Yay! I finally updated! That didn't take too long... only about 2 months...

Couple of announcements before we start with our close-to-the-end chapter.

1) I plan on ending this story on 30, but I'm not sure I'll be able to drag it out that long... Either that or I've got at least 2 more good chapters left in me.

2) On January 14, we offically hit this story's first birthday! That's right: I started this thing almost exactly 1 year ago; 12 months; 52 weeks; 365 days; 8 760 hours; 525 600 minutes; 31 536 000 seconds... I'll shut up now.

3) Naruto: Shippuuden (hurricanne chronicals) finally started! No more fillers! I highly suggest that you watch at least the last filler arc before starting it. Sasuke kicks butt in the beginning, but that's normal for our Uchiha. I've kind of got the opening song stuck in my head, but I'm sure that'll go away soon enough... I hope...

and finally 4) I fear because of school and self-studying I won't be able to get the next chapter out until maybe spring break... I really hope I can get another one out by then, but you never know with me. Oh, and by self-studying, I mean teaching myself to read Japanese and at least get a good understanding of how to speak it. And no, I'm not getting this from anime and stuff. I've got a bunch of computer programs and cds and heck: there's a Japanese class I can take at school next school year. I've also taken it upon myself to learn all their holidays and festivals and blah... Their school year is ending in March and will start up again in April, but they still get the long summer break. You know, sometimes I wish I were Japanese...

On with the chapter!!

NOTE: I do not own Naruto, or any of it's characters. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-san. All I own is my plot, the Element Users, and the many, many... too many characters I've come up with for this story/fan-fiction alone.

Chapter 26:

Danger Fast Approaching

Sakura stared blankly at the scroll Sasuke had given her. It was not unlike the one Sasuke had pocketed, however it was profoundly different. For one thing, it was not a solid colour. Whenever she tilted it to the right, it shone reds and yellows. Tilting it to the left showed her blues and purples. Only when she levelled her eyes to it did it show the entire colour spectrum. She was tempted to opening it, but she though it better if Sasuke told her when to open it. The only part she had read was the edge of the flap, and all it had said was 'It'. Very helpful…

"You going to read it or no?" Sasuke said behind her, watching curiously as she jumped in the air.

"How…?" was the first word out of her mouth. "Wait; stupid question. When did you get here?"

"A couple seconds ago," he said frankly, shrugging. "I would have thought curiosity had enticed you enough to read it by now. I guess I miss-judged you a bit."

Sakura pouted by proceeded to read the scroll. Indeed the first word of it was 'it', but the grammar in this scroll seemed to relate to times when parchment was just beginning to develop. She skimmed it first, sorting out the grammar errors before reading to herself it in depth:

"The beginning of an end. That's what the village elders are calling our pathetic wish. It's almost a pity it came true. Through the planets and the stars, the heavens and earth, our sons and daughters have been bestowed with the powers of the elements around us. We know not what to do, nor what will become of them. They have become a new class of humans… no.

Even as I write this, I know this peacefulness cannot last. Although things will eventually reveal themselves to the children, I regret to know that they were not randomly chosen by the heavens. Great things will be expected from them, and I can only hope for the best. Lady Aboshi, our village priestess, has giving her blessings to the children. I know not what they are, but I know her powers match that of a lowly god, and that they are something to be reckoned with.

With the ceremony over, Tomoko, my lovely wife, and I have decided we must leave the village. The parents of the other eleven children will not favour our choice, but it is for the best. So long as we are separate, maybe we can avoid conflict. There have been many villages dedicated to the art of the ninja scattered throughout the land, and I plan on settling there. The closest one is said to be hidden in leaves though, so I hope dearly that we will be able to find it.

As for the child's name, that is undecided as of yet. We had a few names in mind, however because of this elemental revelation, we are again in doubt. We are unknowing to the child's powers, so his name may reflect that. What ever may happen, I leave this scroll with Tomenaki-san to show the village once we are far enough away that no pursuers may follow us. We leave tonight, as soon as the sun sets over the village. May the gods smile down upon this village in our absence and our sins forgiven…"

Sakura pulled the scroll further a ways to reveal the scripture's end. Sasuke had sat down beside her and was oddly staring in front of him.

"The child's name… Do you know what it was?" he asked suddenly, his face blank.

"Well the village this man seems to be talking about going to appears to be Konoha," Sakura said awkwardly. "That means it's one of your past lives, I guess…"

Sasuke nodded, his face still clear of all expression. "The child's name was Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. The man that wrote that was my original father, Uchiha Sousuke, who I was named after. That's about when this whole mess started."

"Then, how long ago was that?"

Sasuke considered for a moment before replying. "About ten lives ago, so I guess that makes it around a thousand years ago give or take a few years."

"So that's why you always glared at the teacher in history class," Sakura said thoughtfully. "We probably get history all wrong, don't we?"

"Not really… Besides, I only know every hundred years or so. Everything in between is as new to me as it is to you."

"Why did you give me this scroll?"

There was a long pause between the question and the answer. "Because Lady Aboshi thought it best to put our plans in the same scroll as the only recording of the beginning of our existence."

Sakura pulled the scroll out to its full length to find more writing near its end. Arrows, diagrams, asterisks and a ton of text littered the other end of the scroll. Sakura stared at it for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

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Shikamaru's body was tense as he waited for the signal. Ino was resting in a hollow tree behind him, but once she was needed for the plan she would be sure to be present. Tsunade was carefully positioned at the other side of the jounin circle, also awaiting the signal. Sasuke had told Ino it may take a while, but it had been well over an hour.

"This is a lot more troublesome than I thought it would be," he muttered to himself. To think it had only been two hours before he was sleeping his life away…

"Shikamaru…"

Turning toward Ino's voice, he saw with surprise that she was surrounded by six people about her age each bearing a kanji symbol on their foreheads. On instinct he pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch, but quickly found that it had been sealed shut with a layer of sand. Also on instinct he looked around for Gaara, but saw no one else besides these people. Forcing himself to be calm, he glared at the tallest one, a big muscular fellow with the kanji Shikamaru could only now recognize at 'stone'.

"What do you want with us?" he asked slowly, never taking his eyes off the stone guy.

"We mean you no harm, shinobi," he said, his voice thick with an unknown accent. "We only wish that you do no harm to us as well."

"Do you know Uchiha Sasuke?" a girl that seemed a bit younger than the rest popped up also with a thick accent, her forehead bearing the kanji of 'snow'. "He was suppose to be positioned at the Hidden Ninja Village of the Leaves, which is where you're forehead-protector is from, correct?"

Shikamaru was taken aback. "Yeah, I do actually. Do you guys know him or something?"

"That depends on how you look at it," the stone guy said. "To what acquaintanceship have you with Sasuke?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but answered the question anyway. "I guess you could say he's a friend. Right now we're trying to get him and a couple of other friends out of a rather sticky situation. Could you allow my friend out of your circle now please?"

Ino rushed over to Shikamaru, but made it clear that she wasn't afraid of them. He whispered quickly to her, telling her to keep a look out for the signal while he took care of the others. She nodded solemnly before jumping a few trees away as to not interfere but to be close enough to be of help should a fight occur.

Shikamaru turned his attention back to the group of now apparent Element Users. In total there were six of them, each with a different kanji symbol on their forehead, a different colour of cloak and with some sort of animal next to them. The smallest, the girl that had popped up, had a penguin on her perched on her head much like Kiba with Akamaru. The boy next to her who was roughly the same height and had similar looks bore the kanji of 'mist' on his forehead, and had a little monkey clinging on his arm. The 'stone guy' stepped forward before he could look further, staring at him with cold eyes.

"Forgive our hostilities, but we must ask you to take us to Uchiha Sasuke," he said in his own thick accent, a grey snake silently worming its way around his arm. "We have travelled… a far distance, and must speak with someone from the Shinobi Lands group before proceeding to our next location."

Shikamaru nodded subconsciously, not really paying attention. Through Ino he had learnt Sasuke was the Element User of Fire, and that even though he wasn't the leader for this lifetime, he was perceived as one to the others. Since Sasuke had also explained to Ino that all six Element Users from the Shinobi lands were present, he concluded these people were from the Samurai Lands. It would explain their accent, as well as the elemental marks on their foreheads. The only thing it didn't explain was why these people were able to appear without him noticing. Without even realizing it, he began to think of a way to incorporate these people into his plan.

"This could work better than our original plan…" he thought to himself.

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Inside the fire dome, Sakura was just finishing reading the scroll. It seemed simple enough. Hinata and Lee were doing a lot better than when she first started reading. Naruto, Lee, Hinata, and two of the Element Users were all sitting cross-legged in a circle, talking quite animatedly and sharing laughs among each other.

Sasuke was still beside her, his eyes closed in a relaxing position. He was only there still because she had pestered him to no end on more details about the place they were going to go, but all ended with the answer that the place didn't exist yet. She had agreed to come with the Element Group as long as Naruto and Lee did. She didn't know about Hinata since she was technically heir to the Hyuuga clan, but only time would tell.

She had started memorizing the names of the Element Users as she read more and more detail within the scroll. So far, she could only identify Kaiya and Sota, since they were the friendliest and were currently helping Lee and Hinata get over the trauma of the recent events. Kohaku had disappeared somewhere and Sasuke refused to say where, and the other boy she had yet to meet, Imara, was apparently trying to find Kora.

For Sakura, the real question at the moment was where the kanji on their foreheads had gone. Before, they had been using a special medallion, but the feudal lord had taken Sasuke's and the mark still wasn't there. She has wanted to question him on the subject, but thought better of it after her little… interrogation, as she was calling it.

Lee's sudden movement towards her brought her back into reality. He sat on her other side, and looked at her with a worried expression on his face.

"What is it that is troubling you Sakura?" he asked in his unique grammatical way of speaking.

"Nothing's troubling me," she said kindly. "Are you feeling better?"

Lee shrugged. "More or less. In truth, it will take a while to get over, but Sota is a very funny person to be around. I enjoy his company very much."

Sakura nodded subconsciously. It had suddenly dawned on her that they had been sitting around for over two hours doing absolutely nothing. She had meant to question the Sasuke, but…

"Ummm… Sakura?"

Sakura looked up from her mid-daze to looking into the Hyuuga's lavender eyes. She smiled softly and nodded for her to go on.

"Umm… I was wondering… where Sasuke went…"

Sakura's head shot up and looked around, but couldn't find Sasuke anywhere. How could she not have noticed him leave? He was right beside her! She started panicking, but even she didn't understand why.

"I... I don't know," she stuttered, flustered. "He was here a minute ago…"

"And I'm still here," Sasuke shouted from the other side of the dome where he was talking with Kaiya, Sota, and a newly returned Kohaku waving his right arm to get her attention.

Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding; relieved she could keep a slight tag on her team mate. Beside her, Lee began to get worried. Weren't Sakura and him together? He bit his lower lip, trying to think in the midst of his mind, panicking ever so slightly. He put his utmost trust in Sakura, but he didn't like the fact it was being doubted. When something like this usually occurred, Lee would go to Gai for help. Tears began to swell up in his eyes, but he quickly brushed them away. Instead, he tried to think of what Tenten might say.

"Suck it up Lee. I thought you were all youthful and everything. So she's worried about a friend; big deal. You get worried about me sometimes, so don't be so protective of her."

Lee let a small smile show on his face. Yup, that was Tenten all right. Now that he thought of it, when would he see Tenten again? Just as he began to ponder that, Sasuke came up and spoke very softly:

"We're leaving now. Prepare to hang on to something."

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From where Shikamaru stood, the impact waves from the explosion still pushed him a good twenty metres away from his original place.

"Well, I guess that's the signal," he thought grimly as the jounin were also blown away, right to where Shikamaru had been only seconds before.

The fire dome that had been protecting their friends plus the Element Users had just exploded, just like that. Shikamaru wasted no time even though his ears were still ringing, blocking out any sound that was to be heard. Part of his plan was knowing that the jounin's ears would be even worse than his own since they had been closer. He dove through the trees to the detonation cord he had implanted just minutes before. He sent a small jolt of chakra through the end of the cord, and watched as smoke bombs detonated within the places the jounin had been relocated to. Tsunade sparked off her detonation cord just moments after he did, engulfing the other side in smoke as well.

"Keioko!" he shouted, though he couldn't hear his own voice yet. "Keep the cloud of smoke down for as long as you can!"

A teenage girl jumped onto the tree above him, the kanji of 'cloud' burning brightly on her forehead. Her cloak swirled a dim reddish-pinkish colour around her, almost illuminating her sunrise orange hair. The hilt of her katana was slightly visible from the front, but only if you knew what you were looking for. Even from where Shikamaru stood on the ground, her eye colour was as clear as the day itself: pure silver. Beside her, a purple tinged cloud leopard stood at about knee height, its tail thrashing back and forth. The girl, Keioko, gave him a salute, and then disappeared.

Shikamaru then dove into the smoke cloud, running in a straight line to avoid getting lost. He could only hope Ino wasn't in too much pain from the explosion to forget to look for the Hokage. Tsunade he knew he could count on. The only problem was the Element Users. He had to find Sasuke and explain the change in plans before they had a chance to fully carry through with their part.

Meanwhile, Ino was jumping from tree branch to tree branch, pausing every few seconds to hold her ears out of the pain. She should have listened when Keioko had told her to plug her ears and open her mouth. So much for that. Beside her, the twins jumped at even pace, completely at home in the trees.

The girl, who Ino had come to know as Menko Kaori, had the kanji of 'snow' burning brightly on her forehead, her long brown hair waving wildly in the wind. The penguin on her head seemed unfazed by the craziness of her nature, hanging onto the top of her head as if it was its only procession. Though she only came up to her chin, it unnerved Ino to know that the girl was stronger than her. Kaori's cloak was the lightest blue in the colour spectrum, hiding her arms as she flipped in the air.

Her brother was of equal height to his sister, and the exact same face along with it. The only way to tell them apart was the length of their hair, which his was shorter than Kaori's. Also, Menko Heruka's personality was a little more subdued than his sister. On his forehead the kanji or 'mist' burned brightly, matching the colouring of his turquoise cloak. His little monkey friend was somehow motionless on his shoulder, big eyes looking around as if they stationary.

Both of them carried two katanas on their backs, each sheathed and yet to been seen. Ino had asked why they carried two while the others only carried one, but they shrugged the question off. Now, as the three of them raced off towards where Tsunade was suppose to meet them, the Yamanaka couldn't help but think these two were more important than they seemed.

"Almost like the pieces are falling into place of some messed up game board of life," Ino thought to herself, before jumping to the next branch in her way.

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Just as Kaiya said it would, when the dome exploded, the inside of it became something of a vacuum. She was able to reverse it slightly, be not enough to keep Naruto on the ground. He was flung against a tree and clung on for dear life, making sure to keep his mouth closed so what little oxygen he had stayed inside him. When the vacuum subsided, Naruto opened his eyes and got a good look as to how much things had changed on the outside.

They were surrounded in smoke, and from what he could tell, it was directly from a smoke bomb. He could see faint shadows of the jounin that were within the smoke, but the Konoha group plus Element Users were heading in a seemingly random direction before he could figure out why. Sasuke was leading the way, with Kaiya not far behind. Then came Sakura, Lee and Sota. Hinata and himself came after, and Kohaku brought up the rear, keeping a Byakugan eye behind them. They headed straight into the smoke, Kaiya clearing the way with some seemingly unneeded difficulty. After a nervous glance at Sasuke, who nodded firmly, they headed on.

"N-Naruto?" Hinata said over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. They seem to have a plan though," Naruto said, hoping he sounded more assuring than he felt. "I know Sasuke, and he wouldn't put us in any danger if necessary, so we'll just follow along for now."

Hinata nodded and turned her head back to the front. After a minute or two, she asked, "Are... you going?"

"Going where?"

"Y-you know... With Sasuke and Kaiya and the other Element Users," she explained sheepishly. "Ummm... like, to the island..."

A little motor in Naruto's head finally kicked into gear and completely understood what was being asked. Sota had talked about how when they finally lost the jounin, they would be going to an island not that was yet-to-exist. He also said that they had would have to make one of two choices. They could either go back to Konoha with the Hokage after meeting up with her, or they could come with them to the yet-to-exist island. Sota had made it clear that if they chose to come, they'd be isolated from the rest of the world for just about ever. Naruto honestly didn't know what to do. If anything, he would stick by Hinata, what ever her choice may be, but that would mean losing contact with Sasuke and possibly Sakura. However, should he go with them, he would lose his chance to become Hokage, something he was not willing to give up on just yet.

In the end, he ended up shrugging for an answer. "I'll just follow you," he said with a smile.

Hinata in turn smiled, happy at the thought.

"Naruto! Hinata! Look out!"

Everyone's head turned at the voice, only a second later to watch Shikamaru crash into Naruto head on, both of them tumbling over the branch he had landed on and onto the ground with a thump.

"Shi... Shikamaru?" Hinata exclaimed, jumping down to help Naruto up. "What are you d-doing here?"

"I can't hear you," Shikamaru said louder than needed, pointing to his ears. "The explosion popped my ears."

Sakura giggled and jumped down. With a green-glowing hand, she tapped his ears and stood back. It took a moment for sound to register in his head, but when it did, it was louder than expected. He crouched on the ground holding his ears in pain, muttering something about how troublesome it was to be in compete silence for ten minutes and suddenly getting noise again without warning.

"If you're here, that means there's been a change in plans," Sasuke stated, jumping down to meet them.

"That's why we had more trouble than was expected breeching the smoke-bomb, right?" Kaiya said, landing next to Sasuke.

"Yeah, you could say that..." the pineapple-head (1) said, standing up and scratching the back of his head. "I had Keioko keep the cloud down until we were all clear."

"Hayashi Keioko?" Kohaku asked, looking at Shikamaru with questioning eyes.

"Yeah, that's what she said her name was," the Nara replied. "The whole group spoke with some sort of accent. I'm assuming they're from the Samurai Lands?"

"You mean the second group of Element Users, right?" Sakura put in enthusiastically, glad she knew about what they were talking about for once.

Sasuke nodded. "I think I've told you before, way back last year."

"How come I don't remember any of this?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.

"Cause I erased parts of your memory to shut you up and then knocked you out," Sasuke retorted.

"So that's what happened!" Sakura exclaimed, remembering that night.

"That's not the point right now!" Sota shouted, shocking everyone. "What changes are there now?"

Shikamaru sighed. "I've assigned them different duties according to their different abilities. Like how Keioko is holding down the smoke cloud. Lif's thickening the foliage here and Seto's coating the trees around the jounin with a thick layer of sand to make them slippery. Then I've got Amichi making a pathway to the place where we plan to lose them, and Kaori and Heruka with Ino to pick up Tsunade."

"How is it you have already memorized all of their names..." Lee muttered.

"You've got Heruka and Kaori of all people to help Ino?!" Kohaku cried, trying without success to not freak out. "Didn't their introductions tell you enough about their personality?"

The examiner shrugged. "I figured they'd be best to help protect Tsunade, seeing as they had the most weaponry of the six."

"That's the problem," Sasuke explained calmly. "They may not look like much, but they're both the craziest and strongest two people in all of the Samurai Lands. Those two have killed more men in one lifetime than you will in any amount lives. If or when a fight occurs, I doubt they'll be able to control themselves and that, in itself, will ruin the plan."

"Oh..."

There was a moments silence as the words sunk in, but before long, Kaiya's head snapped up where it had drooped.

"Well, there's nothing that can be done about it right now," she said almost happily. "For now, we'll continue out our part of the operation. If all goes well, we can be done and out of here before they have a chance to go crazy."

Everyone nodded and they leaped on, putting Shikamaru between Naruto and Kohaku.

"Ino, please be safe…" he thought before completely submitting himself to the jump.

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"About time," Tsunade complained, almost invisible through the smoke cloud.

Ino shook her head. "I forgot to plug my ears during the explosion. Won't be able to hear for a while. Sorry."

The Hokage rolled her eyes and tapped Ino's ears, returning sound gradually to her eardrums. Ino blinked a couple times before smiling.

"Thanks," she said, rubbing her ears fondly. "Oh, I'd like to introduce Menko Kaori and Menko Heruka; Element Users of snow and mist from the Samurai Lands."

The twins bowed simultaneously, their animals jumping onto the ground. Tsunade bowed in turn, never taking her eyes off the two. So they were Element Users: big deal. That only meant they were powerful. She trusted Sasuke since Naruto and Sakura were under her command, but it annoyed her to no extent that there seemed to be another Element User popping up every three seconds. She sighed and looked straight at Ino.

"If Shikamaru's original plan wasn't confusing enough, it just got even more confusing," she stated. "So what's the new plan?"

"Well, there's no way we're ever going to get passed those jounin…" Ino started.

"So we're clearing a path to lead them into a trap to immobilize them so that we can get away," Kaori finished for her in a voice that sounded much younger than she was.

"Our job is to escort you to a meeting place where some of your shinobi may or may not meet up with you," Heruka said in a bored tone.

"May or may not?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

Ino looked just as confused as she stared at the twins, looking for an explanation. The two Menko just shrugged and turned to leave.

"We need to get going," they said simultaneously. "The battle has begun…"

And at that moment, another explosion erupted on the far side of the oasis, where the impact waves still slightly baffled the shinobi and samurai where they stood. Tsunade and Ino looked at each other once more before running off in the direction of the blast, the twins right behind them.

(1) - Shikamaru being a pineapple-head – When you look at his head close enough, his round head shape plus his pony-tail make his head look like a pineapple. Just go look at a side view of his head and you'll see what I'm talking about. I've been calling him 'shika' (meaning deer in Japanese oddly enough) and pineapple-head for a while now. Just thought I'd point it out.
And another chapter is done... I hope I won't take too long to update again, but you never know with me.. ever...