Eh heh... yeah. This chapter took longer than I thought. I originally had intentions on making it longer but it felt like the chapter was already complete where it stands, so I will end the chapter here.

Reviews!

XyoushaX: Yes, I did write Encyclopedia Ninja. Yes, I am usually very busy (I just had SAT's this morning).

Lone Sakura: I'm not sure on whether or not I will have lemons, but this fic will contain limes. Or semi-limes. And just so you know, limes are somewhat adult situations (lots of kissing, touching, etc) but no hardcoresex involved.

Kikuchou: Thanks for reminding me on having Hinata ask Konohamaru about the Kyuubi. It's not in this chapter, but it will be in eventually!

To those who asked for more NaruHina stuff: Yayz

Note: After careful consideration, I will be putting Product Shinobi on hold and will work almost exclusively on Uchiha Crest. It's just easier this way.

I do not own Naruto or Guilty Gears

Onward!

Note: There is some slight swearing as well assemi-limish thoughts.

PS: I have a challenge for those looking for one. Lookin my profile for it.

Chapter 7: Rising Pressure

The first thing he did was cover up his chakra signature. This Naruto fellow could be dangerous, and he had to be cautious if he was to avoid detection. Being as careful as he could, he silently tiptoed after Naruto, his feet gently treading the ground.

"So… three people…"

Sasuke stopped in mid step. That was Naruto, unless he was mistaken.

"Fire started in closet… uh huh…"

What the hell was he talking about? Three people? For all Sasuke knew, there were no closets in the area, just a lot of trees. Unless Naruto was planning to set fire to there hiding spot, it could only be interpreted as pointless jargon. Sasuke went to get a closer look to see whom Naruto was talking to, only to find out that it was a small whitish box thing. He had never seen such an object in his life.

It sounded like he was writing them down for future reference.

"Bandit raid… propaganda…"

Seriously, what was going on here?

"Okay, I'll do it when we get there," and Naruto put the box-thing away.

Sasuke decided to approach him. "Wh4t w4s th4t?" Sasuke said in Naruto's language.

Naruto gave a smirk. "I'm guessing that your father taught you that language?"

"What if he did?" Sasuke said. The truth was that his father had taught him the language after he was selected to become king.

"It's a very old one."

"…"

"…"

"I don't trust you," Sasuke said bluntly.

Naruto pulled out a cigarette and reached for his sword, only to stop and redirect his hand to his pocket where he pulled out a lighter and lit his cigarette. He took a breath and then blew out a small cloud of smoke. "You don't have to."

"How can you be so flippant about this? When you joined this group, you pledged your life to my survival. This trust thing isn't bothering you?" Sasuke said.

"It doesn't matter."

"Why not? What if I decided to kill you right now?"

"You're not going to," he lazily said.

"How do you know?"

"I know because, hidden by your distrust, is your fear of me. If you're afraid of me, then there is no way for you to kill me or your brother."

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"Maybe."

"I am not a coward!" In a burst of rage, Sasuke drew out his Chidori and lunged at Naruto.

For a brief moment, Naruto recalled his old friend.

By the time Sasuke had reached him, the Chidori was no longer in his hands, but against his own neck. But not only was he holding the sword, it looked different as well. No longer was it just like a regular katana, but it had grown in length, its blade a bluish white. The hilt was now blue and extended upwards and looked almost like a circle.

Sasuke was both shocked and afraid.

"You see? If you're afraid, you can't kill. Feel the back of your neck."

He did so.

It was cold.

"That is the sweat of fear." Naruto returned Sasuke's blade with a pat on his back and began to walk away. "You can't have that on you when you face your brother, because he's not afraid of you."

He took another puff of his cigarette. "I'm going to continue night watch. You might want to check up on your little crush." At her reference, he snapped out of his reverie.

"She is not my crush. She's just my bodyguard," Sasuke seethed. Naruto scoffed.

"Go to her, and see if you can tell me that tomorrow. She's over there, in case you want to know." Naruto pointed towards the east.

With a grumble, Sasuke left Naruto.

Just how was he able to turn the Chidori into what it was before? Sasuke idly turned his blade over. The only change he remembered it going through was that it was once a regular katana before it changed itself into a Haruno katana.

So what was that? Some higher level of power he had yet to achieve with it?

Screw figuring out how to change it into a double-edge sword.

He should figure out just how Naruto was even able to take a hold of his sword.

But finding Sakura beat both by a long shot. Walking to the east, he took quiet steps once more until he found her.

She was walking around, as a normal night guard should do.

Sasuke noted, however, that she was walking in circles around trees instead of the camp. Sasuke immediately went to her to see if she was trapped in a genjutsu.

Forming a seal, he quietly said "Kai!" and checked for any changes.

None.

Which meant that she was walking in circles by herself.

Which meant that something was wrong. He silently began to tail her. He could hear her shaky breaths, as if she would suddenly collapse and start bawling. "You're doing this to protect the prince… protect the prince…" she continually repeated to herself as she walked in circles.

'She's tired,' he thought to himself. 'I said it was a bad idea for her to do night watch.'

"Just have to protect Uchiha-sama and things will be fine…" he heard her barely whisper.

She must not have seen the root protruding from the ground because she tripped, and fell flat on her face.

As Sasuke quietly moved towards her, she began to cry. Her body was shaking uncontrollably now, sobs racking her body.

"Who am I kidding … I betrayed them…"

"Haruno-dono."

She quickly looked up and turned around to see him. Tears were slowly born in her eyes and made their way down before dying on her lips. "U-Uchiha-sama?" she turned around in a flash. "W-Wait! Don't look at me. I-I'm a… I'm a mess right now." She did her best to stifle her sobs but failed. She sat up and began to stand.

However, Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder and knelt down. He stared into her eyes, but she turned away. He sighed. She was feeling like a failure again. This failure thing had to stop.

"Sakura," she looked up at him, "you haven't betrayed anybody. You have done your duty as a Haruno in protecting me."

"But… But m-my family-"

"The Haruno family members all swear an oath when they reach the age of ten. They swear that they will protect the Uchihas until their last breath."

"But they were branded as traitors, Uchiha-sama! Traitors! All because of me!" she yelled out loud. Her hands gripped the clothing of her pants in a tight wad. Then, in a timid voice, "D-Do you know what we do with… what we do with traitors?"

Sasuke's face turned grim. "We execute them for committing high treason," he calmly tried to whisper, "You know that."

"I know but… I don't want to believe it." She began to sob again. "They're going to kill everyone."

"…"

"What am I going to do, Uchiha-sama?"

"Sakura…" he tried to calm her.

"The last thing I said to my mother was that I… hated her…"

"Don't worry. I'm sure they'll understand."

"Understand what? That I handed my family over to the executioner?" she continued to sob. "There's nothing to understand. They're going to die and they'll blame me for it…"

"Nobody is blaming you. You did what you felt was right." 'God,' Sasuke told himself, 'I feel so stupid for doing this… but I have to.'

"It's not right!" Sakura burst out, "For all that's happened, I could have just said 'Fuck you, family!' and the results would still be the same!"

He had never heard her use such language before. "You're exaggerating now, Sakura. You've got to calm down." He placed both hands on her shoulders.

She looked into his eyes. "I can't calm down," her quiet voice echoed, a slight sob at the end of the sentence, "I just can't." She let her eyes flow, birthing tears in her eyes.

Sasuke let himself be bold at that moment. Taking a breath, he laced his arms around her body and hugged her close to him.

"U-Uchiha-sama?"

"Shh…" he began to stroke her back.

Sasuke was going out on a limb. His mother did this for him whenever he had cried (which he made sure that he rarely did). He wasn't even sure if this would help her, but he had to do something.

She began to cry onto his shoulder. He could feel her warm tears soaking through the material. Her body shook up and down with her sobs.

And then he felt her arms circle around him, pulling him to her in a needed hug.

And then, as if to purposely screw him over, the little voice in his head repeated to him what he heard moments ago.

"You might want to check up on your little crush."

"…"

"Go to her, and see if you can tell me that tomorrow."

'Shit,' he thought. 'What have I got myself into?'

The Next Morning

"They're not back yet," Konohamaru said.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Maeka quietly said, obviously distressed over her missing cousin.

"I-I think they'll be fine…" Hinata timidly added. Kitsune-chan yawned from his perch on her shoulder and gave a small yip of agreement before turning around and hopping into Hinata's sweater hood.

"They had better be," Neji scowled.

"What if they're not?" Tenten challenged.

"…" Everyone remained quiet.

"Then I guess we're in deep trouble…" Kiba said.

"Good morning everyone."

They all turned their eyes to see Naruto calmly walking in with a deer slung over his shoulder. They also noted how he had a bundle of sticks. Setting both down, he took out a small rectangular thingy (which would come to be known as a lighter in about twenty years), set the sticks in a circle, and started the fire. Of course, everyone was startled to see a flame appear right out of a rectangular thingy, although they decided to hide it.

'D4mn1t, th1s 1s s0 ann0y1ng t0 d0 w1th0ut my sw0rd…' "Do any of you have a frying pan?" Naruto asked. Maeka raised her hand. "Could I borrow it?"

After he received the pan, he cut off a chunk of meat with his sword, seasoned it a little, and started cooking.

"Um… Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, Hinata?"

"What is that?"

He smiled a bit. "Breakfast."

---

He made a promise to himself that he wouldn't fall asleep. Things got quite out of hand after Sakura started to cry on his shoulder, and their safety was top priority.

But the trunk Sasuke was leaning against was just so comfortable for some reason that night.

Originally, his plan was to simply let Sakura… cry herself out, and then he would lead her back to the camp. He would wait for her to sleep, and then he would take up night watch for her.

Of course, his plan failed horribly.

By the time he noticed that she had stopped crying, she had fallen asleep on him. Of course, given their awkward position, any slight movement could awaken her. So he stayed still for a moment.

But his legs began to cramp up. Looking around, he spotted a tree to lean against. Slowly and carefully, he slipped his arms off of her and picked her up. He thought about just heading back to the camp, but then wrote it off. The bounce of walking could stir her.

So he continued with his original plan. Moving to the tree, he set Sakura down before taking a seat against the trunk. And then cautiously, he drew her head onto his lap.

Kind of like their first night out on this journey thing.

And then he woke up. He blinked and rubbed his eyes a bit before wondering what the strange weight on his leg was. So he looked down.

"Uchiha-sama?"

And saw a pair of green eyes looking back at him. He blushed a little.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Outside of camp," he answered.

"Oh…"

"…"

"I… guess we should head back, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah."

"…"

"…"

"…?"

"Um… do you mind getting up from my lap?"

"Oh! Oh… um… excuse me." She fumbled around a bit after getting up.

Was he just imagining it, or did he feel a bit… saddened?

"Where's my sword?"

Had to be his imagination.

"It broke. Remember?"

"Hm…" her head replayed the last moments of her blade in her mind. "I'll have to forge a new one then…"

Deep inside the recesses of his still-groggy mind, he thought up a forge. Sakura was busy folding a piece of hot steel over and over to rid it of impurities and was busy pounding away with a hammer. He wondered how she was able hold the hammer given her delicate arms. The heat from the furnace was red hot and her face was dripping sweat. Her clothes clung damply to her skin and her hair was matted down and tied back.

'She looks hot,' he thought to himself.

Standing up, they both began to walk back to the camp.

Halfway there, Sasuke realized that what he had thought could have been interpreted in two ways. By now, his mind was almost fully awake. If he had been fully awake, he would never have attempted to try to figure out which one. But he wasn't so he did.

She could have looked hot because of her surroundings. Being near a hot forge and banging metal all day would do that to you.

But then, just as he was about to decide, the Sakura in his mind turned to him. She took a deep breath, causing her breasts to rise against her damp shirt. Her mouth hung a bit open and her eyes were half closed. She licked her lips. She reached behind and let her pink hair fall down, the locks cascading down her back.

It was then that he realized that her clothes were a very tight fit. He could almost see the shape of her breasts, every little outline, through her shirt. Oh, and for some reason, her shirt was white as well. Oh yeah, every single detail.

It was a moment before Sasuke realized that he was no longer fantasizing and was instead walking back to the camp with Sakura. He noticed that he was staring at her backside.

God, she was hot, even from behind. Not hot as in hot day hot. Hot as in sexy. Really sexy. If he had a choice, he'd fuck her, without a second thought.

Oh yeah. He'd fuck her brains out.

…

Well, as long as it was consensual, of course. Because otherwise it would be rape, and-

And then he woke up.

He realized what he had just been thinking about for the past several minutes and he blushed embarrassedly. Almost shamefully, he looked down and happened to see that he had an erection.

'Shit,' he thought, 'I don't believe this.'

'I can't believe that I want to fuck my teacher.'

And so, he walked into camp, desperately trying to lie to himself.

"You're back," Naruto calmly said. As Sasuke looked at him he could see a faint glint of mirth in Naruto's eyes. It was as if he knew what was going on inside Sasuke's head.

The entire camp calmed down after seeing their charge was alive and healthy. Maeka leapt up and hugged her cousin and spouted what sounded like a jumbled version of "Oh my god, you're okay."

"Well, sit down, Sasuke. Breakfast is ready." For a moment, everyone looked at Naruto, shocked by his audacity to call the prince by his first name. But no one did anything about it, since they all knew he could end their lives in a heartbeat.

---

"Are we there yet?"

They had been walking for some time now to the Rock Kingdom's capital.

"Shut up, bitch."

It was a bit past midday.

"No, you shut up, asshole!"

That was when they noticed the smoke.

Running down the dirt path, they stopped at the top of the hill and surveyed the damage with Naruto last to arrive.

A town was burnt down to cinders.

"What happened here?" Sasuke asked.

"Bandits," Tenten replied. "At the end of each successful raid, they burn down the village until nothing's left standing."

"Just a team of bandits?"

"No. To burn down a town like this, they're had to be hundreds." Tenten shivered a bit. "It had to be Mizuki's bandits."

Naruto started down towards the town. "We should try to lend a helping hand to the survivors."

"Are you insane?" Sakura yelled out. "We'll get caught!"

He didn't even turn to her before answering her hidden question. "Whether you believe it or not, we're part of a war now. But there's more than one way to win. Right now, we're battling over the hearts and minds of the common people. If we can gain their sympathy and backing then half the war is won."

There was a brief silence before the group followed Naruto down the hill. "You guys head towards the town square and see if you can help them from there. I'll go check for survivors," the blond said. Without questioning him, they did as they were told and headed towards the town square.

As soon as they were out of site, Naruto cast a genjutsu over himself, hiding him from prying eyes. It was a very old, very powerful genjutsu that only his kind could use or dispel. Humans wouldn't be able to see through it. The Byakuugan would only see a haze. Any scent would be scrambled to resemble a repulsive stench. A touch would feel like a gentle breeze. The sound would be reduced to simple whooshing of the wind. The air would taste stale.

The human-proof genjutsu.

And now, the other half. Taking his hands, he made a lengthy series of archaic hand seals before opening his mouth. "Shikaku no Keiyoushi."

Things that did not exist before were now in front of him.

And unlike the call he received earlier on his cell phone (those would come a LOT later in humanity's span), there were more than just three people.

The one closest to him was a little boy, looking no older than five. He looked around confusingly before spotting Naruto. Without a second though, he ran over to him.

"Hi!" the small child called out.

Naruto returned the salutation.

"Where am I?"

"You're in your hometown."

"Oh… What happened here?"

"There was a fire."

"… Are mommy and daddy okay?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to find out… won't we?"

"Yeah!" the child happily said.

Naruto gently stretched out his hand in a kind gesture. The young child eagerly took it and they both began to walk.

After a while the child broke free and started running. "Mommy! Daddy!" He ran towards a fairly young couple with his hands outstretched. He ran and ran.

Until he ran through them. "What?" he said. He looked down at his hands and then at his parents.

If he tried hard enough, he could just barely see the cracks on the ground through his body. "What's happening to me?" He started to break down and cry.

"You must have died," Naruto said. "How else can you pass through them?"

"I'm… I'm dead?" the child mouthed, barely able to comprehend the meaning. He looked up and saw his mother crying and being held by his father.

"Let me guess, you want your parents to not feel so sad?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Well… I have an idea. Go up to them and whisper into their ears that you're going toa happier place."

"O-Okay…" As the child went to them, Naruto channeled his chakra into a warm blanket and gently wafted it around the couple.

"M-Mommy, Daddy… I'm… I'm dead but I'm going somewhere happier now. Please, don't be sad." Saying this, the mother calmed down a bit as she felt Naruto's soothing chakra flow around her. Not knowing what had transgressed, the child walked back to Naruto.

"Feel better?"

The child nodded.

"Okay. We'll be going now." Taking out his sword, Naruto focused his attention on the blade before saying "0p3n, y0u p34rly g4t3s." With a downward slash, a hole was created and he could see Heaven.

He'd like to go with the child, to go back and see Heaven even if it was just for a short while. But he knew he couldn't. He turned to face the child. "Well, you'll have to make the rest of this trip alone from here."

"But… I'm scared."

"Don't worry. Nothing will hurt you in there. Now be brave and go on. I might visit you some time."

"Promise?" the child held up his pinky.

"… I promise." He hooked pinkies and closed the deal. The child calmly walked through the holes before they closed behind him.

There. One down…

Countless more to go.

He sighed.

And not all were going to a happy place.

'You said there were just three, God.'

'Just three…'

Shikaku no Keiyoushi - roughly translates into 'true vision.'

I was going to make it longer but it felt complete here, so I stopped it. Besides, no one seems to like my really long chapters (the 20 pages +ones).