Two chapters with less than a month between them! Mwahahah! I feel on fire…in a Kasabian kinda way! XD Oh and this is a real big one - hope you enjoy! ^_^

Storm Cloud – Chapter 26 – A City Aged With Shadows

The battle was not going well; Kakashi had done his very best to keep his men together and remain focussed on the purpose of their battle, but Hot Springs was challenging terrain and its boarders had been closed for anything other than careful, escorted crossing, for a long time – most of the Konoha shinobi had to fight their feet as much as their opponents. They'd been pushed back numerous times and the Copy Nin had been forced to resort to the use of a rather frustrating cat and mouse game, just to allow breathing room – if nothing else.

He'd left Suna almost a month previously, with only a day's stopover in Konoha, he'd rushed straight back into the thick of it and had been running - with only short pauses for fighting – ever since. Kumo shinobi were skilled with both brute force and a sense of trickery that was not the easiest to judge – in a twisted sort of way, Kakashi had been forced to acknowledge that there had definitely been stranger bedfellows than Iwa and Cloud.

From where he was, hiding in the top of a large fir tree, his visible black eye surveyed everything whilst he did his best not to think about the fact he had a serious (and roughly stitched) laceration, as well as numerous burns and aches and sprains he was suffering; it was rare that he'd been caught in such a sustained fight with no opportunity for backup or reprieve. Kakashi had thought they were fighting two sections in total – about eight nin – which surprised him a little.

Kumo had apparently opted to spread their attack out over a very wide area, meaning that Konoha and Suna had been spread a little thinner on the ground than they'd anticipated. It wasn't obvious, entirely, what was going on, but his opponents had made no true effort to push through the defences and march on to attack Konoha – and from his extremely limited correspondence with some of the section, they'd been having similar experiences: the battles were fierce and draining, but they were strangely static.

It was bothering Kakashi, that they seemed to be eternally waiting for a final strike that never came; the first battle (that Kakashi had arrived late to) had been a messy one, the Kumo forces seemed to have no desire other than to fight. They'd been good at teasing out a wide range of jutsus from the inexperienced shinobi who'd waiting for Kakashi (along with a couple of Suna nin) to arrive and lead them, almost as soon as he'd reached the battlefield – entering with a volley of kibakufuda and a great lightening jutsu which radiated out from around him, with a forty-five degree arc that successfully avoided his own men and was sudden enough to disrupt and startle the enemy from their jutsus.

This had given his team time enough to regroup and allow Kakashi to take charge as Temari follow up his attack with a great Dai Kamaitachi [great cutting whirlwind]. After that, the attacks had seemed more focused, they engaged with precision and for relative short periods of time – just enough to force the allied forced to retreat by a couple of kilometres.

A prickle to his senses had his mind returning immediately to the present as his eye flicked around as far as it could without needing to move his head to increase his field of vision, there was nothing obvious he could detect in the gloom of the dense woodland – and the steep hills that surrounded one everywhere you went in this godforsaken place, offered only a sense of claustrophobia than anything resembling protection or cover. As silently as he'd climbed the tree, Kakashi dropped to the ground and gathered his teammates from sleep, the confused look on Temari's face before her memories caught up with her and her eyebrows dropped in silent acceptance – time to move on again?

She rose to her feet and gathered herself as quickly as possible – she found it a challenge to adjust to the cold and damp (then, randomly sickly humid) environment of Yu no Kuni – it wasn't so bad she couldn't fight, but it proved an irritating distraction, one that had meant there was an eternal part of her mind that wasn't on the fight. Temari turned around, trying to focus on her surroundings, despite the wistful moonlight, the mesh of trees and bushes merged into a single deep shadow; the air was cooler, though, and the humidity had drastically lowered the trees had changed to a more deciduous spread.

The Suna kuniochi began to mould and organise her chakra, readying her next jutsu as she remained crouched, again Kakashi appeared by her side,

"Temari-san, make certain you don't use a jutsu they've never seen before – whatever you've used regularly is fine. We're very close to the Konoha border and we really can't afford to be forced back any further – we've got to be a wall from here on in,"

"Hai, Hatake-Taichou, I'll be careful,"

"I'm still not entirely sure where they are, but we've got to be prepared to move as soon as they attack – I want you to take a few of the nii squad and double back around, behind their attack, I'll be taking a half of the ichi squad and doing the same. I think we've seen enough to know what they won't make any sort of a run for it." The Copy Nin spoke low and swiftly, crouched close beside the kuniochi


Uzu had been nothing like what she'd imagined it to be – frankly, she'd been anticipating something of a doss mission. Her first tip-off (though she'd failed to recognise it) had been coming across Gerimaru, apparently on the way to Konoha to pass on a few messages, on Wazishi's orders, but as soon as he'd met up with the team he'd kept up with them. They'd arrived in Uzu quickly, though the reception they faced was a sombre and inarticulate one; the only key thing about it was that there was so few people in the main parade of Uzushio. Sakura, although growing in her concern for what it might mean, she pressed on along with her team before they were eventually met by one of the council elders she recognised from her visit to Uzu the first time, many months ago.

"G-Gerimaru-san, what are you doing back so quickly?" He stuttered whilst his eyes flicked, betraying his bewilderment, between the Konoha nin;

"I met our Leaf protectors on my way to Konoha – and I felt it more important to escort our visitors back to Uzushio," The elder relented and averted his eyes down – in an apparent display of acceptance…or despair,

"You'll want to see the Kenjin-san, then, Gerimaru-san–!"

"Enough, Jinko-san, I will deal with our guests," The crumbly old voice of Wazishi cut across them, "It is good to see you again, Sakura-san, especially now…" He paused for a moment – and in doing so, very successfully created the air of guarded anguish;

"What are you talking about, Wazishi-sama?"

"We have been hit, Sakura-san, by a dreadful illness that has all by incapacitated or killed most of our citizens and shinobi," The kuniochi narrowed her eyes,

"I'm very sorry to hear that, what are their symptoms?"

"Nausea, vomiting – and a rather nasty rash on most of them…those who've been ill the longest had already fallen into a coma. We fear the worst for them," That was all Sakura needed to hear,

"Show me to them," She commanded as Wazishi nodded and hurriedly turned away to lead her to them – and, much to Sakura's loathing, it took only seconds for her to confirm what she already knew: the damned virus had – somehow – already infiltrated Uzu no Kuni. She took a moment to compose herself before she span around to face Wazishi,

"Who were the last visitors to the island?"

"Ah…" He averted his eyes slightly, "Kumogakure shinobi,"

"What?-!" Both she and Gerimaru shouted at the same time – almost forcing Wazishi to put his hands up in defence,

"Well, they weren't exactly visitors…they attacked us, appeared from nowhere! They attacked the North side of the village and destroyed so many buildings, before we could retaliate and force them back they'd already infected us…though we didn't know that at the time," Wazishi spoke with a surprising genuinity, that it almost caught Sakura off guard. Her instinct told her that Wazishi was hiding something – or that something wasn't quite right – but she could neither think of a reasonable explanation, nor the time to give the problem adequate thought, but she kept in mind the fact her instincts had earmarked the word 'Kumo' – it seemed both out of place and an all too easy explanation.

"Can you do anything for them, Sakura-san?" She drew a sturdy breath, but nodded,

"Hai – I've already dealt with this virus…in Kumogakure," She ran her chakra emanating hands over the patient lying on the bed, trying to decipher what stage of the illness the woman was suffering from; it took only a few minutes of the kuniochi's diverted attention before Wazishi called Gerimaru away – as soon as they were out of earshot, she turned to Sai,

"Quickly, create a small ink animal to follow and record the conversation between those two!" Sai cocked his head slightly,

"What?"

"Do it!" She hissed intensely, enough, apparently, for Sai to abruptly nod an drew out his scroll and chakra infused inks – with which he fashioned a small mouse of the deepest black ink; it scurried off, hiding instinctively, allowing all other eyes to be blind to it. The kuniochi returned to her work, tending to the worst of the ill, though not before giving orders to Sai and one other of her teammates (a Jounin) to go to where the island had apparently been 'attacked' by Kumo and try to find out what they could – primarily if Wazishi was telling the truth.

The other Chuunin, adept at medical techniques, helped Sakura tend to the ill; the day passed swiftly and by the time the worst of the affected had been stabilised, Sai had returned, bringing with him news – but good or bad, Sai's lingering inability to express himself meant he gave nothing away that might give Sakura a clue to whether he found something good or bad…but at the same time, no one else would be able to figure it out either, which played in their favour.

The kuniochi led her team towards the quarters they'd been assigned,

"So, what did you find on the other side of Uzushio?"

"There was indeed vast destruction of an area of buildings and churned land, which looked as though it had been caused by jutsus and battling shinobi, though the level of destruction seemed almost excessively high for how small an area it covered…how many shinobi did you treat for combat-related injuries?" Come to think of it…

"None, at least, none that were serious enough to have been the result of a fierce battle," That wasn't a good sign and the implication hung in the air over them all; "Fuuyo-san, please tell me what you saw in Uzu – did you see any shinobi behaving suspiciously?" She addressed the other Jounin in her team,

"There were only a couple of ninja around the area cleaning up, but that's fair enough considering how many are taken ill…The whole thing seems very random to me, if is as serious about attacking Uzu as it claimed, why didn't they go all out? Why would they hop over just for what was essentially a scuffle?"

"Unless their purpose was to infect Uzu…but then, why bother declaring war? What on earth's going on here?" Sakura queried, her hand to her chin, "Anyway, Sai, what did your ink-mouse overhear?" Sai rummaged in one of his pouches and pulled out a small scroll,

"The condensed version is that Wazishi-sama spoke as though the attack was a genuine one, he asked if Gerimaru had encountered any Kumo shinobi or nin not specifically from Konoha on his way through Fire; he'd replied that he didn't and asked a number of extensive questions about when exactly the attack had occurred, how many nin were involved and if they made any demands." Sai recited impassively, "To which Wazishi seemed to give only evasive answers, barely addressing the point of the question." Sakura cocked her head slightly at the sound of the ex-ROOT nin's last point,

"Let's see the scroll," Her eyes scanned over the information in seconds, "Hmm, this is a worry, but I think we need to be cautious for now, everyone stay vigilant, but for now we need to carry on as though we suspect nothing…" She received firm nods from her team as she spoke, "Alright, then, everyone get some rest – we'll be in for a busy time over the next few weeks."

"Hai, Taichou," The three of her team quietly left her room to head to their own quarters, no doubt grateful for the opportunity to sleep after the long journey and taxing day, the kuniochi herself prepared for bed but it took time for her to sleep with all the thoughts whirling around in her mind – was Uzu the trap it was beginning to look like? What would happen to them if it was? To Konoha?

The next few days had been both long and busy – mostly with taking care of the sick, interspersed with a few lessons teaching some of the Uzu medics how to perform the daikodan no jutsu ; they'd kept close tabs on all of the Uzu citizen and specifically Wazishi, whenever they had dealings with him. Gerimaru had hovered around a little, though Wazishi seemed to do his best to keep them apart – always finding some set of orders or task for him to complete well away from the Konoha nin.

It bothered Sakura immensely that she never seemed to be able to find something that gave her more than a feeling that something was off – it was never something definitive or concrete that she could base a plan or likely behaviours around. Even the shinobi seemed to deal with the Konoha nin on very terse terms – they never stuck around for idle conversation, nor spoke more than necessary – even in lessons.

It was extremely tiresome and by the time the week was over, she had altogether stop trying to make friends – it wasn't going to happen. By that point, too, she was sure enough that there was definitely something off in Uzu and it was time to inform Tsunade of her thoughts. She'd asked Sai to join her outside – well away from the main buildings of Whirlpool – as she scrawled a hasty but informative note to her former shishou,

"You're sure I don't need to cast a scrambler-jutsu on this?" She asked as she rolled up the slip of paper,

"No, the name you wrote in that had formed its own scramble, it won't open for anyone other than her – and if anything forces it or even so much as touches it will spoil and completely liquidate." He explained patiently,

"Wow, cool jutsu,"

"Yes, I am quite…um…proud of this one," She handed the scroll back to Sai as he flicked a few hasty handseals over it before it began to warp and suddenly sprung into the shape of a bird, it flapped its wings gently at first, but then gained strength. Almost as soon as the bird had fluttered away, like it had been startled out a hedge, Gerimaru materialised from nowhere and sat down next to the two Konoha shinobi who'd been 'having lunch' a way away from the main hall of Uzushio.

"You still don't believe that attack actually happened, do you?" He was generally known to be straight-to-the-point and after having been denied saying anything to them for a week, he was pulling no punches; Sakura, however, hesitated to share much with him – he'd apparently been out of Uzushio during the time of the 'attack' – on his way back to Konoha, Sakura and her team had indeed returned with him at that time, but it didn't mean he was innocent. The red head seemed to understand her reluctance and continued, "I've been speaking with the Kenjin-san and he was worried about the outbreak but he really didn't have that much to say about it," His voice lowered midway through his sentence, "If there had really been a pre-emptive strike on Uzushio, Wazishi-sama would have thrown a fit and would have chewed my ear off – he's not satisfied until he's talked at least three people deaf whenever he's been affronted or we've suffered an attack."

Sakura's eyebrow flopped into a dead-straight line, easily telegraphing her confusion and mild disbelief at the Uzumaki's words,

"Why do you think Wazishi-sama would lie about it? Why would he allow his citizens to be infected?" She saw no need to make Gerimaru aware that her suspicions, in fact, mirrored his own.

"I…he never would, Wazishi-sama has spent his life caring for and defending Uzushio from its enemies and unfriendly eyes!"

"Then what other explanation is there?" She continued hesitantly, "If there was no attack, then why would he make up the lie?"

"I think its too early to make conjecture, Hag…we should wait for now until we get more information upon which to base a hypothesis,"

"I think you're right, Sai," Although the kuniochi was directing her speech towards her teammate, she kept her gaze firmly on Gerimaru, unsure what his intentions were.


"What?-!"Tsunade roared as she read the tiny and well coded message that arrived on an eerie, inky sparrow, supplied by Sai; it had breezed in through the open window and fluttered about for a moment, as though it were an old friend who'd popped in for tea and was waiting for a space to be made – Sai had really made some fantastic additions to his jutsus over the years, making them ever more lifelike. As soon as the Hokage noticed the addition and outstretched her hand it twirled itself up and sprang into a scroll, landing in a surprisingly dainty fashion in her palm, it read:-

'Tsunade-sama – I fear the worst here in Uzushio, the virus has already spread here but I am highly doubtful of the excuse that they've already suffered an attack by Kumo and hence exposure to the virus that I've been fed. I feel strongly that I'm being kept here – though I'm unclear to what end. Gerimaru seems as lost to the situation as I, and I trust his innocence is genuine – regretfully, however, I feel that Wazishi is not telling me the whole truth, there's more that he knows, but refuses to tell.

I have taught a number of the medical practices to Uzu shinobi and I am confident that they can continue to stabilise and care for the remaining population in my absence. Unless the situation changes, I won't move without orders – Sakura.

Tsunade leant back in her chair and considered what the note meant – Sakura would not have risked outside contact without good cause, and it was certainly a worry to think that Uzu might have betrayed them to Kumo. Uzu was at the heart of Konoha's place in this conflict and to find that those they had been protecting were a trap in themselves. A sudden rap at the door had the elderly kuniochi snapping out of her thoughts,

"Shizune?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama, Uchiha Sasuke is here – he wishes to speak with you,"

"Oh?" The Hokage began, genuinely surprised; she hadn't so much as set eyes on the boy since he'd been released from prison to resume life as a civilian all those months ago, "What does he want?"

"He says that he has some significant information about an old Uchiha hideout that could prove to be of vital strategic importance," Tsunade – who's disbelief was literally painted all over her face responded, at first, with merely a small, but unconvinced,

"Huh," She leant back him her chair then, setting aside the bird-scroll from Sakura and waved her hand, "Send him in then – might as well hear what he has to say – but if he's wasting my time, he'll be scrubbing the toilets at the academy for three months!" Shizune nodded and returned to fetch the Uchiha – scrubbing toilets that academy age children use was among the most severe of punishments that Tsunade had dreamt up. The still rather sullen looking prodigy entered the office with two ANBU behind him as Shizune returned to hover beside the Hokage;

"Well? What is it about this 'secret base'?" She never waited for any form of polite greeting from the boy – she'd have to forget how her age-reversal jutsu worked before that'd ever happen. Nonetheless, Sasuke composed himself before speaking,

"A primary part of this conflict is with Kaminari no Kuni, correct?"

"Hmm,"

"And it would seem to me that if Kumo had any desire to attack either Konoha or Uzushio, then they will broadly traverse most of the North Eastern province of Fire,"

"Likely," Her responses were sparse, still unclear what, exactly, he was getting at,

"There is an old ruined city hidden in that North-Eastern area–"

"–That has been abandoned for decades, I'm aware of its existence – through rumour, mostly – but it's been half-reclaimed by the forest anyway," The kuniochi dismissed, but Sasuke shook his head,

"You're wrong – the rumours are wrong, within it is an old Uchiha hideout as well as some old Uchiha…affiliates that help to defend what lingers of the place," Tsunade narrowed her eyes as the former-deserter spoke,

"What sort of 'affiliates' are you talking about?"

"A few humans – they used to provide weapons and supplies for the Uchiha clan – along with a large number of nin cats," Sasuke spoke in his typical passionless timber, but he couldn't quite stop the memories from rolling through his mind at how he used to visit that place with Itachi, before he'd even entered the academy.

"Hmm…that is interesting…an extra fortification for our shinobi. What are the exact coordinates?" Sasuke hesitated, remaining silent, "What?"

"Whilst they pose no threat to Konoha shinobi, they will not take kindly to uninvited and unknown guests – I will need to be there to convince them of their safety. But also, to help show them around the place and all of the passageways and forfeited defences that are dotted around – I'm sure only the cats know the full list of all the booby-traps,"

"I see," Tsunade rubbed her forehead between her index and her thumb whilst she muttered a few choice curses to herself, "Alright, here's what we're going to do – Sasuke, you and small team of ANBU will head out to coordinates I'll set and you will meet up with Sakura and her team before heading to the abandoned city,"

"Sakura? Why?" Sasuke raised a faint eyebrow, "Isn't she supposed to be in Uzushio?" Tsunade let out a sharp breath of irritation at the occasionally excessively forthcoming shinobi she had working for her,

"The situation has changed, you will meet her at the time and coordinates I set – and I will ask you to keep discussions of the situation to an absolute minimum. Go and prepare to move and remain at the city for some time – you will be allowed to carry two pouches of weapons and other shinobi accessories, but I will not give you the antidote to the chakra suppressant. This is the first time you'll have been out of Konoha since you returned and you've yet to earn my trust fully back." Her eyes were both stern and unwavering as they locked with Sasuke's waiting for an answer,

"I understand,"

"Then report back here six am, sharp," With that, she waved him away, along with the ANBU and began to compose a reply to Sakura;

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" Shizune began after a moment, the Hokage didn't look up from her writing – or even pause,

"That's why I'm sending ANBU with him."


"That's it…keep your flow of chakra flow even…" The kuniochi guided to the younger medical shinobi who'd been perfecting the daikodan no jutsu as part of the healing regiment for the virus. Uzushio was a little thin on the ground for medics, but the few there were Sakura had managed to train up sufficiently, and the numbers of the ill were dwindling – kami , wherever she went, Sakura seemed to be followed by this damned illness – was she a plague woman? It had been a day since Sai had sent his message-bird and Sakura was ready to leave at any moment; she was just finishing her final lesson.

"Sakura-Taichou?" One of the young Chuunin's who'd been assigned to the mission with her appeared at her side,

"Hmm?"

"Sai-san is looking for you," Finally!

"Right, thank you, Miyami. Yusa-kun, I'll have to finish the lesson early here, good work," She patted the shinobi on the shoulder as she walked away from the patient's bedside, and out of the large hall – that so many months ago had played host to mealtimes and meetings for Team 7 during their search to repair Naurto's seal. The kuniochi marched from the hall and down the corridor, confident that she'd find Sai a few hundred meters out, into the woodline. Sai was delightfully predictable sometimes,

"A reply from Tsunade-sama," He handed over the scroll, "We have to leave," Sakura raised an eyebrow as she unravelled the scroll and averted her attention to the words,

Sakura – your scroll brought worrying news and I did not like fathoming the consequences. Fortunately, it seems that there is another option that might prove to be of a boon to us. You are to meet your local gardener at shinobi outpost #171. Wait for him. Tsunade.

To say the message was cryptic-at-best was still something of an understatement. Since when was there anyone close to a gardener that Sakura knew? And who would count as local? The only person who vaguely fitted that category was–

"Sasuke," She whispered, "Why would Tsunade-sama send Sasuke to meet us? And since when is he allowed out of Konoha?"

"I don't know, Hag, but I'm certain we'll find out when we arrive at the outpost,"

"Hmm…" A sudden presence prickled at their senses and one smug looking Gerimaru appeared from the gloom,

"I'm leaving with you," He stated, without even the vaguest hint of a query in his voice,

"Oh?" The kuniochi was as typically unimpressed with him as usual,

"I will be leaving with you, or I will report to Wazishi-sama that Konoha intend to betray us and that we have no option other than to side with Kumo," Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion,

"…'No option but to side with Kumo'" She repeated carefully, "Gerimaru-san, I'm beginning to feel threatened…"

"I have to leave with you, Sakura-san, its imperative that I not stay here – I fear that my 'threat' is closer to the truth than I'd even like to admit," Sakura was having none of it,

"Well get admitting, Gerimaru, or I'll punch you clear across this island and return straight to Konoha with the news that Uzushio has betrayed us," The elder nin took half a step back, well aware that the kuniochi wasn't bluffing,

"Uh – ah…hold on, the more I've been thinking and listening to the council of the elders, the more I distrust them. I went back to visit the site where the attack took place, Sakura, I recognised a number of attack patterns that matched some of our own shinobi,"

"I'm losing patience, Gerimaru, I'm not impressed by the twists you're adding to an already concerning tale…I am leaving Uzushio with my team immediately and–"

"And I'm going with you!" He demanded right back, "Think about it – if Uzushio really is a threat, then I can give you vital information to defend against them,"

"How convenient – that you'd betray your life-long home for a few strangers…I find it more likely that you want to come with us to pass information on to Uzushio or Kumo so that you can betray us!" She began to dig into her pouch as Sai reached for his inks,

"I know it seems hard to believe, but my loyalties do not lie with a home that betrays its people," His face was serious, but the stakes were simply too high; the kuniochi shared a brief look with her stony-faced teammate before they lunged in unison. Sai's hand was as swift as any shinobi and an enormous ebony tiger lunged from his open scroll, surprising Gerimaru to the extent that he was forced backwards for a moment – this gave Sakura the time she needed to dart in and confuse the attack with her own kicks and punches. The Uzumaki, however, was not a crummy shinobi and he coped well with the volley of attacks – forcing the kuniochi off him as he slashed through and liquidated the tiger.

Sai, of course had used this time to draw a flock of crows which swooped in and mobbed the Uzu nin, blinding him to Sakura's attack, and by the time Gerimaru had hacked through the midnight black birds, he'd felt the small needle prick his skin and he understood too late where the attack had been going. On instinct, he reached for his chakra but paled at the fact he could feel none to summon, the crows dissipated and the attacks had ceased – Sakura returned the needle to her pouch as she offered a sly, but guarded smile,

"Sorry Gerimaru, but if you want to come with us, I'm afraid I can't take any chances," The Uzumaki gaped for words but could find none before she spoke again, this time addressing her teammate, "Sai, please go and gather our remaining teammates – I'll inform Wazishi-sama that we're leaving – be as quick as you can – we'll meet back here inside twenty minutes,"

"Hai," Sai immediately disappeared as Sakura created a quick kage-bunshin – right before she dealt a nasty blow to Gerimaru, and knocked him out cold. In the confusion of the squabble, no one noticed the extra pair of eyes trained on the proceedings, which lingered for a while, carefully watching everything that happened and ensuring that no one was any the wiser to his presence.

Leaving Uzushio had not proved to be as easy as the last time – it had taken some convincing to have Wazishi leave them alone to leave quickly, he seemed overly concerned at their abandonment of the island, but that could well have been Sakura's paranoia over the Whirlpool nin. Eventually – and after some chakra draining kage bunshin tricks, she managed to rendezvous with her clone, carrying a still unconscious Gerimaru, just after they'd left the island (thankfully unescorted, though that too had taken some serious arguing). The remaining three teammates – one other Jounin and two Chuunin had been both alarmed and downright scared to see what their Taichou had done – scared, apparently for the fact they worried what else she might do, namely to them if they didn't comply with her orders.

The only response she could be bothered with was a roll of her eyes and mutter of 'over active imaginations'.

The shinobi outpost they were aiming for was well inland from the port their ship would have to dock at from Uzu – it would be another half-day's journey without a hostage, and they had a rather stubborn one who, for all his bleating about wanting to join them, was protesting loudly at having been treated at less than his heart's desire. At their Jounin teammate's suggestion, they landed the ship a good five kilometres down the coast from the city, and abandoned it quickly; Sakura had many hounds biting at her heels – the reason for her diversion from Konoha, the possibility of betrayal by Uzushio, their captured charge – and she pushed her team to run as though the hounds had already tasted blood and were savage for more. She did her best not to think about how much might that might be true.

It took a day to hard running to reach the outpost and her team were literally on their last legs, but she would not let them rest until they'd reached the rendezvous point; they'd halted half a kilometre outside of the post and the kuniochi had sent the Jounin and one of the Chuunin ahead to investigate and check the coast was clear. It was probably the fatigue that had it feel as though it took them an eternity to return; but still he brought with him good news and inside ten minutes, they'd hunkered down in the outpost and the pink-haired medic-nin set her entire team down to rest, including Gerimaru, herself deciding to remain on guard.

Both the darkness and the tiredness leeching at her consciousness made for a dangerous mix and she couldn't bring herself to even fight much past a sentence when Sai had waited only for the others to drop asleep before he ventured to take her place on first stag. The kuniochi was used to dreamless sleep borne of deep seated fatigue, but never in her career as a shinobi had she been awoken from such a sleep to be greeted by the face of her once-long-lost teammate, Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sa-uke?" Her voice crackled slightly from lack of use as she sat up on her elbows, looking around the small area,

"You must get up Sakura, we need to get moving," As Sasuke fully stepped away and allowed Sakura to rise to her feet, her grasp of the situation drastically improved; daylight was peeking in through the cracks of the dug-out, her entire team were already away and packed away, and Sasuke had been accompanied by three ANBU. That gave a vaguely more of an explanation as to his departure form Hidden Leaf,

"How come you were allowed to leave Konoha? And why are we meeting here of all places?" She began whilst she packed her gear away and hastily woofed down a small energy bar;

"I cannot say right here, but as soon as we reach our destination I will explain," The Uchiha patiently elaborated, "We have about another day's run before we'll reach it, but there we can rest up proper and deal more effectively with your…detainee," He eyed the red headed Uzu nin still looking grouchy in the corner of the outpost,

"Ah, his chakra's been supressed and his threat is yet to be decided, don't be too rough with him,"


Kakashi darted suddenly to the left as he slashed with his kunai, deflecting the shuriken aimed at him as he continued on his path into the next tree; the attack by Kumo shinobi had come at almost the exact stroke of dawn (the bastards) and it had not stopped, save for occasional, small lulls – by now they were well into the afternoon. Apparently, this time they meant business and Kakashi – for all his hard-fought experiential wisdom – was still at a loss to interpret the Cloud nins' actions: why now of all times had they decided to go all out?

They were in no way closer to anything other than more trees than they had been at time of the last skirmish two days and three kilometres back. Had they decided that they'd learned enough about their enemy and that it was time to go for a final push to victory? Unlikely, Kakashi was often a target for the enemy, but he was only a small part of the battlefield…nothing truly made sense, but here and now was really not the time to analyse it – he'd think clearer once he'd disposed of these dastardly Kumo nin once and for all.

He'd spokne cleanly with his team after the last attack which had been identical to the others to the letter – so much so that Kakashi could have set his watch by them (…were the Copy Nin in any way a temporally inclined shinobi), and this had reinforced his assumption that they were merely gathering information on the Konoha nin. Hence, when a second and far more determined attack came, it seemed as good an opportunity for tactic Fire as any he could see – if the Kumo shinobi had really been gathering data on the abilities of the allied forced and waiting until they had manoeuvres to defeat what they thought they knew, then it was high time to utterly crush them with all of the jutsus and tactics that they were – through careful design – ignorant about.

Kakashi began to gather his chakra, readying for his signature jutsu when Temari again appeared into his view – the battle had been spread out and only now had Kakashi begun to seek out the other teams having taken out two of the men set on him. He cooled his jutsu and watched as the Sand kuniochi put up a good fight, but her style was not conducive to woodland fighting and she was struggling to overpower the other.

Her oversized fan was the primary – though not the only problem – so as the Copy Ninja observed he reached for his chakra-blades and began to charged them. Elsewhere, he could hear the other fights gaining momentum, he waited for an especially loud boom of a jutsu as he lobbed one of his sickle shaped kunai out, well behind Temari before he leapt out to attack proper.

Shurikens with kibakufuda attached forced the nin back from his next attack and allowed the kuniochi too to regain her composure before she prepared a jutsu that would be more effective in close quarters; Kakashi meanwhile was a maelstrom of kicks, punches and strikes that would make even a taijutsu Jounin proud; the Kumo nin was unprepared for a chakra-less attack. The enemy nin thought himself sly to take advantage of the tiny exit Kakashi's short range attack had afforded, but such was the enemy's arrogance that he had not taken into account there was more than he knew.

The second the nin crossed a line only Kakashi was aware of, he reached into his pouch and drew out the twin chakra blade, powering it as it flew up right; the effect was instantaneous, the power of the chakra was such that very little was capable of providing any real resistance – and this included the shinobi who was directly between the two. Even Kakashi had not truly been prepared for the sheer devastation caused by the raw and simply channelled power of his chakra – it utterly shredded the enemy nin and if there had been any more power involved, he would have disintegrated. The Copy Nin ceased his flow of chakra and found himself hesitating slightly before leaping over to retrieve his second blade,

"K-Kakashi-Taichou…" Temari's rather tentative voice cut through the horrified silence, "What was that?"

"A new jutsu I've been working on," He yanked the blade from the tree as he tentatively stepped around the bloody and gruesome scene, doing his best not to feel overwhelmed at the sticky, coppery stench of the blood to his sensitive nose.

Before either nin could reflect on the situation, three other teammates appeared from nowhere,

"Kakashi-Taichou! We have to move on, there are more nin approaching this location!" The Suna nin who spoke couldn't seem to take his eyes off the bloody mess beside Kakashi,

"How many?"

"Not sure – ten at least,"

"Kuso…where are they hiding these rats?" Kakashi swore lightly, "Alright, how are the others holding up? Are they still fit to fight?"

"Just about,"

"Alright, whoever's left are to join you and head South East – at about five o'clock from my position," Kakashi gestured for good measure, "Temari you go with them, and I'll take Yaku-san and double back around," He knelt and flew through the hand seals to summon Pakkun and the entire ninken pack, the former of whom appeared in a small puff of smoke and a glum expression,

"Yo, Kakashi!" He sniffed, irritated, "Who'd you butcher?"

"Not now, Pakkun, I need you come with me – Ushi, Temari, get going!" All three of the shinobi and eight ninken darted away in blurs of movement, "Keep a close nose on my teammates, Pakkun, let me know if they get more than a kilometre away,"

"Hai, hai…you want me to tell you if the Kumo shinobi get too close, too? Yuck, they smell like eel," Kakashi would have rolled his eyes at the pug's words if he'd had the time, but instead responded with a short affirmative and began to gather his chakra in preparation for some quick fire use whilst he wracked his brain for an explanation as to why Kumo would be acting in such a fashion. They had barely run for twenty minutes before Ūhei suddenly yipped and skipped a little,

"Sakura-chan! I smell Sakura-chan!" That snapped Kakashi from his thoughts,

"Wh-what? Ūhei, are you sure?"

"Hai, hai, Kakashi-ue, definitely Sakura-chan, she's further south – no trees," Kakashi frowned as she slowed to a halt, trying to understand the greyhound's words,

"No trees?"

"He's right, Kakashi – it's definitely Sakura…I can smell Sasuke there too," Pakkun continued, lifting his nose to the air more frequently,

"What? Sasuke? Tell me you're kidding…are they alone?"

"No…there are a large number of other people there...and…and…cats!" Pakkun hissed belligerently – and as soon as he did so, all of the other ninken immediately began to growl low in their throats and raise their heckles in preparation for the chase;

"Calm down," Kakashi ordered quietly, still well aware that they were being pursued and in the middle of a long-winded battle…right now of all times was the worst possible moment for the ninken to get on the trail of a damned cat. "We'll have to investigate this further later, but right now we need to deal with the pursuing Kumo shinobi,"

"R-right," Cats were among Pakkun's most hated creatures and getting his mind off of them once he'd sniffed one out was by no means an easy feat, "The teammates are…not far, less than a kilometre due south and the Kumogakure shinobi are between us and them…about four hundred meters," Is that all? Kakashi had thought with some surprise, either the Kumo nin were greater fools than they appeared or his guess had been right on the money.

"We'll need to keep this pacing for a short while longer, until the Kumo nin catch up to our team, then we'll strike – and we're not taking hostages."

It didn't take long for the moment of truth the arrive as they caught up to the enemy nin just as they'd engaged their teammates,


Sakura might have been frowning as deeply as she could muster, thoroughly irritated by the crotechety old booby trap; it had been left for so many years without ever having been set off that it – apparently had made itself at home and was having none of Sakura. But the kuniochi thought determinedly, I will not let this damn thing best me! And in Sakura's book, as soon as something had annoyed her enough to elicit a curse (no matter how faintly it might have been muttered) then it had won…whatever the it might be – she liked to think of it as a means of self-discipline.

Well, that, and the fact that for a long time, her career as a medic (who needed to be clean spoken and swearing-free) was directly in conflict with her career as a shinobi (who tended to use swear words like they were everyday adjectives or verbs – notoriously so). The kuniochi was trying to release the stringed trigger on this particular trap, so that she could reset the trap as a whole and re-aim it to a more convenient location – where it current sat on the outside of the main building – but, almost amusingly, it was still clung to the last remaining support strut of the demolished building next to the main one, which housed most of the nin cats and the 'granny-cat' as Sasuke addressed her.

She'd been outside for the better part of the day, in a strong wind struggling to reset all of the traps within radius of the main building – Sasuke, Sai and a coupled of the other Leaf nin from her team had each taken a section of the city to restructure and secure with traps incase it truly became necessary for it to be used as a stronghold. Granny-Cat had been less than impressed at what Sasuke had told her, about the possibility of the conflict with Kumo to spill over into Fire and the city would be of enormous tactical advantage to help prevent the forces from reaching too far into the heart of Fire.

Granny-Cat's initial response had helpfully been 'Leaf nin-ja should be better at fighting then,' it had taken nearly another hour of arguing with her (and ample gifts on Sasuke's behalf of matatabi [catnip]) before the ninja cats would at least side with him and help convince the elder that it was important to allow the shinobi to adapt and reinforce the city in case such a threat ever became a reality.

"Sakura-san?" The voice of the young-ish woman called out, she was not much younger than the kuniochi and apparently had lived here in the abandoned city for her entire life – having been brought here as a newborn and left to be cared for by the Granny-Cat.

"Hai, Seirra?"

"I've made something to eat – you must be hungry by now and it's probably time for a break," The kuniochi relented after a moment,

"Hai, you're probably right – I'll be along in a moment," She waited until Seirra had turned back around the corner before she turned back to the booby trap and pointed her finger at it sharply, "Don't you dare think you've won, I'll be back to finish you off before you know it!" She whispered harshly. The city was quite ugly, really, it was half wrecked and covered in vines – there was nothing even vaguely homely about it, instead it felt cold, unforgiving and as though it enjoyed playing silent witness to cruelty a little more than an inanimate object should. She deftly avoided the puddles and miniature outcrops of rubble as she made her way back towards the main building of soraku [sky area].

Just as she rounded the final corner, however, the sensation of being watched overcame her so strongly that it took all of her self-control to not whirl around and yell obscenities, instead, she looked up to a nearby window and caught in the reflection a small brown blob. Mildly confused by such an unusual colour to be present, she turned suddenly and caught the glint of a haitai-ate – and the familiar blue waistcoat of –

"Pakkun?" She queried confused as the dog looked around suspiciously before taking a couple of tentative steps forward, "It's alright, there's no threat here," She comforted and he instantly relaxed and padded over more swiftly,

"Sakura, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in Uzushio?"

"I was but under orders from Tsunade-sama, I transferred here…but why are you here, I thought Kakashi was fighting way up on the Shimo/Yu border?"

"He was – but they've been pushed back and back…he's not far from here and sent me in to see what the situation was,"

"Oh!" She exclaimed at his explanation, "That's…"

"His team have killed the Kumo nin who were pursuing them – there are only a few other Leaf and Sand nin with him,"

"Ok, tell him it's safe to enter and bring them to this building," She gestured to the large main building beside her, "I'll go and inform the Granny-Cat that more visitors will be arriving,"

"Hai, thanks Sakura-chan," With that the little pug darted away and Sakura turned on her heel to enter the Sky building, marching down its wide halls and enter the main chamber which housed the feline affiliated (and rather feline looking) elder;

"Granny-Cat," The kuniochi began respectfully, "I have just received news that there are a number more of Leaf and Sand shinobi close by who have struggled in the conflict and are very close by. They require rest, medical attention and medical care–" She bluffed,

"I take it that you have presumptuously already invited them in…" The elder grouched, whilst chewing on her pipe,"I don't like how you Konoha nin come here to ask my permission as an act of faux respect – you offend me worse than if you hadn't bothered to ask at all," Her words and feeling were well mirrored by a harshly hissing cat, its fur standing on end.

"I meant no disrespect, Granny-Cat,"

"But you nonetheless give it – you'll do what you will no matter what I say, but it's up to the cats themselves whether they'll choose to cooperate with you. Don't you dare come crying if you get bitten," She spat, hissing out her breath of smoke directly towards Sakura; the kuniochi did her best to keep her patience whilst she turned her back and disappeared from the room. She rolled her eyes and did her best to brush off the bad attitude of the elder – she was justified in that this was her home and no one enjoyed losing control of their own, but at the same time, Fire was deep in conflict with a former allied nation and Granny-Cat might well come to have no home.

As Sakura reached the exit of the building, it was just in time for her to see the appearance of Kakashi and his team, along with Pakkun at his feet – to be honest, they looked like crap: tired, dirty, bloody and generally like they'd been in battle for far too long. Still she was mighty pleased to set eyes on Kakashi again – and she had to admit, only he could pull off still someone how looking cool and in control despite the blood and sweat he was covered in.

She pushed her feelings aside for the moment, however and stepped out from the building to greet them, only, someone else got there first. A great hissing blur appeared from nowhere and zoomed itself straight onto Pakkun – where the noise and terror and diabolical scrabble began between them – Sakura had heard dying patients make more pleasant sounds. There was just a blurred ball of fur, blue and screeching until Kakashi stepped in and braved the mess – he frowned and shoved his hand into the middle of the jumble and yanked out a rather infuriated and bedraggled cat that had its claws out to full length and was still hissing and struggling, paying Kakashi no mind whatsoever – apart from to briefly try and twist its head around to bite him on the hand.

"Oi! Kakashi, let 'im go! I wanna show him whose boss!" Pakkun huffed, his head covered in thin scratches and scuffs,

"No," the Copy Nin commanded, shaking the cat very lightly as he held it by the scruff to distract it from trying to bite his hand, "Thanks for all your help Pakkun, dismissed." The little dog opened its mouth as though to speak but thought better of it, he merely nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke – just as Kakashi let go of the cat and it dropped to the ground, hissed once at Kakashi before darted away from them. "What in the world?" Kakashi queried, flicking his eye over to Sakura,

"This place is run by the Granny-Cat and most of them are shinobi-cats – like your ninken – though most are as crotechy as she is," The kuniochi briefly explain with a small, though exasperated smile;

"Ah…Then I assume we need to meet with his 'Granny-Cat'?"

"Actually, no – she's a bit, uh, put-out by our being here and your arrival has only made things worse, it might be better to stay out of her way for now…but right now, I think I'm the only one who knows that you're here, so–" Her sentence was cut off by the sudden appearance of six shinobi leaping to their sides – four of whom were ANBU, Kakashi recognised by their masks and the other two were Sasuke and Sai.

"Kakashi," The former began, eyeing him carefully, "What are you doing here?"

"I might ask you the same thing – last I heard you were confined to Konoha,"

"Why don't we go somewhere we can talk?" Sakura suggested – in what was really a pretend rhetorical question; she turned again and lead them over to the building in which all of the Leaf nin had their accommodation. There was a good, large room that would house them enough to explain what was a significantly…confusing situation.

Sakura ran her hands through her hair as she walked back towards her quarters, the day had been such a long one – in a long string of lengthy days – that she felt almost ready to stop where she was and drop asleep. Eventually, though, she reached her room and pushed open the heavy wooden door, breathing a sigh of relief at finally being on her own time…only, she became thoroughly aware that it wasn't' quite her time when a familiar voice asked,

"Something wrong?" Her eyes snapped open to find Kakashi lying on her bed, reading a copy of Icha Icha Taktikkusu, looking delightfully relaxed having shed his sandals, flak jacket and haitai-ate;

"W-What-the?"

"It's been a while since I saw you last…thought we should take advantage of some time alone," He explained, whilst sitting up on the unrolled futon, putting away his book as she walked towards him and allowed herself to be tugged into his lap; she pulled down his mask and pressed their lips together in a long desired kiss. She easily met his kiss and her hands roamed over her shoulders and down his back, closing the distance between them, Kakashi's large hands had a secure grip on her waist as his fingers massaged the flesh of her back in a way that was – somehow – both a deep comfort and sensual tingling.

"I missed you," He whispered, as they parted momentarily, "I thought you'd be safe in Uzu, it worried me to hear how much risk you were put in by our supposed allies," He squeezed her a little tighter as he spoke,

"It's alright, I was in control,"

"So it seemed," He quipped, referring to her capture of Gerimaru, "But even so, things could have – and still might – get a lot worse. As soon as they realise he's missing, they'll come in search of you and with the encroachment of Kumo, I'm concerned that…that you're out here in the middle of nowhere and away from the protection of Konoha," His voice was mildly tentative, but with an undertone of seriousness Sakura couldn't push aside; she sighed lightly and pulled back from him enough to look him in the face,

"Don't baby me, Kakashi. Yes we're in a tentative position, but I am not alone here, I have Sai and my team as well as a team of ANBU…and right now, you too. I wonder if I should be more worried about you, if you've already been pushed back this far," She retorted, unable to keep her eyebrows from dipping into an immediate, though passing frown; "We're in conflict, its not like we're going to–"

"But I have still eluded all of the Kumo ninja – and have not taken any prisoner," Kakashi snapped back, Sakura chose to move off his lap and onto a seat beside him as she replied,

"Oh? You've still killed many of their nin by now and your name is a natural magnet for most shinobi, especially in wartime – you are just as much at risk as I am," She argued, though she could see that his expression had not changed, nor had he moved to look at her, she took in how tense his shoulders sat; she allowed the silence to linger for a few moments, realising he wouldn't speak without prompting, "Unless you think yourself that much better than me?" Kakashi rose to his feet and walked away a few steps,

"No! It's just…I…" For a man normally so smooth at talking, his silence was both telling and infuriating,

"That's reassuring," It was impossible to keep the frown off her face as her hands found their way to their hips whilst she rose to her feet, Kakashi's expression was thunderous as he turned around to face her,

"Don't you dare! Sakura, you know I have complete faith in you, but–" Kakashi dragged a hand through his hair, as his words faltered, unsure of how to articulate himself without offending her further, "But, you've been my student and under my care for a long time…it's hard to…" He faltered again and she cut in,

"What? Remember that I'm not a kid anymore? If we're supposed to be…dating," She lowered her voice for the last word, aware of the volume – and the rather sensitive nature of what they were discussing, despite the intensity of their argument, "Then…then…what the hell?" She whisper-shouted, her anger forcing her to latch on to anything it could to further lash out at him.

"Sakura!" His voice was a knife through the air between them, "It's not like that! You're no child, but you do lack the same experience I have and that gives me an advantage whether you like it or not!" His anger was almost irrational from disgust at the rather twisted implication Sakura had made, and it gave him only the drive to leave the room and be away from another situation that had so quickly descended into another hell after almost a month of stress and unrelenting violence. Kakashi wasn't used to being attacked on such a personal level – especially not right after an adrenaline-fuelled stretch of combat, but whether he was overacting or not, he couldn't say and was in no mood to decide, he needed escape.

"When you plan on listening like an adult, I might be willing to talk!" He bent to grab his flak jacket and sandals and started for the door, his pride kept him going, but it wasn't so strong that guilt hadn't already snuck in and begun to gnaw at the back of his mind as he yanked the door closed behind him. The controlled action sounding deafening in the empty corridor.

..

.


Phew what a long chapter! So much going on...oh dear o dear :o bad times! Also: Ch-28 will be very closely intertwined with this one - so if you think there a bits obviously missing, chances are they'll be addressed in the next chap! :3