Author's note:

Hey guys! As promised here is the next chapter. For right now this is the only story that ideas are coming to mind for, but I have been jotting down notes for my other ones as well, INCLUDING the second part to BLANK PAGE. I do know that the second part will be shorter than the first, probably by almost half.

As for transmutation I have a general direction that it's going in I just have to put in more details and smooth out the rough (very rough) edges.

Chosen is sadly on the back burner. The far back burner

DISCLAIMER:

I do not, Nor will I ever own Naruto and Co.

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Last time:

"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."

Chapter 4: Being Polite

~~**~~ INSIDE NARUTO'S MIND (STILL)~~**~~

"Tsunade?" Sasuke looked at the Fox who stared at him confirming what he heard as correct. "So I get Naruto back only to loose my best friend again?" Sasuke scoffed and clutched the girl to him as though she were going to evaporate into thin air any second. "If I go back there, I might as well walk straight into their prison. There's no way they'd let me walk around free, let alone anywhere near Naruto. Hell they'll react the same way you did, assume it was me who did this."

"I'm sorry, Uchiha. Based on what I saw of your mamories and thoughts of her I know how you feel." His voice rumbled through Sasuke providing a small measure of comfort though not much. "But you are the only one who can get her there with a chance at saving her in time." Kurama purposly didn't mention himself since he knew that most of Naruto's problems were because of him, including their current situation. And Sasuke knew that as well even if he did come out right and accuse him of it the way Kurama did.

"Even if I travel as fast as I can without stopping for anything but sleep and food, I won't get there before she's like this again. It would take me four days at least." Sasuke looked into one of the Fox's red eyes. "And that's if I don't run into any problems."

"I'm sure you'll find a way to get her there before it's too late for her." Feeling guilty for using his confused feelings against him in such a way, Kurama looked away. "It's time for you to wake her up, the sooner you head out the better. Just remember what I said, she's going to be very weak and we both know she'll lie about it so no one worries. Also know this, her wounds will not heal until the poison is removed. The bleeding may stop here and there but it will just keep starting back up again, it was to make sure that their prey stayed weakened."

Nodding in understanding Sasuke stood up with Naruto in his arms. "Yeah that sounds like Naruto." Looking at the Fox one last time before doing what he had to, "This will be the last we hear from you before Naruto is better correct?"

"Correct."

"Then know this, I am doing this for Naruto, NOT you."

"I know."

Kurama's eyes widened as he watched Sasuke walk over to where the water was deeper, almost to his knees, and with a straight face dropped Naruto.

As soon as Naruto hit the water he felt the poison begin it's attack on him making him glad that he was already laying down since he was sure it would have caused him to fall over. He fought the overwhelming force stealing his energy long enough to see Naruto fly out of the water sputtering and cursing and both her and Sasuke disappearing, before his eyes closed.

~~**~~ end of Naruto's funky mind prison~~**~~

Sasuke woke to Naruto's fist hitting him in the jaw as she swung her arms about wildly.

"Did you have to do that?! What if I had drowned in there?" She yelled before wincing in pain from her wounds. "Ow," Looking down at herself in confusion she checked the bandages covering various parts of herself, seeing that some were sticky with blood and sore as hell.

She then noticed she was in Sasuke's lap and he was rubbing the side of his jaw where she socked him. Blushing she looked back at her bandages, it was safer. "Why are these still here? And why am I still in pain?" Fingering the bandage material she tugged it up away from the skin on her thigh. Holes from where she remembered the senbon puncturing the muscle glared back at her.

"None of this makes sense. And why can't I talk to Kurama." She began muttering to herself and Sasuke took hold of her chin making her look at him. She became quiet as she stared at him before he spoke.

"Naruto, you've been poisoned. Your connection with Kurama has been blocked and you cannot access his chakra either." Panic and disbelief filled her eyes and before she could protest or start an arguement he continued to tell her what he and Kurama spoke of. "He's still there, he's just unconcious and unable to wake up until the poison is gone. He said that it was created by a group of ninja like the Akatsuki but far older, they disappeared for a while there and everyone forgot about them."

Naruto still didn't look like she quite believed him, like she was still trying to get Kurama to answer her. And if Sasuke had to guess what she was saying, it probably went along the lines of 'lazy asshole, get up and answer me'.

"Naruto," trying to get her attention was like trying to catch water in a cup that had holes in the bottom. "Hey, Dobe." That seemed to work for her eyes actually stayed focused. "There's more. The poison is still affecting you too, and from what the Fox said, you will only be able to stay awake for another three days from now before you're knocked out again. Your energy will slowly be drained and blocked out of your reach starting in a few hours. If you aren't cured within days after that both you and the Fox will die."

Tears welled in Naruto's as she caught on to what he was saying. She needed Tsunade. They had to go back to Konohagakure, and Sasuke was going to get caught, they would take him away. And it was all her fault, because she knew Sasuke wasn't going to let her die. Especially if he could stop it.

Closing her eyes, letting the tears trail down her cheeks, she turned her head away. She hated the idea of being the reason he was going back only to go to jail, and they were going to blame him. There wasn't anything she could do about it either since apparently it didn't take a few hours to take affect, she could feel it slowly making her feel weaker every minute. If she tried to argue with him he would just wait until she was weak enough that she couldn't put up a fight and carry her off. Whether she wanted it or not.

Wiping the tears away with the heel of her palm she sniffed before making eye contact with Sasuke again. 'There's no way Sasuke is going to be able to get there in time.' She could at least help them get as far as they could with her help before she became a huge burden.

"When do we leave?"

Shocked that she wasn't arguing or throwing a fit about it, his thoughts took a moment to catch up with him. "Uhh, we can leave in the hour." Blinking a few times trying to understand her thinking. "I just have to let Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin know." Naruto stared at him as though to ask why they would be coming. Rubbing the back of his head absently, "I guess you could say they're my friends, I found them while out and about. And I'm going to need Karin to keep an eye on your wounds while we travel."

"Why?"

"Kurama said that as long as the poison is in your system, they won't heal and will continue to stay open and bleeding." He looked down at her stomach and her side where he knew the worst of her wounds were. He knew those were going to cause her the most problems, but didn't say anything.

Nodding her head in understanding she stood up from his lap but had to grab her head as the dizziness got to her. 'OOh that's going to get annoying fast.' Looking at Sasuke as he reached a hand towards her incase she needed help she made herself a promise. 'As soon as I am better, no, as soon as I wake up from this, I WILL make sure Sasuke has his freedom. And anyone who stands in my way will pay.'

Waving away Sasuke's concern and help she made her way to the corner where she saw her clothes, clean and folded in a chair. She gently picked them up and turned to stare at Sasuke.

"I'll, uuh, just wait outside, until you're done." He opened the door and stepped out but left it open a crack. "Just call if you need help, Dobe."

Grunting she placed one foot into her pants and then another. She had to lean against the wall to wait as the dizziness came back before pulling the black material up her thighs and carefully over the now bulky bandage on her thigh. Groaning as she jerked the material over and finally all the way up she fastened the ties to hold them together.

She grabbed the hem of the nightgown, wincing as the bandages tugged at her skin when she lifted her arms above her head, she had to admit that she was grateful that she normally had the ability to heal fast. Holding her tank top in her hand she stared at it. 'I miss that stupid Fox. It hasn't even been that long since I was attacked and heard from him last, but still I feel so lonely now. Like something is missing.'

Wiping a tear she noticed on the tip of her nose away she shrugged into her tank top, wincing again as she moved wrong tugging at the wounds again. Looking at her weapons pouch and her bag she didn't even bother to put them on, carrying them would just tire her out faster. She did however put her jacket on since she had a feeling she was going to need it to keep warm.

"I'm all done, I just need to put my shoes on." Tossing her gear onto the floor she sat in the chair trying to ignore the soreness she felt whenever she moved. Naruto reached for her sandals under the chair and began to put them on her feet as Sasuke came back into the room. "I'm going to need someone to carry those for me." She pointed to the gear on the floor by the chair she was sitting in before leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. Her blonde hair fell forward and she pushed it back wishing she had something to tie it back with, Karin it seems had taken hers.

"Jugo can carry them. He won't mind." Reaching into his pockets Sasuke pulled out Naruto's headband, offering it to her.

Seeing the headband made her eyes light up and she took it, placing around her neck and tying it. Moving it to her forehead she grinned at him. "Thank you." It would keep her hair out of her face at least.

"No problem Dobe, I know how much it means to you." Not for the first time Naruto remembered Sasuke's own headband she had marked and how he didn't wear it. "Ready?" He reached down and picked up her gear, slinging her back onto his shoulder.

Nodding she stood up slowly not wanting to fall over before they had even started. 'How am I ever going to keep up if standing makes me this dizzy? And it's only supposed to get worse.' The idea of not being able to move on her own and passing out without knowing when she would wake up again scared her. Not that she was going to tell anyone that. She was going to tough it out for as long as she could, maybe even more, determined not to be too much of a burden than she already was. Naruto felt guilty enough that Sasuke was going back the way they were, with a high chance of being thrown in prison.

Following Sasuke out of the compound that they were in, they met Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin outside. Karin shot Naruto a glare from her place slightly behind Suigetsu, but Naruto decided to ignore it. Sasuke seeing the look decided that before they reached the village he was going to have a talk with Karin. Actually he was going to need to have a talk with all three of them before they reached the village. He didn't want them to attack any of the ninja there if things went the way he thought they would. He didn't want them being thrown in to the cell next to him if it did happen.

They were going to make sure that the ninja took Naruto straight to Tsunade because chances were they would be spotted well before they made it inside the village. And he needed them to take care of her, not trying to do what they thought was right by him.

"Hey man who's the girly? She looks a lot different than when we brought her here last night." Suigetsu commented leaning on his sword.

"This is Naruto."

Silence was deafening as they looked from Sasuke to Naruto and back again before Karin spoke. "Naruto is a guy, Sasuke. This-This person is most definitely a GIRL. I know, I dressed her and took care of her wounds." She gestured towards the girl who was standing way to close to Sasuke for her liking, before crossing her arms over her chest and glaring.

Sighing in frustration Sasuke was about to reply when Naruto herself spoke up, "Yes, for sixteen years of my life that's what I thought too. Turns out life is more of a bitch than you could imagine. Now I as we can all see I am a girl."

Shrugging his shoulders Naruto walked over to the big guy with the orange hair who she assumed was Jugo, the other guy just didn't seem like he would be him. When she got close enough to the big guys she reached out and tapped him on the shoulder even though he had watched her come over.

He arched an eyebrow ar her like okay what do you want. Sasuke watched with his hands on his hips as she led Jugo a few feet away.

She then motioned with her hand for him to come closer, so he bent forward a little bit for her to whisper in his ear. Sasuke really wanted to know what the hell she was up to, the sight of her talking to Jugo, well any guy for that matter, caused jealousy to bite at the lower parts of his stomach. Just like when Naruto would talk to girls when she looked like boy, Sasuke would get the same feeling.

"Hey between you and me you seem friendlier than the other guy so I have a favor to ask you." Jugo grunted in acknowlegement and nodded for her to continue. "I-I was poisoned when I got ambushed," She looked away, towards the ground. "And it's going to render me unconcious in less than three days, I'm not sure exactly when but I need someone to carry me while the group travels. And I really don't want to be any more trouble for Sasuke than I already am." Naruto looked back up at the big man. "Sasuke thinks I'll be able to stay awake for three but I can already tell I won't. But before that happens I would like to travel as much as I can while I can and that means I can't carry my gear," Naruto put her hands in her pockets. "Can you carry them for me?"

Jugo looked at the small girl in front of him shocked. Usually he was just told what to do and he did it. "S-sure." Naruto grinned at him and gave hima quick hug before walking back over to Sasuke who seemed a little mad about something. 'Oh well, not my problem' she shrugged as she got closer to him before stopping in front of him and clasping her hands behind her back.

"Ready." She said as she cocked her head to the side. "Jugo said he'd carry my gear, I didn't feel right not asking him to do it."

"You sure you want to travel in your condition?" He asked.

She playfully smacked his arm. "You and I both know I've had worse than a few cuts and some fatigue."

'Expecpt then there wasn't any real threat of you dying.' Sasuke thought sourly, though he was glad that for now she was acting ok even if he knew she was in pain. 'Maybe I could get Karin to lend her some chakra, but then again if Naruto can't reach the Fox's chakra to help her, chances are Karin won't be able to help either. Besides I doubt I would be able to get Naruto to bite her anyway.'

"Alright then lets go."

They had been traveling for a few hours, almost six, when Sasuke noticed that Naruto was starting to slow down. Reducing his own speed he fell back next to her, the first thing he noticed was her labored breathing and the thind sheen of sweat on her brow.

She glanced over at him flashing him a smile right before she placed her foot wrong causing her to slip. Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched her try to grab the branch using her own chakra focused in the palm of her hand before that too slipped. He focused his chakra in his feet and pushed off the branch hoping to catch her before she hit the ground when a blur caught her and landed at the base of the tree.

Jugo was setting her on her feet when Sasuke touched the ground and he nodded his thanks as he walked over to them.

Naruto was leaning heavily against the tree when he made it over to them, he heard Karin and Suigetsu land not far behind.

"What happened?" Karin asked sounding annoyed that they had stopped shooting a glare towards the blonde ninja. She noticed that the girl's chakra levels seemed to be very low concidering how how powerful the girl had seemed before.

Looking at Naruto Sasuke decided that they should rest for half an hour and see if she got any better before moving on. He honestly was surprised she made it this far before stopping, though he was sure if her body hadn't given up she would have still been moving.

Suddenly the smell of blood hit Sasuke's nose and he took in Naruto's appearance even closer, noticing that it was soaked he reached over and grabbed the hem, yanking it up.

"H-Hey! Sasuke what-"

"How long has it been bleeding Naruto?" She looked away from him as her face flushed.

"I don't-"

"Don't lie to me Naruto. You had to have known you were-are bleeding, your shirt is soaked! And your bandages are completely red!" Angry that she would do this to herself Sasuke pushed away from her and stomped away a short distance noticing out of the corner of his eye that Jugo's shirt had some blood on it as well.

"I didn't want to slow down." She whispered still trying to catch her breath.

Pissed, he stormed back over to her. "You didn't want to slow us down?! What about you?!" He gestured at her slumped form still leaning against the tree, barely able to hold herself up, let alone travel for any distance. "Are you trying to kill yourself faster?" He almost yelled, mad at himself for not stopping sooner or to check on her, mostly for forgetting how reckless she could be.

Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo watched from a short distance away from the two not wanting to get too close to Sasuke when he seemed to be so angry. Past experience told them that someone usually got hurt when he was that pissed off. So they were understandably confused when nothing happened other than him yelling and stoping around.

"Karin!" Sasuke barked causing the girl to jump. "Check her over and change her bandages." Glaring at Naruto he pointed at her, "Don't do this again. Jugo, Suigetsu I'll be back in about twenty minutes, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." And he disapeared before anyone could argue.

Seeing that Sasuke was gone Naruto closed her eyes and let herself fall, as her legs wouldn't hold her up anymore anyway. She barely noticed that she never hit the ground when everything went black.

"Why are we going through so much trouble for this girl? Isn't she the enemy?" Karin asked as she moved Naruto to where she could get better access to the soiled bandages.

"Not according to Sasuke." came the response from Suigetsu. "I doubt he would have offered to take her back, let alone gone with her if she was his enemy."

"But isn't she one of the ninja who is looking for him, to take him back to her village, a village where he's a criminal?" She huffed cutting away the bandages on her abdomen first, becoming confused at the sight of the still fresh looking gashes. Shrugging she grabbed fresh cloth strips from her bag.

"Actually I think she's the one who marked his ninja headband, his once best friend." Responded Jugo.

Looking up at him startled before looking back at the form of the slight girl on the forest floor Karin sat back on her heels. "What makes you suggest that?"

"I doubt Sasuke would help just anyone, get mad at them, and just storm off without hitting them."

"I guess that makes sense." She finished bandaging up the blonde before standing again. "Though it's not like we could ask him, without him, well you know, being all Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't go too far, just far enough to be out of hearing range not sight, though it wasn't like they could see him unless he wanted them too. He just didn't want to let the Dobe out of his sight, so when she fell to the ground he almost went back to check on her, until he saw Jugo catch her and set her down gently.

He sat on one of the braches about fifty feet in the air and watched as Karin took care of Naruto.

'What am I going to do with her? I can't believe she did that. Actually I can, it's typical Naruto behavior. But knowing what's at stake?' He craddled his head in his hands and took a deep breath to calm himself. 'Maybe I should just carry her for the rest of the journey, that way she can't do this to herself again. Jugo, Suigetsu and I can trade off carring her so none of us get too tired.'

'She's going to kill me before the Leaf has a chance to even try.' Draping his arm over his knee he leaned back, looking up at the canopy of leaves. 'This is all I needed now. Why did Naruto have to come back into my life now? As a girl no less. As though things weren't comlicated enough when she as a male.' He picked a leaf off a near by branch and twisted it between his fingers causing it to spin. 'Though I guess Naruto being a girl would make things easier. Not that I would get the chance to know. Why am I even doing this? Risking my life for hers?.'

Memories of him and Naruto and team seven played before his mind's eye. Seeing Naruto's doofy grin at acomplishing something, Sakura blushing as she tried to talk to him about anything. Sasuke grunted as the memory of the two times him and Naruto had kissed by accident popped into his head as well, and the feelings he had felt afterwards. The confusion, the heat, the brief thoughts of wanting to do it again, and the shame.

If Sasuke was honest with himself, those feelings and thoughts are one of the main reasons he left. So why was he going back?

The memory of how she felt in his arms, holding her close and vulnerable came to mind. She was a lot softer now, smaller too. Holding her felt right. Like he was finally home, where he wanted to be. He felt at peace with her, except for the 'she's dying' bit, he liked those feelings. And for the briefest of moments he wanted to kiss her again, to see if it was like before, him wanting more. Not that he deserved to with everything he'd done to her. The pain he'd caused, and the heartache.

Maybe for that reason alone he was doing this.

To pay for what he had done to the only real friend he had, the only person besides Itachi that he had ever cared for in any way.

Sasuke made up his mind to have them take turns carrying Naruto since he decided that he wanted her to stay awake as long as possible. Her pride be damned, he was going to make sure she got to the village with enough time for Tsunade to help her. Even if they killed him on sight he was going to do it, he just hoped that they would listen long enough to know what was wrong with her.

Deciding that he'd been gone long enough and that Karin should be done with Naruto by now, he jumped from the branch he was on to the ground.

It would probably be better for everyone involved if they left while Naruto wasn't awake to fight them on it.

He'd deal with her later on his own terms.

Author's note:

so here's another chapter I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.