Chapter 27
No Need For Hiding.
Somewhere in The F.O.D.
With Nagi in his arms, who fell asleep because of the becoming weaken by the heatstroke, and Ken-Ohki, hanging on tightly to his shoulder, Naruto was flying through the forest, following Mimi's "signal" to her and their teams location.
Here arrives near a clearing, but before he enters it he lands down and walks from into view of tree with a hole big enough for at least 5 or 6 people, feeling Mimi's energy inside the hole he slowly moves towards the entrance, standing a few feet from the hole he calls out lightly, "Hello, guys, I'm back and I brought a friend."
Sakura slowly pops her head out, hoping it was Naruto and not someone using a Transformation Jutsu to try and fool them, that is until Mimi ran over to him, meowing happily, with Ken-Ohki jumping down to let Mimi jump on his shoulder, Mimi rubs her cheek, Sakura seeing Mimi's reaction knew it was Naruto, but still, seeing Naruto, with a strange woman in his arms, though seeing the white Cabbit that was with Naruto's opponant from before, she was cautious and curious about why he was carrying her.
Naruto smiles at Mimi's affection, also seeing Sakura's questioning look, he looks towards the tree, showing Sakura and telling her that he'll explain when he's put Nagi down and no-one sees them.
Once everyone was settled, Nagi resting close to Naruto on the left side of the hollowed out tree, with Ken laying next to her, on her right and Naruto, resting his back on the tree, on the left of her, and Mimi on laying on the top of his head again, glad to have her big brother back, as everyone relaxed a bit.
Sakura was sitting on the left of the tree, Sasuke was laying at the back of the tree unconscious, with Naruto feeling a dark feeling from him, but he'll sort that out later, for now he has to tell Sakura everything.
So Naruto explains what happened and why Nagi attacked in the first place, how she mistook Naruto for his mom because of heatstroke, and how she "knew" Ryoko, though Sakura was shocked that someone would hunt after Ryoko and asked why, which he explained that Ryoko was a infamous space pirate, she was bound to be hunted sometime in her life as a pirate.
Though Sakura was uncomfortable about finding out Ryoko was an infamous space pirate, Naruto saw her uncomfortable expression, knowing it was about Ryoko's past, he tells that she wasn't like that anymore and explained that it was thanks to Tenchi, with Ryoko falling in love with Tenchi she pretty much gave up on the whole pirate-side of her life in order to have a peaceful life.
He then told her about how he got Nagi to stop bounty hunting after his mom.
Sakura hearing this, couldn't help but see the resemblance between Naruto and Tenchi, at least with being able to change people, not that she'd say anything about it.
Now came Naruto's question about Sasuke, "Sakura, what happened to Sasuke while I was busy?" He asks the girl.
Sakura then explain that they were attacked by the grass ninja that gave Anko her Kunai back, how Sasuke put up a good fight, but it wasn't enough, then it turns out the ninja was wearing some kind of a mask, finding out the mask, by Sasuke being able to tie up the ninja with ninja-wire, then using a Fire Jutsu, which melted the mask a bit, which in turn, made the ninja remove the rest.
After hearing such a thing, thinking that it sounded familiar, though Naruto let Sakura continue.
Sakura explained that even though Mimi was with them, the little Cabbit was scared of the grass ninja, that made Naruto worried, Mimi was a strong little Cabbit, but something causing her to be scared, he knew it was serious.
Sakura then went on to explain that after, the strange ninja's next stretchered out and before they both realized what was happening, he bit Sasuke on the neck, now Naruto was worried, moving over to Sasuke, without disturbing Nagi or Ken, Naruto looks at the place where the ninja bit, seeing 3 tomoes in a shape of a circle.
He now knew it was a cursed seal, since Anko explained what it was and more importantly who did it, Naruto looks towards Sakura with a serious look, "Sakura, can you describe what the person looks like, I need to know." Seeing Sakura nod, She told him everything about the person, what they looked like and how they attacked.
With confirmation of who it was, there was no denying who the person was, Naruto wasn't worried about who it was in general, but more about what would happen if Anko found out about him, but for now he needed to sort out Sasuke's curse seal, Naruto gets up, leaning down so his head wouldn't hit the ceiling, Naruto looks towards Sakura, "Sakura, I'm going to help Sasuke with that mark, but for now please keep an eye on everyone, ok."
Sakura knows Naruto is a strong person, she agrees with a nod, Naruto smiles encouragingly, giving Sakura reassurance that everything will be alright.
Taking a deep breath, knowing Sasuke's seal will be slightly different, since Anko explained her seal was a prototype, it may take longer to get rid of.
Naruto floats up into the air above Sasuke, then phases into the seal, though to Sakura, it looked as though Naruto "melted" into Sasuke.
Inside Sasuke's mindscape.
Naruto looks around, seeing he was in the Uchiha district and thought to himself, "This seal is definitely stronger than Anko's, but that won't stop me!"
He then moves towards Sasuke's home, knowing that would more than likely be where Sasuke would be.
As he floats into the house, Naruto hears crying and talking, he looks round the corner and sees a child-version of Sasuke, most likely when the mascara happened, crying over his parents corpses, never noticing his shadow being different than his own, though Naruto was hearing whispers coming from the shadow.
Naruto floats towards Sasuke, Sasuke still not noticing Naruto's arrival.
Naruto looks at Sasuke's parents, laying on the floor next to one another.
He looks towards Sasuke, seeing him so young, so venerable, he begins talking, "Sasuke," Getting the child's attention, "Your parents may have gone, but as long as you live they will live on in you,"
Seeing and hearing Naruto, Sasuke was surprised to hear this, "From what I heard of the Uchiha clan in general, they were arrogant and far too prideful, but what I heard about your parents, your father was brave and strong, and your mother was kind and caring,"
Sasuke continued listening, never noticing he became his 13 year old self, "You have the best of both worlds Sasuke, and if your parents saw the young man you made yourself into, they would be proud of you," Sasuke hearing this couldn't help but smile with a single tear.
Naruto, using the memories of Ryoko's time as a mother, though he won't tell anyone, continued, "All a parent wants is to see their child have a happy life, to have fun, get strong, meet someone," Naruto looks towards Sasuke and smirks teasingly, "Meet a certain person that loves them," Sasuke suddenly has a flash of Sakura's image in his mind, which caused him to blush slightly, Naruto smiles at the sight.
Naruto starts wrapping things up, "Sasuke, you NEED to live YOUR life, not your clans life, don't give yourself to the darkness of vengeance, don't go towards someone, just because they promised power, remember that kind of power comes at a steep cost, and what about Sakura, would you really give up your love for her for power, right now you have a choice to make, power from a questionable source or love from the one person that you know would help you, so what will you do?"
Hearing Naruto's question, as well as what he said about his parents, he keeps hearing that voice somewhere, telling him not to listen to Naruto, telling him he doesn't need anybody to help him or anyone to hold him back, to just accept the power granted to him, it egged him on, telling him if he accepts, the power he will be given will make him stronger than Itachi and that no-one would get in his way.
Then Sasuke looks towards Naruto, thinking of everything team 7 went through, Kakashi helping them, giving them exercise training, teamwork building, enjoying the entertainment of Naruto and Sakura arguing like siblings.
Then came the thoughts of Sakura, remembering their heart-to-heart after Naruto's prank, getting to know each other, becoming closer, secretly going on dates, becoming even closer, then they became a couple, kissing, hugging, but nothing X Rated.
Memories of Sakura, Sasuke made his choice, he looks Naruto in the eyes with the same determination Naruto sees in the mirror everyday, Sasuke answers his question, "I still want to make my mother and father proud, I want to see them smile when I see them after my passing, but not only that, the only thing I wouldn't want to see is Sakura with tears of sadness, the only type of tears I want to see are tears of happiness,"
Naruto quickly went in, "And pleasure, when you take her~" He sings in a teasing manner, knowing now would break the ice a bit.
Trying to ignore Naruto's remark, but the blush didn't go unnoticed, Sasuke carried on, "So to answer your question, I want to stay, I want to be with Sakura, she's the only light that keeps me here."
Naruto smiles at Sasuke's choice, he knew that at the moment, it could've gone ether way, but with the seal not being a prototype, he needed Sasuke's help to get rid of it, he needed Sasuke's approval to not only help get rid of the seal but now, hopefully Sasuke can feel better about himself as well.
Naruto claps his hands on his knees, stands up and exclaims, "Well then, let's get rid of a certain annoyance."
Before Sasuke could ask, Naruto's hand was buried into the ground where his shadow was, wondering what was going on.
Naruto looks as though he was feeling around for something, with tongue out slightly, his arm looks as though he was moving around trying to grab something just out of his reach.
Until suddenly his arm stops and his eyes lights up, "Gotcha!" Now Sasuke believes Naruto found whatever it is he was looking for, looking curious at what it was.
Until Naruto yanked it out, turns out it was a white snake, but what scared Sasuke most was the "face" looked just like the person who bit him. (A.N. Again it's the same as Anko's cursed seal snake, but the seal is stronger so it interfered with Naruto helping Sasuke.)
Naruto, still holding the struggling snake, looks towards Sasuke and smiles, "Well, see ya on the outside!"
Naruto then flickers away with the snake, for some reason Sasuke was feeling lighter, as though a great weight was lifted from him, then everything began to get dark, but before everything vanished, he saw his parents corpses vanish, as though they were never there, but just as darkness set, he felt something warm hugging him from behind, the only thing in his view were strands of black hair, but he knew they didn't belong to him.
He just smiles in content, knowing only two people would hug him like this.
So as everything vanished all that was left was Sasuke, being hugged from behind by his mother and father, both wearing happy smiles at their son.