Disclaimer: I have a hat. And a laptop. And a cat. But I don't have Naruto.

Warning: Fighting scene.

Beta: Kalafina94

Beta: silverseed

Interlude – Omniscient – 3

"I see," Tobi whispered quietly. "How interesting. I suppose it was only a matter of time before they discovered the truth. In all honesty, I'm a bit surprised it has taken them so long, but. no matter. I have no use for controlling Yagura anymore. I suppose. Yes, I do believe it's time to cut my ties loose."

Tobi paced back and forth, his tone a gentle musing. "I will need to make sure he remembers nothing of his time under the genjutsu, simple enough. But I must also ensure his death. After all, if he's dead, then collecting the Sanbi will be that much easier. But I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long run. No matter, no matter. I shall. yes, yes, that will do. That will do fine. When they begin their trap, I shall release my entire hold of the genjutsu, and with it, I shall lock away his memories. He will be disoriented and surely fall easily into their trap. Yes. Yes, that will do nicely."

"Whatever you say, Tobi," Zetsu said, his yellow eyes staring at Tobi unblinkingly.

. . .

. .

.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

I poured another cup of hot tea for myself and Yagura. The two of us were seated along the porch of the Uchiha main house. Sasuke and Naruto were in the middle of yet another sparring match and Kakashi was off somewhere. more than likely standing in front of the stone again. After pouring the tea, I set it down and sat down across from Yagura, taking a small rice ball and biting into it.

"Are they always so.?" Yagura seemed to struggle for the right word.

"Yes," I answered immediately. "They are rather reckless and undisciplined when it comes to each other. They adore fighting each other, though I don't think I'll ever understand why."

Yagura contemplated a moment before he replied, "In a way, I can understand the appeal of fighting, but even I wouldn't want to fight as constantly as those two."

I nodded in acceptance of this, mulling over my next choice of words. "What do you suppose our first mission will be like?"

"More than likely we won't be called for anything until the Akatsuki make their move," Yagura said blandly.

"I suppose so," I allowed, "but none of us have really worked together. Well, I mean, you haven't worked together with the others before and they haven't worked with you. Shouldn't there be. I don't know. more basic missions to give us an opportunity to grow in teamwork?"

"She mentioned that there would be more members," Yagura pointed out. "Perhaps they don't want us to set ourselves in a specific team dynamic until the full team is assembled."

"That's possible," I agreed, "but it's a little insulting that she doesn't think we're flexible enough to ad our teamwork to allow another person in."

"Or perhaps she's complimenting us by not giving us extra missions to practice our teamwork because she believes we can handle it fine," Yagura mused.

"Perhaps."

as the words left my mouth, there was a cry of a hawk that circled around and above us. We all paused in what we were doing.

"Looks like we're being summoned," Yagura commented.

I stood up.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Gaara's been what?" Naruto burst out, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Shit! We have to go help him! Now!"

"That's why I called you here," Tsunade said severely, her face grave. "Due to certain circumstances, Konoha hasbeen provided the opportunity to garner knowledge concerning the Akatsuki, knowledge that hasn't been able to be ascertained by the rest of the villages. Because Sunagakure knows this, they have especially requested us, and more importantly, especially requested you."

"Us?" Sasuke echoed, his eyes narrowing in disbelief. "What do you. the team. what exactly is our purpose?"

Tsunade gave Sasuke an appraising look, while Naruto shifted on his feet. I could still feel the vibrating anger that seemed to roll off of him. I had the strongest urge to place a comforting hand on him at the moment, but this was a formal debriefing and such actions would have been frowned upon in protocol.

"I made this team because each of you are especially suited to take on the Akatsuki, either from first hand-experience, the desire to target a specific member, pre-possessed knowledge, or because the Akatsuki will most certainly be targeting you. That is the purpose of this team, and that is exactly why I will be sending you five to the Village of the Sand, along with one of my apprentices. Your orders are this: you are to protect my apprentice, you are to rescue the Kazekage at all costs, and you are to eliminate or, preferably, apprehend any if not all Akatsuki targets. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," we chorused, while Yagura gave a small nod.

"My apprentice will remain in Sand to tend to the wounded, and the rest of you will move out immediately."

"Yes, ma'am," we chorused again.

"Each of you grab a briefing on your way out. Dismissed," Tsunade said.

We left.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

It took exactly five minutes for all of us to be packed and ready to go at the front gate of the Leaf. No words were exchanged, as we each filed into the correct formations. The apprentice Tsunade had chosen was surprisingly Haruno Sakura. As the orders were written on the briefing, each of us paired up with one another.

I was partnered with Yagura, simply because I was the only one who had enough experience with him that we could work well enough together. Kakashi was paired with Sakura because he had enough experience in the field that he knew how to ad himself to better match Sakura's own style, and he had the most experience (aside from Yagura) in bodyguard type situations. Sasuke and Naruto were partnered together, not only because they were simply all that was left, but because they worked best together, as proven many times before.

Each duo had to be prepared to work on their own, separate from the whole group. The plan was for each pairing to be able to hold their own against a single member of the Akatsuki at a time —as it was known that the Akatsuki always traveled in pairs— with the last pairing hanging back in the shadows, stepping in only when absolutely necessary.

From the information we had ascertained —information I was privy to, seeing how the main source felt necessary to inform me, as well. not to mention I was there in the beginning— gave us the knowledge that the two Akatsuki members pursuing the Kazekage were more than likely Deidara and Sasori.

Kakashi and Sakura were instructed to head directly to the Village of the Sand to assist them in whatever way possible before Kakashi would leave Sakura behind and move to support us. Sasuke and Naruto were to track down one of the Akatsuki members, Sasori, while Yagura and myself were to track down Deidara. Due to Sasuke's apprenticeship to Kakashi, he had a fair knowledge of tracking —he was by no means a specialist, but he could track well enough— and Yagura had had his own tracking training from his time in the Mist-ANBU. For the most part, the four of us would be traveling together, with Yagura and Sasuke in the lead with the sole purpose of tracking down Gaara and our chosen Akatsuki members.

This would save us time, as we would be bypassing Sand entirely.

However, it would be a hard journey. There would be no time for proper rest and it would test our endurance and stamina, especially considering we would more than likely have the fight of our lives once we reached the end.

No words were spoken or exchanged when Sakura arrived —her face set in a somber expression— and the silence continued as we took our leave of the Leaf.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

After the split off with Kakashi and Sakura, the four of us continued at a fast and hard pace. For a long while, no one bothered speaking.

"What do you think Granny meant by ascertaining information?" Naruto finally asked in the silence. I glanced over at him, finding his normally bright cerulean blue eyes had taken on a reddish tint to them. My eyes drifted over to Yagura's small form. He wore his standard uniform —long, black shinobi pants, a standard black, shinobi, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves expanded a bit at the end. His gloves, which only covered his fingers and half of his palms, were a pale, darkish-green, and he had the same colored cloth wrapped around the lower half of his face and neck like a scarf. He had his black hood up, and wore a completely blank, white mask.

"You and Sasuke-chan were placed in intensive training, were you not?" Yagura drawled.

Sasuke gave Yagura a narrow-eyed glare, showing how much he disliked Yagura's honorific. I felt a tired sigh build up inside of me, but I did not release it. I knew how Yagura only used the honorific to a.) get a rise out of them b.) to (rather childishly) assert his authority c.) take a better measurement of Sasuke —testing his temperament and seeing what made him tick.

I knew he would be doing damn near anything to drive Naruto and Sasuke (and Kakashi) to the edge, to get a good feel of their character. Ever since. well, ever since the incident that drove him to us in the first place. he'd become more paranoid. He couldn't —or rather, he wouldn't take my word for them point-blank. He needed to grasp their characters for himself.

It was the same as it was in the beginning, with Papa, Ino, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Anko, Ibiki. well. It was the same with everyone Yagura knew that knew he was Yagura.

He once pissed Tsunade off enough that she threw a punch at him. He dodged it with ease, of course, but it was the thought that mattered the most to him.

"That's right," Naruto replied, apparently not noticing the honorific.

"The two of you, three including Kakashi, were essentially plucked out of the real world to focus on your training —no distractions, right? You must remember that time where you had to travel with Sasuke-chan and Kakashi-san because Jiraiya was called back to Konoha, right?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "You mean. he was called back because of the information?"

"It's related, at the very least."

Naruto fell silent again.

Sasuke glanced over at Yagura, his expression carefully neutral. "You seem to know a lot about the situation."

Yagura tilted his head. "I suppose you could say that I have a. unique perspective on it."

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked.

"Not now, Sasuke-kun," I said softly. "You don't trust Yagura-sensei, and Yagura-sensei doesn't trust you yet. Before you know —before either of you know— the truth of the situation at hand, you need to trust him. You wouldn't want Yagura-sensei to know about your past, would you?"

Sasuke stared at me for a long while, his face thoughtful. ". I understand. I don't care too much for it, but I can acknowledge the reasons."

"Thank you," I said, relief clear in my voice. I may have only procrastinated the inevitable story, but from the pleased sidelong glance Yagura gave me, I felt like I made the right choice.

"I take it the two of you have reviewed your knowledge on Sasori?" Yagura asked, changing the subject."

"Poison-user, puppeteer, nuke-nin from Sand, S-Ranked, prefers long distance attacks, has made some attempt at immortality and is considered successful in the sense that he doesn't age (explanation unknown), tactical." Sasuke listed off.

"His poisons will have little effect on me, or at least in the long run," Naruto grunted. "I'm immune to all common poisons, my metabolism and insane immune system from my chakra makes it hard to poison me. Not impossible, 'course, but hard."

"Don't assume he'll be using regular poisons," Yagura said sharply.

"Wasn't gonna, was sayin'," Naruto snapped, irritation flowing off of him.

I kicked hard off of one branch, leaping above Naruto and flipping in the process. My hand, palm flat, touched the top of his head in both a warning, and soothing gesture. I landed beside him on the next branch, and Naruto shot me a mixed look —one that conveyed annoyance and affection.

"And you two?" Sasuke returned.

"Deidara," I answered shortly, "is a long-ranged nuke-nin from Rock, specializing in explosives using clay of sorts. He has limited amount of clay, and the majority of the clay can be assumed to have been used up in his fight with Gaara. Reports from Sand also claim he'll be missing an arm."

"Which will limit the number of his jutsus significantly," Yagura said.

I kicked off hard from the tree branch, starting to feel the distinct burn in my upper thighs. Tree-jumping was an exercise in and of itself, honestly. It didn't help that I didn't have a developed body, and that I was starting to enter that stage where everything got wonky.

"We have a while longer before we reach them," Yagura said, "but we're starting to reach their designated range. Everyone, suppress your chakra, now."

It took a handful of seconds, but I was able to condense and hide my chakra. Naruto had to hold up his hands to form the Crane seal for several minutes before he was able to suppress his massive reserves. Yagura and Sasuke finished before me.

From what the information gathered claimed, the Akatsuki member, Zetsu, had a distinct range point he would keep around the extraction point. Anything that held human-level and above chakra, he would be able to sense and he would then investigate. For the most part, he would randomly move about, as well, having no set pattern. In order to get the upper-hand on them, not only did we need to suppress our chakra to below-human level, but we had to have a helluva lot of luck, pardon my language.

Knowing that silence was key, once again, we lapsed into it.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

The four of us landed before a large stone, eyeing the tag planted on it.

"Gaara should be behind that rock," Yagura said quietly. "Everyone, take a moment. If you need a soldier pill, use it now. that seal. we don't have enough people to safely break it from the outside. However, once we get in, we can destroy it with ease there."

I wasted no time in popping in a pill, swallowing it roughly. Sasuke debated a moment before doing the same. Naruto didn't bother, and I didn't expect him or Yagura to. Already, I could feel the dull aching in my legs subside and my chakra stores replenish at a faster rate. Yagura stared at me for a minute before tilting his head.

I nodded my head in return, pulling my goggles over my eyes. "Ready."

"Very well. Naruto-chan, Sasuke-chan, this will be your first time traveling with Nao-chan, yes?" Yagura asked, a mocking edge in his voice.

"Don't be stupid—"

"What do you mean? You know we were on the same Genin team," Sasuke cut in.

"Sasuke-kun," I said softly, "do you remember the second part of our first Chūnin Exams together? when Orochimaru was about to give you the Mark.?"

"You. you were far away," Sasuke said quietly, frowning. ". You said a while ago that you would develop a second ability, right?"

I nodded. ". Yagura-sensei found out a way to cultivate it and bring it out so I could use it. It's. it's a sort of teleportation ability."

"That's amazing, Nao-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, beaming at me.

My eyes trailed downcast. ". Not. not really."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Just. you'll see. For one thing. for one thing stay close to me. Don't let me out of your sight. I won't be able to see, hear, or feel you, and you won't be able to hear or feel me, or see anyone else. You'll only see me and I'll seem far away to you. stay focused on me and don't stop moving. Under no circumstances are you to stop. And keep moving with me. Don't stray from the path, okay?"

At my harsh tone, both boys exchanged glances.

"We understand," Sasuke said carefully, "anything else?"

"Time is different in there than it is out here. Only a second will pass out here, and it may seem like hours in there," I whispered, recalling my own experience with the Void. "Are you ready?"

"We are," Naruto said.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the soft beat of my heart. A moment passed before I could feel the familiar cold twirl inside the pit of my stomach. It grew and grew, wrapping me in its coldness until I let out a small breath. When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in my usual plane.

Blackness stretched around me, suffocating, harsh, cruel, lonely.

I could hear the sound of the ocean.

I swallowed roughly, feeling the normal emotions of panic starting to set in. I hated this place. I hated this technique. It drained me, both emotionally and physically to enter the world, because the blackness —the darkness— and the sounds I heard, all of it was based off of my fears.

This world was my fears.

No one else had had my ability before in my family. Everything I learned about it was either through damn good guesswork or trial-and-error. This ability was a projection of my fear on that day, on that horror and panic and absolute break-down. Chakra, that unbalanced and raw substance, could do anything it set its mind to. The only limits were the user's imagination, essentially. It was how I could turn lightning into something cold that froze things, it was how the bijū even existed, how the Rinnegan was formed.

When that moment occurred, I was frantic, begging for something to happen. My sheer will and drive, coupled with my given insanity at that moment, stretched and —there really was no other way to put this— broke my chakra. It did what I wanted it to do, it did what I needed it to do, but it didn't do it in a normal way, in a safe or even good way. It derived from my feelings of fear, panic and pain, and because of that, it itself embodied that.

It was my own personal hell, if you will.

Today it was the standard blackness with the sound of the ocean —as it was most days. Sometimes. sometimes, though, I'd get really unlucky and I'd be walking through a field of corpses, with someone familiar crying a distance from me, unable to change or help them.

The only good thing that came from the technique was the teleportation, and the fact that no one, save myself, saw or heard anything. To them, it would be a never ending blackness, with me walking ahead of them at a steady pace. They would, however, feel my fear. They would sense my panic and my pain, but it wasn't anything. it wasn't anything horrible.

As I exited the end of the portal, I did not pay special attention to the others exiting behind me. I knew they would have paler faces than usual, and they would be looking at me with expressions that I didn't want to deal with right then and there. Instead, I chose to take in the scene before me.

I could see Gaara quite clearly, a floating unconscious body with red wisps of chakra pouring out of his eyes, mouth, and nose, his soft, low groans barely reaching my ears. There seemed to be this large statue, although in the darkness, I could only vaguely make out the shape of the upper half of a sort of humanoid figure. Its hands were held up in the air, fingers stretched above and on the tip of each little finger was a figure. The figures were distorted, almost like a sort of genjutsu-projection. Each one was familiar to me, in a sort of nagging sense. Two of the figures, however, were solid.

Sasori and Deidara.

My fingers twitched and through my peripheral vision, I saw Sasuke place a warning hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Nao, on the count of three, destroy the ceiling. Naruto, in the same instant, you go for Gaara. Sasuke and I will cover you. One. Two. Three!"

I lurched up into the air, my right hand glowed a dull white and a low hum entered the clearing, immediately alerting the Akatsuki to our presence. I could hear a shout of surprise from several of them, but I paid them little heed. I threw my Tōketsu-Raiton Senbon, a variation of my signature jutsu, Tōketsu-Raiton. It took the better part of a year after I left on my journey to finally complete the jutsu, and since then under Yagura's guidance, I had been refining and creating variations of it. I had my standard katana form, whip form, projectile form (senbon and kunai), and the latest one —time effect. The best way to describe it would have to be a bomb. It was Yagura's idea, after seeing my jutsu blow up in my face once. He wondered if I could control it enough to blow it up at will, whenever I desired.

That had been a very painful variation to recreate, not only because I kept blowing it up too soon (and more often than not, was caught in the explosion), but because every time I had messed up, Yagura whacked me with his staff, citing that pain was the best way to make sure I remembered something.

Brutal. Painful.

But efficient.

The senbon, white and bright, flew towards the ceiling of the cave —lighting the entire way— before digging into the rock. I drew my hand —it was still glowing white, signalling the connection— and formed the Yin sign. The senbon glowed even brighter, bright enough that my eyes instinctively watered before the humming intensified and everything was engulfed in a bright light. I heard the rocks freeze quickly, the crackling sound they emitted before they shattered.

Light poured into the cave, shining down on the scene below. I saw that Naruto was holding Gaara in his arms and that he had leapt backwards towards me. Yagura and Sasuke both fell back to stand before Naruto and Gaara, positioning themselves between us and the Akatsuki.

"Get rid of them."

My eyes flickered to the voice, a crackling sound layering it.

And suddenly the strange projections were gone, leaving behind the only real Akatsuki members.

"Well, well, well, what a hassle, un," the taller one of the two drawled, straightening up. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to quietly give the jinchūriki back?"

"Like hell we will!" Naruto snarled.

Yagura flickered towards Naruto. Naruto gave Yagura a vaguely irritated look before handing Gaara over to him. Yagura and I exchanged glances before the two of us leapt out of the cave, leaving Naruto and Sasuke behind.

From the information, we knew that out of the two of them, Deidara was the most mobile and thus the most likely to follow. Sasori, while agile in battle, wasn't the pursuing type, as it didn't fit his profile, nor his abilities.

Sure enough, not long after we began our run into the forest, did I notice a strange bird flying after us.

"Oi! You cowards, why don't you come back here and fight me, un?"

Neither of us responded to his taunting, choosing instead to travel a bit farther.

Wait until he starts dropping bombs on us —let him waste what little clay he has left.

Yagura's words echoed in my mind as my spine tingled in a cold sensation. Immediately, I leapt up and to the right, watching with wide eyes as the spot where I had once been in exploded in a burning glory. I flipped backwards, feeling that same sixth sense inside of me and I kicked off the nearest tree branch. The force of the explosion behind me rocketed me forward and I had to somersault, rolling with the extra force to avoid losing control of my movement and direction. My feet landed on another tree.

Yagura landed beside me, shifting Gaara over his shoulder. ". We won't be able to hide under the tree cover for long. How much longer do you think it will take before Kakashi arrives?"

I did a quick calculation in my head, making the assumption that Kakashi's speed hadn't changed too much in the last couple years. ". If everything went according to plan, he should be here within minutes, give or take a few."

"I see," Yagura said.

Kakashi was one of the fastest people I knew when he was not weighed down by others, and Sand wasn't too far. The only person I knew who was faster than him was Gai. he was not at the age where he'd start declining in speed; if anything he had gotten faster.

"Then all we can do is continue to dodge and hope your previous sensei lives up to his name," Yagura said, before he kicked off from the branch.

I followed behind him.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

"Yo."

"Excellent timing," Yagura said, landing on the very same tree branch Kakashi stood on and handing him Gaara's unconscious body. Kakashi shifted him over his arms, glancing over to me.

"I take it you two can handle yourselves here?" Kakashi asked, his tone light.

"Of course," Yagura dismissed. "Now get moving. Nao, it's time we put an end to this idiot."

"Yes, sir," I said, and the two of us leapt out of the cover of trees and up into the air. Meanwhile, I knew Kakashi would begin the rest of the journey back to Sand, where Sakura would be waiting for him.

Yagura's hands flew into the Dragon, then Tiger signs before he bellowed, "Suiton: Shishu Gorugon!"

Water blew out of his mouth at a torrent speed, multiplying and growing as far as I could see. It looked like a monstrous wave one would see when a giant explosion landed upon a lake. We both landed on top of the waters, and Deidara circled above us.

"Oi, where'd the jinchūriki go, un?"

"Come and find out, woman," Yagura taunted.

Deidara's eyes bulged and his face took on a flushed complexion. "You're going to regret saying that, un!"

"I doubt that," Yagura muttered, his hands clasping together and I ran towards him. My right foot connected into his hands and I kicked off as he pushed me up into the air, launching me towards Deidara. Deidara maneuvered his bird out my path, smirking as I flew past him. I twisted around, my left hand glowing white, and my Tōketsu-Raiton Muchi (whip) jerked out, wrapping around the bird's tail, and with a hard pull, the tail (having been automatically frozen upon contact with my jutsu) shattered and I was launched forward, back behind Deidara.

Deidara whirled around at the sound, but with the loss of the tail, the bird lost some aerodynamics and it couldn't simply blow it off. I dove towards him, somersaulting to put my feet first before I kicked the pyromaniac right off his bird, hurtling him towards the water. Having used him as my kick-off, I flew backwards into the water, throwing my arms up in my face and curling up, anticipating the explosion.

Sure enough, the bird exploded, and I wasn't quite out of its safe range. The fire licked at my arms and I had to bite down on my lip to keep from crying out at the burns.

I was hurtled into the cold water, the water feeling somewhat soothing for my burns. I opened my eyes, thankful again for the goggles that I wore over them, righting myself and beginning to swim to the surface. When I broke through, I pulled myself on top of the water.

Yagura was standing a little ways from me, twirling his staff around with practiced ease. Deidara was glowering furiously at him, breathing heavily.

We knew he was nearly out, if not entirely out, of his clay.

"If you surrender now, we won't kill you," Yagura said, his voice velvety soft.

Deidara sneered. "Yeah, right, un."

"Aren't you even a little curious to how well coordinated we were? How Zetsu never saw us coming, and how we had so neatly and easily split you and your partner up —knowing that you two were put together in the first place because the combination of the two of you was deadly?" Yagura inquired, tilting his head.

It was a standard tactic, sow in seeds of doubt when working against an organization; that way, even if the enemy escaped, the seeds would grow and grow under suspicion and doubt, severing connections they may have had.

Deidara's brow furrowed. "And what? You're going to tell me, un?"

"If you surrender," Yagura promised. "You are of no use to us dead."

Deidara snorted. "And after I'm done being of use?"

Yagura shrugged, uncaring. "Either you surrender now and we can make it nice and painless. Or you fight and we either kill you in the most painful way I know how, or we drag you back to Konoha, where you will be tortured and then killed for your information."

"And what if. I just. blow us all up, un?" Deidara asked, a grin lighting up on his as he started to tug his Akatsuki cloak off.

Yagura flickered over to me, where I kneeled on top of the water. He rested a hand on my shoulder. "You'll end up blowing yourself up, I assure you."

Deidara laughed, a mad glint in his eyes. "I'd like to test that statement, un!"

Yagura's hands flew up into seals. "Tch. Annoying idiot. I'd rather capture you alive and torture you myself, actually."

Deidara ripped off his cloak, as Yagura finished his seals. "Suiton: Bakusui Shoha!"

A giant, massive, tidal wave erupted underneath us and I stood up shakily on it. The tidal wave slammed directly into Deidara before the nuke-nin could do anything else. It threw him under the water with enough force Deidara actually slammed into the bottom, creating a small crater.

Yagura wasted no time in diving in after him, his hands flying into seals, while I kneeled back down. My hands glowed a bright white and I began to build up chakra in my hands. The water beneath me began to swirl and move, flowing and tearing at everything so much so that it became too distorted to see what was transpiring beneath me, but I had a fairly good idea. It was one of Yagura's signature moves —Suiton: Shita Ni Konran. It transformed any large body of water into a whirling death trap of high-speed, and chaotic waves, torrents, and whirlpools, with him as the only way to control it.

I felt a wave of fatigue press down on me as I continued to channel more and more chakra into my hands. The soldier pill was beginning to wear off, and I was feeling the drain of running hard for so long, coupled with the extra strain of me entering the Void. What I held in my hands would be the final attack.

I stumbled a bit, having a harder time concentrating with the waves crashing all around me.

Suddenly, Yagura broke free of the surface and leapt up into the air. In that instant, I threw my hands into the water, releasing my built up Tōketsu-Raiton.

The entire water glowed a bright white and I could feel —through my jutsu— Deidara. He was barely conscious, fighting the waves and currents, but the pressure was too much and he was nearly out of air. I manipulated my chakra around him, layering it and lessening it before releasing my hold entirely.

The water glowed brightly before freezing over entirely and shattering into ice-dust.

I shuddered, breathing heavily as I fell to the ground (as the water was gone) and disliking the strain I felt.

"Excellent work, Nao," Yagura praised. "Now let's—"

The ground erupted from right behind me and my spine tingled, my eyes widening. Yagura's eyes widened and everything seemed to drop to a slow crawl. Slowly, so slowly, I turned my head, breath caught in throat, and for a moment I saw Deidara and a thing of molded clay in his hands, and in the next, I saw Yagura before me.

Yagura's staff whipped out and I saw water pour out of it (it was his signature move—Suiton: Mizukagami, as the bird started to glow -

(He wasn't going to make it)

Suddenly Yagura dropped his staff and threw himself over me and then everything went white and there was a deafening explosion and my ears were ringing and we were flying away. We crashed —I crashed, Yagura on top of me— on the cold ground a ways from there, the air leaving me cruelly from the landing.

Silence fell between us and I blinked my eyes, thankful that I had remembered to close them and that I had goggles on, so I wasn't blinded. I wiggled out from under Yagura, careful not to move him too much and quickly rolled onto my knees, kneeling before him and taking in the damage.

He was unconscious. He had tried to form his Mirrors, but there wasn't enough time, so he decided to use himself as a shield.

I felt my heart constrict at the thought, and I felt it tighten even more so when I took in the damage. My stomach dropped and I felt a curling thread of dread grow in the pit of my stomach and worm its way through me.

His entire back side was was nearly burnt beyond help, flesh and seared cloth clung to him and the smell of burnt flesh rose all around me. I pulled out a white scroll with a red cross painted on it and unrolled it. I pulled out a second one that mimicked the first one and unrolled it, as well.

Slowly, carefully, meticulously, I pulled out the thick gauze and the tubes of ointment.

I set to work.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

. . .

. .

.

Interlude - Nao - 3

We had reached the next village, Kame and I. I had enough money from the mission pay of being an errand girl left over from my latest mission to buy enough clothes for Kame without worry of becoming broke.

Once Kame was settled in his new clothes, he gave me a warm smile as we exited the village. "Thank you, Nao-chan."

I blushed at the boy. "I'm glad to have been of help, Kame-kun. Have any of your memories returned?"

Kame's eyes trailed down, a shadow casted over his face as we passed under the tall trees. "No. I. I'm sorry."

Moving forward, I placed my hand on his shoulder in what I hoped to be a consoling gesture. It was at times like these, that I would have rather been born as a regular Yamanaka instead of a different one. I would never be able to learn the mind-transfer jutsu, nor could I learn how to delve deeply into an unfamiliar mind and bring forth forgotten memories. Kame glanced over at me, his cheeks looking a bit rosy as he smiled. "Thanks. I-I wish I could, you know? The only thing. the only thing I can remember are—are—eyes."

I squeezed his shoulder. "I-I think I know a way."

Kame looked up at me, his eyes widening. "You do?"

I gave a shy smile. "Maybe. My Papa. he's an expert at being able to get forgotten memories from someone. It's our clan's kekkei genkai, though I didn't inherit it."

"Do you think he would be willing to look inside my head?" Kame asked hesitantly.

"I know he would. After all, you're my friend and Papa always told me he would help me and any friend of mine," I assured him, smiling adoringly at him. I blushed brightly when Kame beamed at me.

"That's wonderful! Where can we find him?"

"In the Leaf —that's my home."

Kame gave a firm nod. "Then lead the way, Nao-chan!"

Question: Favorite Kage?

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