Sakura stared up at the ceiling above her, the stale smell of antiseptic stinging at her nose as she shifted restlessly upon her bed. She hated it here; hated laying in the bed, helpless, useless, and not knowing. It ate at her as she shifted again and pushed herself up to sit up, wrapping her arms about her knees.
"Sakura."
Instantly her eyes flashed and she looked over to see the familiar, imposing figure almost swallowing the door in a black leather trench coat.
"Ibiki-sensei!" she quickly shifted to the edge of the bed, but faltered when he gave only the slightest little narrowing of his eyes in warning and slowly she swung back and obediently settled back onto the bed. "Is there any word...?"
"The impromptu mission to prevent the defection of the traitor was successful," he stated simply as he took a step inside, then closed the door behind him. "As Kakashi is still out on a mission, it's fallen to me to fully debrief you and give you your new orders until assignments have been finalized."
"...Assignments?" she asked, confusion written on her face. "But... Naruto stopped her, right? She didn't get away?"
"She did not get away. However, how does that leave your team?" Ibiki stated simply as he looked down at her and waited expectantly.
"I..." she started to say before swallowing and slowly nodding. "We... don't have a team anymore."
"No, you don't," he agreed. "Thankfully, because of your actions, both you and Uzumaki are above suspicion on this. You can expect a commendation in your file, I imagine."
Sakura's fingers slowly clenched into the sheets as the tears started to glisten in her eyes as she looked away, "I... I don't want a commendation."
"What do you want then?" It was a prompt and she knew it, but, what's more, it was an unspoken permission to open up.
"I want us to be a team again. I want Kakashi-sensei, I want Naruto, I want... I want Sasuke-kun again. I want my team back. I want my family back. I don't want to keep losing everyone I start to care about." The tears came now, flowing from her eyes, as she looked up at Ibiki, "But, I want to rip her throat out. I want to cut out her precious eyes and make her scream. I want to tear her apart piece by piece, I want... I want..."
"You want to make her pay for what she did. For what she betrayed," he agreed with a nod as he looked out into the window. "For what she took away from you."
"Yes!" Sakura almost shouted out before curling back up on the bed. "I... I... why did she have to do it? Why couldn't she see we could get strong together? Why couldn't she just be a little bit more patient!?"
"Does the why change what happened?" he asked as he turned towards her.
"... No," she admitted quietly with a shake of her head.
"Then deal with the what instead of the why. She made her choice. We simply have to live with the fallout from it," he stated simply.
"I... You said something about assignments, Ibiki-sensei?" she asked as she looked at the man again.
"Team 7 is being dissolved," he began simply. "Uzumaki is moving to his apprenticeship under Jiraiya-sama."
"I understand," she bowed her head slightly and fought down the tremble that went through her lip. "Then what about...?"
"You're being moved to Team 10, under Asuma Sarutobi."
"Ino's team? But..."
"Yamanaka was given a probationary promotion to chunin and an apprenticeship to Anko," he answered simply. "Leaving a vacancy on the team."
"I... understand," she said slowly before looking at him hopefully. "Will I still be...?"
"You will still be working under myself and Inoichi, time permitting with your new instructor," Ibiki stated simply.
"What about...?" she started to ask the question, then paused, looking back at him uncertain as she bit down on her lower lip.
"That hasn't been released yet," Ibiki stated simply as he then silently arched a brow up at her.
"Oh. Do I need to stay here any longer, then?" she asked slowly. "I need to get back to training."
"I'll see what I can do," he said with a smirk.
-o-o-o-
Gaara stood there, neutrally as he waited next to his increasingly irate looking brother as he tilted his head to the side, "You do realize it's pointless for you to be upset about this, don't you, Kankuro?"
"How can you just be so damned calm about this?!" Kankuro demanded as he glared back at his brother. "They've made Temari into a damned spoil!"
"Taking hostages for the sake of insuring behavior is a long tradition that has discouraged hostile behavior more often than encouraging it," Gaara stated diplomatically with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
"She's our sister!"
"And it had to be either you or her," Gaara pointed out. "And they did let you take me back to Suna."
"It should've been me! Who knows what kind of degrading, perverted things he's doing to her innocent body!" Kankuro demanded with a glare at Gaara.
"... Sunshine, innocent?" Kin's voice reached their ears as she walked towards them, hands in the pockets of her jacket.
"You wouldn't be trying to imply something, now would you, spanking girl?" Temari asked sweetly as she appeared next to her, giving her a look.
"Well considering the things you were encouraging Naruto-sama to do to that 'innocent' body of yours..." Kin pointed out with a smug little smirk.
"Yes, please, keep telling embarrassing things about me in front of my brothers," Temari stated with a growl as she flipped out one of her fans. "I'll be happy for the excuse."
"Temari," Gaara stated simply as he nodded to his sister.
"Gaara," Temari agreed then looked him over cautiously. "You don't look as crazy."
"Not for Kankuro's lack of trying," Gaara agreed with a nod.
"Guess Naruto-sama did good work after all," Temari said before looking around. "Where is he, anyway?"
"He stopped at the ramen stand," Kin stated with a shrug of her shoulders as she lightly began to eye Temari's brothers carefully. "Something about not going through this on an empty stomach."
"... Of course he did," Temari groaned as she lightly palmed her face. "He just couldn't make this simple."
"He doesn't do simple," Kin pointed out with a shrug. "You know that as well as I do."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Temari answered with a growl before looking back at her brothers. "So, you're here to finalize the ratification of the new treaty?"
"We're here to deliver a scroll and see how you're doing," Kankuro stated as he carefully looked his big sister over. "Well, you look all right... So they're not keeping you all locked up?"
"No, not really," Temari agreed with a nod and a shrug of her shoulders. "Hell, even been outside the village once already, picking up some new tricks as well."
"New tricks?" Gaara asked as he tilted his head a bit to the side.
Wordlessly, she held up her arm, and one of her fans snaked out. As her brother's watched, the fans snapped out, flashing open and closed. Sharp, shining razor's edges caught the sunlight as her arm moved with a fluid grace, keeping the fan moving until it snapped shut in her palm.
"You're getting better. Still needs work, though," a new voice noted as Jiraiya appeared standing on the wall above them, as he glanced at Gaara and Kankuro. "So, these your brothers, huh?"
"Yes," Temari stated flatly before sighing softly as she gestured. "Gaara, Kankuro, meet the old pervert."
"... Old pervert?" Gaara repeated as he looked questioningly at the man, while Kankuro went pale.
"... Temari? Are you trying to get killed?" Kankuro asked as he stared at his sister.
"No, not currently. Why?" she asked curiously.
"... You just called Jiraiya of the sannin, 'old pervert,'" he stated simply as he shifted lightly, staring up at the man with a kind of horrified awe.
"What else am I supposed to call the guy who could've been our uncle?" Temari asked simply with an innocent smile on her lips.
"... Wait, what?" Kankuro demanded as he wildly started to look from her to a bemused looking Jiraiya.
"You've been just waiting for that, haven't you?" Jiraiya asked with a chuckle as he looked back at Temari.
"I think I've been hanging around Naruto-sama too much," Temari admitted with an unrepentant smirk.
"What's this and why am I only learning about it now?" Kin demanded as she looked back at Temari.
Gaara merely blinked confusedly as he looked from Temari to Jiraiya in confusion.
"He used to sleep with our aunt," Temari answered, accompanied by Jiraiya's nod of agreement. "If she hadn't died, who knows what would've happened."
"Wait, there could've been little mini perverts running around?" Kin demanded her eyes wide as she stared at Temari, "... Hold it, there was a woman other than... Well you-know-who who would sleep with him?"
"... I am right here, you know." Jiraiya stated with a note of irritation.
"I'm sorry, someone else who would sleep with him without being paid?" Kin corrected. "And you're related to her?"
"Mhm," Temari agreed with a slight nod of her head, "Our mother's older sister."
"... And the world somehow still exists?" Kin asked again as she experimentally poked at a nearby wall. "We're not going to get things like spontaneously erupting tentacles, are we?"
"Ha. Ha," Jiraiya stated flatly. "Hilarious."
"I'm a bitch, remember?" Kin stated simply with a shrug of her shoulders, "Someone going to go get Naruto-sama?"
"Why would someone need to get him?" Jiraiya asked as his brow arched up.
"... Because he's off eating ramen somewhere?" Temari asked as she narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Ok, apparently I have to remind you of ninja rule number one," Jiraiya stated simply as he pointed up the wall. "Always remember to look up."
Sitting there up the wall, Naruto paused in the middle of eating his ramen, then slurped it down and waved, "Heya."
As he immediately resumed eating his meal, Temari and Kin looked at him for a moment, then at each other, then at him again. "Naruto-sama! Get down here!"
He paused again, slurping more of the noodles, before tilting his head to the side and looking thoughtful before shaking his head, "Nah, I think I'm good here. I've been enjoying eating my meal in peace."
"You do realize we can come up there make you come down here, don't you?" Kin stated as she glared up at her Master.
"Oh?" another voice asked.
"Can you, Kin-chan?" asked another.
Kin blinked slightly as suddenly there was a veritable wall of Narutos around them, all of them grinning back at her, before her eyes narrowed, "I can do that trick too, you know."
"Maybe, but we can do it better and our moves are just that much more awesome than yours are," one of the Narutos stated simply with a smirk.
"Um... are those all, you know... physical clones?" Kankuro asked as he glanced nervously at Temari.
"Yes," Temari stated flatly, before sighing softly. "I was hoping that we'd have a much more formal introduction, but, Naruto-sama is Naruto-sama."
"... And isn't this the loud mouthed brat that beat you, Gaara?" he asked as he glanced at his little brother.
"Indeed," Gaara agreed with a nod. "Naruto."
"Hey, Gaara," the main Naruto waved again before resuming his meal.
"... That's it?" Kankuro asked, blinking in confusion at his brother.
"You were expecting something different?" Gaara asked as he looked back at Kankuro.
"I thought you had a bunch of questions for him?"
"It's rude to interrupt someone when they're eating."
"Yes, it is," Naruto stated, before taking another slurp of his noodles.
"It's also rude to eat like that in front of other people," Temari stated in annoyance, crossing her arms about her chest
"And…?" Naruto asked, a bit of noodles hanging from his lips. "It's not like you never see me do this before."
Sighing softly, Temari put his hand on her face and rubbed it lightly, "And again, Naruto-sama is Naruto-sama. Whatever. Kankuro, Gaara, allow me to formally introduce you to Naruto-sama. Naruto-sama, I formally introduce you to my little brothers. They are here to make sure I'm all right, bring the acceptance of the new treaty back to Suna, and, in Kankuro's case, whine impotently about all the horribly perverted things he thinks you'll do to me."
"But who's gonna protect me from all the horribly perverted things you want to do to me?" Naruto demanded after taking another slurp of his noodles.
"No one," Jiraiya said in the perfect deadpan.
"I'll be happy to protect you, Naruto-sama," Kin stated eagerly.
"… I'd be safer having her protect me from you," he observed before draining the remainder of the ramen broth, and tossing the bowl to clone. "Make sure that gets back, will you?"
"Yeah, yeah," the clone grumbled before taking off the ramen stand.
"So, what's up?" Naruto asked, blasé to the glares he was receiving from his girls. "Some big fight? Do I need to worry about you trying to kill me, again in Gaara's case? Oh, maybe for your perverted sisters honor? Or is there another group of super bad asses out to try to kill me?"
"I wasn't," Gaara stated blandly. "And not that I'm aware of. I can't speak for Kankuro, though."
Kankuro stared at Naruto, his mouth hanging in disbelief. For a moment there was silence. Then an airy squeak left Kankuro's mouth.
Shrugging shoulders, Naruto let himself fall from the wall, twisted in midair to land on his feet on the street. "Okay then. Nice to see you again. I have to go have a talk with my girlfriend."
He paused at that, tilting his head to the side before looking over at Jiraiya and noting, "Man, I never thought I'd actually say that. Have fun. Don't get in trouble, or else."
"Or else?" Jiraiya asked his arms crossing about his chest as he looked down at the boy. "I think someone is forgetting who the apprentice is and who's the master."
"You and Granny already used up your 'be evil to Naruto and get away with it' allowance for this week," he responded swiftly. "And how much research will you get done if the guy who can be in a thousand places at once is working against you?"
Jiraiya paused, frowning as he gave Naruto look before speaking, "Are you trying to threaten me, brat?"
"I am threatening you," Naruto emphasized as he looked back over his shoulder at Jiraiya. "And if you tried to withhold training for it, I'll go to Granny and you can deal with her. Or she'll deal with you."
With that Naruto strolled off, his hands behind his head and whistling a melancholy tune. Behind him, Jiraiya scowled while the girls gaped, Garra blinked and Kankuro just stared. Finally, Jiraiya shook his head and stated, "The brat is getting too damned cheeky for his good."
When the fact that Jiraiya had actually allowed boy to say that to him registered in Kankuro's head, he finally strained his mental processes to the breaking point and they were forced to shut down.
"Your brother just fainted." Kin noticed in the strained voice.
"I think they finally cracked Naruto-sama," Temari stated seriously.
"You know, you might be right," Jiraiya admitted, then shrugged. "Ah, well, it'll be harder to crack next time."
"I'm curious," Gaara noted. "Is there something in the water here or is your insignia really a seal designed to warp human perception?"
"I'm afraid that is a highly classified bit of information we can not to disclose," Kin stated as she finally seemed to recover some of her wits.
He seemed to ponder that for a moment before nodding his head. "So it's type of communicable insanity?"
"No comment, Jiraiya stated flatly.
-o-o-o-
The quiet knocking on the door drew Inoichi's attention away from the warm bottle of sake he'd been contemplating. His wife had already denied his daughter from sharing a drink with them, despite the circumstances. Fortunately she couldn't bring herself to deny him the drink.
When he opened up the door and saw Naruto standing there… no, saw his daughter's boyfriend there, he sorely wished he was already halfway through the bottle.
"Ah, hello, Yamanaka-san. Is Ino here?" the boy asked hopefully.
For a moment Inoichi stared at him, his hand still on the door, before he asked in a coolly neutral voice, "You mean, ' is your girlfriend here?'"
"She, um, told you, I guess?" Naruto asked, suddenly rather nervous.
"If by that you mean told me that the two of you kissed, with tongue," he answered, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Then yes."
"Just so I'm clear, this is an angry father thing, not a jinchuuriki thing, right?" Naruto asked for clarification.
Palming his face lightly, Inoichi rubbed the skin over his eyes for a moment, before responding, "No, Naruto, this is not a jinchuuriki thing. This is a ' you had your tongue in my little Princess' mouth' thing."
Naruto brightened visibly and nodded his head happily, "As long as it's not a jinchuuriki thing!"
Inoichi stared at him for a moment before opening the door and resignation, "She's in the kitchen with her mother."
"Thanks, Yamanaka-san!" Naruto declared happily.
There was a moment where Inoichi just stared after Naruto as the boy quickly started the dart inside, then stopped a few feet in and turned around, grinning sheepishly. As he scratched the back of his head, he asked, "Um, where's the kitchen?"
Shoulders slumping, Inoichi hung his head and then motioned for Naruto to follow him. For the duration of the short guidance, the man was sure this was what it felt like to be condemned. He was leading his daughter's boyfriend to go meet her inside of his own house. The one she had already admitted it to kissing rather intimately.
"Who was at the door, dear?" his wife asked curiously before her eyes widened as he stepped aside and revealed a rather sheepish looking at Naruto. "Oh, dear, is this who I think it is?"
"Naruto-kun!" Ino almost shouted as her eyes widened.
"Hi, Ino-chan," he stated nervously. "Can I, ah, talk to you for a moment? In private?"
Inoichi made a slightly strangled sound and looked decidedly uncomfortable with that statement. Seeing the look on his face, his wife smiled sweetly and asked, "Oh my, so bold! Already looking to indulge our daughter in her carnal desires? Such a good boy you are!"
Naruto froze in place as he could feel slowly building trickle of killing intent starting to flow out of the man next to him. Slowly turning his head, he looked up at the Inoichi with wide trembling eyes before again asking, "This is still not a jinchuuriki thing, right?"
"No. Uzumaki-san, it is most definitely not a jinchuuriki thing," Inoichi growled.
"Good, because the whole 'carnal desires' thing is not why I'm here," Naruto said with a bright blush. "I gotta talk to her about what Granny is making me do."
"Sounds serious," Ino's mother noted before tilting her head to the side. "You're not going to be sent off in a political marriage, are you? Because we didn't really raise our daughter to be the mistress type. Though, if you're good enough, we might make an exception."
Ino looked almost ready to explode, her face was so red. As she stared wide-eyed from her mother, to Naruto, to her father, and then cycled between them, she struggled to keep up with what they were saying. When she finished processing what her mother just said, she opened her mouth to protest angrily only to be beaten to the punch by Naruto.
"NO!" he protested viciously. "It's not like that! She's making me take two more spoils! She won't let me talk her out of it!"
Into stared at him incredulously, "She's making you take two more?"
"Yes!" he agreed with an almost violent nod of his head. "I sure as hell don't want anything to do with them!"
That sentence maybe gears turn in all three Yamanakas heads. Inoichi was the first to get it, leaving him to stare at Naruto and mix of pity and aggravation. His wife followed a moment later as she sighed and closed her eyes. As she spoke, Ino's eyes had finally lit up with both the realization and outrage.
"Well, that's us, both tragic and wonderful," she stated with a sigh and a shake of her head and looked out into the window. "But now, far, far more tragic. And the second?"
"Wonderful? WONDERFUL?!" Ino demanded, her face lit up in absolute outrage, "She's a traitor! She tried to defect to Orochimaru! She attacked Sakura! She should be gutted and hung by her own intestines while she drowns in her own vomit and blood!"
Naruto mumbled under his breath to quiet for them to hear while nodding his head in agreement, though giving Ino an odd look.
"That would be the tragic part, dear," she stated gently. "Though I can imagine a number of reasons Tsunade-sama would do that. She is the last Uchiha in the village. Leaving her to waste away in a cell would be…"
She glanced over at Inoichi, "What would you say, dear?"
He winced, almost flinching back at her words, before giving their look as if to say "Do I have to respond to that?" When she nodded her head, he pinched his nose, "I don't like it any more than you do, Princess, but unfortunately politics is politics. And the politics in this situation say that we would lose too much if we executed her or left her rotting in prison. I take it there are protections in place in the seal?"
Reluctantly nodding his head, Naruto spoke, "Yeah, I decide how far away from me she can get. And other stuff. You'd have to talk to the old pervert to get the full list."
"And the other one?" Ino demanded,
"...They have to make sure that applying the seal will actually get rid of the cursed seal without killing her," he stated. "That means that I have to try it out on someone else with the cursed seal first."
Ino just stared at him for a moment, her mind working through the information he'd given her. Then she collapsed back into her seat, "The sound bitch Kin beat down?"
"Yeah," he admitted as he slumped into a seat, then looked up at her pleadingly. "You have to believe me, Ino-chan! I tried to tell her no! They wouldn't let me!"
She just looked at him for a moment, staring at him with dull looking eyes, before sighing heavily. Without saying a word she stood up and walked over to him. Silently she studied him before sitting down in his lap and wrapping them up in a hug. "I believe you."
Inoichi coughed uncomfortably, shifting as he fought between the protective father and how adorable the scene was. The warning narrowing of his wife's eyes quickly settled that. "I… I'm going to go check on store."
"You do that, dear," his wife agreed. "That'll give me plenty of time to get to know our daughter's boyfriend."
As he left, Inoichi had to admit he did feel a sense of vindication that at least the boy was going to get some level of torment. Even if he didn't gets properly introduce him to his shovel. Fortunately there was always later for that... As long as he didn't keep making sure it wasn't a jinchuuriki thing.
-o-o-o-
"Sasuke Uchiha," the voice stated flatly.
She sat up at her name and then looked dully at the door. After a moment she could hear the audible sound of the lock opening. Then the audible squeal of protests from the hinges opening up reached her ears.
Standing in the doorway was the woman she guessed to be Tsunade Senju, the Hokage. Tall, blonde, with an impossibly impressive bust in a grey top, with a green jacket hanging on her shoulders. And cold, distant eyes staring down at her.
For a moment there was silence as the two stared at one another, before Sasuke broke it by speaking, "Am I to be transferred to the prison now?"
"No," she stated simply. "We don't plan to send you to the prison."
"Execution, then?" she asked dully, bringing one leg back against her chest, her heel catching on the edge of your seat, tilting forward as she rested her chin on her knee.
"That was my preferred choice, yes," the Hokage agreed. "However that may or may not be your fate."
"...I'm being given a choice?" she asked, her brows furrowing in disbelief.
"No. You lost that right when you decided to turn traitor," Tsunade stated with a slight hiss of displeasure in her voice. "There is no choice. We are testing an alternative. If it works, it will be applied to you. If it does not, I will decide whether or not you will be publicly executed for your crime."
"… An alternative?"
"You are the one who was so eager to sell herself into slavery. You may just get your wish."