Chapter eight

Sasuke woke up with a slight jolt to the knocking at the door. His eyes felt sore and so did his head, he hadn't cried like that since he found out about the truth about Itachi after he had killed him. He stilled when he felt his pillow shift slightly and looked to see where he was and saw the red hair first, Skylar who had wrapped herself around him and her arms hugging around him cradled him. He felt embarrassed and blushed before the door knocked again and he pried himself gently away from her and threw the blanket over her and moved quickly to the bathroom to wash his face and see who was knocking at the door. He swung the door open quickly and quietly and instantly held a finger to his lips with a scowl at the person who interrupted his sleep. Sasuke almost smirked at Kakashi's eye twitching in front of him but he held it back and waited for him to talk.

"The plan has been confirmed by Shikamaru and we want to do this as soon as possible so once you're dressed and woke Skylar up, come through to the meeting room so we can finalise everything and get moving." Kakashi whispered harshly before turning and leaving, leaving Sasuke a bit confused before he looked down at himself. He had forgotten to put his long sleeved kimono shirt was still hanging around his waist after he forgot to put it back on after washing his face. He finally smirked as he closed the door thinking how funny it was and what Kakashi must have been thinking. He pulled his kimono on and his shoes and shook Skylar's shoulder. Her face scrunched up and she turned over and muttered '5 more minutes.' Sasuke raised an annoyed and amused eyebrow and thought of something that would wake her up with a 'jolt.' He pointed a finger to her butt and channelled a small amount of lightning chakra that sparked her and she jumped away and rubbed her zinging butt with a pout and Sasuke let a little laugh slip.

"Kakashi wants to make the final preparations so it's time to get up." Sasuke said as he placed his katana into his rope belt.

"Right. Just don't ever do that again." She muttered as she stood up and brushed her hair out and tied it back in a plat. She dug in her bag and Sasuke stood and waited while she went to the bathroom and changed into her long sleeved black shirt and her tight black pants and slipped her shoes on and fixed her strappings before deeming herself ready. He opened the door and she walked out with him following her behind down to the meeting room.

"I won't say anything but I want you to know you can talk to me about anything since I know everything already, got that?" She threatened over her shoulder. He smirked and moved up next to her and locked her in a headlock, which she tried to escape and he silently chuckled.

"Got it… And thank you Skylar." He said letting her go and walking into the meeting room with his usual expression. She watched him and smiled, perhaps they could get along after all, she would just have to remember that he acts defensively and not lash out at his arrogance. She continued into the meeting room and stood in her destroyed corner and she and Sasuke smirked at each other in the same corners.

"Okay then, now that everyone is here. Two teams will be going, one as search and rescue and the other as collateral damage team in case we come across enemies. Team one is Kiba with Akamaru, Hinata, Sai and Sakura and Team two will be Naruto, Sasuke, Skylar and myself. Ino will prepare any operations to be done and recovery room and I want everyone else who is staying behind to help her prepare them. We will be leaving in one hour so go and prepare." Kakashi ordered and everyone left to prepare or do something else. "Naruto, Skylar, I want to talk to you." Kakashi said before they were just about to leave the room. They looked at each other and stood in front of his chair.

"What's up Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I want you and Skylar to have shadow clones waiting here collecting natural chakra in case we run into trouble, it will be quicker." Kakashi asked with stress in his voice.

"Pakkun found something up there didn't he?" Skylar questioned.

"No but he did find traces of people moving through or past there recently, I also want you in sage mode before we go in, we will locate them quicker. You may go Naruto, Skylar, I want to talk to you, is there much you need to prepare?" Kakashi asked. Naruto had already moved off to prepare.

"No there isn't anything else I need to prepare, I think I'm well prepared for my first real mission." She said with an excited grin. "So, what do you need to talk to me about?" She asked.

"What's going on between you and Sasuke?" He asked seriously. Skylar raised a confused eyebrow then she raised both as she realised what he was talking about, she heard him talking to Sasuke this morning or what ever time it is.

"Nothing, we just talked." She said defensively but Kakashi could see she was being honest, not even a blush.

"Okay then, how's your shadow clone jutsu?" He asked after the last time.

"I need some pointers, I can't control the amount I want to make and then I pass out." Skylar said as she began to follow Kakashi to the training hall.

"You pass out because you don't give yourself a limit. You're new to chakra and control so for now you need to physically think about splitting your chakra for a clone. Try thinking about splitting your chakra now into two pieces for one clone." Kakashi turned to her once they reached the training hall. Skylar took a deep breath and closed her eyes and imagined her body splitting in half and thought about her chakra splitting and held onto that feeling and performed the cross hand seal and performed the jutsu and out popped a clone and she could feel half her energy disappear but she still had enough to not pass out or faint but she felt a little empty afterwards but she smiled at her clone who smiled back.

"There is one thing I've always wanted to know… How does your clone know it's a clone and not the real thing?" Skylar asked her clone and the clone took up a thinking pose.

"I don't know I guess we just know that this power belongs with you and we're not actually real I guess, it's hard to explain." Skylar's clone explained.

"Okay, enough questions, you know what to do right?" Kakashi asked her clone. She nodded and moved to sit under the snake statue in the senjutsu meditation pose and began entering sage mode and continued to sit there like that. "Right, everyone should be meeting up just now so let me go through your pouch to make sure you have everything." Kakashi asked as he held out his hand and waited. She passed it to him and they sat down as he began to look through it. He wasn't happy that it was all kunai so he added paper bombs and smoke bombs since she knew how to use them now

"One more thing before we meet up, if you're going to try one of those jutsus you know, don't put your full power into it okay… Are you ready?" Kakashi asked calmly as they both stood up and Skylar put her pouch back on.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Let's go meet up… Hey Naruto." Skylar said to the clone that moved to sit next to her clone and also began meditating. Skylar followed behind Kakashi all the way to the main hall where Naruto and Sasuke were already waiting and soon enough Sakura, Sai, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru met up and They left running across the water back to the borders of Hi no Kuni and they were staying on the border all the way to the country where the Akatsuki base is.

They started at sunrise and made it half way to their destination before they stopped for the night to rest in twos. Skylar took the first watch with Kakashi then Naruto and Kiba, then Sasuke and Sakura and lastly Sai with Hinata. Skylar sat up in a tree and rewrapped her strappings until they felt comfortable again and pulled her sleeves and pant legs back down. She couldn't help thinking she was holding the group back as she wasn't as good as they were and she was going to be more of a burden than actual help on her first mission.

"Skylar…" Kakashi asked, jumping up next to her with an eye smile and sitting down. "You'll do fine, it's just the first time since you've had training and know a lot more and you're worried about what you'll do or how you'll feel if we get into trouble but I'll tell you this… You're not Shikamaru who can predict most things so you'll just have to go with the flow, you're a natural at this and you'll do what you feel is right at the right time, there's no use worrying yourself about it right now. Our shift is over, you wake up Naruto and I'll do Kiba, have a good sleep because tomorrow it officially starts. Night." He said hopping back down and moving to Kiba and Akamaru while Skylar jumped down and found Naruto who was already awake and watching her. He got up without a word and moved into the tree for his watch and Skylar took his place he was sleeping in and lay on her back with her hands behind her head as she looked up at the stars, you don't see so many of them in New York and it was beautiful and before she knew it, she was asleep.

They were up again before sunrise and moving at a quicker pace through the trees and Skylar was nervous. They came to a familiar scene and Naruto and Skylar sat down for sage mode while the group confirmed the surrounds had no one around and Sai sent in his ink mice to start with the recon. Once they were ready, Sai's mice returned and confirmed that he found nothing with the little distance he got in there. They hopped down onto the crater and Skylar looked at the giant bones and ran her hand against it, she remembered it being the Sanbi's skeleton after it was sealed and shivered as the group moved swiftly into the tunnel and began walking with Hinata looking for Yamato or Anko.

"Sasuke, Skylar can you remember anything?" Kakashi asked with a low voice.

"We were in an inner chamber that I can lead you to where Anko may still be but I don't know about the other guy." Sasuke said as he took the front line and began leading them.

"Yamato is deep underground, the tunnels that Zetsu used will be there as well. Hinata, can you see any stairways, hidden or not?" Skylar asked her from the back with Naruto.

"There is one long staircase that finishes in the middle of nowhere at our eleven o'clock." She informed them.

"That's the one but lets keep going for the first room." Skylar confirmed. Something was bugging Skylar in her gut but she put it all down to nerves as she couldn't feel any unfamiliar buzzing of chakra in the back of her head. They reached the destroyed room from the battle of Kabuto versus Sasuke and Itachi and left the searching team to look while the others looked around and made sure they were secure. A sudden harsh buzzing began at the back of her head, almost like a rattle snake and its hissing and she spun around quickly with a kunai to clash with another kunai and a cloaked figure. Skylar kicked out but the figure jumped back and stood ready in a fighting stance while Kakashi arrived at Skylar's side and Naruto tried to attack with a rasengan but it flipped back and threw a kunai, which Naruto deflected easily with his own.

"If it's one of Tobi's mindless zombies, we'll probably have to get rid of them if we stand any chance at finding Yamato or Anko." Skylar suggested to Kakashi who stood defensively next to her.

"What do you mean get rid of me brat?" The figure asked as the hood was pulled back and revealed Anko's face wearing a feral grin. Skylar instantly felt Kakashi's stance change next to her and she also relaxed and put her kunai away as Kakashi had his sharingan open.

"She's free of the Tsukuyomi." Kakashi confirmed to everyone and began to walk up to her but she stood defensively again, grin gone. "Whoa Anko, calm down, we're not under it either." Kakashi said as he held his hands up in front of him and stopped moving towards her.

"How can I tell that?" She asked with a hiss.

"Let me guess, you tried to return back to Konoha once you woke up but they attacked you right?" Skylar asked and Anko analysed her with her eyes. "The same thing has happened to Naruto and Kakashi here. They lost the war and the Tsukuyomi was cast but it cannot affect people who weren't exposed to it straight away unless they are exposed to it a lot during night when it's most powerful. Kakashi and Sasuke's sharingan saved them and Naruto had the Kyuubi to help him and the rest have been broken out of it. We're planning on taking Madara and Tobi down." Skylar said determinedly. Anko narrowed her eyes at Skylar.

"I've never seen you before, how do I know you're not just one of Madara's bitches?" Anko questioned her.

"Because she is the one who broke ten people out of the Tsukuyomi to help us take the world back, Anko, it's really us." Kakashi told her straight out. Anko sighed and put her kunai away and stood up straight. Kakashi began to walk back up to her and they began to talk while Naruto and Skylar focused again, back to back, for sage mode after it wore off.

Kakashi was half listening to Anko rambling on when a gust of wind past him but it had a forest and tree like scent, almost like sap when he noticed Skylar stand up in sage mode seconds before Naruto. She almost looked like she was looking for something and realised it was at their eleven o'clock, the direction of Yamato. He held up his hand to stop them talking and they all looked to Skylar and now Naruto who was facing the same way.

"I don't know what you felt but I could swear that was just Captain Yamato's chakra flare." Naruto said to her, just out of hearing of the group.

"Yeah but the wind alerted me seconds before… He's weak and I'm surprised he even felt our presence at all, we need to find him quickly, let's go." She said with urgency and grabbed Naruto's hand and began pulling him with her. Skylar had always hated being underground when she thought about it but she also didn't like dark creepy tunnels either, this tunnel in particular gave her a bad feeling and soon enough the whole group were following behind them with Skylar gripping Naruto's hand tight with slight fear. Almost looking like a dog pointing her way with her nose as she urged the group to move faster as she followed the chakra signature by the wind that still gusted just enough for the scent to get stronger as she went.

They got to a dead end and Hinata said there were traps on the wall and to proceed with caution. Skylar knew she was being reckless but the longer she stayed there the more uneasy she felt so Seiryu appeared and she punched through the wall while the dragon protected her with a huff at being and they proceeded down the endless steps. She got impatient and jumped off with everyone panicking but Seiryu got under her as she kneeled on his back and began a rapid decent into the darkness, the dragon glowing a blue as it went down and the ninja started jumping cases of stairs to catch up as it could be a trap.

Skylar reached the dark waters where she remembered thousands of Zetsu down under and shivered before following the groaning with Seiryu close behind, lighting the way. She knew what she was looking for but she felt like she just needed to find him soon. Finally the wall came into sight and she saw Yamato sticking out of the side, close to the water's surface and his head thrashing from side to side in a cold sweat. She knelt down and placed his head on her lap as she tried to wake him or just even keep him company, trying to tell him he was going to be okay. She heard the group finally hit the water and running towards them while Seiryu hovered around restlessly and annoyed.

"Something is not right." He growled out.

"I know." Was all Skylar said back as Sakura reached her side and began assessing him and Kakashi on his haunches on the other side of Skylar with one hand resting against the wall.

"I can't do anything for him unless we get him out of this wall." Sakura assessed with some stress to her voice. Hinata activated her byakugan while Kakashi and Sasuke activated their sharingan and looked at the wall. Seiryu moved up the wall and Skylar would have scrambled back in fear if she wasn't currently looking after Yamato. It was the forgotten Gedo Statue with all of its creepy eyes looking out into nothingness, to Skylar it almost seemed to be in pain by its open mouth expression. It wasn't the real statue but it was the medium to create the humanoid creature that is now part of Tobi but it was still just as scary and creepy in real life and when you touched it, it felt like touching a wrinkly old peach or an old person, it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"He's completely integrated into the statue, we can't remove him without risking his life." Hinata said and Kakashi sighed before pulling his hitai-ate back over his eye, almost like he was giving up.

"Let me get this straight, we can't remove him but he'll die anyway if we don't do something?" Skylar asked in desperation. Kakashi just lay his hand on her shoulder comfortingly before standing up and moving away slightly. Tears of frustration started to well at Skylar's eyes as she cradled his face between her hands, she refused to cry but couldn't help but feel helpless at the same time. "Hinata, what does it look like… Just tell me that?" Skylar asked between clenched teeth with desperation.

"His chakra network is almost like roots into the statue and I can't tell them apart, if we sever them, Captain Yamato will die within seconds." Hinata explained. Skylar took a shaky breath and she felt his head move in his hands and didn't notice her tears were falling onto him, his face scrunched up and he opened his eyes barely with a small smile.

"D-don't cry… for me…. I'll… be fine." He whispered weakly before his head fell limp again and Skylar sucked up her tears with a determined expression. She didn't know what she was doing but she had to try something and so she sent her chakra into him and began feeling around. She heard Seiryu roar angrily behind her before placing his head in front of hers but she didn't look up as she continued to concentrate and sniff.

"Don't be stupid human! There is nothing you nor I can do!" Seiryu warned her and she felt clawed hands grab her by her ribs and try to pry her away but she rooted herself with chakra and could feel the claws scrapping into her skin and Seiryu growl menacingly in her ear. She felt almost like a dent in his chakra network even though she couldn't explain what she was doing or feeling but she knew, this was where the statue was invading his body.

"Seiryu, I order you to let go of me now!" Skylar commanded with anger, annoyance and force to her voice through clenched teeth and the dragon let go and almost stumbled? He was surprised at her tone and power he felt fluctuate right there and so he hovered around as the light source. The group let the events unfold, none of them could bare to get Yamato out and watch him die or just leave him there alone again so they let Skylar do it, she performed miracles before, perhaps she could perform one again but they weren't holding their hopes high. They saw her wipe away at her eyes with a sniff and her aura shift to becoming determined and concentrated as chakra buzzed through the air and her hands glowed on his cheeks.

"When I give you the signal, Sakura, Naruto, I want you to smash this statue for good… Now!" She said after a few seconds and Sakura and Naruto ran for the wall with their fists raised on either side of Skylar and hit it hard. They jumped back as derby began to fall and Seiryu rushed through it back to Skylar. The underground went dark as their light source disappeared in a dust cloud of stone that was falling and they shielded themselves against it. The dust was harsh and Naruto transformed into Kyuubi chakra mode to give them light and formed a rasen-shuriken to clear the air quicker and the dust began to rise with the air current. They saw the blue light of Seiryu through the dust, which cleared with a small flare of Skylar's chakra and she was standing with a tired smile on her face with Seiryu hovering over her right shoulder, holding Yamato in his claws. She jumped over the rocks slowly as Seiryu rushed forward to Sakura.

"Hinata, he needs a chakra point or two cutting off for a while." Skylar said tiredly and after getting over the shock she moved to Sakura and began the blocking. She stumbled over some small bits of rock but surprisingly Sai caught her and helped her sit down on a rock. Her sage mode had disappeared but surprisingly Seiryu was still there helping the girls with Yamato. Naruto moved to sit next to her, also having fallen out of sage mode and Kyuubi chakra mode and hugged her with a thankful grin on his face. She looked up to see Kakashi and Anko looking at her with confusion when she remembered something.

"Oh, Kabuto poisoned Yamato with one of his snakes making him immobile when he captured him, Anko could you please help Sakura if an antidote is needed? Thanks." Skylar smiled tiredly, her chakra running low but her clone's chakra was slowly helping her get her energy back with its own. Anko nodded stiffly and moved over to them and they began talking while Sakura was healing. "Looks like there's one advantage to being so connected to the wind huh?" She joked, feeling a bit better. Naruto had his arm around her back and rubbing her arm with a smile on his face and Kakashi was trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Sai sat on the other side of Skylar and observed and Kiba stood with an accomplished smile on his face, leaning against Akamaru.

"How did you just do that?" Kakashi finally asked. She looked up at him and smiled.

"I went with my gut feeling, somehow I sent my chakra forth and began to feel around, almost like it was an extra limb feeling around a pipe for something when I found these odd ridges or bumps and then the chakra network became a plant-like feeling and I guessed that was where he was invaded from so, thinking of how to sever them, I began to think back to everything I know about wind natured chakra that slices like a blade and taking my advantage of it's connection, I focused on those ridges and I let my chakra separate into two parts and rub together to become thin and sharp and with one go, I cut them all there. Of coarse, speaking to Naruto and Sakura put me off a little and so I cut them in the wrong place, which is why I asked Hinata to assist. " Skylar said happily, like it was so obvious. The group came together with one of Sasuke's Hawk summons carrying Yamato strapped down with Sai's technique and Seiryu hovered behind Skylar with a satisfied smirk.

"You have earned my respect girl. You may summon me like a normal summons contract and I will not over use your chakra. I cannot say the same for the others, they are still their own people and I suggest your sage mode if you are to use them. Remember, the more you summon, the more chakra and control it takes. I will see you later." Seiryu said with surprise as he vanished with a smirk. Skylar was surprised at what he just said and Sasuke reappeared with a torch in his hand but the feeling crept back onto Skylar and she looked around, not liking the shadows surrounding her and she grabbed onto Naruto next to her.

"Well, that's one up from human… Is Yamato stable enough for me to take a few minutes to return to sage mode?" Skylar asked Sakura.

"Yeah, he's fine thanks to you, he's stable and Sasuke-kun's hawk is taking him back straight away for Ino with strict instructions but I won't go into the details right now." Sakura said with a shrug. Skylar nodded and pried herself away from Naruto to get into sage mode with him again. Once they were ready they began their climb up the stairs a bit slower this time with Skylar holding Naruto's hand again and staying close by him as the shadows came up close to her.

"Hey, Sasuke, do you know if Akatsuki used computers or not?" Skylar called up to him to distract herself.

"No, they were clever enough not to keep anything on such things but there is a room I'd like to destroy. It'll take a few minutes." He said, passing the torch to Kakashi and taking off.

"Wait Sasuke." Kakashi called to him but he was already far ahead.

"It's the room where he had Itachi's eyes transplanted into him… Tobi kept sharingans there, it's my only guess, he'll be fine this is Uchiha Sasuke we're talking about anyway." Skylar said with a smile and a shrug. She saw Naruto smile in the corner of her eye as well. They finally reached the top and felt a small tremor and explosion before Sasuke appeared again with a clenched jaw. "He's taken them all already hasn't he?" Skylar questioned him as she moved up next to him with Naruto on her other side, still holding hands. All Sasuke did was nod and keep his eyes forward. They got outside and Skylar finally let Naruto go now that she wasn't underground and back in light once again and breathed deeply.

"We should destroy this base." Sai said as they stood on the rim of the crater and looked back. Kakashi nodded and looked to Naruto who grinned and performed his shadow clone jutsu and the clones ran in and breaking it all down as the base collapsed in on itself. Skylar smiled at it's destruction and they began making their way back to the Iron Wall hide out with Naruto and Skylar up front, can't wait to get back.