Sorry for the late update. Seriously, I applaud those of you who are still reading after these long waits. I can't even begin to thank you enough and tell you how much it means to me that you read and like my story.

I think changing the title and summary has brought more attention on the story, so thanks to everyone who's recently discovered Deception.

I live for your feedback so tell me what you think!

~Raven

25th April, 2032, Uchiha Corporation, time- 15:56

"What's the matter Sasuke? Why d'you have to drag me into the bathroom to talk to me? You're not turning gay are you?"

Sasuke glowered at the blonde, saying, "I can't do anything with these FBI agent's on my tail. I need you to settle some unofficial matters for me." He was going to regret his decision to ask the blonde for help, but he was really the only one he could properly talk to without raising much suspicion.

The blonde grinned ear to ear as he realised that Sasuke was actually going to properly trust him with his 'unofficial' tasks for once. "What do you need me to do?" he aske with barely concealed enthusiasm.

"First, you can't let anyone follow you. Don't let it be too obvious that you're up to something. And that includes not grinning like a Cheshire cat as you walk out of here- got that?"

Naruto let his smile drop- only by a little- as he nodded in understanding. "Don't worry. You can trust me."

'Like I trusted you to keep our identity switch a secret' Sasuke thought to himself dryly.

"I need you to take this," he placed a small flash drive in Naruto's hand, "And go down to the basement layers."

"Wait what you're actually letting me go down there?! You never let me down there? Why now?"

"Believe me, I'm asking myself the same question." Sasuke said, exasperated. "First go to the fortieth floor. Tell whichever scientist's in charge there to take those files and run a full analysis on it. Tell them to compile a report on it. And ask them for the documents I asked them for a week ago- two copies."

Naruto nodded diligently, soaking in the information as Sasuke kept talking. Silly as he may appear, he actually was smart enough to remember everything Sasuke told him.

"And before you leave go to the second floor and give them this." he handed Naruto a sealed envelope.

"The system has all of your biometrics on it- I've given you full clearance to the lower levels so there should be no problem. Now don't screw up and make me regret this any more than I already do."

"Relax Sasuke. Don't worry, I'll sort this out. I'll get this done so you've got nothing to worry about. Let me do my job and you focus on Sakura."

Before Sasuke had a chance to fully register his words and hit him on the head, Naruto slipped out of the bathroom, leaving behind an angered Sasuke cursing the blonde's rash, dumb assumptions.

"Access granted."

The smooth automated voice spoke through the speakers as Naruto opened the second panel of the elevator - the one that would take him to the basement layers of the Uchiha Corporation.

Inwardly, he was thrilled by the prospect of Sasuke finally trusting him enough to help what went on beneath the surface of the medicinal enterprise. Naruto knew for a fact that Sasuke hated what happened as part of the basement layers - perhaps keeping Naruto out of that life was his own way of expressing his affection - but Naruto never wanted to be shielded from those operations while Sasuke had to live with that guilt. They were a package deal - either both of them should be involved, or neither.

Though he wasn't ecstatic at the prospect of seeing the Uchiha Corporation for all its horrors, he was finally able to do something to help Sasuke there. That was enough for the present.

Naruto replayed Sasuke's instructions repeatedly in his head, looking at the long line of buttons that would take him to the designated floor.

It was only then that he asked himself the most important question.

"When Sasuke said fortieth floor - did he mean fortieth from the bottom upwards? Or from top to bottom?"

And after much musing on the issue, his final conclusion was, "I guess I'll just have to do both."

" Get out of here! Don't ever let Sasuke send you down again!" the shrill old woman's voice echoed down the hallway as Naruto ran into the elevator.

It wasn't really the old cat lady - Nekobaa's fault. He had gotten the wrong floor, waltzed into her supply stores, and managed to make a complete mess in less than two minutes. It was an accident!

It had been a long time since Naruto bore witness to the affairs that took place beneath the surface of the Uchiha corporation. Seeing them again up close hurt him. It hurt him that he couldn't help the people in there. It hurt him with the memories that that place brought. And it hurt him that he couldn't help Sasuke- because he knew that it hurt Sasuke too. And Sasuke wanted it to stop as much as Naruto did - the inability to do so, being responsible for it yet being powerless to stop it- Naruto knew very well that it ate up at Sasuke like an internal parasite.

Suffice to say Naruto did not like the basement layers.

But then again, who did?

Absent mindedly pushing the button for second last floor to finish his list of tasks, he thought back to the pink haired fbi agent who had commandeered Sasuke's office for a large portion of the day. Specifically, he thought about Sasuke's budding affections for this woman. He liked Sakura. He found her friendly. Not to mention, she was perfect for Sasuke. If Naruto had his way, both would overcome their stubborn insistence to remain professional, and would be well into a relationship by then. It didn't hurt that the adopted sister of said woman was also very nice.

Hinata was kind and generous and shy yet confident and strong but vulnerable all at once. Once he started thinking down that stream of thoughts, he found himself unable to think of anything but the raven haired girl...

But that was enough distraction for the present moment...

The elevator came to a stop, and absent mindedly, Naruto stepped out, only to come face to face with a long dark corridor.

Odd. He never knew there was such a place in the basement?

It was a slip on his part in the first place to show up there. He was supposed to leave- his work was done.

But as he looked down the dark corridor, his sixth sense piqued his curiosity. The corridor was laced with highly efficient traps and maximum security.

What for? To keep people out? Or to keep something else in?

The traps wouldn't hurt him. Not because he had clearance, but because they never hurt him. They never could.

He walked into the dark, looming corridor, counting nearly twenty doors passing by on both walls, before he came to a stop in front of a final door. It was the most guarded and well protected. What lay behind it?

A part of him reminded him that he didn't want to know. Sasuke would be mad at him for this. And chances are, he'd only find something which would make him hate that place more, and leave him unable to change it.

But in the end, he opened up the door, immune to the defences activated, and stepped inside.

A sterile white room with further defences greeted him with a door at the far end.

Reaching the second door, he took his last chance to step back and stop himself from stumbling upon some hidden unchangeable secret which he could do nothing to help.

They say curiosity killed the cat. It would be the death of the fox too.

He turned the knob of the door and walked inside.

25th April, 2032, Uchiha Corporation, time- 17:04

When a man is left alone in a room with little access to anything else for nearly ten years of his life, time becomes a foreign concept.

Minutes roll into hours into days and years.

Had it been days since the Uchiha visited Gaara with news of his sister? Or months? Or years?

Any lesser man would become insane. Gaara was not any 'lesser man'.

He was planning. And lay in wait. Always planning. The Uchiha were after his sister. And he would be damned if he couldn't save her from the fate they laid out for her. He would find a way to save her.

He had to.

Staring intently at nothing in particular, after what might have been hours, of even seconds, he sensed a presence approach his room. Slowly calming his breathing to less than silence, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Had the Uchiha returned?

But when the door opened, a mess of blonde hair, tanned skin and blue eyes came into vision.

Both men stared at each other in shock.