Chapter two

AN: This chapter is kind of skipping around the characters a lot... and that's what the fic will be doing for the rest of it, unless something changes... So if you don't like that, than oh well. Also, there won't be a lemon until WAY later in the story. I want to develop the characters' individual personalities a bit more than I usually do, so this should be a long fic. That's what I'm shooting for, anyways.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. TTTT

Now on to chapter two!

---

"You cannot kill me."

"And why can we not?" Lee asked, through gritted teeth. He tensed when Gaara slumped to the ground, breathing heavily. The woman laughed again.

"Because I am already dead."

Lee gasped and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I'd like to test whether that's true or not." Sasuke lunged forward, sticking another kunai deep within her chest. She stumbled back slightly, laughing.

"I've already told you. You cannot defeat me." Naruto gasped loudly, bringing his knees closer to his chest, his eyes screwed shut and his breathing ragged. He opened one eye, looking at Sasuke.

"Get... get rid... of her... ngh!... her neck... lace..." he strained. Sasuke nodded. He glanced over towards the woman and she smirked spinning the necklace's jewel between her fingers.

"Come and get it, Shinobi," she cooed, ushering him forward. Lee lunged before Sasuke could manage, punching the woman right through the wall, into another office. The hallway returned to normal, and the two unconscious Hokage's were on either of Sasuke's shoulder as Lee ripped the necklace off of the woman. She immediately turned to dust on top of the broken desk, baffling him. He held the necklace up to the light, examining it.

"This is no ordinary necklace..." he muttered as Tsunade ran to the hospital with Sasuke.

-------

Tsunade let the green glow dissipate, wiping her brow. "Well, they'll be alright, they just need to rest. Gaara should wakeup within a few hours." Lee sighed in relief.

"And Naruto...?" Sasuke asked. Tsunade glanced at him.

"I'm not sure. Something about the jutsu that woman used on him... It was more affective on him than it was on Gaara for some reason... It seems that his body does not want to heal; something is repressing my jutsus. I can't heal him as well as I should... So I'm not sure how long he will be unconscious." Sasuke fisted his hands, eyes cast downwards.

"Usuratonkachi!" he muttered, walking out of the hospital room. That damned Naruto and his damnable self. Sasuke slammed his fist into the wall, startling a nurse in the hallway. He glared at her, and she walked off quickly. "Damn it," he whispered, "You'd better get better, you asshole."

-------

"Asshole, idiot, bastard, moron, fucker, wanker, fucked up little... damn it!" Sasuke slammed his fist into his knee, letting the dull ache calm him slightly. He was not supposed to be like this. An Uchiha was NOT going to worry over the sorry butt of an idiot that most certainly did not like. Not in the slightest. "It's his stupid fault he was almost fucking killed, anyways. This wasn't the first time I've had to save his ass." His mind drifted to the mission with Zabuza and Haku, mentally wincing at the memory of dozens of needles stuck at jagged angles in both his and Naruto's bodies, jutting out at odd angles and hurting like hell. Especially the ones that were in his neck.

And Sasuke most certainly minded that he had nearly died in that situation. Though Naruto would have needed to pay his debt back, Sasuke made sure to never give him the chance. He wasn't going to rely on the stupid dobe to save him, no matter what.

But there was that one time, with Orochimaru's snake-men. The time where Sasuke and Naruto had been fighting side-by-side and fending them off, one attacking while the other was defending. That was, until the moment when Sasuke suddenly let his guard down due to Orochimaru's constant attacks on his mind, a sound ninja stabbing him in the shoulder and another in his side. Naruto's caged Kyuubi acted up and caused the 19-year-old to kill all of Oroshimaru's men, and start to face off with the bastard himself, Sasuke bloody and unconscious behind the blonde shinobi, whose attention was torn between his dieing comrade, the enemy before him, and the mental attacks of that enemy.

Naruto had nearly been killed that day also, managing to kill the relic by sinking clawed fingers into his chest and yanking out his heart. Sasuke replayed the blonde's words in his head, along with the lifeless body of the Sannin falling to the ground. "Hard to be immortal without a heart beating the life into your soulless body, isn't it?"

Sasuke remembered the squelch against ground as Naruto dropped the organ, his eyes returning to blue. "Oh my... Oh my God. I did... I did that..." Sasuke had watched idly, noticing the blood stains painted over the man's hands and splattered across his face and clothes. Naruto's eyes widened in shock, falling to his knees. Sasuke made a small noise in pain, shaking the shinobi from his shock-induce haze. "Sasuke...!" The jounin made his way to his comrade, reaching out a shaking hand to the other man to make sure he was alright--

"Sasuke-kun...?" He didn't look up. He knew who it was two minutes ago. He glared at the ground. "Sasuke-kun... What's the matter? Did something happen?" She asked, sitting next to him on the bench, tilting her head slightly and looking at him with a look of concern on her face. He graced her with silence. There was no problem. It's not like that butthead could really cause a problem for him; other than almost getting him killed on numerous occasions of course. That was a problem.

"Sasuke-kun, why are you so upset?"

"I'm not upset."

Sakura sighed, waving her hand in the air. "Oh really. The fact that you stormed out of the hospital cursing at Naruto for being stupid and getting himself hurt wasn't from you being upset," she said, sarcasm in her voice and a small smirk on her face. She dropped her hand. "Honestly, Sasuke-kun. I've never seen you get upset so easily over someone being in the hospital. He'll be fine. Naruto always is. He's been in near-death situations before, and he's always pulled through. This time... This time isn't any different." She tilted her head, trying to see past his bangs to his eyes that were cast down at the ground. She reached a hand over, pulling some of his bangs behind his ear, then settled the hand back in her lap. He shook his head, the bangs sweeping back across his cheek.

"No, Sakura. This time is different. The other times, he healed nearly instantly. This time; unlike the others; he's hardly healing at all. If he can't heal, he can't get better. We don't know what's wrong with him either! All the other times, we knew exactly what was wrong. And most of the other times, all he needed was rest and he would be better the next day, but... but this time, he's getting worse, it seems. I don't know why, and he's not healing, and there's nothing we can do, nothing Hokage-sama can do, nothing you can do, nothing... nothing I can do," he sighed, closing his eyes, "What good are we to him if there's nothing we can do, Sakura? There's nothing we can really do."

"Sasuke-kun... We're doing all that we can. The Hokage is working double time on him, and some of her work is being sent to her subordinates to do, so that she can help Naruto heal faster. That might not be much in this case, but it's the best we can do for now."

"Yeah, I... I know, but the fact that he could..." Sasuke paused. Why did he care if the stupid idiot died? It wouldn't be his problem. He brought it on himself anyways. He wouldn't be bawling over it. It wasn't during a mission, so it wouldn't be his fault if the dobe died. "Naw, it doesn't matter."

Sakura gave him a blank look. "Sasuke-kun, What's--"

"Excuse me, Uchiha, but you're presence is requested in the Hokage's office. She needs to see you as soon as possible," another jounin said, popping up in front of the two. Sasuke looked up.

"Why does she need to see me?" he asked. The jounin shook his head.

"I'm not sure. She just told me to make sure you came to talk with her as soon as possible."

"Alright."

"Excuse me," he said, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared. Sasuke stood up, walking towards the Hokage's office.

"Eh...? Ah, Sasuke-kun! Let me go with you!" she exclaimed, standing up and rushing to his side. He glared at her.

"No. The Hokage wants to speak with me urgently. No doubt it's a private matter." Sakura stopped moving, hanging her head.

"Alright, Sasuke-kun. I'll... talk with you later." Sasuke threw a hand behind him, waving her off. Sakura wanted to cry.

Why was he acting so unlike himself?

-------

"Lee-kun, are you ready for the mission?" Lee struck his regular "good guy" pose.

"Yes! Rock Lee is ready to go! Please give me the details!"

"No." Lee blinked and spun around. "Lee is not going to go on that mission. I have one ready for him, and I need two other jounins to come along as well."

"Gaar--I--I mean Kazekage-sama? You're better already?" Gaara gave him a blank look. Lee really needed to get into the habit of calling him by his Kage name...

Gaara looked at the mission coordinator again. "I need to find two other jounins for my mission. Start a list of all the jounins in Konoha that younger than 30 years old. It will be A-ranked. I need to find out the correlation between my missing people and the attempted assassinations of the Rokudaime of Konoha." The coordinator blinked.

"Roku...? But We only have the fifth Hokage. There is no sixth."

"There will be by the time he wakes up," Gaara said simply. "I need two jounins that have often worked together. I need a list, and then Lee-kun can pick the two best-suited.

"Me? Why me?" Gaara gave him another blank look.

"I don't know how well the ninja of Konoha function, and I don't trust to send mine at the moment, because of the circumstances. There might be a spy from Sound there. Also, Temari and Kankuro are busy with other things and don't have the time. You will be picking the jounin, Lee." he finished his statement by handing Lee the list the missions coordinator had handed him. Lee took it, blinking.

"Alright. I'll find the best suited for the job, Gaar--Kazekage-sama!" He dashed out of the room. He really need to get into that habit...

"What's wrong with Lee-kun?"

Gaara just stood with his arms crossed, the edged of his lips barely turned up.

-------

Lee looked over the list of Jounins again. He'll need to figure out who was or was not going to be on a mission for the next few weeks. The first pair, which he would most likely choose.

"Are either Neji or Tenten going on a mission between tomorrow and--er... wait..."

"They left on a month-long mission yesterday, sir." Lee smacked himself on the forehead. Dang it.

"Alright, how about... Shino and Kiba?" The man looked through a few papers, skimming them.

"They are free from a mission for a month and a half. They almost always do their work together, and they've completed all of their missions, so they should be a good choice."

"What are their missions stats?"

"Very good. Shino Aburame has completed 36 D-rank missions and 27 C-rank while he was a Gennin, 13 C-rank and 17 B-rank as a Chuunin, and 12 B-rank and 13 A-rank as a jounin, and that leads to him having 36 D-rank missions completed, 40 C-rank missions completed, 29 B-rank missions completed, and 13 A-rank missions completed. Very quick and efficient in his work, and assesses the situation and formulates a plan that will give the team the smallest amount of openings for attack, and the most openings to attack, and often uses his mastery of the kikaichuu the deplete his enemies chakra levels, making it easier to defeat the enemies. The most he's come back wounded from a mission is scratches and a few cuts.

"Kiba Inuzuka has completed 36 D-rank missions, 27 C-rank missions, and 1 A-rank mission as a Gennin, since he was on the same Gennin team as Aburame. He has also completed 16 C-rank and 18 B-rank as a Chuunin, and 14 B-rank and 14 A-rank as a Jounin. That leaves him with 36 D-rank missions completed, 43 C-rank missions completed, 32 B-rank missions completed, and 15 A-rank missions completed. He doesn't hesitate in his missions, and makes sure that the job was done without any error, and has a heightened sense of smell that can find any enemies when they are hiding their chakra levels, along with a canine companion that has helped on numerous missions. The most he's come back with from a missions is a stab wound in his right side and cuts and bruises."

Lee thought for a moment. They might be a good choice. He skimmed over the remaining names on the list. He didn't know any of the others, really. "Alright... They seem good enough... but I want to hear about the others on this list," he said, handing the list to the man. He skimmed it over, looking through papers.

"Let's see... Ino and Shikamaru... Ino has been put out of missions for a year, due to pregnancy, and Shikamaru is on a mission that will last until the end of next week... Chouji Akimichi... he's free from missions, but has completed few B-rank missions and A-rank missions, so this would be a bad choice for him... Hinata Hyuuga would be a good choice, but... ah, it seems that she's also pregnant at the moment. As for the other two, Naruto is in the hospital and Sasuke has a mission the same time that yours is."

"Hmm... then I guess Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka will be accompanying the Kazekage and myself. Please give them notice and have them ready by tomorrow morning. We will be traveling to Suna, so please let them know what they would need to prepare." Lee bowed slightly. "Thank you, Kinimari-san." The man bowed.

"You're welcome, Lee-kun."

---

"Sasuke... I was wondering when you were going to get here," Tsunade grumbled, rusting a few papers on her cluttered desk, glaring at the dark-haired man.

"What is it you need? I'm not going to keep standing here if all you're going to do is grumble at me." Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "I thought you said it was urgent."

"It is. It has to do with the assassination attempt on Naruto today. That necklace that the woman had... It's no normal necklace, Sasuke. It has a Special Jutsu contained within it that allows for someone to be resurrected... That woman had already been dead, and whoever staged this latest attack on Naruto did not want to use his living forces. This jewel... It also helped in the process. It amplified the Jutsu and gave the host, or wearer, odd abilities. And normally when the Forbidden Revival Jutsu is used, it only last for a few hours at most, while this one can last for days, or even weeks, or possibly even longer, since the necklace needs to be removed from the host to return them to their previous state. You may be able to find out the origins of the jewel in a certain meadow, and also, there is a special herb that I can use from the same area."

"And you are telling me this because...?" Sasuke asked, wondering why he was being put in this position.

"You are being told this because you are the only Jounin that I trust to be able to carry out a mission tomorrow. You will be accompanied by only one other person, a Chuunin that knows that terrain and the location of a medical herb that can help me find out how to heal Naruto faster. I assumed you'd want to help." Sasuke's face snapped up.

"Help? Do I really have a choice in the matter?" Sasuke snapped. Tsunade gave him a look that quite simply said "Do that again and I'll go medical on your scrawny ass".

"Get ready to go. You and the chuunin will leave tomorrow afternoon. I'll get the introductions done then. Off you go then," she said, waving him out of her office.

Sasuke grumbled. He didn't need an escort to find an herd, much less a subordinate... Hmph. Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets, glaring at his feet. Why his feet? They were taking him somewhere he did not want to go, and he didn't know why the evil things were taking him there.

"Hnn... Naruto." He sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed, resting his chin in his hand, narrowing his eyes at the blonde man. Stupid idiot. He nearly got himself killed and all he did was walk out of the room, for Christ's sake. Sasuke snorted. The buy nearly killed himself every day, it seemed. Always trying to protect all those "important people" of his, like Lee had done numerous times. Important people. Bah. There were no such people in Uchiha Sasuke's life. No, it was simply not allowed in his current situation!

Sasuke paused in his thoughts, feeling the slight movement of the Kyuubi-boy, smirking slightly. The guy really was unable to stay still, even when he was unconscious. How like him.

"Sasuke." Said person glanced at the door, narrowing his eyes.

"Kakashi. What do you want?" he said icily. Theo older jounin sighed.

"Why are you here, Sasuke?" he asked evenly, his visible eye fixed on the younger man. Sasuke closed his eyes, inwardly sighing.

"Because he's an idiot. That's why. Why else would I be here?" he grumbled, looking slightly agitated. Kakashi remained against the frame of the door, looking smug. But then again, the pervert was always smug about something. Sasuke smirked. "Why the smug look, Kakashi? Did a new book in the Icha Icha series come out?" he asked slyly. Kakashi blinked.

"No."

"Then why are you bothering me?"

"Why do you assume that I need to show you my latest hentai books, unless you wish to borrow them...?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke blanched.

"N-no. I don't read stuff like that," he exclaimed, a faint blush crossing his cheeks. Kakashi smirked. He could tell by the movement of the mask his former sensei was wearing. That damnable mask. It had been ten years, ten long, strenuous years, and the mask still left a mystery as to what was beneath. A sudden image of Kakashi with big lips and buck teeth confronted him, and had it not been for his self-control, he would be laying on the ground, peels of laughter sounding an alarm that quite simply said "Uchiha Sasuke actually has emotions!". But that's not true. He was practically incapable of showing emotions besides calm and angry-to-the-point-that-he-was-going-to-nearly-kill-everyone-that-pissed-him-off. Everyone knew that. Everyone except for himself and Shikamaru. And it will remain that way. No one would ever found out that the Uchiha heir was capable of feeling embarrassment, or nervousness for that matter. And if Shikamaru ever told anyone about what happened on that mission, then by the power invested in him, he would kill the traitorous bastard. But nothing had slipped yet. Shikamaru might've forgotten about it. Might have.

Sasuke, however, remembered that mission very well. Not only had it been degrading for an 18 year old, but it was... well, it was mostly degrading.

"There are no other options."

"You're certain."

"Yes. The only way to successfully infiltrate the enemy base is by this method. If we try another method, we will most likely fail the mission.. It's the best way."

"Alright... But Shikamaru... Why do you get to be the guy?"

"Because I didn't Sharingan the Sexy no Jutsu. I never pegged you as a pervert, Uchiha. Not only that, but you already look very much like a girl."

Nope. He won't forget that. Not when he still called him a pervert while he was teaching the children how you transform. Not that he taught them the erotic jutsu, anyway. Shikamaru was the one that had accused him of that, to which he readily replied, "But at least I'm not a fag." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at him angrily.

"How do you think I'm gay...: he asked. Sasuke faulted. He really had no proof, and he just said that on a whim.

"Well... er... you're all buddy-buddy with... er... Lee!" Shikamaru glared at him. Quite evilly, in fact. And quite not-so-lazy, too. Sasuke deadpanned. "Er... I mean..."

Sasuke had learned to never insult Shikamaru again. He still had scars from that one.

A sudden knocking brought him back to reality. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. "Kaaaaakaaaaashiiiiiiii..." he growled, "Don't' knock on my head ever again! You crotchety old pervert!"

"I'm not crotchety."

"Well you are old and you are a pervert!"

"I'm not old. I'm middle-aged."

"Then you middle-aged, not-so-crotchety pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert."

"Yes you are!"

"No, I'm a super pervert." Sasuke fell on the ground and twitched. He might very well have been dead, after all, since hearing his old teacher's explanation.

"Dammit Jiraiyaaaa..." he hissed. Kakashi sighed.

"Sasuke, he'll be fine." Sasuke immediately sat back in the chair, his chin resting in his palm once more. Sasuke sighed.

"I know, but still. The idiot must like being in near-death situations or something. I swear, nearly everyday he comes this close," he held his thumb and pointer finger dangerously close together, "to dying! He must enjoy making me suffer..." he added, albeit silently. Though being the elite ninja he was, Kakashi had somehow heard.

"Seeing him like this makes you suffer...? I wonder why that is," he said, nose in his hentai book. Sasuke glared at him.

"Only because I hate the guy. I need to beat him a battle, and I can't do that when he's DEAD."

"When you hate him, do you think about him all the time?" Sasuke furrowed his brow at his senior's odd question.

"I guess..."

"And when you train, do you think about him?"

"Yes..."

"And when you're in a bad situation do you think about him?"

"Yeah..."

"And also when you're near death or he is near death?"

"Yes."

Kakashi pushed off of the wall, walking out of the room. "Ja ne, Sasuke-koi." Sasuke reddened considerably.

"I'm not your lover! I don't love you! I don't even like you!" he yelled at the older man's retreating back.

"But what about Naruto?" he said simply, and disappeared in a whirl of smoke and leaves. Sasuke gaped, turning to stare at the man on the hospital bed. Naruto? Why would he like Naruto? Of all people? No, the Uchiha did not have any feelings for anyone, especially blonde men that were too happy for his taste. There was no way that he could fall for Naruto, a MAN. Sasuke groaned into his palm.

He was going to kill Kakashi one day. Right after he's done with Itachi. Yes. This was going to be added to his "List of things to do before I die".