IMMA FINALLY EDITING :D Mainly getting rid of anything that made me cringe too much but leaving the story mostly as is since I like and knew where the plot was going. When I've finished that, I'll look at how to proceed with this fic and – don't hold your breath, just in case – there MAY be an update!!

So, Chapter One has been edited 9-Mar-2010.

Blinded rated T...at the moment. Will give higher rating...for later chapters. Genre: General, Romance, Clichés, Slight Angst, Accidental or Purposeful Humour, Attempted Action. Contains adult language. To be clear – pairing is NarutoxSasuke. I wanted it to be NarutoxSai but Sasuke really wormed himself in. I own a lot of things Naruto-flavoured, but this disclaimer is pointless since we all know who actually owns Naruto.

Blinded

Chapter One – Blinded By The Light

Naruto cursed as he felt several of his clones 'poof' out of existence. He paused against the safety of a tree as his mind caught up with his clones' knowledge and cursed again. The fight was not in their favour. Naruto slammed his hands together in the familiar seal and five more clones burst in to life beside him, already joining the battle as Naruto himself focused on thinking of a plan.

This wasn't how the mission was supposed to go, but then again, when had his missions gone to plan? It was a B ranked mission since Kakashi and Sakura were both jounin, but a fairly simple assignment nonetheless. Tsunade had deemed Naruto capable, as well that it was time for Sasuke to start doing assignments again, and that it would also be worthwhile to have another B mission under their belt with their upcoming Jounin Exams. Their assignment was to deliver a scroll declaring a peace treaty between two cities on the outskirts of the Fire Country. Of course the trouble was the many ninja hired by other cities to stop the treaty since a war would benefit them, and so Team Seven had been ambushed several times during their journey. They had arrived at the city relatively unscathed but it was on their way back to Konoha when they were truly tested.

The treaty had been delivered so they had no reason to be attacked, or so they thought. But angry feudal lords seemed to feel otherwise, cheated out of the opportunity for a ludicrously profitable weapon smuggling business. And so, three days out of the Leaf Village they were ambushed and outnumbered, fighting for their lives. Ten enemy jounin against the four of them. A ninja symbol not even Kakashi recognised, bringing with it the danger of unpredictable techniques.

Naruto shook his head angrily as he felt two clones 'die' instantly. He wanted to join the fight desperately but Kakashi had ordered him in to hiding and using his Kage Bunshin No Jutsu to keep the enemy distracted as the two jounin and Sasuke picked them off one by one. The chuunin felt like a coward hiding in the trees while the others fought, and he was sorely tempted to ignore his sensei's order.

That was before he had glimpsed the raging battle below and saw exactly how useful his clones were being. As in, keeping-his-friends-alive useful. Sasuke and Sakura were fighting back to back, Uchiha's eyes bleeding with Sharingan and the medic-nin's fists flying fast and hard. Kakashi was busy with two ninja, his fight so difficult his forehead protector was pushed up to reveal his own Sharingan. And the rest of the attacking shinobi were dealing with dozens of Narutos in an attempt to reach the centre of the battle.

Still, Naruto thought, why couldn't he fight with his clones? Kakashi's words from earlier answered his question immediately and the chuunin reluctantly agreed

'If you fight, you'll get distracted and forget to keep up the number of clones. Don't join the fight, Naruto…you're the only thing keeping us alive now. I hate to put so much pressure on you but I don't want to lie and tell you that everything's going to be fine…this is a fight to the death and I'd rather be on the winning side, you know.'

Naruto smiled as he realised Kakashi trusted and acknowledged his strength to the extent that he would rely on Naruto to keep him from harm. He was immediately dragged from his thoughts as the majority of his clones were destroyed by a high level jutsu, and he formed the required seal instantly to send twenty more in to the thro. Another clone's thoughts quickly returned to him, giving him the information that three enemy nin were out of the fight and that Sakura was injured. He instantly craned his neck to catch a glimpse of his teammate and was relieved to see Sasuke covering for her while she quickly attended to her wound. Within moments the kunoichi was on her feet again, her fists raised as she advanced on who had presumably caused her injury. Naruto caught sight of her expression and almost felt sorry for her opponent. Almost.

Naruto periodically sent out clones, more and often if they were destroyed quickly, and was feeling a sense of smug satisfaction at catching sight of annoyed, angered and even somewhat awed expressions on their enemies. But after being locked in an intense fight for so long, Naruto could see clearly the weariness on his companions…they were reaching their limits with still four enemy shinobi to defeat. He produced a dozen more clones before jumping from his hiding place with a yell, ambushing an unsuspecting ninja with his Rasengan. The ninja slumped to the ground unconscious and out of the fight. The remaining three enemy shinobi backed up together, weighing out their options now that they faced four Leaf ninja and twenty or so clones. Kakashi stood in front of his team protectively as he slipped his forehead protector back in to its usual place, weapons at the ready still. He flicked his gaze over his shoulder, signalling Sasuke with a raised eyebrow. Uchiha smirked in understanding. Yes, they both still had one more left in them.

"Chidori!"

The pair rushed forward, too fast for their targets to react before they had a screeching bundle of chakra slammed in to their chests. A loud cheer erupted from every Naruto in the clearing as two more ninja slid in to unconsciousness. Kakashi and Sasuke stumbled back to the safety of their team, well aware that they were unable to fight at their usual level after using Chidori twice.

The last of the ambushing ninja jumped away from the group to consider his next move. While the shinobi knew that the young Sharingan user was basically out of the fight, he knew the boy could still inform the others of his movements. He had to inhibit the Sharingan or he wouldn't have a chance. He watched the Leaf ninja watch him as he thought fast on how to proceed, until the perfect jutsu sprang to mind. He smiled. It was brilliant.

Kakashi watched the shinobi carefully, on edge as the man drew his hands in front of him to form a seal.

"Kakashi-sensei, I don't recognise the seal," Sakura whispered, but the older jounin was tense, lifting his hand to his covered eye but knowing he didn't have enough time.

"I don't either. Be ready, team."

Even as Kakashi spoke their opponent pushed the formed seal away from his body and yelled.

"Taiyou Moumoku No Jutsu!"

A blinding flash of light fanned out of the ninja's fingers directly toward Team Seven. Kakashi wanted to scream for his comrades to get out of range, but he had no time, and they seemed to understand anyway. The four Leaf nin threw themselves to the forest floor to dodge the bright light, hearing the 'pop' 'pop' 'pop' of Naruto's clones as they failed to move in time. The ninja halted the jutsu and scowled, forming a one-handed transport seal.

"Fuck this. I'd rather not get paid than die," and with a swirl of dust and leaves, he disappeared.

"Well, I think that's enough excitement for the day," Kakashi climbed to his feet, knowing their remaining attacker had fled, and glanced over his team for injuries. "Let's get a good distance away from this location and set up camp, but first let's deal with our battle scars, hm?"

Sakura nodded in agreement and knelt beside the older jounin to tend his wounds, but her gaze flicked to Naruto when he spoke.

"Gah, what happened? It's so dark," he crawled to a sitting position, his eyes darting around the clearing suspiciously.

Idiot, what are you talking about," Sasuke grumbled, sitting up himself to bandage a wound on his arm until Sakura could treat it. "I'd say it's about three hours until sunset. Dark…idiot."

Sakura clicked her tongue before healing Kakashi's injuries. "Naruto, kyuubi will heal your wounds won't he? You could scout the area for a good spot to set up camp or find us some food."

You're starving I bet," she added, smiling fondly as she thought of her friend's seemingly insatiable appetite.

"O-of course, Sakura," Naruto's gaze was aimed at the kunoichi but Kakashi knew something was off.

Before he began to carry out Sakura's request, the masked jounin spoke quietly, his words causing the other pair to stare at Naruto.

"Naruto, something is wrong."

"N-no Kakashi-sensei," Naruto waved the jounin's concern away. "It's fine. It's nothing, really, I'm sure."

Kakashi almost rolled his eyes at the usual show of stubbornness. "No, I don't think it's nothing. Now, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Sakura frowned as their sensei held up four fingers. She didn't get Kakashi at the best of times, and now he was acting weird when she needed to be healing his wounds. She was just about to say as such when Naruto answered hesitantly.

"Um…three?"

Sakura scowled, it was just like him to play along with the man's ridiculous games. "Naruto, don't encourage Kakashi-sensei. We don't have time for this. Honestly, you guys are impossible!"

Sasuke, however, had been watching his teammate carefully, along with Kakashi. "He's not playing games, Sakura. He doesn't know how many fingers Kakashi is holding up."

This, predictably, flared the Naruto's temper. "I do so know! I-I was just playing before. He's, uh, you're holding up, um, t-two fingers..?"

"Naruto! For God's sake," Sakura rolled her eyes, annoyed at how stupid the game was getting now. "He's holding up four fingers. Are you blind or something?!"

The most deafening of silences followed Sakura's comment, causing her to shift uncomfortably and cast a nervous glance at her other companions, searching for reassurance. Kakashi sighed and knelt in front of Naruto, examining the boy's eyes closely.

"Did you get caught in that last jutsu?"

The chuunin shook his head vigorously. "No way! I was on the ground even before Sasuke."

"Hn."

Kakashi understood that to mean Sasuke agreed with Naruto's statement. But then, how else could he…ooooh.

"Kakashi-sensei, what was that last jutsu?" Sakura asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

"A blinding technique, it appears."

Sasuke frowned. "But he didn't get hit by it. How could he be affected by something that didn't hit him?"

"The Kage Bunshins," their sensei replied simply.

"I don't understand," Sakura furrowed her brow in puzzlement. "They're just clones. Even though they did receive the full brunt of the jutsu, how could Naruto be affected?"

Sasuke was beginning to understand. "Can you see any other way that Naruto could've been affected? Plus, he produces real body clones that have some of his chakra."

"That's right," Kakashi agreed, still looking at Naruto's eyes. "And once the clone is destroyed, the chakra returns to Naruto. I think the chakra was contaminated by the jutsu and its effect built up as each clone's portion of chakra returned to him, causing Naruto to feel the effects of the technique as well."

Naruto grabbed in front of him where he knew Kakashi was, gripping the man by his jacket.

"How can you talk about this so calmly?!" he yeeled, shaking the jounin for emphasis as panic began to set in. "I'm blind! I can't see! I can't stay like this! Is it temporary…oh god…what if it's permanent?!"

Sakura smacked her teammate over the head firmly before his panic spread to her. "Calm down! Tsunade-sama can probably help you, you know that. She did her best to make sure Lee could be a ninja again remember, so she will do the same for you."

"Idiot, don't get so worked up," Sasuke muttered, but Sakura's words had eased his growing worry as well.

Kakashi, however, wasn't so sure. But he didn't want to disrupt the semblance of calm that the kunoichi had conjured with her promise of the Hokage's aid. And so he agreed, a little guiltily, that yes, it was likely only temporary and Tsunade might be able to do something. He felt small and yet relieved when Naruto smiled shakily at the reassurance, exhaling deeply as he gazed in their direction blindly.

"Thanks guys. It's just a little unnerving not being able to see anything."

Sakura stooped beside her friend and linked her arm in his, pulling him to his feet. "Well don't worry, 'cause we're here to help until Tsunade-sama fixes you up!"

"Sakura's so nice!" Naruto's face split in to a huge grin, causing the medic-nin to giggle and Sasuke to snort rather indelicately; Kakashi took that to mean everyone was much more calm, himself not included.

"Well, we still have to camp tonight, but we'll try to reach the village as soon as we can," he signalled for the others to follow him. "No unnecessary breaks and such, okay team?"

"Wait!" Sakura cried out suddenly. "Sasuke still needs his injuries looked at."

"I can manage. You can heal me when we make camp."

The medic-nin looked to protest but Kakashi agreed and urged them on,. "He's not badly hurt and we really shouldn't hang around here any longer. Let's keep moving."

After twenty minutes of walking, Sakura was at the end of her patience.

"Naruto," she growled warningly. "LIFT YOUR FEET WHEN YOU WALK!"

Naruto jumped, startled by his teammate's yell, causing him to trip again and pull Sakura with him.

"Sorry, but I can't see where I'm putting my feet."

Kakashi signalled Sasuke to stop and walked back to the now quarrelling pair slowly. He thrust his backpack in to Sakura's hands, which made the kunoichi fall quiet, and hoisted Naruto on to his back, which caused the chuunin to yell and wriggle.

"Naruto," Kakashi said firmly. "I'm going to piggy-back you so we can move faster. Understand? Good."

Naruto muttered under his breath as Kakashi continued walking, as did Sakura who was now carrying both Naruto's and Kakashi's pack as well as her own.