Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…
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Orochimaru's Hideout
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Sasuke walked tiredly down the dark hallway.
He had just finished an obnoxiously long training session with Orochimaru, the snake god of an idiot.
And, like always, Sasuke refused the treatment that Kabuto was attempting to give him.
Uh-oh, another dizzy spell…
Sasuke leaned against the wall for a moment, trying to rub his eyes and clear his vision, at least until he made it to his room.
Sleepily, he pulled his door open and barely got it closed behind him.
The boy simply dropped his sword on the floor and rolled onto his bed.
He pulled his shirt open a bit, though he lacked the motivation and energy to do any more.
Carefully, he put his sore hand on the deep gash in his side.
'Would've been smart to get some treatment for this one…' he thought vaguely to himself.
Sasuke pulled his hand off of it and rested it on the bed.
'He'll come… eventually… to check up on me anyway… That idiot will take care of it…'
Slowly, but surely, he fell into a restless, but deep sleep.
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A Little Later…
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Quiet footsteps were heard entering the room, waking Sasuke into a dozed off position.
"Kabuto… about time you got here…" Sasuke mumbled to him, shifting a bit on the bed, "The wound on my side is pretty bad…"
But Kabuto didn't say anything.
Instead, he calmly walked to Sasuke's side and touched his wound.
The Uchiha tensed at the unexpected pain, but let the medic work on him.
However… instead of a hard hand roughly bandaging him up…
It was a soft hand that carefully inspected the wound before healing it quietly and covering up what was left.
"K… Kabuto…?" Sasuke muttered again, this time actually trying to open his eyes.
But again, there was no response.
After a few moments, he felt a piece of cloth covering his mouth and nose.
"Damn it, Kabuto, what are you doing?" he tried to say through the cloth.
His vision started to blur again, though he didn't know if it was from the wound or the strange medicine he was breathing.
But just before his body gave in to the darkness, the boy managed to open his eyes.
The room was too dark to distinguish any figures… but the shiny forehead protector was plenty enough.
"Ninja…?" he mumbled, just as he closed his eyes and blacked out.
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Kabuto casually walked down the hall, heading for Sasuke's room.
He yawned, all bored from the work he had to do today.
But he was used to making this trip; that Uchiha was stubborn when it came to letting someone take care of him.
All of a sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the alarm.
Rushing to the nearest guard, the medic exclaimed, "What's going on?"
The guard immediately stood up straight and reported the situation.
"Sir, it seems that there are Konoha ninja attacking the base. The number of attackers are unknown, but it seems there are only a few. What is your command, sir?"
Kabuto stood for a moment, trying to think of something to do.
"Already. You need to report this to Orochimaru. Dismissed."
The guard ran in the opposite direction, passing other alert guards on the way.
Kabuto dashed to Sasuke's room.
He pounded on the door, exclaiming, "Sasuke! We're under attack! I'm coming in!"
He swung the door open and rushed to Sasuke's side.
"Sasuke! Up, up, come on!" he yelled again.
But when he noticed the bandaged wounds and the cloth over his mouth and nose, he stopped.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut, and before Kabuto could react, he was hit on the neck with Sasuke's katana, knocking him out.
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A shadow jumped from tree to tree.
It stopped right in front of a window, pausing for a moment before knocking twice, waiting, and knocking three times again.
Quietly, the window opened and the shadow went inside.
The two ninja whispered to each other.
"Over here. He's too heavy for me to carry…" the first ninja explained as they walked to the bed.
The second ninja tried to pull the Uchiha off the bed.
"Baka! Be careful! He has a wound on his side!" the first ninja exclaimed again, smacking the other's head.
"Sorry, sorry…"
They passed by a tied up Kabuto, who was still out from the hit.
"Ok… careful… careful…"
Slowly, they climbed out of the window, and left the hideout.
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"Report the situation," the head ANBU ninja exclaimed to the group of ninja before him.
"The base is completely surrounded. Sakura and Naruto have just arrived with the prisoner. Squad 5 has infiltrated the base, but it doesn't seem like they have knowledge of the rest of us…" one ninja explained.
"Good, good. Dismissed. Report back to your locations."
He brushed his hand against his forehead and turned his attention to the news of the prisoner.
"Where is the prisoner?" the leader exclaimed, walking towards a group of ninja on break.
"Over there, sir," one of them sleepily stated, pointing to the opposite side of the camp site.
Under a tall oak tree, Sakura and Naruto tiredly sat down next to Sasuke's still unconscious body.
Sakura was trying her best to look over his injures, but they were way too tired for they're own good.
The leader silently approached the two ninja.
"You two should get some rest. It's getting dark, and it seems that the attack is going well. We need as many awake ninja as we can get." He exclaimed, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"We'll just keep guard of the prisoner, ok? We'll be fine…" Naruto responded quietly, rubbing his eyes.
The ANBU sighed.
"Alright. Make sure you both get enough sleep for tomorrow though. We either fight, or head home."
He walked away from them, looking back a few times to make sure they were ok.
"Hey Sakuraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" Naruto whined, poking at her shoulder.
"Naruto… I'm busy…" she responded, nudging him away.
"Ok, ok, well, I'm gonna get something to eat, 'k? You want something?" he asked, standing up and starting to walk away.
"I'll get some in a bit…"
She waved him away.
Sakura folded her arms and sighed.
Pushing away his bangs, she felt his forehead.
The fever hadn't gone down yet…
Her cool hand seemed to bring him out of his slumber.
Sasuke's eyes slowly opened but seemed to be glazed over.
His vision was pretty blurry, and he felt very dizzy.
"Hey… are you ok?" Sakura asked quietly, putting each of her hands on a side of his face.
He looked her straight in her eyes, but he didn't recognize her.
He responded, "Who… are you…? Where am I…?"
Sakura smiled a bit to herself.
The medicine was affecting him a lot.
Subconsciously, he touched his side and grimaced at the pain.
"Ow…" he mumbled, moving his hand back to the ground.
"Ok now… you need to sleep, ok? Sleep…" Sakura stated, putting her hand over his eyes.
He sleepily pushed it away and tried to sit up.
However, his wounds were too much for him and he almost fell over.
Sakura caught him and frowned.
"Sleep…"
She pushed him back to the ground.
Slowly, his eyes closed.
"Sleep…"
Before long, he was fast asleep, though Sakura knew; it wasn't as peaceful as his appearance made it seem…