A/N: Sorry for being late. I— Wait, am I early again? Right. Okay, the last TWO chapters before this were posted recently, so if you're reading in real-time, please ensure you are up to date. (And, mind, the quick posting ends here. These three chapters encompass what I had outlined and arranged ahead of time, and the following parts will yet require structuring. Thank you!)

Chapter 40 — Ashes

Naruto had been having a great day.

Sakura was finally speaking to them again, she'd told him awesome stories about grenades at breakfast, and man did those sound cool. (Though she scolded him and insisted they were "terribly dangerous" as if she wasn't the most dangerous thing in any room.) And after, they'd traded off sparring, and he'd gotten eight tags on Sasuke when they were paired up.

Plus, he'd gotten to see Sasuke wince with every step he took after Sakura had kicked him in the side. (Even if he had followed it with a cheap blow because, like, come on, she totally won that round!)

And then Sakura would go to her blah hearing thing, and then she'd said they could have Ichiraku for dinner, and she'd help him with sensory training again that night! He'd liked sensory training more than he'd expected, though he was a little puzzled at Sakura's long rambling explanation on why not to use natural chakra and about turning to stone.

Thus, after Sasuke and Sakura headed off to do boring stuff, he sat out behind the house with the dogs, meditating on the pond.

Because he was awesome and could sit on water for, like, ever, without even getting his clothes wet, so why wouldn't he?

He bet he already looked like the wisest Kage in the land. Yeah. And when he was Hokage, Sasuke would totally be his secretary, and he'd give him all the boring paperwork. Maybe he'd even make up extra paperwork just to watch him complain.

… Naruto was not, in fact, doing much sensory training, but he was enjoying himself immensely.

Even better than a great day. Naruto had been having a perfect day.

So he was more than a little miffed when Sensei appeared in a puff of smoke, startling him so severely that he shrieked and fell into the water.

Before he even had time to get angry or embarrassed because, whoa, that was so high-pitched, there's no way Sensei didn't notice—

Sensei grabbed him by his arm and—

Wha—

—Ugh—

—Urrp—

He wasn't sure if Sensei was dragging him along in a body flicker (was that even possible?) or the longest chain of replacement techniques ever. His eyes didn't have time to adjust to see if they were replacing with anything.

Just forest, forest, town, town, rooftop, rooftop—

—and then they were inside the Hokage's chambers.

How the hell did you do that? Naruto wanted to ask. They'd been miles out, and even with all that flickering, there was no way they were anywhere near the Tower, and it was the Hokage's chambers and weren't there like a billion seals stopping people from—

But he stopped himself, worried that instead of words, puke would come out.

Sensei unceremoniously deposited Naruto in front of the Hokage. As soon as the room stopped spinning, he realised it wasn't just the three of them. Sasuke, Iruka-sensei, and— wasn't that the head of the Hyuuga clan? Whatever that guy's name was? What were they all doing here?

"Every moment you waste," said the Hyuuga man in a clipped tone, "is another drop of blood that you wring from my clan. Unacceptable."

"He's on their team," Iruka cut in, his voice weary. "He deserves to be there—"

"And he has a valuable skill," Sensei greeted warmly, pointing a thumb at where Naruto sat on the ground.

"And if you won't let me go in, Sakura wouldn't trust anyone else," Sasuke crossed his arms. "Seriously though, not even Sensei? You're all idiots."

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

The Hyuuga man glared at him, his nostril curving up in a sneer. "I suppose he will suffice as bait, though surely you could find better for so important a task."

"Excuse me, Hyuuga-senpai," Sensei remarked brightly. "But shut your mouth and let the grown-ups talk, okay?"

"You—!"

"Enough." The Hokage had spoken in a quiet tone, but it pierced through the room and seemed to reverberate in Naruto's pores.

He grinned. Gramps was so cool.

"Naruto, something terrible may have been uncovered in Konoha today. I have had my suspicions, but I've received evidence of the most damning kind, of far worse than I'd ever imagined."

"If the Uchiha speaks the truth," the Hyuuga muttered.

Silence stretched and crystallised.

"Pardon, Hokage-sama," he said stiffly. "I spoke in anger. Naturally, I would not be here if I didn't think the boy's story had credence and if he hadn't added confirmation from one of my own clan." He clenched his jaw. "Who, I might add, is still in the presence of one who means my family harm."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. He hadn't known Neji got along with the main family; he'd only ever mentioned them in a biting, bitter tone.

The Hokage continued as though he'd never been interrupted. "Naruto. Your teammate, friend Hyuuga, and madame Tsunade may be sitting with a traitor to the village."

Naruto's grin had long since faded, and he sat very still as he listened.

"We have reason to believe there's a chance he'll be suspecting an ambush, which would make it all but impossible to capture him alive for interrogation."

Naruto frowned. "So it's got something to do with the Hyuuga's and Uchiha's, so you need someone who's not that? And Sensei has a Sharingan, too, so he can't help either?" He brightened. "And you chose me because I'm such a strong ninja?"

Sasuke gaped at him. Naruto raised an eyebrow in question, but he just shook his head in response.

"That was very quick of you, Naruto," said Iruka-sensei warmly. "But as for the reasoning, it's more to do with your particular skill set. Otherwise, I'd simply have gone to collect him myself.

Naruto grinned. "Shadow-clones! Yeah, I can make like a million of me and tie him down!" He leapt to his feet and punched a fist into his palm. "You can count on me, old man! Naruto Uzumaki will never let the village down!"

"The skill they're talking about is being stupid," Sasuke remarked.

"Huh?"

Sensei snorted. "Be nice, Sasuke. Naruto, we need something unexpected. Sasuke believes Danzo was carefully watching he and your friend. If anyone interrupts their meeting, anyone with even an ounce of official merit—"

"Oh!" Naruto gasped. "I get it, you need me to prank him!"

A silence fell over the room.

The Hyuuga groaned as the Hokage chuckled. "We actually thought your very presence would be enough. Even so, we were going to have you request he come to the office for a development in the young Haruno's case to add some rationality to the surprise. As you are very talented at unmooring people when you choose to, we thought you would be the perfect candidate— particularly since we presume your teammate will immediately support whatever you say. But yes. I suppose your way would also force him to exit the room and be suitably distracted from noticing our ANBU."

"Huh? What ANBU?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke raised his chin slightly, nodding up.

Naruto slowly turned around and saw no fewer than ten men standing in a perfect line behind him in creepy blank animal masks.

For the second time that day, he let out a shrill shriek, and he couldn't even find it in him to be embarrassed at Sasuke and the rest hearing him. They were so creepy!

"Why do you even need me?" Naruto snapped, pointing accusingly at the ANBU. "I'm super good at sensing stuff now, and I didn't notice them the whole time! Why don't they just go grab him?"

"Because," the Hyuuga ground out. "The man in question has an extra-sensing ability and would notice ANBU, whilst having one of my clan nearby to use as a bargaining chip. So if we could proceed more quickly—"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh, right! Got it! I'll go!" He spun toward the door and stopped suddenly. "Hey, where am I going, anyway?"

There was a series of groans, though the ANBU stood stoically, and Kakashi had crinkled his eye in a smile. "We trust you completely, Naruto."

It was the perfect plan: there wasn't one.

Which was precisely why nobody would know what to expect.

Well, it was saying too much to say he had no plan. He definitely knew there'd be clones involved. As he walked, he figured he'd maybe have one shrink down to crawl under the door, and then it could expand again, and then he'd have it do a Sexy-no-Jutsu, and if Sakura let him live, then—

Oh shoot, he had no idea what this guy would even look like. But did it matter? He'd be the one who wasn't Sakura, Neji, or Obaachan. And, like, probably old and stuff.

Naruto tried to calm the hammering of his heart as he started up the stairs to the fourth floor. He also made an honest effort not to try to sense the chakra of the ANBU he knew were shadowing him. Sensei had explained clearly that if his target (whatever his name was) noticed that Naruto seemed to be expecting something, then he would also start expecting something.

Which would be very, very bad, Sensei had pointed out. And then Naruto would die, which would be entirely merited. But he'd also get Neji or Sakura killed, which would just be foolish, and also make the Hyuuga clan head angry.

Naruto didn't particularly care if the man disliked him. The Hyuuga man already disliked him on sight anyway, just like almost everyone else. But he couldn't let his friends get hurt.

Unlike the rest of the village, Sakura had always paid attention to him, ever since they were kids. Sure, she was usually scolding him for his pranks, or telling him that he was being annoying, but it was better than the icy looks that seemed to glaze over him as he walked through the streets. He'd had to vandalise the whole Hokage Mountain just to get the rest of the village to look his way.

As for Neji, it was enough that he was Sakura's friend. But Neji had also recently been taking him more seriously as a sparring partner, and that felt good. Naruto figured that was why Sakura was friends with him; he was kinda like a strict teacher, and she'd always liked impressing teachers.

And so, not wanting his friends to get hurt or for his Sensei to find him foolish, Naruto shoved the creepy crawlies into the back corner of his mind. If the village could ignore him just because they didn't like him, then he could ignore ANBU when the people he cared about were counting on him.

He instead focused on polishing up his idea. If he screwed up a prank that Iruka-sensei was asking him to pull on purpose, his lifetime of training would have been for nought.

Naruto had nearly made it halfway up the stairs when they began to veer sideways. Hardly thinking, he leapt into the air and stuck his feet to a support pillar. The stairs sheared and in nearly the same instant, Naruto felt more than heard a bang. The noise seemed to travel like a solid wall, punching Naruto in the chest, slapping at his eardrums, and for a moment, Naruto had a bizarre feeling like he might sneeze blood if it weren't for the overwhelming pressure in his head.

Just as quickly, it was over. There was a ringing in his ears, and the stairs were still moving even though all of Naruto's other senses told him everything was almost perfectly still. He closed his eyes and willed himself to focus, and his chakra, more willing than usual due to his extended training, helped stabilise him. The floor stopped spinning as the vertigo passed.

That, he thought to himself. Was a concussive blast caused by a shockwave. He felt quite proud of himself for remembering Sakura's earlier lesson.

And then his heart dropped.

"Sakura." It came out quieter than he intended; that, or his ears weren't working. Not trusting the crack along the stairwell, he ran up the side of the wall to the fourth-floor landing. The damage didn't seem as bad as it had felt; the floor looked oddly misshapen but otherwise stable, and desk-ninja slowly began to come out of their offices and peer around.

Naruto ignored their inquiring looks. The room should be right by the stairs. There's that one, and that one, so if he turned to his side—

The door to room four-hundred-four was shattered. Inside, all Naruto could see was smoke and dust.

"Sakura?" Naruto called. His hearing was definitely damaged. He didn't care; he was sure it'd heal if he waited two minutes.

He furrowed his brow in concentration and built up chakra in his hands. Come on, he'd managed to do this loads of times on accident; surely he could do it on purpose now— and threw the chakra in front of him to clear the air.

It worked a little. It took three consecutive gusts before it was clear enough to see, just a little. He could tell why it had worked as well as it had; the dust had somewhere to go. The window was entirely shattered, and another door to the back of the room was off its hinges.

And the room was entirely empty.

A/N: I always like to leave chapters on a positive note, so: Get it? Error: Room 404 not found? Hahaha~ Right, guys? Guys..?