Naruto stretched as he left the training ground.

"Man…I'm actually really tired!" It was rare for him to get this exhausted anymore but he guessed he shouldn't have been surprised.

After the tree thing, and checking that it had actually grown and he wasn't just seeing things, he had kind of gone overboard on testing it.

On a lot of trees.

Turns out, his Chakra was super weird with trees. He would definitely tell Guy-sensei about this stuff when he got back, see what he could tell him about what he managed to do.

Consequently, he was borderline out of Chakra by the end of his extended training session.

He had started around midday and the sun was nearly down by the time he had decided to call it quits and head home.

"I hope Sakura's not hanging outside my place waiting for me…Again." She had done it a handful of times already, had either barged in to have a sleepover with her teammate or had snatched him off the streets and taken him to have a sleepover at her place.

He wasn't sure he could do anything but sleep if she showed up with how absolutely exhausted he was from training today. He already planned to sleep in tomorrow, catch up on his training when he woke up.

"I wonder what's up with those trees…" His thoughts drifted away from sleep and sleepovers as he thought back to the weirdness of the forest today. He had punched plenty of trees before, had kicked through the bark off more than a handful of trees when Lee was showing him the best way to practice his kicks.

But they had never reacted like that before.

"I really wish Guy-sensei was here…he'd probably know what's happening." Naruto had his hands behind his head, looked up towards the orange and red sky. "I wonder how him and Lee are doing on their mission? It sounded super easy but they've been gone for almost a month now."

In the blink of an eye, Sai had appeared in front of him, Naruto nearly running directly into the Jonin if he didn't stop himself in time.

"Hey Se-"

"Sasuke's been arrested."

"What!"

"Sakura is also being held."

"…You know, that's not that surprising."

"I thought much the same." Sai nodded. "I need to go and handle this."

"Then I'm coming with you!" Naruto was quick to follow after him when he turned to leave, his exhaustion quickly forgotten. "They're my team and I've got to have their backs no matter what!"

"Wise words." At his side Kakashi Hatake, Team Sai's Jonin Advisor, appeared. He matched their steps with his own. "I've been handling this situation as best I could from my end but this isn't going to be quick or easy. Fugaku is already embarrassed at having to arrest his son and, if word's reached his brother, Itachi will be coming back on the warpath."

"That sounds really bad." Naruto spoke the obvious.

"It will be. Kid is overprotective to a fault." Kakashi, for some reason, found the situation funny from the jovial tone he spoke with. "This is going to be absolutely legendary, one for the record books. I intend to watch."

"Are you going to be taking bets?" Sai seemed to find the same humor in all of this as Kakashi, Naruto glancing between the Jonin on either side of him in obvious confusion.

"Nope. I wasn't lucky enough to hop on this quick enough." Kakashi took out a book, drew down a pencil Naruto had just now noticed was tucked behind his ear. "Although, I am a bookie." He flipped open the book, past page after page of writing. "Before we get there, either of you two want to lay a bet?"

"Five hundred Ryo on Itachi being back once this is all over. He'll come in on the warpath and have nothing to do. Another hundred on Shisui showing up out of breath behind him." Sai handed over a stack of bills as he spoke, Kakashi slipping them into a pocket on his Flak Jacket.

"Interesting one there. You're only the second to make that one. Most say he'll be here by tonight." Kakashi made a note in his book. His single visible eye moved to Naruto. "What about you kid? Anything you want to say?"

"Pffftt. This is easy." Naruto handed over a much smaller stack of bills. "A hundred on Sakura adopting Sasuke after this."

"Now that is a new one." Kakashi flipped to a new page. "Most are saying Sai's adopting either you or Sasuke by the end of tonight." The Jonin gave his fellow Jonin a one-eyed stare. "Any comments? Odds are pretty high tonight."

"I'm afraid Sakura's called dibs on that." Sai laughed, Naruto instantly turning to him.

"Since when?" He had to know.

"She broke into my house in the middle of the night." Sai answered rather easily. "It was a rather…strange experience."

"Well, with our bets laid, let's get going." Kakashi put away his pencil and book, increased his pace to something more fitting to a Shinobi. Sai and Naruto were right behind him, both keeping pace rather easily after a moment.

"So…what exactly happened?" Naruto asked the question on his mind at the moment, a rather obvious one he hadn't thought to ask yet.

"No idea." Kakashi answered him, threw in a shrug of his shoulders. "Everything was fine one minute and the next, the Hokage's yelling at me about the kid getting arrested. He didn't know what for but he sent me to go see what I could do." He looked to Sai. "Your story?"

"Much the same. One of his ANBU Black Ops came through my window and said he had a message. He yelled at me in the Hokage's voice and now here I am."

"Ah. They're still teaching the Voice Imitation Technique in the corps?"

"Seems to be the case."

Naruto didn't really know what to say as the two kept talking, going into comparing stories rather quickly.

'He's probably alright…right? I at least know Sakura's fine. Even if they're trying to mess with her, that probably won't work…like at all.'