A/N: Nothing to warn for this one, and the response to your comments are below. There are some really long ones so sorry about that. (There is a reason I can't use twitter after all.) I really enjoy reading about what you guys think of the characters, the plot, and the speculations because that helps me think too! However, I can't really reply to the speculations with a concrete answer, which is unfortunate because I do want to answer them. I also love the short reviews. It's like getting a warm pat in the back that keeps me going! Thank you!

Update 26/07/2015: this chapter had been edited by Ashimodo.

Chapter 11: Face Your Demons

A month was a short time for training. Kakashi knew this well. There was a limit to the human capability, Sharingan or no Sharingan, to learn something until the understanding became innate to oneself.

Uchiha Sasuke was different because, Sharingan or no Sharingan, his capability had always been much higher than most. Kakashi could push him for hours at a time, forcing him to build up his stamina and use the utmost of his ability to keep up. Sasuke trained well under pressure. His eyes were getting faster at detecting and predicting movements. His body was also gaining speed at such a fast rate that Kakashi couldn't help but be a little jealous. What they needed to do was close the gap between the two, hopefully within the month.

They camped out near the training ground for that sake, also for the sake of isolating Sasuke from the rest of the competition. Not only was he a potential target of Orochimaru, Gaara of the Sand was not known to be the most stable of shinobi. Right then, Sasuke had nothing on the sand boy.

But it seemed that Gaara was hell-bent on targeting Sasuke regardless. He even showed up on the training ground one fine afternoon. Kakashi was ready to stop the bloodshed, but it appeared that Gaara just wanted a chat. He was, in fact, on a mission to convince Sasuke that they really should try and kill each other off to prove who deserved to live. Kakashi found the reasoning disturbing. Sasuke, wisely, did not respond.

Kakashi had thought that it was because Sasuke was too focused on the training to be bothered, but that night he found the boy lying on his back out in the open, watching the pitch black sky littered with stars. Kakashi could tell that he wasn't asleep by the pattern of his breathing. It was deep, but not slow enough.

"You should be in bed, " said Kakashi as he made his way to the boy and stood at his side. "You'll need your strength tomorrow."

"I can't sleep," said Sasuke. His eyes were still on the sky above. His brows furrowed like he was in thought.

Kakashi sighed. "Don't give Gaara too much thought, Sasuke. You just need to focus on defeating him," he said, knowing that if anything was on Sasuke's mind, it was probably Gaara's twisted logic.

"He said I have the same eyes as his," Sasuke began; "What he was saying is that I am the same as him."

Kakashi was surprised and alarmed in equal measure by Sasuke's line of thought, but he just lifted an eyebrow and said nothing.

Sasuke continued, "I've lived to kill Itachi. I don't care if I have to become a monster to do it." His hand clenched into a fist that was so tight his arm was shaking. "I am going to kill him because he killed my family and my clan. He took the lives of the people I loved. That would have been a simple answer, wouldn't it?"

"You don't need to tell him anything," Kakashi said as he sat down. "There is no need for you to justify yourself to him."

"No. Telling him doesn't mean anything. He won't understand anyway even if he said he was the same as me. It doesn't matter what I could have told him," said the young Uchiha. His voice suddenly became quieter, "I just don't know what I have to do any more."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at this.

"I still want to kill Itachi. Don't mistake this for me giving up on my goal, Kakashi," Sasuke said. "But I don't know anymore what it means to be truly strong. Knowing all the jutsu? Being able to beat every shinobi in this world? Knowing how to win in every kind of conflict? Would I still be strong if I can't save someone close to me from pain or death?"

Kakashi knew then where this was heading. He had seen the look on Sasuke's face when Naruto was finally moved to the hospital: the warring of anger, frustration, guilt, and self-doubt.

"Naruto being in the hospital wasn't your fault," said Kakashi. He might not have witnessed Naruto's cursed seal acting up, but he knew what had transpired. He knew Sasuke had done his best to calm Naruto down. He was holding him close even when Naruto was clawing on his back until it was torn.

Sasuke turned to him, his eyes bright and angry. "How could you know?" Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "You don't know what I said to him or he said to me. How could you know I didn't trigger the seal by accident?"

"Precisely. Even if you did, it was an accident. You did not want to hurt Naruto and could not have predicted that the seal would become active. You were not at fault," Kakashi replied. Sasuke was breathing harder. "What happened to you family was not your fault, either."

"I know that!" Sasuke snapped.

"But you think that there is an off chance that it might have been your fault, don't you?" Kakashi continued. "You think there might have been something you could have done-"

"Stop it! STOP!" Sasuke yelled. He got up and faced Kakashi, Sharingan blaring from the tide of intense emotion. "It wasn't my fault. It wasn't because I was too weak and too much of a coward. I didn't kill Mother and Father!"

Kakashi watched him calmly, remembering the pain when he found his father's body lying on the floor, remembering how it was to be overcome with guilt for not coming home earlier, remembering how difficult it was to finally understand that the fault wasn't his. "You are right, Sasuke. None of that was your fault. The only person to be blamed for your clan's slaughter is your brother, and only him." He watched carefully as Sasuke looked at him in surprise. "Being weak is not a crime. Hurting others is. It is as simple as that. So you can hate him, Sasuke, but do not hate yourself. You deserve to live on. I will make sure you live on."

The Sharingan slowly faded, but the boy's breaths were still heavy. Sasuke didn't meet his gaze, but Kakashi knew he wasn't crying. Tears of self-pity were for the weak. Sasuke was too strong for that.

He didn't expect Sasuke to ask, "What about Naruto?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"What happened that made his eyes look like that?" Sasuke asked. "What kind of baggage does he carry?"

Kakashi sighed. "If there is anyone that should be carrying that baggage, it isn't him," he replied. Sasuke looked puzzled, but Kakashi didn't let the boy ask any further. He got up. "Time for bed. You have an early start tomorrow."

He could feel the pair of intense black eyes boring a hole into his back as he led the way back to their camp, but Sasuke didn't say anything, as if knowing that Kakashi wasn't willing to share. However, he knew that Sasuke might just be letting him off easy this time.

/***/

Sasuke didn't realize how much his body ached until his back hit the bed again. He got a day off because Kakashi was called to an emergency meeting. The look from his teacher meant that this meeting was supposed to be a secret and so Sasuke could not even imply that Kakashi had duty that day. Sasuke didn't mind much. They had to get more supplies for the camp anyway, so that was as good an explanation as any.

He slept in late, letting his sore body relaxed for the first time in two weeks, before setting out for the grocery store where he accidentally walked into Shikamaru in the fruit aisle.

"Oi, finally back to the Land of the Living?" Shikamaru greeted him as he picked a fruit basket.

"For a day," was Sasuke's reply. The snack bars, soup bars, and painkillers in Sasuke's basket could speak for themselves. "You're going to visit someone?" He nodded towards the fruit basket.

Shikamaru sighed. "Chouji got a stomach ache from overeating," he said, "and Naruto got admitted two days ago from chakra exhaustion."

Sasuke couldn't quite believe his ears. Chakra exhaustion? Naruto? What kind of training did that Jiraiya put him through?

Shikamaru looked at him with a smirk on his face. He must have looked completely dumbfounded. "Unbelievable, isn't it? I'm going to see for myself if that's even true. I bet he's up and running already." Then he walked off. "See you around."

Sasuke took his basket to the cashier right away, not bothering with the few items he still had to get. He didn't bother to put the supplies away properly before darting out of his apartment and heading for the hospital. It was only in front of the main entrance that Sasuke realized how utterly foolish he had been behaving.

He was going to visit Naruto, the person whom his last interaction with was to throw punches and insults and then watched him roll on the floor in agony. The result of their altercation had led to Naruto being withdrawn from the last round of Chuunin Exam. Sasuke knew objectively that it wasn't his fault that the cursed seal acted up, but he also knew that he had contributed to it. His inability to control himself was the reason the conversation blew up and Naruto was taken off the rest of the exam.. What was he going to say when they met? Sorry? Was that even enough?

And in light of that, would his presence cause further complications if Naruto couldn't forgive him? What if he didn't want to see Sasuke ever again?

The last thought caused an unpleasant twinge in his chest. No, their argument was too childish to let it cause that much of an effect. If Naruto was going to be angry with him, so be it, but they had to get this out of the way or the team would fall apart.

So he took a deep breath, counted to ten, and walked in.

The room was quiet as he opened the door. He poked his head in and found it empty except for one bed. Sasuke could see the feet propping up the blanket sticking out from the partition. He closed the door behind him and walked over quietly. He only realized that he was holding his breath when Naruto's limp form came into view. He was sleeping. Their confrontation was not going to happen today.

Sasuke took a quick look at Naruto's chart, as squiggly as the writing was, and the only thing that was written on there was the time and date of admission and that he had been unconscious. Naruto, unconscious from chakra exhaustion for almost three days. Nothing was written of what might have been the cause.

His lips pressed into a thin line as he moved up the bed. He pulled the blanket down a few inches and pulled back the collar of Naruto's t-shirt to expose the nap of his neck. The seal was still there, encircled by a ring of black scripts that felt like chakra-enhanced ink under Sasuke's fingers. Otherwise, the seal didn't look any different from before and that left him uneasy. He wondered if the seal acted up again and that was why Naruto was in the hospital for so long. Did Naruto burn his chakra pathways?

He pulled his hand back when he heard the door creak open. Shikamaru poked his head in, saw him, and said, "So you're here."

Sasuke just looked at him like he was an imbecile for stating the obvious.

Shikamaru wasn't fazed. "I won't interrupt you for long. They're going to serve food soon, and Chouji has been unbearable about hospital food, so I was thinking of sitting it out here. I can do it somewhere else."

"You can come in. I'm leaving anyway," Sasuke said. He pulled the blanket back to up the blond boy's chin and tried to walk as coolly as possible to the door.

Shikamaru said, "You don't have to go, you know. They said he'll wake up any moment now. He'll be thrilled to see you here."

Sasuke wanted to believe that, but their last argument was still on his mind. "I doubt it," he said. "Besides, I have things to prepare before getting back to training."

Shikamaru sighed. "Sure," he said as he walked over and took a seat beside Naruto's bed, fruit basket in hand. "I don't envy you. Seriously, that Gaara is a monster. I'd forfeit if I had to fight him."

Sasuke realized then that despite them working well together, Shikamaru really was very different from him. Shikamaru wouldn't do any extra work if he could get away with it. Sasuke would do everything straight up and then some. Shikamaru didn't seem motivated to be the strongest or the smartest or the best at anything. Sasuke had been chasing the number one spot since he first mastered his chakra.

"Can I ask you something?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and said, "That's uncommon. What's up?"

"What is your dream?" he asked. "What do you live for?"

Shikamaru seemed surprised by this. He blinked. "Well, I just want a simple life. I was going to be a so-so ninja and earn an okay salary, marry a regular girl and have two kids, a boy and a girl, then I'll retire when my kids become independent and play shogi in my relaxing retirement." He shrugged. "That's all, really."

"That's... oddly specific," replied Sasuke, and deceptively simple.

"You think so? Those are just the things I want to wake up to everyday, that's all. I found that it's better to have a mental image in mind of what the goal will really look like instead of the one-line thing people typically tell themselves. It gives you more motivation."

Sasuke snorted at this. If this was a motivated Shikamaru, he didn't want to see the other one.

"That's why just winning in a fight doesn't count much to me," Shikamaru continued. "To you and Naruto, winning means everything."

The tone Shikamaru used was odd, like he was chiding both Naruto and Sasuke in a rather laid back way. Sasuke just looked at him as he digested what Shikamaru just said.

"Don't win the battle and lose the war, that's all I'm saying," said Shikamaru as he pulled out a book from his pocket. "I don't mind if you change your mind and stay, but I'm gonna read now."

"No, I'm leaving," said Sasuke. This time he made it to the door. "Thanks for staying with Naruto."

Shikamaru just waved, his eyes never leaving the book, so Sasuke took the cue and closed the door behind him. He spent that evening as he waited for Kakashi meditating in the clearing . Even as the moon came up and the sky turned pitch black, he still couldn't come up with a mental image of the future he wanted.

/***/

When she walked into the arena for the last round of the Chuunin Exam, Sakura didn't quite know what to feel.

When she'd first applied for the exam, she'd honestly not thought she was ready for the challenge, so she didn't set herself up with any hope of passing. Now that she had completed the first two stages, she was ridiculously disappointed that she didn't get to be in the last round.

Ino, though, thought it was for the best. How would she fight monsters like Neji and Gaara if the insanely talented Rock Lee couldn't. She would just be dead or, worse still, publicly humiliated. Sakura agreed, although it by no means meant that she was happy with her current situation.

And then there was Naruto.

She was toying with the idea of asking him to come to the tournament with her and Ino, but she didn't know how he would react. Naruto never did anything without the hope of accomplishing the task. She knew he wanted to pass. Naruto having to withdraw due to a complication that was hardly his own fault was heartbreaking. In the end, she didn't ask him, blaming it on the fact that he wasn't around much for the past month.

But Naruto did come to the arena. He seemed cheery as he greeted them and then ran to the front and shouted a good luck to Shikamaru, causing everybody to give him stink eyes. Sakura and Ino sighed. Naruto really was energetic.

She watched him as he walked back to her with a frown on his face. She was about to ask what was going on when he said, "Where's Sasuke? Isn't the tournament about to start?"

"I don't know," replied Sakura. He was not the type for tardiness, though. "I'm sure it's Kakashi-sensei who's holding him back. He'll be here shortly."

She wasn't entirely sure if she was comforting him or herself. There were only five matches scheduled for the first round, but two competitors already withdrew. There wasn't much of a margin for Sasuke-kun to be late. Naruto must have seen her nervousness, too, because he smiled a little and said, "You're right like always, Sakura-chan. He'll be here in no time. I better get to my seat then." Then he ran up the arena to the back where he sat alone in a corner. Sakura felt immensely guilty about it.

Hyuuga Neji won the first round like they knew he would, but only by a small margin. As it turned out Inuzuka Kiba with a vengeance was a formidable fighter. It seemed that he took Neji's mental and physical attacks on Hinata in the prelim rather personally. Neji even asked once why Kiba cared so much, which prompted Kiba to launch into a monologue about family, acceptance, growth, and a proclamation that sounded dangerously like a love confession, in front of Hinata's father no less. Neji in turn told him about the Hyuuga and pretty much aired all the dirty laundry of his clan to the world.

It was painful to watch this tournament, something that should have been rather clean cut and impersonal, turned into something so private and emotional. Watching Kiba fall unconscious afterward even as he tried to prove Neji wrong was the worst. She spotted Hinata coughing out blood as the medic team took the dog boy away, but the announcement of the next round pretty much distracted her.

It was supposed to be Gaara versus Sasuke next, but Sasuke was nowhere to be found. For a moment she thought he might get disqualified. A part of her was a little relieved if she was to be honest with herself. If Sasuke was disqualified, he didn't have to face Gaara who, she knew from watching his fight with Rock Lee, was ruthless enough that he would kill his opponent rather than subdue them.

But they moved his matched back, something that was odd considering the small tolerance for tardiness in the entire exam process. Kankuro forfeited even before he fought Shino, which was also odd. Then Temari and Shikamaru took the stage.

In hindsight, she should have taken her 'something was off' feeling more seriously, but Sasuke's lateness distracted her enough that she only realized her mistake when the genjutsu set in.

Practicing with Naruto and Sasuke helped her dispelled it immediately. The arena turned into a battlefield as squads of Sound and Sand shinobi started their attack. Sakura quickly ducked down behind the seat, pulling Ino with her, who was less fortunate with the genjutsu. At least on the ground Ino would be safe until the battle was over.

When she peeked up again, she spotted Naruto coming down the stairs towards her with an occasional dash to the side to hide. The enemy didn't seemed to care that he was there since they were all engaged with Leaf's jounin. She quickly waved at him at one point before ducking again because Kakashi-sensei needed to smash the skulls of two more enemies in close proximity to her face.

"I have an A-rank mission for you," Kakashi told her when the wave of attacks died down. "I want you to take Naruto and Sasuke out of here."

Sakura's eyes widen. "Why is that an A-rank mission?" she asked frantically as Kakashi spilled more blood.

"No time to explain in detail right now, but there is someone here who wants Naruto and possibly Sasuke and he must not get to them. You have to protect them."

"But, but if he's strong, I won't be able to do that!" she shouted over the sound of the fights going on around her. She looked down from the arena and realized that Sasuke-kun and the sand siblings were gone. "Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke's gone!"

It was then that Naruto showed up crawling between the seats. Kakashi spotted him and nodded. "Good to see you, Naruto. Now, a little change of plan, Sakura. Take Shikamaru and Naruto and track down Sasuke," he said.

"But how?" asked Naruto. "The Bastard followed Gaara right after the attack started. He's far away by now."

Kakashi quickly performed a summoning and before them was a pug, looking at them both with a slightly bored expression. "I'll track down Sasuke," said the dog, who introduced himself as Pakkun. They quickly located Shikamaru in the observation deck and got him out of playing possum. Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei helped deflect the attack of the Sound ninja in the arena and created an escape for them in the form of a literal hole in the wall.

"Now to reinstate the mission," said Kakashi, "I want you four to track down Sasuke and take him with you to a safe location, a hideout on the Hokage mountain, and stay there. Got it?"

"Got it," said Pakkun. "Take care, ol' boy."

"Duly noted," said Kakashi before he jumped into battle as the four of them escaped.

Pakkun led the three of them away from the arena and down the winding streets littered with bombs, blood, and bodies. She didn't have time to be afraid or to even let all this sink in. She just kept running along with Naruto and Shikamaru. Shikamaru wasn't much of a motivator, but Naruto had the look of determination in his eyes that kept her grounded. He was a target himself but he didn't falter. She wasn't sure if he knew this or if it was news to him too, but Naruto didn't seem to let it get in the way of the mission. Sakura knew she couldn't either. If they were going to be safe, they had to focus on the task and get out of the place.

They were, as expected, pursued. Shikamaru broke away from the team first to create a diversion. Sakura knew he was a genius in his own right, but this was the first time she was allowed into his thought process. She couldn't be more marveled, but again she didn't have time. They just kept on speeding after Pakkun as he led them in Sasuke's direction.

She had expected Sasuke to confront Gaara. What she hadn't expect was the literal monster Gaara had become. Half of his body had turned into a vile creature with a tail and extendable arms made of sand. His quiet demeanor had become confrontational and psychotic. He sent chills down her spine.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto's voice shook her out of her head. He didn't look at her. His eyes were fixed at Gaara as he said, "Sasuke."

Her gaze shifted to Sasuke-kun then. He'd collapsed on a branch, his left arm shaking out of control. She automatically went for him. Naruto landed between Sasuke and Gaara, effectively shielding them from further attack. Sasuke was conscious but in considerable pain. She pressed her lips together as she watched electric shock running up and down his arm. He'd obviously forced himself to use Chidori at his limit and the jutsu went wrong.

"Get going already," Naruto yelled at her, although he never looked their way. "I'll guard your back."

"No!" Sakura countered. "The order is to take the two of you to safety. You have to come with us, Naruto."

"Seriously not possible right now, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura was about to argue with him when Gaara suddenly charged forward, not at Naruto but towards her. Sakura, on instinct, pulled out her kunai and threw herself on top of Sasuke. She knew she wouldn't be able to seriously hurt Gaara with this even if she tried, but she would protect her friend. She really didn't think about the possibility of death at all until the hit sent her flying onto a nearby tree, knocking the air out of her lungs. Gaara's monstrous hand pinned her there as he towered over Sasuke, who was still too hurt to move.

She wanted to break free, but the pain of being slammed into the tree was too much. The grip was so tight she couldn't breathe. She knew she was going to lose consciousness soon even as she tried to dig her kunai into the monster's hand. It wouldn't work - she knew this - but she tried anyway, because both Naruto and Sasuke were precious to her. She wanted to protect them. She needed to protect them.

That was her last thought as her hand lost its grip on the weapon and the world turned black.

/***/

End of Chapter 11

A/N: And now the response to your comments.

Kamui5 jmtothemusic ZyiareHellsing Thank you! Please come back for more!

Chubby-King-Chocobo Thank you! Yeah, I agree with you that Naruto would still attracts people to him because he still has this great capability to care, but how is he going to use it is another story altogether (and I don't really know the full length of this yet. We'll have to see).

Guest If I remember correctly, Orochimaru wants Sasuke because of his bloodline limit, so, honestly, if Orochimaru had his way, he would have marked them both. (And if anybody wants to write the story where they both got marked, I'd love to read it. *Blatant sale of plot bunny* Ahem.) The reason it doesn't happen here is mainly because of timing. I actually have a gripe about how Sasuke got the cursed seal in the canon. He is supposed to be fast. He is supposed to be smart. Why the *bleep* does he stand around waiting for the fire on Orochimaru's face to die down when he knew that he was in no way strong enough to beat the guy? The timing seems forced in a way that would let Orochimaru get Sasuke when, honestly, there are a vast number of things that could have happened in that time and a vast number of consequences that could have followed. My version, I think, is one of those conceivable scenarios if Sasuke doesn't suddenly turn into stone and if Naruto was screaming in the background. And not marking Sasuke does not mean Orochimaru is not interested anymore. He just has a bigger fish to fry at the moment.

I could go on in detail as to why everything in the scene happens the way it did, but I don't think I should because it would seem too deliberate (actually that last couple of paragraphs more or less fell onto my lap; there was no deliberate thinking involved), and imposing too much of my logic on a scene that can have multiple interpretations. There are conceivable ways of making Sasuke getting the seal without the pause, but this one seems more natural to me given the circumstances, so I'm going with it. That's all

TacitcalDubstep I can guarantee that there is something up to chapter 35. So it's not going to get abandoned before then. No promise after that yet, but if I run into problems, I'll let you guys know beforehand. Sounds fair?

Guest My impression of Sasuke is that he is more cerebral than Naruto, so the change is more internal rather than external, which is so damn hard to write at times. So I'm glad there is actually some detectable changes. Whether he listen to Kakashi or not, the thing about change is that it is not necessarily going to lead to good things, right? Sasuke still has his baggage (*cough* Itachi *cough*) which is something Naruto in the canon doesn't have, so it's going to be complicated. And that's as much as I can say on this topic for now. And, yeah, the post-time skips story is killing me because things have been changed so much it's impossible to follow the canon anymore and I have to make up a lot of things on the way. I hope I can keep the quality of the writing at least at a decent level. Thank you for your faith in me. That really means a lot.

Killua17 I think Sasuke sees the connection. He is just in denial about what he wants to do with it which *sigh* is such a drag to the writer, honestly.