Authors Note: Just so you guys know, reviews ar my substance. Just sayin'. Also, I changed a few small things in last chapter, so it's closer to what was intended. Also, to respond to a person, this is after the chuunin exams, I think. Timeline's kinda funky, since it's been forever since I've watched Naruto (I'm on Shippuden) but I'm trying here. Anyways, enjoy!

Sasuke sat up, rubbing his head absently. He was on the ground, cuts all over his body, not bleeding anymore but still visible. Confused, he looked around. Memeories rushed into his brain, a slideshow of sensations and images. He had been...beaten. The revelation kind of stung. But then, he wondered, why was he here? Why wasn't he in a cell, or slung over Naruto's back, or at least tied up or something? Even Naruto wouldn't be dumb enough to expect that Sasuke would just stay where he was if he was left unattended.

He had been so close. The power he craved was right there, just one death away. Cradled in Orochimaru's arm, hidden behind his blonde friend, just in his grasp, yet so far away. All the work he had put in to becoming strong enough to kill Itachi, and still, he couldn't even kill a stupid, hyper-active, young ninja who had always been dead-last. The only things that Naruto could ever be credited with were stupidity, for obnoxiously large charka amounts, an ace up his sleeve (the Nine-Tails), and looking adorable on the most inconvenient times. If he couldn't kill Naruto, how could he be expected to even land a scratch on Itachi?

He couldn't.

Screaming, he slammed his fist into the ground. A shudder went through the ground, and a few cracks showed up, but he was tired enough from the fight that he couldn't do any real damage to the earth. Not more than he had already done earlier, Sasuke added on in his mind, looking at th twin indentations in the rock, the water that was twisted uneasily as though unsettled by Naruto's apparent disappearance.

He looked around. His whole body hurt. Forcing himself up with a small scream, he got up and sat at the edge of the waterfall, taking off his shoes and kicking his feet in the cold, rushing water. It felt nice, refreshing.

He supposed he should go from the site of the battle- if any backup showed up, Sasuke was in no shape to resist. But he also had no will to leave his seat, observing the land laid out before him, the emerald tops of the trees and the sunset in the distance.

A rustle caught his attention. A familiar chakra washed over him.

A man with silver hair tied in a ponytail, glasses, and a purple sort of jumpsuit that made Sasuke want to stab him every time he saw it, how horrible it was, emerged from the foliage. Removing a leaf from his hair, Kabuto put a hand on his hip, and looked at Sasuke.

"Did you get him?"

Sasuke hesitated. He could very well lie and say yes, but as the raven had no idea where the blonde was, it wouldn't be to his advantage is Naruto showed up out of the nothing, and decided it was time to take Sasuke back now. The raven no longer held any confidence that he could kill Naruto, not after he had failed as miserably as he had.

"No, I don't know where he went. With any luck, he fell into the lake and drowned, or something."

Disappointment showed in Kabuto's posture. "Great. Well, in which case, let's get you back. You're injured, and you need more training, clearly. A pity…" His lip curled. "I thought you were supposed to be a prodigy."

Sasuke growled at the offhand comment, but didn't rise to the bait. "Let's just go."

Kabuto slipped an arm under Sasuke's shoulder, supporting him as they then limped off towards the hideout, where Orochimaru surely knew of all that had transpired. WIth Sasuke's luck, the snake had predicted everything down to the very last detail.

Meanwhile….

Naruto woke up warm. He was curled in a bedroll, in front of the remnants of a fire. Confused, he sat up. His head still hurt, but not nearly anywhere close to the stabbing needles that he had experienced yesterday. Somewhere towards the left, a pretty girl was packing up what little was at the camp, shoving it all into a bag. The girl, who said she had saved him. He had believed her, though- he had been, after all, freezing, with a horrible headache, and dripping wet. Her name was...Kuri? No, Kuro. He liked the name. It suited her well- she had strawberry-blonde hair, light skin with freckles, and big, mint-colored eyes. She wore black shorts, with bandages on her thighs, to which she had strapped some kunai and shuriken, and had a belt slung across her hips, with her ninja headband on it, the stylized clouds of the Villaige of the Sky on it. She wore a deep green shirt with a red swirl on the sleever and a lacy black choker. She was pretty.

Seeing Naruto was up, Kuro turned her attention to the blonde. "Naruto. Morning. Hey, once you're ready, could you get those things right there, and roll up the bedroll? I'm heading to the Leaf today, but it'll take a few days. Wanna come with, or go on your own way?"

Naruto stared at her. It was a lot of information to process at once. "Uh, I-uh, sure, dattebayo!"

Shooting him a look, Kuro asked, "Yo, does the Leaf sound...familiar to you? In any way? Or, maybe you associate a feeling of safety to it?"

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "No, not at all! If anything, it's the opposite…"

Sighing, Kuro looked away from him and continued picking up the things, although really at this point there wasn't anything left. She was just picking at the dirt.

Standing up and rolling up his bedroll, wincing at all the formerly unfelt cuts and bruises all over his body, he put it into the small pack Kuro had thrown to him, with the sarcastic words of, "Come on, granny."

For some reason, the words felt familiar. But distant, all at once. He strained to remember, but nothing quite came to mind. All it did was make his head hurt a little bit. Not enjoying the feeling, he stopped trying to figure it out and turned his attention to Kuro, who was waiting off in the bushes for him to follow. Once he was sure his backpack was zipped up and nothing would tumble out without his notice, he went after her.

She walked brsikly, keeping her eyes ahead as though scanning for threats, the blonde trailing right behind her, similarly absorbing the sights. The emerald trees leering over them, casting golden patches of sunlight and dark shadows on the road, giving it a dappled look. A few people passed by, and Kuro awarded them a small nod but nothing other in ackknowledgement.

"What are we gonna do once we're in the Leaf?" Naruto asked politely, trying not to pry but legitamaetly curious over what his fate, apparently to be decided by a stranger who had saved him from drowning, but was still a stranger, was going to be. But he knew it would be close to suicide had he gone off on his own, what with the significant holes in his memories.

"Well, it'll be a few days until we're there, but until then, you better keep up. Just 'cause you fell in a lake doesn't give you any excuse to not help out. Tomorrow I'm going to go hunting, and you...you can...gather berries or something. Try to remember something. I don't wanna leave you in the care of the Leaf Hokage if I don't need to, but if you don't remember anything, I'll probably do so."

"Damn, Kuro, you're heartless. Well, okay! I can hunt, I think. If you give me a kunai."

Kuro shook her head. "For all I know, you're a rogue ninja whose looking to kill me and is on an undercover job, or something. Nuh-uh. You'll gather berries."

Sighing, Naruto hung his head. If he had been a rogue ninja, he didn't remember. It was infuriating. But then, there really wasn't any point in getting mad. There was nothing he could do about it anyways. He doubted Kuro would let him near the kunai at any point if she didn't want him too. A thought crossed his mind, and for some reason, he felt panic rise in his throat.

What if he wasn't even a ninja?

There wasn't any reason to assume he was. Sure, Kuro did, but then, Kuro knew nothing about him. What if he was a normal person, like any other? He didn't like that very much. It sounded… boring. Mundane.

Dobe.

Naruto wondered briefly where that name came from. He didn't dismissed it, but instead filed it into his mind to think about later. You know that mental voice you get when you think? This mental voice didn't sound like his own. It was deeper, and quieter. Even Naruto's mental voice was loud. Smiling as Kuro looked over her shoulder and scoffed, he ran after her, blissfully absent as he surveyed his surroundings.

If only the peace would last.