DissyClamyErr…: I own many things but Naruto is not one of them.

Author Notes: Argh! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. As you can probably tell by looking at the scroll bar, this chapter is ultra long and so took me an ultra long time to write – I kept getting stuck and walking away from it in disgust. Thank you to everyone who posted up reviews to get me to update – I felt like a right heel every time I got one so compulsively opened my writing program to look at the chapter. Sometimes I even wrote something too.

An even bigger thanx to Iansk (my sometimes most of the time beta who rocks) who had a tendency to say things like '…so, since we're talking about Hyde and his whiney singing voice, written any more on Utu?' She did it every night – sometimes multiple times. This chapter wouldn't have gotten written without her :D

Anyway, Thank you to everyone who reviewed throughout the story, I had a lot of fun writing it and the reviews just made me work that much faster. Enjoy! And don't forget to review!

Chapter Nine:

Damnit.

Naruto walked quickly down the street and away from the pair of black eyes he could feel boring into the back of his head. It was with relief that he turned the corner onto another street and, not slackening his pace even a little, marched down it as well.

He was already beginning to regret what he'd said to Sasuke - but at the same time he was certain it had to be said. There was only so much coddling a person could stand before they started to go a little insane and Naruto had reached his limit. Actually, he had reached his limit within the first week they had been travelling in the caves but he hadn't wanted to say anything in front of Sakura because… Naruto shook his head and stopped walking.

Maybe he'd needed it. What had happened to him back in the Forest of Death…and what he'd been told afterwards by Tsunade…he hadn't been handling it very well. He knew he should be focusing more on the Chuunin exam but while he knew it, it didn't stop him from zoning out on everything around him every time… He picked a new direction and began resolutely walking in it. He shouldn't think about it – thinking about it just seemed to make it worse. Thinking about it was what was causing most of his problems.

Except that he had to think about it – he wished he could talk about it…but who could he tell? Nobody… He wanted to tell Sasuke. No…he really wanted to tell Sasuke.

But he couldn't tell him. He'd tried too a couple of times…but each time he'd stopped before the first word even passed his lips. In that frozen moment every possible reaction Sasuke could have would pass rapidly through his head and no matter how he tried to reassure himself, every single one of those imagined reactions were bad ones. The best reaction he'd predicted was that Sasuke would simply stop willingly talking to him and that everything between them would become painfully awkward. He couldn't let that happen. Ever.

But what would happen when Sasuke did find out? And he would, there was no doubt about that. As time went by the changes in Naruto would become painfully obvious, and, in fact, had already started to become noticeable – and then Sasuke would be doubly mad at him. Mad that Naruto hadn't told him what was going on, and mad over what was happening in the first place.

Of course there was a solution. Tsunade had told him that she could easily seal everything away again – that everything that was happening to him and going on within him didn't have to happen… But did he want that? What was happening to him was teaching him things, giving him insights into fighting and life that he would never have had before – it made things so much easier, even though it made things harder as well.

Naruto stopped walking again and slowly sunk down onto the ground, resting his hands limply in his lap and staring at them without seeing. It was so hard to make the decision – so hard to think about it when so much rode on what he decided. What he wanted, wanted more than anything, was to talk about it with someone he trusted; someone who knew but wouldn't advise him based on their past experiences with the Kyubi.

But that only left…

Sasuke.

-

The stench of blood.

"Summoning no Jutsu!"

Hot breath. Fangs.

The Kyubi growled and snapped at the puff of smoke that appeared before it but was repelled with a sharp slice across it's nose, drawing blood.

"What? What is this?!" A deep voice boomed out as the smoke cleared revealing the Father of all Toad summons, Gama Bunta. "Eeh?! This is a tough battle you've pulled me into this time!"

The Kyubi snarled and launched itself at the creature that had actually managed to draw its blood.

Gama Bunta leaped out of the way quickly, soaring over the enraged beast only to be smashed flying when he impacted with one of its nine tails.

There was a deafening crash as part of the forest was destroyed and a dust cloud flew up obscuring the view.

-

Training was harder on his own.

Naruto flew to a stop barely a foot away from a solid stone wall and collapsed against it, breathing hard. He had been training like this for nearly a week and he felt like he was getting absolutely nowhere. He knew intellectually that his fighting style had settled down a little as he readjusted to the new things his body wanted to do…but the feeling that he was just messing around instead of really training wouldn't leave him alone and that, if nothing else, had him trying to convince himself nearly a hundred times a day to just go apologise to Sasuke for yelling at him and get his training partner back.

There were other reasons of course. Naruto missed him. Horribly.

Sasuke hadn't spoken a word to him since that day, and any time Naruto would enter a room, Sasuke would leave it. The only time he wouldn't leave the room was at night in the room they shared, and Sasuke always made a point out of letting Naruto know he was going to sleep now and talking was not an option, please and thank you.

Naruto hadn't felt this lonely for years.

Naruto moved so his back was against the wall and slid down it into a sitting position, resting his elbows on his knees and looking off to the other side of the cavern. Sasuke was over there, somewhere…training with Sakura. He couldn't help the bitter feeling the rose inside him at that thought. The girl's temper had improved considerably since Naruto and Sasuke had had their fight and she was now spending every waking moment in the black-haired boys company, normally latched onto him in some way or another.

It made Naruto want to deck her.

And then it made him feel guilty for wanting to deck her.

And then it made him mad. Why should he feel guilty that he wanted to do something about her stealing his Sasuke? She was just an interloper, after all; and all she was doing was taking advantage of the situation.

…But Sakura was his friend, his team-mate…and she had been diligently attempting to get Sasuke's attention since they were children – now that she was finally getting it, who was Naruto to step in the way like some kind of jealous jilted lover?

And that was what was stopping him from simply going to Sasuke and mumbling an apology – he was acting like a jealous jilted lover. He ran a hand through his hair, stopping mid-way through the motion and gripping the blonde strands firmly in his fist. He was acting like that over Sasuke of all people. Sasuke a boy. Sasuke his rival. Sasuke his best friend. Somewhere his feelings must have gotten way out of control. What had happened? When had it been that his joy at having Sasuke as a real friend had turned into something that crossed the line?

He gripped his hair a little tighter. And Sasuke…Sasuke didn't make the situation any easier with all his…possessive protectiveness. It was almost like…

But no; Naruto knew better than that. Sasuke had had a rough childhood, everything that had happened with his family…with Itachi. Of course Sasuke would latch onto Naruto tightly with a kind of possessive…need. Sasuke needed the constant connection to someone to keep him balanced.

Sasuke would be so mad if he ever found out…

Sasuke would be mad anyway.

Naruto couldn't tell him anything – he had to keep his distance. Let Sakura become the balance Sasuke needed.

Naruto buried his head in his arms and wished everything was just over.

---------------

"How are you feeling?" Tsunade asked the question as soon as Naruto had taken a seat across from her.

"Exhausted." Naruto replied honestly and met her eyes, cutting to the chase, "What's happening to me?"

Tsunade looked away for a moment, then looked back. "Back when you were in your coma you lost a lot of chakra." She began slowly and Naruto nodded in irritation, waiting for her to continue. "When you lost so much Chakra the Seal…"

-

"…Naruto!" Naruto felt himself shaken hard, "Oi, wake up!"

"Huh?" he blurrily opened his eyes and tried to focus on the dark shape hovering over him.

"Naruto! Are you awake?"

"Yeah…what's wrong?"

"You were having a bad dream, or something." Sasuke replied and sat back on the edge of the bed.

"A bad…oh. It's nothing, Sasuke. Go back to sleep." Naruto said and settled back against his pillows.

"Are you su-…"

"Yes. Go back to sleep, Sasuke!" Naruto snapped.

Sasuke remained still for a moment and then stood silently and went back to the other side of the room.

Naruto lay for a moment staring up into the darkness. The first time Sasuke had so much as squeaked in his direction in over a week…and Naruto had driven him off. He was an idiot.

Pulling his blankets up around his chin, Naruto rolled over and firmly closed his eyes.

-

Gama Bunta leaped out of the way quickly, soaring over the enraged beast only to be smashed flying when he impacted with one of its nine tails.

There was a deafening crash as part of the forest was destroyed and a dust cloud flew up obscuring the view.

The Nine-tails didn't wait to see if the giant toad was going to get up from the blow it had landed, it leapt straight after him, claws bared and jaws snapping open so it could get a good killing grip on it's prey.

Gama Bunta avoided the deadly situation by inches, earning a long scrape along his left side that began to ooze sticky warm blood instantly.

--------------

"…you will no longer do fighting as a group so if any of you feel the need to drop out of this Chuunin exam you may do so without jeopardising the chances of the rest of your team. There is no shame in living to fight another day; if you doubt your skill you may drop out now so that you can train to participate in the next Chuunin exam. If you wish to leave, please raise your hand."

Naruto looked around absently and counted nearly ten people who, with slightly shamed looks, lifted their hands. Naruto nodded slightly to himself as he noticed the looks of some of them – it was their own strength to realise they didn't stand a chance against most of the people that had been left at the end of the first part of Hidden Dark's Chuunin exam.

The ten who had given up left the large cavern quickly and Naruto counted the people remaining. Only sixteen – there would still have to be preliminary fights to eliminate half of them for the final fights to decide who would gain the rank of Chuunin.

"Is that all?" The speaker, the same man who had addressed them before the first task, asked. "Very well. There will now be a series of elimination matches to cut your numbers down again by half – only the best will be able to proceed passed this point. You will fight each other one at a time, when your names are called please come into the arena."

Naruto followed Sasuke and Sakura, a few steps behind, as they moved out of the way to the edges of the large circle-shaped fighting area that was set into the floor of the cavern. He only watched the fighting that was going on with half an eye and even less attention –he wasn't really interested and the fighting didn't look to be in all that advanced a state anyway. There was no doubt he could pass the exam if this was the level of fighting in it. He did come out of his thoughts to watch the first of his team's fights though.

Sakura had the first fight out of the three of them and she was up against a man whose face was covered except for his eyes. Naruto let his eyes move to the bandana that was tied around the man's forehead; he was from Hidden Grass.

"We meet again, little girl." The man said stretching out his arms as he smirked at her.

Sakura met the man's look coolly. "Looks that way."

"Try not to run away this time, girly. I'm looking forward to a good fight."

Sakura lifted her hands in front of her, ready to fight, "Since you asked so nicely."

Naruto lifted his eyebrow slightly and then had to suppress a pang in his chest as he unconsciously moved slightly closer to Sasuke to ask if the boy knew what that could have been about. He forced himself to stay still and refocused on the fight.

Sakura, much to the man from Hidden Grass', and admittedly Naruto's, surprise, won easily; breaking his arm on the first flurry of hand-to-hand fighting, knocking his feet out from under him as he reeled back out of shock, and putting a kunai to his throat in seconds. He gave up immediately.

Sakura rejoined them a moment later and answered both Naruto and Sasuke's curious looks with a simple, "I had to repay him for sending the two of you over the cliff."

Naruto's lips twitched up into a smile. Somewhere, when he hadn't been looking, Sakura had gotten stronger.

Sasuke's fight was next and was over in the same time, if not faster, than Sakura's. The man Sasuke had been up against had looked tough and so Sasuke had adjusted accordingly, hitting hard with the first blow. With a look of disgust Sasuke had waited for the judge to declare him the win and walked away from the unconscious man without bothering to look back.

By the time it was Naruto's turn everyone in the room had moved away from Team Seven and their Sensei who hadn't even looked up from his smut book as the fights had progressed and there was a pocket of free space around them that no one wanted to cross.

Naruto walked slowly out into the arena with his hands in his pockets and looked boredly at his opponent; he recognised him as the large, over-muscled man that had attempted to beat him up in front of the ramen stand over two-weeks beforehand. Naruto felt his eyes narrow as he looked at him; this man had led to Naruto's estrangement from Sasuke. This man would pay for that.

"I feel I have to give you a warning." Naruto said, standing side on to the man and looking at him out of the corners of his eyes, "I have a grudge against you; it'd be better for you if you gave up now."

The man laughed. "Give up to a sneaky little poisoner like you? Heh – just because the little girl in your team can outclass a pip-squeak and because the tall kid can pack a punch, don't assume you can even touch me."

Naruto paused and then turned his head fully to look at the man. The man stepped back slightly in shock as Naruto's red eyes met his.

"Have it your way." Naruto said.

"Are you both ready?" The judge asked and Naruto nodded, once. "Then begin."

Naruto remained in the same position, his body side-on to the man, his hands in his pockets, and waited.

"Mocking little brat!" Naruto's opponent exclaimed angrily and came at him.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow at the power behind the punch being aimed at him, and admitted that if it connected, it would certainly hurt. A good thing it wouldn't hit him then. He dodged out of the way at the last second and finally pulled his hands out of his pockets and punched the man in the gut. The man doubled over immediately but was stopped by Naruto's finger landing in the centre of his forehead and keeping him upright for just a second.

"This is a trick I learnt…from the fifth Hokage." Naruto said humourlessly, "Two times over." And Naruto flicked him, right between the eyes.

Instantly his opponent flew backwards through the air, missing the judge by barely an inch as he flew passed and slammed into the wall and then to the floor in a tumble of rock chips and dust.

Naruto stood up straight and put his hands back in his pockets and waited for the Judges confirmation that he had won.

Naruto ignored the further fights for the rest of the day.

-----------

Gama Bunta avoided the deadly situation by inches, earning a long scrape along his left side that began to ooze sticky warm blood instantly.

"I hope you have a plan!" He demanded of the human crouching on his head.

"We have to wear it down; sap some of its energy." Came the prompt reply.

"Fine, fine. But if whatever you're trying doesn't work I'll never reply to your Summon again." The giant toad warned.

"That probably won't be a problem. Careful, it's coming!"

----------

They had only a week to prepare themselves for the final Chuunin fights owning to the fact that every last one of the finalists had been out of the caves for three weeks already. The short time limit didn't bother Naruto at all; he had other things to worry about.

…like the fact that Sasuke and Sakura had just left to go on an idle walk together. She had asked him and Sasuke had actually agreed. Maybe it was because he had sensed Naruto in the doorway and had wanted an excuse to leave the room – but Naruto had to accept that Sasuke had probably agreed simply because he wanted to go.

It was almost twenty minutes after the two had left that Naruto realised he was still hovering in the doorway, his mind lost in it's constantly spinning circle of wants, wishes and the cruelty of reality.

"Are you going to stay there all day, or actually come into the room?" A bored voice said and Naruto realised that Kakashi had probably been watching him stand around dumbly for the last twenty minutes. Brilliant.

Peeling his left hand away from where it was tightly wrapped around the doorframe; Naruto walked into the room and threw himself down into one of the chairs at the bare table.

"And how are we today?" Kakashi inquired, his eyes still trained on his book.

Naruto knew better now than to think the man wasn't paying attention – Kakashi had always had a thing for irritating people and he had figured out young that appearing to be absorbed in a frivolous book was one of the best ways to get under someone's skin. Naruto rubbed his forehead slightly, as if pained. "Put the book down when you're talking to someone, baka. There's nothing worse than a rude ninja."

The book snapped shut and Naruto suddenly felt Kakashi's attention on him intensely. "Is that any way to talk to your sensei, Naruto?"

"That never stopped you." Naruto paused in the act of rubbing his forehead, his eyes widening, "I…err…mean… I bet that never stopped you." Naruto launched himself to his feet and headed for the door. "I'm going to train."

--------------

"That probably won't be a problem. Careful, it's coming!"

Gama Bunta put his expert reflexes to work again and dived to the left, narrowly avoiding a new set of claw scars along his face and destroying hundreds of trees as he landed.

"Reforestation will be hard after this." He noted absently.

The human on his head laughed, "Don't worry, the Hokage will see everything is restored."

"The Hokage…?" Gama Bunta dodged again, this time slicing his knife out as he went and giving the Kyubi a new cut along it's flank. "So…that's the kind of plan you have then."

"You could say that… Crouch!" He suddenly commanded and a wall of water instantly appeared in front of the giant toad, effectively blocking an enraged attack from the Kyubi.

"All I'm doing is exhausting myself, here." Gama Bunta warned in his thunderous voice.

"Aaa… Fine, I'll begin the second half of the plan now. Keep me covered, I won't be able to respond to anything for a while."

"Consider it done."

------------

There were three days till the final exam.

Three more days of training on his own.

Three more days of pretending he didn't care that he was alone.

Three more days till he could get this Chuunin exam over and done with and go home, back to Konoha.

Three more days till he could see Tsunade, the only one who fully understood what was going on with him.

Three more days till he had to make his decision.

Naruto tapped his fingers on the table and looked across it to where Sasuke and Sakura sat discussing fighting styles. Sasuke had tried to leave earlier, but Sakura had managed to convince him to stay so Naruto, perverse being that he was, had sat down directly across the table from them and had pretended not to be paying any attention what so ever.

Kakashi had figured out already what Naruto was doing; Sasuke might have as well. Sakura, at least, was still oblivious.

He was trying to figure out a way to make Sakura go away. No. He was trying to figure out a way to make Sakura go away and leave Sasuke alone.

He'd come up with a plan; the problem was that he didn't like it. It had a 90 chance of failure, went against everything he'd been saying to himself for weeks, and, worst of all, was completely and utterly selfish. Though maybe the last wasn't so bad since it was for a completely selfish reason anyway.

"I'm going to bed." He stated suddenly, making the two on the other side of the table start slightly in surprise.

Sasuke watched him silently as he pushed his chair back and stood up and headed for the bedroom. Sakura, much more willing to be nice to Naruto now that he had gotten out of her way, waved slightly and wished him goodnight. Naruto waved back at her absently and shut the bedroom door behind him and moved over to his bed. He had to decide if he should go through with his plan or not. He wanted too, but he didn't want to. If he went ahead and did it he could be giving Sakura the biggest gift of her life by driving Sasuke right at her, or make her hate Naruto for the rest of both of their lives by snatching Sasuke right back to his side, where he should be.

He'd long since stopped wondering if he was acting overly possessive or a little obsessive – when it came right down to it, he had long since realised that having Sasuke near him was an essential part of his life and, Damnit, he would fight before he let that part be taken away. If Sasuke was going to have nothing to do with him any more, then at least let him do it because he knew what was going on.

Naruto looked up suddenly as the door opened and Sasuke stepped in, shutting the door behind him. The black-haired boy froze slightly in the doorway, looking over at Naruto with his mouth open as if her were going to say something…and then changed his mind and the direction of his gaze and stepped over to his own bed.

Naruto bit his lip and quickly climbed into bed. It was all well and good to make the decision to tell Sasuke everything while the boy wasn't even in the room…his presence changed everything.

Naruto watched silently as Sasuke changed into his sleeping clothes and then flicked out the light, then he settled for listening to the other boy get into bed and get comfortable.

Damnit.

---------------

"Aaa… Fine, I'll begin the second half of the plan now. Keep me covered, I won't be able to respond to anything for a while."

"Consider it done."

The next ten minutes were filled with the sounds of chanting and destruction as Gama Bunta, hurting from a dozen sluggishly bleeding injuries, struggled to keep the man who had summoned him away from the enraged nine-tails.

By the time the chanting stopped, the giant toad and fox had paused in their furious movement and were sizing each other up, trying to gauge which one of them had the most chakra left.

"Where are we? How far are we from where we started?" The voice sounded strained.

Gama Bunta changed his stance slightly, checking the area. "Not far, we've doubled back, we'll land on the village soon, if we keep this up."

"Good." A few deep breath's, "Where is the Hokage?"

Gama Bunta concentrated for a moment, "Not far behind us, approaching rapidly."

"Perfect. Bunta…Thank you for helping me this far; hopefully this plan will work, I'll need your help for it to succeed."

The giant toad adjusted its stance again as the nine-tails began to move, circling to the left. "Anything you need, just say it."

"When the Hokage arrives, get him as close to me as you can."

One giant eye turned upwards, attempting to see the man on his head, "And where will you be?"

"On the Kyubi." The man replied simply and began to run, using his chakra to push himself as far up into the air as he could and guiding himself so that he came down perfectly on the startled Kyubi's head.

Quickly he attached himself with Chakra and thrust his hands out, finally activating the Jutsu he had been chanting for the last ten minutes. "This is on behalf of all those killed and everything you destroyed. Eight Divination Sealing Style: Four Image Seal!"

For the man focusing every inch of his Chakra on the Kyubi, everything seemed to slow down till moving through time was almost physically painful. The Kyubi thrashed around attempting to dislodge him but couldn't get him to break his iron grip and something…something cold, something evil reached through him, using him as its rapport with the real world as it reached out and wrapped a firm hand around the Kyubi's soul and pulled.

The man gasped at the cold pulling sensation, even as the Kyubi began to shudder, resisting the pull with everything it had. The man held on grimly and focused the last of his Chakra. The cold arm pulled again and there came a sound that was more felt than heard, like something had suddenly been torn free. There was a rushing sensation in the man's chest and then suddenly there was a yell behind him, a familiar sound. The Hokage.

"Kinjutsu! Magaru no seishun!!"

The man felt hands push down on his shoulder blades as the words were yelled and he knew, knew with relief, hope and pride, that the plan had worked. It had worked.

The world seemed to freeze for a moment as all the conflicting Jutsu battled it out with each other and then, slowly, soft light began to swirl around the man who had successfully begun the Sealing of the Nine-tails fox demon within himself. And then they were falling.

As they fell the clothing around the man fell away as his body began to shrink and by the time they reached the ground, Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha village, held in his arms a seemingly newborn baby with a shock of bright blonde hair and the swirling marks of the Four Image Seal around his belly button.

Sarutobi looked down at the knowing eyes of the child affectionately and then put a hand on his forehead releasing a second Jutsu he had prepared as they fell.

"We will miss your guiding hand." He said simply, "Your sacrifice will be remembered, even if only by those who will become Hokage after me – grow well, your place will be ready for you when you are ready to reclaim it."

---

Naruto sat bolt upright, knocking back the shadow that was hovering over him, and sending them both crashing off the bed and onto the floor in a tangle of limbs and blankets.

"Narut-… Naruto, stop struggling so I can untangle the blankets!"

Naruto went still at Sasuke's command and concentrated on breathing. A few moments later the blanket he was tangled in was hauled off of him and then a hand wrapped itself around his arm and pulled him upright.

"Are you alright?"

Naruto focused his gaze and activated the Kyubi's chakra slightly so he could see Sasuke's anxious face hovering near his.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Sasuke frowned, staring at Naruto intently. "No, you're not." He said eventually and pulled Naruto to his feet and dumped him on the bed. "You haven't been 'fine' since what happened in the Forest of Death."

"Sasuke…" Naruto said warningly but was ignored.

Sasuke dropped himself down onto the bed beside Naruto and sat with his back leaning against the wall. "Tell me what's going on." He commanded.

"W-what?!"

"I said, tell me what's going on. I'm sick of this, Naruto."

"T-There's nothing…"

"Don't even think about saying that!" Sasuke snapped over top of him and grabbed his arm, tightly. "We both know it's not true so lets just skip that entire argument and get on to the bit where you explain!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he wrenched his arm out of Sasuke's grip. "What's it to you?! I don't have to tell you anything!"

Sasuke met his gaze firmly and they stayed that way for a few moments before Sasuke finally sighed and leaned back against the wall again, closing his eyes. "Just tell me, Naruto. We can fight about it all you like later."

"Why…why are you asking now?" Naruto asked and pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.

"Why…? Because if I don't you won't tell me." Sasuke replied. "I've been waiting for nearly a month for you to come to terms with whatever your problem is and tell me… I'm sick of waiting."

"Waiting…" Naruto turned an accusatory glare on Sasuke, "If you were waiting for me to explain everything then why have you been avoiding me?"

Sasuke's tone turned annoyed, "Because you told me to leave you alone."

"Sasuke. It's one thing to leave someone alone, it's entirely another to completely desert them."

"Desert? I didn't…" Sasuke turned a surprised look on Naruto and then puffed out a breath and put an arm around the blonde's shoulders, pulling him closer. "Baka! I wouldn't desert you."

"Oh really? You left every room I came in too and even started hanging around with Sakura!" Naruto accused.

"Naruto, you have no idea how uncomfortable it is to have someone staring a hole in your head constantly for hours on end, do you?"

"What does that…?"

"You kept doing that to me anytime we were in the same room. I figured that would mean you wanted me to leave."

"Oh…" Naruto sucked his lower lip into his mouth for a minute. "Sorry. But that doesn't explain Sakura."

"She asked me for help training." Sasuke replied, "She needed help since she really needs to pass this exam. She wanted to ask you too, but…"

"Are you saying this is all my fault?!" Naruto demanded.

"Yes." Sasuke stated and then glared at Naruto. "Now stop changing the subject. This isn't why you've been acting so strangely lately."

Naruto went silent.

"Naruto!"

"Fine! Fine… You know I have the Kyubi Sealed within me, right?"

"Yes."

"I found out after what happened at the Forest of Death that things went a little further than that…"

"And?"

Naruto hesitated. Sasuke had just said he would never desert him – did he mean it? Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of Sasuke's arm over his shoulders – that, he guessed, would be his lifeline during this conversation.

"Originally I was told that the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life to Seal the Kyubi into an orphaned child. That story wasn't precisely correct." He took a breath, "The Fourth did sacrifice his life, and the Kyubi was sealed inside an orphaned child however…what I wasn't told was that the Fourth was the orphaned child."

Silence.

Then, "…Naruto, the Fourth was an adult."

"I know. There's a Jutsu, a Forbidden Jutsu that can change a full grown adult back to what they were on the day of their birth. It has…a lot of complicated requirements to work correctly. We managed to fill them all, though it took a lot of hard work, and it was torture having to wait the extra few days after we were already ready so that it was the day of my original birth – but we waited. I…he…I used the Eight divination sealing style to seal the Kyubi within myself; it was complicated getting the timing right. If the Third had have been just a second too late then I would have died in sacrifice to the Death the Jutsu is preformed for…" Naruto paused, still concentrating on the arm lying across his shoulders. Sasuke hadn't moved it…yet. "The Third used the youth Jutsu to interrupt the Sealing Jutsu, regressing me back to the form of a baby, and effectively sealing the Kyubi within myself instead of it passing straight through."

"…If that's how it happened, then why didn't you know until now?" Sasuke asked slowly.

Naruto turned his head slightly to stare at his best friend and rival; "Tsunade-san explained that to me after what happened in the Forest of Death. The Kyubi couldn't be sealed within someone who could be easily influenced by its power or it's evil, the only choice was to seal it in an innocent, a baby. Because I chose myself to be the 'sacrifice' my memories had to be sealed, completely. The Third did it."

"And?"

"When I was in that coma…" The arm Sasuke had around Naruto's shoulders tensed slightly, "I was draining a lot of Chakra. The old hag Hokage said that the form of sealing the Third used worked by constantly feeding on my Chakra to stay powerful enough that no memories would accidentally leak through. When I was draining so much Chakra though, it caused damage to the memory seal that it couldn't repair and so bits and pieces began to filter through. I was having funny dreams and things for months. When we were in the Forest of Death…well I'd used up a lot of Chakra again and the seal was already weak – when I thought you were going to die I just sort of…searched my memory for the most powerful fire Jutsu I knew and ended up with what you saw; a forbidden Jutsu that I learnt from the Forbidden Scrolls when I became the Fourth Hokage."

Silence. Again.

After a while, Naruto began to fidget. What was Sasuke thinking? He hadn't moved his arm, but was that just because he was so stunned by the information that he couldn't move?

"S-Sasuke?"

Sasuke moved, slowly pulling his arm from around Naruto's shoulders.

No… Sasuke was going to leave him. Before Sasuke had even managed to get his arm entirely away from Naruto's shoulders, the blonde boy had spun in Sasuke's grip and wrapped his arms around the black-haired boys chest, half tackling him into laying down.

"Don't leave me!"

Sasuke blinked from his new position and then frowned awkwardly at the mop of blonde hair that was tickling his chin. "I wasn't planning on going anywhere, Baka. My arm was going numb."

Naruto's grip tightened slightly and he moved so he could look up at Sasuke's face, "Really?"

"Yes." Sasuke said testily. "Now would you stop crushing me?"

Naruto blushed. "S-sorry." He unwound his arms from around Sasuke and began to push himself back into a sitting position.

"You don't have to get up." Sasuke said lowly.

Naruto paused, "What?"

"I told you to stop crushing me, that doesn't mean you have to get off me." Sasuke said and held out his hand.

Naruto stared at it for a moment and then back at Sasuke's face, "I think you should know…that's something dangerous you're offering right now, Sasuke."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow, "Words of wisdom from a long life?"

Naruto glared at him. "Yes! And, damnit, you can't go around hugging me unless you mean it!"

Sasuke lowered his arm and sat up slightly, leaning on it; "Are you telling me that, even with all this extra wisdom you're supposed to have gained, you can't tell that I've been 'meaning it' for a very long time?"

Naruto didn't know if he should blush or glare; he settled for doing both. "How am I supposed to know that?! You're always calling me 'baka' and 'dobe', doesn't sound like you mean it to me."

"Yes. Just you."

Naruto shifted gear from 'blushing and glaring' into 'glaring'. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Sasuke smiled slightly and sat up properly, "So what are you doing about it? I assume you have memories from…before now; what did the Hokage say? Does Kakashi know?"

"You're changing the subject."

"Don't pout, answer the questions."

"I am not pouting, asshole."

"The questions, Naruto."

"The old Hag Hokage said that she can seal the memories if I want her too, and No, Kakashi-sensei doesn't know." Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring towards the covered window.

"So what's the problem?" Sasuke said, "Get her to seal the memories when we get home."

Naruto instantly deflated, "I-I… But they're my… I remember so many things… If I seal them again…"

The room fell silent and Naruto occupied himself by watching Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. Trust that bastard to swing him from complete terror, to utter relief, to anger, and then to helplessness in the matter of barely an hour. He felt like an emotional yo-yo.

"You'll just have to decide what is more important to you." Sasuke said at length and stood up, "Make your decision after the Chuunin exam."

"That's just what that Tsunade-san said." Naruto said with annoyance.

"The Hokage knows what she's talking about. It's late and we'll have training tomorrow, we should sleep."

"Yeah…I guess." Naruto agreed then looked up, "You don't think you could…uhmm…stay on this side of the room tonight…could you?"

Sasuke paused and looked back at Naruto, "You mean with you?"

"Yes! No! I mean, yes! I just missed you; okay, bastard!"

Sasuke stayed still for a moment longer then came back over to Naruto's bed and sat down. "Fine, but if you annoy me I'm going back to my own bed."

"Fine, fine. Bastard." Naruto made room for Sasuke to get into the bed next to him and then, after much shuffling around in an attempt to get comfortable, they settled down with Naruto half laying on Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke's arm back around his shoulders.

Naruto was back asleep within seconds.

"Are you two planning on getting up any time soon?" The voice of Kakashi was followed closely by the door flying open with a bang.

Naruto sat bolt upright and, not realising how close he was to the edge of the bed, fell out.

There was a moment of silence and then Sasuke sat up and, peering briefly over the edge of the bed to make sure Naruto was alright, looked over at Kakashi who was still standing, a little warily, in the doorway.

"What time is it?" he asked.

Kakashi scratched his jaw slowly, appearing to think it over, "Somewhere around mid-morning, I would imagine."

"We'll be up soon." Sasuke said flatly and looked pointedly at the door.

"Right-o!" Kakashi said brightly and went to shut the door, "Oh and Sakura already left to train." He added as an afterthought and then shut the door.

Sasuke pushed the blankets back and got out of bed, stepping over Naruto who was still sitting, slightly shell-shocked, on the floor.

"Hurry up and get dressed, dobe. We only have three more days to train in."

Naruto moved his gaze from the now closed door to Sasuke. "How can you be so calm?" he demanded.

Sasuke paused in the process of pulling on his shirt and looked over his shoulder at Naruto. "What? Why wouldn't I be?"

Naruto stared at him incredulously, "Kakashi just walked in of us sleeping together."

"And?" Sasuke asked irritably, pulling his shirt the rest of the way on.

" 'And'? How can you say 'and'? What's he going to think?"

"Whatever he wants." Sasuke shrugged and began pulling on his pants.

"W-whatever he wants…" Naruto repeated disbelievingly. "Doesn't it bother you at all?"

Sasuke finally turned his full attention on Naruto, resting a hand on his hip as he turned to look at him intensely.

"Why is it bothering you so much?"

"W-why? Because…what will he think? Kakashi-sensei is a pervert – he's bound to come up with all sorts of ideas, and who knows what he'll say to Sakura! Do you really want Sakura to know you spent the night in my bed?"

Sasuke kept his intense look on Naruto for a long moment and then dismissed everything Naruto had just said, turning back to his task of getting dressed.

"I couldn't care less if Sakura finds out – and Kakashi can think, and say, anything he likes."

"But…"

"Stop worrying about it, Naruto, and get up – you have to get dressed."

Naruto turned his gaze to the floor and then slowly pulled himself to his feet. "You're being overly calm about this, Sasuke." Naruto said once he was standing, his voice slightly calmer than before. "Later on, when Kakashi is ribbing you every three seconds about it and Sakura is avoiding you because she thinks you…you slept with me," he warned, "you're really going to regret it."

Sasuke finished fastening on his weapons and turned slightly to look at Naruto curiously.

"I don't think so." He said finally, flatly.

"That's because you're not thinking about it." Naruto said firmly.

"I assure you, Naruto, I've thought about it a lot." Sasuke walked towards the door, "Now get dressed, so we can go."

Naruto's expression grew annoyed, "You're not listening to me, Sasuke! You can't just shrug and assume everything will turn out alr- Don't walk away when I'm talking to you, young man! That's the worst kind of bad manners in a Ninja. Don't you ever stop to listen to people?"

Sasuke stopped walking, pausing with his hand on the door handle, and turned his head to look at Naruto over his shoulder, his expression amused. "Young man?" he questioned.

"Err…I…" Naruto faltered slightly, back peddling the conversation – the reprimand had been an accident and had come out of his mouth without bothering to check with his brain first.

Sasuke stayed still for a moment and then sighed, taking pity on the confused look on Naruto's face.

"You're not the Fourth any more, Naruto." He said gently, "You many have the memories, but that person has been gone for a long time. Now get dressed and come have breakfast." He said and opened the door; stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him to leave Naruto alone with his jumbled thoughts.

--

Sakura was not impressed that Naruto and Sasuke were training together again. For the last week or so she had, for once in her life, had Sasuke's attention firmly on her and nothing but her. But now, apparently out of the blue, Sasuke had dropped her like a hot rock and gone back to Naruto.

It wasn't fair, Sakura decided as she watched Sasuke and Naruto resume their training – training she might add, that she had no hope of ever catching up with. What was it about Naruto that managed to grab Sasuke's attention every time he so much as twitched? Even Sasuke would be the first to state that Naruto was an idiot – he was also dense, naïve, not to mention annoying.

Sakura chewed on her bottom lip as she watched the two and barely took any notice as Kakashi moved to lean against the wall beside her. The man remained silent for a few moments, giving the impression to anyone who didn't know him well that he was completely enthralled with his book.

"You do understand, right?" Kakashi said finally, not even lifting his gaze.

Sakura looked at him sharply and then firmly moved her gaze back to Sasuke and Naruto. "No! I don't. Not at all."

Kakashi sighed and finally moved his eyes from the pages of his book to his student; "Don't you? Even after all this time?"

"What am I supposed to understand!?" Sakura snapped and turned her glare on him, meeting his eyes. "Those two…they're…they're boys. And it's Naruto! Sasuke has to rebuild his clan, he can't do that with Naruto, and Naruto wants to be Hokage one day; how's he going to manage that with a male lover? What will people think of him?"

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow, "I don't think Naruto really cares at this point what people think about him, and Sasuke…" Kakashi let his gaze move to said-mentioned boy who was currently attempting to dodge a flame Jutsu Naruto had reflected back at him, "I don't think he ever really expected to live long enough to restore his clan in the first place." Kakashi said quietly, "Itachi was always his first priority, everything else came second."

"But now there's Naruto." Sakura said, almost a challenge.

Kakashi moved his eyes back to Sakura, his expression serious. "Would you have preferred he lived out his life devoted completely to revenge? Somewhere along the lines Naruto became Sasuke's first priority – try to be happy for them, Sakura, this is better than what could have happened."

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek and glared at the stone floor of the cavern, "I know, but…" she stopped suddenly as Kakashi let out a delighted chuckle and turned to glare at him. The man had his book drawn up close to his face and was reading avidly. "Argh!" Sakura stomped her foot hard against the ground, "Listen to people when they're talking to you seriously!" she yelled.

"Oh, were we still talking?" Kakashi asked, sparing her half a glance before going back to his reading.

Sakura stared at the man incredulously for a moment and then spun on her heel and stomped away, muttering under her breath as she went.

--

Sakura glared at Naruto, who glared at Sasuke, who ignored them both to concentrate on finishing his dinner, seemingly completely oblivious to the tension that surrounded him at the dinner table.

In the corner of the room, his feet up on a chair before him and his nose apparently buried in his book, Kakashi suppressed a sigh and let his uncovered eye move over each of his students in turn.

The situation his students were in, he decided, was completely backwards. Not so much the subject matter as the way the kids where going about it. Somehow, contrary to anything he would have expected, Sasuke had opened up, Naruto had closed up like a clam and Sakura had failed to be the understanding girl she always projected herself to be. She was even going so far as to be rude to Sasuke when the young man spoke to her.

Still… Kakashi was sure that the girl would come around. She had spent years pining over Sasuke and blinding herself to what was slowly happening between he and Naruto; what she really needed was time to adjust her way of thinking and to come to terms with it. Essentially, she'd be fine.

No… It was definitely Naruto that Kakashi found himself watching with a sharp eye – unsure if he should leave things be for the boy to work out himself, or if he should take him aside and have as much of a fatherly chat with him as could manage to scrounge up.

He would have voted for the fatherly chat option, despite how horrifying he found the idea, except that the boy seemed to have more on his mind than simply coming to terms with his feelings for Sasuke. And there had been times…times when it almost seemed…

Kakashi lifted a hand and idly scratched at his cheek before closing his book and slipping it into his weapons pouch as he rose to his feet.

"Alright, Kiddies." He said into the tense silence, causing Sakura to start slightly at the unexpected noise and come out of her fierce glaring at Naruto who, conspicuously, didn't seem surprised at all. Kakashi added the lack of typical action to his long list of 'things about Naruto lately that don't add up'. "Time for bed." He stated and then eyed Sasuke and Naruto for a moment before walking passed them to his own room. "And make sure it's your own beds tonight, boys. You'll need all the rest you can get for your training tomorrow."

-

"I can't believe he did that." Naruto was sitting on the edge of his bed, his gaze fixed sightlessly on the floor, "Do you know, he was an okay kid when he was little. I can't believe he did that."

"You know what Kakashi's like, you can't say you weren't expecting it." Sasuke stated from where he was calmly stripping down to sleep.

"But he…but he…" Naruto shook his head and looked up at Sasuke, wide-eyed. "Did you see Sakura's face? Did you?!"

Sasuke sighed, "Naruto…" he began but the boy had already launched straight back into the state he'd been in when Sasuke had pulled him into the bedroom a few minutes before hand.

"…she looked like she was going to murder me! Or you! This is all your fault!" Naruto pointed at Sasuke for emphasis. "You're being to calm. And Kakashi-sensei… Argh! This is just some sort of sick twisted game to him, just like everything else. Sakura's probably having kittens right now…"

"Is that so important to you." Sasuke asked suddenly, interrupting Naruto's rant.

"What?"

Sasuke's expression turned irritated and he suddenly turned away, focusing on pulling the blankets of his bed down. "Is it so important to you – what Sakura thinks of you? What she might think is going on between us?"

"Of course it-!" Naruto began and then suddenly snapped his mouth shut. Slowly he put his hand to his forehead and rubbed it, closing his eyes as if pained. "This," he declared finally, "is difficult. Let's just…let's just sleep for now and we'll talk about it later."

"Fine." Sasuke agreed, not looking at him and climbing into bed.

Naruto stared at him helplessly for a moment and then walked over to the door and flicked the light switch that was beside it, turning off the lights.

----

The next two days were hectic…hectic for Naruto at least. Sakura glared a lot. Sasuke glared a lot. Naruto glared a lot. And Kakashi just seemed to find the situation amusing.

They had spent one of the two remaining days training, and on the second day Kakashi had commanded them to do nothing so they could preserve their strength for the Chuunin fights. By mid-morning Naruto had gone out for the entire day and not come back until well after dark. He'd been lucky in that Sakura had already gone to bed, unfortunately Sasuke hadn't and Naruto wore a rant about being out late in a potentially hostile area that, despite his overwhelming desire to completely ignore, he'd ended up grudgingly apologising for. He couldn't help it, he could clearly see how worried Sasuke had been and, while it went against his very nature to apologise, especially to Sasuke, it was all he could think of to do to make the other boy stop fussing over him.

But now it was the next morning and the final combatants had assembled for their final fights before a rather sizable crowd and, of course, the Kage of the Village and the guest Kage. Naruto had become more animated than he had been in days as he fidgeted in his place between Sasuke and Sakura. He even forgot to notice that Sakura was glaring a hole in his head as he watched the special part of the spectator's seats where the old-hag Hokage sat calmly, watching the crowd.

"Naruto, stand still." Sasuke said after a while and Naruto spared the other boy a quick glance. "What are you watching, anyway?" Sasuke demanded in irritation, his eyes scanning the crowd.

"The old-hag Hokage is here!" Naruto chirped up enthusiastically. "How long do you think these fights will last?"

Sasuke's expression turned speculative and he looked up into the crowd. "Did you make your decision then?" he asked, apparently off-handly.

Naruto faltered. "Well...no-not really. I just…I want to talk to her."

Sasuke turned back to Naruto, his eyes searching the others boy's face for a moment, before his gaze moved passed him to Sakura. He scowled and looked away quickly. "Hn."

The wait for everyone to settle down was excruciating for Naruto and he was sure he'd burst from impatience before the fights even started; he wanted them over with.

"I'm going to sit over there!" Naruto suddenly declared, pointing to an area almost directly below where the Kage's were sitting. The walk helped settle his impatience slightly, and by the time he got to where he was going the announcer had declared the fights begun and called the names of the first two fighters; Naruto zoned out as soon as he heard that it wasn't him or any of his team and dropped into his own thoughts.

He'd spent most of the day before sitting in the most open area of Hidden dark village that he could find, thinking. Thinking about everything that was happening to him, and around him; and everything that he was causing because of his situation. He wanted, but he didn't want. He didn't want, but he wanted. Everything for him was normally so clear-cut, but now he felt like he'd turned into one giant, walking conflict with himself.

Most of his memories of being the Fourth were happy ones. The Fourth had grown up with friends and family, never hated, always loved. He was the pride of Konoha. But what was he now? As Naruto he was hated, despised. Parents herded their children away when they saw him coming, and no matter how much he tried to prove he was worthy, it always fell flat – so how was he supposed to give up these new memories? They were his and they were the memories he'd always dearly wished he could have.

But it was making things so difficult. Sasuke…

What was he supposed to do about him? His old self, the him that he had been, shied away form the notion of letting the other boy any closer. Sasuke was his best friend, his rival…and he was so young. The him that he was though… Sasuke had always been there. Through everything, no matter how horrible, messed up or deadly, Sasuke had always been there. Naruto always wanted him to be there. A life without Sasuke was unthinkable.

And then there was Sakura.

A statement of fact that made Naruto screw up his forehead in frustration. Hadn't it been Sakura he'd had the crush on all these years? He'd diligently kept trying with her, over and over even though he knew she'd reject him; he'd never given up.

But how much of that was because he knew that she would reject him, and how much because he'd really been trying? He could gloss over it like he always did. Say that he'd had a crush on Sakura for years and that his feelings had never changed…but they had. Somewhere along the lines they had and…and now Sasuke was… He was…

It had crept up on him – he hadn't even realised the feelings were there, they had just been there, sitting and waiting to one day be noticed. It was wrong. He shouldn't feel like he did. He was supposed to be interested in Sakura, not Sasuke.

Months ago this never would have mattered.

Months ago he probably wouldn't have noticed.

Months ago things hadn't been so incredibly messed up.

Sasuke wanted him too. His newly found powers of observation pointed that out at almost every opportunity – but then it wasn't like Sasuke was trying to hide it.

Sasuke wasn't thinking. He didn't get it. He was confused, he had to be – he couldn't possibly know what he was getting himself in too. He was still a kid. Still just a child.

"Too young."

"Naruto, pay attention."

Naruto blinked and jerked his head up, staring wide-eyed at a furious looking Sakura. "You missed Sasuke's fight!" She accused, her glare becoming all the more fierce.

"What?" He hadn't been thinking that long…had he?

Sakura began to tap her foot, and closed her eyes as if she were trying to block him out of her sight. "You weren't listening at all, were you!" she declared. "The first fight was a double knockout." She opened her eyes again, "Sasuke fought next. He won." She added.

"Oh." Naruto said.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Is that all you can say?!" she demanded. "Sasuke won, he's going on to the next round; he fought really well and you weren't even watching!"

"I…"

"You're just inconsiderate!" Sakura continued, right over top of him, "You always were. You think only about yourself and of beating Sasuke. Why he even…"

"Sakura!" Naruto was on his feet, not quite sure how he had gotten there, "You know that's not true. Stop trying to…"

"You're just…!" Sakura began to talk over Naruto again but they were both abruptly cut off by one thing that made them go completely silent.

"…Uzumaki Naruto and Hanuro Sakura!"

Naruto stared at the man standing in the centre of the fighting arena as if he'd grown an extra head.

"If you'd both be so kind as to come down here." The man said, his voice laced with irritation.

"Hmph! Fine." Sakura was the one to recover from their shock first and to walk calmly into the arena. His mind slightly blank, Naruto followed.

Somehow it had never occurred to him that he might have to fight Sakura. He'd expected that he'd probably have to fight Sasuke – but the possibility of fighting Sakura hadn't even entered his mind.

"If you're both ready?"

Naruto glared at the man as if he was personally responsible for every bad thing that had ever happened to him.

"Yes." Sakura said firmly.

"Then begin." The man backed away quickly and as Naruto watched him move Sakura's fist landed in the side of his face, sending him staggering backwards.

"Damnit!" Naruto pulled himself together in time to block the next three punches Sakura threw at him and on the last he saw an opening. It was instinct that made him go for it, but it was in innate 'Naruto-ness' that made him suddenly stop in mid punch, allowing Sakura to land a kick that sent him tumbling backwards. He couldn't hit Sakura. "Damnit." He muttered the word again as he dodged out of the way of another of Sakura's attacks, thinking hard. He couldn't hit her; there was probably nothing on hell, heaven or earth that would force him to hurt her.

Naruto hesitated and Sakura saw it.

"What are you doing, idiot!" the girl snapped from where she was standing, ready, a few feet away.

"I…"

"This is a fight, Naruto. You can't just dodge, so stand up and fight!" Sakura's was on him again in a second and Naruto dodged again, realising a moment to late that the attack had been launched by a buushin and barely managed to slide out of the way of Sakura's real attack, earning himself a graze across his cheek and the feeling of blood trickling from the small wound.

"What are you waiting for?" Sakura demanded.

He couldn't hurt her. "I can't…"

Sakura scowled, "Can't what. Can't hit me? Can't hurt me?"

Naruto nodded weakly.

"It's a bit late for that, don't you think." She said scathingly. "Perhaps it's just because you don't think I'm a strong enough opponent for you. I'm not as strong as Sasuke; and I'm not as good at strategy as Shikamaru – I don't even have any specialized Jutsu's like Ino. Am I too weak for you to hit, Naruto?"

"N-no. Of course not, Sakura!" Naruto stared at the girl, wide-eyed. He'd never seen her so intense; her gaze pinned him in place and he couldn't have moved if he'd wanted too.

"Then what are you doing, Naruto?" she said. "If I'm not to weak, then why won't you fight? You can't say you don't want to hurt me."

"But I don't…"

"Stop it! How can you say that when you…with Sasuke… How can you say that?"

Sakura was crying.

Naruto hated it when Sakura cried; it always made him feel as if he was the worst scum on earth, even when it wasn't his fault.

"Sakura, I…" This is what he was doing to his friends…because he wanted to be with Sasuke. He'd been jealous of her, not so long ago. Jealous that she'd been spending time with Sasuke when he hadn't been… Now he suddenly realised how Sakura must have felt. All the time that was how she'd felt. "I…"

"And you won't even admit it!" Sakura was ignoring the tears making their way down her cheeks and was glaring at Naruto furiously, her hands balled up at her sides. "You know how I feel about Sasuke, but you pulled him away from me anyway - and you know how Sasuke feels about you, but you're pretending that you don't! Do you know…yesterday, yesterday when you disappeared he spent all day thinking about you. He wouldn't eat, he barely spoke, he wouldn't even sit down and I asked him – asked him why he didn't just go after you if he was that worried. And he said he had to give you time." Sakura was suddenly very close to Naruto, grabbing the front of his shirt and shaking him slightly. "Give you time, Naruto! He has absolute faith in you and he keeps just giving you time. But you…what are you doing? Do you even care what he's going through over you?!"

"N-no…yes…I…Sakura…"

Sakura punched him.

Naruto reeled backwards out of her grip, landing with a thump on the ground with one hand pressed against his smarting cheek. She didn't understand, he realised suddenly, she was just as young as Sasuke was, she couldn't see the bigger picture. But he was still hurting her and, by the sounds of things, hurting Sasuke. He couldn't be with Sasuke.

"What are you thinking, Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Sakura. Her voice had been small, no longer the furious hiss she had been using throughout everything she had said up until now.

"What are you thinking? I don't understand. Sasuke deserves to be happy - I think he does. I wanted too…but he doesn't want me; he wants you."

"I-I can't…" The words stuck in his throat, almost refusing to come out.

"Why not?"

"Sasuke is…" …my best friend. "He's so…" …young. "I don't want…" …to lose him.

"He loves you, Naruto." The words were like a slap in the face and had about the same effect on Naruto as dumping a bucket of ice water over his head. "Do you love him?"

Naruto opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

"Do you!?" She demanded.

"I…I…I think…I…"

Sakura suddenly sunk into a crouching position, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I can't be with him, Naruto." She said slowly, staring at the dirt under her feet, "So you have too. If you love him then you have too; we can't let him be alone."

"Sakura…"

The girl ignored him, suddenly raising her hand and looking around the arena. The second she found what she was looking for her voice rang out clearly, free of any of the emotion that had been clouding it before. "I give up!"

Naruto stared at her incredulously even as she pulled herself back to her feet and began to walk away.

"And the…err…winner of the third round of the Chuunin fights is Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto transferred his gaze to the announcer who was now standing over him. "Now get up and get out of the arena." He added in a quieter voice.

Naruto nodded numbly and dragged himself to his feet, heading back to where he'd originally been sitting and once there, collapsed. In one movement his legs went out from under him and he was sitting on the ground, his back up against the wall behind him. His mind was completely blank; the only thing he was able to think of was a constant replay of what had just happened. For a moment there he had made a decision. He had decided he couldn't have Sasuke. For a moment everything had been clear to him.

Sakura was supposed to hate him; he supposed she did, but she was looking passed that. Her vision, her view of the future was so much clearer than his was. No matter how hard he tried all he'd been able to see for months was backwards. Back at who he'd been; at what he'd had – he hadn't looked forward. Sakura was looking forward and maybe…so was Sasuke.

"Oi, dobe."

For the second time Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts and jerked his head up to stare at Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at him impassively, his eyes the only thing about him that betrayed that he was looking at Naruto with anything more than mild curiosity. After a second the black haired boy crouched down beside Naruto, his gaze slightly more intense than it had been.

"Sakura…" he began slowly, "told me to come get you."

"Oh. Yeah. Why?" He was having a hard time thinking.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly. "There's only one fight left. The one after yours and Sakura's was fast and then the winner refused to fight me so the only ones left…are us."

"…Oh."

Sasuke frowned and then stood up. "Come on. We might as well get this over with."

Naruto stared up at him blankly.

"Hurry up." Sasuke said and started walking away, tossing his next words over his shoulder. "You can't take to long, you'll lose by default and I'm not going to bother waiting for you."

"…lose by…" Naruto stared after Sasuke, the words managing to completely override any thoughts he might finally have been having. Sasuke had been talking about the fight but…that was the answer, he suddenly realised. To much waiting, and you lose by default.

Naruto had never let Sasuke beat him…he'd never let anyone beat him. He'd always looked forward, he never waited. Even as the Fourth, he'd never waited for things to be done for him, he'd always been the type to demand action first. Sasuke was looking forward. Even Sakura was still, despite herself, looking forward. Naruto needed to stop looking backwards.

What was important to him? What did he want? His friends. Sasuke, Sakura. As the Fourth he couldn't have them. As the Fourth he had memories – but he didn't have his friends.

Naruto suddenly scrambled to his feet and ran after Sasuke, catching up with him as he reached the centre of the arena. "Don't be so cocky, bastard! I can kick your arse any day!" he declared.

Sasuke looked over at him sharply, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. "You wish." He said at last.

"Are you ready?"

Naruto beamed at the announcer, "Damn straight. Start this thing already."

The man gave Naruto a dirty look and then lifted his hand. "Begin!"

"Ne, Sasuke!" Naruto called, his smile growing slightly wider at Sasuke's suspicious look. "You already figured it out, didn't you? You can't move forward if you keep looking back."

Sasuke's eyes flickered briefly, his memories shining for just a second for all to see. "It's impossible." He confirmed.

Naruto smirked and nodded, more to himself than to Sasuke. "I'm going to make you work hard, Sasuke. Damn hard." He said and then lifted his arm, his grin now gleaming so brightly he might as well been a small sun. "I…give up!"

-

"Are you sure." Tsunade asked again, causing Naruto to glare at her all the more fiercely.

"Yes, for Kami's sake, you old hag, just do it already!"

"Naruto, stop calling me that or instead of sealing these memories I'll transform you into a Toad!" Tsunade growled, trying to suppress the vein that was throbbing furiously at her temple.

Naruto grinned at the woman and then slumped back in his seat, relaxing. "Come on, come on! I don't want time to rethink this."

The Hokage sighed and moved to stand over the boy. "Fine, fine. Hold still." As she said the words she lifted her hands to the boy's temples and closed her eyes, concentrating.

"I…I still don't understand." The whispered words came from Sakura who was standing at the back of the room, next to Sasuke, her eyes slightly wide around the edges.

Sasuke spared her a glance before turning his attention back to Naruto. "You don't really need to understand." He stated. "It doesn't matter anymore anyway."

"But…but I didn't even know anything was…" Sakura began.

"Obviously." Sasuke cut her off but restrained himself from saying more as he caught a quelling glance from Kakashi.

The room went completely silent then as Tsunade worked on repairing the damage to the seal on the Fourth's memories.

Sasuke wasn't exactly sure what had triggered Naruto sudden decision but he was thankful to it, whatever it was. The silent, withdrawn boy Naruto had been becoming as he struggled with his decision had somehow set Sasuke's teeth on edge and there had been countless times over the last two days that he'd wanted to grab Naruto by the shoulders and just shake him, yelling for him to go back to normal. Of all the things he never imagined he'd miss about Naruto, it was the overly loud and obnoxious personality he had felt so lost without; a Naruto who wasn't constantly and loudly doing…well, anything, just wasn't Naruto.

He probably wouldn't ever explain it, Sasuke suddenly realised. Naruto would now gloss over the last month as if it had never happened, his ability to spring back from just about anything would leap to the fore and he'd once again be focusing forward, determined to look to the future while doing his level damndist to get there before anyone else.

And whether he liked it or not, Sasuke was going to be with him – though judging from the blonde's final comment before he'd unexpectedly given up on his match against Sasuke, Naruto wasn't particularly planning to argue on that subject. Whatever decision Naruto had made, he'd obviously made it about the Fourth's memories, and about Sasuke.

Tsunade, finished with her task, finally pulled her hands away from Naruto's temples and stepped back from the boy, eyeing him for a moment before nodding to herself with satisfaction.

"You done, old-hag?" Naruto said, popping one eye open and peering at her.

"That should be obvious." The woman snapped good-naturedly and then made a negligent flapping gesture with her hand. "Now, go away. I have more important things to do."

"Keh, fine. Stupid, old-hag." Before the woman could do anything in retaliation, Naruto leapt from his chair and dodged around it, out of her reach.

Slowly, Sasuke's lips twitched up into a slight smile, one of the fleetingly rare genuine smiles that only Naruto could ever evoke from him, and as the boy turned towards him, meeting his eyes for a moment before running hell-for-leather out the door with Tsunade hot on his heels, Sasuke decided for himself that he had made the right decision. Whatever life held in store for either him or Naruto; no matter what, he'd made the right decision.

End Underneath the Underneath

End Author Notes: OMG, it's over. Utu is over. I don't know if I should be shocked, sad, happy or all of the above. This chapter was a pain to write and at times got completely stuck, and really I'm so happy right now that it's finally finished that I feel positively buoyant – on the other hand though, I just know that in a day or two when it finally sinks in that the fik is finished I'm going to feel so empty and depressed it's not funny. ;

Anyway – honourable mention goes too 'Hsien' who kindly accepted Utu for a SasuNaru fik competition she's running on ' and which closes on Nov 01st and motivated me like nothing I've been able to find lately to finish this final chapter and caused me to sit down this morning and write, write and write some more. ::Bounces:: I wanna wiiiiin. LoL

Secondary honourable mention goes out too 'Aelane' who was the 100th person to add me to their Author Alert list and too 'dinkscythe' who penned Utu's 200th review!

Of course I love everyone else just as much :P Thank you for reading my fik and I hope you all enjoyed!

Vanyel (Aka: Shivvlan)