Disclaimer: Naruto, his friends and the universe they live in don't belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto. I write this story solely for my own pleasure, and I

Chapter Twenty-Six: More old legends

When they finally arrived at the fortress the pain in Naruto's shoulder had become unbearable. Karin deactivated some traps they had set up both at the fortress' entrance and the door to the room they were staying in, then, when they had entered, she spread out her and her companion's cloaks so that they could lay Sasuke down, which came as a real relief to Naruto.

Karin immediately turned her attention to their forth teammate who was lying unconsciously at one side of the room. Her companion began to set up their camping stove in order to prepare tea.

"Do you happen to have some matches?" he asked Naruto. "We never needed any, having Sasuke with us."

Naruto lit the stove, and the man put the pot with water on it, then he began to prepare dinner. Naruto helped as good as he could: It was amazing how difficult some things became when you were not able to exert any force with your left arm.

"How does it come that you know my name?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Naruto gave him a confused look, then the answer dawned on him.

"Sasuke told us about you", the man said just when Naruto had found out himself.

Sasuke had told his new team about him... He had been envious, but now he saw that there was no need to be: Sasuke might have new friends, but he had told them about him, in a way that made them welcome him and care for him. The thought let everything shine in a new light, and his heart – not only his heart, but all the left side of his chest felt warm and wide.

"So he does remember me", he said.

"Course he does", Suigetsu replied. "He just saved your life, didn't he."

"I saved his life."

Naruto looked down at Sasuke who was still lying unconsciously by his side, pale and breathing flatly. He laid his hand on Sasuke's shoulder: I will never let go again, Naruto thought.

Tea was ready and the man gave some to Naruto. There was nothing more to be done for dinner, just to watch it while it was cooking, and the man decided to leave this task to Naruto.

"If you would excuse me", he said. "I have to look after our prisoners. We locked them up in another room."

So Naruto was left to ponder his thoughts, but there were not many. I am among people again, friendly people, friendly for Sasuke's sake, because they love him... Naruto did not dare to continue this thought, and it was not important anyhow, he rather enjoyed the warmth of the tea and the warmth that came from knowing that he was not lonely and deserted any more.

"I am a jinchuuriki", he said when the man returned.

"Yeah, we know that" the man answered. "We saw you fight against Akatsuki in the demon's form."

"So why did you accept me among your team? Don't you know that the demon can get out of control any time, attacking friend and foe alike?"

"You don't want to leave, do you?"

"No. But so far, everyone's rejected me sooner or later because of the demon, and I prefer it to happen sooner, because then the disappointment will be less bad."

The man sat up, looked at him very seriously for some seconds, then he answered: "I will be honest: We have Sasuke with us, who can control the demon, or at least he says that he can control it, and as he can control Juugo, I trust him to be able to control the demon as well."

"Who's Juugo?"

"Our forth teammate. Sometimes he freaks out and is uncontrollable, except for Sasuke, and I am glad that Sasuke can control him because when Juugo's not freaking out he is a great companion. Same goes for you: I am glad that we can welcome you here because you certainly deserve it, but I am not sure what I would do without Sasuke: I might simply be too scared. I consider myself quite a good fighter, but demons are not really my cup of tea, as little as genjutsus."

Naruto had of course hoped for a different, more positive answer, but for some reason the man's words had not hurt him. After all he might be more courageous than he was ready to admit: Sasuke was still unconscious and not able to control the demon. They were hoping that nothing would happen until Sasuke woke up.

I must avoid the strong feelings that wake up the demon, Naruto thought. Fear, anger, hatred – what about love?

"I think I will be able to control it", he said. "The last times it got out of control it was because people were teasing me about Sasuke."

"Because you like him? I have no problems with that. Besides, he likes you too."

Naruto was confused again. He had the impression that the man was trying to tease him about something, but he did not get what it was. Besides, the man's behaviour was really irrational: Had he not just explained that the demon got out of control when people were teasing him about Sasuke? And the man was doing just this? Yet at the moment the kyuubi was not even trying to break free. Slowly Naruto calmed down.

"You have told me all your teammates' names by now", Naruto said. "Only your own you have kept secret."

"Did I? It was not my intention. I am Houzuki Suigetsu of the Mist."

"I am Uzumaki Naruto of the Leaf", Naruto answered.

"Yeah, we know that already."

"How does it come that you have prisoners?" Naruto asked.

"Did we not tell you? We were fighting against the Akatsuki who were on your trail, and against Kisame, who was with Itachi."

"Did you? Why did you take them prisoner? There's nothing you want to interrogate them about, is there?"

Now it was Suigetsu's turn to look confused.

"You've just told me that you are from the Leaf, haven't you. Sasuke has told us not to kill anyone, except if it was the only way to defend ourselves, and I thought that this was because he is still a Leaf Ninja."

"We don't tend to be that nice to S-class criminals", Naruto said, but Suigetsu's words had made him think. Sasuke forbidding his team to kill anyone – this came as a surprise indeed.

"It was rather difficult," Suigetsu continued. "We had thought that we might take our time, not attacking them but just seeing that you were safe, yet then it turned out that we had overlooked Itachi."

"You overlooked Itachi?" This was an even greater surprise than the last one. "You travelled with Sasuke and did not notice Itachi?"

"I just told you, didn't I?" Suigetsu said with a wide grin. "We were busy watching over you. I wonder that you have not noticed. - Besides, Sasuke himself overlooked his brother."

So Naruto had been right when he had concluded that Sasuke and his team had attempted to prevent him from getting caught by the Akatsuki members, and it had not only been wishful thinking. It did him well to get it confirmed by Suigetsu.

Karin had finished looking after Juugo and joined them. Her face was full of concern.

"I have done what I can. His condition seems stable, but it can change any moment."

"Damn", Suigetsu said. "Sasuke will have to answer for this. Making us pay the price for his childish fear of meeting Naruto. We should have picked you up much earlier", he continued to Naruto, "and then we should have stuck together."

Karin shook her head. "It would not have changed much. They were too many and too strong. We are lucky that we could defeat them. Now, Naruto, I want to have a look at your shoulder. I could see quite well that you were trying not to put any weight on it while you were carrying Sasuke."

The pain had lessened since the shoulder had been allowed to rest, but it was far from fine: For some reason the kyuubi had not been able to heal it.

"Can you take off your sweater by yourself, or shall I help?" Karin asked.

"You'd love to", Suigestu said.

"You may help him", she replied.

Naruto tried to do it himself and found that he had to twist his arm in a way that hurt his shoulder. He was beginning to feel annoyed by their constant bickering: He wanted to get rid of the pain in his shoulder without wondering what Karin might or might not feel when she helped him get out of his sweater or looked after his wounds. Still he could not help paying attention whether she was indeed looking at his naked chest for a bit too long, or touching his shoulder more than was necessary.

Completely unprofessional, he decided. Sakura was much better when it came to keeping a clear distance between herself and her patients. Sometimes Naruto would have wished that it might be otherwise.

"It's out of its joint", Karin declared. "Now I do wonder how something like this happens in a fight."

"Sasuke was dragging at it", Naruto explained.

"He did not want you to get away", Suigetsu said.

"As if I wanted to..."

"And then he felt so embarrassed about showing his true feelings that he passed out. Now I understand what happened."

There was a sharp pain in Naruto's shoulder: Karin had made use of the moment of distraction to push the shoulder back into its socket. Now she touched some points around it, supporting the chakra to get flowing again.

"Better now?" she asked.

He nodded, and again he thought that she was probably touching him more than was necessary. It was not bad, however, rather pleasant, if he was honest to himself: a good-looking, young woman, probably with some experience, looking after his body – if this was not an interesting prospect.

He was much more watchful for Sasuke than he had been for himself when she had finally finished with him and removed the cloaks that still covered Sasuke and then moved her hands above his chest to check on his chakra flow.

"How's he doing?" Naruto asked.

"Better. The chakra is still low, but he will recover."

"And will it be in time?" Suigetsu asked.

"In which time?"

"In time to fight Itachi when he returns tomorrow morning. He's not dead, is he? We have not found his body anywhere."

Naruto remembered the last seconds of the fight: After Itachi had broken down, the raven had turned into a man and carried him away from the site of the fight.

"Itachi's not dead", he said. "And besides, there's that other guy..."

"So we can just hope that Sasuke will be fit in time to fight against this lovely brother of his. Against their genjutsus we are all helpless."

"Not completely", Naruto said. "If it's two of us against one of them we might make it. An old woman I once met told me how: They can only catch one person at a time in their genjutsu, so the other one can get them from behind, or help his comrade out of the illusion."

"Ey! You are useful!" Suigetsu said. "We should have made you join us much much earlier. Now, this is enough!" he continued to Karin. "Time to stop enjoying the sight of his beautiful young body, time to wrap him again into some blankets so that he can get some warmth and get well again."

She glared at him, but obeyed.

Is he still unconscious, Naruto thought, or is he only sleeping? He removed a strand of hair from Sasuke's face and then let his hand rest again on his shoulder, though above the blanket. Pretty as a girl, he thought, and all fragile-looking, but once he had woken up and recovered he would be one of the strongest shinobi of the world again.

"Is there nothing I can do?" Naruto asked. "I mean, I have a lot of chakra – I could share."

Karin and Suigetsu looked at each other.

"I can show you where to put your hands", she said. "Maybe Suigetsu will let you do what he won't permit to me."

"It's not – somewhere private?" Naruto asked. He was not sure where he had got that idea - well, of course he did. Karin's and Suigetsu's constant insinuations did have some effect after all. He felt increasingly uncomfortable.

"There are several points", she said, "some more private than others. I can show you the other ones, if you want. The main problem, however, is to get the chakra flowing again, and that cannot be done by simply giving him a bit of yours. It would be stuck at the point you put it into, without being able to get anywhere else. We have to wait until the channels open by themselves."

"So there's no way to accelerate the process?"

Again Karin and Suigetsu exchanged looks, and Naruto wondered what it meant.

"There's a way, both to share chakra and to get it flowing", Karin said. "But I don't think you would like it."

"Sasuke might enjoy, however", Suigetsu added.

"Anyway, it won't work while he's still unconscious."

"Won't you tell me what you are talking about?" Naruto asked.

"No way! You are too young."

"I am fifteen."

"That's what we mean."

They looked at each other again, and somehow they changed their minds.

"Perhaps you are indeed old enough", Karin said. "You are not a small child after all."

"Just don't include too many graphic details" ,Suigetsu said.

"There are not too many", Karin replied. "It hasn't anything to do with details..." She turned to Naruto. "It's a legend, and I don't know whether there is a true core to it. It is said that if you and your partner are truly in love with each other and have sex, that then not only your bodies but also your souls will unite, and the chakra systems will interlock, so that your chakra will mix and you will be one being.

"It is much more than giving a bit of chakra to this or that point of your partner's body where he needs it: The chakra mixes completely, so that one cannot tell any more which is your and which is your partner's, the flow patterns will synchronize, pressure and velocity will even out, and even the chakra signatures, which are unique to every human being, will change and assimilate. Well, that's what would happen from a medical point view.

"What one experiences – it's said that it is heavenly bliss, like being back in paradise, or returning to the dawn of time when everything was still connected with everything else, depending on which religion you adhere to. I have never experienced it myself, so I can only tell what I know from hearsay.

"It is said to be extremely rare, and even those who are truly in love don't experience it every time they have sex, but only once or twice during their lives, or when they are lucky and live long enough and stay in love for long enough, maybe three times, and all the other times they have to contend themselves with normal sex just as everyone else."

Naruto was still looking at Sasuke's fine, clear features. He felt irritated by Karin's story, and he withdrew his hand from Sasuke's shoulder but then he decided not to let her words influence him and returned it to its former place.

"I told you that you would not like it. But it's not necessary, as he soon will recover by himself, and anyway, you cannot make it happen, and least of all you can make it happen with a person who is still unconscious. I can show you however where to put your hands, if you want. The place where it is at the moment is not too bad, actually, as there are a lot of chakra lines going through the shoulder, connecting the arm and the rest of the body. Another place would be the heart, or the solar plexus, or the lower belly just above the sexual organs, or the point where the legs meet the hips, if that's not too intimate for you."

Naruto looked up, first at Karin, then at Suigetsu. These were the weirdest people he had ever met.

"Do you ever think about anything else than sex?" he asked.

"Oh, sure we do", Suigetsu answered. "Normally we are busy watching over Sasuke and preventing him from doing anything foolish, but as at the moment he is not in a state for this, we are happy to have some time to think about what is really important."

"Speak only for yourself", Karin said.

"Oh, sorry. Karin of course thinks of sex all the time. At this moment she would be very happy to be in your place, and she would be much less cautious than you are."

Again, Naruto felt the impulse to withdraw his hand from Sasuke but then thought better of it: There was nothing wrong or unnatural with his hand lying on his friend's shoulder, was there?

"Anyway, I am quite sure that Sasuke if he were awake would be happy to find that it's you and not Karin sitting at his side."

"How", Naruto asked, no longer being able to put up with all this, "how did you ever manage to get accepted to his team?"

"Actually we did not have to. It was him who chose us. With Karin it took him quite a bit of persuasion, as she was playing hard-to-get-to."

Karin shoot a angry glare at her companion. "Don't let him irritate you", she said to Naruto. "And concerning Sasuke: Just follow your heart."

"And not some other part of your body", Suigetsu tried to complete her sentence.

She could no longer hold herself and punched his head. It simply turned into water and then transformed back into its usual form.

I must ask him to teach me that trick, Naruto thought. It might come useful against Sakura...