I am profusely apologising through your electronic screen for leaving this fic dead for about a month without working on it, but with golden light and triumphant trumpets, I bring you the fifth chapter. Please enjoy. (Unfortunately, this was not proofread-)

The kage bunshin made its way silently to the rendezvous point, remembering to keep its chakra as low as possible. It lurched forward suddenly, hitting a tree by accident as pain shot up from its chest. The clone coughed, frowning.

"Fucking seals," it muttered to itself. "I'm barely gonna make it."

It heaves a sigh, before inhaling in the fresh scent of pine, calming its throbbing chest. It takes a quick view around, a survey of the area, making sure that it didn't leave any traces behind it. The clone was getting closer to the point, and right on time as well, thankfully. A small ninken dog paced around its feet, obviously unsettled.

"Pakkun?"

"We gotta get a move on," the ninken sniffed. "Something's not right."

"With me, or the real me?" The kage bunshin smiled dryly. "Because I certainly don't feel amazing."

The dog rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, the seal whatever. We need to move, you don't want to be late to your meeting with your—" the dog cleared his throat, "—cute little kouhai, huh?"

"You suck at impressions," the clone said airily. "Which direction?"

The put set off on a brisk run, giving a scoff to kage bunshin. The clone smiled, easily keeping up, but winced once in a while as the seal flared. He didn't know exactly how the seal worked — it seemed to function as a forced chakra transferal technique, and nothing else. It didn't restrict Kakashi (the real him) from using his chakra however he liked, but the more he used it, the more he risked going into a severe chakra exhaustion state, risking death. And Kakashi was a very careful person, despite what his old Academy classmates would claim, so he didn't test the limits of the seal yet. Not when he can slowly accumulate chakra over time. He just had to be patient.

Pakkun slowed slightly, making sure the clone was keeping up, before darting sharply to the right and leaping over a stray tree root. The kage bunshin followed without any noise, twisting his feet just as he left the ground in every step to cover their tracks. Both were excellent in tracking, which meant they knew exactly what to cover so they wouldn't be tracked.

The clone felt it when Pakkun slowed. This was the place. No one else would give off such an eery vibe if not for his 'cute little kouhai'.

"Careful," the ninken murmured, "don't overexert yourself."

"So you do care for this shabby lil' clone," the kage bunshin smiled. "Don't worry. I'll make it quick. Can't strain real-me too much."

The dog deadpanned, snorted and de-summoned himself with a small reassuring nod from the clone. The kage bunshin watched until the smoke dissipated before it walked quietly into the small clearing in the midst of all the trees.

There was a man on the opposite side of the small clearing, and the moonlight lit the area with a soft pale white glow. The clone knew who it was, and mentally thanked Bisuke for his job in delivering the message across the country.

"Senpai," the man tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Itachi-kun," the clone smiled brightly. "Man, is it great to see you."

The Akatsuki member raised his eyebrows slightly, the only show of emotion he ever had. "Where have you been, senpai?"

"Everywhere and anywhere," the clone eye-smiled, "gotta be specific, Itachi-kun."

The man sighed, but it held a hint of amusement. "The last month. You disappeared." Before the clone could say anything, the younger nukenin continued, "and don't try to deny it. Why else would you have called this meeting with a clone?"

The kage bunshin smiled. "How'd you know?" It was a kage bunshin for a reason, no one should be able to tell.

Itachi looked thoughtful for a second. "Hunch."

"Maa," the clone settled down on the ground opposite the Uchiha, "details never go unnoticed by my amazing genius kouhai, huh?"

"Find someone?"

The clone blinked at the quick change of topic, before smiling. "Nah. Got myself into, uh, a little situation, you could say." It waved an arm around mindlessly. "Need a little help, please?"

Itachi nodded gently. "What kind of help?"

"Supplies," the clone trailed off for a second, "actually make that two sets of supplies. Please?"

"Sure," the nukenin straightened his back. "Why two? You have your back-up set with your ninken in the summoning dimension, I think."

"I do," the bunshin sighed. "Complications."

Itachi looked at him, expecting an answer.

The kage bunshin's smile dulled. "Well, ran into a couple of others who ended up in the same situation as I did. Thought I could help them out since they helped me out. Also, if you have time after doing whatever this nukenin organisation's getting you to do, could you please load this place up with explosive seals at this location?"

The Uchiha smoothly caught a scroll the clone tossed to him and barely glanced at it before tucking it away under the folds of his Akatsuki cloak. He knew his former taichou's clone was changing the topic, but he let it be, trusting the older man's instincts. The clone itself was hidden under the shadows of the tall trees, but the sun was rising and the white light slowly shifted to a warmer brighter yellow glare, which shone through the leaves, revealing the full extent of the clone's injuries and appearance.

"You look pretty bad," the younger man said, eyeing the leftovers of the clone's clothing that mirror the real Kakashi's, and the dried blood littering his limbs and torso.

The clone waved it off, grimacing. "Not a terribly good situation, I'm afraid. Don't worry, I've pretty much got it down and I'm handling it."

"I'm sure you do," the Uchiha sounded sincere. He knew Kakashi, and he knew that if the Copy-nin was caught off guard — if that absurd situation even occurred, he would be able to bound back up like he was never down in the first place.

"Thanks, Tachi-kun," the nickname slipped off the kage bunshin's tongue from habit, "I owe you one."

"We don't owe each other anymore," Itachi corrected. "You did me a big favour, senpai. It's only fair that I do the same."

"You're the best kouhai ever," the clone smiled.

The Uchiha stood, ready to leave. "Ah, I do recall you saying that to Tenzo-san. And Genma-senpai, and Yugao-san-"

"Right, right, technicalities. You're the best kouhai in this instance," the bunshin spread his arms out. "How's that?"

The nukenin's smile was fleeting, but it was there. Just as Itachi turned away, he paused, as if suddenly remembering something. "Senpai," he turned back around, voice serious, "I heard that Team Seven from Konoha was recently declared MIA."

The clone blinked. "Team Seven?"

"Missing in Action," the Uchiha confirmed. "Konoha announced it just yesterday, and they sent out a rescue team. From what I heard, they've been missing for at least a week."

"A week," the kage bunshin repeated. "Who's on the team?"

"My brother," Itachi inclined his head, "the Jinchuuriki, and a civilian girl."

The clone became silent.

"Do you know anything?"

"No," the bunshin said slowly, honestly, after a moment's silence. "My real self might, but we're not that well-versed in bunshin jutsu to be able to communicate this far away from each other. I — he? — did see a girl enter; pink hair, green eyes. Might've been the civi girl. He used the chance when the door opened to send Bisuke and a bunshin out," the clone gestured to himself, "me."

"Pink hair?" Itachi nodded slowly. "I'll see what I can find."

The bunshin nodded. "Alright. Thank you, Itachi. Stay safe."

"You too." The younger nukenin gave him a leveling stare. "Don't do anything too risky, senpai."

"What's our job occupation again?" The clone smiled.

"Be careful," his kouhai sighed.

The kage bunshin's smile softened. "I know, you too. Don't do anything too over your morals, yeah? Nukenin organisations are exactly...great."

Itachi nodded, turning away, face disappearing into the shadows. There was a short moment of delay before the Uchiha was gone in a swirl of crows, the black birds swirling up into the air in a swarm. Kakashi's clone did suspect the nukenin was using a clone but didn't check, to preserve chakra and because he trusted Itachi not to pull anything dangerous. There was a faint cry of the birds before they were gone without a trace, and the bunshin collapsed onto the ground, no longer having the energy to sit upright. It did its job. Now it just had to dispel.

But before it did, it glanced upwards towards the sky. It was sunrise.

When the clone disappeared in a small puff of smoke, it closed its eyes burning the image of the warm orange glow of the sky into its memory. Kakashi — the clone included — hasn't seen the sky in months.

As Kakashi opened his eyes in the dark cell, his lips pulled at the tips as he remembered the sunrise.

.

"I'm back," Naruto murmured, barely making it through the iron doorway before he collapsed onto his front.

Sasuke was there, easily catching him, but it was done awkwardly as the boy couldn't move his right foot. He cushioned the fall with his own body, locking his arms around the Jinchuuriki to make sure that the boy didn't flail around.

Sakura shuffled over. "Welcome back, Naruto. Where does it hurt?"

"Stomach," his voice was muffled against Sasuke's knee.

The Uchiha gently rolled him over, and his face turned to stone as he recognised the leftovers the rats had made. It had only been two days since their last 'joint session' as Sorocho likes to call it, but Naruto was already doing rats again. In contrast, Sorocho hasn't even touched the dark-haired boy's foot, instead using kunais to do his pleasurable work. Sasuke didn't know if he should envy or pity the Uzumaki for having such a fast healing ability.

The two genin didn't even flinch at the sight of blood and literal guts spilling out from the boy's body anymore; they simply got on with what they needed to do. The faint green glow of Sakura's chakra pressed against Naruto's bleeding stomach, and the Jinchuuriki relaxed against her touch. He turned to Sasuke with a bit of curiosity in his eyes, opening his mouth with a grimace to speak.

"So, teme," he winced with every word, "what have y'all been learning when I—" his voice cut off and he inhaled with a raspy breath, "—was gone?"

Sasuke glared at him. "Shut up."

"Eh?"

"Shut up, and then I'll tell you," the boy ground out. "You're making Sakura work harder if you pull at your injuries like that."

"The rats almost got to his main arteries and lungs," the girl muttered.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows as if to say 'see?', which reminded the blond boy powerfully of when the old Jiji would look at him for eating ramen for every meal in a week. Naruto sighed at the sudden throwback, shoving the memory away, before nodding slowly. "Okay," he grumbled.

"We were doing theory about taijutsu and strategy." Sasuke looked away, trying to think back. "And chakra transferral. Then we did some chakra meditation before we started to manifest chakra into blades around our hands."

Naruto opened his mouth to complain, but a simple glare from his teammate had him shutting down and settling back into his comfortable position.

"Taijutsu?" He questioned, trying to keep his words to a minimum.

"Theories on what type of styles would suit who, how to identify specific styles, and the weaknesses of each," Kakashi spoke up, voice just as calming as the boy remembered. "It is hard without a demonstration, but I tried to be as descriptive as I could."

Naruto pouted.

"He thinks it's not fair," Sasuke translated flatly. "Well obviously, we started off with meditation but you were taking a while so we decided to go into theory."

"Also," Sakura murmured distantly, "we learnt about the Bijuu."

Naruto blinked. He mouthed to Sasuke, who looked like he would trade places with anyone else — honestly, no twelve-year-old wants to be there supporting their teammate who could die from his injuries — but the blond boy knew that his teammate cared, even if it was a little tiny bit. Sasuke watched him carefully, before sighing, "what's the Bijuu? Fine, well, Tailed Beasts."

His teammate gave him an unimpressed look.

"Nine Tailed Beasts," Kakashi recounted in place of the Uchiha, and Naruto craned his neck slightly to look towards the man. "Not nine-tailed, but nine different Tailed Beasts called the Bijuu. It starts off with Ichibi, then Nibi, Sanbi, and so on."

"We learnt about the Kyuubi," Sasuke continued. "The nine-tailed fox."

Naruto wondered why they were speaking at such a slow rate.

"Sasuke, roll him clockwise slightly so I can see the full injury please."

The boy followed Sakura's instructions to the letter, stopping as soon as she called for it. Their teamwork had shot up considerably, despite their struggle at the beginning. It might have been unconsciously, but they knew that to be able to survive, they needed each other's help and abilities. Not just that, but each other's company was enough to keep them from going insane.

"Kyuubi?" Naruto's voice was raw, and Sasuke realised that he needed attention to his vocal area.

Without delay, the Uchiha lit his own hand up with a green-blue chakra and tended to his teammate's throat. "The Kyuubi," he confirmed. "We talked about its history, and then we talked about the Bijuu's jinchuuriki."

Naruto gave a knowing smile, and he realised right then that this was the reason why they were talking so slow. It wasn't even trying to let the injured teammate understand, but they were trying to ease him into the topic. He mouthed, what else did Kakashi-san say?

The Uchiha gave him a hard stare, gauging the boy's reaction and running through simulations in his head. Naruto elbowed him in the stomach weakly, despite Sakura's sudden shriek and order for him not to move. "Naruto!"

"Sorry," Naruto croaked, pleasantly surprised to find his throat feel much more throat-like. They lapsed into a drawn out silence, and Sasuke pulled his hand away once he couldn't feel huge holes in the boy's 'medical chakra system'. That was what they named it and Kakashi didn't put too much care into what it was called, as long as they could use it and save each other.

"You're the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki — holder," Sasuke said at last. "Right?"

Naruto nodded tiredly. "Mmm."

"We've seen your stomach enough times with the seal intact to get curious," Sakura added. "This must be what's sealing the Kyuubi inside you." Her fingers ghost over the permanent black ink, which never failed to show up every time, despite rats eating from inside out. It seemed even Sorocho didn't dare try the Bijuu, or the Bijuu just healed Naruto enough that the seal was untouched.

"He's really salty," Naruto smiled, "likes to yell at me a lot."

"You talk to him?" Kakashi asked, just as Sasuke opened his mouth to do the same.

"He likes to yell at him—" Naruto flinched at the mention of their torturer but continued strongly, "—to undo the seal. Never works though, he works around it like magic. Then he likes to yell at me, try to threaten me. But even if he's a big fellow, he's not that scary, dattebayo."

Sasuke had a look on his face that screamed disbelief.

"He's scared," Naruto offered, "angry. A lot like us."

The boy didn't know just yet how uncommon it was to talk — even for a split second — to the Bijuu, especially to the Kyuubi. He didn't know that the nine-tailed fox was the one who hated the most, and his hatred was directed at humans, and specifically, Jinchuuriki. But Naruto took it all in a stride, because he was treated with more contempt, and more hate than the Bijuu could ever hope to muster.

He cleared his throat as Sasuke shifted to lean backwards onto the bars. "That's all you did? Nothing," the blond boy glanced around, "fancy?"

"How fancy are you thinking?" Sasuke replied dryly.

Sakura glanced up, alerting her teammates. Sasuke was already moving over, shuffling awkwardly on the ground while keeping Naruto and his still-healing foot stationary. "Where?" He asked, knowing exactly what his teammate needed.

"There," she pointed, "it's infected."

Naruto didn't even bother to ask how she knew; Kakashi ran their 'theory classes' tailored to the people within the cell. He knew that Sakura was terribly proficient with medical ninjutsu so it would make sense that she would be run through the more advanced details.

The Uchiha's hands were encased in the green glow again, before he pressed it against a wall of Naruto's insides. He made a face of disgust at how slimy it was, the blood leaking through his fingertips, but didn't pull away.

"Mmm," Naruto lulled his head sideways. "Oh look, Okawa-san. Hey..."

Sakura's head turned, but she quickly looked back at where she was busy saving Naruto's digestive system. Sasuke turned to address the man instead, not a bit of embarrassment in his tone when he twisted around to face the guard. His lets were somehow acting as a pillow for his teammate, but his hands were holding up a side of Naruto's abdomen. It was a very awkward position to be, and adding on his twisted head to look at the entrance to the cell which turned at least ninety degrees.

"Okawa-san." The Uchiha's voice was low.

The man was holding four familiar trays. He blinked, before echoing the boy's monotone, "food."

"Thank you," Sasuke said gruffly, prompted from a glance from Naruto. He never liked the glances Okawa gave either of his teammates, especially when he manhandled them in order to control them when escorting. The Uchiha bit back a sharp comment, and instead accepting the food with a single hand, before quickly distributing the food to his teammates.

Four trays, Sasuke mused, holding the last one thoughtfully in his hand, he wondered if Kakashi was going to give his food away to them again. Naruto had devoured it with a guilty look, despite all of Kakashi's reassuring, and Sasuke himself had begrudgingly eaten it when the nukenin said it was going to waste otherwise. Sakura was the only one who forced herself not to eat it, leaving it for Naruto.

"Thanks 'Kawa-san," Naruto slurred, a weak smile on his face.

The man nodded slightly, before turning to leave. But Sakura spoke up, noticing something that even Sasuke didn't, "Okawa-san, you're limping slightly. Is there something I can help with? Maybe your ankle?"

The guard froze.

Sasuke cursed, recognising the sudden pressure when the man turned and moved to intercept but he wasn't fast enough — Naruto was still laying over his legs and Sakura was moving towards them — and he could only watch helplessly again as the man's hand shot out to grab the girl's pink hair.

He easily towered over all of them, but Sasuke only really processed his height when he easily lifted Sakura off the ground, her toes barely touching the cold concrete floor as his arm forms a perfect angle with his shoulder. His hand was buried deep in the roots of her hair, and he shook her around without mercy. "Just because," he said lowly, voice scratched and harsh.

"Just because?" Sakura repeated, her own voice strained but didn't shake. There was a fire in her eyes that wasn't there before, and she set her jaw tightly in defiance.

"Just because you have a moral compass somewhere there," the man jabbed a finger mercilessly into her chest making her cough, "doesn't mean you should talk to me so freely. Do everyone a favour and shut up."

A growl formed on Sasuke's throat, and he started to push Naruto off himself. The Jinchuuriki had no complaints, his former weariness replaced with a tired protectiveness. Both of them knew that Sakura was always picked on out of the three ever since they formed the group; from the clueless viewers outside that think she would never keep up with the boys' genetic traits to the fuck-head of a sensei who ignored her the whole time she listened attentively to his every lesson. Somehow, that made Sasuke pity her further and Naruto relate to her deeper.

Okawa's eyes darted to the left, where Sasuke was. The boy moved fast, but the man was faster. He kicked a tray of food into the boy's face, with the shinobi's reflexes kicking in to block the curry and rice from his face.

"Sasuke!" It was Sakura's voice.

Brown-yellow curry dripped down the Uchiha's bare arms, his glare from behind cold enough to paralyse.

But Okawa simply stared back, challenging the boy's gaze. Sakura kicked the man as hard as she could, but he yanked her away and she swung awkwardly in the air. "Sasuke, are you okay?"

Sasuke ignored her. "Let her go."

The man sneered, and Sasuke suddenly had the thought that maybe he looked like that just a couple of weeks before. "Then here." The man tossed the twelve-year-old girl like a rag doll at the genin, who fumbled to catch her in the least curry-covered way. The girl pinned the man under a wolf glare, and it might've been a trick of the light, but Sasuke swore he saw her green eyes glow menacingly.

"Touch any of my boys," the Haruno seethed, shaking stray pink strands out of her face, "and I will kill you. It's a promise."

Okawa gave her a blank, uninterested stare. "Good night, Hatake-san," he said finally, before turning away to leave. Just as he walked past the cell, he turned to give an eery smile towards Sakura, his mouth moving to say, "yes, I do have a limp."

And he was gone.

Sakura instantly whirled around, eyes wide. "Sasuke, are you hurt anywhere? Did he hurt you—"

"Clean yourself up," the boy said flatly. "You have food in your hair."

She paused. "I do?"

"I got it on you," he jerked his head to a corner of the cell, "get it out before it dries."

"Mmm," Naruto agreed.

Sakura turned around to give him a half-hearted glare. "You need to shut up and sleep. Got it?"

"The food'll get cold," he protested weakly.

"You'll just puke it back up," Sakura rolled her eyes, moving to the other side of the cell. There was a bucket of water, delivered as a show of goodwill from Okubo on their fourth day, to clean themselves and hydrate. Kakashi was wise to tell them to separate the drinking and the cleaning water, and Sasuke eyed the empty tray they had used to store the fresh drinking water. They were running out.

Speaking of the nukenin, his head was hanging lower than usual. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Most likely sleeping; the man was awake the whole time waiting for Naruto, and Sakura before him. He had to have been awake for at least twenty-four hours, and for someone who could barely produce the bottom line amount of chakra needed for the body, that was almost at his limit.

"Not too much water," Sasuke took it on himself to take the role the man usually did, trying not to sound as detached as he could. "You don't want to get a cold, and avoid getting your clothes wet."

Sakura replied with a tired smile, and she plopped down next to the pail of water. Sasuke watched her as she picked up the rag they had been using as a cloth, from about two metres away, on the other side of the cell. he cursed, shaking off as much curry as he could. Naruto made disgusted noises as it flew around, but the Uchiha was nice enough to point it away from his teammate.

"Teme."

"Hn," he barely moved his head sideways to show that he was listening.

"My head feels cold."

The Uchiha scowled, understanding immediately. "No."

"But I'm the patient—"

"And I'm also a patient," the dark-haired boy replied smoothly, "no. You were undergoing medical treatment, obviously, you need to be set up due to medic's orders. But right now, you're fine and recovering."

"Sakura," the boy whined, turning his head. "Please make him my pillow."

She simply gave a shrug. "Sasuke's coming here next to get all that sticky stuff off him, so there's no point."

"You're no help," Naruto pouted. "Fine. I'll sleep. Is Kakashi-san sleeping?"

"Mhm," Sakura looked up at the man hung right beside her.

Naruto's face had an unreadable emotion on it. Sasuke didn't bother trying to decipher it. "He should get the rest. He was up all worried about you, Sakura-ch — Sakura, fuck I'm so sorry!"

The other two startled, jolting on the spot. Naruto never cursed. It was a forbidden rule that everyone knew, but when he did, it was always because something was seriously wrong. Or maybe Sasuke was rubbing off on him, it could be that too.

The girl smiled. "It's fine."

"No it's not," the blond Jinchuuriki said honestly, "I promise I'll get rid of the habit. I'm so sorry!'

The Haruno gave him a weird look, and Sasuke could understand why. Normally, people wouldn't care so much about an honorific, but unbeknownst to her, the boys had ran through a heavy theory session on triggers, courtesy of Kakashi concern for the team's wellbeing. Sakura had gone through something traumatic, so it wouldn't be unusual for her to develop PTSD or some other fear-related issue, but they could help if they avoided the potential trauma stimulus.

"He's just jumpy," Sasuke snorted, pushing the boy with his heel, "ignore him. You should get some rest, you did just patch up an entirely demolished abdomen."

All three of them looked — Naruto tried but failed — to look at the boy's stomach, and they all blanched at the sight of the open area with blood still leaking out from various places. It was still a mess, albeit a cleaner mess than before.

"We just need to believe in the Kyuubi," Sakura sighed, standing up and tossing the wet rag at Sasuke. "And hope that the chakra works."

He caught it, catching the whiff of curry along with it. She gave him raised eyebrows, and he sighed, "yes, I know. Make sure this dobe doesn't move at all."

"Who's the medic here?" The girl replied dryly, but settled beside the Uzumaki without hesitation.

The Uchiha hobbled to the water awkwardly, his foot horribly disfigured. Even Kakashi had stepped in to do medical ninjutsu, and despite the man's claims to be extremely inferior in the skillset, he did such an efficient job it made Sasuke think that he had the potential to become a med-nin. He had saved Sasuke's career, and not only that, but his ability to fight and gain revenge. He saved the functionality of the boy's entire left foot, even if it looked like a oddly grown potato lump.

"I'll be fine, the Kyuubi'll heal me, dattebayo," Naruto was saying.

Sasuke made a sound suspiciously like a scoff, but he was quick to hide it with a cough. Sakura gave him a glare.

"Don't worry," she smiled at their blond teammate, "we believe in you. And the Kyuubi."

Believing? Sasuke sighed, scrubbing at the already-solidifying curry on his arms. The only thing they could believe in now were miracles. He knew that Sorocho was no rip-off, the man could very well kill them without a second thought and he had the ability to do so.

Looking up at the sleeping nukenin, Sasuke winced thinking about how the man would deal with it if it did happen. For some reason, the man was weirdly attached to the group. Maybe it's because he was once a part of Konoha? But, and the Uchiha didn't know if it was a good thing or bad, Sorocho had an obsession with pain, keeping them alive for the time being. He scowled. Sadists.

"Teme," Naruto's voice was weakening even more, "hey."

The boy looked up. "Finally sleeping?"

"Can you," the boy's head turned to look his glassy blue eyes with his, "hold my hand?"

It was Sakura's turn to cough. Sasuke opened his mouth, failing to form a response other than, "what?"

"Please?" Naruto sounded genuinely desperate. "I dunno, I kinda feel lonely."

"Get Sakura to hold your hand," Sasuke wrinkled his nose. "I won't do it."

Naruto's eyes were practically begging him. "Please?"

"I'll hold this hand," Sakura offered, taking Naruto's left one, "and Sasuke can hold the other one. Right?" She gave him one of her old authoritative stares, and he found himself almost relieved that she could still be her old Academy-self.

But he doesn't reply, instead scrubbing at his other arm.

"Right?"

The Uchiha sighed, knowing that he couldn't win this fight. "Yes. Fine. This once. No second time."

And the smile that could rival the sun that broke out on Naruto's face almost made it worth it, if not for the teasing glint on the boy's eyes. If the three of them held each other's hands throughout the night as all three of them drifted off, no one mentioned a thing in the morning — or, what felt like morning to them.

Kakashi certainly didn't have to save anything; it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to. The eye-smile that never left his face the whole day was enough to make the Uchiha's ears go red at the mere thought of it.

.

"Now."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Now is the best moment," Naruto said confidently. "Sorocho's just about to grab one of us, which means he should be furthest away from the cell. If we want to escape, now's the best time. Right?"

The Haruno had no idea who he was trying to clarify with, because Sasuke and her had matching looks that read 'what is with this stupidity?' and Kakashi didn't stir. He was probably sleeping again. It was reaching their monthly anniversary, and Kakashi was becoming, unsettling, more and more drowsy. He slept almost everyday now, but that didn't stop him from telling the three sternly to wake him if they need his help.

"Kakashi-san?" Naruto prompted.

Sasuke snorted. "Sleeping."

Naruto groaned. "Okay, so, I have a couple of kage bunshin around the place—"

"You have what—"

"—so they tell me," Naruto trailed off, "wait, I didn't tell you that I have clones?"

Sakura inhaled sharply. "I know you have clones, but you sent them around the place? That's super dangerous, baka! What happens if one gets caught? What happens to the real you?"

Naruto grinned, giving her a reassuring pat on the hand. "Don't worry! They have orders; if someone comes close and they can't hide, then they disappear!"

"Disappear?"

"Desummon," Sasuke clarified, giving her a curt nod.

Sakura whirled to him. "You were in on this too?!"

He winced, backing away slightly. "No, not exactly." He gave a fleeting glance at the nukenin behind them, before turning around to look at his female teammate. "We...we discussed escape plans a while back. A week ago? Two weeks ago? I can't remember, time is fucked up in here. It wasn't in detail though."

None of them were surprised at the use of vulgar words, because over time, it had become one of the most frequently used words in the Uchiha's vocabulary. It seemed to just roll off his tongue like it was a word everyone said. Sakura used to give him odd looks, but now she wholeheartedly agreed. This while situation was fucked up. Now all of them pretty much swore as much as they liked, but Naruto was still the cleanest out of all of them.

"Yeah? Yeah?" Naruto looked eager to continue.

Sakura sighed. "Yeah. What else?"

"So around this time," Naruto pulled up three fingers, "after three horribly long moments of time, this is the time where they move around the place leaving the walkway completely free. There's also another opening in two hours, and I think we can take that risk if we wanted to. I mean, he usually takes his time to collect us so we can wait. Plus, it's Okubo-chan who's closest to the exit next so it's safer? She likes us more than the others, I think."

"Three horribly long moments of time?"

"That's all you heard from my amazing speech?" The Jinchuuriki looked at his dark-haired teammate in horror. "It's like...a long, painful moment of boredom. I counted three."

Sakura had no idea how Naruto counted time — how does one count in 'long painful moments'? How did he even tell each period apart? — and didn't even know if Naruto could even sense his clones, but then again, what did she know about kage bunshin? What did she know about Naruto's quick strategic smarts and predictions? If someone told her that she would realise she's never really met her teammates before they underwent extreme torture, she would've laughed in their face.

Now? She would scream how dense she was not to see how strong Naruto could be, how protective Sasuke could be, and how stupidly horrible her pain tolerance was.

Oh, and how much of a crybaby she was.

It's stupid. The whole situation was stupid. Bizarrely stupid.

"Sakura?" Sasuke's voice was quiet, but it was sharp enough to shake her out of her thoughts.

Her eyes were wet again. "Fuck," she muttered, rubbing them away. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"We were discussing if we wanted to go now, or later." Naruto shrugged. "Either's good."

Sakura nodded, clearing her stuffy throat. "Uh," she swallowed dryly, "who's the one on patrol right now? Like the one closest. It isn't Okubo, is it?"

"No," her blond teammate shook his head, "it's Daido-san. And, uh, some other guy we've never met. He's got red hair so I call him Aka-san. Y'know?"

"No, I don't know," their third teammate said dryly. "How many people are there that we've never met?"

Naruto shrugged, but winced when he moved too roughly. "Well, a couple? There's a woman too, I call her Ao-chan."

"She has blue hair?" Sakura guessed.

"Blue eyes," the Jinchuuriki corrected. "So are we going? We're missing the perfect moment soon."

Sasuke leaned back, back hitting the metal bars with a soft clang. "I vote later. Also, how are we getting out of the cell? I'm sure your genius strategy has thought of ways to get out of this square hole first. That would be ideal."

"Uh...well..."

Sasuke met Sakura's eyes, startling the girl, and his lips curled up into a good-natured smirk. "Why am I not surprised?"

Again, she was baffled at the informality and his casual eye contact, but her eyes crinkled in a smile to match and she replied, "he's Naruto of course. Our number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja."

"Oi," the boy drawled, pouting. Sakura raised her eyebrows; she was expecting a whine. Oh well, maturity came with experience, though it was never specified what kind of experience. It seemed like pain sufficed.

"I vote later too," she said instead, shifting to stretch her stiff limbs. "Kami, how long have we been sitting here?"

"Ages," the Uchiha supplied helpfully.

"Mmm," the Jinchuuriki agreed.

The Haruno sighed, reaching an arm over her head to yank it over to one side. "Thanks a lot, boys."

Naruto cleared his throat, earning a quick glance from his teammates. Sasuke was closing his eyes and brushing his now-longer strands of hair to cover them ready to rest, and Sakura was busying herself with her stretches. If she couldn't practice taijutsu, she would work on her flexibility in preparation for the time she could.

"What about...y'know..."

"Quite unfortunately," Sasuke replied without moving from his relaxed position, "I don't run on the same slow wavelength you do, and neither does Sakura. I think we'd need more than 'what about y'know'."

Naruto poked his tongue out. "That's mean, dobe. I meant Kakashi-san."

"What about him?" The Uchiha cracked open an eye.

"He's taking care of us!" The Jinchuuriki hissed. "And we're just going to leave him behind? I dunno, it feels off to me. I mean, he could've let us die from infection or something, but he saved our lives, remember?"

"Of course I remember," Sasuke snorted. "But we can't take him with us."

"Why not?"

Sakura sighed, looking up from where she was pushing down on her legs. "HIs injuries. And variables. He explained to us briefly about the seal on his chest, right? He's always supplying...that man with chakra, twenty-four seven. Not only is it a miracle how he's still alive, but if he was to force his way out of the restraints — which is doubtful, he's incredibly malnourished — he'd collapse without sufficient chakra for himself. It's practically suicide."

"But if we don't take him with us, he won't be able to get out—" Naruto's face distorted in distraught. "We can't ask Konoha for help, because he's nukenin! Konoha nukenin—"

"We can't do anything," Sasuke cut in coldly. "We leave him."

Those words settled awfully in Sakura's chest, no matter how practical they were. She gave a look to the right, where a small sliver of silver hair was visible in the dim torch light. Naruto seemed to share her sentiment, because he made a face that looked like a child's limitless dream suddenly met reality.

"We can't just leave him!" He protested. "He's Kakashi-san—"

"He's a nukenin that we met briefly during our time down here." Sasuke's eyes stayed trained on the ceiling. "We didn't interact other than when served food, and he avoided contact with us."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What—?"

Sakura frowned, opening her mouth to speak, but the Uchiha snapped his head downwards, eyes piercing through their argument. "Do I need to repeat what I just said? It's safer for the three of us to pretend we never met. It's also better for him. He doesn't become framed for some pedophilia related crime and we don't have any connection to someone who betrayed our village."

"But—"

"Why don't you think of something better, huh?"

"Make him our sensei!"

"What?" Sakura and Sasuke echoed in unison.

"Naruto, I was going to agree with you but this is going way too far." Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Do you even understand the politics and balanced military power consideration than went into picking our team? I'm literally a wooden floorboard as you two take up all the decoration and furniture, with our sensei literally being the one owning the house. He's retired ANBU for Kami's sake — I don't care if he's an s-grade asshat, he's still got the skills to be an ANBU captain, okay? ANBU captains are nothing to laugh at! There was a lot of thought that went into this! We're literally showcasing the world Konoha's military prowess with our one team!"

Naruto shrugged, giving her a solid look that matched her rapid fiery words. "So?"

"So? If we just show up with a nukenin as our sensei—"

"Nukenin this, nukenin that," the Uzumaki looked annoyed for the first time Sakura's met him, "just because he said he was a nukenin doesn't mean he actually is one! What if he's like a Konoha-nin who's on an undercover mission? Or something? ANBU-related?"

Sakura bit her lip hard, and the distinct taste of copper filled her mouth. Sasuke was the one to reply. "You have a point," he said smoothly, "but what if he is a nukenin? What are you going to do next?"

"Then we lie." Naruto was stubborn. "Say he was impersonating a Konoha-nin and we believed him."

"They might believe you, not me," his teammate shot back. "I'm not known as an idiot, unlike you."

Naruto scowled, about to respond when Sakura cut in. "That doesn't even cover his medical disabilities, how are we going to get out with a non-functioning adult anyways? What if he passes out on us? This just increases our risk of being caught."

"We're Konoha-nin! We don't leave anyone behind!"

"He's not one of us," Sasuke hissed. "Stop pretending like he is."

"He's my sensei," Naruto snarled, eyes lighting up with a raw red. "I don't know about you, but he's my sensei and I'm not leaving him behind!"

"Calm down."

"Did you not hear me? I said—"

"I heard you, nice and clear," Sasuke hissed.

Before any of them could even blink — much less react — Naruto let out a guttural growl and pounced on him, and Sakura let out a shrill yelp as the Uchiha hit his head on the ground with an audible thunk.

Sasuke groaned.

Sakura launched forwards, pulling them apart before they got even more physical. "That's enough! Stop it! We can't be fighting, right now, especially now, at all! We're a team, stop it! Naruto!" She grabbed one of his flailing arms, and when their eyes met, she was hit with a wall of despair that left her breathless.

"I don't want to leave him," the Naruto muttered. "It's...it's inhumane."

Sasuke groggily sat up, and Sakura had to pry herself away from the Jinch to go check on his head injury. The Uchiha sighed, nodding delicately, wincing as he reached back to touch his injury.

"Don't," the Haruno warned, settling next to him. "Your hands are dirty. I don't want the chance of infection."

Her teammate quirked his lips, and she wondered how he didn't lash back. Usually, with in-built reflexes and all, shinobi would react quickly and defend themselves with a solid counterattack or at least roll to the side to deflect some of the damage. But Sasuke, who had seen the attack coming, sat still as his teammate barreled into him.

The Uchiha simply shrugged at her inquiring look.

"Don't move or do anything stupid," she muttered, sitting beside him. Her right hand lit up in a soft green and she snaked it under his long raven strands to reach the growing lump on the back of his head.

"Oi, dobe," Sasuke's voice was scratchy and tired, as if he'd argued for more than the five minutes they had. "You need to get it. Kakashi's not going anywhere. We aren't capable of bringing him with us. We physically can't take him, otherwise we're risking recapture."

Naruto doesn't reply, folding in on himself.

Sasuke's voice took a sharper tone. "Do you get it?"

"Then we just need to get stronger," Sakura added, trying to lighten the mood. "Strong enough so that we can rescue Kakashi-san one day."

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto corrected half-heartedly. He was resigned, too tired to fight back because he knew that they were right. His body language displayed defeat, but his blue eyes screamed betrayal when Sakura caught eye-contact. She could only offer a small, sad smile in return, but he only pulled his knees higher to cover his face.

Sasuke sighed. "We've got two hours with him left. At least make it a two hours worth remembering."

"Mmm," Naruto mumbled incoherently.

Sasuke shifted to face away from his teammate, giving Sakura a grateful glance. She didn't take in the rare sight instead — her mind was too far away; a loud ticking noise had taken over her thoughts. She was almost hallucinating a bright red timer just outside the cell, it's large numerals unblinking.

Tick. The timer changed from two hours, to one hour and fifty-nine minutes. The numbers were intimidatingly vivid in her mind.

Tok.

Tick. Another change.

Tok.

As much as I'd like to, I can't promise when the next update will be. Probably in a month's time? School really takes a chunk out of your time, so wish me luck. Thank you again for reading, and a special thank you to those who took the time to review, favourite and follow :)