It's been awhile! I'm sorry 'bout that.

Life's crazy, I'm buying a house and will be moving soon, been working an awful lot, and I absolutely struggled with this chapter. Two new characters were added and I had a rough time writing them and trying to keep them in character. So if I messed up a bit with them I apologize. But In this chapter there are answers! And probably more questions as well. I'm trying to get ahead on writing again so that I'm not writing the chapters a few hours before I post them. I like to have a buffer that way I can re-read and make sure there aren't too many contingency errors. And this story has gotten to the point where its too long for google doc's on my phone to handle. As soon as I hit page 90 I couldn't write on my phone unless I wanted to deal with hellish lag.

Also thank you to all of you who have been extremely patient with me and this story. I go back and re-read all the wonderful reviews left on the story and it both helps me and gives me ideas to help fill in the bones of the plot I have pre-planned.

I don't own Naruto, only any OC's that appear in this story. Enjoy.

Sarana was having a strange dream. She knew it was strange the moment her eyes closed and she found herself in a strange forest. It looked like the woods around the village, the huge trees that Nikki had told her were made specially by the 1st Hokage and his rare wood style jutsu.

Sarana wasn't so sure how making tree's could be so special but whatever.

This dream felt more realistic than normal, which was the first thing that had popped up as strange for Sarana. Plus she just felt fully aware, when usually in dreams weird stuff would just happen and make logical sense until you woke up. But just something about how this place felt was just fundamentally different than she was used to in her normal dreams.

Honestly if she was being completely truthful, the feeling in her dream was similar to the one she got whenever those odd whispers happened. So, the blonde haired girl decided to investigate the area. She walked forward through the strange woods, trying to find where the odd feeling was taking her.

She walked for a while, following that strange feeling in her gut, and she knew she was getting closer to something, to what she didn't know. However, instinct told her that it wasn't an unfriendly thing. Instinct was something that Sara followed, as opposed to trying to use logic all the time. It hasn't really failed her yet. So she would keep doing it.

This forest was really calming. There was a gentle breeze, and it wasn't too hot or too cold. It definitely made Sara feel a peace that she wasn't fully used to. In this life she was constantly on her toes, trying to keep Naruto safe from the village that hated him, and making sure Nikki wouldn't do something crazy and somehow kill herself.

She had a lot of work cut out for her.

She continued walking along and followed that feeling. She was getting close, she knew it. Hopefully she would finally be able to figure out what the hell it was.

"Ah! So we finally get to meet!" A voice said from behind Sarana causing her to jump into the air in surprise.

"WHAT THE," She spun around quickly as soon as her feet hit the ground to see who had appeared behind her. She stumbled a bit but quickly found her footing.

A man with long brown hair, brown eyes, wearing old style red shinobi armor stood behind her with a smile that reminded her a little of Naruto. He gave her a small wave.

She blinked, staring at the man trying to figure out if she knew who he was, but she came up with nothing. He had to be a Shinobi judging by the armor and the way he stood. Plus his overwhelming chakra. She wasn't really a sensor, but she could feel his chakra, that was for sure.

"Who the hell are you," she asked bluntly.

The man looked utterly defeated for a moment, not expecting to be unrecognized by the youth before him. His whole body slouched and Sarana could feel the saddened energy flowing off the brooding man.

Sara raised her eyebrow at him.

He shook his head and stood tall again, returning the smile to his face with a hand on his hip. His posture was completely relaxed, yet somehow it felt like he had zero openings if anyone wanted to attack. Clearly, whomever this was he was a powerful guy.

"I'm Senju Hashirama, first Hokage of Konohagakure,"

Sara blinked at this information, processing it, before frowning and looking at him with a calculating gaze "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" She asked. Why would the first Hokage be showing up in her dreams. Especially such a weird feeling and acting dream as this was. She barely knew anything about him, let alone what he looked like, so how would her brain come up with this face? And was he the cause of the strange whispers that she had going on for the longest time?

The man, Hashirama, let out a boisterous laugh at her comment. "Yes I guess I am. It's been quite a few years since then huh?" He said with a large grin on his face.

Alright so he knew he was dead, also Sara was a little uncomfortable about how similar the energy this man gave off was to Naruto's, though she would have to say, as much as she loved Naruto, this man was definitely smarter. She could just tell. But they shared the same happy charismatic energy. It was weird.

Deciding to get straight to the root of the issue Sarana decided to ask "So are you the weird voice that has been trying to get my attention these past few years?"
Hashirama rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and let out an equally awkward chuckle. "Ah well, that's due to the precarious situation that we both find ourselves in. Maybe it's best if we sit down?" He suggested before his hands quickly went through some hand signs, at a speed too fast for Sara to keep up with. Wood sprouted through the ground and formed into two wooden lawn chairs, a style of chair that Sarana hadn't seen since she was in this world. It was something familiar from her past life.

"I thought something more familiar would help you relax more," Hashirama explained before sitting down in the chair. He awkwardly squirmed for a minute trying to get comfortable, obviously not used to sitting in the type of chair. Plus having on the ninja armor probably wasn't helping.

Sarana gave him a deadpan expression before sitting in the chair hesitantly. Okay she'd admit that the ability to just produce a chair out of basically no where was extremely convenient. Man if she had woodstyle then she would be able to completely decorate her house with furniture that she liked and wanted without having to spend all of the small amount of cash that her and Naruto received every month.

Once Hashirama was able to find a position that was mildly comfortable he clasped his hands together. "Okay so! ….. huh I'm not too sure how to start this…." He said putting a hand on his chin in thought.

Sarana wasn't sure how to deal with this. Was this guy really the first Hokage?

"Uh, how bout you start with why you're in my brain?" Sara suggested.

Hashirama smiled awkwardly. "Ah yes. Well I don't know for sure but I've got a theory,"

Sarana motioned for him to elaborate.

The first Hokage crossed his arms and awkwardly shifted in his chair, obviously it wasn't comfortable for him.

"Okay dude, you don't have to sit in a chair for my sake. Just get to explaining," Sarana said.

Hashirama was quickly out of his chair, with an air of relief around him. Though his demeanor quickly changed serious. "I think that the Sage of Six paths brought you here, with memories of your past life. In order to do something," he started to explain. "And part of me has been attached to your soul in order to assist you. What he wants done I don't know. But I assume he brought both you and your friend here specifically because of your knowledge,"

Sarana stared at him with a blank expression. What the hell was the Sage of Six Paths?!

"And since you are one of my descendants, you ended up getting the wood style! So I'll be able to teach you how to use it."

Sarana blinked "what?" She said processing the info. She was what?

Hashirama tilted his head "you didn't know? But you've used it before. Have you not noticed? Plus with your increasing skills in medical jutsu especially at your age, and fast recovery time…" his voice died off as he saw Sarana's expression grow into a deeper confusion.

"Wait, wait. So you're saying that Nikki and I were both intentionally re-born in this world for some sorta mission from this sage guy. And that I am somehow related to you and can make trees?" Sara said slowly. Working the information over in her head.

Hashirama nodded.

"With some training in meditation we will be able to meet in an area like this," Hashirama motioned around him "it's like a, hm what's the word from your world….. limbo? A place where both our souls can meet to train. And that training can carry over to the physical world,"

Sara was having too much info dumped on her at once. She shook her head. "Wait. So how do you even know about limbo? Or about these lawn chairs?" She asked.

"Ah! So our connection has allowed me to see somewhat into your mind. I've seen some of the memories from both your past life and this one,"

Sara paled, "Wait how much have you seen?" She asked. She had been past 20 in her past life. Thus she was an adult soooo…

Hashirama's cheeks reddened and he suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable.

Sara put up a hand "you know what. Never mind… So somehow I'm your descendant, and a sage guy brought me here from my previous death. And you are supposed to train me?" Sara asked, trying to get the information straight. It was just too complex of an info dump to deal with all in one go.

Hashirama nodded with a large goofy grin on his face.

"Uh...can I get a moment to think over this?" Sarana asked Hashirama, said ninja nodded in response.

She mulled over the information in her brain, but it was a little too much. Yeah of course she was a ninja now and they had complex screwy lives, but this felt a little more 'fate' like. Which Sara wasn't all too comfortable with. She preferred to forge her own path. Not have it made for her by some weird sage guy.

Well at least if what he said was right, at least she had an answer as to why she was reborn with her memories intact. Even if she wasn't too happy about not being given the choice on her own. She had no idea who this sage was, but maybe Nikki would know. Speaking Nikki.

"So who's supposed to be Nikki's helper? She got one too? If it's the second Hokage guy she's gonna freak cuz she is obsessed with him," Sarana asked. Wait a minute wasn't the second supposed to be this guys brother or something? All Sara really could remember about him was that Nikki thought he was hot and smart or something. As much as she loved her friend she tended to black out whenever her friend went on a 2nd Hokage rant.

Hashirama rubbed the back of his head "Ah perhaps it is better that she tells you herself. Though I guess to her disappointment it for sure isn't my brother," he answered then chuckled. Sarana guessed that he probably had to listen on along with her when Nikki had gone on her kage rants. Wait didn't Nikki tend to refer to Hashirama as an overpowered idiot? But a Naruto type fool? just not as bad at being foolish all the time. Hm judging by how this guy gets so easily distraught it might not be the best to mention it just in case.

"Well then….Would you like to start your training now?" Hashirama questioned.

Sarana shrugged and stood up from her chair. It wasn't like she had anything better to do at the time. Plus learning to make her own furniture sounded awesome.

Hashirama clasped his hands together "Well then, lets begin!"

Well I remembered falling asleep in the hospital, after my body finally gave up on trying to be awake. All of that physical exertion really had put a toll on my body and now…..Well I had absolutely no idea where I was at all. It was dark. But not completely black. There was grass on the ground, it was easy to tell. My feet were bare and I could feel it between my toes. In the distance I could see an orange light. Probably some sort of fire, and looking at it I got that similar strange feeling that I got randomly and ignored.

I did a quick scan of the area to try and sense for any chakras but I wasn't picking anything at all. I furrowed my eyebrows. Honestly, there was no way that I was currently awake, but I knew I wasn't quite sleeping like normal either. I had more alertness than one usually has in their sleep.

Well, this whole thing is strange as hell, and I kinda got a weird feeling about it all. So, I did what any sane person should do when put into a strange weird dream world, and walked in the complete opposite direction of the strange flame and feeling that came with it. I wasn't going to die today. No thank you. I've already come so close to it in the last 24 hours that I was gunna avoid doing stupid shit for at least a week.

Well…. if I survived after Sarana and my Mother found out about what I had done…. Shiiiiiiiiiiit.

I was pulled from my thoughts when a sudden signature popped up on my chakra radar. And they weren't far at all. Probably within 10 yards. Which meant that they knew how to avoid a good sensors perception, and had intentionally shown themselves to me. Being the only two (living?) Things in the vicinity of wherever the hell this place was, I should have easily been able to sense someone nearby way before they got that close.

Whoever this was they were good.

I continued to walk and ignored the presence. They wanted my attention and I wanted nothing to do with it. They were definitely the source of the weird feeling and it was only stronger now that they are closer. Thus, I continued on.

It wasn't like I was afraid of the dark. Shinobi already had good eyesight in the dark, and apparently a plus to working with shadows was an even better ability to see in the dark. No it wasn't as good as a cat. But I definitely had no trouble making my way through this strange open field that I didn't recognize at all.

"Are you really just going to keep ignoring my presence?" A familiar voice said. They sounded slightly offended. That presence that had been a few yards behind me was suddenly right in front of me.

My eyes widened slightly when I heard the voice. It was similar to one that I had heard from tonight, when I had met Obito. Yet it was coming from a completely different chakra source.

I blinked as I took in the person before me. Long black spiky hair, red old style shinobi armor, and spinning red tomoe eyes. They had their arms crossed and an unamused look on their face as their eyes bore down on me.

This was Uchiha Madara.

"...Ah hell nawh," I said before turning around and walking the opposite direction that he was.

I was about a step before I made an embarrassing "ghya," sound as the collar of my shirt was grabbed and I was yanked back. My shirt slightly choked me for a second before I was spun around to face the angry former Uchiha Clan head. He had returned his arms to a crossed position, but I knew he would do worse next time if I just tried to walk away again.

Pouting, I crossed my arms childishly "troublesome..." I muttered annoyed. I had picked up on Shika's catchphrase and found myself saying it more and more frequently.

Madara's eyes only bore further down on me. It was like he was trying to make me feel insignificant. Jokes on him. I already felt that about myself. And no amount of Uchiha glare would make me squirm.

He remained silent.

Okay maybe I did want to squirm a little. The man was intimidating for good reason.

I coughed awkwardly "...so...uh…..come here often?" I asked, unsure of what the man wanted from me.

There was a long pause from the man before he let out an annoyed huff before looking away. But he didn't say anything.

What the hell? Was he just gonna let me stand here and make a giant fool of myself? Or… perhaps he didn't know how to start the conversation himself? If I remember correctly, he wasn't exactly a man who was good with people or talking. He usually let his strength do the talking for him. Or his brother or Hashirama when that didn't work. So, he was probably as socially stupid as I could be, and didn't know how to properly talk to people. And whatever it was that we needed to discuss was something that a couple of good 'ole punches probably couldn't explain.

"..." I was silent as I tried to formulate the best way to go forth with this conversation. "Soooo…..I assume you are the source of the weird feeling in my brain. Uh wanna explain why you are here?" I asked. Hopefully that would be good enough of a conversation starter to get this thing going.

I didn't know if the Uchiha was glad that I had finally had said something not completely stupid, so that he could have somewhere to start. But he actually decided to respond "Hn… It appears that we were both put in this predicament by the sage of Six Paths. He pulled you after death from your world to be re-born here. And attached part of me to your soul in order to help you grow as a shinobi," He explained though he didn't seem too happy about the subject.

I blinked… The Sage of Six paths? But why would he need to have me reborn? And had he done the same to Sara? I mean it was only logical that he had. Because it was almost astronomically impossible for us to have both been reborn in this new world, completely different from our own, with almost full memory of our past life and within a few months of each other.

I took a moment to fully observe him after his explanation. Something seemed….off about him. It was like he was mulling over something. His chakra was wavering between, rage confusion, betrayal…. What in the freaking world could be bothering Uchiha Madara like this. Though his face showed no signs of his inner turmoil, I wondered if he knew that I could sense his chakra to the point of feeling emotions.

Probably best not to tell him right now though.

I put a finger on my chin in thought "So...You apparently know about me having a past life. Did you find this out from the Sage or…" I trailed off mid thought, not sure how to finish the sentence.

"I've been given access to your mind. And have seen your memories," He answered bluntly.

My whole body tensed up at that. "That means...You know about Kaguya," I said in surprise. Yeah Madara probably most definitely saw some other shit in my brain that I definitely didn't want him to see, such as fanfiction…. but figuring out that your whole plans were just the manipulation of some alien chick that was the mother of chakra with a god complex was probably world shattering. I mean he was probably mad about all the Tobirama hating Uchiha memes too, but that was probably far less important.

Madara clenched his teeth and his eyes switched from the normal sharingan to the Mangekyou.

"Im...uh..Sorry?" I said awkwardly. Though my stomach completely dropped into my stomach as I saw the design of his Mangekyou sharingan. It was the same design that had flashed in my mind when Itachi had tried to use his to mind wipe me. Does this mean that Madara had protected me?
Madara let out a decently long sigh before his eyes faded to a normal black. "I've had time to think about it. For the last 8 years in fact." He said.

Shit that sucks. He's been stuck alone in my brain of all places, with access to memories telling him he was manipulated his whole life. Part of me wanted to give him a hug, but another part of me knew he'd probably rip me in half. So I refrained.

"Does this mean you aren't following through with the plan? That'd be great. Really would relieve a lot of stress for the future off of my back. Or at least one of the things. Still gotta worry about the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Danzo and Black Zetsu….." I said. God I fucking hated the last two. And I couldn't wait till I was strong enough to give them what was coming to them. I was already looking into possibly creating a chakra suppressing seal that would prevent Danzo from using Izanagi, thus making it 100 times easier to cut his head off. I think that Madara would agree, especially after seeing what Danzo did to his clan...And what he would do with their eyes.

"There really isn't a point is there?" He responded. There was a light tone of defeat in his tone that I really sympathized with. But his admission of that really shocked me. Madara wasn't the type of man to admit defeat.

And yet this man had to deal with the reality of the situation, on his own, for 8 years, because he had been thrust into the mind of a re-born weirdo.

You know Madara was my second favorite character in Naruto. I had gotten excited when he first really showed up in the flesh in the 4th shinobi war, he absolutely obliterated the allied forces and lived up to the years of hype that had gone into his character. He was such an amazing villain. Then I was absolutely enraged by the fact that he had been manipulated his whole life by Zetsu and Kaguya. He didn't deserve what he had been through.

I shifted awkwardly. This conversation was not going the way that I had expected it to. "So, then does that mean you'll help me figure out how to wipe Zetsu and Danzo, because you know he deserves it too, off the face of the planet?" I asked. Usually I wasn't one for extreme violence. But there were a few that I would reserve that action for. And those two were definitely at the top of the list.

For the first time in this strange encounter Madara let a small smirk grace his face as he let out an amused sound. "Of course. No one messes with my clan and gets away with it… Speaking of such, we shall start your training. I can't let one of my own go around without proper Uchiha training," His voice said, getting more serious. All the unsureness vacated his voice.
I tilted my head to the side "But… I'm a Nara." I responded. Especially after tonight I had no interest in exploring my Uchiha heritage.

There was a *whoosh* sound and I had to quickly shift my head to the side to avoid the kunai that had just been launched at it.

"While you are with me you will not deny your true heritage," Madara said. "Due to the current state of the village, also because of Danzo and Orochimaru, I will allow you to keep it a secret for your own safety. However I expect you to learn how to use Uchiha techniques so that they will be helpful in future battles,"
I crossed my arms in annoyance and gave my own glare at the Uchiha "Well, as far as I am concerned I'm part of the Nara clan. I don't really want anything to do with the reckless insanity driven Uchiha's," I said. Growing up in the Nara compound and training with Shikaku left me with a large amount of Nara pride, and being an Uchiha would just make people associate me with the Uchiha's as opposed to the clan I had actually been born and raised in.

There was both anger and amusement muddled within Madara's chakra. "Ho? Is that why you collected the eye's of the current and now dead Uchiha clan head? And why you refused to leave the side of his son? Because you want nothing to do with this cursed clan," He said tauntingly a smug grin appearing on his face.

"I didn't do that for the clans sake. I did it because fuck Danzo and because Sasuke is my friend…. and he isn't my friend just because he is an Uchiha," I added that bit at the end trying to drive my point.

"Hn. I guess you can tell yourself that,"

I blinked at his response and my mouth widened for a second before I closed it again. I let out a small growl of annoyance and turned around to walk the other way. "Whatever. I'm not dealing with you tonight. Especially because I am a Nara. Nothing more. Nothing less," I stressed. His taunting got to me, and out of spite made me more inclined to deny that part of my heritage. As I thought I had made clear to him. I did not want to be an Uchiha. And I've only allowed myself to use the Sharingan 3 times in my whole life. The first was when it awoke that night with Naruto. And the other two were when preparing to take Fugaku's eyes, and when I actually did it. I would deny that half of my heritage until I died...

"SHIT" I suddenly jumped to the side as a large fireball flew towards me. The only thing that had saved me was my chakra sense feeling the large warm ball of chakra form. But damn! He had launched that off at an insane speed! I spun around to face Madara who's Mangekyou eyes spun dangerously while he glared at me.

"Your training starts now brat," He growled before his fingers quickly went to launch another fireball.

I…..I was going to die wasn't I.

It was hard to peel my eyes open from sleep… or whatever the hell that was. My body hurt like hell, and I wasn't sure if it was from over exertion from the other night in my encounter with Obito and Itachi, or if it was from the ass whooping that I had received from Madara.

Probably both.

I pulled my body up and realized that I was on the bed with a still unconscious Sasuke. How? When had that happened?

My exhausted body looked around the room to see if anyone else was there, my brain was still too murky waking up to properly use my chakra sense. But the room was empty. I frowned and wondered where our lovely ANBU guard had gone while I was out.

I jumped off the bed awkwardly so that I wouldn't trip over Sasuke, the boy needed his rest and he didn't need my currently sore butt waking him up after tripping over him. When I got onto the ground I began to stretch out my muscles, much to their protest. But I did not want to leave this room until Sasuke woke up, and I couldn't very well just lounge around lazily till that happened.

Especially since I didn't know how often my little training sessions would happen.

"Ugggg" I groaned in annoyance. Why in the world did this have to happen to me? It was almost like extra responsibility which was exactly what I didn't want in my life. I was gunna skirt my way through the academy in the middle score range right along with Shika, then casually make my way up the ranks at a reasonable speed. That way I could still be an excellent ninja and not have to worry about an early grave. But this…. If anyone found out that I even had a piece of Uchiha Madara attached to my soul it could mean huge trouble for me. So my mouth would remain shut to all except Sara-ya.

There was a *Click* and the sound of the door opening caught my attention. I was currently sitting in the butterfly stretch position, and in my current condition I wasn't fast enough to get into a standing position in front of Sasuke's still unconscious form, so I just sat tense instead.

A nurse walked into the room and my body relaxed.

"Oh dear you're finally awake! After you didn't wake up yesterday we got worried, but couldn't move you to the next room because you wouldn't let go of Uchiha-san," She said.

Oh well that explains why I was on the bed. But I must have been extremely exhausted if I had slept through a whole day. Maybe that's why it felt like the battering I got felt like it would never end.

"It's so adorable that you would be so adamant on protecting your little boyfriend," The nurse added with a small coo, like she was talking to a young child.

My eyes narrowed in annoyance at her and I stood, "He is not my 'boyfriend' he is just a friend that happens to be of the opposite gender. And after he had to experience such a traumatic event it is only natural that I would be so adamant to protect him. Understood?" I said in a low tone. I had no patience for that kind of talk at the moment. Especially after a few casual remarks from Madara that it was lucky that both a boy and a girl (even if she was half Nara) had survived the massacre.

The Nurse was looking at me with a terrified expression.

"Mah, why do you calm down your chakra down kid," A hand was suddenly on my head and I realized that I had been letting out aggressive chakra towards the nurse. I looked to Kakashi who had suddenly entered the room (so he had been around then) in his normal Jonin clothing, book in his free hand and his attention appearing to be on the pages, but it was easy to tell from his chakra that his attention was on me.

I looked back to the nurse guiltily pulling my chakra inwards then looked towards the ground "Sorry...I'm uh.. Grouchy in the mornings." I bowed "I apologize for the anger,"

The nurse calmed down considerably but looked slightly shaken still. She had probably dealt with the angry chakra before from previous patients, this hospital probably didn't have a lack of shinobi traffic, but that it had come from a child was probably a rare occurrence. These were peaceful times after all.

"I'll go inform the doctor that you're awake. She'll want to check your vitals," She quickly said before leaving the room.

I sighed and Kakashi's hand left my head as I made my way over to the chair that was next to the hospital bed. My attention went to Sasuke but I spoke to Kakashi "Don't ask what that was about," I said blandly as my eyes scanned over Sasuke's body. He was far less pale than he had been when I got to him. And they had cleaned the blood off of him and changed his clothes at some point. How had they done that if I wouldn't let him go then? Maybe they had Kakashi help or something. Unconscious me would have trusted him. Or Shikaku.

"I wasn't going to," Kakashi said, his eyes never leaving his book, yet it felt like his eyes were boring into my soul.

I sighed and continued my scan of Sasuke. His breathing was even. It didn't seem like he was having any sort of nightmares currently. Possibly they had given him some medication to deal with that.

"Have my mom and Sarana-ya come here yet?" I asked plainly, looking up to Kakashi with a blank expression. My body was exhausted and I could bring the energy to express the true despair at the idea that I had two more people waiting to kick my ass.

"Yep," Kakashi said simply as he flipped a page. "But they aren't allowed in this room till Sasuke wakes up and the doctor checks on him," He added which made me pause as I had started to move towards the window.

"So this area is a safe zone?" I asked tenuously.

"For now,"

I let out a long breath of air "Does it make me a bad person that now part of me hopes Sasuke-ya takes his time waking up?" I admitted to the Jonin standing in the room.

He merely hm-ed and continued to read his book.

I settled back into the seat and rested my chin on the palm of my hand. What would happen when Sasuke eventually did wake up? I remember seeing his blank and vacant look in the anime and thinking of seeing this version of him waking up like that…

I took a breath. I wouldn't cry just thinking about something that hasn't happened yet.

Meditation, I needed to meditate right now. I jumped off the chair to sit on the ground in a meditation pose. Right now I needed to focus my brain. I had too many different offshoots of thoughts and it was just muddling up my brain's ability to focus. I put my hands in the same position that Shika does when he is strategizing. Apparently he had learned that from Shikaku. It was taught to both of us as a way of focusing our mental energy, calming both the body and mind to allow for proper and calm rational thought.

I was about halfway through my mental organization when rustling from the bed caught my attention and I was ripped from my mindscape. I jumped from the ground towards the bed, only half taking notice that Kakashi was gone.

Sasuke with a blank face sat up slowly from the bed. His expression made him almost look dead, or just...gone.

Fury rose up within my bones at his condition. Yeah I understood why Itachi had done it but seeing Sasuke looking like this made me wonder if it really was worth it. Part of me wanted to hunt Itachi down right now, kick his ass and drag it back to Konoha. But logic told me that was stupid. I wouldn't even stand a chance. I let out a slow breath of air and let my rage fade away. Sasuke didn't need to see it.

He hadn't even noticed me yet though.

I slowly and gingerly put my hand on his shoulder "Hey Sasuke-ya," I said softly trying to get his attention.

Very, very slowly his head turned from its forward position to look at me. When his head finally turned it took a few seconds of him just staring at me blankly before his eyebrows slowly furrowed "Nikki?" He asked slowly. His voice was barely above a whisper and was slightly confused. I guess I wasn't the first thing he expected to see.

"What...What happ…" Memories probably came flooding back to him because suddenly his eyes widened and he was screaming while clutching his head.

Instantly I was on the bed using a rudimentary form of the body flicker technique. I wrapped my arms around the kid in a tight hug hoping to calm and assure him.

I could feel that there were suddenly more people in the room but I didn't let Sasuke go from my grasp and held him tight. I quietly whispered stuff to him like 'he was okay now' 'I'm here, I won't let you go' and 'you are safe'. The doctors tried to pull me away from the kid but I didn't allow them to, sending a death glare at them if they tried. After a minute or two my words seemed to get to him and his screaming turned into crying and his arms wrapped around me, desperately clinging to the only thing he currently had around him that he recognized.

The doctors were all standing around awkwardly since I was being so protective, and I didn't let them near till Sasuke's crying calmed down some more.

Seeing that he had calmed down enough I let him go and moved away from him.

"No...don't….go" He said weakly trying to grab at my body.

I put my hand on his "I'm not leaving the room. But the doctors have to take a look at you okay? They need to make sure that you are fine," I tried to assure. He didn't seem too happy about it, and there was a look of desperation in his eyes that tore at my heart. I know the only reason that he was clinging to me so desperately was because I was a small amount of familiarity in his life that he could cling to.

Since he had nothing else.

Quietly I made my way over to the corner of the room where Kakashi was standing again reading his book. He must have gone and gotten the doctors when Sasuke was waking up.

"Mah, you should really stop scaring the doctors and let them do their job," Kakashi quipped, yet again his gaze unmoving from the book.

"Ha that's fresh coming from you Mr. Sneaks out of the hospital with still bleeding wounds," I retorted. There had been a few times that the copy ninja had returned from a mission and Sara and I had to patch him back up. Well mostly Sara did the patchwork, I just got the supplies gave them to her when she needed it and helped wrap him up.

"Hm," was his only response as he flipped a page.

Everything went by in a blur from there, the doctors spent a good time checking over Sasuke and eventually looked over me when they were done with him just because they had been concerned with my extremely long nights' rest. Though I insisted that I was fine continuously they did not listen to me.

The Hokage eventually made his way in and he had a chat with Sasuke that didn't really go well for either party. Sasuke held my hand for the entire time and I swear he probably cut off the circulation to my fingers about 2 minutes in. The Hokage looked even more exhausted than he had the last time that I had seen him. I swear he was like 20 years older in just 2 days. But soon enough with a sigh the Hokage left and informed me that people were now allowed to visit.

I swore under my breath.

I only had about a minute to prepare before both my mother and Sarana burst through the door with a righteous fury. I also felt Kakashi's chakra flicker away as soon as they walked in. Betrayer.

The anger on my mother's face soon washed away to worry as she saw me sitting next to a vacant looking boy with my arm around his shoulder. She let out a very long sigh of relief as she deflated from the angered state.

Well that was one less person to kill me, my eyes flickered to Sarana, whose chakra was flipping between irritation, rage and relief. Her jaw was clenched and I knew that she was probably most angry at me for not getting her than anything else.

That was something that she would have to chew me out on later.

We all stared at each other for a few seconds, not saying anything before Sarana decided to be the first one to talk "You're an actual moron you know," her eyes flicked over to Sasuke and I could feel the sadness that she felt. Yeah the poor kid was not in a good state, he had returned to barely responsive after the Hokage had talked to him. The Hokage and I agreed that he would probably need a session or 20 with Inochi who sometimes served as a type of psychiatrist for shinobi.

I ran my fingers through Sasuke's hair, hoping that maybe it would help pull him back out of his mind again. "What were you told?" I asked curiously, wondering how much information was given to them. I wasn't sure if anything that happened, as the Hokage knew it, would be classified. So I needed clarification so I knew what I could talk about.

"That you foolishly ran to the Uchiha compound after you felt vanishing chakras with your chakra sense," Sarana explained. My mother was still silent so she had answered.

I felt slight confusion in Sasuke's chakra that told me that he was slightly listening in, even if he wasn't physically responding. This assured me a little.

My mother then walked towards the bed and scooped both me and Sasuke up in a large hug "I'm just so happy that you are both safe," She said as she held us.

There was more confusion from Sasuke's chakra, probably because he had never met my mother before, and now here she was, hugging him and saying that she was glad that he was safe.

"Sorry I'm an idiot," I said to the room. It wasn't really directed at any one person, but I felt it important that it was said.

' "You're my idiot," My mother said with a light laugh. Though she still had a troubled look on her face and I couldn't blame her for it.

She let us go as Sarana made her way over to the bed.

"Sasuke-ya isn't supposed to be discharged till he can see Inochi-sama. Which might take a couple of days. Is it alright if I stay with him till then? He really doesn't like it when I go far." I explained to my mother.

She sighed heavily and I suddenly realized how tired she was. It was likely she hadn't slept since she found out I was in the hospital. And who knows how much that she would have been told, by who and when. Suddenly I really felt guilty for letting her worry so much.

Nirako put a hand on my head and gave me a tired smile "It's alright. I know that you wanted to help your friend. I can get you some spare clothes from home," She said moving her hand off of my head. "Sarana, are you going to stay here?" She asked looking over to my best friend who had her eyes drilled into me.

"Yeah. I'll stay and make sure that she doesn't do anything else stupid," Sarana responded, giving my mom a quick glance and a nodd before returning her gaze to me.

My mom let out a small laugh before saying "That's a big job, be careful," then she left the room, leaving just me, Sasuke and Sarana.

Sara glared at me before her eyes flickered to Sasuke. Sighing she jumped onto the bed on the other side of Sasuke "I'm still mad, and we are gonna talk about it. But later. And there is something else that we need to talk about. But that's also a later talk." she said vaguely. Even though I knew she didn't like Sasuke, both from the anime, and in this life since he treated Naruto so flippantly, she put an assured arm around the kid to comfort him.

I only nodded and continued to run my fingers through Sasukes hair. How the kid had such soft hair I had no idea.

The three of us just sat in silence.