I feel like collapsing. I'm too tired for everything at once…=-=
Warning: Violence and some cursing!(Not very much!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Tsunade frowned as she looked out the window of her village. She did not think of herself as 'too old' to reminisce about the past and how life was much more simpler back then, but looking over the village now, she had begun to wish that life nowadays would be the same as the past. But as the future held much greater promise, Tsunade did not doubt the work that Kakashi and Jiraiya could do when together. The old woman smiled lightly and leaned back in her chair with ease. If they were together in a fight, she wondered if either of them would think back to the time of their leader and student days, back to when they were either leading a team or being part of a team. Would they come together as a student and teacher for a battle?
Shizune had been quiet for most of the time that she saw Tsunade go into deep thought. She knew the woman liked her moments as it was certainly one way of easing her mind and not just by gambling all day either. It was a nice change for once and Shizune could feel Tsunade's emotions as though it were water being vaporized by the sun. She looked out over the village, through the large glass window and over the many houses that were cluttered together like one big castle. Seeing the situation now, Shizune had never thought of such a village becoming a giant family in just a short amount of years. Shizune allowed a smile to escape her lips and watched as a group of white birds flew past the buildings.
Kurenai slammed her hands on the table of the Nara household. She and Shino had decided to take the orange pill over to the Nara clan in case they were able to figure something out about it. They were planning on seeing Lady Tsunade first but then when Shikamaru and his father had passed them by during their trip to the Hokage's tower, they thought it best to check the pill with them beforehand.
Shino looked at his teacher; he had never thought the woman would be so emotional over a single pill. It was one thing to consider the lives of all the villagers but another to focus on only one person. Shino knew the teacher was not herself and also knew the woman's thoughts concerning Hinata. The two of them had been told that Hinata may or may not be able to have children later on in life. But Tsunade was not certain at that time for she had not known about the pill.
"Sensei…I feel we should keep a watch on Kiba for now. He knew about this pill and he might know more if we talk to him." Kurenai stood unmoved and stared at the pill that was sitting in front of her. The Nara family had not been able to give the two the information they needed for this was a new kind of pill that they have never seen before. It was a growing trend.
"Might as well. Kiba would know more than Lady Tsunade about it. After that…we take the pill to the Hokage." Shino nodded his consent to the agreement and followed his leader out of the Nara family household and into the now busy streets of Konoha.
They had found Kiba and Akamaru with Hinata, only Akamaru was being treated while Kiba sat idly by, watching the young nurse bandage the dog around the waist with care. Shino and Kurenai walked in calmly but they were concerned for what Kiba knew about the pill and asked the nurse to leave them for a few minutes. The nurse smiled politely and left the room upon orders, leaving just the five of them in the room. Akamaru made a few whimpering noises, gesturing for his master's idea on the situation. But Kiba shook his head and gripped the seat he was sitting on, looking down at the floor.
"Ask me then, Shino. Had I known who did this and who gave Hinata the pill?" Kurenai became worried and looked at the pill that was clutched in her hand.
"Do you, Kiba?" Shino asked. Kiba flinched at the sound of his name. Looking at Kiba now, Shino was thinking among the lines of 'child' and as a child being scolded, Kiba was hanging his head in shame.
"I know who hurt Akamaru, because I was there. Sakura gave that pill to Hinata and punched Akamaru. That girl…she's changed somehow." Shino realized that Kiba must have been thinking back to the incident with Akamaru and Sakura. This was most definitely interesting. As of knowing team 7 for such a long time and mostly because Naruto and Kiba had been so much alike, Shino had also noticed that team 7 had most of the bad luck within the village.
Team 7 had been formed appropriately like any squad would be formed but their team was certainly lacking something and it was their team work. Sakura's sudden change of heart for her comrades was not to be taken likely. Shino knew that with the death of her team mates, that it would only be a matter of time before the girl went out of her mind eventually. It was not uncommon but it was strange to see such a calm girl like Sakura become distracted with emotions over the death of fellow shinobi. Surely she knew the price a ninja paid when not concentrating in a battle.
"Whatever's going on with Sakura must somehow be connected with Kakashi sensei's sudden disappearance. Have you two noticed that he hasn't been around in the village at all?" Kurenai was in shock at this fact but Kiba did not look as surprised as his teacher.
"Maybe he's preparing for the funeral, Shino. You know it's only a few more days away…" Kurenai felt like she was trying to reassure herself and not just her students.
Kiba sighed and got up from the chair. He knew deep down ever since Sasuke and Naruto had told him that a secret could not remain secret forever. And he had waited for this type of day to come when the cat was out of the bag. He knew Sakura's intentions yet he allowed Hinata to come into contact with the dangers and on top of it, he hid this from his own teacher and even his other team mate, Shino.
"Kurenai sensei…I believe Sakura's behind Sasuke and Naruto's deaths." This was a bold accusation that looked like it could be true.
Although how the girl could have gotten away with actually murdering her two best friends was something hard to accept.
Catching up to a woman who seemed to be getting further and further away from them, Sasuke began to feel a little unsure about his speed. He knew he could not afford to second guess his actions nor did he have the ability to look back to see if Naruto was still running behind him, because if he had, the woman in front would be able to have the option of switching places with a log. In this battle of endurance and speed, timing was everything.
"KITSUKI!" Sasuke sweat dropped as he raced among the branches of the trees, bouncing off the branches as quick as a rabbit on land. As much as he appreciated his lover, Naruto, for being so concerned for their newborn son, Sasuke had to wonder why the boy insisted on yelling out a person's name whenever something bad was happening to them. Another thing that Sasuke would have wanted was a quiet approach.
The chase was prolonging longer than expected, and Sasuke was growing tired of his weak ways. He was only a teenager and he was already feeling his years pass him by like he had been aging forever. It was not a good feeling and he wanted his son back as soon as possible. Sasuke quickened his pace while making a few hand signals. He was going to use his fire jutsus to get the woman to stop. Or if he could, pause the woman's current mission and hopefully think of a tactic.
Flying above them, Deidara and the giant clay bird he rode on had swooped down at the woman and the child. Sasuke grit his teeth and threw up a paper bomb in front of the bird. This stopped Deidara from continuing for only a few seconds before he was back flying the bird again. As Sasuke kept his eyes on the woman in front, Sasuke noticed that she seemed to be jumping at odd places, leaping and jerking to the side when she wasn't leaping off a tree branch. Was there something invisible snapping at her feet? As Sasuke used his sharingan to look into it, he saw the movements of a spiked needle appearing from the ground. It was attached to something that was coming from behind. He smiled and saw his chance to use a giant fireball while he created a clone to appear in front of the woman.
Sasuke was planning to attack from behind while his clone would grab the baby from the woman's hands. But the plan did not go too well as he hoped it would. Orochimaru was up ahead and he looked like he was waiting for the woman and the baby. Sasuke could feel Naruto's red chakra right behind him, so close they could be side-by-side almost. "DEIDARA!" Sasuke and Naruto heard Itachi's voice call from behind them.
The blonde man gave a hand signal to Itachi, putting two of his fingers to his forehead and saluting Itachi letting the man know he heard the order. A smile came to the blonde's lips and he pulled a few clay dolls out of his sleeves. The palms of his hands chomped onto the clay and pulled the clay all the way inside, chewing it up and molding it at the same time. Deidara aimed his arm to Orochimaru who was still standing in a clearing just a couple trees away. He seemed confident. Deidara tossed the bomb down at Orochimaru while the woman stopped leaping through the trees, noticing the change of the atmosphere.
Sasuke and Naruto ganged up on her but Naruto's desperate acts only made the struggle for the baby harder as the Kyuubi's chakra was making it impossible for Sasuke to hold the woman down. But the bombs that were dropped down earlier and aimed for Orochimaru had not ceased the man's attacks or stopped his crazy obsession. The woman did the unthinkable and smiled as she tossed the baby into the air, causing Kitsuki to fall in the direction of a long and purple tongue. Sasuke and Naruto let go of the woman and Naruto's emotions got the better of him as he allowed the red chakra to swallow his half naked body, the chakra, swirling from behind and acting as a tail-the woman had no time to react to the boy's chakra and was taken by surprise as she was whipped by one of the tails of red chakra, knocking over at least a hundred trees before landing with a deadly impact to the ground.
The three marks on Naruto's cheeks had grown wider just a few inches and his fangs had grown a few inches longer than they usually were. Sasuke watched Naruto's transformation while Orochimaru's tongue reached the body of its container. An evil man was getting away with their newborn son while Naruto was still transforming into a chakra-based fox. Itachi and Sasori had finally caught up with the two of them and this time, they looked even scarier then when they had first began a fight with them, a few weeks back.
"Stay with Naruto until he is done his transformation. Sasori and I will catch up with Orochimaru. Deidara will stay with you as well. Good luck…little brother." And with that, Itachi and Sasori ran past Sasuke and Naruto, their black and red trench coats floating behind them.
Naruto scowled as his fingernails became long claw and his headband that had been wrapped around his head had become untied and had fallen to the ground. Sasuke was taken aback as to what to do now. The only thing he could do was hope for the best of Naruto's transformation when it was complete.
Sakura was silent as she ran through the village, never caring whether she hit someone on her way to the gates of the village. Her mind was racing with anxiety and her heart had not stopped pounding since the day she met him. Sakura stopped shortly to catch her breath for only a split second and was off again, rushing to the gate like it would be closed for eternity if she didn't make it in time. She quickly looked around, still running towards the closed gate and she saw that no one was standing guard like they usually were and Sakura smiled in her mind as she placed both her hands in between the slit of the gate, pulling the two large doors open with as much strength as she could muster.
'Goodbye…Tsunade-sama…' Sakura managed to open the gate doors with quite a bit of effort and escaped through the small opening she had created. Sakura ran a few spaces ahead before stopping to look back at the village. Her eyebrows pinched together in anger and then she was off like a lightning bolt.
The girl was not as stupid as or slow minded as others probably thought of her. Sakura knew her teacher was sent on a mission and this was why she was leaving the village. Sakura felt she had wasted enough time playing with Hinata and Kiba and she felt that she was needed elsewhere. By now…the plan was going smoothly like she was told it would. A pain cut through her shoulder and she stopped momentarily but she shook the feeling off and healed her shoulder while she ran. The mark she was given a few weeks before the mission, before the day that Sasuke and Naruto had escaped her grasp, had now been acting up even though she had gotten past its effects. The mark itself had three circles that trailed off into a point and went about in a circle. The mark was a deep purple and looked as though it was seeping through the sleeve of her shirt.
'Damn it! This mark is killing me!' Sakura thought as she raced past the trees and didn't bother to stop to fight off any of the forest animals that crossed her path.
A/n: Man, this took me three days to complete. Had to plan this one out carefully cause this is the leader of the climax! 5 more chapters left, but they will be long as this one so don't worry!