Chapter 75

Through the Eyes of Another: A Lost Shadow

Sakura walked alongside Naruto towards the training field, healed, an excited bounce in her step.

Finally, after an eternity of bed-rest, she was free. The cast that restrained her right arm no longer immobilized her. The hospital walls that served as her prison and the sharp aroma of disinfectant were replaced by the open Village and the earthy smell that preceded a rainstorm.

But more important than the removal of the cast, more important than the open—if not storm cloud ridden—sky and fresh air, Sakura was officially on the active duty roster again.

It'd been a long week. Long and introspective. In the moments between recovery and physical therapy, when she sat alone within the walls, looking out at Konoha from her window, Sakura reflected heavily on herself, her role in Team Seven and their time as a team. She barely recognized the long-haired, love obsessed, naïve girl she used to be; she looked like a stranger in the mirror—a twin who resembled her physical appearance, but wielded a misplaced ego and childish attitude that made Sakura cringe.

The Land of Waves broke that girl down, shattered her ridiculous ego, overbearing attitude and naiveté into indistinguishable pieces, forcing her to confront reality: Being book smart did not translate into anything remarkable when compared to the talent and skill of Sasuke and Amari, or the true courage and conviction Naruto and Amari possessed.

Without Amari picking up the shattered pieces of the not-so-great or talented Sakura Haruno, she may not have ever recovered. But Amari helped remold her into someone new. No, Amari would never say that, Sakura ducked her head to hide her affectionate smile. She'd say she only guided me in the right direction, while I walked the path.

Either way, it was thanks to Amari she began on a path towards becoming someone stronger in spirit and physicality. Someone she could be proud of.

But through all the tough battles, through the harsh realities of shinobi life confronting and deconstructing their naïve perspectives of the world, through the emotional peaks and valleys, she never received a single debilitating injury. Not until the Land of Snow—their third A-rank mission.

Prior to the Forest of Death, her place on the battlefield was the background, away from the worst of danger while her teammates and sensei fought for their lives, and she stood uselessly behind them.

The others protected her, sheltered her from harm like a newborn. They had to. Her lack of strength rendered her useless in battle; she became a glorified cheerleader while her teammates threw themselves into danger again and again, receiving injuries and risking death as she remained unharmed.

Upon reflection, she felt guilty. How many times did they have to stick their necks out for her? How many injuries could have been avoided if she had been of any use at all?

Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Amari exhausted themselves of chakra or earned a serious injury at some point since their team formation—especially Amari. Yet she, the sole shinobi not pulling her weight, remained physically unharmed. It was unfair to them.

That's what made her broken hand so important. It was a badge of honor, a symbol that proved she wasn't a just a cheerleader in the background anymore. She was growing. Maturing from the useless girl who pretended she was already a shinobi into someone who actively worked towards earning that title.

"Tell me, do you brats think wearing that headband really makes you a shinobi? Don't be ridiculous. When you've hovered between life and death so many times it doesn't faze you then you may be called a shinobi. When you've become so deadly your profile is entered into my bingo book then you may have earned the title of shinobi. But to call upstarts like you shinobi is a bad joke."

"He wasn't wrong," Sakura murmured.

"Hm? What'd you say, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

The kunoichi looked at her teammate and his curious expression. She offered a bashful smile. "Oh, uh, I was…just thinking about something Zabuza said, back when you guys first fought him."

"Hm." Naruto hummed and looked up to the sky. "We've encountered a lot of tough people since then like Orochimaru, Gaara and Hikari and those Akatsuki guys. But when I think back on it, there's something about our fights with Zabuza and Haku. Something different. Orochimaru is just evil, treating people like they are just dolls he can experiment on and throw away when he gets bored. Gaara and Hikari were… It's hard to explain."

Hard to explain, maybe, but Sakura understood.

"And those Akatsuki guys were obviously stronger than Zabuza and Haku if they could take on Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei at the same time. But that fight on the bridge… I think… I feel like we each lost something that day, even if we didn't die." Naruto scratched at his chin. "I don't know. It sounds weird when I say it out loud. Or maybe I'm not explaining it right. I just… That battle changed everything, you know?"

Sakura nodded. "It really did," she agreed. "I remember Amari saying something like what you just did to me once. She said, 'I sacrificed a piece of my heart and soul on that bridge. It's a part of the foundations now; no one can see it, no one will ever even know it's there, but that piece of me will always be there—out of my reach. But it's not alone, and what I gained in return is irreplaceable.'"

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "That's exactly it! I know that something in me changed that day; it'd be impossible to stay the same after everything Haku said to me, and after what Amari did to save him. I just never knew how to word it right to express that there was something else besides losing that piece. We all gained something, too."

Again, Sakura nodded in agreement. The battle tore away the veil of their self-assured egos and blinded hypocrisies to face reality. To see their reflections and the world around them with cleared eyes.

Through the battle and its aftermath, they awoke to a world where a man's soul struggled against the demon created by the cruelty of Blood Mist Village and the human heart beneath the surface. They witnessed a young boy whose heart was torn between his duty to his purpose and his heart begging him to stop hurting his kindred spirit.

A kindred spirit who shattered when pushed to the brink. Who reached out with a bloody, trembling, scarred hand as she cried for him in a final plea to stop the fight.

Naruto was absolutely right: The battle against Zabuza and Haku changed everything. It altered every single one of them, opened their eyes to the grey area in their world of shinobi.

Still, this injury she gained in the Land of Snow proved another fact: She wasn't finished maturing yet. She needed to refine this power. Needed to keep her skills sharp so she could continue to grow.

Staying at the hospital became an inconvenience. While there, Sakura did everything she could to avoid literally climbing the walls of her hospital room with chakra on her feet to pass the time. Meditation, physical therapy, she even did one armed push-ups once just to settle her fidgeting muscles, which earned her a scolding from the nurse who found her.

The whole experience frustrated her. Left her restless. And I was only there for a week. Lee must be stir-crazy. He'd been there since the conclusion of the preliminary rounds. His team, his friends, everyone was continuing on their paths as shinobi, training to become stronger, and yet he was stuck in the sterile prison, wasting away as days passed without care to his dreams or his goals.

His dreams sat in an indefinite holding formation while others dashed past them, chasing their own dreams.

Thankfully, his goals and dreams would not be swept out from under them by an injury, nor would Lee of all people ever dream of conceding to defeat. Within the next two weeks Lady Tsunade would perform the procedure on Lee, and then he'd be able to rejoin his team and return to following his ninja way.

Sakura was overjoyed for him. Lee's fate had been unknown even to his closest friends ever since the preliminary rounds. Would he be able to return to active duty? Would he ever truly be able to access his full potential again? What if he wasn't able to? What if he was forced to give up his life as a shinobi?

Only Mimi refused to see anything less than a full recovery as a possibility. Others had silent fears they never shared. Fears, Sakura assumed, were formed by their experiences with the merciless world they lived in.

I wonder if they've made their first kills too.

It was a possibility. Her own experience was…strange. In the end, her punch had only shattered Mizore's armor, not killed him. The volatile reaction of Mizore's and Fubuki's armor was truly what ended their lives.

Maybe that made it easier to rationalize their deaths. Sakura avoided dwelling on any of it.

Out of sight, out of mind, as the old proverb said.

Now that she was healed it was time to focus on her training.

If I can figure this out, my strikes could be as powerful as Lady Tsunade's.

Sakura lifted her hand up and stared down at the healed appendage. Back in the Academy she would have been naïve enough to think she was smart enough and strong enough to do it with ease, as if it wouldn't take any real training to achieve.

She knew better now. This new goal would require an intense devotion and some serious training if she ever wanted to be able to have strength like their Hokage. Sakura opened and closed her hand a few times, reassuring herself that she could still use it like she could before, then squeezed her hand into a tight fist, smiling as she did.

I'm ready for the challenge.

"Are you sure your hand is ready for training?" Naruto asked, watching her movements carefully.

She turned her smile to Naruto. "Yep. Between the Medical Ninjutsu and the physical therapy, I'm back at one hundred percent. But thank you for asking."

Naruto grinned brightly back at her and clasped his hands behind his head. "Looking out for each other is what teammates are for, right?"

"Right," she replied, smiling just a bit bigger because of him.

Naruto… I used to think so poorly of you. I treated you terribly, all while I acted so high and mighty. I never even tried to get to know the real you, because I was so certain I knew everything. But I was wrong.

I'll do my best to be a better teammate.

The pair made their way from the slightly populated streets of Konoha—civilians and shinobi alike entered and exited shops of all varieties, some rushing out and down the street hastily to avoid the incoming storm—and out to the training fields. The wind whistled through the trees and dashed playfully over the grassy fields, making the leaves dance and the blades of grass bend and bow. The air had a chill to it.

Sakura was certain they'd find Amari at the training field already. Sasuke, too. The storm presented an ominous threat, but she hoped—in futility—it might still break apart so they could train. If it didn't then they'd likely all head to the Yūhi household to hang out as a team, and to take shelter from the storm.

On the chance training was canceled, Sakura planned to ask Amari to join her in yoga so she could stretch out the kinks in her body; she felt stiff as a thousand year old stale loaf of bread.

While she could stretch alone, she preferred to have a partner, and Amari was the only practitioner of yoga among their team.

At least that's the reason she told herself.

"I still can't believe this storm had to choose today of all days to come," Naruto half stated, half whined. "I was really looking forward to finally getting some training in after all those D-rank missions Granny gave us."

Sakura giggled. She'd heard all about recent events from Amari, especially the stacks of missions they'd been given. Her fellow kunoichi tried to visit every day to catch her up on the latest or simply to hang out to ease Sakura's boredom, though that wasn't always possible.

Amari always apologized. Sakura always waved it off and verbalized her appreciation.

And every time she left, Sakura would wonder about that night on the ship. About what they'd almost done. How she wanted to discuss it with Amari, to figure out what it all meant and what these feelings she still felt were…but failed to, always with a promise of "next time."

There'd been several "next times" so far.

What about Sasuke, who she still felt strongly for? What about Haku, who Amari shared such a deep, personal connection with? What about…them. Their feelings. Their bond. What did this all mean?

Sakura shook the thought off. Next time. Next time she'd bring it up.

"How is that second stack coming?" she asked to Naruto, amused.

The boy let out a startled whine. "Ahhh, don't tell me Amari told you about that?" Again she giggled. "You don't understand, Sakura, the missions are soooo boring, and they never end!"

He began flailing his arms about as he spoke. "It's like Grandma Tsunade is punishing us for doing so well in the Land of Snow! I've had to deliver meals, mail, lost pets, and on one delivery I had to listen to an old grandma talk about and show me her bunions!" Naruto shuddered visibly. "I don't think I'll ever look at feet the same way again."

At the sight of him shuddering again, Sakura spared him a sympathetic look while trying to hide her smile. If it could get that much of a reaction out of him, she didn't want to imagine it.

"Just be happy you haven't been cooped up inside the hospital with only one hand this whole time," she said.

"Yeah, I guess you're righ—"

"Well, you know what I think? I think the Uchiha Clan can go to hell!"

Sakura and Naruto both halted, features tugging into shock at the furious voice.

"That sounded like Amari," she said.

"But why does she sound so angry?" Naruto questioned.

Their casual stroll changed into a haste filled walk, quickly turning into a run.

"Every single one of you don't deserve peace in the next life. All of you selfish, narcissistic, simpleminded, self-victimization, ego-maniacal bastards could never see what was most important in life. The Clan this, the Clan that. The Clan doesn't want half-breeds. Half-breeds only lower our status!"

The pair was at a full sprint by that time. They broke through the surrounding trees, where they found their other two teammates facing off near the river bank.

Sasuke stumbled away from what appeared to be a push. "I hope they're all burning! I hope all of the torment they put me and all the other kids just like me through is thrown back on them one hundred fold!"

Why are they fighting? What happened?

Worry sewed itself into the kunoichi's heart. For Amari to verbally lash out at Sasuke was bad, but it was her words that concerned Sakura the most. Spitting venom at the Uchiha Clan? Using the insult of "half-breed" as she did it?

Sakura didn't want to believe Sasuke actually stooped so low to call her that—she couldn't believe it. The two were too close for something like that. It would be like expecting Naruto to say it to her.

So why is she yelling at him and telling him the Uchiha Clan can go to hell? It's not like Amari to lash out for no reason. Only enemies and people acting like Neji and Koyuki have ever managed to get a reaction like that out of her, the voice of doubt whispered to her.

She tried to shut the voice out. Right now wasn't the time to think about it. She needed to get her to calm down so they could talk this out.

"Hey! Stop, both of you!" she shouted at the pair.

Amari glanced in their direction. An unnatural chill shot down Sakura's spine as the pinwheel eye stared right through her, glowing through the gaps of her fingers.

That eye…is that the Mangekyō Sharingan?

It had to be. What else could it be? The normal Sharingan didn't look like a four-pointed star, sharpened to cut and kill anyone who came into contact with it. It was no wonder Sasuke looked over at them, fearful and rooted in his spot. Even at a distance, the sight of the eye, Sakura swore she saw a dark demon forming behind Amari.

Anger, hurt, grief, darkness, Sakura could see it all boiling within the churning red sea. Looking at her, it was Amari, but it wasn't. She was a stranger. Someone different.

Someone like Gaara. Someone lost to darkness.

This stranger frightened Sakura.

At that moment, while crimson locked with emerald, the person who wasn't Amari blinked, and her teammate appeared again, as if being startled awake. The Mangekyō receded into a normal Sharingan, the darkness vanished. Amari looked shocked. Still hurt. Still angry. Still consumed by grief, but she looked scared…of herself.

Then determination crossed her face, as if she had just decided to take fate into her own hands.

Amari pinned her gaze back onto Sasuke.

They were almost within arm's reach. Sakura and Naruto both reached their hands out to grab her, to pull her in, intent on soothing the pain before mending the tangible gap between her and Sasuke. Just a little closer…

Their hands grasped air.

"Amari!" they both shouted, hoping to stop her.

Sakura and Naruto began to hurriedly examine the surrounding area, trying to find any trail left behind by the Body Flicker user before…

She was gone.

"So fast," Sakura muttered to herself.

"Damn it! Where did she go? Where did she go?" Naruto said.

"Sasuke, what happened? Why did she—" Sakura paused as she looked at Sasuke again. His entire body appeared stiff, like he'd been frozen solid by crystalized ice. His eyes were glued to Amari's previous location, unfocused yet fearful, looking there but not seeing anything. A drop of sweat trailed down his brow.

The kunoichi approached him cautiously and reached her hand out to touch him.

"Sasuke?"

The touch of her hand on his shoulder seemed to send a bolt of electricity through Sasuke's body. He shook awake with a sharp intake of breath. Startled, Sakura pulled her hand away and took a step back in preparation of an attack that never came.

Sasuke stumbled away from her and collapsed onto his butt. His breathing was so erratic, as if he'd just run a hundred laps around the entire Village.

He must have been put under a genjutsu, she theorized as she unclenched the fists she had made unconsciously. But why? Was Amari just trying to prevent him from following her, or did she use something like Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu?

Another thing she didn't want to believe.

Sakura crouched down beside Sasuke. Behind her, Naruto grunted in a mix of frustration and reluctant defeat.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" she asked.

His eyes, no longer unfocused, darted around the area, scanning for Amari or the threat of Amari. Sakura wasn't sure which, but she hoped for the former. The fear in his eyes, it was palpable, mirrored to the fear he'd shown when they first fought Zabuza and Orochimaru.

Sakura wished there was something she could say. Some little bit of reassurance or comfort, to at least make the wild look of fear in his eyes go away.

"Where's Amari? Where did she go?" he asked in return, worry thick in his voice.

Sakura shook her head. "We don't know. It's only been a few seconds since she disappeared."

Sasuke's eyes bulged in surprise as they locked onto hers. "A…few seconds? That's it?"

She reaffirmed her statement with a nod. Inside, however, she felt worry choking the life out of her optimism. He shouldn't have been surprised. He should have been fully aware of his surroundings and how much time had passed. Yet he wasn't.

It reaffirmed her genjutsu theory, but she couldn't give voice to it. Her optimism was struggling fiercely to stay afloat. How long could it last, though? How much longer could she willingly deny what was so clear in front of her?

She swallowed the answer she didn't want to believe and decided to voice a question that would give her no choice in the matter. "What happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke brought his left hand to his head and shut his eyes. "I saw…Amari's memories. Different points in her life; some were before the massacre, others were recent memories. It was like standing on the sidelines as I watched moments in her life happen, but I was subjected to every emotion she felt."

He clenched his right hand into a fist. "I can still see these foreign memories. I can see Shisui in that fūinjutsu, talking to her about what happened to the Clan. I can see my brother inside the Tsukuyomi he cast on her…and hear the things he told her. What he entrusted to her, it's…"

Sakura watched Sasuke's conflict with an aching heart. He looked on the verge of tears, like he just wanted to scream.

"She showed me how our Clan used to treat her; I think I even saw Shisui's memories of that day," he continued. "And I can still feel every shred of fear, sorrow, regret, happiness and pain that she felt as if I lived them myself." Sasuke, without warning, slammed his fist into the grass. "Damn it!"

Being so close to Sasuke, Sakura could feel the frustration and turmoil he directed at himself. Whatever happened between them hadn't been a part of his plan. None of this had been a part of anyone's plan. Something went awry, something that was putting as much distance between the two Uchiha members as Amari was putting between herself and her team.

Time was of the essence. They needed to mend this gap as fast as they could before it could stretch beyond their reach.

"Whatever pain you might have felt in those memories won't be anything compared to what I'm going to do to you if you don't tell us what you said to hurt Amari," Naruto threatened.

"Naruto!" Sakura chastised.

His angry stare didn't waver in the slightest. The intensity of his cerulean eyes bewildered Sakura. It's like he's seeing him as a threat rather than a friend.

"Did you call her a half-breed?" he asked.

Sasuke said nothing and lowered his eyes to the ground. Naruto snarled at the silence and approached the boy aggressively. He crouched down and gripped Sasuke's shirt by the collar.

Silence was not the correct answer, apparently.

"I asked you a question, Sasuke." Sasuke mumbled something incoherently; Sakura couldn't make heads or tails of it. With a growl, Naruto gripped his shirt tighter and pulled him forwards so they were face to face. "Stop mumbling and answer me!"

"I didn't say it…but I was about to. That was enough," he admitted despondently.

Disappointed silence swept over them. Sakura felt herself instinctively lean away from him. He…actually went to call Amari such a callous and demeaning word. How could he… Why…

This whole time she tried to ignore reality for a fantasy. A fantasy where everything was perfect between her team and nothing could ever come between them.

That fantasy had shattered. She held on so tightly to the hope that to have them snatched away left her speechless and heartbroken. None of this was right. None of it.

Naruto's fist curled further into his teammate's shirt. "Why?! Why would you even think of calling her that?! She's your teammate! Your friend!"

Sasuke flinched and looked away. "I…didn't want to say it. It just…in the heat of the moment…"

Naruto shook the boy roughly. "Don't give me that crap! That's just a pathetic excuse for saying something you knew would hurt her!"

"Shut- shut up, you loser," Sasuke responded weakly. "You have no idea what happened or what she was saying before."

"Maybe not. But I do know there's no excuse for calling someone you care about a name like that. Definitely when Amari has only ever been kind and supportive to you. So you can keep giving me your excuses all day long, but at the end of the day you're either trying to hide from the reality of what you've done, or you're an uncaring bastard who hurts the people closest to him because it makes you feel better than them."

This time it was Sasuke's turn to growl. "Shut up, Naruto."

"Not until you tell me which one you are. Are you one of those Clan bullies who treated her like a worthless piece of trash? Or are you the friend who let his emotions get the better of him and regrets saying something stupid and hurtful so much that he's trying to hide from it? Because one of those ends with my fist in your face, and I need to know if I have to protect Amari from someone she considered a brother and someone I considered my best friend!"

Naruto… A small part of Sakura wanted to try to calm him down, to tell him he was being irrationally angry at Sasuke. But the majority of her heart was behind him. Heat of the moment or not, there was no excuse for calling Amari a half-breed.

"I said shut up!" Sasuke went to push Naruto away but didn't get anywhere. "You think I wanted this to happen?! Is that what that tiny brain of yours thinks? All I wanted was to get some answers about our past and apologize for what my brother did to her family! That's what I wanted to do!"

"Then why did you try to call her a half-breed?"

"I. Don't. Know!" Sasuke snarled through grit teeth. "She started talking about how Shisui and Atsuko told her someone else besides my brother and Aimi are responsible for the massacre. That they were forced to do it!"

"So you lashed out at her for believing two people who would never lie to her?"

He pointed to himself. "My brother made me watch him slaughter our family over and over again. So yeah, when she told me they didn't have a choice, I snapped at her. What the hell would you do?!"

"I would have listened to her! And I definitely wouldn't have called her a half-breed!"

Sakura could only watch as her teammates argued back and forth, her head moving from one to the other like she was watching a ball passed between them. Inside, her heart was hurting. Why was everyone yelling at each other? They were supposed to be a team. Why couldn't they just stop and see that this was splitting them apart?

Why can't I stop them? Here she was again, standing in the background as she watched her teammates fighting each other. Useless. Completely useless.

Sakura lowered her eyes to her lap, resigning to defeat. Like always.

No matter how strong I get, I never seem to change. It's like there's a brick wall in front of me…and as the others climb over it easily, I'm stuck behind it, struggling to keep up. She let her eyes wander until they fell onto her healed hand.

No. No. Not this time. She refused to resign to defeat so easily. She refused to just stand in the background and let this continue. These thickheaded idiots, they were being selfish. They were making this about them, about their stupid emotions and their guilt, just like she almost had that night on their return from the Land of Snow.

She wouldn't stand back and watch as her teammates tore themselves to shreds over this. No way. Amari wasn't here to be the balancing point or to remind her of her own strength. Amari had done everything she possibly could to show her the right path, to give her guidance and show her that she could walk side by side with them if she pushed herself.

Sakura had pushed herself harder than she ever had before to show Amari that her steadfast belief wasn't misplaced. But more than that, she pushed to prove it to herself that she could be strong. That she could be more than the weakest link.

Hours upon hour she trained, putting every ounce of her will into her goal to no longer stand in the background, but stand side by side with her teammates. She hadn't been able to be there to help her team against the three Akatsuki members. She was too slow, too late to be of any help.

Never again, she swore on the way back to Konoha as she looked at the defeated kunoichi and her mother.

Amari was still recovering from the culmination of remembering and losing her cousin as well as the massacre of the samurai. She'd seen it. Stayed with her and comforted her when she needed it most.

Right now, Amari needed her to be the balancing point. It was time for her to take the lead and take some of the weight off Amari's shoulders, that way she could focus on healing her heart.

"Oh right, because you're so perfect! How stupid of me to assume you would make a mistake!" Sasuke fired back.

"Both of you shut up!" Sakura shouted over them both.

They both flinched and shut their mouths. Immediately.

This was her chance to once again prove to herself and her team that she had a place among them, that she was strong enough to stand up for what she knew was right in her heart.

They're no different than me and Ino. So caught up in their stupid emotions that they don't see what they're doing to each other.

She stood up to gain the higher ground and glared down at them both. "The three of us nearly lost Amari and Kakashi-sensei to those rogue ninjas. Each of us made a vow to get stronger so we wouldn't ever have to stand idly by as our friends fight hopeless battles for us." Her glare intensified. "Yet here you two are, arguing like brats, being selfish when Amari needs us most."

Her eyes locked onto Sasuke first. "Sasuke, I may not know what happened or how it feels to go through what you did, but deep down you know calling Amari a half-breed is wrong. You know that word was used to make her feel worthless. I don't care if you were in the heat of the moment, you will apologize to her and mean it, just like she will apologize for saying what she said to you."

Sasuke grunted and looked away. Sakura flicked her burning emerald eyes to Naruto. "Naruto, I get that you're protective over Amari. She's the first person who accepted you for who you are and that means the world to you. I understand that seeing her hurt makes you hurt inside, especially after what happened with the Akatsuki."

Naruto's eyes fell at her words. It motivated her to continue. "But has arguing with Sasuke done anything at all?" Her question was rhetorical. His silence proved he understood that.

"Team Seven was founded on the lesson of teamwork. In case you two have forgotten what that means, it means standing side by side with each other to take on difficult challenges, not lashing out at one another like a bunch of spoiled Academy students while one of our teammates is struggling to stay afloat. We are all in this together because we are one. We are a team. Start acting like it!"

A tense silence filled the air. Regardless, Sakura did not budge from her stance on the matter. She remained firm, unwavering in her commitment to be the one who fixed this. This is what it meant to be a part of the team, to pull her weight right now. If that meant she would have to physically pound this lesson back into her two boy teammates, she would do it.

"…Yeah. You're right, Sakura," Naruto said at length. He released Sasuke's shirt and stood up to his full height, the fire in his eyes replaced by disappointment towards himself. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. It's just…the last time Amari needed me, I just stood there like a frightened rabbit." He breathed out a humorless laugh. "In a way, I was jealous of you because you managed to actually fight those guys."

"Jealous of me failing like an idiot?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No. Your attack may not have succeeded, but you had the courage to fight them. I…didn't. I was frightened of them and couldn't react until she was already taken down by Itachi." He clenched both of his hands into fists. "Pervy Sage said it himself. She was put through so much physical and emotional pain by those guys.

"Despite that, she still risked her life to save me from those same people who hurt her. She cared more about our lives than her own, was willing to die to save us. Yet I…didn't do anything for her. I let my friend fall in my place because I was too much of a coward to do anything at all." The struggle to say those words was clear in the tremble of his voice.

Sakura's eyes softened as she looked at Naruto. All this time she had felt alone in feeling useless. Had she known Naruto felt this way…well, she would have still said everything she had said. But she wouldn't have simply assumed that he was pushing on through everything without hanging onto the past. I guess all of us have been hiding our own struggles.

"…You idiot." Naruto and Sakura both turned their gazes back to Sasuke. He was staring down at the grass, his body no longer as tense as it had been. "You think I was some courageous hero in that fight?" He shook his head. "I was so blinded by my hatred that I couldn't think straight. And so what I attacked them. All I did was force Amari to save me from my brother. In the end, you did more than all of us combined by finding Lady Tsunade and bringing her back to heal Kakashi-sensei and Amari."

"Yeah, but—"

"But what, Loser?" Sasuke lifted his head to look at Naruto. "Do you really think Amari holds what happened to her against you, me, Sakura, or the Jōnin? Have you sensed any animosity from her since then?"

"…No," Naruto admitted, sighing as he did.

"Then maybe it's time we all stop blaming ourselves for what happened and start focusing on supporting each other." Sasuke glanced over to her. "Like the team we're supposed to be."

Sakura smiled and ducked her head down to hide the blush tinting her cheeks. At least I got them to stop fighting. Mission complete.

Naruto reached his hand down to Sasuke. "Come on. Let's go find Amari. You two need to apologize to each other."

Sasuke took his hand. "Yeah."

Naruto hefted him up and turned to Sakura. "I doubt she would go home," he said. "Amari may have been angry and hurting, but she would know that's where we would look for her first."

"True." Sakura brought her right hand to her mouth as she tried to think of where her teammate would go. "Amari doesn't exactly have a lot of hangouts outside of her home, Ichiraiku's and the training fields. So where would she go at a time like this with a storm so close?"

"Shikamaru's," Sasuke stated matter of factly.

Both of his teammates looked to him with their confusion at his certainty. He didn't waver, although there was something else in his eyes Sakura couldn't quite figure out. Reluctance maybe?

"She wouldn't go into a restaurant or to our places in the state she was in. So she's either going to run to Shikamaru's or she'll be a stubborn idiot and stay out in the storm under some tree."

Thunder echoed above them, bringing all of their attention up to the darkened sky. "There's no way we'll outrun this storm, and if Amari decides to stay out…" Naruto trailed off.

"We'll worry about that after we check Shikamaru's house," Sakura stated firmly, trying to hide her growing fear of Amari staying outside in the storm.

"Let's not waste time. Naruto, Sakura, let's go." All three of them nodded and took off at a ninja jump towards the Nara house. "…and hope Shikamaru doesn't kill me," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura furrowed her brow, unsure if she had heard him speak or not. If he had, he didn't feel like elaborating further. He remained silent and at the front of the group.

The clouds released its rain before they even made it back into the Village. Despite that, they continued forward, each hoping that when they reached the Nara household, drenched by the rain, they would find their missing team member there.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy holidays! Have a pleasant new year, too!

Review Response to Mikan26: We'll begin to see how what Amari has imparted onto Sasuke will change him as the story goes. As for flashbacks, I can't say how many or how frequent they will be, but pre-massacre life with Shisui, Haya, her parents, Itachi and Aimi will appear throughout the story. I enjoy writing Shisui and his bond with Haya/Amari too much to just never show him again. So you can expect more. Glad you loved the last chapter!

Thank you for the review!

Review Response to la: I'm happy you are enjoying the story. There won't be any lemons in this story. That's just not something I plan to write.

Regardless, thank you for the review!

Review Response to ChillinInKonoha: I'd say that accurately describes how Sasuke feels about himself at the moment. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out, now that he possesses truths he didn't learn until Obito/Madara/Tobi molded him into a tool. Also whether or not he survives the wrath of one Shikamaru Nara.

He was definitely a reckless idiot, and nearly blinded himself within such a short time frame of gaining the Mangekyo without thought or care. But then again, his best friend and teammate was also a reckless idiot, so they sort of played off each other there.

Dealing with any recognition will begin later down the line, but at the moment, even if she were showered with praise, Amari won't see herself for her past feats. Not fully. It's a battle between knowing how capable she was as a young shinobi pre-Akatsuki, with her fight against Mimi and Invasion bolstering her confidence, and the weakness she now feels afterwards, which the massacre of the samurai and her fragile emotional state feed into. More on this as we go forward.

But I'm pretty sure more requests for mission will be a huge drag. :)

I can't really say much on encounters with Danzo without entering spoiler territory. Sorry.

Hehe, oh, I wish I could tell you more about Tobi/Madara/Obito. It's going to be so much fun when we get there, but not in the Tobi goofball way. That's all I can say.

There will definitely be some serious missions, not at all related to the original anime, later on. Also some of the filler arcs, mostly the serious ones that lasted more than a single episode. The only other thing I can say is that not everything will go according to canon, so bear that in mind. The world may be very different. Maybe. Or am I just misleading you? We'll have to wait and see.

Hm. I'd say, of the enemies out there, the strongest threats are definitely Pain/Nagato, Konan and Obito. Though the Akatsuki as a whole, with the Immortals, the artists, Kisame, Itachi and Aimi, could all be considered the strongest enemies, with their unique abilities or simply their immense strength. I'm also struggling to think of people off the top my head, so I could be missing someone at the moment.

Ah, the struggle of Uchiha Charm and being socially awkward. Poor girl.

Thank you for the reviews!