A/N: Well. The semester's started now, and I'll most likely have to slow this one down (the rapidity of the chapters, that is). For this Chapter, I want to make a slight apology. One of my reviewers was polite enough to point out that Sasuke used one of the techniques the Yondaime was famous for. This is true. I apologize if it seemed a little strange. My main reason for doing that was to show that Sasuke learned a lot while he was away. He learned a lot from Orochimaru, and others at the Sound Village. So, I apologize. It is a little off, I know.

I also want to say that in this chapter, you get to see one of the jutsus Sasuke learned from Orochimaru (those only come out when he really needs them, or he's really mad. If I say any more, I'll give away a bit that's coming in a later chapter). Sasuke gets a bit more time with Sakura in this chapter, during which there's OOCness, but later you get his wonderful rivalry with Naruto again. Other warnings besides OOC? Language. It gets a little worse, but not much. Blame Kabuto. Oh, I made up a character for Naruto's ANBU team. As far as I know, Sarutobi Hanmaru isn't canon Naruto. I was running out of names, and I really didn't feel like having Izumo as an ANBU.

Legal Stuffiness: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be in Grad School and reeeeeally in debt.

Last time...

The boy was yanked firmly into the ground up to his chin, and as he struggled and cursed to get out, Moegi's head and shoulders popped up out of the ground in front of him. Leaning her chin on one of her hands, she shook her head at him. "That's five times I've won, Konohamaru. You're down by two, now." Laughing, she pulled herself up, and then tugged at her teammate until he was out of the ground. He seemed subdued now, but he glared at Moegi.

"I thought you didn't know that jutsu, carrot-top." Sasuke heard him say as the two of them walked slowly down the street. Sasuke frowned. Nope. I don't think I need to even try to kick his ass. She's got him well in hand. That was pretty true. However, the first thing he was going to have them do in the morning was fix the holes in the street, and Moegi had to get rid of those caltrops. Sighing, he went inside to put away the rest of the things he'd bought while shopping.

Time: 4.5 years after Sasuke's departure

Place: Konoha

Chapter 4: Blood Oath

Sakura walked through the streets, on her way to Sasuke's house. Other people were about, going to dinner at various restaurants, doing last-minute shopping for things before the shops closed, and most of all, they were gossiping. Don't they ever stop? They were all blabbing about how Sasuke was back. He'd been sighted at the hospital, a few shops, and rumors were flying about everything from him being the next Hokage to who people thought he was going to marry. Sakura had to try really hard not to roll her eyes at that.

One crazy woman had said something as she passed by a fruit stand about Sasuke being secretly in love with Naruto. Sakura stopped for a moment in a nearby alleyway, laughing so hard that she began to choke.

When she entered the Uchiha compound, she was once again struck by how dark and quiet it was. There was only one house that had any lights on, and she walked slowly toward it. When she drew near, she found that there were holes in the ground, as well as a large number of…caltrops. Suddenly fearful, Sakura drew a kunai. She didn't knock when she entered the house, moving silently and masking her chakra. Was someone there, trying to harm Sasuke? Had they taken him?

There were no other signs of violence in the house that she saw. Glancing at her watch, she noted the time. It was a quarter until seven, and she was early. That didn't matter much at the moment. When she came to the kitchen door, she heard movement. Inching along the wall until she could peek inside, she found Sasuke, safe and sound. He was bustling around the kitchen, making last minute adjustments to whatever he was cooking, which smelled wonderful. But there was a slight problem…he was hurrying around the kitchen wearing nothing but a fuzzy white towel.

Giving herself a moment to recover from the blush that was threatening to take over her face, she composed herself and gave a small cough. Sasuke turned around, his long hair swinging into his face, and he hurriedly pushed it behind one of his ears. His eyes widened, but only slightly. "Gomen, Sasuke. I'm early. I would have knocked, but I saw all the stuff out front, and I got worried." She sheathed her kunai, and snapped the holster shut, then pulled the hem of her dark blue dress back over it. He turned back to the stove for a moment, reducing the fire under the largest pot, and turning the other burners off.

"Sumimasen, Sakura. I'll go get dressed." He gripped the towel as he passed her, and walked down the hallway. Was it her imagination, or did he look flustered? Sakura smiled, and walked over to the stove. There was a pot of what looked to be yaki udon, and another that smelled like miso soup. If it tasted as good as it smelled, she'd probably eat way too much. Moving away from the stove, she sat at the table.

A few moments later, Sasuke came back in, dressed in a dark gray casual kimono, his hair pulled back behind his head in a braid. He smiled at her and moved to check the food. "Do you need any help, Sasuke?" She asked, and he said that he didn't. He took down a large bowl, and a ladle, then filled it with the soup. Disappearing from the room, he came back empty-handed. Then, he plated the udon, and disappeared once again. When he came back, he took her by the hand, and led her down the hallway. At the very end, there was a door, and through that door, a formal dining room.

The food was set on a low, black lacquered table, a small vase of clumsily arranged flowers sitting in the middle of everything. Sasuke lit a lantern overhead, and they sat down.

Sasuke reached for the ladle to serve the soup, but Sakura brushed his hands away from it. She took up his bowl and gracefully spooned soup into it, and placed it before him. Then, she served herself. They ate silently, and he looked up at her every now and again, watching her. She seemed to enjoy it. He was relieved. It had been a long time since he had cooked anything. The udon was a little too chewy for his taste, but she said she liked it that way. He hoped that she wasn't trying to humor him, but even if she was, it didn't matter that much.

After they were finished eating, they went for a walk. There was a lovely hill that was frequented by lay-abouts like Shikamaru for watching the clouds go by, and that's where they went. It was also nice to sit there and watch the stars. They sat down in the grass, and Sakura breathed a sigh of contentment. Sasuke looked over at her. She was watching the stars, tiny pinpoints of light reflected in her eyes.

Feeling at ease, he lay down in the grass. After a moment, Sakura lay down next to him, and they stared up at the blackness above, not saying anything, and not really needing to. When he'd been in the Sound Village, he'd been in darkness constantly. The hallways were lit only by the occasional torch, and his room held only candles for light and warmth. He'd come to hate the darkness. It only made him feel more alone. Now, however, it was completely different. He was in the dark, but he was not alone. He could feel Sakura next to him, even though they weren't touching at all. It was like a warmth that he could feel even in the depths of his mind.

His reverie was interrupted suddenly by the feeling of being watched. This was another thing he'd become highly aware of during his time in the Sound Village. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he sat bolt upright. "Sakura, take cover." Pushing himself to his feet, he looked around warily.

Sakura stood next to him, drawing a kunai. "I'm not going anywhere, Sasuke. Besides, there's nowhere to take cover. We're on open ground." He snorted. Lowering her voice, she asked, "So, where are they?"

"Good question." He could feel himself being watched; he knew they were there, he juxt didn't know where, or how many. There was one sure-fire way of finding out, though. "Follow me, and stay close." He ran back toward his house, and he could still feel the presence of whoever it was, watching, waiting, but now, he felt as if it was drawing nearer, from the west. "There's only one, but I think they're pretty strong." His mouth compressed into a thin line, and he activated the Sharingan, scanning the area to the west.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "It's Kabuto. That bastard." He stopped, turning, and placed himself between the approaching nin and Sakura. Bringing his thumb up to his mouth, he bit the end of it, causing it to bleed. His hands flew through seals as he summoned six large snakes and sent them toward the man who rushed toward them. He heard Sakura gasp behind him. "Hn." He grunted as he watched the snakes advance on Kabuto, who was merely slowed down by them. The snakes were killed and disappeared, and Sasuke sighed.

"Do you have any shiruken, Sakura?" She tapped him on the shoulder, and handed him two of her shiruken, keeping a few for herself. He threw both of them, and formed a familiar hand seal, muttering, "Shiruken Kage Bunshin no jutsu." The two became more than a hundred, and they swarmed over Kabuto, but few of them actually hit him. He still approached them, more slowly now, pulling the sharp missiles from various parts of his body.

"Sasuke-sama, you must come with me." The medic-nin said, smiling.

"I don't think so, Kabuto. You'll have to go back empty-handed, or not at all." Sasuke was surprised to hear Sakura's voice take on such a tone as she stepped around him. "Which will it be?" She stood casually in front of Sasuke, her arms crossed under her breasts, her head tilted to one side, waiting for an answer.

"I don't have time to play with you, little girl." Kabuto pushed up his glasses and frowned at her.

The pink-haired kunoichi reached into her pocket, pulling out a pair of black gloves, all the while muttering something about being called a little girl. Putting on her gloves, she flexed her hands. "Alright, yaro. Come on." Sasuke's shock lasted only long enough for him to watch Kabuto running at Sakura. He moved back and to the right, so that he wouldn't be in the path of anything thrown, be it a kunai, or a jutsu. Sakura's fist connected with the middle of Kabuto's chest, and Sasuke heard bones snapping. The man crumpled to the ground, but Sakura did not stop there.

Forming seals Sasuke recognized only as a medical jutsu, she placed her hands on his neck. When the chakra from her hands had sunk into Kabuto's flesh, she stood up and brushed her hands together. "Well. I thought better of you than that, Kabuto-kun. That was too easy."

The silver-haired man was glaring up at her, and said, "You bitch! You can't do this to me!"

Putting her hands on her hips, the woman leaned down, and said, "I can. And I just did. That should teach you to call me little." Sakura turned to Sasuke. "Pick him up, will you? We're going to see Tsunade-sama." Sasuke eyed the man warily. "Don't worry. I paralyzed him. He's not moving until that jutsu is removed."

"Really?" Sasuke asked, a thought rising in his mind that made his tone darken. Sakura nodded. "Wait just a minute, will you?" She raised a slim eyebrow at him, questioningly. He smiled, looking for all the world like Naruto. Turning to the man who lay prone on the ground, he punched him hard in the jaw, causing Kabuto's head to snap to the left. "Now I feel much better." He picked the man up off of the ground, and he was like dead weight.

"So, why are you bothering me during my dinner?" Tsunade wiped her lips with a napkin, looking to Sakura, who was standing in the door of the office. There was an almost giddy smile on her face, which was not something that happened often. She watched as the girl poked her head back out of the door and then as Uchiha Sasuke walked in, a body slung over his shoulder. The body was then dumped onto the floor.

"Yakushi Kabuto? You killed him?" Tsunade's mouth hung open.

"No. I didn't kill him, Hokage-sama." Sakura frowned. "He's just paralyzed from the neck down. That's all I did."

The Sound-nin glared around at the three of them. Tsunade looked down at him, walking around her desk. "Oi, baka. So what are you doing here?" She was trying very hard not to laugh. The second-in-command of the Sound lay on the floor in front of her, all that wonderful information in his head. He clammed up tightly. "That's alright, boy. We'll see how you hold up against my ANBU." She pressed a small button on the underside of her desk, calling for the nearest ANBU captain. In a matter of seconds, three masked ANBU appeared, and she gestured to the man on the floor. The leader, a man in a panther mask, looked down at Kabuto.

"What do you want us to do with him, Tsunade-sama?"

"I want you to take him to the interrogation room and find out what the hell he's doing here. Anything else relating to that, including Orochimaru's current location, would also be appreciated." The other two ANBU picked the man up off of the floor, and began carrying him out. "Oh, and Neji," the panther-masked man cocked his head slightly to one side. "You might want to find Kakashi. He's been itching to have a little chat with our guest." When they had removed Kabuto, Tsunade sat back down at her desk. "Well, Uchiha, did he say anything before Sakura pummeled him?"

"Only that I was supposed to come with him."

"He called me a little girl, Tsunade-sama." Sakura's brow was furrowed in a frown.

Tsunade smiled. There wasn't much that would make Sakura angry enough to hit someone with all of her considerable strength, but that was one of the things that would. She sighed. "Alright. You two go home. Sasuke, I'm assigning ANBU to guard you."

"Hokage-sama—" He began to protest.

"No, Uchiha. You're not going to get kidnapped if I have anything to say about it. Now get the hell out of my office and let me finish my dinner." That ended any discussion, and Sakura tugged at Sasuke's arm, pulling him out of the room.

Naruto took the scroll from the messenger, and nodded. A mission, this soon after getting back? Something must be really important, or Tsunade wouldn't have assigned it to him this soon. Unrolling it, he read it and his eyes widened. Can't that teme take care of himself? Naruto groaned. His team was assigned to guard the Uchiha compound, which was alright with him, as long as things didn't get too ugly. Apparently, Kabuto attacked Sasuke and Sakura, and was now in custody. "That's one good thing. At least now we only have that snake-bastard to deal with." His thoughts only darkened from there, however.

Walking back inside his apartment, he locked the door, and went to his kitchen table. Placing the scroll on the large metal tray in the middle, he struck a match and lit it on fire. This was what he did with all of his orders after receiving them, just in case. It wasn't standard practice, but he'd learned that he couldn't be too careful. He wasn't sure if guarding Sasuke was going to be of any help, though. Trouble usually found him, without him really needing to look for it. Well, I was wondering when the bad stuff would start. Looks like it has. Damn, that was fast.

Now that he knew his orders, he changed again into his ANBU uniform, then slipped on his mask and headed out of the door to gather his team. It only took about five minutes to get to the first man's apartment, but nearly ten to get him to come to the door. "Damn you, Kotetsu! Get up!" The spiky-haired man took forever to wake up, which Naruto had always found strange. He refused to break into the man's apartment, though. Naruto knew full well the kinds of booby-traps Kotetsu had set up. When he came to the door, Naruto pushed his way into the apartment. It was immaculately clean, as always. "We have orders, baka. Get dressed and meet me at the usual place." After a yawning nod from Kotetsu, he left and ran across the village to get the other member of his team.

Before he could even knock, Sarutobi Hanmaru opened the door and silently motioned for him to come in. He was a gittery little man, even though he was Asuma's younger cousin. How he could be related to the extremely laid-back cigarette-smoking jounin, Naruto could never understand. Hanmaru's eyes scanned the hallway of his apartment building, then he closed the door. "Do we have orders, senpai?" Naruto nodded. The man was so nervous, it was a wonder that he got the job done.

"Hai. Take a chill pill, then meet us at the bridge. You have fifteen minutes." He was sure that Hanmaru would be there no later than the fifteen minute mark, but probably five minutes earlier. Even though he was a nut-job, he was compulsively punctual. Probably just another sign of how nuts he really is. The man nodded and then pushed Naruto out of his apartment. Frowning, Naruto walked out of the building, and then made his way to the bridge. When he got there, he found Kotetsu leaning lazily on the railing, adjusting his gloves.

The monkey-masked man looked over at him. "Yo. So, how long did you give Hanmaru this time?" It had become a little bit of a game between him and Kotetsu to see how fast Hanmaru could be ready. So far, they'd tried various time limits, from thirty to ten minutes, and the man always seemed to make it to the appointed meeting place five minutes early.

"Fifteen."

"Not even a challenge, senpai. He'll be here. Now, give him seven, and then we'll have some entertainment!" Naruto rolled his eyes behind his fox mask. The other man had a vicious sense of humor. "So, how long do we have left?"

Smiling, the ANBU captain said, "Three minutes. You want to put money on it? He was in his boxers when he opened the door." The other man shook his head. There was little doubt in Naruto's mind either that the man would actually be there on time, but it was always fun to take it on chance that he might slip up. Sure enough, Two minutes and twenty seconds later, Hanmaru appeared next to Kotetsu, adjusting his hawk mask.

"Senpai."

"Good. Now that you're here, I'll let you in on our orders." Naruto leaned against the opposite railing, facing his ANBU. "We've been assigned a babysitting job, boys." The two men groaned. "Now, don't get your shorts in a knot. It might not be as boring as you think. We're guarding Uchiha Sasuke. There's already been one attack on him, and we're going to be there to make sure that there aren't any more until the second part of the chuunin exams. You know as well as I do that all bets are off once they're inside the Forest of Death." The others nodded. "Now, let's get going."

It was midnight when Sasuke returned to his house after escorting Sakura home. He found three ANBU in his living room waiting for him, and he rolled his eyes. "Don't you people have anything better to do than babysitting me?"

The captain pulled off his mask. Sasuke was surprised to see Naruto. The blonde man scratched the back of his head. "Well, teme, we don't really have that much of a choice. Me and the boys here are gonna be sticking to you like glue until the second part of the exams, so you just gotta get used to it." His friend smiled broadly.

Sasuke sighed. Naruto looked to the other two ANBU, and said, "You guys go check the perimeter. I have some things to discuss with Sasuke."

"Hai." Both men said at once, and disappeared out the window.

Before he knew what was happening, Sasuke was thrown against the wall, Naruto's katana drawn and pressed against his throat. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked the man, whose eyes were full of some unreadable emotion.

"You put Sakura-chan in danger, teme. I'll never forgive you for that." The razor-sharp edge pressed more tightly against his throat. Sasuke's eyes blazed black fire at Naruto. He couldn't believe this. He had thought of nothing but protecting her, and now this? Crimson seeped into his eyes, and a small muscle at the left side of his mouth twitched. With one hand, he grasped the blade of the katana, and the other, Naruto's throat.

Pushing steadily with both hands, he felt the warmth of blood running down his left hand where the blade of Naruto's sword was biting into it, and felt the other man's blood pulsing under his right hand, below the skin. He growled at Naruto, "Damn you, dobe. The only thing I did was try to protect her. She took matters into her own hands. She attacked Kabuto. She broke at least six of his ribs and probably his sternum, too. And it was damned well her that paralyzed him. All I could do was slow him down. You, of all people, should know fighting with him at close quarters is useless. It takes a medic-nin to take one down. I couldn't have stopped her even if I'd tried."

The entire time he'd been speaking, he was still pushing Naruto, who was sliding steadily across the slick wooden floor. Sasuke began to squeeze the other man's throat, fingers closing around his trachea. Blue eyes widened in pain, but continued to burn into Sasuke's. Naruto's anger radiated off of him. The dark-haired man suddenly came to a realization. "Who are you more angry at, dobe? Me, or you? You weren't there. There's no way that you could have done anything to protect her. So don't take your anger out on me, just because I was there." As if confirming his suspicions, Naruto's brow furrowed, and he looked quickly away from the Uchiha.

The ANBU's shoulders sagged, and he stopped pushing against Sasuke. The Uchiha released his throat. "I told her…" Naruto whispered, almost as if to himself, "I told her a long time ago. I said that I'd never let anything happen to her." He lowered his weapon, but Sasuke's other hand remained gripping the blade tightly.

"Naruto…" Sasuke said, looking him straight in the eyes. "You can't protect her all of the time. Neither can I. Sakura has become a very powerful shinobi. We have to trust her enough to take care of herself." Again, Naruto looked away from him. Sasuke removed his bloodied hand from the blade of the katana. Taking the weapon in his other hand, he grasped Naruto's arm. Making a light gash in the man's palm, Sasuke lowered the weapon and clasped their red-streaked hands. "Understand this, Naruto. You and Sakura are the two most important people in the world to me. Until my last breath, I will protect her. And you, brother." It wasn't much, but Sasuke gave him his word, which was all he could give him.

Naruto's eyes widened so that they seemed as if they would fall out. He bit his lip for a moment, a multitude of emotions battling for dominance in his eyes. Then, choking back the emotion in his voice, he said, "By my blood and yours, until my last breath…brother." That last was almost inaudible as Naruto struggled with himself, trying as hard as he could not to let tears that threatened to fall do just that. Finally, the two embraced one another. Naruto pulled away from Sasuke, and looked down at their hands. Sasuke also peered at their clasped hands.

"Let's wash this off." Sasuke's voice was gruff with his own emotion.

"Hold on." Naruto took hold of his hand.

"Wha—" Sasuke started as green chakra gathered around Naruto's hand in a healing jutsu. He could feel the flesh knitting back together. When Naruto removed his hand, Sasuke flexed his hand. It worked perfectly. He was sure he'd nearly severed one of his tendons… "You know medical jutsus?"

"ANBU captains are required to know some basic medical jutsus. I had a great teacher." Naruto smiled faintly, not looking at his friend. In his own way, Naruto's actions spoke of his relinquishment of any claim he may have wished to have on Sakura. Sasuke wondered if Naruto would ever really get over her. The look in the man's eyes said he might not.

A/N: Caltrops are, if you need a better image, little metal pyramids that have reeeeeally sharp edges on them. They're used to slow down people on foot. In this chapter, I use a few words that some of my friends have aske me about, so I thought I should put a note, just in case. Yaro: basically means punk. I'm not sure of the literal translation. Senpai: a term used for a person who holds seniority. I probably should have used Taicho, which means captain, but since it's referring to Naruto, and everyone who uses it is pretty familiar with him, I used senpai. Sumimasen: basically, means "excuse me" or "pardon me." This comes up a lot in conversations, I find. It's used not only in the usual way, but also to get people's attention. Here, I just use it to say "excuse me."