Chapter Seven

Hidden Dark was just like its name pronounced it to be: Dark.

The village was enclosed all around by an almost solid wall of tall mountains that shut off nearly all light and any places that might have seen a bit of sunshine was enshrouded in a thick mist.

Kakashi and his team were met at the outer circle of the mountains and it took nearly a full day for their guide to get them across the protecting mountain ring and into the Village. The entire place seemed to have a murky feel about it, as if they were moving through perpetual twilight.

Sasuke decided he didn't like it at all.

He felt holed in, claustrophobic—as if the darkness was pressing in around him and looking at him intently, striving to find every little imperfection…to find the darkness inside him that reflected itself.

The fact that it was also impairing his vision didn't help matters.

Naruto had been very quiet since they had first arrived, and Sakura had barely stepped a few feet away from Sasuke's side.

Their guide led them quickly through the small, dull buildings that made up the village of Hidden Dark and soon dropped them off at a set of buildings that was set slightly away from the rest of the village.

"The exam begins tomorrow," their guide, a small man dressed head-to-toe in dull grey, said as his eyes passed over Sakura's bright pink hair and red dress, then Naruto's persistently orange jumpsuit quickly, as if the bright colours offended his eyes just by existing. "You can take your rest tonight in these buildings; your Jounin instructor will have to report in though."

Kakashi nodded and, hands in pockets, stepped away form the building. "You three settle yourselves in; I'll be back later," he said and then he, and the guide, disappeared in two light puffs of smoke.

Sasuke frowned then turned slightly, examining his companions out of the corner of his eyes. Sakura was still so close to him she might as well have been glued there and, hands clasped tightly in front of her, she let her gaze shift quickly to everything around her – her actions revealed her nervousness.

Naruto on the other hand was completely the opposite, in fact Sasuke wasn't even sure the blond had even realised they'd arrived. Head down and eyes pinned to the dirt at his feet, Naruto had his thumbs looped under the straps on his pack and seemed to be lost in thought.

Sasuke stepped up to the entrance of the building, deliberately nudging Naruto hard with his shoulder on the way passed.

"No time for daydreaming, dobe," he said flatly and pushed open the door to step inside.

The inside of the building was simple and bare. The entrance door led into an open room with scant furniture consisting of a wooden table with four chairs near one wall, a utilitarian rug covering the centre of the floor and no excess decoration to speak of. The room had four doors leading from it and a quick inspection revealed them to lead to three bedrooms, each furnished with only two single beds, and a simple bathroom. Sasuke decided that he liked the bathroom; it had a shower, and a lock.

"I don't like this place," Sakura had stayed in the middle of the room, standing a small distance away from Naruto, as Sasuke investigated and she was now hugging her pack to her chest, eyeing the walls distastefully. "It's so dark and creepy."

Sasuke's reply to her was absent as he let his eyes move passed her to the blond who was once again seemingly lost in thought, barely registering his surroundings.

"We're not here to like the place, we're here to do the Chuunin exam," Sasuke dismissed the girl and slipped his pack off his back, walking towards the second door away from the main entrance. "Get some rest, Sakura. Naruto?"

"Huh?"

Sasuke stopped in the doorway and glared back at the blond.

Naruto blinked at him. "Oh…Oh, right. Good night, Sakura," Naruto said the words absently and walked passed Sasuke into the room they would share.

Sasuke's eyes followed the blond for a moment then he turned back to Sakura and gestured at the door farthest away from the main entrance – that would leave Kakashi the room next to the main door and would effectively set up their best defences in case of attack – and then turned and followed Naruto into the room, shutting the door behind him.

Naruto had already dumped his pack on one of the beds and was stripping off his outer clothes in preparation to sleep. Sasuke watched him silently, his eyes unreadable. Naruto had grown ever increasingly silent after what had happened in the Forest of Death and Sasuke had found his gaze pulled to the silent blond more than ever. It seemed disturbing for the boy to be so quiet, but Sasuke didn't know quite how to approach the subject. He knew it probably had more to do with what Naruto had discussed with the Hokage than what had happened the night of the explosion – something to do with the Kyubi.

Sasuke finally stopped his silent watching and quickly divested himself of his own clothing and then settled onto the other bed. They had been travelling through the mountains all day, and had travelled cross-country to get here for the last week. He was tired, incredibly tired, though luckily, thanks to a great deal of effort on the Hokage's part, it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with a good night's sleep to replenish his energy.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke's head snapped up slightly at the quiet, unexpected word and he looked across the room, his eyes struggling to focus in the murky half-light. Even as he looked the room become darker as what passed for the sun around here went down for the night and all he could really see was Naruto's silhouette, a dark patch slightly darker than the rest of the room.

"What?" he finally ventured into speech when he realised that it would be nearly impossible for Naruto to see if he had Sasuke's attention or not.

"I…" Naruto began and then, frustrating Sasuke no end, stopped. Trailing the next word off with an overly loud breath instead.

Sasuke felt his eyes narrow in annoyance but remained patient, waiting to see if Naruto would continue instead of pushing the fact like he would have done a few months ago. He didn't like the blond's unnatural silence, but Sasuke wasn't about to risk driving him deeper into it by insisting he talk before he was ready.

"It's really dark here, isn't it?" Naruto finally said quietly.

Sasuke sighed and lay back down. "Yeah," he agreed.

"…Sakura might have problems fighting in this kind of environment – I don't think she ever learnt jutsu to see in the dark."

"Hn. We can probably get through the initial group tasks," Sasuke said closing his eyes and not really noticing a difference in the blackness that surrounded them. "She'll be on her own after that, though."

"Do you know any night-vision jutsu?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke heard a rustle of blankets as Naruto made himself more comfortable. "It'd be good if we could teach her one."

"No." Sasuke's skills were good enough that he didn't need to rely souly on his vision, he'd never bothered to learn a jutsu to see in the dark, he'd never seen the point. And Naruto wouldn't know any either – he could just rely on the Kyubi's instincts, and even its vision if he needed too. "She knew where we were coming too – if she researched the area enough she would have found a scroll or something. If not, then she'll have to figure it out herself; we won't be able to help her."

"Yeah…I guess."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched slightly. You guess? Since when have you ever let Sakura fend for herself? But how was he supposed to ask that?

"Naruto…"

"You know, we should really get some sleep now. I'm really tired from all that mountain tramping we had to do today."

Sasuke paused. He could literally feel the sudden heavy sensation in the room as Naruto waited for his reply. Sasuke sighed inaudibly and conceded the conversation, just as he had been doing every time Naruto had suddenly changed the subject on him in the last week.

"We should. We don't know what the challenges will be tomorrow, so we should try to be at top energy."

The tension in the air dropped a few notches and then disappeared.

"Yeah… How do you feel?" Sasuke heard the rustling of blankets again and Naruto's voice became a little clearer. "How are your burns? And your arm?"

Yes, his injuries. Naruto may have been almost completely silent all week, but one thing he had talked about, to the point of driving Sasuke a little insane, was Sasuke's injuries. Apparently the blond couldn't take 'they're completely healed and I feel fine' for an answer.

"They're fine, Naruto."

"We did a lot of climbing today, you're sure you didn't stretch anything to much?"

"They're fine," Sasuke said firmly.

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

Sasuke sighed, "go to sleep, Naruto."

"I was just…"

"Sleep."

Naruto paused and then there was a creak as he lay back on his bed again, "…goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

They were awakened early the next morning by Kakashi and, after grabbing something quick and completely unappetising, yet healthy, to eat they filed out into the murky, nearly black, pre-dawn and followed their silver-haired Sensei to the assigned meeting place for those taking the Chuunin exam.

Their journey through the village showed them that the rumours that most of the village was underground were true as Kakashi immediately led them to a set of gates leading to a flight of downward spiralling stairs. They didn't see much of the underground portion of the village since they were probably taking some form of 'back way' to their destination and before long they had left the inhabited areas behind them and were led further and further downwards, following Kakashi, or more precisely the small bowl of something that was giving off a faint red glow and half illuminated the stone stairs around them.

It seemed like hours before they finally felt the tell-tale auras of other people and gratefully stopped their downward climb, coming to a large cavern lit with many more of the bowls of red light.

Sasuke paused as he reached the bottom of the stairs, with Naruto and Sakura behind him, and let his eyes readjust to the brighter light. The cavern wasn't very big, but was filled to bursting; though there certainly weren't as many teams as there had been at Team Seven's first Chuunin exam when they were twelve.

"Come on," Kakashi dipped the bowl he was carrying a little to get his students' attention and then led them further into the cavern. Sasuke guessed they were the last group to arrive.

Quickly they attached themselves to the back of the crowd of waiting Gennin and looked expectantly to where a group of three men were standing. They were soon joined by a fourth who whispered something to the man in the middle and then moved to the side. The centre man stood up and moved forward, standing in front of the group.

"Welcome, all of you, to Hidden Dark village," he began, his voice carrying easily to the back of the cavern. "I'm sure you are all eager to get to the first part of this Chuunin exam so I will be brief in outlining your instructions.

"Your goal is simple. Right now you are hundreds of feet below the Village of Hidden Dark of which there are countless tunnels and pathways leading to and from – however…this particular section of the caves only has one correct path to make it to the surface. Your goal is to find that correct pathway and take it.

"The rules are simple. Get yourself and your team-mates out of these caves alive and within one month." The man paused and waited for the sudden bout of noise that followed his declaration of their time limit. "Make no mistake." He said once everyone was silent again, "It may have taken you barely an hour to reach this spot using the direct route, however that particular route is closed to you during this exam and the paths leading to the top are very winding, very misleading, and very treacherous. You could very well follow what you think, and hope, is the correct path for the course of the entire time limit, only to find in the end, that you have been following nothing but a false trail.

"Be wary, be alert, and remember that there is only one true way out of these caves. I will give you the parting knowledge that the correct path to take will become apparent…if you know how to look. Good luck."

The man stepped back again, but before any more than a murmur could be raised, a second man stepped forward and gestured for everyone's attention.

"There will be no consulting with your instructors before this exam, please make your way to the opening at the end of the cave where you will wait for my mark. Anyone attempting to leave early will be stopped and disqualified instantly. Proceed."

Sasuke stepped back slightly as the crowd turned in their direction and then turned, seeking out his team-mates. Naruto stood behind him but Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and looked around them a little more carefully. "Where's Sakura?" he snapped.

Naruto jerked and glanced around himself, "she was right here….."

Sasuke scanned the area again, his mouth pressed into a firm line, until his eyes alighted on the missing girl. She slipped out of the crowd quickly, tying the strings on her pack tightly as she moved.

"Sorry! I had to ask Kakashi-Sensei about something," Sakura gave Sasuke an apologetic look as she moved closer, "and I wanted to do it before anyone noticed."

Sasuke huffed and then adjusted the sit of his backpack on his back, "lets just get to the cave mouth."

"O-okay, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke waited for Naruto to go first and then followed him, carefully keeping an eye on the other boy as they walked.

"Everyone here?!" The man from earlier stood above everyone, his eyes carefully watching where everyone was. "Good. In that case—begin!"

And so began Team seven's fifth Chuunin Exam.

"We're lost."

"No kidding."

"It's because we followed you, Naruto!"

"Sakura, be quiet!"

"But Sasuke-kun…"

"I said be quiet, do you want to bring every team in the area down on our heads?"

Sakura shook her head and lowered her eyes.

"It's impossible not to be lost down here," Sasuke continued in a calmer tone of voice. "It doesn't matter who we followed."

"But, if we had have gone more cautiously we could have looked to see what was marking the way!" Sakura exclaimed.

"I figured," Naruto interjected from a few paces away where he was leaning against the cave wall with his arms crossed over his chest, "that it'd be easier to examine the caves for markings if we got away from the main group quickly. None of the rules said we couldn't kill each other, you know – I'd far sooner make it out of this exam alive."

"But…"

"I agree with Naruto," Sasuke said lowly and glared at Sakura. "Which is why I followed him," he added.

The three were silent for a few moments then Naruto finally spoke up.

"How well can you guys see? Sasuke?"

"I can see well enough with mySharingan."

Naruto looked up from where he'd been examining the floor, "really?"

"Chakra," Sasuke answered simply, "I can see your patterns well enough, it's almost the same as a physical body."

"That's pretty cool!"

"Hn."

Naruto turned to Sakura, "Sakura?"

"I can't see," Sakura begin and then reached for her backpack, "but that's why I went to see Kakashi-Sensei. The bowl he was carrying had a particular type of chemical in it that makes light when it touches air... I wanted to get some from him."

As she spoke, Sakura had pulled out the bowl Kakashi had originally been carrying and began emptying a small bag into it. Immediately the cave was lit by the soft red glow of light.

Naruto grinned at her, "good job!"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke hopefully and then sagged slightly as he ignored her.

"I don't have much," Sakura admitted and turned to Naruto, "if we get into trouble I don't know if there will be enough for us to split it."

Sasuke froze and watched the bright blue flame of Chakra, threaded with hints of red, which represented Naruto intently. The blond laughed and put his hands behind his head.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan! I won't need it, I've got other ways to see," he turned to Sasuke quickly. "So, what now, fearless leader?"

Sasuke glared at him, knowing full well that Naruto could see the expression clearly, "this is a one way passage, we'll follow it until we get to a branching and start examining everything we can to find the correct pathway."

Naruto ignored the 'as if you didn't know' look Sasuke was directing at him and nodded, "let's go, then!"

"I'm not eating that." Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and glared away from the small fire Sasuke had started for them.

"Why not?" Naruto ripped another piece of meat off his food and began to chew, "it's good."

Sasuke aimed a glare across the fire at the other boy and then put a piece of his own meal into his mouth, chewing quickly.

"Naruto, it's a lizard!" Sakura exclaimed, staring at both her companions in the faint light as if they'd gone insane. "It's not even a normal lizard, it doesn't have eyes and its scales are grey!"

Naruto finished his mouthful, "of course it doesn't have eyes, we're underground, what would it need eyes for?"

"It's not normal. What if it's poisonous?"

"Then we'll die," Sasuke finally joined in the conversation. "We have to save the food we brought with us in case we can't find anything closer to the surface; if all we can find down here is grey, eyeless lizards, then that's what we'll eat. Now hurry up; the light and the smell will spread quickly down here and I don't want to be caught off guard."

Sakura glared down at the fried lizard in her hand and then, bracing herself, ripped some of the meat off and put it in her mouth. She grimaced.

"It's horrible!"

Sasuke said nothing, simply finished off the rest of his 'meal' and then stood up, stamping out the fire quickly and activating his Sharingan again. He could see more than just the chakra of his two companions when he looked around the caves. He was finding that without the small distractions of being on the surface where the world was vibrant with life and hundreds of auras all merging into one another, that he could see a surprising amount of things that normally he wouldn't ever have noticed.

The lizards had been just one of the small things he had seen. He was managing to find his way easily enough through his own sense's and because even the moss that grew in the hairline cracks in the walls gave off a small, faint amount of Chakra. It was like walking through a network of hundreds of tiny silvery veins.

It was also how come he was instantly aware of the three people hovering just out of easy sensing range, crouching low against the walls. He could see their chakra as if the walls weren't even there.

"Naruto," he said lowly, instinctively falling into a low crouch.

The blond tilted his head to the side slightly and then imitated Sasuke's move.

"Sakura, get down!"

"I know! I can sense them too!" she snapped quietly and slipped down towards the floor.

"Let's see what they do," Naruto said after a moment, and Sasuke nodded, his eyes fixed on the lights ahead. He wasn't about to rush into a fight he didn't need to, especially not on the first day of their trip through the underground.

"Are they doing anything?" Sakura whispered finally.

Naruto nodded slightly, "they're talking."

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Sasuke asked, moving slightly closer to the blond boy.

"Mmm…just. They're discussing what to do. I don't think they're going to attack, they think it'd be a bad idea to get into a fight on the first day," he paused for a moment. "There's a cross-path further up, it's the way they came. They're going to go back down and take another path."

Sasuke nodded and relaxed slightly, "good."

Sakura was eyeing Naruto suspiciously, "Naruto, how come you could hear them?"

Naruto shot the girl a wide-eyed look and then stood up quickly and pulled his pack onto his back. "In these caves you can hear anything if you're on the right angle," he brushed the matter aside. "We can go now, they've moved on."

"Let's go," Sasuke ordered, also pulling his pack on and waited for Naruto, and then a still suspicious Sakura, to pass him before following them out of the cavern.

"I don't see anything that could be a mark," Sakura stated and flopped down into a sitting position.

"Me either," Naruto agreed and sat down next to her. There was a brief rustle of cloth as Sakura shuffled away from him, but if Naruto noticed he ignored it. "No matter how I look at these openings, there are no marks."

Sasuke frowned and leaned back against a wall. "I can't see anything with the Sharingan either," he stated.

"Wouldn't be something as simple as an arrow pointing in the correct direction, would it?" Naruto asked helpfully.

"Do you see one?" Sasuke asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well…no."

"Then I guess it isn't something that simple then."

The group descended into silence.

"So…what do we do then, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura was the one who finally spoke.

"We should just roll a dice or something," Naruto said, poking his pack absently.

"Don't be ridiculous, Naruto!" Sakura snapped at him.

Sasuke caught the wince before Naruto could hide it and he glared daggers at the girl through the darkness. "We might as well," he stated. "We're not going to figure out which way to go by just sitting here."

Naruto smiled at Sasuke faintly, "I didn't bring a dice."

"Hn." Sasuke swung his pack up onto his back again, picked a cave mouth at random and began walking down it. "Let's go."

They spent three days wandering aimlessly, heading in as much of an upward direction as they could manage, before they encountered anyone or anything else of interest. They had camped for a while after a quick meal of eyeless lizard and some cave mushrooms that Sakura had managed to identify as safely edible and Naruto was on watch while the other two slept.

Or, at least, while Sakura slept. Sasuke had awoken after an hour or so and was now laying in the darkness, watching Naruto with his Sharingan. The boy's chakra was low, muted as Naruto kept it dampened to stay hidden, but it was still flecked with the strands of bright red that marked his use of the Kyubi's power.

Sasuke watched the flicks of red as they weaved through Naruto's aura intently; it was the closest he could get in the darkness to watching the others face to see his moods. The chakra moved slowly; Naruto was thinking – rather, he was brooding. Still.

It was frustrating…. Sasuke wanted to help. Wanted to figure out what he needed to say to make Naruto open up to him so whatever was making him so…so…un-Naruto could be solved. He wanted to protect him from it – but he couldn't if he didn't know what it was.

"Go back to sleep, Sasuke."

Naruto's chakra moved slightly and Sasuke knew the other boy had turned to look at him. He sat up, pushing his thin blanket off of him as he did so.

"I've already slept, I don't need more," he stated.

"Keh! Don't give me that; you're a growing boy, you need energy."

"And you don't?" Sasuke asked with amusement and stood up, packing his blanket away.

"Huh? Oh, well…yeah. I guess so…. But I slept last time we stopped."

"About as much as I just did," Sasuke replied and plopped himself down next to Naruto.

"…You should still sleep a little longer," Naruto said after a moment, and Sasuke shrugged, not bothering to answer.

The silence stretched for a while and it was Naruto who finally broke it, shifting uncomfortably and turning slightly in Sasuke's direction.

"Does it seem like anything…odd is going on to you?"

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow, "odd?"

"Yeah. Like…I dunno…funny scents, or flashes of light?"

"No. Not really. Why? Do you think we might be under attack?"

"I'm not sure…" Naruto shifted uncomfortably again. "It might just be me – I'm not used to using the Kyubi's senses constantly like this, and it's not like I've ever been into caves this deep before – who knows what I'm supposed to be smelling."

"It might be better to stay alert though…just in case," Sasuke said cautiously.

And then Naruto was on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

Sasuke took a gasp of breath, the short fall having knocked the air out of him, and his ears focused on the sound of a metal object hitting stone and clattering to the ground. His eyes flashed red with the Sharingan and his hands went for his weapons even as he rolled to his feet to stand near Naruto.

The world around him lit up, the brightest point being where the warmth from the fire they had used for their meal still made the air shimmer with its heat. He stared around them carefully, his eyes wide as he examined their surroundings.

There was another faint sound in the air and Sasuke moved left, pushing Naruto out of the way of the kunai flying at them, and received a light elbow on the ribs.

"I can take care of myself, bastard!" Naruto whispered, pulling away from Sasuke's grasp, and then ran to the left, "wake Sakura up!"

Sasuke glared after Naruto's retreating chakra and then moved closer to their old fire, kneeling by Sakura's side and shaking her roughly.

"Huh?" the girl said and Sasuke slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Shhh…Attack."

Sakura went still and nodded slightly to indicate she'd heard him.

"Get our things," Sasuke said lowly, bringing his head down close to her so his voice would be harder to hear by others. "Naruto and I are going to try and draw them away. Stay alert."

Sakura nodded quickly.

Sasuke stood and then dodged into the darkness, following the path Naruto had taken and headed towards where he could faintly hear, and dimly see, fighting. He counted three clusters of chakra, one of them Naruto's. That left one other person concealed somewhere.

Sasuke kept himself hidden and focused more power into his Sharingan, willing it to see through physical walls and illusionary ones alike. He spotted the third enemy in seconds, hanging from the ceiling above the fight, hidden by a genjutsu.

The man moved along the ceiling, tracking Naruto's movement as he fought. Sasuke barely registered what he was doing, simply attacked; moving like a silent shadow through the caves, over the short distance to the fight, and up onto the ceiling. He struck with his kunai and the genjutsu shattered.

There was a scream as the man had his energy forcefully fed back to him as his jutsu shattered and he dropped from the ceiling, landing heavily on the ground with Sasuke right behind him. As he fell, Sasuke reversed his grip on his Kunai and, landing easily, he grabbed his opponent quickly by the hair and jerked him backwards, holding the point of the kunai to his throat. Then he looked over at Naruto.

Naruto's fight was awkward. The blond seemed as if he were fighting with himself every time he moved and the result left him slightly off-balance. Sasuke was on the verge of knocking out the man he had at knife point and leaping to Naruto's aid when the blond finally seemed to figure out what he was doing and sent both of the men he was fighting flying across the cavern with a well-aimed kick.

The two hit the wall with a resounding crash and slumped to the floor, unconscious. Sasuke crouched a little lower and pulled his captive's hair slightly, a warning for him not to move. Naruto joined them a moment later.

"You all right, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his eyes flicking over him quickly.

Sasuke tightened his grip on the man he held as he flinched and then grunted affirmative and glared. "What the hell were you doing?" he demanded.

Naruto flinched slightly. "Fighting," he stated and then added as an afterthought, as if he had suddenly remembered he was supposed to say it, "bastard."

"Naruto!" Sasuke said warningly, "you were flailing around like a five-year-old and what the hell is your problem?!" Sasuke demanded abruptly, turning his attention to the man that was suddenly struggling fiercely in his grip. "Would you just stay still!"

A moment later Naruto helped to keep the man immobile and they both stared at him expectantly.

"Y-you…you're…" The man babbled out and then took a shaky breath, "you're Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. W-we heard about you before the exam."

"Huh?" Naruto asked intelligently.

"My team's Sensei was in the same Chuunin exam as you both three years ago."

Sasuke suddenly sighed and Naruto took on the look of one who has been grossly offended.

"That was a complete misunderstanding!" Naruto exclaimed and stood up, pointing his finger at the trembling man on the ground. "It was totally not our fault!"

Three years ago, their third Chuunin exam. It had been a complete misunderstanding, but it had been a misunderstanding that had led to Naruto and Sasuke being dragged into an unauthorized fight that had taken out almost an entire district of their hosting village's shopping area and ended with team seven being ousted from the exam and sent home early.

Sasuke smirked lightly as he watched Naruto ranting, more himself than he'd been in weeks, at the poor man on the ground. Obviously Naruto was still sore over the entire situation.

"…And there were three other people in that exam that had pink hair; it could have been any of them! We were framed! Do I look like the kind of person who would poison someone's ramen?! I love ramen! If I ever find out who did do it, I will kick their arses! Do you understand me?!" Naruto had pulled the shaking man up by the front of his shirt until they were face to face. "Well?!"

"Naruto," Sasuke finally interjected. "You're scaring him."

"So?! I do not poison ramen!"

"I think he's convinced," Sasuke said dryly. "Let him go."

"Keh!" Naruto dumped the man on the floor and stomped a few feet away, grumbling to himself with every step. Sasuke turned to the released man, grabbing him by the back of the shirt before he could get away.

"Just a couple of questions," Sasuke said. "Why did you attack us?"

"W-we thought you might know the way through the caves."

"Hn. So you don't know how to get through?"

"N-no."

Sasuke suddenly released him. "You can go; don't follow us, or I'll tell Naruto you don't believe him." The man went white and Sasuke smirked and then stood up. "Naruto! Let's go."

"Shut up, Bastard! Don't give me orders!"

"Fine," Sasuke retorted exiting through a cave mouth, heading back towards where they had been camped. "Stay here then."

A few seconds later he heard Naruto's heavy footsteps coming up behind him and he slowed slightly, waiting for the boy to catch up. Naruto was still grumbling.

"If you make any more noise you'll pull every person in the area down on our heads," Sasuke observed.

Naruto growled low in his throat but stopped stomping his feet so much and cut off his angry monologue. Sasuke looked the other way to hide a smile – this was the Naruto he knew, loud, obnoxious and righteously indignant over the smallest of slights.

"Are you injured?" Sasuke asked finally and felt Naruto half glare at him.

"No," was his short reply.

Sasuke allowed them to take a few more steps forward before he spoke again, "what happened during that fight?"

Naruto looked away, "nothing."

"I haven't seen you fight that badly since our first training session with Kakashi," Sasuke said. "Wh-."

"It's nothing!" Naruto suddenly snapped and began to walk faster, "just leave it alone; we have to find Sakura."

Sasuke watched, startled, as Naruto's chakra moved further away, muting slightly as the blond dampened it again to stop anyone nearby from seeing it.

Damn it!

Things were tense between Team Seven after that.

They made their way silently through the caves, travelling ever upwards as much as they could, exchanging speech only when it was completely necessary. Sakura did her best to stay near Sasuke, persevering in her attempt to get his attention even as he completely ignored her. Sasuke became Naruto's shadow. The blond wasn't talking to him, though he wasn't quite ignoring him either, so Sasuke simply stayed a few steps behind him at all times, watching him closely. Naruto, for his part, stayed quiet, keeping company with his own thoughts instead of his companions.

It stayed like that for days, or at least for what felt like days. Sasuke was sure it had been at least six of them by the time anyone said anything that wasn't absolutely required. Surprisingly it was Naruto who suddenly stopped them in the middle of a cave, sniffing the air slightly and tilting his head to one side as he listened, before taking off his pack and dumping it on the ground.

"This won't work," he said into the silence as Sasuke and Sakura stopped.

"What won't work?" Sakura asked tiredly and sat down, resting against her pack.

"This. This," he said, waving an arm around himself wildly, "this aimless wandering."

"Well, if you know the way out by all means, tell us," Sasuke said curtly and leaned against the wall.

Naruto turned and glared at him, "you know I don't!"

"Then what's the point of complaining about it? We haven't found anything that looks like a path, or even hints at a path, all we can do is wander."

Naruto huffed, "aren't you supposed to be some sort of great tracker? And Sakura, you're the best at jutsu and chakra, if there's anything at all you should have seen it!"

"Thanks, Naruto. Your confidence in my skills touches me," Sakura snapped at him.

"Well, maybe you would have found something if you'd been studying instead of tagging around after Sasuke all the time!" Naruto snapped back.

Sakura breathed in sharply, her eyes going wide as she stared at the blond member of their team.

"Naruto-" Sasuke began, but was interrupted by Sakura.

The girls eyes had narrowed and now she was leaning forward, glaring at Naruto fiercely. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded, "you've been strange ever since we got here and this isn't like you!"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, and then they narrowed in anger, "what the hell do you know about what I'm like? You spend so much time running after Sasuke I doubt you know what anyone else is like!"

This, Sasuke reflected, was not what they needed right now. Deep in these caves, with potential enemies around every corner, lost and in the dark, was not the greatest time for Naruto to suddenly grow a backbone about Sakura.

Sakura was now standing, "I know that you're not like this! I know that you don't yell and grump and be so mean to people for no reason. I know that, whatever else, you're my friend and my friend doesn't treat people like this."

Out of the corner of his eye there was suddenly a flash of colour and Sasuke turned his head slightly, examining the rock around him as best he could. The path they had travelled was long and straight. The red glow of Sakura's bowl of light ended after a few feet leaving the rest of the cave in darkness and Sasuke couldn't see anything, even with his sharingan. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his attention back to Naruto and Sakura.

Naruto had a hurt look on his face, but it was rapidly changing back to one of anger.

"Can we just hurry up and start moving?" Sasuke inserted into the argument and was suddenly on the receiving end of two furious glares.

"Fine," Naruto spat the word out angrily and, scooping his backpack up off the ground, turned his back on them and headed further into the darkness.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura had picked up her backpack and looked near tears, "why…?"

Sasuke shook his head and pushed himself away from the wall to follow Naruto. He had no bloody idea.

Team Seven, Sasuke decided, was falling apart.

Sakura and Naruto now spent most of their time snapping at each other and getting into pointless arguments. Sasuke had stopped trying to make them shut up after only a day. Any time he bothered to say anything, they would both turn on him and, while Sakura managed to restrain herself, Naruto had no problem letting loose on him and then stomping off ahead, leaving him with Sakura. Which, for some inexplicable reason, seemed to increase Naruto's anger at him ten-fold. So Sasuke had learnt quickly to simply keep his mouth shut and hope they weren't noticed by anyone.

By Sasuke's reckoning Team Seven had been in the caves under Hidden Dark village for eleven days and they were now standing on the edge of a natural underground cliff trying to figure out which way they should go.

Rather they had been attempting to figure out which way they should go. Now Naruto and Sakura were deeply into another of their pointless arguments and Sasuke had dropped his pack beside him and leaned against the wall to wait. The area they were in was small, mostly taken up by the gaping hole in the floor, and the wall that Sasuke leaned on was dotted with five different openings, one of which they had entered through. Before the other two had begun arguing they had managed to rule out three of the cave mouths as their next path choice, but that had still left two. Both of them headed upwards and both of them went in roughly the same direction.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment and then looked back at where his team-mates were fighting, Sakura complete with waving arms as she attempted to get Naruto to listen to her. The situation was becoming untenable. He could handle the arguing, since Naruto and Sakura had always argued with each other; what he couldn't handle was the way they were arguing. Six months ago, Naruto never would have used the tone of voice he was using now, and six months ago Sakura never would have spent so much time genuinely trying to antagonise the blond boy.

Sasuke knew Naruto had things on his mind, and there was also the great possibility that he had finally gotten over his crush on the girl, but the genuine attempts to hurt that he was displaying were completely out of character for him. Sakura was doing the best that she could, holding her own in the arguments and even striking a few verbal blows of her own, but it couldn't continue like this. Something was going to break.

The argument finally seemed to be reaching its natural conclusion when Naruto suddenly went completely still, and then moved forward, pushing Sakura to the floor.

"Wha-!?" Sakura glared up at Naruto angrily but the blond boy stayed stock-still.

Sasuke pushed himself away from the wall, his eyes wide. There was a slim needle sticking out of Naruto's neck and, even as Sasuke watched, he began to waver on his feet then, slowly, his eyes slid shut and he began to fall backwards….

...off the side of the cliff.

Sasuke's muscles remained locked for a moment in shock as Naruto fell, then, just as the boy disappeared from sight, he suddenly sprang back to life.

"Naruto!" he barely registered the yell as his own. Using the wall to get more speed, Sasuke sprinted the short distance to the edge of the cliff and, not even blinking, followed Naruto over.