Naruto rubbed his shoulder as he waited for his teammates to arrive at the bridge. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before because the last moments of the disapearing seal were the most painful. He had writhed in bed all night from the pain that had encompassed him. The pain still lingered in his shoulder, but it was only a fraction of the pain that he had felt before.

"What are you doing here so early?" Sasuke asked when he arrived.

"I couldn't sleep," answered Naruto without turning from the serene sight of the water under the bridge.

"Was the seal bothering you again?" he asked.

Naruto nodded silently as Sasuke put his warm hand on his shoulder. The warmth spread into his own skin and melted the pain there. "It's gone now though," he said, "last night was the last of it."

"That's good," sighed Sasuke. Without thinking he leaned forward and kissed the spot that the seal had been. As soon as his lips touched the smooth cloth of Naruto's shirt he realized what he was doing and immidiately regreted it. He walked as quickly as he could to a tree near the bridge. When he turned back Naruto was staring curiously at him.

Naruto was shocked when Sasuke kissed his neck. He turned to ask Sasuke why, but Sasuke was already walking away from him so he settled for just staring at him curiously. He would ask him about it later.

"Hey guys," said Sakura. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," answered Naruto while Sasuke just shrugged.

"Are we ready to train a bit?" asked Sakura. They usually trained for the hour that they were waiting for Kakashi to arrive.

"Actually," said Naruto, "I didn't get much sleep last night. I think I'm going to take a little nap while you guys train."

"Why didn't you get much sleep," Sakura asked with clear concern, "You aren't having nightmares again are you?"

"I always have nightmares," answered Naruto, "but the reason that I didn't get much sleep this time is because of the seal."

Sasuke and Sakura had been fighting for 30 minutes, but the practice was different from usual. Sasuke threw punches relentlessly at Sakura that she could barely dodge and she didn't even get a chance to throw her own punches. She tried to block another one of Sasuke's punches, but he withdrew before she could grab hold of his hand and throw in her own attack.

"That's enough Sasuke," said Sakura as she dodged another one that came close to hitting her stomach. She knew that if it had hit her she would have at least two broken ribs and they couldn't have that when Kakashi came. "What's wrong with you? You've been really high strung. You almost broke some of my bones."

"I'm sorry," muttered Sasuke. He looked at the ground and then over to Naruto's peaceful, sleeping face.

"What's the matter?" she asked again.

Sasuke sighed. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew that she would keep pressing him until he gave her an answer and he'd rather tell her when Naruto wasn't awake. "I kissed Naruto," he said, "on the shoulder."

"That's what's got you so upset?" Sakura asked incredulously, "I kiss Naruto on the cheek all the time. That's a lot closer to the mouth."

"Yea, but this is different."

"How so?"

"I don't know," Sasuke sighed as he sat next to Naruto's sleeping form, "It just is."

"That's not an answer," said Sakura.

"I don't know Sakura. Could we just leave it alone for now?"

"Alright."

There was a moment of silence between them before a blood-curdling scream rang out in their clearing. Naruto's face distorted in fear and he grabbed at the closest thing that he could reach, which was Sasuke's right arm. Although he cringed at the pain, Sasuke allowed Naruto to keep him in the bone-breaking grip as Sakura rushed over. Naruto seemed to be writhing in pain on the ground and the hand that wasn't holding Sasuke was digging into the soft earth.

"Wake up Naruto!" Sasuke said frantically shaking him. "Wake up!"

There was another scream as Naruto's eyes shot open and the cracking sound of Sasuke's arm being broken from the strong grip. Sasuke, ignoring the pain in his arm, pulled Naruto into a hug and began drawing circles with his good hand on his back to try and soothe him. Sakura sat next to him and rubbed Naruto's shoulder while cooing at him in her own way of trying to calm him down.

"It hurt so much," Naruto cried, "and there was so much blood. It wouldn't stop. There was just so much blood."

"It's alright now," whispered Sasuke, "It was only a nightmare. You're awake now. It's all gone."

After a little while of crying on Sasuke's chest Naruto was finally able to pull away and wipe his eyes. Sasuke smiled and wiped a missed tear from Naruto's cheek. "Are you feeling better?"

Naruto nodded slightly and gave a little smile of his own. "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to worry you."

"It's fine," said Sakura, "We're just glad that we were able to help you."

Naruto nodded again. He was still recovering from that nightmare. He always had some sort of nightmares, but usually they weren't as bad as that one had been.

Sasuke gave his right arm to Sakura so that she could heal it and Naruto finally saw what he had done. "Did I do that?" he asked. Before anyone could answer he started to apologize frantically to Sasuke for hurting him.

"It's just a broken bone," said Sasuke. To them a broken bone was really nothing more than a bruise because they got so many of them fighting eachother and other enemies in the future. "And you were having a nightmare. You don't have to apologize."

"I know," said Naruto, "but I'm still sorry."

"It's fine," said Sasuke, "now just leave it be. It'll be gone in a bit."

"What happened?" asked Kakashi as he poofed near them and saw Sasuke's arm. "I thought I told you guys to try to not break any bones while practicing."

"Sometimes a broken bone or two is unavoidable during training," answered Sakura.

"That's true," agreed Kakashi, "but that is obviously not a break that came from training. So what happened?"

"None of your business," said Sasuke.

Kakashi growled and opened his mouth to lecture his team, but before he could Naruto said, "I did it on accident. I was asleep."

"Okay," said Kakashi. "What ever, but you need to hurry up and finish healing him Sakura becuase we have to go and meet the Hokage to learn about our new mission."

"New mission?" said Sakura, "but aren't we supposed to be training ourselves for the last test from the chunin exams."

"The Hokage seems to think that we're the best team for the job."

"What are we going to be doing?" asked Sasuke.

"No clue yet," answered Kakashi, "but I do know that it's an A-rank mission."

The four ninjas of team seven stood quietly in the Hokage's office. They had arrived when the Hokage was somewhere else so an ANBU went to get them while they stood there. Naruto sat down on one of the couches quietly.

The Hokage walked into the room a moment later. "Good," he said, "you guys are here."

"Yes we are," said Kakashi.

"Do you know why?"

"The only thing we know is that it's an A-rank mission," answered Sakura.

"That's correct," said the Hokage, "but it's even hard for an A-rank. It's bordering an S-rank mission."

"Then why are you giving it to genin?" asked Kakashi.

"This team is the only one that can fulfill this mission."

"Why?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"I recieved some intell from one of our spies telling me about a scroll that has been missing from this village for some time."

"What's so important about the scroll?" asked Naruto.

"It contains all the weakness of the village. It has justsus that could destroy us within a day."

"And you want us to go get it?" asked Sakura, "Why us specifically."

"The only way for you to get in is for you to be captured."

"Then why do you need us specifically?" growled Sasuke. He was getting tired of this dancing around the subject. He just wanted an answer.

"Not us," said Naruto. He remembered the scroll that they were talking about. He had to get it last time as well when he got back from the training with Jiraiya. "I'm the only one that can do this."

"Because of the Kyuubi?" gasped Sakura. "The Akatsuki has the scroll don't they?"

"Yes," sighed the Third, "and the only way for us to accomplishy getting it is for Naruto to get captured by them."

"We can't just send Naruto into the grasp," growled Sasuke.

"Sasuke," sighed Naruto.

"What?" he snapped.

"I've done it before. Last time I was older and I didn't have any one to back me up, but now I'll have you guys. It'll be fine. We have to do this," explained Naruto.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Good," said the Hokage. "Now the only other problem is that the mission has to be accomplished within two weeks if you want to make it in time for the last part of the chunin exams."

I GOT MY COMPUTER FIXED! That means i can start updating again. Yay!