Disclaimer: I have not gained ownership of Naruto since the last chapter was published

Chapter 26: Cooldown

The Minefield: Konoha Side

Ninja warfare had a way of destroying vast swaths of land, at least since the advent of Chakra. This was clearly evident in the aftermath of the failed Suna invasion of the Land of Fire.

Between the massive cutting cyclone, hundreds of explosions, unquenchable black flames, and tainted miasma of Bijuu chakra, there was very little foliage untouched in the several kilometers of border that Team 7 had booby-trapped to hell and back that didn't have some crater, scorch-mark, sawdust, or blood to commemorate the greatest ninja battle in over a decade.

In nature, this level of destruction could only be achieved by Eucalyptus trees growing in a dry season or an ant invasion of Stephenson-esque proportions.

While the battle didn't have the tectonic effect of the legendary battles of the past, such as the battle between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha which carved out the Valley of the End, but the fauna would not return to that particular stretch of land for months, the forest would not regrow to its former glory for years, and any sage or advanced chakra sensor would be able to feel the malice of the battle for decades to come.

"Quit hogging the marshmallows, bastard" Naruto shouted weakly at his teammate from across the campfire, barely ambulatory following the aftershock of using the Kyuubi's chakra.

"What are you going to do if I don't? Crawl over here and bite my shins?" Sasuke responded weakly as he struggled with the herculean task of making S'mores will suffering from the aftershock of using the Mangekyo Sharingan and exhausting his Chakra reserves.

"Boys, if you can't share those marshmallows, I'll take them from you and eat them all. Now apologize to each other." Kakashi said, his chastisement somewhat undercut by the amusement clear in his voice.

"Sorry Sasuke/Sorry Naruto" both boys mumbled dejectedly.

"Now kiss and make up."

"WHAT?" both boys shouted.

Kakashi burst out laughing, unable to contain his mirth at the looks on his students faces.

"You're all insane." Ebisu muttered as he nibbled at a S'more.

Kakashi had followed the fleeing remains of the Suna army just long enough to ensure they would not be returning anytime soon, while Ebisu provided first aid to Sasuke and Naruto.

Cleaning up the minefield had taken most of the rest of the day, as Naruto and Sasuke were to tired to be useful as a source of labor, leaving Kakashi and Ebisu to search a blasted hell-scape for scraps of paper after the master-control seal had deactivated the remaining traps.

Naruto and Sasuke had sorted the seals that had been recovered, and stowed them in a pack. There were probably a few seals that remained in the woods, buried in pitfall traps or shredded around branches of fallen trees, but the vast majority had been recovered, checked for integrity, and then neatly packed away for Sakura to make use of when they returned to Konoha.

"Oh calm down, Ebisu, the worst is over, now we can head home without worrying about an army on our tails." Kakashi said, as he watched Naruto and Sasuke struggle to out cook and out eat each other.

"Well what are we going to do about them?" Ebisu said, gesturing with his thumb at the field of heads, where the living prisoners were currently buried to the neck after being drained of chakra.

"If Naruto is recovered enough to makes clones tomorrow, we'll have no problem."

"And if he isn't?"

"Then we'll pick a few of the highest ranking prisoners we can find, and carry them with a few of my clones, after digging up a few of the genin and leaving them to deal with the rest of the prisoners, most of them should have chakra exhaustion, so it's not like they'll be a major threat for a week or so, especially without their gear. By the time any decent number of them are free, we'll be halfway to Konoha."

At this moment, several dozen squads of Konoha jonin and chuunin made themselves known.

"I take it you no longer need assistance?" asked the nominal leader of Konoha's anti-invasion task force.

"Please," Kakashi snorted, "As if a piddly little invasion force could be a problem for Team 7. Now that the fighting and clean up is done, you can help us escort these prisoners back to Konoha."

Two Days Later in Konoha

Team 7 stood silently in the Hokage's office as their venerable leader stared grimly at them.

Sakura had been woken from her slumber half an hour previously by a rookie ANBU who had just learned a valuable lesson about waking a ninja from within stabbing distance.

Naruto and Sasuke had been carried back from the front by Kakashi and Ebisu, while the 81 living prisoners and scored of corpses were currently still being escorted back to the village and would arrive in several days.

"I sent you to the border on an R&D mission, the milkiest of milk runs, for a chance to get some uninterrupted training outside of the village, where you couldn't get into any trouble" Hiruzen Sarutobi grumbled. "So explain the exact sequence of events that led you, Kakashi Hatake, to find yourself fighting 1000 enemy ninja with only your genin team and Ebisu under you command."

"Technically, One third of my genin team was carrying the alert back to Konoha instead of following me into battle."

"Kakashi," the Hokage warned.

"Well, It all started about 8 hours after we left the village, when an unknown ninja starting following us..."

In a cave somewhere

"And then I killed all but one of them." Kisame Hoshigaki, a tall, blue, brick-shithouse of a ninja reported to the leader of the Akatsuki.

"What happened to the last one?" Kakuzu asked, unable to hold his curiosity.

"Pussed out like a bitch." Kisame said with a grin while Itachi rolled his eyes.

"If that conclude Kisame's report on his latest mission," Pain said, "I believe that Zetsu has a report on one of our former members and his recent activities."

"Oh yeah," White Zetsu chattered, "This is absolutely hilarious, and I know you're all going to love it."

"Orochimaru decided to attack Konoha and orchestrated an invasion by Suna in tandem with his new village of Oto by manipulating the Daimyo of Wind Country into laying various economic sanctions of Suna, then replacing the Kazekage at the recent chuunin exams." Black Zetsu said as he ignored his more exuberant half.

"So anyway, while the Suna army tries crossing the border, they run into a single Konoha team, who send a warning back to Konoha in the hands of a genin that Suna is invading."

"That genin arrived at the Hokage's office shouting her warning about an invasion, unknowingly interrupting a meeting between the Hokage and Orochimaru posing as the Kazekage."

"So while Old Man Hokage ends up taking his former student to School with some help from his buddy Danzo, one Konoha team ends of fight an invasion force at the border while outnumbered 250 to 1, and they WIN!"

"So why do we care?" Hidan interupted the plant man, "If a bunch of pathetic little wanna-be ninja heretics get their asses handed to them, it doesn't matter to us."

"It does matter." Black-Zetsu said calmly, "For two reasons. First, Orochimaru ended up sealed by a powerful fuuinjutsu array that Danzo had set up on a deadman's switch, so while the Hokage survived, Danzo and Orochimaru are both effectively dead and out of our reach for the time being. Second, the Konoha team in question was a genin team lead by Kakashi Hatake and contained both the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and-"

"Itachi's adorable little brother. Don't kids grow up so fast? One day, you're murdering there parents in front of them and the next they're taking on armies and performing feats of legend."

"Ignoring Itachi's little brother," Pain interjected, "With Orochimaru sealed, we have no way of recovering his ring, and likely will not be able to, which means we will need to rework the extraction and sealing process for the bijuu, additionally, it seems that the Kyuubi jinchuriki is either more powerful than expected or incredibly lucky, and as such more information is required before we proceed. Itachi?"

"Yes, Leader-sama?"

"Follow the Kyuubi container for a few months. If he leaves the village, stress him, but don't kill or capture him. I want a clear picture of his abilities, even if the Kyuubi will need to be sealed last."

"Understood." Itachi said, with a hint of a smile.

In Iwa

"And that," Tsuchikage Onoki said to his advisers, "is why we didn't invade Konoha right after that yellow asshole died."

"So they repelled a minor invasion from Suna," one of the more militant members of Onoki's cabinet said, "We would still have been able to crush them."

"No, we wouldn't" Onoki said, letting an unspoken 'You Idiot' hand in the air before continuing, "The annoying thing about those asshole plant-fetishists is that they always have another prodigy in the woodwork, ready to turn what should be a simple battle into an unforgiving reversal and clusterfuck, in this case it seems that Namikaze taught his student more than we thought before We passed on."

"He's talented, but I really don't think you can compare the Copy ninja to the Yellow Flash."

"He just fought off an army, by himself no less, and apparently displayed enough chakra that the sensors in the Suna army mistook him for a bijuu, something that hasn't happened since Kisame Hoshigaki fought in the last war. THIS IS WHY WE DON'T START WARS WITHOUT A DAMN GOOD REASON." Onoki shouted at his senior staff before calming down and continuing, "Up his bounty, mark him as S-class in the Bingo book, inform our teams to stay away from Konoha for the forseeable future, and get the hell out of my office."

Back in Konoha

"The seals were that effective in the field?" The Hokage asked in surprise, prompting Sakura to bristle at the perceived slight.

"Suna's shattered offensive is a glowing testimony to their efficacy, Hokage-sama." Kakashi answered before his student could get indignant.

"Well then, I can find no fault in your actions, though the full ramifications of these past few days have yet to be fully seen." the Hokage said before continuing, "Congratulations on your second successful C-rank mission, Team 7, the bounty for Bari Kinoshita will be paid out to you five, as well as a bonus and commendation for excellence in the line of fire. I expect you all to report to the medics, and enjoy your vacation, I will call you here in a weeks time or as needed to discuss Team 7 going forward. Ebisu, you have done an excellent job with Kakashi's genin, just as I would expect from the man to whom I entrusted my grandson, but your time with Team 7 is done and after your vacation, you may return to your normal duties as a tutor. Any questions?"

"No Hokage-sama," Team 7 replied as one.

"Dismissed."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

As soon as team 7 left the hokage's office, Sakura turned to her teammates and pulled both of the into one armed hugs, which the carefully reciprocated.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Sasuke, Naruto...and you too Kakashi-sensei and Ebisu-sensei, I suppose."

The two boys fidgeted silently while Kakashi smiled at his students and Ebisu grunted and waved goodbye before saying, "I'm getting a drink, or twelve, see you later."

After several seconds, Sasuke's will broke and he confessed, "Naruto broke Rule #1."

"What?!" Sakura hissed out dangerously as her grip on her teammates necks tightened.

"Only for a minute." Naruto hastily defended himself, "And Sasuke cried."

"Tears of blood" Sasuke spat out, "How hardco-*grrk*" both boys choked as Sakura tightened her hold on each of them again.

"Now listen to me," Sakura said, her voice dangerously level and steady, "We are going to medical, then we're getting lunch, and for the foreseeable future the both of you are going to have to be very careful around staircases, am I clear?"

"Yes Sakura," both boys choked out.

Sakura then let her teammates go and began walking towards the staircase

'Crying blood doesn't exactly sound healthy. I'm trying to think of what could cause bloody discharge from the lacrimal glands, and none of the answers are good.'

"Sasuke, you're getting your eyes checked, and while we're there you two are going to tell me everything."

"Oh yeah, Sakura-chan," Naruto interjected, "your seals were totally amazing!"

"They were?" Sakura said hopefully, before catching herself, "Nice try Naruto, but you're still in trouble for breaking Rule #1"

"Oh come on, Sakura-chan" Naruto whined, "It was only for a minute and the Kyuubi fixed me right up."

Back in the Hokage's Office

The elderly hokage sighed as he leaned back in his chair, delaying ever so slightly in dealing with the mess that his village, before speaking, "So what do you think Jiraiya?"

The ninja in question flipped into the office from his position over the window before answering, "I think it's remarkable that you got your window replaced so quickly, after you threw a foreign dignitary through it."

Hiruzen's face was stone in response to his student's frivolity.

"Also," Jiraiya continued, "It's nice to know that Team 7 is still a madhouse, even after all these years. Though you should probably give all of them a psych-eval with Yamanaka-san after the week they've had."

"I already have the paperwork ready."

"I'll need to look over the girl's seals, but she might be useful, especially given her proximity to Naruto. Two C-rank missions, and both involved the kyuubi making an appearance, so I need to teach him how to safely harness its power. Hell, a fuuinjutsu user, a jinchuriki, and an uchiha all on the same team, they really are perfect for one another, I could write a book about this. I think I will write a book about this, maybe a lesbian love triangle."

"As much as I look forward to reading it, we have more important things to deal with," the hokage said with a wry grin, "Have you taken a look at Danzo's body?"

"Yup, he apparently decided to crib Kushina's notes," Jiraiya answered with a frown, "He set up a Reverse Four Symbols seal on a dead-man's switch, it'll hold Orochimaru easily, immortal body or no. That seal is essentially a simplified version of the seal holding the Kyuubi at bay, and stronger, technically, than Naruto's seal, because it isn't leaching off it's prisoner's chakra. Opening it would take an override by the maker, the bearer, or a stupid amount of chakra from an external source."

"How much chakra?"

"It would take me over a decade of constant effort to break it, even if I used senjutsu," Jiraiya stated flatly

"What if the seal were physically destroyed?" the elderly ninja asked with a frown.

"Then the link to storage space would be cut, and Orochimaru would be lost forever as he lacks an inherent tie to our world like the bijuu, but the backlash of the broken seal would cause a massive explosion or some exotic spatial effect."

"You're absolutely sure?" the Hokage asked forcefully.

"Perfectly sure" Jiraiya said with an offended expression, "I spent years going over Minato's magnum opus, and I still read through his and Kushina's notes when I'm feeling sentimental. I could make that seal blindfolded, with my littlest toe and still have enough focus to take on any jonin currently on Konoha's roster."

"Thank whatever gods may be," Sarutobi said, calming slightly, "Orochimaru was always too slippery, there can be no room for uncertainties with his fate."

After a short pause, the elderly ninja continued, "How goes your progress with Gaara and the Ichibi?"

"Slowly" Jiraiya admitted, "that seal is a mess. You'd think with their dedication to puppetry Suna would have some decent Sealmasters, but that seal shows all the imagination of a wooden post and all the foresight of Tsunade in Sin City, the only part of it that works well is the encryption, so I can't even modify it easily. If the seal wasn't already attached to a person, I'd honestly rather undo the whole thing, fight the Ichibi, and start over from scratch."

"Such is life," Hiruzen sighed, "We used up all our luck stumbling over the invasion the way we did, if this turned out easy, I'd suspect a trap."

"Give me a few weeks, and I'll fix something up, just worry about de-escalating with Suna before anyone else decides to take a swing at us."

"I've been preventing wars for almost two decades now, I think I can handle a border skirmish. Just worry about that seal, maybe bring Sakura-chan in as a learning experience, and use it to get publicly acquainted with Team 7."

"So you're finally letting me train Naruto?"

"I'm letting you help Kakashi-kun with his three students, if he and they agree with it."

"I'll take it."

At the hospital

"Well that's not good." said the medic who had been running diagnostics of Sasuke.

"What's not good?" Sasuke said, the barest hint of panic creeping into his voice.

"To start, you didn't cry bloody tears." The medic said, "The discharge was not from the lacrimal glands, like tears are. It was an actual discharge from the eye itself, and I can see the beginning of some scarring in your eyes."

"Scarring?"

"Yes, scarring," The medic continued clinically, "Something caused multiple subconjuctival hemorrhages. While they healed, the bloody discharge into and from your eyes caused scarring to form. Barely any at all, but if it keeps happening, you'll slowly lose your vision until you go entirely blind."

"Is there any treatment?" Sasuke asked nervously.

"The scaring can't be healed, but if we can find the cause of the hemorrhage, we can establish a preventative treatment. Fortunately, the damage is limited to your physical eye, rather than your retina or ocular nerves, so an eye transplant could restore your vision even if the damage became severe enough to cause blindness."

"A transplant," Sasuke said flatly, "because my eyes are exactly like everyone elses'."

"Right," the medic said sheepishly, "Sharingan, a transplant would take away your bloodline unless the donor eyes were from an Uchiha as well, preferable from a close family member."

"Great," Sasuke said bitterly, "So if I want to use my bloodline without going blind, I'd need either extensive medical knowledge of my bloodline, which no-one has, or to convince my psychotic, missing-nin brother to give me his."

The medic and genin stared at each other for several seconds, before Sasuke blinked, his face twisting between an expression of shock and dawning comprehension.

"Wait," Sasuke said, "So my bloodline causes chronic vision loss with prolonged use, and only a transplant from a family member can cure it?"

"Yes."

"That's why he left me alive." Sasuke said blankly, unable to process the re-contextualization of that night.

In another room in the hospital

"You're completely fine."

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly as he glanced at the door.

"Yes."

In yet another room in the hospital

"Your muscles show signs of extreme fatigue, your kidney function isn't great, and your chakra system has been stressed greatly. I don't know how you forced that much chakra through your system, or why you thought taking a soldier pill would be a good idea, but you are going to need to take it easy for a few days. Keep chakra use to a minimum, limit your physical training to stretches and flexibility exercises, and drink lots of water."

"Thank you for your help," Sakura said politely, "Have a nice day, medic-san."

"Have a nice day, Haruno-san"

Sakura calmly left the examination room and found a cheerful Naruto fidgeting on a bench in the hallway. Saying hello, she sat down next to him and asked, "How was your check-up?"

"Great!" Naruto said exuberantly, "Even the medics agree that I'm totally awesome. What about you, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura sighed before answering, "Everything is sore, and the medics say I need to take it easy for a few days."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Naruto answered with a frown.

"Oh," Sakura popped out, "While I remember, did you guys pack up any of the seals from the minefield before coming back?"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, his typical smile returning, "Kakashi-sensei and Ebisu-sensei got most of them from the forest, and Sasuke and I took the taser tags and chakra-draining tags off of the prisoners."

"Can I have them back?" Sakura asked, amused by her teammates easy return to good cheer.

"Sure." Naruto answered as he produced several packs small paper tags from various hidden pockets and handed them to his teammate.

The pair sat in silence for several minutes, waiting for their third teammate to finish his physical before Sakura spoke again.

"So you and Sasuke really met the Kyuubi?"

"Yup" Naruto said cheerfully, "He was really big, and really loud, and I really can't believe he fits in a cage in a sewer in a seal in my stomach."

'This has potential'

'Potential?' Sakura thought, 'How does meeting the kyuubi change anything about Naruto's situation.'

'You'd be surprised, especially when his chakra can leak through the seal in times of stress.'

"Konoha to Sakura." Naruto called out, waving his hand in front of Sakura's face.

"What, Naruto." Sakura growled as she snapped her head to glare at the blonde.

"You spaced out," Naruto said sheepishly

"Yeah," Sakura sighed, "I guess I did."

At this moment, Sasuke emerged from his examintion room, several bandages applied to his arms and legs, still clearly in a daze.

"Sasuke" Sakura worried, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Sasuke quietly said, "No serious injuries besides some burns on my hands that they fixed up."

"What's wrong, Sasuke" Naruto asked apprehensively.

"Nothing" Sasuke said calmly

"Bullshit" Naruto and Sakura said in unison.

"Everything's fine, "Sasuke insisted.

"Don't lie." Sakura demanded, "If Naruto noticed something's wrong, then there's clearly something serious going on."

"Yeah!" Naruto blurted out.

"Why do you even care?" Sasuke responded, before doing a double take and staring at Naruto for a second and then recovering.

"Because you're our teammate!" Naruto practically shouted

"And because you're our friend." Sakura added softly.

Sasuke glared at his teammates for several seconds, willing them to back down so he could go home and try to figure out what to make of his revelation. Naruto glared right back, while Sakura met his glare with a calm, determined expression.

The staring continued for several seconds, then a dozen seconds, then a minute.

Sasuke blinked.

Naruto smirked, prompting Sasuke to frown as he resumed his glared for several seconds, only to close his eyes and sigh.

"Fine, I'll tell you what's wrong" Sasuke muttered, "Just not here, we'll go back to my place and talk there."

"Perfect," Sakura agreed

"Can we stop to get something to eat on the way there?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke grinned ever so slightly while Sakura giggled and responded, "Fine Naruto, we can get food on the way."

"I need some fresh tomatoes anyway, after being out of town for a month" Sasuke agreed.

The three genin left together, only for Kakashi to emerge from his physical a minute later, throwing pens and pen-lights at his medic who shouted obscenities at him in exchange.

Kakashi looked around the hospital hallway he was standing in, casually tilting his head to avoid a sphygmomanometer thrown by an irate doctor, before speaking aloud, "Now where have my genin gone?"

Lets get ready for mental health evaluations

In the story, that is, mental health evaluations for S&S!Team 7

That we will watch for our amusement.