Love Me, My Brother! (Rewritten)

by lunaryu

Sasuke and Naruto are mortal enemies and rivals in their high school. However, 'things' happen when their single parent decided to marry each other. Now they're forced to live under the same roof! Will their feeling change into brotherly love or…more than that? High-School!AU; SasuNaruSasu FINALLY UPDATED. Chapter 9 Up!

10. Chapter 9: I Want to Know You More 4

A/N: Yah, gaes, it's been awhile. Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Works and life, you see... will not live themselves without people, and I'm part of it, so... anyway, enough with my babbling. You're here for the story and not my rambling. Well, then... enjoy.

Warning: the usual violence and blood, but nothing serious, I hope. sounen ai teaser at the end.

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Love Me, My Brother

Chapter 9: I Want to Know You More (Part 4)

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Somewhere at the remote suburban area of Konoha City, a vast estate stood up elegantly. It was an old traditional Japanese styled house with wide yard and low rooftop, completed with the classic koi pond and the automatic thudding bamboo stick in the middle. The interior structure of the house consisted of a lot of rooms with many sliding doors as the divider. The floor board was polished to perfection until the dark colored wooden top was shiny and the tatamis were in various light colors and very nice to look at, especially when they were combined with the overall color of each room.

In one of those room, a beautiful woman with waist-length, straight blood-red hair and a dark shade of blue irises wearing a dark red, fire-patterned kimono sat quietly in front of a pot of half-arranged flowers. She hummed an old song as her graceful long fingers caressed the stems and her other hand capably cut some of them. She looked content as she proceed with her activity before someone knocked at the wooden part of the sliding door.

"Come in," she said, her voice soft and cheery.

"Anee-san (1)," a young man with jet-black hair wearing a suit and a pair of sunglasses greeted in seiza from the doorstep as soon as the door opened.

"What is it?" She didn't even turned around as she spoke, her smile never dropping.

"Jinchuuriki's movement has been spotted in the down town area," he reported seriously. "What are we going to do about them?"

"Why must we do something about them? They are an independent group," she replied nonchalantly.

"But anee-san, waka (2) already disbanded that group the moment he was named the official successor of Kyuubi Gumi. Our Clan is responsible to intervene and get rid of them if they try anything to hinder waka's path." A protest was verbalized and the woman in the room finally put down the flowers and the tools before she turned to face the young man.

"They are Naruto's problem," she responded calmly. "He won't forgive us if we take the matter into our hands without his consent. He might seriously cut all ties with us if we ignore his warning. Arashi (3) taking him away from our home after divorcing me were bad enough. Do you want him to take Naruto away from this country too? He can do that, you know. He's The Storm* of Uzumaki family after all." Her smile didn't falter, but there was something ominous in her tone that suggested that she was displeased and caused the man to pale slightly.

"Ah, of course not, anee-san," he looked down, seeming to feel ashamed. "But, I wonder what aniki (4) will do. After all the trouble of trying to get waka out of the responsibility as the successor… Arashi-aniki still doesn't abandon Uzumaki's name. Is he even serious with his intention?"

She chuckled at that, looking slightly amused. "Arashi doesn't like to cause bloodshed. He's a smart man with many ideas and resources. He's just being cautious. If he so obscenely tried to steal away Kyuubi's official successor, Kyuubi Gumi would make a move disregarding Naruto's wish. And Arashi sure as hell knows how merciless and ruthless Kyuubi Gumi can be. He's just taking the safest way to protect Naruto's innocence without alerting Kyuubi. Besides, Naruto is still a child. He still has time until he turns 18 before he has to take the mantle of Kyuubi's boss." She turned around again and started to pick up her tool and a flower to resume her ikebana (5). "In the meantime, I'm still capable enough to take his place until he's satisfied playing around as a normal civilian. Don't you think so?"

"That is absolutely correct, anee-san," the man smiled, apparently content with her explanation. "Oh, there's more," he started, seeming to remember something else. "Another LEAF agent was spotted in Narita a few days ago, and I believe he already made contact with waka and his new family… though, Arashi-aniki and his new wife are on their honeymoon at the moment, so only waka and his step brother stay at their residence."

She stopped her hand once again before turning her head to look at the man again with a tense look. "LEAF?"

"Yes, a young agent, according to our clan's 'eyes'. He might be here to look into the accident that involved Shisui and Akatsuki."

"Hmm…" She looked at her flowers in the pot once again, seeming to think about something somberly. "It was an unfortunate tragedy, but it was necessary to wake Naruto… to establish who's more dominant. Kurama… or Naruto, that is." She cut a rose stem with too much force, causing the petal to fall and the flower to be unusable. "Oh no," she sighed. "It was such a nice rose too."

"Anee-san?" the man gazed at the woman in a concerned expression.

"To care and maintain the beauty of the full bloomed rose in its tree, do you know what the most important thing to do is?" She gazed at the petal in her hand, caressed each slice gently before she clenched her fist, crushing them all in her hand. "Cut the flower buds that haven't bloomed yet," she said, letting go of the crushed flower to fall down on the tatami.

"Kushina-aneesan…" the man stared at the broken petals on the tatami, looking awed and terrified at the same time.

"It's 'Youko', Amemiya," the woman looked upward before gazing back at Amemiya, her irises no longer blue but crimson instead. "Kushina is not here anymore, remember that."

"Yes, Youko-aneesan," Amemiya bowed politely, full of certainty.

"I need to speak with this LEAF agent," she put down her tool once again, apparently having enough of her ikebana. It was only half-done, but she probably would continue it later. "Take me to him, Amemiya."

"As you wish, anee-san."

~Sasuke x Naruto~

Kumo City, Killer Bee's residence—

Naruto glowered murderously at Gaara while the red haired teen stubbornly held his gaze with determination which was almost unrivalled by anyone (except maybe Naruto because he was equally or possibly more obstinate than him).

Bee looked at the two youngsters while sweating bullets, a bit worried if they would start the brawl there and destroy his living room. The young man who came with Naruto, Uchiha Itachi—he introduced himself, just sat beside Bee in conscientious silence after Bee offered him his hospitality.

Then Naruto had started to glare at Gaara the moment he saw the red head. Gaara didn't say anything and just stared back defiantly with crossed arms. They hadn't said a word since they started this debacle ten minutes ago.

"Explain to me why you kept quiet about Yugito acting up and beating up our school mates," Naruto broke the ice first, his voice deceivingly calm despite the chilling tone.

"Yugito… no, Matatabi was Jinchuuriki's, Naruto." Gaara replied as calmly, but there was a hint of weariness in the way he spoke.

"All the more reasons to notify me. I am the former Jinchuuriki's boss." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

Gaara sighed. "That's the key word. 'Former', Naruto, you have nothing to do with them anymore." His speech now picked up a rather exasperated tone.

"And you still have?" Naruto raised his eyebrow in a challenge and Gaara glared at him with a 'Don't you start' look.

"Alright, fair enough, I do remember what I said when I left the group back then. I said you could take the leader position, but you made it clear that you only wanted to be there as long as I was there too. You chose to follow me." Naruto reminded. "And now… the guys that Yugito… that Matatabi attacked are my subordinates in our school. You have no right to withhold information about the perpetrator that attacked them, or even go as far as to silence them…! That's not how it works, Gaara! You have to tell me if people are in danger because someone has a personal grudge towards me!"

"Naruto, you getting involved with Jinchuuriki again after all this time—"

"-is bullshit!" Naruto cut his excuse in a tense shout. "I don't want to hear excuse that involves you trying to protect me. I can protect myself, Gaara. Have you forgotten who took you down and owned you after you went berserk a couple of years ago?"

Gaara visibly flinched at that. Bee knew it was a low blow to remind Gaara of his blunder a few years ago, the incident with Shukaku in his and Naruto's middle school trip that no one talked about, but Bee couldn't help agreeing with the blond, that Gaara trying to protect Naruto was kind of unnecessary either, especially if the opponent from whom he was trying to shield Naruto was Nii Yugito, a.k.a. Matatabi the bakeneko, former member of Jinchuuriki, a group of delinquents that Naruto founded and commanded until it was disbanded not even half a year ago.

Gaara apparently couldn't retort, so Naruto continued. "Thought so. Because you hid this particular information, I was late in realizing the connection with me, resulting in me taking no action to solve the problem. The number of casualties were increasing and just now it even reached white gakuran student. Shino was attacked, you know. He's hurt and now is hospitalized."

"What?" Gaara paled slightly as he heard that.

"Worse, Kiba is kidnapped as well," Naruto scratched his head curtly, looking frustrated.

"What?" If Gaara's face could get any paler, it would.

"And Matatabi wants me to be there to take responsibility of whatever I have done to earn her wrath." Now Naruto just looked resigned. "I have a pretty good idea what she wants… looking at the history between her and him. But seriously, I have no idea how many people following her right now. Matatabi isn't exactly friendly, but Yugito has her own way to make people kneel before her without even trying." He sighed deeply before he looked upward at Bee, catching Bee's instant attention. "Uncle Bee, do you know something about it?" He sounded somewhat expectant.

"Unfortunately, I haven't spoken with Matatabi since the group breakup. She was… quite broken hearted when you left, and she refused to socialize for a while right after." For once Bee didn't feel like making a rap of his sentence, seeing how grave the situation was at the moment. "Though, she's a tough girl, yo. She's going to be completely fine!" and he was back with the rap.

Naruto gave him a sour look. "By attacking people indiscriminately?"

Naruto got a point. "Well~ at least no one died in the sewer!" Bee chirped. Naruto just rolled his eyes at him before sighing again.

"I quite hope that you'll help me talk her down, Uncle Bee," Naruto looked at him earnestly. "I need your back up since I have no idea how to communicate to her after the… you know. She will still expect him to show up instead of me. Matatabi is crazy about him after all," he complained morosely.

"That is true… I guess. But her dad will flip out if he finds out about this. Rai-aniki is quite fond of his little princess, even though she isn't exactly little, or like a princess when Matatabi is in control. He's completely blind of her personality problem as well as of mine, apparently, but mine is tolerable most of the time since we're partners. Matatabi, though… like her tittle, she's completely cunning with her crazy tendency." Bee let out a curt huff. "Though, I doubt that she will have more than four people with her, if my calculation is right."

"Calculation?" Naruto raised his other eyebrow in curious look.

"Her bodyguards," Bee shrugged. "Samui, Atsui, Omoi and Karui, the four top fighters of Kumo Gumi," he added as an afterthought.

Naruto made a face. "Aren't they your followers?"

"Former students, bro!" Bee corrected, making a shooting gesture at Naruto. "They were officially recruited by Rai-aniki to guard Yugito after the Jinchuuriki breakup. Even though she doesn't exactly need any bodyguard, ya know, what with Matatabi there under the surface. But Matatabi is rather fickle, she can't be trusted to take care of Yugito in case she gets into some kind of mess and leaves Yugito to clean up afterwards."

"Don't we know that?" Naruto snorted. "Matatabi the bakeneko (6) really lives to her name," he shook his head after that.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Itachi, who was only silently watching their exchange until a moment ago finally contributed his voice in the conversation, while Gaara was seemingly just aware that the older man was there at all with the way he jolted and turned to face him in a rather surprised expression, and Bee looked at the dark haired man questioningly as Naruto groaned.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" Bee couldn't help asking, not about his name per se, but who he was to Naruto.

"I'm Itachi, Naruto's st—"

"WAAAAAH!" Naruto yelled so suddenly, loudly, and with feelings,effectively cutting whatever Itachi was about to say, earning the blond a collective bemused expression, including Bee's. "Look at the time! I should have been on my way to deal with Matatabi and save Kiba! Come, Itachi-san! You promised you'd take me there with your car!" He stood up and hurriedly moved, grabbing Itachi's arm on his way out.

"Wait, Naruto!" Gaara stood as well. "I'm coming with you!"

"No!" Naruto whirled around once again and shouted at him. "You stay here or go back to school, damn it! It's bad enough that Kiba was taken as a hostage! Do you have any idea what disaster will occur if Shukaku goes berserk again?!"

Gaara looked legitimately offended. "I won't let him out again." He gritted his teeth, obviously holding back his temper.

"No. I'm not going to take that risk. A fight between Jinchuurikis aside, there are other ordinary people at the premise. You can't expect me to endanger their lives too much as well, Gaara. So, big NO." Naruto stared at him deeply and commandingly and Gaara's willpower visibly wavered with the way his gaze dropped.

"But…" Gaara couldn't seem to accept it still. Bee knew how hard it was to hold back their other halves in the middle of a fight, and of all the Jinchuuriki members, Gaara was the easiest to be taken over by his Shukaku. Gaara should have known that best as well, so Naruto's argument was totally valid. Of course, Bee realized, it didn't make it easier for Gaara to step back from helping his friend slash boss, though.

"Gaara, you should take charge of the guys at school when I'm away," Naruto approached the red head once again and put both of his palms on Gaara's shoulders, making the boy look upward at Naruto with slightly widened eyes. "You're Naruto's gang's number two, remember? I don't know how many people will be with Matatabi, and there is always a risk of the school getting attacked when I'm distracted somewhere else. When the boss is away, his number two should take his spot to protect the subordinates, right?"

Naruto threw him a confident grin and Gaara most likely saw the total faith and conviction Naruto had in him in his clear blue eyes. Bee always wondered how Naruto could easily move other people's heart, but when he saw such resolution in the boy's clear blue eyes, he couldn't help following Naruto's every whim himself. He couldn't blame Gaara when he instantly obliged.

"Understood," Gaara finally agreed with a rueful smile before his gaze shifted to Bee. "Please take care of Naruto, Bee," he bowed slightly, showing his respect.

"No problem, Suna-boy! I'm going to help Naruto talk Mata—uh, Yugito down as best as I can," he nodded, slapping Gaara's back gently. Gaara then turned aside slightly to face Itachi with an inquisitive gaze as Itachi only nodded and gave him a small smile.

"Let's go then, Uncle Bee! Itachi-ni—err Itachi-san," Naruto seemed to stumble with his honorific for Itachi's name that earned him another curious looks from the red head and Bee.

"Alright." Itachi led the way to his car. Bee and Naruto followed him while Gaara got out only to send them off before he walked away, presumably back to school as Naruto's wish.

~Sasuke x Naruto~

Konoha Academy; Student Council Office—

"Yosh, for the time being, we should add patrol on the area around the school. All Executive Committee members will participate in pair. Each patrol for each pair will cover a specific ground for at least 10 minutes before the next pair will take the first pair's place. This way the executive committee members will rotate until they all have the chance to juggle the class and their duty."

Sasuke stamped the urgent document and sent Neji to the principal office so it would get approval. Luckily, the principal didn't seem to be scheduled to go anywhere for today (dealing with Shino's parents pressure to report the attack to the pollice, obviously), so the document went through the screen easily and got the signature and the stamp without any obstacle.

Kakashi visited SC office at some point to ask where Sasuke was during the afternoon class and Sasuke told him about the attack that happened to Shino this morning and he was at the hospital to deal with the report. Kakashi raised his eyebrows before saying "Okay," and then only grumbled in annoyance about kids these days and their wild life choice.

Then there was Iruka. Iruka, who looked positively worried, because Naruto was absent and he thought Sasuke might know where the blond was. Honestly, Sasuke didn't know where Naruto was at the moment because after he and Neji left Konoha Central Hospital, Naruto hadn't called to inform him what he was going to do. He hoped it wasn't something stupid like raiding the enemy's base or something equally moronic because Naruto seemed like the kind of guy who would just do that to avenge his friends.

Sasuke assured Iruka as much as he could, that he sent Naruto on an errand and Iruka didn't need to worry about it. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Naruto was indeed on a task to solve a certain problem which apparently had to be dealt by black gakuran students.

The nature of the problem was a bit questionable, though. Sasuke only didn't mention that part. Well, a lie by omission was more correct in this case.

Somehow, it got crazier after that because there was an unexpected visitor for Sasuke.

Sunano Gaara stood on SC office doorstep with a grave look in his face and eyes.

"Gaara?" Sasuke blinked at him confusedly. "What are you doing here?"

Gaara opened his mouth, halted, looked the other way rather hesitantly before he seemed to make up his mind and looked back to Sasuke. "I need a favor," he said.

"What favor?" Sasuke raised his eyebrows slightly.

"It's about Naruto," Gaara sounded rather tentative.

Sasuke sat straighter at the mention of Naruto's name. "What's wrong with that moron?" He just couldn't help his voice raising a bit in concern, because, damn it! Naruto was annoying as hell, yes, but he was part of Sasuke's family now.

Gaara raised his brow slightly, seeming to notice Sasuke's change of mood. "He's dealing with black gakuran student's thing," he answered.

"I know that." Sasuke gave Gaara an annoyed deadpan. "What's wrong with him?"

Gaara looked vigilant for a moment, probably assessing how much Sasuke knew about their roles inside and outside of their school, before he opened his mouth again, "It's-… this incident this time is a bit… no; it's very personal for Naruto. The perpetrator that attacked several of our fellow black gakuran students… She's Naruto's former subordinates."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Our school black gakuran student?" he guessed, a bit surprised.

Gaara shook his head. "No, it was… Naruto's other gang," he spoke more carefully, his eyes suggesting something that he couldn't say. Sasuke recalled his conversation with Naruto the other night, about Naruto's former family. Did Gaara refer Naruto's former family as his other gang?

"Before he entered high school, Naruto was a leader of a certain gang that shan't be named anymore. Anyway, they're already disbanded, but… some of the former members are getting restless again and Naruto is worried that it has something to do with him, at some point," Gaara continued.

"Does it?" Sasuke asked, unable to control his curiosity anymore. "Does it have something to do with him?"

Gaara made a strange, intangible mumbling noise that resembling swearing words before he nodded. "It does, unfortunately." He sighed. "Look. Naruto really loves his comrades, you know. Doesn't matter if it's his former ones or his present ones. If it was the Naruto before, there wouldn't any problem, but the Naruto now won't stand a chance." He made a face as he looked at Sasuke, as if it pained him to speak. "He needs help, Uchiha Sasuke. He won't let me help him, but if it's you… maybe…"

"Why would you think he'd let me help him?" Sasuke was rather baffled at that idea. After all, he remembered how Naruto had sent him away when he had to speak with Shino earlier that noon.

"It's a black gakuran thing to deal with, Sasuke."

Where is the distress call that says he needs any help at all from that sentence?—Sasuke couldn't help grumbling inwardly. Besides, he was Naruto for earth sake! The boss of East Building, delinquent extraordinary! How dangerous could his old group be?

Well, unless he's really dealing with yakuza…

Gaara looked at the table, his expression calming a bit. "It's because he thinks of you as his 'equal'." He lifted his gaze at Sasuke once again, his green eyes glinting. "You are his mortal rival that he acknowledges wholeheartedly. He won't have to worry about you getting hurt in the middle of his mess." He smirked slightly.

"I see," Sasuke deadpanned again before he chuckled and shook his head at the thought. "His mortal rival, huh? Well said, Gaara."

"Don't push it Uchiha. He still hates your guts," Gaara warned and Sasuke huffed out a startled laugh at his sincerity when he said it.

"Don't I know that?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, slightly amused. If only Gaara knew Naruto and Sasuke's family circumstance. "Well, he needs help then. What can I do to help him?"

Gaara was silent for a moment before he nodded. "You just have to catch him when he falls."

What in the world does he mean by that?—Sasuke couldn't help looking at Gaara perplexedly as if he had just sprouted cat ears on his red head.

~Sasuke x Naruto~

"Itachi-ni—, I mean, Itachi-san," Naruto cursed inwardly for his almost slip again. "You can drop me and uncle Bee here," he said, looking at Itachi earnestly after they almost passed the park in the downtown area of Konoha City.

"Right here?" Itachi sent him a calculating gaze, slowing down the car speed. "You sure you don't want me there as well?"

Naruto shook his head. "It's better if you're not involved in a gang fight, Itachi-san. You don't want to get a bad image for your career, right?" He tilted his head aside, wondering why Itachi was there at all. True, he was Sasuke's big brother and that made him Naruto's step brother in extension, but he didn't have any obligation to help him whatsoever. Besides, he was a model. Shouldn't he be careful with how he looked in public? Or else he could get caught in a scandal, like getting involved with the bad crowd (including Naruto).

"True, but you need help, don't you?" Itachi asked, his tone gentle and mildly curious.

"It's not your problem, though," Naruto shifted his gaze away from Itachi's searching look. "I'll be fine. Uncle Bee is with me. He's an adult that can be trusted." Naruto winced a bit at his silly reasoning. Well, it was true, Bee was totally trustworthy even though his appearance was a bit dubious. For one, he looked like a ganguro with his mocha complexion and strange styled, light-dyed hair. He wore fancy sunglasses and his tenacity to speak like he was rapping was weird as hell. But, he was funny and actually a really good person despite his eccentric habit.

"Okay," Itachi said after a short, pregnant silence. He stopped the car and let Naruto and Bee out. "Do you need me to call an ambulance? Just in case," he asked meaningfully before Naruto and Bee could walk away.

"We'll be fine," Naruto winked at him confidently after he closed the car door. Then, he and Bee ran to the alley between two tall buildings across the street.

#

Itachi huffed out a sigh after watching the blond and his dark skinned companion made a turn to enter the alleyway before he fished out his cell phone from his black pants pocket and started dialing a certain number in its phone book. The connecting tone beeped twice before the line was picked up.

"Nagato." A heavy baritone voice greeted from the ear piece.

"Hey, it's me," Itachi spoke with a small smile.

"Itachi? What's wrong?"

"I can't call if nothing is wrong?" Itachi raised one of his eyebrows. His friend was too serious as always.

"Well, yes, of course you can." There was a pause before the man continued. "Still, it's not like you to make an international call only to say 'hello' though."

Itachi chuckled. "You underestimate my drive to connect with people, Nagato. Though, you're half right that I have some news that you might be interested in, aside just saying hello."

Nagato was silent for a few seconds before his voice filtered once again from the phone. "What is it?"

"A few years ago, you told me about your former family and that you had many brothers who weren't related by blood," Itachi started and Nagato didn't say anything as he took his time in continuing. "I have no proof for this, but I speculated that you were from a yakuza family when you accidentally mentioned about your disagreement with your family way that led you to leave the house and decide to live abroad."

"I was drunk." Nagato mumbled quietly, but Itachi still could pick it up from the ear piece.

"You might have consumed quite amount of alcohol at the time, yes," Itachi couldn't help smirking slightly. "You were quite fascinating when you talked about them. Never knew you could speak so much in one sentence," he laughed lightly then.

Nagato coughed, probably trying to mask his embarrassment. "Now, what is this about? What news do you want to inform me?" And the obvious effort to change the subject was too funny to boot. Itachi just loved Nagato for being awkward most of the time, especially when he was embarrassed.

"The family you left behind… I remembered you told me about a younger brother and something about him being the son of a foreigner with blond hair and blue eyes who married into the family, to your big sister if I recalled correctly. That brother… is he by any chance Uzumaki Naruto?" Itachi dropped his teasing and asked solemnly now.

There was a sharp drawn up breath from the phone and Nagato was silent for almost a minute before he started again. "How did you—?"

"You're not going to believe this, but that brother of yours… is my brother now."

"…What?!"

Itachi could almost imagine Nagato's shocked expression as he squeaked. Yeah, so unlike him to lose his cool like that, but his voice almost went an octave higher right then. "No, seriously. My mother remarried, you see, to a man named Uzumaki Arashi and he has a son named Uzumaki Naruto, and apparently, Naruto is tied to a certain gang which is suspiciously like a yakuza family. What a coincidence, right? World is scarily small when you're presented with this kind of twist of fate."

"Is Naruto alright?" The tone of alarm surprised Itachi because he didn't say anything about Naruto being in danger or something, but somehow Nagato caught that from Itachi's sentences, which honestly baffled Itachi a bit.

"How come you thought that from what I said?"

"You didn't say no. Damn it, Itachi. Is Naruto okay?" Now Nagato seemed to get impatient.

"He's as healthy as any 16 year old boy could be," Itachi sighed. "He's fine, Nagato." Though Itachi didn't know for how long.

"…you don't sound lying, but you're not telling me something either." It was creepy how Nagato even predicted that. The guy was like clairvoyant sometimes. It was unnerving.

"Well, he's… kind of in a tight spot right now." There was no point in lying to the guy, though. Besides, he was at the other side of the globe. What could Nagato do? "There's this problem that his friends got beaten up by someone who seems to have a grudge on Naruto. I'm fuzzy on the detail, but one of his friends is hospitalized and another is kidnapped and now Naruto is on his way to save the kidnapped guy, together with a man he called uncle Bee. They also mentioned some names and strange aliases that I can't follow quite right because I don't know the context. Do you know anything about it?" He inquired then, because as his step brother, he was quite curious about Naruto and wanted to help Naruto in any way he could. But, without any knowledge, Itachi might as well be as useless as any civilian (which he wasn't, by the way).

Besides, more information regarding Uzumaki Family can be quite an arsenal to finish my other job.

"…No. I left the house four years ago and never looked back. All I know about Naruto then… and what he is now can be as different as sky and earth." There was a hint of regret in his tone, but he made a choice like Itachi did six years ago. They left their beloved ones to run from the kind of life that they hated. It was their price to pay for freedom and they accepted it with fortitude. "I just… I just hope that he'd live a happy fulfilling life, you know. He's my little brother."

More like his nephew, though, but their age difference isn't that far. Nagato might have treated Naruto more as a brother than as a nephew—Itachi concluded silently. Nagato must have loved him dearly with the way his voice trembled slightly as he spoke about the boy. He and Itachi were quite similar in that regard. It was one of the reasons why they were friends in the first place. "I understand what you mean," Itachi couldn't help smiling softly at the thought of Sasuke.

"Though… I know about some secrets that aren't going to change no matter how much Naruto changes," Nagato continued and Itachi straightened his back as he eagerly waited for Nagato to drop the shoe.

When Nagato spoke again though, instead a shoe, he dropped a bomb.

"Eh?" Itachi couldn't help widening his eyes at that.

~Sasuke x Naruto~

Sasuke was in the middle of getting his permit to leave the school early in the administrative office when someone barged in.

Well, more like opened the door normally, but what revealed behind it was something so breathtaking that every pair of eyes inside the room were immediately on it…her. A beautiful woman with modern low cut red dress stepped inside. Sasuke was instantly troubled of how to put his line of sight. Her dress was so low-cut that he could almost see her breast if he just looked the right way. Fortunately, he had an iron-clad control of his mannerism, so he tried to look at her face instead, which was mostly hidden with the large pair of sunglasses and a big round red hat.

"Is Uchiha Sasuke here?" she asked in the dead silence of the office as the male staffs were obviously drooling over her at first sight.

"I'm right here," Sasuke couldn't help raising one of his eyebrows in astonishment because he had never seen her before in his life, but how the hell did she know Sasuke? Much less knew how to reach him, at his school, in the administrative office to boot.

Her invisible eyes behind the shades focused on his general direction and Sasuke knew she saw him as she gestured with his index finger for him to come closer. Sasuke raised his other eyebrow at that. He didn't have any intention to follow order or request without any proper words. She visibly sighed at his demonstration of defiance. "Come here for a minute, boy. I'd like to speak with you." She lowered her sunglasses and showed him a pair of ruby colored eyes and slit dark pupils which he had ever seen before in someone else's eyes.

Huh?—Sasuke was sure he had ever seen those eyes. But, where did I see them?

"I don't have time for you to list the pros and cons internally, Uchiha Sasuke. Either you come or you don't. You would unless you didn't care about your new brother." She smirked and Sasuke widened his eyes in shock as she twirled around, swaying her straight, long dark-red hair before she walked away.

Sasuke snapped, "Wait!" and hurried to move after her, leaving the office where people stared at the now empty door with confusion and bewilderment.

~Sasuke x Naruto~

Naruto and Bee stopped in front of a large abandoned building. The alleyway they entered before was a short-cut to enter the building at the other side of the downtown which was separated from the main road by a six meters width, three meters depth sewer. There was a small old iron bridge that connected the end of the alleyway directly into the abandoned building at the second story.

However, that entrance at the moment was guarded by two people: a guy with spiky light brown hair and a girl with straight, neck-length, blond hair.

"We can't allow you to pass through," the guy said gravely even though he widened his eyes for a fraction when he saw Bee and promptly ignored Naruto who narrowed his eyes at him. "Ojou's (7) order."

"It's been awhile, Bee-sensei," the girl spoke, greeting Bee, her demeanor calm and cool. Her big boobs bounced a little as she changed her stance to face Bee directly. She also made a point not to mind Naruto which seemed to piss off the blond boy a bit.

"Omoi… Samui…" Bee regarded his former students carefully. "We need to speak with Yugito."

"Yugito-sama said Naruto-kun can proceed, but you, on the other hand…" Omoi made an apologetic expression. "You have to stay behind, sensei."

Bee shook his head. "Not an option."

"Well, you're not getting through here, sensei. Not without beating us first anyway," Omoi stepped to the fore, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Then so be it," Naruto growled, furrowing his brow and tensing his body, like he was ready to launch the first strike.

"Wait, Naru-boy," Bee quickly reached and grabbed Naruto's shoulder, stopping him from making the first move. "You can go first and let me deal with them."

"But, Uncle Bee! I need you inside as a buffer between me and Matatabi. There's no use of you being here at all if you stay behind!" Naruto protested in a slight alarm.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. You can always stall first, just to make sure that your friend is okay," Bee patted his back encouragingly and Naruto pouted for a moment before he sighed in resignation.

"Fine," the blond grumbled and looked ahead at Omoi and Samui. "Step aside," he said seriously. Both man and woman made a path between them to let Naruto enter. They didn't spare him any glance as Naruto moved before they crowded the entrance once again in front of Bee as soon as Naruto went through.

"Now, what can I do to convince you guys that I need to enter the place?" Bee asked, feeling his irises changing color slightly behind his sunglasses.

Samui gave him a small smile. "You can start by trying our self-defense, Bee-sensei."

"Or, you can just stay here until Ojou is finished with her business," Omoi grinned confidently and Bee couldn't help that his former pupils were in need of a lesson once again, especially when they seemed to underestimate their opponent's ability despite already knowing him.

Well… they don't know about you, Gyuuki—Bee smirked inwardly, letting the other him come forward, snorting at him and at their obstacles both.

"They're gonna regret it painfully," Gyuuki growled and then—

It was too fast of a movement to follow with naked eyes.

~Sasuke x Naruto~

Sasuke glanced at the woman beside him warily. They were in her car, seated in the back seat of a black limousine for God's sake. Who was she anyway? Some kind of celebrity? Important person? Government agent? Sasuke was sure that even government fund wouldn't cut out to use a limousine for their business… unless it was some kind of undercover mission.

"I know you must be quite surprised," she said, jarring Sasuke's attention off of his increasingly disturbing thought. "It's not every day to get picked up by a woman like me, huh?" She raised her eyebrows and Sasuke rolled his eyes at that. He turned to face her more prominently and she took off her sunglasses, setting them on the small desk beside her that housed quite a collection of bottled alcohol. Some of the labels were quite hardcore that Sasuke made a point to ignore them.

"What do you want to talk about?" Sasuke didn't acknowledge her opening speech and proceeded to get to the business. She smiled slightly, still not looking at his direction.

"I trust you know who I am," she said, which didn't make any sense because he obviously didn't. He stared at her ridiculously and she seemed a bit taken aback when she finally met his eyes because he didn't answer her. "Well, that's unexpected. You've never heard of me?"

Sasuke just looked at her with a 'please' kind of look because he honestly didn't think she was that famous if he never saw her in any television or newspaper.

"Huh… trust Naruto and Arashi to not mention a thing about their family," she huffed, looking a bit annoyed. "Well, now can be an informal introduction then… before the real deal. I'm Uzumaki 'Youko' Kushina, Naruto's birth mother," she introduced herself and finally Sasuke got a name he could refer her to and—

Wait a second!—Sasuke widened his eyes a bit as the information finally sank in his head. Naruto's birth mother?!

"It's nice to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke," she smirked and Sasuke might have gaped a bit, but he tried his best to maintain his composure as bullets of cold sweat started to trickle down behind his neck. He had suspected about Naruto's former family… the Uzumaki Clan, one of Yakuza Groups in Konoha City in alliance with Kyuubi Group, the most notorious yakuza family in Japan. He never expected to have to deal with them directly, though… much less with Naruto's mother, which would make him dealing directly with the boss of a yakuza clan. What was going to happen to him?

"You too." Thank God his voice didn't quiver in the slightest. Must be his gene, really, because Sasuke was panicking on the inside and his Uchiha's gene didn't let him show it. Bless it to high heaven.

"As the rumor says, you're quite a look and a catch," Kushina grinned, her eyes alight with mischief. "Must be why Naruto is so fixated on you most of the time."

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm always like this." Yeah, right, as if. Sasuke really had to thank his training to be as stoic as possible all the time for enabling him to stay appearing calm even under duress. He hoped the mother wouldn't take an offense for his lack of showing fear towards who she was. Naruto was one thing, his mother… well. Sasuke just didn't want to test that theory.

Kushina chuckled slightly at his response. "You're quite interesting for an Uchiha," she commented. "Well… as much as Uchiha can be anyway, but you're not the focus of problem that I want to discuss," she turned to face the window. Sasuke caught an implication in her sentence that she knew Uchiha, on a level. But Sasuke wasn't sure if it was from Uchiha's characteristic in general or a specific person.

"You said it's about Naruto," Sasuke decided to file the previous thought and nodded, acknowledging her to continue. He didn't release his eyes from her figure though.

"Yes," Kushina nodded. "Are you aware of who he was before he became your step brother?"

Sasuke looked down for a moment, considering his answer. He had an idea because of the rumors and from the bits that Naruto had told him vaguely, but he never confirmed the truth verbally. "Just a little, he told me he had a lot of brothers that had no blood relation to him, and Uzumaki's name was quite famous because the name is the same as the yakuza clan's name that controlled some parts of this city. I assume that the rumors about him are true then, that he was once the heir of a yakuza family."

Kushina smiled, not looking at Sasuke. "Yes, but he still is the heir of the family."

Sasuke frowned. "I thought he and his dad got out."

Kushina's smile widened a bit. "They did, yes. But it doesn't mean we agree to let go."

Sasuke began to sweat again, feeling a bit uncomfortable with her smile. "You have to, though. If the divorce is valid then Arashi-san… dad got the full custody of Naruto until he turned 20. Unless you want to violate the law—," Shit. Sasuke almost bit his own tongue when he shut his mouth suddenly, and cursed inwardly as he remembered who she was. Of course… she was a yakuza. What was he thinking? Violating the law was in her family's job description.

"True, such predicament indeed," Kushina sighed slightly. "Unless Naruto himself wants to come back, with his own free will, that is." She turned to Sasuke then, her smile calculating and very cunning and Sasuke immediately got very worried if somehow he-himself would become something that would force Naruto to go back to her and her family.

"If you think of using me as a leverage—!"

"Relax, I'm not that desperate to have him back," she cut Sasuke's sentence, causing him to snap his mouth shut. "That boy needs his rest. When he wakes up, he'll come back to me on his own."

"Then why am I here?" Sasuke demanded. Well, inwardly, since he only asked politely on the outside.

"You're here for another reason." Kushina smiled cheerily now. "I believe Naruto is in trouble at the moment because one of his old friends is being childish and wants to trouble him. And she won't stop unless someone stops her. And the guy who can stop her is unavailable at the moment, so… you should do it."

"Huh?" Sasuke was confused. "Naruto is trying to stop her, though."

"Yeah, but he won't stand a chance." Kushina huffed. "He's not equipped enough to go against one of the Jinchuurikis without losing an arm or a leg."

Sasuke paled a bit hearing it. "It's that dangerous…?"

Kushina nodded solemnly, "Unfortunately."

"What makes you think I can stop her?" Sasuke's frown deepened.

"Well, you must have an idea how to stop her. You're an Uchiha after all," she chuckled lightly while glancing at Sasuke knowingly and Sasuke couldn't help thinking.

What the hell does that mean?

~Sasu x Naru~

Naruto skidded to a stop as he saw the scene in front of him inside the 'secret chamber' that used to be his and Jinchuuriki's hide out when they were still active. Sitting on the 'throne'—that was how his old friends used to call the biggest chair in the room as a joke when he sat there—was the girl he hadn't seen in six months since the group break-up.

"Yugi—!"

Yugito raised her index finger that effectively cut Naruto's word. "Use the other name, hon," she lifted her face and showed her violet eyes. "I miss you," she smiled.

Naruto gulped, looking around a bit warily. "Where's Kiba?" Her smile widened slightly. "What did you do to him?" Naruto was honestly worried because Yugito was one thing, but Matatabi wasn't stable. She never was and she tended to get very violent when something didn't go as her wish.

"Aww, such aloofness… after six months of not seeing each other, you won't even ask how I've been?" Matatabi feigned a hurt look and Naruto turned to face her once more, rather alarmed. "But that's what I love about you, Kurama."

Naruto didn't see her move. Just in a blink of an eye and she was already in front of him and her hand was on his neck and his back was suddenly slammed on the wall with such inhuman force that he almost gagged.

"Let me see him. You're there aren't you, Kurama?" She whispered near his ear and Naruto couldn't help choking as her grip on his neck tightened. He wanted to answer her, but he couldn't speak with his throat pressured and his airway cut like that.

Naruto gripped her wrist, but he didn't dare to use his full strength as he squeezed. He needed her to get the vicious hand off of his neck, but he was reluctant to hurt her either. "M-Ma…ta-…tabi…!" he gritted his teeth as he tried to speak difficulty.

"Yes, dear?" Matatabi looked up at him from under her eyelashes. She sounded and looked playful, but really… her strength was no kidding. If she cut his oxygen supply any longer, Naruto was positive he would pass out.

"Cut it… out…!" Naruto gritted his teeth, trying to hold down his own strength as he pulled at her wrist.

"Not listening~," She half sang as Naruto could feel the increase of pressure on his neck.

This was bad. He began to feel light headed. If this continued he would lose his consciousness for real and who knew what would happen if he lost it? He might come back and that was a big NO.

As Naruto was getting more cornered, his fighting instinct took over and he raised one of his leg to knee the girl's stomach in front of him. Though, Matatabi was fast in detecting the movement and hurriedly jumped back away to avoid the surprise attack, having to release Naruto's neck in the process. She pouted as Naruto hacked and coughed hard as soon as his wind pipe was free from her clutch.

"That's rude! And mean!" Matatabi complained. "I only wanted to see Kurama! Naruto is stingy!" She looked like she was about to start crying, but Naruto knew better. She was a Jinchuuriki for a reason after all.

"I'm fine being stingy," Naruto croaked, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. "Matatabi, you shouldn't seek that guy out anymore. He's no longer here." Naruto pushed himself up using the wall as a support.

Matatabi's expression turned slightly more serious. "Liar," she hissed before starting to walk right and left, her fists clenching and unclenching beside her body. She seemed agitated but never let her eyes stray from Naruto. "I know Kurama. He wouldn't just walk away from us...!" She stopped her motion before sharpening her glare on Naruto. "You did this...! You sent him away. How. Dare. You!"

In a flurry of motion, Matatabi started to attack Naruto again, but he was ready to dodge her fist and 'claws' by jumping back and then started to sideline her every move so as not to get hit. Some of her attacks were easy to dodge because she was quite distracted, but it had been awhile since Naruto's last spar with another member of Jinchuuriki. He had to take hits twice or more to familiarize himself once again with her fighting style and prowess.

By the time Naruto was confident to follow her movement, he started to attack back. And once he got her cornered, he was about to take a hold on her wrist when he felt another... multiple presences in the room. Naruto's instinct to move away as soon as possible from Matatabi was proven right once again when he unintentionally dodged a swing of metal bat aiming at his head from behind.

"Hyuuu! He's fast!"

A girl's voice exclaimed, and she sounded very excited as Naruto landed and turned to her. "Who are you?" he narrowed his eyes at the messy long orange haired girl that supported a silver metal bat on her hand and her shoulder.

"Name's Karui. Yugito-sama's body guard, boy. And I won't let you lay a finger on her," she pointed the top of her bat at Naruto's face. Her expression looked merciless.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "She started it! I only want to take my friend back from her!"

"Hmm... but Kumo Gumi wouldn't move unless there was any provocation. You must have done something first to earn our Ojou's wrath." Karui smirked as she tapped the head of her metal bat on her palm. "Everyone that makes Ojou's angry is our family's enemy, so... prepare to die!"

Karui attacked again with her metal bat and Naruto had to dodge the advance harder because she seemed to move faster and faster.

She's so friggin' light on her feet!

"Come on! Why are you only running around like a damned cockroach?! Come on! Come on! Come on!" Even in the unstoppable barrage of her metal bat-swings, Naruto kept his head clear and read her movement. He looked for an opening to deliver his own attack. He hoped he could end it with one blow because he didn't want to rough her up too much. "You're too cautious, boy! And they called you the former boss of Jinchuuriki?! Don't make me laugh!"

Naruto wouldn't raise to her bait. He kept following the movement of her attack until he could find a pattern and when he finally was able to read and anticipate it, he intercepted the swing with his left hand, trying to soften the blow by flowing his own movement and then used the momentum of her own attack to slam the bat down to the concrete floor.

Karui widened her eyes and was about let go of her grip, but Naruto caught her wrist with his other hand before he pulled and spun it behind her back as he dropped her body down to the ground and then pinned her back with his knees. "Ack!"

"Don't struggle!" Naruto warned as he pulled the bent arm on her back further up, causing her to grimace in pain. "I won't hurt you too much if you stay still."

Matatabi's laugh was heard somewhere near the 'throne'. "How nice, Naruto. You're too soft as always." She chuckled once and Naruto had to look upward from his captive to her only to see the pigtailed girl snap her finger and someone else entered the premise.

Naruto widened his eyes as he saw Kiba being dragged out forcefully by a guy with straight, neck-length blond hair. His hand was bound behind his back and his mouth was taped. There was bruise and dried blood on the spot above his left eye, part of his front gakuran was undone and there were some dark spots on his white shirt. Not to mention, he also looked mighty pissed off.

"Kiba!" Naruto yelled.

"Hngrt!" Kiba looked surprised as he saw him.

"Ah-ah! Don't move!" the blond guy that had Kiba on his collar took out a flip-pocket knife and put it on his throat. "Unless you want me to cut his carotid artery," he grinned manically, causing both Naruto and Kiba to pale.

"Hold it! Don't hurt him!" Naruto shouted, suddenly very afraid. He almost forgot that he dealt with Yakuza. Even though Jinchuuriki never used this kind of dirty method, the yakuza family in general was never very nice if someone antagonized their leader. Jinchuuriki was famous because they were strong and undeniably brutal, but what made them very scary were those different Yakuza groups that backed every single of their member respectively. Naruto at the time was backed up by Kyuubi Gumi and Uzumaki Clan, Nii Yugito and Killer Bee were backed up by Kumo Gumi. There was also a special case like Utakata who didn't belong with any yakuza family, but at the time people in underground world already knew his alias as a very formidable assassin. The others were also quite dangerous with their powerful back up which Naruto didn't bother to remember sometimes because Jinchuuriki was his and he never had to deal with those family that backed them first hand.

Now, though… he wished he had known more about those families. Then Naruto would have some kind of leverage to prevent his former member to use them against Naruto, like at this moment.

"Yugito!" Naruto yelled at her angrily. "This is violating the rule! You can't use my subordinate like this to intimidate me!"

"Why?" Matatabi smirked. "I'm not a Jinchuuriki anymore. Jinchuuriki is gone. That's what you said, right? I'm not bound by those rules you made for the group that no longer exists."

Damn it!

"Come on, be reasonable. Kiba has nothing to do with us back then! Let him go and I'll do what you want!"

"Hngh! Hrn Nrt!" Kiba shouted even though his voice was muffled. He shook his head frantically, as if protesting at Naruto.

"You, shut up!" Naruto turned to face Kiba and pointed at him, a vein popped at his head. "Don't spur them anymore." Then, he looked once again at Matatabi who gave him a calculating eyes. "Well? How about it? It's not a terrible deal, right? I'll do whatever you want in exchange of Kiba's freedom." He negotiated.

"Anything?" she asked and Naruto's eyes twitched slightly. Maybe he was too hasty to promise that kind of thing, but as long as it was in his range of capabilities, he could always try.

"No killing or violating the law though…" Naruto muttered, sweating a bit.

"Then… I want my Kurama back," Matatabi smiled. Naruto's stomach churned at that. "Bring him back to me, Naruto."

The one thing that's most impossible to do…

"That… that can't be done." Naruto rebuffed, paling severely.

"Why not!? I only want one thing! I want my Kurama back!" Now she looked furious and stomped towards him with purpose.

"Wait! What are you—?!" Naruto was surprised because she didn't seem to care that he had one of her subordinates pinned to the ground and she came to him with balled fist. "Don't come any closer or I swear I'll break her hand!"

"You do that and your friend is dead!" the blond guy brought the knife closer until the eye nicked Kiba's neck. Kiba froze all movement.

Shit!

Naruto couldn't create any situation which gave him any advantage at this point as Matatabi carelessly stood in front of him and raised her hand before she slapped him on the cheek.

Ouch!

"You're terrible! Why are you trying to separate me from Kurama?! You know how I feel about him! You were there too!"

The other three occupants in the room aside Naruto and Matatabi stared at them, dumbfounded.

"Wait, Yugi—!" Naruto released Karui and stood up as Matatabi jabbed his chest with her index finger.

"You're the worst! I only want Kurama to come back to me… to us! We were good together! But then you…! You did something so horrible…! You hide him! What's the deal! I still can't accept that you break our group just like that without explanation whatsoever! I hate you!" Matatabi then started to pound his chest with her fists even though they lacked her strength as if she wasn't serious in delivering them, yet she seemed desperate, erratic, and her voice cracked and wavered as if she was about to cry. "I hate you…!" and now she rested her forehead on Naruto's chest. Both her hands clenched the material of Naruto's uniform.

"Why… why, Naruto…?" She sobbed then and Naruto knew that this wasn't Matatabi anymore, but Nii Yugito. Yugito cried miserably. "Why…?"

"Ojou…!" Karui and the blond guy looked shocked as they saw their young mistress slowly breaking. Kiba seemed still stunned as he watched the spectacle.

"I'm sorry… but I can't bring him back. I didn't hide him. He disappeared." Naruto closed his eyes, feeling regretful that he caused his former subordinate to cry like that, but he didn't regret his disappearance. After all, Kurama had lost control and he was about to devour Naruto's personality. Kurama hated sharing a body with Naruto. Before long one of them had to disappear. It was lucky that Naruto was strong enough to stay and even though he had to go to the extreme to drive Kurama away, it was the right choice in the end.

"Naruto… Naruto… you can't stay like this forever." Arashi's soft voice was heard beside Naruto whose face, arms and chest were bandaged. "If you stay like this… you'll break sooner or later. What could possibly be cultivated from violence and brutality every single day? Nothing… nothing can be gained from them. Violence only gives birth to other violence. It's not worth your body, your mind and your life, so please… please stop this madness…!"

Naruto remembered how his dad cried that day. Naruto was life-threateningly injured in a fight involving Jinchuuriki and other gang members. His group was of course victorious, but he almost died and Arashi looked like he was about to keel over seeing his son hurt that badly. After Naruto woke up from a two days coma, Arashi had hugged him and cried while holding him dearly, saying that he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand and watch his son get killed like this. He wouldn't let it happen like that, so that day… that day marked the day when Arashi gave an ultimatum to take Naruto away from Kyuubi Gumi.

Naruto didn't really know what Arashi did, but he got away with it, with Naruto by his side. He got Naruto out of the family.

Coincidently, it was also the day Kurama disappeared.

Naruto didn't remember much what happened actually, but he remembered an extreme fear, as if he was about to get devoured and gone himself, and the next thing he knew, he was in the hospital and his dad and Gaara were there, but suspiciously the other members of Jinchuuriki were absent along with his mom.

Naruto hadn't seen his birth mother since. Arashi wouldn't let him and he didn't really want to see her anyway. Because for her… her son wasn't Naruto. It was Kurama.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized again, placing his hands on Yugito's shoulder for comfort.

Yugito was still sobbing for a while until it abruptly stopped. "Unforgivable…!"

Naruto's body hair stood on end as he heard the growl.

"Only you… standing between me and my Kurama…!" Yugito slowly looked up and her face was very scarily mad as her eyes turned even more violet before she activated her weapon, the claw-like fist rings, and then started to slash Naruto from his left clavicle to the end of his right hip.

"Fuck!" Naruto wasn't able to dodge it on time that his shirt and along with some of his skin got cut. Blood seeped out from the slash wounds. Luckily, they weren't that deep and no big artery seemed to get nicked, or else his blood would have spurted out more heavily.

"Nrht!" Kiba enlarged his eyes in panic as he started to struggle again and because the blond guy behind him was distracted before, his hold on Kiba was a bit loose that he finally could escape by kicking the guy's shin.

Naruto heard the guy curse as Kiba ran and stumbled to him, also while trying to remove the tape that sealed his mouth. "Naruto!"

"Kiba!"

"Unforgivable! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"

Naruto was surprised when so suddenly, Matatabi started to barrage him with her weapon, slashing them around randomly, unpredictably, unreadably, that Naruto had difficulty to dodge all of them in time.

Honestly, it had been awhile since his serious fight involving any weapon at all. Naruto wasn't exactly a genius at fighting. He had trained hard to read his opponent movement. Lately his only partners for those trainings were either high school level or too friendly to be called serious and now he paid for the negligence with innumerable slash wounds on his skin. Even though they weren't that deep, they still stung and bleed quite moderately.

"Shit—!" Naruto delivered a kick to Matatabi's weapon in attempt to stop her assaulted, but a yelp from Kiba once again distracted him that he failed to notice Matatabi's other hand coming closer with a small pocket knife and only when he felt that sharp pain on his right side that he finally realized he had been stabbed with the edge. "Fuck—!"

"Naruto!" Kiba screamed in horror as Naruto fell on his knees, then his body slumped on the ground with his right hand putting pressure on the wound that bleed almost profusely while Matatabi was standing over him with little victorious smirk on her face.

"Serve you right," she scoffed coldly.

"You bitch!" Kiba looked enraged like a mad dog now and he was about to bite Matatabi's head off when he was caught once again by his captor, the blond guy, along with Karui who smacked Kiba's stomach with the metal bat to subdue him. "Gah!" Kiba's gasp of pain and the sound of his body falling down forced Naruto to shout once again, despite his uncomfortable crouching position.

"Stop it! Don't hurt him!" Naruto looked upward and glared daggers at the two people that manhandled his subordinate. He was in pain and he felt a bit faint with the amount of blood dripping from the stab wound on his stomach, but he still wouldn't let them hurt Kiba more than they already did. "Try and I'll kill you."

Naruto didn't know how he looked at the moment, but it must have been murderous enough that both Karui and the guy seemed to freeze, their face paling slightly as their eyes caught Naruto's.

"Oh…!" Matatabi gasped, dropping the pocket knife as her hand went to her mouth. She looked positively ecstatic. "Kurama…!" She murmured, almost crying poignantly.

Shit…!—Naruto shifted his hard eyes at her, and he knew that awestruck look. It was her way of looking at him, at Naruto's other half. But that was wrong, because he was only Naruto now. His eyes might have changed color now and then when he was angry and desperate enough, but he wasn't Kurama. Not anymore.

"You're wrong, Matatabi…!" Naruto panted, struggling to get up despite the quite excruciating sting. He gritted his teeth and barred his fangs at her. "That guy is gone. Either accept it or scram." He huffed as he was able to stand. His wounds throbbed sharply, but he ignored it.

"Wha— but, how?!" Matatabi looked shocked. "How come you're still Naruto when your eyes—!"

"Kurama is dead!" Naruto cut sharply, causing her to gasp in dreadfulness. "There's only me now…" He lowered his voice and softened his expression. "Please understand…" He wasn't above begging at this point. "Let him go… Matatabi… Yugito…"

"No…!" Matatabi shook her head, her pupil constricting and she looked positively losing it. "NO! NO! NO!"

"Matatabi!"

Someone else entered the premise, and that voice… it was Bee. Naruto looked at the entrance from where he had come from and almost chuckled in relief at the concerned look Bee showed. "You're so slow… uncle," he whispered slowly.

"Stop it already, Matatabi. Let Yugito take over," Bee's eyes flickered from violet to grey behind his sunglasses as he gazed carefully at the still agitated girl before he shifted his gaze at Karui and the guy that was once again holding down Kiba. "You too, Karui, Atsui, let Kiba-boy go."

"B-Bee-sensei!" Both the boy and the girl stood up hastily. "Wait, wait, what? Why is Bee-sensei aiding the enemy?" they looked confused, but Kiba didn't seem to want to pass that chance to free himself so he did, immediately running to Naruto, and then he fussed over his most severe wound totally in a worried hiss.

"Naruto is not an enemy, so is the boy. Matatabi is just messing around because she's too childish and in denial to let go of something that is gone," Bee growled, no. From the hardened and the lowered tone of voice, it was probably Gyuuki who was speaking. "Involving Kumo Gumi over juvenile spat… that's something only a kid will do, Matatabi. Are you going to make Yugito cry again?"

Matatabi made a wounded noise. She glared at Gyuuki and sniffed. "Kurama is not dead!" she screamed, her eyes full of unshed tears.

"He's gone. Accept it." Gyuuki narrowed his eyes.

"Never!" Matatabi snarled, still rejecting the idea vehemently.

Gyuuki sighed morosely. "If you go any further… you won't be able to come back. Yugito… control that beast of yours."

Matatabi gasped in shock once before her eyes started to flicker, as if Yugito was awoken forcefully and now her body was confused on how to decide which personality should appear. "H-how dare…!" Matatabi made a high pitched, betrayed noise as her eyes slowly turned grey-blue once again. "Bee-ojisan…!" Now tears pooled in her eyes and once again, she cried, falling to her knees and shedding tears behind her palms that covered her face.

"But I love him… I love him so much… Please make the pain stop… please…!" She sobbed harder and Gyuuki sighed once again while Karui and Atsui stared at their mistress with sympathetic look on their faces.

"Ojou…"

Naruto felt he was about to cry himself. He knew how much she… they loved that guy. Kurama… he was charismatic, cruel and strong. He was the spotlight of underground world, the one fitting to rule Kyuubi Gumi one day. He was different from Naruto. Honestly, Naruto didn't like violence at all. Nope. If it wasn't because of Kurama, he wouldn't training his body days and nights so it could bear the pain of beating people or getting beaten up, to read movement so his body could come out victorious in every fight. Kurama had no fear and qualm to break his body down because Naruto was the one who had to deal with the painful aftermath. It was always like that… always. Kurama was instinct and Naruto was reason. Reason always got pushed back, swallowed by instinct whenever they fought together.

And it would be too late if Naruto didn't do something about it, so he did. He drove Kurama away, killing him completely so he wouldn't be taken over again. Never again. Because Kurama was too scary, always going too far and incontrollable when he did something. He had to be stopped no matter what.

"Yugito… I know how you feel, but he…" Naruto stopped. More than anyone else, he knew how Kurama felt, because Naruto was there. He felt what Kurama felt. Kurama had indeed dated Matatabi and Yugito, and he never differentiated them. But that… that was because Kurama didn't feel the same way about her.

Kurama was cold and had no remorse. He was incapable of feeling 'love'. Even so, how could he tell Yugito that when she was very much in love with him? "He loved you too, you know?" So Naruto lied. Kurama wasn't around anymore to set the truth anyway. "So please… let him go…" He rasped, winced and groaned at the pain on his right side. He was about to keel over for real at this point. His eyes was getting blurred.

"Naruto! Hang on!" Kiba shouted, slapping Naruto's cheek lightly to keep him awake. "Shit—! He's bleeding too much! Hey, ossan! Please tell me you at least call an ambulance!"

"Ah? Well… about that…" Bee scratched his cheek a bit contritely, Kiba seemed frantically apprehensive and Naruto didn't really know what happened next when there was a sudden ruckus at the entrance. It was getting very fuzzy and hazy and—

"Freeze! It's the police! Drop your weapon!"

Naruto heard a voice that was quite familiar between the panicked screech and shriek of 'Holy shit! It's the government' dogs! Quick, run!' of the people inside the place, but he had difficulty in focusing right then. His consciousness was fading and—

"Naruto! Naruto, hang on! Oi!"

Is that…?—in his fading vision, Naruto somehow saw Sasuke's concerned face. Heh… to think he can make such expression too…

And then, everything went completely dark.

~Sasu x Naru~

Two days later…

"So…" Naruto felt the vein on his temple pop out. "Exactly, why are you guys here?" He opened his eyes and stared at the crowds in his hospital room with twitching eyes.

"Yahaa, Naru-chan! It's been awhile!" Fuu grinned at him while waving cheerily from the sofa in the middle of the private VIP room.

"That's rude. I even took today off from school for a visit because I heard you were mortally wounded, Naruto. What's with the scowl?" Yagura huffed at him from beside his bed, crossing his arms and looking offended.

"You kind of worried us there for a second, boy," Rossi sighed at him and Han nodded beside the old man with serious look at Naruto's bed other side.

"That's right~ that's totally~ totally right, Naru-boy! You've become rusty in defending yourself, bro!" Bee's rap was heard from the other side of the sofa and Naruto felt like throttling the guy.

Whose fault is it that I had to take Matatabi on by myself?!—He glared at Bee, but then he huffed and sighed once again.

"Whatever… I didn't think my injury would bring you guys out of your territory though…" Naruto carefully laid back down, sighing slightly as the pain eased up a little. He had been on good medication right after he was admitted to the hospital, but he tried not to use too much pain killer after two days, didn't want to be too dependent on those stuffs. Luckily, his stabbing wound didn't nick any important organ like his liver or his intestines, but some arteries were cut, so the bleeding was quite massive. He was thankful enough that there was no organ damage or lingering internal bleeding, though. Apparently Matatabi was conscious enough that creating mortal wound would land her and Yugito into a bigger mess, so she had calculated that he would live through the pain. That cunning bakeneko.

"Sheesh, that's cold, Naruto! Aren't we friends? Of course we will come if you're hurt!" Fuu pouted at him and Yagura snorted.

"But Matatabi really got you, huh? What's her problem anyway?" Yagura grouched as he sat on the bed beside Naruto's prone body.

"She just missed Kurama," Naruto closed his eyes. "She wanted to see him."

There was silence in the room until Naruto got curious and opened his eyes again, seeing his friends with almost concerned look. "What's with the look?"

"He's not around anymore, is he?" Rossi quietly asked.

"No," Naruto shook his head. "He's gone for good."

Rossi and Han glanced at each other cryptically and Yagura looked the other way while Fuu gave him a rather forced smile. "What?" Naruto was a bit miffed at their strange expression.

"Naruto, the last time we saw Kurama…"

"Fuu," Utakata's sharp voice from somewhere in the room cut the girl's tentative speech. As always, Naruto didn't detect his presence around before the guy spoke. It was honestly rather creepy.

"Utakata? So you're here too…" Naruto blinked and saw the black haired man in kinagashi sitting on a chair at the far corner of the wide room, nearing the kitchen set. No wonder he didn't see him earlier.

"It's good enough if you're still alive," Utakata stood, gesturing like he was about to leave.

"Ah sheesh, Utakata is always so tsundere. Even though he was the most worried when we heard the news that Naru-chan was hospitalized," Fuu huffed with a fond exasperation.

"Fuu," Utakata scowled at her, his cheeks dusted pink slightly, while the girl thrust out her tongue at him with a teasing look.

"I see," Naruto's sweat dropped. "So… what did you want to say just now, Fuu? About the last time you guys saw Kurama?" He focused once again and asked the green haired girl.

"Ah, about that…" Fuu hesitated, playing with the tip of her shoulder-length hair.

"It's nothing important, Naruto," Utakata answered again and Naruto gave him a stink eye.

"Why are you answering for Fuu, Utakata?"

"Because she was about to say redundant thing that would only stress you out unnecessarily," Utakata looked at Naruto with a cool gaze. "Kurama's gone for good, you said it yourself. No need to concern yourself about him anymore, right?"

Naruto was silent for a while before letting out a deep sigh. "Oh well… that's true, I guess." He smiled slightly then, looking at his former Jinchuuriki's members. If Gaara and Yugito were there, it would be a complete set. His red haired friend seemed to be still in school for the day and Yugito was probably being grounded by her dad for causing trouble in Konoha. Sasuke also hadn't shown up again after he left early this morning, probably also still in school. Itachi had gone for an hour to get some food for himself.

"Thank you for coming to see me. I'm glad I haven't lost your friendship despite our group break-up half a year ago. I know some of you probably are still questioning the reason why I disbanded Jinchuuriki, but…" Naruto paused, taking a deep breath, "But, I appreciate your willingness to hear my selfishness."

"It's alright, Naruto. We subconsciously noticed that Kurama was being a burden to you. Even though you two almost never communicated to each other before, you seemed greatly inconvenienced in the aftermath of his fight." Yagura frowned. "We never brought it up because we weren't sure, but… the fact that it cornered you enough until you had no choice but to pick one of the two… We're sorry because we couldn't be the strength for you to rely on at the time." The middle school boy looked like he regretted it.

"Yagura…" Naruto looked at the younger boy feeling touched. Then he remembered it. "Huh, so… I heard you started to gather a lot of followers again, what was that about?" he asked curiously.

"Ah, that… Well, I kinda missed being in a group, so I indeed gathered some people to play. I promise it's nothing bad, just occasional friendly fight here and there around my area, but… uh, for some reason lately the number of members becomes ridiculous and then when I realize it, they already start to call me banchou…" A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek, looking a bit nervous.

Naruto snorted. "Maybe your hidden identity is revealed, you know? That you're the Sandaime of Kiri Gumi?"

"No way! No one knows about that!" Yagura denied it fervently before he blinked as he seemed to realize something. "Wait. Hold on! How did you know about that?!" He accusingly pointed at Naruto in shock and disbelief.

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" Now it was Naruto's sweat that rolled down of his head.

"Yagu-chan is quite dense too. Of course Naru-chan knows. He's the heir of Kyuubi Gumi! It was standard procedure to check the background of his friends to ensure his safety in the group!" Fuu lectured smartly and Yagura scowled at her while calling her rude.

"Was, Fuu. I'm not the heir anymore after Dad brought me out of the Family," Naruto corrected. "I'm also glad to be out though… honestly being in there suffocated me a lot, so… maybe this is the freedom that I desire for so long…" Naruto smiled ruefully.

"Naru-chan…" Fuu looked at him emotionally.

"Ah," then Naruto remembered one more thing. "Fuu… was Choumei really looking for sponsor in Red Light district?"

"Eh?" Fuu looked startled for a moment before she replied again, "Ah… well, heheh, yes."

"But… in Red Light district? You still hang around in a place like that? I thought you quit that night job of yours ages ago!" Naruto protested, quite worried actually. Fuu… no, actually more Choumei than Fuu, though. She used to be a singer in a bar in Red Light district before she joined Jinchuuriki. It was her persona night job while her day job was a student in a local university. She had a lot of obsessive stalkers, and she was quite often followed by those sick bastards. Choumei… well, let's say that she could take care of herself a bit too well for a girl her age. Choumei wasn't violent by nature, but she could make a person disappear without a trace if she wanted to.

Naruto suspected that she was the same as Utakata's Saiken, though he never actually saw the deed. But everyone that followed her ended up missing the next day. No dead body was ever found, though.

"Ah, don't take it the wrong way. Those sponsors are for a good cause. Chou-chan isn't doing anything dirty or illegal. We're trying to open up a clinic in that place. You know, many people in the night service industry are in high risk of getting STDs, right? I and a bunch of my med faculty friends are raising funds to open the clinic there, to prevent the STDs getting around. Choumei's name is quite popular in there, and it's easier to get the sponsor to notice us if I use her name. So, I borrow her name and popularity to attract sponsors, at least until they hear our proposal," Fuu explained, grinning widely in excitement.

"Ooh! That's great! You've become such respectable med student, huh… Fuu? That's really awesome," Naruto felt happy that at least one of his former Jinchuuriki lived a good life.

"Yeah, though sometimes I miss being with you guys… but I live quite a happy life now, and there's nothing that I regret even though there's no Jinchuuriki anymore," Fuu looked at Naruto with a fond smile then. "All because of you, Naru-chan. Because you gave us strength when we were in our most desperate, vulnerable moment. You reached your hand to us that time, pulled us together and called us family. You have no idea what that meant for me." Fuu stood and walked to the bed before she bent and took Naruto's hands in her. "You saved us. Thank you." She leant forward and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

Naruto widened his eyes in surprise at that. He never knew… well, he never intended to help them that way, though. He thought he just needed members with different specialty in Jinchuuriki, and Kurama agreed that it was safer that way, but… everyone in Jinchuuriki had their opposite other halves that couldn't be controlled unless there was someone else with them. He thought they would be less dangerous if there was someone that could stop them when they went berserk.

Though, judging from the poignant expression his friends sent his way, and Yagura's embarrassed look, Naruto guessed that maybe… maybe it was alright to believe them. That they weren't really mad and too disappointed even though he wasn't Kurama anymore. Maybe he had thought wrong from the start. He thought Jinchuuriki was there because of Kurama's existence, but in truth…

It's because I want to have a place for 'Naruto' with the other people that know the difference between me and Kurama.

"Ditto," Naruto answered with the softest smile he could muster and somehow, everyone in the room looked amazed as they saw Naruto's expression.

"Naru-chan… so cuuuuuute!" Fuu immediately hugged him in excitement while the other blushed slightly, Yagura looking completely flustered while the others coughed in embarrassment.

Wait, what's going on?—Naruto though, could only wonder why his friends reacted that way.

~Sasu x Naru~

In the evening…

Sasuke opened the door to Naruto's VIP hospital room. He went inside and blinked at the sight of the blond sound asleep on his bed. He sighed slightly as he looked at the peaceful face his step brother made in his sleep. His blanket was a bit askew with the way the teen moved around in his sleep, so he pulled it up and fixed it to cover Naruto's body properly.

"Nnh…" Naruto grunted slightly as he changed position again and winced as he seemed to feel the pain from the wound on his side. "Ouch…" he grunted and slowly opened his eyes.

Sasuke hadn't pulled his hands away when Naruto saw him. "Sasuke?" He sounded confused, eyes still bleary from sleep.

Sasuke let go of the blanket to back off. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

Naruto shook his head slightly before he yawned and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's almost 6 p.m." Sasuke answered before he took a seat on a stool near the bed. "How long did you sleep?" He thought Naruto was already off sedative and pain killer, but the guy still spent his time sleeping the day away.

"Hunh… two hours? Everyone left around 4 p.m., so… I guess," Naruto shrugged. "How's school?"

"Messy as always. Without the boss around, the black gakuran students seem to be more agitated and temperamental these days," Sasuke smirked. "You're vey loved by your subordinates, huh?"

"Wasn't Gaara there to maintain order?" Naruto tried to sit up from his position so Sasuke helped him a bit by adding some pillows so he could laid back half sitting and resting his back more comfortably.

"He was. Every time he glared at someone, they shut their mouth." Sasuke chuckled.

"As always, he's too intimidating for his own good," Naruto shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "If only he could communicate better… he's actually very popular among the girls."

"What about you? Aren't you popular too… among the troublemaker?" Sasuke chuckled and Naruto huffed.

"Is that a sarcasm?"

Sasuke laughed lightly at his face. Naruto might think he was scowling, but the blond looked more like pouting at the moment. Honestly, he looked cute. Sasuke didn't know why he thought that, but despite the bandage on his numerous wounds, Naruto was indeed very attractive in that bad boy way. Sasuke wouldn't admit it out loud, but he had to at least admit that to himself, especially after his conversation with Naruto's mother two days ago.

Speaking about two days ago…

"You haven't submitted your report," Sasuke reminded him.

"That can't be helped. I'm in a hospital right now," Naruto grumbled.

"Kiba is bitching to everyone, including Shino, that you're an idiot that's too good for your own good," Sasuke ignored Naruto's feeble protest and continued. "You love your subordinates way too much. If you had ignored the threat, they would have released Kiba eventually, he said. So, why did you go to so much trouble to free him only for you to get beaten up to a pulp? If you fought back as hard, those guys would be the one being hospitalized instead of you."

Naruto just scoffed. "Kiba is an ungrateful ass who talks too much. He's just upset that Shino got involved and he didn't get any chance to fight and had to be rescued like damsel in distress," he snickered then.

"True, he was quite upset since you got hurt because of him," Sasuke added knowingly and Naruto's eyebrows twitched slightly at that. "Better talk to him before he becomes unbearable to deal with," he suggested and Naruto sighed deeply, looking resigned.

"Alright… I'll talk to him when I see him," Naruto nodded.

"And… I'm quite annoyed too, you know," Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto looked at him with mystified eyes.

"When I got there two days ago, Itachi was already there." Sasuke was offended that Itachi knew about the incident before him. After that he devised a plan to save Naruto by pretending to be a policeman while he instructed Sasuke to call an ambulance so all the injured could be treated immediately. He really wondered how Itachi knew the procedure of rescuing civilian from a gang fight, but he hadn't asked him in detail about it. He even brought the paramedics inside the building and then successfully scared all the perpetrators to flee the scene.

"Ita-nii was still there?" Naruto looked surprised.

"Believe it or not, Itachi pretended to be an officer and he scared those thugs away so the paramedics could treat you. You're lucky we didn't call the police for real, or you'd get in so much trouble," Sasuke huffed.

"Why were you even there, Sasuke? Didn't I say that black gakuran student's problem is for Black gakuran student to deal with?" Now Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, accusing, probably thinking that Sasuke had no faith in him at all.

"Moron. Before being a black gakuran students' boss, you're my step brother first. I have a responsibility to keep your ass out of trouble by default," Sasuke scowled and Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Sasuke…" Naruto looked at his step brother with slightly awed look. It caused Sasuke to be rather self-conscious, honestly. "You're being… extra disgustingly sweet all of sudden. What's got into your pants?" he continued with a deadpan.

A vein popped in Sasuke's temple. Wrong. Multiple of them. The nerve of the idiot for insulting his concern! Sasuke decided to give the blond a lesson then. He dropped his gaze to Naruto's eyes and made his expression deadly somber. "You must be dying to know, huh?" he asked, staring deeply into Naruto's cerulean eyes.

"Eh?" Naruto looked startled and seemed captivated by Sasuke's gaze.

Sasuke reached out both of his hands to grab Naruto's shoulders and suddenly pushed his body to lay down on the bed and pinned him there, eyes never leaving Naruto's own that the blond gasped in surprise. "W-wait, what—!"

"Naruto," Sasuke lowered his gaze and leaned into the blond closely with purpose and Naruto's cheeks turned red, a slightly panicked look in his face.

"W-wait, Sasuke! Wha—?!" He looked like he was about to struggle, but a slight wince told Sasuke enough that Naruto was still quite in pain from the healing wound on his side. Sasuke wasn't nice enough to give that any mind, because Naruto needed to know that he had worried Sasuke quite a bit with his stunt.

"I'm not a nice enough person to wait for your bullshit," Sasuke smirked and lowered his face more into Naruto. He could feel the Goosebumps and the shiver that ran in Naruto's body under his palms, his face getting even redder until he turned aside while shutting his eyes hard.

Sasuke snickered inwardly. Naruto seemed to be weak to this kind of confrontation. If he had known how to make the blond shut his mouth when they were still hostile towards each other before, he would have done this sooner. Well, Sasuke only recently realized that he had a chance to appreciate Naruto's fine physical aspect, and Naruto, despite his protest, didn't seem to make any further effort to get out of such situation. Even if Sasuke had known before, he doubted he would do this to tease him.

Sasuke decided to take a step further and almost planted his lips on the boy's neck, but then the sound of the door open followed closely by, "Naruto-kun, I brought you fruits from—," Itachi blinked and stopped dead at the doorstep as he saw the scene.

What a scene.

Sasuke froze in his spot and slowly turned to Itachi, sweating slightly while Naruto's face officially burned red. "I-Ita-nii!" Naruto planted his hand on Sasuke's cheek, apparently trying to push him away and the blond was so flustered that he panicked, though Sasuke didn't plan on backing down. He dared Itachi to say something about it with his glare.

Itachi didn't say anything as he came inside the room and closed the door, his eyes never leaving Sasuke and Naruto, his expression unreadable. "Oh, don't mind me," after a few seconds, he said. "Please do continue," an amused, knowing smile adorned his handsome face.

"Wait a—! You've got it wrong! I-it's not what it looks like!" Naruto shouted louder, his face getting redder if it was possible. "Sa-Sasuke was just trying to check the wound on my face closer! R-right?!" he turned to Sasuke now, his eyes looking desperately for some kind of rational explanation for their earlier strange mood and position.

Sasuke let out a huff and pulled back. "You're getting in the way, Itachi," he still wanted to embarrass the blond and teased him no matter what. Itachi getting the wrong impression be damned.

"What?!" As prediction, Naruto was ridiculously flabbergasted. "What the hell are you saying, Sasuke-teme!" and he feebly tried to punch Sasuke who easily dodged it, since Naruto's range of movement was still limited by the pain.

Itachi just laughed as Sasuke kept teasing the blond for his embarrassment with innuendo and for that moment, Sasuke thought that he was actually quite okay with his family situation. It wasn't perfect and there was still that ominous feeling he felt after speaking with Naruto's birth mother, but… well, he could think about that thing later.

For now, though… Sasuke just felt relief that Naruto had come back in one piece.

I Want to Know You More (Part 4) END

Love Me, My Brother Tbc…

---

Additional Notes:

1)Anee-san: Big Sis (it's how the personel address a woman in charge of a yakuza group, or the wife of the boss).

2)Waka: Young Master (how the personel address the heir of the yakuza group)

3)Arashi: The Storm*. It's a pun, in case you don't understand what she's doing. Arashi means the 'storm' but it's also Arashi's (Naruto's dad) name.

4)Aniki: Big Bro (same as anee-san, but it's to address the male senior/personel in yakuza group, but not the boss)

5)Ikebana: flower arranging activity.

6)Bakeneko: Cat monster (it refers more to the 'cat' nature that is quite fickle when it comes to affection, rather than to the appearance)

7)Ojou: Young Mistress

A/N: Yah, sorry for the wait. Finally part 4 of this subtitle is done. Though the story is off way too much from the original script, at least I managed to put screen time for all the Jinchuurikis. I hope the excitement doesn't lessen in this new direction. I got into trouble in how to write SasuNaru's interaction in this chapter. I'm glad I can end this chapter with the teasing scene. Though in the original, it was Itachi that embarrassed both Sasuke and Naruto, but I thought Sasuke being more forward with his 'slight' attraction to Naruto would be funnier. Well, he hadn't realized how he really felt for Naruto, though… let's see what I can do in the next chapter to give some kind of divine intermediation for Sasuke to realize the nature of his feeling towards our favorite blond.

See you in next chapter!