AUTHOR'S NOTE:

sorry for taking so long with the update. life happened, actually it might have been summer vacation and the fact i have kids lol. either way i'm back at it and here is the next chapter of What You Are.

Thank you for sticking with me and my story. i love you guys.

DISCLAIMER:

I DO NOT (SADLY) OWN NARUTO.

Last time:

"S-Sasuke" was whispered from the girl's lips before her eyes began to flutter open and he found himself staring into the only pair of eyes he cared to remember.

"Naruto?"

Chapter 3: Memories

"Sasuke!" The she whispered excitedly as a grin spread across her lips. "Finially." she almost sighed.

Sasuke took a step back as the girl's hand reached out to him, causing hurt to flash in her eyes, HIS eyes.

"Sasuke, it's me. Naruto." The feminine voice said pleadingly. "I promise. It's me. I'm not doing a jutsu or pulling a prank." she moved to sit up, wincing as she did so. 'My wounds must have not have fully healed yet. Hey Kurama whats the deal?' She waited for him to answer before calling his name again. 'Kurama?... Maybe he's asleep?' she didn't want to start worrying over the lack of response yet, so she lied to herself.

"How are you a girl? Naruto is a male." Sasuke stated as he watched the girl become silient which was something Naruto didn't have a knack for.

His voice must have snapped her out of her thoughts for she jumpped a little at the sound.

"Sorry what did you say?" She looked confused and a little shaken though she tried to hide it.

"Naruto is a male." A talkative, bouncy, extremely energetic, happy male. A male that he went to great lengths to not think about but was constantly there anyway. And now his memories of the male were being thrown in his face and he wasn't happy about it.

The girl on the bed seemed to look embarassed as she scratched her cheek with a finger. "Well you see, I was,... but I wasn't at the same time." She tilted her head to the side as though thinking of a way to explain, causing some of her long blonde hair to fall over her shoulder. It really was the same color.

"When I was born the Fourth Hokage, my father, placed a seal over the one that keeps the Fox inside me so I would grow up as a boy. And apparently being as reckless as I am made the seal break before it was supposed to. So as you can see I'm a girl." She shrugged her shoulders as though it were that easy.

'She wants me to believe that?' He glared at the girl who looked so much like the boy they were disgussing. "How do I know you're not lying? Trying to get close to me by using his name and looking like him?" The thought of someone pulling this kind of stunt on him made is blood boil with rage.

She nodded her head sadly as she looked to the floor. "I'm not lying, though it would be so much easier if this was all a joke." She stared at the floor noticing that it seemed to blur around the edges. 'What the hell? Kurama?'

"Jokes are supposed to be funny and learning all of this was anything but." She mumbled before she brought her hand to her mouth as her stomach flipped and rolled.

Sasuke watched as she seemed to sway while holding herself awkwardly, almost as though she were sick. 'I don't think I can recall him ever getting sick. Odd'

Naruto slumped back against the wall as all of her energy seemed to disappear at once leaving her almost breathless. Her one hand lay resting on her stomach as it continued to roll and flip, while the other just chilled by her side. Sweat broke out along her brow and her eyelids began to droop. 'Wh-what's going on-?' her thoughts began to slow down like thick mud.

He watched for a few minutes as whatever was happening caused her to pass back out. 'Maybe one of her injuries was more savere than I was told. He looked at the girl as her breathing became shallow and a sheen of sweat covered her brow. I'll have Karin check her over again.'

He looked her over once more marking the similarities and thinking about the posssibility of what she was saying to be true.

If she did turn out to be telling the truth how would he even feel about it, let alone do.

Sasuke left the room where the girl was currently unconcious, and headed towrds the vast library that Orochimaaru had accquired on the most random shit. Almost like whenever he or Kabuto came across a book they just picked it up to add to the ever growing collection. There were very few books that could be placed together on the same subject, but hopefully he could find something about the Hokages, since Orochimaru was very interested in them for a while. So maybe he actually went hunting for a couple on the topic.

After being in there for a couple of hours Karin came searching for him asking if her wanted to hang out.

Sasuke took a book off the shelf and leafed through it quickly before taking down a different one.

"No."

"Why not Sasuke?" She pouted which made her face funnier looking than usual.

"Hmn... I need you to look at the girl again to make sure her wounds are healing." He placed another book back onthe shelves before taking down another.

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as she scowled, but before the girl could storm out of the room to do as he said he called out to her.

"Hey, Karin, you're an Uzumaki right?" he held onto the self in front of him as he leaned back to see her better.

Still scowling she looked at him. "Yeah, why? You know this already, Sas-"

"What do you know about Kushina Uzumaki?"

Confusion filled her eyes as she looked at him for a moment. "From what my mother told me she was her cousin and she left our village to live in yours when she was young. Apparently she was married to the Fourth Hokage and they had a child. So there's another Uzumaki out there, somewhere." She closed her eyes for a moment before coninuing, "If I remember correctly she and her husband died, I was about five when my mother told me this so it might not be right."

Sasuke didn't tell her that he knew who the other Uzumaki was or that she was correct. "Do you remember if the baby was a boy or a girl."

"Um, I think my mom said that her aunt was excited to be having a granddaughter. Why?"

Sasuke looked off to the side thinking about what she said and what 'Naruto' told him, 'Maybe the girl wasn't lying.'

"Sasuke why did you want to know? For all I know they're all dead by now." She looked at him as he stood there.

"Hmm?" He looked back over at Karin remembering that she was still in the room. "No reason, just go check on the girl already."

Shooting him a confused but pissed off glare she left, muttering as she made her way down the hall.

'If she is Naruto, then it's a little odd for her wounds not to have healed already.' Sasuke went to place the last book in his hand back on the shelf when he noticed a book title at the end, Uzushiogakure. Recognition sparked at the name and he grabbed it causing a cloud of dust to fall into his face. Waving away the dust he opened the book and while skimming the pages, he came across an interesting passage.

Ablilities:

Uzumaki have the ability to quickly heal themselves and others, through consumption of their chakra. It is dangerous, however, to use this ability too regularly. Some members, have also displayed a unique sensory ability as well as the ability to suppress their chakra signature making them undetectable.

Uzumaki also naturally possess incredibly strong life forces. As such, they have very long lifespans and likewise seem to age slower, this also enables them to survive and endure much more severe injuries while likewise able to recover from injuries and exhaustion with much greater efficiency in short periods of time. Some members also possessed a unique form of chakra with special properties which made them especially well-suited to become jinchūriki as well as produce adamantine chains made from their own chakra. These traits are strong enough to survive the removal of tailed beasts, although they are still left severely weakened afterwards.

This made Sasuke's brow furrow in confusion. 'Then why did she looks sick? Even without these abilities Naruto has always healed within hours. But she passed out and seemed to have no energy at all.' Sasuke placed the book on the table open to that page and walked out of the room back towards where the girl was.

Karin was just coming out of the room when he came around the corner.

"How is she?"

"I don't know, I couldn't get her to wake up." shrugging her shoulders and tosing her hair out of her face she put her hands in her pockets. "I redressed her wounds, they seem to be free of infection though they're still bleeding a little, which should stop soon."

Shocked he looked at the door, "She still has open wounds that are bleeding?"

Karin scoffed, "Well yeah, most people who get sliced up like that tend to. For hours or even days after they bleed some." She looked at him like he was stupid. "I mean not everyone heals as fast as I do."

"No, she heals faster," He opened the door and walked into the room.

"Heals faster? What do you mean heals faster? I'm an Uzumaki, no one heals faster." She muttered as she followed him into the room, watching as he pulled the nightgown she put her in up to get a look at her wounds. 'I wish he'd remove my clothes.'' Jealousy flared in her eyes.

Seeing the red seeping through the fresh bandages caused worry to settle in the pit of his stomach. Looking down at her thigh he remembered that Jugo mentioned they had to pull senbon out of her leg. He removed the bandage hoping that the wounds were gone and that he was worried for nothing. Seeing the wounds on her leg when he removed the last of the cloth caused him to curse, they still looked fresh.

"Fuck. Something's wrong."

"What do you mean, she seems fine." Irritated at the attention Sasuke was giving this girl for what seemed to be nothing she wanted the girl gone.

"Naruto," Sasuke shook the girl on the bed hoping to wake her up. Karin's eyes went wide in shock as she watched him continue to shake the girl. "Naruto, come on, Dobe wake up."

Sasuke picked up Naruto and sat with her in his lap and stroked her hair out of her face. Looking up at Karin she gasped seeing his Sharingan before he growled at her to leave. Looking down at Naruto's face, he noticed just how much more feminine it looked, but at the same time how it still looked the same. Her lips were fuller and her cheek bones were sharper giving her a more exotic look, and her jawline was much softer than before. But it was still Naruto no matter how he looked at her.

He needed her to open her eyes, if only for a second, for what he wanted to do he needed to look into her eyes. That and he never could get enough of them.

"Naruto, Dobe." He placed his hand on the side of her face before placing his hand on her arm. Feeling guilty for what he was about to do he kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry." He closed his eyes as he gathered electric chakra in the palm of his hand intending on shocking her awake with it.

Her body jerked violently away from his hand as her own came up to cradle the injury, she whimpered and curled further into his lap. Opening her eyes she looked up at him with tears in her eyes and confusion as to why she was hurting.

As soon as she made eye contact with him he entered her mind.

~~**~~IN NARUTO'S MIND ~~**~~

As soon as he set foot in her mind he knew it was worse than he thought, he could feel it surrounding him, pressing on him from all sides.

Walking through the water on the floor of her mind was like walking through well water that was up to his knees instead of the soles of his sandals. In the center of the room he saw Kurama out of his cage curled up in a ball as though protecting itself from outside forces.

As Sasuke drew closer to the fox he noticed that it was holding something.

No, not something.

Someone.

Naruto was laying between Kurama's tail and belly.

Noticing Sasuke, Kurama began to growl and bare his teeth. "No closer, Uchiha." The anger in his voice convinced Sasuke to stop even though he wanted nothing more than to grab Naruto. "You did this to her!" he snapped his teeth as Sasuke took a step closer, anger flared in the Fox's eyes towards the Uchiha.

Holding his hands up in the air and shaking his head no, he hoped to show that he meant no harm to either of them and that maybe Kurama would let him closer.

"Naruto, there's something wrong with him."

"HER." Kurama growled.

"Yes, sorry, her. There's something wrong. She's not healing." he motioned towards Naruto laying there as though she were sleeping.

"I know." he growled shifting his tail so Sasuke couldn't see Naruto as though looking at her would make it worse. "She released me right before she collapsed in here." He continued to growl, "And it's YOUR fault!" he roared.

"I didn't do anything I swear." Sasuke stated firmly, wanting nothing more for the fox to believe him. "Don't you remember how Naruto came looking for me and was ambushed on the way?"

"LIES!" snapped the Fox in anger, his fur bristling and standing on end. "YOU UCHIHA ALWAYS LIE! MANIPULATERS AND LIARS!"

"No!" Sasuke argued, growing frustrated. 'whatever is causing this must have affected Kurama's memory.' running his hands through his hair he sighed trying to think of a way to convince the Fox.

"How can I convince you that I'm not lying, that I didn't hurt her?" He asked not wanting to get any closer to the fox without him believing him. Who knows what would happen if Sasuke and Kurama fought in here, what kind of damage it would do.

Growling Kurama didn't answer right away causing Sasuke to become even more irritated and cross his arms over his chest and glower at him, waiting.

"Let ME into YOUR mind Uchiha. Let me see your memories and proof that you did not do this to her. THEN I shall see what you can do for her."

Shocked Sasuke dropped his arms to his sides, he didn't know that it was possible for the Fox to communicate that way with anyone besides his host. "I didn't think you could."

"Ordinarily I can't, but you are here." He pointed out, still not allowing Sasuke near, hiding Naruto.

"Okay then, lets do it." Sasuke sat on the floor, the water even though it was there did nothing to his clothes. 'Odd'

"So what do I have-" Sasuke grunted in discomfort as the Fox scoured through his memories of the past few weeks. He seemed to be very interested at how many times Naruto came to mind even though Sasuke hadn't seen him in years, and the feelings that came along with those thoughts. He lingered on the memories of when Sasuke first saw Naruto in the room on the bed, and how oddly she was behaving, playing the memory slowly as though paying close attention to the small details.

When Kurama came across the passage Sasuke had read and the short conversation he had with Karin outside the room about her wounds a low rumble echoed in his ears. Apparently he agreed that something was very wrong.

Sasuke opened his eyes to find himself laying on his side and slowly sat up again. His head gave a dull throb in protest as he began to rise to his feet and stood before the fox once more.

"Do you believe me now?"

Kurama slowly drew his tail away from Naruto and looked at her. "They poisoned her."

"They who?" Sasuke asked as he made his way over to the girl.

"I do not recall their name, only that they like the Akatsuki, have been after the tailed beasts, though for a lot longer. So long infact that we thought they didn't exist asnymore, or at least weren't an issue." His voice rumbled through the room as he went on, "They made a poison that separates the chakras of the beast and the host so they can no longer contact or help eachother." Sasuke sat down next to Naruto as he listened to Kurama, and gathered her into his arms once again.

"It casues the host to become sick and weak, locking away their own chakra away from them and eventually knocking them unconcious, while us beassts are trapped in their mind behind the seal unable to help. Unable to even talk to them." Memories floated behind Kurama's eyes. "Somehow Naruto was able to break through for a moment to free me from my sealed prison before the poison became too much. Even now I am unable to wake her." The Fox sounded lost as he stared at the girl he had been sealed to for the past eighteen years, the only host to become his friend. He needed her.

"Do you know of a way for me to help her?"

"You are I am assuming using the Sharingan to be here correct?"

"Yeah, it was the only way I could think of to get here."

The Fox looked at him as though to say 'DUH' before looking back to Naruto. "Then you should be able to wake her fairly easily since you can touch her and I cannot." He seemed to be gathering his thoughts before continuing. "When she wakes up the poison is going to attack me and my chakra, she will not be able to get any help from me, it will render me unconcious. It will not kill me, since that was never their goal, but soon after she wakes it will begin to sap her strength, at most she'll have three days before she's like this again. And then it will only be a matter of days before both of us are dead." Kurama curled up around Naruto and Sasuke as though seeking comfort.

Dread coursed through Sasuke at Kurama's words. 'No,'

He couldn't believe something as small as this would be able to do something so terrible to someone as strong as the Dobe.

Naruto.

Dead.

Impossible.

"How sure are you of this Kurama?" Sasuke whispered as he held her tighter to his chest as though it would magically make everything better.

"Unfortunetly I am perfectly sure of this. They got their hands on the five tailed beast, Kokuo, over seven hundred years ago and she nearly died nearly died before a powerful healer got to her just in time. Kokuo's host didn't fare so well though. He died before the healer got there by a few minutes, so the healer had to remove Kokuo from her host and place her in healing trance inside an inanimate object for fifty years." He shifted uncomfortably as he told Sasuke this since the memories alone were unpleasant, remembering how small and weak Kokuo had become by the time she was saved and how much pain her host had been in before he died. Back then Kurama hadn't spared a thought for the human since they were benieth him, but since Naruto his views have changed and he would never want her hurt like that. Like this.

"Only one person has the ability and the strength to get the poison out of her system."

"Who?" Fearing that he knew the answer but hoping he was wrong, because returning there would take Naruto away from him as well as the poison would by itself.

"Tsunade."

Author's note:

sorry for the long wait everyone. life got away from me and so did time it seems. but i have not forgotten my stories or you guys. I will try to post more chapters soon.

thank you guys for not giving up on me.