Having these chapters done so early is... oddly relaxing. Like... it's the tenth of August right now. I'm not even releasing chapter 61 for another two days. Being ahead is nice.

Still, I'm editing this at 2 am, so if there're mistakes... well, there'll probably be mistakes.

GoldenGlue and co drop their series to Flyquest in heartbreaking fashion, losing 3-2 after almost managing the reverse sweep, but we'll see if they win come sunday!

...Why am I writing this here now, this chapter comes out way, way after that series ends... Like, I'll post the results right here - They won, 3-0.

Anyways, without further ado and all that jazz and all that jazz and all that jazz and al

Y'know one time, I should just post the entirety of the War of 1812 here.

Chapter 62: Breach of the Seventh

Ino sat quietly on a cushioned bench in a training hall, her arms crossed in front of her on the table just beyond, laying her head in them as her teammates went over the results of the day's training.

They were in a building not far off the previous hotel, a few blocks away from the desert they'd be using for the second exam. The proctor had stopped by about an hour ago to let them know they had twelve hours until the exam would begin for them, and that had been the cue for Shikamaru to stop their spars and analyze what they'd learned.

They'd learned enough. Their Jonin was from the Leaf and specialized in Lightning and Fire Jutsu's. Honestly, he was simple enough, mostly an offensive powerhouse, and Ino had a feeling that he'd been chosen for them since they'd scored highly. An easier opponent, a further reward for getting third.

Her mind was elsewhere.

"I'm nothing without you. I exist only for your sake."

She shivered once again.

Haku's words had been playing on loop in her head for what felt like the last day and a half.

She really had tried to avoid thinking about them at first, letting herself get lost in the combat and focus instead on the blade meeting hers. Rather than that, however, all that she'd managed to do was become increasingly distracted over the course of many hours, until said distraction had hit a fever pitch that nearly caused them to lose their spar.

She'd toppled to the floor, and Choji and Shikamaru had given her an hour off to unwind.

Well, they'd said it was to grab the three of them drinks, a bit of punishment for sleeping on the job, but she knew they were just trying to be nice without saying it. She appreciated the gesture…

But she really didn't want the time to herself. Time to herself meant time spent in her own head, and right now, her head was the enemy.

All you have to do is talk to him, don't you? Her own brain seemed to taunt on endlessly, suggesting that she should simply face her fears head on. Doesn't he deserve that? Doesn't her deserve better than that?

He did. She knew that. Haku was… he was trying to return to his old life, trying to return to the subservience he'd known under Zabuza as a way to cope with the man's loss. But that had been a weakness of Zabuza in and of itself. Even at the end, what the man had really wanted was for Haku to begin to consider him as a father, rather than a master.

But… she was a coward. She didn't dare open her mouth and say that. She didn't dare face him, even if she knew the boy might accept it. Because she was scared. So horrifyingly, agonizingly scared of his refusal to meet her eyes, of him wanting nothing to do with her…

Of him leaving her behind.

She pounded her fist against the table beneath her, shocking Choji and Shikamaru in front of her. They said nothing as they went back to their notes, but she noticed their movements were stifled, probably still thinking about her.

She… she'd persist.

That was what she decided. She'd keep going as she always had and pretend like nothing was the matter. It… it'd be fine, in the end. Haku had her, after all. And as long as they had each other, they'd be fine in the end. They didn't have to change, or challenge one another, or–

"Yo."

Her eyes widened to what might've been, under normal circumstances, comical proportions. As she was now, she could only look up into the face of her best friend, and feel an unimaginable dread fill her breast.

"Ino?" Sakura asked her, smiling gently. "You alright? You've been looking down for the last day or two."

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She tried for a kind smile, but felt it probably ended up looking more saccharine then anything. "How've you been?"

"Trying to distract me?" Sakura's eyes narrowed amusedly as she sat down beside Ino on the bench. "Don't think you'll get away that easily. I'm here to check up on you." She reached over and placed her hand on Ino's forehead. "Are you feeling sick? There's no shame in going to a doctor-"

"I'm fine." She brushed off the girl's attention, scooting a further away from her on the bench. "Just tired is all. I'll be back up and ready come tomorrow. I just… need some time to myself."

She placed her head down once more, content to wait for Sakura to get the hint and leave.

She didn't, annoyingly enough.

"Y'know, I kind of assumed you knew me well enough to understand that I'm overwhelmingly stubborn." Sakura's voice called off to her right, and even though she couldn't see her friends face past her arms, she had the feeling she looked irritatingly smug. "Tell me, please."

She growled as she ground her nails across the table before her. It was a polished granite, damaging neither her nails nor the finish. It annoyed her even more.

"I believe I've been very forward with not wanting to speak with you-"

"And I believe I've come about as close as I can, politely, to telling you I don't much care."

She shot the girl a furious look, but despite what she'd expected, a self-satisfied smirk, the look on Sakura's face was one only of worry.

"Please."

Her veneer cracked like an eggshell, and she nearly fell off the bench. Before she knew it, she felt her mouth opening, and her worries spilling out.

She told Sakura the whole story. About how she'd gone to Haku's room two nights before, and how he'd been oh so eager to have her, to serve her. She told her, even, the way he'd said that she couldn't owe him anything… because he was nothing without her.

At the end of her tirade, nearly half an hour had passed, and the both of them had slumped in their seats, feeling forlorn.

"That's… that's heavy." Sakura muttered out after a while of silent contemplation.

Ino nodded.

"But… you know what you have to do, right?"

She winced as Sakura tried to make eye-contact with her, one which she pointedly avoided meeting.

"You have to tell him."

A loud bang seemed to silence the entire training room. The Jonin who'd been sent to spar with them stilled, as did Shikamaru and Choji, all looking towards their table. Sakura, to her credit, was the only who didn't, but her face looked sad, as if she were receiving confirmation of news she wanted nothing more than to believe was false.

She realized with some small trepidation that the loud bang had been her own fist connecting with the tabletop beneath her. She thought, idly, that it might've been broken, but she appreciated the pain lancing up her arm. It steadied her, kept her mind in the here and now, and not on the past.

"Maybe you should go, Sakura." She spoke quietly, filtering the guilt out of her system. "We're busy training for the next stage of the exam. I don't have time to be chatting with you."

Sakura didn't say anything for quite a while, even as their assigned Jonin made his excuses and exited the room, as did her teammates. Neither seemed to want anything to do with he conversation they knew would be happening.

"I… don't think I will."

She'd expected as much.

"What do you want from me, Sakura?"

"Didn't I just say that?"

Their conversation died again, and Ino let out a long, suffocating sigh as she finally turned and met her friends eyes. They were frustrated and… and almost angry.

"I suppose you may've."

"Dancing around me?" Sakura smirked, sending a shiver of anger down Ino's own spine. "I'd appreciate if you spoke to me about stuff like this. We're best friends, you know."

"Are we?"

She hadn't meant to say those words, and yet they'd funneled out from her mouth before she could stop them. Sakura's eyes widened, and the betrayed look on her face only had Ino feeling worse. There was no satisfaction from winning one over on the girl, only pain.

She hated herself for thinking she might've enjoyed it.

"I think we are…" Sakura's voice was barely there, so horribly quiet that it further carved into Ino's psyche.

You did this. Her treacherous mind whispered to her.

"I…"

Sakura sighed, scooting towards her as their bodies touched one another. There wasn't anymore room for Ino to escape, bar standing up and walking away, but Sakura was, likely, counting on her not being enough of an asshole to run away straight up.

She was right.

"Whatever you feel about me… that's fine."

Her stomach flipped.

"But you need to say your piece to Haku." Sakura kept going, ignoring the pained expression on both Ino's and her own face. "You can't just… keep going like everything's fine. Clearly he thinks the world of you, and I know… I know that at least partially, that goes both ways, but you've seen now how he really thinks. You can't let him go on like that."

Ino opened her mouth to respond but was cut off before she could.

"I know you're just trying to hurt me."

Her eyes widened, and she turned to see Sakura gazing down at the table below, eyes deadened.

"And that's fine. I'm not… You should be focusing on Haku, not me."

Ino felt as if she'd done nothing but put her foot in her mouth for the past five minutes, even if she'd barely spoken.

"Tell him that you're sorry for what you've done… tell him you want to make it up to him, or… or take him to the intelligence core. Take him to Tsunade, let them help him. He can't keep living his life under the illusion that it's already over, Ino."

But… but he's mine… A part of her, a part of her she'd never wanted to admit existed, shouted from the depths, raged against the cage she'd placed around it. HE BELONGS TO ME!

"I… don't… want to."

Sakura turned to her, grief and frustration warring in her expression. Evidently, she'd expected better of her.

"Really…? Is that all you can say?"

She nodded, her chest tightening as shame pooled inside her.

"After all you've done together… after all you once did for him… you can't say anything but fucking that?"

Satisfaction filled her at the girl's loss of control, and she rounded on Sakura intent to shut her up.

"And what do you know, huh!?" Ino shouted, getting in her friends face. "You think I'm some… some saint!? That I did it all for Haku? No! I…" She placed her hand over her heart, crumpling her top in her fingers as she squeezed down violently. "I'm not some savior! I wanted the attention! I wanted to be needed, I wanted… I wanted someone to have to stand by me, no matter what! And you know what, Sakura!?"

She almost dove at her friend, their noses touching as she pushed her face into Sakura's.

"I got it!"

A hand slammed into her chest, causing her to hack and cough. She was forced back, landing on the bench that'd previously supported the both of them. She tried to sit up, but Sakura forced her down once more, hands on her stomach as she straddled her, locking her in place.

Ino grit her teeth and tried to knock the girl off, but Sakura grabbed both of her wrists, and held them above her with a single hand.

"Get the fuck off-"

She was cut off as Sakura's head hit hers, forcing the back of her skull onto the cushioned bench beneath her. Lucky, for she was sure if it hadn't been, she'd have a concussion.

"You're my friend."

The words shocked her, and she looked up into Sakura's eyes, and saw the raw hate lingering within them.

No… it wasn't hate. That would've been easy. That would've transformed the ensuing conversation into a shouting match, one she could've used to argue her feelings away, to distract herself from her indecision and guilt for Haku, to keep the status quo going by not having to face it, by being given an out.

Sakura was intent on giving her none of that.

"You're my friend… no, you're my best friend. Know what that means, Ino?"

She couldn't bare to look at Sakura's face, but her friend gave her no option. Even as she struggled against the hold that blocked her arms from moving above her, Sakura's left hand gripped her chin, forcing her to look up.

"Do you know… what that means?" She said as their eyes connected, and she saw the look on the girl's face. "It means that I'm the one responsible for telling you when you're doing something stupid."

The look on her face was one of abject disappointment. The intensity of it forced her to look away, to want to see anything but it.

She wanted to escape that look, to not have to see it any longer, but Sakura wouldn't let her.

"And guess what, Ino? You're making a really, really stupid mistake right now. But you're in luck, cause your best pal Sakura-"

Ino felt fear as black marks spiraled out from Sakura's neck, and the girl winced heavily.

"H-hey, Sakura, are you-"

"I'm fine." The Chuunin spoke, grinding her teeth together as she forced the mark back into it's place. "I've long since adjusted to that thing's will. It has no hold over me anymore."

Ino could almost see the similarities between Sakura and Haku, herself and the curse mark. She knew such a thing hadn't been Sakura's intent…

But she felt it.

"I… I don't want to let Haku go…" She muttered out, the first words she'd spoken edgewise, not counting her worry for Sakura's state. "I'm… he's all I have, and-"

"Bullshit."

"Wha-"

"He is not all you have." Sakura looked angry, truly angry, for the first time this entire conversation. "You have a mother and father, who at the very least love and appreciate you and respect the effort you put in. You have a set of friends, a best friend, even. You even have a 'boyfriend' who lets you treat him like an accessory out of some impotent desire to have someone, something in this world to cling to."

She tried to open her mouth, to speak, but her lips were sealed shut, her face paling only further as Sakura forced herself down, her hair pressing against the edges of Ino's face.

"Haku, on the other hand, has no family. His father tried to kill him, did kill his mother. In front of him. His only surrogate father is dead, gave up his life to save him. He has no friends, and even his 'girlfriend' walks all over him and treats him like damn trash!"

She realized that this was the moment she'd been waiting for, she'd been waiting for Sakura to scream at her so she could turn this into a shouting match.

Her own words didn't even make it to her throat.

"I just… wanted him to… have me-"

"AND IS THAT FAIR TO HIM!?"

Her jaw shut with an audible click of teeth.

"Is it fair that he should have to suffer and believe himself lower than others because of what you want!? Dealt a bad hand and never given a chance his whole life, and now this?" Sakura pushed herself further down, their foreheads touching. "You don't get to decide his life, only he does. Right now, he needs to disconnect from you, to become his own person… and only you can free him."

She didn't dare move a muscle. Not out of fear, but out of humiliation. She felt so… wretched, so utterly lesser.

"And is that fair to you?"

She remembered Sakura's words from two years prior. How could she not? Even then, they'd damned her, left her feeling so horrible and wanting to blame it all on her best friend. But she'd known even then that the girl had been looking out for her, out of concern… out of love.

She'd thought Ino some saint doing this out of the goodness of her heart… and she'd been wrong.

Is this… how Haku feels?

Finally, she had control over her arms. Sakura might've thought she'd push her off immediately, but her entire body felt numb. Instead, she grabbed onto Sakura's hand, taking it, and trying to keep herself present.

Idly, she felt the throbbing in her hand return from when she'd slammed it into the hard granite table a few minutes prior.

It was a good pain; it kept her grounded.

"I'll…"

She felt herself try to resist, to hold back, but another part of her, the only part of her she wanted to believe existed, tore through that barrier.

"I'll tell him…"

Sakura smiled honestly, letting out a rasping sigh as she helped pull Ino up and off of the bench. Before Ino could do anything else, her friends arms were already wrapped her, and pulling her into a tight hug.

"I know it's hard… but you're doing the right thing. For both of you." She squeezed just a bit harder. "You can do this."

Ino wrapped her own hands around her best friends back. Guilt and shame warred in equal parts inside her… but she wouldn't allow herself to be ruled by her selfish desires any longer.

"Yeah, I…"

"I can."

/-/

Naruto idly noted that watching over an exam site while getting occasional check-ins from security was incredibly boring.

Not that he'd expected anything more, because really, at this point in the test, they'd already been doing this for nearly a week, which was leaving entirely the month or so they'd spent working on that first exam, perfecting it.

It'd worked pretty well, and they'd actually had to use the contingency plan they came up with, which he considered a positive, given they'd spent a week on it. Even if it was technically a failure to have to bust it out, it didn't feel like one.

He watched in one of his cameras as the last three remaining teams were led to the gates, Gaara and Kankuro flanking them. He could see Ino asking them a question, and they, seemingly, struggled to answer it. She didn't look terribly thrilled with that, and her teammates patted her on the back, supporting her.

"She's going to talk with Haku." Sakura supplied the answer to his nonverbal question. "Well, she'll have to wait until after the test, since he's busy with security. I think that's probably what she's asking."

"Ah."

That was… well, it was undeniably a good thing. Sakura had told them the gist of the situation over a larger period of time, letting pieces and parts of it slip, since it'd become rather clear Ino had no intention of bringing it up.

He looked over to Sakura's right, and found that Sasuke had, somehow, fallen asleep.

"Oi… wake up." He called to his friend with an extreme lack of energy. "C'mon… we've gotta' watch the test."

When there was no response, Sakura groaned, before slapping the boy's arm rather harshly.

Sasuke jolted awake, the communicator in his lap going flying. Naruto snickered slightly as his friend's cheeks went red, and he pointedly avoided eye-contact with the both of them.

Team Asuma were the first to exit out into the expanse, followed by the Jonin assigned to them five minutes later. Next came Team Fu, a strange combination of people, if Naruto were being honest. He'd almost wanted to talk with the green-haired girl, since her desire for friends had been… familiar to him.

He wasn't quite sure why, either. It felt… somehow more personal, somehow more… familiar.

Last out was Team Guy, and they looked confident. Naruto could see why, given the man who'd been chosen to chase after them was an expert on Taijutsu…

Which he had a strange feeling they were pretty good at dealing with.

/-/

"He's coming!"

Hinata winced as a dune of sand behind them exploded, sending the particulates crashing down on them. She did her best to keep them out of her eyes, for, even if the Byakugan could still see through her eyelids, it'd still be quite a hindrance.

"Shino, wall off his straight shot with your bugs! We've gotta' work on breaking off from this guy!"

Her teammate held up his hands, letting his specialty chakra draining beetles out from his sleeves. They flew towards their assailant, swarming around him in an effort to deter him.

"Earth Style: Grand Tremor!"

A pulse shocked the sand underneath Hinata, and she found herself buried a good foot or so into it, having fallen in instantly. She struggled briefly, before forcing herself to be calm, her actions only serving to sink her deeper.

Kiba was no better, though, thanks to some quick thinking, Akamaru had now turned into a clone of Kiba, pulling the boy out of the sand.

Shino ran over to her and did the same, having jumped over the Jutsu's original cast.

"C'mon, Shino's bugs're holding him off, we don't got time to waste!"

The man chasing them was a Sand Jonin, or, at least, his headband declared him as such. He'd been assigned to chase them, and only them, for the duration of the exam. He'd been chosen specifically to counter them, which meant, given they were a squad based on gathering information and tracking, that he was probably able to evade that tracking. Either that, or he was a Jonin based entirely around combat, one able to blow past their advantages with raw force,

The Chuunin hopefuls had been given a thirty-minute head start. Unfortunately, their original hiding space had been found out after a day or so, leading to their current predicament. Even still, as Chuunin, the three of them working together would be expected to be able to handle a single Jonin in an active combat setting.

Which meant they'd just have to deal with the man chasing them.

"He broke past again!" Hinata informed them all, keeping her 'eyes' trained on him. He dashed at them about fifteen meters back, gaining slowly. "Increase our pace, we should try and outrun him."

She watched as the man formed another Jutsu, and read his lips as–

"JUMP!" She shouted to the others.

They followed her command, hopping into the air as another Grand Tremor snuck its way under them. It would've buried them in the sand and allowed their pursuer to be able to catch them quickly had it hit.

She forced herself forward once more, noticing that since the Jonin had been forced to stop and cast his Jutsu by slamming it into the ground, he was now closer to 20 meters behind them.

They put distance between themselves slowly, until, finally, the Jonin broke off, apparently tired himself from having his chakra constantly drained by Shino's beetles. If she had to guess, he was taking it easy on them for now, not wanting to fully exhaust himself either, but also testing their limits, seeing what they could do.

He'd be back. That she was sure of.

It'd been about 28 hours since they'd been released into the large, enclosed field. It was around midday, and despite being winter, the sun beating down on them from above had Hinata sweating. According to some of the proctors, even during the height of winter, the temperatures under the sun never dropped below scathing.

The real problems came at night, however, when temperatures would fall to well below freezing.

They'd seen for themselves that truth the previous night, where they'd had to assemble a camp fire just to keep themselves from freezing to death. It had been that very fire, poorly kept and maintained, that had alerted the Jonin following them to their presence.

Akamaru sniffed wildly as he caught onto something, and Hinata found herself dreading the possibility of their foe sneaking up on them. Instead, the dog barked, pointing his nose off to their right.

"He says we're close to a cave." Kiba explained. "If we wanted, we could try and hunker in there. Apparently there're two entrances and everything. Perfect for a temporary hide-away."

It did sound good, and she found herself nodding along with Shino as the beast-master led them down the sandy slopes, and towards an entrance she was sure they would've missed if not for the canine's info. She gave him a small scratch on the chin as thanks.

They filtered into the cave system slowly, taking their time to make sure that they weren't being followed, but doing so in a way that wouldn't sell them out.

"I'm sending my beetles a few at a time." Shino filled them in. "That way, should that ninja appear, they can mask themselves as desert flies."

She nodded as she let her Byakugan fill her vision and looked around. Nothing stood out to her at first, until she focused in on further down the cavern.

"T-there's someone here!"

Kiba and Shino both turned to her suddenly, eyes wide.

"Who?"

"Don't know." She admitted, trying to focus in on their figures. Unfortunately, beyond the fact that one was smaller than the others, it was hard to get a clear visual through the multiple twists and turns of the cavern. "I… I think it's a single girl with two guys, but I… that could be wrong."

Her teammates nodded.

"Well, it's not a problem, and it's not crazy to think that someone else might've found this cave. Remember, though, this test has outlawed Genin on Genin combat. If they're other test takers, we can share the space without issue."

That's true! She realized as Kiba stepped by her, shooting her a confident smirk. S-still… I don't know if I want to be stuck around other people very much…

She slapped her cheeks with both hands, dismissing those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to be getting nervous about talking to people! They had far more serious problems to be worried about.

They traveled further into the cavern, and Hinata spotted the exact moment where their 'friends' realized they were coming. In all honesty, she couldn't shake the feeling they'd noticed her far, far sooner than they should've.

She called out to her teammates to let them know and received curt nods.

Suddenly, the figures at the back of the cavern were moving, and fast. They left the smaller one behind, and for a moment, Hinata thought the worst, that they'd attack them. Instead, they took tactical positions in the room, at each entrance.

Clearly, they didn't quite have the same opinion on all of this as Team 8 did.

"Hey!" Kiba called out, causing a small murmur of activity as small critters and insects darted away from the sound of his voice. "We know you're in there! We're other Genin, we ain't here to cause trouble!"

At that, she watched as the figures inside began to converse with one another, evidently considering their options. Hinata communicated as much to her own teammates. Eventually, after what seemed to be a heated discussion, a figure broke off and headed towards them rapidly, being chased down by the other two, seemingly trying to stop her.

"Someone's coming, a-and fast!"

"What, how fa-"

Kiba was flung back by the force that struck him, though it wasn't an errant Jutsu, but a girl-shaped missile.

"Ahah!" The green-haired girl exclaimed, her eyes shining wildly as she looked over the three of them. "Oh, that's awesome! I get to have new roommates!"

"New… Wha-"

The new bubbly girl wrapped her arms around Kiba, nearly strangling the boy with a hug as she rounded on Hinata next, a brightly dazzling smile glowing across her face.

"Hi, what's your name!?"

She laughed awkwardly, the situation catching up to her as the girl's teammates rounded the nearby corner, looking terrified, then suspicious, then exasperated.

"M-my name's-"

"Hinata!" She shouted suddenly, eyes closing as she shook her hands up and down. "Sorry I introduced myself to everyone a few days ago, but I just had a moment of forgetfulness. I hope you'll forgive me!"

Hinata laughed a bit awkwardly.

"Uhm… of course…" She trailed off.

"Oh, right, where are my manners," The girl clocked herself lightly on the side of the head, as if saying 'silly me'. "If I forgot your name for a second, it's totally understandable for you to do the same!"

The girl pointed to herself, giving an almost Naruto-like expression as she took a confident stance.

"The name's Fu!"

/-/

Naruto groaned as the hours ticked by, listening to the routine check-ins as they played cards, or chatted about this and that. On the fourth hour, just when Naruto thought he couldn't get any more bored, there was an announcement that one of the Genin teams had surrendered.

He thought things might get interesting, but they were escorted out by their Jonin pursuer, which meant…

They still didn't get to do anything.

Suddenly, the communicator on the desk in front of him beeped, and Naruto flicked it on with revelry at the thought of getting to do something, anything.

"Reading you." He called into it as he'd been told to.

"This is West Wall." The voice, the same ninja who'd been put in charge of their west flank earlier, called into the microphone. "Unknown just who or what it is that's approaching, but we can see someone coming up in the distance. Did you authorize anyone coming this way?"

That had him paying far more rapt attention, as, seemingly, it did Sasuke and Sakura as well, who sat up in their chairs, leaning towards him.

"No, not to my knowledge." He spoke a bit more officially than he normally would, wanting to sound, well, impressive. "Do you need us to send reinforcements?"

"No, no, nothing so heavy-handed." The man on the other line assured him. "We'll report back if they seem to be a threat. If we don't call back within fifteen, assume the worst."

Assume the worst!? Naruto felt his heart constrict as the line cut off, but it was a hand on his back that assuaged his fears.

"Don't fret about that." Temari spoke, smiling over at the three of them as she leaned against the wall beside her. "They're required to take every threat, no matter how miniscule, completely seriously. Some wanderer on the sands who's managed to lose their way is the same threat level as a dangerous S-ranked ninja if they can't identify them."

He breathed out a bit of his worry at the girl's words and nodded as he found the sense within them.

If they couldn't categorize a threat, then it was far better to assume it would be one, rather than underestimate it.

"Thanks, Temari." He smiled up at the woman and earned a smirk back.

"Not a problem, Naruto. Besides, it's better to start earning favors with you now, it'll give me the advantage one day when we're fellow Kages."

His stomach did a happy little flip at the girl's words, and he found himself looking down at his lap, mumbling something that didn't have any real meaning. Thanks? Denials? He couldn't tell.

His face only went redder as his friends laughed at his embarrassment, and he turned on them to beat them in another round of Go Fish.

Temari joined in, saying she'd come down here for a break from work anyways, and they were happy to provide. Annoyingly enough, Sasuke had one of those rounds where he seemed almost psychic, winning out in half the time it would've taken normally.

He grumbled but didn't complain any further as the communicator on his desk beeped. He reached out and clicked it once more, turning it on.

"Reading y-"

"It's the Akatsuki!"

His blood ran cold as he gripped his communicator hard, and he rounded back on it before he knew what he wanted to say, needing more information.

"West Wall, confirm previous communication, you said-"

"The Akatsuki are here! All units, the Akatsuki are at the west wall, a single warrior, but he's – Fuck!" The line momentarily went dead, and for a moment, Naruto assumed the worst. "–Shit… He's strong! Blue skin, Large, barbed sword! Matches descriptions of Kisame Hoshigaki! He's overrunning us, even on his own, I don't know how long-"

The communicator died.

"West wall! This is Central command, respond!"

There was nothing. He relayed the order a second time, but nothing came back.

"Central command, this is south wall, your orders?"

"Central command, this is east wall, confirming that the assailant was Kisame Hoshigaki!?"

"Central command, this is north wall, what are we-"

"This is central command!" Sasuke cut them off before they could continue panicking Naruto, acting as a cool and collected presence when none of the rest of them could be. "Keep to your stations for now but raise our alert level. We can't risk moving you all and having them gain free access to the Genin through the other sections of the wall! We will be dealing with this threat ourselves. In the meantime, I want all of you fully prepared from an attack by up to and including an S-ranked ninja! Understood!?"

"Roger!" two of the walls chimed out, while the east wall was suspiciously silent.

"East wall!" Sasuke called back out. "Confirm those orders!"

"T-This is east wall," A new voice called out. "E-East captain ran inside the wall, just a few moments ago! He's heading for the western wall!"

Why would he– Naruto's thoughts cut off as he remembered just who was in charge of that particular division. Damn it, Haku!

"We'll send you a squad of reinforcements to compensate, in the meantime, follow your last received orders, is that clear?"

"Roger that!"

His communicator fell from his hands a moment later, clattering to a stop on the table.

"Well…" Temari spoke up from behind him. "That's… that's quite bad."

"We need to send a division after Haku." Sasuke turned towards him. "If we don't, he's going to get himself killed."

Naruto was about to nod, but for Sakura to interrupt, anger in her eyes as she pushed out of her chair.

"Why are they here?" Sakura growled, already standing up and walking towards the door. "Why the fuck are-"

She was stopped by Sasuke's hand on her wrist, both steadying her, and bringing her back into the present.

"Calm. We need to think about this first." His friend looked to him. "Naruto?"

"I… I don't know." He admitted. "Why would they show up here? Jiraiya said they'd be out of our hair for another year, they shouldn't be interfering, and yet…"

"Could it be because there are two Jinchuuriki in the Sand Village?" Temari asked him, pushing herself off of the wall and looking rather antsy. "You and Gaara being here-"

"Wouldn't explain it." Sakura explained as she sighed out, the curse mark on her neck humming angrily, but gradually losing fire. "Back during our Chuunin Exams, Naruto and Gaara were in the same place, and they never made a move then. Besides, they were supposed to be waiting it out, letting the public eye, and the big villages, forget about them."

"What could cause them to completely give up on that?" Sasuke asked hypothetically, trying to figure this out between the three of them. "What would be juicy enough to draw them out of hiding?"

The answer came to him, and ice shot down his spine.

"Three?"

His teammates turned towards him with confusion evident in their expressions, and he could tell they were waiting for him to explain.

"It's just a weird feeling I had… but…" He shook his head, dispelling his doubt. If this was false, that was fine. Right now, they needed to move, and they needed a plan to do it. "That girl from the Waterfall, Fu. She reminded me of myself. I thought at first that it was just the begging for friends thing… but that wasn't it, at least not entirely. It felt like… I recognized her."

The others looked between themselves, and Sakura and Sasuke sighed as they looked up at him.

"Like when you were told about Shukaku?"

He nodded grimly. "Yeah."

They stood up, and he found himself flabbergasted at the faith put into him.

"You guys… believe that?"

"Honestly, Naruto, at this point?" Sasuke let out a small sigh. "I've just come to trust your bad feelings."

"I'm afraid this is where I'll be leaving you all." Temari nodded to the three of them. "I must watch over the citizens of the Sand Village, not to mention Gaara…"

"Yeah." Sakura walked over to her and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Ok?"

Temari nodded once, taking a deep, shaky breath, before she looked into Sakura's eyes.

"You all as well."

/-/

In the cave the six of them had been sharing, Hinata Hyuga felt a chill down her spine as they looked towards the cavern's second entrance. There, from out of the darkness, a single figure entered alone, eyeing them with a hungry smile on his face.

"Well, well." The shark-skinned man looked towards Fu, who was, even now, being shielded by her two teammates. "Hello there…"

"Lucky Seven."

End Chapter 62

Fu is a cutie.

That is all.

See you all next week!