Disclaimer: This disclaimer will cover my entire story. From this point until the end. I do not own Naruto or any of the other characters.

Breaking the Limit

Chapter 1

Declined

"No thanks."

Sasuke was staring down the four sound ninja intently. He had just used a lot of his chakra fighting Naruto, but he was sure he could take these four on pretty easily.

"Are you sure, Sasuke?" the tall, grey haired, sound ninja asked. He seemed to be the leader of the group. "Lord Orochimaru can give you power beyond your wildest dreams."

Sasuke tensed. Power? Could Orochimaru really give him more power? No, it had to be a trick. Orochimaru had given him nothing but pain. He put his hand up to his neck where the curse mark was. He closed his eyes, sighed, then opened them again.

"Can Orochimaru really give me more power?" he asked quietly.

The sound ninja smiled. It was a smile Sasuke didn't like. "Of course. He's made all of us stronger."

Sasuke closed his eyes again, thinking about how to proceed. It could be a trick…But why would they lie about something like that? They could be trying to help me…Or they could be trying to kill me…But….What about…

Images flashed in his mind. Images of Itachi, Orochimaru, Sakura, Kakashi, Gaara's true form, and Naruto. Sasuke smiled. He knew what to do.

When Sasuke opened his eyes again, the sound ninja found they were not black, as they had expected, but a crimson red. Sasuke rushed forward with incredible speed, and kneed the grey haired sound nin in the stomach. After the he was caught off balance, Sasuke followed suit with a series of punches that sent the ninja flying backward.

"What the hell!" the only girl of the group yelled at him. "You've got a lot of guts, kid!" She rushed at him, throwing a punch, but because of Sasuke's Sharingan, he was able to block it easily. He tried to counter with a side kick aimed at her head, but she ducked at the last second, and aimed another punch at his stomach. Sasuke was unable to dodge or block it this time, and she connected.

Sasuke was sent back a couple of feet, but was able to recover by doing a back flip, and landing on another tree branch. He rubbed his stomach where she had hit him, smirked, and did some hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" He took a deep breath and blew out a huge flame from his mouth. When he ran out of breath, the jutsu stopped, and he couldn't see the three remaining sound ninja. Did I get them…or? His eyes scanned the surrounding, trying to find them, but with no luck. Maybe I did get them. He smirked proudly, but it soon faded when he felt the cold metal of a kunai touch his neck. Someone had snuck up behind him.

"You think you can get rid of me that easily?" Sasuke recognized the voice. It was the grey haired ninja he had sent flying a little bit ago.

But how? I didn't even sense him come up behind me!

"Lord Orochimaru clearly stated he wanted you to come back with us," the sound ninja continued. "Even if we had to use force."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Really?" he said calmly. "Well if he wants me there so badly, why didn't he come himself?" Sasuke elbowed the nin in his stomach, and grabbed the kunai out of the startled nin's hand. The side kick that followed this hit the sound ninja in the face sending him falling towards the ground. Sasuke took a deep breath, and readied himself for another attack, kunai held out in front of him.

Three kunai came soaring at him. He ducked, and threw his own kunai in the direction those had come from. To avoid further level combat, he jumped up to a higher tree branch, and concealed himself within the leaves. Was I seen? No I don't think so…

Suddenly, a fist connected with his head, making him fall from his hiding place. As he was falling, Sasuke saw it was the sound ninja with four arms who had hit him. Amazing, he was on a higher branch then I was! He was waiting for me to get in range! Sasuke landed on another branch and barely had time to regain his composer before he was hit again, this time by the largest member of the group. He was sent backward hitting the trunk of the tree with full force.

The large ninja chuckled. "This is the kid Lord Orochimaru was talkin' about? He's nothin' but a joke! He's so weak!"

Sasuke tensed. A joke? He was angry now. He made the apropiet hand signs as quickly as possible. He took another deep breath. How dare he call him weak. I'll show you weak!

"Fire Style: Pheonix Flower Jutsu!" He blew out multiple breaths of air, creating multiple fire balls, all aimed at the ninja. He dodged everyone.

Sasuke's eyes widened. But how? He slowly rose to his feet, panting. Damn…I've used a lot of chakra. The sound ninja chuckled again.

"Is that the extent of your power?" Another chuckle. "What is Lord Orochimaru thinkin'."

Now Sasuke was pissed. How dare this fat ass question his power. "You want to see power?" Sasuke said coldly, doing four hand signs. "Then I'll show you power!" He grabbed his left shoulder with his right hand, and straightened out his left arm, widening his palm. Slowly, a blue ball of electricity formed in his palm, giving off the distinct sound of a thousand birds chirping at the same time. He rushed forward. The sound ninja had barely any time to react at all.

"What the-!" Those were the last words the sound ninja uttered before Sasuke thrust his arm through his chest. Sasuke pulled his blood covered arm out of the sound ninja's chest, and collapsed to his knees. He had used almost all of his chakra with that Chidori. The grey haired ninja was looming over him now.

"You done? You all out of strength? Good, now if you don't mind, we'd like to go to Lord Orochimaru's now."

Sasuke looked up at the other ninja. "But what about him?" He gestured to the fallen ninja.

The grey haired ninja shrugged and laughed. "Lord Orochimaru was expecting one of us to die…I guess it's him." He laughed again.

Sasuke seethed. "How can you just laugh at a comrade's death like that? With no emotion of sadness at all!"

The ninja smirked. "Sacrifices have to be made," he said simply.

That sent Sasuke over the edge. He slowly stood up, black markings crawling all over his body. "How can you say that?" he said coldly. "How can you have no care for a friend?" He began to form another Chidori, staring intently at his opponent. "Now you die!"

Suddenly, a grey blur appeared in front of Sasuke, who stepped back in surprise.

It was Kakashi.

Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Calm down." Kakashi's good eye was starring down Sasuke. "Calm down, Sasuke."

Sasuke eyes narrowed, and he bit his lip in an effort to stay under control. The Chidori faded away, and the markings receded back into The Curse Mark. He collapsed onto the branch. He was out cold.

Kakashi looked at the three remaining sound ninja. He pulled up his headband, revealing his Sharingan eye. "Leave…Now!" The ninja looked at each other with angry faces before fleeing the scene. Kakashi pulled his headband over his eye, then looked down at Sasuke. Sasuke…What did they say to you? He picked Sasuke up, and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading towards Konaha Hospital.

-

As soon as Sakura had heard that Sasuke was in the hospital, she rushed there, eager to be by his side. As she ran through the streets, she saw Naruto eating at his favorite ramen stand. Should she tell him? Maybe he would want to know…After all, Sasuke is his best friend, no matter how much either of them denied it, the fact would still remain. Anyone with eyes could see it.

She ran over to the stand, and stepped inside, where she found Naruto slurping down the last bit of ramen he had.

"Ah!" he said with relief. "Nothin' helps you regain strength after a battle like a couple bowls of ramen!" he sat aside the empty bowl with two others. "Hey, old man, another please!"

Sakura lowered her head and sighed. Three bowls already? She thought annoyingly. Then she brought herself back to the matter at hand. "There's no time for that, Naruto!" she yelled at him.

He turned around in his seat to face her, and then smiled. "Sakura!" he half shouted, trying to make her smile, but when nothing happened, not even her coming over to him and hitting him, he sensed something was wrong. He turned serious. "What's wrong, Sakura?

She let out another sigh. "Sasuke's in the hospital. Kakashi-sensei stopped by my house and just told me." She turned to leave. "I just thought you'd like to know."

Naruto extended his arm to her. "Wait Sakura! What the hell happened? I mean, we just got back from the Tea Country!"

Sakura still wasn't facing him. "I don't know the details; I was just going to see him."

"Wait!" Naruto yelled, throwing money on the counter. "Thanks, old man." He said to the owner, then ran by Sakura's side. "I'll go with you, there's no sense for you to have to go alone." He smiled. "Besides, I wanna see what happened to Mr. Emotionless."

Sakura looked at Naruto. Maybe she had misjudged him. She knew going to see Sasuke was only half of why he was going with her. The other half was to make sure she, herself, would be okay, especially when they didn't even know what happened. She smiled at him.

"Thank you, Naruto."

His grin widened and soon, they both were jumping across rooftops.

-

Sasuke's room number was 210. Neither Naruto nor Sakura knew their way around the hospital that well, but they soon found the room. Naruto opened the door, and inside they found Sasuke fast asleep on the bed, a nurse standing over him, writing something on a clipboard. When she finally noticed Naruto and Sakura had entered the room, she jumped, startled.

"Oh," she said, breathlessly. "I wasn't expecting anyone to come and visit him this soon."

Sakura blushed. "Well we're really good friends with Sasuke."

The nurse nodded, wrote a couple more lines on the clipboard, and headed for the door. Sakura looked down at Sasuke for a second, before calling out to her. "Wait!"

The nurse had just opened the door and was standing out in the hall. She turned to face Sakura. "Yes?" she asked sweetly.

Sakura stared at her intently. "Do you…know what happened…to Sasuke?" she asked, stealing glances at Sasuke.

The nurse frowned. "I'm afraid I don't. The only person Kakashi gave information to was Lord Hokage."

Sakura lowered her head and sighed. "I see…" she said quietly.

Naruto frowned at the sight of Sakura. This was exactly why he had come. He looked down at Sasuke's sleeping form. See what you're doin'? He thought bitterly. See what you're doin' to her well being? Of course not, you probably don't even care…God you're so SELFISH! Naruto ended his inward rant by punching the wall to his right.

Sakura looked up when she heard the loud smash to find Naruto's hand in a wall. "Naruto!" she said in surprise, stepping over to him. "Are you okay?" she continued worriedly.

Naruto looked at Sakura, then smiled. "Of course, Sakura." He said, taking his bloody hand out of the wall, and wiping it on his orange jacket.

It looked like Sakura was about to say something, but Sasuke stirred on the bed, and Sakura, forgetting all about Naruto, ran and kneeled by his bed. "Sasuke?" she whispered quietly. No response. Sakura sighed, and ran her hand through Sasuke's raven colored hair.

Naruto frowned again, looking at Sasuke. Who did this to you Sasuke? Who could do this to you? Naruto sighed and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked, noticing his action.

Naruto clenched his fists. "To the Hokage Tower."

-

Kakashi was nervous.

And it appeared Tsunade was too.

"Looks like Orochimaru wants Sasuke's body…" she said slowly, closing her eyes.

Kakashi nodded. "What are we gonna do?" he asked.

Tsunade looked at him for a second or two then turned around in her chair, facing the window that overlooked the village. "Well," she said softly. "We can't panic. At least Sasuke had enough sense not to go with those sound ninja." She turned to face Kakashi again. "I can't imagine what would happen if he had." She thought about what to do. All the options looked pitiful, and would never work, so she decided to take the easy way out. "I will continue to assign Team 7 missions."

Kakashi was surprised, and was about to say so, but Tsunade wasn't finished. "But only because you will be there, Kakashi. You are to never let down your guard down, even on D-Rank mission!" Kakashi nodded. "Do not let Sasuke out of your sight." Kakashi nodded again, and yawned under his mask. Unfortunately, it appeared Tsunade noticed.

"And since you're the lazy ninja that you are, and are sure to slack off, I'm making this assignment an A-Rank mission!" Kakashi's eye widened.

"Are you serious, Lord Hokage? An A-Rank?"

Tsunade smiled. "You dare question the Hokage?" she asked mockingly.

Kakashi sighed. "Of course not, Lord Hokage," he said lazily. He turned to leave, but was surprised to find the door opened before he could reach it. In the room, came Naruto.

As soon as he entered, he pointed at Tsunade. "Hey, Grandma!" he shouted at her. "I demand to know what happened to Sasuke right now!"

Kakashi sighed. Naruto knows about it already? Jeez, I only told Sakura…

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "I'm afraid that's top secret, squirt." She told him sternly, but Naruto wasn't buying it.

"I don't care how top secret it is! I want to know, now!"

Kakashi thought it was time to interfere. "Hey, Naruto…"

Naruto turned to Kakashi, and smiled. "Oh, you'll tell me, right sensei?" he asked almost hungrily. Kakashi sighed.

"I'm afraid not, Naruto," he said in a laid back tone. "As the Lord Hokage said, it's top secret."

Naruto frowned, and was about to yell out in protest, but was silenced by Kakashi. "How about this," Kakashi suggested, putting his hand over Naruto's mouth. "After Sasuke regains his strength, Team 7 will go on a new mission?" He finished, glancing at the Hokage for support.

Tsunade smiled. "Of course."

Kakashi took his hand away and Naruto spoke. "At least a B-Rank!" He demanded, crossing his arms and turning away. Kakashi sighed, and Tsunade's smile grew larger.

"Whatever you say, Naruto." Naruto, obviously didn't catch the sarcasm in her voice, because he grinned, and jumped in the air.

"Alright! A new mission!"

Tsunade suddenly turned serious. "Now, you two leave me. I have much to do!" She waved her hand away, signaling them to leave.

Kakashi, left the room, walked down the hallway, down the stairs, and, soon, out of the Hokage Tower, Naruto right at his heels.

"Can you believe it, sensei," Naruto said happily. "A new mission!" Naruto thrust his fist into the air with triumph.

"Yes, yes, I know, Naruto, "Kakashi said, as they continued walking down the busy street. "I was the one who suggested it, remember?"

Naruto didn't hear, he was too lost in his own thoughts. A new mission! I can hardly wait! The last one was so boring…Wait till I tell Sakura, and Sasuke…A sudden realization hit Naruto. Wait a minute…Sasuke! He turned to Kakashi, about to ask about Sasuke again, only to find Kakashi was not there.

……..

I don't believe it! Naruto thought, turning every which way, trying to find Kakashi. Kakashi-sensei and Grandma Tsunade tricked me! Ohhhhhh! When I find you Kakashi-sensei…

-

Kakashi was jumping rooftops heading for the hospital to check up on Sasuke and, must likely, Sakura as well. He smiled behind his mask. Naruto, you are so easy to fool…

End of Chapter.

A/N: Edited: Fixed the bold and most if not all of the Kakashi's. Sorry it took so long, actually…