Chapter three

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear

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Present day

Discoloured images and shapes passed through the black cloud of unconsciousness. Was this what it was like to be dead? Maybe, who knows? The shapes moulded and unmoulded making different shapes. At one point, the shapes had made what seemed like a Sharigan, and then again to make what looked like a bowl of ramen. Mmm…. Ramen…

Naruto felt numb. He couldn't feel anything, yet he could. It was a very strange feeling. Kind of like having pins and needles in your legs, after sitting on them for 3 days not moving them. But about 100 times worse. Naruto felt a strange absence, and what felt like floating. Was Kyuubi here to? Naruto wanted to call out to him, but not even his mind would let him speak.

After what felt like an eternity, a small flash of white broke through the dark and miss-coloured shapes. What was that? His mind seemed to gently float towards it, even though he had no control. The light sure was pretty…

'Na…Naru…to…' Heehee, the light could speak! Although, that voice sounded familiar. Familiar and damned annoying…

'Naruto!' the voice was getting louder. Was it more annoyed? The light grew considerably, its brightness increasing. It hurt, Naruto thought.

The voice got louder, the light brighter, and suddenly Naruto felt as though he was shaking. He couldn't tell if it was hot or cold… it was just… there was no temperature… 'This is weird…' Naruto thought, as his body slowly got closer to the light.

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"Naruto!"

Naruto gasped, jerking forward. A great deal of pain sped through his chest, and he let out a strangled scream as he fell back onto his back.

"God, calm down, or you will actually die this time!" the voice, was angry. A moan passed through Naruto's lips, as the pain pulsed angrily in his chest. He lifted one hand, but since it was too painful, he put it back down.

"Oh damn… what… Where… damn it hurts…" Naruto mumbled, teeth clenched.

"That's what happens when you get impaled by a giant snake's fang." The voice sounded like a joke, but there was a stern worry behind it. The voice… Where had he heard this? He had heard it before that damned light, he was sure.

"God damnit… that happened, did I die? Is this heaven?"

"Ok, seriously, you're not making any sense… not that you ever made much sense anyway." Naruto paused. He knew that voice… it was on the tip of his tongue…

Of course, Naruto realized he could open his eyes by this point. Why he hadn't earlier was past him.

Gingerly, one eye lid lifted, before shutting again. Damned light. After getting accustomed, he opened his eyes fully. He was lying down, his head facing up. The sun had gone down, and little stars flickered on and off in the sky.

A cough to his right got his attention, and his head managed to flop to the right. His eyes focused in the dark, revealing a person sitting with their back to him. The person had cropped hair, the style reminding him of a duck's butt. The style was awfully familiar… the person wore a white shirt, with some sort of symbol on the back. Naruto couldn't see the exact shape of the symbol in the dark.

"So… did I actually die?" Naruto asked, voice somewhat raspy.

"Not really… you almost did, if I hadn't of saved your ass." The person turned their head, revealing a bright red eye. Seeing this, Naruto let out an un-manly squeak with a "Holy crap, Sasuke!" as he scrambled backwards, ignoring the pain in his chest.

"Who the hell did you think it was?" Sasuke replied in his normal stoic voice, "and don't move… Aww now you've gone and done it, your wound's open." Sasuke shook his head and moved to get up.

"No! Stay away!" Naruto pushed back further into the tree, and noticed a large amount of blood began to drip down his chest. Apparently, Sasuke had attempted to wrap up the wound, since his shirt and jacket lay next to the tree and a large creamy white bandage had been wrapped tightly around his chest.

"Well, if you want to bleed to death…" Sasuke shrugged, turning and resting his hands on his knees, looking expectedly at Naruto.

"Wait… Why aren't you yelling at me?" Naruto asked hesitantly, raising a hand to his bleeding chest. If there was to be any sudden attacks… well, he would at least try to protect himself.

"And I'm going to yell at you for…? I am only going to yell and scream if you don't let me fix that hole in your chest." Sasuke replied icily.

"Yell at me for… Well, what happened… 5 years ago…" Naruto stuttered. Sasuke shook his head and motioned for Naruto to lie on his back again. Feeling slightly at ease, Naruto did as he was told and lay on his back. The pressure on his wound hurt, both in the front and back. Naruto couldn't exactly remember how the fang got through all his bones, but he knew the fang had gone straight though.

"That's a bit irrelevant at the moment. And seriously, I didn't come all the way out here to let you bleed to death." Sasuke said as he unbound the bandages on Narutos chest. The skin around the open hole was black and bluish, with Narutos veins 'popping' against his skin. Naruto gritted his teeth, as he felt Sasuke's fingers prod gently at the skin.

"Well, at least the swelling has gone down." Sasuke said before pulling a needle and thread from inside a large tan skin backpack.

"Please tell me you trained as a medical nin these past 5 years…" Naruto muttered as he felt a prick near the centre of the pain. He let out a slight gasp as he felt the skin being pulled together.

"Uh…yeah…not really…" Sasuke replied after he finished sewing up the hole in Narutos chest. Naruto grumbled as Sasuke tied a knot in the thread. Naruto couldn't really decipher what expression was on Sasuke's face, or what was in his eyes, as the youngest Uchiha had what seemed like a mask protecting his feelings.

"But still. Why are you here anyway? And… if you didn't want me to bleed to death why did you have that stupid snake attack me?" Naruto grumbled, as Sasuke motioned for him to sit up again so he could re-sew the hole in his back. Sasuke moved to sit behind Naruto has he prepared a new thread

"Well… After what happened, there had been 2 teams sent out." Sasuke told Naruto as he gently pushed the needle through the edges of the hole. Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Teams? Oh.. you mean…?"

"Yeah. The assassination squads." Sasuke murmured, doing another few stitches.

"Apparently, they had 'killed' you. Or so they announced. I never believed them, but Kakashi and Sakura refused to let me go out and search for you." Sasuke had finished sewing the hole and sat silently. Naruto shifted his head to look over his shoulder, to see Sasuke looking into the trees.

"Sakura… and Kakashi…" Naruto muttered and turned his head away. He heard Sasuke shift behind him, and watched as the Uchiha stood at the fire and prodded it with a stick.

"Yeah. Both of these reasons being different, of course. Kakashi's reason… was, well he didn't want me to get hurt as well. He had told me that he didn't want the both of us to die for nothing. Not that he wanted you to die!" Sasuke quickly added as a choking sound came out of Narutos throat. Naruto let out a sigh as Sasuke finished.

"He was trying to protect us. He was going to search for you when he could, but every time he did, he never found you. And Sakura… well…" Sasuke fell silent, and Naruto barely breathed. He knew the reason. He could perfectly remember the horror filled scream she had made when it was his name called as the jinchuuriki.

"And what about you." Naruto asked after a moment of silence. Sasuke cocked his head to the side.

"what do you mean, 'what about me'?"

"What is your reason for coming out to find me? I saw you that day, you took steps away from me, when you figured it out. Were you scared, too? Did you find me disgusting like the rest of the-"

"For god's sake Naruto, I don't care!" Sasuke hissed angrily as he tossed the stick he was holding into the fire. The fire danced angrily at its new consumable, and Naruto looked at Sasuke with a shocked expression. "Do you honestly think that I would hate you?" Sasuke asked, his angry eyes blazing with red Sharingan.

"Well… you…"

"Naruto. Honestly? After everything we've been through. Damnit. Naruto you're my best friend. You always will be. Sure, we had our moments of hating each other, but… you were the first person to actually find a reason to hate me, and actually become a friend." Sasuke shook his head. He never had been one to describe his feelings. It was true though. Naruto had been his first friend, first rival, first enemy…

"Huh… Well, to be honest, I never noticed you thought of me as a friend…." Naruto said thoughtfully. Sasuke face palmed.

"You're such a dobe."

"…Teme!" Naruto huffed. Sasuke snorted, before walking over to his backpack and pulling out a blanket. He threw it at Naruto who raised an eyebrow.

"Get some sleep. We've got a bit of a journey ahead of us." Sasuke shook his head when Naruto opened his mouth to protest. "I'll stand guard. We can talk tomorrow."

With that, Sasuke jumped into a tree to stand guard. Naruto huffed, awkwardly shifting the blanket over him. Failing to do so, he gave up when the blanket was bunched up over his stomach. He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep. Hopefully, he wouldn't die tonight.

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Written by Urufu-Chan.

(Ochibi and Urufu)