Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. Everything else is a product of Masashi Kishimoto's imagination.

Chapter Sixty-Eight

They were traveling through the forest now, going as fast as they could. Sasuke was up ahead, they could feel it, but Rei wasn't so sure that they were up for a fight, not in the state they were in. She was badly beaten and tired from her fight with Orochimaru and the others weren't any better off. Even as Sakura tried to hide it, Rei could see that she was in pain from the wound Naruto had dealt her on her arm. Just as she was thinking about this, Sakura's hold on a branch slipped and she fell. Luckily, she was caught by Yamato before she could hit the ground. Rei listened to Sakura lie to Naruto about how she got hurt, but she said nothing. The girl was only doing it out of consideration for her teammate and Rei felt grateful for that.

Yamato decided they should take a break after that, even when Sakura argued that she was fine, everyone could tell she wasn't. He took Naruto off to the side then and Rei was left with Sakura. Her arm didn't look that bad, but she knew the Kyuubi chakra had an effect as well.

"You really should worry more about yourself." Rei commented, glancing down at Sakura.

The girl looked up with a raised brow.

"If you're hurt you shouldn't push yourself so much, it'll only make things worse."

"You're injured too." Sakura pointed out.

Rei looked down at her bloodied shirt on her side and the bandage wrapped around her arm.

"I'm fine, It's not as bad as it looks and you did a good job in healing."

"That's good."

They were quiet after that with Rei looking around and Yamato and Naruto still talking off to the side.

"What is this...?" Came Sakura's voice with a note of unease.

Rei looked over at Sakura and saw that she had a book. For a moment, she wondered where she had seen the book before and then she realized it was the picture book that Sai had. She leaned over to look at the drawings, curious as to what may be in there that Sai was so eager to hide from them. Naruto and Yamato walked over and together, they looked through the book. There was something strange about it, but it was only until Sakura said so that she realized what it was.

"The pages in the center are different from the rest."

"There's something creepy about this." Naruto muttered.

Rei looked down at the pictures on the book and saw that it was opened to the middle. The pictures there were incomplete with one whole page being blank. After some more inspecting, they came to the conclusion that the book was split to make two stories, both on opposite sides of the book, and met in the middle. It was the story of two boys, each beating their enemies and gaining their possessions. Not only that, but the boy with the black hair in the book looked like Sai. After that, Sakura figured out that the other boy was the brother Sai had mentioned.

They were all surprised by this, but before they could put much thought into it, Yamato said that his clone had located the lair. At this, a strange sense of anticipation swept through Rei, knowing that it was likely that they would run into Sasuke. As they ran, she couldn't help but wonder what would happen when they finally met.

In her heart, she knew she still cared for him to some extent, however much she chose to deny it, but she couldn't hide the fact that she also help some amount of anger, if not hatred, towards him. It still hurt to think about the way he had left, even though so much time had passed and she still wondered if maybe she could have done something to keep him in Konoha. Her plan may have been to kill Sasuke, but every time she looked at the hopeful faces of Naruto and Sakura, she couldn't help but think that maybe there was a way to get him to return to the village with them. She was aware that it was only the naive part of her that thought this, but at the moment, she was too tired to push it back like she usually did.

For a moment, she remembered what Jin had told her some time ago, after they returned to Konoha.

They were sitting outside, enjoying the cool breeze that swept through the village while drinking some tea after a short training session. Rei was thinking of what it meant to be back in Konoha, to be back in the place where everything had begun. She wasn't entirely sure as to what would come next, but she knew she was ready for it. She had to be, it was as simple as that.

In the meantime, Jin was engrossed in his own thoughts. Ever since he had met his rather unexpected student he had gained a sense of peace and responsibility. Maybe it was because he now had to worry about someone other than himself, or maybe it was her constant company, but he felt that life had become a bit more bearable now that he had someone to distract him from the usual thoughts that haunted him. Because of this, he truly cared for the girl and so there was something that had been bothering him for a while. It was at this time, when he knew she could be gone at any moment, that he chose to voice his question.

"Hey, you haven't changed your mind have you?"

It wasn't necessary for him to even say what he meant by that, they both knew he was talking bout Sasuke. Rei knew it was only when he talked about him that his tone became so serious, almost dreading what she would say. She couldn't help but smile a bit at his worry of her.

"No, I haven't. Does that bother you?"

The man sighed and looked down at the tea in his hands.

"I suppose it does."

"You shouldn't worry."

"But I do."

They were silent for a moment while both gathered their thoughts.

"If you go after him, will you really be able to go through with it?" He said, looking at the girl at his side.

"You're asking if I can kill him?"

Jin nodded.

"Yes, I think so. After all this time training for this, it would be good to know that I can do what I set out to do. Otherwise, it would be three years wasted away, wouldn't it?"

Jin frowned slightly.

"I don't think so. I think these three years have taught you a lot. You've gotten stronger, if not more patient."

Rei smiled at the last comment.

"But you've also learned more about life and what it means to be alive." Jin looked at his student in a meaningful way.

"In the end, pain is and always will be a part of living. We may not like it and we may come to resent it, but it makes us stronger and teaches us to appreciate the things around us, our friends, our family, our teammates."

Rei frowned at the last part.

"It helps us to become better people, not take things for granted, have compassion and sympathy towards others. Without pain, these things wouldn't exist.

"What about hatred, vengeance, death. Don't those come from pain as well?" Rei shot back, losing her patience.

"Yes, they do, but those feelings only create more pain. If you accept things as they are then you'll learn that things are easier in the end." Jin replied calmly, used to his student's outbursts.

"Are you saying it's fine to let people hurt you, that you should ignore people like Sasuke and Orochimaru because going after them just makes things harder? Or maybe I should just not care that he nearly killed me and Naruto and send him a Christmas card."

Jin sighed and shook his head.

"What I'm saying is; Sasuke made his choice and it's not your responsibility to fix what he's done. You may have been teammates, closer than others, but what you do from now on should be what makes you happy, what you truly want. If you go out to kill him, who's to say it'll make you feel better."

"It seems like a sure thing to me." Rei said dully.

"Sometimes, things aren't what they seem and revenge is a tricky things. Sometimes all it gives you is a feeling of uncertainty when you don't know what to do next, when you realize nothing changed and the wounds of the past hurt just as much as before."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"Who knows."

The simple response was said calmly, but Rei could see the flicker of something she couldn't describe in his eyes. Some emotion that she couldn't fathom.

Now, she couldn't help but think that maybe, she wouldn't be able to go through with it. And if she did, who's to say it'll help. Perhaps Jin was right, maybe there is nothing to do for Sasuke anymore, maybe she would just have to learn to bear the pain of it and move on. That was certainly what her teacher had done, or at least it seemed like it. She had never fully deciphered what had occurred to him after the death of his teacher.

She stopped thinking about it when they stopped outside of what was supposed to be the lair of Orochimaru. Yamato gave them each a seed to swallow in case they got separated while inside. It would make it easier for them to find each other that way. Apparently, he had planted some in Sai's clothes and food, making him able to track him. They entered in file form, with Rei between Sakura and Naruto, who brought up the rear. Yamato was at the front.

They managed to get in and decided to search for Sai first. The team moved carefully through the dim halls of the place as they followed Yamato. Soon enough, he had led them to the room Sai was staying in. He barely seemed surprised, though Rei supposed he rarely showed any emotions at all. Naruto was quick to accuse him of betraying them, but that was only to be expected from the impatient shinobi.

Sakura uncovered the plan Danzo had formulated and the part Sai played in it only to have him claim his mission had failed when he was found. Knowing there was no way he could beat the team he told them of the other part of his mission and the reason he was chosen. During this time they found out the meaning of the picture book and Rei found herself wondering if maybe she was forgetting something important as well. Ever since Sasuke had left she had felt that there was something missing, something important, but she didn't know what.

Eventually, they left the lair with Sai. Now that he was out of there it was time for their main objective, going after Sasuke.

Yes, it's short, super late and not much happens, but I've had a hard time with writing. As a freelance artist and student working on a couple of original stories it's rather hard to update. Still, I'll probably get another chapter up this week, maybe two if time allows. I hope you enjoy this and please review. Also, if you want to read some of my original stories check my profile for a link to my fictionpress page. Until next time.