Beta by: RedCommander72. Thank you for all the hard work, you don't know how much this poor author appreciates the help. There might still be some mistakes left, I apologise for them in advance please notify me if you find any.

A/N: I was sick for a while there and some other stuffs. Sorry for the late update, hopefully you guys are still with me.

1.3 Not Dead Yet

When anyone imagines a battlefield, they usually imagine a scene of blood, smoke, weapons, people shouting and yelling, everyone trying desperately to survive all within a terrain filled with terror, death and hopelessness.

No matter which era, the scene of a battlefield never really changes much. It's almost always the same. Blood, death and fear.

A Shinobi knows and mentally prepares for that kind of situation. There is no correct way to approach a battlefield, you may plan for days but all those plans usually go out the window in a second.

When the leaf team arrived at the point where the foul chakra of the tailed beast was emitting from, they weren't exactly expecting the sight they were met with. A team from the Sand Village was also standing nearby looking unsure of what to do.

For starters, no one was dying or fighting for that matter. A very dumbfounded looking fellow, who only had pants on, with black hair and seal marks all over his back was sitting in the middle of a large patch of recently burnt ground. Next to him, sitting there was what looked like to be the Kazekage of the Sand who was cussing profoundly.

"Son of a rotten, fucked up headed alien hag with a fucking God complex! When I get my hands on you I will..."

All the spectators winced at what came to be a very humiliating and painful process of torture description.

"Wow, that's a lot of curses and very colourful and detailed too. What do you think Sasuke, how long has he been at it?" Sai whispered to his team mate.

"...then I will shove it through your throat and pull it out the other end, you fucked up drunken moron..."

"I don't know, but damn! He knows how to curse for sure," Sasuke whispered back, looking mildly impressed.

"Isn't he Gaara? From the chunin exam? I must say he is extremely creative," Naruto added thoughtfully.

"...and then I will pull off your skin and drill a bloody hole in your head and feed your tongue through your bloody ears you three eyed freak of nature..."

"You know if TC cell was here, they would be going pink over what he is describing. I mean half of that isn't physically possible," Yamato said eyeing the redhead teen on the floor.

"...I will make you shit that booze through your nose you piece of crap..."

"I don't think anything he is saying at this point is physically possible," Sasuke mused stroking his chin. Sai and Naruto nodded in agreement.

"But who on earth is he so angry at?" Sai asked after a while. The red head was done cursing in English and now he was cursing in Latin, which no one was understanding, but since his tone hasn't changed everyone assumed he is still at it. They all decided to wait for the teen to cool down. No one wanted to poke the bear and thus the creative threats in different languages went on for a while.

Line break...

Sora was alive.

He was fucking alive.

ALIVE!

Living, breathing, shitting kind of alive!

He was also back in the universe he had travelled to. The last thing Sora remembered was preparing his mind to finally die and meet his love in the afterlife. But no such luck. Sora had woken up in the middle of the same forest he and Utakata had fought Obito and that Zetsu bastard. An unconscious Utakata by his side with the six tails somehow still within its seal.

What the hell happened? Sora had no recollection what so ever of any event after he lost consciousness. He blamed his alive status on Hagoromo. No one else would be responsible for his untimely vitality. Can't a guy die here when he wants to? Like was it too much to ask to die for a change?

Curse that freak! Curse the stupid multi verse!

"So, umm... Sora are you okay? " Utakata aske timidly. The guy was sitting by Sora's side for a while now, his upper body bare, his body showing significant number of cuts but luckily none of them seemed life threatening. Sora can feel the tailed beast's presence still inside Utakata's seal so no harm done there.

"I don't know," Sora replied, his voice sounded dry and broken from the constant yelling and screaming. He groaned and finally noticed three things which he should have a long time ago.

A team from both the Leaf and Sand village were present in the clearing and were looking at him and Utakata with a range of emotions, from horrific to impressed to disgusted. Naruto was present among the leaf team. Looking at her felt like a punch in gut and he suddenly felt completely drained. He could distinguish the subtle differences between the Naruto from his Universe and this one. They could be twins, but no matter how much they look alike, if you know them well, you could point out the difference. A little change in the eye brows, different ways to wearing their hairs, small and insignificant differences mostly. But for Sora that made all the differences in the world. This was about all he could take without going insane.

He fell on his back and let the exhaustion of dying and coming back to life take over his body. Damn it! How many times was he going to die and come back to life? This was like the second time! It was official, Sora sucked at dying.

Line break...

"So, let me get this straight. Gaara and Sora are twins? Both got half of the one tail's chakra inside their bodies?" Sasuke frowned, this explanation seemed too farfetched and something just felt wrong despite the evidences.

Sasuke and Yamato were talking to the leader of the Sand team. Naruto and Sai had the task to send a message to the Leaf village stating that the emergency was evaded. Sai made his ink bird and Naruto was putting a seal on it. Utakata was getting checked by one of the medics and Sora was lying nearby, still unconscious.

"Yes, not many people know about Sora's existence. Their father, the previous Kazekage, kept it a secret. After he died, we came to know about the boys," the Sand Shinobi said.

"So, who was at the Chunin exam about three years ago? You know one where you attacked the leaf?" Sasuke asked, his Sharingan eyes looking over Sora's body. The Sand Capitan flinched at the blunt question but answered Sasuke anyway.

"It was Sora, Gaara was back home and once Sora came back, both of them came to the public. After a short while Sora went on an undercover mission and only now, he's returning. I can't tell you about the mission details, but this is something to do with a group targeting the tail beasts and their hosts," the sand Capitan explained. Sasuke wasn't convinced yet. But he let the topic rest, for now.

Sai and Naruto soon jogged over to join the conversation and Yamato quickly explained the situation. To which Sai's brows went up and Naruto looked surprised.

"He will be fine. The injuries are minor," the medic declared after checking on Utakata. Utakata gave a polite thanks and starts to pull on a spare shirt supplied by one of the Sand ninjas. Once dressed, he stood up, his height easily towering over almost all the present ninjas. Utakata self-consciously shifted from one foot to another looking at no one directly, the obvious attention he was receiving from everyone was making him uncomfortable.

"Which tail are you?" Yamato suddenly asked.

"Six," Utakata said, startled.

"I thought you were a missing nin," Yamato challenged.

"I am," Utakata answer, relaxing a little. "Sora here," he gestured towards the still form of Sora briefly, "found me when I was in a pickle. We have been traveling together since then…"

Yamato nodded; he still had a lot of questions to ask but decided to store them for later. "So can you tell us what happened here?"

Utakata's face darkened. "Well, we better sit down for this..."

A few minutes later...

"... the Six tails took over and I went for a partial transformation. I must have somehow defeated the two Akatsuki members, I can't remember. Next thing I know was Sora busting out of Kamui and the six Tails giving me my control back. After that, you all came in."

Utakata finished his tale, he made sure to say anything that would put any questions about Sora out of the picture, like how Sora knew the masked guy and the plant guy's names. Sora asked him not to say anything to anyone just yet. Utakata was going to do just that.

"We need to report this to our Hokage right away," Yamato said standing up, his team following him. "Utakata, seeing as you are a missing nin, which ever village takes you will have to arrest you. Did you know this?"

The six tailed host nodded.

"So, which one would you like to go with, seeing as we are allied nations, we will let you choose."

"Sand. I will stick with Sora for now," Utakata answered also standing up.

"In that case we have to arrest and take you in Utakata, I am sure once Sora wakes up, we can work out an arrangement, but for now we have to put you under restrictions," the Sand team's captain informed pulling the unconscious form of Sora onto his back.

Utakata nodded in understanding. The leaf and Sand bid their farewell.

Line break...

Sasuke was a good brother, no doubt about it. He loved Itachi, would kill for Itachi and die for Itachi. It wasn't just cause Itachi was the only living family he had left, but also because Itachi on many occasions have shown the same sentiments. The Uchiha duo have started to make a name for themselves in the fields. Sasuke sometimes wonder what would have happened if Naruto hadn't stopped Itachi from finishing off Uchiha clan many years ago. The Uchiha clan would still be dead, but Sasuke would not have his older brother with him. Sasuke would be truly alone if it wasn't for Naruto. Most likely alone, bitter and making crazy decisions and he would probably hate Itachi, a very disturbing truth. There were still many things Sasuke didn't know about Naruto for example how the heck was she so strong? Why would one of the Sanin choose to train her? Things that don't make much sense. There were some things Itachi was also hiding from him, it was annoying, but he wasn't majorly concerned about those. The thing which matters most now was, how to make Naruto his sister-in-law.

Sasuke knew about Itachi's feelings and he would love to see those two together and happy. He had noticed how Itachi had reacted to seeing her at the Hokage office earlier. It was a good reaction, his brother never seemed to relax these days and one look at the girl, the guy was almost glowing. Honestly, it was kind of cute, not that Sasuke would ever say that aloud. He had a brooding Uchiha façade to maintain after all!

Sasuke softly landed in front of the hospital Itachi was in and walked in. His mind heavy with thoughts about Naruto, his brother, the mission his team were just in. It was all a mess. He slowly walked inside the building and signed the visitor's form. The nurse present at the counter waved him towards the room Itachi was in. He uttered a polite thank you and followed the familiar corridor. The number of times he and Itachi have been here were astounding and he knew the halls well, not something to be cheery about, but most Shinobis ends up knowing the hospital well.

Sasuke softly knocked on the door and let out a flare of his chakra to alert Itachi of his presence.

"Come in."

Sasuke walked in, left hand casually in his pocket and right hand holding a wrapped gift.

"Here, Naruto got it. It is one of those healing crystals found in the Stone village. She said you could use one of these and heal faster. She asked you to wear it like a locket," Sasuke handed the gift to Itachi, his eyes quickly going over the sitting body of the older Uchiha. No visible injury remained. Itachi almost has his usual colors back. Only thing troubling about the elder brother was the deep, dark circles under his eyes. Sasuke frowned, but decided against pointing that out, for now.

Itachi took the diamond shaped crystal out of the box and eyes the stone curiously. Healing stones were a rarity outside of the Stone village.

"Hello little brother. How was the mission?" Itachi asked still observing the crystal.

"It... was interesting," Sasuke said pulling on a chair beside Itachi. "Did you know about the Kazekage having a twin?"

Itachi nodded as he slides on the small crystal which hung over his chest, glittering a little. Somehow the stone complemented Itachi's looks or Sasuke might just be biased. Depends on prospective.

"I did, Sora and Gaara."

"You never mentioned," Sasuke said feeling a little betrayed.

"It never came up really," Itachi answered. "So, what happened?"

Sasuke sighed and narrated the whole incident to which Itachi didn't say anything at first. He absently touched the crystal, lost in thoughts. Sasuke waited.

"Where is she now?" Itachi asked finally to which Sasuke smirked.

"Trying to find out why I am here and not her? I am wounded brother. I visit you daily."

Itachi didn't say anything but reached out and gave Sasuke a small head poke.

"Hey! You can't poke me every time I outsmart you!" Sasuke said with mock irritation.

Itachi gave him a look that said, I can and I will. Both brothers chortled at their own antics.

The tensed atmosphere in the room clearing up.

"Well, after the mission report we ran into Ino-Shika-Cho, Akamaru and Kiba's group. They invited her to join them for dinner. Apparently, Asuma and Kuranai Sensei are a couple. I am supposed to meet them later with Haku. Naruto wanted to come here straight away, but they insisted. Sai went with them too. So, she dropped the gift off with me and went with them."

Itachi nodded, a little disappointed. "She will be here tomorrow. Don't worry," Sasuke quickly added. Itachi smiled at the words.

"I knew about Asuma too, you know," Itachi said. Sasuke nodded getting up.

"You would, after all, you give the same looks to Naruto."

Before Itachi could poke him again, the younger Uchida quickly teleported away. His mood lifting up significantly. Gosh! Sasuke adored his older brother.

Line break...

Having dinner with friends again was both nostalgic and refreshing. Not much has changed. Shikamaru still found everything a drag, Choji still ate a lot. Ino still likes her purple, Hinata was still shy. Kiba was as loud as ever and Akamaru was still adorable despite his huge size. Shino was still the quite one, Sai was still hell bent on nicknames, Haku was as pretty and kind as ever and Sasuke had only grown sharper with time. They all had grown significantly stronger but some things never changed. Naruto loved that. She smiled, ate and chatted the evening away. Kakashi and Sakura were in the Sand village on a mission and so was team Gai, she would see them later. Once the food and drinks were finished and reunion was partially over, she got up.

"I will see you guys soon. My apartment will be a mess, I need to get back. Bye," Naruto said. Everyone bade her goodbye collectively and she left the dinner.

She jumped up on the roof and took off towards the hospital. She had met Itachi already, but it was brief, way too brief.

Naruto reached the hospital in record time and didn't bother to go to the front desk. The visitor hours were long over and it was getting late. She would definitely not be allowed to meet Itachi now. That had never stopped her before, not likely to stop her now.

Naruto silently sneaked into his room and stood by the bed. To her disappointment, he was already asleep. A light sleeping drug is administered to the patients like Itachi, who hated long stays at hospital and had a habit of running away and Naruto knew it would happen. None the less, she was relieved to see him resting. Judging by his earlier looks, the older Uchiha needed a lot of rest. He looked exhausted and clearly troubled. Her heart twisted when she last saw him. Frantic, agitated, wounded and not to mention the dark circles and tired lines over his features. Now resting, he looked much more relaxed. With his more prominent features and a day-old stubble covering his face, Itachi had lost all traces of the boy she used to know. Would he change towards her as well? Naruto shook the thought away. No, this was Itachi and that was a good enough reason. Naruto was happy to see Itachi clutching her gift in one of his hands and his other hand was over his forehead.

"I am back 'tachi. Whatever it is bothering you, we will kick its ass together. I promise dattebyo!" Naruto said softly.

Itachi suddenly started moving in his sleep, twisting on his bed and letting out painful groans.

Naruto quickly touched his hand clutching the locket, she had seen him having nightmares before. She also knew how to calm him down, she flared out her chakra engulfing him with her familiar presence. Many ninjas including Kakashi and herself would have trouble with sleeping and are prone to nightmares. It was a standard practice for all ANBU's to learn how to deal with nightmares and help teammates in need. "It's fine. You are safe. You are home, rest now. That's it, go back to sleep 'tachi. I am here. I will protect you."

Her soft mummer and light caresses pulled him back to sleep, after a few minutes Naruto left through the window she came in.

She never looked back to the soft smile on Itachi's face. Despite the drugs, he was aware of her presence and her words.

So, she remembers, he thought before sleep claimed him.

A/N: Thoughts? Questions? I Can't PM back replies to the guest users, but I do appreciate all the feedbacks.