Sasuke sat in a cell somewhere in Konoha. Yes, Sasuke finally returned to Konoha and of his own free will I might add!

He sighed. Where were his 'friends.' He thought Naruto would come to visit him at least. Naruto didn't hate him completely. Did he? Sure he tried to kill him, but he'd done that before. That was nothing new.

Unless. . . Naruto got tired of chasing him and just gave up . . . NO! He shouldn't think like that! Naruto DOES NOT give up!

So where was Naruto? Maybe . . .

~~~~~In The Hokage's Office~~~~~

"Shizune."

"Yes Tsunade-sama?"

"Bring me Naruto and Sakura. We have had Sasuke back in the village for almost three weeks now. It's time we did something about it."

"Hai."

Tsunade sat lost in thought. What can we do about Sasuke? It will break Naruto's heart to have him killed. I have to think of someway to convince the council to avoid that option. Well I guess house arrest is the best option now.

TAP TAP

"Yes?"

"Tsunade-sama, Naruto and Sakura are here per to your request."

"Yes send them in."

"Naruto. Sakura. I have something to tell you. It's about Sasuke." Their eyes visibly widened.

~~~~~An Hour Later with Sasuke~~~~~

Sasuke heard a door open and then close. He looked up. Even through the ANBU mask on his face he could tell it was Naruto.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Naruto regained his composure.

"Sasuke. . . Get up. You have to come with me."

Sasuke was shocked by Naruto's tone. He sounded so formal. The only time he showed any emotion or recognition was when Naruto said his name. He did as he was told anyway.

He stood up and Naruto openned the door. Naruto made a series of hand seals. Sasuke felt his hands being bond together by invisible bindings that were also surpressing his chakara.

"Follow me. Don't bother trying to escape. We are being followed by concelled ANBU members. If you try to escape you will be put to death." I can't let that happen Naruto thought.

Sasuke thought he saw caring in Naruto's eyes. So some of my old best friend is still there. I need to see how much. "You think I would come back to try to escape? Dobe!"

He saw rage pass into Naruto's eyes, but it was quickly replaced. "Just informing you of procedure, Uchiha."

Sasuke felt hurt that the person he still considered his best friend would say that, but he didn't let it show. "Baka."

"Come."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto hadn't said anything to Sasuke since they left the cell block and it was really starting to get to Sasuke.

Maybe I was wrong and he DOES hate me, Sasuke thought. IF he hates me it's my own fault. I tried to kill my best friend how stupid was I. Why couldn't I have just knocked him unconcious? Why did I try to kill him? I was so stupid. Now he hates me.

Naruto heard Sasuke sigh and glanced at him. He looked really bent out of shape. What's wrong with him? Naruto was concerned. Just being locked up wouldn't do that to Sasuke. Would it?

Naruto felt like he didn't know Sasuke anymore. When he had finally come to terms with the 'new' Sasuke that wanted him dead, Sasuke had come back. Why? He had to know before Sasuke told Tsunade and his other interigators.

Sasuke was pulled out of his thoughts when Naruto turned around and held up his hand in an ANBU signal. (The signal is touching his pointer finger to his thumb and holding up the other three fingers.)

Ten ANBU appeared in a circle around Naruto and Sasuke. "What is it Captin?" one asked.

Naruto's an ANBU captin? Sasuke thought.

"I can take it from here. You are dismissed."

A chorus of Hai's followed. Naruto waited until all of the ANBU were gone before he took off his mask.

"Sasuke," Sasuke was now starring at Naruto, "I need to talk to you before you talk to Tsunade."

"I highly doubt that's allowed. You're gonna get in trouble baka."

Naruto scratched the back of his head in an impish way like he used to when they were young. Sasuke relaxed a little bit.

"I'll get in less trouble then you would think. Why would you start to care now?"

The last part bothered Sasuke. It sounded to bitter, so Sasuke ignored it. "And why exactly wouldn't you get in trouble?"

~~~~~Flashback to the Hokage's Office~~~~~

"What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"He came back." Tsunade replied watching their reactions. Sakura looked shocked and Naruto stared uncomprehendingly at nothing in particular. "Naruto?"

"He's back. Back where?"

"Here, gaki, here!"

"Can I see him?"

"Yes you will be escorting him to my office in a minute, but first I must inform you of the conditions."

"What conditions?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Well you must realise that Sasuke must stand trial in front of the council," Tsunade paused here and seeing Naruto nod she continued, "I need evidence in Sasuke's favor to keep him from being exicuted for treason."

"How does that involve me?"

"You were his best friend. He may be more truthful with you than with me, so I need you to talk to him before you bring him here."

"Let me get this straight," Sakura said, "you are trusting Naruto with a state prisoner that escaped from him every time he was given the chance to apprehend him? Let me talk to Sasuke. I'LL get him to tell the truth."

Naruto's eyes widened and he looked hurt. Tsunade gave Sakura a withering. "Naruto is your teammate, Sakura and more importantly your friend. You should have more faith in him. Besides all you ever did to Sasuke is annoy him."

"Naruto. I'm sorry I can't lose Sasuke. . . I can't . . ."

"So all I have to do is talk to Sasuke?" Naruto cut in.

"Yes, but you will be wearing a wire so we have evidence."

"Ok."

~~~~~Present Time~~~~~

"Just trust me. We need to talk."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke's POV

"Trust me. We have to talk."

". . ."

"Well come on. We can't talk out in the middle of an alley. We look like we up to something."

"Whatever." So Naruto still wanted to talk to me. This could be a sign that he didn't hate me completely. Or it could be that he wanted to beat me up somewhere where no one could notice us.

I looked up. Naruto was putting his mask back on. "Just follow me. I know where to go."

"Baka." I muttered. We had only gone a little way before there was a puff of white smoke in front of Naruto. It was Kakashi. Still reading his little orange book. Things han't changed as much as I thought.

Kakashi spoke to Naruto, "Those ANBU shadowers must be getting better. I can't sense them at all." Kakashi seemed to be smiling with his visible eye. Oh great the Dobe is going to get caught.

Naruto either didn't catch the meaning of what Kakashi said or didn't care. "Well yes, I suppose they are better. It's almost like they aren't here at all."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows or um . . . eyebrow. "Does Tsunade know of their. . . improvement?"

"Of course."

"Auh. . . well very good then. Be at the training grounds at 9:00 am tomorrow Naruto."

"And by nine you mean ten right."

Kakashi just eyed Naruto. "I have a way to improve you situation so din't be late." With that he was gone.

As soon as Kakashi was gone I asked, "What situation?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, Uchiha." I noticed how he flexed his right arm as he said this.

I must have looked hurt after he said that because he added, "Another time."

I followed Naruto to the Hokage building. "I thought we weren't coming here."

"I never said that." I looked at Naruto. Was he suffering from memory loss?

"You said you wanted to talk to me before we came here."

"I said I wanted to talk to you before you talked to Tsunade and we aren't there yet are we." I sighed and followed him into the building. He lead me to a room that appeared to be a board room.

"Here we are no one is due to be here for another three hours." There was a pause here. "You aren't going to try to escape are you?"

"I don't think so. Not unless you bore me to death, Dobe." He seemed to relax. He clicked his fingers and I felt my hands free themselves.

"I'm pretty sure THAT wasn't allowed," I said as I flexed my fingers experimentally.

Naruto shrugged. "You said you wouldn't try to escape."

I stared at him. If he hated me why would he free me? What was going on?

"Like I said, we need to talk."

Naruto's POV

Why Sasuke? Why did you come back? Is Itachi dead? How did you get away from Orochimaru? Are you going to leave again? What will I do if the council exicutes you for treason? What did you. . .

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Sasuke shifting positions so he was leaning against the table. "Are we going to talk or are you going to stare off into space all day, dobe?"

I must have taken to long to answer because he gave me a funny look. Or maybe I imagined it. "I. . . ah. . . Why are you here?"



He looked away like he didn't want to talk about it. "You brought me here, baka. You wanted to talk remember?"

"Don't play the idiot Sasuke. It doesn't suit you. You know what I mean." Damn! Even as a prisoner Sasuke can push my buttons like no one else. How crazy is it that I missed that and wanted it back?

"I thought you wanted me here so why do you care why I came? Don't you want me back?" I thought I saw hurt in Sasuke's eyes when he said that.

"I did want you back." The hurt seemed to dig deeper into Sasuke's usually emotionless eyes. "I do," I amended. Sasuke seemed to relax at this. "But at least when I was threatening to drag you back I knew where we stood; you didn't want to be here. I was going to have to take you by force. Now. . . I have to know why you're here because I can't let you stay if you are going to hurt everyone again." Hurt me again, I silently added.

Sasuke looked rather shocked at my speech. He seemed to have lost his voice. When it finally came back it sounded horse, "I don't want to hurt everyone again," his voice got quieter, "to hurt you again."

A shocked look came over my face before I could stop it. Could he hear my thoughts? "So why are you here?"

"I need help." Was I dreaming? Did Uchiha Sasuke just admit that he needed help? I managed to keep my face expressionless. I knew what it cost Sasuke to open himself up like this and I didn't want him to think I was being judgemental.

"I. . . I can't take out Itachi alone and I sure as hell don't trust anyone from the Sound to watch my back so I decided I need to be with people that I trust."

I don't know why but this annoyed the hell out of me. He only can back for help to take down Itachi. He didn't care about the rest of us. I should have known better. Even the fact that he said that he trusted Konoha couldn't calm me down so I almost missed what came next.

"And. . . I missed you." My anger melted away.

"So. . .you won't turn around and betray us again?" Sasuke visibly winced as I said again.

"No," he said. I was soft, but it was definatly there. "Naruto. . ."

"Yeah?"

"I. . . wanted you to know that their was no one I'd rather have watching my back than you." I light pink tint entered his face.

I didn't know how to answer that, so I glanced at the clock. "We better hurry up. Tsunade-baachan won't wait forever."

"Okay." He stood up. "Naruto, one more thing."

"Hm?"

"Are we still friends?"

A shockwave ran through my body. "Yeah. The best." I flashed him a big smile, a real one. In return I recieved a small smile in return. It wasn't big but it reached his eyes.

"Er. . . Sorry about having to tie you up again but Tsunade-baachan would kill me if I let you walk into her office unbound," Naruto said.

Sasuke smirked as he followed Naruto out of the board room and up the stairs. Normally Sasuke would have yelled at Naruto for leading him somewhere he already knew how to get to but their recent talk had left him in a good mood. 'Naruto's already bent enough rules for me for one day,' Sasuke thought.

Naruto knocked on the door to the Hokage's office. A muffled "You're late gaki" was heard through the door.

Sasuke was surprised that Tsunade didn't sound more mad as he followed Naruto through the door.

Tsunade's eyes never left Naruto as they walked in. It made Sasuke a little bit uncomfortable.

"Uzumaki-san, before we discuss the matters at hand, did your previous infilteration mission go well?"

"Of course and it's 'Uzumaki-san' now is it?"

"I could easily make it 'Namikaze-san' now couldn't I? Which do you prefer?" Sasuke shot Naruto a questioning glance. When Naruto didn't respond, Tsunade stated, "That's what I thought."

Naruto glared at her.

"Uzumaki-san, Uchiha sit." They both obeyed.

"Uchiha I don't know why you returned to Konoha and I don't care at this point. You will tell your interrigators all they need to know in due time. The reason we are here today is to find out if you plan on abandoning the village as soon as we allow you to go free."

Tsunade got up and walked toward them. "No," Sasuke said, "I'm not leaving again."

"Forgive me for not taking your word for it." With that she punched a very unsuspecting Sasuke in the temple, knocking him out cold. "Naruto your kekkai genki."

"Yeah, yeah. You know I could have done this while he was concious."

"I know but this was more fun."

Naruto snorted. "Nentougan (A/N - Mindeye)." Naruto's eyes turned a deep, almost hypnotyzing, purple. They had a swirl in the middle that resembled the leaf symbol, but with out the straight line and the triangle. "It doesn't seem like he's planning to leave."

"Good."

"Do you want me to wake him up?"

"No. I want to talk to you first." There was a pause. "Why don't you want anyone to know that you are the Fourth's son?"

"You already know. I don't want people respecting me just because I'm son of a Hokage. I want them to respect me because I am a great ninja and going to be a hokage myself."

"I respect your reasons, but how are we going to explain to Sasuke how we have reached a verdict already without explaining nentougan to him?"

"Explain the nentougan to him just not where it came from. I don't want Sasuke to treat me differently so he can't know."

"I think Sasuke would treat you the same, but whatever Namikaze."

Naruto sent her a death glare that was amplified by his nentougan.

"Wake him up."

Sasuke's POV

"Wake up! Wake up, you bastard! I don't have time for this! Baachan. . . did you have to hit him so hard?"

"Yes."

"Che. Wake up! Teme!"

"Hm? Naruto?" Why was Naruto yelling in my ear? Damn that dobe was just making his head hurt worse!

The room came into focus. Naruto was standing over me with a irritated expression on his face. I looked into his sky blue eyes, trying to find answers. I saw none.

"Good to see your finally awake. . . Gaki! Why did you have to put him under for soo long!"

"What!?! Are you out of your mind Baachan? Was I the one that hit him? No! I told you should have left him concious!" He gave her a death glare that seemed purple to me. Maybe I was still dizzy.

'Uchiha can hear you kit. And deactivate the nentougan. Uchiha is staring.'

'Butt out!'

Tsunade was talking again. "We have determined that you are indeed not trying to leave again." That got my attention.

"What? While I was unconcious? How is that possible?"

Tsunade seemed to snicker and shot a look at Naruto that said I told you. "Naruto."

I looked at Naruto, who looked like he was trying to melt into his chair. "Naruto what?"

"Naruto determined."

"How?" I looked at Naruto suddenly horrified that he had told Tsunade everything we said in the boarding room.

Tsunade smirked. "Since it seems Naruto has lost his tongue I guess I'll have to explain. Naruto has a very rare kekkai genki called nentougan."

My brain couldn't seem to process what she said. "Naruto. . . kekkai genki. . ." I manage to process all my thoughts into one word, "How?"

"He inherited it from is father," she said with a glance at Naruto. He looked like he was going to pass out.

"Who's Naruto's father?" Naruto's eyes glazed over.

"I'll leave him to tell you that."

"Okay. . . What is nentougan?"

"A variety of mind infilterating techniques. I'm not sure how far Naruto has progressed. Naruto? NARUTO!" I turned towards Naruto again, he finally looked up.

"What?"

"How far has your nentougan progressed, gaki?"

"Oh. . . um," he stole a glance at me. "Torture."

"Naruto has progressed as far as being able to torture people. He can also plant false images into peoples minds. Amoung other things." She paused here. "Are you training for the last stage yet?"

"Um. . . NO. I don't want it."

"You will." Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Back to the matters at hand. Sasuke, you will be underhouse arrest until your trial." She gave Naruto a look that I couldn't interpert. "You will only be allowed to leave with two ANBU members or Naruto." That was fine with me. Naruto was the only one I really wanted to see anyway.

"Naruto show Sasuke to his apartment."

"Hai."

"And then meet me back here. We have matters to discuss with Jiraya."

"Do I have to? I have to meet Kakashi at nine."

"Just be here."

"Fine! But don't expect me to be in a good mood. Especally if this is about what I think it's about."

"You aren't required to be in a good mood at my command, but I do expect you to be here, gaki."

"Come on Sasuke."

Sasuke’s POV

I followed Naruto in silence for a while, trying to process everything that I’d heard. I probably should have been paying attention to where we were going, so I didn’t get lost, but I had too much to think about at the moment. I wouldn’t be able to go out alone for a while anyway.

I finally broke the silence with the only subject I thought that Naruto MIGHT talk about since I saw the way he looked when Tsunade mentioned his father. “When did you activate your kekkai genki?”

Naruto looked nonchalant. “Does it matter?”

“Hn.”

“Back to monosyllables? I should have known that this wouldn’t last.”

“Hn.”

“Fine. It was about six months after I left with Jiraya to. . . er. . . train.” Naruto left it at that but Kyuubi was screaming at him to tell Sasuke about all the near death training he went through to bring Sasuke back.

“Jiraya said that he was surprised at first and he was mad at himself for not guessing my parentage.” Naruto chuckled a little. “When it activated, I accidentally trapped Jiraya in it. He was paranoid for days. After he got over that he told me that it was unusual that my nentougan activated so early.

“Early?”

“Yeah. He said that it shouldn’t have activated until I completed elementally recomposing a jutsu.” Sasuke started to say something but Naruto cut him off. “Don’t ask. I don’t know why that is.”

Sasuke sighed. “Did nentougan come from the Namikaze? Is that why Tsunade said she could call you Namikaze-san?”

“Yeah.”

“But what happened to the Namikaze clan?”

“Killed,” Naruto breathed.

“Oh.” I wanted to ask how but I thought that might be insensitive.

Naruto’s POV

I smirked when I saw Sasuke struggling not to ask how they were killed. “You can ask if you want.”

Kyuubi spoke up at that. ‘Of course you’d want him to ask that, Kit.’

‘Whatever, Kyuu.’

‘You want him to feel guilty about how mush he hurt you by going to that snake-teme.’

‘Shut up.’

Sasuke put an end to this argument by asking the very question Kyuubi and Naruto were bickering about. “How were they killed?”

“Orochimaru.”

“What?” Sasuke’s eyes widened.

“A few months before the Kyuubi’s attack on Konoha, Orochimaru tried to strike a deal with the Namikaze’s. When they refused he killed the majority of them there. The ones that remained were killed when Orochimaru set the Kyuubi on Konoha. Including my father.”

Naruto saw guilt slip into Sasuke’s eyes and he sighed. The Kyuubi was right. I wanted this, so why do I feel bad about making Sasuke feel guilty?

“Don’t be guilty. There’s no way you could have known.” They were quite for a few seconds as they walked up some stairs. They stopped in front of a door. Sasuke took note of the number, 201. (second floor, first room)

Naruto handed Sasuke a key. “Here we are.” Sasuke opened the door and stepped into an apartment a bit bigger than Naruto’s old one. Sasuke stopped. ‘Assuming it was old.’

“Hey Naruto, do you still live in that same apartment?” Naruto shook his head.

“I have to go. Baa-chan will have a cow if I don’t go back to the Hokage Tower.”

Sasuke nodded. “Naruto? One more question.” Sasuke had something that had been nagging at him since he got back. Seeing Naruto nod, he continued, “When did you find out I was back?” This was it. The moment he found out if Naruto had been avoiding seeing him.

“Today.” Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. “Why? How long have you been here?”

“Three weeks.” Naruto’s eyes widened.

“I have to go. See you.”

“Hn.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~At the Hokage’s Office~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m back Baa-chan. How could you keep Sasuke locked up for three weeks without telling me!?!”

“Sorry Naruto. We were testing him psychologically.”

“Whatever.”

“Hiya Naruto.”

“Ero-sennin. What do you want? Let’s get this done quick. I want to sleep!”

“Fine. I’ll get straight to the chase.” Tsunade said. “When Uchiha is finished with his house arrest, I want you two to go on a training trip with a Jiraya.”

“Well this isn’t what I thought this was about! Why?”

Jiraya answered this question. “Once upon a time, the combination of nentougan and sharingan was the strongest duo there was. If we put you two together, that’s the best chance we have against Madara Uchiha and Akuatski.”

“Okay. Does this mean that you think the council will let him free?”

“Your evidence was pretty convincing. I just got done listening to it.”

“You can go sleep now, Naruto.” Tsunade said.

“Hai.”

Naruto walked into his apartment near the South Gate wanting to collapse in his bed, but when he saw Sakura leaning against his kitchen counter, he knew that wasn’t going to be the case.

“Sakura, I’m kinda tired and I gotta meet Kakashi tomorrow.”

“Okay, Naruto. I won’t stay too late.”

Naruto sighed. “You’re not going to leave until i give you something, are you?”

“Naruto, you’re not still mad about earlier, are you? Because I didn’t mean it. I just really wanted to see Sasuke-kun and I wanted to be the first one he talked to.”

“Sakura, this isn’t about that. I’m just tired and my arm kinda hurts.” Worry passed through Sakura’s eyes.

“I’ll look at your arm then.” Sakura stepped forward and grabbed Naruto’s arm. Both Sakura’s hand and Naruto’s arm were engulfed in aquamarine chakra. “The discomfort is a good thing. Your body is finally rebuilding the pathways that rasenshuriken destroyed. I’ll give you some Vicoden to help you sleep. Your arm should be completely healed by morning.”

“Sakura, do you still want to talk?” Naruto asked. He felt a little bit better now that the discomfort in his arm had dissipated.

Sakura nodded. “What’s going on? Is Sasuke okay? When did he come back?”

Naruto chuckled. “I’m going to answer your questions in order. Sasuke has been placed under house arrest. Tsunade-baachan believes that he’s trustworthy. And Sasuke arrived three weeks ago.”

“Three WEEKS! And they just released him from his cell now?”

“Yeah. I was shocked when Sasuke told me too.”

“Where is he? Uchiha Manor?”

“No. The Pine Cone Apartment Complex by the East Gate.”

“Do you think I can see him? Would I be allowed to see him tomorrow? Would he let me in?”

“Why wouldn’t he let you in?” Naruto regarded his pink-haired jounin friend. “Room 201.”

“Thanks Naruto. You should get some sleep so you arm is healed for tomorrow. Kakashi isn’t going to go easy on you.”

Naruto sighed. “Yeah, I guess. Thanks for looking out for me, Sakura-CHAN!”

Sakura’s eyebrow twitched. “I thought we were passed this.”

“We are Sakura. We are. I was just messing with you. I think I’ll need your medicine to sleep though. My arm is on fire!”

“Okay, here. Now sleep.”

“Goodnight Sakura.”

“Goodnight.” Sakura left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura woke up early the next morning. She was nervous about seeing Sasuke again. She wanted to convince him that she was not a mindless fan girl anymore.

She glanced at the clock. Seven fifty-five. She got up to get ready. She needed to visit Sasuke before her shift at the hospital started at ten.

She started heading for the East Gate without really concentrating on where she was going. She was knocking on Sasuke’s apartment door before she knew it.

Sasuke opened the door. Sakura’s eyes widened. “Sasuke-kun...” The she lost her voice completely.

Sasuke smirked. “Expecting someone else?” When she still didn’t say anything, he sighed. “Sakura did you want to come in?” She followed him into the apartment without saying anything.

“Your back,” she said, finally getting her voice back.

“Hn.”

“And, apparently, you haven’t changed that much,” she said, laughing.

His eyebrow twitched, “Hn.”

Okay, then. What do you want to know?”

“Anyone we know dead?” Sakura looked shocked. “What?” Sasuke asked.

“He. . . he didn’t tell you?”

“Who?”

Sakura started cursing randomly. “That damn bastard! He should go to hell! Why? What did he gain? He didn’t even broad cast it! DAMN IT!”

“Sakura? Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure all fine people curse at the air. It’s completely normal. What was that about?”

“Chouji and Asuma are dead.”

“What? How?”

“Asuma was killed fighting Hidan and Chouji... he. . .”

The look on Sakura’s face scared Sasuke just a little. “What is it?”

“Orochimaru killed him.”

“NANI?”

“Yeah. Like eight months ago. Me, Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji were sent on an information gathering mission in one of Orochimaru’s abandoned lairs. Apparently he didn’t want us to know about his experiments, so he attacked us. The battle lasted hours.” Sasuke was shocked. Just how strong had they gotten? He had never seen anyone last hours against Orochimaru. “Towards the end, Shikamaru passed out and I went to help him. Naruto used this distraction to paralyze Orochimaru. He should have died there!”

“What happened?”

“Naruto used rasenshuriken and,” she stopped, seeing Sasuke’s confused look. “It’s an S-class forbidden jutsu of Naruto’s own design.” Again Sasuke was shocked. What had Naruto been doing that he came up with his own S-class forbidden jutsu? “Anyway, Kazu took the hit. Naruto’s still paying the price or using that jutsu.”

“What happened and who’s Kazu?”

“Kazu WAS a spy sent by Orochimaru to infiltrate our village. He’s dead. Naruto killed him that day. When Naruto’s paralyzing jutsu wore off, Chouji got hit back the backlash of chakra. He was dead before he hit the ground. There was nothing I could do.” Sakura looked upset. “If it wasn’t for Naruto we all would have died.”

“What did he do?” Sasuke was trying to figure out what power Naruto had that could match Orochimaru’s.

“He used a Fuuton jutsu to give us cover and at the same time used a forbidden transportation jutsu to send us all to the Hokage’s office. Except him. I don’t know what he did or how he did it, but he managed to complete our mission and come back alive. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. It was because of that mission that Naruto was promoted to Captain.”

“I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t figure you did.”

“Hn.” Suddenly a huge crash was heard through the entire Hidden Leaf Village. “What was that!?!”

Sakura glanced at the clock. Nine thirty. “That would have been Naruto. I can’t believe Kakashi was actually on time.”

“Hn.”

“Anyway, I have to go or I’ll be late. See you!” Sakura disappeared in a puff of smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~With Naruto~~~~~~~~

“You’re not late Kakashi. I’m amazed.”

Kakashi sighed. “I told you what I wanted to show you was important. I wouldn’t gamble with your safety Naruto.”

“My safety? What did you want to show me?”

“You remember when I first told you about elemental manipulation?” Naruto nodded. “What element is strong against wind?” Kakashi asked.

“Fire,” Naruto answered automatically.

“Exactly, so I’m going to teach you to manipulate fire.”

“I can already do that. We had to learn to use all the elements for our ANBU exams.”

“You miss understand me. We are going to make fire your second element.”

“That closes gaps in my techniques. Where wind fails I can use its opposing element: fire.”

“Exactly. You’re not THAT slow.”

“Hey,” Naruto pouted.

“Anyway, there is a second reason for choosing fire.”

“And that is?”

“Making rasenshuriken safe.”

“Come again?”

“When you choose fire as your second element, you will be able to coat you arm in Kation chakra before using rasenshuriken.”

“I get it. The fuuton chakra from rasenshuriken will come in contact with the Katon chakra coating my arm, so it can’t hurt my arm.”

“Can you explain why?”

“Is this a test? Well, it’s because the Fuuton chakra will make the Katon chakra stronger and be unable to penetrate it.”

“Very good.” Kakashi made many rapid hand seals and jabbed his hand against Naruto’s chest. The resulting explosion could be felt through out Konoha.

“What did you do?” Naruto yelled.

“I selected Katon as you second element.”

“You can do that? I thought it was predetermined.”

“Usually it is, but I can select it because of your nentougan.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t have to do element manipulation. When you choose you second element through nentougan the knowledge is automatic.”

“Wow.”

“Now use rasenshuriken on that tree.” Naruto did and the tree collapsed with the slightest graze. “You already know some Katon jutsu from ANBU so we’re done for today.” Kakashi left.

Naruto smirked. ‘Maybe I’ll surprise the teme with a little Katon style body flicker. Nah, I’ll get him in trouble if I do that while he’s on house arrest.”

Naruto was at the training grounds when he heard someone approaching. He spent the entire say there using nentougan to work on his Katon jutsu.

Naruto turned just in time to see Rock Lee approaching through the trees. “Hey Lee.”

“Naruto, my youthful friend, what has you out here so late on this day?”

“Actually Lee, I was training and I just lost track of time. I think I’ll head back now.”

“See you then. I need to do seven hundred laps around the training grounds before morning. I promised Gai-sensei.”

Naruto was long used to Lee and Gai’s training methods. “Good luck, Lee. See you.”

Naruto headed off through the trees at a moderate speed. He was lost in his own thoughts. During the middle of his training today, a crow from the Hokage’s office had landed in front of him. The note attached informed Naruto that Sasuke’s trial was in two days. Apparently they were rushing the trial date because they wanted to start training with nentougan and sharingan together as soon as possible.

The note made it seem like the council was planning to let Sasuke off the hook no matter what. Naruto couldn’t figure out why it made him so mad that they only wanted Sasuke for his sharingan. He kept telling himself that he should be glad they were letting his best friend live, but he was still angry. He didn’t even realize it when his feet took him to Sasuke’s apartment. He did, however, become aware when Sasuke opened the door.

Naruto blinked as he heard the sound of knocking and, as he realized it was his fist knocking on the door, it was opened by an angry looking Sasuke.

“Sasuke, what’s wrong?” Sasuke didn’t answer. Instead, he dragged Naruto by the collar through the door and pinned him to the wall. “What. Is. Wrong. Sasuke.” Naruto said through gritted teeth.

“How could you? How could you do that to me?” Sasuke glared.

“What did I do? What’s going on?” Naruto was confused and slightly panicked. What could have happened to make Sasuke act like this?

Instead of answering directly, Sasuke chose to beat around the bush. “Do you know where I was today?”

The panic in Naruto’s chest was growing. “Interrogation with Ibiki, ne?” Naruto asked nervously.

“Imagine my surprise when I hear the interrogators talking about long term replacements for Team Kakashi. And if that’s not enough, that this was all your idea.” Sasuke seemed to have used up all his anger and was left with only sadness and betrayal. “I thought we were friends. Why would you want to replace a ‘friend’?”

Naruto was shocked that Sasuke had found out about that and even more shocked that he had jumped to the wrong conclusion. “Sasuke, that’s not what happened.”

Sasuke looked up. There was the barest hint of hope in his eyes. He seemed to be protecting it. Sasuke couldn’t understand why Naruto had such a hold over him, but he didn’t want to be crushed by it.

Naruto was horrified that Sasuke actually thought he was capable of such backstabbing betrayal. He had promised him that they were still friends, hadn’t he? Naruto’s eye’s held Sasuke’s. “I was talking about a trip we might end up taking with a certain perverted sannin as your punishment. You didn’t hear that from me by the way. The replacements were for open spots that would leave on the squad. Silly teme. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Sasuke let go of Naruto and dropped back onto the couch. Naruto went to sit next to him. “You okay?”

“Sorry,” Sasuke whispered. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

Naruto stared Sasuke for a minute. “It’s okay.” Naruto would have said more, but he didn’t want to put Sasuke through anymore pain today. “I said we were still friends, ne? So that’s what we are.”

‘But is that what you want, kit?’

‘Stay out of this, Kyuubi! Of course I want Sasuke around!’

‘That’s not what I asked though. Do you want him around as your *friend* or something else?’

‘SHUT UP!’ Naruto shoved Kyuubi into the deepest corner of his mind.

Silence ensued for a long time. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who broke it and not Naruto. “What were you doing this morning that shook the whole village, dobe?”

“He, he. So you heard that.”

“You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who didn’t.”

“I was working on my second element manipulation.”

“Hn.”

“Whatever.” Naruto looked at Sasuke. He still looked a little upset. Naruto had to fight the impulse reaction to pull Sasuke into his arms and tell him that it was all going to be okay. ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ Naruto thought. ‘Sasuke is my best friend. I can’t want him like that.’ Naruto drew the conclusion that his reaction was only because his teme usually didn’t show emotions. It looked so wrong to see him like this.

‘Wait. . . did I just think of Sasuke as “my” teme?’ “AGH!”

Sasuke was now staring at Naruto. “Um, Naruto?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

Naruto turned red. ‘Crap, did I yell out loud?’

‘Kinda, kit.’

‘Go away. I wasn’t talking to you.’

‘Oh, I see. You were talking to one of the other voices in your head.’ The Kyuubi cackled as he faded away.

“Um, yeah. I just need some sleep. Didn’t sleep very well last night. I should probably go home. Bye, teme!”

Sasuke stared after him. ‘Well that was odd. Even for Naruto.’

‘I better go home before I do something I’ll regret.’ Naruto thought.

Naruto made up his mind to stay away from Sasuke for a while. He couldn’t afford to mess up his friendship with Sasuke because he let some of his confusion about his feelings to Sasuke show through to the surface. ‘Why am I so confused about Sasuke?’

‘You’re not confused kit, and we both know it. You are just in denial.’

‘In denial about what? Why do you think you know everything about me?’

‘Duh kit. I’ve been sharing a body with you since the day you were born. I think I understand you pretty well.’ Kyuubi was chucking.

‘Don’t avoid the question! What does this mean? Why do I feel like this?’

‘Are you really that dense? I know your idiot act is faked, so figure this out.’

‘. . .’

‘I’ll give you a hint. It starts with an L and ends in “ove”.’

‘You’re insane, fox.’

‘And you’re in denial.’

‘Whatever.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next two days passed slowly for Sasuke without Naruto around. If Sasuke was honest with himself, he might even have admitted that he missed Naruto, but he wouldn’t have admitted that out loud for anyone.

Sasuke couldn’t understand what he did that Naruto would avoid him like this and he didn’t exactly have the liberty to hunt Naruto down and ask him.

‘Oh well,’ Sasuke thought. ‘I’ll see him today at the trial. He wouldn’t miss that, would he?’

A tapping on the door brought Sasuke out of his thoughts. It was insane foe him to be disappointed when he opened the door and it wasn’t Naruto waiting for him on the other side. Two ANBU were waiting for him instead.

“Uchiha-san, we are here to escort you to the Hokage building for your trial.” Sasuke merely nodded and allowed them to lead him there. They took him to a room in the Hokage building that he had never been in before.

“Uchiha-san, you will wait in this room until someone comes to take you through that door,” the ANBU pointed to the second door in the room, “for your trial.”

“Hai.” The two ANBU left Sasuke alone.

‘Naruto’s not going to come and see me before I go in there?’ Sasuke thought. He didn’t know why but it felt like someone was dragging a sheet of cold metal through his chest.

At that moment Shizune came to take Sasuke in. The council members sat at the front table with the clan heads, who were obviously acting as judges. Sasuke scanned the room for the one face he really wanted to see. No clear blue eyes or blond hair that could rival the sun met his searching gaze. This depressed him. It seemed like every other person he knew in Konoha had showed up.

Sasuke was hardly paying attention to the testimony until he heard Naruto’s voice ringing through the room. Had his blond friend showed up after all? Naruto’s voice was followed almost immediately by his own. He realized that they were playing a recording of his conversation with Naruto in the board room. Sasuke was shocked. Naruto recorded this? He paled.

He barely heard the verdict; he was so distracted. They let him free. Another small piece of punishment registered in his mind: nentougan/sharingan training. The dobe was right after all.

Naruto. . . That was the first thing he was going to do. Track down Naruto.

People began filing out; the trial was over. Sasuke was free. Tsunade came up to him.

“Uchiha, I expect you to be in my office at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. We need to decide what rank to reinstate you at.”

“Yes, Tsunade-sama.”

“Looking for Naruto?” Sasuke looked shocked. Was it that obvious? “You’re predictable. Go find him, but don’t be too hard on him about the recording. I asked him to do that.”

Sasuke just nodded. Tsunade left also. Sasuke went into the street and started searching for Naruto’s chakra signature. It was surprisingly easy to find. The dobe was making no attempt to hide it.

Sasuke headed off in pursuit. He found Naruto in the middle of the forest destroying the landscape. Naruto was standing in the middle of a crater that was a half mile across.

As he started to approach, Jiraya popped up in front of Naruto. Naruto didn’t even flinch. “Go away, Jiraya! You are the last person I want to see right now!”

Jiraya ignored Naruto’s warning. “Still trying to bury yourself I see.” Naruto sighed. “You should be happy. Your nentougan training is now finished.”

“Yes, I’m overjoyed. Killing with a glance has always been my dream.”

Jiraya looked mildly surprised. “You’re not upset about the nentougan.”

“No. I’m not. Just go away.” Jiraya left. Sasuke waited a few seconds before approaching.

“Naruto?”

“Teme.”

“Where the hell have you been, Naruto? I haven’t seen you for two days and you didn’t show up this morning.”

Naruto laughed bitterly. “I knew how this morning would turn out anyway. That was one train wreck I didn’t need to witness. It would be repetitive and ludicrous to sit through it a second time.”

‘Kit, your mask is slipping.’

“What are you talking about?” ‘Since when does Naruto know words like repetitive and ludicrous?’

“I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore.” Naruto looked so . . . vulnerable. Sasuke felt the breaking feeling in his chest again. “I’m sorry. I should have been there for you. I know the council can be pretty intimidating. Sorry.”

Sasuke couldn’t keep up his impervious act anymore. He pulled Naruto into a hug. “It’s okay. It’s fine. Just don’t do it again. I missed you.”

That’s right. Uchiha Sasuke admitted something he had swore he wouldn’t admit out loud. Where would they go from here?