Guess what, I managed to get another chapter of this all written up! Yay! And its the end of this little mini arc of diving into Sasuke's, or what her name actually is in this story, memories. I will say though this chapter is where things REALLY start to differ from cannon, mainly being one it at the end, as well as the consequences of their actions, mainly cuz Orochimaru. Now in any case, I hope you all enjoy. And of course you all know the drill of what's next.

DISCLAIMER: I will say this as many times as it takes to keep the copyright Nazis off. I do not own Naruto or anything from the series. Those belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Viz Media, TV Tokyo Co., and Shonen Jump, and other content creators. HOWEVER, I do own the story itself and any custom jutsus I come up with. Now let's jump in!


Chapter 10: Light in the Dark

Inside Sasuke's Mindscape

"Itachi, we need to speak with you about Shisui Uchiha." a ninja that had the Uchiha creast on his shoulder asked Itachi.

Naruto, Haku, Sakura, and the Kyuubi were watching one of Sasuke's memories play out so that they could find the door to the next memory. At the moment, they were standing to the side as Itachi, with his little sister on his back, was confronted by three Uchiha ninja. Well, not that anyone else knew besides Fugaku and Mikoto at that time Team 7 assumed, based on Fugaku's attitude about it previously.

"What is it? Did something has something happened?" Itachi replied.

"Only two Uchiha missed last meeting. Why didn't you come?"

Itachi calmly answered "I was on mission at the time. But I understand, I will be more careful from now on"

One of the Uchihas stepped up, and spoke "This is regarding the other who did not make the meeting. Shisui Uchiha. His body was found in the Nakano River this morning. He had left behind a suicide note. We want to ask you about that."

Itachi looked downwards. While Sasuke came to terms with what was spoken.

"S-Shisui nii-san is dead? From suicide? But why?"

"I haven't had the chance to see him recently. It's unfortunate." Itachi replied.

The last of the three pulled out the note, and gave it to the Uchiha, explaining the brisk of what was written.

"However, it's possible for a Sharingan user to perfectly mimic Shisui's handwriting and write the note, so we would like you to request the Anbu to help us with the investigation." The first of the three Uchiha said.

"I understand." Itachi replied, a bit of anger in his voice.

The three started to walk away before his tightened the grip of the note and put Sasuke down on the ground.

"Why don't you just come out and say it?...that you suspect me?"

The three Uchiha then turned around, and their Sharingan met with his.

The fight that proceeded afterwards was quick, and, as noted by Haku, efficient. Itachi had single handedly disabled the three Uchiha. Itachi and one of the downed ninja seemed to have a heated conversation, before Fugaku showed up.

"Calm down Itachi." he ordered with a stern look on his face.

Itachi then grabbed a kuni, much to his father's shock before he tossed it at the Uchiha symbol on the wall.

One of the Uchiha got himself off the ground as he said "That's enough. If you keep this going, we'll have to take you to jail."

Itachi glared at them before Sasuke yelled "Nii-san! Stop it already, please!"

Itachi turned around to where Sasuke was, and with a short breath, cooled himself down. He then prostrated himself onto the ground and told them "It is not I who killed Shisui...but for my words and actions, I deeply apologize."

Fugaku let out his breath, satisfied with that as he told Itachi "Let's go inside, Itachi."

Fugaku then went towards the door, but first grabbed Sasuke by her ear.

"Uchiha men do not need to plead. Understood?" He said in her ear.

She nodded and he let her go, his actions unnoticed by the three Uchiha who had already begun to walk away.

However, as Fugaku walked away, Itachi glared at his back with his Sharingan ablaze, and moreso, the 3 tomoe pattern changed into a shuriken like shape.

"What...what is that Sharingan?"

The team looked on quite unnerved at the situation, also curious about what Sasuke mentioned in her thoughts. It was the Kyuubi that answered their question.

"Those eyes are the Mangekyo Sharingan. You can think of it as the stage about the 3rd tomoe of their blasted eyes. Ugh just looking at them makes me want to blow something up!"

"What's so special about them?" Naruto asked her.

The redhead fox woman sighed "Essentially they give the user new abilities, one in each eye as well as one that uses both eyes in tandem. These can be things such as the Amaterasu I told you about before, as well as strengthening the base abilities of the sharingan. Which includes their stupid fucking genjutsu of theirs!"

Sakura asked her "Are you okay?"

The Kyuubi reined in her hatred, and spoke "Well, it's because of them casting their bullshit level genjutsu that's I've been controlled not just once, but twice! Heck, it's because of what they made me do that your annoying little village locked me up!"

Naruto then told her "It's okay Kyuubi. We understand."

Haku then came up with a dark joke to try and cheer her up.

"Well...at least now there's only like...three Uchiha left?"

The others looked at her a bit baffled, but the Kyuubi laughed as she spoke "True enough. Guess that's a silver lining for me!"

The other two decided to let her have that. They would rather have a happy Beast of Mass Destruction than a pissed off one on their hands.

It was then the Kyuubi dropped the bombshell on them.

"In any case though, the Mangekyo does come with a price. Constant use can lead to blindness and worse...in order to activate it, you must suffer mental agony...such as if one killed their best friend."

This caused the three genin's eyes to become wide open.

"Wait, then did Itachi really kill that Shisui guy!?" Naruto asked. Haku and Sakura also wanted to know.

However, the Kyuubi simply shook her head and spoke "About that, even if it's only a memory, I can sense negative emotions, including the one that comes with lying...what is strange though is that Itachi was telling the truth when he told them he didn't kill Shisui."

Haku replied "Quite a conundrum. We should get going though, the longer Orochimaru has to toy with Sasuke, the worse things might get."

The group nodded, and afterwards followed the Kyuubi to the door that Fugaku, Sasuke, and Itachi went into moments before.

The next place they arrived at was the Konoha streets at night. Before any of them could say anything, they spotted a Sasuke running towards the Uchiha District.

"Oh man! Tou-san is going to kill me! Maybe he'll be nicer about it if I say I practiced shurikenjutsu, which I did...but ah! I need to hurry!"

The four found it a bit funny, but couldn't really laugh as they felt something off about the atmosphere, something bad.

The group then ran behind Sasuke. As they ran, both the Kyuubi and Naruto sensed a presence up above, and saw the silhouette of a ninja above.

"Is that Itachi!?" Naruto yelled.

The Kyuubi replied "Likely so."

Sasuke noticed Itachi's presence, only for him to not be there the moment later.

Sakura's eyes opened wide as she realized what night this was.

"T-this is the night o-"

However she was cut off as Naruto spoke "I can hear...screams...and the smell of lots of blood."

The group then dashed faster, just as Sasuke in front of them did the same.

As they arrived at the Uchiha district, they saw the bodies of many of the Uchiha clansmen all over the place. All taken out with single, fatal strikes. And the blood, the amount of blood would have made Sakura and Naruto throw up their lunches. The two were glad that right now they were mental projections of themselves rather than their physical bodies. They would have lost their lunch otherwise.

They found themselves in the middle of the Uchiha Massacre.

Sasuke meanwhile ran down the streets, yelling the names of the clansmen she knew, only for there to be no answer, save for some of their bodies being in the open for her to know they were dead.

In her fear for her family, she then ran into the house.

As they ran, The Kyuubi noticed something strange. She swore she could hear fighting in another location, and in the house she could hear Itachi speak something she never thought the supposed clan killer would say.

"I'm sorry..."

Seems there is more hidden about the Massacre than I suspected she thought. What the rest of the team didn't know was that Minato asked the fox to complete a second objective.

To see if she could find anything that could tell them why the massacre happened.

She was brought out of her musings as they entered the house.

For a moment, they all felt a strange sensation. The Kyuubi then told them "We're here! I can smell that snake's stench now!"

The group nodded and ran behind Sasuke, all of which were ready for a fight.

Sasuke came across an open door, along with Team 7, who were still invisible as they had not changed anything yet.

Only to see Itachi cut his parents down, right in front of Sasuke.

Itachi stood tall, staring at his younger sibling. However, despite their shock, Naruto and the Kyuubi also noticed something that was hard to tell at first glance.

There was a dried tear or two on the clan slayer's face. While it puzzled the genin, the Kyuubi on the other hand started to get a hypothesis to form in her head.

However, they didn't have the time to worry about that right now.

"Itachi...what..what did you do!?"

Itachi stared at him as he cooly spoke "I killed them."

Sasuke screamed at him "WHY!? WHY did you do it Nii-san!?"

"To test my ability."

All of the group thought that was bullshit. Something was fishy. It was then a voice spoke.

"That's right Sasuke-kun. He simply killed your family, your friends, all just to test his power. You want revenge don't you? You want power don't you?"

The group looked around before the Kyuubi spotted it and yelled "There!"

They noticed a small white snake on Sasuke's shoulder. It spoke into Sasuke's ear, attempting to speak whispers of power and glory to her.

Haku nodded and sent a senbon towards it, causing it to look back and realize in fear that someone else had invaded the young Uchiha's mind at the worst time. It quickly batted away the senbon...but was not prepared for Naruto to come in and tackle Sasuke to the ground.

The reason being was that he was also paying attention to the ongoing memory, and noticed Itachi's eyes change as well as talk about showing her something.

He thought back to what the Kyuubi told him previously, about the sharingan controlling her before. For once in his life he immediately understood what that meant.

Genjutsu.

As he guessed Itachi was about to toss her in one, he quickly tackled Sasuke to the ground, making her line of sight no longer with Itachi's...but now Naruto's was. And he was now visible to them.

The memory Itachi was surprised at this...but it was already too late as the Genjutsu activated.

As Naruto was hit with the genjutsu, the Kyuubi quickly grabbed the white snake with her hand and glared at it point blank.

"You dare to mess with life the way you do things Orochimaru, now BURN!"

The snake was then set alight, it screamed in Orochimaru's voice as it was destroyed.

Despite their mission being a success, there was another problem.

"Naruto!" the girls yelled as he fell to the floor.


Inside the Tsukuyomi

Naruto found himself on the Uchiha District's street, and the ground was black while a red moon hung up in the air.

"What the hell?" he said out loud.

"That is something I would like to say for myself...Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned around to see Itachi standing behind him. However, he was not showing a single sign of hostility. So Naruto felt no reason to fight. But he did want answers.

"Itachi, were you going to do to Sasuke?"

However, Itachi frowned for a moment and said "You mean what 'did' I do?"

Naruto was a bit confused at what he just said before he elaborated.

"Naruto-kun. I know this is merely Sasuke's memories. I merely set a portion of my chakra in here as a back-up just in case. Though thank you for taking care of that snake, I hadn't sensed it until the last moment."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, but then yelled "Hey! You didn't answer my question!"

Itachi simply smiled as he said "Right of course, you were always a 'get to the point' kind of child. Essentially I was going to have her relive the massacre from my eyes...with a few things left out."

"Why?"

Itachi sighed "The truth is, I want her to kill me."

"What!?" Naruto screamed in surprise.

Itachi nodded and continued.

"I wanted her to hate me, and to activate her Sharingan, so that someday, she could bring honor back to the clan by defeating the one that slayed her clan."

However, Naruto saw there was more to this and asked him.

"Why did you do it? I know there's something else going on here...you were crying."

Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. He then smiled and he spoke "I see...I suppose that form of yours must have improved your senses. And relax, I won't tell anyone."

Naruto looked at him at first in shock that he could see the fox ears and tail, but breathed in relief that he wouldn't sell him out.

Itachi then tolf him "As for the truth though...I will not tell you."

"Oh come on!"

"Relax Naruto-kun. Let me finish" he said with a wave of his hand, and with a short 'mm-hmm', he spoke again.

"However, if you are insistent on learning what truly happened from me that night...then when you and Sasuke are strong enough, find me, and prove you can withstand the darkness that comes with the truth."

Naruto nodded and with a cheeky smile said "Alright then, I'll kick your ass someday and be the light in dark for Sasuke then! That's a promise Dattebayo!"

Itachi smiled, as he felt sure that this boy meant what he said. He then looked around and noticed the genjutsu start to crack.

"It seems our time is up. We will meet again before long. And beware of the masked Uchiha."

Naruto nodded, considering he might be talking about the same Uchiha who released the Kyuubi previously.

Just as the genjutsu was about to end, Itachi also added.

"Also, if you make my little sister cry, expect no mercy from me."

Naruto with wide eyes replied "Wait wh-"

And then the genjutsu ended.


Sasuke's Mindscape

Naruto opened his eyes to see both his team bending over him, checking if he was okay. He then looked around to notice that Itachi was gone, and that Sasuke was also leaning over him.

"A-are you okay?" Memory-Sasuke asked him.

Naruto simply grinned as he said "Oh, I'll be fine, I'm tougher than I look."

Sasuke started to cry, tears in her eyes as she asked him "You didn't have to do that for me you big dummy. I don't even know you and Nii-san could have killed you!"

Naruto simply smiled back as he said "Well, I didn't want you to suffer more than you already have...that, and because I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage! No way am I gonna let a little girl get hurt on my watch!"

Sasuke then smiled as the tears ran down her face.

"Is that so?...then don't let yourself get hurt again, idiot...and thank you."

It was then the entire room turned to white, and memory Sasuke had vanished as well.

The girls then made their remarks.

"While yes, you're an idiot...You're a good kind of idiot...just don't pull that again Naruto." Sakura said before she pulled him up.

The Kyuubi simply grinned. She was quite pleased with what Naruto did, even if it was a member of their filthy clan he protected. But he could sympathize with the girl. Being forced to act as the opposite gender due to the views of society, though for different reasons. But she also couldn't help but sense a bit of familiarity in the girl. But the Kyuubi decided not to worry about it for now. She could figure it out later.

Haku added to Sakura's remark "What you did was a very, very noble act Naruto-kun. Though like Sakura said, a bit reckless...but if you didn't do so, you wouldn't be our Naruto-kun."

"Eheheheh." Naruto replied as he scratched the back of his head.

The Kyuubi then spoke "Well in any case, let's-"

However, the scenery, much to their surprise, changed one last time.

They found themselves on a hill, standing over a lake that had a small pier next to the hill.

Sasuke was sitting on the pier, looking into the water below. She wasn't wearing her usual outfit, but instead looking more girlish, and had her hair in a ponytail in the back.

"While I hated dad at times...at least making me act and dress like a boy makes it easier to 'disguise' as a girl."

The girls thought she looked quite cute, Naruto however, was thinking out loud something else.

"Wait a second, I recognize this…"

The group looked at him, minus the Kyuubi since she knew, in a bit of confusion. But their question was answered as they saw a small boy with blond and spiky hair walking down the road with his hands behind his head.

"Wait...is that..Naruto?" Sakura asked in surprise.

The chibi Naruto then looked down towards the girl at the pier, who sat there all alone.

"My family are all dead...except for my brother who killed them...why Itachi...why did you do it...what should I-"

At that point the blond came down the hill, walked onto the pier, and sat down next to her and with a smile, asked "Are you okay?"

Sasuke looked at the cheery blond and said "Go away...I want to be alone."

However, the cheery blond didn't give up, but instead asked "Did something bad happen?"

Sasuke simply stayed quiet, she didn't want to be bothered like this.

"You're not alone ya know."

The girl turned his head towards the blond boy who continued.

"Everyone has someone they can share, laugh, and cry with. Don't you have anyone like that?"

Sakura and Haku were shocked. They didn't know that even when he was young that Naruto had the sort of sagely wisdom that sometimes comes out when they're all together. Sakura started to think Naruto was a lot wiser than he sometimes acted. Despite him being an idiot.

Sasuke looked into his eyes for a second before she said "I don't have anyone like that anymore…"

However, the blond smiled as he said "What about me? I can be your friend. Sensei Iruka says I'm a good listener when I want to be!"

Sasuke looked at the blond. His clear blue eyes, his breezy blond hair, and the infectious smile he had. She almost felt as if though the darkness that had been holding her down for the past week faded away. All just from the smile on his face, the words he had spoken, and the feelings behind them.

"This boy...he's so bright...like a light in the dark…"

The group smiled before Naruto's eyes went wide open as his memory of this event resurfaced for him.

"Sure!" Sasuke said with a smile on her face. Even chibi Naruto couldn't help but blush a little.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! What's your name?"

Sasuke pondered it for a moment, before she let out a thought.

"Mom always told me she hated that Dad made me use a boy's name...but she did tell me one time what she wanted to name me."

She then nodded, and just as she spoke her name, the present Naruto also said it as well.

"Asuka./Asuka!?"

Sakura and Haku looked at him questioningly before he told the rest of the group what he remembered.

"I remember this. I found her at the pier one day looking sad and wanted to cheer her up. We ended up spending a week together, hanging out here once a day at this place, before one day she said that she had to go somewhere, and probably wouldn't be back. She told me that if I cared for her, I should find someone else to like, someone that's smart, pretty, and all that...oh my Kami, I forgot this. This...wonderful moment in time I had in my life."

The group found this adorable, before Sakura realized what this meant.

"Oh my Kami...that's why you were always asking me out, weren't you? And maybe all those punches to the head I did to you made you forget why..."

As the scene faded away, with Haku and Kyuubi laughing at Naruto and Sakura's expense, one blushing and the other had facepalmed herself in embarrassment, they felt the tug as they were being pulled out of Sasuke's, or rather Asuka's, mindscape. The last thing they saw was the cheery blond and raven-haired girl laughing and giggling as they spoke to each other.

Naruto made promised that he wouldn't forget that day again, and also made sure to have this image burned into his mind. As well as what she thought at that time about him.

Her light in the dark...huh?


Elsewhere in the Forest of Death

Orochimaru, now in his disguise, was waiting for Kabuto by the tower. He was already annoyed that the boy hadn't been up to date with his information, but also from the 2nd degree burns on his arms. He was still mad at himself that out of fear, he forgot that he could have easily dodged that monster of a jutsu with a quick, sealless substitution. However, the damage was done. He even used his jutsu that worked like a snake shedding its skin, and while the minor burns were healed, the damage his arms took were still quite agonizing. He wasn't even sure now if he wanted to experiment on the Kyuubi brat or outright murder him for what he did.

He was brought out of his thoughts as Kabuto walked out of the forest and into the hallway.

"My lord, you requested my presence?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes you se-" Orochimaru began to speak.

However, he was interrupted by an AGONIZING amount of pain he had never felt before, he knelt down to the ground, and clenched his arms as a silent scream came to his mouth.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto said as he knelt down to try and help his master.

After a moment, the pain faded away, and Orochimaru picked himself up.

However, as the boy saw his eyes, Kabuto couldn't help but shiver in fear.

He had never seen his master so angry before. It was as if though Orochimaru could kill someone with his anger alone.

"Kabuto…"

"Yes Lord Orochimaru?" the boy responded.

"After you resign from the exam, return to Sound immediately, and add someone to the bingo book, and I want them DEAD. Is that clear?"

Kabuto nodded and asked "Who?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."


Elsewhere in the Land of Fire

Two men wearing black cloaks and straw hats were sitting at a dango shop that was next to the road. Under the hats, one would realize that these two were infamous S-class criminals. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

Kisame was telling Itachi a story about the one time he was about against a large amount of hunter nin, only to slaughter them all. And he enjoyed himself as he did so.

Sigh, he's quite the battle junkie sometimes, but at least he's always straight with me. Much better than dealing with Madara or worse, Danzo. They always seem to be up to something.

Just as a smile came to his face, his eyes widened for a moment as a flash of memories came to him from something he had set up long ago.

"Hey, you okay Itachi?" Kisame asked, noticing the change in expression.

Itachi shook his head and told him "I'm fine Kisame, but thank you for asking."

Kisame simply shrugged and got back into his story, at the part he was literally using one of his opponents as an improvised second weapon.

Itachi smiled, not really to his friend's story, but to the memory of the chakra clone he had set up as a just in case measure for his sister.

I'll see you soon...imouto...and Naruto.


Sakura: Not going to lie Naruto, you may be an idiot, but you do have your good moments.

Naruto: Thanks Sakura-chan!...hey wait a second.

Haku: Don't worry about it Naruto, you'll get smarter as you mature.

Minato: She isn't wrong

Naruto: Still though, Asuka huh?

Asuka: Yes, that's the name WVH decided to call me.

WVH: Yeah kinda took me a while to find and pick one. Choose Asuka since its kanji are Asu, or "to fly", and ka, or "Bird."

Minato: Ah, so you chose that one since it had most of its letters being the same as 'Sasuke' and the relation to birds due to the crow summon?

WVH: Yep.

Kyuubi: Still enjoying the fact we fucked over Orochi-Pedo with this. Oh he is going to be pissed.

WVH: Oh I assure you, he's already livid. In any case, to the readers, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Be sure to R&R and come back for when next chapter pops up!

Some white haired guy with purple eyes: So, when are you updating our story?

WVH: Dammit Add! Not now!