It was going to be a bloodbath.
The streets seemed oddly deserted as Naruto and Sasuke made their way towards the prison, jumping across the rooftops. In the distance, they could hear what sounded like a battle, but the town itself looked temporarily unguarded.
The prison was a squat, unremarkable building made of thick grey stone. Sasuke led them past the barred and reinforced door and around to the North outside wall.
"I hope they haven't moved them…" he said before knocking on the wall twice in rapid succession, then once more slowly. A few seconds later, this was answered by three quick knocks from the other side.
"Good." He turned to Naruto. "Move down the wall about ten feet and use your Rasengan on it. The walls are three foot thick, so don't overdo it. I've got this one," he said as blue chakra began crackling around his arm.
"Rasengan!"
"Chidori!"
"My hole's bigger," Sasuke smirked.
Naruto rose to the bait, "You told me not to use it at full strength, bastard. Otherwise my opening would be way bigger."
Someone coughed. "I guess size does matter." A female voice noted wryly.
They turned to see a dust-covered figure emerging from the Chidori-shaped hole in the wall.
"Good to see you, Sasuke-san. I assume this is Naruto-kun?"
Sasuke nodded briefly in acknowledgement. "Satori-san." Naruto continued staring, as it was impossible to get a good look at her under all that stone dust. Was it her? He couldn't tell.
She grinned. "I'm Satori, and you have no idea how glad I am to see you both." She suddenly grabbed Naruto and hugged him tightly before letting go. "Could you give me a hand digging Izumi-chan out? She's buried under the rubble at the moment." Without waiting for a response, she headed into the other hole and began moving the stones.
Naruto finally shut his mouth, which had been hanging open, and followed Satori and Sasuke into the other cell. "Are you… are you my sister?"
Satori didn't look up, but continued digging to slowly reveal a female form. "I see Uchiha-san was as talkative as ever. No, I'm not your sister, though you're welcome to call me aneki. That's what she calls me." She gestured towards the rubble. "Izumi-chan is your sister."
Naruto ripped through the rubble in record time, clearing a space around the prone girl. Satori bent down and checked Izumi's pulse. "Good, she's fine, just out cold, and should be for at least a couple of hours." Carefully, she wiped off the dust on Izumi's face, revealing whisker marks identical to Naruto's. "I warn you, though, she's going to be really mad when she does wake up. I didn't tell her about this part of the plan."
"You set this up so my sister'd be knocked unconscious?" Naruto yelled. "What'd you do that for!" He started to glow slightly reddish.
Satori held up her hands placatingly. "Listen to me, please. We're both under a mind control jutsu. We literally can't try to escape, and if we do leave we'll try, even fight, to get back in. So the only way is for us to be carried out while we're unconscious. Once we're far enough away from the village, the jutsu should break of its own accord, but until then… you'll have to knock me out too." She looked at Naruto, who had calmed slightly but was still glaring at her. "And if it's all the same to you, I think I'd prefer if Sasuke-san did it."
"She'll be fine, honest, she heals fast." Satori added apologetically. "That's why I had to do it this way, it takes a lot to knock Izumi-chan out. Now please, hurry, eventually the guards will come back."
"She's right. Grab your sister and let's go." And before poor, still sort-of-confused Naruto could ask any questions, Sasuke had darted behind Satori and hit her in the back of the neck. He caught her as she slumped back, then slung her unceremoniously over his shoulder.
Naruto picked his sister up a good deal more gently, then headed through the wall and after Sasuke.
"I suggest a detour."
"Eh?" They had stopped by mutual consent after an hour or two of travel. Though neither would admit it, being tough ninja-types, the demanding pace and awkward cargo was quickly wearing them out.
Naruto lay sprawled out on the forest floor while Sasuke leaned more elegantly against the trunk of a tree. The girls were laid out nearby, both still out cold.
"There should be a village not far from here. It's small, but there's probably a place to stay for the night and get something to eat. Besides, the detour will mean a less direct route back to the Leaf, which should make us harder to track."
Naruto, being a caring older… wait a minute, was he the older brother or the younger brother? Dammit, it threw his whole familial plan into disarray not knowing such an important detail. Still, he was a caring sibling, and that was the point. Anyway. "Maybe they have hot springs and they can get a bath."
It was not something that would have occurred to Sasuke, but Naruto had a point. The girls probably would like a chance to wipe the grime of the explosion off. And while they were all there, they may as well use the hot spring too…
Okay, again, he was so not going to take that train of thought.
And so it was agreed that they would take the detour. Not, mind you, because once Sasuke had thought of Naruto in a hot spring, the idea wouldn't go away. Not because towns usually have ramen stands, either. And definitely not because they were exhausted from traveling at high speeds each lugging over a hundred pounds of dead weight either.
No, they did it because it was a brilliant ninja tactical maneuver.
Just like waking Satori first and having her wake Izumi.
"You told me to stand against that wall!" Izumi woke up quickly, it seemed. She also punched quickly.
Satori managed to stay one step ahead of the angry blonde whirlwind as she attempted to calm her down, "Izumi-chan, Ihadto! Andbytheway…" she ducked under and came up behind Izumi, "that'syourbrotheroverthere…" she jumped over her as Izumi spun around with a roundhouse kick, "somabyeyoushould…" then dodged with a teleportation jutsu neatly applied, "stoptryingtokillmeandsayhello."
Izumi paused, her fist inches from Satori's midsection. "He is?" Whipping her head from side to side, she spotted Naruto and Sasuke, who had wisely chosen to stand well out of the line of fire. Her blue eyes widened, and the next thing Naruto knew he was in a viselike hug. "Oniichan! You came! Satori-chan and Sasuke-san said you would and he says you're a lot like me and you're annoying too but I'm sure you're not and that you're a really great ninja…"
That, of course, was a clear invitation for Naruto to start telling her about the many exiting missions he'd been on, the amazing jutsus he'd mastered, and how he was clearly going to be the Hokage someday.
So he did.
For several hours.
As if to balance out the sheer amount of words being exchanged between the blonde loudmouths in front of them, Satori and Sasuke communicated entirely in shrugs and facial twitches.
A head jerk. -Is he always like that-
A nod. -You have no idea.-
A shrug. -Where are we going-
A chin tilt. -Village for rest and supplies.-
Pointing. -Then shouldn't we be going that way-
A kunai thrown towards an orange jacket. -Remind me to never let him lead again.-
AN: Thank you for sticking with the story so far. I've added another warning at the start after getting a flame or two about my daring use of Original Characters. (Gasp in shock and horrour) Like I said, they're not Mary Sues, and they do matter to the story. Still, this story will be primarily about Naruto and Sasuke.
I'd especially like to thank those who have taken the time to review the story so far. It means a lot to me to know that people take the time to let me know they think I'm funny. So thank you, child-115, Seadragon, Tsugath, stainedsoul, Scarecrowqueen, howlflower, Kunochidreamer, and sylverrain. And Simple Life, who was kind enough to inform me they were never going to touch my story again because I'd mentioned an OC. And, as ever, my lovely beta Catspaw, without whom nothing would ever get done. The next chapter should be up in one to three weeks.