Author's note: Hey guys! I want to thank you all so much for not giving up on me. Here's chapter six, I hope you all enjoy it. As soon as I've posted this, I'll start replying to the reviews.

And by the way.. Don't worry, the story will become much "happier" soon.

(You've got no idea how many times I wanted to press in the word "emo" into this chapter.)

edit Wow, hurotias pointed out a huge mistake I made. It's fixed now though!

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Chapter six: Of Silence.

Sasuke's eyes were wide open and a look of utter concentration adorned his face, as he crouched down on the ground of the open field.

Silence.

A breeze sent ripples through the tall grass as Sasuke strained his ears as hard as he could to see if he could hear the small jingle of the bells.

It was made out of a purely strategical move. It would be the smartest for Kakashi to try to take him to an open field, seeing as Sasuke didn't need to depend on his eyesight to find the older Ninja, but Kakashi probably did. So, hiding in the trees would probably be more of a hindrance for his former sensei than it would for Sasuke.

There!

Sasuke heard a distant jingle, and with that tore off towards the sound as fast as he could, taking into consideration that he had to be quiet enough for Kakashi to dismiss the rustling of the grass as the wind blowing through it, mask his chakra properly, and to constantly feel the grass against his face – to be sure that he remained perfectly hidden.

The whipping of the tall straws was almost painful as he put so much energy in enhancing his senses. The good thing about being as concentrated as Sasuke was that he never really mourned the loss of his eyes; it was unfortunate, but it had happened. He wouldn't let one sense be a hindrance in his struggle to avenge his clan.

He knew Kakashi was only teasing him. Standing in the middle of the field, Sasuke heard the rustling of the pages as he stopped a few metres radius of him, taking the time to feel the pulse of energy that was Kakashi's chakra.

But what Kakashi probably didn't know, even if he had heard of it, was the speed that Sasuke had acquired in the sound village. Some of the villagers (there were no civilians, only ninja, since it wasn't a real town) had taught him some tricks. He could manipulate the sound waves that travelled through the air. After that he had developed his own technique. He manipulated the waves in the air, much like the sound-technique; but instead he reduced the resistance in the air.

The problem was that the technique required him to send a bolt of chakra so fast in front of him that the "resistance" weakened.

And that would definitely give away his position.

Too late, he noticed his mistake, and groaned.

"You shouldn't stand still so long in the same place", said Kakashi in a bored tone as he switched pages and vanished.

Sasuke cursed, and quickly followed the chakra trail that Kakashi's jutsu had left behind. Surprisingly, they led him to the dense forest by the field.

The density of the forest would be an advantage to him, since it was a disadvantage to Kakashi.

What the hell is he thinking?

It was obvious that he simply was one step behind Hatake Kakashi.

And it bothered him.

- - -

Naruto watched from the trees as Sasuke stood still one second too much, and Kakashi vanished.

Kuso!

It was weird to see how Kakashi deflected Sasuke's attacks, although he could also see that Kakashi really was impressed by Sasuke's growth.

Naruto stared as Sasuke turned more and more frustrated. Had it been Naruto, he'd probably had lost all of his focus to frustration instead, but the two of them kept their fight at an elite level.

He watched as Sasuke got more and more exhausted because of his fever, and how he started to lose his concentration. He had stopped using chakra; he had used too much already.

Naruto wondered was Sasuke was doing. He was fighting to get in just one hit on Kakashi – and when he finally got it, Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he watched as the cut-off corner of a page was slowly pulled down by gravity.

It was the chakra scalpels that Kabuto had used on him when he, Tsunade and Jiraiya had fought against Kabuto and Orochimaru.

He must have learnt it from him…

He smirked as he turned his eyes away from the paper, to the bell that was now flying through the air along with the cut-off string.

"Very well," said Kakashi with his usual mask of light happiness. You did very well. Though I have to admit, that if I hadn't been so careless in the end, you would've never gotten it.

Sasuke frowned, wishing he could point out that he wasn't exactly in his top form right now, but his pride didn't allow him.

"But", said Kakashi as if he had read his mind. "I realize that you have a handicap or two as well."

"Get to the point. When will training begin?"

"Ah, ah! I'm happy to see you so enthusiastic, Sasuke-kun!" Kakashi waved off the hostile tone in his former student's voice. "I believe, no, I know that you had a hard time getting the bell since you've gotten all the wrong training in Sound." It sounded like some form of mockery. 'you'd have been better off staying here.'

"See, Sasuke. You've gotten trained to kill, that's why you were so limited in this fight. I have no doubt that had you come on like you were going to kill me, I'd have a much harder time trying to keep the bell."

Sasuke said nothing. Naruto secretly glowered.

"That's why you'll go back to the ninja academy!" Said Kakashi.

Naruto gaped and his eyes widened.

Sasuke paled, but otherwise didn't show any sign that he was god damn mortified.

"Eeeh?!" said Naruto loudly, as a dark "Excuse me?" came from Sasuke..

"Now, now, Sasuke. Don't take it the wrong way. The problem is that just that, you have just focused on the rough stuff for so long, that you've now forgotten the basics."

Sasuke could see how that was true, but god damn it.. had his brother been here… Shame spread like poison through Sasuke's veins. His brother had graduated as a chuunin at the age of 13. Here he was, sixteen years old, still at the rank of genin, and he was forced to go through the academy again.

"Iruka sensei", Kakashi said as Iruka reappeared by his side, casting him a glance. "will teach you. He will choose his own method."

Silence.

"Alright then!" Kakashi said happily. "I'll leave this for you to decide! I hear there's a new Icha Icha-novel out!" he said and formed seals with his hands.

"Oh and Sasuke…" he turned completely serious for a moment.

"You'd be better off not underestimating your enemies next time. You just see that your senses are enhanced, making it a lot easier for you to find me. You don't think about the fact that you can't see, and this is a handicap, not an advantage." With that blunt statement, he left in a puff of smoke.

"I would like for you to report to my office at the academy at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Uchiha-san…"

The prefix was said in a weak voice, just like Hinata had greeted him, the traitor. Sasuke wondered if everyone in the city would treat him the same way as Neji, or like Iruka and Hinata.

But damn it, why was he even thinking about it? It wasn't like he had returned here willingly, so he shouldn't have to stand the disgusted whispers of the villagers, even if he had yet to meet any civilians.

While Sasuke had been lost in thoughts, Iruka and Naruto exchanged hushed farewells, then the older Ninja had left.

"Sasuke, -" Naruto said, but Sasuke beat him to it.

"Let's return to the Uchiha Estates."

As they jumped through the trees, Naruto wondered for how long Sasuke hadn't been able to call it home.

- - -

Naruto was thinking.

Food. Food! They needed food, and Naruto didn't know how to cook. He always ate out (for breakfast he'd tried to make some onigiri, but as he'd tasted them, he wished he'd spent more time learning how to cook), or cooked ramen, or he'd eat at his friends' place.

The problem was that he couldn't go out to leave Sasuke alone, Sasuke had made it clear that he wouldn't eat ramen, and Naruto was pretty sure Sasuke would refuse to go out, and his friends would probably refuse to let them in.

"Childish bastard! Let's go out buy some food!" Naruto growled.

Naruto sat in the kitchen, and Sasuke had barricaded himself in his room.

"Says you!" Sasuke said. Naruto barely heard him. "You dragged me here for this?"

The blonde wasn't quite sure what his friend was talking about, but he didn't like it. He frowned at the twinge he felt in his chest.

"Let us worry about your feelings later, bastard. Right now, let's worry about food."

No reply.

"Argh! I give up, teme!"

A very angry Naruto walked to the kitchen window, and opened it.

"Leaving to buy some food!" he shouted. "Come take care of the god damn asshole!" He yelled the last part extra loud. Just for Sasuke's sake.

He then went and opened the front door. Two ANBU stood there silently.

"He's all yours," he said and stormed out of the building.

-

Half an hour later, Naruto returned.

"Food!" he yelled, as he came in and put the sushi down on the table. "Good food!"

Silence.

Something was wrong.

"Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto glanced up.

"The hokage's office."

Blink.

And Naruto was gone.

- - -

"What happened?"

Naruto's voice was solemn and his face was grim as he swung in through the window.

"You can use the door, brat."

Naruto stood in front of Tsunade's desk. The old woman sighed. "Sasuke tried to escape."

The blonde clenched his fists, staring down at the desk in front of him, focusing on a sealed scroll. He couldn't look her in the eyes. He'd failed her. He'd failed one of the first persons to ever acknowledge him.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice showing no emotion, but his body language showing more than enough.

"Don't be. It wasn't under your watch."

"You told Sasuke you'd punish me anyway."

Tsunade frowned, but eyes watched him softly. "I couldn't hurt you for something that wasn't your fault, Naruto."

He didn't say anything to that. "Can I see him?"

The hokage nodded. "I need to tell you some things though. He may return home tomorrow, but I'm placing a seal on him. I can't seal his chakra in the way I would like to, that would interfere with his training, and getting him trained is top priority now. The seal will work like Orochimaru's, excebt it'll take chakra from him should he use a deadly jutsu. He won't need to use such jutsus in practice anyway, I'm sure he's already practiced plenty," she said bitterly. "This seal will last either until I dispel it, or until I die."

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "It's actually a forbidden technique, but I held an emergency meeting, and the elders and I agreed that it would be for the best."

The blonde didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything.

Tsunade watched him for a few more seconds, and then sighed. "Kakashi, can you show Naruto the way?"

Shocked, Naruto turned around quickly to stare at Kakashi-sensei. He hadn't even noticed he was there.

"Hai," Kakashi said, with no emotions in his voice. "Come, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and followed him out into the hallway.

They walked in silence. Naruto couldn't believe how stupid he was. Why had he left Sasuke alone? Well, with two ANBU, but after what Naruto had gone through, there really wasn't many people that he trusted.

"Naruto."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

Hatake Kakashi had long since given up on trying to get the blonde to stop calling him Sensei. "You've got to learn to distance yourself from him."

Naruto glared at the floor as they swung left.

"It'll only hurt you in the end, Naruto.."

He knew that his former sensei was only trying to help him, but dammit, he just couldn't get it!

They came to a halt in front of a large, wooden door.

"You don't understand," Naruto said sadly. Kakashi stared at him. "You don't understand… What was the point of bringing him back, if I'm not even allowed to have my best friend?" he said bitterly. "Then I'd be better off with him still at Orochimaru's."

Kakashi watched as Naruto opened the door and entered Ibiki's office.

He had to admit, that Naruto was so full of the life that most shinobi lost out in the field. But at the same time, even though he maybe didn't want to admit it, that was what would eventually kill him.

- - -

"Why did you do it?"

"Why did you?"

Naruto stared at his friend. "Why did I do what?"

Sasuke seemed to have taken his second encounter with Ibiki better than the first. "Why did you bring me back?" Naruto could hear the anger in his voice. "Why, when I had made my choice? Don't you see that they're driving me mad?"

One of Ibiki's minions injected some form of sleeping potion.

"They sat there, just staring at me through their masks, accusing me with their eyes, when I've done nothing wrong. They deserved it. Anyone would want to get away."

Naruto watched with sad eyes as his friend was put to sleep without resisting.

"Don't worry," Tsunade materialized next to him. He gave a small yelp. Hokages could be scary.

"He may talk big, but remember… He never tried to hurt you, he never tried to get away when you were there."

Tsunade opened the scroll that Naruto had stared at earlier.

- - -

Sasuke stared with dull, numb eyes into where he knew the mirror was.

Directing his thoughts to the second seal.

- - -

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