(AN) Hello everyone! This one is written quite a bit differently than my other chapters as I was trying something new to bring this chapter together. Hopefully it flows!
Without further ado, let's read on and experience the beginnings of Plan B unfold!
Ps. 'this' is flashback remembering of the formulation of Plan B and other things that occurred later by the riverbed. Yes, it will be in bold, not to be confused with 'thoughts'. And yes, it will pop up all throughout this chapter and next – I can't have you knowing all about The Plan before it happens!
Naruto jumped hastily from branch to branch alongside Sakura, heading further into the country towards the location of the hideout.
That was one thing that had seriously perplexed the blond; it's not really a hideout if anybody knows about it, right?
"It's not like it's some big thing, Naruto," Sakura stated as she looked at his shocked expression, "every village does information gathering missions, and Konoha ANBU found out about this hideout. One can't always know when they've been compromised."
Sakura sighed and gazed up into the afternoon sky, "I'm not entirely sure that that's the hideout Sasuke went to but... it's the closest one and given his haste and all... sometimes we just have to go on faith, ne?"
Naruto still gaped at the pretty pink kunoichi.
"You're telling me we know where Orochimaru's hidey-hole here is? Fuck, why leave it to a big freakin' rush, then? Couldn't we have just stormed the place earlier? Or-or-or did a stakeout? Or-or-or-"
"Naruto." Sakura cut off his rambling, an offsetting mix of patience and irritation in her voice that still managed to sound sort of nice, "we didn't 'storm the place' or perform a stakeout because we weren't sure Sasuke would be there and taking on Orochimaru alone is way too dangerous. Our best chance was to intercept him on his way in. Now we don't have much of a choice, and we aren't even sure he's there. It's just... a best guess."
Naruto was hoping that Sakura's best guess that Sasuke was headed towards the hideout Konoha ANBU had previously discovered was the right one. As the pair got closer and closer to the location of the base, Naruto had a feeling, deep in his gut, that Sakura was right about the teme's destination.
Naruto watched Sakura as she led the way, a branch ahead. Her eyes were focused on the trees ahead and Naruto got the feeling that she was deep in thought.
They had rested for a while whilst the afternoon came and went, attempting to recover some energy after their battle with Sasuke. Sakura had been trying hard not to show it, but Naruto had known that she must have been running low on chakra after her one-on-one with the teme, that terrifying river dive, and healing both his and her own wounds.
His wounds had been nothing compared to hers. Shit, that asshole had broken her ribs. Sakura had also elected not to elucidate on the rough condition her left hand had been in and Naruto was trying really, really hard to respect that but... how in the hell had that happened?
'It was almost like she'd gone and caught a fireball! Or... like... a crackling ball of burn!' he thought as he jumped from another branch, hearing the wood creak only a little under his weight. He desperately wanted to ask her, but the part of him that had matured over the last few years kept nagging at him that perhaps bringing up the battle with Sasuke that she thought she'd failed wouldn't be one of his greatest ideas.
Naruto had found it mildly alarming that he had had to be the one to enforce the idea of resting up before setting back out after Sasuke. As much as he'd wanted to go after their old teammate, he had known that they wouldn't have been able to infiltrate Orochimaru's hideout, take out the guards and perform an old fashioned grab-and-go with Sasuke while working on the ass end of their chakra supplies.
Sakura had been flustered at first, but eventually conceded to resting the afternoon away and moving in on the hideout in the evening.
"Naruto! We can't rest right now!" Sakura argued, surprised by the very idea of the hyperactive blond suggesting such a thing, "Sasuke's still on his way to that hideout- if we wait we could end up too late!"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head and tried to reason with her.
"Sakura-chaan, the teme took a beating and he's stupid, but he's not stupid enough to keep running to that hideout and go do what we think he's going to do without resting, 'cause then that snake-bastard's gonna do what we think he's gonna do that Sasuke doesn't seem to think he's gonna do but he'll be able to do if Sasuke does what you're worried he's gonna do and –" Naruto released a confused growl and thrust his fingers deep into his spiky blond locks, "now I'm all confused but –"
Sakura was smiling gently at him; he hadn't noticed her frustration slowly slip away as he rambled on.
"Ne, Naruto, I understand what you mean," Sakura reached a hand up and gently touched his hair before slipping her fingers around his left hand and pulling it to rest on her lap, a safe distance away from his abused hair.
She looked bashful as she lightly played with his fingers. "I'm... sorry for pushing. I know Sasuke isn't stupid enough to rush right into that hideout the way he is. I'm just... feeling really on edge right now, I guess. He's likely to take awhile to really confirm that he can't use his left arm and... Maybe try to figure out a way to hide that fact from Orochimaru before he confronts him?"
Naruto was distracted by the feeling of her soft hands on his, her fingertips brushing the back of his hand gently and almost absentmindedly as if she was unaware of what she was doing. He tried to concentrate hard on the words she was saying.
"Yeeah," He dragged out, buying himself a few more seconds to ponder, "a handicap like that isn't something you wanna advertise to your enemies. 'Cause then they'll favour attacking that side."
Sakura's fingers stilled their attentions on Naruto's hand and he resisted the urge to whine. He settled on a small pout as he watched her think, wondering what ideas were swimming through her intelligent mind.
"If he manages to successfully hide that he can't use his left arm –"
Naruto couldn't help but snort, "Yeah, he'll just come off as cocky trying to fight that Sannin with only one arm. I'd believe it."
"- If he does, and Orochimaru uses his forbidden jutsu to take over Sasuke's body, he's not going to be happy when he finds out he can only use one arm. But... I guess that would be an advantage for us and better than him taking over a body with use of two arms. It will give us three more years..."
"But we lose Sasuke." Naruto finished, trying to read the emotions evident in Sakura's jade eyes. Sasuke was a missing-nin of Konoha, but he was still an old teammate, an old friend, and for Sakura...
"We've already lost him, Naruto."
Sakura had loved the Uchiha once, before the teme had gone and done something stupid to lose her forever. It was kind of ironic how that bastard had always called him Stupid and Dead Last, but now the blond had the girl of his dreams. And Naruto... he counted his blessings, and he was going to do everything he could to keep her with him and cherish the love between them now.
Sasuke was Sakura's rival now too as well as her mission. He had known that if Sasuke made it to the base their mission would become much more dangerous and change from retrieval to elimination. Even still, he was hoping they could make it out of there with their old teammate but... Sasuke had already proved he wouldn't come easy, and wishful thinking aside, they were going to have to take out Sasuke or Orochimaru if they went in.
And taking out Orochimaru without back-up was practically suicidal. But really... they had no time to send a message to Konoha to request ANBU aid. They were in this alone.
"Tsunade-shishou...she would tell us to abort the mission. It's too dangerous now for just the two of us." Sakura whispered, her fingers once again running up his left hand to enclose around his wrist.
Naruto scrunched up his face, his wrinkled nose an obvious sign of his distaste over the idea of backing away from the mission now. "We can't do that! We have to at least try!"
A small smile made its way onto Sakura's face, and try as he might, Naruto couldn't manage to find the sadness he had assumed would be in her eyes.
Sakura gave his wrist a sudden yank, and Naruto found himself lying in her lap, staring up through a curtain of soft, pink hair into her beautiful jade eyes.
Deep, beautiful eyes that were looking at him the way he'd always wanted to be looked at by her since he'd met her. The way they had been looking at him since he woke up in the Konoha hospital and had his dreams begin to come true with that amazing kiss they'd shared.
"Ne, Naruto, let's rest then," She smiled down at him, her fingers of her left hand running through his hair slowly, gently, lovingly. "So we can be prepared to do our best."
Naruto smiled his goofy smile up at her, loving her more with every breath he took. He was going to try his best and he was going to succeed, because he had her, this beautiful pink haired kunoichi, to live for.
He loved these glimpses of the old Sakura, smiling and saying she'll do her best, even when the odds were against her. Her eyes weren't iced over like she was trying to hide something or was angry. They were just... Sakura-chan's gorgeous, gorgeous green eyes.
Naruto lifted a hand to play with the lock of pink hair hanging just by his ear, twirling it around his finger gently and happily.
His smile slowly disappeared as he propped himself up on his left arm and slipped his hair-playing hand through her hair to cup the back of her neck and pull her closer. Sakura met him halfway, her soft lips meeting his in a gentle caress.
He felt her pull away the most miniscule amount before tilting her head slightly and returning her lips to his. She kissed him back tenderly, her hand that had been holding his wrist slipping down to link her fingers with his.
Sakura focused on the rustling leaves in front of her, catching the quickly moving grey clouds in her peripheral vision. It was going to rain.
She didn't know why she had tugged Naruto to rest on her lap back when they had been sitting by the river, working out what they were going to do about Sasuke, Orochimaru and their very likely upcoming confrontation.
She had figured she would've been upset, knowing that their mission had become so much more dangerous and difficult because she had failed to restrain Sasuke back during their battle by the bridge. But Naruto... somehow he made all her anger with herself evaporate. He made her feel like all the weight of her world and the mission wasn't just sitting upon her shoulders, but shared between the two of them.
He had always spoken about trying his best since she met him; he possessed the most astonishing will-power she had ever encountered in her life. She had already known, back then in the afternoon when she had mentioned what the Hokage would likely say about the mission, what Naruto was going to say. Still, it had made her smile when he came out and said it in a burst of indignation at the mention of giving up.
"We can't do that! We have to at least try!"
She had had no intention of giving up, and his determination had only served to reassure her.
And possibly make her love him more.
Perhaps she had pulled him to her on an impulse; a need to feel him closer to her. He grounded her; ever since he'd returned from his training, she'd begun to feel more and more like her old self, the icy wall she had erected over the years melting in his warm presence. She'd been sort of scared of the feeling at first, like being who she used to be would make her weak.
'But Naruto...' Sakura smiled as she reached a hand up to delicately touch her lips, remembering the kiss they'd shared before resting to restore some of their chakra. 'I still feel strong when I'm with him. The way he looks at me and the things he says make me feel like I've accomplished a lot; like I'm not weak at all.'
She looked forward to when this was all over and she could tell Naruto what he did to her; how he made her feel. To when she could really show him how much she appreciated having him in her life.
Sakura held up her hand and signed to Naruto, who was following closely behind her, that they had reached their destination.
The only thing standing in her way was a sadistic Sannin and proving to Sasuke that she wasn't weak.
Naruto crouched down in the foliage with Sakura on the outskirts of the Sound hideout. It had begun to rain, water droplets hitting the canopy of leaves above them with a soft, inconsistent pitter-patter before rolling off the smooth greenery to drop on the hidden shinobi and the ground beside them.
In the distance, Naruto heard the faint rolling of thunder.
The hideout didn't look like much – a giant stone wall covered in vines, squared around what Sakura had mentioned Konoha ANBU claimed to be a courtyard of sorts. The courtyard wasn't supposed to be all that big, maybe large enough to prove to be a sufficient training ground for novice shinobis.
Most Sound ninja weren't really known for being well-trained – it made sense, given their real purpose as part of the village was to be guinea pigs for Orochimaru's research with jutsus. Naruto shuddered at the thought and a small water droplet made its way down the neck of his sweater, coolly running down his spine.
According to Sakura, the walls weren't really there to protect the small private training ground, but rather to guard the entrance to the cave within the mountain that was nestled up against the courtyard, acting as one of the walls.
"If Sasuke and Orochimaru are at that hideout, they'll likely be inside the mountain. Small bases like those are known to have only several rooms, with a particularly large one in the centre. We should look there first." Sakura surmised, running a hand through the grass beside her.
Naruto turned his head to look at Sakura, her bangs already beginning to become damp as the rain fell on them while they surveyed the hideout. Her eyes seemed to almost glow in the premature darkness, the rain clouds having blocked out much of what was left of the early evening sun.
"So how do you want to do this?" She whispered, her eyes moving right to left and back, presumably scanning the perimeter, maybe even looking for a door.
Naruto figured he'd start there.
"First step I guess is to find a way in there," Naruto, who had never really been all that good at whispering, shifted a bit closer to her and tried to breathe the words into her ear as softly as he could.
Sakura shivered slightly, causing Naruto to glance down at her bare arms, water droplets trailing zigzag lines down them before being absorbed into her once white elbow pads.
'She must be cold!' He surmised, knowing that the lack of sun and the cool water didn't really make for a cozy situation. He tried to shift a bit closer to her, hoping that maybe some of his obscene body warmth would reach her. He'd always been an incredibly warm person.
"There's no gate," Sakura responded, her eyes still glued to the hideout walls, "at least that's what the ANBU reports say. There's probably a secret entrance somewhere. But I was thinking more along the lines of attack strategy. Do we go for stealth and sneak in or do we make our presence obvious?" Sakura moved her eyes then to look at him, a small glimmer of amusement in her eyes.
Normally, the plan of attack wouldn't really be up for question – they were shinobi, they didn't do obvious. But... Naruto grinned toothily back at Sakura. He was Konoha's Number One Loudest Shinobi. Go big or go home. And maybe...
"If we do obvious, maybe the commotion outside will slow things down inside the cave." Naruto said, shaking some of the water from his dripping hair, "I doubt it will make either of them run. Orochimaru's not the type, and Sasuke would never let him."
Sakura wiped some of the rain water from her face, and Naruto smiled at her apologetically, though she didn't seem to mind. Once you're wet you're wet and extra water didn't really matter, he guessed.
"It might also cause things to speed up." Sakura whispered then, looking Naruto straight in the eyes.
"So we do this loud and we do it fast."
Sakura nodded curtly, and in a blink of an eye the two shinobi were up and dashing to the large hideout wall, keeping their eyes peeled for any traps along the way. They encountered none.
Naruto crouched down next to the wall and ran his hands along the brick and through the vines, poking at oddly shaped rocks or ones that appeared to be a different shade than the rest. Key word being appeared, given that his night time colour vision wasn't all that great, either.
"Naruto," Sakura hissed quietly from her position pressed up against the wall, "What are you doing?"
He paused his wall poke-age to glance up at her, blinking several times to remove the droplets of water that had dripped from his hair into his eyes.
"Trying to find the trigger to the secret entrance."
Sakura smiled brightly at him then, even as her eyes were giving him her best, "Seriously, Naruto?" look.
"You said loud, right?"
Naruto nodded, still crouched where he was with his hands pressed up against the wall.
"Then we go big or go home, right?"
Naruto nodded again, before jumping out of the way of falling rocks as Sakura's fist went through wall, shattering the bricks with a huge crash.
"There we go, now we have a door." Sakura smiled at him as he sat sprawled on the wet grass, gawking at her. Small but deadly – definitely something he would remember.
Sakura stepped through the hole she'd made in the stone wall and into the courtyard. The ground looked as if it had been covered in grass once, before quite a bit of use came to it and the grass in some places gave way to small piles of dirt – now mud after being mixed with the rain.
Naruto wasn't far behind her, having quickly recovered from his stupor and fallen into position behind her. She couldn't resist the small smile that graced her lips – Naruto would never get used to her brute strength, would he?
It had only been mere seconds since the pair of Konoha shinobi stepped through the rubble of the wall before a kunai with an exploding tag whizzed through the air and landed between the two of them.
Sakura and Naruto both jumped out of the radius the explosion could cover. Digging her heel into the ground and spinning around, Sakura caught the fist that was aimed at her and flung the Sound shinobi over her shoulder and into the small explosion.
The battle had begun.
"Do you think the hideout's guarded?" Naruto questioned, before shaking his head roughly, "Bah, of course it is. It would just be too easy if it wasn't."
Sakura sighed as she finished taking inventory of her weapons case. "Yeah, it most likely will be. But I'd be willing to bet it won't be too much for us to handle. Sound shinobi aren't the best, and Tsunade-shishou's convinced that Orochimaru has all the ones that are worth anything out on missions."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. If the base is guarded, it's probably by maybe a dozen or so Gennin or Chuunin level shinobi."
Naruto smiled. "We can take that no problem!"
Sakura strapped her weapons case back onto her thigh. "Yeah, we can. Provided we don't get cocky. One slip-up and it makes the next stage of the battle much harder."
Naruto's smile waned a bit and he nodded, solemnly.
Sakura side-stepped three kunai flying towards her and ducked, letting a kick fly over her head. An idea coming to her, she reached up and grabbed the shinobi's ankle while her other hand shot forward and ripped the weapons case from their thigh.
Tossing the pack onto the ground, she twisted their ankle, pulled them closer and kneed them in the head, dropping the shinobi as they became dead weight. They wouldn't be waking up for awhile, if at all, and Sakura loathed taking weapons off of those that had fallen in battle.
Sakura flipped back as another Sound shinobi appeared before her, punching and swiping at her with a surprising speed. She didn't have enough time to grab the pack on the ground, and so she rolled towards where the kunai previously thrown at her had been embedded in the ground. Grabbing the small weapon firmly in her hand, she spun around and stabbed the ninja coming at her, before kicking him off her weapon.
She had to be ruthless. She was a shinobi, and these Sound ninja were in the way of her mission.
"One slip-up and it makes the next stage of the battle much harder."
Sakura felt the presence of someone unfamiliar behind her and swung her elbow back, feeling her arm smart a bit as she connected with body armour. So okay, not all of these poorly trained Sound shinobi were stupid. She jumped away and risked a glance behind her at Naruto who, together with several of his shadow clones, were doing a great job taking on several aggressive shinobi.
Stepping back and dodging the jabs from her opponent, her feet splashed in puddles of water and mud, the splashes dancing around her ankles as she displaced the liquid with every glide she made to avoid her enemy's weapons.
So his body was guarded. This wasn't really all that big of a deal.
Sakura ducked and lunged forward, bracing both her palms on the slick grass beneath her, mere inches from her enemy's feet as she swung her body up, kicking away their weapons while her legs lifted and, with a strong push off the ground, she secured her thighs around their neck.
She clenched her abs as she pulled the rest of her body up while the man, she deduced, struggled beneath her. She grabbed both sides of the Sound shinobi's head and with a quick jerk, broke her nameless opponent's neck and flipped back, tossing the shinobi over her and into the stone wall.
Rolling back up and onto her feet, she looked around at the bodies sprawled across the courtyard, prepared to continue the fight.
The only movement she could see was the rustling of clothing on the scattered Sound shinobi, incapacitated or forever gone from this world, in the cold wind.
"Naruto!" she called out, trying to get a glimpse of his shock of blond hair. Together with his clones he had taken on more than half of their attackers.
"Over here, Sakura-chan!" She heard him call out. Turning, she saw him standing near a tree and a small pile of bodies, high-fiving his few shadow clones before they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
She smiled at his antics and jogged over to him, bending over and grabbing the weapons case she had previously snatched from one of the Sound shinobi along the way.
"I think that's all of them," he said as he wiped the mud from his hands off on his pant legs. Sakura came to a stop next to him and dug through the bag, pulling out all of the kunai and slipping them into her own weapons case before tossing the sack onto the ground.
"The entrance to the cave looks like it's over there." Naruto pointed to a dark opening in the mountain that looked like it had been previously hidden behind a large tree before an unfortunate soul had been smacked through the trunk, snapping the tree in half.
"Let's move in," she said, but not before wrapping her hand, mud and all, around the collar of his sweater and yanking him down for a quick kiss.
She felt him move his lips roughly against hers, his hands grasping her hips and pulling her closer to his body. Adrenaline from the battle still pumping through her system she kissed Naruto harder, tasting the rain water on his lips as it mixed with his own unique taste.
She had been worried when she'd seen him up against so many opponents, even though she knew it had been silly of her. Naruto was strong; he could take care of himself. They had a much harder battle coming at them but still she allowed herself to indulge in this one, short moment of knowing he was safe as he held her, warm in his arms.
She broke the kiss and pulled back, jade orbs meeting cerulean.
With a nod that held more meaning than either thought they knew the words to express, they ran for the cave entrance.
(AN) This chapter wasn't supposed to be fluffy - like at all. *smacks cumulus cloud away* STOPPIT! NO FLUFF! D: ANGST! Aaaangst! Next chapter, I guess. Give it a few days? Parts of this ended up longer than I intended.
On that note, I was kind of in love with Naruto in this chapter. ^_^
Thank you soo much to those who reviewed my last chapter! Big ups to ssjgokillo, kidloco, NorthernLights25, Mangaka_Shuzen, 9-tailed reaper, Footster26 and Mattew! I appreciate your kind words so much!
Please leave a review and let me know what you think =) Reviews make my day! You may have no idea the motivational power a review alert has on an author =)
Ps. Poor Naruto, so oblivious to what made Sakura shiver ;) PPs. Let me know if the bold was hard on the eyes - I'll try to find another way to incorporate the memories. I'll be using the same technique in the next chappy, too!