Sasuke clearly remembers how much he hates Naruto, despite the fact that he's been determined to find him and get him back. Now, Sasuke's had a change in heart, only to get back to the real world and out of whatever screwed-up world he was trapped in at the moment.

"Stay alert, and stay as close behind as you can." Sasuke discussed the plan before they headed into the Hidden Sound Village, acting as casual as they could in order to get Intel on the Akatsuki or Tsunade. This is so weird... Going after the Hokage like this... Sasuke gulped as he and his three teammates walked into a bar.

"Now split. Meet back here in ten." Sasuke ordered, and they all nodded as they split, heading in different directions.

Suigetsu walked up to a group of nearby girls, "ladies. Mind if I buy you all a drink?" He smiled his toothy smile and winked, sending all the girls into a frenzy, all wanting to get their hands on him in the same way the girls wanted with Sasuke in the other world Sasuke had come from. He almost found it a little disturbing. He turned to find Jugo having a casual conversation with the bar tender.

So far, so good... Pretty casual... Now... Karin... Sasuke turned to where the red-head was. As soon as he located her, his jaw dropped and he turned pale. She was holding some random drunk by the neck high against the wall, choking him and pulling information from him by force.

"Now if you don't tell me where the Akatsuki is in this village, I'm going to kill you..." Karin threatened as she pulled out a kunai.

"P-please no! I-I don't know anything!" The poor man pleaded.

Karin smirked as she lifted the kunai, "wrong answer."

"Karin!" Sasuke shouted before she could lower her hand. She turned to look at him, grunted, then dropped the man.

"I don't ever want to see you again. Got that?" Karin warned the guy before he took off running, straight out of the bar.

"What was that?!" Sasuke yelled.

"What? I was getting information..." She rolled her eyes.

"No killing! That's been my rule forever, how could you--"

"Well, you never told us, Smartass." Karin blew him off.

Sasuke was furious and clenched his fingers, until he remembered that this was a different world. Things definitely weren't the same. He sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples, "just... No killing anybody from here on out..."

Karin rolled her eyes and walked away.

Sasuke sighed as he continued around, asking anyone if they knew anything at all about the Akatsuki, to no success.

_______________

The same man who had been threatened by Karin was still panting as he ran through the streets of the Hidden Sound Village. Suddenly, as soon as he passed an alley, a hand reached out, grabbed him, and yanked him back into the alley.

"So. What's going on in there? And don't lie. I was there." A female voice asked him.

"Th-there are four guys, Miss. They're after the Akatsuki." The man stammered, still scared of his experience with Karin.

"Hm. As I thought." The girl with pink hair sighed as she adjusted her mask, then her gray plates, "let's head out, then. No time to waste."

"What if they..."

"Don't worry." Her green eyes peered through her mask, "we'll get there before they do."

_________________

"Finally." Sasuke groaned as he yanked the map from his captive's hands, "pleasure doing business with you."

He tossed a small bag of Ryo at him before turning to walk off as he inspected the map.

"Did you get something?" Suigetsu asked as he, Karin, and Jugo approached him.

"Yeah. Here, the south edge of the Sound Village." Sasuke pointed at one of the many red dots on the map, "this guy had a map of all the Akatsuki hideouts. Convenient."

"So we're headed there? How do you know they'll be there? Of all places?" Suigetsu looked at him with curiosity.

"I just... I don't know..." Sasuke sighed, "let's go. It's not too far."

They traveled for five minutes until they finally reached the hideout, hidden in a thick forest, covered in vines, trees, leaves, and bushes.

"Be careful." Sasuke warned them as they crept into the hideout. He swung the stone doors open, then walked through. They looked around, taking In the carvings and features in the walls.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Suigetsu muttered, rubbing his arms.

"Oh don't worry, I'm here!" Karin grabbed Suigetsu's arm, but he yanked it back.

"It's not THAT creepy..." He clarified.

"Yeah, well, you don't have to be so..." Karin stopped in her tracks.

Everyone turned to her, "something wrong?"

"This chakra..." Karin shut her eyes, "I'm picking up nine Chakra signatures... Ten... Eleven... One is really strong..."

"Karin. Lead the way." Sasuke ordered.

They stared at him in shock, then nodded as they all followed Karin down the hall.

Why's Naruto with them? Are they after him all over again? Sasuke thought hard.

They took a few turns then stopped at a corner.

"They're in there." Karin told him as they peeked around the corner and saw a wooden door at the end of a long hallway.

"I'll go in on my own. If I don't come back out in five minutes, Suigetsu, come in as back up. Jugo and Karin, head back to the village and report this location." Sasuke laid out the plan.

"Alright." Jugo nodded.

"Just be careful in there. This is the Akatsuki you're messing with." Suigetsu warned him.

Sasuke nodded, then ran towards the door. He reached in his pack and pulled out a paper bomb. He stuck it on the door, took a few steps back, and detonated the bomb. Once the smoke cleared, wooden chips flew everywhere, but Sasuke had vanished.

"What the..." One of the voices shouted, "what was that?"

"Go check it out." Another voice ordered.

The figure walked out, looked around, then ran back in, "there's nothing. Someone obviously set this trap..."

"Stay alert, everyone."

"How could they have found this hideout?"

"We don't know. But we have to prepare for the worst."

"Your guys' security here sucks."

They all looked around frantically in search of the source of the voice, "what the--"

"The Uchiha..." One of the many black-hooded figures muttered.

When a kunai dropped in front of the Akatsuki members, they all looked up at the ceiling to see Sasuke drop down before them, his sword unsheathed.

"All you Bastards got me here, now you're going to send me back!" Sasuke demanded, but the sight of all his past friends wearing Akatsuki cloaks made him hesitate just for a moment.

"Enough." A familiar voice commanded.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted and turned towards the direction he heard him from. But as soon as he spotted him, he wasn't the Naruto he knew. This Naruto looked dull and spiritless. Almost as if he had a vendetta against someone. Almost like... Himself, "Naruto... What happened to you?"

"Still trying to pursue me, are you, Uchiha?"

"What?!"

"You know what happened to my parents! They were killed! And now the village will pay for it all, for sending them out into the Third Ninja War!" Naruto shouted, "you don't understand what it's like to lose your parents, or the only family you have! So just let me go and let me be, ya know?!"

Sasuke stared in horror. Naruto sounded exactly like Sasuke, and it scared him. Terrified him. Sasuke never realized what it was like to be Naruto, or being rejected from trying to help a friend, "Naruto... I do understand, but... Please, I need your help."

"Why should we help you?" Naruto crossed his arms and glared at Sasuke.

"Because..." Sasuke swallowed hard, "because you're my friend..."

"Hmph. Whatever, like I care."

Sasuke clenched his fists. Now he knew how Naruto felt every time he himself rejected Naruto, "if you won't help me figure this situation out, then I'll get someone else's help." He looked around that realized all his friends were evil. All but one he didn't spot, "wait, where's Sa--"

"Enough of this nonsense. I don't want to see you again, Sasuke. I'm letting you off on a warning here." Naruto peered at him, then waved him away, "get rid of him."

"Wait!" Sasuke shouted, but before anyone could do anything else, a smoke bomb dropped from the ceiling, and a figure dropped in front of him, "what the--"

"Get out of here!" The Anbu shouted.

"But--"

"That's an order!"

From her tone, Sasuke figured that this Anbu member was a girl. He ran towards the exit, but stopped when he felt something was wrong. He turned to see what had happened, and he saw that all the members had fled except for Tenten, who had pulled out a scroll and rained needles on the Anbu. She screamed and covered herself with her arms, then vanished when she used a substitution Jutsu. Sasuke smirked, knowing that this kunoichi knew how to take care of herself. From watching this fight unfold, she must've been the strongest kunoichi he's ever known. But there was an unexpected turn. He didn't realize that Hinata was there too, and she used her gentle fist technique and blocked all the Anbu's chakra points, forcing her to pass out.

"Why you!" Sasuke was mad, and so he ran forward and fought Tenten and Hinata.

"Oh, you know her?" Tenten smirked as she fought him.

"I don't have time for this..." Sasuke sneered as he reminded himself he had to get back to his squad, or else they'd be coming in themselves.

"Sasuke!"

And that was his cue, "Suigetsu! Take these two! Karin and Jugo should be back with reinforcements."

"What about you?"

"I have other business right now. I'll catch up with you later." Sasuke said as he turned to the Anbu. He ran over to her, picked her up, then used a hand sign and vanished in a puff of smoke.

________________

Sasuke had reappeared about a couple of miles away from the hideout, and he was now on his way to where he remembered the Team Hebi hideout, hoping and praying it was still there. He finally reached it and checked the area, not seeing any traps or anything suspicious. He walked in and found the medical room, where he remembers getting treated by Karin, who wouldn't leave his side. He laid the Anbu on the bed, being extra careful not to hurt her. He had only some experience with medical ninjutsu, but thankfully, he knew the basics of bandaging a wound or applying a splint to a broken leg. He scanned her body in a completely non-creepy way. She was fit and thin, but not in a sickly way. Not too skinny, not too fat. But what he didn't notice was that her hair was up in a tight bun and covered by her mask, which covered her hair and her face. He could see her closed eyelids past the mask, and something about them made her so familiar. He didn't want to intrude and remove her mask, but he did want to do something about her wounds. He bandaged her leg and her arm, but didn't know what to do about the wound on her chest. So he only wrapped bandage around her after taking her chest plate off. He tried not to stare at her as she slept, but he just had to know what was under the mask. He swallowed hard as he felt the mask, then slowly pulled it off. He gasped when he recognized the girl to be none other than his pink-haired teammate.

"S-Sakura..." Sasuke whispered, his eyes dilating, "you're in the Anbu Black Ops, huh? Plus, you're the one that saved me..." He swallowed hard as he gazed at her face, soft without anger whenever she looked at him. Did she even know him in this world? So many questions ran through his head, but it really wasn't long before she started to wake up.

"Wh-where am I?" She gasped as she sat up and looked around frantically. She jumped and shifted further off the bed when she saw Sasuke sitting next to the bed, peeling an apple, "an apple?"

"Yeah. Want some?" Sasuke offered.

"Uh..." She felt her face, then gasped when her mask was gone.

"That's fine. More for me." Sasuke shrugged as he took a piece and brought it to his open mouth to take a bite.

"Ah, wait!" She stopped him. He opened an eye and smirked, then handed her the slice, "th-thanks..." She carefully lifted the slice to her mouth, then shoved it in her mouth whole, chewing softly.

"Thanks for coming to help earlier."

"Thank you for bandaging my wounds."

They exchanged polite nods of thanks. They sat quietly, until Sasuke spoke first, "do you know who I am, Sakura?"

"No, but... How do you know me?"

She doesn't recognize me... Sasuke smiled at her sadly, "I... I've heard of you." Sasuke tapped his chin, "the strongest Kunoichi on the Anbu Black Ops I've ever known?"

"Th-that's not true..." Sakura rubbed her elbow, then shook her head, "I need to go. I still have my mission to complete..." Sakura said as she started to get up, but cringed and inhaled sharply when the pain in her chest worsened.

"You have a deep cut in your chest. I haven't stitched it up, because... I-I didn't want to... Intrude, but I know some medical ninjutsu... I could heal it a little, unless you know how to treat it yourself..." Sasuke scratched the back of his neck. He just wanted to help her in any way he can, especially since he got saved by his teammate whom he called annoying all the time.

"O-okay..." She stuttered as she loosened a bit, then sat and waited for Sasuke.

He stared at her for a few seconds before he held his hands over her chest, right below her neck. Then he focused all his chakra into the palms of his hands and began to heal her.

"Thanks again."

"No problem."

Sasuke finished by bandaging the wound again, only this time she took off her shirt. He tried not to stare or look anywhere as she turned around and he bandaged her up.

This is embarrassing... Sasuke gulped, "alright. All done. I'm not sure how much you could move around now or if you could even get back to the village."

"Wait!" Sakura called before he could leave, "I have... Nowhere to go right now."

"What?"

"The Anbu... They sent me on a mission, and I can't return to the village until it's completed."

"So..."

"May I... Stay here? Until I recover."

Sasuke turned to face her, "you can, but I won't be here 24/7..."

"That's fine. As long as you come and visit to keep me company sometimes... Besides, it's dangerous leaving an injured ninja alone at a hideout."

Sasuke nodded, understanding that Sakura was right. She was his responsibility now, for who knows how long. He can't stitch her up, just because he doesn't want to have to stare at her chest for that long, and the medical ninjutsu only stopped the bleeding temporarily. He had to figure out another way. Another angle, "you're right. I'll come back tonight. Just please stay here and get some rest."

Sakura smiled, "oh don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

With that, he patted her shoulder and left.