Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Man this semester was challenging! As many of you know, couple months ago I had been plagued with insomnia issues, so I've been finding the right medication for this. So that made concentrating on schoolwork challenging. Plus, I was doing more in-depth research for my major and lemme tell ya, concentration issues and neurobiology do NOT mix well. Another class was funsies, but the exams were all in-class essay that was cumulative from day one. Plus, that one was my focus for my major so I had to pay EXTRA attention for that one. Phew, am I glad that this semester is done!
But I've kept you waiting long enough, er, too long, I admit. But anyhoo, onwards with the chapter!
Tsunade allowed herself a deep sigh. It was mostly out of frustration, but there was a good amount of sorrow in there as well.
She couldn't help it; her mood kept fluctuating between the two ever since she had been told Sai had been broken out of Konoha's prison…ESPECIALLY after she had learned that her gaki was missing.
The Hokage wished there was SOMETHING she herself could do.
Lead a search party? Go out herself to look for her little boy? Help the interrogation squad grill everyone on shift when Sai was released? Prep the torture chamber?
Another sigh exploded from her as she rubbed her head with frustration.
What Tsunade REALLY wanted to do was to march straight up to the former 'high elders' and beat THEIR asses. It was their fault, after all; she just knew it.
If those 'high elders' had not conceived the hideous notion of controlling an 'ultimate weapon' for Konoha by channeling their hatred of the tailed beasts, then none of this would have ever happened. Her gaki would have never been taken from them in the first place, and he most certainly would never have had his mind been controlled either.
Oh, how she wanted to throttle their pompous asses. Exiling them was not enough.
She wanted them to hang. So what if that was never a practice within Konoha? She had seen plenty of rogue groups of ninja doing so to intimidate others within and outside of their ranks during her travels, and even though she thought it was barbaric, she could certainly see the enticing appeal to them as of now.
Maybe she could do it in her own backyard…or the forest surrounding the Leaf Village….no one would have to know…
Yet another frustrated sigh was loosened when Tsunade realized her little fantasy could never become a reality.
Unfortunately for her hanging plans, the entire village was all too aware of the exiled elders. In fact, most people took it upon themselves to make sure that those two remained exiled.
Wonderfully proactive for the village…terrible for all Tsunade's maiming plans.
Kami…she needed a drink.
Standing up, Tsunade ventured to the other side of the room, by a bookcase.
She had to look all around her, and even flared out her chakra a bit to ensure her trusted—and annoyingly vigilant—assistant was not around.
Only when she was certain that she was alone in the office did Tsunade release a seal on a pyramid of scrolls, allowing her to lift them up like a shell to reveal her ultra-secret stash of sake; only for emergencies.
This was definitely an emergency-sake situation.
Tsunade forewent any form of ceremony and simply drank from the bottle. Not that it mattered; her emergency stash only had bottles with no cups.
Many years of practice allowed the Hokage to take five good, long swigs of the wonderfully calming sake before she heard footsteps down the hallway. Cursing as she did so, Tsunade needed to put the bottle back and re-set the protective seal.
Walking back to her desk, she heaved another mighty sigh. It might as well have become her primary language with the amount of times she sighs.
The Hokage sat down behind her desk just before her door was knocked. Nice. Now she seemed professional.
She had great timing and deserved some sake when this was all over.
"Enter," Tsunade ordered. Hopefully there would be valuable information about her gaki. If not, then whoever it was that was not giving her such information deserved D-Rank missions for a decade or so. Maybe a century. That seemed fair.
Shizune entered first, and motioned to unseen people to wait.
Tsunade straightened up in her chair. Such actions meant this meeting would be about information.
Good. It was about damn time.
She was a half an hour away from drunkenly storming those 'high elders' and putting them in their place.
Kami…she needed a drink.
Shizune hurried over to Tsunade's side. The blonde, in turn, leaned in when her assistant bent down to whisper in her ear.
"Lady Tsunade," she said in a low, hurried tone, "There's a team of Chuunin outside who have seen Naruto."
Brown eyes widened at the statement. Finally! She wanted to burst into a wide smile of joy.
But she couldn't. She's listened to enough reports from her assistant to know that Shizune was not finished.
After a silent prompting, Shizune continued, "It was Ebisu's team. They were returning from a mission when they say Naruto attacked them."
"Attacked?" Tsunade cut in, her own tone slightly accusatory. She knew her gaki. He would never attack anyone without reason; ESPECIALLY not Konohamaru and his friends.
"Yes, he attacked them. Specifically, he attacked Ebisu. Presently, the Chuunin were able to bring Ebisu back to the village and now he is at the hospital, recovering and unable to answer any questions," her assistant responded quickly.
Tsunade folded her hands in front of her lower face and frowned. This behavior made did not make sense to people who knew Naruto…but at the same time, made sense to those who only knew of Naruto's past. The kid and Ebisu didn't have a golden start…
Theories swarmed inside the Hokage's mind. Was Naruto being controlled again? Maybe he was being used to assassinate people of the blonde's past to sully his name. Maybe he was killing any and all Jounin outside the village walls. Maybe someone else held a grudge against Ebisu…that man certainly had a talent for making enemies.
More questions than answers were forming in her mind in the most frustrating of ways.
What was Naruto doing? Was he being controlled again? Who was controlling him?
The two most likely culprits were those 'high elders' and Sai.
Unfortunately for Tsunade's daydreams, those 'high elders' did not seem to be at the end of this.
Those high elders had always been fond of Ebisu, for in the past he had been prompt in reciting their values in life. So Tsunade should scrap her plans for torture…for the moment….
The most logical answer would be that Sai was behind all this…what with his sick obsession for Naruto… But having Naruto attack Ebisu did not fall into that pattern.
If it really had been Sai, the most logical choice of action for that stalker would be to take Naruto far away from Konoha for them to be alone.
That was what Tsunade had assumed was going on from the moment she had heard that Sai had escaped. She had been preparing to hear sparse information alluding to the likelihood of them being spotted outside the walls together.
An attack on Ebisu was not something she had expected.
In her mind, this new information had coupled with reports of vandalism coming in all day that apparently was eerily similar to acts of destruction that her gaki had been guilty of in the darks days of the past.
Maybe…maybe Naruto WASN'T being controlled? Had his anger snapped in some way?
Was this the work of the Kyuubi?
Naruto had claimed that he had the Kyuubi under control now, but Tsunade knew better than anyone that only her grandfather had the power to tame the Tailed Beasts.
Her gaki had only recently started training with his chakra again. Maybe that was the trigger? Could the Kyuubi had merely been in a form of stasis during the time Naruto had been controlled and the chakra re-awoke it?
Was this becoming a case like Gaara and Shukaku had been?
"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune's voice cut through her thoughts.
"…Yes?" Tsunade asked after a moment. She had gotten carried away.
"I asked, should I let the Chuunin in now?" her assistant repeated with hesitancy.
"Yes. Send them in," Tsunade ordered, lifting her voice so the three behind the door could hear.
During the pause that followed, she silently reprimanded herself. Tsunade should not have indulged herself with forming theories in her mind for so long; especially when she SHOULD have been listening to available information.
These kids held valuable pieces to this frustratingly problematic mystery.
She would listen to them and made estimations based off all the available information. Then she will send in for the Naras to make their own assumptions.
After all, what was the point in hiring advisors if she could not utilize their brains in situations like this?
The door opened before she could think anything else on the matter. A good thing too; Tsunade was thinking too much at the moment.
She should not be formulating any plans or theories at the moment. She needed to focus on obtaining and analyzing all of the available information.
Three Chuunin, Udon, Moegi, and Konohamaru, ushered through the door shortly after it opened.
Tsunade waited until they had reached the center of her office before asking clearly, "For what purpose have you been brought here?" She may have sounded harsher than she had intended, but it was vital that these kids understood the magnitude of the situation they were in. Anything less could result in some accidentally withheld information.
The three in front of her flinched.
Feeling slightly guilty, Tsunade arranged her facial expression to be a calm, smile. She knew it did not reach her eyes completely, but the purpose was not to convey happiness. No, she needed to convey safety.
She did not need to look beside herself to know that Shizune was pining them with a smile as well; though her assistant's smile was more stern. That was needed as well, since Shizune was nice and kind on their way here, so this smile would be understood.
This was an official report; not a friendly meeting.
The tree Chuunin in front of them nodded in unison.
Good. They understood.
Bet they were not speaking.
To remind them, Shizune cleared her throat.
They jumped a little, and then Moegi spoke, "Lady Hokage. We were brought before you to personally report that was saw Naruto while returning from our mission!"
Tsunade nodded. While she did so, she swiftly assessed the body language of the ones before her.
Moegi was standing in the middle, holding each of her teammates' hands. She seemed mostly in control of herself, but the Hokage could detect that the control was recent, and that the girl was still shaking a little. Small tremors were running through her body; her posture suggesting that such tremors had been grander moments ago.
Udon was standing next to Moegi and was dutifully holding her hand. With his other hand, he was rubbing his practically perpetually runny nose; but Tsunade could see that was a pretext so he could discreetly rub his eyes. Between rubs, she could see that his eyes were wide with fright despite how hard he was trying to hide it.
Konohamaru was also holding Moegi's hand, and he too was quaking slightly. Only his trembles seemed not to be of fear, but rather of anger if the rest of his expression and balled fists was anything to go by. He looked raring to go and would quite possibly start a physical fight without outside warning.
Deciding that she would worry about it when the time came, Tsunade ordered, "Tell me," to the three in front of her.
Nodding, Moegi answered, "Yes! We had finished out mission to escort the local Lord back to his land when we were attacked in the forest. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until we were suddenly overwhelmed with…" she bit her lip, "…with the scariest chakra I've ever felt."
Tsunade saw Udon's hand squeeze his teammate's hand. From both of their lingering haunted expressions, the Hokage ventured that they were telling the truth and that they had to feel the Kyuubi's chakra. She didn't allow herself to think of any implications from this new fact.
When it became apparent that Moegi wasn't going to continue, Udon continued to explain, "Ebisu-Sensei told us to form a defensive formation. When we did, the chakra source moved around us, too fast for us to follow. Then it attacked Ebisu-Sensei from behind him and he crashed into us. That was when we saw that the thing that attacked us was Narut—"
"NARUTO ISN'T A 'THING'!" Konohamaru burst out suddenly.
All attention turned towards the shouting boy.
Konohamaru was still holding Moegi's hand, but was squeezing it angrily; and rather painfully if Moegi's grimace was anything to go by. He was also breathing heavily as he glared at his teammates with such intensity that Tsunade and Shizune had subtly prepared themselves to break up any sudden fights.
"NARUTO ISN'T A 'THING'!" Konohamaru repeated himself in an emotionally ragged tone, "He's human! And a ninja of Konoha who will one day become the Hokage!" His eyes darted from person to person challengingly, making it abundantly clear to all that the boy would attack anyone who dared question the merit of his words.
Tsunade's eyes met Konohamaru's and she was surprised to see that they were slightly watering.
"Konohamaru," Tsunade said slowly, "What was Naruto's chakra like? Was it…unstable?" she chose her words with care, unsure how much Konohamaru knew about his hero's condition. She thought it sounded like the boy knew about the Kyuubi, but she was not sure.
Konohamaru's eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
Tsunade's own eyes widened minutely, understanding the unspoken question passing between them. They were each asking if the other new the truth about Naruto and the Kyuubi's history.
She inclined her head slightly, as did Shizune's next to her. Yes, yes they did know that the Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto at birth.
Konohamaru looked away for a moment. His two teammates questioned his sudden outburst, but they were more or less ignored.
The boy looked back at the Hokage and her assistant with a new determination in his eyes. The concentration on his expression told Tsunade that he was choosing his words with care. "His chakra was…unrestrained, but definitely not unstable!"
"Are you certain?" Tsunade asked slowly.
Konohamaru nodded his head seriously.
Tsunade nodded her understanding of the grim situation. Naruto had unleashed the Kyuubi's chakra willingly.
Focusing on the other two, the Hokage asked, "What happened next?"
Instead of answering, Moegi turned to Konohamaru and asked, "Konohamaru…what's…what's going on?"
Konohamaru ignored her and told Tsunade in a firm tone, "Naruto demanded that we hand Ebisu over to him."
"What do you mean 'hand him over'?" Tsunade asked sharply.
Udon looked between the Hokage and Konohamaru, confusion written all over his face. Nonetheless, he answered shakily, "Those were his words. When we refused to unhand Sensei, Naruto attacked us with a Rasengan…"
Tsunade glanced over at the other two with slight disbelief, but they solemnly nodded confirmation.
Udon continued, "Then Konohamaru tried to defend us by using his own Rasengan—" the boy in question bowed his head while his female teammate squeezed his hand worriedly, "—but, then Naruto attacked him and knocked him out…" Udon looked over at his teammate sympathetically.
Moegi stepped closer to Konohamaru as a form of comfort, and then she looked up at the Hokage and continued to say in a small, frightened tone, "After…after he knocked Konohamaru out…Naruto's eyes were…were red. And…and he told us that…that the reason he was doing all this was because…because he was punishing the village or something…" she closed her eyes and again and faced away.
Tsunade's eyes widened. Her gaze snapped to Udon, demanding an explanation.
Understanding, Udon elaborated with the same small, frightened tone as Moegi had, "His exact words were…" he took a breath, steeling himself, then said, "that 'this is my punishment for the village that…sacrificed me to the demon…'."
Tsunade made sure not to react. She could see Konohamaru did, though, as he grit his teeth together and closed his eyes even tighter.
His teammates looked between Konohamaru and the Hokage, confusion the dominating expression on their faces while Udon concluded, "Naruto looked like he was about to attack us, so we had closed our eyes and tried to protect Konohamaru and Ebisu-Sensei. He headed towards us, but he never really attacked. Naruto was gone before we could open our eyes…"
Shizune looked like she was going to lecture the Chuunin about leaving themselves defenseless before an enemy, but she couldn't get a word in. Before she could say anything, Moegi burst out, "Lady Hokage, I don't understand! What is going on with Naruto and what does he mean by 'demon'?!"
"NOTHING! He didn't mean anything!" Konohamaru shouted with ferocity, tearing his hand away from Moegi.
"Then WHY did he attack Ebisu-Sensei?! WHY did he attack US?!" Moegi shouted, tears springing to her eyes.
Udon did not say anything, but he tightened his own hold on Moegi's other hand and turned to face Konohamaru, showing that he was supporting her and wanted answers as well.
Shizune turned to Tsunade with a troubled expression. It was obvious she was wondering how to answer these kids' questions without sharing any secrets.
The Hokage sent her assistant a slight glare; a silent order to keep quiet. They would not give any information.
These kids were young, but they were still ninja of Konoha. Their jobs were to gather information, and to not question orders. It was not their place to demand for answers when the, mere children, only held the rank of Chuunin.
And at the moment, the Hokage had more important matters to attend to than babysitting. She needed to gather a search team and arm them with this information immediately.
Looking back at the team, Tsunade set her expression to one of her most authoritative glares as she cleared her throat.
The three Chuunin grew silent after they looked over at her. Upon seeing her expression, they straightened their postures and stood in line once more.
"Is that all that happened?" Tsunade asked them.
The three of them nodded their heads.
The Hokage folded her hands together in a dignified manner and said, "Very well. The three of you will go downstairs and report to Iruka. He will help you file a more detailed report. Make sure you put in everything you remember, no matter how small. This information is invaluable."
Moegi's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "But—"
"—Now," Tsunade ordered, leaving no room for in subornation in her tone.
Tears threatened to fall from Moegi's eyes, and Udon looked more confused than ever, but Konohamaru nodded his head with a determined expression. He then grabbed each of his teammates' hands and made his way out of the office quickly with them in tow.
Kami, she was thankful that at least he understood what it meant to be a ninja. His grandfather would be proud.
Shizune looked at Tsunade reproachfully, "Lady Tsunad—"
"—Shizune," Tsunade cut her assistant off with an authoritative tone. Her assistant's soft side for children was growing, and while it was endearing, it was not needed at the moment.
The Hokage's assistant fell silent.
"Shizune," Tsunade repeated in a softer, but still commanding tone, "I am not willing to divulge information Naruto would not want to be commonly known."
Her assistant pursed her lips and looked away, but she nodded her head. It seemed like the full situation was finally weighing dawning on her. She might have had a soft spot for children, but Naruto would always have a special place in both of their hearts.
"Now, I'm going to need you to do something for me," Tsunade ordered, making sure her voice was not as severe.
"Yes?" Shizune asked, looking back at her Hokage.
"Gather all the Jounin. If what those kids had to say was true, then that means that the Kyuubi's chakra was unleashed willingly. And that means…" Tsunade took a breath, not wanting to say it out loud but needing to, "…that Naruto is being controlled once more."
Sasuke fought the urge to activate his Sharingan.
He constantly needed to remind himself that he was already out on a recon mission to find Naruto. He was already actively looking for his lost lover.
The Uchiha was also a part of a special search party—all the members of Team Seven. Sakura, Kakashi, and someone using wood-based jutsus named Yamato.
Everyone in the group was properly motivated to find Naruto, and they had superior skills that would help. Kakashi was an accomplished recon ninja when he was a part of ANBU; and he had already sent out his dogs to search for Naruto's scent. The Yamato guy—also a former ANBU ninja—was specially connected to the Kyuubi's chakra, and he had more to offer in this field than one would have guessed.
"I may not look like it, but I am good at tracking," he had assured Sasuke. The Uchiha had his doubts, but Sakura had assured him that the guy was indeed telling the truth.
Sasuke didn't care, though.
The rest of the cell could assure him of their motivation all they wanted, but he knew that they were not as resolute as he was in finding his Naruto.
They kept insisting on searching for Naruto as a team, claiming that this was the way Konoha did things and that Sasuke should trust them as they were sure Naruto would trust them had the situation be reversed.
Sasuke did not believe them for a second. He knew that they would have covered more ground had they gone with his plan and spread out.
But, he needed to be patient. He would appease them and stick with the whole teamwork thing until they too saw reason and allowed the four members of the cell to divide.
He kept that in mind whenever he told himself that he should not use his Sharingan unless he truly needed to.
He shouldn't needlessly expend his energy if he wanted to persevere.
But dammit, he wanted to.
Not knowing where his Naruto was, but knowing his Naruto needed help, was torture!
Tsunade had told him and the other Jounin that Naruto been taken by that bastard, Sai. Officially, the story was that Naruto was being forced against his will to comply with that bastard's demands and attack the village. It was made clear that none of this was by the blonde's choice. The mission was to capture them both, but to stay cautious: Naruto was being forcibly coerced into using the Kyuubi's power.
Those who knew Naruto had stayed behind and demanded more details. Tsunade had confirmed their fears, and said that the blonde was indeed being controlled by that bastard again. He had attacked Konohamaru and his team when they were returning to the mission and had unleashed the Kyuubi's chakra on them.
Sakura—who was next to Sasuke during the debriefing—had been worried about the children, Konohamaru especially. The Uchiha, however, was more concerned with one of the details that Tsunade had read from the children's report.
The report had said that Naruto had talked with the kids.
As in, he had verbally responded to their actions.
While Sakura had worried if the children were alright and how they would cope with what happened without being told much information, Sasuke had much different worries swirling in his mind.
Naruto had not been able to speak the last time he had been controlled. Sasuke hated to admit it, but his blonde had been reduced to a puppet of sorts; a mute soldier, physically enacting orders. But this, this was different.
If Naruto responded to verbal cues not coming from whoever was controlling him…that HAD to mean that the controlling jutsu was stronger than the previous.
Sasuke fought off the urge to activate his Sharingan yet again in his frustration.
The jutsu controlling Naruto had been hard enough to break last time.
The Uchiha just hoped that they would find his Naruto soon…
Before he could dwell anymore on the subject, Sasuke noticed Sakura increasing her speed.
As soon as he noticed this, the Uchiha amplified his own pace and positioned himself closer to her. He set his gaze on her, silently asking what was going on.
Understanding the silent question—a little to Sasuke's surprise since she could not have been more oblivious in the past—Sakura answered, "Captain Yamato is getting antsy."
Sasuke glimpsed at the fourth member of their cell. At first, it did not seem like anything was different, asides from Kakashi also moving in closer. But at Sakura's word, Sasuke saw that the brunette's shoulders were tensed minutely and he was glancing off to the side a quarter of a second faster than he had been before.
Maybe this meant that they were going to separate now.
Or maybe, this Yamato guy was actually competent in tracking—like he had claimed—and had found traces of Naruto's trail.
Either way, Sasuke could feel himself getting antsy.
He sent another glance towards Sakura so black eyes could meet green; a silent question as to what she had meant by pointing out this Yamato guy's actions.
Thank kami she understood after a prolonged stare. Or at least, Sasuke assumed she understood when she nodded as an answer and motioned for them to both get closer to the other two.
"Captain Yamato!" she said quietly, once they were within hearing range. It was both a greeting and a—polite—demand for answers.
The man spared her and Sasuke a glance before returning to surveying the area.
When describing this new addition to Team Seven, Naruto had told Sasuke in great detail how creepy this Yamato guy's eyes were. Personally, Sasuke did not understand what the fuss was about. But he did recognize that those eyes seemed perpetually wider than most and had a rather pointed gaze. The Uchiha did not care, though; nor did he care to have memories of his lover brought up when said blonde was still missing.
The Yamato guy did not force Sasuke to dwell upon memories long. Those apparently creepy eyes glanced once more towards the other three and said quietly, "The Kyuubi's chakra is within this area of the forest."
Sakura tensed besides Sasuke.
The Uchiha felt his own heart jump when he heard those words, but he did not let it show. Finally—finally—there was something concrete. He would find his Naruto soon.
"Immediate?" Kakashi asked, his tone low; cautious.
Yamato shook his head almost imperceptibly, "Just barely within my sensory range."
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed, "Number?"
There was another shake of head at the question, "The Kyuubi's chakra overshadows anyone nearby. It could be by itself or have company, but I cannot tell."
"…Direction?" Kakashi asked after the slightest of pauses.
Yet another shake of the head, "The Kyuubi's chakra is divided; clones, most likely."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, reacting to the information. He internally prepared himself to dart off to a given direction—finally splitting up from the group—while he glared at the Yamato guy. How dare he refer to Naruto as 'the Kyuubi'? This guy was supposed to have been a trusted team member; he should KNOW how much the blonde resented being addressed in such a manner.
Once again, Sasuke was not given much time to dwell in his thoughts. Kakashi turned his head marginally to the two behind him and ordered, "We're splitting up."
Before Sasuke could internally celebrate, Sakura spoke up and said, "Sasuke and I are searching together."
The three males turned to look at her.
Undeterred, Sakura went on to say, "Sasuke is worried about any possible injuries Naruto may have sustained and only trusts me or Lady Tsunade to treat him."
After she spoke, Sakura turned to face Sasuke, giving him the same expression she had when he had assumed they were silently communicating questions about Yamato's movements.
Dammit. So she hadn't understood his silent question.
He was sorely tempted to shut her down. Unfortunately, his damn mind kept reminding him that the girl looking at him with such strong conviction was Naruto's second most treasured person.
As much as he wanted to outright deny her—claim her desire to be near him was nothing more than remnants of her silly, useless crush on him—he knew that he shouldn't. She just wanted to prove her usefulness on the search for Naruto.
He needed to find a tactful way to pawn her off to Kakashi or that Yamato guy.
Sasuke broke eye contact with Sakura to look over at Kakashi; to communicate with the other Sharingan user that Sakura would only hinder Sasuke's search for his lover.
Unfortunately, as soon as he made contact with that uncovered eye, Sasuke knew who Kakashi was going to be siding with.
"I'm sure you and the Hokage are the only ones Naruto himself would allow to treat him after everything that has happened. After all, you two are the only healers he could allow close," Kakashi agreed with Sakura.
Green eyes flitted to Kakashi, full of pride and utter gratefulness for her words.
Black eyes narrowed at Kakashi, full of frustration.
"Besides," Kakashi continued, somehow keeping eye contact with Sakura yet focusing on Sasuke, even though he was clearly talking to the girl, "Sasuke is unfamiliar with Yamato's communication or suppression techniques."
Sakura nodded to the unspoken message to stay close to Sasuke.
Sasuke allowed himself to outright glare at Kakashi for the unspoken warning to not go off by himself.
Kakashi ignored them both in favor of turning to Yamato and ordering the entire cell, "Remember: suppression only."
Instantly, the two behind the Jounin dropped their expressions, ready to spring off and save Naruto.
Yamato nodded towards Kakashi before returning to surveying the area. After a tense moment, he pointed towards the left and quietly said, "Keeping pace with us, fluctuating chakra levels."
Without a word, Sasuke and Sakura darted off in the direction that was ordered to them.
For the most part, the two were silent; alert.
They both knew that as teammates they would have each other's back, so they were able to focus more on their own side.
Once they were a fair distance away from the other two members of their cell, Sasuke asked, "How far is Yamato's sensory range?"
He felt the question was prudent, since the two were supposed to find their target right on the edge of this range.
"Pretty far," Sakura answered without looking at the other and instead searching the tree line, "He has an affinity of sorts specifically for the Kyuubi's chakra. He can sense it easier than most and can actually suppress most of Its chakra."
Something clicked in Sasuke's mind, "So that's why he kept referring to Naruto as the Kyuubi."
Sakura nodded and amended, "He only does that whenever he needs to track Naruto, and otherwise called in specifically because of the Kyuubi."
Sasuke nodded, slightly appeased.
Aside from the term used, though, Sasuke was worried. That Yamato guy had said that Naruto's chakra was fluctuating.
Did that mean that Naruto was injured? Did that mean that Naruto was merely tired? Did that mean that Naruto was trying to break the jutsu on his own? Did that mean that the Kyuubi had decided that It was no longer 'cool' with Naruto?
Sasuke decided that there was no point in wondering when he should be focusing on finding Naruto and discover the answers himself.
Since he was more or less stuck with her, the Uchiha decided that he might as well use this colleague to his advantage. In particular: her knowledge of the rest of the team.
She knew what types of tactics Naruto would use to avoid their former Sensei, Kakashi. She also knew how Kakashi would adjust to Naruto's knowledge so the plan remained unhindered on his side, for the most part. Sakura knew the basics of that THIEVING, SON OF A BASTARD's jutsus to make his art into form; as well as ways to disrupt the basic. Sakura also knew of these suppression techniques of Yamato's that Kakashi had hinted about in his warning for Sasuke.
Without further ado, Sasuke bluntly repeated, "Clones."
"Clones," Sakura repeated, but her tone was frustration.
He gave her a glance, inviting her to speak first.
An invitation she graciously accepted as she launched into a barely concealed toned down version of the frustration in what she had just said few moments ago.
"CLONES! Of course Naruto uses clones! Why wouldn't he? After all, he was able to make HUNDREDS of clones as a way of graduating to the rank of Genin! It's ALSO his signature move, asides from the Rasengan…"
All of this had been, of course, said in a muted tone so their target would not hear them approach.
So lucky Sasuke, lucky Sasuke, lucky Sasuke was the sole audience that was able to hear her rant.
Not in the mood to listen to a lady-rant, Sasuke cut it off by asking sharply, "Is there a target or only a diversion?"
Sakura stopped speaking—finally—and shot him a glance meaning to not disturb her mentally until she could answer the question reliably. She then plopped herself down on a sturdy branch and closed her eyes to think in a manner vaguely similar to Shikamaru.
If Sasuke was a lesser man, he could have been tempted to point out that HE could understand her silent communication even after all these years apart from being the proper Team Seven, so why couldn't SHE understand his silent questions?
Luckily for everyone involved, Sasuke was not a lesser man, but an Uchiha. And as one would from such a clan, he chose to sit down quietly in another tree. The branch he chose was also sturdy, and allowed them an acceptable berth—for Sakura's sake for safety rather than comfort—from each other. They still would have each other in their peripheral vision.
The edge of the sensory range was apparently far from where they sat, so figuring out the answer to the question would help them immensely in re-arranging the goal of the mission, so this took precedence to moving. And since it was so far, they could let down a portion of their defenses in favor of utilizing full cognitive ability.
Naruto was using the Kyuubi's chakra, so they would most definitely sense HIM coming from a long ways off.
Now sitting in his own tree branch, the Uchiha pondered the same question as his former teammate, but trusted that she would get results before he did and that hers would be more accurate than his would be.
The problem with the amount of clones meant that Naruto—and anyone who may or may not be under his protective Kyuubi chakra field—knew that Team Seven and definitely knew that this Yamato guy was around the area. They knew because of Naruto's actions of activating the Kyuubi's chakra—so only the Yamato guy could sense it within a broader range—and by creating Kyuubi-chakra-activated-clones and spreading them out within the enlarged sensory range.
So the question was, was there a target or only a diversion?
Was the purpose of the clones to draw Team Seven in as the target? Was the purpose to draw the real Naruto out as a target?
Or were the clones—and possibly real Naruto—only here to keep the team separated from other Konoha ninja as a diversionary tactic. OR all the clones were made so obvious so Team Seven would get distracted with them, allowing the real Naruto to slip away unnoticed as another diversionary tactic.
"Sasuke!"
The Uchiha turned from his position sitting on the three branch to face her, now that she had an answer.
She was standing up, looking at a piece of carved wood in one hand and pointing off in a diagonal direction towards the right with the other and said, "Sasuke! The Kyuubi's chakra faded out in our direction, but more are amassing towards Kakashi-Sensei and Captain Yamato!"
Sasuke tensed, thinking he heard some leaves rustling. Wait, Sakura was blabbering something again.
"Did you even hear me?" she demanded to know, glaring at him.
He could barely keep himself from sneering at her that he felt the mission was more important than her girly ways. But logic reigned in. He heard sounds. Whatever she was saying was important, but they needed to be on the alert.
So rather than verbally answering, he stood up slowly—cautiously—and kept eye contact.
Confident she had his attention, she gestured towards the wood carving—probably something that Yamato guy made for her—and said, "With the sudden influx of clones, Captain Yamato thinks that the real Naruto—"
"—Is here."
Before anyone could react, Sakura had been hit in the back with a Rasengan.
Her body blast passed Sasuke like a limp doll; instantly knocked out, if not more.
Standing where she had stood was Naruto.
Blue eyes bore at Sasuke with little more than contempt. His eyes were a dull blue, like the last time he had been under this controlling jutsu. But his eyes were not blank. No, they had a mere imitation of a flicker of the life that usually sparkled in Naruto's eyes, but those blue eyes were certainly not lifeless like last time.
He knew that he should be concerned for his other teammate whatshername, but all Sasuke's mind could properly formulate was a constant stream of Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto.
Now that the blonde was in front of him, Sasuke's eyes quickly roved over the body to inspect any damages.
There did not seem to be any injuries, but that could be written off to the healing powers of the Kyuubi. Naruto was pale, but not as pale as he had been the last time he had been controlled. And unlike last time, Naruto was not wearing a mask.
His pale expression was void, like before. Back then, there was just a void of all emotion, and he was a lifeless human puppet. But this void was different: now, Naruto was clearly aware of his surroundings and his eyes held—a cheap fragment of—life. It was only his expression that had been void of all care of the situation around him.
The logical, ninja part of Sasuke's mind found all the differences from this time to last time, and had noted that this jutsu would probably be harder to break. But the majority of his mind was still chanting the mantra of Naruto once again being before him.
"Naruto," Sasuke managed to say out loud.
"…Uchiha," Naruto returns in a cold, detached voice.
It hurt to barely be addressed like that; as if Naruto only had the vaguest hint of who he was; who THEY were! It took a moment more than expected to recover from the blow.
When he regained focus, Sasuke noticed that a clone of Naruto was carrying Sakura over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
He needed to ask, for the sake of Naruto AFTER he was awoken from this jutsu once and for all,"…Is she—"
"She is not dead," Naruto said as if answering a question as insignificant as the weather. His tone was low and slightly hoarse.
The real Naruto turned to Sasuke and gazed at him with newly awakened red, demonic eyes and said, "She'll be dumped with those other two Team Seven members so the team can bring my message back to the village after they wake up."
"And me?" Sasuke challenged, trying his hardest to dissociate HIS Naruto from THIS controlled Naruto.
"I said Team Seven will be able to return to the village alive," Naruto answered, his eyes glowing brighter, "Traitors don't get that chance."
And that was the chapter!
So in the first A/N I spoke of how this semester's work drama was most of the delay in my writing overall. But in THIS A/N….I just really, really need to vent about the OTHER reason I was delayed: because of bitch drama.
My roommate and I have a mutual friend—I'm calling her M—who wants my roommate as HER roommate. She's done this every year since freshman year: ask my roommate if she wants to room with M, roommate says she's already rooming with me, M then continuously harasses, or "tries to change the mind of" my roommate to switch to room with M instead of me. While doing this, M is openly passive-aggressive at me…meaning she openly ignores me to my face and starts talking shit behind my back when I am in the same room.
It's usually self-contained and passes over after housing for the college is officially settled. But THIS year was worse—far worse—than any other M-related drama. M pressured my roommate more than ever and even made up lies, saying if my roommate doesn't agree, then M can't find a place to live and she won't be able to come back to campus. When we outed the lie by one of M's roommate NEXT year telling everyone the truth, M pretended that never happened and proceeded to tell my roommate how horrible I am, so my roommate should just like with M and be happy with everyone.
I try to stay out of it, but then M started just being aggressive at me in the most immature ways. I did my best to ignore it, but then she screamed out to the cafeteria that I'm a cunt for manipulating my roommate for years. It was so stressful; especially since she's still parading around how right she is.
I cut her out of my life since I refuse to lower myself down to her caddy level, but she is determined to make this drama follow me and my roommate until graduation.
Anyhoo, thanks for letting me vent! And thank you to those who subscribe/alert! And an extra special thanks to those who review! Thank you~