Chapter 2.9 - My way, together again.

Sasuke watches, horrified, as his two selves fight on. As they do, he
sees memories flash up in his mind. Orochimaru giving him the curse seal,
Naruto competing with him at climbing trees, his brother telling him about
himself, Naruto and Sakura worrying over him during the exam, his first fight
with Naruto, his conversation with Kakashi, the Four Sounds talking to him,
his last conversation with Sakura, what he felt knocked out lying in the
darkness, and Naruto's determination to bring him back "to the Light". At once
these memories begin to swirl around his head even faster. He begins to get
confused and starts to shake out of control. Blackness starts to consume him.
In the back, the small Orochimaru-Sasuke starts to gain the upper hand over
his other self, but both cry out for his support in the swirling memories.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Ino (still in the disguise of a medic) have found
the door to Sasuke's room. Ino squeals excited that this is it, and Sakura
grumbles to open the door quickly before she breaks her back. They open the
door and close it. Sakura immediate sits back and Ino falls on her, tumbling
out of the uniform. Ino yells at Sakura for being clumsy (with the white eyes
of rage) and Sakura yells at Ino for being too heavy to carry for a long
period of time (with the same white eyes of rage). A sudden moan and movement
distracts both of them. Sasuke is trembling out of control on the bed, with
the curse seal advancing and receding across his body. They both hurry over to
him and hold him down. Sasuke starts to moan and the curse seal starts to
spread across his body again. Sakura yells for "Sasuke-chan" to come back, and
then angrily states that Sasuke should have told her that he wanted to
get stronger than his brother. If that was the case, she yells, he should have
stayed and asked to train with someone. Look at Naruto, she says, softer now.
He had plenty of training under others and he has gotten strong. Sasuke-chan
should have stayed, she said crying, if he really wanted to get stronger,
since she believes that true strength comes from dangerous missions with
friends and from inspiration from your friends.
Back in his nightmare, Sasuke hears Sakura's words and is shocked by the
anger and pain in her voice. He yells for everyone to stop!
In Sasuke's room, Sasuke suddenly stops trembling and the curse seal
recedes away. Ino looks at Sakura in amazement and asks what she did. Sakura
said she is not sure what she did, but she thinks she helped Sasuke regain
faith in himself.
The two Sasuke's in his mind stop fighting and look at him in amazement.
Sasuke comes over to them and smiles a confident smile. He tells them that
from now on, he will get strong by himself and with help from those he finds
important, so, looking at the Orochimaru self, he will not need HIM anymore.
With that, the Orochimaru self suddenly bursts into flames, and his other self
turns into a white light that spreads around his mind. With that, Sasuke hears
the voices of Ino and Sakura and follows the sound of their voices, waking
from his nightmare.
In Naruto's room, he opens his eyes to find that Hinata, Gaara, and
Jiraiya are standing around him smiling. Jiraiya runs to the door and shouts
that Naruto has woken up. Naruto then calls him a kid. He then asks how he got
here in the hospital and if everyone else is okay. Gaara answers that he was
carried here by friends and that his quest companions are all okay. Gaara then
smiles sincerely and asks how he is. Naruto replies that he is fine since now
that the "nightmare" he experienced is gone. Naruto then notices Hinata (Oh!)
and smiles, thanking her for her concern and hoping he didn't worry her too
much. Hinata blushes a furious red, says that he didn't, and gives him the
geranium. She says that in the language of flowers, the geranium means
determination. Naruto looks surprised, then smiles a smile of deep peace, and
tells her "Arigato...Hinata-san" With that, Hinata looks surprised and pleased
at the same time and her entire face turns red. Gaara smiles. The moment is
ruined completely when Jiraiya comes back in and tells them that such behavior
is not allowed in the hospital. Naruto then looks like someone slugged him,
then yells that "you have no room to talk pervert sennin!" This gets the two
of them in a yelling contest, and while Gaara and Hinata watch with a mix of
surprise and amusement, Hinata giggles that Naruto seems to be energetic now,
and Gaara says he has no doubt Naruto will fully recover. The yelling contest
brings others in, including Tsunade, who is surprised that Naruto is awake.
They then hear another yell that Sasuke is awake, and if possible he wishes to
speak to Naruto.

Join us next time for Chapter 3.0 - Friends again and the coming menace.
Sasuke and Naruto make up, and action begins on how to combat Orochimaru.

Hey everyone! Just a quick note. So far 13 chapters have been written. However, they were written with no regard for spelling, grammar, or punctuation in some parts. Also, 17 hours in college will take a toll. So, releases will be more than once a week and later on only once a week (or as close as possible). Also, thank you for your reviews. They mean much to me and I thank you for reading my stories.