Wager

Sasuke opened his eyes to see the familiar ceiling of the hospital he had been in for the past two days. What's funny was that he had just left the hospital that same day when something unexpected put him back in it. He recalled his brother's word the previous day.

"The Nine Tails Jinchuriki is your friend. I am here for him and if you don't have enough hate to stop me, then I will kill him."

His train of thought completely changed immediately. Where was Naruto? Was he okay? He got up from the bed and made his way out the window. He felt he was okay and in reality he was.

The first place he ran to was Naruto's house. He went in through the window, but he didn't see anybody. Where was he? He sincerely hoped that the blond had not been captured by…

He paused and slammed a fist to the earth. He was weak. Itachi was in front of him and he couldn't do a thing. He shook his head as he tried to erase all thought of his brother and tried to figure out what had happened when he had passed out. It dawned on him that the Hokage might know something.

He made his way towards the office and it dawned on him that he hadn't in all actuality met the Hokage.

It didn't take him long before he arrived at the office which to his dismay she was not present at. They had informed him that she had gone to the hospital. To see who? He asked himself. He found irony in those words seeing as the person he was now looking for had lead him back to the place where he had been earlier.

He arrived back at the hospital and inquired from one of the nurses where the Hokage was and he was in for another shock.

Kakashi was hospitalized. On hearing his room number, Sasuke made his way there and pushed the door opened. All eyes were on him as he saw his sensei propped up on the bed with his usual droopy expression.

Inside the room where a large white haired man that he assumed to be the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya because, Naruto had talked about him a while. A beautiful blond lady was in the room and Sasuke noted that she had a little bit more 'luggage' than any woman he had ever seen. Surprisingly, Naruto was also in the room, albeit it looked like he was making a cat-like pose on the window.

"Naruto."

"Oh… Sasuke. Finally decided to wake up huh."

The black haired boy was relieved. His best friend was still okay and well. He turned his head towards Kakashi and the white haired man understood what the look was. He wanted answers.

He sighed as he noticed that both Tsunade and Jiraiya were not going to help him with this one.

"Where do I start with this?"

"Maybe from the beginning."

Kakashi sighed again. "The Akatsuki are a group of rogue S-rank criminals who are after the tailed beasts for some reason. They most presumably came for the Nine Tailed Fox in Naruto."

"One of the members of the Akatsuki also happens to be Uchiha Itachi," Jiraiya added as he looked at Sasuke. It must have been hard for the boy.

"What happened to them?"

"They fled after I came to the scene."

Honestly, Sasuke was quite relieved to find out that his brother was still alive. He wanted to be the one to deliver the killing blow to Itachi, but what their earlier bout had proved was that he was nowhere near his brother.

"What happened to Kakashi-sensei?"

"Overuse of the sharingan partially, but mostly because Itachi put him out of commission. It's taken all his energy to just sit properly."

Sasuke cocked his head towards the woman who just replied his question. "Who's the lady?" he whispered to Naruto, not a low whisper.

"I happen to be one of the Legendary Sannin and your Hokage."

"Interim," a voice said with a slight cough.

This shocked Sasuke because she didn't basically look like Hokage material. He didn't bother to say anything but instead turned his head towards Naruto. Their teacher Kakashi had been taken care of by his brother and he was one of the strongest ninja in the village. How would they be able to take him on?

It had been about three days since Naruto started working on the rasengan and Jiraiya felt that they didn't have much time to waste.

"Naruto," he called out to the blond. "Let's get back to training."

The blond nodded. He also felt that he needed the training especially if people were to come after him.

"Fine, but you are going to explain the whole deal to me." His face was one that said that he wasn't going to go ahead if he wasn't told what was going on.

"That's okay, but I am going to leave that to Kakashi."

Naruto nodded. It would be pointless to argue with him. The man always had a way with words.

Tsunade watched the both of them leave and turned towards the one eyed ninja. "You should be clear for leave but I would suggest you rest."

Kakashi nodded and watched her leave before turning his eyes to the only other person present in the room. Sasuke.

"You feel weak and disgusted in yourself. You couldn't take down your brother and might have lost your friend, but at the same time, you now understand that you can't take him on. And that worries you."

Sasuke was about to say something as Kakashi started his little analysis, but he held back his tongue. His sensei was right as usual.

"Do you remember why I taught you the chidori?"

"Because we are alike."

Sasuke was confident in his response and he was rather taken abrupt to hear Kakashi's response to this.

"You are both right and wrong. You are right in the sense that it is because we are alike, but you're wrong on what makes us alike. To you, it is the sharingan that makes us alike, but in reality, it is more than that."

"You have a goal and that goal has become your driving force and in truth, it is goal that will lead you towards a bitter end. The chidori was created due to my own weakness and while powerful, it had a huge flaw. Its recklessness allowed me to only focus on the one, and it was only through the sacrifice of someone close to me that I was able to accommodate for this via the sharingan. In essence all I am trying to say is you wish to kill your brother, but it shouldn't be for the sole purpose of vengeance. You have the sharingan which as good a vision as you'll ever have, so please see something that goes beyond vengeance."

"The chidori is a tool for protection and it is not to be used on those that ought to be protected."

Sasuke nodded even though he vaguely understood what his teacher meant, nevertheless, he felt he had to say something. "That's easy for you to say, but you haven't felt what I have felt."

"And what's that Sasuke?"

"You don't know the pain of losing someone," Sasuke said, his voice slightly louder. He was going to kill Itachi by any means and he was going to gather up the power to do just that.

"That doesn't give you any excuse to pursue vengeance."

"Really? What would you do if I were to kill all your loved ones? Would you just watch me go free and not kill me?!"

"I wouldn't do anything… because they are all dead."

Silence. Not a word was said from Sasuke as he watched his sensei say these words. If it were the old him, he wouldn't have noticed but he saw the sad smile on Kakashi's face. Apparently staying near Naruto had influenced him a great deal and he was unsure how but he was able to read emotions a lot easier.

"I better than anyone know your feeling of helplessness and your struggle to be better. No. Actually there should be another who knows your feeling of helplessness better than me even though he hadn't gone through anything similar. Though he may not know to what extent, he knows."

Sasuke knew who Kakashi was talking about and memories made between him and Naruto came pouring in. He was starting to see where Kakashi may have been coming from.

"I do have a solution to your little dilemma."

"What's that?"

"It would be best to let you see for yourself."

-Break-

Three days had passed and boy was Jiraiya happy. In front of him was a blond boy that he had come to be attached to over the past weeks, and while he knew the boy was destined for greatness, he couldn't help but have doubts in himself and the boy.

In front of him was Naruto holding a rasengan, and not an incomplete one but a complete one. It was swirling fine and was perfectly shaped with an adequate amount of force to back it up.

"You did good Naruto. With this I have won the bet against Tsunade and subsequently against Danzo as well."

Naruto smiled. He was happy and ecstatic and was just… he had Hinata to thank for that too. He silently reminisced as Jiraiya left the training area.

-Flashback-

Naruto gritted his teeth as another failed attempt to finish the formation of the rasengan exploded in his face and sent him flying.

He picked himself up and turned to a corner of the trees to see a pair of white eyes staring at him.

"Hinata," he called to the shy girl.

"Naruto-kun. Good evening," she greeted as she timidly walked over to him. She was rather surprised that he had found her out.

"So… you saw that huh?"

"Y-yes."

"I don't know why I just can't get it right."

"Maybe I can help," she said as she made a seal. "Byakugan! With this I can see what is going on."

Naruto nodded gingerly at that.

He held his hand as he gradually built up what was needed for the formation of the rasengan, spinning his chakra into swirls until… BOOM.

The explosion blew him and Hinata apart as they collided roughly with the ground. Naruto hurriedly got up and went to pick her up, seemingly embarrassed because he blew her away.

"So… where you able to see anything?"

She nodded and looked deep into his eyes before holding his hands causing the blond to look at her awkwardly.

"What?"

"Your chakra is unfocused Naruto-kun."

"I doubt that. My chakra control is not perfect but it shouldn't be that bad that they lose focus."

"No not that," she said before pointing at his heart and then to his head. "They aren't united. Your heart is unfocused. It is drifting and shifting its gaze."

He blinked once. Then twice. He heard a voice deep in his head… or was it his heart. He was confused but he shook the voice of the Kyubi away and slowly retracted his hands from Hinata and stared at them.

Hinata didn't say anything as she left him to his thoughts. But before she left she heard him shout out a big thank you.

-Flashback end-

He was able to form the rasengan thanks to what she had told him. The focus he lacked was in his own chakra. It was controlled but his mind was drifting to different places. He was scared. He was angry and he was lying to himself but he was able to steel through it and form the rasengan.

"Take that chidori."

Now that he was done though, he didn't have anything to do yet but relax.