Pairings: None at the beginning but later, future SasuNaru, some GaaNaru, may be other pairings with Naruto.

Warnings: Shonen-ai (boyxboy love) at first and then when the characters are older it will become yaoi, so there will be homosexual pairings in this story. If this bothers you then please don't read this story. Mature content, crude language, cursing and sexual references are in this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. This story is a work of fiction based on the Naruto manga and anime series.

Thoughts and dreams are represented by italics.

Chapter Two – Acceptance

Sakura was in shock at all that Naruto had told her. In her mind she kept going over and over what he had said. He's an idiot and loud and obnoxious, how could he be the son of a hero like Yondaime? But putting everything together it all makes sense somehow. If it's true then the Fourth sealed the fox in his own child. How could a father do something like that? Sakura felt sorry for Naruto. "Okay, this sounds fairly plausible. It did look like that snake man did something to your stomach right before you changed. That's where your seal is right?"

Naruto raised his jacket and shirt up to expose his belly. Then he concentrated some chakra there to show the seal to Sakura. "This is the seal for the kyuubi. You're right, that man performed some sealing jutsu on me and that's what caused me to pass out." He put his shirt and jacket back down over his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Sakura had tears in her eyes. I never knew Naruto had such a sad life. He never got to know his parents and then having that demon sealed in him. No wonder the adults in the village seemed to hate him. I could never understand why before. But they are so ignorant! Naruto isn't the demon, he is just the container. And he is always so bright and happy. They have no reason whatsoever to hate him because of the fox. It's just so unfair.

"For what, Sakura-chan?"

"For the way I treated you before and for being insensitive to you for not having any parents." Sakura couldn't look Naruto in the eyes because she felt so guilty.

"That's okay Sakura-chan. You didn't know. I never knew my parents and I have just learned of them. So I will be okay. I can't wait to talk to the old man though!"

"Old man?"

"Yeah you know, the Third! My father told me to talk to him about all this, because he knows all about it. I have a lot of questions I want him to answer." I want to know everything about my parents and I want to know why the old man didn't tell me anything himself.

"Speaking of questions! Do you know if you have that bloodline limit?"

"Well no, not really. I haven't tried to use it yet."

Sakura felt shock as she remembered again, what Naruto had said before about his clan's bloodline limit. If there was someone that could do something like that, they would be unbeatable. How can a bloodline limit like that exist?

"My father told me a bit about how it works. I wonder if I have it! I do feel different right now. I need to see if I can do anything different. But we're in a dangerous place right now and we still have to get to the tower in the middle of this forest. Plus, something's wrong with Sasuke.

"Well I'll believe such a bloodline limit exists when I see it, Naruto. It's just so hard for me to believe that someone could actually be able to control chakra like that."

Naruto was only half listening to what Sakura said, he was too worried about Sasuke at the moment to pay attention to her. Naruto reached over to Sasuke and touched his seal. It caused his fingers to tingle and he almost jerked himself back from Sasuke. But something inside him told him to put his hand on the seal. So Naruto obeyed that urge and placed his palm over the seal. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the chakra in the seal.

I can see it and feel it. It's a powerful and evil feeling chakra. Feels like it's a poison that needs to be drained out. As Naruto kept concentrating on it, he felt something within himself pull at the foreign chakra in Sasuke's shoulder. He could see, even with his eyes closed, a dark purple chakra coming out through the back of his hand. It was leaving Sasuke and going through his hand then out into the air. Naruto concentrated harder on pulling on the chakra. Finally, it stopped coming out and Naruto opened his eyes, then he took his hand off Sasuke. He looked at where the seal had been and it was gone.

Sakura had been watching Naruto, but she couldn't see the chakra that was coming out of Sasuke. But she had sensed that something was happening. Then when she saw that the seal was gone from Sasuke, she looked at Sasuke's face. Sasuke no longer looked in pain and he now looked like he was sleeping peacefully. That's amazing! Did Naruto take off the seal? She looked at Naruto.

"Yeah, I did that. Guess that's part of what I can do with the bloodline limit. I guess I do have it." Naruto was not sure how to feel at the moment. He was surprised, happy, confused and eager. He wanted to know what else he could do, but he was confused about how he was able to use his bloodline limit. This will take a lot of practice!

"Wow! Well if you really do have that bloodline limit you described, then the rest of this exam should be a piece of cake!" Sakura was proud of Naruto and happy that he had been able to help Sasuke. But she was worried about how Sasuke would feel when he learned that Naruto was now stronger than him. She wanted Sasuke to be the more powerful one. Now she didn't know what was going to happen in the future with their team. Naruto will advance way past us if he has that bloodline limit! I would be happy to have Sasuke-kun all to myself, but Sasuke-kun will be angry and probably will ignore me even more. Also, we would have to get a new team mate. I want our team to stay the same.

"Well, Sakura-chan...I just found out about it, but I will do my best to make sure we get to the tower with both scrolls. We still have to find a team that has the earth scroll, since our own is a heaven one." Naruto started looking in his weapon pouch to get the scroll out.

Damn I forgot! Naruto doesn't know what happened to our scroll. "Um, Naruto...it's not there anymore."

Naruto looked up at Sakura with a puzzled look.

"That man took it out of your pouch before he did that sealing jutsu on you, and so that scroll is lost to us." Sakura looked unhappy.

"What! Now we have to find both scrolls!" Naruto was angry.

"Yes, but I have faith that we can do it!" Sakura smiled at Naruto with renewed optimism.

Naruto saw Sakura's determination and it lifted his own spirit. He smiled back at her. "You bet we can, Sakura-chan!" Naruto gave her a thumbs up, then his stomach growled. "Oh...um, I'm really hungry Sakura-chan." He grinned sheepishly at her.

"Well, you are going to have to hunt us some food then, Naruto! I have to stay with Sasuke-kun to make sure he's safe." Sakura nodded towards the sleeping Uchiha.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Naruto grumbled, then got up and headed out of their shelter. "I'll try not to take too long, Sakura-chan!" He ran off in search of food.

Sakura looked back down at Sasuke. She raised her hand up and placed it on one of his shoulders, then shook him. "Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun, wake up." She shook him a few more times, calling out his name.

Sasuke slowly woke up. I must have been having a dream before. I hear Sakura calling me and she doesn't sound frightened. Sasuke opened his eyes and looked around. Then he saw Sakura kneeling beside him. Her hand still on one of his shoulders. "Sakura? What happened? Where are we?"

Sakura was ecstatic that Sasuke was awake and appeared fine. She took her hand off his shoulder and smiled happily at him. "We're safe now, Sasuke-kun. I brought you and Naruto to this shelter a little while ago."

"Were we fighting with a snake-like man earlier? Or was I dreaming that?"

Sakura got a frightened look on her face. "No, Sasuke-kun, that wasn't a dream. I was so scared before. I thought we were going to die. I was especially afraid that you were going to die." She shuddered when she said that. "That evil man bit you and put some seal on you and then he left."

Sasuke then remembered that he had been bitten. He put his hand on his shoulder and felt the bite marks. Then he tried to look at his shoulder to see the seal that Sakura was talking about. "I don't see a seal. Where is it?"

"It's gone now, thank goodness! Naruto took it off of you."

Sasuke looked at Sakura sharply. Then looked around to see where Naruto was. When he didn't see him, he looked back at Sakura with surprise. "What do you mean that dobe took it off of me? Where is he anyway?"

Sakura smiled at Sasuke. "He's out hunting for something for us to eat. But you will be surprised when I tell you about the new Naruto."

Sasuke glared at Sakura. "Stop beating around the bush and just tell me what's going on."

Sakura frowned at Sasuke's impatience. Then forgave him and smiled at him again. "Okay well first thing you will notice when you see Naruto again is that his appearance has changed." Sasuke frowned in puzzlement, but didn't interrupt her. "Don't freak out and think he's an enemy when he gets back, okay?"

What the hell is going on here! And I never freak out! Sasuke glared at her. "Just keep talking."

Sakura fidgeted at the glare Sasuke was giving her, but she got her courage back quickly and started talking again. She repeated everything that Naruto and her had talked about earlier. As word for word as she could remember it. "So, what do you think, Sasuke-kun? It's strange isn't it? I'm sure Kakashi-sensei knows about Naruto and the kyuubi, but Naruto said that only the Third Hokage knows who Naruto's parents really were."

The dobe is stronger than me! Now how can I measure myself against him, so I can get strong enough to kill Itachi? This is so unfair! Sasuke brooded. He was not happy at all to hear of the truth about Naruto. He knew he was being selfish and that it wasn't Naruto's fault, but he had a goal that he had to achieve and he couldn't afford to care about anyone else right now.

"Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun did you hear me?" Sakura couldn't understand why Sasuke looked angry and wasn't saying anything. Sure, Sasuke-kun is probably a little jealous of Naruto right now, but to look so angry. She was afraid that things were going to bad between Sasuke and Naruto now.

Sasuke finally realized he had been quiet too long. He looked up at Sakura. "Yes, I heard you, I was just thinking about all you told me."

Just then Naruto walked into the clearing and then over to their shelter. He saw Sasuke sitting up next to Sakura. "Hey, you're finally awake! I managed to find a stream close by and I caught us some fish." Naruto was grinning and holding up a string with 3 fairly large trout hanging from it. He noticed Sasuke was staring at him with a strange look on his face. "Didn't you tell him, Sakura-chan?" He turned to look at Sakura.

Sakura was still a bit surprised as she looked at the pretty blond boy and tried to reconcile in her mind that he was Naruto. "Um...yeah, I told him everything."

Naruto shrugged and then told Sakura that they needed a fire. He couldn't put the fish down anywhere because they would get dirty, so he would have to hold them up until he could put them on sticks above the fire.

"Alright, Naruto. I'll get the firewood." Sakura then got up and started picking up sticks and pieces of wood that were scattered around the area.

Sasuke still hadn't said anything. He was also still staring at Naruto.

Naruto shifted from foot to foot nervously. "How long do you plan on staring at me, Sasuke-teme?" Geez, what is wrong with him? I wish he would stop staring at me like that.

Sasuke shook himself back to awareness. He looked away from Naruto. "I was not staring at you, usuratonkachi."

Huh? Liar! "Yes you were, Sasuke-teme and don't call me that!"

"...Hn."

Sakura came up to Naruto and placed some of the wood in front of him. She then looked at Sasuke. "Um, Sasuke-kun, can you do that fire jutsu of yours on this?"

Sasuke got up and walked over to the pile of wood.

Sakura and Naruto moved back so they wouldn't get burned.

Sasuke performed seals then spoke out, "Katon Gokakyu no Jutsu." Luckily he knew how to control how much fire he released and managed to only ignite the firewood into flames. Then Sasuke turned around and went back into the shelter and then sat down. He wanted to be alone to think.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura helped Naruto get the fish onto sticks and put them up over the fire.

Naruto sat down near Sakura by the fire. He whispered, "Hey, Sakura-chan, how did Sasuke react when you told him about me?"

Sakura looked over to Sasuke and saw he was not paying them any attention. "Well, he was quiet after I told him everything." She whispered back. She felt it was better to leave out the part about Sasuke seeming angry. She wanted things to stay peaceful.

"Okay, thanks." Naruto whispered to her.

Several minutes later, the fish were done enough to eat. "I think the fish are done. Hey Sasuke-teme, time to eat!" Then Naruto took one of the sticks with a fish on it and handed it to Sakura, then he grabbed another for himself and started eating.

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura smiled then started eating herself.

Sasuke got up and came over to them and got his own fish, then he moved a little distance from the others and started to eat.

Sakura wasn't happy that Sasuke didn't sit by her. But she didn't want to anger him, so she said nothing about his choice of where to eat. I wish he would stop sulking. We are all safe and we should be feeling good about ourselves now. Naruto seems to be in good spirits despite his new circumstances. I wish Sasuke-kun could be more like Naruto and give me a smile, at the very least.

Naruto was busy thinking as he ate too. I think Sasuke is angry with me. Or maybe he's just jealous that I'm stronger than him now. I wish he'd get that stick out of his ass and just get over it. We still have to get two scrolls in order to finish this second test. We need to work together as a team.

Sasuke realized some things as he finished up his meal. I've got to stop thinking about Naruto's new power and finish getting through this exam. I'll just put this all to the back of mind, to think about later. Sakura said that snake-like man took our scroll. Now we are far behind the other teams in this exam. We are going to have to come up with a strategy where we can defeat two teams and get their scrolls, but we have to be able to figure out a way to tell which team has what scroll. Otherwise we'll take too long to get them. I will not fail this exam. This is a way to test my strength. To see how strong I've become.

Sasuke was finished eating and so he got up and dug a hole and buried the fish bones. Then he threw his stick in the fire. He sat down next to Sakura.

Naruto and Sakura had finished eating too and they copied what Sasuke had done by burying their fish bones and tossing their sticks on the fire. Then both of them sat down on each side of Sasuke and looked at him.

"We need a plan." Sasuke looked at each of them, then looked into the fire.

"Great, I'm glad you remembered what we are here for, Sasuke!" Naruto grinned.

"...Hn."

Sakura smiled at Sasuke. "So how do we get the scrolls, Sasuke-kun? I know you can come up with a great plan! Yes, Sasuke-kun is so smart! He will lead us to victory! Inner Sakura cheered her Sasuke-kun on.

"Why does Sasuke always get to tell us what to do? I'm way smarter than him!" Naruto glared at Sasuke.

Sakura reached over to Naruto and hit him on the head. "You baka! Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that! You can never be as smart as he is!" Sakura looked at Sasuke to get his approval.

Sasuke ignored her and looked at Naruto and then smirked. "Dobe, even with your new found bloodline limit and heritage, you will never stop being a dobe."

"Stop calling me that, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto glared at him, then folded his arms on his chest and looked away from Sasuke. "Hmmph!"

Sasuke's smirk grew wider and he turned his head away from Naruto, to look back at the fire again. Well at least Naruto still acts the same. I may be able to handle this change in him better than I thought. "Naruto, Sakura said that your mother's clan was the clan that gave birth to the Hyuuga's and the Uchiha's. If that is true, then you should have an ability similar to the Hyuuga's Byakugan. Do you think you can try to access that part of your bloodline limit now?"

Naruto was surprised that Sasuke was now being civil towards him. And he was happy that he had some skills that could help his team. "I will try to see if I can do it, Sasuke."

Naruto concentrated chakra to his eyes and looked out in front of where they were sitting. At first, all that happened was his eyesight became better and he could see farther. So he concentrated more chakra and tried to focus his eyes on seeing even farther. He jumped up all of a sudden and said in a quiet tone, almost as low as a whisper. "Sasuke, I see another team."

Sasuke got up and went to stand beside Naruto and looked at him. "Can you tell how far away they are?"

Sakura got excited and got up to stand next to Sasuke. She too looked at Naruto.

"Well, I'm not too sure. Let me see." Naruto tried to judge the distance from where they were standing to where the people he was looking at were. He could see them talking, but couldn't hear them. Wait! Maybe if I focus chakra in my ears too I'll be able hear them! So Naruto focused a large amount of chakra to his ears and tried to tell if he could hear them. He heard several voices talking, but he realized it was more voices than the amount of people he was looking at. So he tried to focus on just where the ones he wanted to hear were standing.

"Naruto, what's taking so long!" Sakura was getting impatient.

Because she was so close to Naruto, while his hearing was advanced, it caused him to yell in pain. "Ow! Don't do that Sakura-chan, it hurts!" Naruto hurt himself too, when he yelled that. He waved his hand at his team mates and whispered. "Give me a minute."

Naruto continued to listen to the group he was looking at. After he heard what they were saying, he frowned. He released the extra chakra he had gathered in his ears, but kept on watching their enemies. "Sasuke, as far as I can figure...they are about half a mile in that direction. They are crouched behind some bushes, talking. I was able to hear what they said too."

Then Naruto feeling satisfied that their enemies weren't going anywhere soon, released the chakra he had focused to his eyes, then turned to his team mates.

"What did they say?" Sasuke was amazed at Naruto's abilities. He can see like a Hyuuga, but he can also hear long distances. He will be a great asset for our team. But there's no way I'm going to tell him that! He's already got a big enough ego as it is.

"They plan on attacking us at dawn."

Sakura gasped. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I heard them, Sakura-chan. And one of them was saying that some man named Orochimaru told them to kill Sasuke." Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"What! We can't let them kill Sasuke-kun!" Sakura looked at Sasuke and then grabbed his arm and hugged it. "What are we going to do, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke pulled his arm away from Sakura and looked back at the fire. "We attack them first. Then we get their scroll. Then we go find another team to fight. That is what we do."

"Yay! So Sasuke, when do we go after them? Tonight?" Naruto was eager to fight the other team and to try out his new abilities on them.

"Not yet. We will wait a few hours. Sakura and Naruto, both of you go to sleep so that you will be ready to fight. I'll take watch."

"But Sasuke-kun, you were hurt earlier and you need rest too!" Sakura wanted Sasuke to be in good shape for the fight so that he could beat the other team. She was afraid that the other team would go after Sasuke the most and he could get hurt.

"Sakura, I slept earlier remember. I will be fine. Now go inside the shelter and go to sleep." He moved away from her.

"Alright, Sasuke-kun. Good night." She smiled at Sasuke and then went inside the shelter and laid down to go to sleep.

"Naruto, wait a few minutes before turning in. I need to set up some traps around the perimeter. Just in case. You can go to sleep when I get back."

"Sure, Sasuke. I'll watch over Sakura till you get back." Naruto moved to stand in front of their shelter, facing the forest.

Sasuke left the camp to set up the traps.

TBC