Hello, my faithful readers ^^
I know that I mentioned at the end of the last chapter that this might be the beginning of the end to Promise, but I may actually have to rescind that statement.
I've completely changed the plan to this story, and as you'll find out, it's going to add a bit more depth to the story as a whole. I hope you enjoy it.

Oh, and I hope that most of you are away of by now, but this story is slightly AU. You'll figure it out if you haven't by the end of this chapter.
Enjoy, and reviews are gratefully appreciated. ^^

'Promise'

Chapter 8: Hearts Grow

The outside of the Annex was deceiving. The Annex was long, it was wide and it was very tall.

Running through countless rooms, Sakura had lost count of the doorways and sliding panels she's run through. It felt like she had been running in a circle, with each room looking exactly like the one they had just passed. Wooden gears had jammed some of the sliding doors shut, but they hadn't been much of a challenge to the three ninja.

But the labyrinth of doors and staircases had confused her.

"You think we're lost?"

"No, we're not lost." Sasuke suddenly came to a halt. He didn't sound worried. Surprisingly, he sounded cheerful.

"Then where the hell are we!?" Sakura wasn't a girl gifted with a large reserve of patience. Granted she had a bit more than Naruto, but just a little bit.

"We're in a genjutsu." Hinata spoke up, her Byakugan activated. Looking around the house, her eyes were fixated on an object above her. "He's at the top of the building, and he seems to be tied down with something..." Hinata said quietly. "I can see Kyoko, she's talking with him."

Seeing Naruto taken away by the purple magic, with Kyoko cackling like a demon in heat, had left her extremely annoyed. Kyoko in general, just completely annoyed her. The demon girl was the whole reason they were here.

The whole reason they were on this mission in the first place.

************

"Sakura." Sasuke Uchiha had just appeared out of nowhere, right in front of her. Shopping for a new set of kunai, she was surprised to see her former team mate. He didn't normally shop when there was a lot of people around. And the streets of Konoha were practically packed at this point.

Technically speaking, right now, Sasuke should have been in training with Kakashi-sensei. Ever since Naruto had somehow managed to bring back the corrupted Uchiha from the Valley of the End, he had been assigned to Kakashi as a special student who needed the kind of training expected for an ANBU Black Op team.

Kakashi had sworn to make sure that Sasuke had no intentions of wandering off to Orochimaru. But he didn't need to worry.
What had happened between Naruto and Sasuke was a cardinal secret. The only ones who actually knew what happened were Sasuke and Naruto themselves. They never spoke about it, and probably never would.

Naruto hadn't even told Sakura.
Both of the ninja had woken up from unconsciousness in the Leaf Village Hospital. Sakura had been there the whole time, waiting for them to awaken.
When they finally did, she had been the happiest she had ever been.

But when they did awaken, they looked as though they had just survived a war. Emotion clouded their expressions and she hadn't been able to get a word out of them.
When she had tried to hug them, she got the same reaction. Nothing. Just empty expressions.

They had both been discharged from the hospital a week later. Tsunade had told her that, even though they had healed physically, it would take them a lot longer to recover mentally. And in the meantime, it was up to Sakura to try and keep their spirits up.

She had agreed and told the Hokage she would try her best. She had no idea how hard it was trying to cheer up two ninja who both looked as though part of their heart had just been torn out and faded away.

When she asked the Hokage why they were so completely out of it, the Hokage had little to tell her.
The only thing that Tsunade had managed to tell her was that it was a result of a bond being broken. 'The Broken Bonds of Friendship' she had called it.
This meant that Sasuke and Naruto had probably tried completely annihilating each other. Killing each other.

She was shocked to learn that the energy from their fight was enough to destroy at least half of the Leaf Village. Witnessed by Kakashi before he had made it to the site of their fight, a huge blast of energy erupted from the Valley of the End.
Although Tsunade hadn't told her what caused the blast, she was more worried about the idea that they had actually tried to kill each other. Two of her best friends.

Which was part of the reason Sasuke was now training with Kakashi. Firstly, and foremost, to give Sasuke the idea that he was getting exceptionally stronger, by giving him the training of an ANBU rank ninja. Secondly, so that Sasuke would understand the importance of what had occurred at the Valley of the End. And finally, so that he wouldn't leave the Leaf Village again, he was given only the most dangerous of missions.

Surprisingly, the Sasuke that Naruto had brought back from the Valley of the End wasn't the Sasuke she fell in love with. The Sasuke she had fallen in love was cool, was good at everything and would always help a comrade in a time of danger or distress.
The Sasuke that was brought back was one who craved for power, had tried to kill his best friend and wanted nothing but revenge on his own brother. This Sasuke terrified her, and made her realize something.

Naruto had chased this Sasuke all the way to the Valley of the End. Not to kill him, but to bring him back. Bring him back at a selfish request made by a much younger and more naive version of what she was now. He had done it for her, and almost gotten himself killed because of it.
And because of that, he was a special person in her life. Somebody who had almost sacrificed his own life to keep a promise.

And somebody who was in danger from the Akatsuki. The evil organisation, targeting and collecting Jinchuuriki hosts, or hosts of the Tailed Beasts.
She promised herself she would never let the Akatsuki get their hands on him. Not while she still had breath in her body.

"Sakura?"

Realising she had completely spaced out in front of her former team mate, she shook her head and looked up.

"Yes?"

"The Hokage wants to see us. It's an emergency, and Naruto's in danger."

"Naruto!?" She instantly feared the Akatsuki. Or maybe he'd run off after something, like Sasuke had done. She quickly followed Sasuke to the hospital, praying that Naruto was alright.

She hadn't expected to see Naruto unconscious, red chakra swirling around his body, lying on a bed with various instruments being fed into his body. His was in a deep sleep, and the scars on his face had become more pronounced. Just like the times when his eyes glow red and he suddenly gets a whole lot stronger.

The Hokage was there, along with Hinata. The Hokage wore a grim expression on her face, while Hinata looked like she had been crying.
She didn't like the atmosphere around her. Something was extremely wrong with Naruto.

"As you can see, something's wrong with Naruto." The Hokage cleared her throat. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

"First of all, I want to ask you both something." She looked at both Sakura and Sasuke, wearing a serious expression. "How well do you know Naruto?"

The two ninja looked at each other. It was the first time she had ever seen Sasuke look genuinely confused. What kind of question was that?

"I'm asking because Naruto's hiding a deep secret, which the Third Hokage made the village promise not to tell. At least, not to the younger generation of ninja like yourselves." Tsunade sighed. "That old man Sarutobi. He didn't explain how hard this was going to actually be. And he sure never mentioned about anything like this."

She looked at the two ninja again. "Inside of Naruto, lies a demon. A terrible beast, once feared by the villagers of the Leaf. It was called the Nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi. The same beast that once attacked the village a long time ago."
"Sealed by the Fourth Hokage, that demon now sleeps within a seal inside Naruto's belly. Naruto houses one of the strongest powers ever known to ninja."

"However, this power is unstable. I'm sure you've both witnessed times where Naruto's become almost infinitely stronger, without any kind of warning."

Sasuke and Sakura both nodded. Both of the ninja had experienced times of Naruto's terrifying power.

"For some strange reason, this strange power has now turned against Naruto himself. The red chakra that surrounds him has got Naruto locked inside a powerful genjutsu, locking him into a deep sleep. A sleep where we can't retrieve him from." Tsunade looked at all three of them, including Hinata.

"This is where we need you to step in. We need you three to enter this powerful genjutsu and destroy its source. Judging from the size of the genjutsu, the Kyuubi has created a whole new world inside Naruto's mind. It may take you a while to find the source, but we need to destroy it without alerting the Kyuubi. Otherwise, the beast might destroy all of you."

The three ninja stood to attention. None of them wanted to die inside Naruto's mind.

Tsunade turned her attention back to the sleeping form of Naruto.

"The genjutsu itself hasn't actually finished its preparation yet. It's still activating, and judging from the size of the chakra needed, it will need a while to finish."

She looked back at the three ninja. "This is the most important bit. Once you're inside, you must adapt to your surroundings. And once you are inside, there are some things that even Naruto cannot know. Being caught inside a genjutsu, the human mind is already strained at its full capacity. The addition of you three will lighten the load on Naruto's mind, but this beast inside is spinning a web of deceit to keep Naruto in the dark. Don't reveal you are ninja until the last minute. You must catch the Kyuubi completely unaware. Even if that means lying to Naruto."

She looked over at Sasuke. "Your mission is slightly different. You must keep an eye on Naruto and recon the situation to the best of your ability. Using chakra is not a good idea, it might alert the Kyuubi. So try and stay away from situations where using chakra is necessary until you need to defeat the Kyuubi. As soon as you think you've gathered enough information, you must regroup with the other members of the team, after which you will become team leader."

"What!?" Sakura suddenly burst out. "Sasuke is the team leader?"

"Do you have a problem with that, Sakura?" Her sudden outburst had caught Tsunade's attention. The Hokage was sensing something was wrong with the young kunoichi.

"No, I'm sorry for that" Sakura lied. She bowed her head respectfully.

The Hokage nodded slowly. "Well, if there's no more interruptions, we'll begin the mission immediately." Guiding them to the beds they were going to sleep on while inside Naruto's mind, Sakura looked at Naruto's unconscious form in the bed next to her. It was hard to believe that the ninja was fighting a battle inside his own mind. Her best friend was in trouble, and she was going to save him.

"I'm coming Naruto." She slowly closed her eyes, and drifted into unconsciousness.

************

Waking up, she found herself on the ground. The sky above her looked strange. It was like pieces of it were missing altogether.

"This world hasn't finished creating itself yet." Sasuke's voice was next to her. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, was looking at her. "The Kyuubi hasn't finished yet." He looked up at the sky.

"Sakura, what happened back there. Did you not want me to be team leader?"

She sat up, thinking over what he'd just said.

"It's not that you wouldn't make a good leader Sasuke. It's just, after everything that's happened between you and Naruto, I'm not sure about you anymore." She wore a look of determination. Sasuke's eyes fell from the sky and rested on Sakura's emerald ones.

"I heard about what happened between you and him at the battle. At the Valley of the End." She said quietly. "You tried to kill him. You tried murdering your best friend, who was only trying to bring you home. Trying to bring you back to me." A small tear began forming at the corner of her eye.

"I made him make a promise to me. A promise to bring you back. A promise that almost got him killed!" She was angry. She wasn't sure if it was at Sasuke, or herself.
"When I saw him lying in that hospital bed, covered in about a million cuts and bruises, it hit me how close I'd come to losing him. And then you were next to him, looking as though you'd been through the wringer as badly as he had."
"And then the Hokage told me. You guys had tried to kill each other. It was terrible, knowing how two of my best friends were actually that close to dying."

Her anger had grown. Her face was contorted in fury, with tears streaming down her cheeks. "If you hadn't gone off after Orochimaru, none of that would have happened! The both of you looked as though you had killed each other afterwards! You were both a pair of emotionless zombies!"

"That was three years ago Sakura."

It as the first time he had talked through her whole speech. The look in his eyes looked genuinely sad.

"I'm not proud of what I did. I'll admit I did try to kill Naruto. And going after Orochimaru, it was for power. I yearned for the kind of power that would help me destroy Itachi. My own brother and long hated enemy.
If it wasn't for Naruto, I'd probably still be on that same, dark path. So I owe him a lot." His eyes darkened. "He's my best friend. I'm not letting his monster pet destroy his mind."

A moment of silence passed between them. She realised that Sasuke's past was catching up with him, and he hated himself for it. He was here to rescue Naruto, not to kill him.

"I guess, you've changed Sasuke."

He nodded. "And its all because of that knuckle headed ninja we all know and love." He smiled silently.

Sakura nodded, smiling at him. She realised that things would never be the same between them. But she preferred it that way. Her feelings for Sasuke had pretty much vanished after what had happened. But after hearing the sentimentality he had just displayed, she was certain he was a good person. A good ninja.

"I guess, you can be a leader then."

He smiled again. "I'll try my best. I'll look after my squad as best I can."

Another moment of silence passed between them as they waited for Hinata to wake up.
"Tell me something." Sasuke's eyes softened for a moment.

"What is it?"

"Do you like him?" Sasuke asked.

"He's my friend, of course I like him." For a moment, Sakura looked away.

"You know what I mean, Sakura."

She didn't reply. She wasn't sure. Part of her had grown really attached to the blond-haired ninja. To the point where he couldn't stop thinking about him, especially now that they were older.

When Naruto had disappeared with Jiraiya for two years of training, her life had felt really empty. And she still felt extremely guilty for what had happened to him.
But as soon as he came back, she was amazed at how much he matured. How much of him had changed.
And at how the void that she had failed to fill in her life had been filled. It must have been around about then that she realised it was because of Naruto not being in the village for two whole years. Which was about the same time she had realised she had fallen in love with him.

She knew one thing for sure. He certainly made her feel a lot hotter under the collar than Sasuke had ever done.

Sasuke smiled and looked over at the slowly forming village about 500 meters in front of him. "You better not say anything to Hinata."

Sakura smiled. She didn't want the Hyuuga heiress as a rival for Naruto's affections. But she wasn't going to let a challenge stop her either.

"I won't say anything if you don't."

************

The Hyuuga heiress was lying on her side, with her eyes slightly open, her back facing the two ninja. She had a determined expression on her face. She was not letting Sakura take Naruto away from her. Not ever.

Could this mean future conflict? And what's Kyoko going to do with Naruto?
I've just decided on a new ending for this, and its going to be awesome! ^^

Review and review and review people.