Story: Shattered Truths, Chapter 29
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...

Sasuke was lying in his sleeping bag, between his two teammates, as he stared up at the ceiling. It was dark and silent. That's all he knew. He'd never really disliked the darkness, per say. But, while it was true that he had a darker personality, he couldn't particularly say he was too fond of complete silence, nor darkness, as it always brought back the memories of that night; The night that everything, and everyone, he held dear was taken away from him.

He found it kind of ironic that, despite the way he was raised; no matter what goals he'd created when he was younger, everything just...changed. In that single moment, he changed, completely...

Setting up, he rubbed his eyes, looking out the window, as he contemplated the crescent moon.

Foolish brother... His brother's words echoed in his head, causing him to grit his teeth. He clenched his fists, cursing beneath his breath. 'Damn him... He was mocking me back then...!'

After a long moment, he quietly got up, being as careful as he could not to wake up anyone else. Slipping on his sandals, he stepped out of the room, closing the door. Once he finally got down stairs, he passed by the desk clerk, who'd apparently fallen asleep at the desk. He ignored it, however, making his way to outside the hotel. He stood there for a long time, just thinking. Each thought bridged off into another one. One minute he was thinking about the moon, then the next minute, he was thinking about his family, then his comrades.

Why was he feeling so on edge tonight? More importantly...

"Who's there?" he questioned aloud, looking up. On the roof sat a figure he couldn't fully make out, until they jumped down.

"I see you're as sharp as they say." Jiraiya commented, receiving no response from the Uchiha. "Anyway, you're up rather late, aren't you?"

"What of it?" Sasuke asked simply, turning away, as he looked back up at the moon.

Jiraiya scowled at his attitude, before suddenly remembering his former teammate. He could see him in the kid. Judging by what he'd heard, they had the same dispositions, and similar pasts, so he couldn't help but wonder if he would end up following in his footsteps. He could see the longing in the boy's eyes; the longing for power. He hated to say it, but Orochimaru was liable to go after him eventually, but the question was, how long would the snake wait before making his move?

"Forget I asked..." He muttered, somewhat spitefully, before sighing. "Look Kid, I'll be honest with you. I don't fully trust you."

Sasuke silently turned cocked his head towards the toad sage with a blank expression. Jiraiya met his gaze straight out. He'd always had been the type to be honest when he felt it was something that needed to be said.

"I know about your family, and I also know that you're bent out on getting your revenge. You've probably been told this a lot of times, but it's not the answer. I've seen what it does to people, and believe me; it's not pretty. It won't bring back the dead. You should forget about it, or else you're just going to get yourself killed."

"You think I don't know that?" Sasuke replied simply, and before Jiraiya could say anything else, Sasuke had already went back inside. He sighed, somehow feeling a little bad for the way he came off at the boy, even though it was the truth, what he'd said.

"One more time!" Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose, with irritation. He'd tried to be nice by bringing Naruto with him to a nearby lake to show him the walk-on water techniques. He thought, maybe, Naruto would have picked up on something by now. But there had been no improvement, whatsoever.

"I think I'm getting it." he looked up, surprised to see the blonde actually standing on the water.

One second.

Maybe this time would be different then the last.

Two seconds.

Watching, he thought maybe Naruto had actually picked up on something.

Three seco-

He mentally shouted when Naruto, once again fell through, once again coming out, shaking from the cold air.

'He's hopeless!' he realized.

~End of Chapter.

A/N: Okay, first off, no apologies can make up for how long it's been since I last updated (Damn author's block! () Secondly, what did you think of this chapter? Sorry, I'm not too fond of what development is between Sasuke and Jiraiya. Please review. Thirdly, I will TRY to update a soon as possible, but don't worry. I WILL update sooner or later. Grazie~

PS: I'm really sorry this is so short. Bad filler is bad. But as I said, I'm kind of at a major authors block, and being that's it been like forever since I last watched Naruto, It's made it only that much worse. Beside of that, I've been working on, and recently finished my first Shounen Ai Hetalia fanfic ever. It's called 'Save Me', and it's KINDA based off of this, and definitely HetaOni, (though it's not, by any means, a HetaOni fanfic.) Anyway, again, thank you. I really appreciate all of my followers, and supporters. Thank you, all. ~

~Ja ne.