Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Flamethrower	By : LostinThought8 Category: Naruto AU/AR > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1349 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I make no money off of writing this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Author’s Note: Wow, has it really been a month since I updated last? Being back at school really does take away a lot of time I could spend writing. The good news is, this is a nice, long chapter for you guys to enjoy. That makes up for my lateness in updating a little bit, I hope.

As always, this story is also being uploaded to my FF account, Light Within Darkness. The link may be found in my profile.

WARNINGS: The Uchiha massacre is discussed in this chapter. That means there’s blood, death, murder, crazy!Itachi, and PTSD!Sasuke. Also language, but that’s nothing new, I’m sure.

And now, without any further ado…

    When Sakura unwound Naruto’s bandages the next morning to check his wounds, there was nothing there. The formerly deep punctures in Naruto’s abdomen would normally have taken several weeks to heal. But the blond’s tanned skin was now smooth and unmarked, with not even the faintest scar to show where Haku’s senbon had been. This wasn’t the first time that Sakura had seen Naruto’s abnormally fast healing capabilities, but she still hadn’t quite gotten used to it.

   Naruto abruptly yanked his T-shirt down over his abdomen, feeling equal parts embarrassed and angry. Sakura usually acted like he was normal, as if Naruto hadn’t spent half of his life so far playing the part of human guinea pig for a group of sadistic scientists. Sometimes, though, even Sakura couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t a freak. Like now, when she’d been staring at his stomach with her eyes wide and mouth agape, as if seeing something miraculous. For Naruto, it was just another reminder that he’d never really be able to fit in with normal people.

   Sakura looked for a moment as if she wanted to say something, but with Sasuke busily packing up camp only a few feet away, she held her tongue. Naruto himself went to help, shoving things into his knapsack with what the pink-haired girl felt was unnecessary force.

   Sasuke, although he’d feigned ignorance, had secretly activated his Sharingan the moment Sakura had unwound Naruto’s bandages and the two of them were distracted. The dark-haired man had been hoping to learn more about his target, perhaps by getting a peek at the tattoo he’d heard was around Naruto’s belly button. Sasuke had been treated to the sight of Naruto’s stomach looking perfectly healed, which should have been impossible given the state of his wounds yesterday. There was also a faint red-orange glow around the blond’s midsection, the likes of which Sasuke had never seen before. For a few moments he was dumbstruck, a faint current of fear running down his spine for the first time in years. Sasuke had to force himself to continue packing up as if nothing was wrong. I’m not sure what exactly they did to you in Sound Country, Uzumaki Naruto…but it looks like you’re more special than I thought

    They arrived at Konohagakure by mid-morning. At this time of day the front gates were practically deserted. The villagers who tried to farm the dry, arid soil around town would have already gone out to the fields earlier in the day. Everyone else tended to stay within the safety of the town’s walls as they went about their various daily tasks. Only two guards were stationed in front of the old wooden gate marking the entrance into Konohagakure, though at the moment they didn’t seem particularly watchful. One of them was staring at a flock of birds passing by overhead, and the other one was slumped against the wall, drowsing in the heat.

   Sasuke tried to ignore the way his stomach was twisting around in knots at being back in his hometown after so many years. Konohagakure…the place where his quest for revenge had started all those years ago. Although he doubted that he would be recognized, Sasuke still donned the wide-brimmed, rice paper hat he kept in his knapsack. Rice paper hats were commonly worn by field workers, as well as travelers, in order to keep the sun out of their eyes. Most people didn’t bother giving Sasuke a second glance when he wore it.

   “Hey teme, what’s with the hat all of a sudden?”

   …But of course Naruto would have to ask a stupid question about it anyway. Lately, Sasuke could barely take a shit without the dobe pestering him about something or other. Patience, the dark-haired man sternly reminded himself. “It feels hotter out today, and this helps to keep me cool.”

   “Whatever, teme.” Naruto’s tone was still skeptical, but he let the matter drop.

   As the trio approached the main gate, Sakura fell into step beside Naruto and grabbed his hand. The blond looked sweaty and pale with nerves with each step he took towards his former home. His usual sunny smile was absent, replaced instead with an expression of grim determination. The look Sakura gave him was full of worry and concern, one that clearly read, Be careful. Try not to talk to anyone you don’t have to.

   Naruto smiled slightly down at the pink-haired girl. “Don’t worry, Sakura-chan, I’ll be OK,” he whispered, so that Sasuke wouldn’t hear. “We just get the water and go, right?”

   “Right,” Sakura smiled back and squeezed Naruto’s hand for reassurance.

   The guards stood at attention as they caught sight of the trio. Even the one who had been snoozing was suddenly wide awake, looking at them with sharp, suspicious eyes. Both guards rested their hands on the guns at their sides, clearly telling them to not try anything funny. Perhaps these two aren’t as stupid as I first thought, Sasuke mused.

   “State your business,” said one of the guards, a man with chin-length dark brown hair and long bangs that flopped over his right eye.

   “We’re just travelers,” Sakura said, holding her hands up in the universal gesture of peace. “We only want to fill our canteens.”

   The two men turned their attention away from Sakura and fixed dark, suspicious looks at Naruto and Sasuke. The blond gulped nervously as both pairs of eyes lingered over the scars on his cheeks. Sasuke stood tall and straight under the guards’ harsh stares, though he did shift his knapsack ever-so-slightly in order to better conceal the metal flamethrower strapped over his back.

   The two guards glanced at each other before seemingly coming to a decision. “Alright, you can go through,” said the other guard, a man with wild, spiky black hair and a strip of white bandage over his nose. “But if we catch any of you causing trouble in this town, we won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your back and dump your corpse out with the morning’s garbage.”

   “Yes sir,” Sakura said, somehow managing to keep her nervous voice steady. She, Naruto, and Sasuke scurried past the guards and into the town proper.

   Naruto was hit immediately with a sense of nostalgia. Konohagakure looked exactly as he remembered it. Rows of buildings lined the dirt streets, ranging in size from ramshackle little wooden huts that looked as if they’d fall apart in a stiff breeze, all the way to the two-story stone buildings that belonged to the town’s elite. A group of dirty, ragged children wrestled together in front of the nearest house, their shrill, joyful cries mingling with the shouts of merchants hawking their wares at the market place down the street.

And above it all at the far end of Konohagakure was Hokage Tower, standing tall and proud over the rest of the town. The Tower, as always, gleamed with fresh paint and metal reinforcements. Naruto’s father had always told him that the tower was like a proud sentry, watching over and protecting the citizens. The blond grinned, a warm feeling of happiness running through him at seeing it again.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Sasuke said, “I’m going to head down to the market and see if I can trade for supplies. I’ll meet up with you later.”

Sakura opened her mouth to argue, intending to say that they should all stick together and make decisions as a group. Then she remembered that Sasuke had only agreed to travel with them until they reached Konohagakure, and soon they would be parting ways. Sasuke had the right to make his own decisions about his supplies. So she nodded her assent. “We’ll see you later, Sasuke-kun.”

Sasuke turned and headed down the street, toward the cries of merchants. Naruto and Sakura stared after his retreating back. “You know,” Sakura said, “I feel a little sad about Sasuke-kun leaving us. You and him fought a lot, but…the three of us still made a great team.”

Naruto was quiet for a moment, trying to quell the sudden, inexplicable sadness that welled up in him upon realizing that Sasuke was going his own separate way now. Teme…making me feel weird stuff, and being all broody and shit. It’ll be good to see the back of him. “He was annoying anyway,” Naruto finally muttered. “Come on Sakura, let’s go to the well.”

“Naruto-!” Sakura cried out as the blond started tugging her towards the center of town. Although he knew it was unwise to seek anyone out or try to talk to people, Naruto couldn’t help but wonder if Kiba was still in Konohagakure, and Lee, and Iruka-sensei as well. He hoped that he’d at least get to see them somewhere around town before he left.

    Once Sasuke was satisfied that Naruto and Sakura were no longer able to see him among the groups of people heading down to the marketplace in threes and fours, the dark-haired man ducked away from the crowd. Pulling his rice paper hat down a bit further over his eyes, the dark-haired man went through a few of the dark, narrow alleyways between buildings, until he came out into a bare, dusty clearing behind a pile of wood that passed for someone’s home. The children of Konohagakure, Sasuke knew, often skipped out on their daily chores for a few hours and would play in the alleys and open spaces around houses. Sasuke had never joined them himself-after all, Uchihas did not play with the common town kids-but he’d seen these children as a young child himself, riding to the market on Itachi’s shoulders. The other children had all seemed to be filth-encrusted and wearing little more than rags as they darted around buildings and skirted shopkeepers. To Sasuke’s seven-year old mind, it had seemed like a wild and fun existence. He had begged his older brother to be allowed to play too, but Itachi had refused to let Sasuke out of his sight. “I don’t want you to get lost or hurt, otouto,” Itachi had said, smiling down at Sasuke in that enigmatic way he’d always had about him.

   Little seemed to have changed in the time since Sasuke had been gone. The children’s faces were still streaked and smudged with dirt, and they were still wearing old rags that were so faded they were nearly colorless. Sasuke went up to a small boy sitting at the edge of the dusty space, playing with an insect he’d caught while watching a nearby group of kids kick a rock around.

   “Hey,” Sasuke said. The kid looked up at him and was instantly on his feet, dropping the bug that had been crawling through his fingers onto the ground. He was small, not even coming up to Sasuke’s waist when standing.

   “My…my mommy says I’m not s’posed to talk with strangers,” the boy said warily as he backed away from Sasuke.

   “It’s OK, I’m not a stranger,” Sasuke said, kneeling down to the kid’s eye level and giving the boy what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I used to live here myself, back when I was your age. I was hoping you could answer a question I have.”

   The boy stopped backing away from him, although he still looked pretty wary and kept darting quick glances over towards the nearest alley. Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a bit of bread-quite stale by now, but still edible. He held it out to the boy. “Here.”

   The boy’s dark eyes brightened considerably at the sight of food. He nervously came back towards Sasuke and snatched the bread from his hand. The bit of food was gone in two bites, leaving crumbs mixed in with the dirt around the boy’s face. Sasuke had to hold back a wince. But it wasn’t like he was much better, after all, having not bathed in a least a week.

   “What do you want to know, mister?” All traces of fear were gone from the boy’s face. He was now standing right before Sasuke, gazing up at him adoringly. The dark-haired man had to suppress a smirk. Small morsels of food could buy trust so easily from the innocent and naïve people in the world.

   “Do you know if a man called Hatake Kakashi still lives in this town?” Sasuke asked. He fervently hoped that his former guardian still lived in Konohagakure. There was no other person Sasuke knew of who could help him fix his flamethrower.

   “Old Hatake-san? Yeah, he lives just down the road from the Hokage Tower.” The boy pointed. “It’s the last house at the end of the road.”

   “Thanks, kid.” Sasuke got to his feet and headed out through the alley. He felt relieved that Kakashi was still in Konohagakure. Admittedly, it hadn’t been likely that he would leave, but it was always best to make sure. There was only one other thing Sasuke had to do before seeing him…

   Little did the dark-haired man suspect that someone had been watching him speak to the little boy. Hidden in the shadows of a nearby building, a young man was focusing intently on Sasuke, to the point where throbbing veins stood out in sharp relief on his pale face. This man was unusual in that his clothes, although simple, were far cleaner than most of the townspeople’s. His long brown hair fell smoothly down to the small of his back. The man’s pale face was well-featured, and also free of dirt. But by far the strangest thing about this man were his eyes. They were a pale, pearly white color and reminded one of the thick blankets of fog that sometimes covered Konohagakure in the early morning.

   “I knew it,” the man muttered quietly to himself. “I guess you aren’t dead after all…Uchiha Sasuke.”

   The man was gone in the blink of an eye, racing down Konohagakure’s streets and alleys as if he had wings at his heels. I have to find Hinata-sama. We need to alert the Hokage of this immediately.

    “Wait a sec…Sakura? Are you Sakura?”

   Naruto and Sakura were in sight of the town’s main plaza, where a line of people waiting to use the well was already stretching through the plaza and around the nearby homes. Then a girl was running up to them and grabbing Sakura’s arm. Both Naruto and Sakura tensed up, preparing for a fight. But Sakura took a look at the girl, saw her long, pale blonde ponytail and blue eyes bright with hope. She gave a cry of disbelief, and the two girls were suddenly embracing while Naruto looked on, feeling very confused.

   “Ino!” Sakura cried. “I can’t believe it’s you! How…what are you doing here?”

   “You aren’t the only one who left the village, you know,” Ino let Sakura go, a huge grin on her face at finally getting to see her old friend again. “These two guys were passing through one day, and I begged them to take me along. You’d already been gone a year, and I sure as hell didn’t want to spend the rest of my life cutting up plants in that dinky little place. I was more than ready to set out and make my own way in the world.

   “So we traveled all around, looking for work. Did some odd jobs along the way-we helped gather crops and till fields, and I’d sometimes bind a broken limb or sell some healing herbs to sick people. Finally we ended up here in Konohagakure. While we were buying supplies, Chouji-he’s one of the guys I was traveling with-ended up breaking the jaw of some asshole that tried to pickpocket him. We got called before the Hokage, and I was so scared. I was sure we were gonna get thrown in jail or worse, but it turned out the guy was actually a wanted thief. Thanks to Chouji, the guards were finally able to catch him. So the Hokage asked us to stick around, and gave us jobs patrolling the town. We’ve been here for almost a year now, and look!” Ino cocked her hip, showing off a piece of wood, with the stylized Leaf symbol of Konohagakure carved into it, tied around her waist with a strip of black cloth like a belt. It was identical to those worn by the guards of Konohagakure. “We’ve been made town guards!”

   “Wow…” was all Sakura could say. The pink-haired girl was stunned at getting to see her childhood friend again, and even more surprised at hearing about Ino’s adventures. She could hardly believe that Ino, the cheerful, slightly snobby girl whose family had run the apothecary back home, was actually a guard now. Becoming a town guard was one of the best positions anyone could have. It meant stability and a permanent home. Sakura felt a slight pang of jealousy at Ino’s good fortune.

   “Uh, Sakura, who is this?” Naruto cut in. He was starting to feel apprehensive about this strange girl who’d suddenly started babbling out her life’s story in front of him. Even though Sakura seemed to know her, she was still a guard, and therefore someone who could ask uncomfortable questions and had the authority to act on them.

   “Oh-sorry!” Sakura ducked her head in embarrassment. She’d actually forgotten Naruto was there for a moment, she was so caught up in Ino’s story. “Ino, this is Naruto. We’ve been traveling together. Naruto, this is Ino, my old friend from when I was growing up.”

   Ino stepped forward and looked Naruto up and down. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze-it felt a little like she was undressing him with those sky-blue eyes. The blonde girl let out a low whistle of approval. “Nice, Sakura,” she said. “Very nice. Where’d you pick up this hottie?”

   “Um…around,” Sakura said lamely. It hit the pink-haired girl that while Ino had become a town guard, she and Naruto had been trapped in the Research Facility and were now on the run from Sound Country. There was no way Sakura could tell her friend all of that without putting them both in danger. And if there was one thing Ino loved to do, it was ask questions. Sakura couldn’t allow Ino to pry the details of the last year of her life out of her. “Anyway, we really should be getting some water, we can’t stick around-”

   “So what have you been up to, Sakura?” Ino cut in, apparently having not heard her friend. “You have to tell me everything-” She cut herself off suddenly, her eyes going up to stare, surprised, at Sakura’s head. “Oh my gosh, your hair! You’ve cut it all off…and not very well, either.” The blonde girl reached out to finger the choppy, uneven ends of Sakura’s pink hair, which currently fell to the top of her shoulders.

   Sakura jerked her head away from Ino’s hand. “I just felt like a change, is all,” she said shortly. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to Ino the actual circumstances behind her new, short haircut. She and Naruto both hated thinking about it.

   “You should come and see my place,” Ino said, wisely changing the subject. She’d get the story of why Sakura had gotten rid of her long hairstyle, which had been the girl’s pride and joy when they were growing up, later on. “I’ll help you even out those messed-up ends you’ve got going on, and you can tell me all about your adventures.”

   “Well actually, we aren’t planning on sticking around town for very long-” Sakura started to say, but Ino had already clamped onto her arm and was dragging her off.

   “Come on, Sakura, I haven’t seen you in two years! You can spare a little time to catch up with an old friend,” Ino wheedled, refusing to release her grip on the pink-haired girl’s wrist.

   Sakura sighed and let Ino drag her away. She’d missed her old friend, after all, and it couldn’t be so bad to talk with Ino for an hour or so if she made sure not to give anything away.

   “I won’t be long,” Sakura called back to Naruto as she let Ino lead her away. “We’ll meet back here later, alright?”

   “Fine,” Naruto mumbled, feeling a bit left out. She tells me not to talk to anyone, and then she runs off with the first person she knows. It’s so hypocritical. Despite his glum thoughts, however, Naruto was secretly glad that his friend had gone off with the blonde girl. Sakura didn’t deserve all the trouble she’d been through with him, because of him. She deserved some time to reconnect with an old friend. Figuring that there wasn’t much point in getting more water until he and Sakura were ready to leave, Naruto wandered out of the plaza and towards the residential district.

   The blond man was oblivious to the fact that he was being watched as well. Hidden in the shadows between two buildings bordering on the plaza was a small, slight girl. She had the same foggy white eyes as the brunet man who’d been watching Sasuke only a few minutes previously, and hers were also focused on Naruto with such an intensity that throbbing veins stood out in stark relief upon her forehead. Like her brunet counterpart, this girl also wore clean, simple clothes and had fair skin and a pretty face. Her long, midnight-blue hair fell to her waist like a shadow.

   “I can’t believe it…” the girl murmured to herself. “This person must be like me and Neji-kun, and he’s actually here in Konohagakure…”

   A hand suddenly fell on the girl’s shoulder, causing her to jump and whirl around with a tiny “eep!” She put her fists up in a defensive pose, only to drop them back down to her sides again upon seeing the brunet man who had been watching Sasuke earlier behind her. “You scared me, Neji-kun…” the girl murmured.

   “Your reflexes are getting better, Hinata-sama,” the brunet said with a slight smile. It faded quickly, though, as he imparted his news. “Listen, we must go to the Hokage immediately. The man I was watching earlier is Uchiha Sasuke, no doubt about it.”



   “What?!” Hinata gasped. “But…he’s not dead? What’s he been doing all this time?”

   “Who knows?” Neji’s face was grim. “Have you found anything?”

   “Yes, actually. The blond man is called Naruto, and he has a very strange energy signature around him, just like you thought, Neji-kun. I think that he might be someone like us, who escaped from the Research Facility.”

   Neji’s face became even more serious upon hearing Hinata’s words. “Then it’s even more important that the two of us speak with the Hokage. Come on.”

   In the blink of an eye, the two were off, running as fast as they could to the Hokage Tower.

    Naruto walked the streets of Konohagakure, simply breathing in the sights and sounds of his former home. He walked past the school, a dilapidated old wooden building where Iruka-sensei had diligently taught children of all ages. He passed the grand Hokage tower, and poked around behind buildings and through the shadowy alleys. The blond quietly watched as children scampered about underfoot in various games of tag, Capture the Flag, and King of the Mountain. It warmed Naruto’s heart to see kids still playing in the very same places he had played in as a child. He walked around the edge of the town’s high wooden walls, gazing out past the row of sharpened sticks atop it at the workers in the fields, busily plowing and tending to the few hardy crops that would grow in Fire Country soil.

   The only places Naruto didn’t visit were the residential district where he had lived with his father and grandfather. He also didn’t go towards the marketplace, which he’d gone to with his father many times. It made Naruto’s heart ache to think of his now-dead father and his missing, possibly dead grandfather. He’d loved them both dearly, and it physically hurt the blond sometimes to know that he would never see his father again, and quite probably wouldn’t see his grandfather again, either.

   Naruto noticed that he was now walking not over dusty red dirt, but picking his way over charred pieces of wood and twisted, half-melted chunks of metal. Without knowing it or intending to, the blond had somehow wandered into the old Uchiha complex. The Uchiha, along with the Hyuuga, had been the two wealthiest and most prominent families in Fire Country. They’d both secluded their families in large, walled-off compounds reinforced with metal. Both families, adults and children alike, were very seldom seen around town, preferring not to associate themselves with the “common rabble.” Naruto remembered his father pointing out one of the Uchihas to him once in the marketplace, but the blond had been very young at the time. He only had a hazy memory of a dark head of hair, weaving about the throngs of people haggling with merchants, until Naruto could no longer see it at all.

   One day the town guards had entered the complex after some of the townspeople had reported strange noises inside of it. They found that the entire Uchiha clan had been gruesomely murdered, their bloody corpses lying about in various states of disarray. Some of the bodies had been nearly intact, while others had been found with heads or limbs chopped off. A few were little more than a splattering of flesh, bone, and blood against a wall. It turned out that the oldest Uchiha son, who’d been hailed as an intellectual and fighting prodigy by both his clan and the rest of the town, had suddenly gone mad and murdered his entire family the night before. Then he’d seemingly disappeared, having slipped past the guards and left Konohagakure. To Naruto’s knowledge, no one had seen or heard from the Uchiha since.

   Naruto still remembered overhearing his father and grandfather discussing the murders one night, when they’d thought he was asleep. The blond wouldn’t soon forget their harsh, horrified faces as they’d discussed the murders. He’d had nightmares for several weeks after, dreaming that the oldest Uchiha son had come back and killed his family right in front of him,. Naruto could only look on helplessly and scream for someone to come save him, to help him…

   The blond gazed around at the remains of the Uchiha complex. The people of Konohagakure had burned all of it to the ground shortly after the murders. There’d been talk of it being cursed, after all of the death and spilt blood. Only the most desperate townsfolk had tried picking through the remains for anything useful. Now, the once proud Uchiha home, with its’ high stone wall and simple but sturdy buildings, was little more than a heap of charred wood.

   As Naruto gazed around at the destruction, he saw that he wasn’t the only person around. Standing amidst the rubble was a lone figure, little more than a dark silhouette against the bright, setting sun shining in Naruto’s eyes. The blond headed towards the person, wondering who in their right mind would voluntarily spend time in this old, supposedly cursed place.

   As the blond got closer, he saw with not a little surprise that it was Sasuke. The dark-haired man’s rice-paper hat had slipped off of his head to hang around his neck on its’ string, leaving his slightly spiked hair free to rustle in the warm evening breeze. Sasuke’s eyes were closed, and his body stiff. He appeared to be caught up in some sort of intense daydream or trance. Concerned, Naruto broke the eerie silence around the compound. “Sasuke, are you OK?”

   The dark haired man didn’t open his eyes, didn’t so much as twitch a muscle. Growing increasingly worried, Naruto said loudly, “Come on man, this place isn’t safe. Let’s get out of here.”

   Still there was no indication from Sasuke that he’d heard Naruto. Naruto bit his lip, wondering if it was possible for a person to die while standing up. He gripped Sasuke’s shoulder and shook the other man lightly. “Oi, teme! Snap out of it!”

   “Aniki…?” Sasuke was seven years old again, and standing in the parlor, staring in wide-eyed horror at the bodies of his parents, slumped one on top of the other. Crouching over them was his beloved older brother, methodically stabbing his mother’s body again and again with a long, sharp knife.

   “Aniki…what…why…?” Sasuke couldn’t seem to get the words out. I must still be dreaming. Any minute now, Mommy will wake me up for breakfast, and Itachi will take me out to play, and this has to some kind of horrible nightmare ohgods Mommy Daddy ohgods Aniki why-

   “This is a test, otouto.” Sasuke’s eyes were now riveted to his brother’s own blood-spattered face. Itachi’s dark eyes were cruel and terrible, the eyes of a monster. There was no way that this person was Sasuke’s beloved older brother. The boy refused to believe it.

   There was blood everywhere. It pooled across the floor, staining everything, from their best carpet with the Uchiha crest on it, to Itachi’s hands and face and clothes, an awful, dark red. Still that knife went in and out of Sasuke’s mother’s body with a wet, sickening thunk-thunk.

   “This is a trial of my body and of my will,” Itachi went on, seemingly oblivious to the tears streaming down Sasuke’s traumatized face. “I had to see if I was able to kill them, my own flesh-and-blood family. Do you see now, Sasuke? Their deaths are a test, a way to see if I am worthy of keeping what I love safe…of protecting you.”

   “Are…are you going to kill me too?” Sasuke’s voice was a whimper, sounding tiny and scared in his ears.

   Itachi smiled, and it was a horrible thing to behold. His eyes seemed to shine red in the morning light streaming through the parlor’s large picture window. “Run away from here, Sasuke, as fast as you can. Grow up and become strong. And someday, when you are ready, come and find me. See if you are able to defeat me and avenge their deaths.”

   Then Sasuke was running, as if freed by his brother’s missive. The dark-haired boy ran blindly through the dirt paths of the compound, unseeing and uncaring, until he was outside the stone wall of the Uchiha complex. He stumbled, fell hard on his knees, and screamed, screamed and screamed and felt as if he couldn’t stop screaming, could never stop-

   “…Teme…!”

   A voice was penetrating the web of pain, of shock and anger and terrible, debilitating grief around Sasuke. He could hear it despite the sound of his own screaming filling his ears, blocking out everything else. It was a loud, annoying voice too…Naruto?

   “…Snap out of it, teme!”

   Then Sasuke was clawing himself up out of that dark place inside of him, where he was still just a little boy looking at his parents’ slaughtered corpses. He fought his way up, up towards the clear light that was the voice pleading with him, begging him to come back to the world again.

   Sasuke’s eyes snapped open and he took in a great, sucking breath of air. In the next moment the dark-haired man was doubled over, coughing and choking. The heat, the very air around him was weighing on him with unbelievable pressure. The world itself weighed him down, suffocated him, drowned him…

   Sasuke saw a shock of golden hair from the corner of his eye, and then there was a heavy hand thumping on his back. “Stop already!” Sasuke gasped, straightening up and knocking the hand away. “I’m alright.” Indeed, Sasuke’s coughing fit seemed to have subsided. He took a few experimental breaths of air, and felt relieved when he didn’t choke again. The dark-haired man was a bit calmer now…and extremely embarrassed. Sasuke tried his hardest not to let anyone see his fits, when he was dragged kicking and screaming inside himself, to a place filled with blood and bodies and his brother’s cold, soulless dark eyes. No one had ever been able to snap Sasuke out of it before, not even Kakashi. No matter how loudly people cried out for him no matter how hard they shook him, Sasuke had to come back himself gradually, in fits and starts, after a few minutes or even hours. So why is it that Naruto was able to bring me back…?

   Naruto’s eyes were locked onto Sasuke’s face, shining with concern. “What happened there, Sasuke? You went all stiff and you wouldn’t move even though I was yelling right in your face. I thought you were dying, man…”

   “Sorry.” The short apology was out before Sasuke could even think about it. He’d never apologized to anyone for his fits before in his life. It was unacceptable that he should be doing so now, and for someone he’d been ordered to kill, no less. “I just…didn’t feel well for a moment,” the dark-haired man finished lamely.

   Naruto’s too-blue gaze was still fixed on him, full of worry and far too many questions. Sasuke just couldn’t deal with it right now. He turned away, towards the direction of Kakashi’s place.

   “Where are you going?” And the dobe had fallen into step beside him. Just great. Sasuke was so not in the mood to deal with Naruto’s endless questions and chatter right now.

   “To see someone I know who lives here.”

   “You know someone in Konohagakure? How-” Naruto stopped himself at the look on Sasuke’s face, which quite clearly said that under no circumstances would he be answering questions right now. “Fine,” Naruto grumbled. “I’ll just come with you, then. To, you know, make sure you don’t get sick again.”

   “…Fine.” He was only letting the dobe tag along so that he wouldn’t have to find him later, Sasuke told himself firmly. It wasn’t because he enjoyed Naruto’s company at all. Nope, definitely not that.

    A buxom blonde woman leaned over her desk in the Hokage’s office, her amber eyes focused intently on the two town guards standing in front of her. They were, of course, none other than Neji and Hinata.

   “Uchiha Sasuke, huh?” The Hokage said, after Neji and Hinata had finished their report. “He was presumed to have been killed along with the rest of his family…but his body was never found, after all. And on top of that, he somehow knows Kakashi…how interesting. Do you have any idea what he might be here for?”

   “I’m afraid not, Hokage-sama,” Neji said. “He arrived here with a blond man and a woman with pink hair. Hinata-sama was watching them.”

   “The blond man had a very strange energy inside of him, which is probably what Neji-kun sensed earlier,” Hinata said in her usual soft, quiet voice. “It had a quite violent feel to it.” She shuddered at the thought of that bloodthirsty red energy focused around the blond man’s abdomen, swirling furiously about inside of him.

   “Do you think he might be dangerous?” The Hokage asked, lacing her fingers together thoughtfully.

   “It’s…hard to say, Hokage-sama,” Hinata replied. “His energy was practically bursting out of him, but he didn’t seem like an angry or mean sort of person…”

   “It’s possible that he’s someone like us, someone who’s escaped from Sound Country.” Neji added.

   “Hmm..” The Hokage tapped at her painted red lips with the tip of one perfectly manicured finger. “And the woman?”

   “She seemed normal enough,” said Hinata. “Yamanaka Ino knew her, actually. They’re probably at Ino’s place right now.”

   “Right.” The Hokage got to her feet, and gestured for the two guards who had been standing behind her desk on bodyguard duty to come forward. “Lee, you go to Kakashi’s and bring Uchiha Sasuke here. Try to find out where the other man he arrived with is, if you can. Shikamaru, you need to bring Ino and her friend here.”

   “Yes, Hokage-sama,” the two men said. They were out the door before another word needed to be said.

   “You two stay here, I may still need you,” the Hokage said to Neji and Hinata. “Shizune!”

   A tall, slim woman with short black hair and dark eyes came into the office. “Yes, Tsunade-sama?”

   “Bring me anything you can find in the town records about the Uchiha clan, and about Uchiha Sasuke in particular. Whatever you can find-school reports, guards’ records, genealogy, I want it all brought here.”

   “Of course.”

   “And if you can find any sake, bring that as well!” Tsunade called after Shizune’s retreating figure. The blonde woman slumped back down in her chair with a sigh and massaged her temples. “I wish there was more alcohol around…I could really use a drink right about now.”

Author’s Notes: Oh, the Sasuke torture. Poor boy. *pats* :(

Remember to leave a review if you got this far! I don’t like to beg people for reviews, but I’m a pretty shameless review whore deep down. Tell me you love this story or tell me you hate it, but please leave a review! Your feedback is what motivates me to keep writing after all. :3

Much thanks to moon maiden of time for agreeing to attempt a beta for this fic. She’s such an awesome, amazing, and spectacular person. ^-^

REVIEW REPLIES:

Mija: Thanks so much for reviewing! Not having Internet really sucks. The first thing I always do when I go on vacation someplace is set up the Internet connection, hahaha. :) Sasuke certainly is evil so far in this story, though I think that being around Naruto may hopefully be starting to erode that evil a bit. You’re absolutely right, this world is very dangerous for people who are out in the wilderness. (It’s why everyone travels around in a group.) I wanted to really hammer home the fact that this world is violent and people have to fight and even kill in order to survive. I didn’t feel like I’d be able to do that if the bandits were just some random OCs. I figured that Zabuza and Haku are sort of like bandits in the series, so they ended up biting the bullet here. (I enjoyed writing that chapter, does that make me a bad person? ^^’’’) You’re absolutely right, Sasuke is really attached to his flamethrower, even though it’s broken. You’ll find out why it’s so important to him later on in this fic…I don’t want to spoil anything just yet! (Now I have the image of Sasuke petting the flamethrower and saying “My precious…” over and over, LOL!)

FromAfar: Thank you so, so much for your kind words! And you added this to your recommended reading too…I’m honored. *blushes* The next chapter will have Sakura’s backstory in it, and you’ll be able to find out more about what Naruto’s time in the Research Facility from her as well. So fear not! :D I think that what Naruto went through in the Research Facility does bother him, actually, but he hides it well so as not to make Sakura worry. He feels indebted to her, after all, since she didn’t abandon him after they escaped Sound Country. Kabuto always struck me as a disgusting slimeball in the manga, so that translated to this fic as well, I guess. :) I’m so glad you’re enjoying this story so far, I do aim to please after all.
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