It's All in Your Head
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them!
She lives! Sorry for the wait, and thank you all for being so patient. Enjoy! (warning, the next couple chapters contain minor spoilers!)
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Sakura sighed as she began to unpack her belongings, folding her clothes carefully and placing them into the dresser she would be living out of for the next few weeks while her team remained in Sand. She had already set up her extensive medical kit in a private adjoining room that had been given to her for just that reason.
Checking the contents her extra weapons pouch before placing the small leather bag in her nightstand drawer, the young kunoichi paused, staring worriedly down at her hands as her mind wandered from its task once again.
The team had met with Gaara yesterday, and had been given today off in order to get settled into their new accommodations and read over the packets of information Sand had managed to compile on the newly resurrected Akatsuki.
Naruto hadn't spoken (verbally or mentally to her knowledge) to Sasuke since they left the Kazekage's office the previous day.
Heaving another sigh and finally giving up on the useless attempt to concentrate while her two "brothers" were arguing, the pink haired med nin plopped warily onto her bed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration with the whole situation.
She didn't need to be a mind reader to figure out what had happened. After working as a team with the two boys for many years, Sakura was quite adept at reading their feelings and guessing their thoughts. In her head, she began ticking off the clues she had noticed over the past few days.
Fact one, Naruto and Sasuke had begun…well perhaps "dating" wasn't the right term, but she had felt their relationship suddenly change. They were not necessarily closer: the two boys were already about as close as two individuals could get without actually merging into one being. Teammates, comrades, best friends, brothers; whatever you called it, Naruto and Sasuke shared a bond stronger than anything Sakura had ever seen.
But recently their relationship had just become more…intimate? Sakura grimaced at the cliché sound of the word, but could not come up with anything that fit better. Although she doubted anything really serious had occurred yet, the chemistry that had been poorly repressed over the past few years had finally bubbled forward, and it was obvious that the relationship Sakura had been suspecting for quite some time had finally emerged.
She rolled her eyes endearingly. Unfortunately, nothing could ever be easy with those two…
Fact two, Akatsuki had been formed once again, which meant that Itachi would be reemerging from hiding as well.
Sakura couldn't understand Sasuke's unquenchable thirst for revenge against his brother, and she doubted she ever would. After all, she had never experienced the pain the raven had gone through, nor could she even begin to imagine the enormity of the eldest Uchiha's betrayal. But she did understand the simple fact that no matter how close she grew to Sasuke, and no matter how well she thought she knew him, once Itachi entered the picture, all bets were off.
Forcing herself to get off the bed, the kunoichi returned dejectedly to her unpacking.
Yes, she understood this fact, and although she almost wished Naruto didn't and was still the ignorant, naive little boy of her childhood, the blonde's severe reaction to Itachi's name had proved that he understood it as well.
Kakashi gave the redhead before him a calculating look as he leaned casually against a bookshelf in the Kazekage's office. The younger man met his look with his usual mask of indifference, but the jounin's expert eyes noticed that there was something else hiding behind those emerald eyes today.
"You know of course," he began carefully, keeping his tone light and airy as usual, "that this has nothing to do with our current mission, and I therefore am under no obligation to disclose that information." The older man paused, shrugging one shoulder after a moment of though. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that it is classified in Fire Country, so I am actually under an obligation not to tell you."
Gaara didn't even blink. "I am aware."
Kakashi gave the boy another measuring look, and the two expressionless faces battled for a brief moment.
"You are also aware that this is not really any of your business, and it is not even my story to tell."
This time the redhead did blink, slowly and deliberately, before lowering his head respectfully and almost…pleadingly. "I am aware," he said softly.
Sighing and rubbing one hand through silver hair, Kakashi stretched out a kink in his neck before settling into a more comfortable position. It seemed he was going to be here for a while.
"Alright then, I guess we start from the beginning."
Three Years Ago…
Jiraiya was going to kill him. He was going to get his hands around that scrawny little neck of his and just strangle the life out that boy.
And then he was going to bring him back to life and do it again.
They had one week left. One week before their three years were up. One week before Naruto's hope shattered, just as Jiraiya's had so many years ago.
However, no matter how hard Jiraiya prayed that his young apprentice would not have to experience the same pain he himself had suffered, the Sennin was furious at the stunt the blonde had pulled this time.
No, not furious. Livid.
The white haired man barely noticed the branches pass beneath his feet as he rushed through the woods, pushing himself to go even faster still.
Oh yes, he was going to kill that boy, slowly and painfully. And when he was satisfied, he was sure that Tsunade was going to want to have a go as well.
Glancing to his right, he noted the expression on said woman's face and grimaced at the pain and determination he saw there. Tsunade was like a sister to him, and Jiraiya knew better than anyone that Konoha's Fifth didn't deserve to suffer any more than she already had. But it seemed that fate had other plans, as it often did for shinobis.
To his left, an equally grim Kakashi sped along, his skills far below those of the party's two Sennin, but his loyalty and determination making it impossible for Tsunade to refuse him on this mission.
And the mission was simple: retrieve Uzumaki Naruto, one of Konoha's most powerful and lethal shinobi, who had recently discovered the perfect bait for one Uchiha Sasuke…himself.
Well, it wasn't necessarily Naruto who was the perfect bait for Sasuke. Rather, it was Naruto who could attract the perfect bait for Sasuke. You see, wherever Naruto went, Akatsuki went, and wherever Akatsuki went, Uchiha Itachi went.
And of course, wherever the eldest Uchiha went, his younger brother was sure to follow.
Thus, with this indisputable chain of truths in mind, Naruto had headed off early yesterday morning, somehow managing to elude the Anbu Jiraiya had assigned to tail him for just this reason, and walked directly and purposefully into a trap Akatsuki had set for him.
Trip one trap to set another. Yes, it was a strategy that should have made any shinobi proud, but it had its flaws. The kind of flaws only Naruto could disregard.
For example, assuming that Akatsuki revealed its location in order to apprehend Naruto, and assuming that Sasuke discovered this information about his brother's new whereabouts and convinced Orochimaru to allow him to leave so close to the date the snake intended to invade his body, and even assuming that the blonde somehow managed to change Sasuke's mind (even though he had already failed twice) and convinced him to return home, even if all of these things went according to Naruto's plan, there was still one little fact the blonde was ignoring.
At the end of it all, whether Sasuke returned to Konoha or not, Naruto would be dead.
There simply was no way that the boy could hope to escape Akatsuki once they had him in their clutches. He alone did not have the power to fight all of them, even if Sasuke had a sudden change of heart and fought with him, and he had known that asking Tsunade for backup would have been pointless as the Hokage would never have agreed to his suicidal plan in the first place.
So, as usual when faced with cold hard facts he didn't like, Naruto had thrown them to the wind, spit in logic's face, and marched off determinedly, following nothing but his instincts and his heart. Perhaps it was due to the village's disregard for the value of his life as a child, but Naruto had always found this particular equation to be quite simple. His life for the life of a friend always equaled a fair trade. And that, as they say, was that.
If possible, the three blurs seemed to increase their speed even more.
'Naruto, if you die,' Jiraiya promised his apprentice silently, 'I will never forgive you.'
Present…
"Even though he obviously lived, I don't think Jiraiya has completely forgiven him for that day yet." Kakashi hooked his thumbs in his pockets, gazing out the window as memories flashed before his eyes. "I'm not sure he ever will."
Gaara sat at attention at his desk, hands folded before him as he watched Kakashi unblinkingly, silently encouraging the man to continue.
"Well, I didn't arrive on the scene until much later, but from what I gather, Akatsuki began the extraction process immediately." He spared the redhead a lingering glance before continuing. "Of course, I don't have to tell you about that. However, your experience was probably a little different."
"First of all, due to the number of tails Kyuubi has, a lot more power was needed for the ritual, and a lot more stress was put on Naruto's body. However, it seems that Naruto had been developing a strategy for this very moment. He must have been planning on turning himself over to Akatsuki for months, probably as a last resort in case everything else failed. Which, of course, it did…"
The jounin waved his hand, catching himself before he broke off on a tangent. "Anyway, I still don't really understand how, but Naruto and Kyuubi somehow managed to find a way to resist the release of the seal. Obviously, there is no way to completely nullify the jutsu when it's being performed, but as I said, they had been conditioning the strength of the seal for months."
As he suspected, Kakashi had finally piqued the Kazekage's interest enough to make the stoic boy break his silence. "That," he said softly and emotionlessly, "is impossible. A seal is a static jutsu, it cannot be strengthened and conditioned like a common muscle."
"That is exactly what Tsunade said when Naruto tried to explain it. I already told you, I don't understand how they did it. Naruto claims that Kyuubi somehow sealed himself off deep within his host, making it harder to access him, while Naruto poured all of his own chakra into maintaining the seal."
"Impossible," the Sand shinobi muttered quietly to himself, eyes narrowing in disbelief. He remembered all too well the agony of the separation ceremony. His own experience took him to the brink of death, and even pushed him over it for several minutes. For hours he laid in the hold of Akatsuki, suffering as waves of blinding pain wracked his body, unable to form even a coherent thought as the very fibers of his being were ripped apart.
And now Kakashi was telling him that Naruto had not only managed to resist this spell, but he had actually been able to ignore the pain and focus enough chakra to reinforce his seal while the ceremony proceeded? It was simply impossible.
And yet…
"Naruto is much stronger than people suspect. Even I, who considers him almost as a brother, am still uncertain of the true depths of his power."
Kakashi nodded solemnly at this statement, having realized the same thing himself several years earlier. "Hai, his endurance is truly astonishing. In the end, he withstood the extraction attempts for twice as long as any Jinchuriki before him, including you." He winced as the derogatory term slipped, knowing Naruto would be outraged if he were present. Fortunately the boy had been locked in his room all day, so Kakashi hurried on. "Tsunade doesn't think she'll ever figure out how his body survived that amount of stress."
"But the Kyuubi still resides inside him, which means that Uchiha must have reached him in time."
The light in Kakashi's eyes dimmed slightly, and a frown tugged at his hidden lips. "Oh yes," he replied softly, running one hand slowly through silver hair, "Sasuke definitely arrived on time. But even I could not have predicted what happened when he did."
Across town in his own spacious guest room, Sasuke's head tossed violently to the side as a familiar nightmare took hold of him. 'No, no, no!' his mind cried desperately, but he already knew that there was no escape from this particular nightmare.
After all, you can't escape the past.
Three Years Ago…
Orochimaru's scouts had delivered the news of Naruto's capture to their hideout earlier that morning. To Sasuke's infinite frustration, the blonde's name still caused certain strings in his heart to pull tightly, and he hadn't been able to keep his red eyes from narrowing slightly at the thought of his best friend…well, his ex-best friend, being tortured and killed.
'It's your fault,' the irritating voice in the back of his head whispered slyly, 'he would not be in this position if it were not for you.'
'It's not my fault that baka got captured,' Sasuke hissed angrily back, wondering faintly if arguing with the voices inside his head was a bad sign.
'It is your fault,' the persistent voice insisted. 'You know how strong he has become. Akatsuki would have never been able to capture him that easily unless he wanted them to, and the only reason he would have allowed it was to protect someone he cares about…like you.'
'He is weak!' The Uchiha mentally roared to himself, clenching his fists as his sharingan spun out of control. 'He refuses to hate and thus he loses strength! His capture only proves the dobe's weakness!'
Slamming a trembling fist into the wall, Sasuke cursed as the name left his lips.
After living for several months with Orochimaru, the youngest Uchiha had quickly discovered that the bonds between Naruto and himself were too painful to bear. However, no matter how hard he tried to sever them, for some reason it seemed impossible to harden his heart against the blonde. Something always held him back; the same something that had spurred him to jump in front of his friend during their battle with Haku; the same something that had stopped him from killing the other boy at The Valley of the End.
Unable to sever the bonds, Sasuke had resorted to alternative methods of banishing Naruto from his mind and heart. And "Rule Number One" was that never, under any circumstances, was the word "dobe" to be written, thought, and/or spoken in the Uchiha's presence.
Unfortunately, Sasuke had a bad habit of breaking "Rule Number One" on a regular basis.
However, for some unknown reason, as the forbidden word left his mouth, Sasuke's obstinate inner voice grew suddenly quiet. Left with his own brooding silence, the raven knew what his mind had told him was true. This was his fault: Naruto had willingly sacrificed himself to Akatsuki for Sasuke's sake, and there was no point in denying this indisputable truth.
'Save him!' was the first ridiculous thought that flickered through his head, but even as he tried to hide the desperate temptation away, he found himself trapped in the all-knowing gaze of Orochimaru.
As if reading the raven's thoughts, glowing eyes narrowed angrily. However, the snake's lived expression suddenly transformed into a wicked grin. "Of course," he crooned slyly, eyes never leaving Sasuke's, "Akatsuki will be bringing in their esteemed member, Uchiha Itachi, to help with the demon's extraction." His smile widened even further.
He could actually see the curtain of darkness fall over Sasuke's features. All compassion and loyalty drained from the boy's face, replaced with the overpowering lust for blood and revenge.
If he couldn't break the bonds between his young apprentice and that boy, Orochimaru decided, he would simply have to break the boy. However, although he had come to this conclusion the moment he laid eyes on the demon, the dark Sennin had grown increasingly frustrated as the child's strength improved with frightening speed. The Kyuubi child seemed invincible, and despite his best efforts, Orochimaru had yet to find an easy way to dispose of him.
But today, the fates were smiling on him. Today, the one, tiny crack that existed in the boy's armor had fallen right into the snake's lap.
Like every other fool who relied on love and compassion for strength, the Kyuubi child's greatest strength would also prove to be his most vulnerable weakness. And Orochimaru knew first hand that when the boy's weakness was attacked, all of his worthless resolve would shatter.
Of course, reaching this weakness was no easy task. After all, a fool's heart was a sacred, guarded place, a fountain of endless strength for those who were allowed entrance, but a secure stronghold for those who carelessly attempted to attack it. For this reason, the destruction of a fool was usually an inside job.
However, as Orochimaru had already noticed, fate was smiling upon him today. Not only had his opponent's weakness fallen neatly into his lap, but the very tool of the boy's undoing, the tool that could eliminate all of his apprentice's distractions and assure his unwavering loyalty to the dark Sennin alone, also lay within his grasp.
By this week's end, Orochimaru would give his tool the order to strike.
By this week's end, Uchiha Sasuke would break his best friend's heart.
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Mwahaha...that's right folks, it's ANOTHER CLIFF HANGER insert evil laughter...sorry couldn't help myself...aaaanyway, I hope you liked it. I apologize for Kakashi and Gaara's slight OOCness...I know neither of them are chatterbugs, but somebody has to give the back story! Keep the reviews coming please, and I promise the next chapter will be up soon!