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No offense to Suhi-dono or anything, but I'm pretty impressed that a guy can right this well. This is one of the best written works I've ever read, fanfiction or no. You rock!!!! heart

Shi dono.... I just realized something... I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL heart 3nodding mrgreen Hinata's OK and SHE WON! BONUS!!!!! [< major Hinata fan] Temari kicks a** an all but still hina fan 3nodding and I somehow have a hunch about one of konohamaru's future revenge settings's... and if im right Ill both be sad and laugh my a** off anywase ^^.... so yay shi-sama!! -huggs-

Title: FLMF
Chapter 42: Red Clouds and Bloody Dreams
Rated : R

Rant: Hey guys. I could go on a giant rant about why I havent posted in such a very long time. To all my readers who were awaiting the ending to my story. I apologize. To make it up to you all. I shall post the last remaining chapters throughout this week.

“Come on, please? Teach me the Shunshin technique!” Jiraiya sighed heavily, trying to tune out the slightly whiny tone that his newest student had adopted. His binoculars weren't quite working. A suspicious sticky substance, most likely mud or clay, had found itself clamped and dried onto his lens sometime between his early peep into the hot springs and coming to train Naruto.
Whatever it was, he scraped it off and aimed them in the general direction of the nearest river. Instead of the giggly women he could hear from his present position, all he saw was two very big blue eyes.

Jolted at the sight, he jumped back, trying to looking disapproving even as his student, who had moved in the way of his view, laughed at him. “Aren't you supposed to be training?” Jiraiya grumbled, calming his heart.

Naruto crossed his arms behind his head and pouted at him. “How am I supposed to train if you don't teach me anything new?” It was a very valid question, the frog hermit realized. But it wasn't his fault that every time he taught the boy something, it turned out that he could already knew it, and could do it very well.

Jiraiya didn't know who could have taught him a summoning jutsu, rasengan, or the countless other tricks and jutsus that he allowed very few to be privy to. The Hokage didn't take any new students, and there was no other student that Jiraiya had taught that came to even the beginning stages of the rasengan, only his prized student, a certain blond who bore much resemblance to Naruto. And he was dead.

“You know, you're just a difficult as he was.” he told Naruto with a nostalgic smile.

“Eh?” Naruto blinked at him, used to periods of time where the frog hermit would go silent and think, but not at all a mind reader who could figure out what he was thinking.

“The Yondaime, naturally.” Jiraiya said with a bit of surprise. “Hasn't anyone told you that?”

You have. He thought to himself. So has Sarutobi and Tsunade. But no one else. “Let's just say that no one wants to associate the evil demon child of their village with their greatest hero.” he said flatly.

Jiraiya frowned, not at all pleased with the way Naruto referred to himself. “You aren't a demon.” he said firmly.

“But I'm not very human either.” Naruto countered with a shrug. “All that youki in me from infancy to now, you don't think it just sat there, do you?” He smiled, a strange smile that made Jiraiya wonder what had happened to him over the years. “Of course not. Kyuubi wouldn't want a weak host, after all. Such a great and powerful demon, his ego is too great for him to get even his host kicked the s**t out of, after the pride crushing blow that the fourth Hokage dealt him when he got his fat a** crammed in a whiny human infant.”

Hey. Kyuubi sniffed, a bit offended. I'm not fat, I'm big boned. Naruto had to smile at his tone of voice. The fox was really too vain for his own good.

“Kyuubi wasn't a great demon.” Jiraiya said quietly.

“I didn't mean it the way you do.” Naruto said just as quietly. “And don't presume you know him either. He may not be nice, but he isn't evil.”

“Pardon?” the hermit rose to his full height. He spoke carefully, as if addressing a small child who was naïve to the truths of the world. “Kyuubi killed hundreds of thousands of people through the centuries.”

“I know that. But everyone has their own motives.” he tilted his head to the side, almost sizing Jiraiya up. “What was your motive the first time you killed someone? Can you even remember?” He shook his head. “Necessity, most likely. You were handed an order that you were expected to follow. You followed it. You're a ninja, that's what you do.”

“And what Kyuubi did was necessity?” the old man asked incredulously.

Naruto shook his head. “That's the only thing that I didn't like about him, you know. His motive was revenge. Revenge is something that should be above demons, but he allowed for it to eat away at him until he was naught but a husk of what he used to be. You understand why I cannot hate him? He may be a demon, but he still is very human.” He almost expected an explosive response from both the demon and the human, but was pleasantly surprised when both were silent.

Kyuubi didn't say a word, merely turning around Naruto's observation in his mind before reluctantly agreeing. I don't think that the need for revenge or the sting of the loss of a loved one is purely a human trait. He thought privately to himself. But then why didn't the pack leader care that Nariko died? He growled, remembering the older fox demon's calm blank face as he said that she deserved it for fleeing. Because he was a ******** cold b*****d, that's why!

Naruto could feel Kyuubi's discontent, but was distracted by Jiraiya's sudden burst of laughter. “Eh?” he mumbled, blinking at the amused hermit.

Damn, if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn that Yondaime was with me again. He smiled to himself. Compassion for even the demon that attacked our village. You were the only one to see the pain in that demon's eyes, weren't you, my old student? That's why you didn't resort to any type of killing jutsus. You wanted him to have a second chance through Naruto, even at the cost of your own life. He chuckled again, helplessly amused at his dead student's illogical logic.

“Um.. old man?” Naruto said hesitantly. “Did you get hit in the head again? I could always go get Shizune-neechan..”

“What was it you wanted to learn? The body flicker technique?” the hermit interrupted, attempting to act gruff. “I dunno, aren't you a little scrawny for that?”

“Hey!” Naruto shouted, greatly offended. “I'll grow up to be so damn tall that you'll look up to me!”

“Oh, my apologies.” Jiraiya said with a smirk. “Try to look out for us shorties when you're big and tall. Wouldn't want to crush us now..”

“I dunno, you're making it sound very tempting.” Naruto snapped, closing his eyes against the blaring sun for a moment. “You know, you're a teacher, you should encouraging me instead of insulting me-” He opened his eyes, seeing the hermit walking away. “Hey!”

“Keep up the pace if you wanna learn that jutsu!” the hermit called lazily over his shoulder.

“He's actually.. gonna teach me it?” Naruto whispered to himself, trying to wrap his head around that new development. Then he realized that Jiraiya recognized that he was strong enough for the advanced jutsu. “Hells yes!” he whooped, running after Jiraiya. No one noticed a pair of angry gold eyes watching them leave.


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Alright, so maybe Sakura's idea of training was a bit of a fluke. But it wasn't her fault, as she would swear. There was just only so much that one could learn from books and scrolls. Practice helped, but she really wasn't learning anything new.

Hm, maybe I should volunteer at the hospital to get some hands on experience, though they'd never let me do anything really helpful without a license. She had already researched the test to get the license and it looked very hard. The participants had to be able to 'recharge a dying spark of life' or whatever it was called. They all were to be given a fish that had suffocated on air only a few moments prior and had to revive it.

Of course, Sakura knew that revival jutsus were absolutely out of the question, since, like most kinjutsus, it was a pure equivalent exchange, a life for a life, and there was no point having a license if you were dead. So the idea of this 'spark of life' was very interesting to her.

The only problem was that none of the medic nins in training or nurses she had spoken to had any idea what the spark of life was. She supposed, with a frown, as she knew that they were extremely difficult to find, that she needed a actual medic nin to teach her the theory.

She blinked, abruptly pulled out of her musings on how to snag a medic nin when she suddenly felt cool, as if she had walked under some shade. But she hadn't moved from sitting outside of Ino's flower shop, having been told to stay put while the blond went to go put on her shoes so they could visit her aunt. It had been an unusually hot day, so she was grateful for the shade but.. she was also very paranoid.

She finally looked up from intensely inspecting the ground, almost shying away from the look on the woman in front of her. The older woman, beautiful and blond with piercing brown eyes, looked unnaturally stern, but almost had a smirk on her face.

“Um.. hi?” Sakura squeaked. “Are you here for.. flowers?”

“Hmph. If you mean Haruno Sakura, then yes.” she crossed her arms over her ample chest. “You're her.” It wasn't a question.

“Er.. yes.” Sakura stood up and bowed, remembering her manners. “My name is Haruno Sakura. May I ask yours, and how you know mine, ma'am?”

The half smirk on the woman's face widened. “You'll figure out my name later, Haruno.” the woman turned and started to walk away. After a few steps, she turned slightly, directing a look that made Sakura feel stupid. “Aren't you going to follow?”

“I.. uh... my friend-” she tried to explain, making expressive hand gestures towards the flower shop.

“Will forgive you.” the strongest of the legendary three said impatiently. “Follow.” The order was sharp and had Sakura moving after the woman quickly. Confused, Sakura gave one last look over to the shop before she decided to question the strange woman some more.

A few minutes later, Ino came out of the shop, declaring, “I'm ready!” She blinked, surprised when there was no biting remarks from her rival/friend. The blond looked around, frowning when she saw no pink heads of hair anywhere. “She left!” Ino pouted. “How rude.”

All pettiness aside, Ino knew Sakura would only leave after promising to stay if she had something that came up suddenly. The only reason why Ino still cursed Sakura is that Ino didn't want to go to Maemi's house alone. She realized, of course, that the only other option would be to invite Shikamaru-

She violently shook her head. After his negative reaction to her bout of dizziness that had nearly had her tumbling into a ditch, she didn't want him hovering over her like a overprotective parent. Especially since she had a vision.

Short and to the point, it wasn't as vivid as the one she had with Kankurou, but it still had her feeling weak. It had flashed over her sight and her senses when Chouji had started to tug her home, being just as overly protective as his best friend.

Shikamaru, not much older than he was presently but with the strange addition of a flak jacket, had been jumping from tree to tree in quick pursuit of Kiba and Akamaru in front of him. They were no doubt using their uncanny sense of smell to track something. Behind him were the two Hyuugas, Hinata and Neji, their byakugans flashing a dangerous white in the darkening day. Shino and Chouji were to their left, Sakura and Sasuke were to their right. Bringing up the rear of the party of ninjas was Tenten, Lee, and, to her great surprise, herself.
There was only one line of dialogue she caught going through the silent and grim party of ninjas. Kiba, with a fearsome snarl, had reared back violently and stopped. Everyone else had been forced to stop as well, lest they run into the very angry Inuzuka. “I smell his blood!” The simple line had made the party freeze up and fear flash thorough their eyes. And then she had fallen out of the vision, only to find Shikamaru and Chouji looking over her worriedly. Ino, feeling defensive, had lied to them and said she had low blood sugar and just needed to get home and eat something.

Chouji accepted that, but, from the expression that she saw on her friend's face, Shikamaru did not. It made her cringe more in guilt to lie to Shikamaru than Chouji, simply because she had shared so much with the lazy ninja.

By myself, with an over protective male, or not at all. She weighed the decision in her mind. She didn't want to see Maemi alone because the older woman was so eerie, but Shikamaru would be angry(or at least annoyed, since he didn't seem to have the will power to be angry) that she lied to him if she told him the reason behind her visit. But it would be even worse to not go to her aunt to see just the heck was going on with her. What if her visions were detrimental to her health? After all, it had made her lose the match with that odd puppet user. If she had faced someone else, it was likely that she would have lost a lot more than a battle.

“Okay. By myself it is.” she decided firmly. “Be strong, Yamanaka! Eerie or not, Aunty will have the answers!”


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The smooth flow of an outward thrust of his fist, the brief pause that proceeded a roundhouse kick that ended with his sharp pivot. His eyes were closed, but he was aware of every piece of furniture in his room that he might bump into, every wall and the single door.
He smirked, deciding that, even though sparring by oneself was boring, his form was almost perfect. If there had been an actual opponent, he'd be on his hands and knees. Or so he imagined. A taller boy struck down for his previous transgressions, staring up at him with surprised dark eyes as his younger brother swiftly brought his doom-

Sasuke lost his concentration, too shaken by the mental image. No matter how much he wanted to hate his brother, just even imagining the older boy on his knees made Sasuke feel sick. Itachi had always been the strongest one, even on his darkest day. He had always been the one looking down on Sasuke, even when he was tending to his injuries. He was always the one that people held up high on a pedestal, even after he had dealt such a brutal blow on the Uchiha clan.

He could still hear the Academy teachers say how great of a ninja Itachi was to the leaf, then sadly shake their heads, as if Itachi had been the victim. It had taken everything in Sasuke not to run up and throttle the teacher, and he had been only nine years old.

It helped somewhat that Naruto, tiny even then, had jumped up, proclaiming that Itachi was an a** and one day, when he naturally became Hokage, he'd take him down in one blow. Sasuke remembered feeling relieved that someone saw Itachi the same way that he did, even if he barely knew the loud blond child. However, when Sasuke debated on extending a hand of friendship to him, he remembered Itachi's cold words, predicting that the only way that he could be beaten was to sever the ties of friendship with a close friend with a intent to kill.

Sasuke closed his eyes, remembering the cold shiver that had gone through him. Ever since, he tried to keep the blond at an arms distance away, not wanting for the first true ally he had against Itachi to die by his own hands.

Of course, Naruto butted his head into his life anyway. Sighing, Sasuke slid from his defensive stance, staring blankly at the wall. How did Naruto factor into his intense training for the Chuunin Exam, and, ultimately, Itachi? It was all because the damn idiot had yet to come over and paint over his obnoxious comic. As if Naruto could ever summon up enough power to beat an Uchiha.

Ego fluffed up enough for the day, Sasuke stretched and walked out of his room, sighing at the satisfying crack of his spine. The prelims had wrapped up rather quickly after Hinata's fight. The Hokage spoke a few words and allowed for them to go home.

Nothing really noteworthy happened after that. Ino was firmly escorted home by her two grim team mates, who both ignored her thinly veiled threats on their lives.

“Come on, Ino.” Chouji had said quietly. “If you fall like that again, you might get hurt.”

“I'm not a child!” Ino had cried, stomping her foot. “I just was a little dizzy.”

“Imagine if you got a 'little dizzy' on your way home.” Shikamaru had countered, tugging her arm. “You'll fall in a dark alley and we wouldn't be able to find you for days. Think of all that grime and dirt and rats getting in your precious hair.” That was the only thing that snapped the blond's mouth shut.

Kiba and Akamaru got distracted by the smell of meat and ran off towards it, Shino wandered off as he often did, without saying anything to the unofficial group he had been traveling with, and Tenten and Lee disappeared into nowhere. Sakura trailed after Ino and her team, and Hinata passed out halfway home, making Naruto spazz like a mother hen before he finally picked her up and headed for the Hyuuga estate, Neji hot on his heels.

He hadn't seen any of them since. His time had mostly been monopolized by Kakashi and by his own training schedule. Sasuke shook his head as he poured himself something to drink, thinking about Kakashi's training.

The rain beat against the roofs of Konoha, making a gentle music that calmed Sasuke even as he struggled to be annoyed. He looked outside, eyes faded from the red of the sharingan to his normal dark eyes as he viewed the heavy clouds and the falling rain.

The jonin was just getting around to teaching him about the sharingan and would only see him one day a week, insisting to the increasingly annoyed Sasuke that he'd need those other days to recover. Sasuke, hardly ever the one to undermine authority, firmly ignored Kakashi's suggestion to rest.

He wasn't just training for some silly exam. He was training for the day he finally took his place as the strongest of Team Seven, he was training for his friends, but still, he was mostly training for Itachi, the vile- He opened the door to his bathroom, suddenly wide taking in the form in front of him.

“Y-you!” he sputtered, helpless to do anything but stand still under those red eyes. Almost kindly, those eyes regarded him, flashing out from the shadows like the eyes of a cat.

“You can't let your guard down, even in your own home, you foolish little boy.” he said quietly. Sasuke, suddenly remembering himself, jumped back a few paces, hands groping futilely for his kunai that was not there.

A flash of a dark cloak was all that Sasuke saw before a hand slammed into his stomach. Coughing violently as his breath was stolen from him, he nearly fell over. All it took was a touch to his neck before the Uchiha prodigy was out.

“Truly, you seem to not possess any capabilities to take care of yourself.” the man said quietly to himself, almost amused. “Should I have taken you with me the night I destroyed our clan?” He tossed the limp boy over his shoulders with a sigh. “This is the last freebie I'll give you, foolish little brother. Next time, defend those eyes of yours by yourself.” A dark look passed over his face. “If you cannot at least do that, then I will kill you.”

Ten minutes later, a window was silently forced open and a sound nin crawled in, using his multiple arms to right himself quickly. He shook himself out, cursing Konoha and it's random rainy weather. Kidomaru looked around for the tell tale spiky black hair, but saw no one and sensed not a soul. He frowned, seeing all of Sasuke's personal ninja possessions lying neatly on a table.

Sasuke was missing, and not by the hands of any fellow sound nin. They would have left a sign for him. “s**t..” he mumbled to himself. “Orochimaru-sama is gonna be pissed..”


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“So.. they found the last one on the steps of the Hokage tower?” Jiraiya leaned forward, pitching his voice low so it couldn't be heard over the clamor of lunch time traffic. People thankfully talked loud enough and his newest student was too focused on his bowl of ramen to pick out his words.

The ramen chef nodded seriously. “Yeah, just last night. There was a big fuss over it during the dinner rush hour. He wasn't just sleeping, the poor kid was unconscious. But the only injury on him was just a nasty bruise.”

“Have they ruled out exhaustion?” the old man prodded further.

“Yes, the jonins that come here have said that it was a forced sleep. His stamina and his chakra hadn't been depleted or anything.” The man wiped his hands off on his apron. “In fact, they say that he should be up in the matter of a few hours.”

“So, I'm guessing that no one knows who could have done it.” the frog hermit muttered with a heavy sigh.

“Oh, there's guesses. A lot of fingers point to the newcomers here for the Chuunin Exam. Some think that he's just doing it as a stunt, while many others think that it's a sign from one of the chuunin wannabes, the red head one from the sand. A sort of message like 'Here, I've beaten down the best of your rookies and the sole heir to one of your strongest clans. What are you going to do about it?'”

“Isn't that a little.. far fetched?” Jiraiya said disbelievingly. The man shrugged, passing an order to someone else before walking back over to the older man. “What do you think of the newcomers?”

The chef smiled. “The same thing everyone else in my social position think: money, money, money.” he said jokingly. Jiraiya laughed.

“True true.” he said grinning. “It must be your lucky year.” Jiraiya looked down when he felt a tug on his shirt.

“Hey, old man! I'm done.” Naruto said. He smiled cheekily. “You are paying right?”

Distractedly, the frog hermit agreed. “Sure, how much-” he blinked, staring at the towering pile of ramen bowls. “You've got to be kidding me.” Naturally, Naruto chose to disappear at that moment.

The chef laughed at the look on Jiraiya face. “True, it is a good year for me.” he admitted. “But my number one customer will always be Naruto.” He extended his hand. “Pay up.” Jiraiya groaned, reaching for his wallet.

“Damn brat.”


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Snickering at his easy victory, Naruto slid through the crowds, silently recognizing many of the people who came for the Chuunin Exam. Damn, this stupid test really does have a big turnout. He thought, wondering why he never noticed it before. And hell! The Final Exam isn't even here yet!

He unconsciously let his eyes wander over the people as he let the crowd dictate where he was going. It didn't matter since Jiraiya could easily find him. His ears picked up the murmurs of the people around him.

“.. damn brat of a dog nearly bit my finger off!” A group of young kids, surrounding a boy with the distinct Inuzuka traits and a rather mean looking dog, talked loudly, hanging out in front of a candy store.

“..why is he still so.. m-mean? He rejected m-me.” A girl who Naruto vaguely recognized from the Academy sobbed to her two friends, who attempted to console her. He almost smirked when he saw the wrapped present in her hand was labeled to Sasuke. He knew it was mean, but he found it utterly amusing how far and to what lengths some people would go to be noticed by their crush. He could understand trying to be better so his crush, who, in the past, had been Sakura, would notice him, since he had been like that through much of his teenage years, but what he found amusing, and almost sad, was how low some people were willing to go.

“Bananas, half price! You'll find no other village with better quality!” A merchant called out, displaying his bananas with pride. A ninja tried to sneak a banana from behind him, but the man suddenly pivoted and whacked him on the hand. “No touchie! Those are for paying customers!”

A young girl and her father stood outside of a crowd, where a woman was loudly arguing with another. The girl, only about five years old, tugged on her father's sleeve. “Daddy, that lady looks mad, like Mommy when she found out what you were doing with Aunty in the back of the-” The father, blushing slightly, covered his daughter's mouth.

“Er.. not now, honey..” Naruto had to laugh. But it died when he heard the next bit of conversation.

“.. that poor, poor Uchiha boy.” He paused, looking at the group of old ladies from which the comment had come from. The oldest one shook her head sadly. “After the horror of his young life, why must he continue to endure such hardships now?”

Naruto frowned, feeling out of the loop. What kinda hardships does Sasuke have now? He thought. He has everything handed to him on a silver platter. Too deep in his musings, he bumped into someone in front of him.

“Ah. Sorry about that-” he started to apologize, but was rudely cut off.

“Watch where you're ******** going, you stupid a*****e!” the girl snapped, shoving him out of her way. “God, such good for nothing males..” Naruto stumbled out of the way, helpless to do anything but stare at the retreating back of Tayuya, one of the Sound Four he had brief contact with during his younger years.

Naruto's blood ran cold at the sight of that girl. He paid no mind to her words, looking instead where she had run out of. Large and imposing, the hospital loomed over them. Oh no.. he thought, cursing his own oblivious nature. He was so interested by the new groups of people that he failed to remember that the sound was a large part of that group. Not now. Not Sasuke. Though many would argue whether or not Naruto knew proper math, he knew anything plus the sound could only equal bad news. A powerful sound nin coming out of nowhere, people harping on about Sasuke and his recent troubles.. he knew it could mean only one thing. Sasuke must have been attacked.

Shikamaru ran towards Naruto, roughly shoving Tayuya out of the way, Chouji at his heels. “What's wrong?” he asked, worried about how pale Naruto had gotten. He and Chouji had been sitting outside of one of Chouji's favorite restaurants when he saw Naruto wandering by. Convincing his friend to go with him, he followed the blond all the to the front of the hospital, only to see the boy halted by a bad mouthing girl.

“Hey, you p***k!” Tayuya yelled at him. “Watch where you're going!”

“Insufferable woman!” he mumbled, a little too cranky to brush it off.”Why don't you watch your mouth!” Shikamaru snapped, turning to glare at the older girl. Nervous, Chouji shifted his weight from foot to foot, standing at Shikamaru's side.

Hoping against hope, Naruto pulled himself away from staring at her and ran through the doors, ignoring what his friends and that girl shouted at each other, no doubt causing a scene.

He ducked around nurses, hopped over patients, and ignored the few who shouted that the hospital was not a play ground. Somehow, perhaps the baser instincts of the Kyuubi rearing its head, he could smell Sasuke's unique scent, even through the thicker scents of medicine, blood, and death. He followed that scent as directly as he'd follow a red flashing sign pointing in the direction of his friend.

He opened the door, feeling a bit of an ominous twist of his stomach when he realized the number of the room was six hundred and sixty-six. Naruto, without care for the surprised Tsunade and Shizune standing at the boy's feet, pushed in the room, desperate eyes seeking out the condition of the pale faced boy.

His progress was somewhat halted by an Anbu standing by the door way, but without hesitation, Naruto reached up and grabbed the hand that stopped him, twisting the wrist to the point of pain before the Anbu let go.

Uncaring of the Anbu's hidden but shocked expression, he walked up to the bed, looking down at the seemingly weak looking boy. His dark locks hung limply around his face, a few sticking to his chest as he frowned in his sleep. So calm.. so peaceful..

Naruto's knees weakened and refused to hold him upright. He didn't care who saw him tumble to the ground, his only support being his firm grip on the railings of the hospital bed. That familiar face was pale and sickly, but the beeping of the heart monitor reassured him that the boy was still alive and safe.

But for how long? He questioned himself furiously, turning sharp blue eyes with the barest hint of a slit pupil on first the two medic nins, then the angry Anbu. How long until Orochimaru comes to take him away from us again? Something close to a snarl exposed a fang, but his instinctual challenge to them was cut off when someone jumped him from the side, wrapping strong arms around his body.

“Naruto, calm down!” Sakura whispered, not letting go of him. She tried to ignore the waves of warm chakra that were starting to spike up inside of her blond team mate. If his blood limit acts up, even Sasuke-kun could be hurt! She thought, trying to calm the growling boy down.

“But Sakura..” Naruto mumbled quietly. “Someone attacked Sasuke.”

“I know.” she said. “But he's fine, I promise. Tsunade-sama herself said so.” Naruto looked at her with an unreadable look, then looked over her at Tsunade.

Even at such a low position on the ground, those hard, almost accusing eyes, made Tsunade's conscience twist in agony. But why? She thought. What could I have done to stop the boy from being attacked? It's not like my presence here changes anything..

“He'll be fine, brat.” she said calmly. “Just a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious. He might have a cold though. Someone left him on the steps of the Hokage tower last night while it was raining.”

Naruto turned back to the bed, suddenly wanting to check Sasuke's neck to make sure, but unable with Sakura still trying to hold him back from.. He blinked. What was I going to do? He was shaken to find that he couldn't quite remember, but was sure it would have been gory.

“Hm.. you two are already here.” Kakashi walked in, late as always. “Somehow, I'm not surprised.”

“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura greeted, turning to her teacher. “Sasuke-kun was attacked!”

“That I am already aware of, Sakura.” he said in a voice so calm that Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance.

Why didn't anyone understand? Sasuke being attacked was more than just your everyday situation, especially when Orochimaru was in town. He stood, looking over his unconscious team mate critically before grabbing him by his shirt and tugging him on his side. Naruto moved aside the cloth of his shirt to bare the back of Sasuke's shoulder, looking for the distinctive curse seal flashing darkly on Sasuke's pale skin. He breathed a sigh of relief when there was nothing to be found. Only Shizune noticed his movements. Everyone else was talking.

“So no one knows who he was fighting with.” Kakashi concluded with a sigh. “I told him to rest on his off days, not to start picking fights.” He looked over at Naruto, who finally turned towards him. “Were you two fighting again?” he asked in a disapproving tone.

Naruto nearly growled. “We may be enemies on our worst days, but I would never leave Sasuke outside unconscious while it is raining, Kakashi-sensei. Not ever.” he snapped angrily. He looked back at Sasuke. “And he wasn't doing any fighting, I bet. He was attacked.”

“Do you have any proof of that?” Shizune asked quietly. Naruto didn't answer, but his shoulders hunched over. He did not.

“In any case, Sasuke should be able to tell us what happened when he wakes up.” Tsunade said, clapping her hands. “Until then, get out. It's not visiting hours.” she directed a look at Sakura. “You. Hokage tower at six. Don't be late.”

With a hidden smile, Shizune ushered the conscious of the mutinous Team Seven out of the room. She came back in quickly after.

Tsunade looked at her assistant. “What's with that goofy look on your face?” she asked suspiciously. “What are you up to?”

“Hee hee.” Shizune smiled again, hiding it with her hands. It didn't help. The amusement in her eyes was as clear as day. Tsunade scowled. “Nothing much.” the younger woman said innocently.

“Dammit, what the hell is it?” the gambler demanded.

“Well..” Shizune dragged it out, a faint smirk on her face. “Take a good look around you.” Tsunade arched an eyebrow, humoring her assistant by looking around the hospital room. “Recount what you have been doing today. And then, you'll finally understand why I am so amused.”

“I'm in a hospital, and I've been training Sakura. What's so amusing about- oh.” Tsunade scowled, realizing why Shizune was so delighted. “Damn.”

“Hee hee..” Shizune giggled. “After all those years of swearing off any sort of medic duties, you suddenly start doing them again, simply because you're in Konoha. Is that why you refused to come back until Hokage-sama ordered you to?”

“Hmph.” Tsunade tossed her hair, walking out of the room calmly. Shizune followed, resisting the urge to skip. “It doesn't mean anything.”

“Of course.” Shizune said.

“I'm not going to give up my deal with the old man. After this damn exam, I'm going to leave this town and never come back.” Tsunade said firmly. “Not ever.”

“Of course.” Shizune said again.