It had been two days. Two days since team 7 truly broke apart with no reassurance of meeting up throughout the years or even if the others were still alive.

The Uzumaki and Uchiha sat in silence within the forest. Not a sound was heard around them but they could at least rest somewhat easy tonight as Naruto had placed seals miles out of their small camp so that they had a chance to run if the Sannin came for them.

Though, when no sign of the Sannin came, worry began to settle in as they feared the snake had gone for Sakura instead but a small hint of hope brewed in their hearts that maybe their sensei had defeated the Sannin.

There was no telling now though.

Naruto stared into the dimly lit fire with an empty expression. The team was all he had. It was his family. His clan.

Nevertheless, all the Jinjuuriki could focus on now was training. Training to become stronger and protect those precious to him.

Naruto's dull blue eyes painfully shifted away from the fire's light and over to the Uchiha across from him. He squinted his eyes to adjust quicker to the light change and noticed Sasuke had been staring into the fire as well.

The blonde stared at his brother for a moment, his mind blank but his heart overflowing with untold emotions.

"Keep staring at me like that and I'll knock you out" Sasuke muttered suddenly, though his voice held no intention on following through with his threat.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him "A bit dramatic, don't you think?"

Sasuke looked up from the fire, directly into Naruto's blue eyes and it made him slightly jealous of the Uchiha's eyes that didn't need time to adjust.

"No" Sasuke stated before his eyes went back to the fire.

Naruto subtly rolled his eyes "We should talk about your Sharingan" The blonde instigated the conversation neither of them wanted to address because of the trauma behind obtaining the eyes.

"No. We shouldn't" Sasuke stated as he glared into the fire.

"Ke, stop staring into the fire. Your eyes need time to heal and I doubt a hot light will help it" Naruto ordered, taking his natural role of leadership. Only... The Uchiha completely ignored him and continued staring into the fire.

Heaving out a large sigh, Naruto stood up and walked around the fire toward Sasuke. The Uchiha immediately noticed his disappearance but still didn't move as he could see the blonde moving in his peripheral vision.

Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto gripped onto the back of his collar and pulled back harshly, throwing him against a nearby tree.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted upon impact and glared fiercely at the blonde.

"What are you doing?" He snapped, his Sharingan instantly coming to life.

Naruto stared into the three tomoes of the Sharingan with an intense gaze "We need to talk" he muttered calmly.

Sasuke shook his shoulder harshly, as his shirt was ruffled, which only slightly fixed it.

"What's there to talk about?"

Naruto almost grinned at finally making some leeway with his brother. It'd only taken two days.

"The Sharingan. You obtained the Eternal Mangekou" Naruto revealed as though the Uchiha hadn't known the fact.

"So what?" Sasuke muttered, looking anywhere but at the jinjuuriki.

Naruto gave him an incredulous stare "So what? Just how much did what happened affect you, Ke? For it to unlock that Sharingan..." Naruto trailed off. His eyes trailing to the side as well.

The blonde sighed as Sasuke remained silent "You need to be more careful now. If word gets out-"

"I know that" Sasuke snapped as he glared back at the Uzumaki. Though his Sharingan was now deactivated.

"Do you?" Naruto instantly snapped back "It's not just Danzo you have to worry about." Sasuke flinched as each word Naruto said became louder. The blonde slowly moved closer to the Uchiha.

"It's Orochimaru" Sasuke flinched.

"It's other villages" another flinch.

"It's the Akatsuki" A hesitant pause in which Naruto noticed.

The blonde gave him an expression of disbelief "What? You think Itachi will protect you? He doesn't even know you know about his secret mission!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke remained silent as he took the scolding. The blonde was right after all. Itachi wouldn't be able to protect him and would most likely try to kill him before he even begins to explain what he knows.

"You could go blind too now, ya know" Naruto stated, his voiced lowered considerably as he took a moment to breath.

A moment of silence passed before Sasuke shifted his eyes from the ground and looked at Naruto.

"I know" The young Uchiha whispered.

The two stared at each other for an intense moment before the sound of the fire crackling brought them back to reality.

Naruto moved away with a tired expression and made his way back to the fire. Throwing his weight down, Sasuke joined shortly after and the two continued staring into the fire.

"We need to rest" Naruto muttered "I'll take first watch" he stated before getting up.

Sasuke glanced up at him "To. Do you...think he survived?" The Uchiha questioned, his fingers crossed as he leaned forward onto his knees.

Naruto looked up with an unreadable expression at the clear night sky.

"I don't know" was all the Jinjuuriki said before jumping into a nearby tree.

Sasuke shifted his gaze back to the fire before sighing and simply laying down in the dirt to try and sleep.

Hours passed as the Uchiha watched the stars move gracefully across the sky. He couldn't sleep. Each time he tried, visions of what could've happened to the rest of his team haunted him.

Sasuke groaned as he sat up. Thoughts of simply severing his bond with team 7 plagued his mind and he could feel the curse mark reacting to these thoughts.

Shaking his head to try and disrupt his mind, Sasuke stood up and felt around for Naruto.

Finding him in a nearby tree, he walked to the base and looked up to see the blonde already staring back at him.

Sasuke didn't need to say anything as the blonde jumped down and gazed at him for a moment before walking back towards the fire.

The raven-haired chuunin glanced back at him before jumping into the same tree and beginning his shift of keeping watch.

___

"The land of hot water" Naruto muttered as he unzipped his jacket. The two chuunin walked through a small town where they were supposed to meet up with Jiraiya.

The village they were in had incredibly high humidity due to the number of hot springs.

Sasuke glanced at the wondering eyes around them and clicked his tongue, gaining his teammates attention "We shouldn't be walking around in ninja gear. It's making us more noticable" he muttered, hands in his pockets.

Naruto glanced at the wondering eyes of the villagers as well but paid no mind as he noticed no other ninja in the village yet.

"I would assume they aren't quite used to shinobi. We're the only ones here from what I can discern" Naruto said with a bored tone.

Though the Uchiha was correct. In other locations, they were taking a risk by walking around as they were.

They'd need to buy some cloaks before parting ways.

Sweat dripped down the blonde's forehead as he finally shrugged off his yellow jacket and tied it around his waist. The chuunin wore a simple white shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back.

"Well well well! If it isn't the brat and his brat friend!" The loud, obnoxious, voice of Jiraiya called the two chuunin.

Swiveling, the two 'brats' glared fiercely at the Sannin.

Jiraiya simply grinned as he walked up to them.

"About time you got here. I was beginning to think you weren't coming" he said as he closed his eyes in mock thought.

"We ran into some...complications" Naruto stated, giving his teammate a side glance.

"Oh?" Jiraiya voiced, his expression slowly coming to one of realization at the seriousness the two held in their eyes.

"We shouldn't talk here" Sasuke stated before walking off without another word.

Naruto eyed Jiraiya before turning and following his brother. Jiraiya sighed and shook his head before doing the same.

The three came to a stop in a small clearing within the woods, just outside the small village.

"Well? What happened?" Jiraiya questioned impatiently.

"We were about to be attacked by Orochimaru. Kakashi-Sensei went on as a distraction while we escaped" Sasuke revealed, not an ounce of emotion in his tone or eyes.

Jiraiya reeled back at the news. His first thoughts settling on how the two could be so calm when their sensei was potentially dead and then stopping on wondering if the silver-haired Jounin had survived.

Jiraiya stared down at the two, trying to figure out their emotions but couldn't find any cracks in their demeanor.

"I see" The older man muttered. There wasn't much more he could say.

"I'll send word to the Hokage about this. She'll most likely send out a scouting squad to locate him and reinforce him if necessary" The Sannin tried reassuring even if it didn't look like they needed it.

Naruto and Sasuke remained silent, both keeping ahold of hope for their sensei but also understanding that Tsunade most likely wouldn't send a squad out as there weren't many that could hold their own against someone like Orochimaru.

"Sure" Naruto muttered "we should get going" The blonde stated whilst crossing his arms over his head in a relaxed stretch.

"Hmm. Sasuke, do you want us to accompany you to the land of lightning?" Jiraiya questioned though his expression didn't seem like he wanted to do that.

Sasuke simply shook his head before turning to Naruto "I'll see you" The Uchiha said with a polite nod.

Naruto rolled his eyes before grabbing onto his brother's shoulder and pushing him into a tight embrace. It the raven-haired boy a moment before he responded and gently returned the hug.

"Be safe. Don't forget our plan" Naruto said with a serious expression before his face turned to one of panic "or us!" He quickly added.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and shook his head "I won't".

With that, Sasuke Uchiha walked off without another word as Naruto watched him go. The last of his team, now truly disbanded.

The blonde flinched as a large hand grabbed onto his shoulder. Looking over, Naruto glanced at Jiraiya with the first sign of vulnerability in his eyes that the Sannin had seen since meeting up with the boys.

"Let's get going" Jiraiya stated softly as he let go of the boy and began walking in the opposite direction as that of Sasuke.

Naruto sighed, glancing in the Uchiha's direction once more before turning and following after Jiraiya.

___

"Hn" Sasuke grunted as he jumped through trees at high speed.

He should've known. He did know. His idiot teammate simply didn't listen.

As the Uchiha left the village, he noticed three chakra sources following him. He was quick to create a clone to head in a different direction but the three seemed to have caught up to him as flashes of the enemy nin's faces appeared in his mind. They had defeated the clone and were once again on his trail.

Sasuke didn't use much chakra in evading them and didn't bother fighting back much when they defeated his clone. It was more to gather Intel that he sent it out in the first place.

But now that the three were once again on him, he had to tap into some chakra to up his speed a little. Though he could easily get away if he took off his weights, the Uchiha didn't want to bother buying new ones again once he discarded his old ones.

Laziness didn't look good on the Uchiha and could evidently cost his life but he was too tired to worry about it.

He was halfway to the land of lighting and would likely arrive by nightfall the next day if he continued without rest.

He was trained to keep going for long periods of time and by the way, the three behind him kept slowing down, although minuscule, he knew he could outlast them.

As nightfall came, the Uchiha had finally shaken the three from his trail.

Sasuke wondered how word could have gotten out so quick. Either it was that or the three were simple common thugs looking to take advantage of a young boy without a guardian. As disgusted as it made the Uchiha feel, it was more than likely the latter is what they were after.

The raven-haired chuunin kept going, though he couldn't sense the others following him anymore, he didn't want to take any chances. It would be better to arrive at the land of lighting as soon as he could.

For the rest of the night and day, the boy kept jumping across the canopy of thick foliage, only stopping every now and then to eat something.

As nightfall came, Sasuke breathed out in relief at seeing Kumogakure coming into view though it was short-lived as the Uchiha felt a sudden pain in his chest. It was too late that he noticed a dark-skinned hand following from his chest with electricity sparking over it.

Sasuke refused to activate his Sharingan, not wanting to give himself away just yet. Falling down to the ground, the Uchiha was too disoriented to stop himself from falling and hit the ground hard.

He coughed up blood but didn't have time to readjust to his surroundings as he noticed electricity coming down, full-force, from the trees.

Rolling out of the way, Sasuke glared at the man that jumped down with a lazy expression on his features.

"Can I help you?" The man questioned with a raised brow.