Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Prologue

Naruto was in pain and it had absolutely nothing to do with the nine tailed fox demon sealed inside his naval.

The cause of the pain wasn't even physical. At least, he hoped it wasn't. A stab wound in the chest from a three foot long katana was going to be a bitch to explain to people when he hadn't been on a mission in almost a year.

No, Naruto was quite sure that he was still safely tucked into his bed asleep. The dream he was having, on the other hand, had him in a completely different scenario.

He didn't recognize the stone hallway or the stone wall he was pinned to. He didn't recognize the view outside the glassless window either. There was a blanket of snow on the ground and he could see a forest not far behind that. However, he did recognize the person braced in front of him holding the very object that was causing such discomfort to his chest.

"Orochimaru."

The man in front of him was and was not Orochimaru. The voice and very soul belonged to the snake sannin, but the body in which he occupied was none other than Uchiha Sasuke's. Orochimaru had successfully taken control of the Uchiha's body when they were fifteen. And he did it right in front of Naruto.

Naruto gritted his teeth together to keep from biting his tongue off when Orochimaru twisted the blade around, turning the sharp edge of the Kusanagi downward instead of up. The grin on Orochimaru's—Sasuke's—face pissed him off, so he spit bloodied saliva in his face. The bastard didn't even flinch.

"Now, now Naruto-kun," Orochimaru chided, "That isn't any way to treat an Uchiha, now is it?

Naruto reached up with both hands and gripped the blade, ignoring the cuts it made in his hands. "Fuck you, snake bastard." His breath hitched in the middle of the last word making it sound more like "Bastargk" than the intended curse.

This sudden lapse in his speaking ability seemed to amuse the snake sannin. Whatever Orochimaru was going to say, however, was rudely interrupted by an unfamiliar shout.

"Stupify!"

It sounded to Naruto like a stupid thing to yell, but the word made Orochimaru dodge out of the way, anyway. A line of red sparks flew at Naruto's head, but missed and instead charred the stone where his head had been. When Orochimaru had dodged, he had taken the sword with him leaving a hold slightly larger than the average quarter in the center of his rib cage and he had slid down to the ground, his feet unable to keep him standing.

Orochimaru sneered angrily and disappeared with a simple teleportation jutsu, his goal obviously incomplete. Naruto might've been more pissed that the sannin had escaped, but the blood loss was screwing with both his vision and his thoughts.

A pair of green eyes behind black rimmed glasses was the last things Naruto saw before a loud knocking sound roused him from the dream.

And for that, he was very grateful. Stab wounds hurt.

Page Break Thingy

Chapter One: Ramen

It took him a couple of seconds to unbury a stray kunai in his room before he made his way to the front door. He peered through the slightly opened door when the sound of an impatient huff came from his savior. His eyes opened completely at the sight of Sakura standing there with her arms crossed and one foot tapping and he opened the door a little wider. He was probably in trouble. Again.

"What's up Sakura?"

This obviously wasn't the smartest thing to say right then. The seventeen year old medic nin glowered at him, probably about to lose herself in another rand with him being the subject and target.

He hated being right.

"Do you know what time it is?" He didn't get a chance to answer her. "No. Of course you don't. You've been asleep. Its two o'clock in the afternoon you dimwit! Fourteen hour sleep cycles aren't healthy! Look at you! You're practically skin and bones! When was the last time you ate anything?"

He looked down at his pajamas which just consisted of a pair of sweat pants with bears printed on purple fabric holding signs that said 'Hibernating'. He frowned. He was getting rather thin and he knew that his ribs were starting to show. He cursed himself for not even putting a shirt on before answering the door. But he'd been a bit disoriented by the weird dream.

When Sakura didn't continue with her rant, he looked up. Sakura was frowning at him with an odd expression on her face. One that he didn't have a name for. It looked like a cross between anger, confusion, and sadness. Confusion? No, that wasn't it either.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" he asked. That seemed to have opened a flood gate.

"Am I okay?" she replied. "How can I be okay when I have to sit here and watch my last teammate, my best friend, slowly kill himself over something that was completely out of his control? It's been almost a year since you stopped accepting missions. Out of all of us, why were you the only one to give up like this?"

They stood in silence for a moment. Naruto really didn't have anything to say to that. Nothing that she would understand anyway. So, he opened the door all the way and invited her in with a wave of his hand. "Would you like to come in? I can get changed and we can get something to eat. How about that?"

Sakura didn't reply at first making Naruto wonder if she was still angry. But, then she smiled a little at him. "That sounds great." She stepped inside and poked a finger into his chest; coincidentally in the exact same spot the dream Orochimaru had stabbed him. He had to hold his breath to keep from grimacing at the phantom pain. Luckily, she didn't notice.

"I'm dropping it for now," Sakura continued, "but don't think that you're getting away with this by just buying me a late lunch."

Naruto shrugged and closed the door behind them both.

"Figures."

At least she was happy enough to laugh at him now.

Page Break Thingy

Ten minutes and a quick change of clothes found them at the Ichiraku Ramen stand and waiting on their orders. The stand was deserted except for the two of them, but that was to be expected during that time of day.

The old man had been happy to see his old customer alive and well and had said so. This included a hug over the counter by Ayame, who was now engaged to a man named Ichiro.

Naruto had first met Ichiro during his Jounin Exams and approved whole heartily of her choice. Ichiro and Naruto had been brought together when they were both attacked by a team of Mist Chuunin during the Jounin Exams. The combination of wind techniques from Naruto and the flawless genjutsu from Ichiro proved to be more than the Mist shinobi could handle. Thus, all three were defeated and the two Leaf shinobi acknowledged each other.

Naruto had gained many comrades before he had stopped accepting missions. He had been well on his way to accomplishing his dream too, but the events surrounding Sasuke's 'death' had really turned Naruto's world upside down.

"Naruto?"

Naruto had long since stopped calling her Sakura-chan. They had become relatively close after Sasuke died and had gone to one another when things got bad. However, neither one were looking for an actual relationship. Naruto grew up and got over his childish crush over Sakura and Sakura started dating Lee. Things had stayed just that way until Naruto had pulled away for reasons unknown to all but him.

Naruto looked at Sakura with a smile. "Yeah?"

Sakura wouldn't meet his gaze making Naruto worry again. He glanced warily at the old man cooking the noodles and Ayame who was cleaning a bowl from the lunch hour. If Sakura was going to bring up his behavior again, he didn't want them to hear it. He didn't need more people on his back about his health, despite the fact that that was what he had strived for when he was younger.

Thankfully, his worries were unfounded. Even if the topic was just a serious.

"There's another reason for my coming over to your house today." She paused, as if she didn't want to be there all the sudden. Naruto silently motioned for her to continue. What could be so bad that she didn't want to tell him?

"Tsunade-sensei… She has a mission she wants you to take."

Oh. So that's what it was.

Naruto laughed and Sakura stared at him in something akin to shock. "The old woman knows that I don't go on missions anymore. It must be some kind of joke."

Sakura shook her head. "It's not. I'm supposed to go with. I was told to bring you with me to her office as soon as possible. Which probably means after we eat now that we're here." Naruto stared back at her, trying to determine if she was joking or not. He didn't like his conclusion.

It was at that moment that the ramen was set in front of them. Neither one said a word as they ate.

TBC

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