Hello, everybody! I've been busy, as usual – but I managed to get this story up! A note of notice for all of you who read Tragedy's Child…

I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages! But you know, that story needs long, wordy chapters that really take my time up – and I never seem to be able to stop writing a single chapter of Tragedy's Child so you're going to have to wait till next week! I promise next week, the next chapter WILL be up!

And in case none of you have noticed, I have just posted a new story called "Hold Your Heart". Please, please, please check it out. It's not one of my stories where Sasuke is REALLY the pathetic uke, okay? He can talk, but of course, he's still being his kiddy, naive self. The plot is that Naruto has to choose between Gaara, who is the crush of his life, and Sasuke, who is his best friend.

That aside – back to THIS story. Anyway, I'm glad so many of you like this story!

Last Chapter: Naruto talks to Sasuke! How cool is that? Heh, but now he'll face the tough job of convincing his lady boss that there IS a ghost in there!

This Chapter: Convincing Tsunade and also, we find out – in many, many words – how Sasuke actually died. Gruesome – but I've made it into civilized text. Oh, and Sasuke has a different personality than from the earlier chapter! Why? You'll have to find out yourself! Oh, and there's a short introduction to Reona, the shaman! Don't worry about fake characters destroying the story! Her part of the story is just a small one – to explain how come Sasuke looks twelve when he's actually seven, and how come he is still there.

Please enjoy!

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The Decision

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"It's true!" Naruto yelled, waving his arms to emphasize the point. He was irritated, and he was angry.

"Hmm…you must realize how unbelievable your story is," Tsunade said pointedly.

"Exactly," Shizune agreed. "We can't just nod to it. It's just…so…"

"Fake?" Naruto glared.

"Fictional," Shizune admitted.

"After all," Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "You didn't believe there was even anybody living there. How can you expect us to believe your ghost tale anyway?"

"You have to! It's true! I saw him! As real as day!" Naruto yelled angrily. "His name was Sasuke, he looked about my age, he had white skin and hair and eyes the color of the night! He was there! And damn it! He was asking me to play with him!"

"My, my – that's even harder to believe," Kakashi shook his head. "And how on earth can he look your age when he died at the age of five?"

"Seven," Shizune corrected.

"Seven," Kakashi repeated.

"How would I know? Find yourselves an exorcist!" Naruto folded his arms and glared balefully at Tsunade. "Heavens, you ask me to investigate, I investigate. You ask me to report, but you don't believe my report! What the hell do you expect me to do? Are you going to consider this as an unaccomplished mission? Failed, more like. Or do you want Kakashi-sensei to be witness number two for you?"

"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Tsunade said. "After all, your story fits in perfect arrangement with what the residents around the complex say. Yes, he is a boy. He will laugh, and he will cry. Yes, he is a boy. He will ask you to play with him, when he sees you. Yes, he is a boy. He's naive and actually believes that Itachi can change, and that he's not a bad person. He's only a boy, Naruto. I know. But it's the fact…"

"The fact that he's actually there," Shizune said helpfully.

"Yes," Kakashi said. "After all, he did die."

"It's the truth," Naruto said flatly.

"Really?" Tsunade looked at him seriously. "No jokes, no pranks. Only the truth. Did you see Sasuke?"

"Yes," Naruto said, his voice steady. "I saw him. Hell, I touched him."

"Was he real, for sure? A real ghost? Not your hallucination or anything?"

"He was warm, and his skin was smooth," Naruto recalled the feeling of Sasuke's warm cheek, his silky black strands when he first reached out to the boy who was there, and yet not really there. He recalled the innocence on Sasuke's face and the pure childlike boyishness of his actions and words. He recalled the boy's obstinate sayings about Itachi. He recalled Sasuke's radiant, beautiful smile.

Had he really been there? Or was it a dream?

"I didn't know ghosts were warm," Kakashi said flatly. "I didn't even know you could touch them."

"I could," Naruto said flatly. "In fact, he appeared out of nowhere. That justifies him as a ghost, doesn't it? I heard his voice – it seems to come from everywhere – then I called out to him to come out and show himself, and suddenly he was sitting on the bed in the room."

"Room?"

"Sasuke's bedroom," Naruto said. "You know, his actual bedroom before he died."

"He wasn't there before?" Kakashi asked.

"No, it was like he appeared out of nowhere," Naruto said. "One moment he wasn't there, and the next, he was sitting there asking me who I was."

"Okay, now that we have settled the fact that he was there, we have to settle the fact that he really is Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade said.

"But he is!" Naruto protested.

"You said he looked twelve, just like you," Tsunade said. "I even have a picture of him as a seven year old. He doesn't look twelve at all, when he was seven. I have asked about the entire ANBU organization – and each of them agree that the boy in the picture doesn't look close to twelve – not even to ten. But you said he looked twelve, when he really died at seven."

"Twelve minus seven is five," Shizune said. "Isn't it strange that it's been five years since the clan was slaughtered, and Sasuke looks five years older?"

"Ghosts don't grow," Tsunade grumbled. "When they die, their lives stop that, at that age, at that period of time."

"But he really did look twelve," Naruto said. "Do you have the picture now?"

"Of course." Tsunade opened her drawers and searched, feeling her way through the little hills of papers in the drawers. Finally, she pulled out a photograph and set it on the table. Everyone bent over to look.

On the picture was a boy – grinning mischievously. His eyes were a bright midnight, so bright they seemed to cut right through you. His pale skin almost glowed. His hair was as black as coal, and shone.

Sasuke.

Sure, the boy was shining with what looked more like a toddler than a seven-year-old, but he was definitely Sasuke. There was no mistaking the black hair and eyes, the pale skin and that childish face. Of course, this boy in the picture looked a little mischievous.

"This is Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade said triumphantly. "Now, was that boy in the house somewhat like him? Rather – very like him?"

"Oh, old woman," Naruto gazed in shock at this boy. Realization seemed hard.

This boy is already dead.

How can he be talking to me?

"That boy is definitely an older version of Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto said.

"So his body has grown…but his mind has not?" Kakashi mused aloud.

"Perhaps," Shizune said. "It seems to several mentally unstable people. We have about six cases of this mental deformity. They range from twenty to forty years of age, but they act, behave and think like children."

"Psychology doesn't play much of a part with ghosts," Kakashi objected. "This boy hasn't grown. I mean, he died. Does anybody know how just what on earth is going on?"

"Growing ghosts, talking ghosts, ghosts that actually feel real," Tsunade shook her head. "I'm not an exorcist and I really have no idea what's going on. Logically and statistically speaking, nothing like this can ever happen, from a scientific point of view."

"Science is not important now!" Naruto banged his fist on the table. "Sasuke is just a kid! All he wants is to see his brother, and then he'll go! He just wants to see his brother change! It's not science or logic or any of that damned rubbish that keeps him going – it's just his spirit! He's only a kid, but he's got spirit!"

"Naruto-kun is right," Shizune said. "We have to accept that that boy is really there. But who can really explain and understand all of this?"

"I know someone who can," Tsunade said.

"Who?" Kakashi asked.

"She's an old friend of mine, and she's an experienced exorcist," Tsunade said. "Her name is Reona. Mizumochi Reona. Actually, she's a shaman, but she does exorcism."

"We're not going to force Sasuke to leave!" Naruto yelled in horrified rage. "How can you force him to go?"

"Then what?" Tsunade demanded. "You don't expect me to write a party invitation to Uchiha Itachi and ask him to come here and kiss his brother goodbye and prove to him by working at some orphanage that he's changed, do you? I can't comply to that kid's wishes! No matter how tragic his story is, no matter how tragic his entire self is, I can't comply to that!"

"Calm down, the both of you," Kakashi said. "Tsunade-sama, how soon can we get Reona here?"

"Getting her here is no problem," Tsunade snorted. "She owes me quite a lot."

"She's a gambler, too? Man, she can't be trusted then!" Naruto said, pouting slightly.

"Not as in money, idiot!" Tsunade snapped. "I saved Reona's life about ten times in a straight row. She owes me a lot, as in that. She'll help me whenever I need it. But as you can see, I don't tango with ghosts so I never really need her help. She says she can hear the ghosts speak, and she can tell them to leave. She's a shaman, and she can talk to them. But like I said, she'll come and help for sure, but it's a big issue finding her. She's always hopping from one place to another. She never stays in a certain place for long."

"So that'll be trouble for us," Kakashi sighed. "In the meantime, maybe Naruto could…interact more with Sasuke."

"That'll be a thrill," Tsunade said sarcastically. "Legally speaking, his mission is already over. I only assigned him the task of investigation, not the task of interaction."

"Like that'll stop Naruto-kun from going to see him," Shizune muttered.

"Maybe Naruto wouldn't mind a follow-up mission to this case," Kakashi said.

"I wouldn't," Naruto said quickly. "I really want to see him again. Anyway, even if you don't give me something to do with him, I'll still go and see him. And don't you dare get that Reona to scare him or force him away! I'll never forgive any of you for that!"

Tsunade snorted. "Whatever, you brat. Anyway, your mission from now on till Reona has some sort of solution is to keep that ghost-boy company, and earn as much of his trust as you can. Get him to get used to you, to know you as a friend, and not as an enemy. I hereby declare that this will be a B-Rank mission assigned to Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes, yes! Leave it all to Uzumaki Naruto-sama!" Naruto grinned foxily.

"You should be on your way, then," Kakashi said.

"Oh, and Naruto?" Tsunade said.

"Hmm?"

"I'd like to have a talk with you for a while," Tsunade said. She looked at Shizune and Kakashi, their faces shining with curiosity. "In private. So the two of you, out."

Discontentedly, Shizune and Kakashi went out of the office, leaving Tsunade with Naruto. Naruto looked at the old woman as if she were crazy, and then asked, "What?"

"I want you to look at the medical reports of Sasuke," Tsunade said. "Because it may tell you a little more about Sasuke, and about the life he led. There are also biological reports, school reports, and so on."

"I don't want to know everything about him!"

"You have to, as he is the center of your mission," Tsunade said. "You must know every single thing about him."

Naruto groaned but nonetheless, he dived into Sasuke's school reports first. Was Sasuke smarter than him? Brighter than him? If Sasuke had been alive, would he able to do missions with Naruto?

Holy crap! The kid is smarter than me by tons! First in class, first in school, first in class, first in school…he's first in everything!

"As you can see, Sasuke was quite a smart child," Tsunade said. "He was always praised for his brilliance, and he was always first in class and in the entire Academy. Had he been alive today, I believe he could be taking his Chuunin Exam, and he might have passed with flying colors. It was a pity about his death. At any rate, he was a very clever child."

Naruto threw the school reports to one side and fetched the biological reports. "Yikes! What a load of gibber!"

"It's not gibber," Tsunade said flatly. "It's Sasuke's family tree, starting from his very first ancestors of the Uchiha clan. I think Sasuke is the fourteenth generation of the clan. His father and mother are the thirteenth, his grandparents are the twelfth, and so on. Today, none of the Uchiha clan exists in Konoha. The only one who's alive is that S-Rank criminal we're trying so desperately to capture. Only he has the power to revive the clan, but the question is whether his children will find their way back to their ancestors' home. That is, of course, if he has any children at all."

Naruto gave a brief look at the entire family tree. The Uchiha clan consisted of hundreds of members. They must have been a big family.

"But of course, when Itachi killed them, the clan was very small," Tsunade said. "Compared to the Hyuuga clan, who was and still is flourishing. However, the Uchiha clan was still the most distinguished in Konoha."

Medical reports. He flipped them open.

All of a sudden, Tsunade's face turned dark. "Ignore the first few pages. They're of no importance. They're just the amount of times Sasuke had been admitted to the hospital because of one thing or another. Flip to the page where the pathologists recorded down their reports from the autopsy."

It was near the very end of the thin booklet.

"Sasuke died a gruesome death," Tsunade said. "One of the pathologists who examined his body was Morino Ibiki, our expert on human anatomy, and as you might know by now, the team captain of ANBU's torture and interrogation team. We called him to help in the autopsy as Sasuke showed signs of having been tortured before his death. As Ibiki is the captain of the torture and interrogation team, we asked him to define the type of torture Sasuke had faced. The lead pathologist had been Yuritsuko Harumi. She was in charge of the mental torture Sasuke had went through. Another pathologist, Toriku Riechi looked for any kinds of genjutsu Sasuke might have been trapped in."

"The results?" Naruto asked.

"We'll start with the less gruesome part of Sasuke's death," Tsunade said. "Riechi showed that Sasuke had gone through some sort of genjutsu. But that is understandable enough – Itachi was a master of genjutsu, as most Uchiha clan members are. Especially when one is armed with the Mangekyou Sharingan, he is the ultimate master of genjutsu. Apparently, the Mangekyou Sharingan allows one to make another face a certain ordeal as many times as pleased. And the pain the victim faces is also in the power of the Sharingan-user."

"So Itachi played the tape all over again a thousand times for Sasuke to see?" Naruto clenched his fists.

"Exactly," Tsunade said. "So we say that Sasuke was tortured many times. Moreover, the Tsukiyomi, an attack of the Mangekyou Sharingan, allows the user to control time and mass. That means that one second in the real world could be hundreds of hours in the other world. So you face horrible, long torture, when it's actually one second."

"That bastard," Naruto growled.

"Agreed," Tsunade said. "Now, Harumi was in charge of the mental aspect of the torture. Sasuke's mind has been broken literally. He showed signs of great trauma, and whatever Itachi did, sliced a big hole in his heart. Sasuke had been completely traumatized by the event. And Harumi also found out that part of the mental torture was using Tsukiyomi to make Sasuke watch the massacre of the clan, though he had not been there when Itachi actually killed the clan."

"I'm going to kill him," Sasuke growled.

"Ibiki did the physical aspect of the torture," Tsunade said. "Apparently, seventy-eight bones in Sasuke's skeletal system had been fractured, eighteen of them broke literally and twenty of them were crushed to bits."

"I'll downright kill that guy!" Naruto roared, leaping from his seat.

"Sit down!" Tsunade said sternly and Naruto reluctantly obeyed. "That had been severe blood loss, and Sasuke had clearly been hit by a whip on the back many times. There were lots of marks across his back and on his arms and legs, too. One of his legs were broken, two of his elbows smashed, and a wrist was fractured. And also Itachi…"

She trailed off. Naruto got annoyed and demanded, "What did that bastard do now?"

"He raped Sasuke," Tsunade sighed. "Literally. The evidence was very clear."

"What!" Naruto shrieked. "How can that boy freaking love his brother still? Still think that he's a good guy? Itachi freaking…freaking made him a whore!"

"Naruto! I understand your feelings of rage and discontent, but this is life," Tsunade said. "They are brothers, after all. Sasuke was made to love him."

"I've got a bone to pick with the guy," Naruto growled. He stood up.

"Wait!" Tsunade called.

"What now?" Naruto spun irritably around.

"When Sasuke cries, I expect he's thinking of what Itachi did to him," Tsunade said. "You ought to be gentle with him, when he's not feeling…normal or whatever."

"Don't you think I know?" Naruto snarled and marched out of the officer.

"Don't go after him just yet," Tsunade said. "You've have a long day and you should rest. Go and see him again tomorrow."

"I will."

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The next morning, Naruto had no chance of seeing Sasuke. Sakura needed his help and so did a couple of his friends. It was Hinata's birthday two days from then, and everybody wanted to make for her a pleasant surprise. The ringleader of the entire event was Sakura herself. She said that they needed to improve Hinata's confidence and make him feel really part of the gang, so what better way to show that than with a party? Naruto had to make the balloons and help the other guys fix up Kiba's living room, which was the largest and where the party would be held.

By nighttime, he was already very tired but he forced himself to the complex. He hadn't told anybody about Sasuke yet – nobody needed to know. After all, who was to say that Sasuke would still be there today?

But Sasuke was there.

But this time he wasn't laughing.

This time he wasn't crying.

This time he wasn't asking questions.

Naruto searched the entire house and called out his name, before he chanced upon the silent, wilting Japanese garden at the back of the house. Sasuke was curled up in a little ball and leaning against the wall of the house and he was looking at the garden. Naruto noticed he was crying, and his entire body was shaking.

"Sasuke…?"

Sasuke looked up at him, his eyes wide and watery, so childlike, so innocent. "N…N-Naruto…"

"What happened, Sasuke?" Naruto had planned on screaming his head off at the boy, but decided against it. He knelt down slowly next to Sasuke and touched his shoulder. "What happened?"

When Sasuke didn't say anything, Naruto reached out to touch those black strands, when suddenly Sasuke jerked to his feet and backed up against the wall, screaming.

"No! No…no! Don't touch me! I'll be good…I'll be a good boy! Just don't…don't! Go…go away! Don't hurt me…please…no! No…no…"

He slid slowly to the ground, his back against the wall and wrapped his knees up to his chest and cried out his pleas for that invisible attacker to stop.

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How was that? Was it a little bit too corny? Did I put the torture part into more mild and civilized text? Please give me your comments! Sasuke was raped? O.o haha, I just love that kind of sadistic things. Sasuke IS much better when he's a helpless, scared kid than when he's the arrogant bastard he is in the show. Oh, well.

I hope you all liked it.

Don't forget to R & R as usual!