So until writing this chapter, I never realized just how much of Konoha Crush was Hiruzen and Orochimaru shouting at each other. So I guess the Konoha Crush arc is really only two chapters, huh?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the other proper entities.

Summary: Sakura had been by his side since he lost his family, following him around since they were seven years old, trying to ease his loneliness in whatever way she could. He didn't even know why he allowed it. He just silently allowed her to claim the seat next to him at the beginning of every term.

Rating: M

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Pairings: SasuSaku / eventual light NaruHina

Rays of Spring Sunshine

Chapter Seventeen

"Your limit is two shots." Kakashi had said at the end of their training. "The chidori is only a feasible attack when used in conjunction with the sharingan; but using both at the same time will rapidly deplete your chakra."

"And what happens if I try to use a third?"

"You won't be able to execute the attack. Not only that, but once a person's chakra is completely depleted, there is a chance they'll die." He'd paused there. "For you, the consequences could be even worse."

"The seal?" Sasuke had lifted his hand to press against the spot where the mark had faded, lurking just beneath the skin. Over the past two weeks, he'd felt it begin to burn when he expended too much chakra, but had managed to keep it under control.

"Yes. And remember, Sasuke: If you give in and rely on the power the seal gives you, you will cease to grow and develop. It is a temptation, yes, but it will twist and warp your mind, until you are nothing but Orochimaru's puppet. Do not give in to that temptation."

But with Gaara crowing about how weak he was, Sasuke had no choice. It was just like that night—he had worked hard to never be that helpless again, and yet…

His brother's eyes flashed red in his mind. Whatever his motivations may have been, Itachi had left him alive. He'd all but chosen Sasuke to kill him—to be the one to purge the stain on the Uchiha name. He had to kill him, to restore honour to the clan and bring about its rebirth.

He would not die here.

He nearly lost his chidori mid-air, feeling the curse mark burn at his shoulder. The heat spread across his body, scalding, but giving him the power to hold on to his jutsu until it made contact. Sand exploded around him as he passed through, landing on a bough and promptly collapsing face first, completely and utterly tapped out as his body burned.

Gaara screamed. If there were words, Sasuke couldn't discern them. He tried to push himself to his hands and knees, only managing to cough up a mouthful of blood on the bark beneath him. Gaara had struck him. He could only watch with gritted teeth as a limb made of sand came straight for him.

But it never connected. A blur of orange intercepted the strike and landed on a nearby branch. A moment later, a swirl of red and pink was at his side, a small hand on his back. "Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto and Sakura had arrived.

He experienced a brief moment of terror. No. These idiots were in well over their heads. They were going to get killed if they didn't run, now.

A second attack came his way. He tried to move, to get Sakura to safety, to save them, but his limbs would not obey. Even as he fought to control the seal, he crippled himself. And then the worst happened.

Sakura saw the attack—but she didn't flee to save herself. Instead, she put herself in its path, shielding Sasuke with her body and nothing but a measly kunai.

No! he wanted to scream at her, Run!

But she didn't. She took the full force of Gaara's attack, crying out as she was slammed into the trunk of the tree behind him. He felt his heart stop for one brief moment, body immobile in pain and horror.

Not Sakura. Sakura couldn't die.

It was Naruto who saved him from the follow up attack, even as the sand limb that pinned Sakura to the tree detached and formed anew on Gaara's body. Naruto lowered him to the new branch and stared down their opponent.

He almost couldn't hear Naruto and Gaara screaming threats at each other over the ringing in his ears; his eyes were trained on Sakura, searching for signs of life. Even with the Sharingan, which he refused to release, he couldn't tell. Was she alive? Was she breathing?

Stupid girl! She shouldn't have jumped in front of him!

And then Sakura murmured in her stupor, too far away for him to hear the words, but just enough that his eyes could see her lips move. His sharingan faded, and the rest of the world came back into sharp focus as Naruto was flung around by Gaara's sand, and Sasuke still couldn't fucking move!

And Naruto wasn't acting like himself—he was staring at Gaara with an inscrutable look on his face. Sasuke wondered if they'd had an encounter prior to this, if he wasn't the only one Gaara had sought out in the weeks prior to the third round of exams. Whatever it was Gaara had said to him had clearly shaken the blonde. He wasn't his usual blustering self.

His summoning jutsu was a failure; Sasuke couldn't see whatever it was that Naruto had managed to call forth, but he could hear the thing's voice. Whatever it was probably wasn't going to help at all.

"What happened to your spirit?!" Gaara demanded of Naruto. "If you don't hurry up and fight me, I'll kill the girl!"

Sakura cried out in pain as the sand that bound her continued to constrict, and Sasuke redoubled his efforts to move. If he could move, he and Naruto could tag-team the sand-monster; they could try to free Sakura and escape.

Naruto summoned a trio of clones, using them to fling himself toward Gaara, and… stab him in the ass?

What the fuck?

And then the tag on the kunai exploded.

Sasuke managed to make himself move to bodily break Naruto's fall, just barely preventing himself from crying out as the other boy slammed into him. He slid back to the branch and forced himself to his knees. "All that work and you could only manage one blow?"

"Shut up." Naruto snapped.

There really was no choice. Sasuke was tapped out. Naruto had managed to blow a hole in the thing, but Gaara was still very much alive and unwounded. Sakura would die if they didn't do something, soon, and he and Naruto would follow shortly after.

He was struck with the sudden clarity that Sakura and Naruto were too important to lose. For a long time, Sakura was all he'd had—and at some point, Naruto had somehow become an equally irreplaceable friend.

He took a breath, and let the cursed seal's chakra wash through him.

"Naruto." He pitched his voice low, so as not to carry over to their opponent. At his teammate's inquisitive huh?, Sasuke took another deep breath. He was running on fumes—he had to give the most important job to the other boy, and hope that he could buy them enough time to escape. "Rescue Sakura if it's the last thing you do."

If he died so that they could get to safety, then so be it.

"After you save her, take her and run." He instructed. "I can still hold him for a little while." He felt the burn of foreign chakra pulsing through his system, even as strength returned to his limbs. "If I die here, then that's it for me." He thought of his parents, his aunts and uncles, how he still couldn't go back to his family home without seeing bloodstains seeped between the floorboards. He'd never had them replaced. Would his mother be disappointed that her pristine home was now marred forever? He didn't know. "I lost everything once; I don't want to see anyone else important to me die right in front of me ever again."

Naruto was quiet. Sasuke could hear him breathing. It occurred to him that his friends never really knew exactly what had happened that night. Oh, well. He wouldn't be able to tell them now, anyway.

"That guy," Naruto's voice was soft, meant only for Sasuke's ears. "He's just like me." Sasuke gave him a sharp look. "He's lived his life just as lonely and isolated as I have. I thought he was strong, because he fought for himself, and loved himself. But," Naruto straightened, eyebrows lowering as his voice raised, and Sasuke could do nothing but stare. Was now really the time for Naruto to go off on one of his speeches?! "That's not the meaning of true strength. If you only fight for yourself, then you can't really become strong!"

Naruto began to swell with chakra. Sasuke's sharingan, which he'd reactivated with the chakra of the cursed seal, could see it forming around him. As he watched, Naruto summoned a massive number of clones—more than anyone should have been able to physically produce without killing themselves.

Wide eyed, Sasuke could only watch as Naruto straightened his hitai-ate. "Naruto—how…?"

"I'll protect you guys!" Naruto declared. "You rest up, Sasuke. Leave it to me."

Sasuke was dumbfounded as the clones swarmed Gaara, using sheer numbers to overwhelm the sand monster. Driving him back, away from Sakura, Naruto forced Gaara to further his transformation, revealing a massive monster made of sand.

What the fuck is that?!

And then Naruto tried the summoning jutsu again.

What the fuck is THAT?!

Sakura and Naruto cried in their hospital beds when they were told that the Hokage was killed, because wasn't that just fucking like them.

Sasuke just felt numb.

The three of them were put together in the hospital; Sasuke in the middle bed, Sakura and Naruto on either side. They were lucky, they were told. They were away from most of the fighting, and the vast majority of their injuries were superficial. Sasuke's chakra exhaustion was the worst they'd gotten between them; they were tired, scratched up and bruised, but they'd be fine in a day or two.

None of the medics who listed off their injuries knew what really happened.

Naruto said that his summon told him that the sand demon thing was called Shukaku, but that didn't mean anything to either Sasuke or Sakura. It didn't mean anything to Kakashi when they told him either, but he promised to pass it along to his superiors when he reported in on the state of his team. He'd apparently been embroiled in defending unconscious civilians at the arena while they were chasing Gaara and his siblings halfway across Hashirama Forest. Overall, casualties weren't zero—but they also weren't as bad as they could have been.

They were discharged from the hospital at the same time, walking out the front doors and straight into the arms of Sakura's parents. Mebuki held a sniffling Sakura in one arm and a blubbering Naruto in the other; Kizashi planted a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and gave him a small nod.

"Come on, boys." Mebuki said in a thick voice. "You're coming over tonight."

Sasuke was too tired to argue.

They ended up spending three days at Sakura's house, recuperating while the village prepared for the memorial service. The enemy had completely withdrawn; an unconditional surrender. It was a stark comfort.

More death. Sasuke sat alone in Sakura's room, long after the other two had gone down for breakfast, head in his hands. He was getting so tired of seeing so much fucking death.

And there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it, either. He'd been… useless. He hadn't been able to help Naruto in the fight. He hadn't been able to rescue Sakura. All he'd done was stall for time until Naruto arrived, catch Sakura when she was released from her sandy prison, and drag an unconscious Naruto back into the trees to stand guard while Pakkun had run for help.

Kakashi had taken one look at him and frowned. "You tried for the third shot."

It wasn't a question. Kurenai and Gai, who had come to help transport the injured genin, were peering at him with identical grim expressions over Kakashi's shoulders.

"I had no choice." Sasuke was defiant, despite the world growing fuzzy around the edges.

Kakashi had sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let it go, Sasuke. It's over."

And Sasuke had promptly lost his grip on the charka from the cursed seal, fainting into Kakashi's arms.

He gripped his scalp and grit his teeth, wanting to scream. How the fuck had he fallen so far behind Naruto? Four weeks of separate training—even with a two week head start—didn't explain it. What the fuck did the dead-last loser have that he didn't?! Why was Naruto getting stronger, while Sasuke was stuck?! How did he get outstripped so fucking easily?!

He jumped, head jerking up when the door opened. Sakura was eyeing him warily from the door. "What?" He snapped.

She cringed a little from him. "I have something for you." She said in a small voice, rounding him at a distance. It soured something in his gut that she seemed to be avoiding coming near him. "I meant to give it to you for your birthday, but…"

He'd snapped at her on his birthday. He remembered how wide her eyes had gotten, the hurt that had flashed across her face. Would that image have come back to haunt him, if she'd died in the invasion? If she were one of the photographs they were going to display at the service tomorrow? He hadn't seen her since, until she took the hit from Shukaku for him.

She rummaged through her closet, pulling out a long, thin box. With shaking hands, she presented it to him.

It wasn't wrapped; she knew he hated unnecessary fanfare—knew he hated his birthday, even, but that had never stopped her from getting him gifts. He still used the kunai set she'd gotten him last year.

He took it from her, fingers brushing against hers as she handed him the box. They were cold. She was always cold. He came from a clan of fire breathers; their hands had never been cold.

All gone, now, their hands rendered permanently cold in death. And Sakura had come so close to being added on to the end of the list of people that had been violently ripped away from him.

He took off the lid and peered into it. Inside was a tantō, with dark blue and black wrappings around the hilt, and an uchiwa engraved on either side at the base of the blade. He grit his teeth and swallowed bile at the thought that, if not for Naruto, he might never have seen this gift. She wouldn't have been around to give it to him.

He'd ask Kakashi to teach him to use it, next time they had training.

"Thank you, Sakura."

So uh, yeah. Konoha Crush over. I have a feeling that Search for Tsunade won't be that long, either, which means Sasuke Retrieval may be sooner than I thought.