Expectations of Development
-o-
Recovery
-o-
Looking down on Sasuke she could almost, almost convince herself that she had made the right decision. He didn't look as if he had just survived an almost impossible hard fight, against opponents far out of their league.
With a sigh Sakura turned around and plopped down into her own bed. In the end however she had thrown her own ideals away and tried to fight alone... well, not really. If her attack had worked, at least a little bit Kabuto would have been easy prey for Sasuke and Orochimaru would have been dead.
Grumbling, she buried her face in her pillow. Would have, could have. It didn't matter. The attack had failed, she had left Sasuke alone and only luck had saved them. Luck that Tsunade had somehow managed to bring Sasuke back, luck that she managed to hit Kabuto like that.
Actually, only the thing with Sasuke had been luck, everything else had been pure skill.
"Still beating yourself up over the fight?" Jirayia asked, sitting on his own bed on the other side of the room.
"I was stupid." She answered.
"Eh, you're young and inexperienced. I would worry more if you only made the right decisions in combat. Especially against opponents that much older and stronger." Jirayia tried to comfort her.
"Oh? So you are saying I should just go on like this? Make blunder after blunder, risking my teammates and friends?" She snorted.
From the corner of her eyes she could see his glare. "No. You should learn from them and avoid making them in the future. And you should stop the self flagellation. It doesn't help, makes things worse actually, and it makes you look like an idiot."
She returned the glare, but Jirayia could out glare her easily. Quickly she looked away.
"I guess." She sighed.
"Hey, you had front row seats to a fight between the Sannin. Not many people could claim that!" His glare had disappeared, replaced with a proud grin.
"Heh, yeah. That fight had been awesome." She smirked at him. "Especially the part where Tsunade saved your ass by nailing the snake to the ground with your sword."
Jirayia drew back in mock hurt. "First of all, it belonged to Gamabunta. Secondly, she merely guided it, after the snake threw it into the air. And thirdly she didn't save my ass, she merely ended the fight a bit sooner. Nothing more."
"Oh, Tsunade did you hear that?" Sakura looked at something behind Jirayia, who whirled around, an expression of horror on his face. It might have worked better if Sakura thought he wouldn't have noticed Tsunade sneaking up behind him. Still, it made her giggle, so she supposed he got what he wanted.
"What happens next?" She asked, when he turned around, a soft smile on his face.
He shrugged. "Well, she didn't say so, but I think chances are good she'll return to Konoha with us, even if you haven't managed to go toe to toe with her for three minutes." He looked at Sasuke. "At the very least she'll probably come back and heal Naruto. She owes you... or better Sasuke, that much."
Sakura looked at the sleeping boy again. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, not that she hadn't seen him toss and turn with nightmares as well, but he didn't have them that often. Not compared to her, with her own experiences so recent. His sleep actually gave her hope, since it meant she would get over it sooner or later. He had gone through way worse, and he somehow managed to get a few good nights of sleep each week.
"Get some rest. Either way we'll go back tomorrow." Jirayia winked at her and walked out of the room. Probably to talk some more to Tsunade.
Sakura nodded to herself and crawled under her blankets. Hopefully Tsunade agreed to become Hokage... though Jirayia wouldn't be that bad either. But as Hokage he couldn't write Icha Icha anymore. Which would be bad, very bad.
Soon she drifted off to sleep, dreams of discontinued books and fights with sannin dominating her thoughts.
-o-
Tsunade looked up, as Jirayia came down and sat down next to her. "She went to sleep?"
Shizune sat on her other side, engrossed in Jirayia's dirty book. One of these days Tsunade would have to read it. No matter how much she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of admitting they were any good.
"Yes. Still beating herself up over her performance." He admitted and order himself some sake.
"Well, she could have thought it through a bit more." Tsunade pointed out, only half amused. After all, if she hadn't managed to save Sasuke they would all have died, or worse.
"Of course, but she is still a genin. Can't really expect them to fight a jonin level opponent and make the best decisions." Jirayia defended his charge.
"Maybe so, but shouldn't we expect smart decisions from her?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Ehehehe..." He chuckled uncomfortably. "I suppose so, but if it had worked... meh. As long as she learns from it." He finished lamely.
Nodding Tsunade took a sip from her own cup of sake. "Suppose that's the best we can hope for. Sasuke didn't do all that much better himself."
"And we didn't make any mistakes at all." Jirayia looked at his cup of sake pointedly.
She looked away. Maybe she had made some stupid mistakes as well.
"Let's agree that we all made some foolish mistakes today and let's not mention it again." Jirayia added.
Shrugging she nodded. She had no problems with that.
"Which brings us to my next question." Jirayia said. Behind her she could hear Shizune rustle her book, as she switched from reading it to hiding behind it, listening in. "Have you decided?"
She stared into her cup, not answering. Jirayia had returned to his own cup and Shizune to her book, but they couldn't fool her for a second. They were waiting for an answer, just giving her time to formulate it.
Did she want to return? Did she want to take on the mantle of Hokage? Even Sakura agreed that the position wouldn't be worth it. Sasuke didn't seem to care much, beyond the fact that the Hokage would be strong. Had to be strong. She swished the sake around in her cup. She wanted to return, of that she had no doubt. If for no other reason than to see Sasuke more. After her display today she somehow doubted they would go for the bet, their chances weren't all that high really. Even if she did hold back a bit.
So, she would return to Konoha. But could she shoulder the responsibilities of being the Hokage? Of deciding who would live and who would die?
She thought back to the battle, back to how it felt when Sasuke somehow, managed to survive. That feeling of elation she had when she saved him. Or when she switched places with Sakura, saved her, protected her. It had felt so good, so right. She had felt alive in a way she hadn't felt since Dan died. Much more so then when she gambled a bit of money. Combat wasn't a game, it couldn't ever be a game. But at the same time, she couldn't not enjoy succeeding at it.
A goofy grin spread over her face as she thought about the perks of being Hokage. Sure, she had some really soul-crushing responsibilities, but she also had perks! An entire village to order around, pretty boys to do her bidding! Money and good food, genin she could awe with her powers. Sasuke and the pink brat. Her eyes widened as she realized she could just order Sakura to do some rather unpleasant work, like muck the stables of some farm if she got uppity again.
The smile disappeared again. The question that remained was a simple one then. Could she take ordering people to their deaths, while she stayed behind and did nothing dangerous at all? Enjoying all those perks of the job?
Somebody had to do it. And if the village got attacked she would be on the front lines. And that wasn't counting the various ways she could improve the medical side of the village... how much had that atrophied without her there anyway? Her eyes widened. As Hokage she could just order the situation to improve. Something she had to fight tooth and nail for when she had just been a sannin.
Slowly she turned to Jirayia. "I'll do it. I'll become the Hokage." She could do it. No matter how many people she would lose. She would save so many more lives, it would be worth it.
He grinned at her and lifted his cup. "Well then, let's celebrate that decision then eh?" He winked at her.
She grinned right back. "Absolutely. More sake!"
"Ahhh. You shouldn't!" Shizune tried to stop them, but soon she found herself pacified with another bottle of sake just for her. Even Tonton got a small victory cup...
-o-
Naruto and the nine tails glared at each other. Ino hadn't shown up again yet, but it didn't bother him. It hadn't felt like more than a month or two yet anyway, so maybe a day outside? Whatever.
He had decided to spend his time her doing something useful. Like working on his chakra control, that had to be purely mental, right? Right. So even if he only improved a little bit in here he would improve. He just had to work hard on it.
But now he had a better idea. The fox had tricked him last time, but that didn't mean he had to let it happen again! Which meant he would have to learn how to draw on the fox's power without losing control over it.
Thus he and the fox glared at each other.
"If you puny insect think you can just take my power, you are sadly mistake." The fox growled at him.
And Naruto had no doubt that for once the fox didn't lie. He always had to ask and demand power from the fox. Just, as the last time he did that proved, it left him open to trickery from the damn thing. But if he could take the power from the fox, then the fox wouldn't have any control over it. And any sympathy he might have had for the thing had gone right out of the window after it tried to pull that crippling trick.
No more nice Naruto. He would show the damn fox who was the boss here.
Nodding to himself he took a deep breath. He couldn't just expect the fox to hand over his chakra though. And he quite frankly had no idea how he would go about taking the power anyway. He just had suspicions, like when he and Jirayia trained to access the power. There had been his chakra and that of the fox. They had been very distinctive and he could pull out both, though far less from the fox unless he asked him.
He closed his eyes and tried to feel his chakra. Usually the boredom that came with this kind of meditation had prevented him from taking it seriously. After what felt like a year of being bored meditation actually had become something he could enjoy. He accepted the boredom and channeled it into something productive. A small frown stole itself on his face. Actually while he meditated he had felt as if his chakra control truly increased. He banished the thought and instead focused on searching for the chakra the fox radiated.
Easy enough to find, really. Now then, on to the real question. How could he take that chakra? It had to be connected to himself. And the fox couldn't have severed the connection, otherwise he wouldn't have a way to heal Naruto.
Likewise he couldn't have destroyed Naruto's inner coil system. That would have killed Naruto and the fox. So he should still be able to feel his own chakra, and that of the fox. And not just that which his mind made him think he had... he groaned as he imagined the various layers of meaning behind all that. How could anybody remember all that stuff.
With some effort he calmed himself again. He had to concentrate or he wouldn't make any progress.
The fox grumbled something, but Naruto tuned him out. Another advantage of meditation.
Slowly he could feel the world fade away, until only his own heartbeat remained. And within the heartbeat he could feel his chakra. Much, much stronger than anything he felt normally here. He fought to keep his mind blank and wrestled with the chakra, forcing it under his control. It resisted and he realized just how much control he still lacked. He bet Sakura could have tamed this tempest in a matter of seconds. For him it took hours, or what seemed like hours at least. Outside of his body it took mere seconds.
In here though he had to fight hard and long to tame the raging storm into a calm river, carrying the water where he wanted it to flow. Of course, he didn't want the water to flow anywhere, he just wanted to watch it closely.
After the chakra had calmed down, he watched the river searching for the chakra the fox had to feed him constantly. And sure enough, every now and again he saw a small sliver of red in the blue water. Kinda like blood, dissolving.
He grabbed one such strand and immediately he lost control of the river, as pain shot through his entire body. Not a lot, but enough to shake his concentration and rip the fragile control he had managed to gain over the river asunder.
He growled in frustration and anger, before he managed to calm himself down again. Had it been his own anger at the failure? Or had that been the influence of the fox?
It didn't matter, in either case he would have to control himself better.
Once again he entered his meditation. No matter how long it took, he would master this. Not as if he had anything else to do anyway.
-o-
Libido watched as Teamwork grumbled and kicked the earth around her. She had fought a few Itachis earlier this day, but had utterly failed to archive anything.
She had flailed around uncoordinated, missed several of her swings and had barely been able to block other hits.
It reminded him of that day right after his greatest victory. The day he had been trounced so severely. He had told her that bad days happened, that she shouldn't take it too much to heart, but she had opted to pout and grumble instead. He hoped she would recover soon. She still was their strongest fighter. Off day or not.
Family on the other hand had grown stronger again, he heard her mutter something in her sleep. Nothing he could make out, but she had muttered something.
Teamwork stood beside him in a flash. "So she is recovering." She whispered, almost reverently.
Libido also noticed that Family had changed a bit too, her black hair had slowly gotten lighter. It looked like a deep brown now, but it still seemed likely that it would change even further.
He frowned at Teamwork. "Why does she change?" He asked.
She shrugged. "We all change, you aren't the little brat you were a few weeks ago anymore either."
He looked himself over and had to agree. Sure, he still looked kinda like a kid, but he had muscles now and not a few of them. He looked healthy, strong, quite good really.
"I suppose, but what does it mean?" He looked at her imploringly. She knew a lot about the world after all.
She frowned at the still form of family. "It might mean things will get better soon... or far worse." She turned around and walked out of the cave they hid in. "I'll go get some food, somehow I think family might need more of it."
Libido watched her go. She hadn't given him any answer at all, just like usual. "Why do I even bother with her? Women!" He sighed and turned back to family.
-o-
Sasuke noticed the arm slung over his chest first. A second later he became aware of the weight on his chest. Slowly he opened his eyes and the expected sight of Sakura's head resting on his chest greeted him. He frowned lightly. What did she do in his bed? Carefully he tested his arms and legs, moving them ever so slightly, ignoring the girl on top of him for now.
A few seconds later he smiled in satisfaction, Tsunade or Shizune had done perfect work, he didn't feel anything from the cuts Kabuto had given him. Which shifted his attention back to Sakura.
She had obviously gone to sleep right on top of him. He could only ask himself one question though. Why had Jirayia... no, why had Tsunade allowed it? Surely she would have checked up on him? He looked at Jirayia's bed... which turned out to be empty. His eyes widened as his mind tortured him with horrible, horrible images. "No way." He shook his head. "There's just no way..."
Carefully he shoved Sakura off of him. If she slept on him without asking she couldn't complain when he woke her up. But she just slept through his shoves. He glared at her. She should wake up from something like that. Ninja weren't supposed to sleep through anything unexpected happening.
"Another five minutes Suske..." She whispered in her sleep. So maybe she had been aware and dismissed it as him waking up... "Wake up." He said, maybe a bit harsher than he really intended.
She twitched once, before she claimed the room he had just vacated. "Hmm..." She sighed and snuggled deeper into the mattress. He grumbled as he left the room, or he tried to. With a snort he walked down the stairs. She shouldn't be allowed to look so adorable in her sleep.
Just before he reached the bottom of the stairs he closed his eyes. Jirayia and Tsunade had to be there. Either of them or maybe even both. Better there together than somewhere else together. Like a bed... no! Bad brain! No bringing up images! He opened his eyes again and found Jirayia slumping over one table silently holding his head, probably recovering from a hangover.
Sasuke let out a breath he hadn't noticed holding. Jirayia had probably celebrated last night and had woken up early with a hangover. Much better than what Sasuke's brain had come up with.
"Morning." He greeted the older man, who blearily looked up.
Then a pain-wracked grin spread over his face. "I see you are awake, did you enjoy the surprise?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Did you put Sakura in my bed?" He asked, growling dangerously.
Jirayia quickly shook his head. "No, no. I didn't. Just noticed her with you when I came up." He sighed. "She went to sleep in her own bed, before I went down yesterday." He didn't say anything else.
Sasuke nodded slowly. He knew she had nightmares, probably woke her up and she decided to use him as a security blanket. He didn't know how to feel about that, but it didn't seem all that bad, really.
"Food?" He asked the older man and now that he acknowledged it, he registered the void in his stomach, though maybe yawning maw of the abyss would be a more fitting description. This felt worse, far worse than that time in Wave, he could have forced himself to go on for another day or so without food. Now though...
Jirayia shoved a half eaten bowl of rice over to him. "I'm not all that hung..."
He stared as Sasuke looked down at the empty bowl, then at him. Hunger shining brightly in his eyes. "More." Sasuke demanded.
Slowly Jirayia nodded. "Of course, you did sustain some serious wounds yesterday." He quickly backed off and ordered more food. Sasuke wondered if it would be enough?
Ten minutes and many bowls of rice later Tsunade stumbled her way down the stairs, bloodshot eyes greeted them and she groaned. "Ugh, you two are up already?"
Sasuke didn't dignify that with an response. "Heh, and good morning to you too sunshine." She smirked and ruffled his hair. He narrowed his eyes angrily, but decided to let it slide. Protesting would take time away from his food and she had earned herself that right when she saved his life and Sakura.
Tsunade chuckled and grabbed herself a bowl and some juice. "Once you're done stuffing yourself let me have another look at you." She ordered. "Just to make sure I didn't miss anything yesterday and that no complications happened."
He shrugged, he felt fine.
Tsunade watched him carefully as she slowly emptied her own bowl. "Not very talkative are you?" She asked amused.
"Hungry." He quickly shot out and turned back to his food.
"Yes, hungry." Sakura echoed him. "But I think one or two bowls will be enough for me." She conceded as she sat down beside him. "And... uh, sorry about... you know..." She blushed quite prettily.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, as if she really felt all that bad. "Ask next time." He grumbled, finally over the worst of it.
She nodded as she stuffed her own face.
"Do I want to know?" Tsunade asked. Jirayia wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Eh, not really." Sasuke answered.
"Hmm if you say so." She looked at both Sasuke and Sakura. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that I'll come back with you as well. I've decided that the best way to make sure you two don't get killed is by becoming Hokage." Sasuke paused, the meat between his chopsticks falling back into his bowl.
Sakura mirrored him, though in her case she just forgot to chew. "Wha?" He asked eloquently.
"I'm going to be the next Hokage." Tsunade repeated amused. "Which means you two brats will have to be a lot more respectful." She gave Sakura an evil eye.
Sakura quickly swallowed and glared right back. "Oh? Is that so?" She challenged Tsunade. "Why should I respect somebody who took the job even knowing how much it sucks?" She crossed her arms over her chest. Sasuke buried his face in his hand. What about Tsunade made Sakura lose all of her brains that she always felt so proud about?
"Because somebody has to do it. And it's not as if I don't get certain perks with the job." Tsunade replied almost instantly.
A grin spread over Sakura's face. "True enough. Hokage-Sama." She saluted quickly, before she slouched back in her chair and returned to eat breakfast. "Kinda disappointed about not fighting you though."
"We can still have the duel if you want to." Tsunade offered, showing a row of blinking white teeth.
Sakura shivered under the smile. "Not that disappointed." She laughed weakly and practically buried her face in her bowl. Tsunade just nodded once and turned back to Jirayia. "Once Shizune is up and we all had an opportunity to freshen up we'll get going. Unless you have something else to do?"
He shook his head. "I'm fine, nearly sobered up as well."
"Bwee..." Tonton groaned as she trotted up to Tsunade, who picked the pig up and petted it slightly.
"Maybe we shouldn't have included you in our celebration eh Tonton?" She asked. The pig shot her a glare but Tsunade quickly mollified it by feeding it some choice morsels.
Sasuke meanwhile stared at the little black piglet creeping along the back wall, always out of sight of Tonton, a look of stark horror on it's face. He raised an eyebrow at the weird sight. As soon as it reached the door it tore off, it's entire posture screaming relief.
Sasuke shook his head. He probably didn't want to know.
-o-
"Another test?" Temari asked as she stared at the paper in front of her, an order this time, nothing she had to decide.
"Sure looks like it." Kankuro nodded. "Retrieving Gaara and negotiating peace with Konoha are rather important." He stared at the paper as if it would turn into a snake at the least provocation.
"You don't like it though?" She asked him.
"It's too important. Nothing against you sis, but to send a novice to have this kind of negotiations? What are they thinking?" He grabbed the paper and began reading it in earnest.
"Probably that with their own work and those scrolls I can't screw up much." She pointed out the relevant sections of the paper.
Kankuro gave a sigh of relieve. "Makes more sense yes." He frowned at her. "So, who's your guard? Me and Baki?"
She shook her head. "Just you. Baki is still busy drilling the new recruits. We need as many as we can."
He stared out of the window, watching the blue sky outside. "We are falling even further behind as far as quality is concerned. Konoha has such an overwhelming advantage there..."
"Which is why we need at least numbers. We can't just create elites out of nothing. We'll have to make do with average." "Below average." "Not that much, it's workable. And once they have a few missions under their belt they will be at average if not above." Temari glared at her brother. He shrugged. "Maybe. Anyway, there's something else I want to talk to you about. Gaara."
She nodded and looked down at the order again, turning it around so she could read it again. "We need him back."
He nodded. "But what then? He's dangerous, we all know that."
"He doesn't have to be. You saw their Jinchuriku." She didn't look up.
Kankuro had stepped away from the desk. "I... I know. But Gaara didn't grow up like that. Father wanted his weapon and he got his weapon."
She nodded sadly. "I know, but maybe it's not too late. Maybe we can salvage him." And she didn't like how that sounded, like she considered him a tool, nothing more.
"I wouldn't hold my breath." He grumbled. "It's not just father you know? It's also the seal. That didn't help either."
She nodded. "Well... since we want to tighten our ties with Konoha. We could probably ask them for a seal that helps Gaara suppress Shukaku better?"
"And you would actually trust them after the invasion?" He looked at her, an eyebrow raised in disbelieve.
"Of course not. Not now at least, but maybe a seal that suppresses Shukaku totally. I can believe them giving us Gaara back with that." She looked at him.
He considered it for a few seconds. "Totally useless to us, yes I can see that happening. Of course, then he won't be any good for us either." He barely managed to dodge her fist. "He's still our brother, no matter what father and Shukaku did to him."
He avoided her glare by looking out the window. "I suppose. But face the facts as soon as Shukaku is sealed up Gaara is little more than a civilian, he's not all that good without Shukaku."
She took a deep breath. "I know, I know. We'll have to work on that. Once he's back. Once we've managed to gain his trust."
Kankuro snorted. "You say that as if it's easy. Just snap your fingers and he trusts you. That will take months of hard work. He's not somebody to just trust a person."
-o-
Ino giggled as she looked at Gaara, who smiled back from his position on the floor. He didn't understand why she giggled, but she did and really that's all he needed.
He sat shirtless in a circle of weird lines. Apparently Konoha had decided to add to his seal, before they handed him back to Sand. And while he didn't trust most of them very much. He trusted Ino, when she told him about it.
A voice in the back of his mind protested loudly, but he squashed it easily. She had no reason to betray him, none at all. She already had him captured. She already could kill him at any time she wished.
The only reason for her to do anything like this was to help him, because she liked him.
"Now remember. This seal isn't really all that strong. We have some people who are good with seals, but our best aren't currently in the village. That doesn't matter much though. This seal is just to keep Shukaku down, which means you can't access most of his abilities. No more moving sand for you, no more sand armor for you. Unless you break the seal. If you really need to you can." She explained as the other seal experts worked around him.
He honestly didn't know why Konoha went to all that trouble for him. They certainly didn't need to. Though he supposed him not having ready access to Shukaku did give them an advantage in itself, should Sand decide to attack again. And since their real expert apparently wasn't available they had to make do with a seal like this.
"What if your expert comes back before I have to go back?" He asked.
Ino shrugged. "Then he'll probably apply a seal that's harder to break." She admitted without hesitation. He couldn't forget that her village came before him, even now.
"I... see." He inclined his head. He didn't know what to think. He didn't want Shukaku whispering in his head. On the other hand, he wanted, no needed the protection the sand offered him.
He watched Ino, as she walked around the are and observed the workers preparing the seal.
He hoped he could stay just a little bit longer with her, just catch some sleep for a little while longer.
-o-
If somebody had asked him to describe the atmosphere on the trip back to Konoha, Sasuke would have been forced to admit that he found it pleasant. Though relieved, or hopeful might fit better. Whatever he would call it though he enjoyed it. He even didn't bother suppressing a genuine smile every now and again.
Sakura had apparently decided that Tsunade was just a bigger and badder Anko and acted as such. Insults flew between the two and Tsunade often hunted Sakura through the forest, in what she called training exercises, when Sakura managed to go a bit too far. Though Sasuke suspected both knew just when that point had been reached. In any case, the insults were aimed at Tsunade's looks and age, nothing she seemed really all that concerned with.
Sasuke watched their antics and kept mostly to himself. He could have joined the training efforts, but the trip back wouldn't take long enough to produce real results, the journey to Tsunade certainly hadn't had any results that could be measured and he had a lot on his mind.
For example what to do once they returned to Konoha. He still needed to get stronger, his recent battles had proven that. They had also shown him that Orochimaru didn't have anything to offer him. He still remembered the mans promise for power, but after the failures of his seal and his own poor performance against Jirayia and Tsunade, who once again proved the point about teamwork, Sasuke had no desire to seek the man out. All he could offer were quick boosts to his power, in a trade off against control.
And against Itachi he needed control, more than anything he needed to be in charge of himself. He would need to keep himself under control, to plan ahead and outsmart Itachi, instead of a futile attempt to overpower him. Sure that could work, but not in the near future. Even if he improved himself enough in a year to surpass Itachi now and he seriously doubted the feasibility of that plan, Itachi wouldn't stand still, he would have moved on.
He looked around, Jirayia scribbled something in his notebook, Shizune neared the end of her new Icha Icha, Tsunade and Sakura were off in the surrounding woods, training and Tonton trotted along doing whatever pigs did in the forest.
So, he had to find a way to become stronger, which shouldn't be too hard really. Konoha had some of the strongest ninja of all the hidden villages. Though at least two had defected.
He felt the familiar rage come up when he thought about Itachi and squashed it, before it could rise fully. He needed to concentrate.
Jirayia could offer him quite a bit of power. That toad summoning in combination with Sasuke's own fire would open up quite a few possibility.
For a brief moment he stood on top of the toad, sneering down at Itachi, who could only gaze back in consternation as the massive wall of fire bore down on him.
Sasuke smirked in satisfaction at the mental image.
Then it shifted, revealing that Itachi had somehow moved behind Sasuke and slammed a kunai into his unprotected back. "Still too little hatred." The imagined Itachi hissed angrily.
Sasuke shook his head, clearing the image. Yeah, that wouldn't go all that well.
Maybe the seals? That might also be promising, with the right seals he could negate Itachi's black fire. Have them prepared in advance and they would suck the fire away from Sasuke, leaving him open to attack the surprised Itachi. He frowned to himself. There had to be offensive seals as well, Jirayia simply hadn't used any yet.
He looked at the man, seemingly engrossed in his little book. Certainly a possible source of power, he would have to ask Jirayia about that.
His eyes wandered on, locking onto the patch of forest Sakura's pleas for mercy could be heard from. Apparently Tsunade had decided to end the training and captured Sakura for her daily dose of humility. He still didn't know what they did there, maybe he would need to join the training just for a chance to see it? Visions of Tsunade spanking Sakura glittered through his head. He could see Jirayia scribble more frantic.
He quickly chased the visions away. "Focus." He told himself.
So, power and where to get it. The other source for power available would be Tsunade. The woman who somehow had used a gigantic sword, a hundred times as big as herself to nail a snake just as big to the ground.
If that didn't describe power he didn't know what would. Of course, Itachi would be a little bit harder to hit with a giant sword, than a giant snake.
Still, even one hit with the strength to do that would... could be fatal. Sasuke simply had to hit him, which would be easier said than done, since he still would be so much faster and better than Sasuke. He frowned in annoyance. So directly overpowering Itachi would be out. He had realized that already. What else could Tsunade offer him? Chakra scalpels for one thing. He lost himself in another daydream.
-o-
Sasuke glared at Itachi as the older man held him by his throat. "Still not enough hatred." He sighed, ignoring the feeble hand weakly pushing at his chest.
Sasuke opened and closed his mouth, before he let the hand fall down Itachi's chest and the arm holding him slackened and he had to struggle to remain upright.
Itachi for his part stared at him with wide eyes, coughing blood as his destroyed lungs tried to pump the liquid out again.
Sasuke didn't give the other time to recover and lashed out with his chakra scalpels, cutting the muscles in Itachi's arms and legs.
Itachi couldn't even call him a coward or a failure, while he drowned on his own blood, so Sasuke simply watched as the light left his eyes.
-o-
He noticed that Shizune slowly edged away from him, so he stopped giggling like that. He had noticed just how wrong that had sounded.
Still, while he realized that this version of events seemed much more plausible, even then it relied on Itachi arrogantly assuming Sasuke couldn't touch him. Which honestly wasn't that bad a bet.
His older brother had a lot of reasons to think so.
What else could he learn from Tsunade? Healing of course, like what Kabuto did to himself. Sasuke hadn't seen much of that, but somehow the boy had recovered from having his chest pulped by Tsunade. And if that hadn't been an impressive and useful trick, no skill, Sasuke didn't know impressive and useful.
He could just see Tsunade having an even better version of that technique. And that didn't even go into him being able to save the lives of people dear to him. Say, Sakura had gotten hit by a kunai. Sasuke as he was now couldn't do much about it. He couldn't be everywhere, he couldn't protect her every time a dangerous situation arose. And she would resent him if he tried to anyway. No matter how foolish that would be.
But what if he could just come, pull the kunai out and close the wound? He didn't imagine himself coming home that day, kicking Itachi away and healing his parents from the wounds they had taken. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't...
The images didn't show up again. He hadn't even been a genin back then. He probably wouldn't have the control needed anyway.
Which was just the first argument against that choice. He would need better chakra control. Even as skilled as he was, Sakura was way better than him.
Also, it went against every tradition in the Uchiha Clan. There were no medic nin in the clan, only fighters. For all the good that did the clan.
He frowned at the last thought and decided to see where else he could gain power.
Which left pretty much just Kakashi. No doubt about it, the man seemed like his best option. Not quite as strong as the Sannin, he still had his sharingan. The only one who had it and would be willing to teach Sasuke. And Sasuke felt very sure that Kakashi hadn't taught him everything he could teach.
Very prominent amongst those things the full use of the sharingan. After all, Sasuke hadn't really explored the full possibilities of his eyes. Especially not those...
He glared at the ground. And he wouldn't use those, he wouldn't let Itachi win. And if he did what he needed to do to gain those techniques Itachi would win. He wouldn't, couldn't let that happen. He worked too hard to save Naruto or Sakura to do that. Yeah, fuck Itachi, and fuck those techniques.
So, Kakashi would have to teach him how to use the eyes as well as possible in their current state, maybe the dog summonings? Itachi might not expect them, but better to not rely on Itachi's mistakes, he didn't make that many.
"Hmm you are quiet, I mean even more so than usual." Jirayia interrupted his train of thought.
"Thinking." He muttered as a reply.
"Brooding you mean." Jirayia countered amused.
Sasuke glared at the older man. "I'm thinking, not brooding." Annoying bastard.
Jirayia raised an eyebrow. "So you are telling me you aren't focusing on the past on how painful it was?"
Sasuke's glare intensified, how dare he... with an effort of will he forced himself to calm down. Jirayia watched him calmly, waiting for the explosion. He wouldn't get one.
"Yes, I'm focusing on the future, and what I have to do to beat Itachi, nothing else." He narrowed his eyes at the older man, daring him to say something along the lines of that being the same.
"So, any idea how you can reach that goal?" Jirayia asked instead.
Sasuke waited a few seconds before he nodded. "I think so, there are some possibilities at least."
Slowly Jirayia nodded. "That's good to hear. Here's a hint for the planning stage. Don't focus on Itachi being as strong as he is. Focus on you beating him, no matter how strong he is, or how long it will take. You can beat him, never let anybody tell you anything else."
Sasuke looked at Jirayia, that's what he always was doing. But Jirayia had apparently filled his quota of nonsense and meandered off to talk to Shizune, who blushed as she took another one of his books, carefully stashing it in one of her pockets.
Sasuke snorted, as if he focused on Itachi's strength... he didn't... really... and so what if he did? Itachi had proven again and again that he was nearly unbeatable. Though Jirayia had managed to drive him off. Without doing anything to Sasuke even.
So Itachi could be beaten. Sasuke took a deep breath and repeated it. Itachi could be beaten.
Why the hell did that sound so weird? Why the hell didn't he believe that himself?
Maybe Jirayia had been right, maybe he needed to focus on that first, he needed to believe that Itachi could be beaten first, before he could actually hope to defeat Itachi.
Itachi could be beaten!
-o-
Naruto calmly opened his eyes and looked at the fox, who had started gnawing at the iron rods, separating him from Naruto, after it had become clear that his paws couldn't reach the boy.
A thick red line of chakra connected the fox and Naruto. Through the connection the chakra of the fox slowly trickled into Naruto and manifested itself as a red coat all around him.
"I'll kill you brat. Once I'm out of this cage you'll pay for stealing my power." The fox howled at Naruto.
Naruto wanted to cock his head to the side and ask the fox how he planned to do that, but just holding on to the chakra took a lot of concentration, and he really didn't have any to spare. He couldn't fight like this. If he did that in real life, outside his head, he would need as much focus just to hold the chakra without burning himself to ash as he needed on the fight itself.
He whimpered silently as the rage of the fox fanned the chakra into a tempest. Keeping that under control would prove nearly impossible. Unless he got a lot better at this than...
"Naruto! Is everything alright?" Ino's voice screeched through the dungeon. Breaking Naruto's fragile control over the chakra. He watched the red line snap back into the fox with dismay and a little relief. He had worried the fox would influence him, but apparently he didn't have to worry about that if he took the power from the fox.
He slumped to the ground. This had been the first time something had actually exhausted him here!
"Naruto? Where are you?" He heard Ino shout again, she sounded worried. But Naruto just couldn't respond yet.
"I'll flay you alive you little monkey! You'll rue the day your whore of a mother spread her legs for your father." He felt his left eye twitch at the insults. And slowly pushed himself up again.
"Naruto? What the hell was that?" Ino asked, panic evident in her voice, he could hear the splashes her feet made as she ran around.
He stepped closer to the cage. In the back of his mind he could feel his own chakra, raging every bit as wildly as the fox's.
"I'll enjoy breaking every little one of your.."
"Shut up." Naruto ordered the stupid fox, who totally ignored him.
"...bones and ripping the skin off your flesh, little strip for little strip. Your suffering will be legendary! And I'll enjoy breaking those bitches who offered themselves to you, one by one..."
"Naruto? Come on answer me!" Ino's steps were closer now, nearly on them even. Her voice sounded really panicky though.
"I said, Shut! Up!" Naruto shouted at the fox, who actually paused for a second, before he sneered and went right on raving against Naruto.
"I'll never shut up until I've got my revenge insect. You can't do anymuph..." Naruto blinked as the fox suddenly had sock stuffed in his mouth.
"And be glad I didn't use soap to wash that mouth out mister!" Ino glared at the fox.
Before she switched targets to Naruto. "Why didn't you shut him up? This is your mind you know? It shouldn't be that much of a problem. Well, as long as he's behind that seal." She leaned forward, to get a good look at the fox, who glared at her furiously, his paw slamming through the seal, in an attempt to flatten Ino, but the girl just snorted and watched the paw come far too short.
"I... didn't know I could do that." Naruto admitted.
"Well, I suppose I would know more about this sort of thing than you." Ino agreed and immediately switched tracks, her panic from earlier returning. "But what happened? The medic said he could feel the chakra from the fox again. Not that you showed any of it. But he said there was some kind of pressure in your body, as if the fox was trying to break free."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Err... that would have been me. I... kinda tried to take power from the fox. You know, do something useful while I'm here."
She gaped at him her left eye twitching dangerously. "You what?" She whispered.
"I... uhh... took some of the demon chakra for myself? I didn't try to use it, just... you know get it..." He chuckled weakly.
It didn't help though, as her fist crashed down on his head. "Don't do something as dangerous as that again! What if you had lost control? What if it made your condition worse? What would poor Hinata do?" Ino screeched at him, flailing ineffectual against his head. Not that he didn't feel it, but it didn't really hurt. He wondered if Ino could hurt him...
"You'll die the slowest, most painful, most humiliating way I can possibly come up with." A silken voice spoke up behind them.
Ino immediately stopped her flailing, instead she stared at the fox, who had somehow removed the sock.
"His death will be legendary. You death will be so horrible nobody dares to remember." He added, eerily calm, not the slightest trace of killing intent present.
He hadn't even noticed when Ino stepped up to him and started hugging him. He looked at his hands, oh wait, he had started hugging Ino. They gulped, as the fox smiled at them, showing nearly no teeth at all. "Pray to whatever deities you believe in, that I never make it out of this prison while you are still alive. Because if I do..." He turned around, disappearing in the shadows of his cell. Only the glowing red eyes could be seen anymore.
"Let's get away from here, ok?" Ino whispered, clearly spooked by the reaction. Naruto only nodded. He would have words with the fox, but maybe later, when he had calmed down a bit... probably much later.
Only after they had gone a good distance did Ino stop. She fell to her knees almost immediately. Naruto only remained standing because he didn't remember how to buckle his knees.
"That... that was..." Ino started.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah... damn, I didn't know he could be that terrifying."
"You realize why you'll have to stop what you are doing right?" She looked up to him and he grimaced. He didn't look forward to challenging the fox again. But he wouldn't beg for power and certainly not for forgiveness. Especially not for what Ino did... especially since it had been extremely funny.
"Actually now I really have to do it again. I will need that power again, right? I need to learn to use it... without giving him the chance to interfere."
Ino stared at him with wide eyes. "Are you insane? You saw what he was like!"
He nodded. "After you stuffed a sock into his mouth... very funny by the way." He tried to grin at her, but the recent experience made it a bit difficult.
"Well... he was... distracting. And he shouldn't have been able to talk anymore. Certainly not been able to just remove it." She hit the water in frustration.
"You did that before?"
"Yeah, against Shukaku. Worked perfectly against him." She grumbled.
Naruto shrugged. "Well, he's the nine tail. Obviously he's stronger than the one tail, right?"
"I suppose... the seal was different too... maybe that's important?" She considered the idea a bit. Naruto for his part just felt glad the fox was behind the seal... he wouldn't enjoy the fox breaking out, at all.
"Maybe." Ino conceded. She pushed herself up. "So you'll continue to try this?" She seemed to be pleading with him.
He turned around, spreading his arms. "It's something to do. It's better than anything else I can do here. And I need to control that power. I mean what if I go up against Gaara again? I can't just rely on the fox to give me the power again. I'll just end up here again... or worse."
He had a lot of time to think about this. Far too much time really.
Ino shivered. "I... guess." She quickly hugged him again. "Just be careful ok?"
"I'll be careful." He looked into the direction of the fox. "In fact, I think I'll let him cool down a bit before I try again." That cold rage the fox displayed earlier scared him so much more than the hotheaded ravings had.
Ino nodded, smiling brilliantly. "You do that. And don't be rash!"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes mother." A fist to the head rewarded him for that remark. Not that he really felt the fist.
"I'll see you soon. You'll see, Sakura and Sasuke will be back soon."
He smiled at her as she disappeared, hopefully she was right. He wanted to get out of her. Enjoy the sun and the wind. See something beside the drab walls and the water.
-o-
Tsunade couldn't help the smile that spread out as she looked out over Konoha. They had arrived yesterday, entering the village with a minimum of fuss. Sakura and Sasuke had immediately left, citing the need to see if their teammate had improved any.
From what Jirayia had told her he wouldn't have, but if the kids wanted to see him? Why deny them the chance?
Sasuke had turned back and looked at her strangely. A weird little frown on his face. Geez the kid was cute in that overly serious way. And over the trip back he had opened up to her a little bit. Not much, just as she hadn't really told him all that much about herself, but just enough to get to know each other better. And to understand just how similar they were in many ways.
Sasuke might not have lost a lover, but he had lost all his family. Even if Tsunade only lost her brother, since he had been the last of her family... Sasuke could understand perfectly. And after a quick glance at Sakura and another of those weird, thoughtful and cute, frowns of his he nodded slowly. "I think I get what you mean." He had said.
She doubted it, either him nor Sakura could really be called lovers. They were flirting, sure. But they both had no idea how to proceed after that, yet and they were a bit too young anyway. Maybe in two or three years. Tsunade shook her head, how fast they grow up.
Which shifted her thoughts to Sakura. Beating her around the clearing had been very therapeutic. Maybe that's what having a little sister felt like? A little annoying half pint thinking much higher of herself than she really should?
Still fun though and Tsunade would need every bit of fun she could get, now that she had agreed to the job. She could already feel the responsibility pressing on her shoulder. Threatening to crush her into dust. A smirk spread over her lips and slowly she pushed herself up. She wouldn't buckle under the stress though. This would be a challenge, nothing more. A challenge she intended to win.
Shizune stepped up beside her. "Well... Hokage-sama?" She asked smiling.
"Heh, Hokage-sama. I like it... and did you see the clerks out front? Hehe... at least the eye candy isn't bad here." Tsunade chuckled. She would have to enjoy every perk she could to not be crushed under this position. A quick glance at the bookshelf on the wall had revealed that the third certainly had.
"Tsunade-sama." Shizune shook her head... before she smiled and nodded. "They are cute."
"Hehe, maybe you'll find somebody for yourself then? Eh?" Tsunade winked at her apprentice and flopped herself into the chair behind her desk. Shizune had given up quite a few things to accompany her after all.
Shizune raised an eyebrow at Tsunade. "I honestly doubt it. You'll just make me look after you in one village, instead of several."
Tsunade shrugged and quickly went over the stacks of paper on the desk. The council had done most of the work after the Third had died, only that which absolutely needed her permission remained. She quickly sorted the papers into those she had to deal with immediately and those that still had time.
With a sigh of relief she noted that only very little remained on the immediate side. "Well, whatever else you can say about those old codgers, they do good work behind a desk." Jirayia sauntered in. "Once you've done with settling in, can you take a look at Naruto?" He asked, even though he knew she would do just that. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"He's... well not awake, but aware. Inside his mind I mean." Jirayia explained and Tsunade winced. She had heard about that, and from what she heard it could drive people mad. With no outside contact they slowly, ever so slowly lost their connection to the world, lost themselves.
She frowned at the papers, she could just leave them here...
"Don't worry, a few more hours won't make a difference." Jirayia quickly pointed out. "Ino Yamanaka has made contact with him a few times already. He's fine for now, but... I want to get him out of there."
Aww, worried about the kid was he? "I see. Don't worry, as soon as this is done I'll join you." She looked down at the first paper. A request to seal up Shukaku for good, before they send him back to Suna. She frowned, what did the people proposing this want? Peace, or another war with Suna as soon as they recovered and saw the slighted chance to win against Konoha?
Oh, here's your Jinchuriku back, but we essentially crippled him!
Yes, that would go over well.
She came here just in time it seemed.
-o-
Naruto opened his eyes and groaned in frustration. As soon as he did so his control over the evil chakra slipped again.
It actually felt as if he had gotten worse controlling it instead of better!
He glared at the fox, silently gloating behind the bars. Somehow he made it more difficult, Naruto just knew it! Still he could either see that as something bad, or something he had to overcome! And it would be good training anyway.
He closed his eyes again and went back to controlling the chakra again. He could take a little bit more of it now, but if he did so, his control would slip even faster. If he took less he had a bit more control, but that still remained tenuous at best. Stupid Fox.
He frowned, he could hear voices... did they get louder? He had thought he heard something before, a while ago, but he could never be sure, if what he heard were actual voices or just his imagination. And even if he were sure, most of the time he couldn't understand them anyway.
He frowned as he noticed soft hands on his face. Gently they withdrew.
He opened his eyes in confusion, when had he laid down?
Instead of the drab gray walls of the sewer the white walls of a hospital room greeted him. He blinked and drew back slightly against the sudden light.
"Naruto!" Two voices screamed out and suddenly he felt two lumps against his chest. Looking down he could make out a pink and a black mop of hair. "Uhh... Sakura? Hinata?" He asked weakly.
"Don't scare me like that again idiot!" Sakura muttered into his chest.
"Naruto." Hinata added, looking up at him imploringly, tears streaming down her face.
Naruto, still disoriented looked around. Sasuke stood back, smirking at him, beside him Ino stood, clearly as amused as Sasuke.
Jirayia shook his head and muttered something about the unfairness of it all, then there was a weird woman he didn't know, who smiled at him.
"Well, how do you feel?" The woman asked as she stepped up beside him.
"Uhh... kinda weird honestly." He took stock of his body. He didn't feel any pain, but he certainly didn't feel all that good either... kinda weak.
The woman simply nodded. "You've been out for a while, that will do it. You'll need to work hard to go back to your old level." She laid her hands on his head and shushed Sakura and Hinata away as her hands wandered down, a weird green glow on them. It didn't feel bad though. "But it shouldn't take too long to recover. You seem very healthy and with your teammates pushing you, I'm sure you'll be back on your feet in no time."
"Yes, we'll make sure he gets a lot of exercise." Sakura nodded eagerly. "You'll help right Hinata?"
Hinata nodded seriously, before she reattached herself to Naruto's torso. "Yes."
Naruto blushed at the contact, the other women in the room just smiled and cooed. Sasuke sneered... not? He smiled softly...
"Ahh who are you and what have you done to Sasuke?" Naruto screamed and pointed at the boy. With the arm not occupied by Hinata. He kinda liked her where she was...
Immediately the smile disappeared, replaced with the expected sneer. "What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, eyes narrowed in anger.
Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "Nothing bastard, nothing. Just though I saw something weird."
A quick nod, accepted the explanation easily enough.
"Well, we'll leave you alone now. The other medics can take care of you for now. I have a lot of stuff I have to do." The woman grabbed Jirayia and dragged him from the room.
Sasuke watched her as she left, he looked kinda weird. Naruto wondered what the hell was going on.
"Hey Naruto. Wanna know what we did to get Tsunade back here?" Sakura asked quickly.
He looked at her, and nodded eagerly. Of course he would. He looked down at Hinata, still crying into his shirt. In fact, Sakura kinda looked as if she wanted to cry as well. Only Ino didn't look like that, but she had already talked to him, so that explained that.
"Well, first we went out of the village, with a shadow clone henged like you. Cause there are some people who are after you..." She glanced at Sasuke who shrugged.
"We met some of those people on the way to Tsunade..."
-o-
Kabuto looked at Orochimaru as he glared at his arms. "We don't have much more time." Orochimaru growled.
Kabuto nodded and immediately regretted it. The punishment for almost killing Sasuke had been... harsh. But Orochimaru hadn't been foolish enough to kill him outright. He still needed him after all.
"Tell the four to get ready. We need Sasuke here. I won't be denied my prize."
Kabuto smiled and nodded. It seemed as if Orochimaru had given up on seducing Sasuke. "They will be ready to go in a few hours." He promised.
"Oh and tell them not to damage the body too much. It won't be of any use to me if it's too broken." Orochimaru smiled widely. "Not that they can't play rough of course. Sasuke... deserves it for being so weak. He's been quite the disappointment."
Kabuto nodded, though he didn't quite agree. That Sasuke even survived all those attacks he had taken, made Kabuto's opinion of him rise quite a bit.
"I'll make sure to mention that." He bowed and left the room. Maybe he should send Kimimaru with the four? They were very likely to meet heavy resistance after all...
-o-
Sasuke took a deep breath as he knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.
"Come in." Tsunade's voice answered.
He opened the door and walked in. As soon as Tsunade saw him she smiled. "Sasuke, what can I do for you?"
He smiled back. "I... have a request."
-o-
Thanks for ZusVayo again.