Shorter chapter because of the way things split up.

Chapter 30 will be the last before the time skip. Thanks as always for the reviews! This chapter should hit 2k views in a day for the first time which is cool. We're also approaching 1k followers on the story which I never really expected. Thanks for reading :)

Also, I've been trying to go back and edit some of the older, much worse written chapters. I won't change anything huge, maybe just get rid of some details that haven't been used and clean up the writing. I will include any chapters that might need to be re-read in future authors' notes.

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Tsunade Senju never wanted to be Hokage. It was a difficult position. It was stressful. She was in charge of every ninja in the village. Any that got killed on a mission, would be on her conscience. Any that were injured inside the village, the village that was under her protection, would weigh on her anymore.

Despite her better judgment, she'd let a certain blond wiggle his way into her heart. She cared about him, even knowing it would likely cause her pain. She was feeling a lot of that pain now, standing over his hospital bed. There was nothing she could do to help at the moment. The diagnostic showed his mind had been shattered, confirmed by Kakashi's first-hand account. She believed she would be able to heal him, but psychological injuries were dangerous and fickle things. Inoichi Yamanaka had recommended his mind be given time to try and heal on its own. Forcing it to piece back together too soon could cause permanent damage. The blond would occasionally thrash, sweat coalescing on his forehead as he fought off the nightmares.

Two weeks was the recommended minimum amount of time. Today's diagnostic hadn't revealed much improvement of yesterday's preliminary one. She'd already visited him twice between them. That was all the time she could spare as the head of a village still reeling from an invasion. She nearly had to drag Kakashi out of the hospital and to his S-rank mission herself. They simply couldn't afford to look weak or turn down missions at this time. No matter who was in the hospital.

Naruto had received nearly a constant stream of visitors since he'd been admitted. Every ninja in his age group had visited between missions and helping rebuild the village. Even Hiashi Hyuga had visited, volunteering to look the genin over with his Byakugan. It didn't reveal anything, but the offer itself was surprising enough.

The news that the Akatsuki was after Naruto was possibly even worse than his actual hospitalization. She knew that despite her worries, that if anybody could recover, it would be Naruto. She was more worried that he would be stolen away. Not to mention the implications behind the Akatuski wanting the Nine Tailed Fox.

She had assigned Yamato to be his full time guard. The wood release user was sleeping in the corner even as she stood there, taking advantage of the ten minutes where a more powerful ninja was in the room. There was a rotation of anbu guarding him at all times as well. A 2 hour shift for nearly every team before they left for missions. It was the most manpower she could afford at this time.

Naruto's teammate was also a concern. He nearly needed to be imprisoned for fear he would try and chase down his brother. Sasuke Uchiha was a flight risk at a time when she couldn't afford to have another guard watch him. She had ordered him to guard Naruto as well, knowing it was the only way she could have an eye kept on him. He was sitting in the other corner, staring at the wall. His sharingan cycled on and off as he sat there. She was worried about him, but had far greater concerns than a distraught genin at the time.

Getting Naruto's other teammate to actually take missions, something a newly minted chunin was usually excited for, had been nearly impossible. Tsunade herself had to ensure that the best way she could help Naruto would be taking missions. It would allow a different ninja to take harder missions all the way up the ladder so that Yamato could be put on guard duty. At least that's what she told the Hyuga. She doubted the girl believed her, she seemed bright. It was her manners as a clan heir that kept her from disobeying what was essentially a direct order though.

Of course team 7 was such a trouble to handle. It was becoming a tradition at this point. She wondered how Minato had ever handled a team that had both Kakashi and an Uchiha on it. It must have been a nightmare.

Naruto remained in the hospital, day after day passing. His friends continued to visit, drawing motivation for training or missions just from his presence. Naruto himself got incrementally better, which pleased Tsunade.

On the eighth day, Kakashi returned. The jonin was tired from having completed his S-rank mission successfully. He reported to the Hokage, and made a beeline for the hospital, not even bothering with pulling his favorite Icha Icha out. He arrived to find Yamato watching vigilantly, and Sasuke brooding in the corner.

Tsunade had already updated him on Naruto's slowly improving condition. Kakashi was there to check on him of course, but mostly to visit Sasuke.

"Sasuke, why don't we take a walk. I bet you could use some fresh air," Kakashi said. Eight days mostly confined to a hospital room probably wasn't doing his mood any good.

The Uchiha grunted in response, but stood to follow him.

They walked lazily amongst the streets, not saying anything. To Sasuke's credit, he made it 15 minutes before he couldn't take it anymore.

"I have to get stronger," he told Kakashi.

"You're young. You can't compare yourself to him," Kakashi said.

"He was an Anbu captain at my age," Sasuke spat out. "I couldn't even make him dodge with my most powerful technique."

Kakashi mulled that over for a second, leaping up into a tree in one of the parks near the edge of the village. Sasuke followed.

"Everybody matures at different rates," Kakashi said. "I was a chunin at six. The Fourth Hokage didn't graduate from the academy until he was 11. Nobody thinks that I'm stronger than he was." Granted, he had been a war-time promotion whereas Minato had come up in a time of relative peace. Sasuke didn't need to know that though, the point stood either way. Sasuke's cold expression didn't change.

"If I chase after him, I can't stop him. If I don't, I'm a coward."

"Nobody thinks that," Kakashi said.

"I do."

Kakashi held back a sigh, "why's that?"

"He slaughtered my entire clan. He killed my parents," Sasuke said. There was so much anger in him. It filled his voice and resonated off of him.

"He made me relive the whole thing over and over in his genjutsu," Kakashi's eye widened minutely. He hadn't known that, despite all the time he and Sasuke had spent together. The Uchiha may have opened up more, but he scarcely talked about that night.

"Ever since meeting you and Naruto, I've slowly let myself push that all away. I've tried to forget it."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Kakashi said. "Maybe that's what you need."

"Putting it to the back of my mind doesn't make it go away," Sasuke said. His voice slowly gained a dangerous edge to it. "The nightmares don't stop. All it's done is make me forget who I'm supposed to be."

"And who is it that you think you need to be?" Kakashi asked.

"I have to be an avenger," Sasuke said. "I can't let him get away with what he's done. It's my duty to avenge my clan. But I can't do it as I am right now. I have to get stronger!"

Kakashi put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and the boys sharingan activated instinctively.

"Chasing power for the wrong reasons will only lead you down a dark path you can't return from," he said seriously. "Your brother should be a prime example of that."

"Don't call him that," Sasuke sneered, brushing Kakashi's hand off.

Kakashi held up his hands, as if in apology. "Regardless, you can't let him be the only reason for getting stronger."

"There is no other reason!" Sasuke yelled. The pain in his voice was clear. "If I can't stop him, he'll come for you and Naruto and everybody else! Don't try and tell me what to do!"

Kakashi knew he was treading on thin ice now. "I'm just trying to help guide you. I'm not issuing any orders here."

"I didn't ask for your help!" Sasuke slammed a fist into the tree, smashing some of the bark off of it. "I didn't ask for any of this!"

"You need to calm down, Sasuke."

"Would you be calm if I killed everybody you ever loved and then flaunted it in your face!" Sasuke shouted.

Kakashi had had enough. He whipped out two shuriken with ninja wire attached, and flicked them with his wrists. The ninja wire wrapped around Sasuke, pulling him tightly to the tree in a seated position. Kakashi took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You're forgetting who you're speaking to. Everybody I loved has already been killed," he held Sasuke's gaze for several seconds. Finally, he sighed, the tension leaving his body. "You're forgetting something else though. We both are. We may have lost our loved ones, but not all of them. There are still people alive who need us. Naruto, Hinata, our comrades. They need you to be strong. They need us to be strong."

"I'm telling you I'm not strong enough! I need more power!" Sasuke said, pleading with Kakashi to understand.

"That's not the kind of strength they need, and you know it," Kakashi chided. "Naruto doesn't care how big of a fireball you can use. Hinata doesn't care how fast you can run. I don't care whether you can break a powerful genjutsu. That stuff is important, but not nearly as important as your strength of will. I know you've learned that from Naruto, because I have," Kakashi said.

Sasuke took big breaths, slowly calming down.

"Look what he's been through in the last month." Kakashi continued. "Do you think he's doing that because he wants to become stronger? Or does he do it to protect the people and village he loves?" Sasuke finally deactivated his sharingan as a small look of surprise showed on his face. He'd never thought of it that way. He'd barely thought about it at all in the last month outside of how he hadn't been strong enough to help.

"You'd be hard pressed to find somebody who could survive direct encounters with Orochimaru, Gaara twice, and Itachi and Kisame," Kakashi said. "It's not because he's an Uzumaki or a jinchuuriki. It's because his will of fire burns so strongly that he won't allow himself to let those he cares for down," Sasuke was quiet in response.

Kakashi let out another breath, "I have to leave for another mission in the morning. Think long and hard about what we've talked about." The jonin body-flickered away to get some rest and prepare for his next mission.

For the first time since the invasion, Sasuke was unaccompanied by another Leaf ninja. The Uchiha was far from alone though. Four ninja waiting in the shadows of the approaching night grinned, and licked their lips. Now was their chance to see to their master's will.

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24 hours later

Sakura Haruno was walking through the village, late into the night. She was doing a little soul searching. She was lost, unsure of what she was doing in her life. She had visited Naruto every day that week, hoping he would wake up. She tried to speak with Sasuke while she was there, but the Uchiha was being even more reserved and short with her than normal.

Her rotation and studying at the hospital was enjoyable. She liked helping people even though she wasn't all that skilled in medical ninjutsu yet. She felt like it was something she could be good at if she really tried. She'd always been more book smart than anything, learning medical techniques should fit her better than something more creative like genjutsu.

This brought her to her reason for introspection: she wasn't sure if she should continue being a ninja. She'd made great strides training with Naruto in their final year, and even more since Kurenai had become her sensei. Still, she felt as if she lacked the resolve and tenacity. Kiba wouldn't back down from anything. Shino always had backup plans to his back up plans, never giving up on an assignment. Sasuke actively sought stronger opponents. And then there was Naruto.

The ever cheerful blond was on his third trip to the hospital in a month for fighting S-rank opponents and surviving. Even winning in some cases. He'd saved Team 10 from a rogue nin in Wave. She knew she couldn't compete with that. How could she? Even shy Hinata was braver than her when it came down to it. Her timid thoughts were drowning out the shouts of indignation from her brasher subconscious.

The scrape of sandals alerted her of another presence. That was odd. Even in a hidden village, ninja had to sleep. The dead of night was the best time for that sort of thing, and rarely were there people walking the streets. Standard protocol dictated that any high priority missions would take faster, more discrete routes. Lower priority ones would wait till morning.

She glanced up, surprised to see Sasuke walking towards her. The Uchiha had his head down, his black bangs hanging over his eyes. The backpack he sported was an odd addition to his look. Usually when Team 7 went on missions, Naruto had storage scrolls for them all. Plus, the blond was definitely still in the hospital. Even if he had awoken after she had left the hospital, he wouldn't have been cleared to leave, let alone go on a mission. So what was Sasuke up to?

"Sasuke-kun," She called softly. "What are you doing out at this hour?"

"Just leave me alone, Sakura. I'm not in the mood." The tone in his voice set her on edge. He looked up at her and her budding senses sprung to high alert alert. He had bags under his eyes, much worse than hers. He looked like he hadn't slept last night or this one. His skin was pale and he was jittery. Most surprising, were the swirling sharingan in his eyes. They seemed to pierce her very soul.

"W-what are you talking about? Do you have a mission?" She asked. Her voice was weak, and she was ashamed of herself even as she spoke.

"Of sorts," he replied quietly. He kept walking past her.

"S-sasuke.," she worked up the courage. He paused. "Does your sensei know what you're doing? Or Kakashi-sensei?"

"It doesn't matter if they know. I have to do this," he said. He didn't move.

An anger bubbled deep in Sakura's gut. She used to think it was cute and mysterious how cryptic he could be, but in this moment it was more than irritating.

"Why?" She asked. "Why won't you open up to me? No matter how hard I try you just push me away." She had a previously unseen determination in her voice. He was almost admirable of it for an instant.

"I don't owe you or anybody else anything," he spat at her, "So just leave me alone. Go play kunoichi or something."

His words cut deep, but she felt she owed it to one specific comrade to speak up.

"What about Naruto?" She said. "Don't you think you owe him something? I heard what he did for you." Indeed, taking the Tsukuyomi for Sasuke was not something that had gone under the radar. Information worked its way through a shinobi village quickly.

"I'm doing this as much for him as I am for myself," Sasuke whispered, more to himself than to her. He turned his head. All it took was a glance of his sharingan to catch her in a genjutsu.

Sakura fell unconscious in the same breath. Sasuke caught her before she hit the ground.

For a brief second he looked at her innocent features and felt a tremendous guilt.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," He whispered. He deposited her behind a low retaining wall, and made for the village's outer ring.

Within five minutes he had slipped over the wall undetected, and gone into the night.

At some point the story of Wave will be told although I'm not sure how I'll do that just yet. I liked the idea of it being a mysterious thing (plus skipping over it sped up the pace of what was becoming an extremely slow story tremendously.)

I know a lot of people don't like Sasuke trying to leave the village, and my response is this: I don't care. I'm not even going to bother explaining myself, I apologize if the story hasn't been realistic enough for those of you that already seem to hate canon. Read the story if you want to find out what happens with him, drop it if you don't.