A/N: Agh! Thanks to a busy schedule, it took me longer than usual to update. (pouts) BUT, now the new chapter is finally here – whether that's a good thing or not! (grins)

First off, of course… My gosh, thank yous so much for all those amazing reviews – I seriously can't believe you've liked the story thus far THAT much! (gasps, then glomps) You guys make this story feel loved. Thank you! Heh, as per usual with my fics, responses to anonymous reviews can be found from underneath the chappy.

Awkay, because you've already waited longer than necessary… Let's rock! I sincerily hope ya guys will enjoy this one. (gulps)

CHAPTER 5: The Changing Tides

One Month Later

For the past four weeks Naruto had been walking around as though in a fog of some sort, barely managing to understand what was going on around him.

Iruka was feeling worse – he could see it clearly, although the man worked his hardest to try and hide it. He heard the man throwing up all day and night long, and when his foster father wasn't feeling sick he was trying to fight sleep to try and convince him that everything was alright. Didn't the brunet realize that he knew things weren't alright?

Outside home, however, it was a different story. For as of lately, the strange little world inside Tengoku's walls had been full of miracles.

Sasuke talked; not much, of course – barely even sentences – but still. The boy's voice was a little raw from all the years it hadn't been used, but Naruto enjoyed hearing it; far more than he should've, he might've noticed under different circumstances. And he feared that any given morning Sasuke might've lost his voice, which had taken so long to be regained.

So far, however, nothing such had happened. And little by little, with extremely slow progress, Sasuke started to seem truly alive.

That morning, he found Sasuke from the Uchiha's room. The boy who'd formerly only laid in his bed was now stood before the window, observing the world outside with watchful eyes. Hearing, or perhaps sensing, his presence the boy peered over his shoulder and gave a nod of recognition.

He grinned. "Hey!" He observed the boy for a moment, noticing that the raven appeared exhausted, then remembered. "Did Tsunade's therapy session wear out?"

Sasuke didn't look towards him. "Hn." Then, as though remembering that he was able and allowed to do so, the boy spoke. "No."

Not fooled by the answer, he smiled a little, then pulled something from his bag. "Listen up. I know how much you love music, so I thought I should bring you something." He revealed his offering, which turned out to be a book filled with the notes for tens of songs. "I… thought you could teach me some of these. Iruka bought this book for me but I've never played, so…" He trailed off, feeling stupid all of a sudden.

The look Sasuke gave him after a couple of seconds, however, quickly changed the trail of his thoughts. Because the message was clear even without words.

'Thank you.'

They sat in a remarkably comfortable silence for a while, until his mouth finally worked. He glanced almost longingly towards the room's door. "Do you think we could play for a while, before lunch?"

There was no hesitation before Sasuke nodded. Nothing such showed, but he could've sworn a smile, or at least a tiny smirk, was threateningly close. "'K."

When Sasuke didn't show up for lunch, Tsunade was worried. But when she realized that Naruto was missing as well, her dark thoughts turned into a tiny smirk.

So she had been right all along.

Leaving the other teens into the very capable hands of Shizune and a couple of skilled assistants, she followed her hunch.

At first she couldn't find anything. Then, so suddenly that she stopped for a second, she heard the music and the others sounds. When she stopped to a certain doorway, she found it hard to resist te temptation to smile.

Inside, Naruto and Sasuke were playing the piano, hands moving with such speed that it was impossible to tell which one's hand was which. But this time, there was something different from the boys' usual piano-lessons.

Naruto, of course, was just as excited and overjoyed as usual – these little sessions always seemed to erase whatever burden there was on the blond's young shoulders. But this time Sasuke seemed different as well. The raven was visibly relaxed, and allowed Naruto physically closer than he'd ever let anyone. Those onyx eyes had also never looked as alive as they did then. For the first time Tsunade felt like she'd been looking at a regular teenage boy when watching the Uchiha, and she welcomed the change gladly.

Suddenly, with a note Naruto clearly misplayed, the practice was over. The blond grinned sheepishly. "Heh, 'guess that didn't go right."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, in which a careful observer could see something foreign. "That… is the easiet song in the book, dobe."

Tsunade felt her eyes widen with shock, and for a fleeting second Naruto seemed equally surprised. That was the most they'd ever heard Sasuke speak at one go.

Then, loyal to his nature, Naruto recovered fast and stuck out his tongue. "It's not my fault I've got clumsy fingers. Now stop making fun of me and teach."

With another roll eyes from Sasuke the lesson went on, with the two completely lost into a world of their own.

Tsunade was just about to relax when she sensed someone approaching. Turning her gaze, she felt much colder than before when seeing the look on Shizune's face as the younger woman walked up to her. "What's wrong?" she inquired out of instinct.

Shizune sighed heavily. "Haku… didn't show up to eat with the others. He didn't show up for the therapy that's about to start, either."

She felt something dark and cold settle into the pit of her stomach. Haku had been making such good progress that she'd been a fool enough to think that the chance of a relapse was over. And now… She groaned, rubbing her face with one hand. "I'll go and talk to him."

Unfortunately, however, Shizune wasn't finished. There was a dark look in the younger woman's eyes. "There's more." She heard a loud gulp. "Hinata… painted again. Ibiki and Hiashi are both on their way here."

The situation wasn't too far from a chaos when Tsunade finally made it to the scene. In a tiny room, Hinata had hunched into a corner. The other two occupants, Hiashi Hyuuga – who'd obviously come straight from work – and Ibiki Morino, were snarling at each other. The latter was standing between the father and daughter, as though working as a barrier of defence.

"She's my daughter – I have every right to choose who gets to talk to her!" Hiashi snarled with narrowed eyes, his hand flying towards the painting in the room's corner – Tsunade noticed with chills that it was a bloodfilled, snapshot-like picture of a very bloodied body lay in the middle of a dark room, with two more figures hiding in the room's corner and a one more figure stood right before the clearly butchered one. "That painting proves just how much damage you've done! I'm not going to let you harass her without me being here!"

"We're trying to solve a crime!" Ibiki growled back. "And if you're trying to prevent that, I'll gladly have you arrested for obstruction of justice."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed even further. "I'm not letting you anywhere near my daughter!"

At this point Tsunade decided to step in. Her eyes were slits as she stood before Hiashi. "Let the officials do their work – for Hinata's sake. Understood?"

At first Hiashi's lips opened, but in the end the man stormed out, slamming the door as he went.

Once the door was closed, thick and electric silence lingered in the room for the longest time, until it was cut by the frailest of voices. "We… We saw…"

Both adults looked towards Hinata with utter stun. The tears and the pure, wild terror in the girl's eyes spoke far louder than her words. "H-He killed her, I… Neji and I… we saw." She then buried her face into her knees and started to shake uncontrollably. The next words were barely audible. "She… she's dead… She's dead… She wouldn't move…"

Tsunade felt how blood turned cold in her veins. Her eyes slightly widened, she looked towards Ibiki, who seemed to be having similar emotions.

It took a mighty while before Ibiki spoke. "So… This is it", the man stated so quietly that Hinata wouldn't hear. "We're starting official investigations. On both her and Sasuke's case."

She felt a cold shiver. "What do you mean?"

His face even more serious than usual, he handed her a piece of paper. "Here's the results of Sasuke's blood test."

She glanced at the paper – and her eyes first widened, then flashed with something extremely dark. "These are illegal drugs! If Danzo had kept giving these to someone like Sasuke…" Her eyes narrowed as she fumed inside. "That asshole…!"

"We're going to find Danzo and Orochimaru." Ibiki glanced towards Hinata. "And we're going to find out who brought all that pain on her family as well."

Her eyes darkened significantly. "Make damn sure they'll pay dearly for putting these teenagers through all this."

Ibiki nodded. "I will." He then sighed and turned around. "I've gotta go. They've already paged me five times from the station."

As soon as he'd left, she took a deep breath and started to approach a hysterical Hinata slowly.

Sometimes she really hated her job.

Iruka was fairly sure that he'd never felt as sick in his life as he did while he was lay in a hospital bed, trying his hardest not to vomit while the newest dosage of chemo traveled through his veins. His thoughts and emotions swayed, swirled and mixed while exhaustion washed over him. He was already falling asleep when the room's door was suddenly opened.

He opened his eyes – and felt a tremor of shock go through him when finding Kakashi stood by the room's doorway. His heart seemed to loose its rhytmn for a couple of seconds.

He wasn't sure which one hurt more – seeing Kakashi's shock over his clearly sick appearance, or seeing how cautious the man was to approach him.

In the end, it took quite a bit of him to create a tiny smile. "Hey." In some other situation he might've snorted. Was that honestly the best he could come up with?

Kakashi licked his lips and scratched his hair before the words finally came. "Hey." Apparently he wasn't the only one at a loss of words.

Neither of them knew what to say. The silence was heavy and awkward, filled with words that were too late to be voiced.

In the end Iruka's lips moved without much of a thought. "Kakashi… I never wanted to abandon you." He glanced towards the man, unable to read the things he found. "You believe me, don't you?" Things weren't that badly wrong, right?

Kakashi's eyes found his, filled with all the same things as they had been that day. "I want to." The man then seemed to try and focus on his papers. "You… aren't officially my patient, and I have a lot of work to do, so…" The man started to turn to leave, although there was clearly something he would've wanted to say.

Kakashi was already by the room's door when he finally found his voice. "I've missed you. Every day."

He could almost feel the words Kakashi was about to speak, but before anything came the man was gone, like a ghost having disappeared to nothingness.

He leaned his head backwards and released a loud, almost desperate groan.

No amount of throwing up would ease the nausea that'd appeared to linger inside him.

-

When Naruto entered the room, he frowned at the troubled look on his foster-father's face. "What's wrong?"

Blinking furiously – as though only just waking up – Iruka looked towards him and created a feeble reassuring expression. "I'm… feeling a little queasy, that's all."

Unconvinced, he nodded, then took a deep breath. He hated it how pale and obviously nauseated these treatment sessions made the brunet. If only there'd been something he could've done… He swallowed thickly and tried to grin. "Let's go home. I bet you're sick of this place already."

When Iruka got up, they both saw it. Several strands of long, chocolate-brown hair had fallen to the man's pillow. Something inside Naruto twisted painfully.

As though sensing the emotions inside him, Iruka looked towards him and tried to smile comfortingly. "Naruto…" The rest never came out.

He'd been putting on a brave front for a long time already. At that moment it finally crackled.

Iruka couldn't do anything but hold him as he broke into proud tears that wouldn't stop, hugging the only father he'd ever known as tightly as he possibly could without bringing pain.

The following afternoon all of Naruto's worries floated away once more while everyone else but Hinata and Haku – who were absent for one reason or another – enjoyed a session of art-therapy.

As he watched the teens in front of their artworks, he found it nearly impossible to believe that they were in an institution of some sort. For once Gaara's expression was thoughtful, even soft, while the boy painted. Juugo also seemed content while sitting as close to Sasuke as he dared to, both of them absorbed by their paintings. He couldn't understand why such a sight made him feel… jealous, almost.

And there was also whistling.

Amused, he turned his gaze to take a look at Sakura, who was responsible for the sound. "Now what's gotten you into such a good mood?"

She grinned. "I haven't told you, have I?" Her eyes flashed with excitement. "Tsunade's discharging me in two days. I'll still have to work here, but I'll get to go home."

He couldn't even begin to guess what kind of a home the girl would be going to – after all, her own foster-father had been abusing her. She'd have a long road of adjusting ahead of her. But at the moment those things seemed quite far. And that's why he grinned as well. "You know what?" He looked at the others. "This calls for a celebration."

Juugo blinked once, appearing mildly interested. Gaara arched an eyebrow.

Sasuke, on the other hand, scoffed. "You've gotta be kidding me."

He grinned at the Uchiha. "Don't be a spoilsport, Sasuke."

Sasuke made a strange sound. "You're a real dobe sometimes."

It came completely without a warning – the pain, and especially the flash that followed. It came so rapidly that all he could do was yelp.

/ Suddenly he saw himself at the age of eight, climbing into an apple tree with a raven-haired boy following. They were already so high up that his head spun – or perhaps that flash was just messing his head.

The raven's expression was dry, completely un-childlike. "You do understand that he's gonna kill us for this, right?"

He grinned radiantly. "Nah, he's only gonna do that if he catches us." He looked over his shoulder towards the boy. "Don't be a spoilsport, Sasuke."

Sasuke's lips parted – but before anything came his hold broke, and he was falling fast with a loud scream. Unable to stop himself, he took Sasuke down with him while crashing down. He closed his eyes – and they hit the ground.

For a couple of moments he didn't even dare to breath. Then, very slowly, he opened his eys – and gave something between a gasp and a yelp when realizing that Sasuke was underneath him, completely motionless. The raven's eyes were closed.

"Sasuke?" he tried. The raven remained unmoving. Panic squeezed his throat, which was why his voice came out as a squeak. "Sasuke?" There was no response. His heart started to hammer, and his eyes stung as he stroked the other child's cheek in panic, not knowing what else to do anymore. "S-S'uke, c'mon…!"

And then, just as he was about to scream with terror, Sasuke's eyes fluttered halfway open. The raven shook his head, giving a somewhat shuddering snort. "You're a real dobe sometimes." /

And then Naruto crashed back into reality – only to realize that he was leaning against Sasuke, who was stiffer than a violin's string, and that his hand was squeezing the boy's wrist tightly. His head hurt, so badly that he almost screamed.

"Naruto?" That… wasn't Sasuke's voice. Glancing to side slowly, he found Gaara's frown. "Is… everything okay?"

He blinked furiously, his head still hurting like someone had been hammering it and his heart beating much too fast. "Y-Yeah, yeah. I'm… fine. It's… just a little headache." Suddenly Sasuke's skin was almost burning him. He distanced himself from the boy rapidly, preparing himself for a flight. "I… I need some… air." And with that he was on his way.

On his way out of the room, he dashed past Tsunade. She gave him a confused look. "Naruto? What's wrong?"

He couldn't respond – all he could do was run.

When he made it to the nearest bathroom, he threw up loudly.

Later that evening, Naruto's head still hurt as he sat in a very familiar park with Sai, Ino, Shikamaru and Kiba. Usually the athmosphere around them was enough to calm anyone, but as of lately – with all the subtle tension between Sai and Ino – things had been far from comfortable. It felt like they'd been waiting helplessly for a bomb to go off.

That evening, however, all tensions were pushed aside as the others listened somewhat disbelievingly while Naruto told about his recent dreams and of the strange flash.

"Do you seriously think it was a memory?" Shikamaru, who was sitting with Ino in his lap, inquired with clear scepticism. "That you were really in the same orphanage with him?"

Kiba frowned. "Why did you block out all that stuff? I don't get it."

He shrugged, feeling irritated by the recently discovered holes in his past. "I don't get it, either. I just…" He shook his head. "I really, really wish I remembered. This is all giving me a headache."

Shikamaru snorted. "Yeah, I bet."

He then allowed his thoughts to move elsewhere. "What about you guys? Anything new?"

Whereas Sai and Ino tensed up completeley and Shikamaru snorted, Kiba laughed out loud. "I broke my record on eating burgers the other day, and got a black eye when asking Karin out yesterday. Do those count?"

Shikamaru smirked. "You actually asked her out? Isn't she in a whole another league?"

Kiba responded with a far from mature expression and gesture.

Shikamaru then took a glance towards his watch and winced. "Oh man, I'm late. Some family-friends are coming over – I'm supposed to be home to greet them." He gave Ino a somewhat tender kiss while pushing her gently from his lap. "I'll call you later, 'k?"

Sai bounced up immediately, starting to leave. "I've… gotta go. I'm starting to work in Tengoku tomorrow, so…"

Aside Naruto, the others may have also noticed Sai's weird expression if Kiba hadn't spoken just then. "I'm also off. Akamaru's been sick or something lately – I want to check up on him."

Once the others had left after words of parting, Naruto's attention shifted to Ino, who was watching Sai's distancing back with a gloomy expression on her face. "You miss him, don't you?" he suggested.

The girl sighed a little. "You have no idea." She winced, more to herself than him. "Sometimes… I just wish it wasn't too late, now."

"It isn't." He glanced towards the direction to which Sai had disappeared. "Why don't you just tell him how you feel, how much you miss him?"

"Because it's too fucking late already, okay?!" Realizing her tone, she took a deep breath, then spoke again. "It's… too late."

He frowned. "Why?"

He could've sworn Ino shivered and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears while she lifted her gaze towards the stars. It took the longest moment before she spoke, pulling her legs to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Do you… think it'll ever get easy?"

He smiled wryly, also lifting his gaze. "No." He shrugged somewhat helplessly. "But I guess it's gotta start getting easier at some point, right?"

Ino didn't respond. Neither noticed the silence that crashed down on them.

The next day Naruto was relieved to discover that no more memories appeared – although, much to his regret and sadness, it was mostly because Sasuke seemed to be avoiding him. There was, however, something else disturbing him.

For the third time already, Haku skipped art-therapy. And when he heard Tsunade admit to Shizune that she was worried, he realized that he needed to do something.

Haku called him into his room after two knocks. He entered with some inexplainable worry – and blinked when finding Haku sitting on his bed with a book in his lap.

He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it.

Haku seemed between surprised and startled when seeing him. "Naruto?"

Once again, he felt very stupid all of a sudden. "You… skipped art-therapy again today." He observed the other boy, who seemed paler than usual. It was obvious the raven hadn't been sleeping well lately. "What's wrong?"

Haku shook his head, trying to smile. "I was just a little tired, that's all. You shouldn't worry – Tsunade already talked to me."

He frowned, still not fully convinced. "So… you're okay?"

Haku nodded, seeming so calm that it was impossible not to believe. "Yes, I'm alright. I'm sorry about worrying you."

He wasn't entirely sure how to react, and before he had to make his decision there was a knock before the door was pushed open. In a moment Hinata peered in with a bright blush. "T-Tsunade sent m-me to look f-for you", the girl explained. "S-She has a task for you."

He glanced towards Haku once more. Something he couldn't name squirmed in his stomach. "Look…" There was something he would've desperately wanted to say, but he couldn't find the words.

Haku's tiny smile seemed genuine enough. "I'm okay – you don't need to worry about me."

He nodded. "I'll see you later, okay?" He then focused on Hinata. "I… guess we should go."

-

Once he was left alone, Haku moved the book he hadn't been able to focus on. Underneath it lay a tiny piece of glass.

Earlier that day, he'd dropped a glass during lunch. The shard he'd managed to snatch wasn't big, but it was well sharp enough.

His eyes turned even darker than usual.

In a rather abandoned mansion that'd already seen its best days, Danzo fought his hardest not to tremble when he stepped into the building's biggest room. "You… wanted to talk to me."

On the other side of the room another man – who's raven hair was placed to a neat plait – nodded while pouring himself some wine. "Yes." It sounded like a snake's hiss. The man turned around, watching him with reptile's eyes that made him tremble. "I recently heard that you… made quite a mistake. You got yourself fired, and the police is after you."

He swallowed thickly, realizing just how huge of a trouble he was in. Shit… "It's… It's not too late yet. I can… I can still sneak my way back in, you see? I can…"

The other man's violent gesture made him shut up in an instant. "I already sent someone else to take care of your assignment." Those dangerous eyes locked with his. "I have no use for you anymore."

Danzo's eyes widened.

In some moments a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the house, sneaking down the empty street.

Following Hinata, Naruto ended up into Tengoku's biggest common space he'd never been in before. He found his heart skipping a beat or two once he noticed that Sasuke was also there, sitting in a huge armchair by the window and looking out with slightly glazed eyes.

Something stern settled into him.

This most likely wasn't what Tsunade had asked him here for, but this was also definitely something he needed to take care of, fast.

He took a deep breath, then looked towards Hinata. "There's… something I need to do. I'll see you later, 'k?"

The girl blushed radiantly before starting to all but dash away. "S-See you." And so she was already gone.

Focusing on Sasuke once more, he steeled himself and started to approach. It hurt him how the boy stiffened when seeing him – something had obviously been broken by that stupid flash and his reaction to it. He sighed heavily. "Look… I'm sorry, about yesterday. But…" He decided that he'd have to be perfectly honest if he ever wanted any trust. He swallowed laboriously. "Lately, I've been… having these flashes – memories, I guess. They're… about you, mostly, and they scare me, because I have no idea what they mean. Right now, I'm just… I'm confused, okay? And… And…" His words got tangled for a while. "I need time, to figure things out. But I'm not leaving – I'd never abandon you. I just… I really need you to understand."

Sasuke looked at him for the longest time, quite understandably confused by his rambling. Then, very slowly, the boy relaxed. "It's… okay, that you need time." The raven looked away. "I… need time, too."

He couldn't help the tiny smile that rose to his lips.

One can only wonder what might've happened if steps hadn't interrupted them just then. In a moment a familiar voice spoke. "I guess I came to the right place."

Turning his gaze, he found Sai. A huge grin appeared to his face. "Hey! I was wondering when you'd show up." He then noticed a young man with gray hair and eyeglasses entering the room. A frown appeared to his forehead. "Who's that?" From the corner of his eye, he noticed how Sasuke's eyes flashed almost violently when also spotting the new face. Before he could stop the boy the raven got up much too fast and disappeared in a flash.

The stranger, obviously noticing his stare, looked towards him, then approached with a smile. "Hello. I think we haven't met before." A hand was outstretched. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi. I'm taking over Danzo's position as a doctor."

Naruto blinked with surprise at this. Wasn't Kabuto a bit too young to be a doctor? He, however, managed to grin politely while shaking the man's hand – this, although a sensation of threat he couldn't explain swirled inside him. "Hi. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a trainee."

Kabuto nodded slowly, seeming to observe him. "Nice to meet you, Naruto."

Something dangerous and unnerving Naruto couldn't explain lingered while they looked at each other for a couple of long moments. After that the other man focused on greeting Sai. Naruto, on the other hand, was preoccupied as something that felt like a memory slashed harder than a knife.

/ He, at the age he assumed to be around eight or nine, certainly wasn't feeling ecstatic while he sat on a windowsill, watching how the most beautiful day of summer slipped by outside.

He'd definitely chosen the worst possible day to end up getting grounded – again.

A knock on the door cut his gloomy thoughts. For the first time that day he grinned as a raven-haired boy entered. "Hey! I thought…" He then trailed off and felt abnormally cold when seeing the bruise on the other boy's face. He gasped loudly. "Sasuke… What happened?!"

Sasuke shook his head determinedly, onyx eyes growing hard. "I… don't want to talk about it."


He shivered a little, fighting the urge to go over and hug his friend – he didn't think the raven would've appreciated such an approach. "Does it hurt?"

He could've sworn he saw Sasuke jolt before the boy pulled out something, moving towards him as though it'd been extremely painful. "I brought you something", the boy announced somewhat gruffly. "I know he won't let you eat, so…"

He grinned with joy when seeing the offering – a huge piece of the most delicious bread. Then, in a flash, his expression faltered and turned into a solemn one as he realized something. He looked for the raven's eyes, unable to meet them. "But… You'll get into a trouble if he finds out."


Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly. "Like I'd care."

Another smile found its way to his face. "Thanks."

Just then they heard steps. He managed to hide the bread just before the room's door was thrown open. Stood by the doorway was a teen with gray hair and eyeglasses. The arrival didn't seem pleased. "Sasuke, you know well that it's not allowed to visit those who are suffering their punishment."


Sasuke's eyes flashed venomously. "What the hell do you want, Kabuto?"

Kabuto's expression remained stony. "Orochimaru-sama wants to see you. Now." /

Naruto shuddered back into present when feeling a hand on his shoulder. He met Sai's slightly worried expression. "What's wrong?"

Still dazed, he barely managed to react. "I… just zoned out a bit."

His eyes shifted to Kabuto, who was looking at him with what appeared to be curiosity. He shivered and folded his arms to his chest.

Had Kabuto… been in that oprhanage, or something, too? What did these flashes mean?

Just then a new set of steps entered the room. He was relieved to face Tsunade – maybe she'd distract him from these chaotic thoughts. She looked towards him. "I figured you'd be the right person to introduce Tengoku to these new arrivals." She then nodded towards the two others, and frowned. "There was supposed to be three of you."

The much too familiar voice that appeared a second later was almost enough to push Naruto off his feet. "Sorry I'm late. I had… some difficulties with getting here."

He turned his gaze slowly, reluctantly. The discovery was exactly the one he'd feared. Sai also stiffened and took a step closer to him when noticing the newest arrival.

Stood only steps away was none other than Neji Hyuuga.

TBC, un.

A/N: Oooh boy… (groans) Like there hadn't been enough mess already; now, things are gonna get messier than ever. (winces)

I really should get going – there's a ton of stuff I'm supposed to get finished tonight, so I'm tuning out. PLEASE, do leave a review before you tune out as well – ya guys gotta know by now how much your opinion means to me! (casts a somewhat pleading glance – and offers special treats)

IN THE NEXT ONE: The mess only gets thicker as shades of jealousy come to play. Shadows of past are also darker and heavier than ever before. Everyone's in a shock when an unexpected tragedy hits Tengoku.

Until next time, folks – I really, really hope I'll see lots of familiar faces then!

Be good!

ZakuKura: You've actually boomarked this?! (blushes) My gosh, how happy that makes me. (hugs)

Colossal thank yous for the review!

I really hope you'll enjoy the next one just as much.

-

kai: And Sasuke finally found his voice! (grins from ear to ear) Thank goodness; he's been wandering around in silence far too long.

Poor Naruto, ne? All that stuff he has to try and deal with. (winces) Let's hope he'll get some relief in the end! (Those dreams – memories – of his… 'Wonder what they're about?)

(hisses at Danzo) That (INSERT THE CRUELEST POSSIBLE INSULTS HERE) deserves a slow, painful punishment for what's he done, ne? He won't be able to hide forever. (reveals fangs)

Gigantic thank yous for the review!

C ya next time, I hope.