It was late morning as Naruto made his way to Ichiraku's ramen. Already, his stomach was rumbling as he was naming off all of the different kinds of ramen he would have.

Half-way there, Naruto paused as he spotted Chouji coming towards him, finishing off a bowl of ramen.

"Hey Chouji." The blonde called out, waving, stopping the other man in his tracks.

Chouji studied the blond for a moment before continuing on. When he got closer, he whispered, "I don't know if Shikamaru would waste energy on you, so I won't." Roughly, he slammed in to Naruto's shoulder as he continued on.

Sighing and brushing if off, Naruto began heading to Ichiraku's once again. It seemed that since Ino died, Chouji was unable to make decisions for himself, and, instead, had taken to doing whatever Shikamaru told him to, even more so than he use to.

Coming close to the ramen place, Naruto stopped a few feet short, in front of Shikamaru. Timidly, he gave a weak smile as the Nara gave a lazy glance his way.

Blowing out a stream of smoke, Shikamaru pushed himself away from the wall. "We're having a briefing, now."

"Just let me get some ramen first, and I'll-" Naruto began to take a step, but almost fell on his face when one of his feet were pulled back. "Let me go." He demanded.

"Don't be so troublesome." Shikamaru began walking, and the shadow-hand that was holding Naruto's ankle followed, causing the blonde to crash to the ground and be dragged behind.

After a few minutes of struggling, Naruto finally gave up. "I'll follow you, just let me up."

"It's too much trouble to stop and let you go." The Nara answered off-handedly.

Naruto growled, but knew there was nothing he could do; Shikamaru probably had a plan for anyway that He would try and escape.

-jump-

Naruto brushed himself off as he was finally able to stand. Shikamaru had led him the long way to the Hokage's tower, up the stairs, and to the room just pass the Hokage's office.

"This room is surrounded by a special layer of chakra so that no sound can escape this room." Shikamaru informed him as he took his seat behind a large desk.

Naruto looked around and meekly waved when he noticed Sai was already there, and still doodling on his mask.

The blonde jumped as the door quickly opened and shut as Sasuke made his way in. The pale man didn't even look at Naruto as he found his way to a seat.

"Let's get this over with." He demanded.

Shikamaru sighed. "Talking to Neji and Hinata, there's no way it could have been a Hyuuga. All of their actions are accounted for, and none of them have the ability to create these monsters." He glanced at Naruto. "Which means, someone must be trying to throw us off of their trail." His eyes moved to Sai, who still wasn't paying attention.

"But the Hyuuga clan is so big, how can Hinata and Neji be so sure?" Naruto outburst.

"Everyone in the clan has to report to the leader, and because of how old Hiashi is getting, Hinata is receiving this information too." Shikamaru answered, annoyed. "There is no way anyone has gone unchecked."

"How do you explain the Byakugan?" Sasuke demanded.

The Nara sighed. "I already have an idea of what is happening, and if I'm right, tonight it'll be proved."

Sai looked up, worried. "Are you sure, tonight?"

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"O-oh." Sai waved it off and went back to his mask.

"This is what we'll do." Shikamaru began to explain his plan.

-jump-

Explaining the plan had taken Shikamaru the entire day, and it made all three of the ANBU men worried.

Sai had stopped drawing on the back of his mask, and, instead, placed it on his face to hide his expression. He seemed to be more worried about how accurate the plan was, rather than the sacrifice that might be made.

Sasuke kept his stotic expression, but his muscels were visibly tensed. He still refused to even look at Naruto to see his reaction. As Shino had said, Sasuke found himself avoiding his 'lover' and the pain that was encircling him. At the moment, he couldn't stand to be near the blonde, but at the same time, he didn't want to lose him.

Naruto's gaze fell to the floor. If he really died this time, would anybody care? They all hated him now, and, if nothing else, seemed indifferent to his existence. Even Sasuke was leaving him.

Taking a gulp of air, Naruto found his own mask, and placed it on his face. "As you command, Shikamaru-san." He gave a slight bow.

Momentarily, Sasuke's gaze shot up, and his eyes met for the briefest of moments with Full Moon Fox's. Quickly, he pulled his gaze away.

"Then let's go."

-jump-

Midnight Snake dodged again, leading tonight's monster back into the clearing. Shikamaru had been right, this creature was different. At first it had looked to be just a black ball, the size of two men in diameter. Every now and again, the black would seep from its source and reach out to grab one of the men. So far, they had all been able to dodge, but trees and rocks that got in the way weren't as lucky, and were completely shattered.

Midnight Snake's eyes fell on the creature as the black began to melt. He froze in place as the creature revealed its eyes, stained blood-red with the Sharingan.

All of the sudden, Midnight Snake was pushed away, and Full Moon Fox was captured by the creature's blackness. Slowly, the black tightened, but Full Moon Fox didn't fight.

When Black Lion, Midnight Snake, and Shikamaru didn't move to help, and the creature noticed, he disappeared, his gaze dropping on all men, ending on Black Lion.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed. "I was right."

Okay, guys, I want to know what you think Shikamaru was right about... Who do you think is the cause of it all??? I want to see how many of you can figure it out, and if I gave enough clues... If you read DoaD it might be easier for you to guess, because you know how I think/work, but maybe you've already figured me out. I guess I just want to see if I'm at all clever, or if you are all too smart for me (I believe that you are all too smart, so prove me right).

Review and let me know who you think done it. .