Changed my name from Precious-Ivory to Ivory pen...Just had the feeling...

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

From now on -Light World- means Evil team 7 and -Dark World- means Good team 7. Hope that makes things clear!

Big thanks to my Beta Smoochynose! :D

Equilibrium

Chapter 2

By Ivory Pen

-Dark World-

It was only due to the years of ingrained training that the young Uchiha didn't panic, but inside his mind was reeling; bowing? These men were bowing to him, and where this may occur frequently in the land of Rice the idea that anyone from the Land of Fire would bow to him now was ludicrous. Nevertheless the impossible was happening before him.

'Just more evidence that I'm not in Konoha anymore' he thought placatingly. 'But then, it does make one wonder...How different am I here to warrant this reception' What had changed? Did he not leave Konoha here? 'Are the Uchiha alive?' he thought wistfully, fist tightening over the handle of his blade.

But then his red eyes narrowed, catching the faintest flicker of suppressed emotion in the men's eyes. Even though they were bowing, their eyes were fixated on his own almost daringly. Respectful yet mocking. The teen relaxed, maybe it wasn't him that had changed after all but Konoha. For all the show these men were putting up, they hated him and weren't afraid to show it.

'Good, here's me thinking that I would have to start smiling like the Dobe'. The teen felt his respect for these men rise abit and he couldn't help the smirk escaping from the mask of indifference he had painted across his face as he watched them. He was an Uchiha after all. Absently he wondered if this 'Sasuke-sama' felt the same way, seeing those around him hating and fearing him with a passion yet powerless to do anything about it.

He left them in that uncomfortable position for a while longer until he saw a small twitch forming on the face of the bandana wearing man; Genma, he realised, recognising the ninja from his first Chuunin exams. The man looked slightly different now, tired and somehow older than he should be. He nodded and the men rose with a barely contained sigh of relief. 'I wonder what was done for them to be under my command' he thought as his hand went limp at his side and he turned on the dirt path to walk away.

"Sasuke-sama?"

Sasuke blinked hearing the call. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that they were still standing at attention behind him. He frowned, the next thing he said or done would be crucial, these men were expecting something and to disappoint could be deadly. He cursed under his breath. He should have seen this coming. Taking a deep breath to remain calm, he turned round and arched a dark eyebrow at the one who had spoken, Genma.

The ninja shifted on his feet before answering, rolling the senbon in his mouth from left to right habitually. "Don't you want us to give it to you now?" he asked, voice expressing his confusion and impatience. Yes? No? He would have to answer fast, if he waited any longer they would start to get suspicious. He opened his mouth to say 'yes' when he noticed Genma's partner's hand twitch towards his pouch underneath his cloak.

Oh? So he had messed up earlier and now they were wary of him. Not bad. His Sharingan span as he assessed them. It shouldn't take to long to deal with them, if memory served him well Genma was a low Jounin when he last saw him...But then again, this wasn't his Genma. A soft breeze floated between them, carssing his hair and lifting some of the dust from their cloaks like the hands of a fussy mother. Dirt; they were dirty, a mission maybe?

"No," he corrected himself, "I'm busy and here hardly seems..." he paused, pointedly surveying their surrounding before turning back to gaze at them piercingly, "appropriate."

The man's hand relaxed and Sasuke closed his eyes in momentary relief. "Understood, Sasuke-sama. I'll leave the report on you desk" Genma replied. The pair bowed once more before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Sasuke turned back towards the village, replaying the conversation over and over in his mind. A report? That could prove useful in helping him understand what was happening here. The last thing he needed was to be put into this kind of situation again, he needed information as soon as possible. He paused as he got to the gate and realised he had a bigger and more immediate problem to deal with. Where the hell was his office?

No one spoke as they made their way through the forest, too immersed in their own thoughts to voice one aloud. Only the forest broke the tense silence, crying out from the occasional broken twig or clipped branch as the leaves swayed back and forth rhythmically to the light breeze, not allowing the four travellers to disrupt their dance.

The sky above them began to shift drawing the eyes of the two prisoners; the Sharingan was spinning, erupting a spiral of pink and orange onto the sky, spreading it in all directions until they disappeared out of sight, round the corners of the world, making the leaves look almost black in it's gentle light. They coudn't rip their eyes away from the sight, they had never seen Dawn approach in such a way. It was only when Shikamaru heard a soft gasp from behind that he realised that they were watching.

"Idiots! Look away!" he hissed tugging hard on the rope connected to their binds to get their attention. His companions also began to hiss, sending Chakra onto a seal on their wrists making it momentarily glow. Silence broken, Naruto took it as permission to voice his annoyance.

"Ouch, dammit, you lazy-"

"Shut up and keep still moron!" He said in a harsh whisper, wrapping the rope around his arm so that he could send Chakra into his wrist, "Can't you see it's spinning!" They had stopped moving now, the two cloaked figures had distanced themselves slightly and were holding onto a tree with their marked arm.

"I don't understand" Sakura interjected quietly before Naruto could speak, "Why can't we look at it?". Shikamaru turned and stared at them with a strange expression before his face cleared, apparently figuring something out.

"Ahh, still playing the traveller card, eh?" he snorted softly, shaking his head before deciding to humour them, "When it's spinning" he gestured with a small nudge towards the sky, "he's more aware then usual because he's changing something, we have to activate our seals". Naruto frowned in confusion, looking towards the teens wrist.

"Seals? Since when do you do seals, Shikamaru?" The Nara smirked mischievously but then it was quickly replaced with a sneer. He turned away from them and gestured towards his companions to start moving. The eye had stopped spinning.

"Looking at you," he began softly after a tense silence, "I find myself actually starting to believe that you could ... " he drifted off, his hand slipping into his front pocket, taking out a rusting silver lighter and a crumbling cigarette, lightening it before continuing, "then I look up at the sky and remember reality." He picked up the pace causing them to stumble, "Hurry up, we're almost there."

"What happened!" Shikamaru yelled as they entered a small clearing. It was filled with a dozen people all cloaked and hooded surrounding a man that had fallen on the ground clutching his head in agony. "Dammit! Did he not active his seal?"

He said as he dropped the rope and ran on ahead. Naruto and Sakura tried to follow but were stopped by the two remaining beside them. Pushing past the closest to him, the Nara made his way to the front of the crowd and crouched down beside of the man.
"What's happening?" Naruto whispered to the pink haired medic as they stared on.

"I don't know," she said as her eyes slid from the commotion to survey their surroundings. The area was boarded with strong oak trees that had seals drawn in black ink on their trunks, next to them were piles of dead leaves that had been swept from the clearing in order to make room for the worn down tents that dotted the clearing. She could see small fires being tended to by smaller huddles of cloak which could only be children. Strangely, they didn't look back to the cluster of adults behind them, she frowned in wonder, it was as if they were used to this happening everyday.

"Shikamaru! You're back" a woman greeted as she made her way next to him holding a ragged, wet cloth. "He was sleeping in a tree a few yards from camp ... we didn't know-" she began tearfully only to be hushed by a firm hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, it wasn't your fault" he said with a tired, regretful sigh. "It's already over," he muttered studying the prone figure in front of him. He had stopped screaming now, driven unconscious from the pain.

The atmosphere had gone cold and sombre, the two outsiders shifted uncomfortably from their view at the back, feeling like they were intruding in on something personal. "Neji... " Shikamaru called in a strained voice without looking up. A cloaked figure nearby straightened in attention and began bellowing orders at the crowd.

"Gather the essentials, put out the fires and pack the tents ... It's over!" Seeing that no one was yet to move he added, "Now! We haven't got time!" As if showered in cold water, they jumped to their feet and dispersed in haste to their tents where sounds of scrambling could be heard as they gathered all their belongings. It took only a few moments for Sakura to realise that Shikamaru was still crouched in front on the man on the floor. With all the drama no had noticed them and the two that were standing guard had retreated to their own tents. Nudging her teammate, she slowly made her way to his side.

"Oi Shikamaru, what is-No! What are you doing?" Naruto exclaimed as he fell on his knees and grabbed Shikamaru's wrist, stopping him from slashing the man's throat with a kunai, "You were going to kill him!" he said voice laced with shock and disbelief.
"So?" he snapped back, still not looking up.

"So?" Naruto growled, hands tightening around his wrist in outrage, "What do you mean so? You're lucky my wrists are bound or I would of beat the crap out of you!"

"Naruto ... " Sakura added nervously from behind, the quicker ones that had finished packing had noticed them and were approaching them fast.
Hearing real anger in his voice Shikamaru finally looked up, eyes narrowed and looked Naruto dead in the eye. Slowly however, his eyes began to widen until almost timidly he whispered, "N-Naruto?" Scowl quickly fading Naruto gave him a blinding grin.

"Are we going through this again" Suddenly the grin faded and they both rolled to the side, avoiding a hail of kunai that was aimed their way. "What the hell?"

"Get away from him!" Neji shouted getting ready to throw another hand full of Kunai. It was only then that the blond looked around him and noticed that they had been surrounded. The others had finished packing and had their sacks slung aroundtheir necks and weapons at the ready. Sakura was caught between two of the cloaked figures, a Kunai at her neck.

"No wait, Neji it's me,Naruto!" the toad summoner tried to explain shaking his bound hands in front of him.
"I know who you are, demon!" Naruto tried not to wince at the vicious voice that was aimed at him as he got to his feet. But even he couldn't mask all the hurt from his eyes. Noticing it Shikamaru came to stand in front of him. "What are you doingShikamaru!" He yelled lowering his weapon away from his companion.

"No, leave them be!" Shikamaru yelled as Naruto began to get into a defensive stance. They didn't move, "Everyone listen to me, it's to troublesome to explain now but they are on our side...I-I trust them" a tense silence followed before Neji put away his weapon and the rest followed, releasing the red faced medic without a word.

"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran to her, sapphire orbs scanning for injuries.

"I'm okay Naruto" she placated with a small smile before turning to face the not-so-lazy Nara, "What made you-"

"It was his eyes" he said shortly, "You can henge, dye your hair or change your clothes but you can't change the look in your eye ... I haven't seen that look in a long time" he exclaimed as he dusted himself of. "Besides," he added with a bored look, "You've never had a problem with killing before ... you revelled in it even." Naruto couldn't help the shiver that went up his spine, this other 'Naruto' didn't sound like him at all. "How are your injuries?" The Nara added bringing him back to reality.

"Oh, umm" he started, noticing the growing red stain on his bandages.

"Idiot!" Sakura berated, turning him to face her and gently poking at his seal, "I told you I didn't heal it completely! Do you want to bleed to death?" The blond yelped at her touches, turning white at her words.

"What? I'm dying!"

"Idiot!" she repeated, trying to break through the rope around her wrists, "I would be able to heal it if it weren't for the ropes"

"Here, let me" Shikamaru offered as he pulled out his kunai. Neji made to interject but he was waved away with a lazy hand, "Sorry about this," he said with a smirk as he cut their binds, "world jumpers huh?" he snorted as the rope fell to the floor and watched them rub their wrists in relief. "Figures, only you could accomplish the impossible"

"I am Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja," Naruto replied smiling, scratching the back of his head whilst Sakura hands began to glow a pale green. The smirk wavered before it fell from the smokers lips completely and his face darkened. Seeing this Naruto expression fell into one of concern and slight desperation. "Shikamaru, what happened?" But all the teen did was shake his head.

"Not now, later, for now finish getting healed and Hinata will give you some spare bandages." He nodded and turned back to the prone figure on the ground, "I need to clear up here, we've wasted enough time." Clearly dismissed, the two turned away only to almost trample over a short figure in a light grey cloak.

"Umm ... " Recognising the voice Naruto's eyes widened in glee.

"Hinata!" She 'epped' and her hood fell off to reveal short uneven raven coloured hair. The girl looked up and they could see she had a scar running from the conner of her left eye to the middle of her left cheek. They pair gasped.

"W-what happened to your face?" Naruto asked without tact but she didn't answer, neither did she even look at him. Instead she looked straight at Sakura, pearly lavender eyes hesitant but determined.

"Here are some bandages, sorry its all we can spare," she said apologetically handing the medic a roll of white cloth. Sakura smiled accepting it from shaking hands gratefully.

"Don't worry it's more than enough" the girl nodded and quickly turned to leave but was stopped, "Wait! Why are we suddenly leaving? Has it got to with the seals?" The Hyugya froze sending a quick darting look towards Shikamaru who was dragging the body into the forest. The medic caught it.

"Don't worry, he trusts us. It does something to your Chakra?" she prodded, edging the girl on. She sighed and turned back to face them, speaking so quietly they had to move closer, much to her dismay.

"We never stay to long in one place," she began, "He finds us, he always does, but when we all activate our seal he can't pin point us, it disrupts our Chakra." Sakura frowned trying to understand.

"How does that help?"

"This is all illusion remember?" a voice interrupted them, Shikamaru had returned from the forest. "Your supposed to be smart Sakura, how would you normally get out of a genjutsu?"

"Disrupt the flow of Chakra form the victim," she recited.

"Exactly" the Nara smirked, "These seals act as a screen, they blurr our image so that he can't find us and send his followers after us ... or worse." Naruto gulped.

"Worse?" The boy nodded grimacing as if reliving a horrid memory.

"This is his world remember." Then he sighed and scratched the hairs at his chin, "But then there are the occasions where someones forgets or is unable to activate their seal and ... " He trailed off, looking towards the forest.

"He finds you," Sakura finished.

"Yeah ... " Shikamaru added quietly, but then giving himself a small shake he continued, "which means we have to leave now. You can re-do his bandages when we reach our new camp." And with that he took to the trees. Not having any other options the three jumped after him.

"But what about us" Sakura inquired, speeding up so that she was level with the their leader, "We don't have a seal, doesn't he see us?" He was silent for a while before answering.

"That would make sense, but then again your not supposed to be here," he paused and glanced back at the pair in wonder."I've been thinking about it ever since you asked me about your situation outside the cave. You're an outsider looking in ...You're not caught in this illusion, which means-"

"He can't see us!" Sakura inturrupted having caught on, "He doesn't know that we are here!" The Nara nodded.

"That's what I think anyway, or else he would have sent someone after us when we attacked-"

"Then why did you attack?" Naruto blurted out in confusion, then tried again when he saw the looks the was receiving. "Why did you attack us knowing that you would be seen and taken by his followers? It doesn't make sense." Shikamaru didn't answer and the air grew thick as dreaded understanding filled them.

"Living here ... " Naruto began softly, noticing the absence of the rest of team 10, "is hard, isn't it?"

"Yeah...more troublesome than you think ... "

Author's note: Another chapter up! Hope you like! Too short? Please Review!