too close to him, and Naruto was right beside her. "I thought we decided -"

"That was earlier," Sasuke said. Did he have to spell everything out for everyone? "We don't have to risk failing now while we've still got a chance. I'll be fine."

"Haha, yeah, whatever," Naruto said cheerfully, and shoved a clump of vegetables into Sasuke's mouth, nearly choking him. "There's no way I'm working with you when you're all hungry and cranky!"

"Naruto-kun, not like that!" Sakura said. "You have to be more gentle, like this - Sasuke-kun, say 'ah'!"

Sasuke swallowed the vegetables and said, "I can eat by myself, it's not like I'm tied up or something. Seriously, you two are annoying..." But for once he didn't mind; he couldn't sense Kakashi around, they were probably safe enough, and even if they weren't he couldn't help but feel a bit pleased at knowing that they were willing to risk failure to help him.

There were a couple of rice balls in Naruto's bento. Sasuke took one of them and was biting into it when he felt a burst of chakra, and Kakashi reappeared in front of them, shouting, "You three -"

Sasuke stuffed the rest of the rice ball in his mouth and tried to look as if he hadn't touched the bento.

"- pass!"

"Whmf?" Sasuke said, and for clarity Sakura added, "What? But - but you said we'd fail if we shared our lunches!"

Kakashi started talking again about teamwork and comrades, while Sasuke attempted to swallow the rice ball without choking to death on it. They had all passed, and because they'd cheated? This guy was weird... Whatever, it didn't matter, the important part was that none of them were getting sent back to school; he was one step closer to finding the truth, and no one was going to stop him.

The jounin ended his speech, saying, "Tomorrow, Team Seven starts its duties. Now, I've got to take care of some paperwork - we'll meet first thing in the morning at the missions office, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto yelled, jumping around and almost spilling his bento. "We're ninja, we're ninja, we made it, we're totally awesome!"

"Right," said Kakashi, looking bemused, and he disappeared again.

Even with Naruto's bouncing and Sakura's giddiness, it was the best lunch Sasuke had eaten in a long time. It was an unpleasant shock when, as they walked back into the village together, Itachi stepped out of the trees.

Sasuke shifted his position a little to guard both Sakura and Naruto, and saw that Sakura was looking starry-eyed again - but at Itachi, now. Maybe he was hallucinating.

"I heard that you passed Kakashi-san's bell test," Itachi said. "I think you're the first ones who ever have - congratulations."

"We were totally awesome!" said Naruto, jumping in front of Sasuke like an idiot. "We came up with all these plans, first we -"

"Yeah, we passed," Sasuke said before Naruto could get too involved in telling Itachi everything. "Why are you here?" Had he been watching them? Damnit, what if he suspected Sasuke?

"Since Naruto missed your graduation dinner, I thought I would invite him over again," Itachi said. "And your new teammate, too - Haruno Sakura, right?"

"Y-yes, that's me," Sakura said, and then she grabbed Sasuke and hissed in his ear, "You didn't mention that your brother was Itachi-san!"

Sasuke stared at her, while Naruto gleefully took over the conversation and started telling Itachi everything that had happened during the test. "We're the only two Uchiha in the village," he said, and managed not to add, because he killed all the others. "How could you not know?"

She frowned at him. "We didn't know his family name," she said, "everyone just calls him Itachi! And nobody would tell us anything and Ino-chan's dad wouldn't let her switch minds with anyone till after she graduated, and she still can't do it except on missions..." Her pout suddenly changed to a grin. "Oh wow, she's going to be so jealous - she's got a huge crush on him, she thinks he's so cool and handsome!"

"What?" Sasuke said.

"Don't worry, Sasuke-kun, I think you're way cooler," Sakura said, which wasn't what he was worried about. "We used to be rivals over you, but then Ino-chan saw him fight in one of the raids and now she's totally in love with him. Ooh, she's going to be so jealous when she finds out I get to eat Itachi-san's home cooking... I can't wait to rub it in her face tomorrow at the missions office!"

Sasuke edged away from her and wondered if all girls were like this, or if there was something about the shinobi life that attracted the scary obsessive type.

"- and then Kakashi-sensei showed up out of nowhere and I thought he was gonna fail us, but he said we passed!" Naruto was saying. "We're totally great, right, Itachi?"

But before Itachi could answer, there was a gigantic smashing sound from the direction of the hospital.

"Crap, it's a raid!" Naruto said. "C'mon, let's go!"

"I don't think so," said Itachi, catching Naruto by the jacket before he could dash off. "The procedure is for genin teams to go to the Academy and make sure the students are safe."

"But that's boring," Naruto said, "I wanna go fight the raiders! I'm a ninja now, I wanna fight! Please? Huh? Can I please come fight?"

"Quit pestering Itachi-san!" Sakura said, and kicked Naruto's ankles. "We'll go right away, sir! Um - can we still come over for dinner?"

Sasuke hoped for a "no," but Itachi said, "Of course, this will be finished by then. Good luck with your mission." He vanished.

Naruto turned to Sasuke and said, "Now's our chance, let's go and fight while -"

"Didn't you hear what Itachi-san said, we're supposed to go back to the Academy. Do you want us to get in trouble right after we've graduated? Sasuke-kun, you agree, right? We should do what your brother told us to do!"

"No way, Sasuke, you wanna go fight too, don't you? Let's go fight! Yeah!"

Sasuke wondered if it was too late to switch teams.

Two months later, Sasuke was mostly resigned to being stuck on Team Seven; it was the missions he was tired of. He was glad not to be wrestling giant snakes and kidnapping subjects for scientific research like in Anko's stories, but endless days of fixing damaged buildings, finding lost pets, and doing other people's chores wasn't what he'd planned on, either. Itachi said that everyone started off doing those kinds of missions; Sasuke didn't believe it, or at least not that Itachi had ever been stuck repairing the Academy's plumbing.

The pay was awful, too. Sasuke had been secretly hoping he'd be able to move out and live on his own, but that dream had died a quick death. Itachi made him put the money he did get into his savings.

Naruto was just as unhappy with the boring missions, and a lot louder about it. "No way, no more stupid chores!" he yelled at the Hokage, after Team Seven had turned in their report from the plumbing mission. "C'mon, give us a really cool mission! I want to do something awesome and cool, yanno!"

The Hokage's aide glared at them over the top of his round sunglasses and said, "You're doing appropriate missions for your rank and experience level."

"Whatever, they're totally crappy missions!" said Naruto. "I'm not just some brat anymore, I'm a ninja! I want a real mission!"

Sasuke nudged him with his foot and muttered, "They're not going to give us one if you act like that, you know."

"All right," the Hokage said, and even Kakashi looked surprised. "I think I've got a C-rank mission that'll be perfect..."

That was how Team Seven ended up on the road to the Land of Earth at a ridiculous hour of the morning, carrying a bag full of letters and scrolls. They'd already been traveling for a couple of hours, but the morning mist still hadn't burned off; chores were starting to sound better and better.

"There's no way this counts as a cool mission," Naruto said. "Carrying mail is totally uncool! And how come I have to carry the bag? It's really heavy, yanno!"

"You're the one who whined about getting a different mission, it's your fault," Sakura said. "Honestly... If you're going to complain the whole way, you should just go home! Then Sasuke-kun and I can be alone - um, I mean, we can do the mission by ourselves!"

"Cut it out, you two," said Kakashi. "Where's all that team spirit gotten to?"

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, but she didn't sound very sorry. The temporary alliance of the bells test had fallen apart rapidly; they all worked together well enough, but in between the action of missions Naruto and Sakura couldn't seem to stop bickering over everything, from Naruto's whining to who got to spend the most time with Sasuke to - well, Sasuke wasn't sure what else, because he usually stopped listening as soon as they started. He was relieved that Naruto had lost most of his interest in impressing Sakura and hadn't tried to make her part of the Itachi and Akatsuki investigation, but sometimes he sort of wanted to gag them both and leave them to die somewhere. Only sort of, though.

Nothing could make Naruto shut up for long; a minute later he was chattering about whether there might be good ramen shops in Iwa and the cute new girl from the Land of Water who had started working at Ichiraku a couple of weeks ago, as if anyone else cared.

Sasuke tried to walk a little faster, even getting a couple of steps in front of Kakashi, who wasn't really trying to stay in front. Even with the raids and skirmishes lately, the road to the Land of Earth was considered a safe route; their mission was only a C-rank because it involved leaving the village for more than a couple of days.

He saw a bridge over a small river just ahead, where the mist was thicker - maybe he could accidentally knock Naruto into the river and give them all a break.

Sasuke set foot on the bridge and froze. The silhouette against the moon. Blood on a katana, dripping. Black fire exploding from nothing and the reek of burning hair and skin...

"Get behind me!" Kakashi shouted, while Naruto and Sakura looked around, confused, and Sasuke couldn't move and couldn't move and couldn't move. "There's another jounin-level ninja -"

"Three useless brats and Sharingan Kakashi," said a harsh voice from nowhere, and even petrified by the killing aura Sasuke found he could think, What? But he's not Uchiha, there's no way... "Maybe this job's finally gotten interesting."

Kakashi shoved Sasuke down and a gigantic sword whirled over their heads, shearing through the ends of Sasuke's hair, and Sasuke still couldn't do anything, couldn't think of anything but that night and the feel of death waiting in the air.

The sword slammed into one of the posts at the foot of the bridge. A hand reached from the mist and pulled it out in one sharp motion, swinging it up to rest against a bare shoulder...

"Well, well," Kakashi said. "So this is where the Hidden Mist's favorite missing-nin has ended up - Momochi Zabuza."

Chapter Text

The name - not Itachi - broke through Sasuke's panic. He got to his feet and ducked behind Kakashi to cover Naruto and Sakura.

The missing-nin stepped the rest of the way out of the mist; everything about him looked intimidating, from his height to his muscles to his bandaged mouth and greyish skin, and Sasuke kept one hand over his shuriken pouch, considering different strategies. Maybe he could attack with Naruto and give Sakura a chance to lay traps - that might work, he just had to tell them somehow. He started to step back to whisper to Naruto and Kakashi snapped, "You three stay out of this! Guard the mail - I'll handle this one."

"Tough words," said Zabuza, and he struck with terrifying speed; his sword sliced through Kakashi's neck, the tip passing within an inch of Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke moved before thinking and disappeared into the trees by the riverbank, and only realized when he saw Naruto and Sakura beside him on the branch that he'd forgotten about them entirely. Disgusted with himself, he barely heard Sakura say, "He killed Sensei - we're doomed, there's no way -"

"No, look," Naruto whispered, "it was just a substitution!"

Sasuke looked and saw that Naruto was right; it was a beheaded log laying at the foot of the bridge, and Kakashi was perched safely on the bridge's railing. "So, what does bring you out here?" he asked Zabuza, who had landed on the ground where the team had been seconds earlier. "Ambushing travelers like a common bandit - that's a far cry from trying to take down the Mizukage."

Zabuza snorted. "A coup takes money," he said, "and I'm getting well-paid for this."

Naruto and Sakura were whispering furiously about whether or not they should go down and help Kakashi; Sasuke took them both by the shoulders and said, "Not without a plan. A good plan, Naruto." He didn't like Kakashi, but he wasn't going to stand by without fighting, not after humiliating himself by freezing the way he had earlier and then running. He had to think of something...

Below them, Kakashi was saying, "Now I'm really curious - what are you getting paid for, exactly?"

Sasuke saw the shape of a terrifying smile under Zabuza's bandages as he said, "For the heads of Konoha shinobi."

The river rose up in a tremendous wave that crashed over the bridge and swept Kakashi up before he could dodge; Sakura started, almost jumping out of the tree, but Sasuke held her back and kept watching, whispering an idea to her and Naruto. He hadn't seen Zabuza make a single seal, that couldn't be right... The wave curled around Kakashi, forming a bubble of water around him that floated just above the river, and another figure rose out of the water next to the bubble - another Zabuza?

The Zabuza on the river had his hand embedded in the water-bubble, where Kakashi was trapped; he laughed and said, "You didn't think I would be stupid enough to jump straight into a fight with the famous Copy Ninja, did you? You can stay put while the water clone takes care of your brats, and then we'll have a real fight."

Kakashi was frantically looking around for the team; he shouted through the water, "Get out of here! That kind of clone has a limited range, you can escape it if you run!"

The Zabuza on the ground - the clone - vanished, and from behind Sasuke that harsh voice said, "Found you..."

Sasuke yelled "Go!" and the three jumped apart an instant before the sword sliced through the branches they'd been sitting on. Sasuke twisted in mid-air and hurled shuriken at the clone - one solid hit, that was all he needed - but when he landed on the ground he saw that they'd all been deflected. Still, as long as Sasuke had gotten his attention... He didn't dare look around for Naruto or Sakura; he kept his eyes on the Zabuza in the tree, pulled out a kunai, and waited for Zabuza to make the next move.

"You're pretty bold for a kid," Zabuza said, hefting the sword back up onto his shoulder, "but that's not enough to make you a real ninja. At your age, I'd already killed over a hundred people..."

Sasuke watched him, trying not to blink. Kakashi was still yelling for the team to run, but Sasuke ignored him; this was what he and Naruto had trained for all this time, and he had no intention of losing to a clone of some guy who wasn't Itachi.

The clone leaped and vanished, and Sasuke dropped low to the ground and dodged left, felt the breeze from the sword's sweep blow through his hair. What a pain that thing was - at least it was keeping Zabuza from making seals. Sasuke turned on one foot and planted the kunai in the ground between the clone's feet, then jumped backwards, reaching for his shuriken.

The explosive tag he'd wrapped around the kunai went off in a burst of smoke, but the clone sprang out of the way and flung shuriken at Sasuke. Too many to dodge them all, but Sasuke was ready; he'd practiced this with Itachi, and shuriken flew from his hands to knock Zabuza's away. Two missed, landing at Zabuza's feet, and Sasuke switched with a log before Zabuza's shuriken could hit him and hid in a bush not far from the clone.

"That's a cute trick for a brat," Zabuza said, looking around for him. "Come out, and I'll make sure your death is -"

The tags on the shuriken exploded and the clone dissolved, splashing across the ground.

Sasuke waited for any signs of another clone, but didn't see one; maybe Zabuza needed too much chakra for the water prison to make any more clones. He ventured out of the bushes to see how Naruto and Sakura were doing with their part of the plan.

He'd missed the first part of it; Naruto had somehow made it to the other side of the river, behind Zabuza, and just as Sasuke left the bushes he threw a kunai at Zabuza's head, forcing him to pull his hand out of the water prison to dodge.

The kunai sliced into Zabuza's cheek, drawing blood; Zabuza lunged at Naruto with a giant shuriken and Sasuke ran, knowing he'd never make it in time but unable to stop himself, barely aware of Sakura screaming on the riverbank.

The shuriken came down - no no no, not Naruto too - and stopped short with a clang of metal.

"Sorry, Zabuza," Kakashi said, blood dripping down his hand, "but it looks like it's my turn now." He pushed up his forehead protector to reveal his left eye, and shock ran through Sasuke as he looked into the red iris of a sharingan.

He really does have it, Sasuke thought numbly, feeling a strange pull behind his own eyes. How can he -

"Clever plan those kids of yours came up with," said Zabuza. "Turning into a duplicate shuriken to hide in the blind spot of the real one so they could get behind me, and hiding the transformation with the shadow clones while the other one kept my clone distracted - not bad at all, for brats."

"Good work, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke," Kakashi said. "Now - will you please get out of here and let me deal with this?"

Sasuke was next to Sakura anyway; he took her hand and ran across the bridge, and was about to catch Naruto and hide when Naruto grabbed him instead and dragged him and Sakura both to a tree with a good view.

"Naruto, what are you thinking?" Sakura whispered. "We need to get out of here, like Sensei said!"

"But he might need our help again," Naruto said. "It's cool, I've still got the extra shadow clones hiding with the mail, I can switch out with one of them..."

"And what about me and Sasuke-kun?"

"Uh - well, yanno -"

"Just shut up, you two," Sasuke said, "this is fine." It probably would be smarter to get away from the two jounin, but he needed to see Kakashi fight with the sharingan. It had to be real, but how the hell had Kakashi gotten a sharingan eye? How could he be alive and have it?

The two jounin sprang apart as Sasuke watched, forming seals faster than Sasuke could follow, and twin waves rose up behind them. The waves rushed forward, twisting into elaborate dragon shapes and breaking against each other in a violent spray of foam without reaching either ninja; Zabuza cursed and began a new set of seals, and Kakashi looked like he was doing the same, except - no, there was something strange about -

"What's this sharingan thing, anyway?" Sakura asked, accidentally elbowing Sasuke as she tried to get a better view of the fight.

Before Sasuke could tell her that she was a total idiot for spending two months on a team with an Uchiha and not learning about the sharingan, Naruto jumped in. "It's this bloodline limit thing," he said, "it's super cool - your eyes turn red and you can read all your enemy's moves and copy their techniques and create illusions and stuff!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes - Naruto could remember that, but still couldn't pass a quiz on the most basic shinobi rules? - and said, "It only appears in the Uchiha clan, though. I don't know how he got it."

"Hmm," Sakura said; her elbow was still digging into Sasuke's side, and if it weren't too dangerous he would have shoved her out of the tree. "So, does Itachi-san -"

"Of course he does, now shut up," Sasuke hissed, and tried to pay attention to the battle again. He was going to miss the whole thing at this rate - he'd already missed something, the whole river was rising behind Kakashi while Zabuza raced through seals.

Not fast enough. The river crashed down on Zabuza and drove him into a tree in front of the team, who couldn't dodge in time to avoid getting soaked; Sasuke saw a glint of steel in the water, and when the river receded back into its banks, there were kunai through most of Zabuza's body, pinning him down.

Kakashi perched on a branch above him with another kunai in his hand, and Sasuke leaned forward, trying to listen.

Zabuza struggled to his feet, leaking blood, and growled, "How did you - can you read the future, you damn copy bastard?"

"Yeah," Kakashi said, "you're going to die."

Something silver flashed in front of Sasuke, and Zabuza collapsed.

Sasuke leaped and landed by Kakashi, drawing his last kunai; Sakura and Naruto flanked him, on guard against the new threat.

"It seems like your prediction was correct," said a calm voice, and Sasuke looked to see someone in a painted mask with Kiri's symbol on it land lightly on the branch the team had just abandoned.

Kakashi put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and said, "Stay here, you three," then jumped down to Zabuza's body and crouched to check it over. Sasuke could see needles sticking out of Zabuza's neck; those must have been the flash he'd seen before.

Sakura looked a little sick, and Sasuke couldn't blame her. "Is he - is he really -?" she whispered.

"He's dead," said Kakashi, standing up. "Neatly done - just what I'd expect of a Hidden Mist hunter."

"A what?" Naruto said. "Hey, hey, who the hell are you, anyway?"

"A hunter disposes of missing-nin to keep other villages from learning their secrets," Kakashi said. "It's a dangerous job - I'm surprised to see someone so young doing it. Well, we won't get in your way."

The hunter inclined their head and said, "Thank you" - Sasuke wasn't sure, but thought the voice sounded more like a boy's - and they vanished in a swirl of leaves, only to reappear by Zabuza's body. Damn, he was fast. The hunter knelt down and lifted the body onto his shoulders with only a little effort; he bowed and said, "If you'll please excuse me..."

"Ah, of course," Kakashi said, and in another swirl of leaves the hunter disappeared.

Naruto was the first to leap out of the tree; Sasuke and Sakura followed him down, and Sasuke winced at the squelching sound his sandals made. Kakashi was too sloppy. "Hey, hey, what the hell was all that about?" Naruto demanded. "Who was that kid?"

"She just killed him," Sakura said, her voice faint and shocked. "He was that strong, and she just killed him... She wasn't much older than we are!"

"Ah, well, I did soften him up first," said Kakashi, pulling his forehead protector back down over the sharingan. "But it's a sad truth that in this world, there are kids younger than you and stronger than I am."

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances; that was a lesson they already knew.

"Anyway," Kakashi said, starting for the road, "I think that hunter was a boy... maybe. But we've definitely wasted enough time on this - Naruto, get the mail back from wherever you hid it and let's -"

He fell over.

Even with the help of Naruto's clones, it took the team hours to drag Kakashi to Kawano, the village marked on the map as the next stopping-place, and Sasuke sort of wished that he hadn't shot down Sakura's idea of returning to Konoha. Going back meant giving up on the mission, though, and he couldn't stand the thought of giving up because of one snag.

The three stopped for a break just outside the village, keeping to the shelter of the forest, and the two remaining shadow clones disappeared immediately as Naruto flopped to the ground. "No... more," he groaned. "'m exhausted..."

Sakura didn't yell at him for whining, for once; they were all tired from hauling Kakashi through the woods, keeping off the main road in case there were other hostile shinobi in the area. She sat down next to the still-unconscious Kakashi and said, "We need a place to stay till Sensei's better... I don't know if we have the money for an inn, though."

Sasuke wanted nothing more than to collapse next to Naruto and never move again, but he forced himself to stay standing; he'd only feel worse if he rested now and then had to keep going. "One of us should go into town and see what's there," he said. "There might be a doctor we could stay with..." He didn't think Kakashi was badly injured, just suffering from chakra exhaustion, but he wasn't a medic and didn't know for sure, and it'd be a pain if Kakashi died.

The sun was low but not yet setting, and the village's streets were still busy with people shopping and merchants coming in, though not as many as Sasuke would have expected from a town on a major road. Although the team wasn't properly concealed, no one appeared to notice three genin and a knocked-out jounin in the forest's shadows; Sasuke was thinking about stepping out and asking one of the passers-by for help when a group of middle-aged women walked past and one, glancing into the forest, looked directly into his eyes and jumped.

"Hey, Saeko, you see something?" another woman in the group asked, as Sasuke ducked behind a tree and signaled for Naruto and Sakura to stay quiet.

"No, nothing," Saeko said. "I just realized I dropped something - you go on ahead, I've got to go look for it."

"Don't look too long," another woman said, "you know Yumi'll kill you if you're late!"

"Yeah, yeah - just get a move on," Saeko said.

Sasuke waited as the sounds of the group faded, and wasn't surprised when the woman who'd seen him pushed aside the screen of branches keeping the team out of sight. Her eyes widened when she saw the three of them and Kakashi, and she said, "What are you kids doing out here?"

"We're not kids," Naruto said, jumping to his feet, "we're ninja!"

"Yes, I noticed - even worse," Saeko said, and looked back over her shoulder nervously. "You can't stay here long, but if you take off your forehead protectors and keep it quiet my wife and I can hide you for the night..."

Naruto tugged on his forehead protector, looking rebellious; he was ridiculously attached to his gift from Iruka, and it would probably take a fight to get it off him unless there was a really good reason. Sasuke stepped up and said, "If it's dangerous to be a ninja around here, why would you help us?"

Saeko hesitated a moment before saying, "My younger sister's in the Konoha ANBU - if she were in trouble I'd want someone to help her, too. I can tell you more when we get home but we've got to get out of here - what's wrong with your teacher?"

"Overused the sharingan a bit, that's all," Kakashi said without opening his eyes, and the whole group jumped.

"Sensei! When did you wake up?" Sakura said, with an unspoken how long were you going to make us carry you? in her tone.

"Just a few minutes ago," said Kakashi. "Saeko-san, is it? Thank you for your kind offer, though I'm afraid we'll have to impose on you for a bit longer than a night."

"You can't," Saeko said, "it's not safe - there's a man, a missing-nin from Mist -"

"That Zabuza guy?" Naruto said, bouncing up and laughing. "Wow, auntie, you kinda had me worried, yanno? It's okay, he's dead, some hunter person killed him!"

Kakashi opened his eye and said, "I wouldn't be too sure of that."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'll explain later," Kakashi said, "but let's not discuss sensitive matters in the forest, all right? Take off your forehead protectors - yes, you too, Naruto - and someone give me a hand up, I think I can stagger the rest of the way..."

There was a lot more falling than staggering, but they managed to get Kakashi to Saeko's home, a small but well-kept house in the middle of Kawano. The front door opened as they reached it, and Sasuke's guard went up as a large woman appeared in the doorframe.

The woman shouted, "Saeko! What have I told you about being late for - who's this?"

"Sorry, Yumi," Saeko said, leaving Kakashi to be held up just by Naruto and Sakura and reaching out to pull the other woman into a quick kiss. "I ran into the kind of trouble I can't walk away from..."

She whispered something into Yumi's ear that Sasuke couldn't make out; Yumi looked the team over with a critical eye, and her expression softened a little. "All right, then," she said, "no need to stand on ceremony - c'mon in, dinner's already on the table and there's plenty for the lot of you."

Sasuke was still wary of the unexpected hospitality, but when the smells from the table in the main room hit him, it was hard to think of anything but how painfully hungry he was; Naruto and Sakura were practically drooling.

Saeko helped them settle Kakashi against one wall with a plate of food, and then made them go wash up. When the three of them came back in Sasuke saw two kids already at the table, a girl and a boy who both had Yumi's wide build and Saeko's green eyes. They looked about the same age, maybe nine or ten, and they were giving the newcomers identical suspicious looks.

"These're our kids, Yue and Ichirou," said Yumi as she managed to squeeze another bowl of rice onto the overloaded table. "Kids, this lot are ninja from Konoha like Aunt Hanako, so be polite or you'll regret it - go on, eat up!"

The food was nothing fancy, but it was delicious, and probably wasn't poisoned or drugged since the kids dug in without any hesitation, so Sasuke ate as much as he could. When he was halfway through a plate of curry, Sakura leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Hey, Sasuke-kun - don't you think it's a bit weird?"

Sasuke swallowed and whispered back, "Yeah. If they're that scared of Zabuza, why would they offer to help us at all? Saeko said she has a sister in ANBU, but we don't have any way of knowing if that's true."

"Um, I guess," Sakura said, "but I meant - they're two women living together, isn't that kind of - you know - isn't that weird?"

"No," Sasuke said, and took another bite of curry. "A couple of my aunts lived together - they were from branch families and never activated the sharingan, so it didn't matter." He hadn't thought of Aunt Rin and Aunt Mayu in a long time; Aunt Rin used to give him a free rice ball when he stopped by her stall, sometimes, and Aunt Mayu had had green eyes, which was unusual in an Uchiha - or maybe they had been blue eyes? He couldn't remember.

Of course, his brother had killed them with everyone else. They hadn't even been shinobi; they wouldn't have stood a chance against Itachi.

Suddenly he wasn't that hungry anymore, and he pushed his plate over towards Naruto. Sakura didn't seem to notice; she just said, "Hm," and went back to eating, occasionally giving Yumi and Saeko a thoughtful glance.

After dinner Yumi herded Yue and Ichirou into the kitchen to wash dishes with her, leaving the team alone with Saeko. Kakashi had stayed quiet through the meal, except to ask for more miso soup; now he said, "Saeko-san, we're grateful for you and your family's hospitality, but I'd like to check one thing - you said your sister is an ANBU member?"

"Yes," Saeko said, "but she hasn't been home in a couple of years, not since she made captain - if you know how ANBU works, then you ought to know I don't have any idea what she's doing or what name she's using."

"Of course," said Kakashi, "but I have to ask - is Ichirou named for her?"

That confused Sasuke; Ichirou was a boy's name, not a girl's. Saeko's reaction was strange, too; she clenched her fists and said, "If you think that makes her -"

"No, no, not at all," Kakashi said hastily, holding his hands up and almost falling over. "Just making sure it's the same woman... Well, I haven't been in ANBU for a while, but the last I heard your sister was doing fine."

Saeko relaxed a little; Sasuke still didn't get it, but he supposed this meant that Saeko was trustworthy, at least for now.

Naruto appeared to have given up on understanding, too. "Okay, but what about Zabuza, huh?" he said. "Is he dead or what?"

"Sensei, you said he was dead yourself," Sakura said. "If he isn't, then how -"

"The needles," Sasuke said. He'd thought about it over dinner, and it made the most sense. "Needles don't do a lot of damage, it's difficult to kill with them - but you can use them to put someone into a deathlike state."

"Very good, Sasuke," said Kakashi. "Of course, we can't be certain, but it's pretty suspicious that the hunter took the body away instead of disposing of it there, and that combined with the needles... No, I don't think Zabuza is dead."

Saeko had tensed up again, and said, "If that's true, then I'm sorry, but you have to leave in the morning. Yumi and I can't risk -"

"Yes, you've told us," Kakashi said. "Well, if Zabuza is alive, he won't be able to do much for about a week, so you don't have to worry yet. It'd be helpful, though, if you could tell us what he's doing in Kawano in the first place."

Naruto was dozing off on Sasuke's shoulder, and Sakura could barely hide her yawns; Sasuke couldn't blame them, but he didn't want to be stuck explaining everything later, so he elbowed Naruto awake and shifted around so he couldn't lean on anything and fall asleep himself.

Saeko took a deep breath, then said, "He only moved in here a few weeks ago, but we've been hearing stories for a year about the other towns where he's done the same thing. He shows up along a major road with his gang and kills any Konoha shinobi he finds until people give up traveling that way... He doesn't go after civilians unless they're hiding shinobi, but who wants to travel unprotected these days, especially when he's out there? And if he catches you with a shinobi..." She swallowed and glanced at the kitchen, where Yue and Ichirou were fighting over who got to dry the dishes. "He killed three merchants and their guards going to Suna, and an entire family in Hato, I heard..."

Sakura wasn't yawning anymore; her eyes were huge. Kakashi didn't seem fazed at all. "And no one thought about telling Konoha?" he asked. "Seems like something we should've known about by now."

"Tell Konoha - sure, and get ourselves killed on the way, or lure more ninja out for him to ambush," Saeko said bitterly. "We're not a poor town - Yumi's on the council and keeps track of the money - but there's no one with the resources to hire someone powerful enough to kill Zabuza, not and take the chance of being discovered, too."

Kakashi sighed and shut his eye. "I see," he said. "Thank you for the information. Well, like I said, you shouldn't have to worry about him for a week. After that..."

Saeko got up abruptly and said, "I'll go make up beds for you all in the back room - you need your rest."

She left; Sasuke opened his mouth to ask what the plan was now, but Ichirou and Yue burst into the room with a thousand questions about Konoha and shinobi and their mission, and Sasuke decided to wait.

The team didn't get any real privacy until the rest of the house went to bed, and by then Naruto and Sakura were half-asleep and it didn't seem worth the effort of keeping them awake just to ask Kakashi questions that he could answer tomorrow. Sasuke had some things he wanted to ask without the others hearing, however; he waited until he was sure that Naruto and Sakura were sleeping and then whispered, "Kakashi."

"Hm?"

"Does Itachi know that you have the sharingan?"

"It'd be a bit strange if he didn't," Kakashi said. "Yes, he knows."

Sasuke rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows so he could look at Kakashi. "So why aren't you dead?" he asked.

"Oh, a wide variety of reasons," said Kakashi, lightly enough but with an edge in his voice. "Not being Uchiha probably helps."

"Then how did you get a sharingan?" Sasuke still hadn't activated his, which was both a relief and an irritation; he thought it was possible that Itachi was waiting for him to get the sharingan to kill him, but it was still aggravating not to have them yet, especially since Itachi'd mastered his when he was eight.

Kakashi said, "Hmm, that's a long story - and I don't feel like telling it. Go to sleep like a good kid, all right? You're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

Sasuke lay back down and shut his eyes, and against his expectations fell asleep at once.

Chapter Text

The forest was peaceful, but not quiet; a warm breeze blew in random gusts, rattling branches against each other and rustling through the leaves, and birds sang to claim possession of their trees. Sasuke couldn't spot any signs of other people nearby, and he relaxed a little before jumping to the next tree.

It was the second day since the fight with Zabuza, and Sasuke was already anxious to leave. Yesterday he'd been stuck practicing chakra control with Naruto while Kakashi sent Sakura out scouting; besides the frustration of being almost as bad as Naruto at something, Sasuke hated being held up on their actual mission, but Kakashi had been adamant. "Zabuza may be out of commission for a week," he'd said, "but that still leaves his allies. It's too dangerous for you three to travel to Iwa alone, and I've got another day or so before I can go with you - and it's not as if you don't need the training."

That had burned - especially when Sakura had done the exercises so easily and earned the chance to be the first scout - but it had been too true to deny. At least today was Sasuke's turn to look for signs of Zabuza and his gang; Sakura had returned yesterday with a handful of bloody bandages she'd found in a clearing, but she hadn't been able to track Zabuza and the hunter any further. So far Sasuke hadn't found anything at all, but he was sure he would. That hunter couldn't have taken Zabuza too far from the clearing...

He jumped through a few more trees, then paused again to check for signs of people and saw someone in a little open space to his left; he ducked down behind a clump of leaves, just in case, but when he looked around them it didn't seem like the person had noticed him. They had their back to him, so all he could really see was that they had long, dark hair and were wearing a pale pink robe.

It was suspicious that someone was so far out in the forest alone, but Sasuke didn't sense any danger from them, and they might know something about Zabuza's hideout; he started to jump down to ask them, but his foot caught on a knot in the branch and he fell, his left ankle twisting as he landed in an awkward heap.

The other person - a girl, Sasuke thought - turned immediately at the noise, and for an instant Sasuke felt a threatening aura; it vanished before he could do more than register it, and she came over and asked, "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," Sasuke said, trying to get up, but pain shot through his ankle and he sat back down. Damnit, how humiliating...

"Here, let me look at it," the girl said, "I know a little medicine."

Sasuke grudgingly stuck his leg out for her and said, "What are you doing out here, anyway? It's dangerous."

"I came to get some herbs to help my friend," said the girl. She ran her fingers lightly over Sasuke's ankle, pushing down in a couple of spots, and Sasuke bit his lip. "I think it's just strained, not broken - I can wrap it up for you. Why are you out here on your own?"

"No, I'll do it," Sasuke said, pulling his leg back and reaching for his first-aid kit. It was embarrassing enough to have hurt himself on a mission, he didn't need a civilian patching him up, too. He started wrapping his ankle and thought about her question; he decided to take a chance and said, "I'm looking for some people who might be hiding out around here. Do you know any places they could be staying? It's a tall guy from Kiri and a boy who wears a mask, and maybe some other shinobi, too."

He looked up just in time to see her expression flicker, but he couldn't read it; all she said was, "No - I'm sorry. I know the people you mean, but I don't know of any places like that. I only come here for the herbs."

"Hm," Sasuke said; it was disappointing, but he hadn't really thought that Zabuza and his allies would be so obvious that other people would find them. He tucked the ends of the bandages in and tried standing again, and this time he managed it. "Thanks anyway." It wasn't his style, but the girl had been nice to him even though he had his forehead protector on, so he added, "Hope your friend gets better soon."

The girl smiled and said, "Thank you. He's very important to me, so I want to do everything I can for him... Do you have anyone like that?"

Naruto flashed briefly across Sasuke's mind, but he squashed that thought right away; Naruto was his friend, kind of, as well as his ally, but he couldn't be that important, not like family, and Sasuke said, "No. All my important people are dead."

The girl was quiet for a moment, and then she said, "I'm sorry," sounding more sincere than anyone who'd ever said it in Konoha besides Naruto. "It's a terrible feeling, isn't it..." She smiled again, a little more sadly, and said, "I should go, but - I hope that one day, you'll find other people who can be important to you."

Sasuke couldn't look at that smile for some reason and glanced away. "Thanks," he said, unable to think of anything else, and he jumped back up into the trees to keep searching.

Between Sasuke's ankle and the remnants of Kakashi's chakra exhaustion, it took Team Seven three more days to reach Iwa, which turned out to be a disappointment; the office where they were supposed to drop off the mailbag was right inside the gates, and as soon as the team had turned it over Kakashi hurried them out of the village. "Aww, c'mon, couldn't we stay for just a little while?" Naruto said, looking longingly back through the gates at a ramen stand. "It's not like Iwa's an enemy village, yanno?"

"Of course not," said Kakashi, but he kept an eye on their surroundings. "We need to get back to Konoha as soon as possible, that's all."

That was all he would say about it, and eventually Naruto gave up whining.

They could move a little faster on the return trip, and it only took a couple of days to get to Kawano. Sasuke figured they would just pass through, since Kakashi was in such a hurry, but as the team detoured around the outskirts of the town, Sakura said, "Sensei, would it be okay if I went to see Yumi-san and Saeko-san? I - um - I wanted to thank them again for helping us..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes; Sakura had gotten over her "isn't that weird" feelings about the couple fast and spent all her spare time hanging around them before the team had left, which had at least kept her from hanging all over him or harassing Naruto. He expected Kakashi to deny her request because it'd slow them down, but instead Kakashi said, "Sure, that's a good idea. Why don't we meet up with you at - hm - the other side of the first bridge past the town. Be careful and don't take too long, all right?"

"Right - thank you, Sensei!" Sakura said, and she took off into town.

As they approached the bridge - it was only a short walk from Kawano, and according to the map it went over the same small river as the bridge where they'd fought Zabuza the first time - Sasuke started feeling edgy. It had rained the night before, so the pools of water in the road and the shreds of mist lingering among the trees weren't unusual, but it seemed like a bad sign, and he couldn't help thinking that it had been about a week since that fight. He even paused when he stepped onto the bridge, half-expecting a giant sword to come spinning out of the forest, but nothing happened; feeling silly, he crossed the bridge and leaned against one of the posts on the other side to wait for Sakura.

Naruto didn't seem worried, but it was hard to tell with Naruto. He could goof off even when he was nervous or scared; it was annoying, but Sasuke sort of admired that bravado. Currently Naruto was begging Kakashi to teach him some kind of spectacular technique now that he'd gotten the hang of tree-climbing. "Something really cool," he said, waving his arms around, "like that giant water dragon thing! Yeah, I wanna learn that! C'mon, Kakashi-sensei -"

Silver flashed past his shoulder and a needle was suddenly quivering in the bridge-post where Sasuke's neck had been a moment ago.

"If you wish to learn a technique," said a cold, familiar young voice, "you shouldn't ask the one who only copied it."

"Yeah - I'd teach you," another voice growled, "but there's no point teaching brats I'm just going to kill," and Zabuza stepped out of the thickening mist onto the bridge.

Sasuke had dodged and turned so that he could cover Naruto's back, while Kakashi covered them both; now he looked around for the needle's source and saw the hunter from before with his mask, perched in a tree with more needles in his hands and effectively blocking the road to Konoha. Fine - Sasuke hadn't been planning on running away. He was burning to fight, to prove and test himself in a real battle against someone strong, and he drew a kunai and shifted his stance.

"Haku, why don't you keep the brats occupied?" Zabuza said. "I've got a score to settle with the Copy Ninja, here."

Sasuke heard Kakashi mutter what sounded like "Well, he'll kill me once he hears about the first fight anyway," which didn't make any sense, and then he said more clearly, "Naruto, Sasuke, take care of that kid - don't worry about Zabuza, just be careful and stay focused."

Zabuza laughed and said, "You've got that much faith in a couple of half-trained children who don't even know how to kill? You're only going to be disappointed, Kakashi. I've trained Haku myself, and he's the finest weapon you'll ever see - not that I'm planning to let you see much before I take your head." He sounded unbearably smug, but Sasuke kept his eyes focused on the fake hunter - Haku - who hadn't made a move yet.

"Well, you might be surprised yourself," Kakashi said. "But there's nothing more boring than a man bragging about his kids, so let's -"

Sasuke heard metal slice through the air and started to turn, but Naruto charged at Haku like an idiot and Sasuke ran after him. Kakashi would just have to fight on his own.

Spikes of ice shot up from the puddles on the road and Naruto jumped them easily enough, then skidded on a patch of ice at their base, arms flailing. Sasuke stuck his feet to the ice with chakra as he landed - that training had been useful, after all - and grabbed Naruto's arm to keep him upright, deflecting a flurry of needles with his kunai. He missed one and it sliced across his shoulder, stinging but not serious.

Naruto steadied himself and looked into the trees. "Crap, he's gone!"

"Not quite," the false hunter said from above, and Sasuke looked up and saw him balanced on top of an ice-spire.

"Hey, hey!" Naruto shouted. "Why are you working with that Zabuza guy, anyway? He's totally creepy!"

Sasuke had to agree, though he kept silent. Kakashi had told them some of the stories about Zabuza on the way to Iwa, and he sounded like a monster almost as bad as Itachi. Sasuke couldn't understand how he had gotten any allies in the first place.

The other shinobi didn't answer; his hands moved faster than Sasuke could see, and the ice under his and Naruto's feet reached up to grab their legs. Sasuke jumped just in time and struck at Haku with the kunai, but Haku blocked with one of his damn needles and Sasuke had to jump away, landing on another of the ice spikes. It promptly turned back to water beneath him and dumped him back on the ground.

Sasuke landed on his feet and brought the kunai up against Haku's needle with a jarring thunk, keeping one of the hunter's hands occupied so he couldn't make seals. It meant that Sasuke couldn't form them either, but Naruto...

A crowd of yelling shadow clones descended on Haku. Sasuke began to smile - he hadn't even had to signal Naruto; they made a good team - but it froze as he saw Haku bring his free hand up and start to form seals one-handed. In an instant the ice around them burst into water and re-formed as needles, shooting through the clones.

Haku disappeared in the cloud of smoke and the original Naruto landed on his ass in front of Sasuke, a little scratched up but not seriously hurt. "Crap!" he said. "I almost had him, yanno!"

"Good try, anyway," Sasuke said, hauling him up and looking around for the hunter. "If he couldn't do one-handed seals, it would've worked. He's fast, we have to be careful."

"If he'd quit whooshing around and just fight -"

"This is the way shinobi fight, Naruto-kun," Haku said from somewhere in the mist, and Sasuke and Naruto's hands went to their shuriken pouches. "And Zabuza-san only told me to keep you occupied; I would rather not kill either of you, if I am not forced to."

Sasuke said, "Hmf - like we're just going to let you play around with us."

"Yeah!" said Naruto, with a sweeping gesture. "We're awesome ninja, you better take us seriously!"

"So you want to fight seriously," Haku said. "That's too bad," and even as Sasuke turned to throw shuriken the water on the ground rose up into flat sheets of ice, completely surrounding Sasuke and Naruto. The shuriken vanished uselessly through one of the narrow spaces between the panes of ice.

"What the heck is this?" Naruto said, poking the nearest sheet. "Hey, it's just ice - what's it supposed to do?"

"I don't know yet, shut up and let me figure it out," Sasuke said. The ice wasn't doing anything yet; maybe it was just meant to keep them in so they couldn't fight? But there were big enough gaps for them to escape through, if they didn't mind squeezing and getting scrapes, and the ice would probably melt anyway under a strong enough fire jutsu...

He heard a strange oozing sound and felt Naruto jump back against him. "Holy crap - uh, Sasuke? I think I figured out what these're for."

"Yeah, then what -"

Every pane of ice began to fill with the image of Haku in his mask; each image held needles in its hand, ready to strike.

"Um, for that," Naruto said.

The needles came from every direction, impossible to dodge. They struck Sasuke's arms, legs, shoulders, back, everywhere; he heard Naruto yelling in pain and there was nothing he could do but try to keep from screaming, too.

He didn't feel it when the needles stopped; he was crouched on the ground, panting and bleeding from a hundred thin cuts. Distantly he heard Naruto saying, "Sasuke - hey, Sasuke, c'mon," and he pushed himself up and took control of his breathing. He wasn't that badly hurt; it seemed like the needles hadn't hit anywhere vital, just painful, and he'd dropped his kunai. Naruto looked shaky, but not any worse off than Sasuke. Now that Sasuke was up he said, "This is bad," which was probably the understatement of the year. "What're we gonna do? Maybe if I made a bunch of clones we could break out or sneak away..."

Sasuke shook his head and said, "He'd just destroy them before we could get out. It's okay, we'll think of something - we've got too much to do to be stopped here, right?"

"That's right!" said Naruto, and he grinned so widely that Sasuke had to smile back a tiny bit. "We got dreams, there's no way we'll lose!"

Haku said, "Dreams?" from somewhere among the ice mirrors; Sasuke couldn't pinpoint which one the voice came from.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "Sasuke's gotta get revenge on someone, and I'm gonna be the best ninja in Konoha and become the Hokage and protect everyone! So there's no way you're gonna beat us, got it?"

"I see," the masked boy said, and more needles appeared in his hands. "Then you and I will have to fight for our dreams; I can't lose before I help Zabuza-san achieve his ambition."

"So quit talking and bring it on," Sasuke said, bracing himself.

This time he was prepared for the barrage of needles; they hurt, enough to make him bite his lip to keep from crying out, but they still weren't hitting anywhere deadly, and the instant they stopped again he was ready. He sucked in all the air he could, made the seals with half-numb hands, and sent a ball of blazing white fire at the nearest mirror.

The ice cracked, its edges dripping, and Sasuke snatched his dropped kunai off the ground and started to make a break for it before Naruto grabbed him. "It didn't work!"

"Of course it -" Sasuke said, and then he saw the mirror's surface reforming, the cracks vanishing as if the fireball had never hit it. Damn.

"A fire jutsu is useless against this ice," said Haku, and his image reappeared in the mirror, completely unharmed. "Melting only strengthens -"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled, and threw the kunai at the mirror; Haku's hand reached out of the ice and caught it before it connected.

The needles hit harder and faster this time. Sasuke staggered under the attack, saw Naruto collapsing under it too, but damnit, he couldn't do anything when he couldn't even see where the needles were coming from; if he didn't do something they were going to die, but he needed to see... He turned his head to follow a flash of color and instinctively brought his arm up.

Three needles thudded into it instead of his neck.

He saw the flash again, streaking towards another mirror, and twisted aside as more needles whistled by him; movement to a different mirror, and Sasuke dodged again, the needles tearing his shirt without touching him.

He could see what Haku was doing, and his breath caught at the realization. Haku was reflecting himself between the ice mirrors - some kind of bloodline limit, it had to be - and striking as he went, too fast for people to see. Except now Sasuke could see, he could dodge or block the needles, and that meant...

The attack stopped - Haku must have figured out it was useless - and Naruto grabbed him again, this time for support; he hadn't been able to dodge at all. "Hey, Sasuke," he said, panting, "your eyes - they're -"

"Sharingan," Sasuke said, and as bad as the situation was he couldn't help smiling. Sharingan at last - he was one step closer to Itachi, if they could make it through this battle.

He drew another kunai and shifted to a better stance, but a flurry of shuriken struck the outside of the ice-dome across from him and Naruto. Haku darted to the mirrors there, and Sasuke heard a familiar whisper from a bush just outside the mirrors: "Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Are you all right?"

"Sakura-chan, you made it!" Naruto said, grinning hugely.

"You're late," Sasuke said, but without any real anger; with the team together again and his sharingan, there was no way they could lose.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said, "but there were two ninja after Yumi-san and Saeko-san - I captured them for the town to deal with but it took a while, and then I had to sneak by Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza... I made a clone to distract that hunter, but it won't last long."

"Wow, Sakura-chan's pretty great," said Naruto, and elbowed Sasuke. "Told you we're lucky she's on our team!"

Sasuke glanced over and saw that Haku was still occupied on the other side; he said, "We need to find a way to break this technique so we can all fight. Sakura, you're still outside it, work on that and I'll keep Haku busy. Fire jutsu probably won't -"

Needles sliced across his cheek and he cursed, flinching back.

"It seems I really can't go easy on you," came Haku's soft voice, and Sasuke tensed up, anticipating a deadlier attack. As long as he stayed focused he could avoid the worst of it, and then he could catch Haku going between the mirrors and get a little payback.

He saw the flash of Haku's movement and heard the hiss of flying needles, turned to dodge and pull Haku down, but Naruto was in the way for some reason. He reached out to make Naruto move.

Naruto staggered back, his body riddled with needles.

Sasuke caught him before he could fall over. "What -" he said, and he could barely speak through the shock choking his throat. Naruto must have blocked Haku's attack, even though Sasuke could've dodged it. "What did you do that for, you dumbass?"

"Dunno," Naruto said; Sasuke froze at the blood that leaked from his mouth as he smiled. "But you gotta get revenge - can't die here like a loser, yanno? You gotta -"

His eyes slipped shut.

Sasuke shook him; the needles cut into his hands and he didn't care. "What about you, idiot?" he yelled, but Naruto's eyes didn't open. "Didn't you say you were going to help me? Aren't you going to become Hokage? You can't just throw your life away here, either! Dumbass!" It couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening to him again, he couldn't lose Naruto... "Naruto, quit playing around! Naruto!" You can't leave me alone with Itachi, you can't, don't leave me...

"So he was important to you, after all," said Haku, and Sasuke's hand closed around one of the needles in Naruto's shoulder; his ears were buzzing but his hand was steady, his mind focused. The next time Haku attacked, Sasuke would kill him. That was all.

But he would have to let go of Naruto to attack and he couldn't.

Then Sakura was there, sliding her hands under Naruto's back to lower him to the ground. "Sasuke-kun, I'll look after him," she said, and her voice didn't crack at all despite the tears in her eyes. "You should - should -" Her shoulders were shaking, and Sasuke distantly realized that this must be the first time she'd seen death. "Sasuke-kun, you have to -"

Naruto's eyes snapped open. They were red.

Chapter Text

"Naruto, you're all right!" Sakura said, as Sasuke's hackles went up. "You scared us, you big dummy - don't do things like -"

Naruto flung his arm out and knocked them away. Sakura landed on Sasuke, knocking the breath out of him; she rolled off him with a squeak and said, "What's going on? What does Naruto think he's doing?"

"I don't know," Sasuke said, trying to stand and only managing to sit up. It wasn't just his injuries; the air itself felt thick and heavy and dangerous, keeping him down.

Naruto had gotten up, too, but he was hunched over, and there was something like a red mist swirling and gathering around him. With a jolt, Sasuke realized it was chakra - chakra so strong and concentrated that even without the sharingan he'd be able to see it. Naruto didn't have chakra like that; no one Sasuke had ever met had chakra like that, feverish red and poisoning the air. And Naruto's eyes weren't red, and the marks on his cheeks weren't that long and deep, and Naruto's fingers couldn't lengthen into claws...

That couldn't be Naruto.

The needles fell out of Naruto, the wounds closing over with a faint hiss. Haku attacked again, too fast for even the sharingan to catch, but the burning chakra thickened and the needles bounced off. Naruto growled, rough and inhuman, and the chakra exploded outward; the ice mirrors shattered and Sasuke threw himself over Sakura, gritting his teeth as shards of ice sliced into his back.

Naruto would never do anything that would hurt Sasuke or Sakura, even by accident; this couldn't be him, something was wrong, terribly wrong, and as Sasuke pushed himself away from Sakura with shaking arms and looked back, shock ran through him. He remembered Naruto at the ramen shop - If it turned out the Kyuubi really was in a person - would you be scared of them? - and the emergency on the night Naruto had disappeared, and older, fainter, Itachi telling him Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could seriously hurt Naruto-kun...

It wasn't Naruto out there, snarling and dangerous. It was the Kyuubi.

The chakra blast had thrown Haku out of the mirrors, almost all the way back to the bridge; the hunter had landed on his feet and taken a stance, and Naruto's - the Kyuubi's attention was focused on him. In a flash Naruto moved, barreling into Haku, and Sasuke struggled up. He couldn't let Naruto keep going like this, getting swallowed up by the Kyuubi and doing things Naruto would regret. "Stay here," he told Sakura, "I'll go get him back."

"Like hell!" Sakura said; she had clenched her fists, her face set with determination. "I'm not going to get left behind by you two."

"Fine, then," Sasuke said - there was no time to argue with her - and they ran after Naruto together.

Whatever fight Haku had put up was over when Sasuke and Sakura caught up. Naruto was tearing into the hunter, shattering all of Haku's attempts at defense. "Naruto, stop it!" Sakura yelled, reaching out to grab his arm. "You've won already, stop it, you're going to - ouch!" She pulled her hand back, and Sasuke saw that the chakra surrounding Naruto had burned her.

Naruto hadn't looked up from pounding on Haku. Once Naruto was himself again, Sasuke was going to kill him.

"What's wrong with him?" Sakura asked, cradling her hand; tears had sprung to her eyes again. "It's like he can't even hear me - what's going on?"

Sasuke didn't answer her. She'd only freak out more if he told her the truth, it wasn't his secret to tell, and getting Naruto under control was more important. Figuring out how - that was the tricky part.

One of Naruto's blows smashed into Haku's mask and the hunter crashed to the ground. Sasuke moved to try and block the next blow with his kunai, but it didn't come; Naruto's arm was drawn back for another punch, but he had stopped. Sasuke risked a glance back at Haku. The mask had split, crumbling away, and Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw blood running down a familiar face.

"But - you're the girl from Ichiraku!" said Naruto at the same time that Sasuke said, "It was you in the forest..."

Haku smiled, the same smile Sasuke couldn't stand to look at, and said, "Yes."

"But you were nice," Naruto said; his eyes were still red, but the chakra around him was draining away. "I liked you - I thought we were friends! Why are you out here working with that creepy guy? Why'd you try to kill us? I thought -"

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," Haku said, and another bit of his mask crumbled as he struggled to his feet. "I lied to you. Zabuza-san sent me into Konoha to gather information - that's all I was doing."

"But that's awful," Sakura said; she had pushed her way up between Naruto and Sasuke, still holding her burned hand. "Just using you like that, and making you fight someone you knew - that's awful! How could he do that to you?"

"A true shinobi must throw away their emotions," and Sasuke saw Naruto flinch at the emptiness in Haku's voice. "A shinobi is a weapon, and a weapon doesn't need a heart. I am Zabuza-san's weapon; I act on his orders, no matter what they are."

Sasuke grabbed the front of Haku's shirt and yelled, "But he's evil! He's killed all those people and betrayed his own village, and you - you're just helping him!" It was wrong, all of it - the enemy who'd almost killed Naruto couldn't be the same person who'd helped him in the forest, who had been so sympathetic and gentle... "What'd that bastard do to make you so loyal, anyway?"

The rest of the hunter's mask cracked apart and fell away as Haku said, "He gave me a reason for existing."

Naruto flinched again, and Sasuke's grip on Haku tightened.

"The Land of Water has suffered through many shinobi wars," said Haku. "For that reason, bloodline limits like mine are despised, and those who carry them are killed. My mother hid hers successfully for several years, but when she realized that I had inherited it... It wasn't long before my father found out. He killed her. He gathered the other villagers and tried to kill me, but I - defended myself," and Sasuke winced, imagining the scene too vividly - a woman's corpse, men impaled on icy spikes, and a younger Haku backed against a wall, splattered with blood.

"After that, I had nothing - I was just another worthless child that no one wanted," Haku said, looking at Naruto. "Naruto understands that feeling - don't you, Naruto-kun?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to protest - Naruto wasn't unwanted, he was Sasuke's friend, even Itachi seemed to like him - then closed it. Before Sasuke, no one had ever wanted Naruto around, and now Sasuke had a good idea why. Naruto was looking down, unhappiness written all over his face; Sakura looked upset too, and she was just a spoiled girl who still had her family.

"Zabuza-san is the only one who had a use for me," said Haku. "He trained me as a shinobi and gave me a purpose - but now I've failed him. I'm useless again..."

Sasuke realized he was still holding Haku's shirt and let go just as Haku said, "Please, go ahead and kill me."

"What?" Naruto said. Sakura put her hands over her mouth, looking like she was going to be sick. "But - but you're - I can't just kill you!"

"Why not?" Haku said, softly, reasonably. "You are a shinobi, and I am your enemy. Didn't I attack your friend and nearly kill you?" His gaze switched to Sasuke. "Didn't you want revenge for your friend?"

Sasuke felt as sick as Sakura looked. He had wanted to kill the hunter - he still did, a little - but not like this, not when Haku had already been beaten and broken, not after seeing that painful smile... He still had the kunai in his hand; it would be so easy, too easy, Haku wouldn't even fight him.

He threw the kunai down. He was weak, he couldn't do it, and for the first time in a long time he heard an old, dark voice: Foolish boy...

"I can't just," Naruto said, his voice shaking. "I can't - it's not fair! Why'd things have to turn out like this anyway, huh?"

Haku said, "Please, Naruto-kun. It's less painful than -"

A heavy hand fell on Haku's shoulder, and Zabuza said, "Don't tell me these kids have been giving you trouble, Haku."

Team Seven jumped back as one, and Sasuke grabbed a handful of shuriken, ready to attack. The missing-nin looked a lot the worse for wear - there was blood all over him, and his left arm was dangling uselessly at his side - but if he was the one who'd come out of the mist and not Kakashi...

"Forgive me, Zabuza-san," Haku said. "I failed in my mission."

Sasuke half-expected Zabuza to hit Haku, or just kill him outright, but Zabuza only grunted and said, "Then you'll have to do better next time, won't you? Now," he went on, pulling his sword off his back one-handed, "I was supposed to leave a couple of you brats alive, but I've had enough of preachy Konoha shinobi, so I'll just send you all to hell and then finish off that damn copy bastard."

Sasuke's heart leaped - so Kakashi was still alive, at least - but then he felt Naruto's chakra rising again, still tainted by the fox's. "It's your fault," Naruto snarled, "you're the one making Haku do all this - it's all your fault!"

"Naruto, don't!" Sakura yelled, grabbing him. "He'll kill you!"

Zabuza smirked; even with one working arm, he didn't look intimidated by the Kyuubi's chakra, and he stepped forward. Sasuke tensed up, planning his actions - switch away, distract Zabuza with shuriken, get Naruto and Sakura and come up with a real strategy...

But as Zabuza moved, so did Haku, catching Zabuza's arm and stopping him. Zabuza growled, "Don't get in the -"

He saw the scalpels at the same time Team Seven did, the thin steel handles clustered in Haku's back and one through his neck.

"Oh dear," a male voice said, as Haku collapsed against Zabuza, "I was only aiming for your arm, but your little weapon had to jump in anyway. Such a shame - I would have preferred to keep him alive."

"You," Zabuza said, his voice filled with loathing; Sasuke tore his eyes away from the blood trickling down Haku's throat and saw a figure wearing a hooded black cloak perched in a tree at the road's edge. "I told you not to interfere!"

"And I believe I asked you, Zabuza-san, not to damage - certain people," said the cloaked man. "Our mutual employer currently has more use for them alive than dead, yes?"

Zabuza's stance shifted fractionally. "As if I give a damn what he wants," he said. "I don't like working for someone who keeps changing the deal."

"I'm sure the leader can be convinced to compensate you for your wasted time," the cloaked man said.

Sasuke mentally cursed the mist that was still hanging around and making it impossible to see if there were red clouds on the man's cloak. There was something familiar about his light, cheerful voice, but Sasuke couldn't place it; it reminded him of the day Orochimaru and Sasori had broken in, but it definitely wasn't either of their voices.

"So," Zabuza said, "he'll pay double what we agreed on for the heads I let go or something?"

"That sounds quite reasonable," said the other man.

Zabuza adjusted his stance again, a barely noticeable movement, and even as Sasuke tensed to dodge he thought that there was something off, as if Zabuza was going to -

"Think I'll pass," Zabuza said, and he shook off Haku's body and charged at the cloaked man.

A shadow flashed past, catching Haku and knocking Zabuza aside, and Sakura gasped as it landed in front of them. "Kakashi-sensei! You're still - you're okay!"

"Well, for now," said Kakashi, gently laying Haku down on the road. Kakashi didn't look much better off than Zabuza; his nose was crooked and probably broken, and there was a deep cut in his side and blood on his back and shoulders. But he had a smile in his eyes as he said, "I'm glad to see you three are safe."

"Yeah, yeah, but Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, "that Zabuza guy - he's the worst! I'm gonna pound him into -"

"No!" Kakashi said, so sharply that even Sasuke was taken aback, and then he softened his tone to say, "You've done enough already, Naruto - just stay back and I'll finish it."

"Let me help, sensei," Sakura said; her green eyes were burning, and with the dirt and tear-tracks on her face she didn't look anything like the sparkling-eyed girl who'd first been assigned to Team Seven. "I'm not that tired yet - I can still help!"

"I appreciate the offer, Sakura, but really -"

Sasuke looked down at Haku and his fists clenched, because there was a smile on Haku's face. He had died smiling. He'd died for a man who just used him as a weapon and didn't care about anything but killing and money and he was still smiling...

"Bastard," Zabuza said; Sasuke's head snapped up and he saw Zabuza looming over them, a kunai deep between his ribs - Kakashi must have struck when he was catching Haku's body. There was no sign of the cloaked figure. "Bastard," Zabuza said again, his voice rough. "I'll kill you and then take care of that little puppet... You won't stop me here, none of you fucking bastards," and he lunged at Kakashi, his sword swinging down.

Sasuke swept up his dropped kunai and ran. The sword came down on a giant shuriken that Kakashi had pulled out of nowhere and Sasuke jumped, vaulted over Zabuza's shoulder and twisted and threw and the shuriken in his other hand flew true, burying themselves in Zabuza's back. Sasuke landed on the bridge, the impact running up his legs; Zabuza wrenched his sword away from the giant shuriken with an ear-splitting shriek of metal and pivoted to face Sasuke.

"Sasuke, get out of there!" Kakashi shouted.

"There's not enough money in the world to save your head now, brat," snarled Zabuza. He swung - too slowly, and the sword sliced harmlessly through one of the bridge-posts as Sasuke jumped to the railing, the wood creaking under his feet.

Kakashi and Sakura were both shouting now, but their voices were just a buzzing in Sasuke's ears. "I'm not going to lose," he said, gripping the kunai so tightly the metal cut into his palm, "not to a monster like you," and when Zabuza brought his sword up Sasuke charged at him.

Black cloth filled his vision and a hand shoved him back. "Excuse me," said the man with the familiar voice, "but I really will be in trouble if I let anything happen to you just yet..."

Sasuke lunged forward again but the black-cloaked man vanished, reappearing behind Zabuza with blue chakra formed into a blade around his hand. "I'm sorry, Zabuza-san," he said, and Sasuke saw the hint of a smirk under the hood's shadow, "but your contract with Akatsuki has now been terminated."

Zabuza moved faster than Sasuke would've thought possible, twisting back to strike, but the sword stopped dead an inch from the cloaked man's shoulder.

"Oh my - has the Demon of the Hidden Mist gone soft?" he said, which didn't make any sense, and then Sasuke looked around Zabuza and saw Haku dangling, a limp and bloody shield, from the other man's hand.

A fraction of a second's hesitation, and then Zabuza growled, "Don't fuck with me, puppet," shifting his grip on the sword and raising it for another swing.

Sasuke buried his kunai between the bones of Zabuza's shoulder to sever the tendons and Zabuza's arm dropped, the sword falling out of his hand. Sasuke jumped over him, reaching for Haku's body, but a blur of orange leaped in and knocked the blade away.

Sasuke's legs gave out under him as he landed and Naruto caught his arm, keeping him up. The man in the cloak was gone; Sakura had Haku's body balanced on one shoulder and a kunai in her free hand, and Sasuke looked around and saw Kakashi with an elbow on Zabuza's neck, forcing him down.

"You bastards - just don't know when to give up, do you," Zabuza said, his breathing heavy and harsh with pain.

"I could say the same about you," said Kakashi. "You're down two arms, a job, and your ally - how much farther do you want to push things?"

Zabuza shrugged one-shouldered. "No point going after heads I won't get paid for," he said, and Kakashi stepped away from him.

"Hey, hey, I'm not done with him yet!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Zabuza; Sasuke was glad to see that his eyes were finally blue again. "That Haku guy, he really loved you! He was throwing away his heart for you and he died protecting you and you - you were just gonna cut through him! If I have to be like that to be a shinobi - if I have to act like my friends don't mean anything - then I don't wanna be one! It's totally inhuman, yanno? I'll find some other way, I'm not gonna be some tool like -"

"Kid," Zabuza said, "shut up," and Sasuke didn't understand for a second what had changed in Zabuza's face or why Naruto had, for the first time ever, shut up when he was told to, and then he realized what was wrong.

Zabuza was crying.

Sasuke couldn't figure out how this had happened. Shinobi (besides Naruto and Sakura) didn't cry on missions, not genin, not chuunin, definitely not jounin-level missing-nin who'd killed a hundred people before they were eleven years old; it just didn't happen, but the tears were right there on Zabuza's cheeks and Sasuke didn't know what to do if Zabuza could be an enemy one minute and something else the next, if even someone like Zabuza could still cry.

Zabuza bit through the bandages over his mouth, revealing teeth pointed like a shark's, and said, "Hey, brats - look after Haku for me. Kakashi, that puppet still around? I got a score to settle with him."

Kakashi nodded and tossed him a kunai; Zabuza caught it in his mouth and got to his feet.

"He can't possibly fight like that," Sakura said. She was still holding on to Haku's body, even as her legs shook under his weight. "He'll only -"

Sasuke grabbed her and Naruto and pulled them down to the muddy road as Zabuza's chakra flared, the killing intent so thick Sasuke could barely breathe. "Come on out," Zabuza growled around the kunai's handle, "we'll finish this," and when silver scalpels came hissing across the bridge he charged, the mist flowing and parting around him.

Sasuke felt his sharingan trying to flicker out; he didn't have the chakra reserves yet to sustain it for much longer, but he hung onto it anyway. He stared through the shredded mist and watched the scalpels slice into Zabuza as Zabuza ran through them as if he didn't even feel the cuts. The man in black appeared beside him, blue chakra forming around his right hand again, but Zabuza twisted in an instant and tore into him. Blood splattered across the bridge, and the cloaked man staggered back with his other hand to his stomach.

Zabuza pinned the other man's foot with his own and slashed up at his throat; the man arched back to avoid it, his hood slipping, and Sasuke saw a glint of light (glasses?) beneath it.

Then the cloaked man brought up his chakra-bladed hand and drove it into Zabuza's chest, just below the sternum and angling up. Beside Sasuke, Sakura gasped; Zabuza spat blood around the kunai, bit down and stabbed it into the other man's shoulder and dragged it down and across his chest. More blood drenched Zabuza and the bridge, but Zabuza hung on and worked the blade deeper between his opponent's ribs as the man tried to shove him off.

The black-cloaked man ripped his hand out of Zabuza and smashed it into the side of Zabuza's head, once, twice, three times, and then he hit Zabuza's jaw with a horrific cracking sound and Zabuza finally lost his grip on the kunai. The other man brought his left hand up, made a seal and vanished as Zabuza collapsed against the railing.

Naruto was crouched by Sasuke's side; he leaned forward and said, "Hey - is he dead?"

"Not yet - brat," Zabuza said. His voice was oddly slurred as he pushed himself off the railing with one foot, and Sasuke saw that his jaw had been knocked out of place.

"Sensei," Sakura whispered, "what - what should we do? Should we -"

Kakashi put a hand on her head and said quietly, "There's nothing we can do."

"'S right," said Zabuza; he took one unsteady step towards them and fell to his knees, and Sasuke winced at the sound. "Hey - loudmouth brat. Uzumaki."

"I'm not a -" Naruto started to say before Sakura kicked his ankle. "Ow! Uh, I mean - yeah?"

"You win. You're right," Zabuza said, and spat more blood onto the bridge. "Guess I've gone soft, too... You watch out for them. Those Akatsuki. The Uchiha brat, too," and Sasuke started and lost his failing grip on the sharingan. "They want you for something. Doubt it's good."

His eyes closed and Sasuke wondered, with a sick feeling in his stomach, if he had died, but they opened again and Zabuza said, his voice fading, "Kunoichi. I want to see him..."

Kakashi nudged Sakura and she jumped, then said, "Oh! Right..." She pulled Haku's body back up onto her shoulder, draping one arm across her back, and staggered a couple of steps towards Zabuza before Naruto caught up and slipped Haku's other arm over his neck to take some of the weight. Sasuke tried to hang back, but Kakashi pushed him forward and he reluctantly followed the other two.

They laid Haku down in front of Zabuza, careful not to disturb the scalpels, as if it mattered anymore.

Zabuza leaned over and managed to bring one hand up enough to touch Haku's face, leaving a bloody streak bright against the pale skin. "Sorry, kid," he said, his voice so faint that Sasuke could barely hear it. "I'm the one who let you down..."

He said something else, too softly for Sasuke to make out at all, and then he slumped, his head dropping down.

Kakashi caught him before he fell over, putting his fingers against Zabuza's throat; after a long, long moment he pulled them away and reached up to shut Zabuza's eyes. "It's over," he said, tugging his forehead protector back over his sharingan. "You three - you handled that well. I'm proud of you."

It was probably just because he'd stopped moving, but Sasuke realized it was cold, much colder than it had been before, and he was sort of glad Naruto and Sakura were next to him. Sakura bit her lip, hesitating, then said, "Sensei, shouldn't we go after the other one?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked. "You think any of us are up to it?"

"Um..." She and Naruto looked about ready to fall over; Sasuke hated to admit it, even to himself, but he wasn't sure he could handle another fight right now, either.

"Well, you have a point," said Kakashi, "but it's out of our hands, I'm afraid. We'll put it in our report and the Hokage can set the ANBU on him. We need to -"

He had reached down to close Haku's eyes too and stopped, and his tone sharpened as he said, "We need to get him back to Kawano. Now."

The village doctor was no medical nin, but she was skilled enough to get the scalpels out of Haku without killing him and close the holes; after that, there was nothing to do but keep the wounds clean and wait for him to wake up on his own, if he was going to.

Kakashi made the team dig Zabuza's grave, in a clearing in the forest not far from the river. Naruto asked why they had to do it, because he always had to ask, and Kakashi said simply, "Because one day it'll be you."

Then he ruined the moment by adding, "Assuming there's enough of you left to bother burying, anyway," but the point had been made.

They were staying with Yumi and Saeko again, since the two didn't seem to mind Naruto eating more than their whole family put together, but Sasuke spent most of his time at the doctor's with Haku. He wasn't being sentimental or anything; Yue and Ichirou had been extremely impressed by Sakura saving their mothers, and Yue had smugly told him at least five times just how awesome "Sakura-neesan" had been as she'd tricked Zabuza's two underlings with a genjutsu and then tied them up with their own weapons. Sasuke was glad that Sakura was a better fighter than she'd seemed at first, but he was sick of having it rubbed in his face. His father would've been disappointed at how useless Sasuke had turned out to be.

Four days of watching Haku breathe wasn't all that great, either, but Naruto and Sakura usually showed up and kept him company, and they weren't bickering the way they had before. None of them talked much at all, actually. They mostly just sat and watched Haku or each other, and sometimes they'd go train afterwards. It was peaceful, but by the fourth day of near-total silence Sasuke was starting to think that peaceful was overrated; seeing Naruto go for so long without yelling about how great he was and becoming Hokage was painful.

The afternoon was beginning to dim into evening when Sasuke decided he'd had enough. He was sitting against the wall next to Naruto while Sakura sat at Haku's side, and it only took him a moment to reach over and flick Naruto's precious forehead protector. Naruto jumped and covered it with one hand, then glared at Sasuke. "Hey, what was that for, huh?"

"Just making sure you remembered you had it," Sasuke said, which was a stupid reason, but all he could come up with on the spot besides I felt like it.

"Like I wouldn't have it, jerk!" Naruto said, but he was starting to grin, even though Sakura was giving him an evil look for making noise. "I'm gonna be the best ninja ever, yanno! I'm gonna be super strong and awesome and protect everyone, and then I'll -"

Haku coughed.

The three refocused instantly, staring at Haku, but the boy didn't make another sound. Naruto groaned and leaned back against the wall. "Aww, man," he said, "I thought he was really gonna wake up that time - wish he just would already," and Haku started upright, throwing off the thin blanket.

Naruto grinned again, even wider, and Sakura beamed. "Oh, thank goodness!" she said. "We were so worried - Dr. Ayame said you could wake up any time, but you just kept sleeping..."

"Why are you -" Haku said, then broke into another cough; his voice sounded faint and rough, and he put a hand to his bandaged throat. "What happened? Where's Zabuza-san?"

Naruto's grin cracked at the edges; Sakura pushed her fingers together and looked at the wall and said, "Um - well..."

"He's dead," Sasuke said, since no one else was about to.

Haku didn't say anything.

"Um - it wasn't us," said Sakura. "There was someone else - a man in a cloak, he was the one who hurt you..."

"Yeah, he just showed up like out of nowhere and started talking about all this weird crap!" Naruto said, waving his arms around. "Like he said Zabuza wasn't supposed to kill a couple of us or something, and Zabuza was all like, 'I don't like working for guys who change the deal all the time,' so the other guy was all, 'We can pay you more,' and I thought he was gonna go for it, but -"

"I see," said Haku. His head was bowed, his hair falling over his face. "So the Akatsuki puppet killed him."

The team looked at each other, and then Sakura took a deep breath and said, "Yes, but it - it was sort of..."

"I see," Haku said again, his voice so flat that it hurt to hear. "Zabuza-san - I failed him. He must have been very disappointed."

"No, no way," Naruto said, "it wasn't like that at all! I was gonna fight him 'cause he was a jerk and I was totally pissed, but - um, but yanno..."

His voice trailed off, and Sakura said, "He was crying. We - we all thought you were dead, and that he didn't care, but - he was crying. And he tried to kill that man, that's why he died... He wasn't disappointed at all, he really cared about you."

Haku looked up at last, disbelief all over his face. "Zabuza-san - he did that? Because of me?"

Sakura nodded, wiping at her eyes, and Haku's hands clenched on the blanket.

"Um - sorry," said Naruto, fidgeting and looking anywhere but at Haku. "For beating you up and saying all that stuff, and yanno - all that..."

"There's no need to apologize, Naruto-kun," Haku said, but his voice was empty and distant. "We were enemies at the time, after all," and Sasuke fought back the urge to punch the other boy. He was just so lifelessly polite, as if they hadn't been trying to kill each other four days ago, as if it didn't matter that they'd saved his life and waited around for him to get better, as if nothing mattered at all, and it pissed Sasuke off.

Haku started to say something else, but before he could get more than a syllable out Sakura threw her arms around him, her shoulders shaking. "I'm s-sorry," she sniffled, "we wanted to help but there wasn't anything - but it's okay! I mean, it's not okay your friend's dead, that's awful, but..." She stopped to wipe her eyes again as Haku stayed still, frozen. "Y-you must feel so terrible, but we'll still be your friends, okay? You aren't unwanted anymore - you can come back to Konoha with us, everyone'll like you there, I just know it! No one cares if you have a bloodline limit - right, Sasuke-kun?"

"Um - sure," Sasuke said, caught off-guard. The only other bloodline limit in Konoha he could think of was the Hyuuga's byakugan, but the Hyuuga were pretty well off and no one interfered with them, so he supposed Sakura was right.

"See," she said, hugging Haku tighter, "Sasuke-kun has a bloodline limit too, so he knows all about it. We'll be your friends, so please don't - please..."

Haku had raised a hand uncertainly, as if to push Sakura off - Sasuke would have by now - but let it fall, resting his head against hers. Naruto looked at them, scrunched his face up and then flung his arms around them both in a giant hug. "Yeah, yeah, that's right!" he said. "We're totally your friends, so don't worry! Konoha's awesome, we have the best ramen ever - uh, well, I guess you know that... But it'll be great, promise," even though his voice was wobbling all over the place, full of the tears Haku wasn't shedding. "You can meet everyone for real now, not being a spy! It'll be way nicer, yanno?"

Haku hesitated for a long moment, and then he tentatively put his arms around Sakura and Naruto, whispering, "Thank you..."

Sasuke watched the three of them for a minute and realized that they didn't look like they were going to stop being emotional any time soon; he sighed irritably and shifted around to rest his back against them, one shoulder against Naruto's and the other nestled against Haku, and kept his eyes on the door.

When it slid open soundlessly a few minutes later his sharingan flickered on, but it was only Kakashi. Sasuke glared at him anyway. Kakashi held up a placating hand and formed a hand-signal: food?

Sasuke signed back later and Kakashi nodded, closed the door, and left them alone.

It was another week before the doctor gave up on trying to get Kakashi to rest and told the team they could travel. Yumi made a huge breakfast for them to see them off, though she and Saeko didn't seem to know quite how to treat Haku; even Sakura hadn't found a good way to explain why they had saved one of Zabuza's allies without having to talk about the fight and Zabuza's death, and there was no way to explain that to civilians. If Kakashi had come up with an explanation for the couple, he hadn't talked about it with the team, and as delicious as the food was, the breakfast was a little awkward.

Still, the family seemed sorry they were going; as Sakura tried to disentangle herself from Yue and Ichirou's enthusiastic farewell hugs and Yumi lectured Naruto about eating more vegetables, Saeko said to Kakashi, "We're truly grateful to you and Konoha - if there's anything Kawano can do, just let us know. And - if you run into my sister -"

Kakashi smiled. "I'll tell her you're all fine," he said.

"No, but thanks," Saeko said, smiling herself. "Tell her to write, damnit. And that if she doesn't make it home for the New Year's festival, Yumi just might come and drag her home, ANBU or no ANBU."

One the way out of town they stopped by Zabuza's grave for Haku. The giant sword stood out of the ground to mark the head of it; the team clustered at the foot with Haku as Kakashi tactfully removed himself to the edge of the clearing - not far, but far enough to give them a little privacy.

Haku had hardly spoken in the last week, except to tell Kakashi that he was willing to give Konoha what little information he had about Akatsuki. He was still quiet as he stared at the sword, but for the first time since he'd woken up he didn't look like he was wearing a polite mask. Silent tears slid down his cheeks, and Sakura edged closer to him and slipped her hand into his. "It's okay," she said, looking about to cry again herself. "I mean - it's not okay, but Konoha is really close, so you can - you can come and visit him whenever you want, and t-tell him how everything's going..."

Sasuke looked away, suddenly and uncomfortably aware that he hadn't visited the Uchiha graves - in three years he'd barely thought about it, had never had the courage to find them, and Itachi had never said anything about it. Naruto leaned over and whispered, "Hey, maybe we should let 'em be alone or something, huh?"

Grateful for the excuse, Sasuke nodded and said quietly, "Yeah - I need to talk to you without them around, anyway."

Naruto gulped at that, but they found a spot just outside the clearing, and once they were out of easy earshot of Sakura and Haku, Sasuke said, "So, when were you going to tell me that you're the Kyuubi's host?"

"Um - er," said Naruto, "yanno - sometime... So you figured that out, huh?"

"You practically grew a tail," Sasuke said. "Anyone who knew about the host could've figured it out - Sakura's going to start pestering you about it any day now."

"Aww, man..." Naruto kicked at the ground. "Um, well, I didn't even know till that jerk Mizuki told me, though! There's a law about telling people, no one's supposed to know except the grown-ups - I wasn't supposed to know either, Mizuki only told me 'cause he was trying to make me think Iruka-sensei hated me and get that scroll... I can tell anyone I want now that I know, though," he added quickly, "so it's okay you figured it out! I - I almost told you right away 'cause you said it wouldn't matter, but I was still kinda nervous. I mean, all the grown-ups besides Iruka-sensei hate me 'cause they know, I was just worried..." He looked up at Sasuke. "Are you mad I didn't tell you? I was gonna, honest, I just couldn't figure out a good way - you're not mad, right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke could have laughed. Those idiots in Konoha, giving Naruto the Kyuubi's power and then treating him like he was worthless... Even Sasuke had bought it, but he'd made friends with Naruto anyway, and now he knew just how powerful Naruto could be. Naruto was devoted to his only friend, he'd do anything Sasuke asked; they'd work out a way to control the fox's powers and then they'd be unstoppable, Itachi would never know what hit him. Naruto would be the perfect -

The perfect weapon? Zabuza's harsh laugh echoed in Sasuke's head. Maybe you're a real shinobi after all, brat - already turning your friends into your tools.

"Sasuke? Are you mad?"

Sasuke looked off into the forest and said, as casually as he could, "Whatever, dumbass - I already said it didn't matter. You're still a useless idiot, you can't even remember -"

He shouldn't have looked away; before he could say anything else Naruto had tackled him, laughing. "Haha, yeah right!" he said, his grin stretching from ear to ear. "You said I wasn't useless before, yanno! I'm awesome, and we're gonna be the best ninja in Konoha together, just wait!"

"Dumbass, get off me! Ow - I said get off -"

But Sasuke couldn't help smiling, too.

Sasuke split off from the others as soon as they got back to Konoha; he didn't like abandoning Naruto after everything, but he was tired, and after two and a half weeks of teamwork he needed to go (home) back to the apartment, to be on his own. He'd make it up to Naruto later.

He thought, vaguely, that he might clean up the apartment; Itachi had been out on a mission when Team Seven had left, so the apartment would probably be dusty, and Sasuke thought he might have left some dishes in the sink, but when he opened the door the place looked spotless. Itachi must have come back and cleaned, and left nothing for Sasuke to do. Everything was clean and put away and neat; the only sign that anyone lived there at all was a slip of paper pinned to a cupboard door with a dango stick. It turned out to be a note that read Itachi: If you keep trying to live on plain rice balls and cup ramen the whole time Sasuke's away, I'm going to feed your bony ass to a snake. Come down whenever you get back and we'll go out - my treat, okay? Anko, with an anatomically correct heart scribbled by her name.

Sasuke left the note where it was and opened the door to Itachi's room, in case he was there and hadn't heard Sasuke come in for some reason. It was clean and empty, too, the bed perfectly made. There weren't any pictures on the dresser or hanging on the walls.

A true shinobi must throw away their emotions, said a soft voice in his head. A shinobi is a weapon, and weapons don't need a heart. A friend. A lover. A family.

Sasuke shut the door and went into his room. Itachi must have left it alone; it looked the way it had when he'd left. A pair of pants and some shirts he'd decided not to pack draped across his bed, a couple of books and scrolls from the library in a heap on the floor, the home-made Kakashi punching bag Naruto had given him to train with stuffed in a corner, the photographs on his dresser - the official Team Seven photo and the picture of him and Dad from when he'd entered the Academy and that shot Anko had taken of him fighting with Naruto over grilled squid at the festival a year ago...

He leaned against the wall and looked at the bits of his life until the light through the window started to fade, and then he went back out to the main room and made tea.

The sunset-tinged sky outside of the kitchen window gradually darkened into night; he was still sitting in the dark with his tea when he heard voices in the hall outside, "- and please tell Yoshimoto I hope his son heals soon - I'll see you at HQ tomorrow," and then the door opened and the light flipped on.

"Ah, Sasuke, you're back," Itachi said. "Good - I was worried when I heard that your mission was taking so long."

Sasuke looked up at Itachi's impassive face and thought of Zabuza's tears, like water seeping from a stone.

"You look terrible," said Itachi, slipping off his shoes. "Was it a difficult mission? Maybe you should -"

"Itachi," Sasuke said. "Do you think that shinobi are just weapons?"

Itachi paused with his ANBU vest half-off. "Sasuke, did something -"

"Do you think we're just weapons?" Sasuke asked again; his voice cracked on "weapons" and he didn't care. "Are we useless if we can't throw away everything just to be a tool for someone else, and get used and killed and it doesn't matter what we think about anything - are we just tools?"

"Yes," Itachi said, and something splintered in Sasuke's heart.

Itachi came over and sat across the low table from him. "Well, that's how it was during the shinobi wars," he said. "And afterwards for a while, but things are different in Konoha now. You shouldn't need to worry about it."

"What about you?" Sasuke said, and in his head he saw again the empty apartment and Itachi's clean, lifeless room and their family dead in the streets. Was that why Itachi had killed the other Uchiha? Someone had told him to and he'd just done it because it didn't matter, because it was his job?

Itachi looked at him for a long time before he said, "ANBU is another matter. The village always has to come first."

"But it's not fair," Sasuke said, staring down at his cold tea, his hands clenching into fists. "It's not - you work really hard and do all this stuff for Konoha and most of the village won't even talk to you, they act like you don't exist and they're jerks and it's not fair, it's just not -"

"It's all right," Itachi said, leaning across the table and flicking Sasuke's forehead. "I have you."

Sasuke glanced up, saw one of Itachi's rare smiles (Haku's smile), and had to look down again before he broke and started shouting.

"As long as I can protect you and Konoha, it doesn't matter what else I have to throw away," said Itachi. "What other people think isn't that important, really... It's normal for shinobi to be hated, after all, and especially ANBU." He stood up and went to the kitchen cupboards. "Hm - it's late, you must be hungry. I haven't been shopping so there isn't much, but I could make miso rice... Do you want to call Naruto and Sakura and invite them over? It must have been a rough mission for them, too - perhaps I should talk to Kakashi-san, it's a bad time for the genin teams to be sent outside of Konoha."

I won't be like you, Sasuke thought, I won't, not ever. He would never throw away Naruto or Sakura or Haku just because someone told him to, he wouldn't just be a weapon for someone to use - he would make his own decisions and be a shinobi in his own way, he'd keep his friends safe, and he'd never let himself become someone else's tool.

Even if it killed him, he would never be like Itachi.

Chapter Text

Team Seven finally had a day off, and Sasuke was spending it the way he'd spent most of his scarce free time for the last month: arguing with Naruto.

"But c'mon, Haku's really strong," Naruto said as they were leaving Ichiraku after lunch, "he'd be an awesome ally! He already knows lots about spying and Akatsuki and stuff, he could be really useful."

"I just don't think he'd be interested," Sasuke said, because he still hadn't figured out a tactful way to tell Naruto that he wasn't sure Haku was interested in being a shinobi at all anymore, let alone joining their Itachi investigation. The older boy trained with the team sometimes, mostly speed exercises with Sasuke, but otherwise he seemed content to stay at Naruto's apartment and drift around Konoha, working occasional shifts at Ichiraku and getting called "miss" a lot.

Besides, Haku had liked Zabuza. He'd probably end up getting a crush on Itachi and betraying them, and then Sasuke would have to kill him for real.

"He'd totally care!" Naruto insisted. "You're his friend too, yanno! You never want to let anyone help, even if they'd be good at it..."

Sasuke muttered, "I let you help," and, trying to head off further argument, said, "Is it still okay for me to stay over for a while?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course it's fine," said Naruto, instantly diverted. "Who's gonna complain, yanno? My place'll be kinda cramped with all three of us, but it'll be fun, and if the weather stays nice we can go camp out or something... Bet Haku'll love that!" He stretched his arms and said, "How long's Itachi gonna be gone, anyway? Must be a long time if he's okay with you staying over..."

Sasuke shrugged; he hadn't actually told Itachi that he was planning to stay with Naruto, he just didn't feel like staying in the apartment by himself if he didn't have to. "Depends on how long the teams from Suna stay, I think," he said. "At least a month, maybe two or three."

"Wow, that's long," Naruto said. "I'm gonna have to get lots more ramen!"

"I'm not eating ramen for three months, dumbass! Buy some other food, too, Haku can help you find it."

Despite the prospect of endless ramen ahead of him, Sasuke was already enjoying Itachi's absence. Ever since Sasuke had told him about the mission to Iwa - minus Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra; Itachi almost certainly knew about Naruto already, but he didn't need to know that Sasuke knew - Itachi had been acting even weirder than usual. The night before he'd left for Suna, when they had been cleaning up after dinner, he'd said out of nowhere, "Sasuke, if you wanted to stop being a ninja - there's no shame in that."

Sasuke had almost dropped the glasses he was drying. "What?" he'd said. "Why would I - just because Naruto and Sakura did better on one mission doesn't mean I'm going to quit! I'll beat them next time, I've been training, so I -"

"No, that isn't what I meant," Itachi had said calmly, rinsing off the last plate. "You did very well on that mission, you should be proud of yourself and your team. But it's a shameful job, to be a shinobi, and you'll have to do a lot of unpleasant things... Sasuke, if you didn't like it, if you wanted to quit and do something else - it wouldn't matter to me. I'll always be proud of you, no matter what you do."

Sasuke had grabbed the plate out of Itachi's hands and said, "Well, I'm not quitting - Naruto'd whine forever if I did. Besides, I already told Kakashi I was going into ANBU, like you."

He had been saving that bit of information for a while now, thinking that Itachi would be flattered enough by it to overlook any slips Sasuke made, but when he'd snuck a glance over at Itachi his brother had been staring down at the sink, letting the water run uselessly into the drain, and his face had looked drawn and distant.

Eventually Itachi had turned the tap off and said, "It's your decision, Sasuke. I'm sure you'll do very well, whatever you choose," and Sasuke had grumbled, "Stupid brother - you could've been a little happy about it," and Itachi had flicked his forehead with damp fingers and called him foolish, and that had ended the strange conversation.

Sasuke hoped the Suna teams stayed in Konoha for as long as possible. He could just about handle living with Itachi the clan-murderer because he didn't have a choice about it yet, but an Itachi who didn't even want him to be a shinobi was too bizarre to understand.

Anyway, Itachi had left and Sasuke was sick of worrying over it; he interrupted Naruto's rambling about the joys of ramen to say, "The Suna teams should get here today - if we hang out by the gates we can probably see them arrive."

Naruto grinned and said, "Haha, beat you to it," and Sasuke realized that their aimless wandering had led them to Konoha's main gates. Usually people didn't hang around the gates, which were a frequent target for raids, but Sasuke and Naruto weren't the only ones curious about the teams Suna had sent as aid; several vendors who normally set up near the Academy were there, as well as a couple of chuunin Sasuke recognized as some of Naruto's former watchers, and a bunch of civilian kids had apparently skipped school to crowd around and pester the gate guards. It was too crowded for a good view and too noisy to talk, so Naruto jumped up to the roof of an abandoned bar by the wall and Sasuke followed him.

People had beaten them there, too; Sakura's blonde friend with the bad taste in crushes, Ino or something, was there with the fat boy who'd sat in front of Sasuke at school, and a girl with the pale eyes of a Hyuuga was half-hidden behind a boy with a dog and another guy, both of whom Sasuke vaguely remembered as more former classmates. He was about to grab Naruto and find another, emptier roof when Naruto settled himself in the middle of them. "Hey, guys!" he said. "Did you come to see the Suna people too? Maybe there'll be strong ones we can fight with, that'll be fun!"

"As if you'd even stand a chance, loser," Sakura's friend said, flipping her hair. "And didn't you listen to your teacher at all? You can't fight them, they're here to like, help out with missions."

The Hyuuga girl was looking sideways at Naruto and blushing for some reason. Sasuke could barely hear her mumble, "I - I think Naruto-kun could -" before Naruto yelled, "Whatever, Konoha doesn't need help from any stupid Sand people! If they make any trouble I'll beat 'em up just like that!"

"Yeah, right! You just leave it to me and Akamaru, we'll take 'em out, no problem!"

"No one asked you, Kiba! If anyone's -"

Sasuke tuned them out and sat at the edge of the roof, as far from them as possible. It was stupid, but he got irritated when Naruto was friendly with other people. Those kids had mostly shunned Naruto for most of his life unless they wanted him to suck up to Sasuke for them, but now it was cool to hang out and goof around with him? They'd probably run away screaming if they knew about the Kyuubi...

"They're clearing civilians away from the gates," said a quiet voice next to him; Sasuke looked over and saw one of the boys who'd been with the Hyuuga, the one with the dark glasses and a long coat despite the heat. "The Suna teams must be close."

Sasuke nodded and watched the gates, trying to ignore the noise from the rest of the group.

The first people through the gates were a pair of lean women, one short brunette and one with dull red hair, who looked alert but not immediately threatening; Sasuke guessed they were chuunin, possibly from the same team or at least used to working together, judging by the way they moved almost in unison. Following them came a genin team and their teacher, none of whom Sasuke could get a good look at because Naruto nearly knocked him off the roof, saying, "Hey, hey, is that the Suna people? They don't look too tough, yanno!"

"Watch it, dumbass!" Sasuke said, after he'd gotten his balance back and shoved Naruto over. "Of course it's them, quit pushing."

The next people to come in looked like a genin team as well, but on a completely different level from the first; the guy with the painted face and the blonde girl looked tough enough, but it was the boy in front of them who caught Sasuke's attention. His hair was a deep, rich red that reminded Sasuke of Sasori, and he radiated a cold indifference to his team and his surroundings. Only two kinds of shinobi were that unconcerned in new territory, overconfident idiots and ones who really didn't have anything to worry about, and the redhead didn't look like an idiot. He looked strong, at least as strong as the jounin teacher with the team, and maybe stronger. A guy that powerful, with another village's knowledge and no special ties to Konoha - he could be useful.

As if he'd heard Sasuke's thoughts, the boy glanced up, and Sasuke saw deadly pale eyes ringed with black.

"Hey, Sasuke, let's not mess with that guy," Naruto said, his voice unusually quiet. "He's kinda - he gives me the creeps, yanno?"

"Don't be a coward," Sasuke said, "you handle being around Itachi all the time."

Naruto stuck his lip out and didn't answer immediately, which wasn't very Naruto-like either. Why was everyone acting weird lately? Even Sakura hadn't been as clingy, not that Sasuke minded.

Sasuke looked back down at the gates and saw one more shinobi from the Sand, a tall, slender person of indeterminate gender with short, straight-edged black hair and a stripe of white paint on each cheek. A third chuunin, maybe, or another jounin who didn't have to shepherd around a genin team. The chuunin Sasuke had recognized before stepped up to talk to the Suna shinobi; they were probably the official welcoming team, and Sasuke stood up to leave. He and Naruto had seen the Suna teams arrive, they should get back to training.

A couple of the civilian girls who'd been hanging around and giggling got a little too close, and one of them tripped on her own sandals, falling against the red-haired boy. "Oops, sorry!" she said too loudly, still giggling as she caught her balance. "I didn't mean to -"

A tendril of sand snaked out of the gourd on the boy's back and wrapped around her throat, cutting her off.

The scene exploded, the other Suna genin jumping back and the chuunin freezing as the blonde girl said nervously, "Gaara, cut it out, we're not supposed to -" and Sasuke's kunai sliced through the sand, breaking its grip long enough for the ashen-faced girl's friend to pull her away.

Sasuke jumped down after the kunai in case the redhead wanted to keep fighting, but the sand hovered in wait above the gourd, and the other boy - Gaara - stared at him and said, "Why did you interfere?"

"If you want a fight," Sasuke said, "don't waste your time picking on a civilian."

The blonde laughed. "Oh, you think you're a match for our Gaara, don't you?" she said. "Word of advice: We might've been sent here to help, but we aren't your friends. You'd better stay out of -"

"Whatever, we're totally strong!" Naruto said, from behind Sasuke's shoulder; he must have followed Sasuke off the roof without Sasuke noticing. "We've beaten super-strong guys already, you're the ones who better watch out for us, yanno!"

"Damn," grumbled the guy with the face paint, "if all the Konoha kids are this annoying, I'm going to start murdering them myself - I'd rather go fishing with Granny Chiyo."

Gaara was still staring at Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke kept his face calm, but he thought Naruto might've had a point earlier; there was something unnerving about those pale green eyes, and he had almost killed a civilian just for accidentally falling on him...

He squashed his misgivings. Gaara wasn't any older than Sasuke or Naruto, he'd probably just overreacted, and anyway that sand jutsu had to be strong - just what Sasuke was looking for.

"You'll be an interesting opponent," Gaara said suddenly, and Naruto jumped as the sand condensed and poured back into the gourd. "What's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm gonna -"

"Not you," said Gaara. "The strong one."

Sasuke bit his cheek to keep from smirking; of course Gaara couldn't know about the Kyuubi, but it still felt good to be acknowledged. He said, "Uchiha Sasuke," ignoring Naruto kicking his shin. "I'll look forward to it - Gaara."

Gaara began to say something else, but the tall shinobi who'd come in last swooped between them, saying in a high voice, "How nice to see you making friends, Gaara-kun, but we shouldn't make so much trouble for our kind hosts - why don't we go ahead with the others, and you can socialize later..."

Gaara gave the tall shinobi the same flat stare he'd given Sasuke, but they - Sasuke still wasn't sure of their gender, and after Haku wasn't going to assume one way or the other - only smiled, immovable. After a moment Gaara said "Fine," and turned away to join the rest of the Suna shinobi, who had gathered around the Konoha chuunin.

The blonde girl hung back long enough to whisper to Sasuke, "You're cute, so here's one more piece of advice - stay away from Gaara if he wants to fight, or he'll plaster your pretty face all over a wall," and then she left him to catch up with the others.

"Okay can we go now," Naruto said in a rush, keeping his voice down, and Sasuke nodded. He assumed Naruto would want to go back to the bar roof and the annoying people, but instead Naruto dragged him a couple of streets over to an empty park. "Sasuke, you can't fight that guy," he said immediately. "He's too creepy, yanno!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You didn't seem too intimidated by the other ones," he pointed out. "Telling them to watch out for us - seriously?"

"Yeah, well, they weren't that scary," said Naruto, kicking a rock into the grass. "But that Gaara - he's not like us, he's kinda..." He trailed off, then shrugged. "He's just scary, yanno? Maybe you shouldn't fight him."

"We're only going to spar," Sasuke said, irritated by Naruto's sudden cautiousness. Since when did Naruto back off from a fight? "I want to find out how strong he is, that's all, then see if he'll help investigate - maybe Suna's had some run-ins with Akatsuki, he might have heard about something we haven't."

"Oh, no way," Naruto said, scrunching up his face into his most stubborn expression. "I'm not working with him! Why's it okay to ask that creepy guy when you won't even let Sakura-chan or Haku -"

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! You looked so cool!"

Damn. They'd been followed. Sakura's friend pounced on Sasuke and started gushing about how cool he'd been, just like her wonderful Itachi-san, while the boy with the dog started bragging to Naruto and the Hyuuga girl pushed her fingertips together and whispered, "N-Naruto-kun was brave, too..."

It was too much; Sasuke elbowed Ino away, touched Naruto's shoulder and muttered "We'll talk about it later" into his ear, and escaped.

He ended up outside the gate to the Uchiha compound. He'd been coming here on his own occasionally for the last month, just to look at it; of course the gate was locked, but that wasn't what had kept Sasuke out. Itachi wasn't in Konoha now, though, and after a moment of contemplation Sasuke focused, ran up the side of the gate, and vaulted over.

As his feet touched the ground he looked up automatically, but the sky was clear, the telephone pole empty. No silhouette. Sasuke took a deep breath and started walking.

The compound looked familiar and strange at the same time. He knew it all already, recognized everything - Aunt Rin's snack stand, Aunt and Uncle's shop, Shisui's house and the street that led to the training grounds - but it was all wrong, empty and quiet and broken and a little smaller than it had been. There were dead leaves in Aunt Rin's stand, she never would have allowed that; the Uchiha fans painted on the walls had faded, and cracks ran through the stonework. It should've felt welcoming, but all Sasuke felt was out of place. Everything was wrong; he shouldn't feel like a stranger when he was finally coming home.

After circling around it for a while, Sasuke turned onto the street to his own house. He hadn't seen it since he had run out that day, so unimaginably long ago, and at first glance it looked unchanged, as if three years passing hadn't damaged it at all. A sudden, stupid idea rose within him and he ran down the street - a lie, it's all been a lie - reaching for the door, knowing it was foolish but still hoping that he'd open it and Mother would be at the stove, Father at the table with tea and a newspaper, and they'd be so glad to see him, so proud that he'd gotten away from Itachi and come to find them at last -

But as soon as he touched the door-handles another image overwhelmed him: dark, silent rooms covered in dust, and if he opened the door Itachi would be there, not in Suna like he was supposed to be but standing in the shadows with his bloody sword, saying It's your turn now, little brother.

Sasuke yanked his hand back and turned away; his eyes fell on the crack in one of the Uchiha symbols, where Itachi had thrown a kunai at it and said he didn't care about a worthless clan, and he looked up at the house properly and saw the leaves clogging the gutters and the broken windows and the spiderwebs.

He leaned back against the door and shut his eyes. He didn't care if Itachi might be in there and about to stab him through the door, it didn't matter, he shouldn't have come here anyway. Seeing this dead, abandoned place that should have been full of his clan and family, busy and noisy and alive - it was too painful, and he hated it. It was all Itachi's fault, and Sasuke was going to kill him for it. He'd kill Itachi and then take back the compound, rebuild the clan somehow, and the Uchiha would be powerful and important again, not one barely-graduated genin, but he still wouldn't have his family back.

He was just being childish now; he rubbed his eyes and stepped away from the door. He should go find Naruto, or maybe Haku or Sakura, and see about -

"Fancy meeting you here," trilled a light, high voice. "What a pleasant surprise this is!"

Sasuke reached for a kunai and looked up to see the tall Suna shinobi from before sitting cross-legged on the wall. "What are you doing in here?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be meeting the Hokage."

The Suna-nin chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, my clone is having a lovely time being shown around, I'm sure. But I don't really need a tour of my own home village," and their voice cracked into a dry, familiar one, "do I - Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke's fingers tightened around the kunai's hilt. "So you came back," he said, "Oro-"

"Ah, wait," said Orochimaru, holding up one finger, "there are little roots everywhere - please, call me Yashagoro."

Sasuke didn't care what Orochimaru wanted to call himself. He and Naruto had come up blank on Akatsuki itself, but they'd had better luck investigating Orochimaru, one of three legendary shinobi from Konoha - and then a legendary traitor who'd done experiments even Anko didn't want to talk about and left the village because he hadn't been made the Fourth Hokage. Sasuke hadn't been able to find out what he wanted from Sasuke and Itachi specifically, but one night when Anko had stayed over late getting drunk he'd overheard her talking to Itachi about Orochimaru and something involving seals. Sasuke still wasn't sure what to make of that, but he doubted that Orochimaru was interested in seals for any good reasons; Anko sometimes joked about her time as his apprentice, but always in a way that made Sasuke think it wasn't funny at all.

He thought about asking if Orochimaru was still looking for the Kyuubi's host, but he didn't want to let anything about Naruto slip by accident, so instead he asked, "Are you still looking for Itachi?"

"He certainly is tempting," Orochimaru said, "but no - it's you I came to see this time, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke really didn't like the way Orochimaru was looking at him with the Suna-nin's grey eyes; he almost activated the sharingan to see if the disguise was a transformation or something else before deciding he didn't want to know. Stupid day off - he didn't have any weapons bigger than the kunai he'd drawn, and of course there was no one close enough to hear anything happening. Still, he knew his way around the compound and Orochimaru didn't, so he should be able to get away if he needed to... "I'm not interested," he said. "You'd better get out before I let ANBU know that Akatsuki's snooping around again."

"You needn't worry about them," Orochimaru said, and waved a hand dismissively. "I've left those fools behind. I have my own ambitions to take care of - I'm sure you understand."

That didn't make Sasuke feel any better. If Orochimaru wasn't after Naruto and the Kyuubi anymore, what exactly had he come for?

The other shinobi leaped down from the wall and Sasuke took a step back, ready to run, but Orochimaru only looked around at the dilapidated walls. "So this is where they put the Uchiha after the Kyuubi incident," he said. "I can see why they would be upset..."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke said. The Uchiha had lived in their compound as long as he could remember - what did Orochimaru mean, they'd been "put" there? Why would that have anything to do with the Kyuubi?

Orochimaru laughed again. "Oh, Sasuke-kun," he said, "there's simply too much you don't know... It's almost charming," and he blinked once, lazily, and opened golden snake eyes and Sasuke froze at the killing intent. He had to run (he was already dead), he had to get out of here and he'd do anything to escape (but he'd die) -

He jammed the kunai into his thigh - not deeply, he could barely move as it was - and the pain jolted him out of the fear. He wasn't going to be intimidated by this snaky bastard - he was a shinobi, he was an Uchiha, and he wouldn't back down.

Orochimaru was still watching him, an amused look on his false face. Sasuke pulled the kunai out, deliberately wiped the blood off it, and said, "Then tell me."

The sun was getting low in the sky when Sasuke went looking for Naruto. He tried Naruto's apartment first, but no one answered, so he started to head for the training grounds near the memorial to check for Naruto and Haku there.

He'd barely left the apartment building when sand swirled around his feet; Sasuke jumped away and saw a familiar outline crouched on the roof of the building across the street.

"Still looking forward to our fight, Uchiha Sasuke?" said Gaara, and his cool voice betrayed a flicker of eagerness.

Sasuke thought about it for exactly half a second and then said, "No." He didn't care how much the guy freaked Naruto out, but he had a lot to think about and didn't feel like sparring.

Gaara's face didn't change, but the sand in the road rose up again, looming over Sasuke. "Why not?"

"I can already tell you're strong," Sasuke said, ignoring the sand. He'd had enough intimidation for one day. "And you know I am - we don't have to prove it in a fight."

Silence, except for the whispering sand; then Gaara said again, "Why not?"

Sasuke briefly wished he'd let the redhead choke that stupid girl and not gotten himself involved. "It's just pointless," he said. "Working together's better - once your team's done with missions tomorrow, you should come train with me and Naruto."

"I don't train," Gaara said, "I don't need to," but the hovering sand collapsed back into the road.

"You should," Sasuke said, relaxing slightly. "You can't get lazy just because you have a strong technique, there's always someone more powerful out there."

"Then I'll kill them," said Gaara, as if it was the most obvious response, but he looked a little thoughtful; after a few silent moments he said, "Maybe I'll come. Just to see. But," he added, "I still want to fight you, so don't be disappointing."

"Fine," Sasuke said. He was definitely going to rub this in Naruto's face later. Okay, so Gaara seemed a little bloodthirsty, but he couldn't be that different from Sasuke and Naruto; once they'd all trained together Naruto would see what a great idea this was. Maybe he'd even be nice and let Naruto pick another ally to balance things out, as long as it wasn't someone ridiculous.

Gaara stood up to leave and the blonde girl from his team appeared next to him. "There you are," she said, sounding slightly out of breath. "Don't just disappear, we thought you'd -"

"Shut up, Temari," Gaara said, and she closed her mouth immediately and glared down at Sasuke as if Gaara's rudeness was his fault somehow.

Sasuke didn't care about her; he said, "See you tomorrow, then."

Gaara hesitated, then nodded, and Temari's eyebrows shot up. "What are you two going to do, have a nice game of shogi?" she asked.

"Train," Gaara said coldly, turning away. "Let's go."

Temari shot Sasuke an incredulous glance and vanished with Gaara. Sasuke waited a minute to make sure they were gone and then started down the road again, but he'd only taken a few steps when he saw Naruto and Haku approaching.

Naruto looked kind of down, but he brightened when he saw Sasuke and ran up. "Hey, sorry about before!" he said. "I went to go wait at the training grounds but you weren't there, and then Sakura-chan and Haku showed up and we practiced for a while and then I thought maybe you meant you'd be here so we came back, except Sakura-chan had to go home, but -"

"It's fine, I had something to do," Sasuke said. Just looking at Naruto made him feel tired and a little ashamed; Naruto was the only person he didn't have to lie to about Itachi, but now that Sasuke finally had a new lead he couldn't tell Naruto about it...

"Are you feeling all right, Sasuke-kun?" Haku asked, looking at him closely.

Damn, Haku was too perceptive. "I'm fine," Sasuke said. "Naruto, about earlier -"

He hesitated, not sure how to bring up Gaara without tipping Haku off, but Haku smiled and said, "Sakura-chan invited me over to her house for dinner - I'm just going to clean up and change and then meet her."

He went ahead to Naruto's apartment as Naruto grumbled, "Aww, man, Haku's lucky - Sakura-chan never invites me over even though we're teammates, yanno! It's no fair."

"We need to talk, anyway," Sasuke said. "About Gaara - I just saw him, I think I can get him to help us." Gaara was obviously interested in fighting strong people, and Itachi was the strongest person Sasuke knew; it shouldn't be too hard to convince him to join the investigation, as long as he didn't get overeager and give them away.

"What, seriously?" said Naruto, looking skeptical. "You really asked that creepy guy to join up with us?"

"He's not that bad," Sasuke said confidently, "just kind of weird. Trust me, he'll be useful. Oh - and he said something about staying away from that Yashagoro guy."

"Huh? Who?"

Damn, right, Orochimaru hadn't mentioned his fake name earlier. "That tall Suna-nin who interfered before," Sasuke said. "He didn't say why, just to avoid him." He couldn't tell Naruto about Orochimaru, not yet, but at least he could try to keep them apart and protect Naruto that way; whether the snake bastard had really left Akatsuki or not, it'd be better if he never met Naruto.

Naruto began to ask something else, but then Haku came down to tell them he'd be back later and not to forget to clean up, and after that they fell naturally into their usual routine: complaining about boring missions, arguing over the dishes, swapping guesses about what was under Kakashi's mask, watching TV and fighting over the remote, and, after Haku got back, shoving all of Naruto's junk into the closet to make room for the futons, going to bed, and talking in disjointed half-conversations as they fell asleep.

Sasuke usually slept well at Naruto's, even with Naruto's snoring, but tonight he lay awake long after the other two, thinking about Orochimaru. He should tell ANBU that Orochimaru was back; he wasn't an idiot, he knew Orochimaru hadn't returned to Konoha to sight-see and make new friends. But he and Naruto had hit a dead end when it came to finding anything out about Itachi and Akatsuki, and even getting allies like Gaara could only help so much. Orochimaru knew things, even things that didn't make sense (Sasuke tried to imagine Itachi in an Akatsuki coat, making rice balls, and had to stifle a laugh), and if Sasuke could just get some of that knowledge...

Information has its price, Sasuke-kun, and Sasuke shuddered and rolled over and saw that Haku's eyes were open. "Is something wrong?" Haku whispered, his voice barely audible.

"No," Sasuke muttered, "'m fine," and he turned back over, curling up. Damn Haku, always noticing things.

Haku touched his shoulder gently and whispered, "If there's anything I can do to help, please tell me. You're one of my important friends, after all."

When Sasuke didn't answer Haku took his hand away, and soon Sasuke heard his breathing even out; Sasuke burrowed deeper under his blanket, even though it was a warm night. He didn't need anyone's help. Training with the snake bastard, that was barely a price - more like getting two free gifts instead of one. He'd learn all kinds of techniques that Itachi probably didn't know, he'd get information on Akatsuki and Itachi and the Uchiha, and it wouldn't cost him anything but some of his spare time. It was a great deal.

It would be easier to believe that if he could forget the way Orochimaru's fingers had gripped his face to force out the sharingan, and the cracked voice gloating, So much potential hiding in these eyes - more than Itachi, perhaps... Don't worry, Sasuke-kun, I'll unlock that power for you.

Naruto mumbled something loud but incoherent and rolled over, his arm flopping over the side of the bed. As if he were eight years old again Sasuke reached out and took his hand, and Naruto's fingers curled around his in an automatic grip. This is for you, too, Sasuke thought. We both have to be strong, and I won't let him touch you, or anyone else...

He carefully slid his hand out of Naruto's and, finally, fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Sasuke drew a kunai, aimed and struck, but at half his usual speed. Training with Sakura was always difficult; he couldn't go too easy on her because then she wouldn't improve, but she wasn't as tough as Naruto or Haku, so sparring with her was a balancing act. Kakashi said it was a good exercise in control for Sasuke; Sasuke thought Kakashi could just spar with Sakura himself, then, but Kakashi had begged out of practice when Haku showed up and then gone off to read or something, and Naruto was hogging Haku, so that left Sasuke with trying not to break Sakura's arm by accident.

She blocked his kunai with one of her own and tried to jab him in the stomach, but he twisted aside, broke free of the kunai-lock, and crouched to sweep her legs out from under her. She jumped back to avoid the kick, nearly stumbling, and as Sasuke threw the kunai she dropped hers and formed a seal. Sasuke's kunai thudded into a log; he turned and saw Sakura charging at him, flung shuriken at her, and she disappeared in the smoke of another switching jutsu.

He heard feet running up a tree, turned again, and saw Sakura vault off a branch. He threw more shuriken to force her to switch and looked around for her next attack, and she slammed into him from above, knocking him to the ground, then grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his back.

Okay, maybe he didn't need to go that easy on her.

He slapped the ground with his free hand, and Sakura got off so he could sit up and spit out the dirt that had gotten in his mouth. She smiled at him, sticking her tongue out a little, and said, "Heh - I won this time, Sasuke-kun!"

"Hmf," Sasuke said, hating to admit defeat even in training. "Not bad, though." Then he looked at her more closely; even with the blunted practice weapons, her arms were covered with scratches, and one of the shuriken had stuck in her shoulder.

Sakura looked down at herself, too, and pulled the shuriken out with only a little wince. "Well, it worked," she said, "but I guess I'd better save it for a really tough situation. Maybe I should ask Haku-san to look at -"

"Owowow! That's cheating, yanno!"

"Naruto-kun, if you'd pay better attention to your surroundings, this wouldn't happen..."

Sasuke looked over at the other side of the training grounds; Naruto was dancing around with an ass full of needles, probably from stepping into a trap, and Haku was watching him with a familiar how did an idiot like you beat me? expression on his face.

"That Naruto - he just never changes, does he?" Sakura said, but there was almost as much affection as exasperation in her voice. She stood up and started walking over. "Haku-san! Would you mind taking a -"

Sand rose out of the field around her feet and yanked her into the air upside-down, and she screamed. Sasuke instinctively reached for a kunai - even a blunted weapon was better than none - but didn't draw. "So you decided to show up after all, Gaara," he said.

Gaara was standing at the edge of the cleared ground with his arms crossed; he ignored Sasuke to stare at Sakura, who'd put her hands over her mouth and was staring back, wide-eyed and trembling. "This one's weak," Gaara said abruptly. "You don't need her," and Sakura gasped as the sand tightened around her legs.

"She's still on my team," Sasuke said, "so put her -"

"What the hell are you doing to Sakura-chan, you no-eyebrows creep!" Naruto yelled, charging over and skidding to a stop beside Sasuke. "You'd better let her go right now or I'm gonna - ow! Hey!" The sand had grabbed him, too, and heaved him into the air to dangle next to Sakura. "Hey, lemme down! Hey!"

This wasn't the first impression Sasuke had been hoping for. Trying to keep cool, he said, "Gaara, I thought you were interested in fighting me, not them. Let them go, and then we can spar if you want."

"They're weak," said Gaara, and Naruto and Sakura yelled again as the sand tightened more. "They're only getting in your way - you should just get rid of them."

Damnit - Sasuke had to get Gaara's attention away from Naruto and Sakura, then he could get them away and talk to Gaara alone so he'd quit trying to kill them. Maybe Naruto had been a little bit right about Gaara, not that Sasuke was ever going to admit that to him. "They've never been in my way," he said, carefully sliding his hand into the pouch with his exploding tags. "I don't know how you handle it in Suna, but we don't kill our own teams here."

"I don't need -" Gaara started to say, and then broke off as ice encased his arms and legs.

Haku leaned out of the trees' shadows and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder, smiling in a gently terrifying way. "I think you've shown off quite enough - Gaara-kun, is it?" he said. "I'd appreciate it if you put my friends down now."

Gaara's pale eyes narrowed, focusing on Haku, and Sasuke took his chance and leaped, grabbing Naruto and Sakura as the sand's grip relaxed. They landed in a heap a safe distance away and Sasuke looked back to Haku and Gaara, ready to jump up and help.

Haku had made it to the riverbank, and the water had twisted into a giant dragon behind him; Gaara's sand hovered protectively around him. "So you're strong, too," Gaara said. "What are you doing with failures like them?"

"Perhaps you haven't seen their true strength," said Haku, as another dragon rose out of the river. "And they're my friends - just like Konoha and Suna are supposed to be friends. Everyone will be upset if you hurt your allies when you came to help them, especially your friends from Suna."

"They're not my friends," Gaara said, "I don't care what they think," but after a long, tense moment of staring he said, "Fine." He held his hand out and the sand gathered in his palm, shaping itself into a cork for the gourd on his back; Haku's hands flickered, and the twin water dragons collapsed back into the river without even a splash.

"You two are strange," said Gaara, turning away from Haku. "Dragging weak people around - that will only make you weak, too."

Sasuke felt Sakura still trembling beside him; he was trying to think of something to say to her when she grabbed him and said, "Sasuke-kun, what's wrong with you? How could you ask someone like that to - he could have killed us!"

"I didn't know he'd do that!" Sasuke said. What did Sakura think, that he'd wanted Gaara to come around and threaten his friends?

Her expression softened a little, but she still looked furious. "I can't believe you could be so careless," she said. "What were you thinking? If Haku-san hadn't been here..."

"I was trying to be friendly," Sasuke muttered, because he couldn't tell her the real reason. "We're supposed to get along with the teams from Suna, right? It was - diplomatic."

"It's stupid," Sakura snapped, frowning at him. "I know Naruto doesn't have any sense, but I thought you'd know better than to talk to someone like - like that!"

Sasuke stared at her, not sure how he was supposed to respond, but she saved him the trouble by getting up and stalking over to Haku. He couldn't help noticing that her legs were red and scraped up, which stung worse than her words; he'd have to apologize to her later, somehow, when Naruto wasn't around to make it too embarrassing.

Naruto was being way too quiet, he should've said "I told you so" at least twice by now. Sasuke elbowed him and said, "Hey, don't tell me you're intimidated by that guy, too."

"Nah," Naruto mumbled, "it's just - yanno..."

"We can handle him," Sasuke said. Resorting to outright flattery, he added, "Aren't we going to be the best shinobi in Konoha?"

It worked way too easily; Naruto's face lightened, and he said, "Yeah, yeah, of course!"

He punched Sasuke in the arm a little too hard and bounded up. Sasuke got up, too, and saw Sakura whispering to Haku; then she turned to Gaara and said, rather coldly for her, "I hope you have a good time training with Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun, but Haku-san and I have practiced enough, so we're going to go clean up."

"Please treat my friends well," Haku said, with a smile that promised, or else, and they walked off, leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone with Gaara.

Naruto grinned at Gaara a little nervously. "So, uh, you wanted to train with us, right?" he said. "We're pretty strong, yanno, so -"

"I wanted to fight with him," said Gaara, shrugging in Sasuke's general direction, "but - training will do. What are the rules?"

"No killing the people you're training with," Sasuke said, since this appeared to be something Suna didn't cover in their curriculum.

"Then it's pointless," Gaara said.

"Um, okay," Naruto said, "then we could just - hang out and do stuff?"

"Hang out?"

"Yeah, yanno, like friends," Naruto said cheerfully, putting his hands behind his head with his elbows sticking out.

Gaara said, "Friends," as if it were in a foreign language.

"Sure!" said Naruto. "I mean, we kinda got off to a bad start, but that happens, it's okay! I met Haku after he almost killed me - well, actually I met him before that, but he was a spy, and then - um, well, it was complicated, but we're all friends now. So even if you did sorta try to kill me and Sakura-chan we can be friends and hang out too, if you want!"

Gaara appeared to be giving the idea serious consideration, and Sasuke almost smiled with relief. Finally, Naruto's obnoxious friendliness was paying off - even a creepy guy like Gaara couldn't resist it.

"What do you do when you - hang out?" Gaara asked.

"Hmm - well, anything you want!" said Naruto. "You can play games or walk around or watch movies, or talk about stuff like your hobbies - like, I like eating ramen -"

"Eating ramen isn't a hobby!"

"Sure it is! Don't listen to Sasuke, he just doesn't appreciate a good bowl of ramen - you got any hobbies?"

Gaara thought this over for a moment, and then said, "Killing the assassins my father sends after me."

Damnit.

The next week was a special kind of torture, to the point where Sasuke felt like he should be taking notes for techniques to use if he ended up on an interrogation squad or something. Sakura seemed to have forgiven him without even an apology, but whenever Gaara showed up at their practices she would come up with some excuse to leave; by itself that wouldn't have been so bad, but she always dragged Haku off with her, so Naruto and Sasuke were stuck on their own with figuring out non-deadly ways to hang out with Gaara every other day. They did, after a couple of tries, manage to convince Gaara to practice with them, but trying to punch through the walls of sand Gaara could call up while getting tossed around by more sand wasn't good training in anything but frustration. Sasuke intended to find a way through that sand if it killed him.

Outside of training, Naruto's attempts to find Gaara a different hobby weren't much more successful. Gaara went along with him, for whatever reason, but every activity seemed to end in clouds of smoke, minor-to-moderate property damage, and one of Gaara's teammates showing up to take him back to wherever the Suna teams were staying, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to take the blame for the destruction; Sasuke was going to get a reputation for trouble-making as bad as Naruto's if this kept up.

On top of all that - which was more than enough, in Sasuke's opinion - he hadn't seen any sign of Orochimaru. Sasuke wasn't looking forward to training with the snake bastard, but Orochimaru could be up to anything, and Sasuke didn't like not knowing; besides, it'd be hard to get information out of Orochimaru if he got caught by ANBU.

Today Naruto was hauling Sasuke and Gaara towards downtown Konoha without telling them what his big idea of the moment was, but as soon as Sasuke saw the steam rising from the hot springs he stopped in the middle of the road and said, "No."

"Oh, c'mon!" Naruto said, as Gaara stopped too and looked at both of them curiously. "You can't do a good sexy technique without lots of observation, yanno! And it's good practice for sneaking around without getting caught."

"You're the only one who needs practice with that, dumbass!"

"That's true," said Gaara; after a beat he added, "Dumbass," and Sasuke made a mental note to talk with him later about who was allowed to call Naruto names.

Naruto pouted. "But you still gotta get a good look for the technique," he said, "and it's totally useful, Itachi said so too! Gaara, I bet you'd be super good at it!"

"I don't want to spy on girls in the bath just to learn your stupid sexy jutsu," Sasuke said, feeling his cheeks burn, "and I bet Gaara doesn't either - right?"

"I don't," Gaara said, although he was looking at the hot springs bathhouse a little more than strictly necessary.

"But you guys -"

Whatever excuse Naruto meant to use next was lost when someone by the bathhouse shouted, "Keep it down, brats, or I'm gonna get caught!"

"You're the one yel-" Sasuke started to say out of habit, and then his guard went up. He hadn't noticed anyone at the hot springs as they'd approached; whoever the speaker was, they were good at concealing themselves.

"Hey, what's an old guy like you doing peeking, anyway?" Naruto said, pointing at the guy in question - an older man with long, frizzy white hair and red marks on his face, crouching by a hole in the bathhouse wall.

"Research," the man said, "and I said keep it down! It's very important research!"

"Whatever, pervert! Old creepy pervert!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes - as if Naruto had any room to talk - and said, "Who are you?"

The man hopped up, beaming. "I'm glad you asked, my young friends!" he said, having apparently forgotten his own desire for stealth, and he struck a dramatic pose. "From north to south, from east to west, there is no one more renowned than the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku! The legendary lover who never needs to chase a woman! The undefeated warrior who with one face can make grown shinobi cry, and with another soothe a screaming child - that's me, the great Jiraiya-sama!"

"Huh, never heard of you," said Naruto, and Gaara shrugged.

Jiraiya's face fell as Sasuke grabbed Naruto and hissed, "Yes you have, idiot! He's one of the Sannin - Orochimaru's old team."

"Oh, right! Haha - yeah, I remembered that," Naruto said, obviously not remembering at all. Sasuke didn't remember much more than that himself, just that the other two of the three famous shinobi had left Konoha to become wanderers but weren't counted as missing-nin for some reason. And that they'd both been strong - probably as strong as Orochimaru...

Sasuke's mind raced; this was a huge risk and a perfect opportunity - if Jiraiya had come back looking for Orochimaru, that would be more trouble than Sasuke could imagine, especially if he caught Sasuke talking to Orochimaru. If he was just here by coincidence, though... He'd been traveling for years, he had to have a ton of information, and if he was even half as strong as Orochimaru then he could be a useful teacher, too.

Even as Jiraiya asked, "And who are you ignorant little kids, then?", Sasuke had made up his mind.

"I'm not ignorant!" Naruto yelled. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And this guy's my friend Sasuke, and that's my friend Gaara, he's from Suna... Hey, pervy sage, are you really that strong?"

The sage opened his mouth, but Sasuke cut in first, saying, "Of course he is. Even if he is louder than you and a giant pervert -" Seriously, who called peeping "research"? What a creep. "- he's still one of the Sannin."

Jiraiya looked as if he wasn't sure whether he'd been insulted or complimented, but coughed and said, "Yes, naturally! My fame has spread far and wide - even to Suna, I'm sure." He paused to shoot a glare at Gaara, who was watching them all with a slight frown. "And now I've returned to my home village to conduct vital research for my latest work on the beautiful women of Konoha and the noble Will of Fire that burns within their generous - ahem." He coughed again. "So, it's been a pleasure, but -"

"You could probably learn a lot from him, Naruto," Sasuke said loudly, and the others stared at him. "Or - at least get him to buy you some cloud-style ramen," he said, much more quietly, and hoped that Naruto still remembered the old code for getting information about Akatsuki.

Naruto blinked, then seemed to get it. "Yeah, sure!" he said. "Hey, pervy s- I mean, Mr. Sage, sir, can you teach me some awesome stuff?"

"Nope," Jiraiya said, crossing his arms and looking off to the side with his nose stuck in the air. "Sorry, not in the market for an apprentice, especially not a stupid-faced brat like you."

Naruto grinned, formed a seal, and transformed - into his naked girl version. Twining some of his - her - whatever's hair around one finger, Naruto said breathily, "But Mr. Sage, I'm sure there's so much you could teach me..."

If this worked, Sasuke was going to punch Naruto.

Jiraiya snuck a glance, and his whole attitude changed; he practically pounced on Naruto, examining the transformation from every angle. "Beautiful, beautiful," he said, "a perfect transformation - did you come up with this yourself, kid?"

"Uh - yeah, it's my totally original technique," said Naruto, glancing over at Sasuke and mouthing, What a super pervert!

Sasuke decided not to hit Naruto this once; putting up with Jiraiya was clearly going to be bad enough on its own, if the sage agreed to teach him. Finally Jiraiya stood up, grinning, and said, "All right! You can be my apprentice, on one condition - you must always be in that form!"

Naruto dispelled the transformation. "No way," he said, "just teach me some cool stuff already! You said you would, so you have to, yanno?"

"Hmf," Jiraiya grumbled, muttering something Sasuke couldn't make out, and then he said, "Fine! I've got a few weeks till my deadline, I suppose I could take a little time to show you a move or two... But you'll have to be completely serious about it! No wasting my time or goofing off! Hey - are you even listening?"

Naruto was jumping around and cheering; Sasuke caught his arm and said, "Seriously, Naruto, don't screw around."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Naruto said, "I'll work hard, so teach me a really cool move, pervy sage!"

"It's not 'pervy sage,' you stupid brat! It's the great Toad Sage Jiraiya-sama!"

"Right, pervy sage, so let's start working! Yeah!"

Jiraiya sighed. "Fine, fine, so let's see what you've got..." He looked over at Sasuke and Gaara and said, "Sorry, kids, I only take one apprentice at a time - go on, get out of here. Shoo!"

"Hey, can't you -"

"It's okay," Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto; they couldn't afford to mess up this chance. Whatever Sasuke couldn't learn from Orochimaru, Naruto could probably get from Jiraiya, at least if he made half an effort. "See you later - let's go, Gaara."

Gaara was scowling at Jiraiya now, but he followed Sasuke away from the hot springs. A block away, he said, "Why did you make Naruto stay with that old man? Naruto trains with us."

"Naruto needs more practice than we do," Sasuke said, surprised - he hadn't thought Gaara would care what Naruto did. "Anyway, it's just for a while, he can still train with us sometimes." Or so Sasuke hoped; he wasn't sure how Jiraiya planned to teach Naruto, but surely it couldn't take up all of Naruto's time.

"Hmf," said Gaara, and Sasuke became aware that he was alone with an irritated Gaara, a situation he'd been trying to avoid since realizing that Gaara probably would kill him as soon as look at him. "Are we still - hanging out?"

"We can," Sasuke said carefully, "but I didn't have any plans..."

"We could train again," Gaara suggested.

Sasuke still had sand burn in places he didn't want to think about from "training" earlier. "That's okay," he said, "maybe we could just -"

He tried to think of something non-violent they could do, then saw one of Gaara's team - the one with the face paint - jogging up the street towards them. "Hey, Gaara," he said once he'd caught up, "Baki-sensei wants to talk to - huh." He looked around at the peaceful street and said, "No explosions this time, little bro? Guess these Konoha kids are kind of a good influence after all."

He reached out as if he were going to pat Gaara's shoulder and the sand in the gourd shot out, catching his hand and wrist. "Don't touch me, Kankuro," Gaara said, while Sasuke thought, Little bro? The two didn't look anything alike - well, maybe that was because the face paint got in the way, but still. They were brothers?

Sasuke suddenly felt a little sympathy for Kankuro.

"Right, got it, no touching," Kankuro said, trying to pull his hand away, and the sand released him. He grumbled something under his breath and then said, "We still have to go see Baki-sensei, you can chat with your little friend later."

"Fine," said Gaara, turning away. "See you tomorrow."

Sasuke nodded and said, "Yeah, see you," and after the two were gone, Sasuke started walking down the street again, thinking about what to do. He could go look for Sakura and Haku, or see if Kakashi was too busy to train him, or maybe -

"Hello - Sasuke-kun, isn't it?"

Sasuke looked up, expecting to see Orochimaru in his disguise perched somewhere, but it was just another Konoha shinobi who was sitting at a stall with a skewer of yakitori, waving at him. Sasuke vaguely recognized his glasses and grey hair; it was Yoshimoto's son Kabuto, who worked at the hospital but had been off active duty for a while after running into a bear on a solo mission, and who always asked about Itachi's health like some kind of stalker. Having seen him, Sasuke couldn't ignore him, so he said, "Hey," hoping that would be enough to satisfy the social niceties.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Kabuto said. "Why don't you have lunch with me?"

"It's almost four," Sasuke said, although he was getting hungry again; lunch had been a long time ago.

"Ah, well, an intern's lunch break isn't a very high priority," the other shinobi said with an embarrassed little laugh. "But I suppose you've got important training to take care of, don't you?"

Sasuke didn't answer; he had realized, hearing "intern," that he had seen the guy before, and not just hanging around Yoshimoto or the rest of Itachi's team at the hospital. Kabuto - he'd been the intern Anko had found to look at Itachi that time, the one Sasuke hadn't liked. How could Sasuke have forgotten that? And he felt like he'd heard that light, pleasant voice talking recently, even though he hadn't been to the hospital since before the mission to -

"If you're looking for a free practice ground," said Kabuto, smiling, "there's one past the Inuzuka compound, between the river and the wall, and it's usually free around this time."

"Right," Sasuke said, and he walked away.

The training ground Kabuto had described looked empty when Sasuke found it; he leaned against a tree at the edge and waited. After a couple of minutes, as he considered using the sharingan to check for genjutsu, Orochimaru stepped out of the forest's shadow. "I'm so glad you could make it, Sasuke-kun," he said. "I was beginning to wonder whether you were still willing to accept my - offer."

"I hope you know that your friend works for Akatsuki," Sasuke said, "because if you lied about leaving them..." It was only half a bluff; Sasuke needed Orochimaru's information and power, but not so badly that he would risk Naruto for them. He could find another way if he had to.

Orochimaru chuckled and said, "Yes, of course - it's quite a complex arrangement, but I assure you that I am the only one you need worry about. Now -" His voice hardened. "- activate your sharingan."

Sasuke didn't. "I want to know why the Uchiha were moved to the compound after the Kyuubi's attack," he said. "Why would -"

"Activate your sharingan," said Orochimaru, "or this will be a very short test, indeed," his hands flashing through seals before he slammed one into the ground, and Sasuke leaped into the trees just before a rolling wave of earth swept across the clearing.

If this was a test, Sasuke couldn't figure out the answer. Orochimaru just threw jutsu after jutsu at him, and blocked anything Sasuke tried effortlessly; without the sharingan he wouldn't have been able to avoid Orochimaru's attacks at all. It was almost a battle, except there was none of that deadly intent that had frozen Sasuke before, just a focused patience that was almost as bad.

Orochimaru sent a web of snakes into the trees after him and Sasuke jumped down, ducked under a blast of wind and put his hands together for the fireball seals, but something crashed into his back and knocked him down. He tried to get up and a heavy foot planted itself between his shoulder-blades and shoved him back into the ground. "Well, that was rather disappointing," Orochimaru sighed. "Perhaps my time would have been better spent in Suna with Itachi..."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and brought up his hands - he couldn't do one of the snake techniques, those had to be summons, but he made the same seals Orochimaru had first used and slapped the ground. The earth heaved beneath Orochimaru, just enough to throw him off-balance so Sasuke could roll out from under his foot. He jumped up immediately, covered in dirt and panting but ready to keep fighting, and saw Orochimaru's back as the bastard walked away. "A bit better, Sasuke-kun," he said; Sasuke tried to grab a kunai and found he couldn't move. "Practice that one - I expect it to be perfect the next time we meet."

"Wait," Sasuke said. "About the Uchiha - you have to tell me more, you said -"

"Hmm," Orochimaru said, pausing. "I suppose I could tell you a little more - next time. Do practice that technique."

He vanished on his next step, and Sasuke could move again. He moved exactly as far as the path leading out of the grounds and then had to lean on one of the trees; he hadn't used the sharingan to copy a technique like that before, and it was more draining than he'd expected.

Eventually Sasuke pulled himself together and headed for his apartment to clean up and check in with Anko. Itachi had asked her to keep an eye on him as if he was still a little kid, which was irritating as hell, but at least Anko didn't care what he did as long as he told her he was alive every couple of days. He definitely needed to shower first, though, or she might smell Orochimaru on him; her sense of smell was way too good.

He took several back alleys to avoid meeting anyone, but halfway there he had to cross a main street and Sakura spotted him. "Sasuke-kun!" she said, waving and running up to him. "Are you - ah! What happened? Are you okay?" She frowned as she looked him over, and he tried to brush some of the dirt off surreptitiously. "Was it that Gaara? Honestly, I don't know why you hang around with him..."

"It wasn't Gaara," Sasuke said, giving up on his stained clothes. "I just - fell."

It was a stupid excuse, but Sakura bit her lip and didn't ask any more. Instead, she said, "Well, anyway - if you don't have anything else to do, do you want to come over for dinner? Dad's making sukiyaki, it's his specialty... Naruto can come too, I guess, Haku-san already said he'd come and Dad always makes way too much so there'll be enough for everyone." Sasuke must not have hidden his confusion well, because Sakura blushed and added, "Um, it's not a date or anything! My parents really want to meet you both, you know? I've talked to them about my team a lot, so they're curious."

Sasuke had already been exhausted; now he swallowed down a sick feeling, not sure which he felt more, angry or guilty. How could Sakura ask him to dinner like that, as if he hadn't just been talking to a traitor, as if he wasn't putting her and her family at risk with his stupid plan? She shouldn't trust him, she shouldn't even want to talk to him, but she did, even when he hadn't given her any good reason to...

She was looking at him hopefully. He swallowed again and said, "Sure, I'll come. Thanks." I'm sorry.

"All right!" she said, punching the air and grinning, and that hurt, too. "You know where my house is, right? Awesome! See you soon, Sasuke-kun!"

She ran off happily, and Sasuke went on to the apartment. At least Anko wasn't hanging around outside and snacking, like she often did, so he could avoid talking to her before he absolutely had to.

He ended up showering for almost an hour, but he still didn't feel clean.

For three weeks Sasuke lived a strange set of interlocking lives. One life wasn't very different from before; he went on the most boring D-ranked missions imaginable with Naruto and Sakura, trained with them and Haku under Kakashi's casual supervision, and suffered through occasional inspections from Anko to make sure he hadn't lost any limbs or gotten any scars. Another life ran alongside it, with occasional overlap. That life wasn't too bad, either; it was mostly more training or hanging out with Gaara and Naruto, trying to figure out a good way to bring up Itachi. Gaara had gotten better at keeping his sand powers under control when he was angry or frustrated, which made hanging out easier, if not exactly relaxing, and Sasuke felt more comfortable being around the only two people he didn't have to lie to about Itachi, even if in Gaara's case it was only because he hadn't talked to him about Itachi at all yet.

His third life twisted through the others, in the empty spaces when the missions were done and Naruto was with Jiraiya and Gaara had gone back to his team, spaces when Sasuke could sneak away to practice copied techniques or found Orochimaru waiting at an empty practice ground with more taunts and information to spur Sasuke on. Not that Orochimaru was free with that information; after four more sessions of his strange training, Sasuke had learned little more than he'd already known or guessed. Still, even the little things Orochimaru would let slip after Sasuke copied a new technique flawlessly or got a temporary drop on him were enough to make the extra effort and deception worthwhile.

Balancing three lives took skill, but Sasuke already had practice keeping secrets from Itachi; this was a little more complicated and involved more people, that was all. He had everything under control, and as soon as a few more things fell into place - once he had just a little more information - he'd finally be able to do something solid.

Then the Kazekage came.

Chapter Text

"So I kept trying, but all I could get were these stupid tiny little toads! Once it was even a tadpole, I don't know how that happened... Then the pervy sage said -"

Sasuke listened to Naruto ramble with half an ear, concentrating on the go board in front of him. Gaara had said he didn't like the game, but when they'd passed by the cafe with the board on an outside table he'd agreed to play, and he was turning out to be much better at it than Sasuke. Hmm - if Sasuke put a stone there, he should be able to protect his formation in that corner... He placed the stone and Gaara immediately flanked it with one of his own.

"- and then he threw me off a - hey, who's that?"

Sasuke glanced up, didn't see whoever Naruto was talking about, and turned back to the board before realizing that Gaara was staring past him with his brows drawn together. Sasuke twisted around to look and noticed a group of cloaked ANBU coming up the street, headed for the Hokage's tower. There wasn't anything that unusual about seeing ANBU around, he thought irritably; he was about to say so when he saw that all the ANBU had masks marked with Suna's symbol, and they were clustered around someone else - a man in long robes and a wide conical hat with the symbol for wind, the man Gaara's eyes were fixed on.

The gritty dust beneath the cafe table was rising, swirling around the hand Gaara still held over the bowl of white stones. Sasuke slapped a stone down - anywhere, it didn't matter - and said, "Gaara, it's your move. Gaara? Hey - it's your -"

"Gaara?" the man said, pushing past the ANBU and tilting his hat up. He had a plain face and beady eyes, like Kankuro's, and he looked furious. "What are you doing out by yourself?" he said. "Damn worthless - what do you think you're playing at?"

"I'm playing go," said Gaara, scowling. "With - friends."

"I told you not to go out except on missions or with your brother and sister," the plain man said. "Playing go..." He swept the stones off the board and onto the ground. "If you can't even obey one -"

"Hey, quit picking on Gaara, you jerk!" Naruto yelled, while Sasuke made frantic shut up gestures. "Who the hell are you, anyway? Gaara's our friend, yanno, so you better not mess with him!"

Gaara's frown deepened as the man gave Naruto and Sasuke a long, skeptical look and said, "You really think you're friends... You don't even know what you're playing with, do you? Gaara is -"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, do we need this fucking shit right now," one of the ANBU grumbled; another one, who towered over the rest, said, "Hey, that's no way to talk around the boss," and a third with pale hair moved up from the back to say, "Kazekage-sama, the Hokage is waiting for us."

The Kazekage gave Sasuke and Naruto another long look, then said coldly, "Of course. Gaara, go back to your team and we'll discuss this later."

"Yes, Father," Gaara said, and the Kazekage turned away and swept up the street, the Suna ANBU falling back into place around him.

"What a total jerk!" Naruto said, making a face at the Kazekage's safely distant back. "How'd an asshole like that get to be a Kage, that's so not fair - uh, sorry, Gaara. Um, Gaara? You okay?"

Gaara was clutching his forehead, as if he had a headache; he muttered, "Shut up - I will, Mother, but not right now - not now, shut up."

Naruto reached out and the sand slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me," Gaara said, his voice edged with panic, "I'll - shut up - I'll see you tomorrow," and he disappeared.

"Wow - even for Gaara that was weird, yanno?" said Naruto, as Sasuke knelt to pick up the spilled stones. "Maybe we should go after him..."

Sasuke shook his head - if Gaara wanted to be alone, it'd be safer to stay away - and reached for some black stones that had rolled under a chair.

"Man, his dad is really awful, though," Naruto went on, flopping into the same chair and knocking the stones all over. "What's his problem, anyway? It's not like Gaara was doing anything wrong, so what if he hangs out with us? I can't believe a jerk like that's a Kage!"

Sasuke grabbed the stones before they could roll too far, dumped them back into the bowl, and smacked Naruto in the back of the head. "Will you quit shouting about it already?" he said, keeping his voice down. "You can't just pick fights with the Kazekage, dumbass."

Naruto rubbed his head and looked hurt. "But he was -"

"Naruto!" There was a puff of smoke on the street and Jiraiya appeared out of it, pointing at Naruto. "What are you doing? I told you I was leaving tomorrow, this is your last chance to practice!"

"Aww, crap!" Naruto jumped up. "Sorry, Sasuke, see ya later! Hey, pervy sage, I wanna learn -"

"A cool technique, yeah, I heard you the first hundred times. C'mon, your summoning still needs work!"

They went off together, arguing cheerfully, and Sasuke looked after them. It must be nice, he thought, training with someone who wasn't trying to kill you half the time, but there was nothing he could do about that.

He went to find Orochimaru.

Sasuke tried the practice ground near the Inuzuka first, but the Hyuuga girl and her team were already training there; Sakura and Haku and that blonde girl were at the memorial stone field, not even practicing, just talking, and the field he'd met Orochimaru at the last time had been taken over by another Hyuuga and some weird kid in green. Apparently all of Konoha was out practicing today; there were people everywhere he looked, until he gave up and tried the last place he wanted to go.

Of course Orochimaru was there, inspecting targets that hadn't been used in three years. No one else was about to sneak into the Uchiha compound just to use a practice ground. "At last," Orochimaru said without turning around. "I was getting tired of waiting - you mustn't be so slow, Sasuke-kun. Now, where were we -"

"I want to learn summoning," Sasuke said.

Orochimaru did turn at that, raising thin black eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said. If Naruto got to learn to summon toads, it was only fair if Sasuke learned summoning, too, not just techniques he could've copied anywhere.

"How very eager of you," said Orochimaru, the corners of his mouth twitching up in a smirk. "Well, I'll consider it and answer you tomorrow - yes, tomorrow will do nicely," and he laughed, though Sasuke couldn't see a reason why. "For now, let's see how you've improved since our last meeting." Sasuke already had the sharingan on as Orochimaru began forming seals; he copied the seals as fast as Orochimaru could make them, and the earth split violently beneath them both at the same instant.

For over an hour they ran through jutsu from every element, some new, some ones that Sasuke had already learned and practiced. Just copying didn't tire him out as much now, and as they threw spinning rings of fire at each other Sasuke slid under one, recalled an earlier technique, and punched the cracked ground. A giant fist of earth rose up behind Orochimaru and grabbed him; Sasuke quickly made the seals for a genjutsu and Orochimaru froze, staring into the distance.

Sasuke got up, breathing heavily but triumphant. Now he'd get some clear answers from -

He felt the cold edge of a kunai against the side of his neck and Orochimaru's breath in his ear as the figure in the earth's grip melted away. "Very good, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said softly. "You've certainly improved - that was almost a close call." The edge lifted from his skin, and Orochimaru was suddenly in front of him, looking completely unruffled. "I suppose that's worth a little information," he said, setting a knocked-over target upright again. "Hmm - what have I already told you?"

Sasuke had memorized every word. "That the Uchiha were unhappy because there hadn't been a Hokage from our clan," he said. "That the Kyuubi attacked and the rest of Konoha suspected that the Uchiha were behind it, so they made us move into the compound, which only made the clan angrier. But that doesn't explain anything!" The Uchiha had been Konoha's police, they'd protected the village, they wouldn't have tried to destroy it. "Anyway, there's no way to control the Kyuubi when it's not sealed," he added.

"Oh, isn't there," said Orochimaru, chuckling, and he picked up another target. That one had a hole at the edge of the central ring with U. S. carved awkwardly beside it; Sasuke's first hit in the center, and Itachi had taken the target down so Sasuke could reach to put his initials on it. "Sasuke-kun, did you know that a second level of the sharingan exists?"

"There's -" no such thing, Sasuke thought, but no - he'd seen it, hadn't he? That strange sharingan Itachi'd had after fighting with their cousins, and during that first raid... "Yeah, I know about it," he said instead.

"The mangekyou sharingan," Orochimaru said, savoring the name. "Its powers are immense, but it comes at such a painful cost... Don't worry - I won't make you pay that price yourself." He laughed for no good reason again. "And after all, with the Kyuubi sealed, who needs the power to control it?"

Sasuke's breath caught. That strange sharingan could control the fox? But he'd only seen Itachi with it, and Itachi couldn't have had it when the Kyuubi had attacked - unless someone else in the clan had been hiding it, and no one in the clan would have wanted to attack their own home...

"Quite a tragedy, for such a noble family of Konoha to come under suspicion," said Orochimaru. "Your clan was a proud one, wasn't it? Accused of treachery and shoved away into a corner - how do you suppose they would have dealt with such a disgrace?"

"They - they would've complained to the Hokage," Sasuke muttered, looking away from Orochimaru's mocking eyes.

"Mmm," Orochimaru said. "And what could the Hokage do? Order a village not to suspect the suspicious? Wave his hand and erase a clan's wounded pride?"

Sasuke didn't answer because Orochimaru was lying now. He had to be lying. The Uchiha had been part of Konoha's strength, that was the truth, that was what Father had always said. The Uchiha wouldn't have -

"Tell me, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said, and he took hold of Sasuke's face and tilted it up so Sasuke had to look into his eyes. "What does your brother love above all else?"

Nothing, Sasuke wanted to say, because if Itachi had loved anything he wouldn't have murdered their clan, he wouldn't have killed Mother and Father, Sasuke wouldn't be making deals with traitors for the power to kill him.

But that wasn't true, either, so Sasuke didn't say it.

Orochimaru let him go and turned to walk away. "Think it over, Sasuke-kun," he said. "I'm sure you'll be able to put the rest together yourself - although after tomorrow, it may not matter very much," and he vanished.

Sasuke looked around at the training ground. It was barely recognizable anymore as the peaceful place where he and Itachi used to practice, now that everything was burnt and muddy and torn up; only the two targets that Orochimaru had set back in place weren't damaged, and Sasuke didn't want to be there anymore and he ran.

Haku was working a late shift at Ichiraku that night, so Naruto and Sasuke were on their own. After they had gone to bed, Sasuke said, "Hey, Naruto - have you found out anything from Jiraiya yet?"

"Nah, not really," said Naruto, shifting around. "He talks a lot but he doesn't say much, yanno? He did say he taught the Fourth Hokage, though! That's pretty great, right? Maybe he can help me become the next Hokage! Yeah! And he told me if I could summon one of the big toads again, he'd answer one question no matter what it was, so I'm gonna do it before he leaves tomorrow and ask him about Akatsuki. He didn't say so exactly, but I think he's been spying on them, yanno, so he probably knows a lot!"

"Mmm," Sasuke said.

After a minute Naruto said, "Hey, what about you? You found anything out lately?"

"Mmm," Sasuke said again. "Not really." He was still trying to put Orochimaru's words together into something that made sense; could an Uchiha really have been behind the Kyuubi's attack? Would the whole clan have been angry enough about being mistrusted that they would try to damage Konoha for real? And then had someone told Itachi to -

No. Sasuke's hand's clenched into fists. Orochimaru was lying. The Uchiha would never have betrayed Konoha, and even if the Hokage was stupid enough to let Itachi stay in the village, he wouldn't have allowed a whole clan to be killed over a misunderstanding; that snake bastard had just been stringing Sasuke along for whatever reason. It didn't matter. Tomorrow he'd learn how to summon snakes and then he'd force Orochimaru to tell him the truth - not just about the Uchiha, about Orochimaru's plans, too. Sasuke hadn't liked the way Orochimaru had kept talking about tomorrow, tomorrow, as if something big was going to happen.

He would tell Naruto and Gaara tomorrow, too, he decided, and stretched out. It was only fair. He'd been putting it off, but as long as Gaara didn't get all strange again, there was no reason not to tell him about Itachi and get him to help, and he really hated keeping secrets from Naruto. Naruto needed to know about the mangekyou, at least, since Itachi might be able to use it against him, and maybe - maybe he remembered other people talking about the Uchiha, if they'd really been suspected of treason.

"Naruto," he said, "promise something."

"Ngh - yeah?"

"When you're Hokage," Sasuke said, "you'll treat everyone in Konoha fairly - you won't let there be any discrimination, right?"

Naruto rolled over to look at him and said, "Of course! I'm gonna be the best Hokage ever, yanno, so of course I gotta be fair."

"And you won't let people be suspicious of a whole clan just because there might be one bad person from it," Sasuke said, because Orochimaru had lied, he'd been lying all along, but just in case...

"Nah, that'd be totally unfair," said Naruto, yawning around the last word. "I definitely won't let that happen! Uh - you got someone specific in mind, or -"

"No," Sasuke said, and turned over. "Just checking."

"Okay," Naruto said cheerfully. "Man, you worry over weird things... G'night!"

"'Night," Sasuke said; he waited till Naruto started snoring to get up and sneak out of the apartment, heading for the memorial stone training grounds to practice the new jutsu he'd seen today. The moon was almost full - too bright to waste - but he'd have to be fast to get back before Haku did and still get any real practice in.

Tomorrow. He'd tell Naruto everything tomorrow, and then he wouldn't have to sneak around anymore.

Team Seven was used to waiting anywhere between one and three hours for their teacher, but they had barely settled into their usual time-killing routine at the front of the Hokage's tower when Kakashi appeared with a wave and a "Yo," interrupting Sasuke's fourth win in a row at jan-ken-pon.

"You're - not that late," Sakura said, looking suspicious. "What's going on?"

"Ah, well, the road of life had a few less twists in it this morning," Kakashi said, and held his hands up as all three of them glared. "Also, sorry, but no missions today."

"What!" Naruto yelled. "But that's boring, why not?"

"The Kazekage's in town," said Kakashi, and Sakura looked shocked - of course, she hadn't been around yesterday. "So genin get the day off while the rest of us make sure nothing goes wrong... Well, unfortunately the rest of us includes me, so you three have a good day," and he vanished again.

"Hmm," Sakura said thoughtfully, and then she grinned. "All right! Me and Ino-chan can finally take Haku-san shopping - see you two later!"

Sasuke took a moment to pity Haku as Sakura ran off, and then turned to Naruto. "Okay, you go find the pervert," he said, "and get him to talk about Akatsuki - I'm going to find Gaara and tell him about Itachi."

"Gotcha," Naruto said, but he didn't immediately head off. "Um - you sure about Gaara? He was really weird yesterday..."

"I'm sure," Sasuke said. "Just go, I'll meet you at the memorial stone with Gaara."

"Okay, okay," said Naruto, and they split up.

Sasuke had to look through half of downtown Konoha, and when he finally found Gaara he was amazed to realize how much Gaara must have gradually relaxed around him and Naruto; the Gaara currently sitting on an inn's roof looked like his face had been carved out of rock. Sasuke jumped up to the roof anyway and approached him. "Hey, Gaara," he said. "I've got something to -"

The tiled roof seemed to move under his feet and he jumped back, then saw sand and grit sweeping across the roof to gather at Gaara's back.

"Are you ready to fight me yet, Uchiha?" said Gaara. He hadn't looked up.

"What? No," Sasuke said. "We can train later, right now -"

He heard something hissing behind him, made a clone and switched out to another roof just as a column of sand collapsed onto the clone, constricting around it as Gaara closed his outstretched hand.

That could have killed me, Sasuke thought, suddenly furious, and his sharingan flickered on. "What the hell are you doing?" he said.

"Aren't you going to fight me?" Gaara said; he turned his head just enough to look at Sasuke, and his cold eyes burned with something Sasuke didn't recognize. "Fight to prove the worth of your existence - just like I do."

What a great time for Haku to be out shopping. Trying to keep his voice calm, Sasuke said, "I don't want to fight you, Gaara. We're friends, aren't we? If you're angry about something, we can -"

"I'm not angry," Gaara said, and sand whipped across the roofs as Sasuke flipped out of its way and decided the hell with it. If Gaara wanted a fight so badly, Sasuke would give him one.

He landed safely and made a seal, and the air thickened, lashing out at Gaara; the damn sand blocked it but he had already leaped over the barrier, his fist aimed at Gaara's face.

Sasuke punched sand and cursed as it scraped his knuckles, then sprang back. He made the seals for a fireball - let's see how well that sand moves when it's glass - and heard shouting just as he was about to release it, then sirens. He broke off the technique, dodged a blast of sand, and shouted, "Cut it out! There's a raid, we have to get to the Academy!"

Gaara hadn't even gotten up. Damn, he was annoying to fight. The sand whipped past Sasuke's face, stinging, and swirled around him; he slashed through it with another wind blade, grabbed Gaara's arm, and leaped.

Gaara didn't struggle as Sasuke dragged him towards the Academy, though Sasuke could feel the sand hovering at his back. "Why did you stop fighting, Uchiha?" he said. "We'd barely gotten started."

"Because of the raid, idiot," Sasuke said. "We can settle this later, but I'm not getting in trouble for playing around during an attack." He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw smoke rising from the wall near the gates. The enemy probably wouldn't get as far as the Academy - they rarely did - but it could still happen.

Sasuke jumped down from the roofs into the Academy's front yard, let go of Gaara, and looked around. Iruka and a female teacher were herding the last of the students out of the building and towards the shelters in the Hokage monument; no sign of Sakura or Haku, but the Hyuuga girl from their class was helping the teachers guard the line of kids, and only a moment later Naruto ran up. He waved at them, heedless of the bloody intent still radiating from Gaara, and said breathlessly, "Pervy sage already left! No fair, he's totally running away 'cause he -"

Sasuke tackled him to the ground as a curved sword swept through the air above them, and the students started yelling and screaming. Sasuke rolled away and came up in a crouch, hands full of shuriken; he saw three enemy shinobi, two with scratched-through Kiri headbands on the fence around the yard and then the one with the sword behind Gaara.

"Hinata, Iruka-san, get the kids out of here!" the other teacher shouted, drawing needles from nowhere. "You three -"

One of the Kiri missing-nin went for her and they both disappeared out of Sasuke's range of vision. The sword-user struck at Gaara and hit only sand that yanked the sword from his hands, then wrapped around him and tightened, and Sasuke looked away to see the second missing-nin make a seal. Suddenly there were three of her standing balanced on the fence; water clones, Sasuke could see that with the sharingan, and he said, "Naruto, take the two on the left, I'll get the other one."

"On it!" Naruto said, bouncing up, and a crowd of shadow clones filled the yard, then charged at the fence.

The missing-nin and her clones tried to disappear into the sea of orange, but the real one's chakra signature stood out. Sasuke darted through a gap and found her slashing through clones with a curved kunai. He threw the shuriken in his hands at her, but she spun out of the way and only one hit at all, scratching her shoulder. She hissed, grabbed one of the clones and tossed it at Sasuke; he ducked under it as it flailed over his head and drew a kunai - jutsu were no good, he'd just take out Naruto's clones and lose them as cover.

A clone burst in a puff of smoke and Sasuke jumped through it, saw the missing-nin's back as she struck at another - oh damn that one wasn't a clone and Sasuke shot under her raised arm and shoved Naruto out of the way and felt a line of pain drag across his back, then the tickle of dripping blood.

Naruto grabbed the kunai out of Sasuke's hand and charged at the missing-nin, forcing her back into the mass of clones. "Thanks," he said, "you okay?"

"Yeah - just watch out next time, idiot," Sasuke said, trying to feel the cut. It didn't seem deep, but if the enemy were using poisoned kunai...

Sand blasted through the clones, and they popped out of existence; the missing-nin only looked surprised by the sudden emptiness for a moment before the sand whipped back and twisted around her like a rope, binding her arms to her side.

There was no sign of the sword-using shinobi, just Gaara standing at the edge of the yard. He looked at Sasuke and said, "You're weak, after all. Getting injured protecting that useless 'friend' - what a meaningless -"

The missing-nin worked one arm free of the sand and threw her kunai at Gaara. It thudded into more sand, and Gaara's eyes narrowed. The binding tightened; blood was running down the missing-nin's trapped arm and Naruto yelled, "Wait, Gaara! You can't just -"

Sasuke heard a sharp chittering sound an instant before a dark shape appeared behind Gaara and slashed at his neck with an unnaturally bright kunai.

Instead of the blow taking off his head, Gaara's skin cracked like dry mud. Sasuke saw a bead of blood well up through one crack, and then sand exploded everywhere, stinging his skin as he threw one arm up to protect his face. When the sand cleared he looked and saw that it had condensed back into a dome around Gaara, and that the dark shape - a Kumo missing-nin, by the forehead protector - was a short, stocky man with one arm trapped in the dome. "Shit," the man said, trying to yank his arm free, "Midori, gimme a -"

Inside the shelter of sand, Gaara shrieked.

The other missing-nin, freed by the explosion of sand, had run for it; the Kumo guy just rolled his eyes. "Damn kids these days," he said, "can't handle a little scratch," and the dome burst outward and buried him and he didn't even have time to scream as it squeezed, blood spattering across the yard.

Sasuke swallowed hard and glanced over at Naruto. The Kumo nin's blood hadn't hit them, but Naruto's eyes were wide and his face had gone pale. "Hey," he said, "he - did he just - holy crap!"

Sasuke silently agreed.

Gaara was crouching in the middle of a miniature sandstorm, panting, his hands at his throat and the missing-nin's mangled body tossed aside. Sasuke didn't look at it. If he and Naruto ran now, they might be able to get away and find Gaara's team - they'd be used to dealing with this, they could handle it from here, and why the hell was Naruto walking towards Gaara? "Hey, Gaara," he was saying, "you okay? Lemme see - we can go to the hospital, yanno, it'll be okay," as if Gaara's health was somehow the thing to worry about.

"I'm bleeding!" Gaara screamed, and he flung one hand out, displaying a smear of red on his fingers. "I - I don't, I've never - Mother, why am I -"

The female teacher reappeared, the other Kiri shinobi's unconscious body slung over her shoulders, and taking in the situation with a look she snapped, "Get that boy out of here!"

"Y-yeah, sure, Kaoru-sensei," Naruto said, and before Sasuke could stop him he jumped into the blowing sand and pulled Gaara to his feet. "C'mon, Gaara, let's go - hey, Sasuke, you gonna help or what?"

Sasuke bit off a curse and pushed through the sand to take Gaara's other arm. "We'll head for the forest," he said. Gaara could keep freaking out and kill trees all he wanted there, and if any enemy shinobi showed up, well, it would be their bad luck.

"But he's hurt, we oughtta -"

"Forest," Sasuke said, as Gaara shuddered and snarled something incomprehensible between them, and Naruto swallowed and nodded.

As they took off, Sasuke thought he saw Sakura and Haku running towards the Academy, but he shoved it out of his mind. They had to get Gaara to the forest outside; there was no time to worry about anything else.

They'd barely gotten into the trees when the sand caught on and knocked them away from Gaara. Sasuke landed on his feet; Naruto, with his usual grace, ended up face-down on the ground. He sat up, spitting out leaves, and said, "Ow! Geez, Gaara, watch it!"

"Stay away from me," Gaara said, his voice thick and rough. "I don't need your help, I -" He was clutching his head, leaning against a particularly tall tree, and he growled. "You're both weak, I don't need you!"

They were weak? Sasuke was close to growling himself. Sasuke and Naruto weren't the ones who'd been screaming over what, now that Sasuke could get a better look at it, was barely more than a paper-cut.

"What the heck's going on with you, anyway?" said Naruto, looking hurt. "We're friends, yanno, you don't have to be like this! Is it 'cause your dad -"

"Shut up!" Gaara shouted. "You aren't my friend, you're just weak - you've never been my friend, I'm not like you, you don't understand!" He looked up to glare at Sasuke. "I thought you might understand, Uchiha," he said. "You have that same look - trying to prove the worth of your existence, hungry for power - ready to do anything to kill the one who put you through that hell of loneliness."

"Sasuke's not like that!" Naruto yelled, and Sasuke fought to keep a guilty look off his face. "It's just 'cause - anyway, it's different, yanno?"

"I can see that now," said Gaara; the skin on his face was beginning to crack and shift. "You're all weak, talking about 'friends' and 'teamwork,' and you tried to make me weak, too... But I won't be," and sand poured out of the gourd, wrapping itself around his right arm and leg, and black streaks twisted through it. "I'll only care about myself! I'll only fight for myself! I don't need anyone - that's what makes me strong!"

He shut his eyes and howled as his face distorted, darkening to the color of sand, and when they opened his right eye was black and gold and inhuman.

"I'm not like you," Gaara said, his voice rougher and warped through his twisted mouth, "I have a monster inside me," and as Naruto's eyes widened Sasuke formed seals, grabbed Naruto's jacket, and dove into the earth.

Two feet of solid dirt between them and Gaara made Sasuke feel a lot better, though there was barely enough room for him and Naruto to squeeze in between the roots winding everywhere, and one ground painfully against the cut on his back. Naruto didn't even seem to notice the new technique; he stared up as if he could see through the dirt and said, "He's like me - Gaara, he's a host, just like me..."

"You're nothing like him," Sasuke said. "You're not a killer, you're not crazy like that - you're not a monster, got it?" His mind was racing - he hadn't known that Suna had a host, couldn't imagine what kind of beast they had sealed inside Gaara, but that must have been what the Kazekage had been about to tell them. Obviously the seal wasn't as good as the one keeping the Kyuubi in; no wonder Gaara's siblings were terrified of him, and the rest of Suna probably was, too.

"Hey, thanks," Naruto said, punching Sasuke's arm, and before Sasuke could ask why, Naruto was trying to dig his way out, shouting, "Gaara! Hey, Gaara!"

A gigantic claw tore through the dirt, showering them both with grit, and Gaara thrust his warped face into the hole. "I won't let you escape," he snarled, "I'll kill you both - I'll prove that I'm the one who's worthy to keep living!"

"No, look, you don't have to kill us!" Naruto said. "I understand, okay, you don't -"

"You don't understand anything!" Gaara screamed; the claw that his arm had become ripped through the ground again and snatched Naruto up and flung him into the trees.

Sasuke made seals again and punched the side of the hole as Gaara turned back to him. The earth behind Gaara rose in a fist and grabbed him, but the sand blasted it apart and Sasuke switched away. He ended up in a tree and hid on the other side of its trunk, then saw Naruto running back towards Gaara, the idiot; Sasuke leaped down to block him, but Naruto brought his hands together and thirty more of him appeared to shove past Sasuke. "You gotta listen to me!" they all yelled. "And if you won't, then I'll make you!" and they piled on Gaara.

Gaara turned and twisted, trying to shake off the clones, and a tail of sand whipped around and smashed through the trees. Sasuke dodged and ran through techniques in his hand - earth jutsu wouldn't work, not enough water around for water techniques, fire or wind might hit Naruto - and then he remembered the glittering kunai the Kumo missing-nin had used, and the noise it had made. He hadn't learned any lightning techniques yet, but he did have a possible substitute on hand...

He charged through the smoke of popping clones, honed in on the real Naruto, yanked him aside and threw the kunai he'd just prepared - three in the claw-arm, three more in Gaara's back just where sand became Gaara, every one hitting perfectly, and he jumped into the tree-tops with Naruto as the tagged kunai exploded.

Gaara roared and smashed through another tree, but Sasuke could see that the half-transformed sand around him had taken some damage. Good. With Naruto out of the way, he could set up a fireball trap and try to take out the rest of the sand, at least get Gaara looking human again and then he'd be easier to deal with.

Naruto shoved past him and jumped back down, shouting for Gaara and drawing his attention. Sasuke gritted his teeth - why did Naruto have to make everything so difficult? - and leaped after him.

Gaara's claw-arm shot out towards Naruto and Sasuke breathed in for a fireball, but ice spiked around Gaara and encased him completely. Naruto bounced off it and landed by Sasuke. "Hey, did you do that?" he asked, and Sasuke shook his head.

Leaves swirled around them and Haku appeared, pulling them away from Gaara. "Ah, you're all right - what a relief," he said. "I came as fast as I could..."

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine," said Naruto, "what about Sakura-chan?"

Haku was pulling his loose hair back into a knot, pinning it up with needles; he said, "After we heard the sirens, we went to the Academy and saw the bodies. I realized something was wrong, and then the teacher told us you had left with Gaara... Sakura went to the Hokage's tower to look for Kakashi-san, and I came after you."

"You - I'll kill you too," Gaara snarled, straining against the ice; Haku took his left hand away from his hair and flicked a seal at him, and the ice thickened.

"Thanks, Haku," Naruto said, "maybe now I can get him to listen to me!" and he started to run back towards Gaara when Sasuke and Haku both grabbed him. "Hey, what -"

"Are you kidding me?" Sasuke yelled. "He's not going to listen to you, dumbass! He's trying to kill you, he's not like you - you can't just keeping going after him, it's too dangerous!"

Naruto knocked their hands away, and his eyes glared red at Sasuke. "You don't get it," he said, "he's - you don't understand, you don't even know what it's like when everyone treats you like a monster just 'cause -"

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun," said Haku, reaching for them both, "let's talk later - I'm not sure -"

"Just give it up, Naruto!" Why did he have to pick now to be stubborn? Naruto hadn't even wanted to go near Gaara at first, Sasuke should have listened to him. "We have to get out of here now, while we can!"

"I won't!" Naruto shouted. "He's my friend now, I don't give up on my friends! That's how I do things, you got it?"

Sasuke pulled his fist back - if he had to knock Naruto out to get him away, he would - and felt something cool slither along his arm, then wrap around him. What the hell? He tried to break free but there were suddenly more, crawling all over him and he saw them on Haku and Naruto, too - thin green-and-brown snakes, tying them up. Shit.

"How sad, to see friends fighting like this," said a dry voice from behind him, not sounding sad at all. "I simply can't let this go on - Sasuke-kun, perhaps you had better come with me."

He heard ice shattering as white hands swept him up, and then all he saw was the forest floor rushing past him.

Chapter Text

Sasuke fought. He tried to tear away the snakes on him, kicking wildly - he had to get back to Naruto, he had to protect Naruto and Haku from Gaara, he had to get away. "Let me go!" he screamed, but Orochimaru's grip didn't loosen.

Sasuke twisted around and bit down hard on Orochimaru's arm; childish, but Orochimaru hissed in pain and threw him down, the snakes disappearing. Sasuke scrambled up, but before he could run Orochimaru kicked his legs out from under him and pinned him with one foot. "You little idiot," he said. "The Kyuubi brat is quite capable of handling a mere tanuki, I'm sure. It's your own health that should concern you first - if your friends will even welcome your help after what's happened."

Sasuke's vision blurred for a moment - the sharingan flickering out - and he managed to wriggle around so he could look up at Orochimaru. The bastard's disguise as Yashagoro was gone; he looked the same as he had three years ago, long-haired and pale and smirking, although there was blood staining his right shoulder. "What do you mean?" Sasuke demanded.

Orochimaru only chuckled. Apparently deciding that Sasuke was no longer about to bolt, he removed his foot and let Sasuke up. "What does that mean?" Sasuke asked again. "Why wouldn't - what did you do?"

"Not quite what I meant to do," sighed Orochimaru. "A moment of hesitation, that was all - one tiny distracting thought - but it was enough for that old fool Sarutobi to catch on," and Sasuke felt the blood drain from his face. "Still, that little gift I borrowed from Sasori will take care of both those irritating Kages soon enough," Orochimaru continued. "And as displeased as I will be should I lose any of my underlings on this venture - particularly Kimimaro, even if he is no longer suitable for my purposes - it will be well worth the sacrifice to have acquired you."

Sasuke didn't run, but he took one careful step back. "I - I never said anything about going with you," he said, and wished his legs felt steadier.

"But it will be so much easier for you this way," Orochimaru said. "Do you really want to return to that miserable village and try to explain yourself? Do you think that the council and ANBU will allow another treacherous Uchiha to sail out of trouble with some pathetic excuse? And -" He leaned forward, golden eyes fixed on Sasuke's. "- do you intend to stay under your brother's control for the rest of your life?"

Sasuke flinched, unable to look away, and Orochimaru laughed again. "Yes, I've realized my earlier mistake," he said. "I had thought that you might cling to what was left of your family, but you're more interesting than that, aren't you, Sasuke-kun? You want the strength and the power to kill him - and I can provide you with it."

Muffled cracking sounds and explosions echoed from back the way they'd come, but Orochimaru didn't seem to care. Sasuke had to get back to Naruto soon, but damnit, now that Orochimaru knew - he could tell Itachi, he could tell anyone, and Sasuke took another step back.

"Surely you see how much better it is for you to come with me," said Orochimaru, still smiling widely. "Personally training with the strongest of the Sannin - you'll hardly do better if you stay in a village like this, surrounded by soft-hearted idiots. I'll bring out that potential in your eyes and give you the power you're seeking, teach you everything you want to know..."

Sasuke could almost taste it, that power Orochimaru was talking about - power that let him laugh at ANBU and Akatsuki, that had let him take on two Kages at once, and Sasuke could have it and he could use it and he wouldn't need anyone else to kill Itachi, he could just do it himself.

Another explosion resounded through the forest, and Sasuke said, "No."

"What?"

"No," Sasuke said again, feeling oddly light-headed. "I'm not going with you, I have to get back to my friends, so get out of my way!"

"Oh dear," Orochimaru said. "Sasuke-kun, you seem to be laboring under a terrible misapprehension," and Sasuke tensed to run. "I wasn't asking you."

Before Sasuke could move the killing intent hit him, freezing him in place. He was dying, he was already dead, his head split and his guts spilling on the ground (no it's just an illusion an illusion) and his blood soaking the leaves (it's not real it's not real just move) and Orochimaru's neck was elongating impossibly, striking at Sasuke (move move move!) -

Kunai thudded into that outstretched neck, six in a perfect row pinning Orochimaru to a tree, and then Itachi was there, his ANBU mask shoved to the side of his head and his sharingan on, shaking Sasuke out of the deadly shock. "Sasuke! Sasuke, are you all right? He didn't - did he touch you?"

"No," Sasuke said, blinking away the last of the illusion and reactivating his own sharingan, "I - I'm fine..." He didn't want to see the relief on Itachi's face, so he looked past him and saw Orochimaru's body sag and dissolve around the kunai. "Niisan, it's a clo-"

Itachi took one hand off Sasuke's shoulders, his fingers flickering, and a wall of earth rose up around them; an instant later the wall shook as something crashed into it, and a giant snake's head appeared above the top, peering down at them. Orochimaru sat in the flat space between its eyes. "What a pleasant surprise, Itachi-kun," he called down. "Shouldn't you still be in Suna?"

Itachi turned and pushed Sasuke behind him. "Sasori told me that you had come back to Konoha," he said.

"And naturally you came running home - before his heart had even finished its final beat, I'm sure," said Orochimaru, looking Itachi over with a strange possessiveness. "You're hardly in any shape to fight me off..."

Sasuke looked at Itachi, too, and came to the same unhappy conclusion. Itachi looked like hell; exhausted, dirty, his ANBU vest torn up from fighting, a tattered bandage on his left leg with dried blood on it, and - there was something strange about his back... Sasuke looked harder, grateful for the sharingan. It was like a tiny hole in Itachi's chakra, just below his shoulder-blade, and as Sasuke squinted at it a tiny fragment of chakra swirled around the hole, then disappeared. Kabuto, he thought, that's what he did - that thing I saw before, it was a seal, it's been eating away at his chakra all this time, but as he opened his mouth Itachi said, "I won't let you escape - Sasuke, you need to get out of here."

"No," Sasuke said - he couldn't leave Orochimaru alone with Itachi, Orochimaru could tell him anything. "I'll fight, too, I -"

Itachi grabbed him and leaped as the giant snake lunged at them, its mouth snapping shut below their heels. Sasuke managed to get his hands together and breathed a fireball back at it, searing its nose; the snake hissed angrily as Itachi made a seal with his free hand, and a spike of dirt shot up through the snake's head and then Itachi jumped again and it was out of sight.

They landed on a thick branch and Sasuke struggled out of Itachi's grip. "Let me fight," he said, "I can handle him," although he wasn't actually sure of that, only that at least he was used to fighting Orochimaru by now, which was sort of an advantage. And there was still Gaara to worry about - damnit, he had to get back to Naruto, but he had to take care of Orochimaru too, before he revealed anything to Itachi.

"You can't," said Itachi, scanning the forest around them. "You're strong, I know, but that man is on a different level, you can't face him. And he - if he's hurt you, I'll kill him," and Sasuke flinched at the flat certainty in Itachi's voice.

"How very sweet," Orochimaru said, from somewhere among the leaves, but Itachi didn't take the bait and waste any kunai. "Your protective streak - it's so charming that it makes me sick."

Even with the sharingan Sasuke barely saw Itachi move, only the fact of movement and then Orochimaru wrapped in wires and bound against the next tree over, and Itachi with a short sword against Orochimaru's throat. "Sasuke, you need to leave now," he said. "Go help your friends."

"Just one little thing before you go, Sasuke-kun," said Orochimaru, smiling despite the sword's edge digging into his neck. "I know I have quite the reputation as a liar, but you have my word on this - I've only ever told you the truth."

Itachi's sharingan spun into the pinwheels of the mangekyou as the trapped Orochimaru melted away. "Sasuke, run!"

Sasuke did.

The first thing he saw as he jumped through the branches and back towards the other battle was Haku, curled up at the base of a tree with a pile of frozen sand beside him. For a moment Sasuke couldn't breathe - he was too late, he'd failed, he'd lost someone again - and then Haku raised his head and waved at him.

Sasuke jumped down and crouched by him. "You're okay?" he said. "You aren't -"

"I'll be fine," Haku said, sitting up carefully. "I'm just a little out of practice, I suppose."

He was pale, and his entire right arm was drenched with blood and bent all wrong, in a way that made Sasuke sick just looking at it. "I'll take you to the hospital," he said - it was way out of the way, but that arm...

Haku shook his head and smiled. "It's fine, really," he said. "You need to go after Naruto - Gamakichi-kun is keeping me company, aren't you, Gamakichi-kun?"

"Yeah, anything for a pretty lady!" a shrill little voice said; Sasuke finally recognized the orange and blue lump on Haku's left shoulder as a toad wearing a vest, and just stared at it. That was what Naruto could summon?

A gigantic cracking sound echoed across the forest, and Haku pushed Sasuke away. "Go help Naruto," he said, "he took Gaara outside the wall - you'll understand when you see."

Sasuke swallowed his misgivings, nodded, and took off again.

The wall was close and should've been guarded, but whoever was supposed to be on duty must have been drawn away by the raid. Sasuke ran up the side without seeing anyone, and when he got to the top and caught his breath, he realized why Naruto had wanted to get Gaara outside of Konoha.

There was nothing of Gaara left in the creature towering over the trees. It did resemble a tanuki, sort of, but squash-faced and ugly, twisting black designs all over its body. Across from it squatted a gigantic toad with a pipe in its mouth and a short sword the size of a house; it had the same orange skin as Gamakichi, and Sasuke leaped off the wall and ran towards it. When he got closer he could see Naruto sitting on top of the toad's head and jumped up to join him.

"Hey," the toad grumbled, "who's this brat that thinks he can just hitch a ride on me?"

"Sasuke, you're okay!" Naruto yelled, bouncing up and grinning; Sasuke was glad to see that his eyes were blue again. "It's cool, Boss Gamabunta, he's my friend! How'd you get away from that creepy guy? Who was that, anyway? You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, "Itachi showed up and -" He didn't want to waste time explaining in the middle of a fight, so instead he said, "Did Gaara turn into that thing?"

"Shukaku of the Sand," said the toad. "Real nasty, that one - eats away at his hosts when they sleep, so they end up insomniacs. Drives 'em mad." He hopped sideways just as Shukaku's tail lashed out at them, and Sasuke and Naruto clung to its warty skin. "Anyway, I'm not gettin' mixed up with him," Gamabunta said. "Good luck, brats."

"Wait wait wait! I'm your underling, right?" Naruto said. "You gotta help your underlings out, yanno!"

"Yeah, but we ain't exchanged sake yet, so it ain't official, ya see?"

The sand-tanuki snarled, ripping up more forest. Sasuke and Naruto wouldn't stand a chance against that thing without help, and Sasuke took a chance on a wild guess and said, "What about Gamakichi?"

"Eh? My kid's here?" Gamabunta said.

"Uh, yeah," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I kinda accidentally summoned him before I got you - he's fine, though! I left him with Haku back that way, so he'll be safe, yanno!"

"Unless you let Shukaku keep going," Sasuke said, and grabbed on to a wart again as the toad jumped away from another strike of Shukaku's tail.

"Well, ya got a point there," said Gamabunta, wrapping one paw around the hilt of his sword. "Hang on, brats, we're gonna get serious!"

Sasuke dropped flat, hung on, and shut his eyes as the toad leaped - he didn't have a problem with heights, but he preferred to be the one in control of how high he went. He heard Naruto crawling over and opened one eye. "Sasuke, you have to help me get through to Gaara," Naruto said.

"You still think that's going to work?" Sasuke said. "You can't be serious - did you even see what he did to Haku? Just because he's a host doesn't make him the same as you!"

"But he is," Naruto insisted, accidentally letting his grip loosen, and then he had to grab on again as Gamabunta blocked a blow with the sword. "It's just - he didn't have anyone, even his dad tried to kill him because of that stupid monster, and I - if you weren't my friend, if Iruka-sensei didn't buy me ramen or anything, I could've been just like him! It's not fair - we were friends before his asshole dad showed up, we just gotta make him see we're still friends, that his dad's all wrong and we don't care about stupid Shukaku!"

Sasuke shut his eye again. "You're such a pain in the ass," he said. "If he -"

"Hey, brats!" Gamabunta shouted. "He's done the false-sleep technique, ya better come up with a plan fast!"

The sand-tanuki cackled, its voice higher than before. "I'm out, I'm out!" it said gleefully. "And I already see some bastards I wanna kill! Ah, what a great day!"

Gamabunta leaped again as Shukaku hurled whirling discs of sand at him. "We have to get close and pin him down," Naruto yelled at the toad, "then me and Sasuke can wake Gaara up! I'm almost out of chakra, so he's gotta be at his limit, too!"

"Good plan, 'cept I can't get a good grip with hands like these, ya see?"

"Then transform into something that can," Sasuke said, forcing himself to keep his eyes open so he'd at least see his death coming.

"Hey, that's a great idea! Boss, I know just the thing!"

Shukaku knocked the toad's sword away with one paw, and Gamabunta said, "Great, then we'll do a combo! On my mark -"

Gamabunta and Naruto formed seals at the same time, and suddenly Sasuke was no longer hanging on to toadskin, but thick, coarse orange fur, and long ears rose up on either side of him. "You turned him into the Kyuubi?" he shouted at Naruto.

"Heh, well," said Naruto, "it was sorta the first thing I thought of..."

"You're an idiot," Sasuke said, and then the transformed toad's jaws clamped down on Shukaku. Naruto ran down the snout, and Sasuke followed; Gaara was just visible, a tiny red-haired figure on Shukaku's face, half-buried in sand.

Sasuke had one kunai left, and drew it as he ran. If he got to Gaara first... But Naruto beat him, and his fist crashed into Gaara's face as he yelled, "Wake up already, you jerk!"

Gaara's eyes cracked open, and Shukaku shrieked, "No! No way, I just got out - you can't do this to meeeeeeeeeee -" Its voice dwindled away.

"You're still fighting, Naruto?" Gaara said, his voice rough. "When are you going to realize it's hopeless and just die?"

"Even if I die, I'm not gonna give up," said Naruto, and he was smiling for some reason. "I'm gonna protect my friends and help you, 'cause you're my friend too, yanno!"

"Shut up, you liar," Gaara snarled, and sand coiled around Naruto.

Sasuke didn't have the chakra for anything fancy; he charged past Naruto, jumped over the reaching sand and slashed at Gaara's throat. His kunai hit sand. Damnit! He tried to pull back but the sand shot up his arm, wrapped around his chest and began to squeeze and he cried out as he struggled to break through. I won't die here, I can't, I still have to - and Naruto -

"I told you," came Naruto's voice, and Sasuke felt the poisonous chakra of the Kyuubi burning through the sand, "I'm going to protect my friends, so just - cut it - out!"

Everything collapsed.

Sasuke dug his way out of a heap of sand as it started dissolving into the ground, sweat and grit stinging in every cut he'd gotten, and looked for Naruto. He'd lost his hold on the sharingan when the giant tanuki had fallen apart, but how hard could it be to find someone wearing orange in a forest - there, in a clearing, and Sasuke tried to run and could barely stagger over to him. Naruto was sprawled on his back, his eyes closed; Sasuke knelt, grabbed his shoulders and shook him until he finally blinked and squinted up at Sasuke. "Ngh," he said, "I don' wanna do that again... Wait, where's Gaara?"

Gaara could be dead for all Sasuke cared, but he looked and saw Gaara laying on the other side of the clearing, glaring at the two of them but clearly unable to move. "He's over there," Sasuke said, "don't worry - you actually beat him, dumbass. You won, just rest."

"No - not yet," Naruto said, and somehow he managed to roll over and started crawling towards Gaara. "Gaara..."

"Stay - stay away from me," said Gaara, his eyes widening. "Stay away!"

"Naruto, it's enough - you don't have to keep fighting," Sasuke said, reaching out to hold him back, but he didn't have enough strength left in his arms to stop him.

"All I want's for you to listen," Naruto said, as he dragged himself across the clearing. "You're my friend, I don't wanna fight you anymore - I just can't let you hurt my other friends, okay?"

"You're crazy," Gaara said, trying to push himself away and failing. At this point, Sasuke agreed. "I - I'm not your friend, I can't be, you don't get it..."

"I've been trying to tell you I do!" Naruto's voice cracked. "I know what it's like when everyone hates you 'cause of something you can't help, when everyone thinks you're just a monster - I know how that feels and it's the worst, it's total hell. But - but then I met Iruka-sensei and Sasuke and Itachi, and they didn't care about the stupid Kyuubi, they just saw me, they treated me like a regular person! They saved me..."

It's the other way around, stupid, Sasuke thought, you're the one helping me, but he was sort of touched, although he wasn't sure why Itachi counted.

"I just want to help you, too," Naruto said. "You don't have to be alone - you've got us -" Speak for yourself, Sasuke almost said. "- and your brother and sister and your teacher, I guess... But you've definitely got me! If someone attacks, I'll protect you, and if your dad's a jerk, I'll totally fight him for you! And if everyone else hates you, I'll stick by you and we'll both prove that they're wrong! So just trust me, okay?"

He had made it halfway to Gaara now, and Gaara's eyes flickered between him and Sasuke, as if he was looking for something. "You -" he started to say, and then two people jumped down from the trees, landing between them. Temari and Kankuro, Sasuke saw, and he called up the last of his energy and moved to cover Naruto.

Kankuro crouched by Gaara and said, "Shit, you're a mess - never seen you this bad off, Gaara."

"All right," Temari said, putting a hand on the giant fan slung across her back and glaring at Sasuke, "exactly what did you little bastards do?"

"Tried to knock some sense into him," Sasuke said. He thought he had just enough chakra for a switch, and a few shuriken left to distract the two, but after that... He felt something brush against his leg and looked down. Naruto was still trying to reach Gaara; Sasuke grabbed him and said, "Naruto, enough! We're not fighting anymore, you can stop now."

"I wouldn't make any promises about that," said Temari, and Kankuro shifted his stance. "I'm not in the mood to go easy on -"

Gaara said, "Stop," and his siblings looked back at him, surprised. "Why - why are you defending me?"

Temari glanced away, looking uncomfortable, as Kankuro said, "You did get Dad off our backs last night, so - well, we ought to look out for you once in a while, yeah?"

"Oh," Gaara said. He was silent while Kankuro hauled him up and onto Kankuro's shoulder, and then he said quietly, "Thank you..."

"Um - don't mention it," Temari said, still looking uncomfortable. "Well, if we're not going to fight - hey, pretty boy, you need a hand with that one?"

Sasuke looked down again and saw that Naruto's eyes were closed, and he'd started snoring. Only Naruto. "Yeah, thanks," he said; there was no way he could get Naruto all the way to the hospital in his current state.

As Temari bent down to pick Naruto up, the little toad from before hopped onto Naruto's head, and she jerked back. "Hey, kid!" Gamakichi said. "Some ANBU medic came to pick up the girl, he said it was all clear back in Konoha."

"Good," Sasuke said, "that's great," and then realized the toad was looking at him expectantly. "Was there something else?"

"The girl said you'd give me snacks," Gamakichi said, holding out a paw. "I gave ya the message, so cough 'em up!"

He was bone-tired, sore all over, covered in dirt, and now a talking toad was demanding food from him. Sasuke snapped. "I don't have any snacks!" he shouted. "Just get out of here, you useless little tadpole!"

The toad gave him a measured stare, said, "I like the pretty girl better," and vanished.

"And Haku's a guy!" Sasuke yelled after it, then felt like an idiot.

Temari raised an eyebrow at him, but grabbed Naruto, slung him across her shoulders, and offered Sasuke a hand. "And here I thought this trip was going to be boring as hell," she said. "You Konoha lot are just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Sasuke took her hand and got up. "I guess Suna shinobi aren't so dull, either," he said, and she laughed as they headed back towards the wall.

The hospital was crowded with ANBU and shinobi of every rank; the raid must have been really big this time, or Orochimaru and his underlings had done more damage than Sasuke had imagined. Normally one of the nurses at the desk would have made Sasuke stay to get checked out, but as soon as the man had gotten Naruto and Gaara sent off with a medic he said, "Any of you got obviously broken bones? Head trauma, poisoning, or bleeding I can't see? No? Then go home and don't waste my time."

Temari and Kankuro left at once, and Sasuke only stayed long enough to get an energy drink from a vending machine. It tasted awful, but it kept him upright long enough to get home and shower the worst of the grime and blood off, and then he collapsed onto his bed without even closing the door to his room and fell asleep.

When he woke up the bright midday sunlight was gone, replaced by twilight, and for a moment he couldn't remember where he was or figure out what had woken him. He felt around for a kunai, then heard Itachi's voice in the main room: "Sasuke? Are you here?"

"Will you sit down and relax already?" said another voice - Anko's. "He probably just crashed at Naruto's."

Damn, why hadn't he done that? Still, Sasuke would have to face Itachi at some point to find out what Orochimaru had told him and if he'd believed any of it, so he might as well get it over with; he got up, tried to smooth his hair down where it was sticking out from being slept on while wet, and went out into the main room, saying, "I'm here..."

Itachi was leaning on Anko while she was trying to drag him to the table. He let go of her and almost fell towards Sasuke. "You're all right," he said, catching his balance. "When you weren't at the hospital, I was afraid -"

"They were full," Sasuke said. He kept his eyes on the floor. "I'm not hurt anyway, I was only dropping Naruto off."

"Told you he'd be fine," said Anko cheerfully, and she grabbed Itachi again and shoved him down to sit at the table. "Or dead, whichever. Sit down, kid, you look like you need some tea."

Sasuke didn't want tea, but he sat down across from Itachi while Anko ransacked the cupboards. "So - is Orochimaru dead now?" he asked.

"Nah," Anko said, slamming a cupboard door, and Itachi looked down. "Since some idiot decided to take him on without getting back-up first, his followers showed up and got him away."

"He didn't get what he came for," Itachi said, without looking up. "Even for him, it will take some time to replace both arms, and Jiraiya-sama was able to break through the barrier around the Kages in time..."

Sasuke didn't hear what Anko said next, light-headed with relief. "They're still alive?" he said.

"Yeah, the medics got 'em stabilized for now, but it's still pretty bad," said Anko. "Damnit, I know I gave you some good tea, where'd you put it? Anyway, it's a hell of a poison, who knows how long they'll last."

"Oh," Sasuke said, his hope fading and leaving behind only a dull headache.

Anko finally found the tea she was looking for, measured it into the teapot, and brought it over to the table to steep. "Don't look so down, you two," she said as she sat next to Itachi. "You're both alive, yanno? That's not so bad. And you -" She gestured at Sasuke. "I heard you tried to fight Orochimaru off all by yourself - damn stupid move, but gutsy! Now if -"

"It's my fault," Sasuke said, staring at the table.

"Huh?"

Sasuke didn't want to explain, but he had to, he couldn't let Itachi believe whatever Orochimaru had told him. "It was my fault he wasn't caught in time," he said.

"It isn't your fault, Sasuke," Itachi said, still not looking at him. "He'd been disguised as one of the Suna shinobi, you couldn't have realized who he was."

"No," Sasuke said, "I mean - I knew it was him the whole time, since the Suna teams got here."

"You little punk! What the -"

Itachi caught Anko's hand before it hit the table, and now he did look up at Sasuke, his eyes flat and unreadable. "How did you recognize him?" he asked softly.

"From before," Sasuke said, "when he came to Konoha with Sasori. He showed up here, but Anko drove him off, so I didn't think he was that strong."

Anko hissed and yanked her hand out of Itachi's grip. "Watch it, asshole, or I'm gonna break your hand right back!"

"Please stay out of this, Anko-san," said Itachi, his voice still calm. "You had met Orochimaru before, and yet you didn't report him to ANBU when you recognized him?"

"I - I thought I could handle him," Sasuke said. "He said he wasn't in Akatsuki anymore, and I wanted to find out what he was up to..." Only sort of true, but true enough to be believable, he hoped; it was hard enough to keep talking under Itachi's stare, let alone lie. "He said he'd give me information if I let him teach me, so I did, but - he never said anything about attacking the Hokage, I didn't know, I thought -"

"You thought?" Itachi shouted, and his eyes blazed with the sharingan and Sasuke couldn't look away, couldn't move. "You weren't thinking at all! Do you even realize what will happen if the Hokage dies? If the Kazekage dies in Konoha because you let a traitor run free?"

"I - I didn't -" Sasuke was shaking.

"You put the entire village at risk because you thought you could handle an S-class missing-nin!" Itachi slammed his hands on the table; something black was creeping up his neck, like spilled ink, and Sasuke watched it spread across Itachi's face with horror. "If the Kages die it means war! How could you do something so stupid? You foolish little -"

Sasuke broke and ran, fleeing to his room and locking the door, and then he huddled in the corner by the window, trying to disappear into the walls.

Itachi knocked on the door. "Sasuke! Sasuke, come out here!"

He'll kill me he'll kill me he'll kill me, the words pulsing along Sasuke's veins, and he backed deeper into the corner. He'd finally done it, he'd crossed the line that had kept him safe before, because Orochimaru had asked What does your brother love above all else? and it was Konoha, it was always Konoha, and Sasuke had betrayed it. He'll kill me he'll kill me he'll kill me...

"All right, that's enough!" Anko snapped. "Time to calm down, Itachi, that cursed seal's -"

"He's been running around with Orochimaru for a month!" Itachi yelled, and Sasuke shuddered. "Anything could have happened to him, and I - I wasn't here, and now - if the Kages die they'll blame him! Danzo will - how could he risk everything like this?"

"He's still just a genin!" Anko shouted back. "Orochimaru's deceived people a hell of a lot smarter and more experienced than he is, you can't blame him for that unless you wanna start pointing fingers at half the village, the Hokage included. If you have to blame someone, go ahead and blame me! You think I haven't been kicking myself all damn day because I didn't notice him laughing at me for a month? And if I'd scared the brat more when the bastard showed his face the first time... Damnit!"

"Why didn't you tell me he was here?" Itachi's voice was quieter now, but Sasuke didn't relax. "If I had known he'd talked to Sasuke before... Why didn't you tell me?"

Anko was quieter, too, but her voice was still sharp as she said, "Well, you might not remember this, but that was the day that you damn near died of chakra exhaustion. I kinda had other things on my mind, and he never touched the kid - you were in bad enough shape back then with Danzo running you ragged all the time, you didn't need any more stress. Maybe it was a mistake not to tell you later, but -"

"It certainly was a mistake," Itachi said, "since it seems that you've been too busy playing around to keep your old teacher away from Sasuke!"

"That's it, get out of here," said Anko.

"It's my apartment, Anko-san, and Sasuke needs to understand what he's done!"

"Then I'll talk to him," Anko said, "but you need to get out and cool the fuck down before that seal gets any worse! Get your ass back to the hospital and don't come back till it's under control, got it?"

A moment of tense silence, and then Itachi said, "Very well," his voice clipped.

Sasuke heard the outside door open and then close; Anko sighed, then knocked on Sasuke's door. "All right, Sasuke, he's gone, open up," she said.

Sasuke didn't move.

"Brat, if you don't open this door I'm gonna bust it down and make you pay for the new one!"

Sasuke pushed himself up, crossed the room on shaking legs, and unlocked the door, then darted back to the corner as Anko flung it open. "YOU FUCKING IDIOT," she yelled, so loudly that it hurt his ears, and then she stomped across the room and yanked his shirt-collar down to look at his neck. "Not there," she said, half to herself, then tried to pull his shirt up. "Did Orochimaru ever bite you anywhere? Or use a needle on you, anything that left a mark?"

"What?" Sasuke grabbed his shirt and pulled it back down. "No, that's - no!"

"Good," she said, and flopped down next to him, "then you're not the biggest idiot I've ever met. Just really, really damn close, because I'm pretty sure I remember telling you not to trust anything Orochimaru told you, and seems like you've been doing the exact opposite of that."

Sasuke kept his head down and glared at the floor. He got it already, he'd been stupid and he'd known it all along, she didn't have to keep telling him and rubbing it in.

Anko leaned back against the wall. "Let's see," she said, holding her hands up and beginning to count off on her fingers, "we've got two poisoned Kages, half the admin staff in the hospital plus the injured shinobi from the raid, Kakashi's leg is broken and his ribs look like someone used 'em for a drum set, Gai broke himself with his stupid technique, Itachi's got a cursed seal to match mine, there's some bony sick kid under sedation and on suicide watch until he's interrogated, and oh yeah, we heard from Suna that they've got five ANBU missing, presumed dead. Pretty impressive for a kid who hasn't even been a genin six months yet."

"I didn't - it wasn't me!" Sasuke said, but even to him that sounded like a weak excuse.

"Oh? You think all that would've happened if you'd turned Orochimaru in a month ago?"

Sasuke drew his knees up to his chest and didn't answer.

"Okay, okay, I'm done yelling at you," she said, sighing. "You're gonna get enough of that from everyone else, anyway. Yeah, you screwed up, but like I said, Orochimaru's fooled people way smarter than you - hell, he was almost the Fourth Hokage, and if the council starts whining I'll pull up the files with their old recommendations and wave 'em in their faces. If either Kage dies, though..."

"Itachi will kill me," Sasuke said flatly.

"Nah, that's my job," Anko said, "he'd just grab you and go on the run as a missing-nin." She stretched and cracked her knuckles. "Look, Itachi's freaking out right now because of the cursed seal and how you don't have any survival instincts, he'll get over it - you told anyone else about this?"

He shook his head.

"Hmm," she said; he glanced up at her and saw that she was staring out at nothing, her cheek propped on one hand. "Well, that's not gonna last, hope you don't mind being the village outcast for a while - could be worse, though. He asked you to go with him, didn't he?"

Sasuke mumbled, "Yeah, sort of," burying his head in his arms.

"What'd you tell him?"

"No." Of course, now that seemed like the worst idea ever, but - Naruto would understand, he had to, and Sasuke couldn't regret staying to help him, even if Naruto hadn't really needed the help in the end.

Anko reached over and rubbed his head. "Maybe you're not that stupid after all," she said, and he looked up to see her grinning, although it looked more forced than usual. "I'll let you off the hook this time, but I'm not making any promises if you pull this shit again, got it?"

"Mmm," he said, trying to straighten his hair back into less of a mess, and his stomach growled loudly. He'd never had lunch, and breakfast might as well have happened years ago.

"C'mon then, let's get dinner," said Anko, jumping up and pulling him up with her. "Hell, I'll even treat you this time, but don't get used to it. Let's see - I could really go for barbecue, how's that sound?"

She was already halfway to the door when Sasuke said, "What's the cursed seal?" She stopped dead and looked back at him; after a moment, she shrugged her coat half-off and motioned for him to come closer, tapping a black mark just where her neck became her left shoulder.

Sasuke took a cautious step forward and looked; the mark was three tomoe in a circle, like the sharingan but more compact. "That's the seal," Anko said, pulling her coat back on, "and the only reason you're not dead or carrying one yourself is because Itachi saved your ass, and he's damn lucky he's still alive - thing's only got a one-in-ten survival rate. I was the one from the first test." She smiled, but not happily. "Dear old Sensei didn't want me around for long after that - I just didn't have the ambition he wanted. No big loss, far as I'm concerned."

Sasuke wanted to ask what the seal did, but thought of the darkness spreading across Itachi's face and decided against it. He could ask some other time.

"Anyway, enough yapping, let's eat!" Anko said, grabbing him and heading out the door, and Sasuke let her drag him along.

Sasuke woke up early the next morning, even though simply opening his eyes was painful and he felt like he could sleep for a week. He wanted to go see Naruto before the hospital got too crowded, though, so he hauled himself out of bed, got dressed, and left the apartment as quietly as possible; Itachi wasn't up yet, which was strange, but lucky for Sasuke. He had a faint memory of waking up during the night and hearing Itachi arguing with Anko again, but he couldn't remember what they'd said. Not that he cared. He shoved them both out of his mind once he was outside and headed for the hospital.

The nurse at the front desk looked like she'd been on duty all night; her eyes were red, and she yawned as she told Sasuke that visiting hours didn't start till nine. "Okay," he said, trying to look as harmless and un-shinobi-like as possible, "but could you tell me his room number anyway? Please. It's Uzumaki Naruto..."

"Oh, that one," the nurse said. "Already tried to sneak out twice, the little monster... He's in 311, and don't get any bright ideas about sneaking up there, all right?"

"I won't," Sasuke said, and for an extra touch of realism wrote the room number down on a scrap of paper from the desk.

"Good, go get some breakfast or something and come back at nine," she said, yawning again, and Sasuke nodded, said, "Thanks," and walked out.

As soon as he was outside and out of the desk's line of sight, he looked up at the hospital, calculated, and ran up the wall to the window of what he thought was most likely room 311. He checked the window for alarms or traps, but he couldn't find any even using the sharingan, and when he looked through it he saw Naruto, asleep and sprawled all over the bed with the sheets twisted up around him.

Sasuke slid the window open and balanced on the inner sill, then reached down to nudge Naruto with his foot and whispered, "Hey. Naruto, wake up."

"'n' wanna," Naruto mumbled, rolling over; Sasuke nudged harder and Naruto's eyes flew open. "Ow! What's that for, you - Sasuke!"

Sasuke said, "Hey," relieved, and then saw Naruto's grin fade. He dodged the sudden punch easily enough, but lost his balance and crashed down onto the bed.

"You total jerk!" Naruto said. "Why didn't you tell me about Oro-"

"Keep it down, dumbass," Sasuke hissed, clapping his hand over Naruto's mouth, "I'm not supposed to be in here yet - who told you?"

"Inmfi," Naruto said, more quietly, and after Sasuke took his hand away, "Itachi - he showed up here last night and asked me if I knew you'd been hanging out with Orochimaru, and I was like, what? 'Cause you never said anything about that, and I told him so! He was all weird about it too, yanno - like, he might be kinda on to us, we're gonna have to come up with something really good to throw him off..."

"Mmm," Sasuke said, feeling last night's fears rise again. There was nothing good enough to keep Itachi from suspecting him now.

He shifted around on the bed to sit more comfortably, leaning back against the closed half of the window, and Naruto settled next to him. "Anyway, that was a really crappy thing to do," Naruto said, still scowling. "We're supposed to be investigating all this stuff together, yanno? You should've told me."

"I was going to tell you yesterday," Sasuke said, "then Gaara lost it and there wasn't time... But I was going to tell you."

"Yeah, I guess things did get kinda wild," said Naruto, and then he elbowed Sasuke. "But why didn't you tell me before? He's the super-creepy one, right? I could've helped you beat some answers out of him and stuff, you should've -"

"I didn't want him near you," Sasuke muttered.

"Huh?"

"I didn't want him going near you," Sasuke said, feeling his face heat up and glaring down at the innocent sheets. "He might have figured out you were the host and tried to kidnap you or something... He said he wasn't with Akatsuki anymore but I didn't believe him, and we still don't know what Akatsuki wants with you, so - I just didn't want him to do anything to you." What if Orochimaru had wanted to put one of those cursed seals on Naruto - one-in-ten survival rate, he thought, and suppressed a shudder.

Naruto said, "Oh," then grinned. "Heh - yanno, it's kinda cute when you get all protective like -"

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke said, shoving him, and they wrestled briefly before Sasuke hit one of Naruto's injuries and they had to settle back down.

After a minute, Naruto said, "So, did you even find out anything from Orochimaru?"

"A little," Sasuke said, "but I don't know if he was lying or not." The way Itachi had reacted when Orochimaru had claimed he'd told the truth made Sasuke think that Orochimaru might not have lied, but on the other hand, he didn't know what Itachi thought Orochimaru might have said... It was too confusing, and in the end Sasuke hadn't even learned anything about Orochimaru's plans. "That bastard - if I hadn't let him string me along I could have stopped him," and his hand tightened into a fist. "I should have - if I'd known he would go after the Kages -" Wait. Naruto couldn't know about the Kages, could he? If he already knew he wouldn't be acting so normal.

"It'll be okay," Naruto said, "the old geezer's tough, no way some stupid poison's gonna kill him! And - uh, well, I guess the Kazekage'll be fine too - man, I wonder how Gaara's handling that..."

"So Itachi told you about the Kages, too," Sasuke said. Damnit.

"Well, him and like a hundred people running around here yelling about it," said Naruto. "It's kinda big news, yanno?" He leaned back and stretched. "If people find out you didn't turn Orochimaru in, it'll be really bad - everyone's gonna hate you..."

"Whatever," Sasuke said, staring down at the bed again. "I don't care - go ahead and hate me, too." He deserved it anyway for not realizing he'd been manipulated, for being too weak to stop Orochimaru, everyone should hate him, and then Naruto hit his arm.

Sasuke shot him a glare. "What was that for?"

"So you didn't listen to me at all yesterday, huh?" Naruto said. "I always stick by my friends, no matter what! Of course I'm not gonna hate you, jerk - I know you were just trying to get stuff on Itachi, you wouldn't betray Konoha on purpose. So it's okay, and I'll help you beat up anyone who makes a big deal out of it! Yeah!"

He punched the air, grinning broadly, and Sasuke had to look away again, relief and guilt sweeping over him. He didn't deserve Naruto's kindness, but as long as Naruto didn't hate him it didn't matter what anyone else thought, Sasuke didn't care about them - well, maybe about what Sakura and Haku would say, and his stomach twisted a little at the thought of telling them.

"Anyway," Naruto said, "don't worry too much, okay? I'll come up with an awesome plan!"

"As long as it's not camping," Sasuke said, remembering Naruto's first "plan," and Naruto laughed way too hard at the stupid joke; after a moment, Sasuke let himself smile, too.

They would be all right, somehow. Sasuke would make sure of that.

Chapter Text

For the next two days, Sasuke went out as little as possible. Rumors about him and Orochimaru had spread through Konoha faster than the Fourth Hokage's famous Hiraishin; Anko swore up and down that she hadn't talked to anyone but the council - "and I made sure to tell them you're an idiot, so they won't go too hard on you," she'd added - and Naruto said the same, but the basic truths were still out there, with a hundred strange embellishments tacked on. Going anywhere meant endless stares, whispers that he could hear perfectly well, and sometimes outright hostility. He couldn't even visit Naruto during regular visitors' hours because he'd just get turned away, so he got a lot of practice at sneaking in, although that only made the medical nin and nurses hate him even more.

He didn't bother to suspect Itachi for the rumors. Leaking information wasn't Itachi's style, and people in the village weren't likely to listen to him, anyway. Sasuke hadn't seen him since that night; according to Anko he was holed up with the council and Jiraiya, getting debriefed, which was fine with Sasuke.

The Hokage and the Kazekage remained stable but comatose, which left Sasuke in a strange limbo - not exactly responsible for deaths that hadn't occurred, but still under suspicion that the rumors only fed. All in all, it was just easier not to go out except to see Naruto.

On the third day of this, as he was describing one of the jutsu he'd learned to Naruto so they could practice it later, a medic came by and told Naruto that he was being released from the hospital. "Awesome! It's about time," Naruto said, and he bounced up to start getting his stuff together. "It's been so boring, and I can't even get any ramen... C'mon, let's go tell Haku!"

"You go ahead," Sasuke said, "I'll meet you at your place later."

Naruto swept up his four get-well cards - one from Iruka, a mysterious lavender one, a flowery one from Sakura, and one of Anko's infamous "Get better or else" cards - and carefully placed them in his bag, then grabbed Sasuke and took off. Sasuke tried to dig his heels in and resist, but he was no match for three days' worth of Naruto's pent-up energy. "Wait!" he said. "I told you -"

"No way," Naruto said, "you haven't visited Haku at all or talked to anyone! You can't just keep avoiding people, yanno?"

Sasuke couldn't see why not. "Maybe tomorrow, but I -"

"Nuh-uh! No more excuses!"

"Fine, but let go of me already!"

"Quit fooling around," snapped a passing nurse with a cart full of medical supplies. "This is a hospital, not a practice ground! Keep it down or you'll disturb the patients!"

"Haha, yeah - sorry, ma'am," said Naruto, with an embarrassed smile.

As the nurse pushed past them Sasuke heard her grumbling, "Those two, huh... Don't know why they're still allowed to stay here," and Sasuke's fists clenched; Naruto's expression didn't change, as if he hadn't even heard her, and a second later he pulled Sasuke through a door into Haku's room.

Haku was sitting up in bed, reading a book one-handed; his right arm, from shoulder to wrist, was wrapped in a cast, and the fingers on his right hand were in splints. He looked up at Naruto and Sasuke's entrance and smiled. "I'm glad to see you both," he said. "It's been terribly quiet today..."

Naruto claimed the room's one chair and perched on the edge of it, leaving Sasuke to stand awkwardly by the door. "Sorry I'm late," Naruto said cheerfully, "but they're finally letting me out of here! And I had to drag the jerk down here before we left - he's all shy lately, yanno?"

"That's not it," Sasuke said, "I just -" He didn't want to be here with Haku, seeing the injuries Haku wouldn't have if Sasuke had been able to fight Gaara with him, if Sasuke hadn't been stupid enough to trust Gaara and Orochimaru in the first place.

"Don't worry about it, Sasuke-kun," said Haku. "It was a difficult battle, against one of your friends - I'm sure you needed time to recover as well."

Naruto made a face at that; Haku ignored him and beckoned Sasuke over to sit on the edge of the bed, and Sasuke did, still ready to run.

They talked for a while - well, Naruto talked, about anything that came into his head; Haku mostly listened, occasionally asking questions when Naruto got too lost on tangents, while Sasuke sat there half-listening and beginning to relax as Orochimaru wasn't mentioned. For a little while, he could listen and feel like nothing had happened, that they were just hanging out like normal, and then Naruto finished some rambling story about a trick he'd played on one of the medics and said, "Oh, yeah, we kinda had some things to tell you, too..."

"Oh?" Haku said, as Sasuke tensed up and tried to signal to Naruto that no, they didn't.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "I promised to explain all that stuff I said to Gaara, yanno, and Sasuke's gotta tell you about Orochimaru and his brother and all that!"

Sasuke jumped off the bed and grabbed Naruto. "I never agreed to that!"

"You said I could pick the next person to help, yanno! Since you got to pick Gaara and stuff."

Sasuke did remember saying that the day before, but he was sure he'd qualified it somehow. "Yes, but not Haku," he said. "And I didn't get a chance to tell Gaara, so he doesn't count, I changed my mind." Even if Gaara had given up trying to murder them, he was way too unstable to trust with investigating Itachi.

"Oh, c'mon, we're never gonna get any allies if -"

"Excuse me," Haku said, his voice edged with ice, "but exactly what have you two been hiding?"

Sasuke let go of Naruto and looked out the window, not wanting to meet Haku's eyes.

"Er - fine, guess I'll go first," Naruto said, and then he took a deep breath and said, really fast, "I'm the host of the Kyuubi, the Fourth Hokage sealed it in me when I was a baby and I can use some of its chakra and stuff and that's how I beat you before but I'm not a demon, yanno, it's sealed up really good but all the grown-ups know about it and hate me anyway except Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei and the pervy sage and I guess Itachi and Anko -" He'd started counting on his fingers, slowing down. "- and the old geezer's okay with it too, I think - huh, that's more people than I thought. Awesome! Uh, and Sasuke knows and now Gaara knows, and you do too, and anyway, that's why I kept saying me and Gaara were the same. Except he has Shukaku instead of the Kyuubi, and -"

"Yes, thank you, I think I understand," said Haku, looking slightly dazed by the whirlwind explanation. "Amazing - Naruto-kun, you're even stronger than I thought, to be able to control a demon's chakra."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty awesome!" Naruto said, posing; then he leaned over and poked Sasuke. "Your turn! C'mon, spill it!"

"No," Sasuke said.

"If this is about the rumors," Haku said, reaching out to touch Sasuke, "please don't worry - I know that you would never -"

Sasuke flinched away and Haku became still, his hand frozen an inch above Sasuke's shoulder and the room dead silent.

Naruto spoke up first. "Uh, well," he said, "it's really complicated, yanno - and stuff... Sasuke, you gotta explain, it's no good if you don't."

"Please do, Sasuke-kun," Haku said.

"I -" Sasuke couldn't see a way out of telling Haku anymore; Haku already knew they were keeping some kind of big secret, and he'd heard the rumors and now knew there was some truth to them. It'd be better for Haku to know and join them than to stay suspicious, so Sasuke steeled himself and said, "It's because of Itachi - three years ago, he -"

The door swung open with a bang, and Sasuke shut up instantly. Jiraiya stood in the doorframe, nearly filling it; Sakura squeezed past him, saying, "Haku-san, I brought you some fresh - Sasuke-kun!" She dropped the little vase of flowers she was holding onto a table, ran up to Sasuke and threw her arms around him. "Oh, I've been so worried - Naruto said you weren't hurt, but there've been all those awful rumors... I mean, I knew they weren't true, but still, it's been terrible!"

"Mmm," Sasuke said, feeling worse than ever, and slipped out of the hug. "Thanks anyway."

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was saying, "There you are, Naruto! I've got good news - the council's asked me to find my old teammate Tsunade and convince her to save the Kages, and -" His eyes fell on Haku and his attention shifted immediately. "Hoho! You sly kid - keeping such a beautiful young lady secret even from your teacher! Well, miss, please allow me to -"

He was reaching for Haku's uninjured hand as he spoke; Naruto turned bright red, and Sakura jammed her fist into the old man's stomach, shouting "Don't hit on my friends, pervert!" as Jiraiya folded over, wheezing.

"Yeah, leave Haku alone," said Naruto, still red. "But what's the good news, huh? Huh? What is it?"

"Sorry, sorry," Jiraiya said, after he'd gotten his breath back. "Ah, right - they gave me permission to take you with me in order to continue your training."

Naruto grinned and jumped out of the chair. "All right!" he said. "You're gonna teach me some awesome new techniques, yeah?"

"Hmm, well, I suppose I've got one or two things you might consider 'awesome' up my sleeve..."

Sasuke stole the chair while Naruto danced around and thought glumly about what it would be like to stay in Konoha without Naruto. Even if he told Haku about Itachi and explained about Orochimaru and Haku understood, it wouldn't be the same, and everyone else would still hate him.

Then Naruto said, "And Sasuke's coming too, right?"

"Eh?" said Jiraiya, at the same time that Sakura and Sasuke said, "What?"

"Well, everyone's pissed at him right now 'cause of the Orochimaru stuff, yanno," Naruto said, gesturing, "so if he comes with us to find this Tsunade lady and help the Kages, they'll know it was just a mistake and stop being mad! Yeah! It's perfect! See, Sasuke, told you I'd come up with a great plan!"

"So you're the one, huh," Jiraiya said, and he gave Sasuke a long, thoughtful look; Sasuke slouched in the chair and avoided his gaze. "I don't think the council's going to want you leaving Konoha for quite some time - sorry, kid."

"Aww, who cares about the stupid council?" Naruto said. "Sasuke's my best friend, you gotta give him a chance! We'll work super hard, yanno, so take us both and we'll find Tsunade extra fast!"

Jiraiya held his hands up. "Wait, wait," he said, "even if the council will let him out of the village, I'm not interested in -"

"I'm coming too," Sakura said, crossing her arms, and Jiraiya almost fell over. She glared at Sasuke and Naruto. "You two just get into trouble when I'm not there! Besides, as long as Kakashi-sensei's in the hospital he can't train us or anything, and I don't want to sit around while you're out on a mission getting stronger, that's just not fair."

"I haven't even said I'll take the Uchiha kid yet! I'll have to talk to the council, and -"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan should definitely come! Pervy sage can be, like, our substitute teacher while Kakashi-sensei's out. It's perfect, yanno!"

"It's the opposite of perfect! I don't want to be a substitute anything!"

"You'd better not think you can just leave me behind, you -"

They stopped at the sound of Haku laughing, and Jiraiya's eyebrows shot up. "What's so funny, hm?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Haku said, covering his mouth, but his shoulders still shook with laughter. "It's just - you all look so cute when you're fighting, like a family..."

Naruto turned red again, while Jiraiya said, "Hmf," looking pleased, and Sakura made a disgusted face.

Sasuke had stayed out of the argument, not wanting to risk the hope that Naruto's idea had given him, but now he swallowed his pride and said, "Please."

"Hm?" Jiraiya said, looking back at Sasuke.

"Let me help look for Tsunade," Sasuke said. He forced himself to look up from the floor and meet Jiraiya's eyes. "You don't have to teach me anything, but I want to help. Please." Don't leave me behind with Itachi, please don't...

Jiraiya stared at him for a long moment, then threw his hands up and said, "Damnit! Just when I finally got done with the council, too... All right, kid, I'll see what I can do. But no promises, and the girl is -"

"I'll start packing tonight!" Sakura said, and she hugged Sasuke again despite his attempt to dodge. "It'll be so nice to travel together as a team again, right, Sasuke-kun? I can't wait!"

"I didn't say you could come! There's no way I'm dragging three -"

"Yeah, yeah, it'll be great! Hey - Sakura-chan, can't I get a hug too?"

"Do you kids hear anything I say?"

After Jiraiya left to talk to the village council again, grumbling the whole time, the rest of them gradually quieted down. Sakura sat with Haku on the bed, talking softly about the trip, while Naruto leaned on the back of Sasuke's chair and kept interrupting with ideas and grandiose plans. Sasuke was starting to think he might not have to explain the Itachi investigation today after all, and then the door opened and a familiar light voice said, "Excuse me, Haku-kun - I've brought your lunch, sorry for taking so -"

His sharingan blinked on, and in an instant Sasuke was out of the chair, slamming Kabuto into the doorframe. The tray in Kabuto's hands crashed to the floor; Sakura shouted something, but Sasuke couldn't hear her over the blood pounding in his ears. "What the hell are you doing here?" he snarled, pressing one arm against Kabuto's throat just hard enough to keep him from wriggling away. "Why didn't you run off when Orochimaru did, you damn spy!"

"I - I don't understand, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said, with some difficulty, but Sasuke didn't ease up on the pressure, despite the stares and exclamations from the hallway. "I'm just - just a medical nin..."

He looked and sounded genuinely confused, but he couldn't fool Sasuke; Kabuto was the one who'd been spying for Akatsuki and Orochimaru all along, he had put a chakra-draining seal on Itachi and killed Zabuza, and Sasuke might not be able to get his hands on Orochimaru but he could do this right, he could turn Kabuto in and fix this much, at least. "Don't screw with me," he said, reaching for a kunai with his free hand, "I know what you've done, you're not getting away."

"Sasuke-kun, stop it!" Sakura said. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you recognize him?" Sasuke demanded, glaring back at her. "Can't you remember his voice - what he did..." He trailed off as he saw Sakura's scared face, Naruto's wide eyes, Haku's confusion, and his rage began to drain away. He never had gotten around to telling Naruto about Kabuto when there'd been so much about Orochimaru and Itachi to discuss and when Sasuke had assumed the spy would leave with Orochimaru, so Naruto didn't know. But how could any of them have forgotten the fight on the bridge, and Kabuto taunting them in that same light and mocking voice... "Haku, don't you know him? Don't you remember?" he asked, hearing desperation in his own voice and hating it.

Haku looked between him and Kabuto, then said, "I'm - not sure... He's one of the medics on this floor, Sasuke-kun, I don't remember meeting him anywhere else."

"It's just Kabuto-san, you know him, please let him go," Sakura said, sounding near tears, and after a moment of increased pressure on Kabuto's throat, Sasuke did, a bitter taste in his mouth.

Kabuto massaged his throat and said, "I'm not sure what's going on, Sasuke-kun, but really, you must have me confused with someone else - I'm simply a medic, no one suspicious." He knelt to clean up the scattered tray and Sasuke thought, Like hell you're no one suspicious, but didn't say it. Of course no one was going to believe him, not over a medical nin and ANBU member's son; they'd think Sasuke was just trying to get out of trouble by blaming someone else, and all he had for proof were some ambiguous conversations and the memory of a voice. Naruto might believe him if he explained, but nobody would believe Naruto either, not when he was Sasuke's friend and already hated for being the Kyuubi's host.

Sakura moved to help Kabuto pick up, saying, "I'm so sorry, Kabuto-san - he didn't mean it, it's just -"

"Oh, don't worry," said Kabuto, smiling, "everyone's been under a lot of stress lately, it's quite understandable. We're all very worried about the Hokage, after all," and Sasuke tried to lunge at him again when Naruto caught him and whispered, "Whoa, whoa, cool down!"

Kabuto swept up the last of the mess, stood, and said, "I'll be right back with a fresh lunch, Haku-kun - sorry for the trouble."

"Please don't worry about it," Haku said, but he was watching Kabuto with a thoughtful look.

As Kabuto walked out, Sasuke said, keeping his voice low, "You can't trick me, puppet. I know what you are."

"Perhaps you need to get more rest, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said, and there was no mistaking his smile for anything but gloating; then he was gone, and Sasuke saw the nurses and medics in the hall staring at him, whispering again.

He stepped back out of the doorway, hating them all.

Sakura said, "Um - I should go, too, I have to talk to my parents. I'm sorry, Haku-san, I'll - I'll see you later," and she fled.

"Geez, what was that all about?" said Naruto, flopping down on the chair and scowling a little. "That guy - what'd he do, anyway? Was he -"

"Never mind," Sasuke muttered. He couldn't drag Naruto down any further, not when Naruto was already trying so hard to help, and he turned to leave. "I'm going."

"Sasuke-kun, please wait -"

Sasuke slammed the door on Haku's voice and walked away.

Late that evening Anko burst into the apartment, stole some of the miso rice Sasuke had made for himself, and told him that Jiraiya had talked the council into letting him take Team Seven to find Tsunade. "Pretty impressive work, too," she said, "especially since he had to convince your big brother and Danzo both to let you out of Konoha - can't remember the last time those two agreed about anything, they usually fight like a snake and a mongoose."

"Mmm," Sasuke said, taking back the pot of miso before Anko could help herself to any more. "Who's this Danzo, anyway?" He remembered a man in bandages arguing with Itachi, back on that day, and he was pretty sure that was the same person, but otherwise he hadn't seen or heard much of the man since.

"Council member, helps advise ANBU, an old buddy of the Third's from way back," said Anko. She gulped down half of the miso rice, and added, "Not that you'd know it, hearing them argue over policy, but you can't say he doesn't put the village first... Why, you taking an interest in politics?"

"No," Sasuke said, "I just want to know who's got it in for me."

Anko snorted and said, "That paranoid already, huh," giving him a long look; he kept still, hoping he hadn't made her too suspicious, but she shrugged and said, "Well, he's no one you want to piss off, that's for sure, so good job pissing him off. He's had a bug up his ass about the Uchiha for years, he was calling for you to be executed over this Orochimaru mess."

Sasuke's spoon clattered onto the table. "Executed?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Anko said, swapping her empty bowl for Sasuke's and digging in, "he got talked out of it - that's only gonna happen if we lose the Kages, so don't let Jiraiya play around too much or it's your head, yanno."

"But I - executed?" This was worse than he'd ever imagined; everything Orochimaru had said about the Uchiha suddenly seemed much more plausible with Danzo out for them, spreading rumors and convincing people the clan were traitors, and the Uchiha trying to fight back against it, and then...

Anko reached across the table and smacked his arm. "Kidding, I'm kidding," she said. "Like Itachi'd let that happen, idiot - have a little faith in him."

Sasuke couldn't tell her it was more likely that Itachi would be the one to kill him. Numbly, he nodded as if agreeing with her.

"Anyway," she said, finishing off the miso rice, "you're leaving first thing in the morning, so be at the main gates nice and early, get lots of sleep tonight, pack plenty of - eh, you know the drill." She got up. "I've got night duty on the wall with Kurenai and her team, so don't get into trouble, okay?"

Sasuke nodded again, and she headed out, leaving him alone to think about everything she had said.

He was still thinking about it the next morning as he approached the gates, which hadn't been fully repaired from the damage caused by the raid. Besides the usual guards, three chuunin were on duty - two of them Sasuke recognized as the Suna chuunin - and someone in an ANBU mask was hanging casually around the gatehouse. Sasuke leaned against the wall to wait for Naruto and the others, and saw the red-haired Suna chuunin elbow her partner. "Hey, Yukari," she said, "isn't that the kid?"

"Dunno," Yukari mumbled, "they got coffee?" But she cracked an eye open and looked at Sasuke, then said, "Yeah, think so."

Damnit - of course, they must think he was responsible for the Kazekage's condition. He tensed up as the woman headed for him, waiting for her to strike, but instead she said, "Hey, you're one of the kids that's been hanging out with Gaara, right? Helped get him under control when he flipped out?"

Sasuke blinked. "Yes," he said, still wary.

"Good job," she said, grinning, and Sasuke's jaw nearly dropped. "I never would've believed it, but you kids have made him almost bearable - he hasn't threatened anyone besides that creep Yashagoro in a couple of weeks, and Yukari even heard him say 'please' the other day, didn't you?"

"Mm," said Yukari, apparently still half-asleep.

"So yeah," the chuunin said, "just wanted to say thanks and keep it up, you might even turn him human at this rate. I'm Rakka, if you're ever in Suna you look me up and I'll buy you lunch or something."

"Um - thanks," Sasuke said, trying to hide his confusion and feeling a little guilty. Maybe he should have gone to see Gaara in the hospital after all.

Rakka went back to her post, talking animatedly at her partner, and Sasuke was starting to relax when Sakura appeared. He tried to fade into the wall - after yesterday, she was one of the last people he wanted to see - but she settled in next to him, fussing with her pack, and said, "You know, Sasuke-kun..."

He looked away from her and didn't say anything.

"I just wanted to tell you, I don't care what everyone's saying," she said, and the weight of the last few days settled in Sasuke's stomach again. "I mean it, I don't - it doesn't matter, I'm on your side and I always will be. You're my teammate, and I - I like you..." He could practically hear her blushing. "So please - you don't have to tell me what's going on, but let me help. I know you think I'm weak, but - but I'll do anything you ask, I only want to help, please don't shut me out. Please trust me, even if it's just a little bit..."

Kill Itachi for me, then, he wanted to shout at her. Kill Danzo and Kabuto! Kill this whole stupid village, that'd help! He was sick of everything - sick of being stared at, whispered about, threatened and hated, sick of swallowing down what he really felt and pretending to be a normal little brother so Itachi wouldn't kill him, sick of his stupid friends trying to help when they didn't understand what helping him meant. He hated everyone, he hated them so much he could choke on it, and he was about to tell Sakura to shut up until she was strong enough to be useful when she put her hand on his arm.

His rage cooled a little, smothered by shame. Yelling at Sakura wasn't going to kill the rumors or take down Itachi; he breathed out, forced his hatred down again, and said, "It's fine. You don't have to do anything."

"Sasuke-kun -"

"Gaara-sama!" Rakka said, and Sasuke's head snapped up. "Uh - shouldn't you still be resting?"

Gaara had appeared across the road from Sasuke and Sakura, looking at them with an expression Sasuke couldn't read; Sakura glared at him, but Gaara said, "I wanted to talk with my friends before they left."

"Some friend, putting Naruto and Haku-san in the hospital," Sakura said under her breath. She made a fist, but Sasuke stopped her with one hand and stepped away from the wall to meet Gaara.

He and Gaara looked at each other for a minute. Gaara showed no signs of injury from their fight and seemed outwardly as cool as the day he'd come to Konoha, but something felt different about him; the line of his shoulders was tense and rigid, his stance oddly defensive.

The silence stretched out, and Sasuke realized he had no idea what to say. "Sorry I called you a monster"? "I didn't mean to try and cut your throat"? Gaara didn't seem to know, either; he kept glancing down at the ground, the dirt shuffling around his feet, until he finally said, "I'm sorry for trying to kill you."

"Hmf," Sasuke said. He supposed he could let it go this once, if only so Naruto wouldn't whine at them both to get along. "As if you could've succeeded," and Gaara glanced up from under drawn brows, a strangely young look.

"That's right," Sakura said, and Sasuke looked back to see her sticking her tongue out. "You'd never beat Sasuke-kun!"

"Anyway," Sasuke said, "it's -"

"I'm sorry for lying, too," said Gaara.

"Lying?"

Gaara stared at the road again. "I didn't mean it when I said we'd never been friends," he said, his voice almost too soft to hear. "I - I liked hanging out, even when I said it was pointless... I liked being friends with you and Naruto."

"Oh," Sasuke said, feeling more awkward than ever. "Well - it wasn't so bad hanging out with you, either."

That didn't seem like enough, but some of the tension left Gaara's shoulders, and the dust at his feet settled. "And we did have a real fight, at least," Gaara said.

"Hope it wasn't too disappointing," Sasuke said, relaxing a little, too.

"A little disappointing," Gaara said; Sasuke's fist clenched, and he was about to challenge Gaara to a rematch when he saw the slight curve to Gaara's mouth that was as close as Gaara got to a smile. "Next time, don't get kidnapped in the middle."

"I won't," Sasuke said, and allowed himself to smile back. "Next time, leave Naruto out of it, too."

"Why? Are you afraid that he'll pick my side?"

"Hah - he'd never -"

Their only warning was Sakura's drawn breath, and then Itachi was between them, his back blocking Gaara from sight.

Sasuke wasted a moment wondering if there could be anything more humiliating than an overprotective brother, especially one you were planning to kill, then stepped around Itachi. Gaara and Itachi were staring at each other; Itachi's face was unreadable as usual, and Gaara was frowning. "Sasuke, you should stay back," said Itachi.

"We were just talking, Itachi," Sasuke said. "He's a friend."

"A friend," Itachi said. "You're friends with the Suna -"

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded; the cork on his gourd had dissolved into sand and now looped restlessly around the gourd's mouth.

"Ah, yes," Itachi said, his stare unwavering, "I'm Sasuke's older brother - I've been in Suna until a few days ago, as part of the exchange."

"You didn't say you had a brother," said Gaara, turning his frown on Sasuke.

Itachi's eyes widened slightly - his only visible reaction - and Sasuke wanted to dive into the ground and never come back up. Damnit, if only he'd explained things to Gaara before everything had blown up... "Well, you didn't talk about Temari and Kankuro," he said, the best excuse he could think of, then turned to Itachi and said, "Sorry," even though it wouldn't be enough.

"It's fine," Itachi said, wearing a diplomatic smile like a mask. "Forgive me for interrupting, Gaara-kun, but I need to speak with Sasuke before he leaves."

Gaara crossed his arms and said, "Fine," clearly intending to listen, and Sakura's ears perked up; Sasuke tried to think of something to make them go away, then saw a familiar face running towards them and moved out of the way just before Naruto crashed into Gaara.

"Hey guys!" Naruto said, as the sand pushed him back upright. "Sorry I'm late, yanno, I had to wake the pervy sage up and he - Gaara! You got out of the hospital too, huh? That's awesome!"

Gaara's face had lightened when he recognized Naruto, and as Sakura started yelling at Naruto to watch where he was going and Jiraiya appeared, grumbling at them all to keep it down, Sasuke let Itachi pull him aside. He was curious to hear what was urgent enough for Itachi to talk to him again.

Once the noise of Sakura and Naruto fighting was loud enough, Itachi said, "Sasuke, the council has laid down a few conditions you have to follow for you to leave Konoha."

"Fine," Sasuke said. He'd expected as much, especially after learning about Danzo. "What are they?"

"You have to stay with your team or Jiraiya-sama at all times," said Itachi. "You absolutely can't go off on your own, no matter what - do you understand?"

Sasuke nodded reluctantly - that would get tiresome fast, but it made sense, and he'd put up with it somehow.

"You are also not allowed to train with Jiraiya-sama," Itachi said, "or let Naruto share what he's learning."

"All right," Sasuke said; he'd expected that one, too, although it still irritated him a little. Well, he didn't want to train with a pervert, anyway.

"And," Itachi said, taking a quick breath, "you can't use the sharingan while you're out of the village, under any circumstances."

"What?" Sasuke said. "That's insane! What if we're attacked, or we run into -"

"Sasuke, please," and the desperation in Itachi's voice alarmed Sasuke enough that he shut up. "Danzo insisted - I know it will be difficult, but you'll still have your team and Jiraiya-sama, I'm sure you'll be able to handle anything that happens."

"But it's stupid," Sasuke said, "how am I supposed to fight seriously if I can't even - it's pointless, how could you agree to a condition like that? I won't do it, I can't promise something stupid like that!"

Itachi grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "Sasuke, you have to follow these rules, or - you can't make any trouble on this mission. There are too many people who think you're a traitor - Danzo is only one of the most powerful ones, and he -"

"He hates the Uchiha," Sasuke said dully, his flash of anger dying. "Anko told me." Damnit. If he didn't obey, it would just be something else Danzo could use to have him executed, and he stared at the ground and muttered, "Fine. I - I won't use the sharingan."

"Good," Itachi said, and his grip relaxed. "I only want you to take this seriously and be careful - it's dangerous right now, even in Konoha."

What do you care, Sasuke thought, you'd just kill me anyway if Danzo told you to, but he said, "I will be. Are there any other conditions?" He couldn't stop his voice twisting a little on the word.

"No, that's it," said Itachi, stepping back. "Although -" He looked over, and Sasuke followed his gaze to see Naruto dangling in midair from a rope of sand, shouting at Gaara about cheating but laughing. "- as friends go, I think I prefer Naruto."

"Me, too," Sasuke said. "Gaara's okay, though..." He should probably go and break things up before Sakura knocked Naruto into next week for goofing around, but he felt the nagging need to do something else - something to keep Itachi's suspicions low and fix some of the damage Gaara had done. He couldn't think of what he could do that would make up for not telling someone that Itachi existed, except -

Well, there was one thing. Maybe.

"There's something on your back," Sasuke said.

"Hm?"

Sasuke hated giving away one of his few advantages, but it was necessary; he wouldn't be able to do much if Itachi suspected him all the time, and it wasn't that much of an advantage, anyway. "I saw it when you were fighting Orochimaru," he said. "It's some kind of seal, I think - it eats your chakra, I couldn't have seen it without the sharingan."

"I see," Itachi said, his face not changing at all. "Hm... You're sure you didn't see it before?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, which was basically true; he hadn't known what Kabuto's mark did until he'd seen it working with the sharingan, and obviously it wasn't visible to Anko or she would have done something about it before. "Anyway, you should get it removed," he added, which sounded a little over the top, but when he glanced up at Itachi he didn't see any suspicion.

"Don't worry, I'll have Yoshimoto look at it," Itachi said, and almost smiled for real. "Thank you. Now - perhaps we should go save Naruto..."

After they had gotten Naruto and Gaara's friendly brawl settled, Sakura calmed down, and Jiraiya away from the unimpressed Suna chuunin, Itachi still seemed reluctant for the team to leave. "Perhaps someone else should go with you," he said to Jiraiya, looking over the group. "I could speak to -"

"Now, now, don't worry so much, Itachi-kun," Jiraiya said, and stopped just short of accidentally patting Itachi's shoulder. "You've got plenty of important work to do here, after all! Surely you don't think that the renowned Jiraiya would be so careless that I'd let any harm come to the little br- er, kids?"

Itachi hesitated slightly before saying, "Of course not, Jiraiya-sama."

"Well, then," said Jiraiya, "just leave it to me and don't -"

"Yeah, don't worry!" Naruto said, grinning at Gaara. "We'll find that old lady whoever and she'll fix the Kages and then we'll beat up your dad for you fair and square, okay, Gaara?"

"Don't talk about the Kages like that!" Sakura snapped. "Honestly, Naruto, don't you have any manners? And I'm sure Gaara doesn't want -"

"Thanks," Gaara said, stunning them both into silence, and then Jiraiya swept Team Seven towards the gate, saying, "All right, let's get going - there's no time to waste!"

Sasuke looked back and saw Itachi watching them, and impulsively lifted his hand in a wave.

Itachi raised his hand in return, then signaled, Come back safely. Sasuke nodded once, then looked ahead; the next time he looked back, Itachi was gone.

Chapter Text

It was only mid-afternoon when the team reached one of the larger towns close to Konoha; Jiraiya took one long look at the crowds and the banners hanging up everywhere, then said, "Excellent, we're here in time for a festival! Okay, brats, hit the town, I'm going to get started on research - I mean, looking for Tsunade-hime."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. So much for being under Jiraiya's constant guard.

"Hey, pervy sage, does this Tsunade lady really live here?" Naruto asked.

"Oh - eh, no," Jiraiya said, his eyes tracking a pair of girls in short flower-printed dresses. "She usually travels pretty far from Konoha - it's full of bad memories for her... Still, you never know! Have fun, meet me back here by sunset and I'll get us rooms - hey, miss! Do you need an -"

"Is that creepy old man really one of the Sannin?" Sakura said, watching with disapproval as Jiraiya vanished into the crowds.

"He does know some pretty cool stuff," said Naruto, although he looked disappointed at the sudden abandonment. "'S just hard to get him away from girls long enough to show you anything... C'mon, we might as well go look around, yanno! I bet there's lots of good food and stuff, it'll be super fun! Yeah!"

Sakura bit her lip, then said, "Well, I guess it's okay if he told us to... You don't mind, do you, Sasuke-kun? Should we split up, or -"

"No splitting up," Sasuke said; Jiraiya might not have remembered the council's conditions, but Sasuke wasn't going to risk breaking them, especially when this town was probably full of Konoha's informants. "We'll stick together, look around, and see if we can find anything on Tsunade."

"All right!" Naruto cheered, and he grabbed Sasuke and Sakura's hands. "Let's go play!"

Naruto's idea of "play" was almost as exhausting as training; he dragged Sasuke and Sakura all over the festival, trying all the games, getting food at every stall, and buying useless junk or egging them on to do the same. After two hours of this, Sasuke found that he'd somehow acquired a cheap plastic mask painted like a grimacing blue demon, two fans, a giant stuffed horse, an alarm clock shaped like a rooster, and five goldfish.

Shuffling the horse onto his back so he didn't have to look at it, he held up the fifth goldfish and stared at it. It hovered in the water, paper-thin fins fanning slowly, and then darted around the plastic bag in a panic. What the hell was he supposed to do with five of these things?

Sakura hit her third bulls'-eye in a throwing game and laughed. "Sasuke-kun, I did it! Did you see?" she said happily, as the stall-owner groaned and pulled down the strange neon-colored stuffed bird Sakura had pointed at.

"Yeah, good work," Sasuke said, moving his shuriken into another pouch to make room for the goldfish. "Anything about Tsunade?"

"Um..." Sakura hugged the bird and looked up at the stall-owner. "Excuse me, but have you ever heard of a famous medical nin named Tsunade?"

The woman shrugged and said, "Sorry, I stay away from that kind of gossip."

Great, Sasuke thought, that was the sixth person they had asked who'd said the same thing. This place was a bust; the team should just find Jiraiya and make him leave before it was too late to travel much further.

Naruto waved something at him from across the street. "Hey, Sasuke! Let's get Itachi a souvenir!" he shouted over the noise of passing families and couples. "I bet he'd like this, yanno! Maybe he won't be so mad if you get him a cool present!"

"Did you have a fight with Itachi-san?" Sakura asked. "That's a shame - I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding, I'll help pick out -"

"You wouldn't get it," Sasuke muttered, and crossed the street to see what Naruto had found.

It was another mask, clay this time, with a strange design: all orange, in an off-center sculpted spiral that swirled around the single eyehole. "Why would Itachi want a weird mask like that?" Sasuke said. "He's already got a mask for work."

"Well, it's kinda cool-looking, yanno?" Naruto said. "Plus it's all orange, that's an awesome color!"

Sasuke took the mask and put it back on the stall's display. "Not a mask," he said, but the basic idea was good. What was something Itachi would actually like? Maybe one of those tea sets they'd seen earlier, with the cats painted on them...

"Fine, you get him something else," Naruto said, picking the mask up again, "I'm gonna get this! Hey, mister, how much -"

Someone brushed past them and knocked Naruto's shoulder, and he dropped the mask. Sasuke caught it before it hit the ground and snuck it back onto the display; Naruto turned around to yell at whoever had bumped him, and ran nose-first into the man's chest. "You brat," the man growled, "aren't you going to apologize for running into me?"

"No way, you're the one that ran into me, jerk!" Naruto said, scowling up - the guy was a good two feet taller and well-muscled, but he didn't look shinobi-trained to Sasuke's eyes. "You almost broke Itachi's present, you oughtta apologize first!"

Sakura pulled Naruto back just as two more men loomed up behind the first. "Please don't listen to him, sir," she said, smiling nervously, "of course he's sorry - aren't you, Naruto?"

Naruto looked anything but sorry; one of the other men leered as he said, "Why don't you let your little boyfriend say sorry himself? Oh, but he looks like he'd rather fight, doesn't he? Maybe you should give him a little kiss to calm him -"

Sasuke caught Sakura's fist before she punched the asshole and glared at the men, wishing he could pull the sharingan on them. The last thing they needed was a fight, but damn, these guys made it tempting. "Back off," he said. "You asked for an apology and you got one, so drop it."

The first man cracked his knuckles like an amateur. "Hah, you think you're a real little tough, don't you?" he said. "Lemme tell you, brat, you don't want to mess with me. I'm Matsumoto Jin, see, the sub-boss of the Awakusu group, and when little brats mouth off to me, well, that gets me in a real bad mood - I might do anything..."

The other two men cracked their knuckles, too, and Sasuke saw that the nearby civilians had all backed off, leaving a wide empty space on the street around them; Naruto was grinning in a way that gave Sasuke a bad feeling. "Hah, you think you're so tough," Naruto said, "but I bet we can beat you easy!"

"Naruto, stop it," Sasuke said, "we can't get into fights here," even though he desperately wanted to. He could almost feel Danzo's eye on him, however, and they couldn't afford this kind of stupid trouble.

Then Matsumoto reached for Sakura, saying, "Well, if you're too scared to get your clothes dirty - hey, sweetheart, why don't you dump those little scaredy-cats," and it was over.

"Don't touch me, you pervert!" Sakura shrieked, and her punch knocked Matsumoto down the street and into a food stall.

The thugs looked back at him as he pulled himself up, blood running down his face from his smashed nose, and he pointed at the team and shouted, "Geddem!"

The taller of the two swung at Sasuke, and Sasuke dropped and swept his leg around to cut the man's legs out from under him. The man jumped just in time - not a shinobi, but still a fighter - and Sasuke barely dodged a kick to the face. It took all his willpower not to let the sharingan kick in; one or two earth jutsu and these bastards wouldn't be a problem, but he'd promised and he dodged another punch, jumped, and smashed his heel into the side of the thug's head.

The man staggered to the side, almost falling, then shook his head and charged at Sasuke again. Sasuke grabbed for his shuriken pouch, felt only squishing plastic - damnit! The goldfish! - and then Sakura crashed onto the thug's back, driving him into the ground. "Don't even think about hurting Sasuke-kun, you jerk!" she yelled, and when he tried to get up she hit him in the throat with her elbow.

Sasuke started to say, "Good job," and an arm wrapped around his throat, choking him. "Don't move, you little monsters," Matsumoto snarled, and Sasuke felt blood drip into his hair, "or your leader gets it, see - yeah, you'd better back off, just like that..."

Sakura reluctantly got off the tall thug's back, though he stayed down; Naruto, who'd been pummeling the other man with the help of three shadow clones, released them and stepped back, and the man immediately punched Naruto in the gut, doubling him over.

Anger flashed through Sasuke and he had to shut his eyes and repeat no sharingan, no sharingan, no sharingan - he didn't even need sharingan for scum like this, but as he prepared to strike back at Matsumoto the arm around his throat disappeared.

He spun around and saw Matsumoto struggling against Jiraiya's grip. "Well, well, isn't this a shameful sight," the sage said. "Three grown men picking on my cute little apprentices, and it's the grown-ups winning..." Sasuke nearly choked again, this time with rage. Jiraiya shoved Matsumoto past him, back towards the thugs, and said, "But you know, I really don't like bullies, especially the kind who'd pick on a girl, so -" He held up one hand; a knot of swirling chakra appeared in his palm, humming ominously. "- I think you'd better get out of here before I do something you'll regret, hm?"

Matsumoto wiped blood off his face and said, "I'm not scared of you, old man, so just -"

"Whoops, wrong answer!" Jiraiya said, and thrust the ball of chakra against Matsumoto's chest.

The ball exploded.

After a moment, Sasuke got up from where he'd hit the ground and gave Sakura and Naruto a hand up. Jiraiya was dusting his hands off, looking pleased with himself; far, far down the street, Sasuke could just see Matsumoto and the two thugs sprawled out on the road, apparently unconscious.

"Holy crap, that technique's awesome," said Naruto, his eyes shining. "I gotta learn that!"

"I guess he knows what he's doing, after all," Sakura said, though she still sounded doubtful. She dusted herself off and said, "Sasuke-kun, are you okay?"

"Fine," Sasuke said, trying not to snap at her. He'd been relying on the sharingan too much lately; he'd have to train a lot without it while they were out of Konoha, or he'd end up falling behind even Sakura.

Meanwhile, Naruto had pounced on Jiraiya. "Hey, hey, pervy sage, what's that technique called? I wanna learn it, yanno!" he said. "You're gonna teach it to me, right? Right?"

"Hmm, well, it might be something you can all learn," said Jiraiya, "but let's get out of here first - looks like we're attracting a bit too much attention."

The festival crowds had begun gathering again already, staring and chattering, and Sasuke saw more than one angry stall-owner among the throng of curious faces.

"Okay, okay," Naruto said, "I just gotta get one thing! Hey, mister -"

The inn Jiraiya chose had a fountain filled with fish; Sasuke took the opportunity to dump all five of his goldfish into it, and while the team settled into their shared room, he hid the rest of the festival junk under one of the beds where he could conveniently forget it when they left in the morning.

Naruto bounced on the bed while Sakura laid her stuff out neatly on the other. "This is gonna be so great!" Naruto said. "Traveling with my friends, learning cool techniques, then we get to go home and be heroes for saving the Kages... Best trip ever!" He bounced a little too hard and almost brought the bed down on Sasuke's head; Sasuke shoved the stuffed horse a little deeper, backed out, and kicked Naruto onto the floor so he could take over the bed.

Naruto just climbed back up and wrestled some room for himself, then dug through his pack and pulled the orange mask out to admire it. "So cool - Itachi's gonna love this," he said happily.

"It's hideous," Sakura said, and shoved her folded clothes into a drawer in the nightstand. "Sasuke-kun's right, why would Itachi-san want something ugly like that - Itachi-san is refined, you should've gotten him something nice!"

Refined? Sakura had obviously never been present for one of Itachi and Anko's snack food fights. Sasuke didn't want to feed the argument, though, so he started to tell her to knock it off when Jiraiya flung the door open, one arm full of water balloons. "All right, who's ready to start training?" he said.

"Me me me! I'm ready, pervy sage!" Naruto yelled, and he jumped off the bed.

"I'm ready, too - I think," Sakura said, eying the balloons.

Jiraiya tossed each of them a balloon, then said, "What about you, Uchiha?"

"I can't," Sasuke said, looking away.

"Oh?" said Jiraiya. "Oh, right, right... Well, go downstairs then and -"

"I can't do that either," Sasuke snapped. How big an idiot could the old man be? Sakura and Naruto were giving Sasuke weird looks; he'd have to explain the conditions to Naruto later, sometime when Sakura was distracted.

"Hm - then just turn around and cover your ears for a few minutes," Jiraiya said, and Sasuke did, seething with resentment. He could still hear Jiraiya's booming voice as the sage began talking, so to keep from listening in Sasuke went over old school lessons in his head: the shinobi rules, the current daimyo of all the major and minor countries with their wives and principal advisors, some basic math equations, the names of every Uchiha he would one day avenge...

During the list of second and third cousins he was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder, and he twisted around to see Jiraiya, who said, "We're done for now," loudly enough for Sasuke to hear. Sasuke took his hands away from his ears; Sakura and Naruto each had a water balloon in their hands and were concentrating on it.

"All right, you two keep working on that," Jiraiya said, "I'm going out to get us dinner - Uchiha, you're with me."

Sasuke was still irritated as he followed Jiraiya downstairs, and he wasn't listening very hard as the sage started babbling about something or other until he heard, "- did pretty well today, after all."

"What?" Sasuke said.

"I said you didn't do too badly today," said Jiraiya, and held the inn's front door open for a dark-haired woman who gave him a vague smile and hurried on. "Ah, what a cool beauty... Anyway, you behaved, so looks like I won't be sending you back to Konoha."

Send him back to Konoha? "You didn't forget about the conditions at all," Sasuke said, his irritation heating back into anger. "You were just -"

"Hey, what kind of idiot do you think I am?" Jiraiya said; Sasuke bit back the obvious answer. "Look, kid, I've spent the last three days hearing what your brother thinks of you, what Danzo thinks about you, what the council thinks, what Anko-chan thinks - they even wheeled young Kakashi out of the hospital to talk about you. I wanted a chance to see for myself what you're made of, and you're all right, so lighten up a bit, hm?"

That was easy enough for Jiraiya to say; he didn't have someone like Danzo out for his head. Better to let the good impression last as long as possible, though, so Sasuke kept quiet until Jiraiya found a noodle place he liked the look of and ordered them both yakisoba. "So," Jiraiya said, after the food had arrived, "indulge an old man a little - what's my ex-teammate like nowadays?"

Sasuke considered all of his encounters with Orochimaru - the taunts, the threats, the deadly techniques - then said, "Evil," and Jiraiya snorted into his noodles.

"Ha! You're a blunt one, aren't you?" he said once he'd recovered. "Well, it's not like I expected a different answer..."

Sasuke picked at his yakisoba, hungry but not feeling like eating. "Why'd you ask, then?" he said. Orochimaru was the last thing he wanted to talk about, not counting Itachi.

"Hmm - it's a complicated thing," said Jiraiya. "I guess old history wouldn't interest a brat like you, but we were genin together with Tsunade-hime, and a team for years after that... That's the kind of thing that doesn't just die, you know? You never forget your first comrades."

What a load of sentimental crap. "Even the ones who experiment on babies?" Sasuke said.

Jiraiya froze for an instant, then laughed too loudly. "I see Anko-chan's been scaring you into behaving," he said, "and she's certainly got plenty of stories to do it with - just goes to show, sometimes you really don't know the people you think you're close to. He was always a cold one, but I never realized just how cold..." He stared off into the distance at nothing in particular; there was an odd look on his face, like pain and nostalgia that with time had become a single feeling. "I thought we were friends, once. Not so different from you and Naruto, at least when we were young."

Sasuke's blood ran cold at the thought. "I'm not - I'm nothing like Orochimaru!"

"Hm, you're not?" Jiraiya said. "Bright, ambitious little genius, no family - well, besides that Itachi - bit of a loner, always working to get stronger..."

"I'm not the same," Sasuke insisted, "I wouldn't betray Konoha." He might not be in love with the village like Itachi or obsessed with being Hokage like Naruto, but he didn't hate Konoha. Most of the time. At least not the way Orochimaru did, talking about how everyone was soft or weak or disappointing. "Besides, science is boring."

That made Jiraiya laugh again, and he said, "You're not too bad, kid. Oh - hey, miss, could we get another two plates of yakisoba to go? Ah, with the way Naruto eats, better make that four - thank you, you're as kind as you are lovely."

Sasuke forced himself to eat the rest of his dinner while Jiraiya flirted with waitresses, and stayed quiet as they carried boxes of noodles back to the inn; even after Sakura and Naruto were asleep he lay awake, mulling over Jiraiya's words. So there were people - Jiraiya, at least - who thought he was like Orochimaru... That was bad; he'd thought that he had done a good job keeping his goal secret, that Itachi had fallen for his good little brother act, but maybe he hadn't been that convincing after all. Damn. If he tried to make up for his slip too much he'd only seem more suspicious, and if he didn't suck up at least a little that would seem suspicious, too... Sasuke almost growled.

He'd been too impatient, he could see that now. Yes, he'd needed Orochimaru's information, but if he'd turned Orochimaru in to ANBU and kept his head down, he could have eventually have worked his way to a position where he could get into classified files and find the same information, all without Itachi suspecting a thing. Damn, damn, damn - well, he just wouldn't make the same mistake twice, then. Killing Itachi without being suspected was more important than information; he wouldn't forget that again.

Naruto rolled over and sprawled out, one arm flung across Sasuke. Sasuke shoved his arm off and yanked at the sheets - the idiot always hogged the sheets - and turned over to look at Naruto. Naruto was snoring, of course, and his breath smelled like yakisoba and toothpaste, and he was so obnoxious and noisy and disgusting and such a total idiot and Sasuke was never going to leave him behind, never make him look the way Jiraiya did when he talked about Orochimaru. However far into darkness Sasuke had to go to kill Itachi, whatever he had to do, he wouldn't abandon Naruto.

He looked past Naruto at the other bed, where Sakura was asleep with her hair spread out on the pillow, and reluctantly decided he wouldn't leave her, either. She wasn't strong like Naruto, or even a friend in the same way, but... You're my teammate, she'd said, even before saying she liked him, and she trusted him, and maybe Jiraiya'd had a point after all with his sentimental nonsense about teams.

Sasuke kicked Naruto's feet away from his side of the bed and went to sleep.

They traveled for a week, wandering from town to town across the Land of Fire with no apparent plan. Sakura and Naruto kept working on the water balloon training while Sasuke practiced on his own, usually far enough away that he couldn't accidentally pick up on what they were doing but still within visual range of either them or Jiraiya, depending on where they practiced. It could have become a pleasant routine, except that with every hour that passed Sasuke felt the weight of the Kages' lives growing heavier on his shoulders. Supposedly both Kages had been stable when the team had left, but that could change at any moment - poisons were unpredictable, Orochimaru's poison might be doing damage the medics didn't pick up on, or a nurse might make a mistake with the medications, or Orochimaru might come back to finish the job, and then Sasuke would be - what was taking Jiraiya so long?

On the third day they were camping out rather than staying at an inn; Naruto and Sakura were training with Jiraiya on one side of a clearing in the forest, and Sasuke was on the other side, studiously ignoring them to work on using earth jutsu without the sharingan, when he heard one water balloon pop, then another burst against a tree. "I'm sick of this!" Sakura yelled. She sounded close to tears; Sasuke risked looking over and saw Naruto frozen mid-victory dance, while Sakura was red-faced. "Why can't I get it right? I've been working just as hard and it doesn't take that much extra chakra but it just won't work!"

"Hmm," said Jiraiya, chin in hand, "I suppose - what's your chakra affinity?"

"Huh?" Naruto said, and Sakura said, "I don't know - I was never tested."

"That could explain things," Jiraiya said, and he started rummaging around in his pack.

"What's a chakra affinity, pervy sage?" Naruto asked. "Hey, what is it?"

Jiraiya didn't answer right away; instead he called across the clearing, "Come on over, Sasuke - no, don't start, this isn't really training. You two, have a seat - damn, was sure I had some left - where are you..." When Sasuke had sat down between Naruto and Sakura, Jiraiya said, "Your chakra affinity is what element your chakra's in tune with. So Naruto, yours is almost certainly wind - Sasuke, do you know -"

"Fire," Sasuke said. Uchiha were usually fire.

"Good, good - and Sakura, we'll test yours once I find that stupid little - hah! Gotcha!"

"But what's that mean, huh?" Naruto said. "Can I only learn wind techniques or something?"

"Of course not, don't be silly," Sakura said, and Jiraiya nodded.

"She's got the right of it," he said, shaking out the crumpled piece of paper he'd found. "Just means wind techniques will be your strongest ones and the easiest to learn, like Sasuke's will be fire techniques. Good combo, there. You can master other elements, of course - jounin and ANBU usually have to have at least two - but at your level, it's better to concentrate on the one for now." He handed the paper to Sakura. "Right, feed a little of your chakra into this paper, and that'll tell us what your affinity is."

Sakura held the paper up, frowning at it, and after a moment it crumbled.

"Earth! Excellent," Jiraiya said. "Well, Sakura-chan, the rasengan isn't really a wind technique, but it's easier to master if you've already got a wind affinity, I've found - why don't you work on earth techniques with Sasuke for now and I'll keep teaching Naruto."

Sakura punched the air gleefully as Naruto groaned, and Sasuke resigned himself to holding back in training again.

Sakura surprised him, however. Her taijutsu was still slow and weak compared to his and Naruto's, but she was getting more inventive to make up for it, and she picked up the earth jutsu he knew quickly; she couldn't put as much power into them as Sasuke could, but she could control them more precisely and without wasting chakra, and soon they could spar on an almost equal level.

Four days after testing Sakura's chakra affinity, they entered the largest town they'd been to yet, a place called Hato near the border with the Land of Grass. It was a busy place, full of merchants and traders and, more importantly, their guards, so Sasuke stuck close to Naruto and Sakura, hoping to avoid another incident like the one in the first town.

Jiraiya was looking for an inn and telling some unbelievable story about the toads of Mount Myoboku when they passed a pair of tough-looking women, and Sasuke heard them talking. "- believe our luck!" the stouter of the two was saying. "The legendary sucker's in town - we'll get rich off her, if we work it right."

"Only if she's got the cash on her - you know what they -"

Their conversation was rapidly buried in the general noise, and Sasuke was already putting it out of his mind as useless chatter when Jiraiya stopped in the middle of the street and said, "All right, kids, this is it! She's here - well, that's the easy part over with."

"How do you know, huh?" Naruto said, fidgeting with the rubber ball that had replaced the water balloons as part of his training. "You haven't had time to ask around or anything!"

"All I had to do was listen," said Jiraiya, and then he chuckled, sounding both like and unlike Orochimaru. "Didn't I ever tell you? Tsunade-hime's not just famous for her medical skills, you know. She's also well-known as -" He paused to take a breath. "- the worst gambler in the world!"

Sasuke quietly decided that whoever had named Jiraiya's team the Sannin hadn't been thinking of their skills so much as their ridiculous personalities.

"Anyway, they won't let kids like you in where she's likely to be," Jiraiya said, "so you lot go back out to the woods and practice - they're not so fond of shinobi in Hato these days, had a nasty incident with a missing-nin a few months back. I'll be - ah - out looking for her..."

Sakura waved her hand in front of Jiraiya's face to break his stare at the curvy redhead walking by, and said, with remarkable patience after putting up with this behavior for a week, "Then where will we meet you later?"

"Ah, right - give me your packs and I'll get us rooms - hm, there," Jiraiya said, pointing at a rather shabby-looking inn across the road. "Don't rush back - she might take a lot of, erm, convincing. Naruto, don't forget what I told you about focusing!"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grumbled, "I remember," tossing the ball back and forth between his hands; he did that all the way out of Hato, uncharacteristically quiet. He'd been oddly bad-tempered the last few days, and Sasuke had no idea why.

The three of them found a good-sized clearing in the woods outside of the town and settled in to practice, Naruto on one side and Sasuke with Sakura on the other. They warmed up with taijutsu kata, moving from slower and simpler forms to the more complex ones, and Sasuke watched Sakura with more than his usual consideration. She was steadily improving, and had been since the mission to Iwa; her stance was firmer, her blows stronger, and though she'd never exactly been the kind to crumple after a hit, she seemed more determined and resilient lately.

He blocked her last strike in the final form, and they stepped back from each other to make the sign to begin the real sparring. Sakura struck first, throwing shuriken; Sasuke jumped out of the way easily, landing on the side of a tree, and stuck his feet to it with chakra. He blew a fireball at Sakura, but a wall of earth shot up and blocked it. He leaped over it and Sakura was gone.

Sasuke listened for her and dodged a kunai, sank into the earth with one of Orochimaru's techniques, and waited. When he felt her land to retrieve her kunai, he made a quick set of seals, and a rock dome surrounded her. Sasuke climbed out of the ground silently, letting his eyes get used to the dark and listening for Sakura.

Sakura made no noise to give away her position; he was wondering if he'd only caught a clone when the ground inside the dome suddenly heaved up, and the ceiling cracked enough for sunlight to stab inside. For an instant all Sasuke could see was the light and its purple afterimage, then he felt the air move and twisted out of the way of a punch. He grabbed Sakura's arm and tried to swing her into the dome's wall, but she dug her heels in and grabbed his shirt, and her left hand came up with the kunai. Sasuke let go, dropped down, and drew a kunai of his own as he dodged away.

The sun beating through the cracked dome made it more difficult to see, but Sasuke was done sparring anyway; he waited for Sakura to strike, blocked her, and before she disappeared into the haze of light and shadows again he said, "Do you still want me to trust you?"

"Sasuke-kun?" she said, her visible eye wide in the streak of light across her face, and then, "Yes, of course - more than anything! What is it? Is there -"

"You can't tell anyone about this," he said. "Naruto's the only other one who knows - if you can't keep it secret, I won't tell you."

"I'd never tell," Sakura promised. "I'm good at keeping secrets, I won't tell anybody, not Haku-san or Ino-chan or Kakashi-sensei or anyone!"

"You're sure," Sasuke said, not feeling very sure himself; this was a terrible risk, but he was tired of lying to her, and if he could have both of his teammates on his side...

Sakura hesitated, then said, "I'm sure. I mean, I haven't told anyone else that Naruto's the host for the Kyuubi."

Sasuke lost the balance of the kunai-block and had to jump back, and Sakura sheathed her kunai and held her first two fingers out in the signal to end the spar. After a moment, Sasuke did the same, and said, "How did you find that out?"

"Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out, after he went all strange fighting Haku," she said, dusting herself off. "He said it was a bloodline limit when I asked, but if it was really a bloodline limit he'd brag about it all the time and he never talks about it, so I knew that wasn't it... And you know, I didn't really notice it before, but people say some really awful things about Naruto behind his back! And if you don't get caught listening, they'll almost always start talking about the night the fox attacked, and that wouldn't make any sense unless Naruto's connected to the Kyuubi somehow."

Sasuke watched her fidget, his heart racing.

"I wasn't completely sure, though," she went on, "until Haku-san told me about fighting Gaara - I don't know if he knows or not, but as soon as he said what Gaara really was, I - I knew Naruto had to be the same. Well, a lot less creepy, but you know what I mean..."

She'd been looking at the ground, letting the shadows and the hair loosened by the spar hide her face, but now she turned her face up and the dusty sunlight lit up her eyes. "I haven't told anyone else, I swear," she said, "I'm only telling you because I know you must have figured it out, too. Please don't let Naruto know, it's okay if he doesn't want to tell me yet - after the things I've heard people say, I wouldn't want to tell anyone who didn't know, either."

"I won't tell him," Sasuke said, and he leaned against the dome to think. So she'd found out about Naruto before they'd left Konoha, but she hadn't acted any differently around him or let any hint of her knowledge slip - that was a good sign, she'd probably be able to fool Itachi as long as she had time to prepare.

"Sasuke-kun, I don't want to pry, but what's so -"

"It's Itachi," he said.

As he told her what he knew, her eyes grew wider and wider; he ended with the stories he'd heard from Orochimaru, as untrustworthy as they were, and it was a full minute before Sakura said, "That's - oh, Sasuke-kun, I never -"

"Hey, what're you two doing in there, huh?" Naruto yelled from outside the dome, his voice muffled by the layers of earth. "Are you, like, stuck or something? You're taking forever, yanno - you're not kissing or -"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and hit the side of the dome, ending the jutsu; Naruto crashed down between them - the idiot must have been on top of the dome - but popped up again immediately, his face smeared with dirt. "Hey, hey," he said, "what were you guys talking about, anyway?"

"I told her about Itachi," Sasuke said.

"What about - oh!" A grin split Naruto's face, the first real one in days. "Sakura-chan, you're gonna help us find out stuff about Itachi? That's totally awesome! I bet you can find out lots of things, yanno!"

"I - I'm not sure," Sakura said; her eyes darted between Sasuke and Naruto, and she bit her thumbnail. "It's just - Itachi-san's always seemed so nice, I don't know - I just -"

"If you don't want to help," Sasuke said, "don't. But stay out of our way and don't tell anyone, or -" He didn't finish the threat.

Sakura held back a moment longer, still looking between her teammates, then said, "I'll help! I said I'd do anything, and I will - I won't tell anyone else, not even Ino-chan, I'll just tell her scary stories about Anko-san till she finds some other guy to like - but I'll help!"

Naruto whooped with joy and tried to hug her as she pushed him away - "Ew, get off! Seriously, Naruto, you're filthy, don't touch me!" - and relief loosened the tension in Sasuke's shoulders. They were finally a real team; they were his team, and together they'd bring Itachi down.

After Sasuke found out the truth, of course.

They went back to town late in the evening and found that Jiraiya had gotten the promised rooms at the shabby inn, but there was no sign of Jiraiya himself; they got dinner on their own, and after waiting for a while, gave up on Jiraiya and went to bed.

Sasuke woke at the sound of the door swinging open, elbowed Naruto out of the way and reached for his weapons, but it was just Jiraiya. The sage was leaning on the doorframe, and the light from the hall showed his silly grin and flushed cheeks. "Good news, my cute apprentices!" he said brightly. "The princess is comin' back to Konoha - jus' took a lotta drinks talkin' her into it..."

Sakura was still asleep - she could sleep through anything - but Naruto was yawning and rubbing his eyes. He swung his legs out of bed and went over to Jiraiya. "That's great, pervy sage," he said, yawning again, "but it's late, yanno?" Sasuke checked the room clock and saw that it was past two in the morning.

"Not so late," Jiraiya grumbled, "night's young yet - young like me... And that Tsunade, she's still a babe with that jutsu of hers. Wonder what -"

"Dude, go to bed already," Naruto said, and pushed Jiraiya down the hall towards the other room. Jiraiya staggered along, humming something, and when he'd gone into his room Naruto shut the door and flopped back on the bed next to Sasuke. Sakura hadn't stirred at all. "Stupid old drunk," Naruto said into his pillow. "Why's he gotta be like that..."

Sasuke could sense whole new worlds of awkwardness opening before him, and searched desperately for something to say that would make the awkwardness go away; he settled on, "Does he do this a lot?"

"Nah," said Naruto. "Well, sometimes, mostly he's just faking, I think. He's pretty badass, yanno?" He punched his pillow up and rolled over. "Just - he's a really different kind of teacher from Iruka-sensei or Itachi, and you get to train with Sakura-chan all the time and I have to train by myself, and it's really boring, and - I dunno, this trip's not what I thought it'd be like, I guess."

"It's almost over, though," Sasuke said. "At least, if Tsunade really has agreed to come back. Go to sleep, we'll be on our way home soon."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said, with another yawn, "an' we'll be heroes - no more rumors, or..."

Then he was snoring instead of talking, and Sasuke tugged Naruto's fair share of the sheet up to cover Naruto and tried to get back to sleep himself. He couldn't stop feeling bothered, though, if only because it was so unlike Naruto to be bothered about anything. That stupid Jiraiya, ignoring Naruto and not teaching him right - once they got back to Konoha and Sasuke wasn't bound by the stupid conditions anymore they'd train properly again, everything would be fixed once Tsunade had healed the Kages.

Sasuke still brooded over it until the light of dawn began seeping through the room's one cracked window, and then it was time to start prying a hungover Jiraiya out of bed. Sakura grumbled about it almost as much as Jiraiya did, but Naruto was back to his usual noisy self, which reassured Sasuke a little.

Tsunade met them on the road out of Hato, accompanied by a dark-haired young woman carrying a pig; Tsunade herself was tall and blonde and appeared completely unimpressed by the team trailing behind Jiraiya. "You're a pitiful lot," she said, crossing her arms and looking them over. "What did you drag them along for, Jiraiya? Planning to bum booze money off them?"

Sasuke heard Jiraiya mutter, "Wasn't my idea, damnit," and then he said loudly, "Now, Princess, don't jump to conclusions - this is a pretty good team! An Uchiha genius, a kid who's aiming to be Hokage one day, and -"

"Only a fool would want to be Hokage," Tsunade said, and Naruto's face reddened. Before he could start shouting she turned her attention to Sakura. "And what about you? Planning to grow up a little and wrap old perverts like Jiraiya around your finger to get their secrets out of them, like a good kunoichi?"

Sakura twisted her fingers together nervously, but she said, "Actually, I - I've been reading some scrolls on battle tactics in my spare time, but I'm more interested in - in medical jutsu..."

"Hmm," said Tsunade, but she didn't sound displeased. "At least you've got some ambition to you. All right, Jiraiya, let's go - the less time I have to spend on this fool's errand, the better."

She took the lead with Jiraiya, who immediately started chattering at her, while the team walked behind them and the dark-haired woman took the rear.

"I can't believe we came all this way for a rude old bat like her," Naruto said, falling into place beside Sakura and tossing his rubber ball from hand to hand. "She's as old as the pervy sage, yanno, she's just hiding it!"

"So what? It's not your business if she wants to look young," Sakura said. "Anyway, she's not rude, she's cool - I've read about her, she's invented some amazing -"

"You heard what she said, she said being Hokage is for fools! I can't stand someone who doesn't respect the Hokage, yanno!"

"Well, she was talking about you, that's just being accurate."

Sasuke tuned out their bickering with the ease of long practice. They weren't far from home; Hato lay near the border of the Land of Grass, a day and a half running or two and a half going by the road like they were, so they'd be rid of Tsunade soon enough. He'd have to watch Sakura to make sure she didn't give them away, and tell Haku about Itachi since he was suspicious already - it would be strange, having people other than Naruto helping in the investigation, but Sakura was good at overhearing things, and even people who should know better would talk to Haku, so if nothing else they could probably figure out which parts of Orochimaru's stories were true...

Sasuke looked ahead, past Tsunade and Jiraiya, and stopped suddenly. There was something off about the road in front of them. Without the sharingan he couldn't see if it was a genjutsu, but whatever the wrongness was, it had to be a trap - something to get them lost, maybe, or some worse illusion.

Jiraiya had turned around to lecture Naruto about his training; Tsunade was still walking ahead, directly into the trap, and Sasuke started forward, Sakura at his heels. "Wait," he said, "there's a -"

"Hold it, Uchiha," Tsunade said, looking back and frowning at him, and she was right by the line between the road and the wrongness - the wheel ruts don't line up, that's it, they're off from the real ones by a fraction - and Sasuke thrust his arm out in front of her. Her eyes narrowed at that, and she said, "What do you think you're doing?" Sasuke opened his mouth to explain, but Sakura grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him off-balance.

His foot slipped across the line of the genjutsu, and the road exploded.

Chapter Text

Something soft and feathery brushed against Sasuke's cheek. Damnit, he'd told Anko a million times not to wake him up like that - he opened his eyes, ready to yell at her, but he was looking up into Sakura's ash-streaked face. He tried to move and pain lanced through his head and left leg.

"No, don't move," Sakura said, "you're hurt - but oh, thank goodness you're awake!" She wiped at her eyes, smearing the ash. "I was so worried - those tags went off so close, I -"

"Keep it down," another voice said, "they're still out there - you want them to find us like this?"

Sasuke crushed the pain down and sat up, and his hair snagged on a thin branch; as he untangled it, he saw that he and Sakura were inside a tiny clear area surrounded by three bushes with broad, thick leaves. Tsunade crouched beside them, keeping watch through a gap in the bushes. No sign of the dark-haired woman or the pig, no Jiraiya...

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke said.

"We - we got separated," Sakura said, "when the road blew up... It was huge, you wouldn't believe it, there must have been at least fifty tags laid down! If Tsunade-sama hadn't grabbed us both, we would have - anyway, she brought us here, we've been waiting for you to wake up."

Sasuke didn't trust himself to speak again without yelling, so he examined his injured leg. His leg guard had taken most of the damage, but the skin around his knee was dark red and blistered, oozing a little blood and fluid where some of the blisters had broken. His left arm was burned as well, but not as badly, and he seemed all right otherwise, besides a lingering headache.

"I'm s-sorry," Sakura said; Sasuke glanced up and saw that she was looking at his leg, too. "It's my fault - if I hadn't grabbed you, then -"

"It's not your fault, kid," Tsunade said, without looking at either of them. "That was a clever trap - one genjutsu just poorly done enough that Jiraiya and I would have walked into it on purpose to spring it, then another one beneath it that concealed the exploding tags. If Sasuke hadn't set it off, Jiraiya or I would have - or whoever laid it."

Sasuke tried to bend his knee and winced. Damn. He should be able to walk on it, but fighting would be difficult.

"Here, I'll bandage that for you," Sakura said, reaching for her pack. "Oh, I wish I had some extra water..."

"Why not let the great medical nin handle it?" Sasuke said. Not that he cared particularly, but the way Tsunade wouldn't even look at them annoyed him.

Tsunade's shoulders stiffened, but all she said was, "I don't practice anymore. Go ahead, girl -"

"My name's Sakura. H-Haruno Sakura."

"Right, Sakura. Just don't make it too tight, burns need air circulation. Then we'll head for Konoha."

"No," Sasuke said, and tried to keep his knee still as Sakura began bandaging it. "We have to find Naruto first, and the others."

"Are you an idiot, kid?" Tsunade demanded. She finally turned around, but only to glare at him. "We don't have time to waste on searching an entire forest - your teammate's with Jiraiya and Shizune, they'll look after him."

"But he's our teammate!" Sakura said. "They could be hurt, or captured, or - we have to go find them!"

"Jiraiya's not quite as dumb as he looks," said Tsunade, "and Shizune's my own student - they can handle themselves and one genin brat. All we need to worry about is getting back to Konoha before the old man and the Kazekage die."

"But - just abandoning them, that's -" Sakura looked up at Sasuke with desperate eyes, and Tsunade made an irritated noise.

Sasuke hesitated. He wanted to go find Naruto, his instincts screamed for it - Naruto was their teammate and you didn't leave your team behind, you had to take care of them, and this was Naruto, his first and best ally. But -

Don't let Jiraiya play around too much or it's your head, yanno.

"Tsunade's right," he said, and took the gauze from Sakura's hands to finish covering the burn. "We'll go back to Konoha first. If Naruto's not there -" He didn't want to think about the possibility. "- we'll leave Tsunade at the gates and look for him." They had to get Tsunade to Konoha so she could save the Kages, that was all that mattered. Naruto would understand.

Sakura gave him an unhappy look, but didn't protest. Tsunade stood up and stretched. "So you've got sense, after all," she said. "Like I told you, your friend will be -"

Sakura lunged at Sasuke and knocked him flat; he saw a giant club swing through the empty air above them and stop with a dull thwack, caught in Tsunade's hand.

"Fuck," said a girl's voice, "so much for getting the little shit on his own. I'm never seconding your crappy plans again, candy-ass."

"That's quite an ugly friend you've got," Tsunade said, and Sasuke saw that the other end of the club was held by some weird giant, strangely proportioned and with bandages wrapped around its head. "Does he have a name?" Her voice was casual, but her gaze flickered, searching the forest for the girl and her ally.

"Not one that you could say in polite company," a second, male voice said, "but he does have friends," and Sasuke held onto Sakura and rolled away as a pair of claws slashed across the ground where they had just been.

Tsunade's grip on the first giant's club shifted, and she yanked it to the side, then swung it, giant and all, just as a third giant without arms rushed at her. The two giants crashed into each other with a tremendous noise, and the girl cursed. Sasuke was reluctantly impressed; Tsunade was a lot stronger than she looked.

The clawed giant had been pawing at the ground as if searching for Sasuke and Sakura - its head, too, was bandaged so it couldn't see - but now it turned towards them. "Sasuke-kun," whispered Sakura, "m-maybe we should run - Tsunade-sama can take care of these people, and we - we can find -"

The giant charged at them. Sasuke tried to leap away, but his burned knee buckled under him and Sakura pulled at him, trying to dodge in another direction. The claws came down and Tsunade yanked the two of them out of the way. "You kids stick with me," she said, and kicked the giant in the head; it went flying into the trees. "If we get separated, we don't know each other well enough to see through a transformation, and I'm not so out of practice that I can't handle a couple of pipsqueaks like these."

"I told you a frontal attack was going to be a waste of time, Tayuya," the male voice said. "You should've just grabbed the boy and run."

Tayuya snarled, "Shut your fucking mouth! I didn't hear you coming up with any better plans, Sakon."

Sasuke nudged Sakura, and when she looked at him he made the hand-signal for genjutsu. After a moment she nodded, shut her eyes, and began forming seals. Just in front of them, the illusion slowly took shape: duplicates of Tsunade, Sakura, and Sasuke, looking as solid as the real ones and ready to fight. It was a good genjutsu; without the sharingan, Sasuke couldn't tell that it wasn't real.

Tsunade didn't bat an eye at the genjutsu's appearance. She looked back at Sakura and nodded with satisfaction, and without a word the three of them faded into the forest as Tayuya and Sakon argued.

By the time evening's shadows had settled among the trees, Tsunade decided they were far enough away from their attackers to get some rest. Sasuke was silently grateful. The strain of moving soundlessly through the forest had only made his burned knee worse; when he checked under the bandages, more blisters had broken, and bits of the burned skin were sloughing off. They had stopped next to a broad stream, so Sasuke unwrapped the bandages to clean the burn and Tsunade looked away again, which made Sakura frown. "Tsunade-sama, shouldn't you check Sasuke's knee?" she said. "It really doesn't look good, and -"

"He'll live," Tsunade said. "At least till we get to Konoha, and he can get fussed over at the hospital then. Both of you should rest while you can; we'll move on in a couple of hours. Should be just a couple of days to the village, it's shorter to go straight through the woods than follow the road."

Sasuke poured a handful of the stream's water over his knee, and clenched his teeth to keep from hissing as the cold water stung the raw skin and nerves. What kind of medical nin couldn't even look at a stupid burn? He scooped up more water to dump on it, hoping the cold would numb the pain.

"Uchiha," said Tsunade, and he looked up. "What do these people want with you?"

"Me?"

"Don't play dumb," Tsunade said, "they attacked us all, but they wanted to grab 'the boy,' and that's you, unless Sakura's got another one stuffed in her pack."

Even in the dim light Sakura's blush was obvious; Sasuke glared down at the stream's bank and said, "I don't know." Tayuya's voice had sounded a little familiar, but he didn't know where he'd heard her before, and the guy with her had sounded like a complete stranger. Danzo didn't have a reason to come after him (yet), and Itachi would kill Sasuke himself, not send strangers after him... That only left one person, but Sasuke didn't want to think about him, let alone say his name.

Tsunade sighed. "Kid, this is no time to be shy," she said. "Jiraiya told me all about what's going on, and if you think that lot are from Orochimaru, then -"

Sakura jumped suddenly and whirled around; Sasuke drew a handful of shuriken and said, "What is it?"

"N-nothing, I guess," Sakura said, though she was still looking around the trees. "I thought I felt someone touch me, but no one's here - sorry."

Sasuke shoved the shuriken back in their pouch, started looking for the gauze in his kit, and the armless giant dropped down among them.

"I bet the little bitch thought she was being clever," said Tayuya from somewhere in the trees. "Not feeling so clever now, are you, assholes? You can't fucking hide from us."

The clawed giant jumped down next to Sasuke and swiped at him. Sasuke leaped left and landed in the stream; his foot slipped on a rock and wrenched his ankle. Sakura grabbed him and he pulled her into the water with him, away from the giant.

Tsunade was wrestling with the giant who had a club again, and she was still winning, swinging it into trees. The armless giant hadn't moved since its appearance. "Hope you pieces of trash don't think you can run," Tayuya said, and Sasuke spotted her at last: a sharp-eyed, red-haired girl in a tight cap, perched on a branch with a flute in her hand. She brought the flute to her mouth and began to play, and as an eerie melody floated through the trees, the giants' stitched lips creaked open.

Tsunade jumped back from the giant she was fighting, but not fast enough to escape the thick, viscous smoke pouring from its mouth. The smoke wrapped around her arm, and she staggered.

The same thick smoke was coming out of the clawed giant's mouth, but it hovered between Sakura and Sasuke as if it couldn't choose a target; revolted, Sasuke saw that there were mouths in it. "Sakura, a barrier!" he shouted, and Sakura didn't hesitate. They made the same seals and hit the stream's bank at the same time; a wall of earth shot up between them and the monster's smoke, stretching along the stream. Tayuya swore again, and the flute's melody changed. A steady thudding shook the wall, but it held firm.

A fist punched through the wall and Sasuke prepared to run, but it was only Tsunade; she bulled through the dirt, then flicked a seal at the wall and the hole resealed itself. "Thanks for waiting," she said, "now move it!"

"Wait," Sakura said. "We should fight, we can -"

"I don't do blood," Tsunade said, "and there'll be plenty if we try to get serious, so get moving!"

They ran upstream, keeping to the water as much as possible despite the uncertain footing. Soon Sasuke couldn't even feel the strain in his ankles and knees; the cold water numbed his legs completely. When total darkness fell he expected they would stop, but Tsunade pushed them to keep going and wouldn't let them slow down until Sakura and slipped and fell into a pool and Sasuke tripped over her. Tsunade pulled them out of the water and they left the stream behind, going through the forest at a more reasonable pace.

After a while the numbing cold of the water wore off, and Sasuke's legs burned with pain. His injured knee hurt the worst, but his strained ankles protested every step; he had lost track of the time, and only half-listened for sounds of pursuit, focusing too much on keeping up with Sakura and Tsunade.

At some point Tsunade told him to climb a tree and check the stars to make sure they were headed the right way, and he thought he saw the lights of a town in the distance, but when he blinked they were gone. He climbed down instead of walking to conserve his chakra and told Tsunade that they needed to bear more to the east. After that everything seemed to blur together, all part of the same endless moment of moonlit tree-trunks and Tsunade's back ahead of him and his aching legs and the wind rushing through the leaves above, as if day would never come and they would never stop running.

Then Sakura tripped again, and instead of hauling her up, Tsunade sighed and sat next to her. "Fine," she said, "we've gone far enough, probably. We'll stay here till dawn."

"No, I'm fine," Sakura insisted, trying to get up. "I can keep going, really - my foot just stopped all of a sudden, I'm fine now."

Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder and kept her down. "Don't push yourself too much, kid," she said. "We'll all be better off with some rest."

Sasuke was still standing, but at Tsunade's words realized that he was swaying unsteadily, and he sat down. A moment too late he realized that he'd never re-bandaged his burned knee and now there was dirt grinding into it. He couldn't make himself care; it felt too good not to be moving. He leaned back against a tree and let his eyes slide shut - just for a moment, and then his stomach cramped with hunger. Without opening his eyes he slid a hand into his pack and rummaged around. He should still have some rations in there, or snacks, or at least a soldier pill or something...

Sakura gasped, and Sasuke's eyes flew open, the night blinking for an instant into the clarity of the sharingan. He shut it off before Tsunade could notice, but an afterimage remained: Sakura hunched over as the outline of her back stretched and twisted. "What's wrong, Sakura?" Tsunade said, but Sakura jumped away from her.

Her moonlit silhouette warped, and a male voice said, "Damn, I thought you'd never stop. Sakon had better not take too long."

Sakura screamed. Sasuke reached out for her, but a stranger's hand grabbed his arm and yanked him to the ground, holding him down. "Guess I forgot to introduce myself," the man said; Sakura's body bent in the scant moonlight, and Sasuke looked up into a horned demon's face growing from her shoulder. "I'm Ukon, and I could waste my time telling you how I got here, but it's already been a long night. I can kill this little girl any time I want, Tsunade, so let me have the boy and I'll let her go once Sakon catches up - all without spilling a single - drop - of blood."

"Cellular fusion," said Tsunade with a forced calm. "Isn't that it? You slipped into Sakura's cells and hitched a ride without even asking - what rude children Orochimaru is raising."

Sasuke ran through his options and came up with a resounding nothing. He could break free of Ukon's grip easily enough, but anything he tried to do to Ukon would hit Sakura as well; he didn't know what this cellular fusion thing meant, or if a way to break it and drive Ukon out of Sakura's body even existed.

"S-so you're completely fused with me?" Sakura said.

"That's right," said Ukon, and he pulled her body around in a bizarre dance; Sasuke could see her tear-stained face for an instant, but she looked strangely calm. "I can tear you apart or poison you or stop your heart, and you can't do a thing, so just sit back and cry all you want."

"Don't do anything foolish," Tsunade said, her voice rising. "Just wait, and I -"

Sasuke saw Sakura's arm move, the glint of a kunai in her hand, and gathered himself as she plunged the kunai into her side.

The grip on Sasuke's arm vanished. Ukon cried out, and with a disgusting liquid sound tore himself out of Sakura. She staggered forward and fell to her knees, he stumbled back, and Sasuke sprang from the ground to tackle him.

Ukon lashed out and Sasuke ducked under his fist just in time. He had already slid a kunai from its holster, and as he crashed into Ukon he drove it up into Ukon's throat. Ukon collapsed, convulsing; his hands battered Sasuke with a surprising strength, but Sasuke shoved the kunai in deeper and then ripped it out. Blood spattered across Sasuke's face, and Ukon stopped moving.

Sasuke watched him; the demonic face melted away, revealing a pale-haired boy who didn't look much older than Sasuke. He still didn't move, so Sasuke took a cursory swipe at his own face to get some of the blood off and turned back to Sakura. "Are you all right?"

"I can't believe that worked," she said faintly. She had a hand pressed to her side, and tried to get up; Sasuke caught her before she fell. "I feel - feel stupider than Naruto... I don't think I hit anything vital but - ngh, it hurts..."

Her hand fell away from her side as she passed out, and blood pulsed from the wound. Sasuke covered it immediately with his own hand, but Sakura's blood was still leaking through his fingers, she could die and he'd fail, he'd always fail... "Tsunade, help her," he said. "It's serious, it can't wait till Konoha!"

He looked up and saw Tsunade's back.

She was saying something, but Sasuke only heard "I can't" and then he couldn't hear the rest, his blood pounding in his ears. "What kind of medical nin are you?" he yelled - he didn't care if they got found, what did it matter, nothing mattered without Naruto and Sakura. "What good are you if you can't even help her? What kind of medic can't even look at some stupid blood?"

"What would you know, Uchiha?" Tsunade said; she still wouldn't turn around, but she held up her hands. "I've had the blood of everyone I've loved on these hands, and I couldn't save them, either. I can't - I can't stand the sight of blood..."

Even unconscious, Sakura's breathing had grown ragged and thin, and Sasuke was going to lose her if Tsunade didn't act. "It's dark out! Pretend it's water or something!"

"Pretend it's -" Tsunade did turn around to stare at him, and then she laughed, a high, edged sound. "You're really something - all right, out of the way." She strode over and casually elbowed Sasuke out of the way so hard he thought his ribs would crack. "This is just a quick fix so we can get moving again - no idea when that boy's allies are going to catch up," she said as she began to work; her voice trailed off into a muttering Sasuke couldn't make out, besides what might have been an occasional "water, it's just water."

Finally Tsunade sat back and said, "That's all I can do for now. Can you carry her? Good, let's go."

If the night had seemed long before, it was interminable now. Sasuke had managed to get Sakura onto his back to carry her, the way Itachi had once carried him, but Sakura was a lot heavier than a seven-year-old, and she kept threatening to slip off. His shoulders and back burned with the strain as much as his legs; it was all he could do to keep up with Tsunade, stumbling after her in the endless dark and praying that his shirt was only damp with sweat and not more of Sakura's blood. Sometimes he blinked and saw Ukon's face, shadows pooled across dead eyes. Once he thought he heard Itachi say It's a shameful job, to be a shinobi, but killing Ukon hadn't been shameful. He'd had to. He'd done it to save Sakura. It wasn't shameful, and he blinked, and Ukon's torn throat gaped at him.

Sasuke kept moving.

Eventually the long rows of dark tree-trunks began to lighten to grey, and the forest floor became easier to see and navigate. The sun would rise soon, Sasuke thought, but somehow he couldn't imagine it happening. He had gone numb hours ago; all he felt was Sakura's weight on his back and her steady breathing against his ear.

Tsunade held her hand out and Sasuke nearly ran into it. "This is far enough for now," she said. She looked around as Sasuke wondered if she meant it - they hadn't gone far enough before, why should this place be different? - and then she said, "Hah! Had a feeling this was the spot..." She pulled aside some brush at the base of a small, rocky hill and revealed a hole. "It's not much, but it'll do for a couple of hours."

Sasuke had to crouch almost to his knees to enter the tiny cave. There was just enough room for him to lay Sakura down and settle next to her; a little light filtered in from somewhere in the roof, and he could see that she looked terribly pale, but hadn't bled through her bandages. Whatever Tsunade had done had worked, then.

Tsunade sat at the cave's mouth with her back to them. "Go ahead and rest, Uchiha," she said, "I'll keep watch."

"My name's Sasuke," he said, irritated. Of course he was an Uchiha, he was proud to be an Uchiha, but he was sick of being called by his clan as if it were a curse.

"Is it, now?" Tsunade said dryly, and then she laughed for some reason. "Well, quit annoying me and go to sleep, Sasuke."

Sasuke tried to sleep, but it was no good. Whenever the sound of Sakura's breathing faded out he'd snap awake and have to check that she was still alive, or he'd hear a noise outside and start up, ready to run again. At last he gave up and sat with his back against the cave wall and his knees drawn up. Tsunade was still guarding the cave's mouth; he saw that her hands were covered in dirt and mossy stains, as if she'd tried to rub the blood off on the forest floor. "You really can't stand blood, can you?" he said. "That's pretty pathetic for a medical nin."

"Shouldn't you be asleep, Uchiha?" she said.

"It's Sasuke."

"Right, Sasuke. I told you already - I've lived through the wars and seen too much blood. Konoha's been mostly at peace for a while; I suppose a kid like you wouldn't understand."

"I've seen blood," Sasuke said, closing his eyes and remembering: blood on the street, blood in his home, blood on Itachi's sword. "I've seen plenty, and I still - I'm not scared of it."

"Oh, that's right," Tsunade said, and her voice softened. "Even I heard about that... A real tragedy, I was sorry to hear the news. My clan and yours never did get along, but the Uchiha were still an important part of the village's strength - it was a terrible loss."

"Your clan?"

"Didn't Jiraiya and his big mouth tell you?"

Jiraiya might have, but Sasuke had gotten very good at ignoring him. "Maybe," Sasuke said. "I don't remember."

"I'm a Senju - my grandfather was the First Hokage, and the Second was my great-uncle," she said. "Before Konoha, the Uchiha were our rivals - we were the two strongest shinobi clans, and we were always getting hired by opposing sides, so we fought constantly. But when Grandfather decided to found Konoha, the Uchiha were one of the first clans he approached... Not all of them wanted to make peace with a clan they'd fought against so often, but Grandfather eventually persuaded them - even so, our families couldn't seem to stop fighting." She laughed suddenly. "Oh, there was a pair of Uchiha twins in my class, and we absolutely hated each other at first sight. We were always squabbling, calling each other horrible names - flower-eyes, washboard chest, porcupine hair - they'd try to catch me in genjutsu traps and I'd try to punch them out of the village..." She laughed again and leaned back, looking up into the trees. "It seems funny now, but we were so serious about it back then. Now I can't even remember their names..."

Sasuke had been unwillingly fascinated by her rambling; he asked, "What happened to them?"

"Oh - the brother died on a mission," Tsunade said. "Fighting Kumo, I think. The sister was a jounin, she might have joined ANBU - I had left Konoha by then, I never heard of her after that."

Sasuke rested his head on his good knee, his shoulders hunched up. They'd be dead now, anyway; he didn't know why he had bothered asking.

"Hah!" Tsunade started upright, and Sasuke tensed for a fight, but she said, "Izumi! That was her name. And her brother was Izaya. Izumi and Izaya - how long it's been since I thought of them."

She shifted around to lean back against the edge of the cave's mouth, and said, "Hey, Sasuke, you know - in a way, I'm the last of the Senju. The branch houses have all married into other clans or civilian families, and I'm the only heir of the main house. And you're one of the last Uchiha... It'd be nice if the two of us could get along and put that old grudge to rest at last."

"I didn't start it," Sasuke muttered.

That only made Tsunade smile and reach out to ruffle his hair. "I guess you didn't," she said. "Try and get a little rest now, okay? I thought those boring old stories would put you to sleep for sure."

Sasuke pulled away from her hand, stretched out next to Sakura, and closed his eyes. He could try for a minute or two, he supposed, but then Tsunade was shaking him awake and the light leaking in had changed, green and gold and bright. Sakura was waking up, too; she still looked pale and drained, with dark bruises under her eyes, but she smiled when she saw Sasuke. "Hey," he said, before she could start gushing. "How do you feel?"

"Awful," Sakura said, and shut her eyes again. "Ngh - maybe a stunt like that is fine for Naruto, but I'm never doing it again..." As Sasuke sat up, so did she, wincing; then she noticed the blood on him and grabbed his sleeve. "Sasuke-kun! You're not hurt, are you? That Ukon - what happened to him, did he -"

"I killed him," Sasuke said.

He waited for her to be shocked, but she only bit her lip, then said, "Good! He deserved it - sneaking around in my body like that, it felt - it felt so -" She shuddered, then suddenly buried her face in Sasuke's shoulder and wailed something incomprehensible. Sasuke froze. His first instinct was to shove her away, but he didn't want to hurt her accidentally, and it would probably only make her more upset.

"Shh, it's all right now," said Tsunade, and she reached over Sasuke to pat Sakura's head. "It's all right, he's gone now, you'll be fine... Let go of the Uchiha already, he looks like he's going to have a heart attack." Sakura sniffled once more, then sat back, and Tsunade tossed a small, round pouch at them. "Here, one each," Tsunade said. "Shizune's soldier pills - not exactly filling, but they'll keep you going for a couple of days. Long enough to get us home, I hope. How's your leg, Sasuke?"

Sasuke quickly covered his burned knee with one arm as he took one of the soldier pills and swallowed it. "It's fine," he said, "I just need to bandage it again," and he grabbed his roll of gauze to do so, trying to keep the knee out of Tsunade's sight. Beneath a layer of grime, his skin was raw and swollen, and redness was beginning to spread up his leg. Didn't matter, they just had to get back to Konoha and it'd be fixed, but his hands shook a little as he covered it up.

Tsunade didn't notice, or at least didn't argue about it. "All right, you take point for now," she said, "and I'll help Sakura. You know the right direction from here?"

Sasuke nodded; they crawled out of the little cave, rearranged the brush to look undisturbed, and set off again.

The trees thinned out as they traveled, and the landscape became rockier and uneven. Several times they had to detour around hills that would have required too much effort to go straight over, or find ways to cross the narrow ravines that occasionally appeared; with less ground cover, moving stealthily also became more difficult, and after the headlong rush of yesterday, Sasuke felt like they had slowed to a crawl. His knee throbbed constantly, hot and painful, and even the energy burst from the soldier pill barely felt like enough to make up for a day and a half without food or proper sleep. They had drunk the last of the water they'd been carrying not long after leaving the cave, and Sakura had gotten most of it; Sasuke's throat was dry and scratchy, and the occasional sound of water running at the bottom of a ravine or off among the trees was an unreachable, tormenting music.

He was on point, though, so he couldn't let himself be distracted. He longed to turn on the sharingan, despite the drain it would be on his chakra, but no - he had to scout ahead and keep watch with regular vision, and it frustrated him beyond belief.

As he led the way around yet another ravine, he heard Sakura and Tsunade talking behind him. Their voices were too low for him to catch the words, but he felt a sudden ache that had nothing to do with his empty stomach or injured knee. If only Naruto were there to take some of the stress off Sasuke's shoulders and goof around and make things seem less serious... Or if Haku or Gaara could show up to help, or even Itachi - no, anyone but Itachi, what a stupid thought that was. He never wanted Itachi's help again. Sasuke glared at the bush in front of him and pushed its branches out of the way to look ahead.

Tayuya's armless giant crouched in front of him with its bandaged head cocked to one side.

Sasuke didn't freeze. He held a hand up to stop Sakura and Tsunade, and signaled silence without turning around; then, slowly and carefully, he let the branches spring back to their natural position, and lowered himself flat onto the ground to get a view through the sparser growth there. All he could see were the giant's feet as it shuffled around. He heard leaves rustling and branches cracking, the occasional odd discordant note of birdsong that must have been Tayuya's flute, but the giant didn't seem to be searching in their direction.

He looked around and found that Tsunade had crawled up next to him, also keeping low. How many? she signed; Sasuke held up one finger, realized he couldn't remember any hand signs for monster, and held up a second finger. He hadn't seen Tayuya, but she had to be fairly close to be controlling her giant.

Tsunade nodded once in acknowledgment and looked thoughtful; Sasuke peered through the bush again and saw the giant's feet disappear as it stomped away into the undergrowth. Sasuke breathed out silently, got to one knee, and "Any sign yet?"

He froze.

"I'll fucking tell you when there's a sign, shithead," said Tayuya. Sasuke still couldn't see her, but her voice sounded close, no further than the trees on the other side of the bush concealing Sasuke and Tsunade. It was a good, healthy bush thick with leaves; Sasuke wished it were a wall. If Tayuya moved in their direction at all, she would surely spot them.

"Your useless pets can't find their asses with both hands," the first voice said - Sakon's voice, Sasuke thought, but harsher than it had sounded yesterday. "You're just wasting time."

"Yeah, and what the hell are you going to do? You're not exactly a fucking genius tracker either."

"I'll find him," Sakon growled, and the hair on Sasuke's arms stood up. "I'll find that bastard and I'll -"

"Whoa, hold it," Tayuya said; a pair of feet landed on the ground a short distance in front of Sasuke, and by carefully angling his head he could see just enough to recognize Tayuya's back. "Orochimaru wants the little shit alive, and he's in way too shitty a mood to accept any excuses."

Sakon snarled, then said, "I won't kill him. I'll just break his legs and make him watch while I tear his friends into fucking pieces!"

"Heh - sounds good to me," Tayuya said.

Sasuke's knee pulsed with agony; sweat soaked his hair and trickled down his neck, and his head felt light and echoed with the beating of his blood. Don't look don't look don't look, no one's here, I'm not here, there's no reason to look this way... He didn't dare try to set up a genjutsu in case they noticed the chakra. Sakura couldn't fight and Tsunade would freeze if there was blood; a fight now would be disastrous. I'm not here I'm not here there's no one there, and Tayuya's feet shifted, taking a step away from Sasuke. "Maybe they're moving slower than we thought," she said. Sasuke's parched throat closed up as his heart raced and beat painfully against his ribs. Why didn't someone hear it? The sound was unbearable. "We might as well fucking track back and see if we can pick up their damn trail."

"Or they're lost," Sakon said. "There's no way they're ahead of us. We'll check east and west, and you can send Dosu to backtrack."

Sasuke didn't breathe. He heard Tayuya grunt an agreement, and her feet vanished; his eyes flicked up in time to see her leap away to the west. He breathed out silently, breathed in silently, still couldn't look to see how well Tsunade and Sakura were concealed. Breathed out (a muttered curse from Sakon), breathed in (he didn't exist, nobody was hiding in the bushes, nobody was frozen and injured in the bushes), breathed out and a branch cracked as Sakon jumped into the trees and Sasuke saw pale hair, a glimpse of a familiar jaw and cheek.

Sakon disappeared into the east, and Sasuke thought, Brothers. Ukon had been Sakon's brother. Sasuke had killed someone's brother, and his next breath in tore at his throat.

"Sasuke," and he shuddered and had his hand on a kunai before he realized it had been Tsunade's voice. He looked over at her and she signed, Gone? He nodded, breathed out again, and sat back before his knees could give out.

Tsunade sat as well, and motioned for Sakura to move up and join them; there were leaves stuck in Sakura's hair and clothes, as if she'd buried herself in them. "So they've lost us for now, it seems," Tsunade said, keeping her voice down, "but they've got a third person searching - that'll be a pain in the ass."

"Ahead," Sasuke said; Tsunade and Sakura looked at him strangely. "We have to get ahead of them," he explained. "They think we've slowed down. If we can get by this Dosu, we can -" He wiped sweat off his face and wondered why he'd been sweating, it was cold in the forest's shadows. "- we can get to Konoha before they realize, probably."

"Mm, that'd work," said Tsunade. "Sakura? Think you can handle it?"

"Yes, I - I'm feeling a lot better," Sakura said, though she didn't look any better than she had earlier.

Sasuke got to his feet cautiously and scanned the area, but it was clear of everything; Tayuya's giant had apparently followed her. He slid around the bush, wary of traps, and still found nothing, so they moved on.

Despite the need for haste, they moved slower than before, or at least it felt that way to Sasuke. All three of them were on high alert - ears straining for the slightest sound out of place, eyes flickering around the forest and rocks for suspicious movement - and they all moved with more regard for stealth than speed, staying low and keeping to the cover of the undergrowth and uneven terrain as much as possible. Sasuke stayed on point and Tsunade took the rear; Sakura was on her own between them, but managed to keep up. There was no talking, now. Every scrap of energy had to be focused on getting past the enemy unnoticed.

The forest was getting thicker again. It made for good cover, Sasuke thought, but that could work both ways. He slowed yet again, and wondered vaguely how far they still were from Konoha. Tsunade would know, but he shouldn't waste time or energy asking her. They just had to keep going, as long as it would take to get home.

He pressed himself against a tree-trunk before taking a look around the other side, and a sudden shiver ran through him. The tree's bark felt too rough against his exposed skin, and though he'd been hot and sweating a moment ago, he was cold now. Damn. He couldn't be sick, he couldn't be. He tried to step away from the tree and his left leg folded; he caught himself before he could fall and make enough noise to give them away.

Not fast enough. "Sasuke-kun? Are you all right?" Sakura reached out to steady him, but Sasuke evaded her hand.

"I'm fine," he said, and scanned the trees to be sure no one was near. "Just keep going."

He made it past three more trees and then they blurred together as he tried to look ahead. No, damnit, not now, not his eyes - he squinted, hoping that would help, but as the forest came back into focus Tsunade was suddenly in front of him. "Hold up," she said, frowning, and put her hand against his forehead. "Damnit - sit down, I need to take a look at that knee."

Sasuke backed away from her, his mouth feeling even drier than it already was. "No, we have to keep going - I said I'm fine."

"If you're fine, Sakura's ready to ace the chuunin exams," Tsunade said sharply, and pushed him down. "Show me your knee."

Sasuke gave in. Any more protesting could draw attention. He peeled the bandage off his knee without looking at it; it didn't hurt as much as he'd expected, but Tsunade hissed between her teeth. "Shit - should've looked at this earlier, there was just no damn time," she said. "Shizune's got my kit, I wasn't carrying much. I thought the hospital would have what I needed..." She dug through her jacket, found a packet, and shook two pills out of it, then gave them to Sasuke. "These are all I've got, take them now and with luck they'll keep the infection down till we get to Konoha."

He swallowed the pills with difficulty as Sakura asked, "How much farther is it?"

"Hmm..." Tsunade looked around the forest and frowned. "Just under a day running, with all the detours we've taken, maybe a day and a half. And we'll have to run - we can't afford stealth now."

"I can handle it," Sakura said, but her pale face got even paler when she tried to help Sasuke get up, and Tsunade shook her head.

"You're not running anywhere," Tsunade said, and before Sakura could protest Tsunade had grabbed her and pulled her onto her back in the same carry Sasuke had used earlier. "Just relax and try not to bleed any more. Sasuke?"

Sasuke got to his feet; he still felt feverish and dry-mouthed, but his vision had cleared. "Fine."

He had taken all of three steps when Sakura said, "Wait! There's a wire!"

Sasuke stopped with his foot still in the air.

"Where is it?" Tsunade said.

"It - it's right under Sasuke's foot," Sakura said, "I saw some leaves fall on it..."

Sasuke pulled his foot back and set it down well away from where Sakura said the wire was; he strained his eyes to see it and could barely make out its thin, too-straight shadow against the ground. The sounds of the peaceful forest beat mockingly in his ears. They'd been outflanked somehow. Every tree, every leaf, every dip in the terrain could hide a trap and he couldn't look for them with the sharingan and they were trapped -

"Do you see any other traps? Either of you?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't know, I - I don't think so," Sakura said; Sasuke looked as hard as he could, but couldn't spot another out-of-place shadow, or sense anyone watching, and shook his head.

"Let's move on, then," Tsunade said. She stood up with Sakura on her back and waited for Sasuke to move.

He stepped over the wire, looked again for another wire and didn't see one, and took another step. He ducked under a low-hanging dead branch, pulled another one aside, and the sweet silvery chime of a bell rang out.

Tsunade shoved him forward before he could freeze. "The hell with stealth," she said, "just run!"

Sasuke ran, and heard Tsunade running just behind him.

The ground was too uneven and overgrown for good running. Sasuke leaped up into the first tree he saw with wide enough branches and kept jumping from tree to tree. He risked a glance around and saw that Tsunade was keeping pace next to him, had even gotten a little ahead, and sped up. His knee didn't matter, his stomach didn't matter, his fever didn't matter, all that mattered was getting away.

The trees abruptly broke into a clearing; Tsunade and Sasuke touched down on the grass for a moment and metal sliced across Sasuke's right shoulder. He staggered and tried to cover the wound, but he was too slow. Tsunade's eyes went wide at the splash of blood as Sakura tried to slide off her back. "Sasuke-kun! Are you -"

"I'll hold them off, get out of here!" he shouted, and didn't look to see if she or Tsunade listened. He turned to search for the shuriken's thrower and started to reach for a kunai, then checked himself and brought his hands together, ready for seals. He'd have to fight smart, this time, not just jump into things like Naruto.

"Heh - so it's true, the famous Tsunade can't handle a little blood," an unfamiliar voice said; a shinobi with his face wrapped in bandages and a heavy straw cloak appeared up in the trees, hunched so far over his sleeves trailed below the branch he was crouching on. Probably the Dosu that Sakon had mentioned earlier. "Hard to believe it was that effective..."

Sasuke didn't attack - the Dosu in the tree had to be a clone or illusion, or the new enemy would have a switching jutsu ready - and plans raced through his mind. He didn't have chakra or weapons to waste on a lackey; every move would have to count.

The shinobi's visible eye narrowed. "You're quieter than I expected," he said. "Finally get tired of running away from Orochimaru, did you?"

"Maybe," Sasuke said, letting his shoulders slump.

"Well, I can play nice - Sakon and Tayuya are the only ones who care about your friends," said Dosu. "If you're ready to come along, I'll let them -"

Sasuke formed a seal and dashed for the trees as the two clones he'd just made charged at the enemy. They were regular clones, not the solid kind Naruto could make, but still useful; safely behind a tree, Sasuke looked around the trunk and saw that they'd drawn Dosu down to the ground. The shinobi struck one and it vanished. The other jumped back, Dosu lunged at it, and Sasuke formed a release seal.

The second clone disappeared, and the tag he'd hidden in the grass exploded under the enemy's feet. Sasuke stayed behind the tree, but drew a kunai and watched the smoke clear. A sudden breeze blew the smoke away and revealed a scorched log laying on the ground. Fine, Sasuke had expected that, he still had four tags left if he needed them; he listened to the forest, searching for any sign of the enemy, and a hand closed around his ankle.

Sasuke jerked back, but the hand's grip tightened as it pulled his foot into the earth. Damn - no, he knew how to counter this, he ran through seals and the ground heaved, spitting Dosu back to the surface. Sasuke yanked his ankle free and dove for the shinobi's back with his kunai; Dosu rolled and brought his right arm up to block, and the kunai shrieked against metal. Dosu shoved him and Sasuke skidded backwards into the clearing, caught himself with his weight on his right leg, and ducked as a stream of air rushed at him - so Dosu was a wind jutsu user, too? Sasuke brought his hands together for more seals and the world around him wobbled. His stomach heaved and he fell to his knees, retching, but there was nothing in his stomach but bile. What the hell?

"Oh, I knew I couldn't be that lucky," Dosu said from somewhere out of sight, "having you give up so easily," and Sasuke spat, trying to get the bitter taste out of his mouth. He shook his head to clear his vision, but even that slight motion nearly made him retch again. He'd dodged, he knew he had - what the hell was that technique? And now he'd lost sight of Dosu. Bad. He had to get the enemy in close, where there wouldn't be room for that kind of jutsu...

Sasuke pushed himself to his feet, heard the rush of air again and threw himself away from it, landing on his left leg. It collapsed beneath him, and the ground spun. He let his arms shake as he tried to push himself back up, but he still couldn't see the other shinobi. Come on, come on, I'm weak and dizzy and sick, come get me...

A hand clamped down on his shirt, and Sasuke shot up with all the strength left in his right leg and drove his head into the underside of Dosu's jaw with a solid thunk.

Before Dosu could stagger more than a step away, Sasuke had pivoted on his good leg. He slashed his kunai across Dosu's stomach, but the shinobi doubled, tripled, fragmented, out of Sasuke's reach. Sasuke's momentum carried him forward just enough that he could grab Dosu's cloak; he tried to pull Dosu down, but Dosu kneed him in the stomach and shoved him away with one foot, pulling his cloak out of Sasuke's hand. Sasuke let himself fall back with Dosu's kick, then made a seal and hit the ground.

Heat washed over him, and the air thickened with smoke. Sasuke jumped up immediately and darted through it, kunai in hand, and found that the tag he'd slapped on Dosu's cloak had blown the other shinobi into a tree. Dosu was on the ground with blood leaking from one ear; Sasuke planted a knee on his back to keep him down, grabbed his head by the bandages and pulled it back and the tip of his kunai dug into Dosu's throat -

- Ukon's blood spattered across his face -

- "It's a shameful job" -

- Itachi's blood on his hands -

A red dot stained the bandages around Dosu's neck, and then a foot slammed into Sasuke and sent him flying him across the clearing.

Before he could pull himself together another kick knocked him onto his back, and he was staring up into Sakon's rage-twisted face as Sakon ground his foot into Sasuke's ribs. "Found you, you bastard," Sakon snarled, and shouted over his shoulder, "Get that fucking deadweight out of here, Tayuya!"

Tayuya might have replied, but Sasuke couldn't concentrate on anything but the pain in his ribs. He had to get away from Sakon, keep Sakon and Tayuya away from Tsunade and Sakura, but as soon as his arms moved Sakon shifted more of his weight onto his foot until Sasuke's ribs felt about to crack.

Sakon crouched and grabbed Sasuke's face with one hand. "That's right, I can't kill you," he said, his voice rough; Sasuke saw that his eyes were red and swollen. "But I can make you fucking suffer, as long as it's not permanent... How about I rip your arm out of its socket, huh? Orochimaru's pet medic can fix that. Or I'll snap all of your ribs, one by one, nice and -"

The earth beneath Sasuke collapsed. He felt emptiness gaping at his back, saw shock on Sakon's face for an instant and then the earth closed over him and he was falling. He reached out to stop himself and landed on something both hard and squishy - "Sasuke-kun! You're - you're kind of heavy..."

"Sakura?" He tried to roll off her, but there was no room and it was too dark to see how they were tangled up; they managed to get upright after a moment, and Sasuke heard dull scratching sounds and thuds from above.

"I came back," Sakura said. "Tsunade-sama's going ahead - she did something, I feel stronger now, I know we can beat these - these creeps!"

Another thud sent dirt and pebbles cascading into Sasuke's hair as he considered their options. He and Sakura together had better odds than he did alone, but they were still at a disadvantage unless he used the sharingan, and that was still out of the question...

The digging noises were getting louder, and more dirt hit Sasuke's head.

"Sasuke-kun? I - I'm not how much longer I can hold -"

"It's fine," he said. "I've got a plan."

Two minutes later, as the three giants pounded on the low dome of earth that had swallowed Sasuke, it collapsed in on itself. Eager for their prey, the giants began to claw through the debris before the dust could settle - and Sasuke and Sakura sprang out of the dust, landed on two of the giants' heads, and leaped off again. Sakura dove for Tayuya, who was standing back with her flute; Sakon was right at the edge of the hole where the dome had been, and Sasuke jumped on him.

Only the most generous observer would have called their brawling taijutsu. Sasuke focused only on causing as much damage to Sakon as possible and keeping him away from Sakura, while Sakon went for any non-lethal opening, punching and kicking with a vicious strength.

Sasuke barely dodged a sweeping kick, but Sakon's foot grazed his burned knee and agony shot through him. Dizzy with the sudden pain, he couldn't escape Sakon's next move; Sakon dug his fingers into Sasuke's left arm and shoulder, yanking and twisting until the muscles screamed. Sasuke threw a punch with his free arm at Sakon's head, but Sakon easily ducked it, and inspiration struck Sasuke. As he pulled his hand back he grabbed a thick handful of Sakon's pale hair and smashed their foreheads together.

Sakon reeled back, blood flowing down his face where the impact and the edge of Sasuke's forehead protector had cut the skin. "Fuck," he growled, and wiped blood out of his eyes as black threads wormed up his neck. "By the time I'm through with you Orochimaru-sama's not even going to want your shitty body!"

His face was changing into the same horned demon shape that Ukon's had been, and Sasuke retreated until he felt the uneven ground where Sakura's dome had collapsed under his heels. Careful, he had to be careful; he calculated the distance, turned, and jumped to the other side of the rubble as Sakon rushed at him, and something exploded among the trees. Sakon stopped at the edge of the collapsed dome, glanced towards the explosion, and Sasuke threw a shuriken that stuck in Sakon's chest to keep his attention away from Sakura.

Sakon swung back around to face Sasuke, snarling, and charged at him again over the debris as Sasuke's hands flickered quickly through the release seals.

Two giant slabs of earth snapped up around Sakon and he shrieked, one clawed hand reaching towards Sasuke; the skin paled, the claws vanished, and it dropped.

Sasuke tested his left arm - the muscles felt stretched and painful, but nothing seemed torn - and approached the sprung trap cautiously. He took one look inside the slabs and turned his head away at once; Sakon in his horned form might have survived the earth jutsu, but the giant shuriken Sasuke and Sakura had planted in the ground as part of the trap had cut the other shinobi's head half off, sliced through his chest and - Sasuke's empty stomach twisted again, but he swallowed the bile and looked for Sakura and Tayuya. He couldn't find them, and he prepared a switching jutsu and went up into the trees to search better, heading for the source of the earlier explosion. If anything happened to Sakura because of his stupid plan to split up...

He saw Tayuya's giants first; they were swatting at each other and the trees around them without apparent purpose or effect. Sasuke watched them for a moment, puzzled, and then slipped past them as silently as he could, still favoring his left leg.

Beyond them he found a charred log in the midst of bare dirt, the leaves on the forest floor blown away with shredded exploding tags littered among them. He was kneeling for a closer look when he heard a scream; he took off, drawing one of his last kunai.

He saw Tayuya's dull pink hair with horns twisting out of it ahead of him, and Sakura on the ground in front of her; before he could think he had dropped the kunai to make the seals for a fireball, breathing in deeply, and a hand fell on as shoulder as someone whispered, "Relax, kid - I've got this one. Hold my coat, will you?"

Sasuke stopped, blinked, and his arms were suddenly full of green jacket.

Tayuya had one of Sakura's kunai in her hand; she grabbed Sakura's hair to pull her head up, pointed the kunai at Sakura's face and Sasuke started to drop the jacket to save her and then Tsunade was gripping Tayuya's wrist, wrenching it away from Sakura. "I've had enough of you brats giving us trouble," she said, "so why don't you run back to your master before I have to stop you permanently?"

"Fuck you, you old hag!" Tayuya spat. She tore her arm out of Tsunade's grip and struck at her, but Tsunade danced back, caught Tayuya's arm again, and swung the girl into the nearest tree with a terrifying crack. When Tsunade released her, she slid down and slumped against the trunk, her horns disappearing.

"Hm, might have been too hard," Tsunade muttered, and checked Tayuya's body over. "Pulse good - hm - she'll live," and she slung Tayuya over her shoulder before turning to Sakura. "Are you all right?"

Sasuke had been frozen, watching Tsunade; now he dropped her jacket and ran to Sakura, who was sitting up and feeling the side of her head gingerly. "I'm okay," she said, "she only punched me after I exploded that log in her face... I almost had her, Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry - if she hadn't changed into that weird form, I could have -"

"You did fine," Sasuke said, trying not to sound irritated. "But next time we're not splitting up."

He only said it because there was no way Sakura was strong enough to fight anyone else on her own right now, but Sakura's face lit up, and Tsunade gave him a smile, too. "You both did a good job," she said. "The old man'll be proud when I tell him - so let's hurry up and get home so I can, okay?" Her smile turned a little grim as she added, "I expect Intelligence is going to want to talk to this one, too... Sasuke, the other one?"

Sasuke thought briefly of Sakon's mutilated body and shook his head, then remembered the one who'd attacked first. "What about Dosu?"

"Was he the one in the cloak?" Sakura asked. "Um, I found him knocked out in a tree while I was hiding from Tayuya, so - I tied him to it..."

Tsunade laughed. "Good girl," she said, as Sasuke gave Sakura a hand up. "We'll make a real shinobi out of you yet."

Sasuke thought he should probably go back and get those giant shuriken, but the idea of tearing them out of Sakon was nauseating. Tsunade was leaning over, inspecting Sakura's pupils and injuries; apparently satisfied with what she found, she stood up straight again and headed off.

A sudden wind rushed past Sasuke, freezing Tsunade in her tracks, and a dry voice behind them said, "Oh no, this won't do at all."

Chapter Text

For one dreamlike moment Sasuke didn't react, because this couldn't be happening. Life was cruel and unfair, he knew that; life could butcher a family, turn a brother into a murderer, threaten friends and make them monsters, but it couldn't be cruel enough to throw Orochimaru at him, not now. There wasn't enough injustice in the world for that.

Then his sharingan snapped on and he found Orochimaru standing in the tree above him.

Itachi hadn't exaggerated the damage he had done to Orochimaru; the man's right sleeve hung empty, and his left arm was wrapped completely in loose bandages, with glimpses of black, charred skin beneath them. His smirk, however, was the same as ever, and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to slice it off his face.

"Oh, so you were out here yourself after all," Tsunade said; her tense stance belied her bored voice. "It's been a long time, Orochimaru."

"And yet you seem as young and lovely as ever, Tsunade-hime," said Orochimaru, though his golden eyes were focused on Sasuke.

"Can't say the same for you - looks like I owe Jiraiya a drink," Tsunade said. "I didn't believe him when he said the other Uchiha brat had gotten the best of you..."

Orochimaru's gaze flicked over to her for an instant, and Sasuke grabbed Sakura's arm and raced back to the clearing. He heard trees cracking behind him, but didn't look back.

"Sasuke-kun, wait! What are -"

"I need these," he said, and dropped her arm to dig into the slabs of earth that had crushed Sakon. "And you need to stay out of the way." He yanked one giant shuriken out, shook dirt and blood off it, didn't let his eyes linger on the torn mess of Sakon's throat as he reached past it for the other shuriken, and his left leg crumpled as Sakura kicked his ankle.

Sasuke whirled around to shout at her, but she beat him to it. "You - you great big jerk!" she yelled. "Didn't you just say we shouldn't split up?"

"This is different," he said. "It's Orochimaru, he's one of the Sannin, and you're injured. You should -"

"So what if I'm injured - you're hurt, too, and you're still going back to fight, aren't you?" Sakura wiped at the dirt on her face, but only managed to smear it around. "I'm your teammate, I promised to help you - I want to save the Hokage just as much as you do, it's my mission, too! We have to make sure Tsunade-sama gets back to the village safely, we have to work together, so please - please don't leave me out!"

Sasuke shoved the giant shuriken into her hands and snarled, "Fine," then turned to pull the other one out of Sakon. "Just don't die. Idiot."

"I won't," she said, and asked, "Um - do you have any wire?"

"Yeah." The giant shuriken came free and Sakon's body fell to the dirt.

"Remember the bells test, with Kakashi-sensei? The first plan we tried?"

"That didn't work," Sasuke said, "and Kakashi's not as strong as Orochimaru."

"Well," Sakura said, "we could change it..."

Sasuke thought the idea over, then said, "All right," and tossed her the roll of wire from his pack. "Let's go."

Tsunade was already wrecking the forest when they reached her; she was trying to smash Orochimaru with the uprooted tree in her hands, but he dodged easily enough and laughed down at her from a branch. "There's really no need for all this," he said. "I only want the Uchiha - and perhaps your help. My arms are in quite a state, as you can see. Your expertise would be most -"

Tsunade swung at him again and he barely made it to another tree in time. "You've lost it," she growled, "if you think I'd ever just hand a genin over to you, or help you after the things you've done!"

"To think you'd go so far to protect one untrustworthy little Uchiha," said Orochimaru. "How unexpected... But what if I could give you back the ones you love?"

Orochimaru's eyes were locked on Tsunade's; she hesitated, her grip on the tree loosening, and Sasuke and Sakura sent the giant shuriken humming through the air towards Orochimaru. He avoided them without even blinking, and they buried themselves in the tree's trunk.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's hand briefly, then dropped to the ground as Sasuke caught a kick from Orochimaru on his left arm, and Tsunade swung her tree at Orochimaru and forced him back. "What are you two idiots doing?" she said. "You should be running - I'll handle this!"

"I won't abandon my friends - or my mission," Sakura said, running through seals. "I said so before - there's no way we'd let you fight alone!"

"Idiots," Tsunade said, and when Orochimaru's head shot past her on an elongated neck Sasuke leaped out of its way and a pillar of earth smashed into Orochimaru's throat. Orochimaru drew his head back and ducked under a swing from Tsunade as Sasuke began forming seals, and the earth pillar shuddered into a dragon that snapped at Orochimaru's burned arm.

Sakura had disappeared into the trees that were still standing, but a second, smaller earth dragon rose up and bit at Orochimaru's feet. Orochimaru twisted between the two dragons and flattened Sasuke's with a single kick, then jumped back up to a branch to avoid a final vicious bite from Sakura's dragon. It crumbled back into the forest floor, and Orochimaru laughed again. "You didn't really think you could use a jutsu I gave you against me, did you?" he said.

He had landed right between the two giant shuriken.

"No," Sasuke said. He drew the wires in his hand taut, breathed in, and breathed out fire.

The flames raced up the wires in an instant, roaring white-hot, and swallowed Orochimaru. Sasuke dropped the wire ends to draw a kunai and waited; a moment later smoke smothered the flames, and a breeze blew the smoke away to reveal emptiness.

Sasuke turned in time to slip under a kick and spring back from Orochimaru, and away from Sakura and Tsunade. He had to draw Orochimaru away from the others, just for a minute... "Foolish brat," Orochimaru snarled; his pale skin was reddened and blistered, and the ends of his hair smoked and crackled. He tilted his head back and opened his mouth, and when the tip of a sword emerged from his throat Sasuke ran. Follow me, follow me, I'm the one you're interested in... He hit the ground and rolled over tree roots as the sword sang through the air above him, and he saw that Orochimaru was wielding it with his tongue. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the jolt of agony from his abused left knee, and leaped out of the way of another strike. This was easy, this was familiar; hadn't he done this for a month already? Didn't he already know Orochimaru's speed? His patterns of attack? With the sharingan on, everything was easy.

Orochimaru kicked Sasuke's feet out from under him and Sasuke landed on his right hand, flipped back, stumbled for just an instant, and blocked the sword with his kunai. "Aren't you tired of this game?" Orochimaru asked, his words startlingly clear considering his tongue was wrapped around the sword's hilt. "I can offer you so much more than Konoha, and you know it." The sword bore down on Sasuke's kunai, and Sasuke's arm shook. "Come with me, and I'll be generous - I'll let Tsunade take your teammate back to Konoha, without interference." His voice had softened, lowered, become almost kind. "You've had a taste of how the village treats your clan - why suffer through more mistrust and resentment, just to be held back from achieving your true strength? You must know that without my power, you'll never defeat your brother."

Another tremor ran through Sasuke's arm; he wouldn't be able to hold the sword back for much longer. He was so tired...

"You need me, Sasuke-kun."

"No," Sasuke said. "I don't need you to kill Itachi. I have my friends."

Orochimaru said something else, but Sasuke heard Haku's voice: It's difficult, but training your off hand is most useful, because it's the hand most likely to be free when you need it...

His right hand twisted and flickered through seals with the speed Haku had taught him, and the ground beneath Orochimaru heaved the man off-balance. The moment that the sword's pressure lifted Sasuke switched away, and the blade thudded into the log and stuck.

Orochimaru planted a foot on the log and pulled the sword free; Sasuke concealed himself at the top of a tree and tried to plan his next move. "Very well," said Orochimaru, his voice suddenly cold. "With you out of the way, perhaps Itachi will be more amenable."

Even as Sasuke made seals for an earth jutsu Orochimaru was charging up the tree, faster than Sasuke had realized Orochimaru could move, and Sasuke ran and jumped to another branch to head for the ground and the sword sliced across his shoulder blades. He lost the balance of chakra holding him to the tree and fell; he rolled as he hit the ground, and Orochimaru leaped down after him and he couldn't move with the breath knocked out of him, his back and knee and entire body locked up with pain. Orochimaru's sword flashed towards him and he couldn't block it, couldn't dodge it, and then Tsunade grabbed Orochimaru by the tongue and yanked him into the air.

Sasuke stayed down and watched as she swung Orochimaru around in a full circle once, twice, three times, and then slammed him into the dirt in a fountain of dead leaves. Before he could get up she brought her foot down on his chest with a resounding crack, and Sakura rose out of the ground with a kunai that she held against Orochimaru's throat.

Tsunade kept her foot on Orochimaru's chest and leaned over; Sasuke made it to a crouch, ready to attack if the snake tried to wriggle free. "We were comrades, once," Tsunade said, "so I'll give you a choice - I can kill you here, nice and quick, or I can drag you back to the village and let -"

A blast of wind cut her off, and she staggered a step back. Sakura sprang to her feet and folded over immediately, her hands over her mouth; before Sasuke could move to help her a hand shoved him face-first into the dirt and Dosu whispered, "Thanks for not slitting my throat, rookie," into his ear. A heavy foot landed on his back just below the cut from Orochimaru, then vanished, and he raised his head only to see Dosu grab Orochimaru from the ground and run as Tayuya swept up Orochimaru's fallen sword and slashed at Tsunade, who caught the blade along her left arm. "I'll fucking pay you back for real one day, you shitty old hag," Tayuya snarled, and took off after Dosu.

Sakura tried to follow her and fell over; Sasuke pushed himself up and went to help her stand, but when she took a step in the direction Tayuya and Dosu had gone Tsunade said, "Hold it," holding her back with a bloody hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"But we have to go after them," Sakura said. "We can't just let them escape, they tried to kill us!" Sasuke nodded. Orochimaru was too dangerous, and he had realized too much; safer to kill him now.

"No," Tsunade said. The sword had left a long cut in her arm that she was holding closed with her right hand and refusing to look at. "You two are in no shape to go chasing a rabbit, let alone that bastard and his pawns. I was too soft and we missed our chance, it's time to cut our losses and get back to Konoha before anyone else comes after us. With our luck it'd be Madara himself come back from the dead..." She glanced at her arm and shut her eyes. "Whoever has the bandages, get them and bind this up."

Sasuke let the sharingan go and dug through his pouches for the bandages. His fingers were shaking badly; as the adrenaline drained out of him he felt the forgotten cut from Dosu stinging on his shoulder and blood trickling from the wound on his back - not pouring, at least, so it couldn't be too deep. His knee felt like a ball of fire as the pain spiked up and down his left leg.

"Hurry it up," Tsunade said, and he pulled the bandages out and started wrapping her arm. "A little tighter - not that tight, damnit!"

"Naruto was right," Sasuke muttered.

"Eh?"

"You are a rude old bat."

Tsunade laughed. "And you're idiots, the both of you," she said. "But brave idiots. Thanks for the back-up."

Sasuke kept wrapping the bandages until the cut was completely covered, and as he tucked the ends under he said, "Why would Orochimaru say he could give you back the ones you love?"

"I - um, I was wondering that too," Sakura said. "Did he capture them or something?"

Tsunade hesitated too long, then said, "They're dead. He was just talking nonsense, don't worry about it. Let's get going - Sasuke, if you've got enough chakra keep the sharingan on, we're going to need it if there's any more trouble."

Sasuke almost said no, he didn't have enough chakra; then he let the sharingan flicker back on, a cold certainty settling over him. He might have helped save Sakura and Tsunade, but Danzo would have him killed as soon as he knew Sasuke had used the sharingan outside of the village.

Sakura took the bandages from Sasuke and bandaged his shoulder and back, and once Sakura and Tsunade's dizziness had passed, they moved on towards Konoha.

They ran, if it could be called running; the best Sasuke could manage was a limping jog, and Sakura could barely keep up even with that pace. Tsunade ran behind them to keep them going and direct them if they began to stray off-course.

The afternoon light darkened from gold to red, then faded entirely, and they kept running. The trees were more widely spaced, and the undergrowth had thinned out, which made the journey easier, but not easy. When the moon rose it grew more difficult, the shifting silver light that made it through the forest canopy creating deceptive patterns of shadows that made the actual terrain hard to read. Not long after moonrise Sakura stumbled, fell, and didn't get up; Tsunade picked her up and put her on Sasuke's back, and Sasuke started running again, and when she began to slide off his back Tsunade made him stop and used her jacket to tie Sakura to him.

They ran, and Sasuke thought about his death.

Itachi would kill him, of course. Danzo would hear that Sasuke had broken the most important condition, and he would tell Itachi to kill Sasuke, and Itachi would do it for the good of Konoha. He would be quick, so it wouldn't hurt; he might even do it while Sasuke was asleep. Then he would - Sasuke didn't know. He couldn't imagine Itachi being sorry about killing anyone; Itachi had made himself the tool that even Zabuza and Haku hadn't been able to become. Anko would probably break up with him, though.

And there was Naruto. Naruto would be angry, too, and Sakura. They'd get revenge for Sasuke, and for the rest of the Uchiha, at least if Naruto wasn't stupid about it. And if Naruto was all right - he had to be all right, he had the Kyuubi, of course he'd be all right. Naruto and Sakura would get strong and kill Itachi for him, but he would never know the real reason why Itachi had killed everyone. He wouldn't become a chuunin or a jounin or join ANBU, never see if Naruto became the stupid Hokage, never tell Haku the truth, never get strong enough to beat that irritating Kakashi or figure out a way through Gaara's defenses...

Then the pain in his muscles and the soles of his feet became overwhelming, and he could only think of taking the next step, and the next, and the next.

The moonlight dimmed and vanished; the dark lightened to grey, the grey reddened and became gold, and Sasuke kept moving. Tsunade ran beside him, but her pace faltered, and she missed a step every so often. "Not far now," she said once, and then she tripped and barely caught herself before she went sprawling, and she didn't say anything after that.

They ran.

The trees opened out, and Sasuke saw a road on his right that went the same direction they were going. It would be easier to run on the road, but so open - too open, so Sasuke veered away from it and Tsunade followed. No road. Roads could have traps. Roads weren't safe.

Sasuke had dropped the sharingan sometime during the night, unable to keep up the chakra drain, and at first he didn't realize why the trees ahead of him were blurring into a single brown wall. As he got closer they refused to resolve into separate trunks; it clicked abruptly and he stopped, then grabbed Tsunade before she ran into it. He opened his mouth to tell her they had made it, they were at Konoha's walls, but his throat was too dry to speak.

Tsunade looked up and seemed to get it anyway, and she smiled. Sasuke couldn't feel if Sakura was still breathing. He couldn't feel anything but the screaming ache in every muscle. He turned to the right and forced himself to take one more step in the direction of the gates, another step, another, and shinobi sprang out of the leaves in front of him and surrounded them. Sasuke didn't blink; they all wore Leaf forehead protectors, but even if they hadn't, he didn't think he had the energy to fight them.

"Damn me, it is the Uchiha kid," the one directly in front of Sasuke said. "Captain Hayama, what are we supposed to -"

Sasuke forced himself to speak through his cracked throat and said, "Tsunade. I brought Tsunade, take her to the Kages, she can -" His voice broke into coughing, and when he tried to start moving forward again he ran into darkness, and he felt nothing at all.

Chapter Text

He was in the forest, and Orochimaru was hunting him. He was out of sight for now, crouching behind a tree, but he knew Orochimaru was out there; he didn't dare move or make a sound, he had to wait for Orochimaru to pass by him. There - a flash of white among the trees to his left, and he pressed himself against the tree's trunk. Still. He had to be still, he had to be silent, he had to be absolutely, completely still...

Sasuke's foot jerked, and he bolted upright as his heart raced - found he found me have to run - then slowed as he took in the pale walls and artificial lighting. Not the forest - no, he'd made it to Konoha, he remembered that much. He'd made it to the wall and run into a patrol, and after that only darkness, and dreaming of the forest.

"You're awake."

He turned his head and saw Itachi sitting in a chair that faced the door, but watching Sasuke. A cold, hard knot settled in his stomach. Had Danzo already heard about the sharingan and given Itachi his orders?

"You've been asleep for about a day," Itachi said. "The medics said that -"

Sasuke didn't care what the medics had said. "What about the Kages? Has Tsunade healed them yet? Where's Sakura?" If he'd helped save the Kages, maybe the council would change their minds and stop Danzo...

"Sakura is fine, and the Kages are still stable," said Itachi; he moved the chair closer to the bed, but still angled to watch the door. "Tsunade-sama has been busy looking after the two of you, but she should be able to take care of the Kages soon." He smiled a little, and the knot in Sasuke's stomach tightened. "She was very impressed with the way you handled the mission."

Sasuke didn't want to think about what else Tsunade could have told Itachi, so he said, "What about Naruto? He made it back, right?" If he wasn't back by now Sasuke was going to hunt him down, drag him home, and then kill him, even if he had to do it as a ghost.

Itachi's smile widened as he said, "You need to be more aware of your surroundings," and Sasuke looked around and saw Naruto in another chair, slumped over the side of Sasuke's bed and fast asleep in a pool of sunlight coming in through the window. He had one arm in a sling and his hands were bandaged, and of course he had drooled on the blanket.

The tension went out of Sasuke in a rush, replaced by bright, shining relief - Naruto was safe, after all - but the cold weight in his stomach didn't lift. He'd have to explain to Naruto about breaking the conditions somehow, make him understand without revealing too much to Itachi; he reached out to shake Naruto awake and Itachi said, "No, let him sleep - he came in with Jiraiya and Shizune just a few hours before you did, and he was running back and forth between your room and Sakura's until he wore himself out."

"Idiot," Sasuke said, and fell back onto his pillow. "Dumbass. Complete, total, hopeless idiot..."

But not as big an idiot as me.

He stared at Naruto's head, willing Naruto to wake up on his own, but Naruto only started snoring instead. Stupid. Sasuke listened to the familiar irritating sound, and watched Naruto sleep, and wished time would just stop, at this moment, before anything else could happen.

"He wanted to go right back out to look for you," said Itachi, "but he was in no shape to -"

"I broke one of the conditions."

Itachi didn't say anything at first; then he asked, "Which one?"

Sasuke kept his eyes on Naruto. "I used the sharingan," he said. "When Orochimaru showed up, and after that in case anyone else attacked."

That had been the most important condition, of course, the one he absolutely shouldn't have broken, but instead of a kunai in his throat he felt Itachi put a hand on his head and smooth his bangs. For once Sasuke let him; he was too tired to flinch away, too tired to fight, too tired to deny that for this moment all he wanted was for his big brother to tell him it would be all right. He knew Itachi didn't want to kill him, he'd known that for ages, but Itachi would have to anyway because Sasuke was still too weak to follow one stupid condition...

"Sasuke -"

"I had to use the sharingan," Sasuke said. His chest was knotted up and painful, and his throat felt tight, and he couldn't look away from Naruto's sleeping face that he'd never see again. "I had to protect Sakura and get Tsunade back here to save the Kages. I didn't think about the conditions, I had to use it."

"You did the right thing," said Itachi; he kept smoothing Sasuke's bangs in the same repetitive, comforting motion, his hand cool and calloused, not killing Sasuke. "You put your team and your mission before yourself - there's nothing wrong with that. You did what was right."

"I didn't mean to," Sasuke said, and his voice only cracked because he was thirsty, that was all. "I just had to stop him, I didn't have anything else. I didn't think -" He hadn't been thinking about anything; all he'd wanted was to kill Orochimaru before Orochimaru could make things worse, and even with the sharingan he'd failed at that, too. He was worthless. "I'm sorry, just do it and get it over with, Danzo's going to order you to do it anyway..."

"Danzo will order me to -" Itachi's hand stopped suddenly, heavy on Sasuke's head. "Sasuke, what did Orochimaru tell you?"

"Nothing." He couldn't bring himself to give away too much, even if it didn't matter anymore. "Anko said Danzo hated us, so he'd tell you to kill me, and -"

Before he got any farther, Itachi flicked his finger against Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke looked up at him involuntarily and saw that he was smiling, but it was the most exhausted smile Sasuke had ever seen on him. "Sasuke, I would never hurt you," he said. "I will never let Danzo hurt you, no matter what - I promised I would take care of you, didn't I?" He began smoothing down Sasuke's bangs again. "I'll always protect you, whatever I have to do - don't worry about Danzo."

Sasuke stared up at him, waiting for his lying face to change, but Itachi didn't draw a kunai or his sword, didn't do anything, and Sasuke thought, He means it. Itachi didn't just not want to kill him; he wouldn't kill Sasuke at all, not even if he was ordered to.

Later Sasuke could gloat over this advantage, but for the moment, he could only feel a bone-deep relief. Itachi wouldn't kill him, Itachi would protect him, and he looked back at Naruto and muttered, "I don't get you. Stupid."

"Foolish little brother," said Itachi, but his hand was gentle. "Go back to sleep, Sasuke. Nothing's going to touch you while I'm in Konoha."

Sasuke watched Naruto for another minute, and then his eyes slipped shut and he fell asleep again.

The next time that Sasuke woke up, he didn't need to open his eyes to know it was dark, but he cracked his eyelids anyway and saw a pale square of moonlight across his bed. Naruto was gone; Sasuke glanced to the side and saw that Itachi was still there, watching the door, and he let his eyes close again. He didn't feel tired anymore, but there was nothing worth getting up for. After the last few days - hell, the last few weeks - just the fact that he could lie in a bed and not move and feel safe seemed amazing. There was a dull ache in his left knee and back, but otherwise he felt fine, if somewhat hungry.

He was beginning to drift off again, thinking of what to tell Haku about the mission, when he heard indistinct angry voices out in the corridor, one of them sounding more and more like Tsunade as they got closer.

The door to his room clicked open. "- out of the hall and discuss this," a dry, male voice said, and Sasuke heard the door click shut again. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing even, faking sleep.

"I don't care where you want to talk, it's ridiculous," Tsunade said. "The kid's loyal, I've told you and the council members a hundred times already, we had shitty luck getting here and that's all."

"Tsunade-sama, is there a problem?"

"Oh, great choice of rooms," Tsunade grumbled. "No, Uchiha, there's no problem, we're just getting a couple of things straight - look, Danzo -" Sasuke couldn't stop his shudder, and had to hope that the blanket and general darkness had concealed it. "- even if you can talk the council around to it, you know Sarutobi-sensei would forbid it the second he's awake, and if the antidote keeps working like it should, that'll be in a couple of days."

"Which is why I suggested immediate action," said the dry voice - Danzo's voice - and Sasuke forced himself to lie still and keep silent. Danzo was talking about killing him, in the same room, right in front of Itachi who could talk and promise all he wanted but he was still a murderer, a family-murderer, and if Danzo was too convincing... "Undoubtedly Sarutobi will regret the necessity, but he will understand it. The Uchiha -" The name sounded like a curse in Danzo's mouth. "- is an unstable element. The conditions for his leaving Konoha were clearly explained to him, and he willfully broke them when it became convenient. Taking his previous actions into consideration, he can hardly be trusted as a civilian, let alone as a genin. Much safer to be rid of the problem entirely."

"With respect, Commander," Itachi said, "the circumstances were -"

"Your opinion is not required, Captain," Danzo snapped, and then his tone softened. "Now, Tsunade-hime, I can understand why you'd want to defend the boy, but you must see that at best, he's unreliable. At worst -"

"He's a kid," Tsunade said. "He screwed up, sure, but he did his damnedest out there to help us get back here with our skins - well, mostly intact." Sasuke heard her tap something - a pen? - against something else. "You're not going to talk me into this one, and you're damn sure not going to pull it off under my nose in my own hospital, not if I have to call in every favor I'm owed to stop you."

"I see," said Danzo. "Captain, escort Tsunade-hime out of the hospital, then -"

"Commander," Itachi said, and the edge of desperation in his voice made Sasuke's skin crawl. "My brother isn't a traitor. I realize that he used the sharingan outside of the village, but it was only for the success of his mission and to protect his teammate."

If worst came to worst, Sasuke decided he'd go out the window. He had the strength for that much, probably, and then he'd find Naruto and Haku and Gaara if the Suna teams were still here.

"He knew the consequences and still put the mission before his own life, he refused to go with Orochimaru -"

"Just like I told you, and -"

"I tire of having this discussion with you, Captain," Danzo said. "Your vision is clouded by sentimentality, and you persist in seeing the boy as an innocent, when anyone can look at him and see that he's deceitful and untrustworthy, with a habit of falling into bad company. It's time to open your eyes, Itachi."

The tension in the room flared into killing intent, as if the air had become knives with the edges all pressed against Sasuke, and he sensed movement as Itachi snarled, "Never try to use that on me again, you -"

"That's enough!" Tsunade said, and there was a sharp cracking sound. "If you two are going to have a shoving contest like a pair of academy brats, you're doing it outside, not in here where you've probably just scared everyone on this floor half to death. Get out, or I'll give you a reason to be in this hospital!"

There was a long, icy pause, and then the killing intent subsided somewhat. "I have business to discuss with the council," Danzo said at last. "Your insubordination has been noted, Uchiha Itachi," and Sasuke heard the door open and close.

Tsunade said, "Oi, Uchiha, I meant you too - cool it with the intent, or I'm throwing you out of here."

"I'm not an Uchiha," said Itachi, but the killing intent vanished, and Sasuke let himself breathe a little more freely.

"Sure could've fooled me with that little display," Tsunade said, with a familiar teasing note in her voice.

"I formally renounced my clan. Sasuke is the only one with a claim to the Uchiha name, now."

That gave Sasuke pause - Itachi really wasn't an Uchiha anymore, not even technically? - but Tsunade only said, "What a shame - and just when I was finally making my peace with you lot. You look terrible, kid, why don't you go on home and get some rest? I'll make sure the medics keep an eye out, Sasuke will be fine."

"Thank you, but I would prefer to stay with my brother."

"Suit yourself," Tsunade said, and Sasuke heard her leave the room, then start to talk quietly with someone just outside before closing the door.

After a minute of silence, Sasuke opened his eyes. Itachi was still standing by the bed, his face turned away to watch the door, and in the wash of moonlight from the window Sasuke could see black marks twisting up his neck.

A thousand questions ran through Sasuke's mind, but for once he didn't want to know the answers. He closed his eyes and wished for sleep, but it was a long time coming.

He was at Ichiraku with Naruto and Sakura and Kakashi, and Naruto was complaining that Haku hadn't put enough dango in his ramen. Sasuke was about to tell him to quit whining and eat it because it was Anko's treat when he realized that first, Anko wasn't there, and second, that even Anko wasn't weird enough to put dango in ramen, and he woke up to the sounds of familiar bickering.

"- didn't get those for you, yanno!"

"So? The brat's not gonna miss just a couple, look at all this other crap people've sent."

"That's not the point, I got 'em for Sasuke, so you stay out of them - hey! Stop it!"

"C'mon, you owe me anyway, I gave you that money to get lunch earlier!"

"I was gonna pay you back with money, yanno, not -"

"Just shut up, dumbass," Sasuke said, and opened his eyes to see Anko and Naruto frozen mid-struggle, Anko grinding her elbow into the top of Naruto's head while Naruto was trying to yank a box of something out of her hand. Then Naruto let go of the box and yelled, "Sasuke! You're up!"

"About time, brat," Anko said, grinning. "Couldn't believe you'd really sleep through that idiot yammering, yanno?"

"I couldn't," Sasuke grumbled as he sat up.

Naruto jumped onto the bed, bouncing up and down; Sasuke noticed that the sling that his arm had been in was gone, and so were the bandages on his hands. "Dude, I was super worried, yanno," he said, "I thought for sure you guys were gonna beat us back! Itachi was freaking out too, we were gonna go back out and look for you but these ANBU people wouldn't let us, so -"

"Where's Itachi now?" Sasuke said; he'd gotten a good look around the hospital room while Naruto rambled, and there was no sign of Itachi, which made Sasuke wary.

"I sent him home to get some sleep," said Anko, popping the lid off the box that Naruto had brought. "Mmm, meat buns... I practically had to swear a blood oath I wouldn't leave you alone to get him out of here, too - who'd you piss off this time?"

Sasuke sank back against the headboard and said, "Same person as before." He was going to die of embarrassment before Danzo had a chance to kill him, if Itachi kept acting like that.

"Who cares, anyway?" Naruto said, bouncing again. "You brought back Tsunade like we promised, right, so you're totally good! Man, I really wanted to do that..." He stuck his lower lip out in his usual sulky expression. "I was gonna be the big hero and everything, but that stupid Jiraiya grabbed me when the road blew up and then he wouldn't let me go look for you, which totally sucks, yanno! Bet Tsunade wouldn't let you look for us, either, otherwise we'd totally have found each other... We were still fighting about it when -"

"You did good, anyway," Anko said over Naruto. "Half the village heard how you staggered in on your last legs, insisting that the patrol get Tsunade to the hospital first thing." Sasuke wished he could switch to anywhere else, a desire only strengthened when Anko rubbed the top of his head with a slightly sticky hand. "You're not exactly popular yet, but at least the rumor mill's mostly working in your favor now, yeah? Good job."

Sasuke still didn't feel as if he'd done that well; he stayed quiet and let Naruto start talking about his own adventures getting home, which had apparently involved more of Orochimaru's followers, some guy with a ponytail and a big clay bird who'd been looking for someone else, and Naruto finally mastering Jiraiya's technique to great effect on the people who'd been going after them. "Hauling them home was a huge pain, though," he said, "even if it was just the regular ones and not the spider guy or the big dude, but they still slowed us down a bunch, otherwise -"

"You took them prisoner?" Sasuke said.

"Well, yeah," said Naruto, as if any other option would be unthinkable, and something barbed and bitter twisted inside Sasuke. "I mean, we'd already beaten them, so we couldn't just leave 'em in the forest, right? They'd totally go tell Orochimaru or whatever."

Sasuke had never even considered taking prisoners. All he had thought about was getting rid of the people in his way, and he had, and now he was a killer and Naruto wasn't.

"Good thing, too," Anko said, "since - uh, well, you two probably don't need to hear about that."

"About what, huh?" Naruto said, while Sasuke swallowed the taste of blood. "What happened?"

"Heh - um - yanno, maybe I ought to let your buddy Haku tell you," said Anko, with a suspicious lack of nervous fidgeting. "Yeah, that's probably better - hey, I'm gonna go get a drink, be right back, don't die and don't tell Itachi I left, okay?"

She was out the door a moment later, and Naruto stared after her. "What the heck was that about? You think something happened with Haku? I was looking for him before but he's not -"

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke hissed, and grabbed Naruto's shirt. "Look, promise me that if I'm killed you'll kill Itachi."

"If you're - what?"

Sasuke kept his voice low and said, "I used the sharingan outside the village, so Danzo might try to have me killed, understand? Itachi's trying to stop him, but if he can't and I die, you have to get revenge for me, you have to kill Itachi. Swear that you'll do it, Naruto."

"But - wait," Naruto said, his face pale. "Killing Itachi, that's kinda - you never said anything about that, and you just said he was gonna stop Danzo, so -"

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke said again, trying not to shift his grip upward and strangle Naruto, "he's still a clan-murderer, you have to get revenge for me and kill him if I can't, get it? Promise me."

"Uh - I - um, I promise?" Naruto said, and then he grinned and stuck his hand out with his thumb up. "Yeah! It's a promise! I'll get revenge for you somehow! But you're not gonna need me to, right?"

Sasuke relaxed his grip on Naruto's shirt and looked at his outstretched hand. "What are you doing that for?"

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei's friend showed me this!" Naruto sat back and struck the pose again. "You make a cool pose and promise, and then you can't break the promise ever, it's the promise of a -"

"Look who I found!" Anko announced, and Naruto and Sasuke looked up to see her shoving Gaara into the room. "Don't be shy - ow! - don't let that sand get too friendly with me, either, I'm trying to do you a favor, brat."

Gaara was staring off to the side, looking oddly shifty as he said, "I wasn't coming to visit you. I was walking down the hall and -"

"Dude, you're still here!" Naruto bounded off the bed and nearly tackled Gaara before appearing to come to his senses. "I thought for sure you guys were gone - uh, well, I guess you kinda couldn't leave without the Kazekage, but I didn't see you around! We got Tsunade to come help your dad so we can fight with him fair and square, did you hear? It was a super tough mission, I learned this great -"

"I heard," Gaara said. He looked awkward, as if he wanted to say something more, but Naruto, undeterred by the interruption, was already launching into the story of the mission. Anko was leaning back against the wall by the door, keeping watch; Sasuke wished she would go away, so he could talk more openly with Naruto and Gaara, but that was probably out of the question.

In the middle of Naruto describing his encounter with the ponytailed man, Gaara said to Sasuke, "Can you get up?"

"Huh?" said Naruto, derailed.

Sasuke hadn't thought about it seriously yet, but he tried bending his left knee and there was no spike of pain, only a lesser version of the earlier dull ache, so he swung his legs out of bed and said, "Sure." There were slippers just under the bed, and he slipped his feet into them. "What for?"

Gaara didn't answer directly; he crossed his arms and said, "Good. You can both come with me."

"Whoa, hold it," said Anko, "getting up's one thing, going out for a stroll is something else - anything happens to Sasuke and we're both gonna be real sorry, yanno? He's supposed to stay put."

"I'll protect him," Gaara said, and a beat later Naruto said, "Yeah, yeah, I'll totally protect Sasuke too! He'll be safe with us for sure!"

Sasuke stood up and snapped, "I can look after myself, idiots." His legs did feel disturbingly unsteady, however, and his stomach growled; the table by his bed was covered in cards, flowers, and boxes of sweets, mostly from girls he barely knew, but there were a few rice balls mixed in, plus three meat buns left in the box that Naruto had brought. He picked those up to eat on the way and said, "Let's go." On consideration, being out of the hospital room was probably safer than staying in it, since it was the first place Danzo would look for him.

Anko broke off arguing with Naruto to say, "Oi, I didn't say you could go anywhere yet - kid, you had blood poisoning, you can't just sleep that off."

"Aww, c'mon, I already said I'd take care of him -"

"I want him to come."

"- totally carry him if he falls over or anything, yanno!"

"Who's going to fall over, dumbass?" Sasuke shoved Naruto out of his way. "I'm fine."

Anko threw up her hands, then pulled out a kunai and started cleaning under her nails. "Fine, whatever, you'd only sneak out anyway," she said. "Just get back here before Itachi does and don't run into anyone who wants you dead, got it?"

"Geez, fine," Naruto said, "we'll be careful, Auntie Anko."

"Who the hell are you calling 'auntie,' you little -"

Naruto dodged her attempt to get him in a headlock and ran out the door, and Gaara and Sasuke followed.

Once they were in the hall, Gaara took the lead; Naruto started telling his mission stories again, going off on rambling tangents as he usually did, and Sasuke ate his meat buns and rice balls. After days without solid food, they tasted amazing, and the unsteady feeling in his arms and legs began to fade. Just as he bit into the last bun, Naruto said, "So yeah, that was pretty much everything - hey, Sasuke, what about you? You ran into Orochimaru's people too, right? What happened? Did you actually see Orochimaru or learn anything cool or -"

The three of them turned a corner and ran straight into two ANBU, who barred the way with their arms. "No visitors," the one with a cat mask said; past them Sasuke could see a door guarded by two more ANBU and a third person, a man with a half-veil and a familiar face - Gaara's jounin teacher. An unpleasant suspicion as to their destination began to form in Sasuke's mind.

"Let us through," Gaara said, giving the ANBU a flat, cold stare.

"Kid, 'no visitors' means no visitors," the other ANBU said. "Get lost."

The cork in Gaara's gourd dissolved. "I want to see my father," he said. "Let us through, or -"

"Whoa, whoa, we don't have to go that far," Naruto said, slapping his hand over the gourd's mouth. "Maybe we can, uh, come back later? Yeah?"

"I want to see him now," said Gaara.

The Suna jounin had noticed them and moved up, putting a hand on the cat-masked ANBU's shoulder; he said, "Let me handle it - Gaara, you know the Kazekage is under watch right now, and no one can see him. He hasn't woken up yet, but we'll tell you as soon as he does, so you should go wait with Temari and Kankuro and your - friends."

Sasuke glared at him for the hesitation before "friends," while Gaara said, "He's supposed to wake up today. I want to be there, so let us through."

"Where'd he hear that?" muttered the other ANBU, who had an anteater mask; Naruto kept his hand over the gourd and said, "Yeah, let us through! That's his dad, yanno, he's got a right to visit!"

"Gaara, it's just not possible right now," the Suna jounin said, ignoring Naruto. "This is about the Kazekage's safety -"

"Aww, c'mon, we just wanna -"

"There is no way we're letting them in, especially not that -"

"Please," Gaara said, and after a moment of dead silence, he added, "Please, Baki-sensei."

The two ANBU exchanged glances as Baki's mouth fell open; he closed it and said weakly, "Well - I suppose - if I went in with you, to be on the safe side..."

"Absolutely not," said the cat ANBU, and the one in the anteater mask said, "Oh, let him go - but not those two, definitely not -"

"My friends come with me," Gaara said, glowering at the ANBU.

"I'll take responsibility for them, too," Baki said, with a nearly identical scowl, and the ANBU hastily stepped aside.

As they passed the ANBU, Naruto stuck his tongue out at them; Sasuke heard the anteater mutter, "Fucking Uchiha," and in an instant his sharingan blinked on. The guard flinched, and Sasuke felt a rush of satisfaction before he released the sharingan.

Baki opened the door to the Kazekage's room, and Sasuke saw another two Konoha ANBU, as well as the brown-haired Suna chuunin Yukari and another Suna-nin Sasuke didn't recognize. All of them but Yukari were immediately alert, and one of the ANBU was starting to protest when Baki growled, "Gaara wants to visit his father, I'm granting him permission."

"Baki-san, do you think that's - wise?" the strange Suna-nin said, his gaze flickering nervously between Gaara, Baki, and the still form of the Kazekage in the hospital bed. "I mean - with the situation, and given the, ah, the circumstances, perhaps -"

"Eh, let the kid stay, Hachi," said Yukari, who hadn't moved a muscle from her position against the wall. "He's been checking in with that sand eye thing already -" Gaara's eyes widened a little, and if it had been anyone else, Sasuke would have thought he looked guilty. "- can't hurt to let him visit himself."

She closed her eyes, apparently done. Hachi gave Gaara one last nervous glance, but didn't argue further; the shorter of the ANBU guards held his hands up and said, "Just keep it down and don't make us have to throw you out of here."

"We'll be super good and quiet!" Naruto said too loudly, and then his face reddened and he said, more quietly, "Uh, yeah - quiet..."

The room had one chair, which none of the guards were using, so Sasuke grabbed it; his legs were starting to feel shaky again. Naruto settled on the floor next to him, and Gaara remained standing, staring at the floor. After a minute he said, "Thank you, Yukari."

She just shrugged one shoulder and said, "No problem," but Sasuke saw the corners of her mouth turn up, and he felt a little relieved that at least one person didn't object to Gaara's presence.

They waited for the Kazekage to wake up in a silence broken only by Naruto's mostly-quiet fidgeting; it seemed that Gaara hadn't become any more interested in idle conversation than he had been before, and no one else seemed inclined to speak. Sasuke could feel the Konoha ANBU's eyes on him, and as time passed with agonizing slowness, he began to feel nearly as restless as Naruto. Supporting Gaara was fine and all, but if he didn't get back to his hospital room before Itachi did, all three of them would be in trouble. Itachi would probably flip out and do something humiliating, like search the hospital for him, and Sasuke sunk into the chair at the thought. If only the stupid Kazekage would wake up already, so Gaara could make up with him or fight him or do whatever it was Gaara wanted to do...

Naruto's fidgeting was gradually getting louder, and out of nowhere he said, "Hey, Sasuke, are you gonna tell us what happened on your way back or what?"

Trust Naruto to make an uncomfortable situation even more awkward. Sasuke shut his eyes and tried to pretend he hadn't heard the question.

"C'mon, don't hold out," Naruto said, and he pushed Sasuke half out of the chair, "I already told you everything! And Sakura-chan's barely been awake yet, and when she was awake she wouldn't tell me anything, yanno, she was just asking if you and that old bat Tsunade were okay. I wanna hear the whole story!"

"There isn't a story," Sasuke snapped, and shook off Naruto's hand. "We ran into some of Orochimaru's followers, we fought them, Orochimaru showed up and we fought him, we made it back here. That's it. Happy, idiot?"

"Geez, you can't tell a story at all," said Naruto, which was pretty rich coming from someone who'd never met a tangent he didn't like. "You gotta put a little detail in, yanno? Like, what were the guys you fought like? You didn't come back with any prisoners, right, so did they run off 'cause you were too strong for 'em, or -"

Barbed rage crawled up Sasuke's throat, fighting to get out - I killed them! I could have died but I killed two of them instead and I would've killed them all if I could have! - and he was taking a deep breath to tell Naruto to shut up when Gaara said, "I heard what people here were saying. About you and Yashagoro - Orochimaru."

"Oh," Sasuke said, his sudden rage partially subsiding. "Yeah? What about it?"

"I don't care if you were talking to him," Gaara said. "If the people in Konoha care, you can come back to Suna with us. I'll kill anyone who doesn't like it, so you'd be safe there."

Sasuke's jaw nearly dropped. Itachi was contagious, that was the only explanation. Itachi's overprotectiveness was like a cold, and anyone who came near him - Anko, Naruto, even Gaara - ended up catching it and started thinking that Sasuke was some - some helpless kid.

He opened his mouth to tell Gaara exactly what he thought about Gaara's offer, and the Kazekage's hand twitched.

The adults acted at once. The short ANBU snapped at the taller one, "Get Tsunade-hime, now!" and Hachi moved towards Naruto and Sasuke, saying, "All right, you kids have been here long enough - Gaara-sama, why don't you take them and go find -"

"I'm staying here," Gaara said, as the tall ANBU vanished through the door, and Hachi froze.

"Yeah, yeah, he's got a right to stay, yanno!"

"Gaara, this isn't the time to be stubborn - I'll come get you and your siblings when -"

"I want all of you besides Hachi out of here," the short ANBU said, "unless you've got medical training."

"Aww, you can't make him leave now! It's totally not fair!"

"We should leave this to the medical nin and -"

"I'm not leaving."

"Yeah, we're not leaving!" Naruto had jumped up to support Gaara, waving his fist around, and Sasuke had to duck under it.

"Would you please -"

"- probably ought to do what your sensei says -"

"I said that I want you all out of here, that means -"

"Shut the hell up!"

Everyone in the room was instantly focused on the Kazekage. His eyes were still closed, but his eyebrows had knotted together in a scowl, and as Sasuke watched, he blinked and then squinted in the general direction of Baki. "What's going on here?" he demanded. "Sounds like a bunch of kids fighting."

Baki had already dropped to one knee, his head bowed. "I apologize humbly, Kazekage-sama," he said, "but your son -"

"Kankuro?" The Kazekage's scowl deepened. "He should know better than to -" His eyes fell on Gaara, and he blinked again, then recoiled. "You! What the hell are you doing here?"

The sand, which had been hovering behind Gaara in a threatening wall, abruptly splashed to the floor, and all of Gaara's stubborn arrogance seemed to drain away with it; his shoulders slumped as he stared down at the floor. "I wanted to be here," he said. "When you woke up."

"You wanted what?" The Kazekage struggled to push himself upright, and Hachi leaped to help him sit up, but he brushed the Suna-nin's hands aside. "Is this your idea of a trick?"

"No, I - I only wanted -" Gaara's voice was fading to a mumble, and Naruto gave Sasuke a worried look.

"This is ridiculous," the Kazekage said. "Baki, get him out of here and then report back, I want to know what's been going on."

Baki hesitated. "Sir," he began, "Gaara was very worried about -"

"That was an order, Baki!" The Kazekage's voice cracked into a brief coughing fit, and he glared at Gaara and Baki. "Take that worthless container somewhere else, and stop talking about this nonsense."

"Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute!"

All eyes turned to Naruto, and the ANBU hissed, "Stay out of this, you stupid Uzumaki!"

"No way am I gonna stay out!" Naruto said, and he pointed at the Kazekage. "What's the deal with you, huh? Gaara just wanted to see you, yanno, what's wrong with that?"

The Kazekage squinted at Naruto. "You - you're one of those genin from the other day, aren't you?" he said.

"Yeah, me and Sasuke are Gaara's friends, yanno! And I don't care if you're the Kazekage or whatever, you can't just treat my friend like that! No way!"

Yukari and Hachi started forward, and the Kazekage snapped, "Stay back! You're a disrespectful brat, lecturing me about my own son." Sasuke's hands tightened painfully on the chair's armrests at the contempt in the Kazekage's voice. "Do you even understand what Gaara is? He's not just a boy - he's the vessel for a demon. A demon he can't even control. That's all he is, a flawed, worthless -"

"So what?" Sasuke said, and the Kazekage's sharp glare focused on him. He didn't care; all the temper he'd been holding back had boiled over. "Who cares if he has that Shukaku demon inside him? He's your son, you can't just treat him like he's worthless." He stood and stepped up next to Gaara, his fists clenched. "He can control the monster fine around us, and even when he didn't we're strong enough to stop him anyway - you're the one who doesn't understand him!"

"Yeah, that's right!" said Naruto, and he slung an arm around Gaara's slumped shoulders. "We know about the monster and we don't care, so you should just butt out and stop being a jerk to Gaara!"

The Kazekage's face had gotten darker and angrier. "You - you insolent little fools," he growled. "How dare you speak to a Kage like that?"

His right hand moved, glinting, and the sand fountained into two pillars barely an inch from Sasuke and Naruto's noses.

Sasuke stared at the column of sand in front of him until his eyes started to cross, then leaned to the side, towards Gaara, where there was no sand to block his vision. Hachi, Yukari, and the ANBU were covering the Kazekage with weapons in hand, but the sand hadn't moved towards them at all; the Kazekage was looking at Gaara with wide eyes. "You protected them," he said. "You used the sand to protect them..."

"That's right," said Gaara, and his voice had gotten strong and confident again. "They're my friends, and I won't let you hurt them." Sasuke glanced at the front of the pillar of sand, and saw two kunai stuck in it at roughly the height of his throat.

Suddenly, Naruto's earlier threats to beat up the Kazekage seemed much more appealing.

"You -" The Kazekage leaned back against the bed's headboard, looking as if the sand had punched him in the stomach. "You're really - your control has improved that much?"

Gaara nodded, and Naruto said, "Yeah, for sure! 'Cause training with me and Sasuke is that awesome, yanno! Though, uh, Gaara, you did still kinda mess up Haku - I dunno if you've seen him around or not, you should probably apologize -"

Neither Gaara nor the Kazekage paid him any attention; their gazes were locked, and this time it was the Kazekage who broke it by nodding once. "Good," he said. "Perhaps - perhaps I'll have to reevaluate your worth."

It was the most grudging compliment Sasuke had ever heard - if it was even meant as a compliment - but Gaara's face brightened, and Yukari and Hachi relaxed their defensive stances. The ANBU held his a moment longer, then sheathed his short sword and stepped back. "Well, this has been lovely," he said, "but you all need to be out of here before -"

The door slammed open, and Tsunade came through it with the tall ANBU hovering behind her. She looked over the room and flashed Sasuke a quick smile, then said, "Okay, all the non-medics out of here - yes, even family, you can wait outside. Better get back to bed, Sasuke, I'll check on you later - well, what are you all standing around for? Move it!"

Before Sasuke could blink, he found himself back outside the Kazekage's room with Naruto, Gaara, Baki, and Yukari. A moment later, the tall Konoha ANBU joined them. "The Suna shinobi can stay and wait here," she said. "You two kids need to leave, this is still a restricted area."

"Okay, okay," Naruto said. "We'll see you later, though, Gaara! Right? We can go look for Haku and stuff..."

"Sure," said Gaara. "And - thank you. Both of you. For - for coming with me, and everything else."

"Yeah, any time! It's what friends do!"

Sasuke looked away and said, "Whatever. I was bored, anyway."

"Heh - he doesn't want to admit he's a great big overprotective softie," Naruto whispered loudly to Gaara, "just like -"

Sasuke kicked him down the hall.

At first, Sasuke thought the kick was why Naruto was quiet on the way back to Sasuke's room, but then Naruto said, "Hey, Sasuke - your dad... He wasn't anything like Gaara's dad, right?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to say Of course not, hesitated, and said, "No. He was -" But he couldn't think of the right word. Loving? (Disappointed that Sasuke hadn't mastered the fireball technique immediately.) Kind? (Ignoring Itachi after they had argued.) Affectionate? (Bragging about Sasuke - but only in private to his mother, not to anyone else.) Nothing fit; everything he could think of was knotted up with those days before Itachi had murdered the clan.

"He was just my father," Sasuke finally said. "He was - fine."

It sounded stupid and trite, like Itachi whenever he said their parents would be proud of Sasuke, but Naruto didn't seem to care; he stuck his hands in his pockets and said, "I figured - guess everyone's dads are different, huh? Sakura's dad, your dad, Gaara's dad... Wish I could've met your dad, I bet he was cool!" He grinned, but it was small and forced. "Heh, well, he probably wouldn't have liked me anyway, 'cause of - stuff."

Even apart from the Kyuubi issue, Sasuke knew it was true, and he shrugged uncomfortably.

"I wonder what my dad was like," Naruto said, gazing off into the distance and almost running into a nurse. "Ack, sorry! Really sorry! Geez... I still can't get Itachi to tell me anything, yanno, and no one else knows, or anyway they won't tell me, either. Hey, what do you think? You think my dad would be okay?"

Sasuke tried to imagine Naruto's father - someone blond and blue-eyed and too loud, just like Naruto? Or maybe Naruto took after his mother, and his father had been someone dead serious, who worked hard like Naruto when Naruto wasn't goofing around... "He was probably an idiot," he said, "just like you."

"Hey, don't talk about my dad like that!" said Naruto, punching Sasuke's arm, but his grin had turned real. He chattered happily about his theoretical father the rest of the way to Sasuke's room, where Sasuke managed to slip back into bed a few minutes before Itachi came in to resume his guard.

By the next day, Sasuke was utterly sick of the hospital. Naruto had been in and out of his room, gossiping and pestering Sasuke, Gaara had come by once to be quiet and vaguely intimidating, and the occasional medic visited to check on Sasuke, but for the most part it had just been Sasuke and Itachi in the room, and Itachi was even worse company than Gaara. He just sat there, watching for any more moves by Danzo - or so Sasuke assumed - not talking unless Naruto or Sasuke talked to him first, not leaving unless a medic threw him out for a few minutes to eat or whatever. Sasuke felt suffocated, but he couldn't exactly tell Itachi to leave, especially not when he didn't know what Danzo might be planning next; at the moment he was trying to fake a late-afternoon nap, but as soon as he had closed his eyes a giant commotion had started in the hall, which made it difficult to stay still and pretend to sleep.

The noise was starting to die down and Sasuke was considering making the faked nap real when the door opened and a voice Sasuke hadn't heard in weeks said, "Yo - it's been a while, Captain."

Sasuke's eyes flew open as Itachi said, "Kakashi-san. What are you doing here?"

"Ah, well," said Kakashi, "since it seems like my student can't come to me, I thought I'd come see him..." His left leg was in a cast and he was leaning on a crutch, but he looked healthy enough otherwise. Sasuke was a little surprised to find that he was glad to see Kakashi, and decided that it was probably just from being stuck in the hospital.

"It's very kind of you to visit," Itachi was saying, "but Sasuke is sleeping right now, so -"

"I'm awake," Sasuke said, amazed that Itachi had actually fallen for the fake nap. "What's going on?"

"Nothing all that interesting," Kakashi said. "Mind if I sit down?" Itachi stood and let Kakashi settle into the chair, and took up a position by the door. "I'm a bit tired of being stuck in one room all the time," Kakashi continued, "especially since - ah, never mind that. It's good to get out and stretch your legs a little, even when one of them is broken..."

Sasuke stared at him. Kakashi stared back, then closed his eye and said, "Or not. Well, I was hoping I'd get a chance to talk to Sasuke on his own, anyway."

"That's not possible at the moment," Itachi said. "The situation with - certain factions - is too -"

"It's just Kakashi," Sasuke said, "what do you think he's going to do?" He didn't care about talking to Kakashi, but he'd take anything that would get Itachi out of the room for a while.

"Ouch," Kakashi said mildly. "Guess I've let my reputation slip... Well, if it's certain factions you're worried about, I happened to hear that the Hokage's woken up, and between his old students telling him their side of the story and the Kazekage's escorts threatening to kidnap my whole team to help them control Gaara, seems like he's pardoned Sasuke already."

"What?" Sasuke sat up, his heart racing. "Is that true?"

Kakashi nodded. Itachi's usual lack of expression had cracked, revealing the barest hint of hope; he leaned forward slightly as he asked, "Are you certain?"

"Nothing's completely certain in this life," said Kakashi, leaning back in the chair, "but with two of the Sannin and the Kazekage singing his praises - yep, pretty certain Sasuke's off the hook for now. If you'd like to go check for yourself, I think we'll be safe enough for a few minutes."

Itachi hesitated. "If you're sure - Sasuke, if anything happens, you should -"

"I'll be fine," Sasuke said.

"Just be careful," Itachi said, "I'll be back as soon as possible," and he left.

Kakashi didn't appear to be in a hurry to start talking; they sat in silence for several long moments, and Sasuke stared down at the hospital blanket, pulling at a loose thread. At last Kakashi said, "So, it seems like you've had a busy few weeks."

"I don't need another lecture," Sasuke said, and yanked the thread so hard it snapped.

"All right, no lectures," said Kakashi. "I'll just assume that you have genuinely learned your lesson about fraternizing with S-class criminals, then..."

"Yes. I have," Sasuke said, through clenched teeth. He'd done nothing but learn that lesson for days.

"But no lessons about controlling your temper, I see," Kakashi said. "Your emotions are one of an enemy shinobi's greatest weapons against you, and Orochimaru not only knows that, he's not someone who will hesitate to use them. Don't glare at me - that's something you should know from experience by now."

Sasuke kept playing with the snapped thread, wrapping it around the tips of his fingers and then unwinding it.

"Ah, and I said I wouldn't lecture," Kakashi said. "Sorry." Sasuke heard him shift his broken leg into a different position. "Well, I did want to tell you - hm, not that this isn't your fault, since obviously it is, but I'm a little bit at fault, too."

That made Sasuke drop the thread and look up at Kakashi, who was gazing a little too casually at anywhere but Sasuke. "I am your teacher, after all," he said. "I should have noticed that something was going on long before Orochimaru actually made his move. I let myself get distracted with the solo missions I was taking and left your team alone too much... That's not going to happen again. Once I get this thing off, I'm not taking any more solo missions - we'll all be working as a team. And - don't tell your brother this just yet, but if you all do well enough, I was thinking of entering you for the next round of chuunin exams."

"Really?" For the first time in weeks, Sasuke felt a stirring of enthusiasm. Getting promoted to chuunin meant better missions, more money, access to more information, and - most importantly - getting closer to his eventual goal of ANBU.

"Really - though you'll all have to improve a bit more before I consider it too seriously," Kakashi said, with the trace of a smile under his mask. "Even if you aren't promoted, it's a useful learning experience - well, as long as you survive it."

Sasuke's enthusiasm died again. He found another loose thread in the blanket and picked at it.

"Discouraged already?" Sasuke could practically hear the raised eyebrow in Kakashi's tone. "If you're that worried, the mortality rate has dropped a bit since -"

"I killed someone," Sasuke said.

"Did you, now."

"On the way back to Konoha." The loose thread had gotten wound around his fingers, and his fingertips were turning purple. "Two people. Orochimaru's followers. One of them attacked Sakura, the other one -" He couldn't say that Ukon and Sakon had been brothers; the words stuck in his throat. "- he was coming after us, and we laid a trap and it killed him."

"Good," said Kakashi, and Sasuke shot a glare at him. "You're a shinobi, after all. It's part of the job, though it shouldn't really have come up for a while since you're still a genin..."

"But - it's not -" Sasuke's hands knotted in the thin blanket.

"How many people do you think I've killed, Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't answer him.

"Well, I didn't keep track, but by your age I was a jounin, so - a lot, I would say," Kakashi said. "It was a different time, then. I take it you didn't enjoy killing those two?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"That's good, too." Kakashi's voice was cool and undisturbed. "Killing is sometimes a necessity, but it's better not to enjoy it too much."

They weren't exactly comforting words, but Sasuke found his hands relaxing. Even so, he couldn't quite bring himself to look at Kakashi as he said, "Don't tell Naruto. I'll tell him, but - not yet. He wouldn't understand."

"Oh?" Kakashi said. "Sakura already knows, I'm guessing, and it's not a good idea to keep secrets in a team..."

"Just - don't. Please." It had been bad enough seeing Naruto's unhappiness at the idea of killing Itachi, Sasuke couldn't tell him about killing Sakon and Ukon.

"Then I won't tell - as long as you do, eventually," said Kakashi.

Sasuke nodded, and they sat together in quiet for a few moments; the room was warm and golden with late-afternoon sunlight, and Sasuke didn't want to disturb the peace. One more question hung heavy in the back of his mind, however, and when Itachi hadn't reappeared after another minute of silence, he said, "Kakashi. Do you know about the mangekyou sharingan?"

"I know you didn't hear about that from your brother," Kakashi said, and Sasuke felt the jounin watching him. "Orochimaru?"

"Yeah." Sasuke gave Kakashi a quick sideways glance, but Kakashi's expression remained neutral. "He told me a little about it, and I already knew Itachi had it. Do you?"

"Not for lack of trying," Kakashi said. "I've done some - exercises with Itachi, but nothing that's worked yet."

Sasuke looked at him and saw something shadowed in Kakashi's visible face that almost put him off his next question; he had to force himself to ask, "Can you show me how to activate -"

"No," said Kakashi.

"But I need it!" Sasuke's hands tightened on the blankets again. "I know it's hard to get, Orochimaru said that much, but if I don't get stronger - I don't care what the cost is, I'll pay it, so -"

"You'd have to kill Naruto."

A minute later, Sasuke realized his fingers had gone numb. He tried to relax them, but their grip on the blanket only tightened.

"Or Sakura," Kakashi said inexorably, "or someone else equally close to you. That's the price for the mangekyou, Sasuke - taking your best friend's life. Still want it?"

Sasuke shook his head, because if he opened his mouth he would be sick. He would have made me kill Naruto, he thought, and heard Orochimaru's mocking laughter. He wanted to trick me into killing Naruto just to get stronger... He realized Kakashi was watching him, and managed to pry his fingers out of the hospital blanket, but the cloth's pattern had embossed itself into his skin. "What about you?" he said. "If you can activate it, did you -"

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Kakashi, his voice light but hard as steel. "Not today, anyway. Ah, and I wouldn't recommend talking to your brother about it, either."

Sasuke shook his head again, tasting bile in the back of his throat, and he swallowed hard. Stupid, but somewhere in his heart he had always hoped that Itachi had told the truth that day, when he had knelt in front of their father and the police and sworn that he hadn't killed Shisui. Foolish. Of course Itachi had killed him, even though they'd been best friends (like a brother, said the memory of a cousin), and it had been for power, just for those eyes (that could control the Kyuubi, that could summon black fire). Itachi had lied well enough to fool everyone.

"- still plenty of other techniques out there to learn," Kakashi was saying, and Sasuke tried to look as if he'd been paying attention. "In fact, if you do end up in the chuunin exams, there's one in particular that might be useful - it's my one original jutsu, and it's only really possible for -"

The door banged open, and Sasuke jumped, his left hand going for a kunai holster he wasn't wearing. Seeing Itachi in the doorway did nothing to calm his nerves; Itachi was pale as a ghost. "Sasuke," he said, "about what Kakashi-san was saying -"

Sasuke tensed to run.

"It's true," Itachi said, and he smiled, a wide and open smile that Sasuke hadn't seen on his face in years. "The Hokage's pardoned you for your involvement with Orochimaru."

"Oh," Sasuke said. His throat felt strangely numb. "Oh - great." Kakashi said something, but Sasuke didn't hear it. He was too busy trying to find the relief that he should be feeling, but he couldn't seem to find any feelings at all.

He realized Itachi was talking to him again and started to listen. "- have to give a full report of what happened," Itachi was saying, "but it's just a debriefing, not a trial, and I can be present if it would help."

You killed Shisui. "Okay," Sasuke said.

Kakashi reached for his crutch and began to lever himself out of the chair. "I'm glad I could be the bearer of good news, for once," he said. "Well, I suppose we've covered all we needed to cover, so I'm going to go check on Sakura."

"Thank you for visiting," said Itachi, bowing slightly. "And for the good news."

Sasuke fumbled for something to say, and ended up with, "Tell Sakura I'll visit her soon." Getting reports from Naruto wasn't the same; he wanted to see how she was doing for himself. He had sort of missed her, the last couple of days. At least she knew how to be quiet without being creepy.

"Sure, sure," Kakashi said.

When he was gone Itachi took the chair again, and said, "What did you and Kakashi talk about?"

"Just team stuff," Sasuke said, looking down at the blanket. "Missions, training - that kind of thing."

Itachi didn't ask any further, and Sasuke was silently grateful - until Itachi said, "The Hokage may have decided to let you off, but don't relax too much. I haven't decided how I'll punish you yet..."

Oh, damn. Sasuke had been too worried about dying to consider any other punishment.

"I think - you should probably be grounded," Itachi said. "For at least a year. And you'll have to wash and dry all the dishes for - hm - six months."

"Itachi!"

"Or you can do all the laundry for as long as you're grounded," Itachi said, with the trace of a smirk at the corners of his mouth. "Something like that. I'll have to think about it very carefully."

"You're a jerk," Sasuke said, but the familiar prickly feeling of brotherly irritation was better than no feelings at all.

"And you're an idiot," said Itachi, smiling again as he stood up. "I have a few errands to take care of that I've been putting off - I'll be back later. If Naruto-kun stops by again, tell him I'm sorry I missed him."

"I will," Sasuke said.

Itachi left; Sasuke lay back down, stared up at the ceiling with its spiderwebbing cracks and signs of old repairs, and tried not to think about anything as the cracks blurred into the black blades of the mangekyou.

Chapter Text

Sasuke was eager to take advantage of his recently regained freedom to go see Sakura, but as usual, Naruto was holding things up. "I know it's in here somewhere, okay," Naruto said as he dug through his pack, "I packed it special and everything!"

"Just give him the stupid souvenir later," Sasuke hissed.

"No way, if I put it off now I'll totally forget, yanno!"

Sasuke had to concede the truth of that, although he didn't care if Naruto ever found the thing or not; he couldn't believe it had actually survived the trip home. Itachi was watching them both with mild amusement, which got on Sasuke's nerves. He elbowed Naruto and said, "Hurry up already."

"Geez, I'm looking, I'm looking..." Naruto tossed junk out of his pack - old blunted shuriken, stale candy, wadded-up bits of scrap paper and tangled wire - and finally yanked out the tissue-wrapped mask. "Found it!" he said, and proudly held it out towards Itachi. "Your super-awesome souvenir brought back by me, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Itachi took the mask with a smile - he had been smiling a lot more often since yesterday, after Sasuke had gotten pardoned; it was kind of creepy - and started unwrapping it. "That was very thoughtful of you," he said. "I'm sure it's -"

The tissue paper parted to reveal the orange mask's spirals and single eyehole, and Sasuke saw Itachi freeze.

"D'you like it?" Naruto asked, bouncing up and down. "It's totally cool, right? Right?"

"Where did you find this?" Itachi said; something in his voice made the back of Sasuke's neck prickle, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. "Did someone give it to you?"

"Nah, I found it myself at a festival. There were lots of cool masks, but that one was the coolest, yanno, so I thought you'd like it!" Maybe Naruto had noticed the tone in Itachi's voice after all, because he said, "Hey, is it okay? You do like it, right?"

"Of course," said Itachi, with some effort, and Sasuke watched him force his fingers to loosen their white-knuckled grip on the edges of the mask. "Thank you, Naruto-kun. Do you happen to remember who sold it to you?"

"Uhh - some old guy? That was like weeks ago, I don't really remember... Is it important or something?"

"I'm just curious," Itachi said. "Do you remember anything about that man?"

"Um - er..."

Even for Itachi, trying to get information out of Naruto's thick head could take all morning. "I'm going ahead," Sasuke said, and slipped out of the door of his room before either of them could stop him.

Naruto had told him Sakura's room number earlier, so it was easy enough to find; the door was open, and as he approached he heard the noise of conversation. He paused, not wanting to interrupt, and recognized the voice of Sakura's blonde friend, Ino. "- and Asuma-sensei's been a total slavedriver lately," she was saying. "Like, okay, we know we have to get ready for the exams or whatever, but we still need some free time! I practically had to beg just so I could come see you."

"Heh, sorry," Sakura said. "I should be out of here pretty soon..."

"Don't you be sorry, forehead," said Ino. "I'm gonna give that Uchiha a piece of my mind for not looking after you! Some teammate he is, letting you get stabbed - I should -"

"Ino-chan, it wasn't like that!"

Sasuke had overheard enough; he turned away and stalked off, his shoulders rigid. Of course it didn't matter that he'd been pardoned by the Hokage, he'd been stupid to think otherwise. He'd been stupid to come back to Konoha at all, he should have just gone with Orochimaru to get stronger and let Tsunade and Sakura come back by themselves and let Naruto be the big stupid hero and never, never have come back to the village except to kill Itachi...

"Sasuke-kun!"

He was suddenly enveloped in the embrace of a faintly ramen-scented sleeve and long, dark hair. He jumped, but didn't try to escape. "Haku?"

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Haku said, releasing Sasuke and stepping back a little. "I was only - oh, it's so good to see you again. I left the hospital to stay at Naruto's, and I didn't hear until just now that you and Naruto-kun and Sakura were back... I've missed all of you so much."

Haku didn't look very well; his face was paler than usual and thinner, and guilt smothered Sasuke's rage. He didn't really want to leave Haku and Naruto and Sakura and be on his own, he was just angry about Sakura's stupid friend. "How's your arm?" he said.

"Ah - it's about the same." Haku held out his right arm, still encased in its cast with the fingers splinted, and gave Sasuke a forced smile. "It'll be a long time before it heals, I think."

Sasuke was about to suggest that Tsunade look at it - she should be able to do something, since a broken arm wasn't bloody - but before he opened his mouth Haku had taken his hand. "Were you coming to see Sakura?" Haku said. "Her room is back this way - I asked the nurse at the front desk."

Sasuke didn't want to deal with Ino, but he couldn't think of an excuse for not visiting Sakura, so he let Haku pull him along back towards Sakura's room. Haku released Sasuke's hand to knock once on the open door, and Sakura called out, "Come in!"

She was sitting up in the hospital bed, with Ino sitting in the chair next to her, but the blonde jumped up as soon as she saw Sasuke. "Looks like I need to go," she said, "I don't want to, like, get in the way of your team bonding or whatever."

"Oh, don't be like that," Sakura said, "of course you can stay - we still have lots to catch up on, please -"

"No, I better get back to training," said Ino; she flipped her hair and glared at Sasuke. "It'd be pretty bad if, like, I didn't train enough and one of my teammates got hurt or something."

"Ino, stop it!"

"I'm sorry that we interrupted your visit," Haku said, smiling gently.

"Oh, no problem, Haku-san," Ino said, and her voice softened. "I've missed seeing you around - come stop by the shop any time, we'd be totally glad to see you! It's always nice to talk with someone who really knows their flowers, you know? See you later, Sakura."

When Ino had gone, with Haku's assurances of a future visit, Sakura said, "I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun - I tried to explain it was just the mission going wrong, I don't know why she's so mad."

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke muttered, and moved aside so that Haku could take the chair. He tried to think of something for them to talk about - anything would do, if it meant he didn't have to talk about the stupid mission again - and saw a small pile of scrolls and books on the table by Sakura's bed, along with the usual flowers. "What are you reading?"

"Oh, these?" Sakura said. "They're some medical texts, Tsunade-sama gave them to me to study. They're really interesting - this one's about using chakra to stimulate cellular regeneration! Did you know -"

In no time, Sasuke was completely lost; medical jutsu had never held any interest for him. Haku had a better time following along, even asking the occasional question, and after a couple of minutes Sasuke gave up and just listened to them talk. It was relaxing enough, he supposed, and at least he had finally seen for himself that Sakura was fine.

She broke off in the middle of some theory or other and said, "Oh, but I'm just going on and on - Sasuke-kun, how are you? Naruto said you were doing well, but you know Naruto - he also said you went to visit the Kazekage with Gaara and then yelled at him. You didn't really yell at the Kazekage, did you?"

"Um," Sasuke said, and mentally cursed Gaara, the Kazekage, and most of all stupid, tattletale Naruto. Couldn't he ever keep his mouth shut? "Well -"

"Have you heard how the Hokage's doing?" she asked, apparently too full of questions to wait for actual answers. "Have you seen Kabuto-san around? I thought I would've seen him by now, but I haven't..."

"He's gone," said Haku.

"Gone?" Sakura said, and Sasuke felt a grim sort of triumph. "But - why? Did something happen?"

"He was discovered releasing a prisoner," Haku said, dull and toneless, as if he were reciting boring poetry from memory. "As well as plotting to kill the Kages. He didn't succeed, but regrettably he and the prisoner escaped."

Sasuke gave Haku a sharp look - Haku sounded way too detached not to have been involved somehow - but Sakura only said, "Oh no, that's terrible - and to think - Sasuke-kun, how did you know?"

"Kabuto was also the one who killed Zabuza-san," Haku said before Sasuke could answer, and Sakura's mouth dropped open. "It seems that he served many masters, including Akatsuki."

Sasuke wanted to say I told you so, but the deadness in Haku's voice stopped him. It must have been frustrating, he thought, to have been so close to someone who'd murdered your friend and been helpless... He slid a step closer to Haku and, unable to think of a better gesture, elbowed Haku's shoulder awkwardly. Haku seemed to get the intent anyway, and smiled up at Sasuke.

"I just can't believe it," Sakura said. "Kabuto-san was the one who - and he was working for that awful Orochimaru, too - and I - ooh, if I ever see him again he's not going to know what hit him!" She was scowling so hard that Sasuke almost stepped back, and then wished that he had as she grabbed his hands. "Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry! I'll never doubt you again, not ever!"

Haku tactfully took Sakura's hands away from Sasuke's and said, "Thank you, Sakura. Perhaps one day we'll have the chance to settle things with that man."

"Oh yes, I - I hope so," Sakura said; for some reason her cheeks had turned pink, and she was looking at Haku like - well, like the way she'd used to look at Sasuke.

Before Sasuke could completely process this observation, the door banged open. Finally, Naruto had shown up, he thought, and started to say "You're late" when he saw that it was Jiraiya standing in the doorway and beaming at them all. "Greetings, my cute little ex-apprentices!" Jiraiya said. "And your lovely young friend - ah - Haku-chan, was it?"

"Yes, sir."

Jiraiya pulled a tragic face of noble restraint instead of pouncing on Haku, and said, "I have some news for you all, and especially - eh, but where's Naruto?"

"With Itachi," Sasuke said. "I'll go get him." Itachi should be pretty close to giving up on questioning Naruto by now, anyway.

"No, no, I'll go," said Jiraiya, "I want to have a word or two with young Itachi myself. Don't let me interrupt your visit, I'll be right back!"

He left, banging the door closed behind him, and Sasuke said, "I'm going, too."

"But you only just got here," Sakura said, "you don't have to -"

"I'll come back later," he said, hesitated, then added, "Glad you're doing better. It was good to see you too, Haku."

As he shut the door, he heard Sakura say, "Honestly, I just don't understand him at all," and then Haku say something quietly in reply. That stung a little, but he shrugged it off; he'd seen she was fine, he didn't need to hang around her all day, at least not till they were all out of the hospital and working again, and he left them both behind.

Sasuke had meant to go back to his room and get Naruto - and maybe find out what Jiraiya wanted with Itachi - but instead he found himself heading for the hospital's roof. Outside, it was a bright, sunny day with only a few small clouds in the sky, and a steady, pleasantly cool breeze blew across the roof; Sasuke settled down near the fence at the edge, and relaxed into the glorious feeling of being alone. He'd been surrounded by people - well, mostly Itachi - almost non-stop for days, he needed this time on his own. If only to figure out how to tell Sakura that yes, he had shouted at the Kazekage, who had deserved it anyway.

He passed hours in blissful solitude as he lay back on the roof, watching the clouds; the sky was darkening to deeper shades of blue edged with burnt orange when Sasuke heard someone he could recognize immediately come up onto the roof. He pushed himself up and said, "Where have you been all day?"

"Looking for you, jerk," Naruto said, and sat down next to Sasuke. "You kinda ran off on me, yanno? And then the pervy sage wanted to talk with me about some stuff, and then when I went to see Sakura-chan Haku was there too so we talked a lot, did you hear about Kabuto? Super creepy! Why didn't you just tell me he was that guy who killed Zabuza, I would've believed you, you're such a jerk sometimes... Anyway then I was looking for you and I ran into Gaara so we - uh - okay we didn't really talk all that much but we hung out for a while, he said his dad promised not to try and kill him anymore and maybe talk to him sometimes, so that's definitely a step up! And then I was looking for you again and I was like, so if I was a great big antisocial jerk, where would I go, and -"

"I get the idea, dumbass," Sasuke said. He elbowed Naruto on general principle and said, "So? What did Jiraiya want with you?"

"Right - yeah..." Naruto stretched his legs out and leaned back, supporting himself on his hands. "Well, you know how I said I thought he was spying on Akatsuki? I totally called it! He was telling me a little about them, he said he thinks they're looking for people like me with, uh, 'special talents,' so I guess he meant hosts? And they might come looking for me in Konoha again and that could get really bad, so - um - he said he wanted me to go train with him for a while, just to be on the safe side and also then I can get stronger, yanno... I told him I wanted to talk with you first, though."

"Do it," Sasuke said. "You need all the training you can get, and we need more information on Akatsuki." It'd be annoying to be separated from Naruto again so soon, but it wouldn't kill him; he could use a month or so to tell Haku the truth about Itachi, and figure out how Sakura and Haku could help investigate. "How long? Kakashi said he wanted to enter our team for the chuunin exams, so you'd better be back before -"

"Um - a couple of years."

Sasuke almost said, How many months was that? and didn't, because it would be pointless. He'd heard Naruto fine, he just didn't want to have heard what Naruto had said, and there was nothing Sasuke could think of to say. Naruto would be gone for years? It would have been a stupid joke, if it weren't true.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you first, yanno," Naruto said, "because, I mean, a couple months is one thing, but years is a lot! And Itachi's been super nice and all recently, but I don't wanna leave you all alone with him anyway, that'd be a really jerky move. Okay, I guess you kinda have Sakura on your side too now and you can tell Haku whenever, but I was here first so - yeah, I can just tell the pervy sage no and -"

"No."

"Huh?"

"No," Sasuke said, hating the word, hating that it was painful to say. "The pervy - Jiraiya's right. You can't risk getting caught by Akatsuki, or drawing them into the village. When's he leaving?"

"Uh - day after tomorrow, I think?" Naruto said. "He said something about his deadlines..."

That soon? Sasuke swallowed down a rush of hate for the old pervert and said, "Then you should go with him so you can find out what he knows about Akatsuki, what they have to do with Itachi, about Orochimaru - anything you can get out of him. And try to actually learn something and get stronger this time."

"Hey, I'm way stronger now!" Naruto protested. "I learned the rasengan and everything!"

"Whatever, dead-last," Sasuke said, although Naruto hadn't really been dead-last in years, and he elbowed Naruto again, harder this time.

Naruto yelped and tackled Sasuke, and they rolled across the roof in a familiar scuffle of knees and elbows jammed into soft spots, punches, scratching, and pulled hair, until Sasuke ended up with Naruto pinned beneath him. He smirked down at Naruto and said, "What was that about getting stronger, loser?"

"I was holding back, yanno," Naruto said, scowling; he tried to wriggle away, but Sasuke was ready for it and shifted his weight to keep Naruto in place. "Seriously, I was! Anyway I didn't use the rasengan and that's a super strong move, I totally would've won if I used it!"

"Yeah? Prove it." Sasuke sat back and let Naruto get up, and activated his sharingan - Danzo's stupid conditions didn't apply anymore, he might as well see if he could copy the technique.

The first seal was just the one Naruto used for his shadow clones, but only one appeared next to him instead of the usual ten. Naruto himself held out his right hand, and blue chakra began to gather in his palm; the clone's hands darted over the chakra as it swirled and began to form a ball, like the one Jiraiya had used against the thugs. When the chakra ball was big enough to cover his hand, Naruto drew it back as the clone disappeared, and Sasuke abruptly realized that without any other target available, Naruto was going to hit him with the rasengan.

Naruto charged. Sasuke leaped aside, caught Naruto's arm, and threw him at one of the water tanks on the roof. Naruto's hand went through the metal as if it were paper, and a watery bong rang out inside the tank.

Sasuke breathed out with relief, then saw Naruto trying to tug his hand out of the tank; he rolled his eyes and jumped up to help pull Naruto free. "Great technique for getting stuck in things," he said.

"Hey, you're the one who threw me off!" Naruto twisted his arm around, and the thin metal of the tank warped just enough for him to get his hand out. "I wasn't really gonna hit you with it, you jerk... Anyway, it's a pretty cool move, right?"

"Sure, whatever," Sasuke said, and jumped back down to the roof with a splash. He lifted one foot out of the water to shake it off, then froze. The water was ankle-deep, and where the hell had it -

He waded around to the other side of the water tank, with Naruto splashing along behind him and whining about his wet sandals; from there he could see that the entire back of the tank had blossomed open, and the last dregs of the water within were gently dripping down the sides. A distant shouting rose from the street below and from a few of the hospital's open windows.

"Oops," said Naruto.

Oh, shit, Sasuke thought; then he grabbed Naruto's arm again and said, "Come on, we have to get out of here," and, in the wild dash back to his room, he managed to push Naruto's imminent departure to the back of his mind.

The next morning a medic came by for the usual rounds of poking, prodding, and questioning, and finally she declared him fit to go home. "We probably could have released you yesterday," she said, "but Tsunade-sama was concerned about the length of time the infection went untreated - seems that you're doing well, though. I've got a prescription here for a course of antibiotics you'll need to take for the next few days to be on the safe side."

Itachi, who had been hovering in the background, took the paper from the medic before Sasuke could. "I'll take care of this," he said. "Why don't you go on ahead and find your friends? I'm sure they'll be glad to hear that you're being released."

Sasuke shrugged, but he was happy enough just to be leaving the hospital room for good; he grabbed what was left of the candy from the table by the bed to stuff into his pockets (maybe he could dump it on Naruto as a going-away - as snacks for the - just dump it on Naruto and get rid of it) and was out the door before Itachi could change his mind.

He started with a desultory search for Naruto, but he didn't really want to find Naruto or Jiraiya and be forced to think about Naruto leaving, so after a few minutes he headed for Sakura's room instead. With any luck Haku would be there, and they could have a talk about Itachi and make some plans... But when he got there, Sakura was in the hallway with a neat bundle of clothing in her arms, and Tsunade was talking to her.

Enough people were moving around in the hall and making noise that he couldn't hear their conversation, and he didn't want to eavesdrop anyway; he dodged a pair of medics passing by and said, "Hey, Sakura," loudly enough to get her attention.

She jumped. "Oh, Sasuke-kun! Sorry, I didn't see you - I have the best news, Tsunade-sama is going to fix Haku's arm!"

"I thought it was already fixed," Sasuke said.

"Pfft, if you can call it that," Tsunade said, crossing her arms. "They weren't thorough enough cleaning up the nerve and muscle damage, and the arm's not up to speed - well, I don't want to make promises, but I can at least give the kid a chance at full function."

"She's going to do it this afternoon," Sakura said, bouncing a little, "and I'm allowed to observe, isn't that great? Ah, but I have to go home really quickly first - I was released just now, my parents are waiting at the front desk."

Tsunade roughed up Sakura's bangs and said, "I said maybe you could observe. Maybe. Since it's a rush job, they might not want to let anyone watch."

"Why not wait, then?" Sasuke said.

"It's now or never," said Tsunade, "I'm out of here first thing tomorrow morning. Don't give me that stupid look, kid, I told Jiraiya up front I wasn't going to stay. I wasn't back here two days before they were trying to drag me into politics -" Sasuke remembered a conversation in the dark and tensed. "- and I don't want any part of that crap, so now that the Kages are out of the woods and you two are better, I'm leaving. And it's going on noon, so I need to go get things in motion for this Haku kid - Sakura, you'd better let me know your answer by this evening. Good luck if I don't see you again, Sasuke." She ruffled Sakura's hair again and then strode off down the hall, yelling for Shizune.

For a few moments, Sakura fussed with her bundle of clothes and Sasuke watched her; then Sasuke said, "What did Tsunade ask you?"

"Ah, um, what? Oh, that..." Sakura turned pink. "Well, you know we talked a lot on the way home, and she's been by to talk with me some more, and she offered - um, she sort of asked if I wanted to go study with her, to become a medic and get stronger, too... I'm still thinking, but it's a really amazing opportunity! I'd miss you guys a lot, though, and Ino-chan and Haku-san, and I need to talk with my parents, so I -"

"So you're leaving, too." A dull pounding echoed in Sasuke's head.

"Um - I'm still thinking about it, it's a big decision - I might just -"

"Get out of here," Sasuke hissed, his hands knotted into fists. First Naruto, now Sakura - he'd been stupid to trust either of them, stupid to rely on them, stupid to rely on anyone but himself. "Just run away, you coward. You said you'd help me, but you don't have the guts, you or Naruto - so fine, run away! Who would need a pair of spineless, weak, useless -"

Sakura's punch slammed into his face and turned his head. "Sasuke-kun, you - you great big jerk!" she yelled; her cheeks were red again, this time with anger, but there were tears in her eyes, too. "I said I was still thinking about it, but now I'm definitely going! Idiot! Stupid Sasuke-kun!"

She turned and ran in the same direction that Tsunade had gone, and Sasuke shouted after her, "Go ahead and run away! I don't care if you leave - I don't need a coward like you!"

He touched his cheek to check the damage - Sakura had gotten stronger than he'd realized - and saw that everyone in the hallway was staring at him; people had even come out of their rooms to stare at him, whispering with other onlookers in the hall, and his face stung with more than the force of Sakura's punch. Days of half-stifled resentment flared up, and his sharingan flickered on. Several people flinched and ducked back into their rooms as he glared around the hallway, others hurried away, and Sasuke stalked off towards the hospital's main entrance, collecting stares as he went. Once there his pace sped up until he had gone through the doors and then he was running, leaping to the roofs and going as fast as he could until he reached home and he could close his room's door behind him and shut everything out.

It was mid-afternoon when Sasuke heard Itachi call out, "I'm home - Sasuke, are you here?" He didn't feel like answering, but he didn't want Itachi barging in to his room either, so he rolled over on his bed and stretched his leg out enough to kick his door. Not much of a reply, but it seemed be enough to satisfy Itachi, who didn't come in; Sasuke rolled over again and went back to staring at the wall.

He had been staring at that wall for hours, after a short but violent round of shoving everything he owned that reminded him of Naruto or Sakura into drawers or otherwise out of sight. He couldn't bring himself to move; the rage in him wasn't fading away or softening into anything else, it just kept boiling up and over, and anything he did would end up with him trying to destroy his room or worse.

He was a fool. He'd always been one. Relying on others, relying on an idiot like Naruto and a weakling like Sakura of all people - that was no way to get strong. He'd only made himself weak, depending on them; it was Gaara who had been right before, only fighting for himself, never trusting anyone else. That was real strength. If only Sasuke had gone with Orochimaru, then he would be getting stronger right now, learning the hundreds, even thousands of techniques that Orochimaru must have gathered over the years, and he'd be the one who left Naruto and Sakura behind, abandoned and useless and lonely -

Not that he cared how they felt. It was their fault anyway. They just didn't have the guts to face reality, what it would take to fight Itachi and hunt down the truth.

He could hear Itachi moving around in the main room, which was odd; Itachi probably should have gone back to work by now, and even if he was still taking time off for whatever reason, he never made unnecessary noise. The thought briefly crossed Sasuke's mind that Itachi was doing it to be reassuring, but that would just be weird - it was better than hearing nothing while knowing Itachi was there, though. Sasuke curled up a little and went back to hating everything.

Some time later he heard someone knocking on the apartment door, and then a babble of instantly recognizable voices that made him pull his pillow over his head.

There was a light tapping at his bedroom door, and he lifted the pillow slightly so he could hear better. "Your teammates are here to see you," Itachi said.

"I don't care! Make them go away."

"Naruto said that they're leaving tomorrow," said Itachi. "Don't you want to -"

"They can go to hell!" Sasuke pulled the pillow back over his head until the muffled voices he could still hear went away; it took longer than he wanted, but after a while they were gone and he could take the pillow off his head and stop suffocating.

The light through his window was lengthening and turning gold when he heard the door bang open and Anko shout, "Made it! Hey, where's the brat?"

Itachi's reply was inaudible but long.

"Eh, let him sulk," Anko said loudly, and Sasuke knew she was being that loud on purpose so that he would hear her. "He'll come out when he's hungry, or he can just starve for a while. What's for dinner, anything good?"

Sasuke buried his head in his pillow again and added Anko to the list of everything he hated.

It wasn't long after that when Itachi knocked on his door again and said, "Dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry!" His stomach growled in protest, but he didn't feel like eating or facing Itachi, and he curled up a little tighter on the bed.

"You've been in there all afternoon," Itachi said. "Just come out and have dinner." A brief pause. "Please?"

"I said I'm not hungry!" Sasuke yelled, and threw the pillow at the door. "Leave me alone!"

After that Itachi did leave him alone to seethe in peace, though Sasuke could still hear him talking with Anko for a while until she banged the door again on her way out. By then it was dark and he was more hungry than angry, but he wasn't going to go out and run into Itachi after refusing to eat dinner; eventually he made himself get up and dig through his room until he found an old open bag of chips that was still half-full. He sat on his bed and ate them in the dark, although they were stale as well as some disgusting flavor he normally wouldn't have eaten - they must have been left by Naruto, and if he hadn't been so hungry that realization would have made him throw the bag away. When the chips were gone he lay down again, even knowing that he wasn't going to fall asleep.

Itachi's knocking woke him out of a fuzzy dream about giant flying fish that were somehow drowning in a whirlpool. "Sasuke, are you awake?"

"Hngrf," Sasuke said, wishing he had something heavier than a pillow to throw at the door. He felt terrible - his eyes hurt, his stomach was aching and sour with hunger, his clothes were wrinkled and sweaty, there were fragments of stale chips all over the bed... He rolled over, looked at his clock, and saw that it was already past seven in the morning.

"Your friend Haku is here," Itachi said. "Naruto and Sakura are going to be leaving soon - are you going to go see them off?"

"No."

There was a long pause where Sasuke could barely hear the murmur of Itachi and Haku's voices, and then Itachi said, "I'm going ahead to the gates. Haku will wait here for you if you change your mind - ah, and don't forget to take your antibiotics. The bottle is on the table, you should take one pill with breakfast and one at dinner."

"Whatever."

Sasuke could practically feel Itachi being disappointed through the door, and burrowed into his bed, chip fragments and all, until he heard the apartment door open and close. Then there was one soft tap, and Haku said, "Sasuke-kun, may I come in?"

"Sure, whatever," Sasuke said, but he didn't turn over to face the door as it opened. Yesterday's anger had finally subsided, but it had become an unpleasant sick feeling instead; he didn't want to talk to Haku, all he wanted was to stay in his room and never face the fact that Naruto and Sakura wouldn't be there the next time he left it.

Cloth rustled as Haku sat down by the bed, and a gentle hand brushed through Sasuke's hair, disturbing the chip fragments that had gotten stuck there. "It seems like you had a long night," he said.

"Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?"

"I did spend the night there, but Tsunade-sama told me that the surgery went very well." Haku's hand went away, and Sasuke turned over just enough to see that Haku's right arm was in a light, solid brace rather than a cast. "So no, I don't have to stay in the hospital any more, as long as I go back to have my arm checked."

That made the sick feeling lift a little, but Sasuke didn't say anything. With Naruto and Sakura gone, if he wanted any allies at all he would have to tell Haku the truth about Itachi, how Itachi had murdered their entire clan and gotten away with it - he'd have to go through it all over again, and Haku might not even believe him.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go see Naruto and Sakura?" said Haku. "They were worried about you, the last time I saw them..."

"I don't care," Sasuke said, staring at the wall again. "Idiots. They can do whatever the hell they want, I don't give a damn."

"You're not very good at lying, for a shinobi." Haku's voice was soft on the surface, but Sasuke could hear the ice underneath, sharp and hard. "It's not easy, I know that you'll miss them - I'm going to miss them, too."

"It's not the same!" Even as he said it, he knew it was stupid; Haku might not have been an official member of Team Seven, but he'd been living with Naruto and training with all of them, and he didn't have anyone besides them, really.

Haku didn't argue with him, which only made Sasuke feel worse. He ran his hand through Sasuke's hair again instead, and said, "It's dangerous outside the village, especially since Kumogakure and Kirigakure seem to have formed an alliance; there are a lot of things that could happen to Sakura and Naruto while they're gone. Do you want their last memories of you to be a fight?"

Sasuke's hands tightened in the sheets as he remembered Sakura's hurt, angry face, imagined Naruto's expression at They can go to hell, and if they never came back - he couldn't think about it, it was too terrible, it couldn't happen.

Finally he admitted, in a small, quiet voice that didn't sound like his at all, "I don't want them to leave."

"I don't, either." Haku stroked Sasuke's hair one more time before removing his hand. "I'm a little tired of the people I care about leaving me behind... Shall we go see them off together? Maybe it will be easier for us that way."

Sasuke didn't answer immediately; then he said, "Fine. Just - let me change clothes first."

"Of course."

Naruto and Sakura were already at the gates with Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya; the fact that they'd waited for him should have made Sasuke happy, but all he felt was a stab of dull guilt. Itachi was there too, talking to Jiraiya, but Naruto was the first to see Sasuke and Haku approaching. "Hey, you guys are late!" he said, waving. "You're gonna end up as bad as Kakashi-sensei, yanno."

"I will not," Sasuke said, but he couldn't force the usual bite into his voice. Naruto had a huge pack on his back, as did Sakura, unavoidable reminders of why they were at the gates. On top of that Tsunade was frowning at him; Sakura must have told her what Sasuke had shouted yesterday, and he wished that he hadn't come. This was going to be the second most miserable day of his life to date. Naruto was fidgeting, Sakura looking around nervously, and Jiraiya and Itachi's muted conversation had stopped as they watched the awkward group.

It was Haku who finally broke the silence with his usual grace. "I'm sorry we took so long," he said, smiling, "but it's hard to see you leave again so soon... I hope that your travels are safe."

"Yeah," Sasuke said, staring at the gates rather than anywhere near Sakura or Naruto.

"I'm so sorry, Haku-san," Sakura said, "I didn't even think - oh, I'm sorry -"

"Don't apologize," Sasuke said, but his voice was too harsh and he looked around to see Sakura glaring at him. "No, I just meant - it's not your fault. You don't have to apologize." Yes, she does, a mean voice in his head whispered, they both do, they should both be on their knees, and he choked it down. "Sorry about yesterday."

He didn't feel sorry, but Sakura's expression softened. "It's okay, Sasuke-kun," she said, "I know you were just upset - it was awful timing, I'm sorry, I didn't know that Naruto was leaving too or I - I wouldn't have -"

Tears were gathering in her eyes, and Sasuke wanted to crawl back into his bedroom and never come out. Even Naruto was still being weirdly quiet, shifting his weight back and forth from one foot to the other, until Tsunade said, "Oh, chin up, girl, you're not going to your own execution, any of you. Honestly, you lot are soft as a bunch of rabbits..."

"Ahh, Princess, don't be too rough on them," said Jiraiya, although Tsunade's tone hadn't been harsh at all, and he rubbed Naruto's head. "We are going to be gone for quite a while - sorry it's so sudden, kids, but editors - heh - what can you do?"

Sasuke stared furiously at the ground and wished Jiraiya had died on the mission to find Tsunade.

"Aww, c'mon, it won't be so bad," Naruto said, punching Sasuke's shoulder. "I'm gonna write you guys every day! Twice a day! Yeah!"

"Yes, of course," Sakura said, "I will too - I'll write all about everything I learn, I'll write every day too!" Her voice wobbled.

"And yanno, you can go see the guys me and Jiraiya and Shizune brought back," Naruto said. "They're kinda jerks, but I don't think they're too bad, really - well, maybe Kin -"

"You want me to go talk to your prisoners?" Sasuke looked up just to give Naruto an incredulous glare.

Sakura matched it. "Naruto! Sasuke doesn't want to visit people who were trying to kill us, what kind of awful idea is that?"

"But they didn't try all that hard, I mean, besides liking that Orochimaru guy they were sorta okay, and maybe if you hang out with them they'll figure out that Konoha's way better than -"

"I would be happy to visit them," Haku said, stunning Sakura into silence before she could do more than open her mouth. "I'm sure that Ibiki-san will let me see them once I explain, and they could probably use a friend at the moment."

"I know, right? Thanks a ton, Haku!" Naruto grinned for the first time. "They'll totally like you, probably way more than this sour-faced jerk here -"

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke said, "I'm not going to visit your stupid prisoners, anyway," and for a moment everything was fine, everything was normal, nothing was changing.

Then Tsunade said, "We need to hit the road before it gets much later - say whatever you have to and let's go."

The four of them looked at each other, speechless; Sasuke tried desperately to think of something to say that wouldn't sound stupid, but his mind was blank and panicky. He couldn't say good-bye, he couldn't say it and watch his team walk away from him...

Sakura suddenly bit her lips, closed her eyes, and hugged Sasuke. "I'm going to miss you so much," she said into his shoulder, "I promise I'll get lots stronger and then I'll come right back, I promise!"

Naruto flung his arms around them both and he was babbling away too, swearing that he'd get super strong, he'd be back soon, it would be okay; Haku rested his good arm across Naruto and Sakura's shoulders, leaning his head against Sasuke's, and for once Sasuke didn't push any of them away. He couldn't, because out of sight his hands were clutching Naruto's shirt and Sakura's dress.

For a few moments they stayed that way, a perfect, tangled knot, and then Tsunade said, "All right, time to go." Her voice was gentle as she disentangled Sakura from Naruto and Sasuke, though, and after Jiraiya had pulled Naruto away and Haku had stepped back, she said, "Hey, Uchiha?"

Sasuke started to protest being called Uchiha again, but before he could Tsunade had leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Look after the place for me till I get back, will you?" she said, smiling, and Sasuke felt his face grow hot, his forehead practically burning. Of all the humiliating things for her to do in public...

Itachi stepped up and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, stopping him from doing anything embarrassing like running away. "Thank you very much for looking after my brother," Itachi said to Jiraiya and Tsunade. "Naruto, Sakura, please take care - and Naruto, try not to cause too much trouble for Jiraiya-sama."

"I won't!" Naruto stuck his tongue out. "I'm gonna be super good so I can learn all the best moves! I'll be even stronger than you when I get back, just watch!"

"Me, too," Sakura said, wiping at her eyes. "Um, well - I guess it depends, but I'm going to try my best! You'll see, Sasuke-kun, we'll be the strongest team e-ever..."

"I'm sure that you'll both do very well," said Itachi, and Haku nodded in agreement, and Sasuke still couldn't say anything and Naruto and Sakura were going to leave any moment and he wouldn't have told them good-bye.

Finally he managed to force out, "Don't be late."

"Hey, we're not the ones stuck with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said. "Don't worry! We'll be back in like no time, so - so -"

"Okay, okay, I think he gets it," Jiraiya said. "Stay good, kid - Itachi-kun, don't forget what we talked about. Come on, Naruto, let's go!"

"We do need to get moving, Sakura."

And that was it. Naruto and Sakura turned back as they went through the gates and waved at Sasuke, and he waved back once, and then they had to turn around again and keep walking away as Sasuke and Haku watched.

"It's all right, Sasuke," said Itachi, and Sasuke became hatefully aware again of the weight of Itachi's hand on his shoulder. "They'll be back before you know it... I know it's not as good as training with one of the Sannin, but I'll try to take more time off so that we can train together. And there are a lot of other strong shinobi in the village that you can learn from - it really won't be as bad as you think."

"Sure," Sasuke said, biting down on the inside of his cheek, and the taste of blood filled his mouth.

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(Nice Dream)

Hokuto

Summary:

Notes:

Inspired by The Butterfly Effect by Skinner (psiten).

Chapter 1: as dead as leaves

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Chapter 2: so lock the kids up safe tonight

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Chapter 3: keep the wolf from the door

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Chapter 4: like I was a brother

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Chapter 5: just to start a fight

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Chapter 6: you'll only see your reflection: I

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Chapter 7: so knives out, catch the mouse

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Chapter 8: you'll only see your reflection: II

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Chapter 9: got the smell of a local man

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Chapter 10: either way you turn

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Chapter 11: don't want the monster taking over

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Chapter 12: walk into the jaws of hell

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Chapter 13: damaged goods

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Chapter 14: spoke too soon

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Chapter 15: hunting bears

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Chapter 16: eat you alive

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Chapter 17: gave me sunshine

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Chapter 18: left me alone

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Hokuto on Chapter 1

Comment Actions

pentapus on Chapter 1

Comment Actions

Hokuto on Chapter 1

Comment Actions

csad21 on Chapter 2

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