Hello again! :3
Thanks to the story's new followers! :D
I don't own Naruto! :/
Here's chapter 7!
Enjoy
Chapter 7
A week later and Naruto still hadn't woken up from the time of his operation. The streets of Konoha were rife with unrest and despite the chief of police being taken in under suspicion, no one was really any the wiser about who had attacked the Hokage. Sasuke, not wanting to return to the house he nearly lost his best friend in alone, spent most of his time in Naruto's hospital room.
Itachi Uchiha had been taken in under suspicion of attempting to kill the Hokage. The evidence at the scene largely indicated that Naruto had been familiar with his attacker, to the point that they had been able to use the rasengan.
This narrowed the list of potential suspects down greatly as few people were known to have been taught rasengan and even fewer were still alive. Naruto had only ever taught three people it in his life span; Konohamaru who never passed the skill on, his late daughter Yuuki and Itachi. Sasuke had, of course, inadvertently copied the jutsu in his previous life and again in his current one but it was the other assassination methods used that shone the light of suspicion away from him- the use of chidori.
Prior to his memories returning the week before, Sasuke had shown no inclination in wanting to use chidori. Naruto had attempted to teach him a few years before but his rather unorthodox teaching methods coupled with the fact the man couldn't use lightning natured chakara meant that his attempt had resulted in utter failure. The sixth Hokage had only taught one other person the jutsu and as a result, according to records, there was only one person that was able to perform both jutsu still alive.
The fact that Itachi Uchiha was known to harbour a great distaste for Naruto didn't help the man either.
Tensions within Sasuke's family were at an all-time high. Perhaps the relationship that had suffered the most had been between Sasuke and his only sister Yuriko – who believed that Sasuke could clear their father's name if he wanted to and was just being spiteful towards the man. Yuriko's twin brother, Seiji, had looked at Sasuke sympathetically after Yuriko had finished shouting at him before following after her. Sasuke hadn't seen nor heard from them since. Akihiro, the eldest, was heavily involved in the case and knew that their father's being still interrogated was mostly due to the man's stubbornness and refusal to answer questions. Nonetheless, he had come by a couple of times to see how his little brother was doing and had also tried to talk sense into Yuriko.
Sasuke's mother had been kept busy with her work at the hospital but popped by when she had the chance and made sure Sasuke was eating properly. Sometimes she would take some time to talk to the unconscious Naruto but never for long.
Because of this, Sasuke had a lot of time to think about the predicament he had found himself in (he had managed to organise his memories so that he no longer saw a young, pale face with dark hair over Ame's slightly wrinkled, tanned face and pink and grey streaked hair. His two lives were separated in his mind with only one connection between them: the man laying before him) and about who would have had the gall to attack one of the greatest shinobi to walk the earth.
The anger and need for revenge had not yet set in. He supposed it would take a couple of weeks like it had the last time he had found his loved ones in a pool of their own blood.
As the days went in, the teen sometimes found himself trying to distract himself from the situation by voicing his thoughts out loud and filling the silence with questions. He talked about many different things; from how the taste of tomatoes had changed a lot over the years he wasn't around- to how if Konoha ever found itself in financial problems, they could just sell the secret to looking youthful to the world. He even joked about how it was a good thing he had died just when he was starting to age in his past life because he would have looked ridiculous and felt pathetic next to the other two members of team 7. He shuddered when he realised that that would have made him the Jiraiya of the group and scowled even more at Naruto's seemingly youthful looks. He would have to get him to tell him his secret before he-
Sasuke stared even closer at the Hokage; the man would be 104 later that year. Even though he looked not much older than Itachi, Naruto had gotten really old. Sasuke clenched his fist and glared at the wall above the sleeping man as if it was the reason for Sasuke's revelation. Suddenly, Naruto not being awake for so long made terrible, terrible sense to Sasuke and his mind was back in turmoil. Never mind assassins- he was going to lose Naruto again just after remembering everything. But what could he do? He couldn't think of anyone of the same renown in the medical world as Tsunade and Sakura were that could help his friend. Besides, it wasn't an illness he wanted to stop in Naruto, it was time. The only person he could think of that might possibly….
Any thoughts of finding Naruto's attacker vanished from his mind.
He started towards the door with sudden new purpose. He knew how he was going to fix this. He wouldn't let Naruto leave him alone. He couldn't.
Sasuke could deal with physical enemies- ones he could see and feel the bite of their blade; time, however, was a completely different matter. He couldn't fight time, he couldn't kill time nor could he protect Naruto from it.
His advance was stopped as soon as he exited the room and nearly collided with Akihiro.
"Little brother, I have news."
"Hn." Sasuke sounded impatiently.
"Father's innocence has been proved."
"Hn."
"But… I don't know how to tell you this, Sasuke…"
"Just say it. I don't have time for this Aki."
"The interrogators forced their way into father's memories – it was under the vice-chief's orders – and they saw something."
Sasuke looked up at his brother, not liking where this was going.
Akihiro looked pained, "I'm sorry Sasuke but I can't help you. Why didn't you tell me you have the mangekyo?"
Sasuke ignored his brother's beseeching look and tensed. He could sense at least five hostile chakara signals surrounding him. He didn't have time for this, he had to find a way to save Naruto. There was only one option. He took a kunai from his pocket.
Akihiro noticed this too late and found himself restrained with the blade of a kunai pressing into his neck, "Sasuke, don't do this! You're only making things worse!"
"Shut up, Ni-san! I can't be arrested now! There's something I need to do!" Sasuke growled, sharingan ablaze.
Five ANBU appeared before him, "Uchiha. Let go of Akihiro."
"Sorry, Dog, I can't do that." Sasuke backed away from the masked men.
At first his brother's ragged breathing didn't register in his mind but when it did, the realisation that his brother had been raised, for the most part, as a civilian and was on the whole untrained for this kind of situation hit him like a ton of bricks. Though it wasn't the same situation by any stretch of imagination, Sasuke was dragging his innocent brother into the bloody, messy side of the ninja world that most never got to see. Just as Itachi had done to him all those decades ago.
Sasuke prayed that Akihiro would come to forgive him before shoving the man at the ANBU and running off.
He made it halfway through the village before he was caught. By the time he had been placed in a cell specifically designed to hold the most dangerous of ninja, word of his attempted escape had spread to the far corners of the village and most would agree that Sasuke Uchiha had tried to kill the Hokage.
In a room in the hospital, unaware of all that was going on outside his room, the Hokage's hand twitched a bit and the man slept on.
Ugh. This chapter was a pain to write. :')
So it has finally occurred to Sasuke that looking like you're in your 40-50s at the age of 104 isn't normal and that, despite his looks, Naruto is old. :(
Then there's the fact that he is now the chief suspect for Naruto's attempted murder.
I'll prob update tomorrow to save myself having to do so on Sunday and then we're onto weekly updates. :D
Thanks for reading! Please review! *.*