Author's note: Yea, remember when I said I wasn't going to let this story end anytime soon? Well, I didn't lie I just got a bit sidetracked for, oh, three months or so and was unable to write… sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto blah, blah, blah…

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 10

Rage

It didn't take long for Naruto to zero in on his prey what with his heightened senses due to the raw demonic chakra emanating from every cell in his body.

Neji, Tenten, and Lee were where any self respecting shinobi would be on a day of fair weather; they were in a place that was very much open and the perfect location for a good bloody fight, the training grounds.

Silently, so as to not be seen, Naruto watched the team's meticulous training from the trees. It definitely made sense, the evidence pointing to the team that is. The fact that Sasuke had apologized to the dead cousin of the Hyuuga man who had allegedly died during a fight with one of Sasuke's old allies was verification enough in Naruto's mind. Neji had done this, and Neji would be the one to pay the price.

The blonde's scrutinizing eyes evaluated Neji carefully as he sparred with his girlfriend. In any other situation Naruto would have had serious second thoughts about challenging the Hyuuga with the deadly woman around but now, if need be, he would take her down just as ruthlessly if she got in his way.

As the demon possessed boy watched the two shinobi spin 'round and 'round in their deadly dance he was able to see that whenever Neji delivered a blow with his right arm it would retract immediately back to his side as though to protect a point of weakness that, at the moment, had no armor to cover it. He was going to make a point to use that weakness in the impending brawl. His jaw tightened as eyes that glowed in the shadows narrowed; he was ready to strike.

'Stop! Wait! You need to keep out of the way until the other two are gone!' Kyuubi screamed in the back of Naruto's rage-clouded mind. Lucky for those on the ground the demon had enough control over its host's body in such a state to keep it stationary, if only for a moment.

Naruto growled, why the hell should I? You know it was two of them so if I take out more than just Hyuuga it'll be the other bastard too! I'm attacking, now! He tensed to leap from his perch.

Kyuubi frantically kept his hold on Naruto's body, 'What if it was the girl?' he shrieked, not wanting his host to get in more of a bind than necessary afterwards. 'Are you going to kill her too?'

Naruto grinned, "Only if she wants to die."

This wasn't like Naruto at all; Kyuubi kept silent for he knew there was no changing the blonde's mind now. All he could do was hope he had enough control when the time came to keep Naruto from decapitating his former friend. The master Kyuubi had known recently was new, never before had Naruto been cruel or demanding or scheming, and he would have never thought of harming any of his friends no matter what they had done. He would have defended them to the death on the off-chance that they were actually innocent. It used to be all sunshine and smiles with the blonde and, to be honest, that was the way Kyuubi liked it. But, now, with the object of Naruto's affections back in the picture he didn't smile as much as he used to and was always so deep in thought. Even though Naruto would never hear Kyuubi say it directly, he was worried.

As soon as the demon relinquished control of his limbs the blonde dropped through the leaves like a stone, making sure to mask his chakra to the best of his ability. Having surprise on his side would definitely prove useful. He started towards them immediately, not to talk about the incident but to jump right to the good part. Neji knew what he'd done, he didn't need an explanation.

All three members of the team turned to him when they heard Naruto's heavy footfall and the blonde growled when all of them dared to smile at him as he approached. He grinned back, but it was not like theirs, his smile was more one of the lion before it took off chasing the gazelle and as everybody knew, the gazelle was always caught.

Tenten waved to him and skipped forward. "Hey, Naruto, what are you doing out here? I didn't think Lady Tsunade was letting you out of the office anymore."

Naruto shook his head. She was so guilty he couldn't stand it; if he even opened his mouth what he wanted to say would come out and blow his cover. He glanced a Lee who had an uneasy look on his face and sighed, Lee practically belonged to Sakura… even if he had taken part in what was done to Sasuke he would go before the fighting started.

"Lee, Sakura wants to see you, she said she was going to be at the hot springs." He had to fight to keep his voice level as he banished bushy brows to the other side of the city so that it would be impossible to hurt him and impossible for him to sense the aura of battle.

At the sound of Sakura waiting for him Lee was gone in an instant. Then, Neji took a step forward.

"What's going on Naruto? We haven't seen you in a few days… is Sasuke-kun doing all right?" When Neji spoke his face barely moved like he was trying to keep it still, it was as though someone had hit him.

At the mention of if Sasuke was doing "all right" Naruto could feel the rage boiling up in his throat. He calmly took the last three steps towards the Hyuuga and slammed his fist into Neji's face.

The man grunted as he crashed to the ground and immediately he was sitting up with a horribly worried Tenten by his side. She pulled at his arm with wide eyes and shouting.

"I told you he would find out! C'mon let's go!" but she was completely ignored. Neither of the men registered that she was even there as she screeched at them to not fight and to talk it out. Neji shook her off of his arm and stood up, glaring at Naruto with a smirk on his face.

Naruto grinned back.

"So the kid told you what I did." he put a bit of an emphasis on the word "I" to keep the blonde's attention from Tenten. "That's pretty infantile of him don't you think? It's like being in preschool and tattling to the teacher when someone shoves you on the playground. What a snitch."

A deep growl erupted from the back of Naruto's throat. "You know Sasuke had nothing to do with Hinata! It wasn't even one of his that killed her!" at the mention of his lost cousin Neji's face contorted with rage as his fists clenched at his sides.

"What the hell would you know?" he screamed, "You weren't out there on the front lines with the rest of us! You don't know what happened; you stayed behind in your fucking office while our friends were killed out there! Did you even know you were just sending all of us to the slaughter house like a bunch of animals or did Lady Tsunade tell you that everything was alright? It wasn't! We were being killed –!" Neji was forced to stop short because Naruto was suddenly in his face, sharp claws enclosed around his neck before Neji even knew he was there. Immediately the blonde slammed him into the earth with all his might, shattering plenty of his opponent's bones and creating a six food diameter crater in the training grounds at the same time.

Neji gasped desperately for the breath that had been forced out of his lungs and grabbed at Naruto's arm to no avail, there was no way he was letting go now.

The demon host leaned in close to Neji's ear as the terrified shinobi struggled to get away. Naruto chuckled darkly as Neji's eyes widened, he had just spotted the single orange chakra tail behind Naruto's back that was quickly forming into two.

"Well, Neji, instead of taking it out on him, you should have come to me."

X

Naruto booked it over the rooftops from the training grounds to the hospital, he'd left Neji just barely alive and Tenten there with him as a witness to what had happened. He even almost regretted threatening the girl that if news of their fight got out to anyone or if Neji ever had a bone to pick with Sasuke again he'd come back and "spar" with her next time.

The faster Naruto ran the more of the raw demon chakra leaked back off of him and to its original source, Kyuubi, who at the moment was not really speaking to his host. Soon enough Naruto was back to normal, and good thing too because Lady Tsunade would be in the hospital with Sasuke and she could tell if something was wrong by how high his chakra levels were.

Naruto wondered if Sasuke would be able to tell if something was wrong. Would he even be awake when Naruto got there? He'd been gone far too long talking sense into Neji and Sasuke may have woken up without the blonde there to see him, how would he take that? Naruto pushed himself to run faster assuming that if Sasuke woke up and Naruto wasn't there he would think himself abandoned and run away again.

Naruto was not about to let that happen but he couldn't move any faster than he already was. He'd been injured in the fight too, well, not really injured as more hindered in his ability. Using so much of Kyuubi's chakra drained the energy right out of him and if it were not for the fact that he needed to see if Sasuke was alright now Naruto would be balled up in a corner sleeping somewhere. As the blonde continued to run his eyes drooped and he began to swerve around, leaping on and off of buildings that were not in line with the hospital.

He was only able to wake himself up when a plank of wood smacked him in the face, or a couple wooden planks. Naruto never would have thought it possible to fall asleep while running but he definitely had, crashing face first into someone's home. He apologized for the damage and kept on going leaping out the nearest window and down into the streets to make sure he didn't destroy any more buildings.

But sleep was not the only thing obstructing Naruto's eyesight. The tears threatened to spill out even now, Naruto still could not believe that Neji could be such a heartless monster, the man had known full well that Sasuke had not idea about what had happened to Hinata and even if he had told him the Uchiha would have sincerely apologized.

Because that's the kind of person he is now, Naruto thought.

He'd been more than sad when the news of the main branch of the Hyuuga clan's daughter reached his office, it was devastating. Hinata had been one of Naruto's biggest supporters after Sasuke left him and when he always said he wanted to become Hokage, not to mention professing her love to him more than once. He hadn't wanted to send her out to the front lines but for some reason she wanted to go, now Naruto realized that it was because she had wanted to fight for him to prove to him that she could protect the village too, just like he did. Naruto also knew now that Neji hadn't attacked Sasuke to get back at the raven but it was to crush Naruto that he'd attacked the object of his affections. A low blow by any standards but apparently Neji had no problem with that.

Naruto knew that he needed to show the others who Sasuke really was by example. He wasn't going to give in to people like Neji who wanted the Uchiha to go because of the things he'd done in the past, Sasuke was going to stay, and however long it took for Naruto to help him win back their trust he was going to stand by his friend and do anything he possibly could to help.

Don't worry Sasuke; I haven't given up on you just yet.

He arrived at the hospital and pushed through the doors.

Author's note: Okey dokey then. I guess this is it for chapter ten, sorry for it being so short but there wasn't much else I could do with the story for this one… sorry. Anyway, next time will be much better and I will update as soon as possible so as to not abandon you guys again, sorry about that.

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