AN: Thanks so much for all your support! You guys are fantastic. I've tried to make this the best chapter I could, but there was part of it I don't like.

In this chapter, there'll be a long explanation of something (should I say? Well, I won't) and if you're too bored to read it (which is totally understandable, though I have stayed true to real life .So if you understand it well enough, feel free to use it. Every detail is accurate) then just skip to past the next line break for the rest of the plot.

Thank you so much for all your support. Please review and criticise my work. It helps me SO much!

"Let's go outside."

Sasuke rolled over. "Naruto, we're in bed."

"No, let's go outside. Now." The blond tugged at Sasuke's pyjama sleeve, making a faint whining noise.

The raven tugged the material out of the blond's grip with some force, rolling over once again to face away from Naruto. "No. It's late. Go to sleep."

"If I go outside, you have to come with me."

"Don't try it."

Naruto grinned widely. "I bet I could."

"You'll wake Nii-san up. Don't."

The blond pouted. "I won't wake him up if you don't try and stay."

Sasuke said nothing.

"Please?" Naruto rolled over him, forcing Sasuke to look at his pouting face.

Although the sad face did nothing to tide the raven over at all, he couldn't help but feel a mild relief that the blond's mood earlier that day had been alleviated. It'd been hard to deal with – a genuinely sad Naruto. Sasuke wasn't keen on seeing it again.

He closed his eyes, sighed, and relented.

"Do you know about stars, and stuff?"

Sasuke looked up, and shook his head. The sky was clear, but although he was dazzled by the sight, he knew next to nothing about the names of the constellations.

Naruto deliberated for a moment, folding his arms and squinting. "Well, I think I know one... it's there, see?" He pointed indelicately at a set of three stars. "It's called, uh... uh-"

"Orion's belt."

The blond whipped his head around, eyebrows knotted. "Hey! Who told you? You said you didn't know anything!"

Sasuke thought for a moment, convinced that Naruto had told him himself- but realised it was a mere fabrication. He knotted his eyebrows, and shook his head. "I must have just heard the name somewhere. Sorry."

The surroundings are shimmering, light gleaming from all directions like the inside of a hollow sun. It's cold, so cold, and the pain – from everywhere, blood streaming from my lips and my chest and my neck, oh God my neck! The girl – boy? - collapsed on the floor in front of me, limp, unmoving against the icy concrete below. All for that idiot – wait, who? Where am I? Struggling against a body that won't move, choking out words from a throat clogged with ferrous-flavoured liquid-

"Really... you're a burden... all the time..."

I hear the person shuffle, getting up, and then a joyful exclamation-

"You did it! Sasuke-"

The boy stops, choking. I turn my head, he's looking at me with an expression that I've never seen before – he looks terrified, horrified, eyes frozen, unmoving as he sees me turn to look at him – even now, I feel this urge to piss him off –

"Look at yourself..."

"...usuratonkachi..."

Naruto looks at me, looks at the blood that pours from my wounds, and he looks-

"Why?!"

- he looks as though he's about to cry.

"You... protected me..."

Naruto's voice cracks.

"Who... knows..."

Somehow I ended up here, standing in front of some idiot and dying for him, and though I convince myself I had nothing to do with it – I can't help but remember all the things he's said, the way we competed over everything – even though I know I don't care –

I laugh.

"I... hated you..."

I couldn't ignore this guy... not like everyone else – what an annoyance...

"Why?! Why! Why did you...?!

I didn't ask you to!"

Yet, as I recall them-

"Who knows... my body moved on it's own... moron..."

- falling, I prepare to hit the floor, for the senbon in my flesh to pierce me deeper and kill me, but he's holding me, and though I want to shake him off and punch him in the jaw, I'm strangely-

"Sasuke!"

-happy.

Naruto clenches his fists, yelling, angry at me, and even as my body aches and crumbles under my own weight, even as I feel my eyelids growing heavier by the second, I feel this strange feeling, this odd sensation, that maybe this pain is fine, that dying here is fine, because-

"That man... I didn't want to die until I'd killed my brother..."

-somehow-

"You... don't you die."

-I just want you to be okay.

Sasuke woke up to the unpleasant sensation of being dragged across the floor.

"Usuratonkachi," he bit out through gritted teeth, "what exactly are you doing?"

Naruto shrugged. "I need to pee, and we're stuck together, and I did try to wake you up..."

The raven stood up with some reluctance, cradling the arm he'd hit against the door. "Try harder next time." His tone was bitter.

"I really need to pee, okay?! Come on!"

The ritual for the whole conjoined situation in terms of the bathroom was... difficult and awkward. The pee-er was required to use one hand, because if they used two, the proximity of the other person's hand was just... uncomfortable. They were also required to look away, but it was still incredibly awkward. Sasuke had no idea why Itachi thought this was such a good idea.

Even worse, Sasuke suspected that Naruto didn't consider it to be awkward at all. He made rather loud noises of relief that just made the Uchiha want to die.

"That was amazing," Naruto exhaled afterwards, zipping up and stretching – a motion which forced Sasuke to floppily raise his right arm. Yeah, I bet it was.

With a jolt, Sasuke remembered his dream – the strangeness of it, how Naruto had been there, all those strange occurrences – and he yanked his arms to his side instinctively. The force pulled Naruto to the floor, and in turn, Sasuke.

The blond let out a wail. "Saaaasuke, why did you do that? My arm hurts."

"You dragged me across the floor."

"I needed to pee!"

"You could have woke me up!"

"You weren't waking up!"

"Try harder!"

"Fine, I'm going to pee on you tomorrow morning! All over you!"

"I... uh, made you two breakfast. If you want it." Itachi looked thoroughly disturbed by the conversation he'd intruded on. "Dare I ask what you were arguing about?"

"The fact that Naruto is inconsiderate."

"The fact that Sasuke doesn't understand my peeing needs!"

The elder Uchiha sibling nodded hesitantly, setting down two plates of pancakes and closing the door slowly behind him.

Naruto's eyes welled up with tears. "Now my new brother thinks I'm crazy!"

"You were threatening to pee on me!"

"It's justice!"

Despite the arguing, Sasuke could not simply bat away his dream. It had been real. He had been so sure it was real, there was so much depth and truth and realism to it – recalling memories he did not have, at an age he had not reached, Sasuke had given up his life for Naruto in a split second decision. Why he was thinking such things was, well, beyond him – he'd known this boy for what, a day or so?

But, although Sasuke did have what could be called friends, Naruto was a little...

...different.

And this dream was haunting. A premonition? The Uchiha felt the oddest feeling that the dream was trying to keep him away from this eccentric blond boy. Telling him, that should they remain friends, Sasuke would surely die.

The raven shook his head. I can't just abandon Naruto over a dream. I'm...

"Sasuke? Are you okay?"

...I'm his only friend.

"Today, we'll be training."

Sasuke glared. "Last time you said that..."

The elder Uchiha smiled, shrugging. "Well, teamwork is essential. When faced with a strong opponent, the only chance a weaker opponent has is with flawless teamwork."

"Are we going to be stuck to a third person?"

Itachi smiled. "No. Are you familiar with a hostage situation?"

"Uh..."

The elder Uchiha settled on the ground. "In your career as a Konoha shinobi, you, or your friends, may be taken hostage by the enemy. 'Hostage', means when they kidnap someone and keep them alive to threaten you. For instance, they may say – 'If you attack us, we'll kill Sasuke!' or, 'If you don't give us the scroll, we'll kill Naruto!'"

Naruto blinked. "Eh? That's just mean!"

Itachi poked him in the forehead, provoking a jealous twitch from Sasuke. "That's a shinobi's life, Naruto. That aside, it might happen. So you need to know what to do, if it does."

Sasuke frowned. "If we get strong enough, that won't happen, will it?"

Itachi shook his head. "There is always someone stronger than you, and even then – they might have a sneak tactic, great teamwork – you might be kidnapped out of your tent in the night by a stealth shinobi. It's best not to get complacent. Never underestimate the enemy.

As a consequence, I've set up an exercise for you two today. First, the act of lock picking."

"Like, choosing a lock?"

"No." Itachi laid out a set of tools in front of Naruto and Sasuke, the two looking at them with curiosity. There were 2 sets of three tools; none of which the two recognised. They were pieces of metal, twisted and moulded into different shapes.

Itachi picked up the L-shaped tool. The thin piece of metal, at the top, turned flat and stuck out a right angle from the handle part of the tool. "This is the art of turning a lock without a key. It'll help you, whether you get locked out the house or get locked in a death chamber. This tool, is a tension wrench. The first step is putting this inside of a lock." The boy presented a cross-sectional lock, and inserted a tension wrench inside of it. "This will allow you to turn it, but these things – the pins – are in the way." He directed his fingers to several small metal cylinders of different sizes, hanging in a strange, fashion. "Do you see how they some of them are in the lock a lot, and some aren't in it much at all?"

The two nodded.

"This is the pattern that relies on the special pattern on a key. That's why your door won't open unless you put the right key in it." To demonstrate, Itachi removed the tension wrench and pushed a correct key into the lock. The pins pushed up above the turning part of the lock, allowing the key to turn the lock and open it.

Sasuke nodded. "Okay, so how are we supposed to get past it without the right key?"

"Patience, Sasuke." Itachi replaced the tension wrench. "This turns it, but the pins are in the way. The first thing you should try to do is something called raking."

"Raking? Like leaves?"

Itachi shook his head. "It's where you use this tool – the rake pick." The teen presented a small piece of metal, with one side slightly jagged, alike to a key. "This is where you push this tool through, and very quickly pull it back. At the same time, you turn the tension wrench." He did just that, and the pins that were pushed above the turning part of the lock were caught on the slight ledge created by the slight turning from the tension wrench. "The jagged parts of the rake pick push some of the pins up. Some of them will go up high, and because I'm turning the lock at the same time, they'll get caught on this little ledge-" he directed his finger to the way the slightly turned lock had created a small ledge "-stay up there. Most of the time, the rake pick doesn't push all of them up there but it makes our job a lot easier. This is when we use this tool – a half-diamond pick."

"Woah! Diamond?!"

Again, Itachi shook his head. "No, it's because of the shape. It's a triangle – half a diamond." Indeed, the tool's end had a half-diamond shape sticking out the side. "We use this to push up the ones that didn't go up first. Because of the way we're turning the lock with the tension wrench, as I said, the ones that go up, stay up. So we feel around with the pick, very carefully, to see which ones aren't above the turning part of the lock yet. We carefully push them up with the pointy part of the pick -" Itachi pushed the remaining ones above the turning part of the lock carefully, "- and we turn the lock with the tension wrench. But it's important to remember that if you don't turn the lock the right way when you're setting the pins, it won't open, and you'll have to start again." Itachi turned the lock, and the deadbolt pulled back, signifying the open lock.

"Finally, you can test the right way to turn a lock before you start by checking. If you turn it one way, and you hear a tick noise as you turn it too far – it's the wrong way. If you turn it the other way and it's just too hard to turn – there's no ticking noise – then that's the correct way."

Sasuke nodded, and to his pleasure, Itachi could see the understanding on his face. Naruto, on the other hand, appeared to understand to an extent – but...

"So, I can use this to like, break into people's houses?"

"Theoretically, yes, but we're using it as an emergency tactic." His words did nothing to alleviate the damage.

The blond folded his arms – thereby dragging Sasuke awkwardly to the side – and grinned widely.

Itachi smiled. "I hope you two were listening. Remember – a shinobi must be resourceful!"

With that, Naruto found himself seeing stars, tilting forwards and then nothing at all.

Sasuke felt almost as though he'd woken up in a spider's web, blood drained and bound in a coffin of steel-strong string. He groaned, trying to move.

His head hurt, a lot. His efforts to move had only further confirmed his suspicions as reality. He was bound by what felt like chains, presumably padlocks somewhere on them – and his eyes too wear covered, bound, and as he moved his head slightly a heavy weight swung at the back.

Judging by the lax, unmoving weight he felt, he judged that Naruto was bound to him too, but he hadn't woke up.

"Idiot."

Silence.

"Get up."

Nothing.

"Naruto."

He didn't even move. Sasuke sighed.

"NARUTO!"

"Wha-what?! Sasuke, is that you? I'm blind!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Stop wailing. This is Itachi's training exercise, remember?"

"O-oh, yeah. Got it. So..." Naruto paused, shuffling. "What do we do?"

"Lock picking, remember? It must be to test that. Dammit, I can't feel a pick anywhere on my body... can you?"

"Uh..." Naruto moved his body, shuffling so as to try and feel any sharp objects. "No..."

Sasuke cursed, and tried to think. "Dammit. I think we're... tied to a chair, my hands are tied to my sides but we're not stuck together any more. We should be able to pass anything we find..." Sasuke realised he was indeed, not wearing shoes, and his eyebrows shot up. "Oi, Naruto! Feel with your feet."

"Ah, what?"

"Just do it, moron!"

So they both did, and though Sasuke found himself stretching and touching nothing, he heard the distinctive noise of scraping metal.

"Aa, Sasuke! Think I got something!"

"Good, try and pick it up and unlock one of your chains."

Naruto grumbled. "You say that like it's easy. Don't we need that... what... tension trench and the pick thing?"

The Uchiha twitched as he realised Naruto was right. "Just get it for now. It's all we have."

For a couple minutes, all Sasuke could hear was the straining of Naruto's voice and the scraping of metal, then nothing. "Got- it. But... there're no locks I can reach..."

"Pass it to me, usuratonkachi."

"Call me that again and I'll stay here until we starve!"

Nonetheless, the blond twisted his hand awkwardly backwards, Sasuke feeling the tip of the utensil as it was passed to him. The tip was sharp, and the Uchiha recognised it to be the half-diamond pick that Itachi had spoke about, but as Sasuke felt around with his hands, there was no possible locks that he could unlock either. The raven felt a twinge of annoyance. Itachi surely can't expect us to use our feet.

Think. Think. Think.

Sasuke tried to remember the things Itachi had taught him. The rules, the tales, the training he'd given him when the younger raven had begged so keenly after the elder Uchiha sibling had returned from an ANBU meeting – he tried his best to recall it.

With that thought, Sasuke plunged the tool into the back of Naruto's hand. The boy shrieked in pain, and the raven heard the soft patter of blood dripping off Naruto's hand and onto the floor.

The Uchiha yanked the utensil out of Naruto's soft flesh, feeling the boy shaking with the pain, though Sasuke imagined it to be more the shock.

"You bastard! I'm going to kick the-"

"Check again."

Naruto stopped.

"What?"

Sasuke forced the bloodied utensil into Naruto's grip. "Check for locks again."

The blond took the pick back, hand pained and shaking as he used the stretch of the pick to check around for locks – and were there was once space, he found a heavy padlock. "Sasuke, how did you-"

"This lesson... well, it had nothing to do with lock-picking at all. I've not given you a tension wrench, after all. A shinobi must always look underneath the underneath – you saw beneath the guise of this lesson being about lock-picking. Well done, Sasuke. You broke Naruto's genjutsu."

That was when Naruto felt a sinking feeling, a strange sensation.

Is the life of a shinobi the kind of life where you hurt your friends?

"Even if I have to break all the bones in your body and drag you home, I won't let you go to Orochimaru!"

Naruto awoke, remembering nothing more than his own angry yell. It still echoed, but though he struggled, he could remember nothing more. It made no sense at all to him, so he let it go.

He turned over, stretching. "Sasuke, what time is-"

The blond's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach, and he felt a tight, material grip around his mouth and wrap around his skull. Though Naruto felt fear shaking his every sense, the question pulsating rhythmically at the forefront of his mind was the one that asked about his friend. Why can't I feel his weight on my arm? Where is Sasuke?

The darkness came all the same.

Silence.

Naruto turned his head – there was slight leeway, but it was bound by some sort of strong leather constriction. The blond child found himself beginning to panic, but bit down strongly on the touch material bound through his teeth. The effort did little to ease the fear, and Naruto felt stifled by the darkness of the material tightly bound over his eyes.

Okay. Feet. He attempted to lift his legs, but they were tightly bound. Wiggling his toes and turning his legs' directions slightly was possible, but he doubted it would do anything. He shuffled his torso; again, tightly bound. His fingers were movable... if he stretched the limits of his hand, he could touch his wrist. It was a hard effort, but doable. Naruto had little idea what help this would provide as of yet.

"Sasuke?"

Speaking was painful, and he found – despite the power he put into it, it came out as a mere whisper. The sound of it echoed in the room. At least, it sounded like a room, and felt like one. No wind, an echo, and a cold surface below him that was perfectly straight. If Sasuke had been in the room, Naruto was sure he would have at least heard him pulling against his restraints, unless he was unconscious. But although the Uzumaki strained his ears, Naruto could not hear Sasuke's breathing. Good sign.

His heart sank. Unless he's dead.

He hoped no one was watching him. The idea of being surveyed like a hawk without his knowledge made Naruto's hands shake.

A scream sounded.

The blond immediately recognised Sasuke's shrill cry. He was in pain, screaming as though someone was torturing him slowly. Naruto heard the incoherent syllables, the sentences Sasuke was trying to form through the hellish shrieks of agony.

He froze for a moment, terrified. For the first time in the few minutes he'd been conscious, he wondered why. Why had anyone taken him? Naruto wasn't a genius or anything special, like Sasuke. He wasn't worth anything to anyone. He wasn't even a ninja yet.

And what about Itachi-nii-san? Have they taken him, too?

Naruto felt as though his heart had turned to a lump of ice as he thought, but he pulled his thoughts together haphazardly. I need to get out. First, I need to get out.

The blond struggled, and he thought so hard he felt as though the veins in his head would burst. He strained the muscles in his hand looking for locks, anything that would help him out. He'd even gouged wounds in his own flesh with his nails in an attempt to eradicate any genjutsu, though Naruto wasn't sure if it strictly worked like that.

The screams began sounding again, worse, because Sasuke was crying. Naruto could hear him crying. Between the ear-piercing wails were the sobs. They were achingly pathetic, desperate, begging as Naruto heard them. The words he was mumbling through floods of tears and choking and hiccups were incoherent pleas for mercy, for it to stop, even begging for whoever it was to just kill him. The blond found himself angrily pulling at the restraints with more force than he had before.

Even more antagonising was the fact that the person – whoever it was – had said nothing at all. Naruto had heard no distinguishing word, description, tone of voice. He could not hear what he was doing or anything of the like. All Naruto could hear was the horrible, soul-destroying noise of Sasuke's pitiful crying.

For a moment, the crying stopped, and all the blond could hear was Sasuke's heavy, pain-ridden breathing.

"Naruto." Sasuke was breathing heavily. "Did you take him?"

The blond attempted to scream, but found himself letting out a mighty, soundless exhale.

Naruto heard footsteps, and then a low voice. "Hmm... Naruto?" Sasuke's breathing was heavy, and the blond heard the man pace for a moment. "I think he's probably dead, now."

Naruto found himself screaming silently, pulling at those restraints, begging, please let me out-

"How could you..."

Sasuke's voice was so quiet but then-

"How could you?"

-Sasuke's voice was escalating, and he began howling in pain, the piercing cries making Naruto struggle more, and more, and more-

"What did we ever do!?" The words were gasped out between agonized sobbing. "What did Naruto ever do?! He was just a dead last idiot!" The screaming stopped, and there was just an empty, echoing heaving of breath, choking and crying. Hiccuping. "Naruto..."

Naruto tore at his bounds, so hard, not enough, and he flooded with red-hot anger, desperately trying-

The man spoke again. "This is the result of friendship. Hardship. Pain. Naruto's weakness lead to his death. You're weak. What's the point in forming friendships if you are not strong enough to protect them?"

Sasuke's pain re-ensued, and Naruto heard a resounding bang and Sasuke's coughing, spluttering and then vomiting. The blond realised that the boy had been punched in the gut.

"Look at you now. Exposed. I could kill you in seconds." The man walked a couple of steps. "That boy, Uzumaki Naruto, housed a demon of mass proportions. It was due time he died, you know? He was a pitiful orphan, who killed thousands. The Nine-Tailed fox."

Naruto stopped. His struggling muscles turned stone-cold stiff, and his heart pounded. Me? The Nine-Tailed fox?

"Countless Konoha shinobi, destroyed with a swipe of his tails. He was true evil. And you consider that boy a friend?"

There was a fatal pause, and Naruto felt his heart pounding, felt tears in his eyes as he felt himself fall limp. That's it, isn't it? That's why everyone hates me. Because I killed everyone. That's why my birthday's on that day. That's why!

And now Sasuke hates me too.

"You're wrong."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"You're wrong, because if Naruto was some all-powerful demon, he wouldn't have sucked at taijutsu so much." Sasuke's breathing was struggling; his coughing sounded wet with blood. "So what? So what if he had something like a demon inside of him... Naruto would never do anything like that. No matter how mean everyone was, no matter what they did to push him down, Naruto stood up. He was an idiot, quick to anger and he couldn't concentrate, but he was my friend, and I knew... I know Naruto for who he is! He's Uzumaki Naruto!"

There was the sound of Sasuke's gasping, slowing breath.

"Well then," the man said. He sounded amused, humoured by the situation, and Naruto felt himself angering, furious with rage. "Sleep well, little Sasuke. What'll keep you from the demon's maw?"

Naruto felt his eyes streaming with tears, and with a final flood of angry strength, the binds around his hands tore.

He pulled off the binds around his eyes, the bright light making his retina feel as though it was going to split in half. The blond examined his surroundings; he was tied to a table, and he reached out with an aching pain to the legs of the table, where the bindings that held his whole body down were cordoned to. They unravelled, and Naruto took in a deep breath from the freedom of his ribcage. Step by step, he undid every knot, and then he took a proper look at the room.

It was like a dungeon; the walls were wooden and floors were stone, the only furniture in the room was the table, which was Spartan and a very clear cut, simple design. It was rotting slightly, and the room stank of damp. He tested his feet on the floor, the weakness of his steps cluing him to the fact that he may have been knocked out for a long time. It didn't feel as though his muscles had atrophied, but more that he'd simply slept for days.

His useless muscles rendered his idea of knocking the door down impractical, but Naruto could see a lock on the door, and he recalled that lesson that Itachi had taught them.

For the first time in his life, Naruto wished he had listened to a teacher better.

He scoured the room. No nothing. Nothing he could use as a pick or a tension wrench; just damp, and a table. The table was his best bet.

The blond approached it, thinking desperately about what to do. If I chip off a large splinter or two, will that do it? He supposed he had no choice, and Naruto found himself picking with his nails at a chip. The splinter recovered was useless, weak and damp; he tried again, his nails aching with the effort.

He did it again. Again. Again. He couldn't remember how many times more.

There- there it was, a usable splinter. It was long and sturdy; he tried to bend it, but it didn't budge. It'd been far enough away from the damp in order to have retained strong. Naruto thanked whatever God there was for the blessing of a possible tension wrench. Okay. Now I need another one like this.

Naruto just needed a similar piece, and after a couple more tries, he got it; he knew there was no way he was finding a half-diamond pick, so he bent the end in an attempt to mimic the style. He took the pieces, pride settling in his stomach as he fiddled the tension wrench in with some difficulty, and he turned it until he was sure it was turning the correct way.

As the blond attained the correct angle, smiling, he stopped, feeling his grip loosen and his head spin and his heart pound.

The breathing. The breathing had stopped.

Sasuke had gone dead silent.

"You." Jiraiya's gaze was venomous. "On neutral ground with Konoha? Hah."

"A couple of years ago, you'd have welcomed me home. Or decades? Well. Does it really matter?"

The toad sage narrowed his eyes, fists quivering with rage.

Orochimaru saw the silent question asked, and shrugged effortlessly, grinning. "The situation has... changed."

AN: Man! Plot! I've been so excited for this. Boom boom boom. Review and criticise!

Also, I'm really sorry about the massively long lock-picking explanation. But I dunno. Any less and it... well, it wouldn't have been a lesson. This chapter is kind of shorter than usual, but I hope you'll like it all the same! I brought it out sooner too, because I've been super pumped. I really like writing this plot.

Any criticisms about the plot, characterisation, anything really, spelling errors, please review and criticise and I'll do my best to rectify them in future chapters (or this one, depending on what it is). Thank you all so much for your continuous support and kindness!