The hideout was pitch black but with his sharigan activated, he could see everything. To his shock along the walls were…cells and inside them were people!

The people in the cells were…skinny, in rags and for some reason they all seem to be... asleep. At least he hoped they were. With his keikei genkai he could see that the cells were draining their chakra. No wonder they looked asleep they could not move.

Where did they come from? Where they from the land of snow and if so, why did not the daimyo tell them this part of this mission.

Sasuke groaned in frustration and walked towards one of the cells.

". hey...hello...?" he called as he tapped on one of the cell bars.

The person changed to the floor could only groan. And he could not get a good look at their face to get them to tell him what the heck was going on.

"anyone here able to speak?" he asked coldly

"Sasuke…?" a tired voice asked "Sasuke Uchiha!?"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he followed the voice. To his shock, chained to the floor was rock lee, Temari and Karen.

What were they doing here? Without thought Sasuke broke the iron bars with his jutsu and made a shadow clone of himself.

"find the leader…he's somewhere here."

His clone nodded and disappeared.

He then summoned garuda.

"garuda…I need you to find lady tora and Nagisa. Help them with whatever they need and then lead them back here. "

With that down, Sasuke broke the chakra chains with lighting and managed to carry the trio outside the hideout.

He was not good at medical jutsu, but he was able to transfer a little bit of his chakra into them. He was glad rock lee was energized enough to talk to him. the other two were knocked out cold.

"lee…what are you three doing here? And how did you get this way." He asked

"we had a mission. Temari was recruited to help us from suna and Karin was asked to join us because of her medical jutsu. It was supposed to be a simple escort mission but then we were attacked. We left the leaf three days ago and we were supposed to return in four days…so I Imagine no one's too worried. We were simply passing through the land of snow until the man we were escorting attacked us and he had men ambush us. They knocked us out and we woke up here. But as our chakra was being drained it became harder and harder to focus. And biting Karen wasn't going to help."

Sasuke looked at the trio and shook his head. It was time to end this.

Hinata was healing the exhausted tigers named Tomoya and Akira.

Akira was Nagisa's mate and Tomoya was Akira's younger brother. The last tiger they needed to find was Aki. Aki was Tomoya's mate. This was good. With all four tigers mated and paired they could repopulate.

"Nagisa…? Is that you?" Akira asked tiredly

"it's me akira. I'm so sorry it took me so long to find you." Nagisa said as big tears rolled down her face.

"ssh. Do not cry…you found Tomoya and just in time. and tell me who is this human healing me. Did you use your jutsu to control her?"

"...no Akira…she is my partner...we have bonded." Nagisa said it so quietly Hinata almost did not hear her.

Before he could reply a loud bird, call was heard. Hinata looked up to see garuda swoop down and land in front of her.

He put his leg out and tied around it was a note.

Hinata read it and gasped.

"Nagisa...if I transfer some of my chakra to you, will you be able to heal them?"

"yes. I can handle it. go help lord Uchiha."

With a nod, Hinata put her mask on and headed for Sasuke.

Sasuke... closed his eyes and breathed. The enemy was five steps just behind him. if he swung his blade right, he would attack his shoulder.

How did he know? well he could hear them. They were not being that quiet.

Just as expected the enemy was behind him.

Sasuke dived and his sword sliced right through the man's shoulder. Even in pitch black darkness, he could still aim correctly.

"you bastard! You attacked my men! Released some of my prisoners! now you attacked me! I will kill you for this" the enemy shouted in the darkness.

With ease Sasuke appeared behind the man and stabbed him right through the heart. He then cast his secret jutsu of absorbing all the information he needed or wanted from the man's mind.

Let us see… his name is rio, he kidnapped people from neighboring villages and dared their chakra to become powerful. He then was going to attack one of the neighboring villages, and somehow blame another village. From his perspective it would have cause another war and he would be the center of it and the savior.

Sasuke pulled back and stumbled backwards.

There was one casualty of using that jutsu. It drained him of everything and gave him a horrible headache, but he had to press through. All the prisoners needed to be released and then there was the fact that lee saw his face. He would surely tell the Hokage…

The pain skyrocketed through his head.

"aah."

"Sasuke...?!" a voice called.

It was Hinata.

He let out a moan of pleasure as he felt her fingertips brush against his skin.

"look at you are overexerting yourself again." She told him as she helped him of the cave. She wore her mask as asked and tried not to speak too much.

He looked over her shoulder and saw that Karin and Temari were awake, but they were weak.

". the daimyo needs to know that her people are down there." He told her.

"garuda and I will go."

Sasuke looked up to see three tigers and his hawk sitting in the tree.

"fine. Go but be careful." He told her.

Nagisa nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke alongside garuda.

"Sasuke?! It's really you!" Karin said as she jogged towards him. her arms were opened as to hug him but to his surprise Hinata got in her way, katanna pressed to her neck.

"you never run towards a tigress's mate. Its disrespectful." Tomoya said as he jumped down from the tree and rubbed against Hinata's leg.

"m-mate! Sasuke what is this thing talking about?"

"sit down Karen. Your still Injured. Why use up the chakra you have left. Who knows how many hours it will take for the snow nin to find us? Besides…my wife doesn't like other people touching me."

Karen's eyes went huge. Sasuke's…wife! no. she could not believe it he had only been away from the leaf for five months.

"it's only been five months and your married! Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

Before she knew it, she found herself numb and on the ground.

"once again…you shouldn't disrespect a tiger's mate. The women standing before you are a member of the tiger clan. And therefore, is very protective of what is hers and let me tell you she is not happy. Now she could kill you, but she is being merciful. So, I suggest you back off." Tomoya said causally as he sat at Hinata's feet and began to lick himself.

Temari looked on in shock and curiosity. One Sasuke Uchiha had a wife? Two whoever his wife was, she did not have a chakra signature. Temari could not read it all. And three she had heard about the search for Sasuke Uchiha. All the shinobi world had heard about the search for Sasuke Uchiha. So, should she attack? Would lee and Karin join her? was it even worth it. he did save their lives and the people in the hideout.

"Sasuke! Do not you know that ninja from the leaf is looking for you! The leaf wants you back! They need you back… the rebel forces are getting stronger…and it's looking like we might go to war again!" Karin said from the ground.

Sasuke eyes went wide, however before he could.

Snow nin appeared.

"we've come to help…but it looked like you got everything done." One of them said as they eyed Sasuke.

"you have people chained up down there." Sasuke said as he leaned in to Hinata's touch. She was healing some of the smaller scratches and bruises on his face. It was unnecessary but he knew she needed something to do.

"We need to speak to the daimyo please." Temari told the ninja.

"that's fine. She wants to see all of you anyway."

Hinata helped Sasuke up while lee helped Temari stand. As the group began to walk Hinata thread her fingers through Sasuke's.

She did not notice the murderous glare Karin had on her face.