Identity Crisis

Recap: Sasuke’s soul is trapped in Naruto’s body. Naruto wants to find a way to get Sasuke a new body, but Sasuke’s not so agreeable about the idea. His body is lost, so why be trapped in a weaker body? However, Naruto’s long last family still doesn’t know about Naruto’s houseguests – Sasuke or Kyuubi – but they are expecting quite a bit from him.

Sleeping also hasn’t been too easy for Naruto. He keeps dreaming about his father giving him a cryptic warning, but he can’t figure out what it means. Naruto’s got a lot on his plate, and it doesn’t help that Sasuke takes control of his body when he sleeps. Sasuke’s too restless. A restless Sasuke is never a good thing.

In addition to complications with Sasuke, his family (especially his great-grandmother) has made his life more complicated. His great-grandmother sent out flyers with information about Naruto, stating that he was interested in finding a love interest. Now females have been hounding Naruto in hopes of a romantic relationship with him. He doesn’t have time to deal with them as he’s trying to get his body sorted out! (Besides, he’s got Sasuke – he’s taken.) While Tsunade has finally realized that he’s not crazy, and that Sasuke’s soul is residing in his body, she needs to do some tests to see why he keeps waking up with a different appearance each morning.

While waiting for night to fall to start the testing, Naruto sought out his grandmother in hopes of spending time with her. They set off to spend time together in Konoha, disguised in henges as mother and son so no one would hound Naruto about his supposedly single status...


Identity Crisis

Chapter 8: To Stay or to Run?

While Sasuke knew that Naruto and his grandmother were pretending to be mother and son and therefore needed “code” names to go by, having Naruto to go by "Suke-chan" made Sasuke’s eye twitch.

For some reason, the nickname, "Suke-chan," bothered Sasuke a great deal. Perhaps because he knew that Naruto was purposefully goading him that made him actually rise to the bait. Maybe it was because Sasuke's personality truly was taking on more and more of Naruto's traits who Sasuke knew dealt with insults with indignation and much muttered denial. There was another, other reason, that Sasuke thought might have triggered such a wanton response from him: his avenger side needed coaxing. Sasuke smirked in sadistic satisfaction as he planned how to exact revenge on Naruto for the cutesy nickname.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his giddiness at being happily bounced about and carried on his grandmother's shoulders made him only pay partial, actually, very little, attention to the smirk and the evil aura that Sasuke emanated. Naruto felt too happy reveling in the fact that he had a family; reveling in how his grandmother was acting like all those moms he had seen happily picking up and swinging their children around in the air. Naruto wiped away happily at the few tears of joy that leaked at the corner of his eyes.

Kyohaku, while happy at having Naruto with her, worried that her mother might have gone overboard with the flyers and her desire to see Naruto with someone so soon. Naruto didn't want all the attention (or at least he didn't seem to want it at the moment), and she hoped that Naruto wasn't too mad at his great-grandmother. Kyohaku knew that her mom meant well and that she had good intentions, but it unsettled her at how much her parents seemed to be trying to take over subtle aspects of Naruto's life. They loved Naruto dearly, and they thought very highly of him. That was why they expected and wished for him to become daimyo. And while Kyohaku thought that Naruto would indeed make a very good daimyo, she knew he wanted to become Hokage more than anything else. It was, after all, what her son, Naruto's father, had done. In some ways, to Kyohaku, that seemed like more of a family tradition than for Naruto to become daimyo.

There was a strange temptation for Kyohaku to take Naruto, looking so young and unaffected, and to run away with him where no one would try and make him do anything that he didn't want to do. Of course, he wasn't really as young as he appeared to be at the moment, and she knew part of her was trying to make up for giving up Minato by stealing Naruto away for herself. She knew it wasn't right (even though she really wanted to). For now, she would enjoy what time she got to spend with her grandson. She would just take him and run with him away from her parents.

So the three (though it really only looked like two) of them went happily back down the long winding paths from the Daimyo's home to Konoha's Ichiraku ramen shop, all three lost in their own thoughts. Sasuke schemed sadistically, Naruto joyfully grinned about his good fortune, and Kyohaku was caught between happiness at having found a connection to her lost son as well as worrying over her newfound relation.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Miso ramen please mister!" Naruto said happily, recalling what he used to say when he ordered ramen when he was younger. He sat, grinning happily and feeling quite at home at Ichiraku Ramen. His shorter than usual legs dangled from the seat, and he happily began to swing them back and forth. He wasn't at all deterred or upset by once again being short. In fact, he had noted how close his face was to the table which meant that his face would be close to his ramen once it arrived. It would mean that his ramen would go from the bowl to his mouth that much faster.

Sasuke was meanwhile figuring out what would be the easiest way to get Naruto to spill all of his ramen, thus exacting his revenge for the name “Suke-chan.”

"And what would you like?" Teuchi, Ichiraku's owner, asked kindly to Kyohaku. She looked thoughtful before answering.

"I'll have what he's having." Naruto grinned widely up at her as she smiled back at him. Naruto looked around him happily as his stomach growled loudly. Kyohaku gave him a wink at his stomach's insistence for food. Naruto didn't look unabashed. It was dinnertime after all, so it was understandable that his stomach would growl. He hadn't eaten in what felt like ages. He had skipped lunch (not feeling very hungry around lunch time as his stomach was still unsettled after hearing his great-grandfather talking about sex). He'd gone from the Hokage Tower to the Sen home back to the Hokage Tower, most of the way back to the Sen family home and now back into Konoha. He was ready for food! He was extra hungry.

Kyohaku affectionately ruffled Naruto's henged black hair as she leaned down and gave a quick kiss to his forehead. Naruto rumpled up his nose at the display but was secretly pleased at the attention.

"Chicken ramen," a familiar voice requested. Naruto whipped his head to his right to see Sai sitting down on the stool next to him, and Yamato-taichou sitting down on the other side of Sai. Yamato ordered, and then he looked toward Naruto. He grinned widely at Naruto, and Naruto wondered if Yamato knew who he was. As far as Naruto knew, only sharingan users could clearly see through a henge, but Naruto wasn't sure if perhaps his body actions had given him away.

"They've probably recognized your chakra," Sasuke said as he recognized the voice as well, his thoughts of revenge vanishing. That was Sai who had spoken, the fake him. Naruto hadn’t seen him since Sasuke’s “funeral,” and Sasuke had been grateful about it. He didn’t like the idea of anyone else that looked like him spending time near Naruto.

Kyohaku looked at Yamato and then looked away. Naruto had almost forgotten that Yamato had been with him and Kakashi the day that he had found out about being related to the Sen family. Clearly his grandmother hadn't forgotten as she recognized Yamato.

Their little staring contest was interrupted when Teuchi placed Kyohaku and Naruto’s ramen orders in front of them before quickly turning to Sai and Yamato.

"So how is Naruto doing? I saw that flyer about him! Is he really related to the daimyo? And Yondaime Hokage? Why didn't he say anything?!" Teuchi asked Yamato and Sai in a rush.

Naruto couldn't help but look at his teammates expectantly.

"It's only been recently that Naruto himself has known, as indicated in the flyer," Yamato said thoughtfully.

"Ah, did it? I was too excited that I guess I didn't read it that carefully. Bad example I am! Ah...I remember when Naruto was about six or seven and he started coming here for the first time. Poor kid didn't even know how to read," Teuchi said reminiscing.

Naruto inhaled more ramen into his mouth than he had intended, and he had to fight his gag reflex to stop from spitting it out.

"You didn't know how to read at that age?" Sasuke asked slightly incredulous. (He’d never admit that he was also partially sated that Naruto had choked on his ramen. Served him right for eating too much.)

"He couldn't read?" Yamato asked, also clearly surprised. Kyohaku was paying close attention, and Naruto was grateful that the steam from his ramen could be used as an excuse for his suddenly rosy cheeks.

"Nope. The kid didn't have anyone at home to teach him, so I had to do it myself. Well, actually, that's not quite how it went. You see, Naruto knew a lot of characters, but they were all Chinese characters."

"Isn't that what we write with besides Katakana and Hiragana?" Yamato asked skeptically. Teuchi laughed.

"Well, yes! But I mean he knew them in Chinese. He understood their meaning in Chinese which is different than our language! The kanji, while they have practically the same meaning, are pronounced differently and grouped differently to form words."

"Even a few of the kanji are different," Sai said as he took out his paintbrush and sketchbook, and he quickly painted two sets of characters. His hand flew carefully over the page with graceful strokes.

"The first one," Sai explained, "is the Chinese version of how to write "Chinese" in Chinese. The second is how we would write Chinese. See, there are similarities and differences. The first character in each is the same," Sai pointed toward the character that meant "middle," a box with a line going through its center that started each group of characters. He then tapped on the one with only two characters. "This is the Chinese version. It literally means Middle Language where as our version," Sai pointed to the one with three characters, "literally means Middle Kingdom's Speech."

"Fascinating! How do you know all this?" Teuchi asked Sai.

"In doing sumi-e art, I've found many of the older works are done by monks who use Chinese writing to enhance their artwork with a poem on the side of their painting. In learning the poems, I learned some Chinese-"

"-Probably learned it from one of his many fucking books-" Sasuke sneered.

"-in a book I read," Sai finished. Naruto couldn't help but stifle a laugh while taking a gulpful of ramen, and Teuchi came over and gave him a thump on the back to help his spluttering and coughing which only resulted in making his coughing and choking worse.

After Kyohaku had finally managed to get Teuchi away from pounding on her grandson's back, and after she and Naruto had left a very profusely bowing and apologetic Teuchi, they waited to the side of Ichiraku ramen.

"I'm sure your friends knew it was you. We should wait for them," Kyohaku said brightly, pulling in Naruto's smaller frame against her own, hugging him from behind, taking advantage of their altered appearances. It made Naruto feel like he had a Mom. He felt a twinge of jealousy that wasn't his own, and he realized that Sasuke felt left out. Of course, Sasuke wasn't one to be ignored for too long if he wanted attention.

"I can see it now. When you die it will be due to choking on ramen," Sasuke said sarcastically. Naruto frowned, wishing he could retort back but unable to do so as Yamato and Sai found him and his grandmother waiting for them.

"Naruto, it's good to see you. We've been worried since..." Yamato trailed off, leaving 'Sasuke's death' unsaid.

"Tsunade said you've gone crazy, hearing Sasuke's voice in your head and that's why you aren't allowed to go on missions with us," Sai said bluntly. Yamato shook his head, an exasperated look of frustration on his face.

"Sai, the next time you go to a bookstore, pick something up that teaches you how to be tactful," Yamato suggested, shaking his head.

"Hearing Sasuke's voice in your head?" Kyohaku said, looking down at her grandson worriedly, her expression slightly off due to her henged appearance. It made it hard for Naruto to read her expression to see if she were more concerned or more incredulous.

"Thanks Sai," Naruto hissed out of the side of his mouth. "I'm fine, honest! Tsunade-baa-chan was just worried is all. I'm not hearing anyone's dead voice. Don't worry. I promise I’m okay," Naruto said smiling widely.

"Wow, you managed to say something that didn't make you sound crazy," Sasuke said, and Naruto gritted his teeth, wondering why Sasuke was being so bitter and petty.

"I'm glad to hear you're doing okay. We've seen Kakashi-senpai, and he hasn't seemed to be doing much better either," Yamato explained.

"Nah, he's fine. Well, he wasn't, but we've talked and he's okay now. He's out on a special mission," Naruto explained.

"Who is this, and why the disguise?" Sai asked, looking at Naruto and Kyohaku curiously.

"Oh!" Naruto said, realizing that Sai and his grandmother had never officially met. "Sai, this is my grandmother, Kyohaku. And this is Sai," Naruto said, introducing the two.

"You look like Sasuke-kun," Sai said thoughtfully as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

"I didn't give him permission to call me Sasuke-kun. He should call me Sasuke-san or Sasuke-sama if he-"

"What's the matter with you?" Naruto fake-coughed quietly so no one else but Sasuke would hear him.

"I don't like him. He rubs me the wrong way," Sasuke said. Naruto suddenly wished that he and Sasuke were alone so that they could talk. It wasn't exactly easy for him to talk to Sasuke without everyone thinking that he was insane. He had a feeling that telling everyone that he really was hearing Sasuke's voice – just not his dead voice – would not go over very well.

"Naruto and I wanted to see what people were saying in regards to the flyers. My mother went a little overboard, and we were hoping to find out what people really thought."

"I thought we were also trying to figure out what people really thought about Konoha in general," Naruto said. Kyohaku waved a hand dismissively.

"Yes, that too, but I am really curious as to what people think about you."

"They want to date him," Sai said. "There are a lot of girls talking about you. They seem scary. If I were you, I'd avoid them."

"No shit, idiot," Sasuke hissed. Naruto clenched his fist, hoping Sasuke was getting the message to stop bad mouthing Sai.

"Hm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. We don't want you to accidentally get caught by scary fangirls," Kyohaku said thoughtfully.

Naruto wasn't sure what to do. He had been excited to spend some time with his grandmother, but seeing Sai had made Sasuke upset for some reason. Part of Naruto felt guilty for wanting to leave not only Sai's presence but his grandmother's as well. He wanted to be able to talk to Sasuke freely.

A sudden thought hit Naruto.

"Why don't I show you where I went to school and where I did some of my training?" Naruto asked. Kyohaku's face lit up.

"That sounds nice."

"We were just going to do some tactical training at training field nine," Sai said happily. Naruto could feel Sasuke's scowl cross his face.

"Umm, well-"

"I'm going to steal Naruto to myself for the day," Kyohaku said as she wrapped her arm around Naruto's shoulder. She smiled down at Naruto, and Naruto smiled back up at her gratefully.

"Let's go then!" Naruto said as he waved at Sai and Yamato, grabbed his grandmother's hand and began to lead her to the places of his childhood, running away from them in giggles.

Sasuke knew he was brooding the entire time that Naruto showed his grandmother the places of his childhood memories, but he found that he couldn't stop it. He only felt slightly guilty that he was probably making Naruto uncomfortable, but there was something that just wasn't sitting well with Sasuke.

Naruto kept trying to get Sasuke to talk to him, but Sasuke was only giving one-word answers. Showing his grandmother around the training fields had been an unusually brilliant idea for Naruto. He could run around the training field, going away from his grandmother, and quietly talk to Sasuke without getting caught.

The only problem was that Sasuke refused to give him in depth answers to questions such as “Why the hell are you such an asshole?” Naruto finally gave up trying to talk to such a “broody bastard.”

Sasuke's own memories kept jolting as Naruto explained the different training fields to his grandmother. Seeing the three poles sticking in the middle of the one training ground reminded Sasuke of how he had offered up his bento to Naruto during their first pathetic attempt to become Team Seven.

It seemed like so long ago, before so much had happened.

When they visited the Academy, Sasuke was still thinking about their first time as Team Seven, and he realized that that day at the Academy they had become Team Seven had been the same day that he and Naruto had first – even if accidentally – kissed.

Why hadn't he ever thought about that before? The Academy classroom was the first place that they had kissed. While the building held many memories for him as being a student there, in seemed to shine in a different light now that he had thought about it in terms of the first place he and Naruto had kissed.

The training grounds also seemed to hold new meaning to him when he linked them to Naruto. He had assumed that there would be a lot of things that would depress him upon returning to Konoha, thinking of his murdered family and of Itachi. Instead, he kept thinking of Naruto.

It frightened him.

While he did want to be with Naruto, a part of Sasuke feared that he would lose Naruto too. The purpose behind his life had shifted so dramatically. Being with Naruto was now the focus of his life, and he didn't want to give that up. Being stuck inside Naruto forced the two of them together, and it gave him a legitimate reason to need Naruto, and to have his life revolve around him.

Realizing that his life would still revolve around Naruto if he got a new body scared him.

"You're such a fucking brooding bastard," Naruto said angrily.

It took Sasuke a moment to realize that Naruto's voice no longer sounded like that of the henged child he had been pretending to be.

"What? Where's your grandmother?" Sasuke asked, distracted.

"She just left. What have you been brooding over?" Naruto demanded angrily.

"Nothing," Sasuke lied. He knew he ought to talk to Naruto about his fear. After all, he really had no one else to talk to. Instead, he shied away from that particular talk.

"I don't even care," Naruto pouted angrily. "You've been acting weird today. Why were you so mean to Sai?" Naruto demanded.

"I told you. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way," Sasuke said. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're being stupid. I hope Tsunade-baa-chan can fix you. I'm going to head over to her apartment now."

"Now who's being stupid?"

"How am I being stupid?"

"How can you go to Tsunade's apartment if you don't know where it is?"

"Oh..."

"Dobe."

"Shut-up!"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto ground his teeth together. This day had dragged on for what seemed like months, and he was grateful that it was finally coming to an end.

It had been very strange. The sex talk with his great-grandfather, the stupid flyers his great-grandmother had sent out, the talk with Tsunade where she had been able to lip read what Sasuke had said, the weird meeting with Sasuke and Sai at Ichiraku...

Naruto sighed and rubbed at his eyes as he headed for Tsunade’s office. He figured that Tsunade was probably still there. Even if she wasn't, someone there ought to be able to tell him where she lived, right?

He and Sasuke hadn't talked much since his grandmother had left. Sasuke was being stubborn still. Naruto was too but Sasuke had started it!

"You forgot to give me your address!" Naruto accused immediately as he banged up the door to her office.

"You forgot to get it before you left," she answered without missing a beat. Sasuke gave an amused snort.

"Whose side are you on?" Naruto asked as he walked into the Hokage office, feeling free to talk to Sasuke as though Tsunade could see him and hear him.

"Do not barge into my office. Walk in, and be respectful brat. What if someone important had been in here speaking with me?"

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. Tsunade sighed and made an exasperated sound at Naruto's indifference.

"How's your little parasite doing?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke bristled at being called both little and a parasite.

"Don't call him that!" Naruto ordered furiously, pointing a finger at Tsunade. She was unabashed and continued as though nothing had happened.

"I'm glad you're here. It gives me an excuse to leave early. Now let's go," Tsunade said as she stood up and brusquely walked toward Naruto. She gave him a harder than necessary thump on the back to get him to move on before continuing to walk by him, her heels clicking on the floor. Naruto turned on his heel and followed her.

Naruto followed behind Tsunade, wondering, not for the first time, how she could walk so quickly in high heels. They looked like they would hurt.

"As you've probably realized, in order for this to work, I will need to be awake to observe the subtle changes in your body. In order to do this, it is usually beneficial to have a group of doctors around to do that. This is especially important so that way all of us are alert. We will take turns sleeping. Two awake while one takes a shift of sleeping. Shizune and Sakura have agreed to help with the analysis."

Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, Sakura. I called her after you left the office, and I explained the situation to her. I hadn't realized that you had not confided your condition to her."

"I was going to, but I didn't have time! Dokueki was hiding in her closet, and she had to go to the hospital in order to do her shift. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about it."

"You mean all this time that you've had, and you've only spoken to her once?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"She's been keeping Sakura busy. She ought to-" Sasuke began, but this time, it was Naruto who cut him off, even though he could hear him.

"You didn't believe me! I thought she'd think I was crazy too."

"Fair enough," Tsunade conceded. She stopped in front of a door, and Naruto realized that they had just gone a floor down from her office. Go figure her apartment would still be in the Hokage Tower.

"Is this where you live?" Naruto asked.

"Not quite," Tsunade said as she opened the door and ushered for Naruto to go through. Naruto looked inside the doorway. The hall looked like the rest of the Hokage Tower, but the lighting from inside the room looked a lot brighter than the other rooms. Naruto peered inside, unable to focus on anything right away due to how bright the room was.

"Why is this room so-" Naruto never got a chance to finish his question before Tsunade shoved him in his back, pushing him through the doorway, propelling him forward so that he would land face first on the ground –

– if there were ground.

Naruto found himself caught up in free fall as the brightness suddenly vanished and his eyes were plunged into pitch black. He fell down what felt like three levels before impact.

"Oof!" Naruto grunted as he finally landed on the ground.

"What happened? Naruto, are you okay?" Sasuke asked his voice panicked.

All he saw was Naruto's soul form suddenly lurch forward, a look of shock and slight fear on his face. It had made Sasuke's non-existent heart beat race with the fear of watching Naruto look so helpless and Sasuke being unable to do anything to help or protect him.

"Ow. Tsunade pushed me," Naruto groaned out angrily. From somewhere above him, he could hear Tsunade cackling. A few seconds later he heard a soft click of shoes land on the floor next to him. Naruto jumped up and pointed his finger accusingly at Tsunade – or at least where he thought Tsunade was. It was so dark.

"Why you old hag! You could have hurt me doing that! Next time warn a guy!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"That was interesting," Tsunade said thoughtfully, though her voice still held amusement. Naruto blinked.

"Interesting? Interesting? What the hell do you mean interesting?!"

Lights suddenly flared to life from all around him, and Naruto threw his arm in front of his eyes to shield them from the dramatic shift. Tsunade stood before him holding a device in her hand.

"When I patted your back in my office I used my chakra to force a miniscule heart monitor chip into your body. After I pushed you, I checked the initial readings. It's picking up two different sets of sounds. One is your heartbeat, and the other one, I'm not quite sure, but I have a feeling I have an idea of what it is. When you fell, your heartbeat sped up, as did the other sound."

"Does that mean you're picking up Sasuke's heartbeat? He's got a heartbeat?"

"Or something akin to it. I don't know if I could call it a heartbeat per se, but I noticed earlier, when I was reading Sasuke's lips, I noticed a very subtle change in your chest movements, as though you were breathing multiple times. When you fell, I could feel Sasuke's chakra spike," Tsunade said, getting excited.

"So, you believe me, right? That's what all this means, right?" Naruto said excitedly.

"I believe Sasuke is alive, more so than you do. You see, a soul does not breathe. A soul does not have a heartbeat."

"No! Sasuke's soul is -"

"An imprint of Sasuke's soul is no doubt living within you. It's messing things up greatly. A normal soul transfer would have made it so that Sasuke's soul would have completely taken over your body. The fact of the matter is I don't believe you have all of Sasuke's soul residing within your body."

"What?" Naruto breathed out.

"What does she mean?" Sasuke asked, his voice hitching in excitement.

"I think that the other part of Sasuke's soul, may in fact, be residing in another body. To be more specific, I believe that his soul is still residing in his original body."


Next Chapter: Real or Fake?


X_X Yes, I know. I haven’t updated in ages. I apologize. I’ve gotten distracted with my other fics which I’ve been having a lot of fun writing. Since posting this last chapter, I have posted two one shots. Erotica, a NaruSasu fic. Caution! Slippery When Wet, a SasuNaru fic. Two new multi-chaptered fics, Highs and Lows, a SasuNaru fic, and Afraid of the Dark, as NaruSasuNaru fic. I got distracted with them. Sorry!

A couple people have asked if I plan on finishing this fic, and the answer is a resounding YES. Even if I get distracted with other fics, I will finish this. ~ Jelp