Author's Note: Okay, first, let me get the warnings for this chapter out of the way.

Warnings: descriptions of a wound, blood, panic, whiplash-ish deviation in tone and mood.

If there are any more warnings I should put in, please do let me know!!

That day, the sun goes down gently, its light diminishing till the sky reflects inky darkness. Naruto switches on the lights and goes back to his position on the sofa, subtly craning his neck to look at the book Sakura's been engrossed in for the past hour and half.

"How much left?" he asks, folding up his legs and slouching comfortably into the cushioned seat. "I swear to god your nose has been in that book for the whole month."

"Which? This one?" Sakura replies absently, turning over a page and shifting her position on the floor by the table. "Nah. I started this a few days ago. It's the fifth volume on this topic. Super interesting stuff. You should give it a read sometime."

Naruto blows out a breath, pulling out his Shinobi History textbook. "Don't think that'll be possible anytime soon. Iruka-sensei's being brutal these days with his impromptu tests and I suck at them. So until I'm done with our syllabus, I gotta say bye to recreational reading – with the exception of sealing of course."

"Of course," Sakura echoes, rolling her eyes, "By the way, do you think Tenten's gonna be alright? She seemed pretty tense this afternoon. Lee told me their sensei, that Gai fellow, is pretty tough on them. I mean who in their right mind would call a hundred laps around Konoha a 'warm-up'?"

Naruto snorts, remembering the many rants Tenten had gone on the first two weeks after her team assignment. She's adjusted to her teacher's eccentricity by now but that doesn't make the whole ordeal of their early morning runs any easier.

"I think she'll be fine. Mostly, her worries begin and end on that teleportation seal. But since we're developing a back-up, she should feel more secure now," Naruto pauses. Frowning in thought, he recalls another detail he'd been meaning to look into. "Hey, Sakura. That guy in their team – he's a Hyuga, isn't he? Hinata's gotta know him, right?"

Sakura sets aside her book, turning her complete attention to Naruto. "I think so. Perhaps? Why though?"

"Well, he's a bit of a douchebag to Lee, isn't he? Maybe we could get Hinata to have a chat with him. Ask him what's his deal?"

Sakura purses her lips, eyes narrowed at Naruto's earnest and concerned expression. "I don't think it's right for us to meddle with their team problems. Besides, if Lee wanted our help, he'd ask for it himself."

"Would he?" Naruto tilts his head in challenge, "State one time Lee shared anything that was bothering him with us? Even his spar-buddy problem was long ago and we got to know about it through Tenten. Lee... he's the type of guy to hide his troubles from others."

Sakura hums in thought, "So he's the pain-behind-the-smiles kinda person? Huh. I guess you're right."

"Hey, you make it sound like a great cliché from one of your novels," Naruto tries swatting her with his textbook but she dodges with an unapologetic smile. "Lee's not a trope, y'know?"

"I wasn't the one who implied it, okay?" Sakura huffs, climbing onto the sofa now. "Buuut, before we get sidetracked too much, let me get my point straight. Even if Lee might need our help, we shouldn't do anything before asking him if he's fine with it. And Tenten will chew Neji out sometime this year anyway. Her bullshit meter is constantly pinging around that guy – her words, not mine."

Naruto considers her words for next few minutes, the rustling of pages filling the silence. Then, he nods, and Sakura understands that he's conceded though he may not like it very much.

"Great!" Sakura closes shut her book with a decisive little thud, standing up. "I think I'll get goi–"

A loud knock interrupts her, startling both of them with its abruptness. The knock turns into full-blown banging in the following seconds and soon, Naruto's hollering at whoever's behind the door to stop. Looking through the peephole, he spots several silhouettes outside but he can't make out any of them due to the darkness of the corridor by the stairs.

"Open up!" someone shouts and immediately they recognise the voice. It's Kiba's. "Quick! Naruto! Open up!"

The gears shift in Naruto's brain as he fumbles with the lock, opening up the door clumsily. A hand shoots up and pushes the door further in and a flurry of movement marks the entrance of a group of people into Naruto's home.

"Ouch! That was my foot Kiba!"

"–suck it up Ino! And hold him right! You're gonna snap his neck!"

"Shikamaru! For kami's sake, give me a hand!"

"Hey, guys, what's going on... ?"

"Chouji–bandages? Don't tell me you forgot them at the store!"

"Nah! They're right here, man. First put him down on the sofa though–"

"Ouch! You did it again Kiba!"

"Quit whini–"

"–bhow bhow bhow bhow bhow."

"Guys? Guys?–"

"Oh, come on. The wound's on his forehead and you're making him lie on his stomach? How am I supposed to wrap the ban–"

"Guys? Hey? Hello? This is my house y'all have just barged into y'know? Unannounced? Unwelcome? Hello? What the hell is happeni–"

"Shut up, Naruto!"

Deciding that enough is enough, Naruto bangs the door shut, grabs Sakura's wrist and pushes his way to the front of the little crowd now gathered around his couch. If he steps on Kiba's foot, the blame automatically goes to Ino which would've made him laugh if not for Sai's injured form that comes into his view.

"What happened to him?" he asks, looking between his friend's faces with rising panic. "Oh my god, he's bleeding!"

"Think we don't know that already?" Ino snaps, running a hand through her uncharacteristically frizzy hair.

"Ino, calm down," Shikamaru grips her shoulder and turns her around, "There's no need to drive yourself crazy over this."

"I think you should stop consoling me," Ino shakes off his hand and directs him to Sai's unconscious body, "and start healing him already."

Shikamaru nods, meeting Naruto's eyes for a moment where he glances clear worry and confusion before he turns all his focus to dressing Sai's open wound.

For the next ten minutes, no one leaves the living room, hovering around the sofa like agitated flies. It's not until Sakura physically forces Chouji, Kiba and Ino away that the traffic in the hall finally disperses. A shared look with Naruto tells her that he won't move away from his spot even if it kills him. Groaning, she accepts that reality and pulls the rest into Naruto's bedroom.

While she dresses them down and pries for details, Naruto settles beside Shikamaru who's almost done with the wrapping. His attempts at using medical ninjutsu had been abysmal at best–he knows the theory, but in the practical aspect, he lacks–so resorting to a simple ointment was their best bet.

"You probably want to know what happened," Shikamaru speaks up suddenly, with a good amount of rigid reluctance.

"Absolutely," Naruto replies sternly, "but don't rush it. Get done with what you're doing first. Then, we'll talk."

Shikamaru nods once before getting engrossed with the task at hand again. Naruto silently observes his friend's deft fingers working with assurity and care but he's too worried about Sai's state to properly admire it. It takes a couple minutes before Shikamaru stands up to wash his hands and get back. He sits beside Naruto, both their backs to the sofa's side, guarding Sai.

"Now," Naruto says. "Spill."

"Well... remember how we spoke about Sai's silence not being voluntary?" Shikamaru asks and the blond nods his head slowly, apprehensive of the tale that'll be told. "Yeah, so I might've asked Sai about that after school. Chouji and Kiba were with me, too. And Ino and Shino apparently had a plan to learn how to paint with Sai today–can you imagine?" he snorts, but it's awkward and tense and Naruto's narrowed eyes don't alleviate the mood any.

"Fine, fine, no detours." Shikamaru shakes his head, "I asked him and as always, Sai smiled–super creepily–and said he couldn't say anything about what he was allowed to say or not. Obviously, Ino's too nosy to not get involved and before I knew it, she'd dragged Sai and the rest of us to that abandoned building two blocks away."

"Okay," Naruto blinks. He's still got no clue how that landed with Sai, bleeding, on his sofa but he's willing to wait. "Go on. What happened next?"

"Er... So then Ino started an interrogation right then and there. To be honest, if it was anyone but Sai, I think Ino would've been kicked in the face after only ten minutes of that bullshit. I know I would've. But one good thing that came of her wheedling was the glimpse we got of Sai's tongue."

"What?" Naruto cocks his head in utmost confusion. "What has his tongue got to do with any of this?"

"His tongue has everything to do with this," Shikamaru counters with emphasis. "There is some sort of seal etched on his tongue, Naruto. And it controls what he says and reveals. We pretty much got a confirmation about that – it censors what he directly or indirectly says but nodding or gesturing something small cannot be curbed by that seal."

"It's containing his free will," Naruto whispers, eyes distant. He remembers all that Katsuri-san's book had taught him, how it had warned him against seals that entrapped someone's freedom. They are vile, horrible creations that demean the art of sealing itself and Naruto's not going to stand for it. "What else did you find?"

Shikamaru sits up straighter, "See, I figured this seal was pretty well-made but it isn't without holes. The obvious we all could think of was what if Sai wrote what he wanted to convey instead of saying it, then it should work, right? But that doesn't work at all. The seal's on his tongue but it's linked to all parts of his body–I think. The loophole, then, lies in how obvious Sai is while revealing crucial details of his past. You saw that painting he made of himself and another boy and I had an inkling that boy was someone Sai knew. A person from his past that he was indirectly telling us about."

Shikamaru releases a breath, lamenting the long monologues that narrating a story necessitate, "So I urged him to draw things of his past. Important things. Like that man who fled Konoha. Or where he lived before he entered the Academy." Shikamaru looks behind, watching Sai's chest rise and fall with forced impassivity. "He drew this dark, underground cell, Naruto and I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be his home. And he also drew a man that both Ino and I recognised. He'd been to many of the important clan gatherings that were sometimes held at the Nara and Yamanaka compounds. His name's Danzo Shimura."

"I've heard of him," Naruto fists his hand and hits it on his head, trying to recollect memories long buried. "I think... yes, okay. That's where I know him from. The old man Hokage spoke of him once or twice. Long ago. When he still used to... " he clears his head before his train of thought gets drastically derailed. "Okay just continue. We'll talk about that Danzo dude later."

"There's not much left to the story," Shikamaru shrugs. "I don't know how it happened but the moment we said Danzo's name aloud, Sai's head just spontaneously developed a wound? That's how it seemed to us. Your house was nearest and we thought you'd know more about his seal so we carried him here."

"Okay," Naruto stands up, something unpleasant building up in his gut. The more he hears of this dastardly seal, the more he's afraid to have a look at it. It's the same feeling he got while studying the seal on the kyubi's cage– an ill-intent that settled around its symbols. "I wanna get a look at–"

A gasp leaves him involuntarily as he stands, staring at the red-stained bandages and cheeks of Sai. The earlier angle they sat at hadn't allowed them to properly glimpse his face but now that Naruto can see it plainly, it is horrifying.

"Why's it bleeding so much?" Naruto asks, approaching Sai with shaky fingers. He hates watching one of his friends in such a condition – he hates smelling the blood in the air even more.

"The seal's causing it," Shikamaru replies and he's never sounded so overcome before. "Listen, Shino's gone to get Iruka-sensei but Sai is losing a crazy amount of blood–" he runs into the kitchen, getting a clean cloth from the rack, "–I'll try to minimise the loss but there's something seriously wrong here."

"Oh kami," Naruto mutters under his breath, feels his own heartbeat quicken because Sai's face is getting paler and paler the longer he stands there and does absolutely nothing. "Sakura!" he yells and it's fortunate that all four of them from the other room come rushing in. They spot Sai's worsening condition and it's all going straight to hell in their heads.

Naruto's mind goes smoothe, then. It's a rush of clarity that he's rarely experienced before – usually when he's trying to crack a seal or design one. He's thankful for it though because it gives him enough stability to bark out his next words.

"Sakura! Snap out of it! We don't have the time," when everyone's attention bar Shikamaru's is on him, he continues. "I need you to sense Sai's chakra and check if there's another layer that's surrounding him. See his external flow. Check for discrepancies. Alright?"

Sakura holds his gaze for a moment and it's asking him a simple question:

Are you sure about this?

But for Naruto, he's never been surer before.

He knows that Sai's head wound isn't normal and that the longer they stay passive, the more their friend will lean into mortal danger. And he can't have that. Sai, for all his quirks and insincere sincerity, is a boy just like Naruto. A boy who, if Shikamaru's guess is right, was imprisoned in some underground facility for a good part of is childhood. It makes Naruto's blood boil, it makes him feel the heat in his pathways again.

But he can't succumb to that rage right now. He can't let the kyubi ensnare his conscious thoughts whatsoever.

The presence of his friends help in that regard. They unknowingly ground him and guide him and so he nods sharply at Sakura and she rushes to Sai's side the next instant.

"Ino, can you get me a bunch of paper and my inkwell and brushes?" he asks in a rush, still making certain to frame it like a request. Ino stalls for only a second before sprinting to his bedroom.

"Chouji, Kiba– get me a torch, a chair, uhh, and all the towels from the closest. Make sure they're all clean! And... and search those drawers for as many blood-repleneshing pills as you can! There won't be many but–"

"We've got it!" Kiba shouts, already on his way to the bathroom. "Get to work, Naruto! We'll handle the rest."

Naruto gives his back a grateful smile before kneeling beside Sai. Shikamaru's hands hover over Sai's head but beyond a few trickles of a warm green chakra, nothing flows out of his hands. Sakura's palms compress Sai's forehead but they can all see his wound grow larger steadily. It's a small gaping cut right at the centre and Shikamaru hopes the damage it's done isn't permanent.

Wasting no time, Naruto grabs Sai's jaw (it feels cold to touch) and opens up his mouth. Gently, he takes a hold of the tongue and when Chouji returns with a torch he makes the Akimichi illuminate the inside of Sai's mouth.

The seal that becomes clearly visible is intricately tattooed. It's got several layers leading to the central matrix whose command is abundantly clear: ensuring one's silence.

Naruto gulps, some parts and functions of the seal sending a shudder through his body. Yet, when Ino presents him a brush, his hand doesn't tremble and he makes a perfect replica of Sai's seal onto his paper.

"Naruto," Sakura's voice comes out frail, a tinge of a very real fear tainting it. "His chakra... it's flowing out of the wound too. Rapidly."

"Shit," Kiba curses, placing a chair for Shikamaru to sit on. "What are we gonna do?"

"We can't do anything," Chouji says, "Iruka-sensei will definitely fetch a healer before coming here but we all know this isn't an ordinary injury. We need a sealing master to undo its effects. And the only one our village has produced is out there in some other nation, prancing about foreign towns. So point is, we can't do anything. But... but maybe Naruto can. Right?" Chouji's eyes hold apprehension and hope in equal measures and Naruto feels pinned by that genuine gaze. "Right, Naruto?"

Naruto looks back down at the seal's design and he doesn't look back up. He can't let them see the doubts swirling in his eyes. He can't let them know that he might fail at this and Sai might pay the cost for it with his life.

"Yeah, I'll try my best."

"You can do it, Naruto," Sakura whispers in his ear before standing up and exchanging places with Ino. "Kiba, Chouji! Let's try and find more people who could help Naruto with the seal. We won't be any useful just staring at them as they work."

Getting no excuses in response, the trio leave Naruto's apartment with heavy hearts – they don't know if Sai will breathe his last while they're in Konoha's streets but they have hope that they'll see him awake very soon. And that hope is all the fuel they need to give their task all that they've got.

The next thirty minutes pass by and Naruto thinks that he's stuck in some fever dream. Iruka-sensei and the healer are here now and their downtrodden expressions and severe frowns are all that he needs to know about that healer's current usefulness. He doesn't let his concentration waver much, even when Tenten enters his frame of vision with wide eyes and a head full of advice.

It feels like he's hanging on the edge of a rope along a cliff side, one foot clutched by Sai who's holding onto him. Time's wearing them both out and he knows that if he doesn't start pulling himself up, they'll both suffer the ill-fate of their precarious position.

It mortifies him so deeply that the feeling doesn't register with him at all.

The adrenaline keeps his vision razor-sharp and he's done understanding the entire seal in another five minutes. One quick glance tells him that the healer's assisting Shikamaru with inducing a blood-clot but it doesn't hold, it doesn't work and all Naruto can think of, for two moments, is how the stains will forever remain on his couch.

He gets back to his papers and ink. The seal's bound to Sai's chakra core and every pathway and tributary that spreads across his body. It's his own chakra that's retaliating against him right now. It's essentially finding an escape from Sai's body and in doing so, it's creating that hole that's also draining his blood. Danzo really wanted the most vicious punishment for any insurbodination. And to deal such consequences simply for revealing his name is barbaric – but Naruto supposes he can't expect anything better from someone who'd make an army out of toddlers.

He has three options now: he can seal the seal on Sai's tongue which will counter the original (switch it off permanently), so to speak. Or he can deconstruct it step by step. Lastly, he can destroy it altogether.

It takes him but a minute to dismiss the last two options, because one's too time-consuming and the other's potential to harm Sai is too high.

He pulls out another parchment from the pile, poises his brush and–

"Naruto!!" a book is thrust right into Naruto's face and as if a haze has been lifted, the blond becomes aware of all the people that surround him. Tenten points urgently at the figure drawn on the pages of one of her own ancient books on sealing lore. "Look here! It's the perfect counter matrix for a seal that traps free will! I fucking knew I'd come across Sai's main matrix before. You can use this, can't you?" she gulps and Naruto notices how her eyes are shiny. He didn't know how agitated everyone had grown over the last forty-five minutes. "Hey! Answer me!"

Naruto critically eyes the counter and his own half-baked dismantling seal's core matrix completes itself with Tenten's sharp eyed assistance.

"Yes, yes, yes," he mutters, spreading down the book and copying the figure on a small piece of paper. "That deals with the core. The rest... the rest... "

He trails off, brows drawn together as his brush flies away on the paper. There's no time for delays or mistakes so he verifies every stroke thrice in his head before drawing it down. Forced obedience is countered with symbols of freedom that tie in with a complicated chain that encourages a person's agency.

Enforced loyalty, respect and love are keyed in to be countered next and the dismantling seal looks like four entwined ovals, full of overlapping symbols and signs. It's not finished but it's something.

For the first time that night, hope shines through some little crack in his chest and Naruto keeps his overwhelming emotions at bay to finish the seal.

All that remains is to mesh a counter to free Sai's chakra from the seal's hold.

But that's where the give-and-take system of seals rears its ugly head.

Naruto bites his lip, his eyes shut close tightly. It doesn't take him long to come to a decision. He sighs, picks up his brush and fills in the last and final counter of the seal. He makes certain to hide the final product from Tenten's view.

When he looks up at everyone, he gives them the smallest of smiles but the way Sakura's eyes light up, the way Iruka-sensei heaves a large sigh, the way Chouji and Kiba grin at him, the way Shikamaru slumps just the slightest bit on the arm rest– it says enough of the significance of the moment. Their trust and belief in him is immense and if the time hadn't been as perilous as it is now, Naruto would've hugged them all to death.

"The seal's ready," he says a little too loudly, kneeling beside Sai again. "I'm gonna power it and apply it onto him. The imprinting might take like... some amount of my chakra but it won't harm me so don't interrupt the process. Okay?"

"Okay," everyone except Shikamaru and Tenten repeat in unison. But none of them try to stop Naruto. Iruka positions himself beside the blond and Sakura takes his other side. Chouji, Kiba and Ino flutter around anxiously but the healer keeps them from getting too close. Whether it's because the healer is wary of the overall situation or because he doesn't trust a kid with dismantling a highly sophisticated seal – Ino doesn't know but she follows his nervous orders regardless. She knows Naruto needs his space anyway.

Naruto looks over the prepared seal one last time, going over and over each line and command and counter till he's satisfied that whatever the result of the seal, it won't cause Sai any further damage.

Bracing himself, he looks at Shikamaru. Dark brown eyes display tiredness but also a profound distress that Naruto's sure he himself is experiencing with every fibre of his being.

"You can do it," it's Shikamaru who whispers it this time.

Naruto manages a wobbly smile and with hope harboured in his heart, he starts the process of seal-application.

He pours his chakra into it's activation and the seal's lines begin glowing a brilliant shade of white, bright enough to momentarily blind everyone present in the room, including Naruto. When the glow begins to dull, Naruto sees faint black lines encircling the seal etched onto Sai's tongue. A sizzling sound erupts from the seal's position, a crackle that indicates its successful placement.

But he knows the problem isn't solved yet.

His chakra continues to be siphoned off by the seal, and he stays there, still as a rock, hands pressed onto Sai's chilled cheeks.

He can see the gears that turn behind Tenten's eyes first, how her eyes widen as she realises what he's done. Naruto can't hear what she says though, can't seem to use his senses well enough.

His chakra continues to pour out of him, as if in gallons, and all his energy slowly seeps out of him. Iruka-sensei catches him in his arms as he slumps.

His hands still don't move from Sai's face.

Naruto had always thought of his chakra pool as an endless stream from which he could draw on strength from forever. It seemed infinite to him, always churning into a fiery blue that kept his pathways warm with energy.

Today though, all his misconceptions about his chakra's limitless capacity are laid down before him. As his life force gets sapped out of him, he realises how vast yet small his supply of chakra is. How damageable, how unsustainable.

His sweat cools on his forehead, and minute shivers crawl up his arms. His chakra takes away his physical strength and mental fortitude and with them decreasing, Naruto's will to hold onto life itself reduces.

And though he's giving it his all, he's giving away most his chakra, he knows the only way Sai will survive will come at the cost of his own life.

And in that moment – the moment everyone's asked about so often. The moment of:

Will you give up your life for a friend?

That moment is very real for Naruto now. It's the choice between ultimate selflessness and the human urge to look out for one own self before someone else.

And in that moments between moments, time seems to halt and the world comes to a stop as if straining its ears to hear Naruto's decision.

And despite his bravery, despite his love for his friend, despite everything he wants to do, he can't bring himself to sacrifice his own life for someone else's.

Not when there's another door he can knock on first.

Author's Note: As you can tell, this incident is so chaotic there's no way these characters don't change in some ways because of it. I had to hold back on not mentioning each of their POVs but I hope I did justice to each of them through their actions alone.

I thought long and hard about what Naruto would do in this situation. And it's with 100% confidence that I say that Naruto would not sacrifice himself if help was available in a form that didn't directly harm those he cares for.

Thank you so much for reading this mess of a story!! Love you all for the support and the comments.

Have an awesome day ahead!!