Fire: Chapter six! This is chapter six! Kakashi, chapter six! Sasuke, chapter six! Naruto, chapter six! Sakura, chapter—ow!

Sasuke: (holding his smarting fist) Urusai! We know what chapter this is!

Kakashi: (pulls a review out of the Bag of Reviews) Here's a review.

Fire: Yay! (grabs the window from Kakashi's hand)

Kakashi: Can't you say arigatou for once?

Fire: (happy smile) Arigatou!

Kakashi: (slumps) That's not what I meant…

Fire: Uh…what did you mean, Kakashi?

Kakashi: Never mind. (sighs) Just read the review.

Fire: I already have.

Sasuke: Well?

Fire: Well what?

Sasuke: Well, what does it say?

Fire: Morale boosting encouragement.

Sasuke: That's it?

Fire: I'll address it with the reply button if there's more!

Sasuke: Nothing for me?

Fire: No.

Sasuke: Then why are we still standing here?

Fire: You're asking me questions.

Kakashi: May as well roll the next chapter. (pulls up the disclaimer)

Sasuke: You read my mind.

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Disclaimer: the phrase "my dobe" is the exclusive property of Fire. No one's even allowed to borrow it. No one can use it! My phrase! My phrase!

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Chapter 6: Facets of Decision

Orochimaru has been avoiding him. Sasuke could tell that the Sannin was avoiding him. For one: he wasn't anywhere on the compound! The Uchiha had searched all over the entire complex three times, and still couldn't find him. He could tell that something was wrong.

And that was enough. There didn't need to be a second point.

"Kabuto!" But he wasn't going to just give up. After searching the entire place three times over, he wasn't just going to let all that effort go to waste. "Where is Orochimaru?"

The spectacled nin looked at Sasuke for a moment before pushing his glasses back up onto his face. "Orochimaru-sama is currently out on important business, Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke wasn't convinced. To him, Kabuto looked very suspicious. "What kind of important business?"

The dark-haired nin was trying to intimidate Kabuto, but it wasn't working. Kabuto just stood cooly in front of Sasuke, not even a shaky gesture to indicate his falsehood. "Important business which wouldn't concern you," he said slowly, "Sasuke-sama."

Sasuke turned away from him with an irritated jump on his brow. He had expected Kabuto to shake a little, but it wasn't working. And it was annoying the shaking fists at his side. What was he supposed to do now?

"Then perhaps you can help me with this," Sasuke said slowly, taking hold of Kabuto by the shoulder before the man could get away. His anger could wait until later.

Kabuto looked interestedly at Sasuke. He was mildly surprised at what Sasuke had said, and for a moment, he thought that he had allowed apprehension to cross his features. "What is it, Sasuke-sama?"

Sasuke smiled to himself at the sudden shocked expression that had fallen onto Kabuto's face for a moment. He had seen it, even though Kabuto had tried to hide it. "This seal..." he said slowly as he indicated to his shoulder where he knew that Kabuto knew he had a cursed seal, "...tell me about it."

"Wh-what do you want to know?" Kabuto's voice was shaking now. He couldn't hide his fear. Sasuke knew that Kabuto must know something about the cursed seal. The right arm of Orochimaru-sama must know more than even his container-to-be.

"How does it work? What does it do?" Sasuke's tone was serious. There was no way that Kabuto could get around it.

"You should ask Orochimaru-sama about it, Sasuke-sama. I am not qualified to answer such ques–"

"Just tell me what you know," Sasuke said with the half-growl in his voice that indicated his resolve.

Kabuto was silent as he tried to think of what to do. He certainly couldn't just tell Sasuke the truth, could he? Orochimaru would never allow it!

"Tell me what exactly this cursed seal does."

The grey-haired man could feel the air around him thicken as Sasuke's angry patience thinned. Kabuto couldn't help but feel the suffocating pressure of Sasuke's anger press down on him. He had to tell him. He had to tell him! If he didn't do it, he would surely die!

"I–It acts as a medium for your chakra!" And Kabuto felt the pressure rise from his body. He looked at Sasuke with shaky eyes, but the dark-haired boy just sat there, as if nothing had happened, as coolly as if he was Orochimaru on his throne. "It allows you to access your full power."

Sasuke frowned unnoticeably to anyone around him but himself. That wasn't something that was helping Orochimaru in the argument. If he was just using his own power, then he didn't really need Orochimaru at all.

"The closer you are to Orochimaru-sama, the easier it is to access that power...but that's not all."

Sasuke's ears perked up at that. There was something else?

"After the first transformation, the seal is ingrained and permanent. Technically, proximity to Orochimaru-sama is not required." Kabuto could see Sasuke's hands clench tightly closed, white knuckles burning in the dark. This wasn't something that Sasuke wanted to hear. "However..."

For a moment, Sasuke relaxed his hands, allowed himself a small reprieve. There was more. He hadn't just wasted three years' worth of time on useless training.

"...if the recipient doesn't have a high reserve of chakra within him, the cursed seal allows him to borrow chakra from Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto didn't want to tell Sasuke this, but the pressure around him was still pressing on him, urging him to continue. Sasuke wasn't going to let him go yet. "Closer proximity to Orochimaru-sama allows you to better access that power." Kabuto felt as if he was going to explode. His eyes were throbbing under the intensity of Sasuke's killing intent. "That's all! I swear!"

Kabuto fell to his knees in a fit of cold sweat and shivers. For a moment, he thought that Sasuke was going to say something. He had told him everything that he knew. And that was all he knew. There was nothing more.

But, Sasuke just rose from his seat, walked to the door and left. Kabuto couldn't know what was going on within that dark mind, but it wasn't really as dark as the spectacled-nin thought. Within, it was clear, and Sasuke knew that he had found his answer. Orochimaru was too weak to lend him the power he needed to defeat a member of Akatsuki, much less his brother. No. He had the strength he sought. Now, he had to get stronger...away from Orochimaru.

Itachi rose from his seat, stretching his tired legs. He had sat for such a long time, for close to three weeks...alone. He wondered where Kisame was, was annoyed that he wasn't here, had decided to torture him with a genjutsu next time he sees him. But he wasn't going to worry over Kisame anymore. That was something best left for later. What was more important was that it was now time. He needed to make his way to Konoha. He couldn't wait any longer. If he did, Naruto wouldn't survive the genjutsu.

The elder Uchiha looked around one more time before walking southeast toward the hidden village. He knew that the blue man would know where he was. If he returned and found Itachi missing, he would just come to Konoha. What was important...what was really important, was that they go on with their plan.

Their plan was simple. Itachi had thought it through before implementing it, although Kisame had thought that it was a little stupid. But, Itachi managed to convince him with a little genjutsu. Nothing big. It wasn't as if he used Tsukiyomi on him. Kisame wasn't good enough to waste Tsukiyomi upon.

They had encountered the jinchuuriki several times by now, and every time, he had gotten away. And Itachi had figured out why. They had allowed the boy a chance to resist every time. He had fought them every time, or had people around him who helped him fight...or both. It irritated Itachi.

So, he thought of a way to get rid of that problem. This genjutsu was just the thing he needed too. With the blond jinchuuriki incapacitated, there was no way that he could fight back. And he wouldn't fight back even if he were to wake. That was the secret of his plan. Even if he was awake, Naruto wouldn't run from Sasuke.

Itachi hadn't chosen himself to look like Sasuke, but he realized it after a short while whom it was that the blond was dreaming about. Sasuke. The name was bitter even in the elder Uchiha's mind. Out of everyone in the entire village. The Hokage. Kakashi. The Sannin Jiraiya. Friends whom he had known for far longer, and was probably far closer to him than Itachi's stupid little brother. Even with so many people around him...the blond was dreaming of Sasuke!

It was irritating.

He didn't really know why, but it was irritating.

In the race between the Uchiha brothers to Naruto, Itachi had won. The long-haired shinobi was far stronger, far more powerful, far swifter than his younger counterpart. It wasn't even close.

So, Itachi stood in front of the blond boy, his hand poised over his body in anticipation of an order from his brain to snatch him from his sickbed and drag him back to Akatsuki. But the order didn't come. Outside there had been more than a dozen ANBU guards in anticipation of Itachi's attack–although they didn't really know that it was going to be Itachi attacking otherwise they would have assigned a few more powerful, more experienced and just plain more ANBU to watch over Naruto–and Itachi had to incapacitate all of them to get here. And after all that work, he still couldn't do it.

However, to say that he couldn't do it was only a half-truth. Itachi could do it. He could easily throw the boy over his shoulder, or hold him in his arms, and shunshin away before anyone even realized he was standing there.

But, Itachi was never one to do such crude work. That was supposed to be Kisame's job. So, instead of just grabbing hold of the jinchuuriki and running, he decided to do something better.

He had already thought of it before, so it wasn't hard to do. The hard part was maintaining the genjutsu when the boy was awake...but it wasn't as if he had anything to worry about. The only way that the blond could figure out that it was a genjutsu would be if the real Sasuke were to stand beside him to confuse him. But, Itachi was sure that there was very little chance of that happening. Sasuke wasn't in Konoha anymore.

"Naruto, wake up," Itachi said, shaking the boy. Within his mind, he was pondering over whether that was really something Sasuke would say, or not. He was sure that he had heard him say it before...but he couldn't be completely sure of himself. His mind kept wandering to the Sasuke he knew years ago, when they were all still living under the same house. And it wasn't helping.

The blond boy sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked around for a moment before looking at Itachi. "Sasuke? Why am I in the hospital?" He was confused. He believed that he was still in the dream.

"You had a high fever so I had to bring you to the hospital." Itachi took a step back as Naruto stood up and began searching for his clothes. After a moment, Itachi took them out of the closet for the blond.

"I had a fever?" Naruto looked at his black shirt, his orange jacket and pants for a silent moment before taking off his bedclothes and putting them on. They were clean enough to wear for now. At least until they got home and he could get some cleaner clothes on.

Itachi eyed Naruto's uncovered body for a moment before looking away. He guessed that the blond had probably undressed in front of Sasuke before, at least in the dream if not in reality...but never in front of Itachi. The elder Uchiha tried very hard to ignore the momentary glare of Naruto's bare skin before it was covered up with modest clothing.

"Sasuke," Naruto said as he brought his arms around Itachi in a loose embrace. "Daijoubu des-ka? You seem a little out of it." The blond stared into red eyes which he only saw as the darkest black.

To Naruto, it seemed as if Sasuke was just standing there. He hadn't brought his arms up around him, like he had done before. The blond was a little concerned. In the dream, he and Sasuke were...

The jinchuuriki brought his hand up to smooth away the hitai-ate on Itachi's forehead. He pressed his hand against the Uchiha's brow for a moment before putting his hand on his own forehead. He didn't have a fever.

"You don't have a fever now," Itachi said with a slight, atypical smile as he grabbed the hitai-ate that was slipping from his hair. If he didn't get it now, it would just fall to the ground unheeded, and he would probably forget it. Then, they would know that he was here...and he couldn't have that.

"But..." Naruto wasn't checking to see if he had a fever. He was checking to see if Sasuke had a fever! "...I wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with you, Sas–"

Naruto thought he had fallen for a moment. Everything within him just rose into his throat...like the sensation of dropping several feet very suddenly and very quickly. It took another moment for him to fully realize that "Sasuke" had grabbed him, that he was kissing him...in such a way that he had never done before.

Itachi hadn't planned it. In fact, at first, he was going to smack the blond shinobi in the face for even attempting to say his little brother's name in front of him again. But then, he remembered that Naruto really believed that he was Sasuke. And that annoyed him even more.

His goal was to destroy Sasuke, wholly and completely. Physically... Mentally... Socially... Naruto was his chance to do that. Without Naruto, his brother had nothing.

And he just wanted the blond to stop calling him Sasuke.

They were so engrossed in what they were doing that they didn't even hear the door open, didn't notice a dark-haired boy standing in the doorway, didn't realize the dark glare boring through their bodies.

But they heard the shout, the angry battle cry that rang as surely through the hospital as an emergency call, sending Naruto flying backwards into the generic white mattress of the sickroom. And as the blond looked up at the Sasuke that was kissing him only a moment before, he saw a sharp kunai in his hand pressed against the spark-inducing kunai of his opponent, Sasuke.

End Chapter 6

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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:

Here's the many uses of "—" for those who want to know. Well, I don't actually use the elongated hyphen, or dash, for many uses; there's only two that I know of and use it for. Firstly, there's the dash at the end of the sentence. Usually, this denotes someone cutting off the speaker, either because they're speaking over the initial sentence or because someone has physically attacked the speaker. Something has made the speaker stop speaking in the middle of the sentence. If you read closely, you'll see a few examples in this story. The other use is two dashes enclosing a statement. Usually, this is a second thought or additional information to the current sentence that doesn't really have a place within the paragraph or on its own, but this information helps the reader understand better what is said and is necessary to enjoy the story; however, if this additional information was to be written separately, it wouldn't match the story's continuity. There are examples of the two dashes flanking a statement in the story as well. Many people use parentheses "( " and " )" for this same purpose, but what parentheses are for is best left for another chapter. Continuity will be explained next chapter.

Fire's babbling:

Orochimaru: Sasuke-kun left me?

Fire: Uh…yes?

Orochimaru: Sasuke-kun left me!

Fire: Uh…yes, Orochimaru. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

Orochimaru: But Sasuke-kun can't leave me!

Sasuke: I just did, Ojii-san.

Orochimaru: Kabuto! I'm going to lock you in a cage, baka! You're not supposed to tell Sasuke-kun something like that! (walks to Kabuto with killer intent in his eyes)

Fire: Well, that's the last time I'm inviting Orochimaru to my babbling column, at least in this story.

Kakashi: (nodding in agreement) Yes. I definitely agree.

Fire: Everyone else is happy with the—

Sasuke: He kissed my dobe?

Fire: Uh…yes?

Sasuke: He kissed my dobe!

Fire: Uh…yes, Sasuke. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

Sasuke: But Itachi can't kiss my dobe!

Itachi: I just did, otouto.

Sasuke: I'm going to kill you! Don't defile my dobe with your cursed lips!

Naruto: (looks at Itachi) Sasuke? (looks at Sasuke) Sasuke?

Itachi: (shunshins away) …

Sasuke: Arrgh!

Fire: Having a bad day?

Sasuke: Arrgh!

Kakashi: I think Sasuke's going to have an emotional breakdown.

Fire: In that case, better leave a review and close the window quick. He might shoot a katon out the window.

Kakashi: At least he won't be hitting me.

Fire: That's not a good thing for the readers! Review! Review before Sasuke hits you with a katon!

Sasuke: (handseals: tiger, monkey, boar, horse, tiger) Katon gokak—

Fire: (grabs Sasuke and muffles his mouth) Now, close the window before he kills us all! See you next chapter…if we survive!

Sasuke: (struggling to get free) lmght mggh!

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