Chapter 77 Team intervention

Sasuke woke up with the dawn hitting his face as he groaned and turned around as he didn't feel like getting up just yet. Not many knew this but sometimes he just didn't want to wake up, sometimes he preferred his dreams which were rare. He had been dreaming of when he had been younger on a day his parents took him to the park. It was one of the few really happy memories he had of his childhood, part of him wanted to stay there but the dawn had pretty much seemed to want to rip him from that time.

Reluctantly he got up and signed as he slowly went to the bathroom he showered and changed as he silently went to the kitchen. That was something he didn't do when he was home, talk. Most people took such a thing for granted but when you lived alone you never talked. It was a strange thing to miss but the fact that how silent his life was when he was home only seemed to echo the hollow feel of the house and his personal life here. The house always had this empty and cold feel to it but then it wasn't like he had much say in that.

Sometimes when he sat down at the table ghosts from the past would haunt his waking world, he would remember the smell of the food his mother would make, her soft voice as she said good morning to them all. His father's presence as he silently ate and read something, his brother there asking him what the plans for today where. Sometimes Sasuke would yearn for those simple days, sometimes he felt his eyes sting with tears threatening to spill out but they didn't.

He had cried a lot when he was younger when he woke up from his coma to find his life in ruins. He had cried so much he felt that he had cried all the tears he had in this life. He honestly didn't have any more tears to shed anymore. He would look at the empty chairs and for a moment he could almost feel the presence of his family again. But it was gone just as suddenly and he was back again alone. He silently ate his breakfast and then picked up his sword he would clean it and start training again. There was nothing for him to do with Kakashi still in the hospital and he hadn't received any summons for missions either.

Sometimes he used training as a way to center himself, to throw his whole being into. When he trained he had a goal and he could push all the pain away. His whole world became the training and there wasn't anything other than that.

Not far away two other young genin were walking through the old Uchiha district. Naruto Hatake and Sakura Haruno looked around as they walked the area. Although the massacre had happened years ago the area seemed to be stained forever by it. They had heard the stories how if you walked down certain streets at night or on the anniversary of that night you could hear the cried of the dying. How ghosts would haunt certain parts of the area. Kids looking for parents that were long dead, lovers dying together by Itachi's blade and other gruesome tales since there had only been one survivor.

Others had eventually bought up the area, stores were opened, houses were moved into by others and live returned but there was still that uneasy feeling. Only Sasuke's house remained as the last thing of the Uchiha that still stood. All other signs of the Uchiha were long gone the old clan symbols were removed or painted over by the new owners.

"This part of the village always seems kind of depressing when I walk through it," Sakura commented. "I know it happened a long time ago but still this place gives off a strange vibe sometimes."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Really, never really thought about it."

Sakura gave him a leveled look, "You really are too carefree at times you know that?"

Naruto just shrugged again as Sakura scowled at how sometimes he acted a little too much like his father sometimes. They soon found themselves in front of Sasuke's home there was a high wall that prevented anyone seeing into the place. Many times the girls of the school would come hoping to find a place to look over the wall. There was a large wooden door which was most likely locked.

They looked around and didn't see anyone just yet so now was as good a time as any. Unlike in the school they knew how to put chakra into their feet and climb the wall with their feet. They quickly ran up and over the wall before jumping down onto the ground on the other side. They walked up to the front door and were about to knock when they heard something coming from outside the house. They decided since Sasuke was the only one that lived here it was most likely him.

They found him slashing at a dummy with his sword and by the looks of it he had been at it for a bit.

"Hey you're dropping your guard too low!" Naruto yelled out, although Sasuke wasn't it was always fun to make him think that he was doing something wrong.

Sasuke jerked to a stop before glaring at Naruto, "what are you two doing here?"

"Well you've been a bit odd lately but I felt that was normal for you." Naruto joked. That earned him an elbow in the side from Sakura and a glare with it.

"You've seemed distant since you learned about your brother being here," Sakura told him honestly. "I'm...we're worried about you."

"I'm fine now you can leave," he turned back to the dummy.

Naruto narrowed his eyes okay sure Sasuke could be a bit cold and distant at times but he was never like that. Looks like there was something to Sakura's worry after all, he had known Sasuke for years and there just seemed to be this darkness hanging over his head and this grim look on in his eyes.

"Yeah then how come you've locked yourself up in here, you didn't even show up with everyone at Hinata-chan's place with everyone else." Naruto told him.

"I've already seen that technique so why would I want to see it again."

"Oh yeah...kind of a good point," Naruto muttered to himself. "Yeah well...uh...oh yeah, you could have still gone just to hang out with everyone. I mean you could have shown off that new move of your own, I bet even Neji would be jealous of that one." He put a little emphasis on Neji`s name if there was one thing he could count on it was the rivalry between Uchiha and Hyuga. It had to be the fact that the village only had two clans with special eye powers.

Sasuke paused as he considered that it would have been nice to show up the Hyuga prodigy but he had more serious things to worry about.

Naruto got the feeling they were being ignored now and it was kind of starting to piss him off. He didn`t have to be the center of attention, well not all the time, but being ignored was something he never liked. So he decided to switch it up a bit and try and piss him off.

"Yeah well I don't know why you're going to practice so much, given what happened with my dad I got plans to kick the crap out of Itachi." As soon as that name slipped out Sasuke hit the dummy with suck force the sword imbedded into it. Sasuke had to pull hard to get it out as he then turned on Naruto with blazing eyes.

"He's mine you will not touch him!"

Sakura had never seen such hatred in Sasuke's eyes and she was worried that maybe she should have done the talking. She was about to say something but Naruto suddenly started walking forward. He got to a few feet away from Sasuke as he looked him right the eye.

"Make me." Naruto simply said with hard eyes.

"What?" Sasuke said darkly.

"You heard me, make me. I bet I could beat you and if I do I bet that means I'm closer to beating that guy's ass than you are."

Sasuke looked at him for a long silent moment as the tension between them started to rise up. He gripped his handle harder as the leather creaked slightly from the grasp. "Fine then."

And just like that he came at Naruto the blonde masked ninja nearly didn't have enough time to pull the short sword from his back to block the attack. He pushed back as he countered although his sword wasn't as long as Sasuke's it allowed to make smaller quicker swipes at him. Sasuke had the range but the closer Naruto got to him, the harder it was to position his sword just right.

Sakura watched in horror as the two went at it, she had seen them spar before but this wasn't anything like sparing. They were moving way too quickly and the blows were full on without them holding back. She knew enough that if they screwed up with that kind of recklessness they could get seriously injured if not worse. Although she was training to be a medic she didn't want to try to put to use the little knowledge she had.

They boys just seemed to focused on their fight that they didn't even seem to notice her. She couldn't let this go on and if she had to knock some sense into them she would. She watched them carefully looking for the perfect moment. Thankfully she got an opening before something serious happened.

"Alright that's enough!" Sakura quickly got between them as she used her tonfa to hook behind both their knees and pulled up sending them both onto their backs. "Enough of this male bonding crap with the fighting. Why do boys always end up doing this?" She yelled at both of them, she didn't want to see them fighting like this.

"Why can't you see that we just want to help you?" Sakura pleaded with Sasuke.

"I don't need help," He grumbled sitting back up he had been so focused on Naruto that he had forgotten she had been here for a moment. It would figure that she would pick that moment to strike with those weapons of hers.

"That's crap," Naruto sat up as well, "You say that but what happens if you faced him now?"

"I know I'd lose but that's why I need to get stronger," Sasuke told them both. "I have to avenger what he did don't you two understand that? He killed everyone in my family and my clan, it's my responsibility to bring him to justice. If there was someone else alive from the clan they would be doing the same thing."

"Well what about me?" Naruto asked him. "I nearly lost my dad, he's the only family I got so are you saying that I don't have a beef with your jerk of an older brother?"

Sasuke looked at him angrily. "He's fine now my family will never be fine again."

Naruto wasn't sure if Sasuke was saying that his dad's life meant less than the Uchiha but this wasn't getting anywhere. He just wanted to show that he didn't have to be alone in all of this, that what affected one of them affected them all. It was that thought that made him suddenly get inspiration for something to tell him.

"Yeah well you're forgetting one thing."

Sasuke looked at him silently waiting to hear whatever he was going to say.

"Yeah the Uchiha were your clan but they were Leaf ninja," Naruto told him seriously. "I mean they were a part of this village too, the entire village felt the pain of that day not just you! I remember my dad being all depressed on that day, I never really understood until I was older and knew about how he got his eye."

Sasuke paused remembering that story as well, Kakashi always talked proudly of Obito Uchiha and he had learned a lot about who might have been the most unassuming member of his clan and yet Kakashi always said that Obito in the end had been one of the greatest ninja the man had ever known.

"I remember that day too," Sakura spoke up thinking back. "My mom had been good friends with an Uchiha woman, I forget her name but I remember her always going to my family's shop and my mom and her would talk all the time. I remember her crying a few nights after it."

"See, you're not the only one that got hurt from that," Naruto told his friend. "They were Leaf ninja and part of this village and when they were gone everyone felt the loss. You're not the only one hurt by that so why should you take all the burden? You think someone else's pain is worth more than yours? You think you're the only one hurting from that day?"

"Plus we're your teammates and friends," Sakura put in as she took a step forward. "Kakashi-sensei keeps telling us about teamwork and how we're stronger together than alone. You don't have to carry this burden alone Sasuke-kun. If you really are going after your brother than let us help you."

"Yeah you can fight for the Uchiha but let us fight for the village," Naruto told him crossing his arms. "Besides I bet your jerk of a brother wouldn't expect that would he? I mean why the hell should we do what he wants?"

That right there got Sasuke thinking, he was playing into his brother's hand. Plus they were starting to make a point, the Uchiha were part of the village.

"Come on let's go kick his ass together," Naruto said to him. "I just want one good hit in for my dad, I promise that you can finish the job."

Sasuke didn't say anything as he was just feeling a lot of confusion, for years he had taken on the burden to bring justice to his older brother for his crimes. He felt that as the only survivor it was up to him to do this. He never once considered help in taking his brother down, because he wasn't sure if anyone was strong enough to go up against his brother. Plus there was another fact, not once in all the years had anyone offered to help. He felt that he was alone in this for so long it just felt like he had to do it alone.

He looked at the masked boy in front of him and the pink haired girl next to him, Naruto had always been the one that pushed him to do better in the academy and Sakura was getting stronger all the time. She even was starting some extra training under the Hokage now. Who knew the kinds of things she could learn under her that he couldn't. He didn't know much about medical jutsu or other skills and he wasn't sure they were skills he could just copy with his sharingan and hope to use.

Despite what most believe the copy abilities had its limits, if he didn't have any kind of affinity with the jutsu it was harder to use sometimes even impossible if he had no talent at all for a certain element. Physical abilities were also limited to what his body could pull off. Then there was Naruto, the guy had a nearly unnatural knack for surprises. Plus there was no telling what he would learn in a few years, so there he was sitting in his yard with a choice.

He could try and do everything on his own and do exactly what his brother wanted or he could do something surprising.

He grunted out and actually gave a small smile. "You two are idiots sometimes you know that, you want to help me take out a guy that killed an entire clan?"

"Hell yeah," Naruto shouted bumping a fist into the air. "Hell if we do that we'll not only even the score for everyone but we'll be total badasses. I'm going to be the greatest Hokage in history and taking down an S-class missing ninja from our village will help in that, you can bet on it!"

Sakura smiled but rolled her eyes, "Who do you think will have to patch you two up afterwards anyway? Seriously I bet you two will go overboard and won't be able to walk after it and I'll have to know how to reset everything so you can bet you'll need me to carry you both back to the village when we're done."

Sasuke shook his head and sighed, "Fine if only because I know you two will just follow me and I'll have to look out for you two."

"Like hell," Naruto crossed his arms, "I bet you'll get into more trouble and I'll have to save your ass."

Sasuke grunted with a smirk, "We'll see on that."

The three of them smiled as they made their pack to take down Itachi together. All three of them felt a bit better after this. Sakura smiled to herself seeing Naruto and Sasuke try and argue over who would be the one to do what in this future fight. It was kind of funny as she couldn't see any real hostility in them, it was just their way of being around the other. Honestly, boys couldn't seem to be honest with their feelings and hide it all behind some kind of macho exterior.

"Hey Naruto weren't you going to do something today?" She asked him in case the two decided to challenge the other to a new sparing match. It seemed to be getting that way and she remembered he had something a bit more important than just trying to beat Sasuke at something.

Naruto thought about it before jumping up, "Crap! I nearly forgot I got a date with Hinata-chan! I got to get home and change, Sasuke, we'll settle this later."

Both of them watched as Naruto bolted for the nearest wall and went over it. He certainly could move fast when he was motivated. Sakura looked down at Sasuke as she smiled and offered her hand to help him up. He paused for only a second before taking it as she pulled him off the ground.

"So are you still going to train for the day?" She asked him.

He shrugged, "Not much else to do at the moment."

"Okay then I'm game," She pulled out her tonfas as she put them into a guard position, the long metal parallel with her forearms as she got into a stance Anko trained her to be in.

Sasuke was about to say something but the burning look in her green eyes told him that she was up for it. Before he wouldn't have thought much of her skills but she had proven herself lately. She had grown into a better ninja something he could appreciate. He smirked as he got his sword and went into a high guard stance, the blade being held high at head level.

"I won't go easy on you." He told her.

"That's odd, I was going to say the same thing," she replied to him trying to mirror the smirk he had on. One thing that Anko taught her was that it was always make it seem like you were equal or better than the guy in front of you. It was the only way a woman could get respect with some males. She didn't have to wait long as Sasuke rushed forward.

-Hyuga Clan Compound-

Hinata was in her room getting ready for Naruto, she wasn't sure what he had in mind but it would be nice to just spend some time with him. It felt like forever that they had any time to themselves, with missions and the village recovering everyone was busy. But he had promised to set the day aside for just them. So Hinata made sure that her team wasn't going to be sent out on a mission or training that would get in the way. Apparently Kurenai had plans and wanted to give everyone a day off, she wasn't sure what her sensei had planned but she had seemed slightly happy for some reason.

So she had finished with getting her room cleaned up, her pet rabbit's cage had been cleaned and the rabbit was currently napping. It was nice that Hanabi could help take care of him while she was away on missions and such. Plus she knew that her little sister enjoyed playing with the pet rabbit too.

Although currently she was sitting at a simple vanity mirror looking at herself in the mirror, she was wondering if she should try and change into something else. All she had on was her usual pants and coat, she did have other clothing but she had no idea if Naruto wanted her to look better. It was times like this she wished she had her mother she would know what to do. There were just some things that a girl couldn't ask her father and this was in no means something she wanted to talk to him about.

She knew that her father didn't hate Naruto or anything but it was just something very embarrassing to the both of them. She signed, maybe she should have tried talking to Kurenai about this, her sensei was sometimes like a older sister and she felt that she could go to her with things like this.

Hinata sat on her bed looking down maybe she should change her coat or go without it? She could go and look for Ino or Sakura she was close to those girls and could ask for advice but she had no idea where they might be at this point and she couldn't spend the time looking for them.

Realizing that she had no more time she decided to just go as she was. Making sure that the rabbit cage was secured she left her room and closed the door behind her. She felt nervous even though she and Naruto were official sometimes she found if hard to believe that they were actually dating. She wasn't sure what to really do as a couple, she had no real experience and was always afraid she might do something wrong. Hinata knew that she should have more confident in herself but that had always been a problem for herself.

There was just so much expected of her as the oldest child of the head of the clan, a clan that had a very long legacy to uphold. It was a lot of pressure to be under when she first realized the weight that would be carried on her shoulders. Sometimes it felt that the entire clan expected great things from her simply because of the family she was born into.

"Hinata?"

She was brought out of her thinking as she noticed Neji was walking towards her.

"Ah, Neji-niisan."

"Are you okay?" He asked her. He was on his way to his own room and noticed her in the hall as she looked to be deep in thought about something.

"Oh yes sorry my mind was wondering."

Neji wasn't sure what she was thinking about but if she didn't want to say anything that was okay with him as it could be something personal after all. Although he was wondering if she was up for some more lessons today. She had been improving and Gai was off on a mission until tomorrow, Tenten said she was working on cleaning and maintenance her weapons. Given the number of weapons he had seen and who knew how many more that could be a full day's work. As for Lee, well he wasn't in the mood for some kind of insane training that a normal person might end up in the hospital if they tried.

"Well I'm free for the day if you want to continue some lessons I will gladly help out." He offered.

"O-oh well thank you but I promised I would go on a date with Naruto-kun today, in fact I have to go now."

"Very well I won't keep you," he bowed his head slightly watching his younger cousin go. Although he didn't mind she had plans the fact that he was going on a date with Naruto might have been something to worry about. At least he was hoping he would have nothing to worry about as he started to really think hard about Naruto. It wasn't all the long ago that he used to flirt with Tenten, of course Neji felt he only did that to annoy him but at least he stopped doing that when he started dating Hinata.

Although now it seemed that the Uchiha seemed to take an interest wasn't pleasant either but Neji put those thoughts aside for another time. Neji also knew that Naruto read those books of his father as well, Neji knew what kind of books those were and he had a fairly good idea on the contents inside of them. There was one other thing and the rumors about the reasons why Hiashi had chased Naruto out of Hinata's room one night. The fact that the boy had even been alone in her room at night wasn't a pleasant idea.

'Maybe it would be best to keep an eye on him after all,' He thought to himself. He could keep a respectful distance just in case and give them a sort of privacy. After all Hinata was more like a little sister to him than a cousin. He had always looked after her growing up and he felt it was a duty to make sure that Naruto didn't try anything out of line.

Next up Chapter 15: Alone at Last