Spoiler warning: Up
to chapter 232 in the manga or episode 134 of the anime. After that it goes
a bit AU, but in a good way. :)
Chapter 1
Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata sat, scarcely breathing,
behind a rather large row of bushes. Hinata had her Byakugan activated, watching
the two ninjas guarding a small building nearly two-hundred feet away.
Sasuke was angry. He had just gotten his life
back and now that damned snake had stolen the person he thought of as his brother.
"How?" he thought. "How the hell did he get him without a fight?"
His hands balled into anxious fists...waiting for the signal to move. He rubbed
the back of his neck where the curse seal used to be. The seal had been removed
by Tsunade not long after Kakashi had arrived at the waterfall battle just in
time to see Naruto deliver the knock-out blow to Sasuke. Naruto had collapsed
almost immediately afterwards. Kakashi had picked up both boys and taken them
back to the leaf.
After a day of healing both Naruto and Sasuke
were moved to a room in the out-patient ward of the hospital. Tsunade had decided
Sasuke's actions had been mainly the fault of the seal and declared him safe
from all persecution.
Sasuke thought back to the day after Naruto
had brought him home....
"Hey, Naruto?" Sasuke mumbled as he sat up in
the hospital bed he'd been laying on while Tsunade attended the numerous wounds
that Naruto had had to inflict to beat some sense into the raven-haired Uchiha.
However, it would take more than a skilled medical nin to heal the wounds of
his heart.
Naruto looked up from his seat next to the bed.
"What?" he replied.
"What was that thing?" Sasuke asked, causing
his best friend to freeze in place.
Naruto knew exactly what Sasuke was talking
about. He looked at Tsunade, as if asking for her permission to tell his story.
She nodded and stood to leave the room.
Naruto took a quick, but deep breath. "Thanks,
Tsunade....sama," he said as though using the word 'sama' in reference to Tsunade
was difficult.
Tsunade froze in place for a moment, an eyebrow
cocked in surprise. "Did that brat just show me respect?" she thought in mild
amusement. She then smiled, nodded and left the room, quietly shutting the door
behind her.
Naruto sat in silence for a few moments. He
gulped and looked at Sasuke.
Sasuke was getting impatient, but he knew pushing
for a break from the silence might make Naruto loose his nerve.
"Haven't you guessed yet?" Naruto asked. Although
it was more of a statement, since he knew the answer.
"Of course I haven't, dobe," Sasuke replied
in frustration.
Naruto ran a hand through his thick blonde hair
and sighed. "How much do you know...about the Kyuubi?"
Sasuke's eyes went wide as dinner plates as
suddenly, horribly, it seemed to all make sense. He could only hope that his
instincts were wrong for once. "You...you're...the nine tails??" he stammered,
fighting the urge to back away.
"No. But it is sealed inside me...." Naruto
answered, fully expecting his best friend to tell him to get out. Or call him
a monster and then....
"That explains it."
Naruto looked up, tears threatening to fall
from his eyes.
"Everything. It all makes perfect sense now,"
Sasuke finished. He noticed the look of disbelief on Naruto's face. "Did you
think I'd call you a monster?" Now Naruto's eyes went wide. Sasuke saw this,
and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "You did. Didn't you?"
Naruto slowly nodded.
Silence ensued for a long while as Sasuke considered
his response. Finally he spoke again. "I'm sorry," Sasuke said, regret deep
in his voice.
"For what?" Naruto asked as he wiped his eyes
with his arm.
"For making you doubt me like that. For making
you think I'd so easily call you a monster. Especially when the real monster...is
me." Sasuke looked down as he finished his sentence, missing Naruto's expression,
which was a mixture of confusion and surprise. "I nearly betrayed Konoha. Nearly...killed
you," he continued as he stared at his right hand. The very same hand that had
held the deadly chidori just a day earlier. "This hand...it was..."
As Naruto watched in amazement he saw something
that he never had thought possible. There were tears in the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.
"Sasuke?" he thought in question.
"It was through your body. I...I could feel...your...your
blood...your organs...and...and it didn't bother me!" Sasuke said in a choked
voice.
Naruto reached a hand out toward his friend.
"Sasuke...." he began.
Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away. "NO! Don't
you get it???" he screamed in rage and sadness.
"Sasuke...it was the seal..." Naruto began.
"I ALMOST KILLED YOU!!!!" Sasuke screamed as
tears began to flow. "I was so absorbed in avenging my family that I didn't
even see the one I had!!!" he cried.
Naruto couldn't believe his ears. "Family? You
consider me...family?" he said as the tears returned to his eyes.
"You, Sakura, even Kakashi. You're all I have....and
I nearly destroyed that. I nearly lost everything...again..." Sasuke said as
his tears soaked into his shirt.
Naruto suddenly looked very determined. "Sasuke...I...I'll
help you."
Sasuke looked at Naruto. "What?"
"I said I'll help you. I'll help you kill Itachi,"
Naruto said with conviction, but expecting to be yelled at for suggesting that
Sasuke should need help. When no such yelling came he continued. "You don't
have to carry that burden by yourself. Sakura and I are here for you. You're
not alone anymore."
Although he hadn't said anything, Sasuke was
gritting his teeth to keep from telling Naruto that it wasn't his fight. But
he decided that, at the current time, it wasn't worth it. He hurriedly wiped
his eyes. "Arigato." He suddenly straightened himself and looked like he had
decided something. "Naruto..."
"Yeah?"
"Take off your jacket and hold out your arm,"
he instructed, earning a very strange look from the blonde-haired gennin.
Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Just do it," Sasuke answered.
Naruto sighed and did as was requested of him.
Sasuke turned to face him and made a series of seals. After the last seal his
right index finger had a small glowing symbol hovering just in front of the
tip. Naruto looked closer at it. His eyes widened when he saw the symbol was
actually the kanji for 'Uchiha'. Just then Sasuke spoke.
Sasuke was staring at the kanji. "I never thought
I would use this jutsu. Normally only the head of the family is allowed to."
He reached forward with the Kanji and touched Naruto's right bicep.
A small hissing sound was heard as Naruto flinched.
"Hot hot hot!" he yelled indignantly. After the burning stopped he looked at
his arm. The symbol of the house of Uchiha was quickly healing into a scar.
He looked up at Sasuke.
Sasuke smiled. As much as Sasuke ever did smile
anyway. "Now you are my brother...officially. In my family's records you will
be listed as Uchiha, Naruto."
An impossibly huge grin spread over Naruto's
face. "HA HA!!!" he laughed in joy as he launched himself at his newly appointed
brother, knocking him over in a huge bear hug.
Sasuke was immediately annoyed. "Get off of
me! DOBE!!!" he yelled.
Sasuke was brought out of his reverie when the
trio heard an explosion to the east. The sound ninjas that were guarding the
building left instantly. "That's the signal! Let's go!" he said with authority.
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