A/N: Here's your next, new, fresh, lovely, and pugnacious (look it up, it totally fits!), chapter of One Hour. In it, some stuff happens. And then some other things. It's got a touch of fluff, (both NaruSaku and one-sided SasuSaku) some plot development- a lot, actually, though again it's not always easy to see- and a bit of action at the end. :) Enjoy!

Chap. 7 Trouble in Tanzuku Town

Sakura should have known it wouldn't all be as smooth as it had been for the Nara meeting. Sure, they'd met up a number of smaller clan remnants, and most had seemed excited at the idea- some even eager, of returning to Konoha. Others, usually the younger leaders who had built new families and new lives, and didn't want to uproot them, were less enthusiastic. One man in particular, a white-haired man perhaps thirteen years older than Sakura and Naruto, seemed unwilling to uproot his family and their three children and force them to move to a ruined shell of his former village- a village he could barely remember himself. And who can blame him? Even if his wife is an Inuzuka, I don't think they need to do that to their kids just now... maybe when they're a bit older.

Still, even that meeting with the Hatake family had gone much better than the meeting with the Daikoku family. What had once been a wealthy, if small, clan of merchant-ninja had, apparently, turned it's back on that world forever- at least the ninja part.

Bastards using Konoha techniques to work with the Yakuza! Damn them! Of course, at the moment, Sakura knew better than to waste her breath screaming at them out loud- they were outnumbered about ten to one.

At first, the current 'Clan Head', one Daikoku Fureno, a corpulent, but otherwise fit man, had seemed very receptive to the idea. After about twenty minutes of discussion, however, he'd given his goatee a few scratches and a nod, at which point the trio of teenaged ninja had suddenly been surrounded by a mass of smelly, stinking, booze-laden humanity. Some were thugs, some just barely more, but enough had, according to Sasuke, active chakra networks to be a real problem- not to mention Fureno himself.

And so they had fled, as quickly as they could, right over Fureno's head and out his massive window.

I have to hand it to Sasuke, too, though... even though he says he's never fought in a city, he's handling an urban landscape pretty well- better than I am, at least. I've never even been in a city this size, though, so... at least Naruto's doing well.

The blonde in question, in fact, was currently a few blocks away, making Sakura's chest clench with worry. When she's suggested the idea that one of them needed to go get disguises, Sasuke had volunteered- but Naruto had been half-way out of their hiding place by the time she'd finished talking. His nonchalant 'be right back' had done little to ease her worry- nor had the three patrols looking for them that had passed, or the fact that the sun was getting low in the sky, or... Hell, there's just too much to worry about! Stop it, Sakura- you know Naruto can take care of himself.

And she did. She knew it with every fiber of her being. But she worried anyway.

There it was- the spike of familiar chakra, from just across the street. He was using a Henge, that much was obvious, and carrying a bag full of what looked like groceries in an easy, casual manner toward the alley they were hiding in. Of course, being ninja, they weren't just hiding in a dumpster...

No, they were six stories up, crammed together in a big air-conditioning vent. It would have sat all three, but after Naruto had left, Sasuke had lain down on his stomach to get a better view, forcing her to lay down as well or sit on top of him. And with the circular passage forcing them to roll into each other... she was less than pleased with the arrangement. He, however, seemed not to be bothered in the least, at least judging by the quirk of his mouth when she'd first slid into contact with him after ten minutes of avoiding it like the plague.

Sakura's thoughts were brought back to the present suddenly, when a harsh male voice from down below shouted, "You! Where's your little friends, brat? The boss don't take kindly to people what break windows like that! You gotta go apologize, and maybe he won't string you up like the last guy!"

To his credit, Naruto didn't glance up at the vent where he knew his teammates were hiding. Instead, he calmly placed his bag of 'vegetables' on the dumpster lid beside him and turned around, putting his hands together.

She couldn't see what he did, exactly, and was barely able to tell he whispered something, much less able to hear it, but when the smoke cleared, there were seven men lying, twitching, on the ground, and Naruto was... not... "Naarruuutooooo!"

When the sultry, pig-tailed blonde looked up and over her shoulder at Sakura, she at least had the grace to look sheepish and a bit ashamed. There was another light poof of smoke, and then Naruto was walking quickly up the bricks toward their hidey-hole.
"Sorry about that, Sakura-chan," he said breathlessly as he climbed in, handing the bag off to Sasuke, "it was the first thing I thought of. Pervy Sage gave me the idea when-"

The fist didn't meet his jaw too hard- she didn't want to attract attention, after all- but it was still enough to knock him on his ass, his stupid, blonde, baka head hanging out over the alley.

"... I said I was sorry, Sakura-chan..."

As he righted himself, Sasuke was already removing the clothing underneath the vegetables and fruits, and moving down the passage a bit to a corner they'd seen. "I'm changing," he announced, apparently doing his best to ignore the confrontation between his teammates.

Sakura chose not to speak to Naruto for the rest of the day, even though it was killing her exactly how he'd known her exact size- because the clothes, even the shoes, fit perfectly. In contrast, Sasuke's were too baggy, and Naruto's too tight- but neither would admit that the black-haired boy had taken the wrong set. It was painfully obvious to Sakura that Sasuke just didn't want to admit he was smaller- not shorter, just smaller- than Naruto. And for the blonde's part, he probably didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Or, at least, to take a chance at Sakura being further irritated with him.

After the sun had set, however, Sasuke finally spoke again, "We should probably get moving now. It's getting dark. Do we continue on to our last destination, or return to Konoha?"

"Ootori," Naruto corrected automatically, making Sasuke scowl. It had been a long-running thing during this trip- whether it was intentional or not. The Uchiha hadn't wanted to let the memory of a town he'd never known go, while Naruto was obviously prepared to do just that- or, at least, to burn the memory to the ground and let it rise again later.

"No fighting," she whispered at Sasuke when he drew a sharp breath, "let's go to the port. We might be able to take a boat back and save a lot of time returning."

The kunoichi didn't wait for Naruto's reply, much less Sasuke's, before she jumped lightly to the opposing wall and held on with chakra, watching for the others to exit.

Instead, she caught a glimpse of them both staring at her with wide eyes and awed expressions.

"It's just a jump, you baka!" she hissed, oblivious as to what had them so enthralled. Probably just the stupid-genes each of them has feeding on each other and growing...

* * *

Naruto would have totally agreed with that statement, if he'd heard it. He hadn't really seen anything, but the way the girl's new jeans had stretched and moved when she made that jump got him thinking... and not with his brain.

He shook his head. No time for that... there's work to be done. With another small shake and a blink, where his eyes met Sasuke's own slightly glazed orbs for a moment, he jumped across the alley as Sakura had done and began moving at once up the building to the roof.

There was a soft flutter of cloth in the air, and then he felt the light impact of Sasuke just below him.

As one, the trio climbed the brick wall on hands and knees, using chakra to cling to a surface it would have at least taken climbing tools- or a lot longer- to ascend.

Within minutes, they were standing on the tar-and-gravel rooftop, hunched down below the lip of the building so that only someone higher than they were would be able to even catch a glimpse.

"That way's East," Sasuke pointed with a thumb over his shoulder, "So we should go that way- straight down that street. It's big enough it probably leads right out of the city and on our way."

Naruto peeked over the slightly wider lip of the capstones atop the low wall for a moment. "Yeah, looks like the road does go all the way. There's a lot of those thugs, though. Stay on the rooftops?"

Sakura and Sasuke both muttered agreement. "Right, then," the blonde continued, "I'm on point, Sasuke on rear."
Sakura protested, "What, think you need to take care of-"

In response, Naruto slapped a hand over her mouth, and gave her a small glare, "No. But you're a much better medic than I am, and if we get attacked, we're going to need you. You chose to be a medic, so get used to being a medic." Then, with one more glance to Sasuke and then back to Sakura, he nodded and stood, jumping lightly to the capstone, and then across the narrow alley they'd come up before, to the building they'd been hiding in.

* * *

They had almost made it out of town without being spotted. And of course, it was just pure, dumb luck that they had been. The one who'd raised the alarm had been picking his nose and flicked it upwards, watching it track across the gathering darkness, when he saw the three shadowy forms- two with spots of very distinctive color- flit across the sky over a side street. "Hey! I saw them! They're right-"

That was as far as he got, but the kunai imbedded in his throat was as good as an alarm to the other thugs.

Suddenly, it seemed to the three ninja as if the area was swarming with Yakuza. They had probably bribed all the small-time thugs in the area to bolster their numbers. Sasuke thought that was a very good idea, since, while he was confident in both himself and his teammate's abilities, he wasn't at all sure the three rookie ninja could fight their way out of what seemed like a small army of armed foes.

It was an age, perhaps, or maybe only a moment, given to the young trio to analyze their situation. Sasuke muttered one word, "Thirty."

Sakura, her brow knit tightly, her back pressing against either of the young men behind her, gripped each of her kunai tighter, "Not good odds."

Naruto, though, grinned a feral grin that would have scared the pinkette if she'd seen it. "Plenty to go around, then!"

The slightly overweight- but mostly just massive- Daikoku Fureno, now in battle gear similar to what the trio wore, muscled his way to the inside of the ring of men surrounding them, a satisfied smile on his face. "Well, well... seems we have some good news, after all. Don't be too upset you got caught, kids- my boys may not be ninja, but they're well-trained all the same- despite evidence to the contrary." Sakura's eyes alone drifted to one unkempt face next to the speaker. Sasuke, facing away from Fureno, didn't react at all.

Naruto, though, gave a short, bark-like chuckle, "You really think they're well-trained? Even if they were your average Chunin, at ten to one- they don't stand a chance against us."

Hearing that, delivered in what most would assume was a cocky tone, but Sakura knew was simply the truth as Naruto saw it, the knot in her stomach began to unclench. He's right. Sasuke's been trained by Itachi, who was revered as a genius from a young age. Naruto and I were taught by two Sannin... and they're just about the best Kage-level ninja there are. We can handle this!

Fureno, though, took it as not quite the truth it was, but somewhere between that and a boast. "Right, kid, right... So you say Konoha's going to come back."

Now, all three of the teens winced. So much for keeping it a secret...

"Well, that's all well and good. But we've got quite a comfortable life, down here. I don't think we need to be uprooting ourselves just to go scrabble in the ruins and get our asses kicked by Oto, or Iwa, or Kumo... now do you, boys?"

The crowd gave a loud cry of agreement, and Sakura could feel the excitement building in them, anticipation of a fight- or a slaughter. But even still, her resolve grew alongside her confidence.

"Enough talk," she growled, "are you going to try and attack us, or bore us to death?"

The big man gave a little, half-hearted grimace. "Tisk tisk. Pretty things like you shouldn't try and play at being ninja, you know? My boys and I can show you a good time- after we deal with your boy-toys."

Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"Right... you haven't got enough equipment between the lot of you to show me what I'd call a 'good time'."

Sasuke snickered, but Naruto didn't respond to Sakura. He, in fact, seemed to be still stuck on thoughts of what the group would do to his lifelong friend if they captured her alive- or maybe even dead.

He could feel the fury building inside him, knew it was the fox, knew it was coming out to play... and he didn't much care, as long as it didn't hurt Sakura- and maybe, maybe, he'd try and keep it from hurting Sasuke, too- but not too hard.

There was just a flicker of pain that ran across the blonde's face before his eyes shifted from near-violet in the darkness to a red similar to Sasuke's now-active Sharingan.

"Let's do this," he growled, his voice only barely recognizable.

With a nod, Fureno, now with a curious expression on his face as he watched the blonde intently, gestured his men forward.

And then there was no time to figure out what he was doing.

Four men, apparently eager to test themselves against a girl half their size, rushed Sakura at once.

It was evident none of the three were anything close to a shinobi. Her first palm-heel- still delivered with a kunai in her hand- shattered the first's jaw and nose in one blow, sending him reeling back into the mass of men behind him. The second was caught during the period she was retracting her hand from the first strike. Her foot caught him in the knee, and she barely had the attention to note that he would be walking in circles if his leg was really bent that way permanently.

The third was a little luckier- he got the kunai in her right hand in his eye. He dropped without a sound, and didn't move again.
The fourth, a little more wary than the others, hung back until a second wave of men came from behind him. With backup, he felt confident enough to step into her reach again, his poorly-maintained kodachi in a two-handed grip. He swung, she ducked, knowing that his reach was too short to hit her comrades, and punched him in the solar plexus with both fists. They came away, each hand half-covered in blood, as he rocketed back into the group behind him, clearing the space in front of Sakura for a moment.
Then she had time to exhale the breath she'd inhaled when the fight began.

Sasuke was fairing, if anything, better, although he wasn't delivering the same devastating blows the kunoichi was. His own strikes were just as accurate, perhaps more fluid, but his real strength lay in the jutsu he was unleashing against his opponents between nearly every strike. A man would rush in in some kind of attack. It didn't really matter what- the Sharingan let him step to the side, underneath, back, ahead- whatever it took to block it completely with minimal effort. With the attack blocked, Sasuke would make one, quick, strike of his own to throw his attacker off balance, then another hard strike to push him back just a little, allowing his two hands to blur into a set of seals. Phoenix Flowers, a few real Fireballs, one Dragon Fire to clear the area... his repertoire was not large, but it was very effective at clearing crowds.

To Sasuke's left, Naruto was getting dangerously far away, no longer able to effectively watch their flanks, or they able to watch his, but it didn't seem to matter. The raven-haired boy was able to catch glimpses of him with his Sharingan, and he was thoroughly impressed. While the boy's style was definitely unusual, seeming to rely mostly on kicks for reach and strength, it was undoubtedly effective. The attackers, armed mostly with knives, clubs, and shorter swords, had no more reach than the tall blonde's legs did. When they were close enough to strike a telling blow, they swiftly received a kick that would fell a normal man- as it did them- easily. His hands were kept mostly close to his chest and head, blocking what few strikes were swift enough to come before his flashing legs, but doing little damage on their own.

Then Sasuke noticed the pile of weapons behind the blonde. He's disarming them every time he can- smart!

Of course, that only seemed to irritate the men. After a minute or two's combat, the thugs wised up and rushed the blonde as one. Almost worried, Sasuke lost sight of him for a minute. Sakura hadn't seemed to notice, as she was currently throwing a large man at Fureno, who was now near the back.

But Sasuke needn't have worried too much.

The men piled on top of Naruto, but once again, they underestimated the strength of a ninja. Anyone who could utilize chakra in even the tiniest way could enhance their physical strength- the techniques Sakura was using were the pinnacle of that ability- but it was something different, something more, that threw the men off of the blonde. I only wish I'd seen what it was...

Nine men flew outwards in every direction, including one that flew through the narrow gap between Sasuke and Sakura, while Naruto stood, his hands open into claws at his hips, roaring to the heavens.

The sound was... well, Sasuke would never admit it to himself. Not ever.

The men, at least, those that were able, suddenly turned and bolted. Fureno himself took three steps back, stammered out, "Y- you learned your l-l-lesson. Get out of here! We don't want nothin' to do with Konoha!" and then turned tail himself.

Those that were conscious but unable to run began to beg for mercy.

It took a few seconds for Sakura to realize there were no more attacks. She'd heard the roar, known it was Naruto, but hadn't realized exactly what it had done. So she was a bit surprised when she turned to see him, face still raised to the moon in a now-silent roar, as his hands shook. "N- Naruto?"

She stepped toward him, calmly replacing one kunai in her holster, but was stopped by Sasuke's hand on her shoulder. "Wait."

She hesitated, now noticing more than she had at first.

Naruto's hair was a bit longer, a bit spikier. When he turned toward them, she gasped. His whiskers- she'd always thought them cute- were wider, more defined. They looked like the whiskers of a predator. His eyes, hard to see with the moonlight behind him, seemed very different, but in a way she couldn't see. Then, so fast she wondered if she'd imagined it, his posture relaxed, the whiskers returned to normal, and Naruto groaned, "Sakura..." and then collapsed.

---

AN2: I don't have much to say this time- just please, PLEASE, review if you liked it- even if it's just to say "Nice chappie" or whatever, it's still more encouragement. If I'm making time to write while packing up to move, the least you can do is type a few words, right? :) Especially since this is the third chapter in not-very-long... :D

And now that your Weekly Guilt Trip is over... your glossary!

Glossary:

Tanzaku: This is a town frequently seen in canon, though it's usually glossed over. It's a gambling den, but mostly just a normal town. It's also where Naruto learned the Rasengan, met Tsunade, etc etc. (I believe. That may have been Otafuku.... but I don't think so, I think Otafuku's a Fanfic town :D)

In this universe, the town is actually considerably larger than it was in canon, and is currently the largest single city in Hi no Kuni. That is largely due to the fact that the Yakuza control it completely. They pay a bit in 'dues' to the other hidden villages, but otherwise rule it with an iron fist. They aren't totally cruel- no where near Gato, for instance- but they don't let things slide, either. Yes, Fureno was actually dealing with the Yaks. And yes, that will make a big difference later. As will the fact that he escaped.

Daikoku: Currently, a clan acting as enforcers and bodyguards for the Yakuza in Tanzuku Town. Their current clan head, however, is actually a high-up member of the mob. Used to be a respected, if not large, member of Konoha. Their clan was known for both good business deals and skilled shinobi.

Daikoku Fureno: I've changed this minor character significantly from canon. He was a wise, skilled teacher to a number of people (including Sasuke and Itachi) pre-series start, but in this one, is a wise, intelligent businessman- with a taste for money and food, esp from less-than-legal sources. He's a high-ranking member of the Yakuza, and head of the Daikoku family. He doesn't run Tanzuku single-handedly, but is in control of a large district of it. You'll be seeing more of him later. (Next chapter, I think)