~Part Two~
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
A tiny pug appeared on the floor and went about barking and howling almost immediately in a tirade of insults. "Humans!" he yelled, the sudden cry enough to make Iruka flinch back in surprise. "You foolish humans, you procrastinate and mope about and take your dammed time; I've been waiting for weeks, I tell you, weeks, and Kakashi says, 'Pakkun just hold onto this for a few days' but noooo, it's been weeks, do you know how hard it was to keep this thing clean and with me at all times…"
Iruka blinked, nonplussed, standing still and watching as the dog continued to rant. Pakkun went on for a moment longer before turning back to him with another eye roll and gesturing with his head towards the scroll on his back. "Ah, ehem. Kakashi's mate. I've been waiting for you to summon me, as is obvious, though I didn't expect it to take this long."
Iruka stared. The dog frowned when he didn't react and gestured at the scroll again. "This is from Kakashi. Since you're the only one he trusted enough to let you make a summoning pact with us, then it makes sense that he would trust you with this. Whatever it is, it's important."
"All right! I knew it, dattebayo! Kaka-sensei did it! He left us something!"
Pakkun turned to face the blond behind him and cocked his head at Naruto's statement. "Fox kid? He didn't mention you would know. What did Kakashi get himself into?"
Iruka froze for a split second, his hand trembling as he tried to untie the scroll. Pain flashed across his face before he managed to control his reaction and he just bit down on his lip as he freed the scroll. "I don't know. Hopefully, this message will enlighten us."
Naruto craned his head over Iruka's arm to read the tiny scroll, hoping for some personal message from Kakashi that would tell them what to do and promise that everything was going to be all right in the end- but, just like the others, the message was neither personal nor enlightening.
It was list of names that were then arranged in several… were those combat formations? The names belonged to the Rookie Eleven, Sai, and then Iruka, Raidou, and Anko, which made no sense whatsoever, as the Rookie Eleven had never worked with those three and had no reason to. Naruto scanned the paper for any sign of an attempt at an explanation of what the hell was going on, but there was none. Just the original list of names and then three possible combat formations.
Naruto and Iruka stared at the paper in confusion. Granted, the other messages from the jounin sensei hadn't led them to expect anything different, but… what were they honestly supposed to do with this?
"I'll be back in two weeks at the soonest."
"Don't rush," Tenten murmured, watching as her teammate slid a pack of ration bars into his supplies. "Only go as fast as you can safely."
Neji nodded without looking up. "I know."
Tenten sighed heavily. It was a stroke of luck, really, that Neji had been assigned a solo mission to none other than Grass Country. It took three days to get there, another three to return, and that was still on top of however long it would take him to accomplish the A-rank, but at least he was getting out there and getting out there alone, so he could investigate and find what it was Gai had left.
But Lee wasn't as objective. "I still say you just let me run out there! I can get there in two days and then be back here before you know it!"
Neji shot him an annoyed look. "We've talked about this. You are a shinobi; leaving your village without permission is grounds for you to be reclassified as a missing nin. You could be killed on sight, Lee! And with Tsunade's true identity in question, we have to do everything we can to avoid attracting her attention."
"Cover for me! I'll go over the walls at night so no one will see me and sneak back in and you can just tell them I'm training in the meantime! Neji's going to have to go out of his way and still accomplish his mission; that'll take too long!"
Tenten sighed, aggravated. It didn't help that she shared Lee's sense of urgency; Gai had left them something behind and they weren't be allowed to see it all because of a little legal technicality of the fact that they couldn't leave the village without permission? Of course, if Gai hadn't seen it as safe to leave the information behind in the village, it had to be important- they had to see it now! Instead, they were forced to wait for Neji to return from his prolonged mission, which they were extremely lucky he had even been assigned at all? It was ridiculous.
She shook her head and let out a calming breath before looking to Neji, appealing for his help. In an inexplicable turn of events, Neji had been the one to keep Lee sane ever since word had came of Gai's death. Somehow, Lee's cold and unyielding rival had managed to hold him to reality and stop him from drowning in grief and disbelief. And, again, it was Neji who spoke up this time, reaching over to lightly touch Lee's wrist and look him in the eye. "Lee, you must understand how that is impractical. What if you were summoned for a mission? What if the Hokage requested to see you? We would not be able to cover for you then."
Lee sighed, seeming crestfallen, and crossed his arms unhappily. He glared at the floor, seeming rather frustrated with the entire situation, then glanced up to meet Neji's gaze again. "You had better return with his message, Neji."
"Wouldn't dream of coming home without it. …He's my sensei too, Lee."
In that moment, Tenten felt the strangest bit of sympathy for her Hyuuga teammate. Neji was hurting just as much as they were. But instead dealing with his own problems and his own grief, he was forced to deal with Lee's as well and stop him from losing his mind. It was almost unfair to ask him to give so much of himself when he was hurting, too- not that Neji would ever complain. But it had to be hard to constantly drill the fact that Gai-sensei was dead into Lee when those three words probably cut through Neji like shards of glass and he was pierced with a longing for the man and a wish that it just wasn't true.
Lee had paused, too, at Neji's words. He stood there for a moment, eyes wide, then nodded with a smile. He reached out to clasp one hand on Neji's shoulder, the other on Tenten's, and exclaimed, "Of course, Neji! We are all Team Gai! I have been selfish… forgive me."
Neji delicately dropped Lee's hand off his shoulder while progressing to the door, but shot a comforting smile over his shoulder all the same. "Nothing to forgive."
Lee grinned, and then the Hyuuga straightened his pack and opened the door, preparing to leave. "Hurry, Neji!" he cried. "You have to get to the message as soon as possible! And-"
"He's going on an A-rank, Lee! It'll be dangerous, it will have to take priority-"
"This is from Gai-sensei! An order from Gai-sensei takes precedence over everything else, even one from the Hokage herself!"
Tenten groaned. "Lee! Don't-"
"I won't return home out without his message. You have my word on that, both of you. And you will be the first people I see when I return, before the Hokage- even before a medic." Neji looked between Lee and Tenten, recognizing their desperation and worry and knowing well what was the cause. After a moment, he straightened his pack again and inclined his head slightly. "I'm going to head out now."
"Stay safe."
"Hurry back."
"I'll do both."
With Team Three splintered, the next impromptu meeting for the newly dubbed Konoha's Youth United wasn't scheduled for another week. During that time, all the teams went back onto active duty, and Team Ten left on a mission within hours of Team Eight doing the same. However, when Sakura inquired as to when Team Seven would get their next mission, Tsunade informed her that it wouldn't be for a while.
"You have lost both your commander and your interim captain. With only two members left of the original team, there will be no more 'Team Seven' missions. Instead, you will revert back to doing as you used to do in the past- working with whoever was available."
Sakura had found it extremely odd to hear Tsunade refer to Kakashi as just their commander and Yamato as just their interim captain, but said nothing.
Shikamaru's theory of Tsunade not being Tsunade was looking very good right about now.
Tsunade had also informed her that she would be getting a mission tomorrow- as for Naruto, the Hokage had been particularly vague. "I would like him to continue training to develop his own jutsu, though without Kakashi, Yamato, or even Asuma to help him, this could take a while. Unless the particular skills of a Jinchuuriki are needed, Naruto will not be assigned any missions."
And that, too, bothered her- because Tsuande rarely referred to Naruto as just 'a Jinchuuriki'.
But, oh, hell, what kind of a student did that make- one that didn't even trust her own master? If she was wrong about this and Tsunade found it, the woman would probably never trust her again.
But what if that woman was an impostor? Then where was her real master? Either she was being detained somewhere, held prisoner, probably interrogated and tortured- the thought made her nearly nauseous- or she was already dead, had been dead for who knows how long, and she hadn't even noticed this other bastard come in and pretend to be her.
Sakura knew she was a downright terrible student either way, but there was no use crying over spilled milk.
Besides, she tried to comfort herself, it was most likely that Tsunade was still alive. No one strong enough to take on the Hokage herself and win would be stupid enough to kill her when she was worth so much more alive. And that map had said she was near Sound territory- Orochimaru had no use for a dead Tsunade. She was an even better medic than his lapdog Kabuto and could be used as bait for any number of his Konoha enemies- just killing her outright would serve almost no purpose.
Then there was the fact that if Tsunade had, in fact, been taken by Orochimaru… Sasuke was probably aware of it.
Aware of it, and had done nothing.
It was one thing to betray Konoha but do nothing against the village itself, as Sasuke had done. But it was quite another to learn that your master had kidnapped the village leader and do nothing at all to help.
Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to shake her head. No matter what Sasuke may have done, he was still Sasuke. Just because he was lost right now didn't mean they were going to give up on him. Orochimaru was the one responsible, not Sasuke, not their Sasuke. What had happened just gave her more motivation to get to him now; get him home right now where he belonged.
"Damn… it…"
Sakura looked up at the words, then gasped. She bolted forward across the grass of the low field to drop by Naruto's side, her hand coming to rest on his sweaty back, her eyes narrow in concern. "Naruto? You okay?"
The blond blinked, still panting for breath, and raised his tired eyes to meet hers. "Y-yeah… course… Sakura-chan, why do you… look so… worried? I'm f-fine."
Sakura hesitated, then withdrew her hand from his shoulder as if she'd just realized it was touching him. Why was she so worried? Normally she hit troublesome shinobi who managed to wear themselves out to the point of a collapse. That was certainly her pattern with Kakashi…
Sakura forced herself off of that line of thought before it could get her to off track and, well, depressed, and instead smiled at him. "I've just never seen you get so exhausted before, baka. Don't flatter yourself!" She gave him a playful slap on the back of the head, then helped him roll onto his back and pulled out a small bottle of water. "Get some rest. Don't start up again for at least an hour."
Naruto winced as his back hit the ground and bit back a groan; Sakura was almost positive that was the only reason he didn't protest immediately. He let out another tired gasp before meeting her gaze again, blue eyes dark and serious. "I'll be fine before then! Maybe if I just eat something… do you have any ramen, Sakura-chan?"
She scowled. "Naruto! No! You know, it's a wonder you're alive at all; living off ramen is not healthy! But I'm serious. Take it easy."
Naruto frowned and looked away. Sakura narrowed her eyes in concern before turning from her teammate to examine the training field.
The craters he had been creating all day were truly fearsome to see. They were only getting bigger as the sun progressed across the sky and Sakura knew that her punches, no matter how powerful they were, were not strong enough to impart that kind of force. Not even Tsunade's were- and Tsunade's blows were stronger than a regular Rasengan.
She had to suppress a shiver. Naruto was getting so strong. What kind of terrifying move would a Rasengan completely infused with wind Chakra be? Chidori was just an incomplete lightening version of the move and it was frightening. She hated to admit it, but the night after she'd first seen Kakashi use it against Zabuza, she'd had nightmares.
Well, perhaps that had more to do with the fact that she'd thought Sasuke was dead…
Sakura shook the thought off and shuddered.
"…Sakura-chan, are you sure there's nothing you can do? Like any medic thing that help, so I could train more?"
She frowned and looked back to him. He looked truly exhausted, a fine sheen of sweat slicking his forehead and dampening his hair. His muscles were trembling from the exertion and she was sure it was only through sheer will power he was staying conscious. "Yes, Naruto, there's a 'medic thing' that could help. It's called rest!"
"But I can't!" Naruto slammed his fist weakly against the ground and met her gaze in frustration. "I- Kakashi-sensei said… he said that he believed in me, that he knew I could make my own technique. A-and, what if… what if… what if Kaka-sensei is in trouble? If I can do this new technique, then I'll be able to help him for once! For once, I'll be able to protect him!"
Sakura did not know whether it was because she simply didn't have the heart, or if she actually didn't believe it anymore, when she didn't tell him that Kakashi was dead and no one could protect him anymore.
