CHAPTER 19

Ugh, this shitty story will be the death of me. Sorry guys but I won' be able to update weekly anymore, so much stuff to do. I already have everything planned out, though, and there might only be five or so more chapters after this. Anyway, what I'm saying is sorry that this story and my updating are both kinda shitty. On another note, the manga has been really awesome lately and motivated me to update this.

-x-

"Soooo…" Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched up to his ears. He looked like he was trying to be casual, but was failing miserably at it. Sasuke had known they were going to come and ask him something personal ever since they started whispering. "When's your birthday?"

"Um…" Sasuke couldn't believe he forgot his own birthday. "…Ten…th."

"Of?" Naruto prodded.

"…October."

"Liar. That's my birthday."

Oh, of course. That's probably why it came to his head. "It's in July." Probably.

"What day?" asked Sakura, appearing by his other side.

"The… twenty… thirty… something-teenth…"

Naruto didn't look all that bothered by his vague response, but Sakura looked so offended you'd think he'd said something about her forehead. "Why can't you tell us your birthday?' she asked incredulously.

Sasuke sighed. "Honestly, I… forgot… when it is."

Now Naruto looked offended. His eyes bugged out of his head like he's just seen Sasuke strip on the spot. "How could you forget your own birthday?"

"That's obviously not true," Sakura said, scowling. She rarely looked at him that way, and it was a little unnerving.

Sasuke held up his hands. "I'm being serious. I haven't celebrated it since I was, maybe, seven years old? I can't remember exactly when, although I'm sure it's sometime in July."

Naruto went quiet. "That's so sad," Sakura said. She kept her eyes trained solemnly on the ground. Sasuke shrugged. It didn't bother him at all.

Kakashi didn't seem to be paying attention to them anymore. He'd summoned a ninja hound called Pakkun, told him to sniff out the enemy base so they could retrieve the scrolls that Naruto lost. Sasuke had never seen the man so focused. Apparently, even Kakashi could take things seriously. The dog was leading their pack, nose on the ground, tail wagging, sniffing an invisible trail.

Sakura gave Naruto a meaningful look, and he shook his head, muttering, "I don't want to ask him, it's embarrassing!"

"You have to," she whispered back. Sasuke wondered if they really thought he couldn't hear them.

Naruto cleared his throat. "So, Sasuke… Ma…ku… sa?"

Sasuke blinked. "Huh?"

"Ukinawa?" he tried again.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your last name," Naruto said, like it was obvious.

"That's not my last name," Sasuke told him stiffly. How could Naruto not know that? Was he being serious? "It's Uchiha," he said, with no small bit of pride, and also a bit of regret. Then again, maybe it wasn't so strange Naruto didn't know. It's not like Sasuke went around advertising his… family…

Sakura and Naruto both went "Oh yeeeeeah," at the same time, like it had been on the tip of their tongue. Sasuke was wary – they were paying too much attention to him. His team usually ignored Sasuke's personal life as a subject of interest, which was what he wanted, because if people started asking questions about his past that meant they were suspicious or curious, and if they were suspicious or curious it was likely they might find something out he didn't want them to know.

"What's your favourite food?" Sakura asked next.

Well, that one was fairly harmless. He had to think about it, though, considering he didn't usually dwell on the taste of what he ate. Not much to dwell on when all you eat is ration bars, although the tomato seeds he'd planted had finally grown and were ripening nicely, thanks to consistent maintenance. He'd tried one the day before the mission and they were pretty good.

"Tomatoes," he decided.

"Ew," said Naruto. Sakura punched him.

"What about music? You like music?" she continued.

"I guess."

"What kind?" asked Naruto, his face a little too close. Sasuke pushed him away gently.

"Anything, really…"

"Do you like ramen?"

"I'm allergic to sugar. We've been through this."

"There's no sugar in ramen," Naruto said confidently. Sasuke was going to pursue the matter, but decided not to pick at old wounds.

Sakura's turn. "Do you have any hobbies?"

"Uh. Training?"

"What are your interests?" asked Naruto. The two pressed in on both sides.

"Uhh… training…?"

"Likes?" Sakura demanded.

"Dislikes?" Naruto demanded louder.

"Favourite movie?"

"Favourite holiday?"

"Star sign?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions!" yelled Sasuke, shoving Naruto's aggressively tensed fingers out of his face. Naruto and Sakura recoiled; Sasuke didn't often raise his voice, but they had it coming.

"We just want to get to know you better," Sakura told him earnestly.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Because we're friends, obviously," she said, putting her hands on her hips. They'd stopped walking, and Kakashi realised they weren't following him as they should be, sliding his book away to watch. Pakkun circled his master before hunkering down and resting his head in his paws.

Sasuke folded his arms. "So?"

"What do you mean, so?" Sakura fumed. Naruto, sensing a mood coming on, edged away from her and went to ask Pakkun how much longer until they reached the bandit's hideout. "You know everything about us, and you say we're your friends, so why can't you let us get to know you, too?"

"I don't see what the big deal is," Sasuke said. "So I know some meaningless stuff about you guys. What do you benefit knowing those things about me?"

"It's not about benefits, we're not business partners, Sasuke! It's about friendship and knowing each other and, as much as it pains me to quote Naruto, forming a bond." There was an indignant cry behind them. "Why can't you tell us more personal things about you?" Sakura's eyes were shining, but she didn't cry. "Don't you trust us?"

Without thinking, Sasuke said, "No, I don't."

Sakura looked as if she'd been slapped. Even Naruto stopped his whining of how sore his feet were getting to look at Sasuke with raised eyebrows. Kakashi lowered his head.

Sakura jutted out her jaw, hands fisted into the hem of her dress. "Oh, okay then. I suppose for the past two years, Naruto and I were simply misinformed thinking we're all friends then, is that it?"

Sasuke sighed, his head falling back. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Save it," she scowled, pushing past him. "Obviously you don't care about us the way we care about you."

"Sakura…" She ignored him. That was a first. Sakura stomped over to Naruto and Kakashi, shooting Pakkun a glare that had him immediately sniffing along the ground again to avoid her gaze. Sasuke was glad she didn't turn back around, because he wasn't sure what he would have said if she did.

"Let's keep moving," she said to Kakashi.

Pakkun trotted beside her, oblivious to the drama. Naruto gave Sasuke a long look before following behind her, too. Sasuke knew he should say something, but he just didn't know what. Of course he trusted them, he did, that had come out wrong – there were just things he couldn't tell them. If he did, what he meant was, if he told them those things… he couldn't trust them to still like him anyway.

Kakashi hadn't moved yet, was waiting for him. Sasuke dragged his legs forward, stuffing his hands in his pockets, avoiding the man's eyes. They were so blank, like he didn't care at all, but Sasuke knew Kakashi was listening to everything they said, piecing them together, trying to decide whether they were a team worth fighting for, worth training at all. Sasuke hoped he hadn't just ruined their chances.

-x-

They kept their heads ducked behind the large bush, Kakashi watching Naruto and Sakura's eyes widen.

"Is that it?" Sakura asked quietly. Kakashi nodded.

Spread out in organised rows sat a very, very large bandit camp, in the middle of a forest clearing walled with fallen trees and piles of bloody clothes that had been discarded. A dimly lit campfire sat in its center, circled with flimsy tents and sleeping bags, one larger than the rest with a blank red flag hanging off a tall stick by the entrance flap. Twenty or so men loitered nearby; some shot arrows at targets, some sharpened knives and swords, some laughed, played cards, rested their hands on their weapons as they patrolled the surrounding forest for enemies. By the feet of a woman having her head bandaged (the one Sakura had punched unconscious; she must have gotten away) sat the dual scrolls they'd come for. She rested her hand on them proudly, like a trophy.

It was unusual for so many bandits to travel and work together, as they usually stole for personal benefit. So perhaps they weren't bandits, maybe mercenaries, missing-nin, a nomadic clan or a wandering tribe of thieves and killers. It didn't matter. They had the scrolls, and Team 7 wasn't about to fail their first real mission. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered, and those guys had muscles the size of Sasuke's face. Even with Kakashi, they'd have to exercise extreme caution in getting those scrolls back without being noticed. Somehow.

"Alright, Pakkun. I'll take it from here." Kakashi nodded to his ninja dog, who saluted and poofed into a cloud. The man then turned to his genin, expression grim. "I had hoped not to rope you three into anything dangerous out on your first C-Rank mission, but under these circumstances, it can't be helped."

Sakura blinked rapidly. She caught Sasuke glancing at her, frowned and turned away, wiping her nose on her sleeve. Looks like she isn't over it yet, Sasuke thought resignedly.

Naruto held up a fist. "Alright, let's swoop in there and get them already! I can make a heap of shadow clones to even out the numbers!"

"Keep your voice down," Kakashi said, "and use your head. Charging in there is only going to get you killed. However, I have a plan, and it does involve shadow clones, so I hope you aren't just trying to sound cool."

Naruto beamed. "Alright, sensei, what's the plan then?"

Kakashi brushed his hands over a clump of dirt to flatten it, then used his index finger to roughly map out the bandit camp. "Right now, we're here, as close to the scrolls as we can get. They have four men patrolling, equally spread out, in a square formation at the center. Clearly they regard whatever is in that tent to be the real prize, which is good news for us."

"So, how are we supposed to get to the scrolls without being seen?" asked Sakura. "It's broad daylight, and that one girl is practically nursing them."

"I'll use a cloaking genjutsu to mask my chakra and pluck them right from under her," Kakashi said simply. "Meanwhile, I'll need Naruto to distract them on the opposite side of the base, right here." Kakashi drew an 'x' on the border of the map.

"Yes! You can count on me, sensei!" Naruto said. The other shushed him. "And then I beat them up, right?"

"No," Kakashi said sternly. "I don't want any of you engaging the enemy. You're to stay here and wait for me to return, got that?"

Naruto deflated. "But…"

"Naruto, listen, we don't stand a chance against those guys," Sakura interjected. "It's safer this way. Besides, we don't have time to waste, we have to get to Awaji-shima as soon as possible to deliver those scrolls. That's our mission, remember?"

Naruto puffed out his cheeks. "That's exactly my point… this is our first real mission, we should be out there beating up bad guys—"

"Naruto." Kakashi's tone suggested the discussion was over.

"Fine…" Three Naruto's poofed into existence, briefly cloaking them in clouds of smoke. The original saluted them before they rushed through the foliage and to the other side of the clearing. Kakashi watched them go before letting his eyes settle on the three crouched before him.

"Remember, I don't want any of you to make a sound, alright? Stay here until I return, and we'll be back on track to Awaji-shima in no time."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto cradled his head in his hands, squinting into the dirt. Kakashi ignored him, pressing his hands into a seal. His chakra signature had been fairly undetectable before, but now it was impossible to sense Kakashi. A few beats passed before Naruto could be heard screeching from the other side of the camp.

"Hey! You guys better apologise for attacking me and my friends or you'll regret it!" A crash, then the sound of someone screaming. "I'm not paying for that, either!"

In an instant, the woman guarding their scrolls was on her feet, a spear in her hand. She rushed towards the ruckus, followed by the rest of the men that had been relaxing by her. Kakashi disappeared, weaving his way between the tents and piles of things that served to make him near invisible.

Sasuke and Sakura sat tensely in the bushes, watching him. It was obvious, with the ease that Kakashi masked his presence, that he had once been Anbu. Even the greatest jounins weren't capable of this without special training. Naruto grunted beside them, scratching at his skin until it turned red. Sakura glared at him.

"Stop that," she ordered.

"But I'm itchy!" His grunts turned into whines. "Aaagh, I think I'm allergic to grass, you guys!"

"Naruto, be quiet!" Sakura whispered, punching him in the arm.

Naruto's eyes widened a fraction. There was a brief pause before he, in his entirety, exploded into a cloud of smoke, leaving Sasuke and Sakura staring at the spot he'd sat in blankly, followed with rising panic.

"Wait," said Sakura.

Sasuke blinked slowly. "It was… a clone."

"So, the real Naruto is…"

"…That idiot!"

It's funny how, in moments of desperation, you can get over an argument without a second thought. There was a loud screech from the other side of the camp again – a pained one, the kind that draws shivers under the skin – Kakashi had retrieved the scrolls and was on his way back. Sakura looked at Sasuke with something in her eyes he'd never seen before; it might have been courage, but he didn't have time to guess because in a flash they had both lurched onto their feet and sprinted in plain sight through the middle of the camp, past Kakashi who swore and called after them, to find Naruto before something horrible happened. One of the bandits who had stayed by the fire caught sight of them and shouted to the rest of his men, but they didn't stop running. They only stopped when they both found Naruto, surrounded by enemies twice as tall and wide as them all combined with weapons drawn and hands forming signs that all meant one thing: death.

In moments of desperation, people like Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto didn't only forgive quickly; they lost control much quicker.

It was, surprisingly, Sakura who made the first move: with a feral cry she aimed a low kick to the shins at a man whose arrow was trained to crack through Naruto's skull. Instead, the man flopped onto his back as if he's been battered down by a cyclonic wind. Sasuke was at her aid immediately to deflect a familiar barrage of flaming turtledoves with a water-style shield that his sharingan remembered for him. Sakura barely acknowledges his presence, already locked onto a new assailant whose genjutsu Sasuke cancelled before it could take effect, Sakura aiming subsequent punches to the woman's gut, nose and throat that had her splintering into a row of trees.

Naruto saw the two of them and cried out. "You guys! There's way too many, where's Kakashi-se—"

He was cut off by a wall of kunai, which a shadow clone dove to receive in the original Naruto's place. Two men bludgeoned their fists into the side of his head, then his gut. Naruto fell to his knees with a breathless wheeze, and rolled out of the way to avoid a kick to his ribs that might have sent him unconscious. He flipped back onto his feet and, despite the throbbing of his head, kicked out at them as they attacked once again. With the help of thirty or so more shadow clones that popped into existence left and right, he managed to outnumber the men with his eclectic fighting style, the only benefit of which being that it was unpredictable enough to catch them off guard.

Sakura was pinned to the ground by a man with a green tribal tattoo etched into his skull – one arm feeling behind her managed to grasp onto a large stone, and with a growl she bludgeoned a sharp corner of it into his temple. The impact could be heard even in a warzone; it cracked and echoed through the trees, the man falling beside her, his eyes rolling back until they were nothing but blank canvases with fitful red veins. She shuffled to her feet and ran to Naruto's side, panting, her eyes frenzied.

The ground began to shake under their feet, arching down into a cone and swirling, like a whirlpool of dirt and sticks. The once hard earth slickened into thick mud. Naruto and Sasuke were sucked in immediately, Sakura avoiding the fray by throwing one of the enemies in her place – where did that monster strength come from? The man landed dead in the center, his screams caught by mouthfuls of slop that gurgled as he was pulled under into silence. In seconds Naruto and Sasuke would follow.

Naruto thought fast; a tower of shadow clones sitting on each other's shoulders fell headfirst to pull them out. The clones hooked their arms under Sasuke and Naruto's both, lifting them from the whirlpool that had taken on a quicksand-like consistency before they could be crushed in its middle. Using the momentum of the clone's strength, Sasuke spun and landed in a nearby tree to locate the enemy responsible or such a large-scale jutsu. His sharingan caught the assailant immediately and he focused chakra into his fists before launching himself at her; before she could react, the woman was engulfed in one of three flame bullets, the other two devastating the trees.

In the few moments that Sasuke turned his back, somehow Sakura and Naruto now stood back-to-back against a rock monster that had formed, its torso a boulder, teeth jagged and gnashing. More and more shadow clones appeared, but they were all taken out by a single swipe of the thing's arm. Judging by Sakura's wide, fearful eyes, she knew that even her strength was no match for this thing. Sasuke was about to rush over and help them when he felt something bite into his skin. He sucked air through his teeth, looking down at the feral creature – a person, no less, his blood pulsing through the gaps in her teeth and pooling over her lips in stark contrast with Sasuke's white skin. He jerked against her tightening jaws, but she held him in place – with a cry Sasuke turned and blew a large fireball to try and distract or at least deter the rock monster just before its fist crushed Sakura into a disc. It growled and briefly lost balance, toppling onto its side, giving his teammates a chance to escape.

In an instant, Sasuke's entire body felt a thousand times heavier, his head spinning like he'd just lost half his blood. Shit, the thing biting his arm was sucking out all his chakra! The woman's teeth tore at his flesh and he hissed; she almost dislodged a chunk of his skin. Sasuke focused more chakra and flattened a burning palm over her entire nose, eyes and forehead.

The woman screamed, her sharp nails rushing up to claw at Sasuke's unrelenting grip. His stomach lurched and he had to close his eyes – god, he barely had any chakra left, and if he used too much more he'd die from chakra exhaustion. Her skin sizzled under his, blackening – he could feel it hiss and pop. Only when she finally stopped struggling did he let her fall limp onto the ground, cradling her face in her arms and shivering, gasping, in a truly animalistic fashion. Good, it suited her.

There was a loud smash. Sasuke whipped around to see Kakashi slice the rock monster in half with one strike of a lightning-doused hand.

Kakashi landed in the center of the fray, and all went silent. The three remaining enemies, the ones who could still stand, anyway, looked between the piles of broken, seared bodies and Team 7 like they had seen hell open up and age-old, two-toned, black-cloaked demons were responsible for this mess.

"Y-you…" one of them stammered. "It's you three – th-the ones who… burned everyone…"

Kakashi turned a blank eye to the one that had spoken. "Burned? Oh, yes, that would be us. Now, if we're done here, we'll be leaving. Please think about the scrolls you steal next time, okay?"

He craned his neck to look at Sasuke, then to Sakura and Naruto, who were panting beside a bloodied man whose face was unrecognisable. What happened next made Sasuke's heart sink, and his skin crawl: Kakashi smiled.

"Good work, you three," he said amicably. "Sakura and Sasuke, you disobeyed me, but for the sake of helping a teammate. You pass the ultimate test. Naruto, you disobeyed me, for selfish reasons. We'll be having a talk later."

Sakura sunk to her knees and stared at the blood caked on her hands. Naruto didn't say a word, merely stared back at Kakashi as if he couldn't hear or see anything. Red chakra was streaming around him like the rivers of an erupting volcano. Of course, Sasuke was the only one who could see it, he was the only one who could see the horribly thick redness that consumed him, that did this. Sasuke suddenly felt as if he couldn't breathe – it wasn't just Anbu, or Root, or Danzo who made horrible things like this happen. It was ninja. All of them. Somehow, something went wrong along the way, and things turned out like this – a squad of genin, friends, who went ballistic and destroyed. It was…

A world where children are bathed in blood and their elders smile, Sasuke thought. That is the world shinobi live in.

-x-

"Um… Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned to look at Sakura, her head lowered as she bandaged the disinfected bite-mark on his arm. "Yeah?"

"I… uh…" She cleared her throat, then swallowed, then cleared her throat again. "I forgive you, just so you know."

Sasuke blinked. "You forgive me…?"

She frowned and pinched his arm above the wound. It actually really hurt. "Yes, I forgive you, for being a jerk and not trusting us. I'm still mad about it, of course, but… I know you have your reasons. So I forgive you. I mean, you have to care about us to bother trying to save us, right?" She smiled a little, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Sasuke was still rubbing the sore spot on his arm. He couldn't bring himself to give any sort of smile back. "I guess," was his reply.

The rest of the walk to Awaji-shima had been quiet. They all endured Kakashi's lecture to Naruto about why listening to your superior is imperative when on a serious mission, which didn't seem to do much good at all. Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto didn't share a word, but they knew they all thought the same thing. There was a lingering regret, guilt, and shame in what they had done. But Kakashi seemed fine.

Kakashi must have sensed the gloom, because he tried to lighten the mood by informing them that Konoha had been notified of the bandit camp's presence and a team would be sent out to finish the job shortly. That was when they realised Kakashi didn't understand them at all.

When they arrived in Awaji-shima, the village elder greeted them with a drawn-out puff of his pipe and a look that spoke thickly of disappointment. "What took you so long?" he said.

Naruto threw the scrolls at the man's feet and turned to leave.