MORE TIME SKIP! But mostly because there is no Sasuke and that would be boring. D:

I've never done anything so physically demanding in my life. My mind was divided into three sections, aside from the parts that made my body process. The sections were Sasuke, learning this technique, and finding this Tsunade person.

Sasuke. I worried about him the most. He must have woken up at some point - I hope - and it would be roughly two months before I would be home. It could be more, that was just Jiriya's estimate. I wanted to tell him I was okay. I wanted to know his reaction to Itachi. I wanted to know what was he doing. I wish I knew.

And this goddamn jutsu. It was totally awesome. I had seen Jiriya do it to stop some thugs when we were hanging out around town before training started. But it was single handedly the hardest thing I've ever tried to learn.

As for Tsunade, well, I don't know anything about her, and Jiriya's descriptions of her make her sound like a old witch. Aside from the fact he said she was young and beautiful looking. She was as old as he was, but she had formulated a jutsu to keep her youth. Also, Jiriya seemed so engrossed in finding her, I thought it must be for more reason then to help Sasuke and Lee.

Over the course of only one month, way too much happened to take in and explain in full detail. The main points are we found this Tsunade girl, that Sound ninja came again, and Jiriya informed her the village needed her as the fifth Hokage. This girl the fifth! She didn't even want the job, and she didn't deserve the title either. But apparently, she was one of the three Sanin, and someone the village elders trusted and appointed.

As for that sound ninja, his name was Orochimaru. I found out thanks to Jiriya and Tsunade both. Some kind of relationship use to link those three together, I could tell by the way they talked about him.

Orochimaru had been wounded when he fought the third. His arms were paralyzed, and went into a rotting like state. Tsunade, being a master medical ninja, could heal them. She knew Orochimaru was bad, but Orochimaru had asked her to heal his arms, and the reward would be his forbidden jutsu to bring back Tsunade's little brother and love. They had died previously.

She may have gone through with the deal, had Jiriya, Shizune, (her maidservant and cousin,) and I not told her otherwise.

Kabuto - A servant or subordinate to Orochimaru like Shizune was to Tsunade - and Tsunade fought, and protecting her, I mastered my jutsu. I could make a clone to produce the jutsu in my hand. Rasengan. It required spinning chakra into a ball on the exterior of the palm of your hand, and keeping it continuous.

In the end, Orochimaru got away, and Tsunade accepted her position as Hokage. She even promised to help Sasuke, Kakashi, and Lee. While still keeping her snobby, bitchy personality in check, she really was alright. She even told me to keep believing, and become Hokage!

But really, Orochimaru…He must want Konoha bad. Or maybe something else.

There were more twists and ties to that story, but it's pointless to tell. In the present, Tsunade, Shizune and I were headed to the infirmary in the hospital, like she had promised.

We found Sasuke's door open, the same room from the last time I had visited him in the hospital, and she stepped in. I drew back slightly for a moment. I hadn't seen him in a long time, and I wondered if he would be alright. Sane. "Can I come in?" She asked, though she had already entered the room.

"Uh…Who are you?" I expected it, Sakura's voice, but despite her surprise, she sounded hurt. If Sasuke was awake, I felt bad for him. I followed her in, finally, and realized I would have better things to feel bad for him over.

Sasuke was still unconscious, though someone had shut his eyes. I knew he wasn't asleep. Our loud voices would have roused him if he was asleep, or at least, the new voice, if he had been faking. All that time, and he never had regained consciousness. He had never been able to thought process about Itachi coming, and though he would remember, I still had awhile.

"Hey Sakura, Sasuke will be fine! Tsunade can help him!" I tried not to look too worried about him, but it was barely working.

"Can you?" She asked, a hint of desperation in her voice. She must have been with him most of the time. She stared up hesitantly at the blonde woman.

"I'll see what I can do," Tsunade replied, smiling. Then she closed her eyes in concentration, moving towards Sasuke. She lifted her hand above him, holding it a centimeter or two from his forehead. Then emerald colored chakra poured from her hand, letting out a low, hardly noticeable buzzing. It took a few minutes, and Sakura and I got fidgety, yet Tsunade seemed to stay focused. Then abruptly, she pulled her hand away.

"Uu…N…" Sasuke's eyes twitched and he shook his head back and forth. Then his eyes fluttered open and he stared up blankly before shakily pushing himself to sit up. He seemed to process where he was.

"Sasuke!" I cried, and Sakura did the same thing. She stepped forward and tossed her arms around him, but he didn't budge. His eyes were glazed as before, but he seemed more alert. He had a blank expression, too.

He was probably taking it all in.

Sakura stayed latched on, but he didn't seem to care. He was watching the wall directly behind her, and he hadn't noticed me. That was good. It hit me when Sakura wouldn't let go, and she started to cry, that it wasn't a fair secret to hide from Sakura. She liked, loved, whatever, Sasuke too much. Keeping it a secret only made it harder for all three of us.

I backed up a few steps, turned, and motioned towards Tsunade. "You've still got two more!" I reminded her.

After doing the same as she had for Sasuke to Kakashi, (with much more lecturing,) and disappearing to look at Lee, I went back to Sasuke's room. He was sitting up further, and his legs were out of the sheets. He was sitting on the edge of one side of the bed. Sakura had headed home, after hysterically thanking me and Tsunade. She had been here a long time. A few seconds passed. I sat in the chair next to the side of Sasuke's bed. This way, we were sitting across from each other, since he was sitting up and on the bed now. "You're such a wreck. You go to the hospital way too much!" I said in a bright voice.

"Where is he?" Sasuke said it so quietly I couldn't hear.

"Sasuke?"

"Where? Where is he?" He said louder.

I knew who he was referring too, so I refrained from asking. "He's long gone. You've been out for nearly a month." I answered, a tiny bit shakily. I feared his reaction. I was happy it hadn't been two months I was gone.

His expression got angrier. "He's gone?"

I nodded sluggishly.

"He could have taken you. He wanted to take you." Sasuke ground out between gritted teeth. "Away. From me. I didn't know…If you were…" He seemed to be talking in cropped sentences to restrain himself from emotion.

Something is wrong with him, kit.


What do you mean?

That other Uchiha…It's because of him. Sasuke's aura is obsessive. Crazy.

Sasuke wants to kill him. Itachi killed his clan and family.

Now he wants you.

Huh?

Now that he's taken Sasuke's family, the fact that he wants to take you away is probably pushing Sasuke over the edge. He knows he'll be after you.

The most important thing to Sasuke is his revenge.


Not you.

I snapped out of Kyubbi and my conversation, and attempted to calm him. "But they're gone! I'll be just fine! It's not like anyone would let him get away with - "

"He wants you." Sasuke hissed, fisting the sheets underneath him. His eyes were half lidded and crimson. The Sharingan, a rage reactor. He probably hadn't intended for it to activate.

You're right, Kyubbi.

"Calm down, please," I tried, reaching out to touch it face. "I'm here, and he's gone, so - " Then I abruptly ripped my hand away at his next movement.

"That's the point! He's gone! I couldn't kill him!" He yelled, then he slapped his hand to a spot between his neck and right shoulder, and squeezed. "I couldn't do anything! You watched!"

"Sasuke, Shhhh, we're-" In a hospital, is what I might have said, but he seemed to calm down a bit. His eyes deactivated, his body relaxed, and he dropped his hand. "Does you're neck hurt?" I asked, gently, trying not to piss him off again.

"A little. But it's fine." His voice was still a rage, and still shaking.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "But you don't have to kill him. You could always just forget about reven-" It was definitely the wrong thing to say, at the wrong time. I hadn't exactly been thinking about his condition when I had worded it, although it is what I believed, what I wanted.

"What'd you say, Naruto!?" He snarled.

"I didn't say - " I started. But I had. There was no other word in existence that began with reven-. "I didn't finish - " That's even worse! Just stop…!

"Don't ever say it again." He demanded, relaxing.

I gulped and bobbed my head. "O-okay."

I stared across from myself at him, but he was looking down, at his feet now. Probably thinking. Considering what he would do now, or how to get to his brother. I worried. This lasted for a few moments. Then I stood up, took a step forward and put my hands on top of his, which were fisting the mattress cover. "I'm sorry, Sasuke." I half whispered.

A few more long moments passed, and his hands slowly uncurled, and he rested against his palms. Once they had relaxed, he lifted them over my shoulders and pulled me against him. Forgiven? Not exactly. I wrapped my arms around his waist in response.

"I know. But I'm not."