I thought I'd have more free time during summer - false. I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but here it is!

A Parting

For what felt like the billionth time in only a few days, Uchiha Sasuke stared at the white ceiling of his hospital room. He'd spent much of the previous day in a woozy state, slipping in and out of consciousness without any true awareness of his surroundings. He remembered little between the time he collapsed and when he'd awoken a quarter hour earlier.

Sakura tapped her clipboard with a pen. "The amount of strain you put on your chakra coils is no joke. I warned you about this. What were you thinking?"

"Clearly, I wasn't," he almost growled. Sasuke was furious. He'd overreacted, misjudged the situation. Naruto had not been in dire need. She was only a victim of dire stupidity.

Sakura sighed. "Well, I don't have good news for you. Your chakra coils burned out, to the point that they even began to scorch your muscles and skin." She motioned to the gauze around his arms and waist, which hid irritated rashes. "It's like having such a high fever that the proteins in your body begin to denature—to fall apart. Your skin will be sensitive for a few days but should recover quickly. The coils themselves…Honestly, we've never had a shinobi with your level of chakra burn out so completely. A full recovery might take anywhere from one month to six. It's impossible to know for sure, but I'd estimate a full two months at least. Until that time, you can't manipulate chakra. None. Zero. Do you hear me, Sasuke? You'd risk permanent damage."

The cold weight of her words was sufficient to sink Sasuke in a quagmire of angst. His own body and power—what he had always been able to rely on—had rebelled against him. A month, a year, the time didn't matter. He had fallen into shame. He had allowed emotion to cloud his reason and, in so doing, crippled himself.

"I will—" his voice came out gravelly. "I will regain full use of my chakra." He seemed to be daring her to contradict him and see the result.

"That mostly depends on you," said Sakura. "If you don't give yourself a chance to heal, if you push yourself before your body can handle the strain, you could worsen the injury."

This was what shinobi could expect: an injury incurred during service to their village, but no, it was not the same, not when it was Konoha that had imprisoned him in the chakra limiters. If Konoha had never put the limiters on him, if Konoha hadn't tried to trap him here in the first place—No. Resenting Konoha meant resenting Naruto, and Sasuke, while able and willing to fault Konoha for anything, balked in the face of blaming her—not because he could take the high road but because the idea of being at odds with her was too painful to contemplate. Besides, it really was his own damn fault. Sasuke had wanted, for once, to be the hero, and look where it had gotten him.

"Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura. Sasuke raised his eyes to meet hers, such pale green irises. He studied her face as he had not for many years, not since recognizing that the slightest attention he showed her would induce a frenzy of blushes, stutters, and awkward interactions. He thought he detected a faint blush now, but for the most part, Sakura seemed to have herself under control. And that relaxed Sasuke. With her medical expertise paired with her massive crush, he could trust her to be more concerned about his health than he was. If she weren't anxious, then he needn't be either.

"How's Naruto? She's, um, better?" He wasn't sure what exactly to ask.

"Oh, Naruto will be fine," said Sakura, a smile teasing her lips. "I kept her overnight for observation, but since she was strong enough to take on a dragon and carry you like a child to the hospital afterwards, I'm confident she'll make a full recovery."

Sasuke winced, and Sakura—inordinately thrilled to have found a more effective way of relating to him—continued, "I thought I had prepared her for…that, but I underestimated how strong a toll it would take on her body. Also, I doubt she was listening properly. No matter. She's always learned best through experience. Her chakra and cramps will settle in a day or two, and she'll be back to normal. There's no reason to think she won't be able to have children one day, if she ever wants them—and if she ever finds a man good enough for her."

That was a little more information than Sasuke had wanted. A simple "fine" would have sufficed.

"It's sweet of you to worry about her," Sakura added. In the days since she'd come to terms with Sasuke's feelings for Naruto, Sakura had formed a resolution: Get the two of them together. The reason was as much self-serving as it was generous. Sakura would be damned if she conceded defeat to any girl but Naruto. Unfortunately, her chances of forging a romantic relationship between the two would be nigh impossible in the coming months. The thought made her frown.

"What is it?" said Sasuke.

"I don't know if you remember, but Mitarashi Anko—

"Oh, I remember," he said in a deadly soft voice. There, someone he could blame for his tragic fate. Mitarashi Anko. If she hadn't brought the damn dragon to Konoha, he wouldn't be in this state.

"Yes, well, she's also in the hospital—"

Oh, really, thought Sasuke. It might be worth paying Anko a visit in the dead of night. She was, after all, a fellow pupil of Orochimaru. They had much to discuss, much revenge to mete out.

"—still sleeping and recovering from her ordeal, of course—"

Her recovery might take longer than anticipated.

"—but as soon as they're both able, she and Naruto are going to attempt to trace Orochimaru."

Sasuke knew all of this. It had been his idea, after all. When he had revived Orochimaru through Anko's Cursed Seal of Heaven, he had instilled some of Anko's chakra into the snake. It was only a theory, but at the time, he'd thought it would forge a connection between them and give Orochimaru a new vulnerability: With Anko's chakra woven throughout Orochimaru's new body, sacrificing Anko might very well destroy Orochimaru too. While Konoha's leaders showed some reticence in taking his theory that far, they were quite willing to let Naruto attempt to trace Orochimaru through Anko's chakra, much as she had once tracked down Nagato through his chakra receivers.

Sasuke would ensure he did not damage Anko's chakra during his visit. He could show restraint.

"Even if it doesn't work," continued Sakura, "Hokage-sama is finalizing the teams to subdue Orochimaru. You were supposed to go, but…" She trailed off with a worried look at him as her meaning became clear.

Sasuke wished he had someone to throttle. Damn that Anko.

… … …

A day later, the Rookie Nine and Team Gai crammed themselves into Sasuke's tiny hospital room. Naruto had called a meeting, which Sasuke would have forbidden had his permission been solicited, and furthermore, she had neglected to arrive on time, leaving Sasuke with the unenviable task of hosting. Despite his best efforts to choke all attempts at sociability, some small talk persisted.

"Do you remember when we last met like this?" asked Neji. There was an undertone in the question that, if Sasuke was not mistaken, contained some menace. Interesting. He saw glances exchanged.

"Naruto's birthday party?" hazarded Ten-Ten.

"Then," said Neji, "we were not planning to assassinate an enemy."

Sakura's mouth formed an 'oh' while Kiba grinned. Lee burst out, "Between the woodpiles, yes! We made a pact—oh!" Lee colored. Ino settled for staring at her feet. Choji scratched his cheek.

Sasuke had a very good idea of which enemy Neji had in mind. "This new pact should not prove as hopelessly ineffective as the last," said Sasuke. "Membership has grown."

Silence reigned. Sasuke got the impression Neji was restraining himself with great difficulty. Too much the gentleman to start a full-out war with an invalid. It was a sign of Naruto's magnetism that her followers would deign to confine themselves with Sasuke for any period of time—and oh glory, there were more of them. Sabaku and his siblings arrived.

"My sympathies," said the Kazekage to Sasuke. The Sand trio found an open square inch of floor space in which to squeeze themselves.

Sympathies, noted Sasuke. No wishes for a quick recovery. He suffered himself to speak. "Thank you. I trust Suna has not been affected by your absence?"

From anyone else, the question likely would have been interpreted as a hope that Gaara's home continued to flourish. From Sasuke, it was a not-so-subtle dig: Either the Kazekage's presence in the city made no difference whatsoever to Suna's state of affairs—a humiliating prospect for the city's leader—or he was neglecting his duties. Either way Sabaku chose to interpret was fine with Sasuke.

"Suna's great," said Temari, with a warning glance at her puppet-obsessed brother—whatever his name was.

The choir of Naruto's admirers was made nearly complete with the appearance of Sai. His eyes took in the tight quarters, and he jumped to the ceiling where he hung upside down quite comfortably. "My condolences, Uchiha," Sai said, wearing a fake smile on his pasty face. "It is a terrible thing for a man to lose his proper functioning."

Choked coughs filled the room, and Kiba released an outright bark of laughter at the suggestion of Sasuke's impotence.

"You know of this terrible loss from experience?" asked Sasuke coolly.

Sai's smile widened. "No, but I've discussed it in great depth with Naruto."

There was no surer blow Sai could have struck. For Sai of all people to be privy to such intimate disclosures angered and embarrassed Sasuke. Sasuke's demeanor grew icy as he contemplated the cretin and the correct words with which to eviscerate him. In the end, however, his pride would not allow him to sink further into a pissing contest. He chose to interpret Sai's words at face value rather than muddy the waters with subtext.

"Yes," said Sasuke, "Naruto's chakra imbalances have been upsetting, but such things would never keep her down for long. It's the mark of a true shinobi—and a trait we have in common."

Sai grew pensive, and Sasuke was saved from the ink-freak's next quip by Naruto herself. Outside, she had leaped up to the hospital window, which Hinata opened for her.

"Okay, guys," began Naruto, "the bad news is that being a girl has its own version of hell. The good news is that there's no indication those hellish parts were in any way harmed by the nature seal. Therefore, in light of the most recent sucky events, I wanted to announce some good news: Konoha will one day be overtaken by my blonde babies!"

Like the rest of them, Sasuke had expected information about the mission to kill Orochimaru. He might have raised an eyebrow at her speech, but really, he was too worn out by her frequent discussions of progeny to be stirred by the grand announcement.

"It's been on my mind lately," she continued, "and I wanted you all to be the first to know. Of course, there's got to be a guy somewhere in this arrangement, and he's got to be blonde. Any male with hair darker than a banana peel is excluded from my list of suitors. Ino, how many cousins do you have?"

Now that got Sasuke's attention. Hypothetical progeny was one thing. The very real, living, breathing father of said progeny was an entirely different matter. Naruto was moving down this path far too quickly for Sasuke's comfort.

"A few," said Ino, glancing at a rapidly paling Uchiha. "But Naruto, does he have to be blonde? There are lots more talented and handsome dark-haired shinobi. Believe me, I've checked them all out." Ino would also be damned if she gave up Sasuke-kun to anyone less than Naruto.

"No! I can't take the chance of not having blonde babies. Have you ever noticed how dark-haired people tend to have dark-haired babies and light-haired people have light-haired babies? You've noticed that, right? Crazy, huh? There's gotta be a reason for it."

"Genes, Naruto," Sakura said.

"Nonsense—'cause you take jeans off when you—you know. No, it has to be a blonde guy for me. Can't take a chance! Or redhead, I guess." Naruto thought of her mother's long red hair. "Wait, what am I saying? Red is better! Guys, I need to find a redheaded guy! How many of those do we have?"

Several eyes turned pointedly to Gaara, whose lips were twitching.

"Why the rush, Naruto?" asked Kiba. "It'n there enough going on without worrying about a litter?"

Naruto sobered. "You're right for once—"

"Hey," growled Kiba.

"But…see when I was a guy, I'd think sometimes about my future family, but it always seemed so far off and not that important. The only girl I liked was Sakura-chan, and I figured it'd be ages before I'd get her pregnant. Then when I turned into a girl…well, as the girl, I've got to do all the work. I was hoping I could count on you all for help, though. I'll have to interview a bunch of people, make a list…but I gotta find them first. I know! I'll put out an ad in the paper and have them apply—"

"That's not how it works, Naruto," said Sakura.

Bless her, thought Sasuke. With Naruto, it was best to nip such wild ideas in the bud.

"But I've already got some promising results," said Naruto. "Arakawa Hachiro over in R&D said he was interested, and I've seen loads of girls fawning over him. He'd be a good pick, right?"

At the mention of this shinobi's name, the ladies in the room did indeed smile. Sasuke would never rely on them again. "You're not supposed to worry about appearances," said Sasuke, who was calm…very calm. "Who cares what your baby looks like?"

"Hmph. That coming from someone who looks like you."

Now there was an avenue Sasuke longed to explore, but he would not be dissuaded. "People say personality is more important." Then Sasuke realized that personality, too, should have excluded him from any list of Naruto's. "And besides," he continued doggedly, "you really shouldn't exclude more than half the male population with the blonde hair stipulation or you're limiting your choices too much." When Naruto looked unconvinced, Sasuke added, "I mean, it's sort of admitting defeat, isn't it?"

"Yeah?" she said, blue eyes narrowing. "How?"

"By avoiding the dark-haired candidates, you aren't testing your genes against the father's, figuring out whose are stronger and ending up with the best combination. It'd be like pairing up a genin with a jounin in a tournament. The genin gets slaughtered, and the jounin doesn't have a chance for growth. What, are you going to tell your kid one day that you set out to weaken him before he was even born?"

Lee gaped as his eyes grew round with previously unimagined horror. As Naruto mulled over the stupid logic, Sasuke began to sweat. It was now obvious he'd made a fool of himself. Other than Naruto and Lee, only Kiba seemed to be considering whether his words had any merit. Ino and Neji looked at him with something like amazement. Sakura had to slap her hand over her mouth to keep from guffawing. The hell with them.

"Now that's a damn good point," said Naruto.

"I thought so," said Sasuke. "And really, the darker the better."

"Naruto," said a familiar voice from the doorway. Heads swiveled to Shikamaru, who'd been ensconced in the Hokage's office with her top advisors. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Anko's been cleared. They're ready to—"

Shikamaru sighed. Naruto had vanished through the window.

"Whose going?" asked Neji.

"Everyone, most likely, but teams will be confirmed once Naruto's done the trace," said Shikamaru. "It's a pain, but this is top priority. Report to the Tower roof in two hours. Kazekage-sama, your presence is requested. Not you, Sasuke. You're stuck here."

Sasuke paused in the act of confirming that his legs could hold his weight. He watched as the other shinobi fled his room to begin preparing for the all-important mission.

"No one knows Orochimaru like I do," he snarled at Shikamaru.

"Right," he said, forcing back a yawn. Arguments weren't worth the energy they expended. For that reason, it was better to head them off. "So it would be nice if you hadn't gotten an injury that makes you weaker than a genin. Forget it, Sasuke. You'd be a liability."

Shikamaru paused on his way out and scuffed his shoe against the tile floor. Damn the Uchiha for looking pitiful. "Look," he said with a sigh, "we all know what a slippery bastard Orochimaru is. Chances are, no matter the outcome of Naruto's trace, we'll still be hunting him months and years down the road. Get better and come after us." He walked out.

Sasuke hadn't thought anything could be worse that having his room stuffed to the gills with irritating shinobi. The utter emptiness proved him wrong.

… … …

Minutes passed, lights flickered, and Sasuke was going out of his fucking mind. Due to a complete lack of options, he relied on the nurses for updates, but the little they knew about the progress of Naruto's work with Mitarashi was enough to have him clawing out his eyeballs. He had attempted a few escapes. With great effort, he could sit up straight. With greater effort, he could totter to the window as he clung to the wall. With incredible ease, the nurses apprehended him.

He tried politely requesting further information from one such nurse.

"No matter the outcome, it will take a toll on poor Mitarashi-san. Don't they know she needed proper rest? You shinobi are human, too. Your bodies cannot take such abuse without adequate time to recover. I will never understand why you all insist on putting yourselves in such jeopardy. It almost seems to me that there's a masochistic tendency pervading the shinobi population. Is that what they encourage in the Academy? Shame on them. Subjecting you all at such a young age—"

Sasuke feigned a snore to get the woman to shut up. When the next nurse entered an hour later, he tried threats.

"I—you'll—," a poor young nurse stammered. Her brown eyes had widened, and her pupils constricted. "Is that—possible?" When he sharpened his gaze like a hawk upon its furry prey, the girl gathered her wits and fled.

Sasuke tried seduction. His target—the nurse who was reassigned to his room—was a matronly woman who, as it happened, was married with two children. Sasuke kept at it, though, with thinly disguised innuendo and increasingly drastic suggestions until a bag of saline solution slipped through the woman's fingers. By the red stains upon her cheeks and the glow in her eyes, Sasuke figured he had a fifty-fifty chance of either being jumped or pummeled. At that moment, however, Sasuke saw the flash of silver at his window.

"Do continue, Sasuke-kun," said Kakashi as he made a mark in a notebook. "You may have a future as a writer in store if your written words prove as eloquent as those spoken. Nurturing fresh talent in this field is a great interest of mine."

Sasuke forgot the nurse, who fled much like her predecessor. "Did it work?" he demanded of his former sensei.

"In a manner of speaking," said Kakashi. "I came with a message for you, but it's slipped my mind. Although we're in the hospital, I never dreamed I'd interrupt such an invasive procedure—"

"Enough about that," snarled Sasuke.

"Your talents truly know no bounds, eh? This was a new side of you for me to witness. It is, of course, an honor to know my pupil has followed in my footsteps. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. And I am flattered."

"I am two seconds away from carving you up with a scalpel."

"Talking dirty to me, Sasuke? Let's leave some boundaries in our relationship intact."

The impending mutilation of his former sensei was interrupted by the sound of clanging bells. "Ah," said Kakashi, "that's the final call."

"Wait! Since when you do care about being on time?"

"Since a certain former pupil of mine developed the ability to track me down and raid my personal collection of novels without consequence. Ja ne."

"I need to know—!"

But Kakashi had disappeared in a fall of leaves. Sasuke cursed and banged his head against the pillow. The final call to gather and leave. Would Naruto not bid him farewell? He at least deserved a visit from one of her clones. Was he not worth even that? He stared dully at his white-fisted grip on the bed linens. His fault. She was leaving Konoha, leaving him. All his fault.

There was movement outside his door; a shadow appeared through the crack. Sasuke sat up. Naruto—? No, the door opened fully to reveal Inoichi. Thrice-damned oji-san.

The older man strode into Sasuke's hospital room and stood at the foot of his bed. "Naruto wanted someone to check on you throughout your, ah, convalescence," he said.

"And she asked you?" Sasuke asked, a sneer in his voice.

"No, I volunteered," Inoichi replied, wiping the disdain from Sasuke's face. "Naruto might not fully realize what made you act so recklessly against the dragon, but I do. And I gotta say…you've got real class, Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke barely stifled an impulse to turn away from Inoichi. He was not accustomed to sincere admiration and didn't know what to do when faced with it. Perhaps Inoichi recognized Sasuke's discomfort because he continued, "If you ever change your mind about Naruto, I give you my blessing to go after Ino."

Sasuke managed not to snort. It would not be wise to disparage the man's daughter, not while Sasuke was unable to defend himself. "Ah, thank you," he muttered after an extended pause. Inoichi seemed satisfied.

Then the blonde walked to the head of the bed, and Sasuke, though straining away from him, could not escape the reach of Inoichi's arm. Inoichi ruffled Sasuke's hair. Such a fatherly gesture. "Want to break out of here?" he asked Sasuke. "Just to the gate to see them off."

Sasuke batted away Inoichi's hand, tamped down his knee-jerk reaction to shout in the affirmative, and muttered a casual, "Sure."

"I'll have to carry you," Inoichi added.

"Hell no." Sasuke stood on shaky legs and pulled on a pale blue robe. As he contemplated the long walk to the doorway and began the perilous trek, he heard the damned oji-san say, "If I don't carry you, we'll never get there in time. They're about to leave the village."

Sasuke glared at the man. Why bother raising Sasuke's hopes only to dash them with impossible conditions? Oh yes, he remembered: The universe hated him and conspired to pulverize even the ramshackle ruins of his life.

Inoichi put a hand over his heart. "I swear to be discreet. I won't let anyone see us until after I've put you down." Then he held out his arms to scoop Sasuke up, his eyes alight with humor.

Sasuke slapped them away. "Not that way," he said. "Turn around." Inoichi obeyed and turned so that Sasuke could climb aboard, which he did with every bit of grace that might be expected from an invalid whose innards had been roasted by his own power. Inoichi hooked his arms under Sasuke's knees, and Sasuke gripped his shoulders. He felt he could maintain a modicum of dignity being borne on the man's back. Inoichi headed for the window.

Just then, a bear of a woman filled the doorway with her strong build and impressive height. She took in the scene. "Inoichi," she belted, "that foul-mouthed little shit is my new charge. If he gets so much as a scratch, I'll hold you personally responsible."

"We'll, ah, return shortly. I promise, Morino-san," he said and jumped out the window. "She doesn't count," said Inoichi in response to the murderous intent emanating from the parcel clinging to his back. "If you'd let me pick you up like a frail princess—like how Naruto carried you to the hospital in the first place—we'd have been five seconds quicker leaving, and Morino-san never would have seen us."

"Morino-san?" asked Sasuke, morbidly curious.

"Yes, Morino Ibiki's wife. I don't know who you pissed off to get her as your nurse, but—"

"Shut up," said Sasuke. The old man did at least dart quickly through the city, targeting shadowy alleys and concealed rooftops. In the meantime, Inoichi filled Sasuke in. As Kakashi said, the trace was somewhat successful—in a way, too successful. Naruto had sensed Orochimaru in hundreds of locations all over the Five Nations.

"His bases? Other shinobi with the Cursed Seal?" hazarded Sasuke.

"Best guess, yes. The positions are not exact, just general distances and directions. Naruto's been going over a map with Hokage-sama's advisors. We're putting together prior indications of Orochimaru's whereabouts with Naruto's tracing. Still, there are dozens of possibilities. We'll have to eliminate them one by one."

They arrived at the outer gates in no time at all as the rumble of many voices rose above the village. True to his word, Inoichi ducked behind a building and set Sasuke on his feet. Sasuke stumbled and staggered to the edge of the building and peeked beyond it to see the crowd filling the streets. This was the largest contingent of departing shinobi Konoha had seen since the war. Families hovered around loved ones. Babies howled as they were passed back and forth between shinobi and spouses for final kisses. Kids younger than genins latched themselves around the legs of their departing parent. The teams were gathering beyond the gates as more and more shinobi peeled themselves away from their families. Sasuke stood at the far edge of the crowd and hunted for flashes of blonde. No, no, no—ah.

Surrounded by top-ranked shinobi and ANBU, Naruto stood in all her glory, the sole focus of their attention. When she spoke, they nodded. When she gestured, their eyes followed the movement. When she passed out scrolls, they bowed their heads in respect to accept them, and when she called out a final order, they shouted "Hai!" and darted off to carry out her will. Then Naruto jumped atop a roof and addressed the crowd. When she raised her fist into the air, the whole village roared. Sasuke stared at the sight, hearing the shouts ring in his ears, and realized he was in love with no one less than the future Hokage.

The revelation knocked him back a step, and it was a long moment before he could bear to refocus his gaze on Naruto. When he did, he found her blue eyes passing over the sea of people to rest on him. He saw her lips form his name, saw her body crouch in preparation to leap. Then she flew over hundreds of heads and landed neatly before him. Suddenly Sasuke, who'd been quivering with the effort it took to stay upright, felt lighter than air.

"I was going to run over to the hospital," said Naruto.

"I needed to get out," he said.

"Should you be up?" she asked, fretting. "Your color is bad. Color's important, right? You don't have any."

Sasuke endured her fussing with every bit of his pride intact. "Inoichi won't let me overdo it."

Naruto blinked and finally noticed Ino's dad standing behind him. "Sasuke gets pissy if he can't spar," she said to him, "so you'll have to find some way to entertain him until he's strong enough to take on a genin at least."

"Yes, ma'am," Inoichi said blandly.

"He's pretty good at shogi, Shikamaru says, so you might brush up on the basics before you challenge him," she continued. "Cause if you don't give him a challenge, he'll get bored and do something stupid. Also, don't take his crap, like when he gets all quiet one minute and then when you ask him what's wrong he says to go the hell away. Don't leave him."

Don't leave me, he thought, but instead he said, "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself. This time I won't be there to pluck you from the jaws of a giant reptile."

"Dammit, Sasuke! I told you that was intentional."

"All the more reason for you to be careful—and by that, I mean never do what your brain thinks is logical. You'd cause some poor snake a massive bellyache." He smirked. Naruto rolled her eyes but smiled. A moment of silence passed, and Sasuke wondered what she might say to him—and what he might say to her—if they were alone. She turned to leave but stopped and glanced at Sasuke.

"This feels wrong," she murmured.

Sasuke's heartbeat quickened. "You're going to save your mother and kick Orochimaru's ass. How can that be wrong?"

Naruto grinned.

"I'll catch up with you soon," Sasuke added.

Naruto leaped away in a single bound to join her team. Before she was lost from sight, she turned around once more and called, "See ya, teme!"

As always, thank you for reading! I consider this chapter the end of an arc. Sasuke is stuck in Konoha while Naruto goes off to find Kushina. I'm guessing that the next chapter will skip forward a few months, but I haven't ironed out the details…um, or much of anything really. Darn, better get back to writing.

If you have a moment, please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter!