Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Soul of the Senju

Chapter 3: Matters of Opinion

July 12, 2012

"So what kind of stupid leader would send an idiot like you out on a mission alone? Your village must be pretty small if they can't even afford to send out a full team."

Naruto shot Sasuke a cross-eyed glare at the boy's newest attempt to glean information from him about his so-called 'village'. He swore it was one thing or the other. If the boy wasn't trying to trick him into spilling more details about his skills, then he was trying to rile him into revealing his background. What kind of idiot does he take me for? Naruto wasn't sure what delusions Sasuke was entertaining about his own information gathering abilities, but honestly, the boy was about as subtle as a herd of stampeding elephants (and coming from him thatwas saying something since he was hardly known for his subtlety either).

"Lay off the inquisition, bastard. I'm not in the mood."

"Tch." Sasuke glowered, turning his face to the side.

Naruto sighed as he tilted his own head heavenward, allowing the rain to drizzle lightly down his cheeks. The two of them had been forced into each other's company for close to three days now. For the most part, they got along. But then, incidentally, one of them would get bored and then they'd fight and argue for no reason at all. Usually, that wasn't a problem because Sasuke was surprisingly fun to banter with and Naruto didn't mind trading a few insults.

Right now though...

He sighed as his mind turned towards his self-imposed mission. He didn't like the idea of giving up on his first job, but he honestly wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to keep this up. From the geography, he could tell they were nearing the Land of Rain, and Ame was one of the three places he had been told to avoid at all costs.

Amegakure was best known for its endless downpour of rain. Most people thought the area was avoided because of it, but Naruto knew better. During one of his travels with his godfather, he had met a former Amegakure citizen, and the man had told him the truth. Amegakure was a place wrought with civil war, and the rain was the tears of its war-torn citizens. If people thought getting in was difficult, then getting out was guaranteed to be ten times harder.

Naruto sighed again as he blinked a droplet of rain out of his eye. Focusing his attention on the trudging group before him, which had since the beginning of the second day decided to masquerade as a traveling caravan to elude pursuers (the idiots were apparently smart enough to realize that Sasuke wasn't an orphan; therefore, someone would be coming after them), he couldn't help but think that each step was bringing them closer and closer to hell.

"Your face is melting."

Naruto shot Sasuke a baleful look. Of course he wasn't worried about anything, the ignorant bastard. Most people didn't know how potentially dangerous Amegakure could be, but he'd heard enough stories (which his godfather had confirmed to be true) to understand the seriousness of the situation they were heading towards.

"You're not looking too hot either, bastard." Naruto immediately shot back defensively. That was a lie, but it wasn't as if there were any mirrors (or girls, he supposed) around to contradict him.

Sasuke huffed. "It figures an idiot like you wouldn't be able to differentiate fact from insult."

"Whadd'ya mean?" Naruto demanded snappishly as he automatically reached for his face. "If you want to pick a fight, bastard, go find –"His fingers met something thick and gooey. It took him a minute to realize his 'disguise' had probably been ruined by the rainwater. He knew he should have used something more permanent than mud to dye his hair and dirt to cover his face!

For a split second, he panicked and looked up to gauge Sasuke's reaction. He'd been told countless time that he resembled his mother. The last thing he needed was to be recognized as a kid of Tsunade's, who he understood was slightly famous for being one of the sannin and extremely infamous for being a debt-ridden drunkard.

However, the boy was glaring at him with his usual look of irritation.

Patting his face and hair, Naruto grinned as he realized that his disguise was 'safe' since it really hadn't been raining hard enough to actually clean him. He probably resembled more like a mud monster than anything else. "Sorry about that, bastard." he chuckled, ignoring Sasuke's look of disbelief (the bastard probably couldn't understand how anyone would be happy to be dirty). Then, feeling as if he should correct his earlier slight, he tacked on: "You don't look too bad either."

Despite having been raised to resist such childish urges, Sasuke found himself rolling his eyes.

The boy was an idiot – plain and simple.

Kakashi's lone visible eye clouded as he stopped to carefully survey his surroundings. What had started as a simple C-rank mission to Tanzaku Gai to gather more information on the disappearance of a few orphans had taken a turn for worse when Sasuke had been 'kidnapped'. Sasuke wasn't the rookie of the year without reason though, so he hadn't been too worried.

But then, a day passed. Sasuke didn't return, and he had begun to worry a bit. He had contemplated going alone since it would be faster and easier that way, but he had specific orders to keep Sora close. Not to mention, he wasn't entirely confident leaving about leaving Sakura with Sora either. Sasuke might have been able to handle Sora for short period of time, but Sakura…

For the umpteenth time within the last three days, Kakashi wondered if he had made a mistake. He had sent Sasuke and Sora on that mini-mission in hopes it would help the two boys work out their differences and learn to work together. But maybe…maybe if he had paired Sakura with Sasuke and taken Sora himself, this could have been avoided.

Kakashi pushed the uncertainty aside. Although he still had some reservations concerning Sora's account of Sasuke's disappearance, he preferred to give his student the benefit of the doubt. Until proven otherwise, there was no reason to think things would have ended differently if he had sent Sakura with Sasuke instead of Sora.

Except for all her shortcomings, Sakura would never have simply abandoned Sasuke.

But at the same time, it meant he could have potentially ended up with two missing students.

Kakashi sighed. He really hated being a sensei. But now isn't the time to be thinking about that. Hearing the sound of labored breaths coming up behind him, he lifted a hand to halt his two remaining students. "Take a break." he ordered, watching from the edge of his eye as Sakura dropped gratefully onto the ground. It was a testament to how hard the pink-haired kunoichi had been pushing herself to be exhausted to the point that she didn't even care that she was practically soaking her clothes in mud.

Sora, on the other hand, looked fine for the most part. Physically, that is. But then again, Sora had always had the most stamina out of his three students. However, despite the boy's attempt to act nonchalant, Kakashi didn't miss how he looked ill at ease.

It looked suspiciously like guilt, but Sora never regretted anything he did. Not even when he had single-handedly broken all the bones in his partner's arm during a friendly classroom spar.

"Ka-Kakashi-sensei," Sakura heaved between gasps of breath. "Will we…will we r-really b-be able to…?" There were tears in her eyes, and Kakashi didn't need her to finish her sentence to know what she wanted to ask.

"We'll get Sasuke back." he reassured. That was a promise. "I won't let anything happen to my team." Not again. Never again.

Despite his confidence, however, Sakura continued to look as if she was on the verge of tears. He didn't blame her though. Sasuke had been missing for three days now, and it had been raining since last night. The longer it rained, the more difficult it would be for his nin-dogs to follow Sasuke's scent.

That was the least of his worries though.

If he had been suspicious before, then he knew for sure now that they were heading for the Land of Rain. It was a good thing he had trusted his instincts and sent out a request for backup on the second day. Hopefully, backup would arrive soon. If nothing else, he needed someone to take Sakura and Sora back to Konoha. No matter how much he wanted to save Sasuke, he wasn't about to lead his two remaining students into the Land of Rain.

"I-I can go now." Sakura wheezed, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Sora didn't comment, but if possible, his face darkened even further at the thought of having to continue.

Kakashi eye-smiled, hoping it would put Sakura at ease. "No, we'll rest for a bit longer."

"B-But what about S-Sasuke-kun?"

"He'll be okay." Kakashi assured. And if he isn't… His eyes hardened at the thought.

"Hey boss!" Naruto shouted, raising his voice so that he could be heard over the falling rain. Sasuke was sure the idiot had shouted loud enough to alert everyone within a ten mile radius. Did he want Kakashi to find them?

To ensure that their mission would run smoothly, Sasuke had made sure that Naruto understood the need to be careful not to alert his team of their location. As much as he disapproved of Kakashi's teaching method (or lack thereof), the man's reputation preceded him. The jounin famous for a reason, and given his speech about teamwork at the beginning of their team's formation, he doubted the man would just leave him behind.

Shooting Naruto a glare, he hissed, "Keep your voice down." To be honest, he wasn't sure why he cared so much about this mission. It wasn't even his mission. Not really. But for some reason, he wanted it to succeed. Maybe it was because this mission would test his strength and prove that he was suitable to be the heir of the Uchiha Clan. Or maybe it was because he hadn't felt this excited in a long time. Or maybe…Sasuke eyes connected with Naruto's.

He growled as he interpreted the look in the idiot's eyes for what it was. 'Shut up bastard and let me handle this!' It didn't even occur to him that he had understood that from a single glance.

"Don't mess up." he huffed, and dropped it. He had come too far for the mission to fail now. At one point, when Naruto had been busy bugging the leader for more food, he had even made sure to 'accidentally' let slip to one of the guards that they were being pursued.

He smirked, remembering how well his advice had been heeded when – a few hours later – the slave traders decided to disguise themselves as a traveling caravan.

Naruto grinned as the leader marched up to him and glared at him with the same murderous expression that he seen on Sasuke's face. "Yo boss!" he greeted, keeping his voice lowered this time. He didn't want to risk being gagged again, after all. It had taken him forever to convince the leader that he would behave without the gag, and that gagging him was bad for his singing voice (or something along those lines). It was lucky on his part that the idiot believed him.

"What is it now?"

Naruto inwardly laughed at the tone of long-suffering in the man's voice. Serves him right! No one kidnaps me without regretting it! Outwardly, he made sure to keep a straight face as he asked: "So, where exactly are we heading, boss?"

The man gave him a blank stare.

Beside him, he heard Sasuke mutter something that sounded suspiciously like 'you've got to be kidding'. But hey! He was a straightforward type of guy, and it wasn't like he had asked a difficult or compromising question that required subtlety.

"And why should I tell you, slave."

Okay, may be a bit of subtlety wouldn't have hurt. Putting on a hurt look, Naruto pouted. "Aw, but boss, I'm dying of curiosity." Unfortunately, the puppy eyes probably would have worked better if he wasn't dripping mud like a melting ice-cream.

Still, he had to try.

They hadn't entered the Land of Rain yet, but he estimated that it would only be a few hours before they crossed the borders. Before then, he had to know. If their destination was Ame, he'd abort the mission. He disliked the idea of failing, and hated the idea of being unable to save the kidnapped orphans even more, but over the years, he had learned that being stubborn and fearless wasn't always a good thing. Sometimes, it only ended up hurting those around him instead.

Kakashi crunched the note in his hands as he mulled over the situation. If he had thought that the situation was bad before, well…it just got a lot worse.

Reinforcements were on the way, but rather than a chuunin team (or even another genin team), the Hokage had sent an ANBU squad. It might have sounded comforting to some, but Kakashi knew that Konoha's elite would never have been dispatched for something as small as escorting two genins back to Konoha. Oh, how he wished he was wrong, but…

"Kakashi-taichou!" an owl-masked ANBU landed before him. Kakashi immediately recognized the man as Yamada Jiro. Before he had been forcibly dismissed from his position and foisted into his new job, Yamada had been one of his subordinates. It explained why he still referred to him as captain even though the title no longer applied.

Not bothering to correct the man, he demanded, "What's the situation."

Keeping an eye on the two genin who were watching them curiously, Yamada leaned in and quickly whispered the information in his ear.

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly as his suspicions were partly proven correct. "Where's the rest of the squad?" Unfortunately, the situation was even worse than he had assumed.

The Scroll of Seals had been stolen.

"They're on their way. I came first to brief you on the situation and to…" his eyes shifted to the two genin. "Hokage-sama wants you to aid in the Scrolls retrieval if you can."

"Understood." Kakashi answered. "You're sure Mizuki was heading towards Amegakure?"

"Positive."

For such a dreary place, the Land of Rain was sure popular. Kakashi sighed. "I'll keep an eye out for the Scroll." He'd help, but Sasuke was his priority.

"Kakashi-sensei…?" Sakura called tentatively.

That was his cue to leave.

Turning and giving his two genins an eye-smile, he cheerfully called out: "Be good for the ANBU." Then, turning to his former subordinate, he stated – in all seriousness – "Keep an eye on those two for me."

"You mean the Kyu –" Yamada swallowed his words when he found himself on the other end of an exceedingly cold look.

"I would watch what you say in front of me about my adorable students."

"Y-Yes sir!" Yamada bowed.

Turning, Kakashi quickly left, knowing his female student well enough to know that she would start a riot as soon as she realized he planned to leave her behind. Good thing he would be long gone by then. It would be up to Yamada to deal with the eventual fallout and breakdown (and he could say with certainty that there would be one), and if he failed to do so satisfactorily…well…there was an opening in the Academy now, wasn't there?

They were heading for Ame.

Naruto groaned. He hadn't dreaded something like this since his mother had decided he should go to school to learn basic reading and writing skills because she was too busy (being drunk) to handle it. That episode had frankly been a , but horrific.

At least he had come out of the ordeal with an important lesson: civilians were fragile and should come with a sign attached that said 'handle with care'. He had reached that conclusion after roughhousing with a few classmates. All of them inevitability wound up in the hospital with something broken (even when he wasn't fighting back). Of course, that wasn't to say he didn't like civilians. Most of them were extremely nice. But he would never want to be one, which was why he couldn't understand how his brother could turn his back on everything and choose to live as –

Focus! He needed to get out of the present situation.

"What are you thinking about?" Sasuke questioned curiously.

"Sh," Naruto mumbled. "I'm thinking."

Sasuke glared. "Don't 'shush' me."

"Quiet then." Even after weighing the pros and cons, Naruto honestly wasn't sure what he should do. They weren't headed for Amegakure itself, per se, but it was still a gamble since setting foot anywhere within the Land of Rain was potentially dangerous. Silently, he grumbled, wondering why the slave traders had to meet someone thereof all places when the Land of Rain wasn't even their destination.

And to think of it, he still didn't know where there final destination was. Why were they even bothering to make a detour when –

Pow!

Naruto recoiled in pain as he was sent sprawling onto his back. "What the hell, you bastard!" he shouted, struggling back into an upright position. "Why'd you kick me?"

"Hn."

Unbelievable! Naruto seethed angrily as Sasuke pointedly ignored his question. "What are you, three?" he demanded. "I can't believe you attacked me because I told you to shut up!"

Sasuke flushed slightly at the accusation, but made no move to apologize.

Watching blood dribble down his chin with a cross-eyed look, Naruto sighed and grumbled, "Fine, fine, forget it. I don't have time to argue with you. Just stay out of my way, bastard, okay? I'm thinking about something important."

"Tch."

"Hey Sasuke, I was thinking…"

"What?" Sasuke snapped, shaking his head a bit to move a sopping clump of hair out of his eyes. So now the idiot wanted to talk to him?

"Geez, don't snap my head off, bastard." Naruto snorted, rolling his eyes at him. Him! As if it was his fault! The idiot was the one who had claimed he wasn't in the mood to talk a minute ago, and then proceeded to snap his head off for asking a simple question. "I swear you hold grudges for the smallest things. I was busy thinking, okay?"

"You've already said that." Sasuke sneered. He wasn't angry. Why would he be angry about something so stupid? Uchihas were above such pettiness after all.

"All right, all right!" Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry. There. I said it. Now will you listen?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Don't treat me like a –"

"Shut it, bastard." Naruto cut him off agitatedly.

Sasuke had never seen the idiot act that way, and subconsciously quieted to avoid irritating the boy even further. "Fine," he snapped, "I'm listening." At his words, Naruto promptly opened his mouth, but ended up closing it again without saying anything. Now Sasuke was getting a little worried because Naruto had never had problems with finding something to say before. However, he couldn't even begin to fathom what could have possibly riled the idiot to this degree. As far as he knew, today had been as eventless as the last two days.

He couldn't possibly be irritated because of the weather, right? It was just rain.

"Look, I'm not good with this whole being subtle thing, so I'm just going to come out and say it, okay?" The idiot was being stupid, but Sasuke nodded in an effort to get the boy to finish his sentence (so that they could finally end this pointless conversation). "Okay, okay, I'll say it. But promise you won't bite my head off until I finish!"

Sasuke's shoulders slumped slightly as he mentally rolled his eyes. He swore the boy was trying to grate on his nerves. If he wasn't utterly positive his words would derail into another argument with the idiot, he would have told Naruto to 'stop being a sissy' and simply spit it out 'before they all died of old age'.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but trust me, okay?"

"..."

"We need to abort this mission – now."

Sasuke's mind skidded to a stop as he blinked slowly. What? Of all the potential things that could have been said, that had been the last thing he expected.

"It's too dangerous."

It took a second for Sasuke to register he had spoken his question out loud. However, he quickly recovered and hissed darkly, "No."

Naruto gave him a frustrated look. "Do you have any idea what you're getting into?"

Sasuke was pretty sure the look of frustration on the idiot's face was mirrored on his own. He didn't care though because for some unexplainable reason, he was beyond irritated by Naruto's words. In a way, he almost felt…betrayed? No, no. That wasn't it. He just didn't like people who backed out of things at the last minute. "I didn't waste three days here because I enjoyed your company."

"I know that!" Naruto snapped, raising his voice suddenly.

It pissed him off to hear the idiot raising his voice to him. He was the one that wanted to back out of their agreement.

"But it was my mission, remember? I never asked for you to waste your time. You're the one who volunteered!"

He couldn't understand why he felt like he had been slapped. So, he snapped back. "I'm not abandoning my mission, but if you're scared, you're free to go."

"Don't be a fool, Sasuke." Naruto growled, pinning him with his blue eyes. "I hate this as much as you, but we can't handle this."

Sasuke lips twisted into a sneer as an uncomfortable feeling simmered in his stomach. Naruto's words hadn't been aimed at him alone, but it still felt too much like an accusation. That he was too weak. That he couldn't handle anything. That he didn't deserve to be the Uchiha Heir. That he was a pale replacement of his deceased brother. "Shut up," he hissed, eyes blazing with fury. "Shut up!" If the idiot wanted to go, then he could go. It wasn't like he needed his help. "I'm not like you." Despite all logical reasons to simply drop the argument and let the idiot go, it felt like it wasn't enough. Something was burning inside and he felt distinctly like shouting. He didn't though because Uchihas never raised their voice. He settled for barbed words instead. "I should have expected that a nameless village like yours would produce nothing but cowards."

Naruto's eyes flashed. For a second, Sasuke was sure the other would lash out at him.

"You know what, bastard?" Naruto hissed, easily slipping out of the bindings. He didn't even bother to check if anyone was watching them. "I'm done. If you want to stay, then stay. Don't say I didn't warn you though. Amegakure is dangerous."

Before he could get another word in edgewise, the boy was gone.

Just like that. He was on his own.

Despite the rain and the sound of trudging feet and creaking wheels, it felt strangely quiet. Maybe he had been in the other's boy presence too long. After all, if nothing else, Naruto had been loud. And now that the idiot was gone, it was silent.

Even as a horrible ruckus broke out around him a little later when someone finally noticedthat the idiot had 'escaped', Sasuke found that it was relatively quiet. It wasn't like he missed the noise (he absolutely loathed loud noises), but it was strangethat for once the idiot's ringing voice wasn't part of the ruckus.

No, he didn't miss it, but he'd gotten used to it.

TBC

AN: Chapter was a little delayed because I was on vacation, but I've posted it now. I hope everyone enjoyed and will continue reviewing. I really appreciate the feedback.

Also, again, keep in mind this AU. I'm doing my best to keep everyone in character as much as possible, but both Sasuke and Naruto have had different upbringings that have to be taken into account. That said, please let me know if I'm making them too OOC.

Finally, to answer two questions:

1. Is Sora the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki? The answer is yes. I tried to hint at it, but it wasn't meant to be a big mystery or anything like that.

2. Who is Naruto's brother?I'm not going reveal that yet, but everyone's free to take guesses. He's not an original character though so that should ease the mind of those with OC phobia. As for his importance, he'll have a fairly big role in the story.