[Previously]

"But how do we find her?" he asked.

Itachi didn't turn to face him, but he could feel the smile sliding onto his face. Something else unusual for the Uchiha survivor. A smile, no matter how sinister. "We don't. We let them find us."

XXX

'Obito, where did I go wrong?' he thought. 'You would've been so much better at this...'

Chapter Fourteen

Sakura stared at the fire in front of her, her arms wrapped around her legs. It had been hours since she had even blinked. Dark circles were beginning to form beneath her eyes. She was tired, and her mind was begging her to sleep. Just to close her eyes for a second, get some rest. But she had tried that before, a few hours ago. Nightmares had plagued her, memories of those seconds before Naruto was killed. Again. Or for the first time.

She shook her head. It was too confusing to try and figure out. Naruto had died three years ago. She had seen his body at the funeral and watched as his casket was lowered into his grave. She'd seen the reports made on him when he'd entered the the hospital after the fight with Sasuke and afterwards. She'd hoped to find an error that Tsunade had made, but everything had checked out impeccably. She'd been stupid to think otherwise. Tsunade was a professional, not some novice; no matter who it was that she was operating on. But just to make sure and ease her thoughts, she'd went down to the morgue to look at his cold face one more time. Or a few more times. It hadn't just been one trip. For a short while, she'd thought she was crazy, sitting down there and talking to a dead boy.

She shook her head again, wiping a stray tear from her face. But he couldn't have been dead. Not back then. Because Itachi had- But then... it could've very easily been a genjutsu. Had she looked into his eyes other than when he'd opened the door? How much of what she'd seen was reality? Was it all a dream? But then again, it would not explain what had happened to Noboru, or why he was missing. Unless Itachi had truly killed him, and had made her think he'd killed Naruto again? But... She dismissed the thought process. Too confusing.

She sniffled again. Suddenly, a hand made its way onto her shoulder and she jumped, whirling around. Sai stood in front of her, his hand still on her shoulder. He stared down at her, his facial expression blank though his touch was tender. Slowly, he pulled his hand away and sat down beside her, staring into the flames as well.

"You should sleep," he said suddenly. "It's getting late, and you'll need your strength to continue on with the mission."

The mission? Sakura almost laughed. What mission? Sasuke was gone to all of them. It was pointless. Naruto, one of the most capable boys she knew, couldn't get him back. Kakashi may have been stronger, but he'd never be able to get through to him. Any words he spoke would fall on deaf ears. She hadn't known it before, but the reason she had brought Noboru was because he shared a likeness with Naruto. Unknown to her, they were the same person. Maybe. She still hadn't decided on that little fact.

Sakura shook her head. "I can't," she mumbled, continuing to stare at the flames. Her first few hours or so into staring, she'd feared that the flames would make her go blind, like the sun. Or maybe the ashes from the burning wood would float up and find themselves in her unblinking eyes.

Sai turned to her. "It's very easy. Start by closing your eyes, slowing your breathing, and clearing your thoughts." He touched her shoulder again. "Not that hard, Sakura-San."

"No. I can't. I close my eyes and all I can see is him being killed, over and over again."

"Traumatizing, isn't it?" Sai asked softly. Sakura turned to him, a little shocked to hear the tender note in his voice. She bit her lip, nodding her head. Sai returned the gesture, continuing to stare at the fire. He seemed to guess she didn't want too much attention, and she appreciated that about him. It made her dislike him that much less, even maybe like him a bit. Her mouth curled up in what may have been a smile or what could have been a grimace as she allowed her eyes to drift to the flames as well.

She didn't bother answering his question, knowing there wasn't a good answer to give. Instead, she found her mouth opening in order for her to ask, "Have you ever witnessed a comrade die?"

To her surprised, she saw that Sai smiled out of the corner of her eye. Or what appeared to be a smile. It was the most sincere expression she had ever witnessed on his face, and made a look of shock flicker across her face.

"Countless times," her temporary teammate answered. "Replaceable teammates lost in battle. No one with any real significance. I was trained to move on, to not care either way." Sakura turned to look at him, and discovered he was no longer staring into the flame either. At some point, he had retrieved a small book and had it opened to what she thought was the middle. From what she could see, it had no words, only pictures. Drawings, actually, of a boy that she knew wasn't him. Curious, she opened her mouth to ask about the book, only to have Sai answer her question before she got the chance. "I had a brother once, the only person I truly cared about. We weren't related in the blood sense, but we were close to one another. We could depend on each other, I think. I would like to hope."

Sakura couldn't help but notice that Sai continued to speak in the past tense. Before she could stop herself, she found herself asking, "What happened to him?" Although, if she were truly honest, she was unsure if she wanted to know the answer. "Was he killed in battle?"

Sai's fingers traveled over the page as if remembering something, the smile still on his face. "I made this for him. I was going to give it to him as a present but..." he paused, turning the pages although it didn't look as if he was looking at the pictures. "He became ill and died before I got the chance."

Sakura bit her lip at his words, instantly feeling bad for the emotionless root member. She, at least, lost three important people and still had many more to love and care for. But Sai had lost his one and only important person, and it didn't seem as if he'd ever gained another one. Without thinking, she found her hand reaching over to grasp his, holding it in a comforting embrace. She was happy that, for once, she was the one offering comfort rather than taking it for herself.

To her surprise, Sai squeezed her hand, entwining their fingers. "I apologize for not being there to save Noboru-kun, Sakura-san." His words were gentle, but they stung Sakura as if she'd been struck. He could have been there. Kakashi could have been there, too. They could have had a chance against the Akatsuki, and Noboru could still be alive. But she chose to leave early, leaving her team behind in order to rescue a teammate who had deserted her twice. Again, because of her selfishness and stupidity, she'd lost another teammate. It was all her fault.

She might as well have killed them both herself.

Sasuke felt himself being thrown into a room, though he couldn't see where he was. His eyes were covered, his mouth gagged and his arms tied behind his back. He could only hear the laughter of Orochimaru and Kabuto as he fell to the cold floor, landing on his side. He hissed in pain, knowing Orochimaru had bruised one of his ribs in their fight. He had been smart not to critically injure him, but his wounds were painful nonetheless.

"Foolish child," the sannin hissed. Sasuke could tell from the sound of his voice that he was still standing in the doorway. He pictured him standing there, his body illuminated by the light from the hallway in the otherwise dark room. The only light that entered the chamber came from the single barred window where the moon's light shined.

There were footsteps coming towards him, and Sasuke felt himself tense. But he soon relaxed, realizing that it was not Orochimaru coming towards him, but Kabuto. He felt himself being grabbed and hoisted into a chair, his arms being painfully pulled over the back of the chair, his wrists still bound. He hissed in pain, feeling as if his shoulder was dislocated. Orochimaru hissed something at Kabuto, and he sounded irritated, but Sasuke barely listened. He was beginning to panic, feeling the awful taste of fear rising in his throat.

"Let me go, you bastards!" he shouted foolishly. It wasn't smart to insult someone when oneself was tied to a chair, vulnerable in every sense of the word. Especially when those someones could easily kill you without breaking a sweat. Perhaps not Kabuto, but Orochimaru for sure.

Orochimaru laughed then. It was a sickening sound to the young Uchiha. He should be dead. He should have been able to kill him. Why, then, was he still so weak! "Sasuke-kun, my foolish, foolish boy..." a sinister smile made its way onto his pale face, "did you honestly believe that you could kill me after such a short time? I created the curse mark, child. Why would you think you could use it against me?"

Suddenly Sasuke felt a blazing pain erupt from his shoulder, agonizingly torturing him. He screamed, the sound of weakness erupting from his lungs. It felt as if the air was leaving him, causing his chest to deflate painfully. He gasped, his fingers twitching behind the chair and his toes curling against the cold stone of the floor. Kabuto had shed him of his shoes when Orochimaru had inevitably beat him. Eventually, after a lapsed time that felt like forever, the pain ceased, replaced by a low throb in his shoulder.

"A-Asshole," he managed to stammer, words seeming to be a struggle to form. He was still shaking from the pain of his curse mark, his mind much rather to focus on that instead of his speech.

"Dear Sasuke-kun, don't use such language in front of me. It's unbecoming." The sannin laughed then, only to end in a rather horrible cough. It was no secret to anyone that Orochimaru's health was failing him. Exceedingly so. It was only a matter of time before he would need to take Sasuke's body as a replacement for his sannin straightened his spine, cutting his eyes at the young medic-nin in the room. "Kabuto, come with me," he ordered, already turning to leave the room. His words really translated as, 'Kabuto, I need my treatment.'

When they had left the room, Sasuke was trapped in the darkness of the space alone. The only company he had was himself and his eye. Naruto. Though it wasn't enough. He knew it was beginning to become not enough. His eye, his friend, wasn't what he craved. He began to realize that on his journey, and then in the few short days that he'd been living here. He was losing interest in Naruto the eye, craving Naruto the friend.

There was a sound near the window. A scuffling, as if something had landed on the stone that made the small opening. A bird maybe, Sasuke thought. But then whatever had landed on the window made its way into the room, landing on the floor. The thud that resonated because of the landing was far too loud to be a bird. A person maybe, but no bird. Sasuke tuned his ear, wondering who would be stupid enough to break into Orochimaru's own hideout. Even if the sannin himself didn't catch them, someone would. Kabuto, maybe. He seemed to always be the one capturing prisoners to put into another one of Orochimaru's cells.

"Sasuke, what happened to you?" the person asked, causing Sasuke to sit up straight in the chair. His eyes widened behind the blindfold, his heart thudding in his chest. He couldn't tell if it had started beating too fast that it appeared it had stopped, or if it was beating far too slowly for him to notice when the beats changed. He hoped that it was the former, because to have such a slow beating heart, despite the circumstances, could not be healthy. That voice was so familiar, however...

He turned his head towards where he'd last heard the person. "Who are you?"

There was an answering snort. Another familiar sound, from back in his days as a Konoha genin, a part of the original team seven. Instantly, a memory of the blond haired boy he once knew flashed across his mind. "Don't tell me you forgot about me already, teme. It hasn't been that long has it?" the voice asked again. He sounded exactly the same, if not a little older. There was a scuffling, as if he'd sat down on the cold stone floor.

Sasuke shook his head. "N-Naruto?" he asked, disbelieving.

Kurai and Naruto sat in silence for what seemed like eternity before Kurai stood, seeming to wipe the dampness of the ground from his pants. He stared across at Naruto, his eyes hard. His counterpart raised his eyebrows in confusion, not understanding where the other boy thought he was going. But when Kurai gestured for him to stand as well, he reluctantly obeyed.

"What?" he asked.

There was a look that flashed across Kurai's eyes. Naruto would have thought that it was kindness, but he quickly brushed the thought away. Of course it wasn't. He didn't call him "Kurai" for no reason, after all. His alter ego had made it perfectly clear that he was unable to feel any emotion even close to "kindness".

"You're weak," he said quietly. Naruto opened his mouth to interrupt with his usual loud words of protest, but Kurai stopped him with a raised hand. "You're also a disappointment and a failure. To Kyuubi and anyone who has ever believed in you."

Naruto looked annoyed. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

Kurai pretended not to have heard him. "You failed the chuunin exams. You died trying to fulfill a promise to your precious 'Sakura-chan', and ended up failing anyway. You failed to become hokage, like your promised all those people before. You failed to - "

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted, covering his ears. He didn't appreciate all of his failures being laid out for him in display. He had enough problems coming to terms with them. "You don't know what you're talking about! I fulfilled my promise to Sakura-chan! Sasuke came back to the village! I saw him! And - and I didn't die! Not really... I only... I only..."

"You only died," Kurai pointed out.

"Shut up!" Naruto repeated. He ached to make is counterpart be quiet, shouting out everything he'd been telling himself to console himself about his so-called failures. "And I will become Hokage someday!"

"Noboru might, at best. Though it doesn't seem likely. You, however, Naruto, are dead. At least, that's what the majority of Konoha believes."

"Shut - "

"Relax and follow me, dobe," Kurai mumbled, turning away from Naruto. "I wanna show you something."

"Why would I ever want to come with you?" Naruto asked, only to have Kurai send him another hard look. He held his ground however, causing his alter ego to turn back around and grab him, literally dragging him away. "W-Wait! Where are we going?" he asked frantically, suddenly nervous.

"I have things I want to show you. And then we can work on how much of a failure you are," Kurai explained.

"What...?"

"Kyuubi isn't going to remain prisoner inside of a cage as weak as you much longer, it seems." He turned to gauge Naruto's reaction, only to see confusion written there. He sighed, turning back around and continuing with the explanation. "He's already beginning to gauge your willpower. Which is why it wouldn't be wise for you to speak of killing yourself. One blip in your will, and he's making a run for it. And seeing as how weak you truly are, you're going to die whenever he decides to."

Naruto shook his head. "That's impossible. The seal keeps him locked up!" he protested.

Kurai nodded. "That would be the case. Except for the fact that the seal is weakening."

"Weakening...? But how?"

"The henge. It's mostly depending on the fox's chakra to endure itself. In order for that to happen, there needs to be a constant stream of Kyuubi's chakra passing through to you. And that constant stream is what's been weakening the seal. It's been going on for months, I think."

Naruto thought this over. The seal was weakening due to the henge he had to constantly uphold. And Kyuubi wanted a way out. So how...

"What do we do now?" he asked Kurai, staring ahead.

"There's no changing Kyubi's mind once he's made it up. He's going to try to escape at the first chance, whether you want him to or not. The best bet we have is to make you stronger before then. Mentally and physically. Understand?" Kurai asked, as if speaking to a toddler. Naruto nodded and Kurai accepted his affirmation, continuing down the dim hallway in silence.

Suddenly, Naruto quipped, "Where exactly are we going?"

Kurai turned around yet again, a smirk on his face. "We're going to work on that mental strength now. We're going to search through a few of our memories, Naruto-kun."

A/N Meant to get a lot more done this chapter. Oh well. The dialogue was beginning to get a little forced anyway.

Comments, questions, or concerns? You know what to do. REVIEW! please?

Oh, AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!