A THOUSAND PARDONS EVERYONE!! This chapter took me WAY too long to write, let alone update. Friday was very tiring and I had a concert that took all of my time yesterday. Not to mention I somehow forget EVERYTHING that happened with Sai and had to seek him out in the manga chapter. But that's OKAY. Here's the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"We aren't by any chance crossing the Tenchi Bridge, are we?" Midori asked nervously as the group took a left.

"We are, actually," Norio said. "Does it bother you?"

"No, just wondering."

Norio shrugged and turned his head to face forward again. The girl was such a bad liar.

"You're worrying too much," Kyoko whispered to Midori. She and her teammates were traveling a few meters behind Norio, careful to talk as quietly as possible. "It may not even be on the same day, so there's no reason to tell him or anything."

"Maybe you're right…" However, her intuition told her the opposite.

"Hey Norio," Kyoko called, "You've seen what we can do. So what exactly can you do?"

"Wasn't back at Konoha enough for you three?" Norio said with a grin. "A shinobi never reveals their secret technique unless completely necessary."

"On a mission like this, it'll never be necessary," Nami mumbled.

"You never know," Norio said.

"I hope that's not going to become a catch phrase," Nami retorted.

Norio smirked.

---

It wasn't fair. Why did that old fart get to hang around a group of teenage girls for days while he was stuck doing grunt work? Satoshi wasn't happy. Sure, there were still a hell of a lot of better-lookers in Konoha, but he was hoping for some action as well, and Konoha hadn't had any action since years ago. Maybe he should move to Sunagakure…

He seemed to be so deep in consideration that he hadn't noticed the woman standing with her back to him until he bumped into her.

"Whoa, sorry, Ma'am!" Satoshi said, leaping backwards.

"That's quite all right," the woman said, turning around. Then he recognized her.

"Marieke!" Satoshi exclaimed. "You're out of the hospital?"

"Well if it isn't Satoshi," Marieke smiled, placing her hands on her hips. "My, you're looking more like your father everyday…"

"I like to think that I'm better-looking," Satoshi shrugged. "How come you never come around anymore?"

"Well…both your father and I are very busy," Marieke answered, "Shinobi don't usually cross paths very much unless it's on the battle field. Understand?"
"Yeah, I guess," Satoshi said.

"Do you know when your father is coming back from his mission?"

"The mission's supposed to go on for three or four days, I think," Satoshi replied.

By tomorrow morning, they'll have been gone for two days…Marieke thought. The moment of truth is coming. Will you have lived up to your big talk so many years ago, Norio?

---

The group of four had been traveling for a while now, and Nami was starting to wonder if the so-called shortcut was as short as Norio had made it out to be. Nami lost count of how many hours passed by this time, but it was no small number. She knew Midori was getting weary again, which annoyed her internally. There was no way Norio would respect this team if things kept going this way. They had to show him that they were strong in all areas against all obstacles.

Midori seemed to start to say something, but a loud rumbling interrupted her. The team stopped, letting the ground shake precariously under their feet. Then, piercing winds that burned their skin like fire stormed from the direction they were headed.

"Earthquake?!" Kyoko shrieked.

"Keep moving!" Norio ordered, bowing his head down to avoid the wind as much as he could.

"Are you insane?!" Midori shouted. She could barely move. The sheer intensity of whatever was flowing through the air was keeping her back.

"It's an order!"

Midori wasn't going to argue with that, and once she saw her teammates moving forward, she had no other choice but to do so as well. There was no doubt about it. This power was coming from Naruto, and that meant they were close.

---

"Sai! Catch Sakura!" Yamato ordered.

If Sai heard Yamato, he chose not to do anything, because Sakura continued to plummet downwards. Yamato's eyes widened in confusion and he cursed inwardly. Before he could take matters into his own hands, however, a large bird the size of Sai's inked creation swooped down and caught Sakura in its talons.

Yamato turned his attention to the four newcomers. "What…?" he muttered, though he was relieved. "What are you doing here?" he called.

"We were just passing by!" Norio answered, stepping onto the stable part of the broken bridge. "We thought we'd check out all the commotion!" He surveyed the damage of the area and thought, what could've done all this?

"I'll explain later!" Yamato shouted as he used Mokuton no Jutsu to give himself a bridge, "I'm going ahead to get Naruto!"

"I'll go with you!" Norio volunteered. He turned to Midori, who had her hand placed on Sakura's forehead, and said, "Once the girl wakes up, wait for me to give you a signal before you follow."

"Signal?" Midori questioned.

Norio nodded, handing Kyoko an attachable communication radio from his bag and fastening one of his own onto his neck. "You'll know when to come." Without another word, he stepped onto Yamato's makeshift bridge. As soon as he reached the other side, the wood detached from the bridge, as if to keep the girls on the other side for good.

It was then Sakura opened her eyes. She was bewildered at the sight of the three girls. Sakura looked around wincing at the pain in her head and said, "What are you guys doing here? And where's Yamato-taichou? And Naruto?"

"Take it easy," Midori advised. "Yamato went to get Naruto over there." She pointed in the direction across the empty space where the bridge used to be.

"Naruto…" Sakura murmured. She started to get up, but Midori said, "We can't go anywhere."

"Don't tell me you're gonna listen to that guy," Nami said, crossing her arms. "I never agreed to his lame excuse for a plan. The way things are going, we're not going to be doing anything anytime soon. He obviously told Yamato to take away that wooden link so we couldn't get across anyway. He doesn't want us to come and we'll never get a signal."

"I'm with Nami on this one," Kyoko said. "We know more about what's going down than Norio."

"I was given no orders," Sakura stated. "I'm going after them!"

"And how do you propose to do that?" Midori said matter-of-factly. "There's a huge gap in the bridge, and none of you have the strength to make that jump alive."

"Maybe we don't," Nami said slyly, biting her thumb and starting a chain of hand signs. "But I know who does…"

"Nami—"

Midori was too slow. Smoke erupted from the ground where Nami had placed her hand, rising towards the sky at a quick pace. Sakura lifted her arm to shield her eyes from the white puffs. When she was sure the smoke had cleared, she lowered her arm. Instantly her mouth dropped open. "Oh my…"

A giant fox the size of Gamabunta (maybe bigger) sat dangerously on the busted bridge, which only busted it more. The moment the fox appeared, the bridge gave a terrible creak and broke further down, forcing the fox to plunge straight down towards the water below. It was a good thing the fox's mass was so large or else when it had hit the water, some bones would've been broken. No, the only damage done to the fox was to its pride.

"What's the meaning of this?!" a feminine voice cried angrily. "Who dares to summon me in such a humiliating way?!"

"Oi, Noriko, long time no see!" Nami called.

"You…I remember," Noriko mumbled. She had a good view of Nami, for her own head was about the only thing visible while her body was crushed uncomfortably between the two ridges. She shifted around a bit, but there was no possible position she'd be content with. "It's been a long time, indeed…Now tell me…WHY DID YOU SUMMON ME HERE?!"

Everyone had to use chakra to keep from flying away from the wind generated by that beast.

"Well, the bridge was broken and we needed some way to get to the other side—"

"You are telling me that you're using me as a…as a viaduct?!" Noriko shrieked. "Me?! Do you remember who I am, child?!"

"I think you really pissed her off," Kyoko whispered.

"I couldn't tell," Nami said. "Look, Noriko, there's no time to talk! Naruto's gonna do some big damage here soon and we have to stop him! Let's discuss this later!"

"Naruto…?" Noriko knew very well of the boy possessed by Kyuubi. Now she wanted to know more than ever what was going on, but if her insolent "master" knew what to do then she shouldn't be stopping her. "I will let you pass this once, but remember this…I am not a bridge!"

"Of course! Thanks!"

"But—" Midori started.

"Hey, if you wanna stay here, be my guest!" Nami called over her shoulder. She was already running across Noriko's head, "But I'm gonna find Naruto!"

"You're not the only one!" Sakura shouted, quickly gaining on the other girl.

Midori sighed and followed a little behind Kyoko. "This is bad…"

"Don't be so pessimistic," Kyoko said, hopping off Noriko and landing on the other side.

"I can't help it," Midori said when the group started running. "How are we going to stop Naruto?"

Before Kyoko could answer, all four of the girls heard crashes at the forefront, cluing them in that powerful winds were coming in their direction. Midori immediately pulled up a chakra shield just in time. All around them, trees were being sliced and felled by the remarkable shockwave. As soon as the power died down, the shield disappeared, and the girls continued.

Naruto… Sakura thought worriedly. What's happening to you?

None of them had noticed the silver-haired medical ninja standing just a few ways away, observing them all.

---

"This is no good, we can't even get close," Norio growled. "That bastard and the kid...there'll be no interfering with their fight."

"I was warned about this…" Yamato said, narrowing his eyes.

"What could you have done?" Norio said. "You can't control an angry teenager's emotions."

Suddenly, Orochimaru's neck lashed and the man's mouth opened to reveal a snake. Then the snake's mouth opened, mirroring Orochimaru, and a blade shot out towards Naruto, sticking him dead in the chest. The blade's length was immeasurably long, which resulted in Naruto being pushed out of the battlefield, the sword still piercing him.

This, of course, meant that the four kunoichi weren't able to get far. They spotted Naruto easily in the air flying past them in the direction they had just come from.

"Damn it!" Nami cursed loudly, turning on her left foot.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried.

Nami and Sakura shot back towards the bridge without a moment's hesitation, but Midori saw that Kyoko had stopped and moved the other way.

"Kyoko!" Midori stopped.

"Keep going! I have to check something out!" Kyoko yelled.

What…?

In truth, it wasn't a 'something' Kyoko wanted to check out; it was a 'someone'. That someone was Sai. She figured Nami and Midori had probably forgotten about the Sasuke-like boy, but she hadn't. It wasn't necessary for all three of them to trail him, anyway.

Kyoko darted behind a tree when the barren crater came into view. She saw Sai and Orochimaru talking about something she couldn't quite hear, not that she needed to. When Kabuto jumped Sai from behind and the artistic shinobi's belongings scattered around, she started forming a plan in her mind. I have to stop Sai from going with Orochimaru…and get that letter from— "Ee—!" A strong hand flew over Kyoko's mouth before she could protest any further. She realized that the hand belonged to none other than Yamato. Even though he trailed Naruto himself, he sent a clone anyway…Yamato's serious about this.

"What are you doing here?" Yamato questioned quietly.

"Same thing you are," Kyoko said, "Spying on Sai."

Yamato stared at her for a second then turned back to the crater. He frowned. "They're gone."

"They're going back to Orochimaru's lair!" Kyoko said as she started to run.

"Tell me what you know," Yamato ordered. "You're one of the girls who left our world and came back, right? One of the girls with knowledge beyond our comprehension."

And we tried so hard to keep it a secret just a few years ago, Kyoko thought with a sigh. "Yeah. The only thing you need to know is that Sai's just handed off an envelope with some documents in it on Danzou's orders…documents about the ANBU in Konoha."

---

"I see," Yamato said quietly.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, turning to her captain.

"Sai's gone somewhere with Orochimaru after talking to hima bout something. I have a clone tracking him and apparently…" he looked at Nami, Midori, and Norio, "you're comrade is tracking him as well."

"So that's where she went off to..." Nami said.

"There's no way Sai would've gone with him just like that!" Naruto explained. "Sure, he's an ass, but I can't believe he'd betray us!"

"Well believe it," Nami said, crossing her arms. "It's true. It's completely plausible, isn't it? Take it from someone who knows."

"Stop acting like you know everything!" Naruto ordered angrily.

"What'd you say? I know more than you do, that's for sure!" Nami shouted.

"Bickering won't do us any good," Norio said sternly.

"You two need to keep the present in mind," Yamato added. "Instead of fighting, why don't we get a move on? And if you claim to know everything, young lady," he turned to Nami, "then maybe you could tell me if my theory is right on the way to Orochimaru's hideout."

Gotta run! Very busy today!

Thanks for reading!

-HM