Important A/N: I finally got this chapter done. Seems like it took forever and I'm sorry it did take me so long but now that I have an awesome beta I am back on track. For those of you just joining discount this but if you're returning I have revised this fic and it is now starting before the wave mission and will be a Naru/MaleHarem. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it is a little short but next one will be very long. I want to do the wave mission in one chapter no need to drag it out.

Disclaimer" I don't own the characters.

Beta: Reenan Lefey

Chapter 4

"Thank you." He grinned at the raven's expression.

"For?"

"Not being afraid to touch me."

Sasuke scoffed. "Idiot." The insult was laced with amusement. "Come on, let's get to bed. Tomorrows going to be a long day." He put his pajama pants on but left his shirt off the same as Naruto and crawled into bed pushing far enough over for Naruto to climb in behind him. They said their good nights and turned away from each other but pressed their bare backs against each other. They fell asleep their bodies lined up perfectly and their feet tangled together.

Sasuke was the first to wake, his eyes snapping open, and his breath coming in quick pants. He had the same nightmare, memory, every so often since the slaughter of his clan. Over the years the memory had dulled and while it still affected him it wasn't as bad as it used to be. Last night's nightmare was like living the experience all over again.

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his stomach turning at the sight of blood, and the bodies of his parents. The copper taste of blood was sharp on his tongue with every inhale and the smell was thick and cloying.

Sasuke closed his eyes against the memory and tried to center himself, but as soon as he did that his brother's voice echoed in his mind and his eyes, those cursed eyes, stared back at him from behind his closed eyelids.

Curse me…Hate me…Run away…When you have the same eyes as I do, come before me.

The Mangekyō Sharingan. He knew what it was, what it did, and how to get it. It had taken Sasuke a long time and digging deep into the Uchiha Archives but he found it. When he did, it cleared up a lot of things Sasuke didn't understand.

Shisui. Itachi's best friend. Shisui, who played and trained with Sasuke when Itachi was too busy. Shisui who looked like an Uchiha but didn't act much like one, he smiled, laughed and teased the brothers. He kept them from retreating behind their apathetic masks. Sasuke love him and missed him.

He had heard the rumors about his brother being accused of murdering Shisui but without enough evidence it was never proven. Back then Sasuke had no doubt his brother was innocent. After finding the truth about the Mangekyō Sharingan though, he knew Itachi was guilty.

Sasuke turned his head to look over at the blonde boy snoring away, half hanging off the bed. The tears and asking Naruto to look out for him had to be a trick. Itachi must have wanted Naruto to become his friend in order for Sasuke to kill him and gain the Mangekyō. That was the only explanation. He probably should distance himself from the other boy, just a bit. It was a shame that last night would have to be an aberration, but he had no intention of playing Itachi's game. Naruto could be an asset with some proper training though, best not to alienate him completely.

He wanted to kill Itachi even more now. His brother was playing with him, and since Naruto trusted Itachi as an ANBU, he used that trust to his advantage to get to Sasuke. Letting out an explosive breath he sat up and began poking at Naruto trying to wake him up. There was no more time to think; they needed to meet with Sakura and Kakashi and he needed to get back to training.

When Naruto refused to wake up, Sasuke tipped him off the bed. He landed on the floor with a loud thud.

"Ouch! What happened?" Came the pained question.

Sasuke poked his head over the side of the bed to look down at his teammate who was rubbing the back of his head. "Time to get up." He told Naruto and got up to walk over to dresser. He grabbed a set of clothes for Naruto and himself. He threw one set at Naruto and left the room to go change in the bathroom.

Naruto found himself in a plain black tee, one surprisingly without the Uchiha crest on it, and tan shorts. They ate a light breakfast and left to meet Sakura and their Sensei. They did all this without saying much of anything or bickering the way they usually might. It was odd for Sasuke to see Naruto not being an overly excitable idiot. Not that he minded, this Naruto was much easier for him to deal with. He could see that the blonde was still his usual happy self just not bouncing around like he normally would be.

When they had to walk through town it was a different story. His friends mask came back full force: the over the top smile, bouncing around, and nonstop chatter. Sasuke tuned him out like he normally did and just watched Naruto out of the corner of his eye.

He wanted to slap himself in the face. How could he have been so blind to not see how fake the whole act was? Naruto's smile was too wide and forced, his eyes were almost closed so you couldn't see them, and his chatter was about absolutely nothing. Then he started hearing the whispered comments as they passed. He had seen the looks towards his blonde teammate before but had been so wrapped up in himself he hadn't paid them any mind. He usually blocked everyone out unless he had no choice so he had never really heard what they said. It was degrading and he didn't know how the other boy put up with it.

Sasuke kept up his normal apathetic look and gave no indication he was listening to the villagers or Naruto. Naruto fell silent once more as they moved toward the training grounds. Before too long they reached their meeting place where Sakura was already waiting for them.

Sakura was sitting on the railing looking at her feet kicking back and forth. When she heard them approach she looked up and realized that she heard their footsteps, not talking or arguing. She looked at Sasuke first saying good morning like usual but without the fawning that normally went along with it. She was somewhat surprised but happy when he didn't ignore her and she looked at him adoringly, thinking that maybe the way to get him wasn't by doing what she normally did but by treating him as a member of the team and friend. She paused when she looked at her blonde teammate before she said good morning to him.

"Naruto, are you wearing Sasuke's clothes?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah I fell asleep at his house and didn't have time to go to my place to grab clean clothes."

"You should wear stuff like that more often, it looks good on you."

Naruto flushed in embarrassment at the praise. "Well I like orange but I wouldn't wear it on missions if I had a choice, I told you guys yesterday some of the stores are run by former ninja and I can't even get in those with a henge."

Sakura frowned in disapproval. "Would you like some help getting the stuff you need?" Sakura asked.

"I would appreciate it but I don't want you to go out of your way. I've already put enough on your shoulders with the secrets you have to keep now." He told them. Sakura hopped off the railing and slapped him upside the head though this time it wasn't as hard as she would have if it had been the day before.

"Don't be an idiot. We are a team, weren't you listening to Sasuke yesterday? We will help, not because you asked or we feel sorry for you. We will do this because we want to, and I know if we ever needed anything from you, you wouldn't hesitate to do it. Right Sasuke?"

Sasuke hesitated before answering. He was regretting everything he had said the day before. Sakura could only slow him down and befriending Naruto was playing into Itachi's hands. He nodded anyways, he didn't need them to start asking questions or pestering him if he refused. At least he got a reprieve from Sakura's fan-girl attitude. He wasn't going to fool himself into thinking the change was permanent though.

Naruto smiled happily at them and opened his mouth but was interrupted when Kakashi appeared out of nowhere.

"Yo." He said and wasn't greeted with the usual shouts of 'you're late'. His three students were standing together and getting along for once. All of them looking up at him crouched on the railing where he had appeared.

Naruto was the first to speak. "Kakashi-Sensei, aren't you early?"

"Well I suppose it may seem that way and I wanted to be here on time, but had to see the Hokage and, well, to make a long story short I needed to inform him of the new training regimen. So without asking any questions I need you three to keep any progress you make secret. Understand?"

When he got a nod from all three of them he continued. "Now, Naruto you're not going to like what I have to say but it's for your own good if you want get stronger. Your Taijutsu, to be honest, is horrible. I understand that this isn't your fault but it needs to be corrected. For today you are going to train with Sasuke, he can help correct most of the mistakes you make and help improve your form." Naruto scowled at his Sensei but didn't say anything knowing he needed all the help he could get. He just hated that it was Sasuke that he got that help from. They may be doing better as friends, discounting the incident last night that he couldn't even think about without blushing, but Naruto hated that he was still weaker than Sasuke.

Sasuke just smirked. He was feeling satisfied, Naruto may have huge chakra reserves and a chakra beast inside him but Sasuke was still stronger. "Let's go." Sasuke said as he turned to walk away.

Naruto glared at his Sensei one more time before following Sasuke to the training grounds. He listened to Kakashi tell Sakura that he was going to work with her on her Taijutsu skills as well.

Kakashi kept half of his attention on Sasuke and Naruto while working with Sakura. She did well with her Taijutsu but she had no stamina and tired easily. He watched his two students spar with an intense concentration. Every once in a while Sasuke would stop and correct Naruto's form by slowing down his movement and having him copy it until he could do it flawlessly. Then they would go back to sparring.

The morning went by quickly with Kakashi increasingly surprised at how fast Naruto was improving with in just a couple of hours. They stopped for lunch, all three students collapsing to the grass panting for breath. When they had rested enough, the four of them ate in companionable silence.

"Naruto, you're improving very well. If you keep this up we should be able to move you and Sasuke on to chakra control exercises." Naruto smiled brightly and was excited to finally be learning something new. Sasuke gave his signature smirk just glad to move on to something other than what they had been doing.

When they had finished lunch Kakashi set them back to their original training for a few more hours before stopping them. He told them to run five laps around the village to help raise their endurance and told them every day he would raise the amount of laps they had to run.

When they had completed that task they took a breather and Sakura reminded Sasuke that they had said they would help Naruto get his supplies. She sent Sasuke off to get weapons before grabbing a hold of Naruto and dragging him off to pick out clothes.

Naruto let Sakura take the lead, not really arguing with her about the outfits she had picked out. It didn't really matter to him what he wore. He was just happy to be out doing something nice with his teammates, well, teammate; Sasuke may have been out with them but he wasn't in sight.

When they finished, they headed to Naruto's apartment where Sasuke was waiting for them. Naruto took the bag from Sasuke and paid him for the supplies. He asked the other boy if he wanted to come in. Sasuke shook his head and left waving a hand as he did so. Sakura shook her head and followed Naruto in, carrying one of the bags for him. She looked around, slightly surprised at how tidy his apartment was. It wasn't spotless, but it was cleaner than what she would have expected from a 13 year old boy who lived alone. When he asked if she wanted to stay for supper, she declined. She slipped her shoes back on and got ready to go. Naruto thanked her for her help and closed the door behind her when she left.

Naruto went about putting everything away and started to make something to eat. Afterwards, he showered and got ready for bed. He lay there for a little while, thinking about his teammates and training, before letting sleep take him.

On days they had missions, they worked to complete them by lunch and afternoons were reserved for endurance training. On days they didn't have any missions, mornings consisted of Taijutsu training and after lunch was more endurance training. By the fourth day of their altered training regimen Naruto had caught up to Sasuke's level in Taijutsu and they resumed their rivalry, each boy trying to one up the other throwing in complex moves until they were both fell to the ground beaten, bruised, and exhausted. Kakashi called an early lunch and informed them that the next training session would consist of teamwork training. He had them do their 20 laps around the village and let them go early.

The next three days consisted of Kakashi teaching them mission formations and their individual rolls in the team. He ran them through different mission scenarios that they could encounter. By the end of day seven they were up to 35 laps around the village without too much difficulty. The week flew by and their skills improved drastically as well as their teamwork. Sasuke had reverted back to his normal apathetic self. He was less antagonistic towards his teammates but made no effort to get closer to Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry was as strong as ever. Sakura and Naruto started to develop a more familial bond when, after the night at Sasuke's house, Naruto realized he thought Sasuke was prettier than Sakura.

Naruto, more often than not, had Kakashi over for supper, where they would spend their time talking about his parents and Kakashi's training under the Yondaime. Afterwards, Kakashi would work with Naruto on his seal training. For once, Naruto was at peace and completely happy. Not even the villagers could bring him down because now he knew he had people who like him for himself no matter what he carried in his body.

On the eighth day they received their first C Ranked mission. Protect the bridge builder.