Hey guys! I'm sorry I didn't get this uploaded over the weekend. Last week was an absolute nightmare; I had a crap load of group work *shudders*, a presentation to give *even more shudders* and a room inspection (which I passed but I had to spend like, the whole day tidying and ended up doing the whole house just in case the inspectors were also doing communal areas) *cries*.

See bottom AN for my rambles about where this fic is going.

Also... a nice Guest review has happened! :D My faith in anonymity is restored! ^^*

Thank you for being so nice, dearest Anon! :3

Also, thanks to the people who have followed/favourited this story! :D

I don't own Naruto

Let the chapter begin (this chapter has not been looked at by a beta (my friend) so be warned, there will prob be mistakes galore)!

Chapter 10

Once Naruto and Seiten were done with the vice-chief of police and Jiro, not only was Sasuke a free man, but he had all the men that had wronged him bowing down before him, begging his forgiveness. Something which Sasuke had found rather satisfying.

Be that as it may, Sasuke had far from recovered. His mind had underwent a lot of strain and he was no less determined to find out who had tried to kill his friend and saving him from death. While the undeniable truth of Naruto's ageing was ever present in his mind, Sasuke had been wronged and a deep need for revenge had taken root within him.

With his memories from both his previous and present lives intact, Sasuke was strong enough to fight off whoever came for Naruto- but Sasuke didn't want to just fight them off; he wanted to completely annihilate anyone in the village who so much as thought ill towards their Hokage.

Perhaps Naruto could feel the change in his charge. If he could, he pretended he couldn't. Pretended he couldn't feel his presence outside his office, pretended he didn't notice the way dark bags developed under the teenager's eyes or the way he tensed when anyone apart from Naruto came near.

Sometimes, when Sasuke looked up to see the elder man staring at him, it looked like Naruto had just seen a ghost. But Sasuke had other things to worry about- he had a traitor to catch and so he pretended not to notice the changes in his friend or himself either.

Instead he focussed on the politics within the village- whilst keeping an eye on his friend- who supported Naruto, who didn't? Who would have the gall to try to carry out an assassination attempt and who had the power?

Again and again, the same name kept popping up in Sasuke's head and try as he might, he couldn't completely dismiss it.

This went on for a week before Naruto decided that he had had enough of pretending.

Sasuke was like a man possessed reading through the archives of the village, trying to fill his gaps in knowledge of what had happened in the 50 or so years he had not been present in the village. He ignored his concerned team mates when they came and allowed his mother to feed him after his newly found uncle dragged him to her.

He only really stepped back from his searches when the smell of hot, fresh ramen approached. Only one person in the village would think that ramen was a good meal to give to someone that was practically starving himself.

"So…." Naruto began after they finished eating, "That was your first mind focussed interrogation?"

"Hn."

"How are you coping?"

Sasuke frowned, wondering how to respond, in the end he settled for another, "Hn."

"Ya know, aside from the obvious, the first time someone else ever entered my mind was your grandfather-dattebayo."

Half of Sasuke wanted to snort in amusement that Naruto was, as ever, trying to use 'talk-no-jutsu' on him while the other wanted to recoil in horror and beg Naruto's forgiveness- he hadn't torn through Naruto's mind like Jiro had, had he? All he could remember was that sewer like room and the Kyuubi. He hadn't hurt Naruto, had he? Certainly, Naruto's mind hadn't engaged in outright war like his had with Jiro….

"It's completely different from what happened to you but I'll tell you what happened, if you want?"

For the first time in the past two weeks, Sasuke's mind was on something other than the recent attack. His mouth was suddenly very dry when he made a slow nod for the man to continue.

"I don't even know if he meant to do it. He just looked at me with his sharingan and whoosh, there we were, in my mindscape.

"You have to understand, a person's mindscape is like a person's opinion of themselves. It is the most personal thing a person can have- in it, you are king. No one can reach you nor touch you there but there your grandfather was. After just casually entering the deepest part of my mind, he walked past me and saw my darkest secret at the time – Kurama.

"See, I spent years and years being hated and hunted for what is inside of me. Kurama was the reason I couldn't have friends, he was the reason so many people I loved nearly died or actually died. He was literally what went bump in the night for me and the only thing that was keeping me and everyone near me safe was a seal that at a moment of weakness could be removed like that," Naruto snapped his fingers, "I stood no chance against Kurama, not even in my own mindscape."

Sasuke started as Naruto chuckled, "Kurama was all that to me and Sasuke, your grandfather just waltzed into my mindscape and stopped him like he was just the family's old pet dog.

"He probably never even thought about it again afterwards but if there was ever a moment where Sasuke Uchiha senior made me feel utterly pathetic, it was then." Naruto tried to look Sasuke in the eye.

The boy frowned; Naruto was right, he had never thought about it again, and certainly not like that.

After a few moments thought, Sasuke finally spoke, "That's not what I was thinking about…."

"Ahh, so I should have started our talk asking about your recent and sudden interest in village politics? What's bothering you- you're not planning to take my job, are you? I only managed to get this gig just over 50 years ago so I'll not be giving it up easily. I'm aiming to beat the record for longest reigning Kage and I'm sooo close-dattebayo!"

Sasuke did snort this time before frowning, "Why didn't you fight back?"

Naruto looked puzzled for a couple of moments before realising what the teen was asking about, "Sasuke…"

Sasuke felt a sudden wave of anger, "Was it someone from the village?"

"No! Well, yes but…."

The teen reached to grab the collar of the Hokage's coat, "Promise me! Promise me that you'll fight back, no matter what!"

"Sasuke. I can't promise you-"

"Even if it's me!" Sasuke shouted over him, "Even if I turn on you, promise me that you'll stop me- or kill me."

Naruto's eyes softened and he leaned his head in until their foreheads were touching, "I won't promise you that, Sasuke. If I ever do something so bad that you think I need to die for it, I'll let you.

"And, while I don't know what's going on in here," he tapped the side of Sasuke's head, "I do know when you're hurting-dattebayo. I don't understand it, but when I see you like this, taking all these burdens upon yourself, I hurt too."

Sasuke closed his eyes and let sleep take him. His dreams were peaceful, filled with what could have been had he called out to the little blonde haired boy at the pier all those years ago, had he not left for the sake of power, had he not killed his brother and been able to save Naruto's family. Had he not died.

And through the happy dreams of Sasuke growing old with his friends; his family surrounding him- the name loomed.

And so, chapter 10 is done! :)

As for where I'll be going from here, here's a vague explanation:P :

On the weekend, I just crashed and when I looked at my plans for future chapters, it turns out that part A didn't have a couple of chapters left. It ended last chapter/this one... :/

I had to come up with a plan, and fast. :') After like an hour of worrying about it on the phone with my friend, I decided to switch the next two 'arcs' of the story. I kinda wanted to do all the stuff that will happen in this upcoming part later but the story will flow much better this way. :3

On the downside, I have very little planned for this part as I thought I had quite some time before getting to it. It might not be as well thought out as the previous part (though I intend to do my very best and my head is already buzzing with ideas!)

Thank for reading!

Please review!