Knock, knock, knock.

Sasuke lifted his head up and glanced over to his apartment door. Mildly annoyed, he wondered why anyone would be knocking on his door now of all times. With an aggravated thought, the Uchiha realized that there was only one person who would be knocking now… And by the ferocity of the knocking, he was sure he was right in his assumption of a certain orange-clad pain-in-the-ass shinobi.

Knock knock knock knock!

Man, that idiot was persistent…

Realizing that he would NOT give up his onslaught of knocks, Sasuke reluctantly went to open the door. He met Naruto with an uninterested darkness to his face: "What do you want, Naruto?" He stated this with enthusiasm to match his expression.

"I want to talk to you," Naruto said firmly, his own expression being completely serious.

Sasuke half-rolled his eyes, "You want to talk to me?? Yeah, right… Are you jo-"

"This isn't a joke, damn it," Naruto growled, frustrated that Sasuke couldn't take him seriously, "There's something bad going on with you that you and Sakura aren't telling me about."

"Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong," Sasuke replied coldly, "My business is my business. Sakura doesn't know the half of it."

Of course she knew more than half of it… She was right there when Sasuke got the damned mark. But he didn't want Naruto to know anything about it.

"Well she knows something!" Naruto retorted, "I could tell she was trying to hide something from me! I'm not an idiot!"

Sasuke clenched his teeth together. Why wouldn't he just drop it?! Couldn't he see that it would be better for him if he didn't know?? "It's neither hers nor YOUR concern," He spat.

"How is it not our concern?!" Naruto said through gritted teeth, "You're our friend! Part of our squad! We have every right to-"

"What kind of rights do you have?! What if you couldn't do anything, even if something WAS wrong?! What good would knowing bring??"

Naruto was in a quiet rage for a moment while he took in what Sasuke said, "… We would find a way," He said slowly.

"A way?? Sasuke seemed to be getting angrier by the second.

"Yes, a way!! A way to help you!"

Finally, Sasuke decided to give. Not all the way, but just a little. This was making him furious. Why could Naruto not understand that:

"You would be in life-threatening danger, alright?!" Naruto seemed shocked by this. Sasuke continued, "I know you; anyone has a problem and you just jump right in! You don't even think about the consequences! Like an idiot!! If you just jumped in headfirst to this," He finished slowly and succinctly, "You would be annihilated!"

Naruto blinked in surprise. Sasuke was still fuming after he had finished his angry statement, "Sasuke, I…" No words would come out. But this only made him want to help even more! Why was Sasuke so concerned about telling him anything?! Was it really because of what he had just said?? Was he concerned?

"Just leave…" Sasuke let out a puff of air, turning away from Naruto and making to close his door.

"Hurry!! Get to the Hospital!"

The two shinobi looked to the side at hearing an apprehensive voice. They didn't have to wait long for an explanation of what was so urgently wrong though.

"What's going on? What happened?" Another voice answered the first. It seemed the voices were coming from a nearby apartment.

"There's an extremely critical case!" The first voice answered, "The Hokage needs all the doctors she can get!"

"Lord, when did this happen? Who is it?!"

As the two of them leapt down the floors of the apartment complex, the first medic answered the second:

"Kakashi Hatake!"

Naruto and Sasuke froze in their spots. What did they just hear?

"D-Did they say…" Naruto turned to Sasuke urgently, worry etched all over his face, "Kakashi-sensei was in… Critical condition??"

Sasuke felt a bead of sweat drop down his face as he scrutinized the short conversation the two medics had, "… If the Hokage had to call for more doctors, then he must be in an extremely serious condition…" His voice almost shook as he thought of his sensei nearing death.

"Let's go!" Naruto said feverishly, followed by a quick nod from Sasuke. They dashed to the Hospital as fast as they could.

Needless to say, Sasuke's curse mark was quickly forgotten.

………………………………………….

"L-Lady Hokage, that was amazing…" A shaky and tired doctor fell to his behind on a nearby chair.

Tsunade, also looking quite fatigued, looked upon the unconscious body of Kakashi with discomfort, "… No, it wasn't… We almost lost him…"

"But we didn't," Shizune wiped her forehead with her sleeve, smiling weakly, "And he's stable for now."

The Hokage sighed, glancing around at the drained doctors and then back at Kakashi, who still had the oxygen mask pulled around his face. He probably wouldn't have liked that they pulled off his mask, "… That's true, I suppose…" She thought back to late the previous day, when Naruto and Sasuke came bursting into the Hospital.

"Granny!!" Naruto yelled, looking up at her with an extremely apprehensive gaze, "How's Kakashi-sensei?! Where is he?!"

"Calm down Naruto," Tsunade said, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. She sighed sadly, which made the boy shiver in fright sadly, "He's in the emergency care unit… I'm afraid he's not doing so well."

His face fell. Tsunade noticed Sasuke cast his eyes to the floor and clench his fists. Her heart felt empathy for them. Not being able to do anything while a loved one was suffering was a horrible thing.

"What happened to him?" Sasuke's voice was full of icy contempt, as if Sasuke was already plotting the downfall of Kakashi's attacker.

"He was…" Tsunade searched for the right words. She couldn't tell them Orochimaru did it. That would just set the fuse; especially given Sasuke's already marked condition, "Attacked… By an enemy ninja."

Sasuke eyed Tsunade carefully. He was a smart kid. She knew he most likely figured out she was hiding things. But he also was smart enough to not try to pry. At least not then.

Naruto bit his lip, thinking of a way, any way, that he could help his sensei. Tsunade seemed to read his thoughts.

"… The only thing you can do now Naruto…" She turned around and walked back down the hall, "Is hope."

The Hokage could almost feel their sorrow on her back as she walked away. Her chest felt tight suddenly. She didn't like the fact that she could offer them no condolences, but there really was nothing they could do…

"You know, Naruto and Sasuke were here a good portion of the night," Shizune said, eyes clouding over with a mix of sadness and compassion, "Eventually I had to tell them to go home because I knew Kakashi wouldn't be getting any better that quickly…"

Tsunade shook her head, "Why?" Looking back down at Kakashi's still suffering face one more time, she turned around and made to go out the door.

"Lady Tsunade? Where are you going?" Shizune asked curiously.

"… I'm tired…" She mumbled before beginning to leave, "Shizune, make sure there is always a team of doctors in here. He has to be carefully monitored."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Why, Orochimaru?!" Tsunade thought angrily as she made her way out of the Hospital. She had to go back to the Tower. To think this over. Though this entire situation was just crazy to her, "You already have the last Uchiha marked… Why would you do this to Kakashi? The leader of that very squad?!"

Nothing made sense anymore. She felt completely helpless. What could she do for Kakashi?? She had already let yet another ninja get hurt by that snake bastard; the least she could do for her village was to make sure the Copy Ninja stayed as far away from Orochimaru as possible.

And she feared that would be much harder than anyone would anticipate.

………………………………………

Gai had gone about with his usual business that next day, though the Copy Ninja weighed heavily on his mind. No doubt his students noticed that he lacked his usual fervor for the "flame of youth". However, he just shook them off, saying he had kind of a rough night.

Yeah. He had a rough night.

Gai left the Hospital before Naruto and Sasuke even came. He didn't want to stay, knowing that Kakashi would be going through the fight of his life. Somehow he thought that being away from the problem would help ease his mind, but it wouldn't'. He also had to be the one who told a curious Asuma and Kurenai about the situation.

"Kakashi has a curse mark?!" Asuma sputtered, actually letting the cigarette in his mouth drop to the ground.

Gai nodded solemnly.

"But why?" Kurenai asked in a horrified voice, "Why would Orochimaru mark him?"

"He said it was for his 'Plan B'," Gai said with disgust.

Asuma and Kurenai both shared anxious glances. They, like Gai, had started thinking about what being Orochimaru's Plan B would entail. And it was nothing good; especially for Kakashi.

"How is he now?" Asuma asked with concern.

"I haven't been in to see him recently, but…" Gai looked up at them, "I know that he's probably been through hell."

The two Jounin cast their eyes down sadly, searching for a way that they could possibly help their friend.

But, like Gai, they knew all they could do was hope his strength pulled him through this.

Author's Notes:

I wanna thank you guys for being such awesome reviewers! I really appreciate that you're reading and liking my story so far! I've had a lot of fun writing it!

So, yeah, keep on readin' and reviewin', and I'll keep on updating! Thanks again! You guys are my inspiration to write more!

Sorry this chapter took so long; Fanfiction wouldn't let me upload it! O.o Dunno why… Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying it!