Crying woke him up again. He didn't like hearing him cry so much. He heard his mother enter the other room as she comforted the boy, though the crying continued to increase. He stood up in bed as he looked out to his door. The crying was only getting worse with every moment and it was starting to scare him.

He got out of bed and rocketed towards the door. His small hands grasped at the slightly open door as he exited his room quickly. The crying was getting louder as he got closer to the other boy's room. "Mama?"

They both looked up in surprise. "Sasuke! Are you alright?" He didn't answer as he looked to the boy. "Is _ ok." She smiled. "He's alright dear, go back to bed ok."

He looked at the boy. His face was covered in shadow yet he seemed to know him by heart. He knew he wasn't ok. He knew he wouldn't be without him. "Want to help."

"Sasuke, you don't need to. I can handle it, just go back to bed." She said in a sweet and caring tone. He didn't like that.

"WANT TO HELP!" The little boy began to cry again. He was never a fan of yelling. "No, it's ok, don't cry. He didn't mean to scare you." This didn't help. Sasuke watched the boy cry out in terror as his mother tried everything to comfort him. Sasuke stood there for a moment, wondering what to do. He couldn't let him feel so scared. He had to do something. Sasuke ran to the boy's bed and climbed onto it. His mother was shocked as he made his way to the boy and hugged him.

"It's ok _ , I'm here too. I'm sorry." The boy stopped crying as he looked at the boy hugging him. Sasuke held him close as his mother watched them both. Sasuke felt even smaller arms then his snake up his back as the boy embraced him in a hug for comfort. Sasuke obliged happily. The boy cried silently for a few moments. Sasuke was ok with that.

"Sake, no go?" The boy asked, clearly not wanting to be left alone. "I promise. I won't go." The boy cried as Sasuke closed his eyes. The sounds around him began to blur together as things went blank in his mind. A headache began to form as a voice began to come out of the dark. "...at a fox?"

"I think so." Another voice answered the first's question as he opened his eyes. He looked at a blob of orange holding something as another blob of pink was next to it. "What are you doing?" He asked his two teammates as he saw them sitting next to him. He blinked twice as his vision returned to normal and he saw Naruto holding an old and ragged plush fox. He almost seemed transfixed to it as one of his hands traced against the one button eye it had left.

Sasuke's anger exploded out as he saw someone else hold something he cherished so greatly, even if he didn't truly know the reason why. "PUT THAT DOWN!" Sasuke yelled as he swiped the plush from his blond teammate.

"HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THAT!" Sasuke went to punch Naruto when his wrist was caught by a larger hand. All three kids were shocked as Kakashi held Sasuke back. "Enough."

Naruto and Sakura backed away as Sasuke struggled to get out of his grip. He stopped after realizing it wouldn't work. Kakashi kept his grip as he looked at the other two. "Both of you outside, now." They didn't try to argue as they left the room. Kakashi looked back at Sasuke as he finally let go of his hand. "Get dressed and go with them. And don't do anything else, understand." It wasn't a question.

Sasuke only nodded as Kakashi left the room, a slight limp still visible even after the week he had rested in Wave. It was clear he wouldn't be at 100% for a few more days. Sasuke silently did as he was told and left his room. He didn't talk to the other two as he exited the house. They said nothing to him as they all went on to do their individual training.

Sakura was still working on water walking though she had started getting used to it. Naruto had asked her for any advice on how to do the tree walking and had started to overtake Sasuke at it. The black haired boy already wasn't happy about that so today's events just made it worse.

He continued his training as he put one foot on the tree, followed by the next. He stepped up the tree slowly as his chakra seemed to be steady. He smiled as he thought he finally got the hang of it, only for him to begin to slip.

"Crap!" He tried to stop himself but it was too late as he fell back down, landing on his rump and growling out in pain. Staring up at the trees above he noticed that Naruto had fallen from a little above him, which made his anger grow more. "Why can't I get this!"

Naruto dusted himself off before getting ready to attempt tree walking again when he heard his raven haired teammate yell. Usually he would have gloated but after today's events he chose against that. Getting ready to start his run up the tree once more he suddenly had a flash of that fox come to his mind as his head started to hurt.

Clutching his head his concentration faltered as he fell to the ground. Luckily he hadn't climbed far so the worst he got was a bruised ego from falling once more. He had been using Sakura's advice yet he still only did a little better than Sasuke was. Now he was beginning to get frustrated.

"Damn it!" He turned to see Sasuke having failed again. The boy punched at the ground as his anger started to boil over. Why did he have to keep failing?

"You should try putting a bit in your heel when you take a step." Sasuke looked at the blond in surprise. "What?"

"That's what Sakura told me to do. Try putting some more chakra into your heel. She said it helps grip the truck when you're about to slip. Though I'm still having a hard time." He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. Sasuke blinked as he looked at his feet. Shrugging, he went to the tree once more and tried Naruto's advice. He rose higher and higher with each step until he began to slip once more, though just as his foot began to slide it was caught by the extra chakra in his heel as he stopped for a moment. He smiled before he felt his grip loosen once more so he jumped off, landing beside Naruto.

"See." The blond smiled as Sasuke only rolled his eyes, though a small smile could be seen. "Thanks."

The other boy was a little shocked when the thanks was given. He looked at Sasuke surprised.

"What?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Sasuke?"

"Oh shut up loser!"

"Oh nevermind, looks like you're back to normal." Naruto smiled as he went back to training, Sasuke only getting annoyed by the blond.

XXX

It had been an hour since they had gone back to training, both keeping in relative silence as they did so. They were both getting the hang of it as they were almost able to reach the treetops. Sasuke continued to walk up his tree as he stayed in a concentrated state.

"Why do you have that fox?" He almost slipped when he heard the question. Hands gripped the trunk of the tree as chakra gripped it even tighter, keeping him from falling. He stared daggers at Naruto as the other boy looked at him apologetically. "H-Hey calm down. I didn't mean to piss you off, I just wanted to know, you know."

Sasuke continued to stare at him for a moment. He sighed. "It was given to me by my parents." Naruto was now hating himself for asking as he frowned. "Ah, sorry. I didn't know." Sasuke nodded as they both sat on a branch at the top of their tree's. "It's alright. You didn't know."

"I don't know why, but when I saw it, it almost looked familiar." Sasuke looked at him confused. "Why, did you have one as a kid?" Naruto shook his head. "No. I never had anything like that growing up. But sometimes, when I dream, I have a stuffed animal just like it. I also have a family too." Sasuke only listened as he noticed a tear roll down Naruto's cheek. He didn't say anything about it.

They both sat there in silence before hearing a crack. They were both confused until Naruto noticed he was lower than just a few seconds ago. Looking at his branch he noticed it was breaking as he tried to stand up to get off it, only for it to snap. He began to fall as Sasuke went out to reach him. Naruto closed his eyes as he fell only to feel his leg get caught by something. Looking up he saw Sasuke standing on his branch upside-down, standing thanks to his chakra. They both took deep breaths for a moment as they both realized what just happened. It didn't take long for them to both laugh.

XXX

It watched Team taking watch at the bridge. It smiled as it noticed they had all of them there. Things had already changed, and it seems that Kakashi was willing to do this. Mist began to form over the bridge. It was starting. What fun.