Author's Note:

I want to thank all my readers, new and old, I do have to apologize though to all of you for how long it has taken to update this chapter, my daughter it would seem deleted all that i had written and i had to make a new one. So i'm sorry for the wait.

I want to thank everyone who reviewed on the last chapter and everyone who decided to follow.

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Naruto or any of the other characters.

Last time:

She knew now that she never even had a chance. Sasuke belonged fully to Naruto Uzumaki whether the blonde knew it or not.

But, that didn't mean she had to be nice or let her know that.

Chapter 6: Unseen Watchers

Daylight was just a couple hours off when Sasuke decided that it was time to get moving. They needed to get to Konoha as soon as they could and that meant leaving. Jugo woke not long after he heard Sasuke moving around, packing up his and Naruto's things, carefully maneuvering around the unconscious girl.

Remembering how she asked him to help out wherever he could he began to rouse Suigetsu and Karin and helped them get everything together. After he had packed everything up he walked over to where Sasuke was standing above the tiny blonde girl. "I can carry her first, Sasuke." He motioned towards his back. "If we strap her to my back I will be able to move freely, we can use my belt, re-tie it so she is comfortable and safe."

Sasuke merely nodded as Jugo began to undo the rope around his waist and waited for him to hold her in place before re-tying it snugly so she wouldn't fall. Sasuke put one of Naruto's thighs in each of Jugo's hands so he would have a good hold on her and he gently placed her head against his back.

Looking at the friendly giant before him that never spoke much he looked him in the eye. "Do not let anything happen to her Jugo."

"I won't." Bending down he retrieved Naruto's bag and handed it out for Sasuke to take. Slowly he reached out and took it from him before slinging it over his shoulder with his own bag.

"Suigetsu, make sure it looks as though we were never here. Karin take the lead and scout ahead. We have a long journey ahead of us." Sasuke looked around at his companions knowing he was leading them somewhere they could possibly never return from. "Where we are going I am an extremely wanted fugitive. They will take me into custody when they spot me, they will most likely accuse me of doing this to her. She is their hero and they value her greatly so they will not be gentle when they find out what has happened to her. They are not going to give me a chance to explain what has happened to her." He looked pointedly at each of them. "Your job is not to worry about me. Your job is to make sure that she gets to Tsunade as soon as possible and make sure that she gets better. As soon as I am captured She is your number one priority. Not me. Her.

"She must live." The fire in his eyes told them how serious he was and that there would be very drastic consequences it they failed. "You have to tell Tsunade that the poison is a very old one and that it suppresses the nine-tailed fox and seals off her chakra. That it will keep her unconscious until it is removed from her system."

"Do you understand?" He asked looking each of them in the eye as they each nodded their understanding.

"Then lets move!"

They traveled for several hours, choosing to stick to the forests and out of the way paths to avoid people and the possibility of being seen by rouge ninja. They stopped only once for half an hour to eat and rest for a few minutes and to give Naruto some water. Karin checked all of her wounds to make sure they stayed clear of infection, she said that even though they still showed no signs of healing they were clean.

He decided that he was going to carry Naruto for the remainder of the day, much to Jugo's opinion otherwise. Sasuke thought he might have to resort to physical violence just to get what he wanted before Jugo admitted that he had made Naruto a promise to help as much as possible.

The idea of Naruto making plans to keep him from being burdened even after she couldn't do anything about it made him smile.

After a total of almost thirteen hours of traveling with periodic breaks Sasuke called for them to make camp. Jugo and Sasuke had traded off on carrying Naruto every three hours or so, and Sasuke had been carrying her for the past hour maybe. It was already dark and had been for at least an hour. Since he wanted to be on the move again by dawn the next morning he knew they had to stop either now or really soon, so he opted for now. Daylight was a little more than six hours away, enough time for them to get something to eat and get some rest.

He could hear the others as they let out sighs of relief at his suggestion to stop. They dropped down from the canopy to the forest floor. Jugo led the way through the trees to a small clearing big enough for the five of them and a fire. He sent Suigetsu to set a perimeter, had Karin get things together for dinner, and had Jugo prepare a fire.

By the time half an hour had passed, Naruto had been removed from his back and laid down near the fire to rest, Karin had checked her over and given her water to stay hydrated while the food cooked, and Suigestu had returned from making sure everything was clear and set. Jugo had already fallen asleep at the base of one of the nearby trees claiming that he wanted second watch and that he would eat later, which prompted Karin to claim third watch and Suigestu called first. Sasuke didn't mind getting left with last watch, it meant his sleep wouldn't have to be interrupted.

Dinner was divided up between the four of them with Jugo's being set aside in a covered container so bugs would stay out of it. Not too long after they ate everyone save Suigetsu went to sleep though it took Sasuke a few minutes to drift off even with as tried as he was. He had decided to lay next to Naruto to help keep her warm and the excuse that in order for anyone to get at her they would have to first go through him.

He kept thinking about how it irritated him that Naruto felt the need to ask Jugo to help him with her. He could logically understand why she did it, hell he would have done the same thing in her position. But that doesn't mean he has to be happy about it or like that she felt the need to do so. Even though he knew that she would never doubt his ability to keep her safe or protect her, it still felt as though she did.

Sasuke was woken up around four hours later by Karin so he could take his watch, and she could get some more rest.

He made his way over to the base of a nearby tree, opposite the clearing from Jugo, and sat down facing the small camp. Or more specifically faced Naruto. He still couldn't believe that she found him, that she went through all of this just to see him. She risked her life like always for his worthless ass. Leaning his head back against the tree he stared up through the canopy of leaves at the few stars he could see. Memories of all the horrible things he had ever said to her when she had been a boy flashed through his mind one after another. He also remembered all the confusing feelings he had at the time right before he figured out what they were, how pissed off he was at the fact he fell in love with a boy of all people.

Smirking to himself he wondered if they knew that Naruto was a girl back then, would it have made a difference at all. Shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head he thought that it probably wouldn't have. All his younger self was concerned with was revenge on his brother, other things were just distractions and inconvenient.

Listening to the sounds of the night Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He sat still as he stretched his senses out trying to get a feel for whoever or whatever was out there, but whoever it was wasn't nearby. He also couldn't see anyone with his sharingan which just confirmed no one was close enough to be an immediate threat.

Not wanting to let whoever it may be know that he was aware of there presence, he decided to stay where he was and act as though nothing was wrong. He figured he wouldn't do anything unless that decided to come closer or made any threatening moves. He would inform the others when it was time to leave and see what they had to say about it and what they wanted to do.

Right before the sun came up he noticed that the feeling went away, as though whoever it was knew that time was up and if they stayed any longer that they would be caught.

Sighing he stood and made his way back into the middle of the camp and began snuffing out the coals from the night's fire. Jugo was the first one to start stirring and sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Hey, did you notice anything weird last night?" Sasuke asked grinding the toe of his sandal into the last ember.

"Weird how?" Jugo asked as he began rolling up his sleeping bag.

"Like someone was in the trees watching but other than the feeling of eyes on you, you couldn't feel or see anything else?"

Jugo halted in his movements of shoving his sleeping bag into his carry sac, "Yeah, I think I remember something like that, though I thought it might have just been my imagination from being so tired." Tying off his sac he stood, slinging it over his shoulder and facing Sasuke.

"I thought I felt something also, but like you guys I couldn't sense anything else so I thought it was all in my head as well." Came from the lump off to the side that belonged to Karin. She sat up and ran her fingers back through her hair before placing her glasses on and yawning.

"We'll just have to be on the look out more. Karin, wake Suigetsu, you're the only one he doesn't try to kill."

"Well if you guys were nicer he wouldn't try anything with you either." She mumbled before making her way over to the other lump on the ground with a pale head of hair sticking out.

While Karin was rousing Suigetsu, Sasuke turned towards the final sleeping member of their small group. It been barely over a day and he missed seeing her eyes, how had he ever gone months even years before now? She looked almost peaceful laying there in her sleeping bag, like nothing was wrong. But he knew better, which soured his mood instantly and ruined the image of her sleeping.

Squatting down he began to un-tuck the blanket from around her.

"Did you want me to carry her first?" Jugo asked from behind Sasuke.

"No. I'll do it."

"Then I'll begin packing up her blanket."

"Hnn." Sasuke set about with the ropes that would hold Naruto against his back safely.

Suigetsu came over and picked Naruto up while Sasuke turned around for him to place her on his back before tying everything.

"We're going to be traveling differently today." Sasuke turned and looked at each member of his team in turn. "We know that someone has been watching us, we just don't know who or when or how they plan to announce themselves." He looked at Karin and Suigestu, "You guys will be taking up the rear to make sure we aren't being followed to closely. And Suigetsu?"

"What?" came the attitude from the shorter boy.

"No killing unless they get too close, I don't think they're friendly."

Nodding his understanding he picked up his bag and placed it over his shoulder. "Yeah no problem."

"Jugo, You'll be ahead of me to make sure that there's no one ahead waiting for us." Jugo merely nodded before leaping into the canopy above still within hearing range.

"Alright, We will be moving even further into the forest and will be staying away from the roads entirely. Everyone understand?"

They each replied yes and they were off.

They traveled for another whole day, only stopping for food and a small rest each time. They wanted to save their remaining energy pills incase something happened between now and their arrival at the village. Jugo insisted on carrying Naruto after they stopped for mid-day even though he had carried her before hand after they switched. His reasoning was that Sasuke was the better fighter and that he would stop any threat before it got anywhere near Naruto.

Jugo used his ability to send birds ahead as scouts to warn of any dangers ahead, and so far there had been nothing to take note of. He even sent some back behind him and still found nothing. And he told Sasuke this in an attempt to make him feel more at ease but saw that it hadn't worked to well.

Sasuke agreed to let him carry her reluctantly.

They switched back after they stopped again for a short rest about three or four hours after that. Karin used her abilities to restore some of their chakra they had used while moving at fast speeds through the trees and gave Naruto some more water. She redid her bandages letting Sasuke know that the bleeding seemed to have started beck up a little bit but wasn't overly bad. She said that the wounds were still clean and free from any infection. She quickly mixed together an ointment to spread on them to continue to keep them clean.

Karin noticed that Naruto felt slightly warmer than she had the day before which could be either good or bad, but it was too early to tell.

Karin and Suigestu claimed that they felt nothing and saw no one while they traveled which didn't make Sasuke feel any better.

Sasuke called for everyone to stop for the night and to make camp for which everyone was grateful. This hard travel was extremely tiring and was taking it's toll on them. Granted it had only been two days since they had started out but they each had less than six hours of sleep in them.

"This way." Jugo lead them through some trees and bushes before they all came upon a decent sized cave that was dug into a large hill.

They went inside and found an old fire pit with old logs stacked off to the side as well as a few rabbit skins laying on the dirty ground forgotten. The feel of the place said it hadn't been used in a long time and that nothing with four legs lived there either.

Like the night before Karin set about making something for dinner while Suigetsu set the perimeter, Jugo laid out the bedding for everyone before calling out he wanted second watch and crashing, and Sasuke was tending to Naruto.

He began to check her bandages, pleased to note that they were still white and her skin felt normal again instead of clammy and cold. He covered her back up before tucking her blanket around her and looking away towards the fire.

They were at least another day's worth of heavy traveling before they reached the border of the village. So far nothing had happened, which began to put Sasuke on edge the closer they got to the village without incident. Even though most people would find that relaxing.

Suigetsu got back from checking the perimeter just as Karin was removing the pot from the fire. "Everything out there is fine and quiet." Sasuke only nodded.

just cause it was quiet now didn't mean it was going to stay that way.

After eating the meal that Karin made he found himself curling up beside Naruto again, though this time he wrapped his arm around her middle and drew her up against him as close as he could. All of his instincts yelled at him to take her and run for the village as fast as he could, but he knew he'd never make it there without some sort of rest. So he held her close as his eyes closed and his thoughts drifted.

Suigetsu and Jugo both had been done with their watches for almost an hour when Karin heard a twig snapping near by. She was sitting on a large rock a few feet from the entrance of the cave and since she didn't sense anything she ignored the sound. Then something moved out of the corner of her eye. Getting off her rock and walking closer to get a better look while reaching for her kunai, another object moved to her left. Dread filled the pit of her stomach as she realized they were under attack and smoke exploded into her face from the bomb on the ground.

Danger.

Something was happening. Sasuke looked around but all he could see was smoke coming into the cave from outside. 'Forest fire?' he looked around wildly not sure exactly what was going on. 'No, it doesn't... doesn't smell right.'

Untangling himself from Naruto he stood up, immediately going dizzy, someone crashed into him sending him sprawling on the floor inches from the hot coals of the fire. Grunting with the effort he threw his fist forward connecting with the person's face that was covered in some sort of material, knocking them off him. Sasuke patted his thighs looking for a kunai when his fingers finally felt the cold steel and flicked towards someone he could see making their way through the thick smoke. Whoever it was fell to the ground a couple of feet from him and didn't get up again.

'Where is everyone?...How did these...people get around the perimeter?' Sasuke's thoughts were growing increasingly cloudy as the seconds ticked by.

Three more people came zipping into the fast shinking space of the cave, one of them darted towards their fallen comrade before shouting orders to "get the girl".

Sasuke tried making his way back over to the girl laying on the floor a few feet away but his legs refused to listen and instead sent him crashing to the floor of the cave. He could only lay there as one of the people picked her up and began to carry her off out of sight. The person that Sasuke had punched made his way back over to him before looking down at him. Sasuke was having a hard time focusing as his vision kept blurring in and out.

"You're lucky you are who you are, otherwise you'd be dead right now." a male voice said from behind the mask.

Then all Sasuke knew was darkness.

Karin was the first to wake up from the attack. Sitting up she placed her hand against her head and groaned. Sasuke was going to kill her. No doubt about it. She looked up wt the sky to see how long it had been since she lost consciousness, judging it to have been an hour, maybe an hour and half at the most since it happened. Maybe if they were lucky they could find whoever did this before they got too far away.

Slowly she made her way to her feet and into the cave to find the boys all unconscious on the ground and one very obvious missing blonde. Off to the side there was dead body with a kunai sticking out of one of the major arteries in their thigh. Seems as though they decided to leave him to die rather than carry his dead weight. They must have really wanted the blonde to just leave one of their own. Not that him bleeding out would have taken long since it looked like someone also slit his throat. Probably so he wouldn't be able to talk if one of them woke up early.

Quickly she made her way over to Sasuke and used her chakra enhancing abilities to jump start his and shock him into waking up.

Gasping for air Sasuke jerked upright and clutched his chest. He frantically looked around before getting angry, causing Karin to scoot away closer to Suigetsu who was just beginning to wake up due to the sound of Sasuke's chidori filling the air.

Screaming in rage Sasuke's chidori filled his hand and he sent it flying into the back wall of the cave, which woke Jugo, causing rocks to shatter and zip by. The crackling of him making another one caused Karin and Suigetsu to make their way towards the entrance while Jugo took it upon himself to try and stop him. He grabbed a hold of Sasuke's arm and looked him in the eye.

"Sasuke." Looking at his leader in the eye was scary, this man could kill him without thought but he was trying to stop him anyway. He could see the rage burning behind his eyes, but he also saw something else. Fear. Fear for the small blonde girl. "We will get her back."

"I can still feel her faintly, she's just starting to go beyond the reach of my senses. They're about three miles out." Karin said from behind Suigestu as though to hide herself from Sasuke's rage lest he remember that it was on her watch that they attacked.

"God damnit!" Sasuke's sharingan activated on its own as he punched the floor and sparks flew from his hand. "I'm going to kill them!" He growled before storming out of the cave leaving the rest of them still inside.

Author's note:

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please REVIEW!