Naruto 1. Prologue

A/N: New fic... Based off a nightmare I had. Strange, I know, but give it a chance.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
Hyuga Neji was a great believer in fate. In destiny. It was viewed by many of his peers and his elders as his greatest handicap; until his loss to Naruto in the third Chuunin exam, Neji had always believed that it was his greatest asset. He would not be blinded by possibility. By hope. He saw things as they were.  
  
Neji was a white person if ever one existed. White eyes, white hot anger kept sharpened to a deadly and quivering point that just begged to strike, to lash out violently at the nearest target. White, blank future snuffed out just when it was finally beginning to show some potential. Destroyed, along with the beautiful, earthy brown that was Chouji for a traitor. For their duty to their village. To give one of their own another chance at life.  
  
Red met blue in a battle of catastrophic proportions that day. Terrible and wonderful and eerily beautiful, it was a sight to behold as Kiba and Shikamaru bore terrified witness. Ripping through obstructing branches and enemies alike as though they weren't even there, as if they didn't even exist, good and evil collided again and again in a fight that both thought for certain would be to the death. And when red, red blood dripped from the leaves of a scarred and broken forest, when the red of a cursed mark receded and faded back into an inconspicuous bruise and when those nightmarish red eyes faded once more to an uneasy and exhausted and haunted black, blue prevailed. For now. In a way, such an outcome was inevitable. They had all known from the beginning. Light will always hold the darkness at bay until it is extinguished.  
  
Through it all, Fate was in the background laughing her happy little ass off at the spectacular performance. Neji would have been proud to know that he had the right of it.  
  
They brought Sasuke back and their mission was labeled a success. To Naruto, it was more than that. It was a promise made and a promise kept. The losses were great, but the result was greater, or so those whose opinions mattered claimed. Two ninjas exchanged for the price of one crazy, blood-red avenger. One brilliant, terrifying and terrified man. They all assumed that Sasuke was grateful he'd been brought back, but Naruto knew better. He knew that the exchange was an unfair one. Neji and Chouji should still be alive, should still be adding their short-lived, vibrant and unique colors to the tapestry that was Konoha village.  
  
The entire village mourned their loss and hoped and prayed that the sacrifice that could not be taken back was not in vain. Two names, two children who had barely lived and who were now gone forever, were added to a list on a stone that served as a grave and a monument and a tribute.  
  
Life went on. It always has and it always will and it always does. Days melted into weeks, months, years.  
  
They were all changed. Teams, friendships, an entire damned generation of fresh-faced ninjas had been torn apart by one boy's selfish actions. A few months or years might pass, but time cannot heal all wounds. Not the ones on the inside. Trust cannot be regained so easily.  
  
Naruto kept his promise to Sakura at the cost of blood. Two enemy lives now stained his hands, but in his heart he knew that it was really twice that plus two teammates, comrades, people, FRIENDS if you counted the scarifies that Neji and Chouji had made. Naruto did. Shikamaru didn't; he took full responsibility for their deaths on himself, but Naruto would hear nothing of it.  
  
It would be easy to mistake Naruto for an orange person. Loud, bright as the sun, obnoxious. On the inside, though, where nobody could ever see or find him out, Naruto was a blue person. Innocent and sympathetic in his own way and driven to a fault. Now his hands, his spirit, his very SOUL were stained red with blood. He had kept his promise though to the brilliant and oh-so-naive green girl that he worshipped. Green like her eyes and her loving and jealous heart that beat only for her Sasuke-kun. He held on to that promise like a drowning man grasping on to a fortunate piece of flotsam.  
  
Through another abortive escape attempt which he once again foiled, he clung to that promise. Somehow, Naruto seemed to be the only one left who could see through the dull and unresponsive husk that Sasuke had become, who could see the scared, man-shaped boy who was trapped inside. Who even bothered to look. Who would take the time to watch over and protect his former teammate as Sasuke had done for Naruto when they were just children. The Uchiha prodigy, the genius that the entire village had publicly revered and secretly feared and pitied had been all but forgotten by his admirers. All but one scorned and scarred and marked boy who had somehow become a man as well.  
  
After Naruto moved into or rather invaded and occupied the large and echo-y and profoundly cold and empty Uchiha residence, he held onto that crumbling promise that he had made to a green girl whose heart now beat only for a green boy with bushy eyebrows and a charming smile. A deserving boy whose enthusiasm had finally paid off to their mutual happiness. All that was left for Naruto the hero who was not really a hero was to be a glorified babysitter for a certifiably insane and absolutely conscientious and aware and perfect specimen of a man. Neither wanted or needed anyone or anything else. Neither would ever admit that.  
  
Blue and black and a touch of red immediately washed over the whole damned mess and settled there to stay, cloaking everything it touched with the red of death and of blood and of vengeance and of hatred and of live, raw emotion that neither knew how to name, and they fought. They fought for freedom, they fought for themselves and they fought for each other, and still they fought because fighting was all they had left when everything else had abandoned them but themselves. And when brooding feelings finally found a home in each other, they fought the hardest of all.  
  
It began and ended with a forbidden kiss. Forbidden but expected and anticipated by everyone but them. Forbidden and exchanged in the heat of anger and futility with the knowledge that there was no one and nowhere left for either one of them to go but to each other. Two cursed orphans, too powerful to turn loose and too close to that elusive brink of insanity to leave with any responsibility. Two not-quite-exiles who had won the pity and the absolute fear of everyone in Konoha village. They were treated with the same sort of terrified respect and the same cold, detesting hatred that that had slowly but surely eaten away at Naruto for his entire life. Sasuke couldn't believe how much such scorn, such a lack of acknowledgement could hurt.  
  
And still, life went on with Fate puttering around in the background, busily setting the stage for just one more performance by the infamous duo who had simultaneously captivated and frozen the hearts of their village together. They, who had unwillingly lived most of their lives in an uncomfortable spotlight were not quite out of the woods yet.  
  
Somewhere in the tenuous grey area between captor and captive, between human and demon, the blue boy hiccupped and giggled in the sleep. The other boy, black this night, shifted and pulled his companion closer and hugged him more tightly. Neither boy was aware any longer of the blood-red blanket that lay, overshadowing their individual colors. It was there all the time, had been transforming from angry, violent streaks to a constant, hazy, cloak so subtly and slowly over the years that it had gone entirely unnoticed. There was no one else TO notice.  
  
A giggle and a pulse of red and life went on.  
  
It had begun. 


	2. Yellow Words

A/N: Just to clear up a few things that got pointed out in reviews... The green boy was supposed to be Rock Lee. I am reuploading chapter one with some better context clues for that. This is most definitely going to be a series (yay me for escaping the one shot bug for now), but I don't know how long it will be. Until I reach a definite conclusion, most likely. Other than that, all I really have left to say is that if you have read any of my previous work, it would be pretty obvious that I am experimenting with a very new writing style in this fic. I would like it a lot if I could get some feedback on what people think (should I continue trying to find a niche in this style or is this painful to read?)... I don't normally ask for reviews, but in this case I would definitely appreciate even a few words, good or bad. Or if not, that's good too. Either way, I hope you enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
The years had been somewhat kinder to the rest of Konoha if the pain of unavoidable war and death and mourning could ever be considered kind. The battles that the village fought were won and lost as a group, as a collection of individuals whose whole lives centered around maintaining that peace and that hope and that scrap of united individuality that made them themselves. That made them different and untouched and untainted by anywhere else in the world. The vibrant rainbow that was the network of love and pain and frustration and LIFE in Konoha continued to mutate and grow into something more beautiful than Tsunade could ever have imagined possible when she initially agreed to take the well-being of the village on her shoulders.  
  
After her rather unwilling and rocky debut, Tsunade settled into her role of hokage quickly, as though this was the calling that life had had in mind for her all along. Aside from the tangled mess that was Sasuke and Naruto and Itachi and Orochimaru and the Sand and the Sound and a hundred thousand other less imminent but equally bothersome and potentially dangerous threats, things had gone surprisingly well. Her village was strong, tight- knit, willing and able to open their hearts and their trust to this newcomer who was not really new, but who had altered her life to make herself their leader. Despite the turmoil, despite the sorrow and pain and loss and absolute chaos that had been life in Konoha for years, the village of the hidden leaf soon learned how to accept and work with and eventually thrive under and love their new hokage. Life had moved on.  
  
As episodes of violence gave way to longer and brighter periods of peace, the village finally began to move on in earnest. For the first time in damn near ten years, the future looked bright. It looked as if the past was finally ready to cooperate and fade gracefully into the background where it belonged to make way for the present and the future as it should have done long ago. Faded and pushed aside, pushed aside but never forgotten. Never, ever forgotten because forgetting the past is the same as inviting history to repeat itself whereas remembering and honoring the past will at least force Fate to come up with new, innovative disasters. As a possessed blue boy burbled a giggle in his sleep, the strong and vibrant and beautifully independent and blindingly YELLOW hokage snorted in unamused disgust at the train of thought that her mind was following. Of course, it was easy to allow the mind to chase demons and shadows in the dead of night when most sane people should be safe in their beds, but she was the hokage and an unthinkably strong and powerful woman who knew that she was above thoughts like these. Easy, weak-minded thoughts that were anything but easy to ignore, let alone forget.  
  
Tsunade, just like much of the rest of the village, was well aware of everything that had transpired over the years between Sasuke and Naruto but unlike them, she actually saw past what they were and what they had been and what they had done and instead she saw what they had become and found it in her heart to care. Thoughts of the pair would occasionally sneak up on her and overtake her during those hours in the dead of night when all the world but her was asleep. She was willing to let them be, to live and let live so long as the two young men showed appropriate discretion and restraint during their rare ventures into the public world and when she took the time to really think about that, she realized that she did not mean public displays of affection. Those, she couldn't have cared less about either way. It was the threat and the promise of violence that worried her, scared her. Outcasts though they were, Sasuke and Naruto were two very, very dangerous young men with unpredictable tempers and who wielded enough power that even the most seasoned ANBU member should be afraid of them. Very afraid of the black and the blue with the taint of red boys because they could hurt anyone they wanted and they would kill if they must and she had seen firsthand what that little blonde brat could do on his own, years and years ago. It honestly frightened her to think of how much he had grown, of what he could do with an accomplice as crazy and willing and powerful as the Uchiha boy.  
  
An unwelcome shiver ran its icy fingers down her spine and in an unpleasant and unwanted epiphany the old woman who still looked and acted young decided to send for the outcast black and blue boys. It would do them all good to see one another face to face and have a heart to heart so that they could make sure that they saw eye to eye. Such hope was logical and reasonable and everything that could not be applied to the two most unpredictable citizens of Konoha, but she would go through with her spur of the moment plan because it had to be done and the morning that would come much too soon was as good a time as any.  
  
It was therefore not surprising that the first rays of light brought no rest for the tired and overworked woman but she, as yellow souls are wont to do, found the requisite energy in the sun to keep the silent promise that only she knew that she'd made to herself and send for the boys who had stumbled into manhood and self-imposed and popularly advocated isolation right before her eyes. They answered their summons promptly, not because they had anticipated the meeting but because years of training and living and breathing readiness for ANYTHING until it was as ingrained as instinct could never be forgotten or undone. They answered their summons hand in hand and unkempt, unwashed, tattered and torn with eyes flashing defiantly as they waited for their superior to tell them what she wanted after years of neglect. It amazed her, this united front that two men who did nothing but fight and fuck with the same equal, frantic energy could present when she knew the unrest and the turmoil that boiled just beneath the surface, constantly threatening to tear them apart. Perhaps they could still be of some use to the village they called home, the village that was no longer really a home to one and that had never truly been a home to the other.  
  
The meeting was short and absolutely pointless beyond an uneasy "so you're still alive?" because there had not been any real and tangible point to it in the first place. In the end, Tsunade extended a foolish invitation that she did not expect them to accept and asked them whether they would like to rejoin the ranks of the ninjas who had unofficially abandoned them and who they had unofficially deserted in a mutual, unspoken agreement. She was declined and she dismissed them soon thereafter, the yellow healer finding herself inexplicably uncomfortable in the presence of these unpredictable black and blue and red-tainted boys and sending them on their way with a vague wish that they would at least attempt to make these infrequent visits happen a little more often. They were more comfortable as far away from one another as they could get, and all three of them knew it. Departure spelled relief.  
  
It had never really disturbed Naruto how little acknowledgement he received for the last great service he had done and continued to do every single moment for his village, but the all-too-familiar glares and the stares and the quickly averted gazes that fell upon them as they strolled down the street hand in hand kindled a flame of resentment that had been growing deep inside as the red enveloped him over the years. While Sasuke hid behind the stoic face that he had perfected as a child and huddled inside a fortress of decaying walls that Naruto had breached long ago, Naruto fought off the red that was threatening to overcome him, to consume him, to DROWN him and clung more tightly than ever to the hand that was his only anchor to reality. Those blue eyes that were not really blue in the heat of this barely suppressed anger and resentment scanned the street restlessly and wherever they traveled the object of that unsettling red stare would inevitably shudder and move on quickly. Marked by a boy that had been the scorn of the village.  
  
The part that could have been ironic and somewhat amusing if either man possessed a sense of humor any longer was that they knew nothing about Naruto or Sasuke or the miserable situation that they lived day in and day out. The truth of the matter was that the two were locked in a constant battle of wills that not even the great Tsunade could have guessed the extent of, with Sasuke constantly vacillating between passive and lost and scared and hurt and black and red and angry and violent and doing everything in his considerable power to answer the haunting call of the curse that branded his neck and Naruto, who barely clung to the thinning line between baby blue and the same blood red that his companion often showed, was the only thing that could keep the black boy at bay when he turned red. Kept Sasuke there and semi-sane and together they kept the enemy ninjas who inevitably slipped through Konoha's tightened defenses in search of one of the two outcasts away. Everyone, known or otherwise, was the enemy to them; they just didn't know it yet. They kept one another almost but not quite THERE, and it was a full time occupation which never ended whether they ate or showered or slept. Constant, obsessive physical contact or at the very least terrified staring was essential, necessary to keep the red taint of blood and curses and demons that stalked them as far from them as possible.  
  
The stage was set, ready and waiting for the cast to arrive and the show to begin. Thanks to Tsunade's impromptu meeting with Sasuke and Naruto, the two main characters had been drawn out of their lair and into the public venue for the first time in months and an inevitable and unstoppable ball had been set rolling. Fate, her work at a temporary end, was sitting smugly in the background waiting to watch her greatest masterpiece in over a decade unfold.  
  
The remainder of the cast was approaching the two stars in the form of a tightly-knit knot of young jounin who remembered what the blue and black boys had been once upon a time and who had chosen to forget old feelings and friendships and exchange them for wary fear.  
  
Blood red eyes watched them come and flashed in undisguised and untainted hatred. Another unconscious giggle. Another pulse of red. Something stirred deep within the blonde boy and in a moment of clear and sadistic and absolutely mindblowing lucidity he understood what he and Sasuke had to do to appease the churning HATRED that was wrecking havoc on something deep inside, that was tearing him apart as memories of a past filled with rejection and loneliness and a yearning for acknowledgement from someone, anyone came unbidden his mind.  
  
Clinging to Sasuke's hand moreso than ever before, the red boy who had been blue only minutes ago curved his lips in a smile that was anything but happy. This was going to be fun. For both of them. 


	3. Shattered Hearts

A/N: Not much to say here... I know that the writing style changed a bit in this chapter, but I think it's for the better. It's more readable and I think that it's easier to write on my part. The rest of the story should be written more like this. If it bothers you, just think of the first two chapters as leading up to the plot. Now that I'm actually starting to get to the point of the story, the flowery descriptions are nowhere near as necessary. Feel free to tell me what you think, if you like.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
An immediate and abrupt and utterly complete hush descended upon the young group who had been talkative and vivacious only moments ago. Fear, palpable and intense, drenched the air that had been fresh and clean a heartbeat earlier. Realistically, the unexpected and unannounced appearance of Sasuke and Naruto represented something akin to an act of war to these jounin. The two men, former friends and crushes and comrades and teammates, were no longer the children that the village had once known. The flashing challenge in Naruto's glaring red eyes that just dared the jounin before him to try ANYTHING made that blatantly obvious. He would go down fighting if it came to that. Both of them would.  
  
A silent and unanimous decision was reached in a matter of seconds, made in the same manner that important decisions must be made on missions where a wayward sound or a wasted moment could mean the difference between life and death, success and failure. Sakura, the green girl who had once upon a time fancied herself in love with the black boy and who had once been loved by the blue boy was unceremoniously pushed to the head of the group which now practically oozed wary readiness. She, being a smart girl, understood the decision and agreed with it in principle; she was the logical spokesperson and they all knew it, but that did not leave her feeling at all safe or confident in her position. The boys she had known and respected and loved and been loved by and entrusted with her life and safety had vanished long ago, replaced by these men who she knew not at all. A fleeting wish that Lee were there passed through her mind, but he was away on a mission reaping the well-deserved rewards of his tenacity and grueling recovery from wounds of long ago. The green boy had vowed to give anything to protect her, and he'd often made good on his word; for that reason, she had come to rely upon him more heavily than she cared to admit. She could have used his support now, but there was no use in wishing for the impossible when reality was busy rearing its ugly head.  
  
For a few tension-packed moments, no one moved. No one so much as breathed. All were staring, waiting for someone else to make the first decisive move. Only a few yards lay between Sakura and the two men, but the distance seemed impossible. To make matters worse, Sasuke had been roused from his apparent stupor by the unexpected halt. Sakura was not the only one who barely suppressed an instinctive shudder as two pairs of cold, red eyes regarded those they had once considered comrades in arms. Sasuke was not supposed to look at HER with that animalistic, hungry look that was made all the more terrible by the barely-visible curse seal that still scarred his neck ... Naruto's eyes weren't supposed to be this dangerously bloodthirsty shade of red.  
  
No use in putting off the inevitable. Heart pounding so loudly she was sure that those on the other side of the village could hear it, Sakura forced words out of a throat that had gone as dry as a dead leaf. She could not find a smile to offer them. "It's been a while, Sasuke-san. Naruto-san." Harmless, easy words that she tried to make as and innocent as possible, but it pained her to think that there was no more familiarity with these two. Never again. Best to consider the Sasuke-kun she had loved as a child dead and gone because he WAS. Vanished along with the loud and obnoxious teammate she had grown to respect and care for more than he would ever know. Both dead and gone and replaced by dangerously unstable look-alikes.  
  
She received no answer to her pleasantries, and truly she had expected none. Two pairs of blood-red eyes simply stared, focusing all of their pent- up rage and frustration and an unmistakable urge to hurt and KILL on her. Staring and flaying her to her very soul, and she knew then that stopping these two and drawing their attention had been a mistake of the worst kind.  
  
Unnerved by the silence and the stares and vaguely hoping for any sort of assistance from her fellow jounin, Sakura glanced back at her companions. All of them returned her pleading gaze with blank looks and barely shrugged shoulders exactly as she had expected. They were your teammates, those looks seemed to say. Sakura knew them the best. They would back her up, but when it came down to it, they were her problem first and foremost for she was the only one present who was at all suited to dealing with them. Uncertainly, she again focused her attention on the men before her.  
  
They had changed drastically during that brief, unvoiced conference. The tension had all but melted away from the pair, and although they still clung to one another's hands so hard that their knuckles were white, it was as though they were two entirely different people. More relaxed. Their eyes had faded from angry red to their traditional black and blue hues and as Sakura watched, Naruto brought his free hand up to rest behind his head in a gesture she had not seen in years and grinned that achingly familiar grin of his and for a second it felt as though they were twelve and innocent all over again.  
  
"Sakura-chan, hi! We were just on our way home from a meeting," the blonde chirped in a tone that was so cheerful and carefree that it could not possibly belong to the boy with the red eyes who had stood there just heartbeats ago. The laugh that followed his words, though - that laugh did not belong to him, nor did the voice that had settled into a light tenor somewhere along the line. The words were his, were her Naruto's, but the voice and the laugh and everything else about him belonged to someone or something else.  
  
She didn't know what to do. In ten years she had learned much, had grown more as a shinobi and as a woman than she could have ever dreamed possible, but she was still wholly unprepared for this. For them. Before she knew what she was doing, before she could stop herself, she found herself backing up those couple of paces to regain the dubious safety of the group. They, all six of them, had known the Naruto who now stood before them, known him and loved him and hated him and grudgingly admired him.  
  
And then, the silence was broken as uncomfortably as it had been set. The small, sharp intake of breath that caught in Hinata's throat as she forced herself to truly LOOK into Naruto's eyes did not go unnoticed, nor did the protective and concerned glance that Kiba immediately shot her way. Sakura felt her stomach lurch, felt a sudden wave of pity for the snow-white girl who had still never felt the stain of enemy blood on her hands and who still loved Naruto in the same practiced way that Sakura still loved Sasuke. Or rather, the memory of what the two men had been when they were still boys. Hinata had seen what Sakura had seen. These were no longer their boys. At the moment, Naruto's eyes were baby blue and naïve as the twelve year old eyes she remembered but the faint traces of reddish purple never quite left them.  
  
Naruto heard Hinata's gasp and his eyes narrowed angrily, the red flooding back into them as he shifted his renewed glare to focus on Kiba. Wisely, Sakura bit back the sudden foolhardy urge to smack him and yell at him and ask him what the hell he had expected to happen after all these years. After all these years. It hit her then all over again and with a finality that nearly broke her heart. These were not her boys. They weren't the boys from oh so long ago and she could do nothing but stand aside and let them pass because she no longer had the RIGHT to do anything else.  
  
She opened her mouth to tell them to go on, that they would not be delayed any longer, but the words died in her throat as an unexpected surge of chakra whisked Naruto and Sasuke away as if they'd never been there. Sakura could have followed them easily; any jounin could follow the traces of chakra from a ninjutsu like the one Naruto had used, but she and her companions wisely opted to let well enough alone. There was no reason to pursue them when they had very obviously moved in the direction of Uchiha Sasuke's residence. Best to leave them be and try to forget that they had ever seen these two red-eyed ghosts from the past. As jounin, they had more pressing matters to attend to. With a silent accord, they continued on their interrupted way and tried as a group to shake off the haunting feeling that they had not yet seen the last of Naruto and Sasuke.  
  
None of them noticed the blonde boy with the blood red eyes and the brutally suppressed chakra who watched them from the camouflaging branches of a distant tree as he turned over the ways that he would make each of these marked young men and women suffer. None of them would have suspected that Naruto of all people would ever master the art of hiding his chakra so thoroughly that he could remain inconspicuous to six competent jounin. It was because of this that none of the departing jounin saw the positively, sadistically evil smile that deformed the blonde's face as he disappeared in earnest to rejoin the companion he had temporarily left in the company of a shadow clone. It pained him to be apart from Sasuke, and in a small part of his mind he worried what the other boy would do in his absence. Even these few short minutes were too long to be separated from the man that he considered his other half. 


	4. Breaking Down

A/N: Yay... Another chapter. School is kicking my butt so I don't know how often the updates will be coming. Also, as you can see I've upped the rating to R. I think that this topic is more appropriate for a higher rating than PG-13. Review if you like. I know I'd like ;)  
  
Thanks to Satori Hunter for all the help she's given me during the process of writing this =)  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
Naruto returned to the Uchiha manor as quickly as possible, but it still was not fast enough to completely prevent any harm from coming to Sasuke. He found the man curled up in a forlorn ball in the corner of the cell-like room that they used for sleeping. A single kunai from the considerable collection that Sasuke still kept on his person at all times had been flung so hard that it rested hilt-deep in a wall already pockmarked with holes left by previous weapons. Dirt and tears and a streaked wash of blood from a coagulating cut on his forehead stained the man's face, accenting the eerily beautiful spiral tendrils that the curse seal ran up and down his body whenever his control slipped. There was no light of sanity or recognition in the Sharingan eyes that looked up at the intrusion and scrutinized Naruto.  
  
Swearing softly under his breath, the blonde crossed the small room in three hurried strides and gently toed the pathetic heap before him that was Uchiha Sasuke, warily remaining on his guard for the attack that may or may not be forthcoming. As unpredictable as Sasuke was under normal circumstances, his sporadically violent tendencies were always made worse by the blossoming of Orochimaru's curse. Even as his toe made contact with the other man's body, Naruto kept one hand on a hidden kunai, the other held in a loose position that would allow him to move to accommodate any situation. His eyes practically glowed red as he allowed the demon within him to gain that much more control, having learned long ago to trust in its fighting instincts better than his own.  
  
The curse seal flared back into active life at the careful touch, clawing its way over a few more inches of Sasuke's body before settling back into a semi-dormant black color. The man's reaction, lunging at Naruto's leg and grabbing it in a desperate embrace with that speed that very few besides Sasuke could obtain, caught the blonde off-guard, causing him to totter for a moment before regaining his balance. It seemed as though violence would not be forthcoming this time, and as he carefully readjusted himself to make his new position a touch less vulnerable, Naruto frowned. This was not the first time he had had to help his partner recover from the clutches of the seal.  
  
"What happened?" Best for both of them if the interrogation was slow. Quiet. Gentle. He could easily piece together what had transpired on his own, but he needed to get Sasuke talking. Bring him back to the present.  
  
"He's gone." The words were muffled, pressed into Naruto's thigh. Absently, the blonde lowered a hand to pat Sasuke's tangled and greasy locks in a soothing gesture. He could feel the touch of the demon fox drifting from his consciousness as the promise of imminent fighting faded. His eyes were fast regaining their traditional baby blue color.  
  
"Who's gone?" Ever so slowly, Sasuke was coming back, regaining control over the curse bit by arduous bit.  
  
A slight, confused hesitation as the warm face was removed from where it had been buried in Naruto's thigh to stare at him suspiciously. "You?"  
  
The blonde smirked. "I'm here."  
  
"You disappeared."  
  
"That's what happens when you hit a shadow clone with a kunai," Naruto sighed, letting his hand drop to Sasuke's cheek where the curse seal had flourished only minutes ago. "It disappears."  
  
The dark-haired man turned his face away from Naruto's touch although he maintained his death grip on the blonde's leg. "You're real?"  
  
"I think so." He shook Sasuke off of his leg long enough to sink down beside him, endured the immediate and breath-stealing embrace as the other man attached himself to his torso and buried his face in his chest. It was an unusually peaceful and tender moment, but then again it had been an unusual day. For a few minutes, Naruto was content to remain in that position. He hated to be separated from Sasuke, hated it and feared it and avoided it with everything he had, but knew also that sometimes it was inevitable and that every time they were apart the chances increased that Sasuke would attempt to defect and join Orochimaru's ranks once again. Or, worse, that Sasuke's violent tendencies and the promise of power from the curse seal would force them into a fight that neither of them truly wanted and that would only end in death for one of them, leaving the survivor more profoundly alone than he had ever been before.  
  
A hint of red crept back into Naruto's clear blue eyes at the dark path his thoughts were following and he found himself once again considering the task that he had set for himself, all the while cooing soft words of comfort to his partner. Now, more than ever the blonde's eyes were an indicator of his current stability. As the demon fox slowly began to assert its control over the man, his eyes often reflected the angry red of the fox's limitless chakra.  
  
At this point, there was no reason for the fox to break through the seal that bound it to its host as long as it could chip away at Naruto's will bit by bit and gradually begin to use the boy as a physical vessel, slowly undermining the very essence of what he was. That was the absolute beauty of an immortal life: time was of no consequence. There would always be new and pleasurable ways of causing panic. Although Naruto was still battling back, still had quite a bit of spunk left in him, he was growing weary. More and more every day, they were merging in body and mind and heart and spirit, becoming one being, and now the line between Kyuubi and Naruto had grown hazy enough that the fox's urges to destroy and to hurt and to kill were becoming the man's driving force as well.  
  
The Kyuubi KNEW that the group of jounin from earlier was the key to what could ultimately be the final blow to Naruto's resistance. A good means of severing the few bonds that still tied not only Naruto, but also Sasuke to the past. Enough to cause fear and unrest and turmoil and all of the things that the demon fox thrived on, fed off of. The Kyuubi could allow Naruto the slight bit of solace Sasuke's presence afforded; after all, having long since been lost to madness himself, the Uchiha heir could offer Naruto no salvation. He would be a useful tool.  
  
The dark-haired man was reviving, his soft, black eyes finally lighting up with recognition as he regarded Naruto with a sheepish smile. The red was being pushed away from both of them again and it was so easy to separate Naruto from the demon within when Sasuke smiled like that because that smile was sometimes the only thing that could force his inner turmoil away. The Kyuubi could afford to gracefully accept defeat in these small battles. Solidify their relationship, their NEED for one another and Sasuke was the means to an end. A reason for doing and a competent accomplice in crime. Let them have their fun unabated now and in the end, the demon fox would be the one who came out on top.  
  
The haze of red and of evil that blanketed the Uchiha manor often waxed and waned in strength but never quite disappeared entirely. That night and for weeks after, the fluctuations were more pronounced, more violent and erratic than ever before. Piece by piece, halfheartedly questioning his motives and his sanity every step of the way, Naruto gradually managed to convey to Sasuke his and the Nine Tails' desires when it came to the group of jounin, the last of those who had been dubbed the rookie nine so many years ago. They fought over this as they fought over everything, passionately and physically trying to destroy one another and mentally unsure whether they really wanted to or not. Naruto fought Sasuke and Naruto fought himself and Naruto fought the Kyuubi in a never ending battle that quickly began to erode the very core of what was left of his being as he tried to determine whether his past truly needed to be eradicated. It did.  
  
And in the end, the demon's timeless perseverance won over human endurance, which was how Naruto and Sasuke found themselves crouched precariously outside of Yamanaka Ino's window late one evening. They were there for vengeance, to satisfy the blood lust that taunted and teased and tainted them both... But most of all, they were there for a bit of fun. Physically leveling an entire village was enjoyable, yes, but so was the slow, methodical process of destroying a village from the inside out. Ah yes, this was going to be quite fun. Especially for the demon fox. 


	5. Bump in the Night

A/N: It's been a long week, so I'm sorry the update took a bit. This chapter has some violence in it. Other than that... Review if you like. I'm sure you all know the drill.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
The night was cold, chilly enough that Ino was glad of the thick blanket that she kept at the foot of her bed for nights just like this. Some small remnant of her childish fancies had been left with that old blanket, an irrational sense that the soft, worn cloth would shield her from all that was wrong in the world, things that she had seen all too clearly as a jounin. Especially now that she lived alone. As she pulled it tight around her, Ino couldn't help but humor the nostalgic notion that it might keep all the bad things that went bump in the night at bay, just as it had when she'd been a small girl. Surely it had lost none of its magic.  
  
Drowsily, barely clinging to consciousness as she allowed her mind to drift, she laughed at herself for thinking these childish, innocent thoughts which occasionally surfaced from somewhere deep inside while she rode the brink of sleep. These were thoughts that had never seen the blood of death or felt the thrill of killing or felt the first blushing awareness of love. Love. What a beautiful way to descend into sleep, thinking about something so new and fragile and wonderful...  
  
As she was hovering on the thin line between a waking dream and the first delicate stage of sleep a small thump, too loud to be a creak and too quiet to be a crash, jerked her fully awake. More than a decade of hard work and training had not gone to waste; in less than a heartbeat she had crossed the length of her room and had crouched, kunai in hand and clad only in a thin nightgown, right behind her door in a position that would allow her to see whoever entered before they saw her. Her unease grew as seconds passed and melted into minutes of silence and just as she was about to shrug the sound off and laugh at her jumpiness, someone spoke from just outside her door.  
  
"Ino?" Her heart leapt into her throat as she recognized the intruder's voice. "Ino, can I come in?"  
  
"Shikamaru, what are you doing here?" she exploded, irritation at the man replacing caution as she straightened from her tensed position. Of all the times for him to come over unannounced... Making an entrance like that, he could have easily earned himself a kunai through the throat. This sort of randomness was extremely un-Shikamaru-like, though, and Ino hesitated in throwing open her bedroom door and telling him in no uncertain terms that she never, EVER expected something like this to happen again.  
  
"Che... Ino, open the damned door. I want to talk to you." A hint of undisguised anger had crept into a voice that was suddenly harsher than it should have been under the given circumstances. Especially when taken into account that it was Nara Shikamaru speaking...  
  
Ino frowned, backing a step further away from the door before resuming her crouched position. She had never heard Shikamaru use that tone of voice with anyone, least of all her. Something was very wrong here and it was irritating her more with each passing moment that she couldn't quite place the problem let alone the cause.  
  
"What is so important that it can't wait 'til morning, Shika," she snapped, her tired patience thinning. "Honestly. It's late and I was almost asle-" She cut herself off abruptly, realizing that she was speaking to nothing. She could no longer sense any presence behind the all too thin door that separated her from the rest of her small apartment. How had he gotten in without her sensing or hearing him, anyway? WHY had he entered her apartment without her permission when he knew that all he had to do was knock? They had been dating for a year. He knew better than this.  
  
A shiver reminded her just how chilly the night really was. She refused to consider the possibility that she was shaking, even the tiniest bit, from fear. Just what did Shikamaru think he was doing? All thoughts of sleep, of returning to her warm bed, had left her mind the moment she heard his voice. She had to get to the bottom of this before she could rest.  
  
After a moment of consideration, she decided with a sigh that the situation merited more clothing than just a nightgown. She had a feeling that she would be paying Shikamaru a visit before the night was through to demand some answers and regardless, the nightgown hindered her movements in a way that her normal apparel did not. Most nights, she felt secure enough inside her own village to allow herself the luxury of comfort over serviceability as she slept. Tonight was different, though. A few brief seconds of letting her guard down while she changed would be worth the benefits of clothing that was designed for concealed weaponry and for easy mobility.  
  
Her decision made, she wasted no time in throwing off her nightgown, stalking over to the first shirt that she laid eyes on and lifting it over her head as quickly as she could. For once, boyfriend or not, appearance meant nothing to her. Something was very, very wrong here and -  
  
Warm breath on her neck and bare arms encircling her waist stopped her short. Eyes wide, frozen in place by surprise and, unaccountably, fear, she made no move as a soft kiss was placed just below her right ear. "Ino."  
  
His voice was low and rasped and full of something that she did not want to think about let alone name, and she couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't even think coherently as alarms reverberated through her mind and she frantically tried to deduce how he had gotten in and why he had come and what he could possibly want from her at this late hour. He... He shouldn't be seeing her like this, completely exposed and vulnerable and she wasn't READY for something like this with him.  
  
Get angry.  
  
She still couldn't breathe properly and her lungs were practically begging for air now and something inside her was screaming that she had to run, to get away right this moment. But she was Yakamana Ino, the brilliantly, vibrantly purple girl with a heart full of courage, who never ran away, never backed down, never second guessed her own abilities. She was the strong one, the one who always knew exactly what had to be done and did it no matter what it took or what the cost. Never in her life had she been rendered this damned HELPLESS by anyone or anything and that alone was killing her.  
  
Get angry.  
  
The arms around her waist were tightening, drawing her inexorably closer as butterfly kisses were planted at the base of her neck. Her back made contact with his chest and she felt the surprising contact of his bare skin against hers, and at that unexpected touch she finally found the strength that she needed.  
  
Get ANGRY!  
  
A low growl rose in her throat, full of rage and animalistic ferocity as she forced herself to focus on her fury, stoking it to the whitest, hottest point she could manage so that she could break free of her own self-imposed restraints...  
  
She moved before she could think, before she could register her own thoughts or heed her own doubts. With a cry that was wrenched from a place inside her that she never even knew existed, she twisted away, swinging around to face him with both hands held in a fighting stance. She retained a death grip on the kunai, but it seemed a small weapon versus what she knew in the calm and calculating part of her mind that he had at his disposal.  
  
Her knees were shaking, betraying the fear that she still could not understand. As a ninja, she had faced life or death situations a thousand times over and had always done so without worrying about the consequences. She had always come out alive, her confidence in herself and her teammates never wavering.  
  
Her confidence in Shikamaru, the man who was her teammate and her friend and - she had thought - something more than that, had never faltered, never once in ten damned years. Ten years of hours upon hours spent together every single day, of training together and teaching each other and learning from one another. She trusted him above all the others. Trusted him so much that he knew every single thing about her.  
  
She didn't want to be doing this, not with Shika.  
  
He stood there smirking at her, settling into that easy slouch that was his trademark. Peripherally she was aware that he was half-naked, shirtless, more exposed than she had ever really seen him but the thought was fleeting, of little importance. She opened her mouth to speak, to demand an answer to every single one of the questions that were overwhelming her mind and he cut in before she could formulate thoughts into words, his expression melting into a sneer.  
  
"You should have let me in Ino," he said softly in that voice that was but wasn't his. A flat, dangerous voice.  
  
Where was the real Shikamaru, she wondered. This most certainly could not be him! This was not the man that she would willingly entrust with everything right down to her very life!  
  
But he was advancing toward her as he spoke, slowly moving forward step by step and as she stood, willing herself to move and finding herself utterly powerless to move or speak or do anything at all, she realized with horror that she had been caught in one of his shadow jutsus. The night. Shadows. Oh shit, he was holding her completely immobile and there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it. She couldn't even cry out as he finally reached her side and slowly, methodically ran his hands up and down her body, feeling her in a way that she was going to murder him for the moment she could move again. His smile was nothing short of feral now and somehow that LOOK on his face struck yet another chord of terror within her.  
  
"All I wanted to do was talk to you. See you. I didn't want to hurt you, Ino, but you've made me angry. Very, very angry. I'm going to have to punish you, you know..."  
  
He trailed off, turning towards her bed and against her will she mimicked the movement. She did not want this. Not like this, not with this man who looked like her Shikamaru but who was not. Not even his jutsu could keep the angry, helpless tears from washing her cheeks. One careful step after another they were approaching her bed, and she wondered if he was moving this slowly on purpose just to prolong her agony.  
  
And then they were there and he was leering at her and extending his hand as she was forced to extend hers too until she was handing him the kunai. He took it, examined it for a moment before gently pressing the sharpened tip to her face and actually caressing her cheek with the weapon as her arm replicated his every move. She could see a small indent on his cheek that followed their conjoined motions, knew just how close he was to drawing both of their blood. It was little comfort to her that he could not do her any serious physical harm as long as they were connected by this jutsu unless he was willing to risk the same damage to himself.  
  
A crash just outside the window drew both of their attention, and with more speed than she would have ever guessed that Shikamaru could possess she was released from the jutsu and pulled against him, his arm snaking back around her waist in an iron grip as he pressed the kunai pressed so hard against her throat that it drew blood. It was all she could do from trying to jerk away, from crying out as she watched - and saw Shikamaru's face appear in her window.  
  
"I thought you'd never show up," the voice behind her growled. "I had to start without you. Hurry up."  
  
A flare of chakra and he was in the room, his face hidden behind his hand as he yawned in the most characteristic display she had seen all night. Unconsciously, Ino shrank away from both this new intruder and the kunai at her throat, bringing herself closer to the man behind her in her confusion. But then this new Shikamaru looked up, saw how she was being held and his face settled into an angry scowl. "This is going to be troublesome... Let go of her."  
  
That voice! Eyes wide, she stared at him. It was really him. It had to be him! How had he known to come save her? Did... Did she trust him?  
  
She was shoved aside then, landing with a small cry on her bed as the Shikamaru behind her advanced on the man near the window. Immediately, she turned and dove for her nightstand with all of the speed she could muster, reaching for the trio of shuriken and the kunai that she kept within easy reach of her bed in case of emergencies and ignoring the warm trickle of blood on her throat and the tears coursing down her cheeks. She had to arm herself, to help her Shika against whoever the hell was sick enough to be doing this to her. To them.  
  
A shuriken, thrown by one of the two men behind her, embedded itself in Ino's bare shoulder while another found the crook of her elbow just as she reached her weapons and whirled around, rearmed and finally ready to be of some assistance. Her grunt of pain as the razor-edged stars hit her went unnoticed and unheard, lost in a resounding crash that had her instinctively moving her hands into the initial rapid seals of a jutsu that would get her the hell out of there.  
  
Her eyes widened as she actually took in the sight before her and her hands, spurred on by fright, moved even more quickly. Blood had been splattered everywhere in the brief second that she had had her back turned, and she knew in that moment that none of it belonged to the Shikamaru who stood, unscratched and triumphant, over his opponent. The Shika who had leapt to her defense was crouched, panting and clutching his stomach in a vain attempt to stop the blood from a deep gash that began at his right shoulder and ended just above his left thigh. Even she, who had received only minimal medical training, could tell that such a wound would almost certainly be fatal.  
  
All thoughts of retreat flew out of her head as she watched her Shika kneeling there, hurt and defenseless. Heedless of the pain that coursed through her arm and shoulder with every move she made, she aimed and released her shuriken at the gloating man. He deflected them, of course, easily evaded the physical attack that she initiated the moment the throwing stars left her hand and reappeared on the other side of the room, his hands forming a familiar seal. Ino felt her stomach sink as she realized exactly what he was doing.  
  
Fighting this man in a room full of shadows had once again put her in the worst possible position, a lesson that was driven home as her muscles refused to answer her commands for the second time that night.  
  
Against her will, the arm that still held the kunai, her last weapon, was being raised as Shika lifted his until they had both settled into one of the most basic throwing positions. He stopped moving, looked at her and forced her to look at him through his jutsu and she felt her lips curling into a feral smile as his did the same.  
  
"I think it best if you deliver the killing blow," he murmured, his voice silky and low.  
  
They were frowning in concentration as he forced her to aim for the heart, slowly and methodically as he did everything. The flick of the wrist and the release and the kunai was on its way, speeding towards the injured Shika's chest as the man who held her bound in his jutsu forced her to watch.  
  
The kunai never hit its target, embedding itself instead in the floor as Shika disappeared at the last possible moment, lunging at his opponent in a last desperate attempt at victory.  
  
The shadow jutsu was released as her captor was engaged in combat, and again Ino dove for the nearest weapons. Another anguished cry, and without any other warning, something large and heavy and warm and wet fell on her, knocking her off her feet. She was bathing in a puddle of blood, or so it seemed, and the shirtless man who stood above them had eyes as red as the blood that covered both Ino and Shika.  
  
As he approached, he grinned at her. The body pinning her down was lifeless, may as well have been dead.  
  
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow... Ino." A smile that could not possibly belong to her Shika was flashed and the heavy warmth was being removed from her lap as she sat there, frozen and stunned. As suddenly and abruptly as the whole nightmare had begun, they were both gone.  
  
It took a few moments for their departure to register as she sat there, naked and covered in her own and Shikamaru's blood in the display of gore that had been her room only ten minutes earlier. It was not until after she took in that they were truly gone that she was finally able to scream, and scream she did.  
  
That beautiful sound was music to Sasuke and Naruto's ears as they released their jutsus and transformed back into themselves before grabbing one another's hands in a desperate gesture. Brief though their separation had been, it was still too long for either of their comfort. It was the promise of violence that had caused Sasuke to ever agree to such a plan voluntarily in the first place. Naruto's wounds, serious as they would have been on any other man, were already healing as they melted back into the darkness, a relief to them both.  
  
Sasuke had slipped a little at the end, but Naruto couldn't blame the man, didn't care in the slightest. It must be difficult to hide Sharingan eyes, transformation or no, and Naruto and the demon fox privately felt that seeing that brief moment of red had been an interesting addition to the whole scene. They had been successful, though, and that was what mattered the most. The seeds of doubt and mistrust had been firmly planted and for them, the fun had just begun.  
  
Ino's screams followed them as they vanished into the night. 


	6. Flaking Blood

A/N: Told you that I had another chapter almost ready to go. I'm sorry it's so short, but the next one promises to be longer. As always, reviews are appreciated.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
............  
  
How she arrived at Sakura's apartment, wrapped in nothing but her bedclothes and painted in a flaking coat of dried blood, Ino could not recall. All she remembered was pounding on her friend's door, heedless of the late hour and not caring a whit whether she might be disturbing the neighbors.  
  
After a few minutes of frantic knocking, the door was finally cracked open and Rock Lee's tousled head poked out. His eyes, still heavy with sleep widened slightly as they focused on her, took in her ragged condition, and he raised an eyebrow in a drowsy invitation for her to speak.  
  
"Where is Sakura?" Ino demanded, for once ignoring formalities as she pushed her way into the main room of the apartment. "It's Shikamaru..."  
  
"I'll go get her Ino-san," he said, straightening to perform a military style salute before marching out of the room. In different circumstances, she would have been amused at this resurgence of his youthful energy. Lee had never lost his over enthusiasm, but he had gradually learned some self control over the years. Anything to please his Sakura.  
  
He returned shortly, the pink-haired girl trailing slightly behind him as she rubbed her eyes. "What's wrong, Ino..." Her voice trailed off as she saw the state her friend was in. Obviously, Lee had left Sakura to find out about Ino's appearance with her own eyes.  
  
"Someone who looked like Shikamaru attacked me tonight." That much was easy, a matter-of-fact way of summarizing the hell she had just been through, but the rest still sent cold shivers down her spine. "He... Was using Shika's shadow jutsus. I think the real Shikamaru might be dead. He came to save me..." She broke off as she caught the twin expressions of concerned horror on both Sakura's and Lee's faces.  
  
"Ino..." Sakura began, but the blonde cut her off.  
  
"Most of it's not my blood," she assured them quickly, understanding their pointed stares. "Most of it came from Shika... He's got to be dead, Sakura. No one could survive the wound that he sustained."  
  
"So you think someone used a transformation jutsu to appear like Shikamaru, copied his family's shadow jutsus and then killed the real Shikamaru who just happened to show up in the nick of time? And you think that whoever did it accomplished all of this without suffering so much as a scratch? That is going to make this guy really hard to track down, Ino." Sakura's disbelief was evident, and Ino had to admit that she wouldn't have believed herself without the constant crackle of dried blood on her bare skin.  
  
"I'm not making this up," she protested, hesitating as Sakura raised a hand to silence her.  
  
"I know what you think you saw. Tsunade-sama needs to hear this. And I think we should go make sure that Shikamaru is really not there. You can borrow some of my clothes."  
  
Vaguely, it surprised Ino how well Sakura had learned to take charge of any situation. She had grown so much from the shy, scared girl that Ino had befriended long ago that she was hardly recognizable now. Sakura had transformed into a confident young woman, bloomed into the beautiful flower that Ino had always suspected she could be. As she obediently trailed after her friend and exchanged her soiled blanket for clean clothes, Ino had to smile.  
  
Everything would be okay now that she was no longer alone. 


	7. Balancing on the Razor's Edge

A/N: Well, you can all thank my ten hour shift at work for this next chapter getting put up so soon. And I'm sorry, but it's also a fairly short one. I dislike putting scene changes in the same chapter, so that hopefully explains the length of most of the chapters in this story.  
  
Also, I would like to clarify a few more things. When I am writing about the two Shikamarus from Ino's point of view, I always use the nickname "Shika" to describe the one that Ino THINKS is the real one. The longer name, Shikamaru, tends to refer to the one that Ino feels is the imposter. I would also like to add that in case people didn't pick up on it, the real Shikamaru (regardless of what Ino thinks she knows) was never at Ino's house. The one that was injured (and presumed dead) was Naruto, who heals quickly. The one who was copying the shadow jutsus was Sasuke. I hope that helped clear some things up.  
  
Enjoy the read, and review if you like.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
...............................................................................  
  
They arrived at Shikamaru's apartment only a few minutes later, waiting in a tense knot as Lee knocked, then pounded on the door. Ino had cleaned herself as quickly and efficiently as possible, rubbing off the worst of the bloodstains with a towel before donning Sakura's clothes. As if to mock her efforts, her blonde hair retained its reddish-brown sheen and flakes of dried blood still spotted her skin. She looked terrible, felt terrible, and as they stood there, clustered around Shikamaru's door, she was all too aware of the trembles that began to once again shake her body in a strange mixture of apprehension and fear and anger. What if the other Shikamaru, the one who had attacked her, was here instead of the real Shika? Uncertainly, she edged closer to Sakura, ready to suggest that they come back in the morning when the shadows weren't as deep.  
  
The words died on her lips as Shikamaru finally opened the door and peered out at them lazily, yawning as he did so. "Ino?"  
  
Ino couldn't help herself; the night's recent horrors were all too recent. Before she knew what she was doing she leapt away from him, brandishing the kunai that Sakura had lent her in a trembling hand. "Who are you? What did you do to him?" Her voice sounded unnaturally high, even to her own ears. She could see her hand shaking terribly, could not bring the tremors under her control no matter how hard she tried.  
  
She registered their confusion, all three of them, heard Sakura ask her not- so-gently what on earth she thought she was doing, but her eyes saw only Shikamaru's face. Was it him? Could he possibly be here, alive and uninjured? She knew what she had seen though, and the thought that she was going crazy was not one she was willing to consider as long as she could still feel that gentle crackle of bloody flakes on her skin.  
  
Frowning, Lee took a step towards her, moving slowly in an effort to keep her as calm as possible. "Ino-san, what's wrong? You should be happy he's answering the door after what you told us."  
  
She could see how hard he was trying to remain gentle and as harmless as possible, and his efforts helped as he inched closer and closer to her until he was gently patting her shoulder in an awkward attempt at comfort. Had she been feeling more like herself, Ino would have giggled at Sakura's nods of approval at Lee's actions. Gradually, finding strength in the quiet and the close proximity of friends that she knew she could depend on, she forced herself to lower the kunai, to relax.  
  
"Why wouldn't I answer the door?" Shikamaru asked after a few minutes, effectively breaking the silence. With surprise, he noted the way that Ino's eyes immediately hardened and slid away from his when he spoke. No ninja in the village could possibly miss the way she immediately resumed shaking as if terrified or the rust-colored patches that painted her body and dyed her hair.  
  
"Ino claims that someone who looked like you and used your shadow jutsus attacked her tonight," Sakura explained quietly when it became obvious that Ino had no intention of answering despite Lee's continued efforts at calming her. Casting a sidelong glance at her trembling friend, Sakura sighed and continued, "She thought that you were dead. There were two people who looked like you, but one seemed to be trying to save her."  
  
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, yawning again as he tore his eyes away from inspecting Ino for serious injury to look at Sakura. "I've been relaxing here all evening. I watched the clouds until dusk and then went to sleep. Besides, there is only one of me and there were supposedly two of them."  
  
"I'm just relaying what Ino told me," Sakura said gently, glancing from Shikamaru to Ino and back. "I think that the hokage needs to know about this, regardless. If you don't know what happened then there were two people involved. And if what Ino described is accurate, one of those two people ought to be dead." The way that Sakura was looking at him, Shika didn't need to be a genius to know that he was going to be paying Tsunade a visit right now whether he wanted to or not.  
  
"How troublesome," he muttered, tacitly agreeing to the trip as he finally left his doorway.  
  
"Wait." All three of them looked at Lee in surprise. "You said that only one of them was using Shikamaru's shadow jtusus?" When Ino nodded in confirmation, Lee frowned. "There are only a few people outside of the Nara clan who could possibly use those jutsus. And there is only one person in this village who could have survived that wound that Ino described."  
  
They all knew who he was talking about immediately, knew that he was very likely correct in his assumptions, and it made the need to meet with the hokage all the more urgent. As they leapt from rooftop to rooftop in the predawn night, though, Shikamaru could not help but notice that Ino always made sure that Sakura and Lee were between himself and her.  
  
He had to wonder what exactly had happened during the night. He had a general idea, but he also knew something more: if Sasuke and Naruto were really behind this incident, then things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got better. This was exactly the kind of development that the hokage and her trusted comrades had feared for the past ten years. 


	8. Encounter

The sun had not yet brightened the sky when the four young jounin arrived at the hokage's office. As Shikamaru had predicted, Tsunade was there, sleeping uncomfortably at her desk amidst a mess of books and scrolls and papers and drool. She woke the moment they entered the room, instantly alert. Her focus almost immediately shifted to Ino, and when she spoke it was directed at the battered blonde girl.  
  
"What happened?" The question was harsh, tense, as though she already had a very good idea of the answer and the question was merely a formality.  
  
As she had done with Shikamaru, Sakura immediately answered for her friend, relating the events of the evening as concisely as possible. As Ino stood, silently letting Sakura's words wash over her, it was almost funny to watch the hokage's face as the woman took in this new turn in events. The look of horror was comical. Actually, the whole damned night seemed pretty entertaining right at that moment. Entertaining and surreal and absolutely fucking hilarious, and before she knew it Ino was having the best laugh she'd enjoyed in years.  
  
Peripherally she was aware of their reactions, felt two pairs of gentle hands on her shoulders as they carefully forced her towards a chair, but she could see Shikamaru and the way he was hanging back uncomfortably after all these years of working together and sharing their sweat and blood and hopes and dreams and tears, of worrying about each other as teammates and friends and something more than that, and to her that was the funniest thing of all.  
  
As they maneuvered the hysterical girl into a chair, Sakura and Tsunade exchanged uncomfortable glances. Ino was laughing so hard she was crying, the tears rearranging the smears of blood on her face. Shikamaru had supposedly attacked himself with his own shadow jutsus, was denying any knowledge of what had transpired during the night.  
  
The whole situation reeked of Naruto's old prankster tendencies, of his and Sasuke's particular strengths. The pair had been too quiet for too long and this situation was exactly the kind of occurrence that she had feared, that she had tried to stave off when she offered the two men their positions within the ranks of her shinobi only a bare month ago. If the past was any indication of their combined power, all hell was going to break loose if she didn't stop this now, before things got entirely out of control.  
  
As she absently patted Ino's hair in a manner that was supposed to be soothing, Tsunade sighed heavily. This was going to be messy.  
  
They left for the Uchiha manor as soon as Ino calmed herself enough to make a conscious decision to accompany them. In truth, Tsunade was grateful for the extra backup. Four competent jounin and the hokage, one of the legendary sannin, should be more than enough to handle a pair of half-crazy and half-possessed young men... Right?  
  
She couldn't quite suppress the whispers of doubt in the back of her mind. Judging by the grim expressions on the faces of her companions as they made their way towards their destination, they were experiencing similar misgivings. The sun had not yet cleared the horizon. It was too damned early to feel like they were sprinting off to their doom.  
  
Isolated as the Uchiha manner was, they reached the weathered door all too soon. In the back of her mind, Tsunade was morbidly amused at the way that all four of her jounin, her supposedly fearless ninja, shrank back, leaving her at the front of the group. Ah, the privileges of being hokage.  
  
Resolutely, she raised her hand to knock, masking her own uncertainty with the same thoughtful deliberateness that she used to mask her true age. No use in showing weakness.  
  
The door slipped open the moment she touched it, swinging inward without so much as a sound. Not only unlocked, but also cracked open. Tsunade could feel the four jounin behind her shuffling into a closer knot, keeping as far back as possible from the shadowed interior. In all honesty, she wanted to join them. There was a fine line between courage in the face of danger and complete and utter stupidity, and she knew in her hear that she was crossing that line now. Every instinct she possessed was yelling at her, screaming that she should get away NOW and come back when it was light with a whole score of ANBU reinforcements. She could almost taste the unease and their fear of those four jounin huddled behind her, and it mingled bitterly with her own.  
  
This was not starting off well at all.  
  
The sad truth was that it was far too late to turn back now. There was not a doubt in her mind that Sasuke and Naruto were well aware of her presence on their doorstep. Turning away now would be a sign of fear, of weakness. She could not afford that at such a critical time. Taking a deep breath, she did the only thing that she really could do in the situation the two had put her in: she yelled into the empty house.  
  
"Naruto? Sasuke?" To her gratification, her voice came out strong, more steady than she felt. She would not enter their home without at least announcing herself beforehand. Even two dangerous outcasts would receive that much courtesy from their hokage.  
  
A few minutes of absolute silence passed. Exuding a confidence that she did not feel, Tsunade finally made the first move, boldly striding into the shadowed hallway and effectively entering enemy territory. The four younger jounin followed her, fanning out slightly so that they did not block the meager light from the doorway as they all stopped and waited for their eyes to adjust to the gloom.  
  
The hallway was dark, much darker than the dawn-kissed sky outside. The way was narrow, extending the length of the house to end in a closed door which very likely hid a bathroom or a closet. To either side of them stood a doorway, one that was obviously a closet and the other which framed a set of stairs. The right side of the hall opened up into a larger room, one whose shaded windows faced the wrong way to catch the pre-dawn light.  
  
She knew that if she was smart she would take herself and these four jounin out of danger and leave now.  
  
Instead, she listened, her sharp ears catching the sound of muffled voices coming from above. They were unidentifiable, but there was no doubt that they belonged to Sasuke and Naruto.  
  
Again, Tsunade called out their names, half-hoping that they would hear her and finally respond. This would be so much easier if they would just show their faces. They could have their chat and work from their.  
  
The voices cut off abruptly at the sound of her voice, and for a few nerve- wracking moments there was absolute silence.  
  
Tsunade had just made up her mind to start moving towards the stairs, flanked by the four jounin, when they were greeted by a resounding crash that had Tsunade's heart trying to batter its way out of her breast and that evoked sharp gasps from the young men and women behind her. The initial crash was followed by other, smaller thumps, easily identified as the sound of feet running above their heads, and the less distinctive sound of glass shattering. There was not a single voice to be heard.  
  
A moment later, Naruto appeared before them in a blur of dirty blonde and torn orange. His eyes were their old strikingly blue color and his face was panic-stricken, and that was all Tsunade had time to take in before he opened his mouth and began babbling, tears trailing down his face even as he spoke.  
  
"The curse seal's got him and I can't make it go back. He's gone crazy!" He paused for breath then, looking around as he inhaled, and when he noticed the deliberate distance between Shikamaru and Ino his smile became feral and his eyes flashed brilliantly red and that was all the confirmation of his guilt that Tsunade needed.  
  
She was moving with more speed than any of them had ever seen her display, a kunai appearing in her had as if by magic as she calmly gathered Naruto into her arms and shoved the blade into his neck. She was gratified when her arms collapsed as his body vanished in a puff of smoke, knew that even the real Naruto would have healed almost instantly had he received the blow. One shadow clone. When there was one, there were many. How many more had that damned man produced?  
  
As the clone disappeared, she felt a presence behind her, heard the strangled shouts that ripped from the throats of four jounin in that same instant. Spinning around with that same inhuman speed, Tsunade raised her hands to perform a jutsu, then dropped them as she silently took in the situation.  
  
Naruto's shadow clones had flooded in through the open door way while she had been occupied with the one in front of her. Judging by the way their bodies were turned, all four jounin had sensed the impending attack and had responded accordingly. They had not been named to the rank of jounin for nothing. Even now, their eyes held no fear, only anger.  
  
Unfortunately for them, it seemed that the blonde's taijutsu skills had improved exponentially over the years. Even Rock Lee, the ninja who had mastered the art of taijutsu, was disabled by a pair of clones, a kunai pressed to his throat in exactly the same manner that the other three jounin were being held. The look on that thick-browed face was one of disbelief, of grudging respect for the man he had once upon a time considered a sort of friend and a sort of rival.  
  
Unhappily, she thought her options through. They had not come here to die. They had come to talk as diplomats, to understand why Ino had been attacked and to rectify the situation if at all possible. Throat dry, face locked in an impassive mask, Tsunade did the only thing she could do: she risked the lives of four jounin and opened her mouth to negotiate.  
  
"Uzumaki Naruto, release that jutsu. Now." Her voice came out strong, and she waited, not even daring to hold her breath lest such an action give away her uncertainty, to see if he would slit their throats in an act of defiance. Right now, the release of the shadow clones was not something she could compromise on, even if it cost her four lives.  
  
One of the unoccupied clones turned to her, blood red eyes disappearing behind that prankster's grin he had perfected as a child. When he spoke, the voice was deep, didn't sound like his at all. "You drew the first blood, hokage-sama. We are well within our rights." Neither the words nor the voice was Naruto's. They were those of a possessed man.  
  
She made no attempt to hide her anger, hoping against hope that the prospect of an angry hokage would be enough to intimidate Naruto into obedience. She glared at the spokes-clone with all of the outrage she could muster, somehow managing to keep the rest of her body loose and impassive, ready for anything. "We came here for words, not for blood. Release the jutsu now and we'll talk."  
  
She waited a few moments, and when he still made no move she forced herself to meet that clone's eyes, staring him down detachedly as she fought to keep her inner turmoil under control. "Do not disobey a direct order from your hokage, Naruto."  
  
The defiance in his eyes was obvious, and Tsunade had a long moment to wonder whether he would obey her or if it was going to come to violence. She knew that if it came down to a battle of physical strength, she would lose. Worse, throughout this whole mess there had been no sign of Sasuke, an oddity in and of itself. The two were never far from one another. What worried her was that even if she and her comrades could deal with the blonde menace, they would still have the Uchiha heir to deal with. To Tsunade, he was the more dangerous of the pair.  
  
The moment passed then, and with a resounding puff he released the jutsu, leaving only two Narutos standing a few feet away from Ino. The pair were standing side by side, hand in hand, and another puff revealed Sasuke standing on the real Naruto's left in place of what she had thought to be the final clone. That son-of-a-bitch had been using genjutsu and parading around as a clone and she hadn't detected it? She was going soft in her old age, she thought ruefully, and it was hard to suppress a shudder, to maintain that calm and collected exterior.  
  
The four jounin were taking the situation rather well, considering. Lee was staring at Naruto, while Sakura and Ino were both glaring daggers at their former comrades in arms. For his part, Shikamaru looked thoughtful. Characteristically tired and irritated at the continued disruption from his sleep, but thoughtful nonetheless. Their reactions, at least, indicated that all were still ready, willing and able to fight if it came down to it. A small relief to stress-frayed nerves.  
  
Without a word of protest, Sasuke and Naruto allowed themselves to be surrounded by their five visitors and escorted into what Tsunade could only assume passed as their living room. To Tsunade, this show of meek obedience meant very little. Their display in the foyer had said more than words ever could. Without breaking a sweat, without an ounce of that deadly serious energy that she KNEW they could both muster, they had easily overpowered four alert and fully capable jounin in a matter of seconds.  
  
They had come here to investigate, to find a solution to a budding problem. Now, though, their objective had changed. They were no longer here for information; no, now they were here to negotiate not only their own safety, but also the safety of the rest of Konoha. 


	9. Return to the Dark

A/N: I am very sorry that this chapter took so long. I have been going through exam hell and finishing up my semester at school, then moving home. I should have a touch more time to write now that I am out of school, though.  
  
I've been halfway considering discontinuing this story since it seems as though no one is reading it. I've gotten very few reviews on this piece, which is frustrating to say the least (and no, that is not a cry for more reviews, it's just the honest truth). If I did stop, this would be the last chapter. For those who enjoy reading, though, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure I will finish eventually. This story is, after all, my baby.  
  
Anyway, please read and enjoy. And again, reviews are loved, hoped for and welcomed.  
  
Disclaimer: As I'm sure you could have all guessed, Naruto's not mine, nor are any of the characters found therein.  
  
....................................  
  
Unsurprisingly, the room that must have once been the living room was a mess. The floor and was littered with unsheathed and rusting weapons, empty cups of ramen, tattered pieces of fabric and a healthy scattering of other unidentifiable debris. Tsunade noted several places where large shards of glass were sprinkled amidst the rest of the chaos. The place was like a war- zone, reeking of blood and old ramen and stale sex. The stench was almost overpowering. There was nowhere to sit, and to stand during the conversation that they were about to have would be awkward at best.  
  
To her chagrin, Tsunade was going to have to ask Sasuke and Naruto for a more appropriate place to have this conversation. She didn't want to ask them for anything.  
  
Ino in particular was showing signs of distress, darting nervous glances around the room and alternately edging towards Shikamaru and Sakura, as if she could not quite figure out which one of them was safer. Perhaps the girl did not bear physical scars from the events of the prior night, but the emotional wounds were obviously fresh and raw. That much was obvious with the way she kept quivering every time she realized that she was inching closer to Shikamaru.  
  
Tsunade's boys, at least, were calm on the outside. Rock Lee was hovering just behind Naruto, body loose and ready for anything. He was determined not to be caught again.  
  
As for Shikamaru... Tsunade could not help but raise an eyebrow. Shikamaru had his hands together in that "thinking" pose that she had come to know so well. He was unaware of Ino's odd behavior towards him. He was oblivious to the world.  
  
Sasuke was watching Shikamaru carefully, nonchalantly standing beside his mate. Beneath that calm exterior she could see how tense he was, how ready and willing he was to commit to battle at a heartbeat's notice.  
  
For his part, Naruto was looking around almost as wildly as Ino, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. His eyes were red, wild, as they flickered from one point to another, never resting for more than a heartbeat on anything. They were the eyes of a caged animal. He did not like being surrounded like this.  
  
Sakura, anticipating her hokage's need, came to the rescue, asking the question before Tsunade could bring herself to open her mouth. "Is there anywhere we could... Sit down to talk?" She asked, eyeing the contents of the room with obvious distaste.  
  
The hokage refrained from shooting her subordinate a grateful look. She would have to remember to thank the pink-haired girl profusely later, at a more suitable time. Anything to get herself and her charges out of this room as soon as possible.  
  
For the first time since they had entered the Uchiha manor, Tsunade felt that she might just have the upper hand. When Shikamaru rejoined them mentally, it would likely be checkmate for Sasuke and Naruto. The two young men were outnumbered, and although they could more than hold their own in power, Shikamaru's brain might just make the difference.  
  
Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one who volunteered the information that Sakura requested. As it turned out, the boys did have a place that was more conducive to conversation. The dining room had remained relatively untouched during their descent into madness. There were even enough chairs for all seven of them to sit comfortably around the ridiculously long table. In an unspoken agreement, they all studiously ignored the molding remains of dinners long forgotten that cluttered the scratched wooden surface.  
  
For a few moments, they simply sat around the table watching one another, each collecting his or her thoughts. Tsunade sat directly across from Sasuke and Naruto, flanked by Sakura and Ino. Shikamaru, hands still locked in his "thinking" pose, sat across from Ino, next to Naruto. Lee sat next to Sasuke, staring raptly at the two almost-prisoners.  
  
It still wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it was better than the living room. Wistfully, Tsunade shot Shikamaru one last glance, hoping against hope that he would look back, acknowledge that he was done thinking things through and that he had developed an intricate method of escape. He was still thinking. She started talking.  
  
"We have reason to believe that you two paid Ino an uninvited visit last night," she began noncommittally. No anger, no fear, no real accusation. Voice bland. A conversation topic and nothing more. Nothing they could use against her. Good.  
  
The two of them sat there, hands clasped under the table, Naruto staring at her with those red, red eyes while Sasuke's glare managed to encompass all three of the women facing him. There was a shocking amount of consciousness, of awareness in those eyes. The last time she had seen him, his eyes had been bland, vacant. Oh, shit.  
  
She had thought, naturally, that most of this little escapade was Naruto's doing. That he, no, the demon fox was the mastermind and that Sasuke was simply muscle to make the plan work. Sasuke was the better, more dangerous fighter by far, but that threat was multiplied exponentially if he had not yet slipped over the edge of true insanity as she had so blithely assumed. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit! She should know better than to underestimate the enemy, especially when the enemy had been born and raised within her own damn village. Especially when the enemy was the prodigy of the Uchiha clan.  
  
There was a stretch of silence while she waited on their answer. They weren't going to cooperate, that much was obvious. Shit! When the quiet became unbearable, when it had stretched beyond the point of comfort, she volunteered a bit more information. Maybe something a bit more damning would get them talking.  
  
"She claims that you two attacked her. That you were both transformed as Shikamaru." Another pause. More silence. She kept talking. "We're here to find out what really happened. To get your side of the story and, if necessary, to remedy the situation if at all possible."  
  
That final statement got a reaction, although it was not quite the one that she had been looking for. Ideally, she had hoped that one or the other of them would implicate them both, would give her a more solid reason than a shift of the eyes or a feral grin to come back here with an entire fucking ANBU squad of reinforcements and take them into custody so that they couldn't hurt anyone else. Including themselves.  
  
No, she didn't get the reaction she had half-hoped for. Instead, Naruto burst out laughing, laughing even harder when Sasuke's lips turned up in the heartbreakingly familiar smirk that served as his chuckle. There would be no easy confession from these two. Nothing was ever that easy.  
  
When the blonde finally calmed himself and resumed his unsettling red stare, made no less unsettling by the tears that laughter had left in his eyes, Tsunade was at a small loss. What else could she say? They had effectively negated her entire damned reason for being there by not being affected by any of her accusations. For all of the times that she had been in the center of tense negotiations and political situations, the unpredictable behavior of these two young men left her completely bewildered. It was therefore a decidedly happy surprise when Shikamaru's eyes abruptly focused on her, giving her a moment's notice before he began speaking in his hokage's place.  
  
"What do you two do during the day?" The question caught all of them by surprise. Characteristically, Shikamaru yawned under the weight of six confused stares, hmpfing softly. "Explaining this is so troublesome... You two aren't shinobi any longer. You have no trade, no commitments on your time. You are living off of the inheritance from Sasuke's family which should be more than enough to keep you alive for the rest of your lives. What do you do with all of that free time?"  
  
To their credit, they did not look at one another although Tsunade was aware of their mutual tension. Unexpectedly, it was Sasuke who answered the question. It still caught her off-guard every time the supposedly crazy man opened his mouth and volunteered perfectly sane answers.  
  
"We don't do anything of interest. We spend much of our time... Training." The hesitation had been minute, but noticeable. So many other words could have been substituted. Training, fighting, fucking, to them it was all the same: violent, messy, necessary. Tsunade was, however, curious to see where Shikamaru was going with this line of questioning. She let him continue.  
  
"What do you do when you train?"  
  
Sasuke shrugged. "The normal. We train, just as you do."  
  
"Train how?" Shikamaru was rarely this direct, nor was he normally this persistent.  
  
"Sparring, mostly," Naruto cut in, eyes literally glowing red. He was obviously NOT pleased with this intrusion, with these questions, with this conversation.  
  
"Our daily activities are of no concern to anyone besides ourselves and perhaps our hokage," Sasuke added quietly. Calm, cool and collected, he could almost have been the boy from ten years ago. From the corner of her eye, Tsunade could see the way that Sakura was staring, mouth slightly open. Old feelings die hard indeed. If they ever die at all.  
  
Shikamaru yawned again, glancing at Tsunade before posing his next question. "Do you two ever draw blood when you train?"  
  
"Of course. It's training," Naruto growled in that low voice that colud not possibly be his. "Do you have a point to any of this? Because if you don't, get out." He was getting upset, agitated. His arm was trembling from the sheer force of his grip on Sasuke's hand. If nothing else, he was getting worked up to the point where he might just make a mistake.  
  
"Every day?"  
  
That gave the angry blonde pause, finally prompted the pair to exchange uneasy glances.  
  
Finally, Sasuke answered. "Pretty much."  
  
The gleam in Shikamaru's eyes was triumphant. "Naruto heals right away, right?"  
  
Naruto nodded curtly, his red-eyed glare fixed on Shika.  
  
"Does he scar easily?" Shikamaru's eyes were watching Naruto very carefully as he spoke.  
  
The dark-haired young man glanced at his partner again. "Never," he replied softly. "He's perfect after a good sleep." His eyes were shining, proud, as they flickered from Naruto to Shikamaru and back. No, it was something less noble than pride. Noting the way that Sasuke's entire face was rapidly glazing over, Tsunade realized that the young man was beginning to sink into himself again. In the span of a few seconds he had slipped from alert and perceptive to lost and dull. He really WAS crazy. That was obvious if he was able to slide in and out of reality so fluidly.  
  
One hard squeeze of his hand courtesy of Naruto brought him back, kind of. His eyes were aware, but his face was still slack. Tsunade suppressed a shudder. To live such a life must be horrible.  
  
"Naruto doesn't scar, but Sasuke does." Shikamaru pushed on ruthlessly, phrasing his question as a statement.  
  
"That's true," Naruto grated out softly, but Shikamaru and the rest of them might as well have not existed for all the attention he was really giving them. He released his grip on Sasuke's hand to snake his arm around the young man's too-thin shoulders, hugging him awkwardly. He had eyes only for the man huddled at his side, his gaze flickering blue as his eyes devoured his partner.  
  
The whole group fell silent again, stunned into speechlessness at the display. The two of them really did care for one another, even in their insanity. That moment of pure tenderness startled them all, and when Sasuke craned his neck to look up at Naruto with pure adoration etched in his otherwise blank face, Tsunade could not help but swallow against the sudden small lump in her throat.  
  
They were human, too, in their own way. Members of her village. Or, they had been. Naruto was an unsung hero in his own right, and this was what he had become. What they both had become. Crazy or not, they had both been horribly mistreated. Yes, their isolation had been largely self-imposed, but until now they had done nothing to deserve the treatment they had received. Not really.  
  
Tsunade didn't want to pity them. She couldn't afford to compromise the interests of her village, her fear of them through pity. They would sense her weakness. They would eat her alive as they had been TRAINED to do. Why, then, did she feel her stomach twisting in sympathy?  
  
Again, it was Shikamaru who broke the silence. "Why are all of Sasuke's injuries more than a day old, Naruto?" he asked softly. It wasn't much, but it was damning evidence that could be used against them later. The lazy genius was right: the two of them hadn't trained in the last day. They had been terrorizing Ino instead. Shika had done his job. Checkmate.  
  
Ino had acknowledged that she had never injured her attacker. She had seen red in his eyes. Sharingan eyes. He had copied carefully guarded shadow techniques. They were well and truly caught in their lie, but damnitalltohell, she still felt SORRY for them!  
  
Naruto's eyes, red once more, flickered to hers, and in that moment she knew beyond a doubt that not even Shikamaru could outsmart the timeless cunning that the demon fox possessed. They were outclassed in the worst possible way right now. No matter whose fault it had been, no matter what chain of events had led up to this present, she COULD NOT feel compassion, pity. She could not be soft. Not when Naruto looked at her with that look that said he could kill her if he wished and feel no remorse.  
  
"We did not train yesterday," Sasuke mumbled, his face pressed into Naruto's shoulder. Just like a child seeking protection. He turned his head and his eyes, still glazed, were practically glowing Sharingan red and the curse seal was enveloping his body, caressing untouched skin even as they watched. The fiery and midnight flickers were a startling contrast to his pale, pale skin. How anyone could function like that was beyond anything Tsunade could understand. "Get out of our house. We've had enough." His voice was rough, angry, caressed them all with a thinly veiled promise of violence. He wanted that violence.  
  
They had what they had come here for, and Tsunade needed no second invitation. She stood immediately, the four jounin following her example. They could come back when they knew what the hell they were going to do with this information. As she turned to go, she had once last glimpse of the curse seal as it inched forward to encircle Sasuke's left eye. She had seen countless heartbreaking, disgusting, revolting and terrifying sights during her career as a ninja, but none of them seemed quite as poignant as that horrifically beautiful image.  
  
It was going to come to blows. The two of them had made that painfully obvious with their repeated displays of strength. Her village could match that. Beat it. Destroy it if need be. They were setting themselves apart from Konoha. Apart from her protection. She would shed no tears at the loss.  
  
They reached the foyer undisturbed, moving at a stately pace even though Tsunade itched with the urge to walk faster, to run. A clone met them just outside the door, innocent and blue-eyed and smiling in the morning light. A blast from the past if one ever existed. "When you come back, make sure you bring the other three with you," it said, grinning ferally the whole time. "If you forget, we will retrieve them at the appropriate time."  
  
Tsunade drove a kunai through the clone's heart then, and it disappeared in a satisfying puff of smoke. No more games. Not now. She was livid. She knew who the other three were. The last of the rookie nine. Hinata, Kiba and Shino.  
  
As they turned to walk away, no one spoke. No one would meet her eyes. She wondered if they were afraid. She knew that she was, and rightfully so.  
  
She could hear strangled shouts coming from the house behind her as they strode away, gaining speed with every step. She preferred to assume that they were fighting. The words were lost, although the tone of their voices gave them away. Despite the constant increase in speed and distance, the sounds of their arguing behind them faded away much too slowly for comfort. 


End file.
