Author's Note: I actually hadn't planned on writing this so soon. But I'm on-call for work until 1AM and I can't sleep very well when I'm on-call. So I sat down and started writing and well, here we go! It's after 1AM now, but I'm not done and I want to finish this. Slow plot advance, but an advance nonetheless!

A yawn preceding him, Naruto entered the open door only to find he wasn't the first one there. Puzzled, he settled for shoving his hands in his pockets as he tried to ignore the irritated rumble of his empty stomach. The sun was barely rising above the stone faces of the Hokage's, the sheets on his bed were still warm from the imprint of his body and his pillow heavy from the weight of his dreams, and it was too damn early to look at a face as sour as Tsunade's.

"What the hell is going on?" It was more a lazy question than a demand.

Whether she knew it or not, for once, Tsunade didn't rise to the bait. "Close the door, Naruto."

It was her tone that did it. It brushed away the last cobwebs of sleep clinging to his brain, had him obeying without question.

The click of the door seemed abnormally loud in the small space of the room. An unusual silence hung on the air, leaving it thick and heavy. Something like dread tickled the corner of his mind as he scanned the room and stopped when he saw Kakashi lounging in a corner. A lounging Kakashi was always deceptive. His former Sensei rarely let on about the seriousness of the situation; he didn't have any need to when his presence spoke it far too loudly and far too clearly for Naruto.

The Hokage rose and walked a quick path, back and forth, in front of her desk before speaking. That she was too disturbed to be superior, looming at them all from her chair, made him forget how hungry he was, made him forget everyone else was in the room but the two of them.

"It's Sasuke."

He blinked, couldn't help it. Trust Tsunade to skip the gentle introduction of such a provocative topic.

"What do you mean... 'it's Sasuke'? Did you find him?" He added, not liking the quick catch in his stomach. It said too much. It revealed what he'd never wanted to admit to Sakura. That a part of him--a secret, selfish, small part--hoped maybe he wouldn't find Sasuke after all.

She paused to lean on her desk, eyes on the floor. "Not exactly."

When he would have asked, Kakashi roused himself and said, "He found us."

When Kakashi didn't elaborate, restless, he swung and scanned the faces of his peers. The only one looking at him was Shikamaru; steadily and patient, his friend's expression everything he wasn't at this moment. They weren't telling him something. Or they were; they were trying to figure out how to tell him.

"Okay... So what does that mean then?" He asked, surprised he could hear himself above the pounding of his heart.

"Sasuke is in the Sound, Naruto. And he wants us to go there." Tsunade again.

"You're being pretty damn cryptic here. Why the hell is Sasuke in the Sound and why would he want us to go there?" The Sound. Why hadn't he guessed? Or had he always known and in doing so avoided it? "What does this have to do with me and them?" He added, pointing to his friends.

Tsunade exchanged glances with first Shizune and then Kakashi. Naruto could feel frustration gripping him, loosening his tongue. If any of them had any inkling of how difficult it was for him to hold back now, they might've been impressed. As it was, he was seconds away from rushing the Hokage and shaking the answer out of her.

A breath, and then, "Okay, I'm just going to say it outright, Shizune. I don't care what you say. There's no point in it." Facing Naruto fully, she laid it out in terse, bare tones. "Sasuke has Sakura in the Sound. He wants us to come and get her. I'm forming a team and you're on it. You probably have a million questions right now, but I don't have time to answer any of them. Sakura's life depends on it."

Briefly, as it all sank in leaving a numb sort of disbelief, she pressed her fingers to her forehead and continued, "I sent her on a mission. It was simple. Get the Hero Water from Shibuki in the Hidden Waterfall and bring it back to me. I had a use for... Well, Sasuke won't tell us what happened between Hidden Waterfall and here. He'll only tell me that she drank the water, she's very sick, and we need to go to her. She's too sick to travel." She paused and it startled him to see a faint imprint of fear in her face. "It's serious, Naruto. You know what happens when the Hero Water is... The fact that Sasuke even contacted us... I can't guess at his motivations, but..."

He wasn't aware he was holding himself so stiffly until his neck spasmed in protest. Tsunade was never at a loss for words. And Sakura... What did it mean she was 'too sick to travel'? Better still, how the hell had Sasuke found her and what did he want with her?

"This mission is likely a trap."

"I understand that, Kakashi. But I can't just leave Sakura in the Sound, whatever Sasuke's intentions."

"You're the Hokage now. You have a responsibility to Konoha. You should send Shizune and stay here." His words had finality to them that Naruto was used to hearing. It didn't stave off the shock at hearing that Tsunade intended to be one of the people retrieving Sakura.

Strangely quiet, Tsunade faced him. "I have to go Kakashi. It's why I need you to stay here. I need to know Konoha is in safe hands."

It was obvious to Naruto that they'd been having this same argument long before they'd let the others in.

Crossing his arms, he looked briefly to the ceiling and seemed to finally give in. " I still disagree with your decision to include Naruto on the team."

Naruto felt like a cat chasing a string as his focus went from Tsunade to Kakashi to Tsunade and back again.

"I get your reasoning, Kakashi, but you aren't standing where I am. Are you going to be the one to tell Naruto if Sakura dies? Are you going to be the one taking the responsibility for telling him you took away his last chance to see her?"

Ordinarily, Naruto would've interrupted on principle alone and demanded they quit talking around, over, and under him. He wasn't ten anymore. Little got past him these days. Kakashi knew it, Tsunade knew it, Iruka knew it. Whether it was affection for the kids they'd been, denial of aging, or just plain perversion, he couldn't guess, and usually either played along to humor them or ignored them until they finally quit jerking him around. But this time... He knew it was none of the above, and even if he'd wanted to say something, he couldn't. Someone had sewn his lips shut, replaced his insides with ice, and turned his limbs to lead.

Kakashi's one eye settled on him and it troubled Naruto further to be able to read the hesitation and worry there. The Copy Nin never worried. Or at least if he did, he never let anyone know about it.

Tsunade's back was to him and he couldn't see her expression, didn't know if he wanted to. Her words kept pounding over and over in his head like the blunt end of a hammer. Sakura was dying? How the hell could Sakura be dying? They'd been to the edge of it all so many times and survived it'd become a laugh for them. She was the only one he let tease him about having 'nine lives' because of how close to the truth that statement touched. And now she was dying because she drank some stupid water?

Anger rushed up on the heels of shock and clawed to the surface, the raw edge stirring the simmering waters of the Demon Fox to boiling. Naruto could feel him pushing to rise above, to burst from beneath his skin and overtake reason, sanity, and feeling. The ease of it, the swift desire to simply let go and relinquish control frightened him almost more than the thought of Sakura dying. The blood thirst had never been this strong in his life, not even when it first took over, that day he'd thought Sasuke...

The trance broke and he shook his head, swinging away as Tsunade shifted to follow Kakashi's gaze. He didn't want either of them knowing how fine his hold was on the Demon Fox. Not if it meant they wouldn't let him go.

Tightening his fist until it made bloody half-moons in his palm, he was relieved when the rage subsided, so much so he barely controlled the urge to sigh aloud. When he raised his head, it was to find Shikamaru standing in front of him. He couldn't tell what Shikamaru was thinking. It wasn't hard to guess though. Still, whatever his reservations, Naruto knew that Shikamaru would go (complaining the entire way) and give everything he had if it was necessary. That was just the kind of friend he was.

His former Sensei and the Hokage were talking behind him. He didn't hear the words.

Shikamaru reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder, pressing briefly before looking over his own at the others. The relief that welled up, shattering the ice, replaced his doubt with hope and he shared a brief grin with Kiba. It wasn't amusement; there was nothing funny about it. It was Kiba's way, that arrogant smirk of a smile that said the Inuzuka didn't plan to fail, and better still, didn't think he ever would.

Naruto didn't tell them that Sakura's survival depended on Shizune and Tsunade more than the rest of them. He didn't want to admit it to himself. It felt better to be doing something even if it was as ineffective as rubbing a poultice into a festering wound.

"Naruto?"

He met Tsunade's questioning eyes, his own clearer now.

"We'll leave as soon as we can get everything ready."

He nodded. No real answer was needed, and talking was only robbing them of precious time. Besides, he wasn't the only one hurting here. Sakura was the closest thing Tsunade had to a daughter (he'd heard Tsunade tell Shizune as much when neither of them thought anyone was listening) and in effect, her legacy. Everything she knew, the Hokage was putting into Sakura, one of the only Med-nins with the capability to handle it. The only, if anyone wanted his opinion on the subject.

A hand slapped against his back with enough force to uproot a regular man. "Just like old times, huh?"

Naruto sniffed. "Inuzuka, you stink like dog."

Kiba sneered, showing fang. "Yeah, well, at least I smell better than you. You just stink anyway."

"I'm not listening to this the entire way." Shikamaru, sounding bored, followed by the telltale shuffle of reluctant feet, settled on the other side of him.

"I'm pitching my tent away from all of you," Ino interjected, not quite able to hide the quiver in her voice. It was that quiver that had Shikamaru leaving his side and going to hers.

Closing his eyes, grateful for the easy banter, Naruto wished he could relay how much this meant to him.

While Ino and Shikamaru talked in low, private words, he ignored Kiba and concentrated on Kakashi and Tsunade's talk of strategy and her reasoning for her team. As they traveled to the Sound, Kiba and Akamaru would track Sakura's scent, hoping to ward off any deception if Sasuke wasn't being truthful. Shikamaru would be their strategist, hopefully hundreds of moves ahead of Sasuke. Ino worked well with Shikamaru, but she was also training under Ibiki, and knew what was necessary to garner information from Nin if they caught any before reaching Sasuke. Shizune and Tsunade had to be protected at the cost of everything else or Sakura... And he, well, he knew why Tsunade was letting him go. Everyone in the room knew it.

He'd wanted to see Sakura again, but not like this. It hovered there, unspoken, of what would happen if they didn't make it in time. What, if anything, was Sasuke doing to keep her alive? Did he actually give a damn about her, some fondness for an old comrade, or was there another reason, as Kakashi suggested, for summoning them? Question after question surged one after the other, leaving him no closer to an answer and no less frustrated.

Sasuke. After all this time, and all these years of searching, the Uchiha revealed himself as easily as if it'd been nothing at all. Had he known they were searching for them? Had he had a good laugh, thinking about them trying to find him, holding onto a boy that no longer existed and a past that was nothing more than that: a past?

Yet... If Sasuke wasn't lying to them, then what did it mean that he'd come out of hiding to contact the Hokage in a bid to save the life of a woman he'd abandoned as surely as he'd abandoned Konoha? It meant it was too damn complicated. It meant he couldn't hate Sasuke for hurting them all because it wasn't as simple as that. Not that he'd ever actually believed it was. It'd only been easier for him to let it be that way, instead of remembering, instead of wondering, instead of chasing Sasuke's shadow as it stretched further and further away from him.

The muscles of his stomach clenched and released. What the hell was he going to say when he saw Sasuke again? And honestly, would he be able to say anything at all?