(*NOTE: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER IS NOT CURRENTLY EDITED*)

You wouldn't know it, but I really, REALLY wasn't happy with the original version of this chapter, so I went and completely redid it, just for that sake.

I'm sorry for the wait, it's just getting harder and harder for me to meet everything and still update at a reasonable pace. I know, excuses, but there no less valid!

But enough stalling! READ!

The adrenaline pumping through his veins made each second pass like an eternity. The scrape of her shoulder as it hit the ground thudded in the air with a hollow concussion; leaving him empty. All he could do was stare, stare at her as the life faded from her eyes even as he watched.

The needles, sharp, razor thin and hurled expertly, darted out from her neckline, there small edges wreaking havoc on her organs. There hadn't been enough time to gasp for breath, a small part of him wondering, why, why she'd wasted her last moment chiding him, reminding him that it was his failure, his weakness that now physicly weighted itself infront of him.

Her back laid to rest on the ground, her glazed eyes half lidded, no breath coming from her once moving form.

"My body moved on its own; fraidy-cat."

The world was red.

The heavy scraping of rubber heals against bark was starting to grate on Sasuke's nerves. The last two hours had been nothing but that, scramble up the tree, hold for three seconds, backflip and try not to break an ankle. Repeat.

"Graaaaugh." Nursing her bruised ego was really distracting her progress she noted, the obvious frequency of new scratches at a specific spot on the three something that burned her. A lack of progress, to her, simply meant more weakness.

Which put her behind her comrade in arms, one Uzumaki Naruto, who despite being the proclaimed weakest member of his team, was technically surpassing her. Although not in the conventional sense, watching him scramble up the tree-trunk; practically on all fours, to scratch a gash accross the bark was infuriating to her, not because he was farther along, but because he was moving steadily.

Landing, in a crouch, Naruto proceeded to wipe the sweat that had begun to cloud his eyes, but the soft smile on his face told that he wasn't going to quit anytime soon. Just her luck, stuck in a forest with an idiotic coward that was slowly but surely catching up to her.

"Tch." She needed to steel herself. She wasn't going to let Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto, a boy, get under her skin. She was bigger then such petty things afterall. Taking a long, deep breath, Sasuke centred her chakra.

"Are you alright Sasuke-san?" The question piercing her mind like a ray of sunlight, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and she whirled on Naruto with a tad too much ferocity. "YES! Fine!" The way her eyes had bugged out and her pupils shrank caused Naruto to seemingly shrink into himself, taking several steps back. "A-ah, I see. Sorry to bother you."

"Yes, well, you should be." A small part of her could attest it was the chakra exhaustion setting in, but for the most part, ice-queen Uchiha Sasuke wasn't going to give such notions when someone like Naruto was concerned.

The silence that followed was an extremely uncomfortable one, Sasuke landing in yet another crouch to look at her handiwork, only to growl at the puny amount of ground she'd gained. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the deadlast scratch another margin, almost twice as big as hers from the last point he'd reached.

In a surprising flash of reason, Sasuke felt oddly compelled to ask for some advice. But she squashed that a moment later. That was admitting defeat in her mind, and she would not admit defeat.

Flooding her soles with as much chakra as she could muster, the girls feat clammered up the length of the tree until she felt her legs begin to burn and beyond. Her breathing became laboured enough that it seemed panicked, but her mind was working at a rate that made said breathing seem relatively normal. She could feel it, just a little further, just a little more and she'd be there and she'd be the strongest and then she'd be one step closer to killing-

The thought broke through her mind like a thunderbolt, sending her feat skidding out from underneath her. At the angle and height she was presently at, this proved deadly, as Sasuke vainly tried to cartwheel her frazzled and oxygen deprived body into a proper somersault.

Watching the earth come careening towards her, Sasuke could only wince as she prepared to catch the brunt of the fall with her side-

Only to land on something much softer then dirt and pebbles. Said something yelped in surprise and pain as her full weight pressed down on him, knocking him to the ground.

Blinking her eyes open, Sasuke pushed herself up, checking to see if anything was broken. Finding nothing particularily sprained or snapped, she turned towards her living cushion, knowing full well who she'd landed on, but still not really ready to accept she'd been saved by-

One Uzumaki Naruto, whose face was scrunched up tightly, cradling his nose. 'Oh what now?' Not even bothering to hide the exasperated look on her face, Sasuke instead pulled herself off the boy; who, now able to breath, immediately complained about his nose hurting a lot.

"Well, yeah, I fell out of a tree. A person gains a lot of inertia when they fall from even that height." Deadpanning, she held out her hand to pick him up, Naruto's lupine eye squinting at her for a moment before taking his right hand away from his face to grasp hers. To his surprise however, Sasuke had frozen in place at the sight of his nose, which was currently bleeding profusely.

"W-whut?" Asking through a blood clogged nose, he looked at his hand as though it had transformed into spider before cupping it at his nose and clutching tightly. "Oh gawd, ohb gawd, not bloud! Gaugh! Bis dai sucqes!" Wiping his hand on the grass, he didn't notice the way Sasuke had suddenly frozen up slightly, very distracted by the small amount of blood Naruto had accidently left on her palm.

Wiping the blood away with a rag and stuffing a tissue up his nose, Naruto turned back to Sasuke looking apologetic. "S-sorby about dat. I bidn't tink it was dat bab." Although he attempted a smile, his ears gave his emotions away as deeply upset. Sasuke didn't immediately answer, instead turning back to her bag by the tree and taking a water bottle, before lightly running it along her hand and scrubbing almost furiously.

When she'd finished, she tucked the bottle away and turned towards Naruto, her face determined, yet unreadable. "Uh...joo okai?" Standing up, Naruto eyed his teammate a little warily, not sure what the face meant. The seconds ticked by.

"I...thank you...for catching me. It would've hurt. I might have been a little harsh when I said that you were useless." That said, she turned back towards her tree, before stopping. "But if you get ANY ideas that I've forgiven you for being such a wuss, or that I want your help, then I'll blow you out of your tree the next time you run up it." Letting her threat hang there, Sasuke trudged off towards her tree.

"O...kay..." Scuttling away, Naruto continued to fret over his precious person, while evaluating why they were so precious to him.

Some hours later, a sweaty Naruto and Sasuke walked into Inari and Tsunami's home, looking a little worse for wear. This didn't stop Kakashi from smiling as widely as someone with a mask could, eliciting a deathglare from Sasuke and the closest exasperated look one could get from Naruto.

"Well hey there you two! How'd training go?" Ignoring the way Sasuke twitched and walked off, her attention turned to Naruto, who rubbed the back of his head trying to pass the question onto someone else. Since there was no one else, he tried to find the best possible answer.

"Uh, well, it went okay. I got up almost the whole tree before the sun set, so did Sasuke, and also I met this mysterious woman in the forest after sustaining a concussion."

Long. Pause.

"What." Although not a question, Naruto treated it as one.

"Yeah, she was like this beautiful angel, halo and everything. She was also a lesbian apparrently, but she told me that after. She's actually the one who bandaged my head."

"What."

"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not lying! She told me about precious people and how I have to get stronger to protect them and gave me some mushrooms that weren't poisonous thank fully and why are you looking at me like that? I'm not crazy!" Sitting down at the table in the middle of the traditional japanese room in a huff, Naruto ignored the skeptical looks coming from everyone there.

Save Kakashi, whose eyes had glazed over in thought.

"That's good advice." She said finally, turning back to her book, leaving everyone else silent. "O...kay then. Yeah, so I ended up wandering back once the headaches went away, found Sasuke and trained with her until she fell out of that tree-" Palms slapping against the table, Naruto jumped in surprise as Sasuke pointed at him shouting.

"I didn't fall out of the tree; and you didn't catch me so much as cushion my fall! My foot slipped while I was distracted, and then you got blood on me!" Crossing her arms and glaring, Sasuke waited for a rebuttal. "You got blood on Sasuke! You pervert!" Was not the rebuttal she was expecting, the raven haired girl blanching at Sakura.

"That's not exactly what I meant!" She said, looking at the girl incredulously as said pinket eyed Naruto with new fury. "What you meant doesn't matter! First he steals your first kiss, and now he gets his nasty nose blood on you! All that's gonna be left for me is taking your-"

"Alright, that's enough! Sheesh, the kids going to get another nose bleed if you two keep talking like that." Motioning towards said boy, whose blush was threatening to engulf his hairline in flames. "What happened was an accident, the fact that Naruto was there to cushion your fall just shows that he isn't as useless as some of you seem to think he is."

"U-uh, actually, Sasuke-san mentioned that before we continued training. That I wasn't useless...and...stuff..." Shriveling under her deathglare, Naruto hid behind the table, his ears poking just above its edge.

"Dinner's ready!" Walking in with several bowls of rice, Tsunami placed the dishes infront of everyone, blatantly ignoring the tension in the room. There was a long pause as everyone reached for there respective chopsticks, Sasuke making a point to eat her food while glaring at Naruto with enough ferocity to make him remarkable uncomfortable.

Which didn't help the next few seconds of conversation as Inari suddenly piped up "Mom, what does it mean when a boy kisses a girl and then bleeds all over her with his nose blood?" Blinking confusedly for a moment, Tsunami gave Inari a look before asking him what he meant.

"Well, that's what Naruto did to Sasuke, and I've never head anybody doing that before." If anything, she looked even more confused, before turning to Kakashi, then Sasuke and Naruto, who were both blushing furiously, though Sasuke had the decency to look completely scandalized.

"A-ah, well, I mean, the kiss and t-the nose blood was an accident, and I mean, well, I wouldn't say I'm a boy KISSING a g-girl necassarily and uh...I'm just going to be quiet now." Taking what was probably the best course of action, Naruto sunk back into his seat as Sakura's scandalized face watched him.

"Alright, there's your answer Inari."

"Mom, I'm still confused."

"Just eat your dinner." She commanded, her eyes shut but voice demanding. Everyone complied.

"Naaaaaaarutooooooooo."

"W-what?"

"NAAAAAAAAARUTOOOOOOOOOOOO."

"WHAT?"

"Guesss what?"

"What?"

"Your eyeballs are delicious."

"GAH!" Snapping up in a heap of blankets with his eyes and ears flying around the room wildly, Naruto's erratic breathing slowly stopped, before he sagged, the dream(?)'s haze leaving his mind confused but certain that he was in reality.

He was also equally confused as to why his mind had just conjured an apparation of such benign horror. Or why he knew a word like begign when 'that shit was freaky yo' seemed to fit what had just transpired the same way.

Not bothering with a shirt, only to pull on some pants, he slunk outside, his tail lazily drifting through the door as it snapped shut, his mind trying to sort through its confused mess. Looking up from his thoughts, he found he had wandered into the docks, the pale moon casting long shadows of blue and darkness on everything.

Which was surprising, because a small figure in green overalls watched the same moon, not bothering to look at him.

"We used to come out here. Me and my dad. You know, before what happened...happened." Sensing the ominous way the youth said this, Naruto's ears twitched before he obliged by sitting down next to him and waiting patiently.

"He used to tell me these stories about the land of the mist. The stories he'd tell about the huge sea turtles of the ocean, or how the moon spirit Susano and the sun spirit Amaterasu fought the demon Orochi. Goofy stuff like that. When Gatou came, he stopped telling stories." The silence hung heavy, the reeds of the water drifting lazily on the cool breeze.

"U-uh...he...sounds cool. I didn't know my father...or my mother; so I guess its nice to have those memories of them."

"How would you know what its like?" The words were pierced with an accusing tone that took Naruto by surprise, his head snapping up. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean how would you know what it means to watch someone like that DIE infront of them. To have nothing is blissful ignorance in my opinion, so don't talk to me about things you don't know anything about!" The last part grew to a low yell, though Inari didn't seem to care at all, considering waved his arms at this.

In the face of such opposition, Naruto's logic dictated that he should back down. But something about the way the once sweet boy had said this made his whiskers burn; not in embarassment; but in anger.

"I-I might not know what its like to LOSE someone important, but you at least HAD and still HAVE those people you care about! I've never had anyone! Do you-do you have any idea how lonely you get when your waiting for someone to tell you-JUST TELL YOU- that your not a coward, or a loser, or make you lunch, or kiss you wounds, or, or read you a story! Because I do know! S-so back off you...YOU BRAT!" That last part was punctuated by the smallest spike of killer-intent, that made Inari shirk back.

"You...you've never had someone read you a story?"

"W-well no...the closest thing I had was my school teacher...and lectures aren't very good stories." The silence of was thick again, almost as thick as the fog that had begun to roll in.

A beat.

"I...I'm sorry your father died. He was...killed by Gatou?"

"Yeah. I watched him die while they crucified him. Everyone did. So it's pretty important that you guys complete that bridge my grandpa's making; and kick his ass! What I'm trying to say is, please don't wuss out alright? Your in a team of girls for kami's sake!"

"Actually, Sasuke isn't that wussy, I've seen her beat grown men with there own arms."

"...and you've never done that?"

"No, no I haven't."

"...you have got to be the scaredest ninja ever." That said, the boy stood up, and turned to leave, before stopping. "Seriously though, kick his ass for me." That said, he continued for several paces, before stopping.

"Oh, and uh, by the way. Sitting on a dock with an eight year old shirtless...is pretty weird, so...yeah." His final peice said, Inari trekked off.

"W...what?"

The figure on the balcony smirked softly as Naruto scrambled off feeling naked. She flipped a page in her book.

"Sasuke-chan. Sasuke-chan! SASUKE."

"What?"

"We should totally les out right now."

"Huuuugh...no."

"I'm a lady, you're a lady, and we're alone in a room together. I'm not seeing what you seem to fall short on when making this conclusion."

"Sakura...just no."

"-and then she totally said no! Again!" Flailing her arms around to emphasize her story, Sakura waited for her captive audience to respond.

"So, wait, you're sure she's...you know..." The burly construction worker to her left said.

"She's two steps away from a mullet and a Khaki shirt, let's just put it that way."

"Wow. That's a whole lotta stereotype right there."

"Yes; yes it is. C'mon, you guys are all married, how do I...I don't know, get her attention, let her know that how I feel isn't just...hormonal!"

The circle of men at the construction site who had been listening; fascinated at Sakura's newest escapade to convince a certain teen idol to perform what is often refered to as the horizontal mamba with her, shrugged.

"...flowers work. I met my first girlfriend with flowers."

"I saved my relationship with flowers!"

"I proposed to my wife with a bouquet of flowers!"

"The same wife who took you for all your money and married a body builder from Tsuchigakure?" The man to his right spoke up, munching on a sandwich.

"Oh yeah...flowers; terrible idea."

"Horrible, simply horrible."

"Its the sign that your relationship is pretty shallow if you can express it only through a bag of flora." One man spoke up, leaning against a pile of wood.

"Well, I wouldn't say that'd be the only thing I'd use to express our love. Actually I'd like to go out dancing after the flowers, maybe some chocolates and faundoo at a fancy restauraunt, then a relaxing lay by the beach where'd I'd propose, and then she'd say yes and I'd take her right then in there in a pulse pounding display of carnal exstacy that would leave her shivering by the ocean like a vision of a mermaid, only able to gasp for more and more as I ravish her for everything her sublime body can muster, sending her over the edge of CARNAL PLEASURE!" By the end of it her face was flush, gasping for breath.

"...is it weird that that leaves me kinda...excited?" One man said to another

"A little."

"Alright you bums, listen up! Breaks over, so back to work!" Tazuna's voice suddenly caught over the rabble of conversation. "Welp, good luck with that girl. One thing though, aren't you a little YOUNG to be wanting to do all of...what was it again?"

"A carnal display of sensuality that would blind the unworthy if they should look upon it?"

"Yeah, that."

"Don't hold me to the standards your lesbian ninja's used to live by. Please, we're a modern people now, with modern and sophisticated views on things."

"Oh, look at the legs on her!" A catcall suddenly caught her attention.

"WHERE? Oh hey baby, you ever gone pink!" The man watched her seemingly teleport away, before looking off in the distance shrewdly. "I am so glad I wasn't that bad when I was there age. Seriously. YEESH." The man who was certainly not a hormone raging teenager at any point in his life walked off to his job.

He didn't make it far before a kunai lodged itself into his windpipe and a shout from his lips was the last thing he ever said. It wasn't wasted, because it was thanks to this that Sakura caught the assailant before she could murder the entire troupe of men currently watching a beautiful woman disintegrate into water.

"BACK OFF!" Prone on the ground the young Kunoichi didn't exactly have much room to bargain. Especially when the slab of heavy metal embedded itself in the ground between her legs.

"Gaugh!" Winching in surprise and fear, Sakura slowly looked up at Zabuza as she slowly rolled her neck, her eyes never leaving Sakura's face in the most unnerving way possible.

"Hey there..." Her voice hung in the air worse then any leer, and for the first time since she'd first met this woman, Sakura knew a new sense of fear.

And pain, as Zabuza violently batted her hand away and grabbed her by her bangs.

"Haugh...haugh...haugh..." Breathing in heavy, laboured gasps, he tried to regain some form of sense around himself, the last few seconds of hectic movement leaving him breathless.

Reorienting himself, he slowly cracked open his left eye, and his breath was taken from him again. Arms wrapped tightly around the top of his tree-trunk, Naruto surveyed the landscape of the forest, it's sheer breath taking him aback for a moment as the whole world seemed to just stop.

"It's nice up here." Sasuke calmly acknowledged from her own perch atop her tree, watching the sway of the leaves. "You wouldn't know one thing moment from another."

"Yeah."

"Don't ruin this for me."

"..."

"Well, that's it then. Trainings done, I'm heading back to the house, are you coming?" The fact she had asked this seemed odd to Naruto, but he didn't say anything, just nodding. Then it dawned on him.

"H-how do we...get down from here?" The question caused sasuke to raise a single, skeptical eyebrow, but seeing his serious face, sighed. "Your afraid of heights to?"

"Well after that incident a few days ago, I have been a little worried about it!"

Another overly exasperated sigh escaped her lips, the sigh following the wind. "Alright, I can see where this is going. So, rather then blow you out of the tree like I know I'd have to to get you to jump, I'll compromise. THIS TIME; and only because I don't feel like explaining later. But you have to PROMISE never to tell anyone about this, or I swear to god..." She let the threat hang there, Naruto knowing full well what she'd do.

"O-okay?" That said, Sasuke hopped from on tree to his, before grabbing his arm and pulling him up onto her shoulder. "W-what are you doing?"

"Relax, I read this in a manga once." Twisting around him, he only had a moment to yelp in surprise before she'd leapt from the tree, hauling his legs from under her like he was wounded. "A-b-b-b-b-b-a-AUGH!" His cries of terror went unheeded.

"Oh shut up, we'll be fine." Kicking off one tree, and then another, the two landed on the ground with surprising grace, Naruto holding on for dear life. "You can let go now." Sasauke's exasperated sigh escaped and slighed irritated sigh escaped her lips. "B-but I feel so safe." Despite its innocent origins, Naruto couldn't help sounding like a complete smartass.

Which earned him a one way ticket to tushy-painsville.

"Ow! Aye-aye-aye!" Gingerly rubbing the injured hindquarters, Naruto's wince turned into a confused frown as Sasuke walked off without explanation. "W-wait up!" Calling after her, the boys pain seemed to literally leave his mind, not because of a certain demonic ability though.

After walking for a short time, the silence started to be a bit to much for him, and being Naruto, he stayed quiet for as long as he could before finally braving dangerous waters. "So...what's your favourite color?"

This got a surprised expression out of Sasuke, who sent him an extremely quizzical look. "What the hell does that mean?" Seeing her suspicious look, Naruto thought about her question for a moment before shrugging. "W-well, I don't really know anything about you or Sakura...and since we're teammates and all...I thought I should try harder to get to know you...and Sakura...and maybe Kakashi-sensei...but she seems to be pretty secretive."

"That's a pretty flimsy reason to start interrogating me about my personal likes." The obvious hostility in the question didn't go unmissed by Naruto, but he he steeled himself. He would not be a coward twice in five minutes.

"I...I guess, but being a g-good team means we should know about eachother. Incase we ever...I don't know, need to use that information in a tight spot?" By the end of this, his voice was a squeek, but Sasuke actively thought about this for a moment. "I...guess that makes sense. Still, if thats true, then you have to answer a question of mine." That stopped Naruto for a moment.

"Uh...buh...I don't know."

"Hey, you're the one who wants to make us a better team. Its only fair." That made Naruto stop for a moment. "I...yeah, alright. But nothing too personnal okay?"

"Sure. To answer your question, I've actually always liked turquoise. I like blue, but turquoise especially." Naruto frowned in thought at this, stepping past a stone on the trail as they continued on. "I actually thought you'd like purple or something to be honest."

"There are a lot of things about me people don't get. But there's your answer, so here's my question."

"Why do you have fox ears and a tail?" That stopped Naruto dead in his tracks, a bead of sweat rolling down the back of his neck. "W-what do you mean?"

"Look, everyone pretends that you don't have what is the weirdest physical appearance ever, but that doesn't mean they don't notice. Its been a question that's been nagging at me for a while now, and I want to know. Why. Do you. Have a fox tail?" Emphasizing foxtail, she stopped in her tracks and watched him carefully.

"Its personnal, I asked you not to ask anything too personnal."

"My favourite color is personnal; and I still answered your question. So its only fair that you answer my question." Yet again, Naruto found himself in a lose-lose sort of situation with Sasuke, something that he was beginning to bemoan in a way.

"...o-okay. But you have to PROMISE not to tell anyone."

"Not even Sakura?"

"Nobody! I shouldn't even be telling you actually. I promised the Sarutobi-sama." That got Sasuke to raise an eyebrow. "You actually know the hokage?"

"Kinda. He's helped me out a few times when things got...bad. Are you sure you REALLY want to know?" The almost pleading way he asked this made Sasuke falter for a moment. But only just a moment. "I swear I won't tell anyone! Jeez, you act like telling someone why your fuzzy might end the world!"

"It might end my world..." He muttered, but Sasuke heard him. "C'mon, I gotta know!"

"Okay...what do you know about the day the Kyuubi attacked?"

Sasuke frowned, thinking things over. "The Kyuubi? What about it? A lot of people died, but the fourth killed it." Watching Sasuke's face, Naruto could tell she was having a little difficulty putting the pieces together.

"W-well, not EXACTLY. The fourth did DEFEAT the Kyuubi...but he didn't kill it. He put it inside me, and that's why I have these whiskers."

The silence was defening for several moments, and Naruto worried for a while whether Sasuke's mind had snapped. Finally however; "WHAT."

"I'm the container of the Kyuubi no kitsune. See, fox ears, fox tail, whiskers, the fact I have chakra-"

"WHAT."

"It's not THAT complicated, I mean it makes sense. My birthday was on October 10th-"

"The day of the attack!"

"Yes, which is why I was chosen as the Jinchuuriki-"

"Jinchuuriki."

"Power of human sacrifice. I was the sacrifice they needed to end the violence. Its okay though, I mean because they did that I got to be a ninja! I'm a boy, so you can imagine if I wanted to be a ninja then I probably would never become one but then it turns out I'm the vessel and all and then I got chakra and was a ninja!"

"That...still doesn't explain the ears and tail." Sasuke had a very deep frown on her face by now, and a bit of a headache.

"Oh...that...okay, I actually don't know why. One minute I was getting beat-up by some kids after school, the next I have a headache and this voice says something and then I have the tail and ears and chakra. It's kinda complicated."

"Very complicated." The silence resumed, Sasuke sitting down on the ground to think. This made Naruto very uneasy, but something compelled him not to say anything, just to sit in silence. The minutes dragged on for some time, before Sasuke finally said anything.

"Why is this a secret? I mean...granted its surprising, but still. Its not mindblowing." The way Naruto looked away only peaked her interest. "Its c-complicated. But when the Kyuubi attacked, it made a lot of enemies. Since its inside me, those..."

"Prejudice's."

"Prejudice's, right, were put on me. When I was little there were apparrantly attempts made on my life, but I don't remember them. It got so bad, the Sandaime issued a secret law that if anyone talked about the Kyuubi or me in relation to the other, they'd be severly punished."

"Death sentence?" The slightest paling of Sasuke's skin was only noticable if one really looked. 'This idiot isn't going to get me killed by this, is he?'

"No-no-no-no-no! You just...go to a jail. Only one person ever broke the law actually. Mizuki-sensei, after he tried to steal the scroll." Sasuke nodded. "I heard a little about that. He was always a crappy teacher."

"Yeah...kinda. I already knew what I was when he told me, but still. It's nice to talk with someone about this. I've never actually told anyone." The small smile that lit up his face made Sasuke wonder how long he'd actually been keeping this inside him.

"Hmmm..." A thought suddenly occured to Sasuke. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Well...I've never really seen demon chakra before. I was wondering...would you mind showing it to me?" It was an odd question, but now that Sasuke knew why Naruto's chakra was red, it was something she wanted answered.

"You've seen me mold chakra plenty of times though."

"Never up close. I'm...just curious is all. What it's like." That made Naruto look off at some trees for a moment, but finding nothing essentially wrong with the idea, he decided to oblige. "Alright, but again, don't tell ANYONE about this."

"You have my word."

That said, Naruto snapped through a short string of handseals. "Seisoku : Ganteretto" (Gauntlet) At the final seal chakra poured out of his tenketsu, enveloping his hands like bubbling froth before solidifying into a solid mass on his hands. "This...is my chakra. It's chakra...whatever."

For several seconds Sasuke just looked at the appendage, tentatively taking it all in. "So...this whole time its been demon's chakra."

"Yep!" The nonchalant way he said this made Sasuke feel more uneasy. "So...can I touch it or anything?" Though a part of her questioned WHY she wanted to touch the volatile substance, the larger part of her just wanted to know what someone elses chakra felt like. She'd molded her own, but only ever managed a basic whisp of it, like a warm wind.

"I...guess so? I mean, its kinda weird but-"

"Are you saying I'm weird?"

"Wha-no! Just that the question is...um...kinda...I guess its alright." Conceding since he himself had never had a problem with his chakra before, Naruto slowly stretched his chakra infused arm out.

Taking a long, slow breath, Sasuke stretched out her hand, feeling a small bead of sweat roll down her neck. 'Maybe I shouldn't be touching it.' Weighing the pro's and con's for a moment, she shook her self, resolved to see this through. With a single finger, she brushed the bubbling mass.

It wasn't what she'd expected. Looking at it, she expected it to feel like bubbling grape jello. It didn't, infact, it didn't really have a physical impression to it save for a mild heat it exuded. No, it had a literal FEELING, an emotion infact.

ANGER.

Stab-tear-rip-chop-smash-clobber-HARM-DISFIGURE-ASSAIL-DESTROY-ANNIHILATE-OBLITERATE-

KILL.

Leaping back as if she'd been struck, Sasuke feel on her butt, holding her hand as if it were burnt. "A-are you alright?" Letting the technique fade away into nothing without a second thought, Naruto ran towards Sasuke, who was looking significantly disturbed. "C'mon, are you alright? Speak to me!"

The response he got was not one he was expecting, since the fist came out of relatively nowhere. Launched off his haunches, Naruto cartwheeled like a ragdoll before landing in a heap. Breathing heavily, Sasuke looked at her fist for a moment, before starring over at the prone Naruto.

"I...I didn't mean to..." Shaking her head violently, she stood up. "Whatever that demon's made of, it's not good. How do you keep from going insane?" Sitting up while cradling his head painfully, the boy send Sasuke a quizzical look.

"I d-don't know what you mean." Standing up wobbily, he tried to reorient himself, to little avail. "I mean how do you deal with that crazy voice that got...nevermind. Let's just forget this ever happened." Standing up, Sasuke walked away, but at a pace some might have noticed to be particularily hasty.

Naruto was not one of those people, so, looking confused, he stood up and quickly walked after her.

Things had gotten bad.

"If you don't hold still, how I am going to split you inhalf Kaka-hoar? You're not a very good partner!" Narrowly ducking under the half ton slab of iron, Kakashi knew better then to stop moving. "That brat of yours? She at least had some common decency!" The crazed way Zabuza was coming at her didn't make her feel comfortable even slightly.

"Dammit! Let her go Zabuza! This is fighting dirty, even for you!" Swinging the baton around to deflected another swing, she knew it was only a matter of time before the inferior metal wore away.

"Please, I'm just being a good ninja. Your lucky I haven't put her down already! So, here's the deal, I trade her, for Tazuna. Everybody walks home! Except the bridge builder, he's probably not going to be able to walk after I'M THROUGH WITH HIM!" With a single; deft overhead swing, Zabuza embedded the cleaver into the ground.

Seeing the opening, Kakashi leaped overhead, her weapon sweeping down towards the seemingly open Zabuza. She was proven wrong however, when using the now supported piece of metal, Zabuza swung her body around the handle, blocking with her right leg and kicking out with her left. Although the blow wasn't exact, it sent Kakashi spinning away. Carthwheeling before landing in a crouch, she eyed her now broke baton.

"You're crazier then I remember." Spitting this out, Kakashi fingered a kunai after throwing the batons to the side.

"Nah, I'm just letting you see my true face. Afterall, I want you to get an eyeload of the person whose going to kill you." With almost no effort the sword was pulled out from where it had sat, now tucked accross Zabuza's shoulder.

"Where's...SAKURA?" Feeling increasingly worried, Kakashi wondered just where the hell her other pupils were, and if they were in as much danger as she was in.

"Oh, you let my apprentice worry about her." The comment caught Kakashi offguard, giving Zabuza the fraction of a second she needed to get inside her guard before slashing towards her face, easily slicing through the top of Kakashi's kunai and coming within a hair's length of removing her-

CLIFFHANGER!

Yes, yes I am a magnificent bastard. Didn't you read the flier?

Well that was silly of you. I sent them in the mail and everything! Anywho, Sasuke now knows what's inside Naruto! DUNDUNDUUUUUN! Oh, and Kakashi appears to be dead. Also DunDunDUUUUUUN.

What about Sakura?

Meh.

So, now that we have all that set up nice, I'm going to have to tell you guys I'm taking a month and some extra time off to do some work. FOR COLLEGE AND SHTUFF! You understand.

ACADEMIA AND CREDENTIALS AND WHATNOT! PIP-PIP-CHEERIO! WHAT-WHAT!

Harnessing the power of sunlight, I have deemed it fitting that I shall create a ray that will inexplicably cause people to WISH TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES VIA THE INTERNET IN A MATTER SIMILAR TO FORUMS! I WILL CALL THIS IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:

REVIEW: Whatchu thought bought dis' here thang! WHOOO!