Chapter Eight: Invasion

"We have two teams of ANBU patrolling the outer perimeter of the compound, and two more patrolling the inner grounds," Kakashi said. The moonlight spilling through the open shoji doors behind him that led out into one of the Uchiha compound's many inner courtyards illuminated the copy-ninja's hair in a brilliant wash of silver. His one eye darted from face to face of his assembled group of listeners - Sasuke, Sakura, and Jiraiya - and the motionless figure of his other student Naruto laying under heavy blankets on a single futon in the middle of the room. "Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai's teams are also standing guard at different points throughout the mansion and outside it. We even have several of them up on the roofs. There's no way Akatsuki's getting inside here."

"How long do we plan to keep Naruto under such heavy security?" Sakura asked, her green eyes flitting over her shoulder back towards her former teammate.

"For as long as it takes," Jiraiya replied. The Sannin's arms were crossed in front of his chest, his body language tense as if daring anyone to argue with him as he followed the girl's gaze. "We've already underestimated Akatsuki once and seen what they can do. They're after Naruto and don't seem to be deterred by the presence of ANBU or any other ninja. They attacked that hospital with hardly a second thought. They're desperate to get Naruto back, and if the intensity and timing of their attacks are any indication they want him back as soon as possible. That's why we have so many people watching him. Even though we've hidden him, we're not going to take any more chances. If those bastards want Naruto that bad, then they'd going to have to fight off all of us first."

Kakashi nodded. "Hn," he hummed in agreement, "hopefully they won't think to look for him here though. We moved Naruto as stealthfully as we could have given the circumstances, but I'm not about to let my guard down. Akatsuki is getting harder and harder to anticipate. Their attack on the hospital just proves how bad our defenses have become since Akatsuki's turned all their attention onto destroying Konoha." Sighing, the silver-haired copy ninja stared at the tatami floor for several minutes of personal reflection before coming back to himself. "At least Sasuke was kind enough to offer us the use of his family's mansion," he said with a forced smile to his voice. "I'm not sure where else we could have hidden Naruto otherwise."

Sasuke said nothing in response, and stared at Kakashi with unreadable black eyes.

Standing up from where he knelt in the doorway, Kakashi dusted his pants off and turned to leave. "I want to check the perimeter one last time. If there's any weak point here, it's going to be trying to patrol the entire length of walls lining the compound. I have to admit, Sasuke, I never thought your family's estate was so large."

"This compound itself covers over an acre of land," Sasuke replied, his tone indifferent. "The surrounding land and buildings that used to be owned by other members of the Uchiha clan are estimated to be almost one-twentieth of all the property in Konoha."

Kakashi seemed unfazed by this knowledge, but Sakura's eyes nearly bulged out of her head at her former crush's estimated wealth.

"I'll be back soon," Kakashi said, turning towards the door. "Jiraiya said he'll stay here to help watch over Naruto. After that hospital attack, we're going to have at least two people guarding him at all times. Sakura, Tsunade said you'd be able to monitor Naruto's health and deal with any medical issues that might come up. Are you going to be alright watching him?"

"Of course, Kakashi-sensei," she replied. "Tsunade-sama taught me everything she knows. I don't think there's much that could go wrong anyway while you're gone. Tsunade said the most I'd probably have to do for Naruto right now is monitor his pain and help him rest as comfortably as possible."

Kakashi nodded. "You do that then. Sasuke," he said, glancing at his dark-haired student. He paused a moment, as if searching for the right words to say. "Keep an eye on Naruto," he said. And then he was gone.

Sasuke silently stared after him.

Behind him, Sasuke heard Jiraiya get up from where he'd been kneeling and move to the far side of the room, as if to make himself an inconspicuous supervisor of the other two. Sakura also stood and began to move to Naruto's side. It had been decided before Naruto's removal from the hospital that given the need for privacy and seclusion in hiding the blond, that he could be better protected in one of the Uchiha mansion's older wings which were furnished in the more traditional style of tatami mats and shoji screens. Sasuke wasn't sure he really liked that idea given the resistance paper screens and rush mats would have against sharp weapons and who knew how many teams of determined ninja trying to abduct his friend. But faced with the knowledge the more modern areas of the mansion where he himself resided would probably be one of the first places enemy-nin would look for his friend, he resigned himself to the knowledge that this was probably the best setup for protecting Naruto.

Sakura knelt down beside Naruto and gently pressed the back of her hand against his cheek. "He still feels cold," she murmured. "That's usually a sign of heavy blood loss; there's not enough blood in the system to help circulate warmth."

Sasuke got up to kneel on Naruto's other side across from Sakura. "Is there anything you can do to help with that?" he asked.

"Nothing more than add a few more blankets, but he already has three plus a coverlet. I don't think any more would really help," she replied, her eyes downcast as she examined their battered teammate. "It's strange seeing him like this," she murmured, concentrating a small amount of chakra in her palms which she held up over Naruto to check his vitals. "I still remember him bouncing around everywhere like a little kid that's had too much sugar." Finding everything normal, she withdrew her hands and settled them in her lap. "It's kind of ironic," she said with an empty chuckle, "I never thought I'd ever actually wish he'd act like his old knucklehead self…" Tears suddenly appeared in the corners of the pink-haired koinoichi's eyes. "Do you think that's selfish of me?" she sniffed, looking up at Sasuke as she stubbornly fought to keep her tears from falling, "-that I wish he'd act all happy and innocent again even after everything he's been through?"

"No," Sasuke murmured, shaking his head, "because I want the same thing…"

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the room as the two knelt there beside their teammate, lost in their own thoughts and emotions. Sniffing softly, Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and tentatively brushed several strands of hair from Naruto's face as if needing the physical contact to help reassure herself he'd be alright. Even in the dim shadows of the room, the bruises and burns littering her teammate's face from Kyuubi's chakra the day before were still painfully visible. His inherent healing powers still had yet to surface and heal any of the damage.

As Sakura gently smoothed the unruly bangs from her teammate's face, Naruto suddenly stirred. Groaning under his breath his eyelids sluggishly slid apart to look up at Sakura and Sasuke. He instinctively tensed at the sight of them leaning over him, but then relaxed again as recognition washed over him.

"I'm sorry I woke you," Sakura whispered, still stroking Naruto's hair. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto groggily lay there for several moments, not answering. He seemed too weak to fully wake up. "What time is it?" he finally slurred, looking towards the open shoji door and the long shadows cast by the moon.

"A little after ten," Sasuke replied, leaning closer to the other boy. It was getting more and more difficult to hear Naruto with each passing day. It made Sasuke wonder how much weaker his friend's voice could possibly get.

"You should try to eat something," Sakura said. "You didn't eat anything today, and you're so thin."

"I'm not hungry," Naruto rasped, his eyelids drooping half close. "Maybe later…"

"I'm serious, Naruto," Sakura said, beginning to rummage through a bag of medical supplies she'd brought. "You'll never get any better if you don't do anything to help yourself. I have some ration bars in here that-"

"Sakura."

The girl instantly fell silent and looked up at her other teammate.

Sasuke knelt across from her, staring at her with an intense look in his eyes. They seemed to stare right down into her. "Just let him be," he said, glancing back down at Naruto. "Forcing him to eat isn't going to do any good."

"But-" Sakura persisted.

"Just let him be," Sasuke said, shaking his head. He glanced towards the opposite side of the room where two other futons lay spread out across the floor. "Why don't you go rest. There's nothing more you can do right now. I'll watch over him."

The pink-haired koinoichi seemed at a loss, unsure of what to do. But then, as if reading the unspoken message in the Uchiha heir's eyes, she nodded solemnly. "Alright," she murmured, slowly getting to her feet. "I'll come back and check on him in a few hours…" Then giving Naruto one last look, she headed towards one of the extra futons to lay down.

Sasuke silently watched as she got under the covers and laid down with her back to them. He knew she wasn't going to actually get any sleep though. She was stubborn like that. But at least she was smart enough to pick up on his subtle message that any use of force right now would probably only make Naruto less likely to comply or listen to anything they said - even if it was for his own good.

"I'm not going to make you eat, but you should at least drink some water," Sasuke said, reaching for a glass on a small tray that'd been set beside Naruto's futon earlier. "You'll get dehydrated if you don't."

The other boy seemed too tired and sick to do anything more than weakly groan in protest.

"No excuses," Sasuke said, slipping one hand under Naruto's head to help lift it off the pillow while he held the glass to Naruto's lips with the other. "Drink."

There was no room for protest in the Uchiha's voice. Sighing in defeat - giving up far more easily than Sasuke ever would have expected the old Naruto to - the boy reluctantly sipped the offered water. Finally satisfied when Naruto had finished half the glass, Sasuke removed the cup from Naruto's lips and let him lay his head back down.

Setting the glass back on the tray, Sasuke knelt beside Naruto, quietly studying him out of the corner of his eye for several moments. "Why are you acting like this?" he finally asked, putting voice to the question that'd been weighing on his mind for some time now since finding his friend still alive.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto rasped. His eyes were barely open, his voice barely audible.

"Like this," Sasuke replied, a hint of anger tainting his words, "like you've totally given up your will to fight. You never would have done that before. What happened to the Naruto I used to know?"

Naruto didn't immediately answer, but lay there silently staring up at the ceiling. "That Naruto's gone," he finally answered, his voice distant and resigned.

"Why?" Sasuke demanded, glaring at the blond. "Why are you giving up so easily?"

Another laden pause. "Because I know there's no use trying to fight anymore…" Naruto replied. He sluggishly rolled his head over the pillow back towards Sasuke, his eyes shiny and filled with pain. "Ever since Akatsuki started trying to weaken my Curse Seal, I've heard Kyuubi getting louder and louder in the back of my head. You saw what happened last night. You saw how Kyuubi's chakra took over me. I couldn't control it. I'm afraid of what might happen if the seal completely breaks next time. I'm afraid of who I might hurt if that happens…"

"How many times do I have to tell you, idiot, I'm not going to let that happen," Sasuke growled, starting to get upset with Naruto's fatalism.

"I want to believe you, Sasuke, but you don't constantly hear Kyuubi in the back of your mind. You don't know what it wants to do if it ever gets out…" Naruto whispered, his voice heartbreakingly wretched in its hopelessness. "I can't help but think it would've been better if the old hag just let me die yesterday. It would've been better for everyone if I had. I'm just putting everyone in danger by being here. I appreciate everyone trying to protect me, but it's just getting too dangerous. That's why I haven't been letting Kyuubi heal me. A few months ago, I figured out a way to block its chakra from healing me every time Akatsuki tried to weaken the seal."

"You idiot," Sasuke hissed, irrational anger rising in the back of his throat. "You not letting Kyuubi heal you is one of the reasons Akatsuki is so close to breaking the seal. That's why you're so weak and can't fight them. You have to stop blocking it."

"Don't you understand, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, unfazed as he stared up at the dark-haired boy. "I thought you were the genius of the group. That's exactly what Kyuubi wants me to do. Me using its chakra to heal myself just makes it easier for Kyuubi to get a little closer to getting out every time Akatsuki weakens the seal. If I try to use any of its chakra now, it'll try and take over my body. I can feel it. That's what it's planning to do…"

Sasuke stared at his friend, momentarily at a loss for anything to say in response. "Are you saying," he finally found the voice to whisper, "that you'd rather die than let yourself get any better?"

Naruto looked away from Sasuke back up at the ceiling. "If that's what it takes to make sure Kyuubi never gets out or hurts anyone," he whispered.

For several heartbeats of eternity, it felt as if the entire world had come to a grinding halt. Sasuke could do nothing more than stare at his friend, a cold feeling of horror washing over him. Sakura had gone extremely still where she lay on her futon while somewhere on the other side of the room Sasuke heard a sharp intake of breath from Jiraiya, the Sannin sitting tensely straight, his eyes locked on his blond student.

"Don't say that, Naruto," Sasuke said. If he hadn't been so unnerved by what his friend was saying, he would have been ashamed by how much it sounded like he was pleading. "Don't you dare say that…"

Naruto said nothing and continued to stare up at the ceiling, his eyes shining brightly in the moonlight with repressed tears. Sasuke felt the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach grow, spreading through his body like a cancerous poison. He felt as if someone was slowly suffocating him, or pulling him down into a bottomless pit of darkness. Naruto couldn't be serious. He didn't want to hear his friend talk like that. He didn't want to think about losing his friend again or being alone. He didn't want to live if it meant his friend sacrificing his own life. Naruto had already suffered too much to deserve such a fate…

But the determined look in Naruto's eyes did not go away, even as he silently stared up at the ceiling. Sasuke wanted to rant and rave and yell at the blond or grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he saw how stupid he was being. But he knew doing that would ultimately do no good. If there was one thing he'd learned about Naruto over the years, it was that once the stubborn fool set his mind to doing something, he never turned back.

Unable to do anything else, Sasuke angrily looked away from Naruto, hiding his face behind a curtain of dark bangs. Helpless anger and despair stewed inside him like some kind of noxious bile. Sitting on the edge of Naruto's futon, Sasuke held his head between his hands, his elbows on his knees. Never before had he wanted to scream so badly in frustration.

He felt more than heard the rustle of Naruto moving behind him in his nest of blankets, and then the tentative, feather-light touch of Naruto's fingers on his forearm. Looking back over his shoulder, Sasuke found Naruto staring up at him, his tired, pain-filled eyes silently imploring him not to be angry.

Unable to refuse his friend's request, Sasuke swiveled back around towards Naruto and gripped the Kyuubi vessel's hand in his own, tightly squeezing it as if somehow trying to beg him to reconsider his choice or think of some other way to keep his inner demon at bay.

The blond boy feebly squeezed back, but it offered his friend no hope of recourse. This is what I have to do, his pitifully weak grip seemed to say. Please don't be mad at me. There's no other way…

Angry, unbidden tears stung the corners of Sasuke's eyes. Please don't do this, he pleaded as he gripped Naruto's hand tighter. I can protect you, I swear. Just don't give up yet.

But Naruto did not squeeze back in reply.

Kakashi silently leapt from rooftop to rooftop, moving with the speed and grace only a trained ninja could possess. His feet barely seemed to touch the tiled roof. A full moon hung low in the sky to his left, bathing the Uchiha mansion in a brilliant wash of silver. The compound was quiet, almost as if no one else was even there. But Kakashi knew better. Just a few minutes ago, he'd met up with one of the ANBU teams patrolling the southern section of the compound. They'd had nothing to report. All seemed quite in the Uchiha district.

Kakashi skillfully leapt onto the roof of a covered walkway which led to the other side of the compound where Naruto was hidden. He was serious when he'd said the Uchiha estate was larger than he'd thought it was. It was a veritable maze of covered walkways, storage buildings, separate apartments, enclosed courtyards, gardens, and a none too small family shrine, besides the actual mansion itself. It made Kakashi sad to think Sasuke lived here by himself with nothing but these empty buildings and the memories of his dead family to keep him company.

The jounin sensei had to suppress a sigh. It saddened him to think how lonely the boy must have been growing up in such a place. Even after joining Team Seven, he'd seen how Sasuke had preferred to keep to himself and pushed away anyone that tried to get close to him. It was like he didn't know how to let others get near. It was only as time wore on that he'd seen a tentative bond form between the Uchiha prodigy and his team's number one loud-mouth ninja, Naruto. What had originally started off as an intense rivalry between the two had somehow - miraculously!- over time turned into true friendship. Kakashi at times still didn't understand how such a thing had happened.

But it had, no matter how much either boy had been too proud to realize it at the time. Even after Sasuke had tried to leave, Naruto had gone after him and brought him back. Sasuke had been mad when he'd woken up back in Konoha and found any chance of running away again completely dashed. Yet their friendship still survived, even after Naruto had left to train with Jiraiya. Kakashi had had high hopes for the two to pick up their friendship when Naruto returned two years later.

He'd known how badly Sasuke had suffered those two years Naruto was away - how lonely he'd been with no one else to talk to or understand him after the village turned its back on him. It was strange really that two boys from such different backgrounds could underneath it all be so similar in their loneliness and need for someone else to understand them. With Naruto's return, it had seemed things were finally beginning to look up for Sasuke. But then Akatsuki had attacked, and all hopes of Sasuke being coaxed out of his shell had seemed completely destroyed.

It still sickened Kakashi to remember the way Sasuke's painful cries had echoed across the blood-soaked clearing that night as he'd knelt there weeping over his friend's dead body. Never had he seen Sasuke so…broken, or lost. Even after being his sensei for so many years, he'd never thought Sasuke capable of such intense emotions. Even in the months following Naruto's "death" it shocked him how much the other boy's death seemed to weigh on the prodigal Uchiha. It was almost as if with Naruto's murder, Sasuke had all but died himself. The boy seemed lost, as if he no longer had a reason to live. It startled Kakashi to realize just how close the two of them had become, even after everything they'd been through.

So it hadn't been much of a surprise then when Naruto was later found still alive that Sasuke had taken such an intense interest in guarding him. He was, after all, the only one the Uchiha had ever seemed to consider a friend or person he could trust. Not even Kakashi could claim to hold such a close bond with the boy.

It worried Kakashi though how protective Sasuke had become of the blond. He knew what kind of people were after his student. He knew what they wanted to do to him and their chances of finding him alive again if they couldn't protect Naruto this second time around. And that was why it worried him to think what Sasuke would do if something else happened to Naruto. He didn't think the boy could survive losing his friend a second time…

Leaping onto another roof, Kakashi headed for the western wing of the mansion. He had to get back and check on Naruto. The boy seemed to be getting weaker with each passing day. It was disconcerting to see the once hyperactive blond so subdued and defeated. If he hadn't been there when Iruka found him, he never would have believed it was the same boy he used to know.

As Kakashi continued to make his way across the compound he came to the edge of one building and leapt across the narrow walkway that separated it from another hall. As he sailed through the air, he happened to see out of the corner of his eye what looked like the tail-end of a dark figure disappear around the corner of another building below him. Skidding to a halt on the opposite rooftop - his feet momentarily slipping on the ceramic tiles - the jounin spun around, pushing his forehead protector up from over his Sharingan and pulling a kunai from his leg holster. His blood-red eye quickly swept the area, but saw no sign of anyone else. The compound was eerily quiet.

Moving stealthfully, Kakashi hurried towards where he thought he'd just seen someone and looked down over the edge. Again he saw no one in either direction.

For a moment the jounin wondered if he hadn't been deceived by the shadows or maybe seen something that was the product of an overwrought imagination. He had, after all, been under an abnormal amount of stress lately since Naruto's return, along with almost everyone else. It might have also been one of the other teams patrolling the grounds. More than two dozen Konoha ninja were currently spread out across the compound. He might have just seen one of them.

But the silver-haired copy-ninja wasn't about to let himself be lulled into such a false sense of security - especially when one of his student's safety was at stake. He'd been a shinobi for far too long to simply brush off the possibility of enemy-nin being present without first investigating. It just didn't make sense either. Most of the other teams were patrolling the outer edges of the compound, not its inner grounds. And those that were stationed farther inside had been ordered to remain hidden inside the buildings.

Something was wrong. He'd developed a sort of sixth sense for trouble over the years, and at this moment his instincts were currently screaming at him something was out of place.

Kakashi silently jumped down from the roof and began to make his way between the buildings on foot, his Sharingan shining brightly in the moonlight. He moved with his body tightly pressed against the wall, keeping to the shadows. He came to the end of the building and found himself near one of the outer walls of the compound. Several dozen yards away stood the Uchiha family shrine, its red torii gate and shimenawa (1) casting long shadows across the ground.

For a moment all seemed normal. But then Kakashi saw a dark figure slip out of the shadows between two of the shrine's smaller buildings and head towards the honden (2). As he watched, the figure moved to shrine's front doors and quietly rapped three times.

A moment's pause. And then the doors to the shrine slowly opened and a number of dark figures began to stream out from it, all of them wearing the trademark cloud embossed robes of Akatsuki.

Kakashi felt his heart clench in the middle of his chest, his eyes widening in horrified surprise.

Akatsuki was here! Not only had they snuck into the village again but had also managed to somehow get inside the compound. But how? How'd they get inside? There were more than twenty ninja guarding every possible entrance into the grounds. But even more importantly than any of those questions: how'd they know they'd hidden Naruto here?

Unable to find the answer to any of these questions, Kakashi did the only thing he could and pressed a finger to the button of a small plastic box hanging from a cord around his neck. It was a silent alarm which instantly sent a signal to all other alert necklaces within a several mile radius. Tsunade had given all of them one before they'd moved Naruto out of the hospital. Because of Akatsuki's last attack, it was determined they needed a faster alert system to help respond to any kind of attack on the boy. Kakashi, however, hadn't thought they'd need to use them so soon. He'd been sure they'd finally found a safe place to keep his student…

More and more Akatsuki ninja were coming out of the shrine, almost as if they were being magically channeled there from somewhere else - the honden just wasn't big enough for all those ninja to have been hiding inside. Kakashi counted at least thirty ninja now, and more continued to appear behind them. They began to spread out across the shrine, moving towards the mansion like a silent black swarm of ants.

The jounin quickly spun around on his heels and sped back the way he'd come - moving faster than he ever thought himself capable of back towards the western wing of the mansion. They had to get Naruto out of here. Akatsuki had found out where they'd hidden him and were coming after him. They had to move him to safety.

But as the copy-ninja leapt up onto the roof to help speed his progress across the compound, a sickening realization suddenly came to Kakashi: no place in Konoha was safe anymore from Akatsuki…

To Be Continued…

(1) Shimenawa - the twisted straw rope with zig-zag white paper hanging from it that's commonly found in Shinto shrines.

(2) Honden - main building of a Shinto shrine (usually the largest) where the kami is suppose to actually reside.

(Sorry for the need for definitions. But that's what you get when a Japanese major writes a Japan-based fanfic... :P)

A/N: Sorry for stopping at such an odd place, but it would've been too long if I stopped it where I really wanted to. I can't help but feel Sasuke is slowly stealing more and more of the limelight as time goes on. (That little angst thief…) He just seems to attract angst to him like a magnet. Any thoughts?

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