It had been a few hours since we had gotten to Tazuna's house, and Kakashi still wasn't awake yet. He should wake up relatively soon, but I couldn't just sit around waiting. I had to DO something...like practice what he was going to teach us when he woke up ahead of time. I had found a secluded spot in the forest, and was trying the tree walking exercise...with very little success. Every time I tried, I used either too much or too little chakra. No matter how I adjusted the flow, I either fell down or made the tree bark fucking explode. I knew that Sasuke, and thus me, would have a harder time with this because of lots of chakra, but I didn't think it would be THIS hard! What if I used a bunch of my chakra so I would have a slightly easier time doing this? If I could figure it out with only a little chakra available to use first, maybe it would be easier to do it again when I was at full capacity? But...I had no idea how to dump chakra like that, other than spamming the fireball jutsu...but that was a bad idea. It would be very counterproductive if I set the country I was supposed to be saving on fire. I gave a heavy sigh as I tried yet again, only to use too little and fall on my ass. How the hell was I supposed to figure this out? Every time I tried to adjust the chakra flow, I just went too far, no matter how small of an adjustment I tried to make! I gave a frustrated growl, taking a kunai and throwing it hard at a tree, where it wound up halfway into the trunk. Sakura then shyly stepped out from a tree, wringing her hands a bit as she looked at me with thinly veiled worry.

"Um...S-Sasuke-kun...Kakashi-sensei woke up, and he needs to speak with us..."

The pink haired girl seemed so uncertain, so confused. She didn't know what to do with me. Either way, I nodded and got up, grabbing my kunai on the way. As I began walking back towards Tazuna's house, Sakura trotted along behind me to catch up. After a few moments, she seemed to work up the courage to speak.

"Um...Sasuke-kun...what are you doing way out here by yourself? The trees are all...damaged."

I grinned at her. "Well, you know how Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza fought on the water? I'm working my way up to that, starting with walking up trees!"

Sakura lit up with understanding. "Ooh! How do you do that? I wanna learn it, too!"

I slung an arm around her shoulder, ignoring the intense blush on her face. "Basically you channel chakra to the bottoms of your feet to make yourself stick to the tree, then just start walking! If you don't use enough chakra, you won't stick and you'll just fall down. If you use too much, you fucking explode the tree and LAUNCH yourself away from it! Come to think of it, that could be a good boost in running or jumping...huh."

Sakura listened with rapt attention as I explained it to her. She would once again be the first to manage tree walking. She wasn't done with her curiosity yet, though.

"So...what about walking on water? Is that the same?"

I shrugged. "More or less. Instead of just keeping the chakra on your foot like a weird kind of sticky shoe, though, you expel it from the bottoms of your feet to keep you on top of the water. Like how a firework is launched, but less explode-y. You also have to change the rate you expel it to match up with any disturbances in the water, though. At least I'm like 99% sure that's how it all works..."

"You would be correct there, Sasuke. But tell me...where did you learn this? I know that I haven't taught you any of that yet...so how do you know it?"

I gave a startled shout at the voice that suddenly appeared to the left of us. It was just Kakashi, leaning on his crutches and reading his book. Wasn't he supposed to be bedridden!? Either way...I had no valid explanation for what I knew...so I had to give a convincing lie that couldn't be investigated to see if it was true.

"...When I was little, Itachi told me about it after I saw him walk on water...then the ceiling. I asked him how he did it, and he gave me a vague explanation. He made sure I never tried it though, telling me that I could start learning it when I became a genin, and he would teach me. But that never happened because...you know, genocide of my clan and all that fun happy stuff."

Sakura looked pale at the end of that. "N-none of that sounds fun or happy!"

I grinned. "Sakuraaa, didn't you know? I'm fluent in sarcasm and dark humor. Let's call it a coping mechanism."

She nodded, but didn't look any less worried. At the very least, Kakashi also seemed to accept my lie as truth. One less thing for me to worry about!

"...I see. I was actually going to teach you all tree walking as training for chakra control...but it looks like you have a head start."

I looked sheepish. "Uh...not really...I keep swinging wildly between using too much chakra and not enough, no matter what I do. It's frustrating. I'll get there eventually, though! Believe it!!! Wait no fuck that's Naruto's catchphrase...uuuuhhhh...damn, I need my own catchphrase now."

"...Sasuke-kun, why do you need a catchphrase...?"

"Because I'm SASUKE, duh!!!" I paused for a moment before nodding "Yep. That's it. That's gonna be my catchphrase. It's a good one."

Kakashi just looked exasperated. "...well, originally I came out here to figure out where you went, but now you're here...and since I was planning on teaching you guys tree walking after talking to you anyways, it feels pointless to go back to the house now...Sakura, will you go get Naruto and bring him here?"

Sakura nodded and ran off. Kakashi turned to look at me, then.

"...do it in front of me, Sasuke...so I can see what you're doing wrong."

I sighed, but did as he told. First try, I used too much chakra and broke the bark, managing to flip off to land on my feet. Before Kakashi could say anything, I carefully adjusted my chakra flow to a lesser amount and tried again...only to fall off. Kakashi gave a contemplative hum.

"Hmm...so it seems that you were right...you either use too much, or too little, and can't find that middle ground. Just remain focused on it, and you should get it eventually."

Was this his version of teaching? Because if it was, he fucking sucked at it. I just gave him a deadpan glare, but at that moment Sakura and Naruto showed up.

"Okay sensei! We're here! You said you had something to tell us before we started our training?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes...there's a very good chance Zabuza is still alive. In fact, I'm certain of it."

Naruto and Sakura immediately started freaking out, but I just looked smug and grinned. Kakashi tilted his head at me, and waited until Naruto and Sakura were done shrieking to speak again.

"Sasuke...you don't seem surprised, so why don't you explain your reasoning?"

I puffed up, and began explaining. "Well, that hunter-nin is working with him!! So how REAL hunter-nin work, is they're sent out to hunt down and kill rogue ninjas, then immediately dispose of the body right fuckin there, no moving to a different spot. They're trained to know all the spots on the human body so they can take down the rogue ninjas as fast as possible. So, most hunter-nin will use things like kunai and jutsu and in the mist swords because they like, really like swords there. But that FAKE ASS BASTARD used senbon, which are just glorified needles and can only really kill someone if they directly hit a vital point... like, the heart, or getting to their brain through their eyeballs. But Zabuza was hit in the neck, and if you jab needles in specific spots in the neck you can make someone just fall over and seem dead like bleeeeegh. Then the faker took Zabuza's body away instead of turning it into a bloody paste right there like he was supposed to. So the fake hunter-nin is probably taking care of Zabuza right now because it can take a while to recover from being like, 90% dead even if it was just for a few minutes."

Naruto and Sakura were gaping at me, and Kakashi nodded in hesitant approval. "Well...not QUITE the way I would have explained it, but it got the point across. He's right. Zabuza should recover in about a week...same as me."

Sakura turned her worried gaze to Kakashi. "What are we gonna do then, sensei? I know you were going to teach us tree walking...but how will that help?"

"Simple, my cute little genin...tree walking is an exercise in chakra control. With chakra control, you can make the most of any jutsu while spending as little chakra as possible, which actually increases the total amount of jutsu you can use."

Naruto perked up at that. "SO IF WE LEARN THIS YOU'LL TEACH US SOME NEW JUTSU!?!? ALRIGHT!!!! HOW DO I DO THIS???"

Kakashi sighed, running a hand over his face. "Naruto that's not what I said...but whatever. Sure. I'll teach you a low level jutsu if you can succeed in this exercise while we're all still in Wave."

I perked up at that as well, already knowing what I would ask him to teach me.

"Okay...Sasuke, why don't you explain how the exercise works? You already told Sakura, now tell Naruto."

Wow, what kind of teacher is he? He's making ME do all the work!

"Okay Naruto. The way this works is you channel chakra to the soles of your feet, then walk up the tree like POWPOWPOW. You have to use just the right amount, though, because if you don't use enough you won't stick, but if you use too much the bark will fuckin EXPLODE and you'll LAUNCH your ass away from the tree!!!"

Naruto looked confused for a moment, then nodded with determined understanding on his face. He held up his hands in the ram sign, and after a few moments he walked over to the tree. He set one foot on it, but what I wasn't expecting him to do was practically stomp on the trunk, with the next foot following and doing the same. With every step he yelled "POW", but only made it four steps before falling on his ass. I of course started laughing hysterically while Kakashi gave Naruto a real explanation. My laughter was cut short as Kakashi threw a kunai into the dirt right in front of me and I yelped.

"...use the kunai to mark your progress on the trees. You'll pass the exercise once you can walk all the way to the top of the tree."

"Um...Kakashi-sensei? What if we can do it within the day? Would...would you move us to water walking?"

Kakashi smiled at Sakura, his visible eye crinkling upwards. "Yes, I suppose I could do that. You have to master this exercise first, though."

Sakura smiled and nodded, taking her kunai and standing for a moment before casually strolling up the tree behind her. She walked all the way to the top, then all the way back down with a smug look on her face.

"WOW SAKURA-CHAN THAT WAS AMAZING!!! BELIEVE IT!!!"

"It's because she has a low chakra capacity, so control is way easier for her than it is us, Naruto."

Sakura deflated at that, but Kakashi patted her head. "Well...you've already mastered tree walking...so let's go down to the water to start you on water walking then, ne?"

She perked up a bit, and ambled after our teacher, leaving Naruto and I alone. I looked to him and grinned, channeling chakra to my feet and getting a running start at the tree, paying careful attention to my chakra, trying to adjust it as I went, as I felt myself slipping or the bark cracking. I only succeeded in one foot slipping and the other blasting me off the tree and straight into another one before I fell down to the dirt. Naruto was laughing hysterically, pointing at me mockingly. I just pouted at him.

"WELL LET'S SEE YOU DO BETTER!!!!"

"BET YOU I CAN, BASTARD!!! BELIEVE IT!!!"

So then Naruto took a running start at the tree, but very quickly lost grip on it and promptly fell on his head. Now it was my turn to point and laugh, and Naruto's turn to pout.

"AT LEAST I DIDN'T FALL ON MY HEAD!!!!"

Naruto grumbled something unintelligible, but I paid no mind to it.

"Whoever masters this first gets to learn a jutsu first. Let's RACE!!!!"

Naruto grinned, agreeing with me and we both began our attempts anew.

A couple evenings later, everyone sat at the table in Tazuna's house, eating dinner while making polite conversation. Except for Naruto and I who were having an eating contest. I remembered what happened in the episode, so I had made the rule that if you threw up, you lost. I finished my bowl, but didn't ask for more as I knew if I ate more I would throw up. Naruto asked for more, though...and only got three bites in before he puked. I laughed, standing up in my chair in victory.

"HAH, I WIN, SUCK IT!!!!! I BEAT THE ONE AND ONLY NARUTO UZUMAKI IN AN EATING CONTEST, THE LEGEND WHO CAN EAT LIKE A MILLION BOWLS OF RAMEN IN ONE SITTING WITHOUT PUKING!!!! BOW TO ME, FOR I AM YOUR MASTER!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

Everyone just stared at me, with Kakashi looking like he would rather stab himself in the neck with a kunai than continue dealing with me at this point. Sakura was just having another existential crisis, questioning when her broody emo boy crush had become the Amazing and Awesome Me. Naruto looked dejected at being beaten, Tazuna took another swig of sake, and Tsunami and Inari were just perplexed and baffled.

"...Sasuke. Sit down."

"OH SHUT UP KAKASHI-SENSEI STOP BEING A KILLJOY!!! I WILL STEAL ALL YOUR PORN BOOKS, MARK MY WORDS!!!"

Tsunami blushed, and Inari was just confused once more. The little brat had already told us we were all gonna die when we first got here, but I didn't feel like arguing with a whiny little bitch baby so I left that to Naruto and his Therapy-no-jutsu. The result of said Therapy-no-jutsu was Inari grudgingly sitting at the table with everyone. Sakura chose that moment to comment on the torn photo in the hallway, though, and Inari ran out of the room. I got up out of my seat, and walked towards the door to continue my training.

"Sasuke-kun, where are you going?"

I looked back at Sakura. "I don't feel like listening to another sob story. If sob stories were a competition, I would win hands down with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto tied for second real close behind."

Kakashi looked a bit uncomfortable, but Naruto held no such reservations.

"Oh yeah? Well I think I'M first, bastard. You may have always been alone, but people liked you, at least!"

I gave him a deadpan look. "Naruto. My brother murdered our whole clan and I ran into my house to see him standing over our parent's bodies. Then he proceeded to put me in a genjutsu where I had to watch him kill everyone hundreds of times, all while only a minute passed in the real world, then he told me I was too pathetic to bother killing."

Kakashi looked EXTREMELY uncomfortable now, and the rest of the table just paled drastically as if they couldn't believe that had actually happened to me. Tazuna was the first to speak.

"Y-your own BROTHER?"

"Yeeeeep. Pretty fucked up shit. At least for me it was only the one instance. Kakashi-sensei's whole life is just one tragedy after another. His whole LIFE is practically a soap opera!!! But don't ask him about any of it, he's not talkative about his trauma like I am with mine. Anyways I'm gonna go train more, BYYYYYEEEEEE!!!"

With that said, I beat a hasty retreat and ran back to the woods. This was fun and all, but I hated training by myself like this...the only person who was KINDA fun was Naruto!!! Why couldn't I train with Lee and Gai-sensei? WAIT HANG ON, THATS A GREAT IDEA. I'LL DO THAT ONCE WE GET BACK HOME!!! I picked back up where I left off before I left to go eat...which was alternating between falling down and blasting myself off of the tree.

It was almost time for Zabuza to show back up again. He would be showing up tomorrow...AND I STILL COULDN'T CLIMB THE DAMN TREE!!!! HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO FACE HAKU IF I COULDN'T WALK UP A TREE!? I flopped over onto my back, groaning and looking up at the canopy. The sounds of Naruto trying and failing to run up the tree were heard in the background, but I paid them no mind. I had to figure out how to do this, what my problem was. I kept adjusting my chakra flow to the smallest degrees, but it still didn't work! This felt hopeless. Why couldn't I get it go work..? My thoughts were cut off as I glimpsed something up in tree, my gaze zeroing in on it before I identified it a particularly unique looking squirrel. There was the usual coloration of a warm reddish brown, but it was also covered by splotches of white. Fuck, what was it called...? PIEBALD!!! My mind focused entirely on the interesting creature, I got up and dashed up the tree, only a distant corner of my mind thinking 'chakra to feet'. I was only an armslength away from the furry critter when it caught sight of me and dashed away up the tree, with me hot on its heels. We were practically at the top when it suddenly leapt from a branch, with nothing near enough for it to land on safely instead of plummeting to its doom...except it wouldn't plummet to its doom because it spread out all its legs and glided down using the skin between its limbs as a parachute. It was a flying squirrel.

"OH YOU ASSHOLE I JUST WANTED TO PET YOU!!!!"

"SASUKE, YOU BASTARD YOU COULD DO THIS ALL ALONG!?!?"

The indignant shout caught my attention and I looked down towards the source. Why was Naruto way down there? Wait...why was I so high up? The realization that I had somehow succeeded in what I had fruitlessly been attempting for the past week without even THINKING about it hit me like a brick. I grinned, suddenly seeing that my previous problem had been that I was overthinking the task before and that THAT was why I had been unable to succeed for so long.

"TO BE FAIR NARUTO I HAD NO IDEA THAT I COULD APPARENTLY I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT IT TOO HARD AND THAT'S WHY I FAILED"

Once again focusing on anything but the amount of chakra to my feet, I began strolling down the tree to see Naruto glaring at me and Kakashi off in the background looking on approvingly. To soothe Naruto's righteous anger, I clapped a hand on his should once I reached the ground again.

"Don't worry Naruto, the reason this is so hard for you is because you have a fucking RIDICULOUS amount of chakra at your disposal. You even have waaaay more than Kakashi-sensei!!!! So chakra control is going to be a huge pain in the ass for you."

He turned from looking angry, to contemplative, to gleefully smug. Then he turned back towards the tree and kept going. I turned to Kakashi with a grin, and he reached out to ruffle my hair.

"Well...look at that. You were overthinking it, hm?"

I grinned, nodding. "Yeah! Hey, you said before we started this that you would teach us a new jutsu if we could learn tree walking by the end of our mission and I successfully did so. So can you teach me a new jutsu now!?"

Kakashi sighed. "You know, I was hoping you had forgotten about that, but sure. What did you want to learn?"

"CHAKRA STRINGS!!!!"

"...chakra strings. Might I ask why?"

I cackled. "Because the next time you fall flat on your face because of chajra exhaustion, we won't have to carry your fat ass the whole way!!! Plus if you're up and walking, stupid people will be less likely to attack us."

Kakashi sighed. "Fine...your reasoning makes sense...but I still get the feeling I'm going to regret this. Chakra strings are actually pretty easy to make...you just gather chakra in your hands, then push it out your fingertips. Add more chakra to make it longer...that's it. Actually controlling and using them is something you have to figure out yourself, though...I can't help you with that one."

I grinned, practically vibrating with excitement as I did what I was told, seeing a faint but glowing blue string coming from my pointer finger. Seeing that his work was done, Kakashi turned around and started walking away...but I had a good idea. I extended the string, loosely wrapping it around Kakashi's ankle before I grabbed it and pulled, causing my teacher to fall flat on his face while I just cackled at his expense.

"...I knew I would regret it, just not that quickly."

The next morning, we all arrived at the bridge, except for Naruto, who was still sleeping, to find all the workers on the bridge unconscious. I grinned, knowing that Zabuza was back, and immediately took out a kunai, attaching a chakra string to it and whirling it around before grabbing it by the handle. I heard an amused chuckle before looking up to see Zabuza and Haku.

"I remember you, kid...you're the spunky one. My promise still stands...I'll kill you last."

I grinned at him. "Thanks!!!"

He just looked perplexed by my answer and Kakashi gave an exhausted sigh. "Okay you three...Sakura, you protect Tazuna. I'll handle Zabuza, and you fight his partner, Sasuke."

I gave a salute before rushing towards Haku, kunai ready with a carefree grin on my face. If everything went right, I would awaken my sharingan here!!! As I struck with my kunai, Haku blocked with senbon.

"Hello, liar mcliar pants, I'm Sasuke!" I had to introduce myself, obviously, even if Haku WOULD end up speared on Kakashi's arm just a bit later.

"...how did you know I was working with Zabuza?"

"Because you threw the senbon in his neck and didn't destroy the body right in front of us like real hunter nin do. I stand by my promise to stab every single one of your toes."

"I see...Zabuza told me about you...said that you weren't to be underestimated, that you managed to kill one of the demon brothers...so I should make sure to finish this quickly."

Haku jumped away, forming handsigns in a blur I couldn't hope to follow...but I was pretty sure what jutsu it was. My suspicions were confirmed as I was quickly trapped in a dome of ice mirrors, and I smiled, watching Haku step into one. The black haired boy wasted no time in pelting me with senbon, and I gave a pained shout. Fuck, that hurt A LOT more than I had expected! I felt several pierce my flesh, and yanked them out just as quick. I couldn't let Haku get them back, because then he would just throw them back at me again! I kind of wished I had an earth jutsu right now, or maybe Kakashi's lightning jutsu to punch through the bridge and drop all the stupid needles through a hole! For now, though, I just shoved them all in my kunai pouch. The barrage of senbon stopped, and I was able to breathe easy for a bit. I looked up at Haku, who was tilting his head curiously at me.

"...why aren't you fighting back?"

I scoffed. "Well I can't hit you while you're in those mirrors, you move too fast for me to see, and if I throw my kunai at you you'll just throw them back at me or they'll wind up outside the dome where NEITHER of us can use them! So excuse me for not being stupid and attacking you pointlessly!"

That and I was hoping he would run out if senbon but I wasn't about to say that. Plus I was trying to watch, to see if there was a pattern with which he moved. Haku didn't say anything more, but went straight back to pelting me with senbon. I shouted in pain once more, just taking it and trying to block them as well as I could...until he hit me in the knee, causing me to fall to the ground. I vaguely heard Sakura crying my name, and registered a kunai sailing towards me...but Haku caught it. He was half hanging out of the mirrors, ready to throw it...but he was suddenly hit with shuriken, causing him to fall out and onto his face just outside the dome, just in time for Naruto to show up. I would have run out, but I still couldn't quite move right, so I stayed put. Now that Naruto was here, I would have a better chance of unlocking my sharingan. I didn't feel too bad about basically using him to advance myself...but only because I knew he would come in here anyways, and that he needed to Therapy-no-jutsu the shit out of Zabuza after hearing Haku's story. I must have zoned out for a bit there, as Naruto was suddenly in front of my face. I smiled, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"You're a fucking idiot but I love you anyways."

Naruto grew irate. "HEY, IS THAT REALLY GONNA BE HOW YOU TREAT ME AFTER I COME IN HERE TO SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS!?"

Before I could reply to him, we were hit with another volley of senbon, and this time we both screamed in pain. Before I knew it, Naruto was creating a bunch of shadow clones, each one jumping at a mirror. Remembering what Sasuke did in the show, I kicked up some water, and watched the direction the droplets moved in as Haku passed through them. When Naruto came back down, I immediately told him to do it again, and the scene repeated. I saw that the way the drops moved was identical to the last time, so I knew there was a pattern now...but I still couldn't see Haku enough to use that knowledge to strike. Without me telling him to, Naruto was about to do it again, but a volley of senbon directed at him specifically cut off the jutsu he was trying to perform. I couldn't move fast enough to keep him from getting hit, and a few got dangerously close to his neck. I knew the fake death trick wouldn't actually kill him...but I didn't want him to get too badly hurt all the same. All pretenses of wanting Naruto to talk to Zabuza went out the window as I saw the boy I thought of as my best friend getting hurt. I focused as hard as I could on Haku, and suddenly my vision became clearer...sharper.

"NARUTO!!! DO IT AGAIN!!!"

The blond did as asked, and this time...this time I could actually see the blur that was Haku as he moved...when before I couldn't even see a blur. Haku threw more senbon, and I actually managed to block the vast majority of them, with the ones I didn't block only grazing me. Naruto did the shadow clone jutsu again, but this time...when he was knocked to the ground, he hit his head. He was very nearly knocked out completely...so he couldn't do anything against the ice wielder. Haku looked to me.

"I see...now you have the advantage, however slight...I will have to remove that."

It took me a moment to remember exactly what he did now, but when he drew back his arm, senbon in hand, and looked to Naruto, I remembered. I leapt forwards, and tried to block in time...but I couldn't. I felt senbon pierce my neck, and pain shot through my whole body. I coughed up a bit of blood, and heard Naruto asking why I did it.

"...because...you were passed out...and you're my best friend..."

The pain became too much and I collapsed, Naruto thankfully being just fast enough to keep me from eating concrete and catch me, turning me over to look at me with a distraught look.

"Don't worry...I'm not...dying. It takes...more than a couple pointy things...to kill me! I'm just...too good like that..."

After I said that...I was unable to stay conscious any longer, and I passed out in Naruto's arms. Hopefully he remembered the fake death trick Haku had used on Zabuza before, and realized that it had been used on me. Probably not.

I woke up to Sakura sobbing over my body. I gave a groan, and she let out a gasp before grabbing me and hugging me tightly. I gave a strangled shout of pain.

"Sakura...Sakura I'm still full of senbon!!! That hurts!!!"

She blubbered out an apology and let go of me. I reached up a shaky hand, and yanked the senbon out of my neck, then proceeding to the rest of me. I wasn't out for long at all, and I could still move at least a little bit, so I assumed that I must not have been hit as hard as Zabuza had been by the same technique. I vaguely registered the sounds of fighting, and looked over just in time to see Zabuza slaughter Gato. As the tiny tyrant fell, he turned around and stumbled back towards where Haku was. A few moments later, he fell, and was picked up by Kakashi to lay him down next to Haku before he died.

"Sakura...help hold me up. I gotta get over there. I'm not gonna fight...I just need to get over there."

I wasn't about to try and explain to her that Kakashi probably just had a minor flashback for a brief moment and that I wanted to try and comfort him. It wasn't my secret to share. Thankfully, the pink haired girl didn't ask me to reveal it, and just did as I requested. By the time we had hobbled over there...the townsfolk had arrived behind us and Gato's thugs had fled. I freed myself from Sakura's grip and walked over to Kakashi, looking down at the two corpses laying next to each other, then up to him.

"...it's okay, Kakashi-sensei. It wasn't your fault...Haku jumped in front of you, right?"

He just looked to me, a bit shocked, and nodded. I smiled back at him.

"So, it's okay! You don't have to worry..."

He let out a dry chuckle. "...you say that as if you didn't just basically die then come back to life...you need rest, Sasuke. You should be fully recovered once the bridge is done and we can leave."

I grinned and nodded. Even I had to admit that I felt like shit and really needed to sleep. It wouldn't be too hard, though. I would probably pass out as soon as I got back to Tazuna's house.

I was right.

A/N: Hi again! This one took friggin forever, because I got stuck on the bridge fight. I just couldn't decide how I wanted it to go, but eventually settled on this. I hope you all like it!!! Still searching for a beta.