Sakura's jaw dropped at the display in front of her. It wasn't really possible that the elder Naruto and Sasuke…but her eyes told her otherwise.

"Baka!" snapped a blushing Auron, "not in the middle of a fight!"

And he did sound angry, and yet a smile seemed to dance across his features. Sakura's brain attempted to digest this new information, parts of it rebelling, the other half analyzing, but no part really paying attention. The cry of "Sakura" slapped her like a bucket of water, and then someone pushed her to the side. She stumbled, but managed to avoid falling.

Naruto, her Naruto, continued to move, but couldn't avoid the claws that caught his arm. He winced as the claws tightened, attempting to capture him, but a blur caused him to stumble back. The creature keened as it's claw was severed by a metal fan. Suki kicked the creature to get it farther away.

"Pay attention!" snapped Suki, her twin metal fans cutting through another Shade.

Sakura's eyes once more turned to look at the elder Naruto and Auron. The two seemed to dance around each other, Naruto's sword humming through the air as Auron whirled twin chakrams around as skillfully as Suki handled her fans.

Then, as quick as a breath, they stood alone.

"What just happened?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura tore her eyes away and grabbed Naruto's arm, forcing the wounds to heal faster.

"You…you shouldn't've done that…" she stammered, unable to look any more at the elder pair now that they no longer fought.

"It was extremely foolish," agreed Suki. "Brave, but foolish. Reminds me of someone I know…"

"You mean me?" asked the elder Naruto, sheathing his blade. "Am I really?"

Suki and Auron both glanced at him. He shrugged in response.

"As interesting as this all is," said Itachi, "can we perhaps step inside now that Naruto won't bleed all over the carpets? We can then discuss everything inside."

Shakily, the younger Naruto entered the complex. Kisame held a knife in one hand while Natsuko peeked around him. She cried out when she saw her injured brother and rushed to his side.

"It's okay," said Naruto. "Sakura and Suki healed most of it."

"This is Naruto's twin here," said Suki to the elder Naruto. "Her name's Natsuko. She seems to have the ability to heal, though Naruto carries Kyuubi here."

"Sit," Itachi told the younger Naruto, shooing Natusko to a different seat. "Kisame, get something ready and water. We need to replenish his energy."

"Of course," said Kisame, with a small bow.

"We're going by our code names here," said Auron. "It'll get too confusing otherwise."

"I go by Kurama," said the elder Naruto. "It is the true name of the Kyuubi."

Naruto looked surprised, then his eyes unfocused. Sakura wondered if he were talking with his own Kyuubi to verify this. All these bits of information seemed like a lot in a short amount of time, and she sat down heavily beside Naruto. Shortly after, Sasuke sat down on Naruto's other side before Natsuko could get there. The girl pouted, but sat down beside Sasuke.

"Thanks," said Sakura, looking at Naruto's injured arm.

"Your welcome," said Naruto.

They looked up at the others. Suki sat on a chair by herself, her legs dangling over the side of the chair, and her arms crossed. Kurama and Auron sat beside each other, close, but not quite touching. Quietly, they waited until Kisame came in with a tray, a bowl of ramen, and some milk.

"I believe we've been kept in the dark long enough," said Kakashi. "Will you now tell us what you know about our enemy?"

Kurama sighed. "If only we knew everything. We call it 'Shadow,' and nobody is quite sure if its male or female. When it speaks, its voice seems to come out like numerous voices woven together. It's a bit creepy."

Suki snorted. "A bit? Try a lot."

"As far as information we've managed to gather," continued Auron, "this thing has been disguised as a lower level nin for a number of our enemies. Orochimaru, Danzo…it's unclear how many he's followed, or how much information he's managed to learn under the different leaders."

"Its strong," said Kurama. "It clearly must have been waiting, watching as each of our enemies fell, and learning what it could. After attacking several villages, we went after it. The only problem is, we think that's what it wanted."

"What do you mean?" asked Kisame.

"We trailed after it, following its path of destruction and attempting to learn from the pieces it left behind," said Suki. "When we caught up to it, it ripped the fabric of reality…"

"And you got here."

"And we got here," said Kurama. "And even with what we know, we don't know enough. We don't know what it really is, or how much power it has."

"What are the Shades?" asked Kakashi.

"We think they're the twisted spirits of fallen beings," said Kurama.

"You mean we've been killing people?!" yelled Naruto.

"No," said Kurama. "At least we hope that's not the case."

"We captured one of them, once" said Sakura. "It didn't seem human at all."

"Those creatures didn't seem willing to listen, earlier," said Kakashi.

Naruto looked at his arm, rubbing the claw marks.

"Then we don't know what we're up against," said Kisame.

Kakashi cursed under his breath.

"Are you two really together?" Sakura finally burst out when nobody said anything else.

"Now that I know the answer to," said Kurama.


Sasuke couldn't sleep. In his mind, he kept seeing the battle. He imagined fighting people he knew in the shapes of these Shades, and then saw Naruto being attacked. He imagined Naruto becoming a Shade, and they would fight.

He hadn't been able to do anything.

And he thought about this other self, and Kurama…

Like a wheel, his mind turned again to the image of the Shades…Naruto a Shade…

He had to become stronger!

Quietly, he slipped out of the window and made his way over the rooftops. The Cursed Mark seemed to burn on his neck, urging him forward.

At first, he didn't pay attention, but as he progressed, he realized that someone was following him. He skidded to a halt and turned.

"What do you think you're doing?" said Naruto. His Naruto. Sasuke's eyes studied the bandages on Naruto's arm.

"I'm going to Orochimaru."

"Are you out of your mind?" yelled Naruto, making no attempt to mask their presence. Sasuke winced, but glared.

"I'm not strong enough!" he snapped. He turned and began to move away, but was caught off guard at how fast Naruto leapt at him. They both tumbled to the ground, and immediately began to fight.

"I won't let you go to that bastad, you hear me? You're not going to Orochimaru!"

"You can't stop me, Naruto! Damnit, stop hitting me!"

"I'm knocking some sense into your stupid, genius mind!"

Sasuke scrambled away and began to move again, but a cry of "Sasuke," not of anger, but of terror, made him turn.

Black tendrils were wrapped around Naruto from the waist down. Naruto tried to pull himself away, his large, blue eyes on Sasuke. Without another thought, Sasuke raced back, kunai flying through the air. They hit the tendrils, but, like shadows, the tendrils weren't affected. He grabbed Naruto's hands, and pulled.

"Lemme go!" yelled Naruto, but with a yank, Naruto was pulled fully into the darkness. Sasuke leapt onto the spot, but nothing happened as it grew smaller, and became his own shadow.

Sasuke was once again alone…


TBC