Chapter II

[Whee... Thanks for the reviews Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.]

Elsewhere in a not too faraway village, two members of the Akatsuki were sitting in a shady-looking restaurant. They were mostly listening in for information but had decided to get some sort of food to blend in more. Cold sharingan eyes were cast downward at the counter, silently watching the small glass that was held in a pale hand. The Uchiha Prodigy calmly took a sip of his drink, taking no notice of the people around him. His gaze remained unchanged when he started to hear the talk of some men from a table behind him.

"Did you hear about the incident back in Konoha?" One ninja asked the others.

Itachi calmly closed his eyes, not really interested in the conversation but couldn't help overhearing what they were saying. Kisame on the other hand, looked back at the male ninjas out of the corner of his eye, keeping silent as well.

"Iie..." Another ninja shook his head.

"Some genin went missing for a few days and they found him." The first one explained, taking a drink.

"So?" The third one asked, clearly not interested. "What's the big deal?"

"The deal is that he was found and he had no idea of where he was or anything! He didn't even know his teammates! I don't think the kid had any family or anything but all he knew was his name. Even the Hokage doesn't even know what to do!" The first man explained. "No one knows what happened and they can't find any reason for it!"

"So who's the kid?"

Continuing to listen, Itachi brought the glass to his lips again before he heard-

"Uchiha Sasuke. I wouldn't believe it myself, if a few people hadn't told me the same thing!"

The elder Uchiha opened his eyes into a dangerous narrowed gaze as he held the glass where it was, his grip tightening only slightly and unnoticeably. He continued to listen to the conversation, his shoulder muscles becoming more taut.

"No shit, ne?" The second man asked. "Isn't he one of the best of that village?

"One of the many. A lot of weird shit happens these days..."

Kisame moved his gaze over to his partner, noticing how tense he was before the other got up and started to leave. He followed the other, leaving the group of ninjas to talk amongst themselves again.

"We're nearby... It wouldn't take too much traveling, Itachi-san... We would make it by nightfall..." Kisame told Itachi, knowing that the other had acknowledged that already.

"We're going to pay a visit to Konoha...." Itachi said solemnly as he continued to walk down the street quietly.

Back in the mentioned village, Sasuke stood around with the more familiar group of ninjas. He had recently become much more aware and a little edgy with some of the other villagers talking about him. Sakura and Kakashi stayed off to the side as the training began in the evening.

"Come on, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the Uchiha heir. "Let's start the training already! Make your move!"

Yet Sasuke continued to stand there, watching the hyperactive teenager and being watched by the Jounin and the genin girl. Naruto started to get frustrated and he made the first move by running straight at the other, pulling a fist back to punch the other. Yelling something, he swung his fist over and his knuckles made brutal contact with Sasuke's face, nearly throwing the other back. Naruto's eyes widened in utter shock and his fist rested on his teammate's cheek, seeing the other was stunned from the sudden hit.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura started to fret, knowing that the other should have at least dodged that strike.

It looked like Sasuke was going to fall back onto the ground but Naruto was furious. He simply could not believe that the other didn't even make an attempt to dodge the strike and he swung another punch at the other, driving him back. Blow after blow, Sasuke did not retaliate, as Naruto got more frustrated. Finally, one last punch was delivered and it sent the Uchiha heir back into the trunk of an old tree, the back of his head colliding first. This time Sakura screamed, causing Naruto to stop and watch the other as his breathing started to calm down.

"What's the matter with you!?" Naruto yelled at him.

Sakura couldn't stand it any longer as she ran over, sliding down onto her knees beside Sasuke and hugged him close to her. Something had felt off and Sasuke knew it as he slowly brought a hand to the edge of his mouth, feeling the warm crimson liquid of blood dripping from it. He touched it and drew his hand back, looking at it as Sakura continued stroking his hair in a motherly gesture. The blood didn't throw him off... it was something else when he hit the tree. Something told him he should have hit it with much more force than he did but... something stopped him.... Saved him.

"Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't get up..." Sakura said quietly but she reluctantly let go of the other, watching him.

The Uchiha teenager continued to get up, seeming a little unbalanced as he half stumbled a step to the side. Before his mind fully registered what he was doing, he had stealthily made his way over to Naruto and landed a hard punch on the other's face. As soon as his fist made full contact, Naruto went flying back from the force and skid across the ground until he came to a stop. Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously as they flashed into a crimson colour, showing that the Sharingan was active. He didn't really know what it did but Sasuke had felt a weird feeling in his eyes, signaling some sort of change. He continued to watch the other slowly sit up, looking at the blood that started to edge down from the side of his mouth.

Kakashi looked from one of his students to the other, becoming more cautious from the tension. First, Sasuke was getting punched almost mercilessly and then he had sent Naruto back in only one strike.

"Teme!" Naruto growled, wiping the blood off with the back of his hand.

He jumped up and charged at the other, aiming a kick to the side of his head. Slowly, a malicious smirk started to appear on Sasuke's face as his opponent drew nearer. He leaned back so Naruto's foot just missed him by bare inches, watching the other's expression with a pleased and cruel look in his eyes. He brought a hand back as everything seemed to gradually freeze into slow motion. The next thing that any of them saw was Sasuke's hand clamped tightly around Naruto's throat, nearly holding him off of the ground.

"Sasuke-kun, yamero!" Sakura shouted at him. "What are you doing?"

"H-Hanase!" Naruto choked out.

"That's enough." Kakashi warned, starting to walk over to them.

A wind started to pick up as Naruto desperately tried to get the other to let go of his neck. Kakashi decided it was time to break them up and he hurried a bit faster. He got within a few feet of the two when Sasuke glared harshly at him. As if something suddenly held him back, Kakashi's muscles seemed to freeze and his joints locked.

"Stay out of this..." Sasuke growled at his Jounin instructor.

Cursing, Kakashi tried to move away from whatever was gluing him to the spot; something was holding him back. Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto, focusing on the task at hand before he felt someone latch onto him from behind. It was familiar... Too familiar...

"Sasuke-kun! Yamero, onegai!" Sakura said through sobs, clinging to him tighter.

Sasuke's eyes widened, his grasp on Naruto's throat loosening until the other fell back on the ground. His arm remained where it was and he looked at his hand, remembering something similar to that very situation. Something was wrong... He sharply pulled away from Sakura and leaped into the trees, getting himself as far away as possible from that area and his teammates. Sakura slid down onto her knees, watching Sasuke run away sadly. Kakashi nearly fell forward from suddenly being released from whatever had caused his body to stop moving.

'What did he do...' Kakashi thought, narrowing his exposed eye.

"That bastard!" Naruto coughed, glaring after him. "Why did he do that?!"

"Kakashi-Sensei...?" Sakura asked quietly, waiting for an answer.

"He didn't use any sort of Jutsu..." Kakashi thought out loud. "He managed to use the Sharingan but nothing else..."

Away from the slightly confused and concerned group, Sasuke continued leaping through the trees, trying to get away from everything. He didn't know where he was going, as long as it was away from the others. Yet that familiar feeling... that memory was still sticking in his mind, troubling him even more...
-
There was a group of ninjas... and they seemed to be in a forest of some sorts. There was some fighting as one shadowed person grabbed the arms of the other.

"You like these arms, don't you..." The aggressor said, an odd aura of purple and black chakra around him.

Then there was horrible cracking sounds as-
-
Sasuke shut his eyes tightly, trying to force the horrible feeling away. "Why is it haunting me... What is it..."

He jumped onto another branch but it was weakened with age and it snapped under his weight. With panic coursing through his body, Sasuke desperately grabbed another smaller branch and hung onto it, watching the branch fall to the ground.

"What's wrong with me..." He swallowed nervously.

He heard some people walking below and his eyes followed them until one of the ninjas stopped. When the teenager on the ground turned around, Sasuke could see that he was looking right at him. He could slightly recognize the long black hair and the blank, almost completely pallid eyes. They were staring at him hauntingly. It was nearly too much for him to take. The familiar feelings of dread, the unexplainable fear... It was getting to him...

Bones making sickly cracking sounds...

Someone stopping him...

Tear-stained face...

Fear-filled eyes...

Without warning, the branch that the teenager was holding onto broke from being gripped too hard and he fell through smaller branches. He just about hit the ground hard but some invisible power cushioned his fall only slightly, preventing him from breaking any bones from the impact. Sasuke felt winded and he shut his eyes again, feeling an odd but slight burning sensation where the marks on his face were.

"What was that?" TenTen asked, looking over her shoulder.

Neji narrowed his eyes slightly and began walking over to where Sasuke had fallen. As he got closer, he noticed something odd. The Uchiha heir wouldn't just let himself fall out of a tree, being obvious with his arrival. Lee and Gai stopped as well, wondering what was going on. Gai was already aware of Sasuke's condition from a short meeting that Tsunade held a few days back but he stayed back as Lee ran over to follow his teammate.

"Did you see something, Neji?" Lee asked, moving some of the small branches of the bushes aside.

"Sasuke!" Someone called out from a distance away. "You bastard! Where the hell did you go?"

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke snapped his eyes open, looking up at the sky before looking around in almost alarm. He heard someone move in the bushes and he sat up quickly. It was a mistake as he felt light-headed from the sudden movement but he crawled back into a tree. People were looking for him... He did not know what he was going to do. His mind couldn't recall any Jutsus that he had learned throughout his life, people were possibly hunting him down and it seemed he was in the middle of nowhere.

"Gai." Kakashi said as he jumped down from a tree.

"He's around here." The Taijutsu Jounin kept his voice down. "Neji. Lee. Yamero."

The two teenagers stopped, looking back at their Sensei except Neji. His eyes were glued to the spot in the bushes where Sasuke was hidden. Sasuke, on the other hand, made his escape back towards the village as fast as he could, not caring if he made noise as he crashed through the bushes.

"It's getting worse..." Kakashi started to explain. "I thought a little training would do him some good but it was a mistake... Sasuke tried to kill Naruto and it wasn't unintentional either... He didn't fight back at first... but something changed dramatically..."

"Nani?" Gai tensed and looked over at the silver-haired Jounin.

Kakashi narrowed his gaze, admitting something. "I couldn't break them apart... Something stopped me..."

Near the perimeter wall outside of the village, Itachi and Kisame stood silently as the sky started to get darker. Itachi's solemn gaze narrowed as he looked up towards the top of the barrier and found it seemingly unguarded. What sort of trouble had been caused since his last visit...

[I wrote about four pages more than a few weeks ago and I didn't like it oO; so I wrote this! ... I think tis much better though... If there are any spelling mistakes, I apologize... Not a perfect speller even with a spell checker!]