Genjutsu

Chapter 3 old friends

xXx

It's been about a month now, Naruto still has yet to return to training. However he's able to care for himself now, sort of. He won't leave the house though. Iruka comes by every so often with groceries. Tsunade has come over once or twice to check on him.

His old friends however rarely come over any more. Mostly it's because it didn't seem like their presence helped him any. Once in a while each of them would swing by his place, but usually only one person will show up at a time. Sakura still comes by every few days, partly because she's in charge of his medical health for the time being, but mostly she comes over desperate to try and help her dear friend. Ever since the incident she can't help but worry about him. Unfortunately so far even her presence hasn't had much of an effect on him.

Word about what happened to him has been spreading. There are many rumors about what Itachi might have done to the fox boy in order to break his resolve so completely. So far the rumors haven't gotten anywhere near the truth though. Within only a month the rumors have spread far and wide, not only to the other nations, but also to a few organizations. Though not all of them have heard yet.

xXx

"There's nothing to do" Sasuke sighs. Orochimaru is busy today doing who knows what. Sasuke has been left alone to his training once again. It's been a while though since his last lesson and he's sick of training at the moment. He sits there bored in his room listening to the noises around him.

He hears a couple sound ninja walking by his room chatting about something. "Did you hear about what happened to that fox brat?" Hearing that Sasuke gets up and leaves his room, walking down the hall to the two chatting

"So, what happened to the brat?" The two of them jumped, surprised by the silent Uchiha behind them. Both try to regain composure and assume a respectful posture.

"What is it Sasuke-sama?" One of them says nervously.

"I heard you talking about a fox brat. Is it the one from the leaf village?"

"Yes sir, we were just talking about a rumor that's going around"

"Well? What is it then?"

"Well sir. They're saying that the brat went up against Itachi. Whatever it was that Itachi did to the boy he won't speak to anyone anymore, in fact they say he's even stopped training as a ninja. Everyone is talking about it, trying to guess what it was that Itachi did to him." The two of them are still clearly nervous about talking to Lord Orochimaru's favorite pupil.

"You can take your leave now if you wish to" Sasuke said to the two ninja practically shaking in their boots.

"Yes Sasuke-sama" with that they quickly left. Or should I say fled.

Sasuke went back to his room to think. 'He probably used his genjutsu on him. Just like he did with me.' He became lost in thought for some time. Thinking about what his brother could have done to his old rival. He pitied the poor boy, knowing just how evil his brother could be, or at least he thought he knew. Even his guesses about what had happened didn't come close to the terrible truth.

In the end he made his decision. He couldn't just leave his best friend alone suffering because of his brother. While Orochimaru was out on his mission Sasuke slipped out of the base in the dead of night. He headed back to the village knowing full well what could happen to him. He couldn't bare the thought of not trying to help his friend.

In the early morning he arrived at the village, being careful to avoid detection. He decided to make his way to lady Tsunade, he intended to stay with his friend and he knew his best chance of that happening is to beg the hokage for forgiveness so that he could stay by Naruto's side without fearing discovery.