Alright, here's the new chapter. And if there are any loose ends or if I go too fast, review or PM me, 'cause I don't plan ahead much. I just have major events set, and I write whatever comes to mind. Hehe. ^^;

Chapter 5

The next day, the team met at Training Ground 7 at 9:00 in the morning. The preordained time set by Kakashi was 7:00, but the team had learned very quickly that he was at least three to four hours late. They usually met up before the actual arrival time to practice either team or individual tactics and stratagems. Today, however, the hyperactive blonde was barely keeping his eyes from drooping, and he was swaying slightly where he stood. Sasuke looked at him concernedly, and asked, "Uh, Naruto? Did you get enough sleep?"

The blonde's eyelids, which had been slowly traveling down, snapped open, and he blinked several times, gathering himself. Naruto yawned widely, and mumbled groggily, "I'm okay…just tired." He stumbled, and began to search in his back pocket for something. Naruto pulled a pair of pink gloves from his pocket and walked clumsily towards Sakura. "'Ere you go, Sakura-chan. The gloves you wanted." Sakura looked down at them. They had fingers unlike Sasuke's, and instead of a single seal being set into the palm, a tiny seal was set into the index, middle, and ring finger. She smiled up at the blonde.

"Thanks, Naruto. Did you stay up all night to make these?" she asked. Naruto nodded slowly.

"Now, if I can lie down," he muttered, falling forward and face-planting. The two left standing sweat dropped, and did so even more as loud snoring was heard. 'Geez, Naruto-dobe can go to sleep anywhere. One of the few things I envy,' thought Sasuke, shaking his head.

He turned towards Sakura, who was pulling on her gloves, and asked, "Need some practice to get used to those gloves?"

She looked at him coolly, and replied, "Sure. Let me check if any senbon are stored in the seal though." She focused chakra towards the seal, and it was soon apparent that the blonde had not stored any. Sakura shrugged, and from a leg and waist holster pulled roughly thirty senbon. She focused chakra into the seals, and the needles disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Ready," said Sakura, shifting into a stance. Sasuke nodded, and rushed her, forcing her to flip backward and throw a punch, which was dodged by the Uchiha. He pulled out a shuriken and launched it at Sakura, who substituted with a log. He was instantly on alert, activating his Sharingan and scanning the area. A whistling sound caught his attention, and Sasuke jumped to the side as three senbon slammed into the spot he had been. Sakura burst from the forest, and slashed at him with three needles held by her fingers, making a sort of claw. The attack grazed him on the leg, and he winced. Kami, that stung. He leaped backward and landed twenty feet away, and he instantly took a defensive stance. Sakura, however, stood in place and smirked at him, and lifted the hand with the senbon.

They shot out with frightening speed, and Sasuke was hit in both arms and torso. He cringed, but leapt away as she charged for a finishing punch. He landed on a tree branch, and pulled out the needles. Sasuke noticed that they were shining slightly, and his stomach plummeted. Poison. 'Shit. Gotta end this quick. Not sure if this is deadly or not.' He jumped from the tree, and charged Sakura, who was searching the surrounding area for him. He went at full speed, which was about low-Jonin, and covered the thirty-foot distance in about a second, surprising her.

Sasuke quickly jabbed her in the gut and then kneed her in the head when she hunched over, sending her into the air. He quickly followed up with a few kicks in the gut, and she sailed about five feet before slamming into the ground. She lay there, unconscious. Sasuke nodded and thought, 'Now, about these needles…' he trailed off, realizing his mistake. 'Kami, I'm stupid! I knocked out the only medic around here!' He felt the poison start to finally take effect now since the adrenaline had worn off. 'Damn. Gonna go.' A wave of comfortable blackness swirled around the Uchiha, and soon it swallowed him completely.

"You're a baka sometimes, Sasuke," berated a familiar voice, and warm hands crisscrossed his chest. Sasuke cracked an eye open. He was on the ground, with Naruto standing over him looking worried and Sakura kneeling beside him, bandaging his chest wound. He looked around, but still did not find Kakashi.

"How long was I out?" he mumbled, trying to sit up, but was pushed back down by Sakura. He then realized that he was bare-chested, and reddened slightly. He fought it back down, but not until it was noticed by both teammates. Sakura smiled mischievously, and Naruto erupted into whoops of laughter and fell to the ground.

"About half an hour, though you could've been up in five minutes if you hadn't knocked me out," said Sakura, answering Sasuke's question. He looked the other way sheepishly, and Sakura continued to bandage him up quietly with the blonde cracking up in the background. She inspected the wounds, and nodded to herself. "The wounds should heal quickly. Senbon, as you know, can't kill unless they hit vital areas." She let him stand, and Naruto stood as well, getting over his laughing fit.

Naruto was the first to speak, "Well, Sensei still isn't here. Any idea of what to do? Team exercises, maybe?" In team exercises, Naruto would create thirty clones, and the three of them would try to defeat the clones as a team. The clones could only use taijutsu, while Team 7 could use anything at their disposal. It was beneficial in many ways, and the challenge would never grow easier as the clones would grow in strength along with the original.

Sasuke enjoyed it, but he was getting irked that in taijutsu alone the blonde was getting close to defeating him. However, he was simultaneously impressed. If he Sasuke hadn't been such a dick when he first met Naruto, he could've actually assessed the level of power the blonde was capable of.

"Well?" asked Naruto, dragging Sasuke back to the present.

"Right, team exercises… That'd be fun," he grinned at Naruto, who grinned back. Sakura rolled her eyes, but agreed.

"Alright, but let me doing something first," said the blonde. He made the clone handsign and twenty Kage Bunshins appeared behind him. "Alright! The twenty of you go to the library and study fuinjutsu. I think today would be a good day to start advanced level, dattebayo!" he ordered, and the clones saluted before running off.

"I'm never going to get the image of you studying out of my head," said Sasuke shaking his head before one word registered with him. He looked questioningly at Naruto. "Wait, advanced? How long have you been studying?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Well, with my clones, I have about two thousand hours on basics." Both teammates' jaw dropped, even with Sakura's knowledge of how hours could compound using Kage Bunshin, but this was just… ridiculous.

"Good Kami, no wonder you're growing in power so fast, Naruto," commented a voice behind them. The trio whipped around to an eye-smiling Kakashi leaning against a tree. He waved lazily, and asked, "What do you mean by team exercises, though?"

They looked at each other, and Sasuke answered, "Something beneficial for the whole team. You can watch." He turned toward Naruto, who nodded and created thirty clones. The clones walked to a spot about twenty feet away, and got in an offensive position. They got into a rectangular formation, six clones long and five clones wide with three feet of space between them. Team 7's formation was wedged-shape with Sasuke leading and his teammates on either side. They each up took up their respective stances, Sasuke with Fist-Intercepting, Naruto with Mantis (in which he bent his legs and body slightly and held his right hand slightly higher and in front of his left. Both arms are bent slightly), and Sakura with an unnamed style invented by herself back in the original timeline.

"Haijime!" shouted Kakashi, startling the combatants into conflict. The clones kept their rigid formation as they charged, but as Team 7 neared, Sakura halted in her advance and began to throw senbon at the clones, which broke up the shape slightly. A few needles hit, dispelling the clones, but there were more to replace them.

"Naruto! Alpha!" yelled Sasuke. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this; team formations? Naruto seemed to understand as he pulled ahead of Sasuke and threw a few of kunai at the mass. The clones leaped into the air, but not until Naruto shouted, "Katsu!" The tags, which had been hidden on the handles, exploded, taking with it about five clones. The formation lost, the clones rushed blindly at the Genin, who methodically began to defeat each one. Some, however, bypassed the two front-fighters and charged Sakura, who unsealed a handful of needles and launched them like she had with Sasuke, effectively killing/dispelling each one.

In the brunt of the melee, Sasuke was getting winded. Most of the clones fought with the brawler-like style that Naruto had once used, but slowly they were integrating clones that would use Mantis. This particular one had ten or so Mantis-using clones, and Sasuke had just encountered and bested five consecutively. Though each clone was only using minimum power, each Mantis clone took a about a minute to defeat, and a minute was an eternity on the battlefield. He glanced at Naruto to see how he was fairing, and nearly had a heart attack.

The blonde was battling the other five Mantis clones simultaneously, attacking and defending a hell of lot faster than Sasuke ever could; however, the regular clones were throwing random punches when the blonde lowered his guard. Sasuke unsealed Raijin and cut down two clones before the rest registered his presence. He was instantly locked in combat with about seven normal clones, which he beat with ease. After the smoke from dispelling cleared, no clones were left, Naruto finally defeating his five Mantis clones and Sakura picking off the stragglers.

A clapping was heard, and the entire team turned to see Kakashi applauding. "Good teamwork, though still a little rough, but a lot better than normal Genin. Let me give me a few pointers: Sakura, I like that you were support, but you didn't pay attention to your teammates, and Naruto soon found himself in a potentially deadly situation if this had been for real. Sasuke, I guess Alpha was a strategy used to break up formations, but pay attention to your teammates as well. You too, Naruto. Sasuke was tiring after those special clones, and a few clones flew right by you two and attacked Sakura. You're both lucky that she can defend herself very well, or then your support and medic would've been killed. But overall, a nice job. Chuunin level at least. Now, I have a mission for you guys."

"Aw, c'mon sensei, not one of those chores again!" complained Naruto.

"Hn," grunted Sasuke, and then he realized that that was the first time he had used the Uchiha grunt in this timeline.

"That's all you're gonna back me up with, teme?" demanded Naruto, looking indignant. Before he could reply, Kakashi cut in.

"This is a C-rank mission, Naruto," said Kakashi, earning him a loud whoop from the blonde and, curiously, startled expressions from the other two. He would figure that out later, however.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glance. This mission was well before the Wave, which to them was to take place about two weeks later. Why Kakashi had suddenly decided to give them a C-rank was unknown, and Sakura piped up, "A C-rank? So early? Do you think we're ready, Sensei?"

"Hell yeah, we're ready, Sakura-chan!" exclaimed Naruto excitedly, barely containing his energy. Sakura glanced at him sharply, but didn't say anything.

"For once, the blonde is right," said the Jonin, getting him a glare from Naruto, "I do think this team is ready to deal with a C, with Sasuke being an all-rounder, Sakura being a medic, and Naruto, well, being Naruto."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Anyway, the mission is a delivery mission," at this, Sasuke and Sakura visibly relaxed, "and shouldn't be too hard. We're going to deliver a shipment of uncut gems to the Konoha gate, and we should only meet a few bandits or something. It's in the Land of Tea at the mining village of Gyoku, and it should take about three days or so. Pack for four." He turned toward Naruto. "Think you can give them a couple of storage seals?" The blonde nodded. "Alright, get ready. We meet at the gate at two, so you have about three hours to get ready." He shunshinned in a swirl of leaves.

The Genins grinned each other, and Naruto pulled a small cloth bag with a drawstring from his pocket. He loosened it and drew about ten small square of paper from it. "Here are the seals. Each should hold about fifty pounds of stuff, but how to tell is for each thing sealed, the paper inside the seal will grow darker 'till all you have is a dark circle." He handed them five squares each, and rushed off to gather his things.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a glance, and Sakura smiled slightly and shunshinned off, leaving a startled, hopeful, and most of all confused Sasuke. 'Ok, that was weird. Better than a kick in the ass I suppose, though…yeah, smiling beats that any day.' He disappeared in his own custom shunshin, a dispersion of lightning sparks.

Three hours later, Team 7 was waiting patiently at the Konoha gate, hoping that their ever-tardy sensei would be miraculously on time. He wasn't of course, but instead of being three hours late, he was about fifteen minutes behind, an acceptable time. He eye-smiled at his team, who deadpanned at him. "We ready?" They nodded, and Naruto finally let out the enthusiastic cheer he had been holding back.

"Finally! I'm out of the village. Let's go!" he shouted, pumping the air with his fists. Sasuke just shook his head, and Sakura smiled at the blonde. He had said the exact same thing before the Wave mission. Sakura hoped that this mission wouldn't turn out like that horrendous memory even though they were more than ready for that kind of challenge. Knowing Sasuke and Naruto though, they would happily embrace it.

She looked over at the Uchiha, and felt a small surge of mistrust go through her as well as a pang of something else, something unidentifiable. She shrugged mentally; it was nothing to pay attention to. Though she was closer to trusting Sasuke, it didn't mean she was closer to giving back her love. Sakura, however, doubted that she was ever going to love him again, though that pang was… nothing, she wouldn't worry about it. "Alright team," said Kakashi, breaking through her thoughts, "Let's start in the trees, then we approach the border, go to the ground to appear friendly. The Land of Tea has been the target of bandits lately, especially ones that have minimal ninja training, allowing them to cover distances in the trees." Team 7 nodded, and they were off.

About five hours later ,they reached a spot about five miles outside the border, and jumped down to the road being used by civilians. They continued at a brisk jogging pace for about half an hour until they reach the gate allowing entrance into the Land of Tea. "Your packs," grumbled a guard at the gate gruffly. There were two men on duty at this entrance, one looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there and the other leering lecherously at Sakura. 'Try anything perv, and you feel a kick in somewhere you don't want me to kick,' growled Sakura mentally, taking off her pack with the others and handing it to the guard who had ordered them to do so, thankfully not the pervert.

The lecher, however, offered to search her pack, and turned to where no one could see what he was doing. "OH, NO YOU DON'T!" bellowed Sakura, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and kicking a soon-to-be her right where it hurts.

Somewhere in some brothel, a white-haired man shivered and sheltered his precious possession the best he could, even though it was doing pretty horrible things right now. (A/N: Yeah, try to get THAT out of your head)

"YOWWWW!" yelped the man/ future woman in a soprano, shooting straight up in the air. Sakura dusted her hands, pleased with her handiwork, and looked to see how far up he/she went. The boys of the group had winced as she had kicked, and thought, 'Kami, don't want to piss her off anytime soon.' The man/woman came back down hard, howling the entire way and creating a person-sized crater on impact. The other guard looked at the crater for a full five seconds, before roaring in laughter.

"Oh, that was great! That's the first funny thing that's happened around here so far! Kami, I can't stop laughing!" he laughed, clutching his side and letting out gigantic whoops. Sasuke grinned slightly, Kakashi eye-smiled, and Naruto joined the guard in his laughing fit. Sakura smirked over at the group, and walked to grab her pack. In about a minute, the guard composed himself, though he chuckled randomly as he handed them their packs. "You're cleared."

They nodded and sprinted for about an hour, cutting the distance to their destination in half, and jogged for two before arriving at Gyoku. At the gate, they were halted by three cranky guards who searched their packs. Sakura kept an eye on both of them, but the guards seemed to be at least honest, searching the packs in full view. While this would've embarrassed Sakura before, she didn't care as long they weren't pervs or anything. After the search, they had to go through a pat-down, which she vehemently argued against.

"Why the hell the pat-down?! Aren't the packs enough?" she demanded, keeping the urge to knock these two into next week under restraint.

"Look here, girly. Bandits have gotten in with swords stuck up places where they don't just go. We gotta pat you down, or you don't get in the village. We'll get a lady for you. Suya! C'mere!" A small, thin woman appeared from behind the gatehouse, and bowed to the guards. "Can you check this brat here?" She nodded, and turned to Sakura, who sighed and held out her arms. Suya began to search her for anything that was considered dangerous, and eventually saw the seals on the gloves.

"What are these?" she asked.

"Storage."

"Take them off and give them to me."

"What? Why?" demanded Sakura. She looked over to where the boys were having their own search and saw Sasuke was having the same problem. 'Hope to Kami he doesn't snap and slash everything in sight.'

"Just do it." Sakura sighed again and pulled off the gloves. She tossed them to the lady, who inspected them closely. She handed them back, and said, "Everything seems to be in order. You're cleared." Sakura put the gloves back on, and rejoined the rest of the group. Kakashi shook his head after they had gotten out of earshot of the guards.

"The security of this village is ridiculously high. The bandit problem must be worse than the report mentioned," stated the Jonin, then he eye-smiled at his Genin. "Let's find an inn for the night, OK?" The exhausted Genin nodded. They roomed in a small, cozy inn, and were served dinner. The next day, Team 7 ate breakfast at the inn before checking out. "OK team, we gotta find the leader of this village, and then follow him to where he has the shipment," said Kakashi. Sakura nodded, barely hearing him.

The town hall of Gyoku was small, to be expected, but was decorated lavishly on the interior. Different jewels of varying colors decked the entrance room, and in the office of the leader was a gigantic emerald the size of Kakashi in one corner of the room. Sakura admired the dazzling display, but at the same time thought it to be a bit gaudy.

The village's head was middle-aged man with graying hair and wrinkled skin. He had a grandfatherly aura to him, but his eyes were a no-nonsense, crystal blue. As the team entered, he stood from a chair behind a desk with the ease of someone much younger and shook Kakashi's hand. "Hello, you must be the team I sent for."

"That we are…"

"Doji Gemaru."

"Nice to meet you, Doji-sama. This is Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto," said Kakashi, gesturing to each as he mentioned them. Sakura scrutinized the man for any crack in the calming personality, but found none. 'Seems legit.' Doji smiled at them, and moved from behind the desk, walking to the door. He motioned for them to follow, and they did, exiting the building and heading toward the rear of the village. Along the way, he talked.

"The bandits that the report said are low-level, nearly civilian. They also don't usually attack in large groups. Your team should have little problem taking them on."

"Just how bad is the situation? Judging by the security, it's worse than the report let on," asked Kakashi. Doji looked down and sighed.

"The reason security is so extreme is that we've had bandits get into the village by disguise, and try to sabotage the mine or steal finished gems. They would smuggle in weapons on their person, and they would kill anyone that got in their way. We had to tighten our gates."

Sakura was unsurprised by the bandit's determination; this village was the hub of precious metal and gem mining, and controlling it would bring the one in charge massive amounts of money. She shook her head. Stupid rogues. The group eventually reach an entrance to a mine set into the side of a hill, and Doji called down the tunnel, "Hey! Bring that cart up!" A rumbling sound answered him, and a minute later a cart appeared out of the entrance, loaded with what looked like regular rocks.

Naruto frowned. "Why are we carrying these stupid stones? There's nothing special about them."

Kakashi sighed, "They don't look like gems because they haven't been cut. Now pull out some storage scroll and get to work." The blonde scowled but did what he was told. He handed Sasuke and Sakura a scroll, and each began to seal each rock. In a few minutes they were done. The group walked back to the town hall where Doji parted ways.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san," he said, bowing. Kakashi nodded, and they walked back to the gate. The guards stationed at the gate watched as the Konoha ninja left. Suya, the woman that had searched Sakura, smirked and pressed a finger to her ear.

"The target has left the village. Get ready."

As soon as the group was out of Gyoku, they took to the trees, knowing that they wouldn't pass any village on the way to the border. Sakura looked over at Sasuke, and glimpsed his glove's seal as he jumped and grabbed a tree branch. She had followed the two boys to the Uchiha complex, and had watched as Naruto got through to Sasuke, who for once didn't have a snappy comeback. 'He really means to help. Can't say I trust him fully, but my impression of him now is certainly better than it was,' she though before a shuriken came whistling by, nearly taking out an eye.

"Trap!" shouted Kakashi, jumping to avoid an arrow.

"Where?" yelled Naruto, meaning to find the direction. His question was soon answered.

"There!" A volley of about twenty arrow came from the north, revealing the position of the attack. However, at the same time, forty bandits appeared from behind trees, surrounding them grinning mercilessly at the cornered team.

"Gotcha, kiddies! Now give us those gems!" barked a scarred man, obviously the leader judging by the way he carried himself. Sakura unsealed a few senbon to launch at the man, but was stayed by Naruto's hand. "Not yet," his look told her, and he slowly took out a scroll marked 'Storage'.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!" exclaimed the Jonin, trying to grab the scroll from Naruto.

"Saving our lives," he said, and he unfurled it and a cloud of smoke blanketed the area. When it cleared, the team was gone.

"Wha? Where'd they go?" wondered the leader aloud. In a tree not fifty feet from the bandits, the group was formulating a plan of attack.

"OK, we need someone to go after those archers and the ground units. Who's up for it?"

"I think Kakashi-sensei should take the archers. He can handle twenty easy being a Jonin. On the other hand, we as a Genin squad should take the forty ground units. Though I'm sure he could handle those easily as well, he can't be in two places at once," suggested Naruto. The rest nodded, liking the sound idea.

"Hey, the damned ninja are in the trees!" shouted a bandit, discovering their hiding spot.

"Great," muttered Sakura, launching a senbon into the man's thoat, silencing him. However, his call was heard and the team could hear the stomping of many feet coming toward their position.

"Alright, team! Move out!" ordered Kakashi, jumping from the tree branch and running north, toward the archers. The Genin landed on the ground and shifted into an offensive position and formation. Sakura unsealed three needles and readied them to be shot. Suddenly, ten bandits burst from behind a cluster of trees to their right, bellowing a battle cry that was quickly cut off as Sakura shot the senbon at them, catching three of them in the throat or forcing the others to dodge. Naruto took out two tagged kunai and threw them against trees on either side. He rolled up his sleeve and slapped on another seal that stuck. Puffs of smoke erupted from the kunai, and then there were two Kage Bunshins to intercept those remaining.

Sasuke looked over to the blonde who held two fingers and then five. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows together, but she would ask about that later. The bandits were surprised by the clones, allowing them to take out three before they got over it and drew their rusty blades. The clones were outnumbered two to one, but a second later, another puff of smoke came out of each kunai, and two more clones joined the fray.

'Ok, they have that. Now where are the others?' thought Sakura before dodging a shuriken from the left. Twenty bandits rushed from the brush to the left fifty feet away from the Genin, swords drawn and teeth bared. Twenty feet away, Sasuke flicked through handsigns and shouted, "Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" A massive ball of orange flame exploded from his mouth, and engulfed five of them, and burning ten. Naruto threw an explosive tag in the middle of them, which instantly detonated the second it impacted the ground. It took out five more, leaving seven shaken but uninjured and three badly burned.

The agony of the burns was quickly ended by Sakura as she threw senbon at the bandits, piercing the eyes, throat, or chest. Unknown to the team, however, was a small group of ten sneaking from the right again. Sakura was the first to sense them, and she whipped around and immediately punched one that was three away, sending him flying into another. 'Time to use this. Hope it works!' "Suiton: Water Bullet!" A high-pressured blast of water shot from her mouth and collided with two more. Now, though, the bandits were in striking range, and her other teammates were still entangled with the second group.

A bandit slashed at her, and she flipped backward and aimed a punch for his midsection, which he also dodged. Sakura smirked. Water shot from her fist and slammed into the man, knocking him out. The five remaining were wary, but were taunted into an attack when she sneered and cursed at them. They instantly regretted though, as water formed around her arms and whipped to grab and trip the bandits. As each hit the ground, she hit them in the arm or leg where major nerves were, paralyzing them. She wiped her hands, which had grown sweaty, and turned back to her teammates.

Sasuke had Raijin out and was decapitating the last one, which strangely had a seal pressed onto his forehead. Both were breathing hard, and Naruto looked a bit nauseous. Sasuke wiped his sword on the ground and resealed it. "All done," he said quietly, whitening slightly at the sight and smell of the bodies he had burned. 'I thought he'd be used to killing,' she thought before laying eyes on the bodies with needles protruding from vital areas. She winced and felt her breakfast try to come back up. She took a few deep breaths and felt the sickness pass. 'Killing is the way of the shinobi, killing is the way of the shinobi,' she intoned silently, her old mantra resurfacing.

She had killed before, twice while Naruto was with Jiraya, and then Sasori. It still affected her, though. It would forever, no matter how many she slayed. Sakura had developed a phrase that she would repeat to herself to justify murder, and it was probably the thread that kept her from going off the edge. She shuddered, and tried to comfort Naruto, who was clutching a bloody kunai.

Kakashi finished the last of the bastards with bows with a chop to the neck, snapping it. He immediately turned and rushed to the area he had left. He was worried about his Genins' mental state; it was their first kill, or so he believed. The worst might be Sakura; in his experience, kunoichi bore the weight of killing worse. It sounded sexist, but unfortunately it was true for most women. Even Anko was affected; she simply wore the mask to protect herself. Though he knew that men could go to greater lengths to end their agony and/or guilt. Take his father for example.

He reach the cluster of trees he had left his team, and saw Sakura comforting Naruto, who was crying and holding a kunai covered in blood. His kill was directly in front of him; the leader of the attack with his throat cut with one clean slash. Kakashi winced. A clean first kill was harder to deal with; it implied that the person didn't care, and since Naruto knew the truth of what he was, Kakashi was extremely worried. Sasuke leaned against a tree with his arms crossed nearby, and would've come off as untroubled if it weren't for his fingers being white from gripping his arms.

Kakashi jumped from the tree. "Everyone alright?" Sakura looked up and nodded. Kakashi was surprised that she wasn't reacting as violently as he had imagined. Her eyes were gloomy, but other that there was no other sign that the kill had affected her. 'That's…odd and potentially a bad sign.'

"Me and Sasuke are alright, but Naruto…" she trailed off. With her silence, Kakashi heard what Naruto was saying.

"I'm the Kyuubi, I'm the Kyuubi, I'm the Kyuubi," he muttered, slowly rocking back and forth. Kakashi's heart constricted and he saw Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance. Kakashi guessed they were mystified with what Naruto was saying. He knelt down near the blonde.

"Naruto," he whispered, "You are not the Kyuubi. Quit saying that." The blonde looked up at Kakashi.

"Sensei, quit lying." Kakashi felt his stomach twist.

"What?"

"I killed him. Nothing to it. The villagers say I'm the Fox, and they're right. I should just-" He lifted the kunai to impale himself. Kakashi's eye widened, and he reached to stop him, but it was already falling-

A foot came from thin air and connected to Naruto's gut, knocking the wind from him and forcing him to let go of the kunai. Kakashi snapped his gaze upward and saw an enraged Sasuke. The Uchiha grabbed the blonde by the collar, and bellowed in his face, "Who are you, Naruto Uzumaki!?" Naruto looked stunned, and Sasuke shook him. "WHO ARE YOU!?"

"Sasuke! Put him down!" ordered Kakashi.

"No! Look, Naruto, everyone on this team knows of your secret! We know that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of you on the night of the attack! Yet look at us! I don't beat you senseless or pretend you don't exist! Sakura doesn't run in fear from you! And Kakashi teaches you with a fair head! Villagers be damned with what they say! You are not the that bastard of a demon! You like the color ORANGE of all things!" Sasuke shook him roughly. "So let me ask you again: WHO ARE YOU!?"

"I'm-I'm-"

"Let me tell you! You are Naruto Uzumaki, hyperactive knuckle head of Konoha, the Dead Last, the next Hokage, MY RIVAL AND BROTHER!" With his tirade done, Sasuke dropped a speechless Naruto. Sasuke was breathing hard, and his face was flushed from rage. "Now let me ask you one more time: Who are you?"

Naruto stared at him for a full minute, before reply with a sad but grateful smile, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the hyperactive knucklehead of Konoha, the Dead Last, the next Hokage, and most of all, Sasuke's brother and rival." Sakura smiled and hugged him, and Kakashi eye-smiled. Disaster avoided. The group gathered together in a huddle and grinned, all except Naruto, who remained unusually silent. Kakashi grew slightly nervous at that, but knew it the beginning of a long process.

"Team 7, off!"

The fire crackled in front of Sakura, the image being reflected in her eyes. Sasuke could've sat there admiring it, but right now he was supposed to be asleep, so he kept the image, complete with a snore. His shift had been the first one, and then Sakura had relieved him, and next was Naruto. He turned slightly, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

Sasuke must have dozed a bit, because the next thing he heard was Naruto rising from his sleeping bag, and walking over to Sakura. He heard a soft whisper, and then a question in Naruto's voice just audible enough to him to hear, "So, when we get back to the village, how about a date?" Sasuke resisted the urge to jump up and wring the blonde's neck, brother or not. He sighed inwardly. Well, Naruto probably needed something to get his mind off the kill, and Sasuke knew that the blonde had always liked Sakura, and that Sakura had probably developed feelings for him as well during Sasuke's... defection. Nevertheless, her answer sent his heart plummeting into his stomach.

"Sure."

Well, how about it? Good, bad, just too fast? Review or something. And if you see something that reminds of another story or if it's in your story, just understand that I sometimes copy. I'm kinda unimaginative. T.T (Sigh) Anyways, thanks for reading…OH YEAH! Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Oops, forgot. And next is going to be... well you'll see. The summary didn't lie. And I just discovered that 'wanly' is not a word. 'Wan' is ( means weak), but not wanly. I'm not to going to correct it, but I may continue to use it. So, my new word: wanly=weakly, not putting effort into in, etc.