Chapter 5:

The next couple of days continued just like that. Sasuke would get back, wake up Naruto and then they would talk. There hadn't happened anything other than the one person who had tried to get in the second day. Today was the last day and they weren't as attentive anymore. They were already packing up, waiting for Tazuna, so they could follow him to his business partner.

Both Sasuke and Tazuna were riding their horses while Sai walked in front of them and Naruto was bringing up the rear. Sasuke felt his horse acted uneasy. He looked around the forest they had entered. He couldn't see anything other than trees and bushes. He petted the horse trying to calm it down. They got deeper and deeper into the forest and Sasuke began feeling uncomfortable himself too.

It was as if someone was watching them, following them as they went. He couldn't get a sense of where they were, so he decided that they should continue and hopefully they could get them when they left the forest. Sasuke wasn't so lucky, soon after men jumped out from everywhere and had them surrounded. Sasuke jumped down from his horse and drew his sword.

"I would advice you to let us leave" Sasuke snarled

"Always so arrogant" Sasuke heard Naruto mumbled beside him. Naruto had helped Tazuna down and him and Sai was standing beside him. It would be too risky to let him stay on the horse, since he would be an easy target for an archer. The men looked at each other and attacked. Sai and Sasuke quickly jumped into the fight and Naruto stayed beside their subject to ensure he would be protected. Sasuke had been worried at first because of their sheer number, but he soon realised they weren't the best fighters.

He had already knocked two people out and could hold his own against two at once. He heard a noise to his right and couldn't help but look to see if Naruto was alright. Naruto was swirling his sword around, keeping everybody at a distance. Sasuke felt a sharp pain in his upper arm and looked down. One of the men had thrown a kunai when he was distracted and grazed his arm. Dammit. Hadn't he decided not to get involved with anyone because it could make him unfocused?

He tried to concentrate on the men around him, managing to knock out a couple more. He reached into his side pocket and pushed a finger into the little loop in three kunais. He threw them at the men behind him, making it easier to fight off the others. He glanced to his side again, wanting to see if the idiot managed to stay alive or if he needed to come and help. He could almost feel how close the sword was at hitting his face. He really had to stay focussed here. These enemies weren't afraid to kill him, so he shouldn't give them a reason to.

Naruto managed to protect their subject quite well. The enemies weren't too clever and he was too spontaneous for them to guess his next move. He had managed to knock almost everyone out that had been surrounding them by now. He glanced over at Sasuke and saw him being pushed backwards by the sheer power of the clash of swords. He saw a person sneaking up behind Sasuke and before he realised it he was running and jumping in between them. He lifted his sword to block the attack.

Naruto and the enemy was staring straight into each others eyes as they both used all of their powers to try and pushed the other back. The smile the other man suddenly gave Naruto gave him shivers. He felt a scorching pain across his lower ribcage and looked in shock as he saw the other man jumping back again. He had quickly let go with one of his hands and attacked him with a smaller knife. Naruto hadn't paid attention to the other hand, only been glad when he felt the force on his sword had lessened.

He crumbled to the ground and looked up. The man was laughing. Anger was slowly pushing the pain aside and Naruto slowly got up on his feet. He looked back and saw Sasuke starring at him in horror. He wasn't moving, he was practically not even blinking. Naruto quickly turned back again, having learnt not to leave his back to an enemy. Sasuke could wait, he needed to take care of this guy first. It was more difficult this time, but after a while he got control and managed to knock him out too.

"Help" They all looked towards Tazuna, who was being approach by what seemed like the only conscious guy left. Sasuke shook his head and ran towards him. He quickly knocked the back of the man's head with the hilt of his sword. They were all panting hard from the fight. It seemed like nobody was here and they all sat down on the ground, trying to catch their breaths.

"What the hell were you thinking you idiot" Sasuke yelled furiously at Naruto. Naruto was taking aback by the anger.

"What" He frowned. Sasuke got up and grabbed the front of Naruto's shirt pulled him closer.

"You fucking idiot. I'm the leader, I'm the one in control. I told you to stay beside our subject and protect him, not wander of on your own. He could have been killed" Sasuke angrily tossed Naruto down on the ground again.

"You really piss me off." He left a very confused Naruto behind and began tying all the unconscious enemies up. Sai helped him and then went over to Naruto. Sai slowly lifted his shirt up and inspected the wound. It looked raw and was bleeding pretty bad. Sai sighed and went over to the horse to get their medicine box. He found the gauze and began wrapping it around Naruto. He was a nurse, so the best he could do was making it stop bleeding. Sasuke stayed away while Sai was taking care of Naruto.

He couldn't be around him right now. How could this have happened? This was exactly the reason why he didn't want to be friends with Naruto. Because of these … feelings he wouldn't be able to focus on a fight anymore. He should probably request a transfer, then he wouldn't be able to see Naruto again and he would be able to bury whatever it was he was beginning to feel. It would never lead to anything good so why should he try to pursue it. The closer they got the more he would be scared of loosing him, of loosing another person he held dear. He kicked one of the men on the floor.

"Relax, it isn't something you should take out on them" Sai's calm voice came out of the blue.

"And what is it I'm taking out on them, if I may ask?" Sasuke crossed his arms and raised his chin, glaring down at Sai.

"I'm not going to be intimidated by you, you should know that by now" Sai rubbed his hands on his shirt which led Sasuke's attention onto the blood covering them.

"It's Naruto's"

"What?"

"You just looked at my hands weirdly, so I thought you were wondering about it" Sasuke paled slightly

"How is he?" Sai sighed.

"Why don't you just go over there and ask him yourself, instead on taking your anger out on these men. I know you're worried, but wasn't it a little stupid to scold him like that?"

"Just tell me how he is" Sasuke said through clenched teeth.

"Just go over to him" Sai was getting frustrated with his behaviour. "You should probably apologize to him while you're at it."

"I didn't do anything wrong, he was the idiot. I've told you one day his recklessness would make us fail a mission and that almost happened this time"

"Only because he tried to save your life. You should be grateful, but I guess you're not capable of feeling something like that" Sasuke turned around, deciding to just leave. This conversation was going nowhere and he was slowly loosing his patience.

"Wouldn't it be best if you deliver our subject to the meeting point and then me and Naruto can stay here and look after the men? I'm sure you won't be attacked anymore and it would be faster for just the two of you?" Sasuke nodded.

"Let's do that" He began to walk to his horse.

"He isn't well.." Sai said softly to answer his earlier question. "He has lost a lot of blood, and I'm sure once he is calmed down the adrenaline will stop working and he will be in a lot of pain. I will suggest you to hurry up so we can get him to the hospital" Sasuke just continued walking, ignoring the pain in his hand from almost breaking the skin with the force of his nails. He dragged Tazuna along and pushed him up on his horse. He jumping up on his own horse and sat a fast pace. The sooner he delivered him, the sooner they could get back. He was tired of this mission, it had brought nothing but troubles.

I hope you like this chapter too. As you have already read in the prologue, Naruto's wound is going to be more serious than they first suspected. So stay tuned ;)