Now for Part Six. One more to go after this. This has a little NaruHina (but mostly thoughts from Naruto), some Naruto and Sasuke interaction and a itty bitty Team 7/SasuSaku at the end. More Team 7 than anything else. Not a lot romantic stuff, but Sasuke needed this and only Naruto could deliver it. Hope you enjoy it and the bit of NaruHina there.

Title: Finding the Broken Pieces
Genre: Angst, AU
Timeline: Post Sasuke's Return
Summary: Sasuke's back in Konoha, but Naruto learns of the events that occurred while he was away and his past. Sasuke, meanwhile, ponders his own life and the battle with his brother. When the pieces are broken and left astray, someone must come and put them back together. NaruHina, SasuSaku
Pairings: NaruHina, SasuSaku
Rating: G
Author's Note: This fanfic is AU past Naruto Chapter 384. It's mostly the end result that differs. Basically, I wrote it different from what Kishi wrote (primarily because this fic was imagined before Chapter 384).
Disclaimer: I really wish I was a successful mangaka, however, I'm not, I can't draw period so therefore Naruto doesn't belong to me in the slightest. Naruto belongs solely to Kishimoto.

Searching Among the Shards: To Protect

Two days had passed since Naruto and the others had arrived back in Konoha, a cloudy day, but no rain, which made someone glad since he had some important things to do. The first, however, came with an unexpected surprise.

"…Hinata? Are you sure this is okay?"

"Of course, I wanted to do this, Naruto-kun. Besides," she said, poking her fingers together, "this is what you wanted, right?"

He looked down at the bouquet of white lilies Hinata had bought for him to place on the memorial stone. It was true he had been thinking of buying a bouquet later, when he had the money to do so. However, he had not expected Hinata to show up at Ichiraku Ramen with the flowers herself. He felt uncomfortable; after all, his financial situation was dismal compared to Hinata's. On the other hand, he knew Hinata meant well. She did this because she wanted to and she had helped him so much during the past two days.

He smiled and looked down at her, feeling his eyes watering with tears. "Thanks, Hinata. This…this means a lot."

She merely smiled and nodded. Naruto walked over to the memorial, Hinata close behind, and, kneeing, laid the bouquet down on the stones. He gave a small prayer, not only for his parents, but also Jiraiya.

Finally, he stood up and stared at the stone engraved with the names of the fallen. The pain of losing Jiraiya was still fresh on his mind, although Hinata had helped him tremendously in dealing with that sorrow. He had woken up several times during the night due to nightmarish images of Jiraiya's defeat so he knew he was not completely better, but thinking of Hinata, her words and just her mere presence when she was nearby tempted him back to sleep.

Jiraiya still evoked an enormous amount of conflicting emotions, sadness, guilt, anger, a sense of helplessness. He knew he would feel like that for awhile, however, he knew he had support, support in the form of Sakura, Sasuke (when he got out of the hospital), Kakashi, Tsunade, all his friends and, of course, Hinata.

It was those thoughts that kept him moving forward.

As for his parents….for the longest time, he had hardly given his parents a thought, only during the times when he truly felt alone did he wonder what happened to his parents and how they might have thought of him. After he learned about Kyuubi, a thought came up, kept buried, of how his parents would have treated him.

He had once asked the Third about his parents when he was very young, but all he had said was that they died the night the Kyuubi attacked. As a child, he had not understood, but later, he believed the sad face of the Third meant he did not know his parents and could not tell him anything about them. Now, however…he wondered if the Third felt remorseful over hiding his parents' identities from him.

He still had not talked to Tsunade and Kakashi; he planned to meet them later in the day to discuss his parents again (after making one important visit first). He felt anxious and even excited about that meeting. He was finally going to know about his parents…

"Naruto-kun? Is everything okay?" Hinata slipped her hand into his, the warmth made him smile. The feelings she stirred within him he still could not understand, but despite his lack of insight, he was happy she had stuck by him for the past couple of days. She had certainly lifted him up from a darkness he had been unsure about ever escaping.

"Yeah," he said, "I'm fine." He turned to Hinata, and with his hands behind his head, gave Hinata a big smile. "Well? Ready to go visit Sasuke?"

She smiled and nodded. Both turning around, Naruto took her hand again and headed toward the hospital, the clouds finally allowing the sun to shine its light down them and the village.

--

Sasuke was lying on his back again; an IV in his arm sending the calming drug Sakura had given him a couple of days before through his veins. His head felt hazy, but he had not spiraled into another episode as he had the day before. He still felt profound guilt over Itachi's death, something he could not explain. His clan history he was slowly coming to terms with, slight determination over trying to rebuild the clan and thinking about how he would treat the Mangekyou Sharingan and its gory ways of gaining it.

However… Sasuke sadly narrowed his eyes. He flexed his hands, still bound to the bed with rope and chakra sealing tags. There was still one matter he had concerns over. No matter how he tried to rationalize it, he knew he could not protect anyone (he had people in mind, but it hurt less if he did not name names), even after his years of training, Madara defeated him soundly and, while he overcome Itachi, he only killed him in a blind rage, overwhelmed by the aftereffects of Madara's genjutsu.

If there was one thing he could not get past, it was that.

Suddenly, he raised his head. He heard footsteps coming in his direction, but it could not be Sakura, too loud for one and she was not going to come for another hour. However, his question was answered as soon as he thought it, in the form of an angry voice yelling at his ANBU guard. "Of course, I can go in! See? Here's my pass!"

Naruto… Groaning, Sasuke lay back down and turned away from the door as it opened. Of all people to visit him, the last person he wanted to see was Naruto.

He heard his blond rival come up to the bed, take the chair Sakura always sat in, twist it around and sit in it backwards. "What's up, Sasuke? Boy, you've got strict guards. They don't let anyone by them."

Sasuke sighed. He supposed if he kept quiet, Naruto would eventually go away, but that would mean listening to his mouth run the entire time and that would get on his nerves too much. "What do you want, Naruto?" asked Sasuke, impatiently, turning back and catching the irritating smile on his face.

"Just came to talk to you." Naruto rested his chin on his crossed arms lying on the back of the chair. "Sakura-chan told me to, anyway."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Why did Sakura tell Naruto to come visit him? "Well, I don't really want to talk to anyone so leave."

That stupid, irritating grin. "Ha! Like you ever talk to begin with."

Sasuke felt himself getting annoyed, fast. It was amazing how quick their relationship would go back to the way things used to be before he left for Orochimaru. It was also amazing (in the deep part of his mind where he would never admit it) how much he liked fighting like this with Naruto.

Several minutes of silence went by, with Naruto smirking and Sasuke scowling, but then something clicked in Sasuke's mind. Naruto's teacher was dead and yet he sat here cheerful, like everything was normal. He glared at his blond rival. Doesn't he want revenge? Hmph, he thought, thinking about Naruto's reaction his leaving the village, maybe not. "So…what are you going to do?" he asked, finally, breaking the silence.

Naruto blinked, his face confused. Nearly three years and he was still an idiot. "Huh?"

"About your teacher," responded Sasuke, curtly, staring up to the ceiling. "He was killed by the Akatsuki leader, wasn't he? What are you going to do about that?"

He turned back, carefully watching his rival with narrowed eyes. To his surprise, Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't look like I have much of choice there, do I?"

This time, Sasuke blinked. "What do you mean by that?" he exclaimed. "He killed your teacher, didn't he? Don't you want…" He trailed off, biting his lip, the word conjuring unwelcome thoughts.

Once again, however, Naruto shrugged. "Well, I suppose I will get revenge, but like I said, I don't have much of a choice. Akatsuki's after me anyway so it's only a matter of time before I meet them. And I can't let them extract the Kyuubi, who knows what they'll do with it. I'll have to fight them."

Naruto suddenly looked troubled, burying the lower part of his face with his arms. "I hate to admit it, but I know I'm not entirely strong enough to face the leader. Old Lady Tsunade said Ero-sennin left me the key to the Kyuubi's seal." He rose up, his face determined. "I'm going to train with it, to gain control of the Kyuubi." He grinned. "Then I'll be able to take whatever those Akatsuki throw at me! And protect everyone!"

Sasuke stared at Naruto, just sitting there with a big stupid grin on his face. How? How could he be so sure of that? Protect everyone? Unbidden, the genjutsu Madara put him under came to mind, the images of Naruto and Sakura dead and their blood on his hands. One of the reasons he had left was to protect them from Itachi, but what if he could not protect them at all? From himself?

"Hello? Sasuke? Anyone there?" Naruto waved his hand in front of him, trying to get his attention. Sasuke merely 'hmph' and turned away.

"Can you really protect everyone?" he asked. A questioning look came over Naruto's face. "Can you truly protect everyone? Is anyone capable of doing that?" Of course, Naruto did not answer right away. Sasuke stared at the ceiling. He knew the answer: no matter how much someone tries, they cannot always protect the people close to them.

"I don't give up, Sasuke," responded Naruto at last, his voice unnaturally serious. "Maybe you're right; maybe you can't always protect people, but just because there's a chance of failure doesn't mean I intend to give up."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. He had seen him serious a handful of times: the day the Sound and Sand attacked the village and Gaara was slowly killing Sakura, the day he had come after him when he had decided to go to Orochimaru and of course, in the last couple of days, when they fought once again.

He could see it in his eyes. Just like all those times, Naruto was deadly serious.

"Someone once told me that when you're protecting someone precious to you, that is when you become truly strong. I have a lot of precious people in my life now, Sasuke, and if anyone puts them in danger, I intend to fight, to give it my all!"

And then Naruto grinned, just like always, like an idiot. However, for once, Sasuke felt his words actually strike a cord. Did he not at one time intend to protect Naruto and Sakura even if it meant giving up his life? Did he not protect Naruto from Haku's attack, which would have taken his life if Haku had not deliberately avoided his vital areas? And Sakura as well? When they escorted Tazuna and the Mist ninja moved to attack her as she protected their client, he placed himself in front of them, in front of her, with no way of knowing if he could stop the attack. Protecting…

Some time ago, he had believed in some form of the words Naruto spoke of, but what had changed? Was it the failures he constantly met? Naruto's astounding growing strength? No, thought Sasuke, frowning, I just chose something else. I started thinking the strength I had was enough until I realized it wasn't, but instead of continuing to train, I stepped off one path and onto another and now, because of that, I doubt my own abilities.

There was a knock at the door, bringing Sasuke out of his thoughts. Naruto made a face and got up from his chair. "Stupid ANBU," he muttered, but then he looked down at Sasuke and smirked. "Get out soon, Sasuke. We've got to form Team 7 again."

And Naruto left, leaving Sasuke to ponder his own abilities and possibly his own future…

--

Naruto walked into the waiting area where Sakura and Hinata sat talking. They stopped as soon as he came into view, Sakura jumping up quickly and walking up to met him. "Well?" she asked. "How did it go?"

He shrugged. "I don't know if he got it. You can read him better than I can, Sakura-chan." He folded his hands behind his head, glancing back in the direction of Sasuke's room. "I did just what you told me to do: I just talked. He brought up Ero-sennin and protecting people and I told him exactly what I thought."

Sakura smiled. That was exactly what she had hoped for. Sasuke was so worried about protecting them that she had to find something which would convince Sasuke he could protect them, if he believed. And who else but to convince him of that than Naruto himself? If anyone could inspire people to protect people, then it would be Naruto. At the very least, she hoped his words would give Sasuke something to think about.

"Ano? Naruto-kun?" The two teammates glanced over to Hinata who was pointing on the clock on the wall. "It's past three."

He did not appear to understand what she meant at first, but then his eyes widened in shocked. "Whoa! I'm going to miss Kakashi-sensei and the Old Lady!" Naruto headed to the exit of the waiting room, taking Hinata's hand as he passed her. Before he left, he turned around and smiled at Sakura. "Good luck with Sasuke, Sakura-chan, you're going to need it." He grinned. "See you later!"

"Good-bye, Sakura-san," said Hinata as they turned the corner and out of sight.

The pink haired medical ninja simply smiled, quite pleased her plan had worked just as she intended. Spinning around, she went back to Sasuke's room. She met the ANBU guards who barely gave her a passing glance. Since she was a medic, she could enter without too much trouble and stay for longer time periods (at least until night came).

Sasuke stared up at the ceiling as she crossed the threshold to his bed, not registering the fact someone else was in the room, his eyes appeared questioning and curious. Sakura smiled as she turned the chair back to its rightful position, the noise knocking him out of his daze. He turned to her and his face quickly become a scowl. He turned away when she gazed back inquisitively, but her answer came quickly.

"Don't invite Naruto back…ever," he said.

Sakura giggled, which only served to further intensify his glare. "Sure thing, Sasuke-kun. Not again." And she took his hand while he stared at her disbelievingly; knowing from the tone in his voice that he really did not mean it at all and that Team 7 was slowly coming back together.

That went well. Slowly, things are falling into place for Sasuke. And Naruto's off to learn about his parents (which I won't be writing, sorry, but like I said in two chapters ago, it'll be essay like and just too much explaining) and healing. I thought the flowers were a nice touch, Hinata!

Well, this is winding to a close. Seven parts and took me just about a year to write it and put it up (and oddly, I'm amused by it. Must the plot bunnies). Now if only the plot bunnies would get on the ball and inspire me to write!

Thanks for reading - NessaMoon