Hey folks, thesaiyanjedi here with another chapter of "Shinachiku's First Adventure!"

Alright, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm sorry I've been away for so long. The sad truth is that, while I am still in love with this story and I have every intention of seeing it through to the end, the section of the story that we are in right and have been in for the last several chapters have been increasingly more and more difficult to write. Obviously I have no one to blame but myself, but hey, the sheer size and scale and ensemble cast of this story is what helps makes it what it is.

The other reason it took so long to get this chapter out is because I has two weeks back to back where I felt inclined to put out one shots set in this continuity. If you haven't read them yet, please do me a big favor and go check them out. The first one is "An Uzumaki Family Halloween" and gives us a taste of Naruto and Sakura and the kids during, well, Halloween. I'm proud of some of imagery and the fun and spook atmosphere I created for that one. The other story is "Shinachiku's First Birthday," which I timed to be posted on November 7, the day most NaruSaku fans seem to acknowledge as the character's birthday because that was the day the manga originally ended and we unofficially adopted him into our fandom ever since...my goodness has is seriously been a year already?!

As for this chapter a lot of ground is covered her as we will catch up with several parties, not all of them, but some. Also, a big shout out to my friend LegendaryWriterS for his suggestions on what I ought to do for this chapter; I'll go into it more at the end of the chapter.

Well, with all of that said, lets get to reading!

Chapter 34: Clever Planning

"Alright, are you kids ready?"

Shinachiku and Sarada turned to one another with a silent expression, no words exchanged between them, before looking back to their instructors. "Hai Konohamaru-sensei!"

"Very good," Konohamaru said in a serious tone. "Kakashi?"

The old ninja master and former kage pulled out a sheet of paper. "I'll presume that both of you kids know what these are?"

"Hai," Sarada responded analytically. "That is a sheet of paper grown from a special chakra grown tree. They help a shinobi to discover their proper chakra nature."

"Precisely." He handed a sheet of paper to Shinachiku. "As I'm certain you already know, there are five different chakra natures that a shinobi may be naturally suited to: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning." The kids nodded in understanding. "Now, things are pretty straightforward from here. All you need to do is to focus a little bit of chakra into the paper and whatever the effect is will tell us what kind of chakra nature you possess."

"I know sensei, I read it in—"

"Your dad's book. We know Shinachiku! Jeez! Don't be such a snob alright!"

The other three ninjas stood is surprise at the girl's sudden outburst. Kakashi, however, eyed her suspiciously, already concerned that 'you-know-what' was having its undesirable effect on her.

"Umm...Sarada?" Shinachiku questioned. "Are you okay?"

The boy's voice seemed to snap her out of whatever was the cause of her adverse mood swing. "W-What? Huh? Oh I fine Shina, really? I don't know why I said that, please forgive me."

The blonde-haired boy merely smiled at the raven-haired girl, totally oblivious that anything out-of-the-ordinary might be afoot. "Don't worry about it."

"Ahem!"

The kids both turned their heads at the sound of Konohamaru coughing to get their attention.

"Now then, if you kids are both done having random outbursts...or flirting...maybe we could get back to work?"

The two kids blushed dark red. "SENSEI!"

The once mischievous young Sarutobi smirked in amusement. "Come on kids, time's short. Sarada, as an Uchiha I'm assuming you already know that your chakra nature is fire correct?

"Hai. My dad has already taught me some of my clan's basic fire techniques already. But he never ddid get around to teaching me all the ins and outs of nature transformation like we're doing here."

"I see. In that case this will be mainly for Shinachiku's benefit, but Sarada, you be sure to pay close attention since this might teach you something." The Sarutobi turned to his prized student. "Shina, focus your chakra like Kakashi said."

"Right!" the boy confirmed.

The Uzumaki boy focused their chakra, closing his eyes as a slight breeze whipped past him. It was almost like he was deep in meditation. Time seemed to slow down as he focused on the piece of paper that he held in his hands.

After what felt like several minutes, but was really about ten seconds, Shinachiku's piece of paper cut right down the center, splitting into two halves.

"Well I'll be."

"What does this mean sensei?" Sarada asked.

"It means Sarada," Konohamaru explained, "that while your specific chakra nature is fire, like your father and most of your clan, Shinachiku here is a wind user."

The boy stared at the cut piece of paper he was holding. "Just like my dad?"

"Yes. Its a rare gift; you should be pleased."

"The boy kept looking at the paper and smiled bigger. "I am.

"So that piece of paper cutting in half is supposed to resemble wind?" Sarada asked.

"Yes," Kakashi answered. "Each person's chakra nature has a different reaction when they channel their chakra into the paper. If you had done it Sarada, then the paper instead would have burned up and turned to ash. Furthermore, a water chakra nature would cause the paper to become soggy, an earth chakra nature would cause it to turn to turn to dirt and crumble away, and in my case, lightning chakra would—"

"I think I get the idea sensei, thank you."

Sarada's semi-rude stopping of his lecture could not help but make Kakashi frown; why did she have to stop him just as he was getting to the very end?

Konohamaru took over. "Now that we both know your specific chakra natures, we can begin instructing you in the art of nature transformation. With this you will be able to mold and create unique, original jutsu that is specially designed to be most useful for each of you. But keep in mind that each elemental chakra nature comes with its own specific strengths and weaknesses."

"Indeed," Kakashi started again. "Shinachiku, as a wind user, your element has a superior advantage against lightning techniques like my Chidori, but you have a weakness against fire abilities."

The boy eyeballed the girl standing right next to him. "I see...So then if Sarada and I were ever to—?"

"In the elemental sense only; don't forget both of your father have the exact same chakra natures that you both do, and you both know ho that story ultimately ended."

It was only then that the masked ninja recognized the clearly awkward, uncomfortable looks on both children's faces. 'Okay...on second though, maybe that wasn't such a smart thing to say after all.'

"And Sarada, as a fire user, you may have the advantage against wind techniques but obviously water in your weakness."

"Naturally," the girl said bluntly.

"Although," Knohamaru said, "there have been a number of talented shinobi that have succeeded in creating combined nature transformations."

Shinachiku was already catching on, "You mean the combinations of more than one type of chakra nature?"

"That's right. For example, in your father's first real mission he encountered a shinobi named Haku who had ice release abilities; he was able to do this by combining both wind and water natures together to form his own techniques."

Kakashi provided another example, "Captain Yamato is another example. His wood release abilities are the result of combining both earth and water natures."

Sarada was taking this all in as the boy standing next to her got another question. "Sensei, has there ever been a shinobi that has combines both wind and fire chakra natures before."

"As a mater of fact there has," Konohamaru answered. "I believe was, err...What was it...? Pakura I think her name was. Yes, she was able to combine those two chakra natures together for what she called Scorch Release abilities."

As the boy seemed deep in thought about what he'd just been told (something that made both Jōnin very curious), Sarada had been thinking about her own specific chakra nature as well, the one that belonged to her family. She was interested in how much she could accomplish with her ability and the full potential of it's power.

"Kakashi-sensei, what other kinds of combined nature transformations can a ninja with fire abilities create?"

Kakashi though for a moment before answering, "Well, beside the Scorch release that Konohamaru had just mentioned, one can combine fire and earth natures to create Lava release abilities, which I would presume to be the most practical combination. But besides that one can also combine the opposite elements of fire and water to create a Boil Release."

"What about combining fire and lightning?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Hmm...I'm afraid I've never heard of any shinobi pulling off something like that. In fact I'm not ever sure is such a combination is even practical. Why? Do you have any ideas dear?"

"No, not really." She thought to herself, 'Not yet.'

"So sensei," Shinachiku spoke up, "When do we begin our training?"

Konohamaru merely smiled at his pupil's familiar sense of determination. "Right now."

"So how long would you say its been?"

Sasuke turned to his wife hanging next to him. "Maybe a day or two. Why?"

Karin shook her head. "I just felt I should at least be sure to keep track of the time to make sure I don't go insane."

"I'll tell you what's keeping me sane," Sakura said from the cell across from them, "worrying where our children are!"

"We're all worried about them Sakura," Naruto reassured her.

"Then when are we going to do something to get ourselves out of this mess?"

Sasuke was the one to answer that question. "As soon as we can figure out what we can do to break free of these chains and get out of these cells with absolutely no chakra or weapons or backup of any kind. That's when."

There was silence in the twin jail cells. Nobody could think of anything to say to that grim reality...That is, until a certain blonde-haired jinchūriki suddenly had a spark of realization.

"Wait! Oh my GOD! What the hell was I thinking!"

"What?

The toad sage could of slapped his own forehead if he wasn't so thoroughly bound up. "Listen you guys, they may have taken it off of me, but I sometimes like to hide a small razor blade in my sandal to use for moments like this."

"You're right," Sasuke said, "they probably did take it off of you."

"Thanks for the support Sasuke," Naruto responded in sarcasm. "Anyway, maybe I can shake it out of my boot and use it to try cutting the chains holding us here?"

"And how are you going to reach your sandal when you're tied up?" Karin questioned.

"Like this."

Naruto gathered his strength to swing his body back and forth, putting particular momentum into his legs. He eventually did this enough times that he was able to plant his feet atop the steel bars of the cell their hands were bound to. This put him in the uncomfortable position of having himself curled into a ball shape, upside down, hanging several feet above the ground.

"That looks uncomfortable," the Uchiha remarked.

"Shh!" Sakura snapped at her former crush. "Shut up and let him work Sasuke!"

Naruto, despite the position he was in, smiled at his wife's defense of him, especially considering that many years ago she would not have hesitated to take Sasuke's side over his own.

Any, getting focused again, he managed to position his bound palms underneath his feet as he shook them until something fell out of his sandal into his hand. It was a small razor blade just as he said it. It was very thin and small and tucked away in a spot to avoid discomfort, and it has a thin plastic lining so that the blade would not cut into the soft underside of his foot.

Getting a hold of the razor, he managed to slip the plastic off and slowly but surely began cutting one of the pivotal links in the chains holding him to the wall. Despite the angle he was in, and the blood rushing to his head, it did allow him to get a better view of the chain he was cutting and it would allow him easier effort to use his weight to break the chain once it was loose enough.

"Naruto!" Sakura said with glee, "you're a genius!"

"Thanks honey. But this still may take a bit."

Sasuke then suddenly remembered something. "Well in that case, I might as well follow suit."

All of sudden Sasuke made the exact same movements that Naruto did, swinging his bound legs back and forth until he finally had enough momentum to out himself into the same position as his former teammate.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Karin question in confusion.

"I'm following through with a good idea."

Shaking his foot that was now standing on the top bars, he shook an identical razor out of his sandal and it landed in the former missing nin's palm.

Naruto looked like he was going to have a conniption. "You mean to tell me that you had a secret razor stored in your shoe too?! THIS WHOLE TIME?!"

"Oh cut me a break dobe! I gotten into a habit of doing this during all my years on the road. I just got so used to not using it that I forgot it was there until you got yours out first. Hell, if anything, I likely thought of the idea before you did."

Naruto sweat dropped as he frowned. 'For the love of...All these years and even now he still finds some way to upstage me.'

Sasuke took the plastic off his razor and started cutting. The two women didn't have a whole lot to do but wait until their husband's finished cutting themselves free so they could have their turn. But both of them had a similar thought on each of their minds: 'I'm going to have to remember to start doing that from now on.'

The cutting was gong slow but it was making progress. But alas, they were forced to stop when they heard the sound of the door to their prison wing opening up. Quickly so as not to be noticed, Naruto and Sasuke pushed themselves out of their upside down position and back to the how they originally were. This bound up position was particularly rough for Sasuke; don't forget, he was being forced to hold all of his weight bound up with only one arm this entire time!

Trying to act as inconspicuous as possible, they pretended not to be up to anything when an Anbu guard came in with a pail of water and a very long ladle.

"Lord Uragi says that I'm supposed to supply you with water so long as you're here," the guard said.

"Uragi can take care of us however he wants," Sakura stated. "We won't talk."

"We'll see." The guard dipped the ladle into the pail of water and then pushed the ladle between the bars of Sasuke and Karin' cell. The handle was long enough to reach the prisoners mouths while being held from outside their cells.

"Drink."

After sharing a silent exchange with only their eyes, Sasuke hung there as his wife was served her drink of water. The guard then did the same for Sasuke who took the drink without complaint. Pulling the ladle out of the prison bars, the guard refilled it and then served some water to Sakura, and then again to Naruto.

"There," the guard said coldly. "Mission complete. My partner is scheduled to bring you all food in four hours."

Naruto pretended to be respectful. "We understand. Thank you for your hospitality good sir."

The guard merely brushed off his former Hokage's remark in disgust before slamming the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, the four prisoners quickly got to strategizing.

"Four hours, plenty of time," Naruto noted.

"Agreed," Sasuke said. "As a matter of fact, the next guard's arrival might be the perfect opportunity to make our getaway."

Sakura spoke for both herself and her husband. "What are you suggesting Sasuke?"

"I'm suggesting that Naruto and I continue working to cut our chains free and then we pass the blades to you girls and then after that..."

There was a pause as the Uchiha seemed to be pondering his own words. Karin was the one to break the silence. "Well?!"

"After that, all of you just do what I'm about to say..."

Uragi was sitting in the Hokage's office, filing out paperwork for the day, the usual stuff. Approving new mandates, reinforcing villager restrictions, thing like that. But his primary responsibility was to make sure that all was ready in time for the Kage Summit.

'Yes...yes this is going well. In less than two weeks the wait will be over and Taka will finally be able to give this world the order it deserves.'

The interim Hokage was interrupted from his thoughts when he suddenly heard a knock on his office door. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal a pair of shinobi, one a tall, blond-haired male, the other a female with long, flowing red hair. Both of them had eyes as cold as ice.

"Ah! Minato! Kushina! I was hoping to see you two again. Good to have both of you back in the village before the Summit. Having you two here will be a huge insurance policy for us."

The two shinobi did not say anything for several moments, until finally the male decided to just get serious. "My lord, we apologize for our failure. We were not able to bring the targets back to the village as commanded."

"Think nothing of it son. You proved yourselves capable of holding your own again Uzumaki and his friends and now all of them are our prisoners. Soon they will be punished for their treachery."

The woman spoke up next, "How were the targets captured my lord?"

"I contacted our sleeper agent within the Hidden Sand Village to lead a squadron to apprehend them; his skills coupled with our chakra nullifying serum proved to be a invaluable combination." The older man lightly chuckled to himself before he continued. "Funny, it turns out that the Kazekage himself had been harboring our targets and so he had to be taken into custody with the rest of them."

"Isn't that going to be a problem for our plans?"

Uragi shook his head. "No, no, we've got that under control." His eyes darted briefly towards a drawer in his desk where a familiar blue gem was resting inside.

The two ninja's did not say anything else for a few seconds before the male chose to speak up again. "Sir...what punishment will the prisoners be given for their actions against Taka?"

Uragi sat up in his chair to answer. "It's very simple my friend. Those people, Uzumaki, his wife, the Uchiha and his wife, all of their friends who have betrayed us to aid them, those people are what stands in the way of Taka's revolution, of our saving this world. AS far as we are concerned their fate has already been decided. The Mind Gem will be attempted on their allies and those who succumb will surely be valuable assets in the new order. Those who are able to resist will share Uzumaki and Uchiha's fate."

The blonde man spoke again, "What will be their fate?"

"They will be tried, they will be found guilty, and they will be executed for their treachery!"

Something came over the red-haired woman when she heard that. Something about all of this, it didn't feel right. Something about what their target, his name, what he and his son had called them back in the Whirlpool Village, it all seemed strange...familiar...almost as if..."

"My lord," the woman said, "the prisoners, Uzumaki and his wife...have we met them before?"

Uragi sudden stood up from his chair at that question, slowly and unassumingly reaching for the 'special' drawer of his desk. "What do you mean?"

The man was having similar misgivings, the events of what had happened in Uzushiogakure playing over in his mind, making him curious about thing that were said, familiar sensations that he had felt. And not only there, but from later observation as well...

...It was several days ago, in the woodlands of the Hidden Sound Village. The two assassins had secretly tracked their targets from a considerable distance to this location. For the time being they were invoking a undercover examination mission, not alerting the enemy to their presence...They were not certain why they felt this was the wiser choice or action, only that to launch an outright attack on Uzumaki and his party right ways did not seem...Well, they did not know what to make of it.

The blonde haired man, Minato, found his mind drifting back to his fight with the former Seventh Hokage. He was impressed at how much his fighting style reflected his own. Clearly the man had been well trained, living up to the reputation that he had earned...

Not only that, but...his face. Minato could not deny that Naruto Uzumaki's face was awfully familiar...

'Naruto...' That name, that face...it was almost like...like something out of a dream.

The red haired woman, Kushina, was also in deep thought. She was a ninja and as such she needed to keep her mind focused on her mission, no distractions. Taka would not tolerate anything less.

And yet that word, that name her target had called him, try as she might if would not leave her head.

Mom...

What did that word even mean? She could not remember. Then again, something else about this Naruto Uzumaki person seemed very familiar like some thing out of a dream...

She could feel her heart rate quicken the more she thought about him. The way he fought, the things he'd said, the uncanny resemblance he bore to her teammate. Even his last name, which had meant nothing to her when she was first given this mission, was beginning to sound more and more familiar the more time she ran it through her mind.

Uzumaki...Uzumaki...

Both of them were snapped out of their trains of thought however. Why? Because they could hear the sound of footsteps stepping on twigs and grass approaching them. Both assassins got their kunai's ready for an imminent attack, but they found themselves lowering them when they saw who it was.

The target's son, the one they called Shinachiku Uzumaki, wandering the woods looking for something. He found it soon enough as he approached a nearby tree and pulled down his fly. The boy proceeded to urinate against the tree.

"Aaaahhh! I've been holding that in for days!"

As the boy was emptying his bladder he noticed something. It looked like movement in the bushes and trees off in the distance. He eyed it suspiciously because he only got a quick look, so quick that he wondered whether or not he really saw anything at all.

By the time he was done, he zipped himself up and walked over to the bushes and trees in question. He looked around for anything suspicious, but he could not find a trace of movement anywhere, or any evidence that anyone or anything besides himself had been there.

"Shinachiku! Are you all right?!"

The boy turned as he heard the voice calling him from a distance. "I'm fine Aunt Ino! I'll be right there!"

As he started heading back towards the group, he could have swore he heard something else that sounded like bushes rustling. He looked back one more time but again he saw nothing. Getting over it, he figured that his mind was just playing tricks on him an decided to head back to the others.

In the bushes, the two assassins were able to avoid detection from the boy. It was strange, this child was nothing more than a mere Genin. Easy prey, easy kill. In fact, he would have made an easy ransom for Uzumaki's surrender...And yet something was holding them back. There was no chance that either of them had ever seen this child before, but it was as though some invisible force, some nagging, persistent sense of hesitation was holding them back from laying a finger on this child. It was as though his mere presence was trigger something, some strange, warming sensation inside of their hearts.

"What is that boy?" the woman asked aloud.

"I do not know," the man answered, "but we cannot afford to show weakness next time."

"Lord Uragi," Minato asked, "what ever became of Uzumaki's son? Was he captured along with his parents and their allies?"

"No. As far as we know the boy, his sister, and the children of the other traitors are still at large. I don't see much need for concern however; they're just children after all, and the adults that currently aid them, strong though they may be, and all well passed their prime by now."

"What should we do if the children return to the village?"

"Kill them if necessary."

Something about what Uragi had just said, and more specifically how he said it, did not seem to click very well with either of the two resurrected shinobi, particularly not the woman.

"Sir, with all due respect, perhaps there is an alternative option to—?"

Kushina's suggestion was cut short when she and her partner were suddenly entranced by a small, glowing blue object that their leader had pulled from his desk and held in his hand. The light of the glowing object, a gem, was so intoxicating that they found themselves virtually powerless to look away.

"You were saying something my dear?"

Minato and Kushina's eyes flashed blue before returning back to normal again. Kushina promptly answered the question. "No my lord, none at all."

"Good. Is there anything else?"

"No sir," said Minato.

"Very well, dismissed."

Both shinobi exited the office just as emotionless as when they were first given their assignment several days ago. This left Uragi to get back to work and keep filling out more paperwork, returning the chakra gem back into his desk drawer. But he only got a dew minutes of work done before he heard someone else knocking on his door again.

"I told you two you were dismissed!"

The door opened to reveal that it was not Minato and Kushina that had come seeking an audience with him, but a certain red-clan missing nin with a very peculiar personality and a mask occurring his head.

Uragi groaned, "Oh, its you."

"Yep! Its me! you're old pal Randamu! I just came by to collect the bounty on Naruto and his smoking hot wife and I'll be on my way."

The interim-Hokage groaned a second time, God he hated this guy! "Fine, give me a second." He got out his checkbook and scribbled some the numbers; quite a massive sum for only two shinobi. He tore out two checks and handed them to the masked eccentric. "Here you are, 40,000,000,000 ryo for Uzumaki and another 30,000,000,000 for Haruno. Take those down to the bank and tell them I sent you and their ensure you get paid. Anything else?"

"No, no that's good Big U!"

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry old man."

"Don't call me that either."

"Sorry Pops!"

"No!"

"What name would you like me to call you then?"

"How about Uragi?!"

"Hmm...I guess it has a nice ring to it. Okay Uragi, I got my money for this job and I'll ready to go!"

"Good! Then get going! Get the hell out of my office so I can get some work done!"

As Randamu closed the door behind him, he stood just outside the Hokage's office for a couple of seconds, as if he were deep in thought, as if he was actually thinking seriously about something for once. He looked down at the checks he now held in his hand and let out a sigh. Was it worth it?

"Oh what the heck am I saying?! 70,000,000,000! Of course it was worth it! Now get going Randamu, you handsome devil you! You've got a big rest of your day planned after you're done at the bank!"

"Again!"

The Uzumaki and Uchiha kids were dueling one another ferociously. They have been at this for hours now since Kakashi and Konohamaru wanted to do more than just train the two of them in creating new jutsu, they needed to be sure that they knew how to fight as well in case time proved too short to complete their new jutsu in time.

Shinachiku was trading punches and kicks with Sarada all left and right and each one was dong a fairly good job blocking the other attacks. Sarada could not copy or predict anything her friends would do since she did not yet have her Sharingan, but she was proving quite formidable for her age nonetheless. Shinachiku was likewise holding his own, his years of training with Konohamaru, his father, and those of their friends who had offered him up a free lesson here and there clearly paying off.

'This is going even better than I could have hoped for," Kakashi thought in observance. 'Those two have only been able to spend so much time together since they were born and yet they seem to understand and react to one another so naturally.'

Shinachiku had gotten Sarada in an arm lock until she broke free of it and then flipped him over her shoulder. He did not slam to the ground however as he managed to get his footing just in time.

The blonde quickly pulled out his favorite kunai, a gift his aunt and uncle, Sarada's parents, had given him on his very first birthday. It was a kunai with an orange and red string tied to the base, with a few light threads of blue subtly sown in there too just for good measure. The colors represented each of his parent, orange for his father, red for his mother, and the traces of blue were his Uncle Sasuke. It was a sign of good luck, that both of his parents would watch over him and guide him in his future, in spirit.

'Its funny,' Kakashi kept thinking as he observed. 'When their father's were young it was Sasuke who gave Naruto his strength. He would go to so many lengths, put forth so much effort just to become strong enough to catch up to him I wonder...' he pondered as he kept watching their spar, 'I wonder if with the new generation, the opposite is true.'

Sarada was struggling, but only slightly more than he was. But she was hanging in there. Shinachiku threw his favorite kunai but she dodged it. Thinking fast and she leaped away from his latest falcon kick, Sarada grabbed his favored kunai from the ground and threw it right back at him. She should not have been surprised when he caught it out of thin air; after all, he'd been training with it his whole life.

The duel continued, Sarada performing some agile movements and dodging all of Shinachiku's attacks while he did not hold back on his own assault. But eventually something turned in the course of the battle. Shinachiku managed to find an opening on Sarada's left side and he stock his had straight out with his fingers extended and applied precise pressure to a specific spot on Sarada's shoulder, and then backed off.

"What was that supposed to be?" she questioned with a tinge of rudeness in her voice.

"That was me puncturing a nerve bundle in your deltoid. Might not have hurt, but you won't be using that arm for a while."

She reached over to examine her shoulder and sure enough, when she tried to move it, it would not respond.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"I got my mom to teach about pressure points and then asked my Aunt Hinata to give me a couple of taijutsu lessons."

"You idiot! Look what you've done!"

"There's no need to be a sore loser Sarada. It will heal itself by tomorrow."

"Exactly! That means I've lost a whole day's worth of training to master my new jutsu! A whole day ruined thanks to you!"

And with that the blood drained from the poor boy's face. "Oh crap. Sarada, I'm sorry. I didn't—" He never got to finish his sentence because she was already walking away from him in a huff. "Crap."

At that point Konohamaru came up to him and did his best to reassure him. "She'll be fine, just give her some time. A woman's heart can be a fickle thing."

"I guess."

"Come on, let her vent off some steam while we get back to work on your new jutsu training. And then after that we need to regroup with the others to start moving back towards the village again."

It had been four hours by now and the two couples were still hanging from their same positions in their cells. Little did anyone realize that they had a little surprise in store for the guard that was about to come in to feed them. You see, by now they'd had plenty of time to cut the chains that were holding them in place and also their feet. the only reason they were still hanging there was because they were grasping the overhead bars with their finger, creating the illusion that they were still chained up for whenever the guard was going to enter. There plan now was to wait for said guard's arrival so that they could jump him, reasoning that unlike the guard with the water, the next guy would most likely be required to open to the doors to feet to go inside to feed them, and that was when they would make their move.

They only had to wait for a couple more minutes before the door to their wing finally opened and the guard finally came in with four trays of food. It was very ill-kept, disgusting food that they doubted was safe for human consumption, but if this plan worked that none of that was going to matter soon anyway.

"Dinner," the guard said flatly. He then took out the key and opened the door to Naruto and Sakura's cell. He brought in two trays with him, setting one of at the feet of both the man and the woman, where it was, as far as the guard knew, out of their reach. After that he began walking out.

"Hey wait!" Naruto called out, "how are we supposed to eat if we're both bound up like this?"

"Not my problem."

"It will be your problem if Uragi finds out that you didn't obey his orders," Sakura countered.

The guard turned around to face her. "My orders were to bring you traitors your food, they said nothing about feeding you."

"And if Uragi finds out that my husband and I starved to death before he could get all of the information he wanted, all because we weren't able to eat, will you be afraid then?"

That insinuation succeeded in causing the desired effect, getting the guard angry. "Watch your tongue woman! I fear nothing!" He pulled out a large knife and jabbed in into the food and then held it up to Sakura's face. "Eat!"

Yep! This was it. The opening they were all waiting for. All Sakura had to do was let go of the bars and tackle the guard, take his keys (and maybe his knife too), open the door the Sasuke and Karin's cell, and then the four of them could work on finding their friends and getting the hell out of here!

'That's right big guy, any second now.'

Sakura leaned her in like she was accepting his offer to let him feed her. She got closer...closer...

WHACK!

The guard was knocked out cold with a hard blow to the head. There was only one problem though...it wasn't Sakura that knocked him out!

No, once the guard fell to the floor, the four ninjas were stunned to see a familiar face was standing behind him holding a solid metal object in his hand.

They all shouted the name of their unexpected rescuer as one: "RANDAMU?!"

"Hey guys! How's jail? Did you miss me?"

"Yeah," Karin growled, "I was missing you alright, and now that you're here I have a perfectly good opening to rip your damn throat out!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sensing some animosity here, understandable. But maybe when this is all over with we can all talk this out and—WHOA!"

Sakura let go of her hold on the bars and tackled the traitorous missing nin to the ground. "You son of a bitch! I should rip your heart out after what you did to us!"

"But you can't. You don't have any chakra now."

"Yeah, try me!"

"SAKURA!" Naruto's words stopped her and she got up off of the bastard in a angry huff.

"So..." Randamu asked awkwardly as he got up, "...does this mean the threeway is off?"

The missing nin received his answer in the form of a furious kick to his balls. "AAAAAGGGHHHH!" As he fell to the ground cupping his nut sack, he managed to whimper out, "Yeah...deserved that..."

Naruto, Sasuke and Karin had let go of their hold on the bars also as Naruto stood over his traitorous former ally. "Why are you trying to free us after you were the one who turned us over to Taka?"

Struggling with all the strength he had, Randamu answered in a still high-pitched voice, "I never really abandoned you, but I had done a few jobs for Taka in the past I never told SAskue and his crew about. It was just a way to make money before I ever met you guys.

"Really?" Sasuke saidd in an angry tone. "Then why the sudden heel-face turn to hand all of us over to them?"

"My reasons were three."

"We're listening," Sasuke stated with a ruthless glare and his arms crossed.

"One: I was trying to get you inside Konoha; this way you wouldn't have to worry about how to get passed the added security Uragi has set up around the village. Second: I figured that with you guys in the village extra early before the Summit it might give you time to expose Taka to the whole village before the Summit ever starts."

"And the third reason?" Karin questioned angrily.

"Third, and most important of all...I got to claim that 70,000,000,000 ryo bounty on Naruto and Sakura's heads before anybody else did! Booyah!"

The others stared at their former ally, who apparently had become their ally once again, with wide-eyed shock.

Naruto was dumbfounded, "You mean to tell us that you just pretended to sell all of us out to the enemy just to give us back into the village ahead of schedule and to make yourself rich?!"

"...Yeah."

Sakura slapped him right across the face, hard. "That is the single dumbest, ignorant, most selfish thing I have ever heard in my life!"

"No shit!" Karin agreed. "Randamu, did it ever once occur to you to maybe let the rest of us in on this plan of yours?"

"There wasn't any time, its not like any of us saw that Hyūga's guy's attack coming. And besides, if I had warned any of you then you all might have held back and it wouldn't have looked convincing."

"We were taken out like chumps even without knowing your plan!" Naruto yelled incredulously.

"Yeah I noticed that...Man, getting older must rally suck for you guys, huh?"

"Randamu," Sasuke said, "didn't it ever occur to you that we might be at a disadvantage here in Konoha after Taka used their serum on us?"

The regenerating degenerate sweat dropped when he heard that, scratching the back of his head. "Ah...no, I guess I didn't think about that part. My bad!"

Karin smacked her forehead in disgust. "Gah! You are such an idiot!"

"Hey don't cash in your chips yet. Don't forget that I still have all my chakra at my disposal!"

"And you think that you alone are strong enough to hold off Taka until we can find some sort of an antidote?" Naruto questioned.

The now reformed traitor merely looked at the orange-clad Hokage in mockery. "My friend, I'm a missing nin with no past and now real name with the power to break the Fourth Wall any time and any way I feel like it. There are things I can do that you'll never know about!"

Once again, Randamu did not fail to leave the four of them utterly confused about what to say.

"So, if there aren't any more questions..." He then got out both of his swords in preparation for the fight that was to come. "How about we go track down our friends and figure out a way out of this place?"

Well there you go, another chapter done and the plot advances even further.

Yes, Randamu was a double agent that pretty much just sold friends out temporarily for a big paycheck, not fully thinking out his plan nearly as well as he thought he had, and yes, he really did expect them all to forgive him right away like it was no big deal. That's the kind of guy he is. But he is right, He does still have his chakra while the others don't. I guess we'l see where that lead next time.

The lecture about nature transformation was for the kid's benefit more than the reader since chances are you guys know all about how this idea of changing one's elemental chakra nature works anyway. I again want to that LegendaryWriterS for his advice on what to do with Shinachiku's chakra nature and I do already have an idea for what his new jutsu should be.

Sarada's however is a bit of a problem. It was obvious to me that she would be a fire user since, lets face it, she is an Uchiha. But I'm not sure what her secondary type ought to be or what her new jutsu should be. I am open to suggestions if anybody has any.

Kakashi pointed out that there is kind of role reversal with this new generation. While Naruto was always the one that was struggling to keep up with Sasuke, that perhaps Sarada, to a much less drastic degree, is now the one working to keep up with Shinachiku. I kind of liked that parallel, but I'll leave it to you guys whether you agree or not.

This chapter pays off something I set up back in Chapter 27. In the scene where Shinachiku leaves to take a piss, he hears something in the woods and doesn't get to find out what it is before he gets called back to the group. Now we know that he was being observed by his mind-controlled grandparents who did not attack him because of...well, you probably all now the reason.

There weren't really any big references this time around save for two, and both of them were related to DC Comics animation. During the sparring session between Shinachiku and Sarada we discover that Shinachiku has studied pressure point combat with Hinata (which I had set up in the previous chapter), and used it to block a nerve bundle in her deltoid, making her unable to move her arm. In the two-part animated film adaptation of "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" (and I certain it's in the graphic novel as well, if I remember correctly), Batman does the exact same thing during his fight in the mud with the Mutant Leader.

Near the end, when Sakura is taunting the guard into feeding her as part of a plan to escape from her prison cell, that was partially inspired by the second part of the epic three-part "Justice League" episode called "Starcrossed." In that episode, the Justice League are being held prison on the Thanagarian's mother ship and Wonder Woman is thrown a plate of disgusting by a guard. All of the League (minus Hawkgirl, for obvious reasons you will know if you've seen the episode) are held captive by something relating to their greatest weaknesses (Superman is placed in a room with a red solar lamp, Flash is in a gravity room so he cannot gain momentum, Green Lantern has had his ring taken away, etc), and in Wonder Woman's case she has been ties up...Yes, look back on the golden age comics and Wonder Woman's weakness was getting bound up by her own lasso...feminists make of that what you will. Anyway, she taunts the guard in a similar manner that Sakura does, and she bite's the guard's hand to catch his knife with her teeth and throw it into a control console to set herself free. The scene with Sakura might have gone a similar way...until I pulled the rug on everything and instead had Randamu show up to save them instead. Don't you just love it when we writers set up a potentially epic escape scene onto to totally pull the rug from under you? In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: "Ain't I a stinker?"

Oh, and one last thing, Uragi's proclamation of the fate he has in store for Naruto and friends, that "They will be tried, they will be found guilty, and they will be executed for their treachery!" That was partially inspired by Jedi Genaral Pong Krell, a character from the fourth season of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," who proclaimed that the rebellious clone troopers Fives and Jesse would meet the same fate at the end of the episode "Plan of Dissent." That Umbara story arc is one of my favorites from the entire series, and I would personally defy anyone who does not feel that the fourth and final episode of that arc, "Carnage of Krell," is at least in the top five episodes.

I think that's all I've got for this time. Thanks for all of your patience you guys, you're the best! I hope you all enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing you again for the next one. Until then, see ya!

art out after what you did to us!"

s and tackled the traitorous minning nin to the ground. "You son of a bitch! I should rip yo

to move it, she did not have enoughe in your deltoid. Might not have hurt, but you won't be using that arm for a while."

appl