An: Thank you once again to u-thtadthtshldntb for the fact check. I appreciate it greatly. The story has been edited without changing the general flow.

Sasuke was walking home from the academy. Being the only one in his clan currently in the academy he generally walked alone. It was also a long walk and he had time to think. Today he was thinking about that blonde boy in his class, the one that frustrated him to no end. Why couldn't he just stay still and fight instead of running away? Why was he even in the academy anyway if he didn't want to fight?

Admittedly his whole class seemed to be made up of people that didn't want to fight. The Nara boy slept all the time, the Akimichi boy ate all the time, the Inuzuka and Aburame seemed determined but he hadn't had much chance to talk to them, and the girls all seemed distracted by something caught in their hair all the time. If they wanted to be good ninja they should cut their hair so that it wasn't used against them in battle.

They weren't like Itachi. Itachi was the best. Of course not everyone could be the best, but they should at least want to be the best. He wanted to be like Itachi more than anything. He was the coolest older brother even if he wasn't around that much.

Sasuke quickened his pace to get home. Itachi would be home that night, maybe he could ask him what to do about that blonde boy and he would get to spend some time with him which would be great.

By the time he entered the compound he didn't notice the silence, except for in passing. He was too excited. He could smell something. . .cooking meat. Was it his mother's cooking? It smelled burnt. That was fine though, he would still get to see Itachi.

Bursting into his home with a wide smile he saw his parents, kneeling in their usual places for dinner and Itachi standing behind them, likely serving.

"I'm home," Sasuke announced, moving around to face them. His eyes met those of Itachi, cold and glowing red in the dimly lit room, then they fell on those of his parents. They wore calming smiles, reassuring, but there was fear in their eyes. Sasuke's smile fell and his eyes finally fell on the swords being held to his parents' necks by none other than Itachi.

"Itachi?" he started, rising slowly.

Itachi faced him and smiled. "Sasuke, I'm so glad you could join us. Dinner is about to be served," he said, then with a flick of his wrists, his swords cut through the necks of his parents. With alarming speed he put away the swords and caught the heads before they could fall. Dragging them by the hair he laid them both on a plate in front of Sasuke, their empty eyes staring up at him accusingly.

Sasuke sniffled, frozen in place. "W- why?" he managed.

"I wanted to test my power," he said with a bored expression. "It seemed that the mighty Uchiha weren't a match."

Sasuke rose, drawing a kunai and lunging.

Itachi laughed at the attempt and snatched the kunai out of the air as if it hadn't been moving and let Sasuke fall to the ground empty handed.

"I'm going to kill you," Sasuke screamed, getting back up and attempting another charge.

"As you are now, no you won't. But give it a few years and then," he licked his lips. "Then we'll see."

Sasuke tried another charge, but compared to Itachi he felt like he wasn't moving at all. Eventually he collapsed to the wooden floor, his eyes too filled with tears to see clearly anymore. "Just kill me already," he wept.

Itachi laughed again, the cold resounding amusement echoing something Sasuke had never heard from his brother before. "I don't think I will brother dear. Learn to hate me, get stronger and then maybe we'll see if you have what it takes. Until then," he trailed off and lifted Sasuke's face to his own, his red eye swirling.

Sasuke was walking home from the academy. Being the only one in his clan currently in the academy he generally walked alone. It was also a long walk and he had time to think. Today he was thinking about that blonde boy in his class, the one that frustrated him to no end. Why couldn't he just stay still and fight instead of running away? Why was he even in the academy anyway if he didn't want to fight?

(O_O)

Naruto rose from his slumber, groaning and rubbing his eyes groggily as he pushed Sasuke off from on top of him. The light hurt. No, it burned. His eyes felt like they were being run through with two of Sakura's senbon. His head felt like it was being torn apart by wild dogs. He was never ever drinking again. Had he even succeeded in his mission? Did they make it?

He made his way to his bed and tried to block out the light streaming through the windows. What time was it?

"Sasuke, what's the time?" he called to his ever time wary teammate.

Sasuke didn't respond as he was asleep on the floor. It was odd that Sasuke was sleeping on the floor. As far as Naruto knew he didn't like sleeping on the floor. Maybe he had just been that tired. Had he fought someone on the way home? Was he injured? Or worse, did it have to do with the seal on his neck?

Shuddering and fighting down nausea, Naruto forced himself to rise and channeled chakra to his head to make himself heal, although it was probably a better idea to channel to his liver. Moving over to Sasuke's side, he pushed the boy over to face the ceiling. His eyes were open wide, as if having just seen something terrifying. That wasn't a good sign.

He knelt down and placed his finger by Sasuke's neck. Still a pulse and breathing. That was good. He was still alive. "Sasuke? Can you hear me?" he waved his hand in front of his face and although he didn't react, his pupils were clearly dilating. "Not good," Naruto declared, trying to stay calm. Hoisting his teammate over his shoulders, he carried him outside of the compound, then taking a breath he channeled chakra to his legs and started running.

(O_O)

Sakura's eyes were dry. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't beg, she wouldn't break. Not while there was still hope.

She had been sitting beside Sasuke's bed for a long time. The hours had blended together, making her lose track, but it had definitely been a long time. She glanced up at the clock and found herself doubtful as to whether it was day or night. Glancing back down, her eyes fell on Naruto's spiky red hair that was poking up on the other side of Sasuke's bed. He was sleeping soundly. Was that because of his hangover or because it was night?

Gaara came in after some time, looking tired and disheveled, his hair now dyed a dark brown, perhaps from dirt, but Sakura wasn't an idiot, even his eyebrows were dyed and all of this after an emergency meeting with the Hokage Jiraiya. It was connected, she just didn't know why. Why wouldn't they tell her what happened to Sasuke?

She stared at Gaara inquisitively, wondering if her stare would be enough to make him dish out information, but it was to no avail as Gaara simply pulled up a seat next to Naruto and buried his head in Sasuke's mattress, mirroring Naruto. His soft breathing that came a moment later, told her that Gaara had fallen asleep. At least he'd had the decency to change out of that horrid leotard.

She felt a semblance of amusement at the image of Gaara training with Lee and Gai but the image was quickly repressed by the sight of Sasuke. She gripped the sides of her seat tightly, still unsure whether she was angry or afraid. On the one hand somebody had attacked Sasuke and hurt him, on the other hand, someone had managed to do so without being detected. Was this. . .Orochimaru? Was this the continuation of what happened in the chunin exam?

She shuddered at the memory and dabbed at the scar on her stomach. If it was Orochimaru then there was no point in being angry or afraid, because those emotions wouldn't make much of a difference to a ninja like Orochimaru. Not one bit.

What would Sasuke do in her position? What would Sasuke want her to do? What did she need to do to protect him?

Pushing herself up and out of her seat, she moved to leave, glancing back at Sasuke one last time. Biting back a sob she left the hospital room before she lost the courage and hurriedly started heading to their training ground. Even if Orochimaru was one of the Sannin he wasn't a god. She had training to do and even if it didn't make much of a difference, she could at least live with the knowledge that she had done all she could.

(O_O)

Naruto was shaken awake rather roughly. Blinking, he groggily raised his head from Sasuke's bed to look at the perpetrator.

"Naruto," coughed the jonin. Naruto recognized him to be the same one that had grabbed him when he had been meeting Gaara before the final exam, his name was something like Grekko if he remembered correctly. "The Lord Hokage has requested your presence at your earliest convenience."

Naruto's sleepiness cleared at that and he rose quickly to thank the jonin, then headed out, shooting Sasuke's sleeping form an apologetic glance as he went.

There was no waiting this time, no lines. The secretary shooed him in before he could even declare himself and no anbu even attempted to stop him which was a nice change of pace, if only the situation wasn't so dire. "Naruto Uzumaki reporting, Lord Hokage," he announced tiredly.

Jiraiya, who had been poised over a document, brush in hand, looked up and brightened almost immediately, if only slightly. "Are you alright, kid?"

Naruto nodded. "You don't have to worry about me. Sasuke's the one in hospital."

"From what I've heard you've been in the hospital for almost as long as he's been there."

Naruto grimaced. "Yeah," he said, letting his head droop. "I can't sleep at home. Not while he's like this."

"If you're going to insist on sleeping in the hospital you might want to consider bringing a bed," Jiraiya suggested.

Naruto shrugged. "Any news from Tsunade?"

Jiraiya darkened suddenly. "Yes. Although I don't know if you're going to like it. Sasuke's physical state is one hundred percent fine. From what we can tell he's not even in a coma. He's just asleep."

Naruto frowned. "Then why can't we wake him?"

"This is where it gets tricky. It would seem that he doesn't want to wake up. It sounds like trauma but right now we're not entirely sure why he won't wake up. All I can tell you is that it's entirely up to Sasuke whether he wakes up or not."

Naruto nodded morosely. "Is that all you needed to tell me?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Actually no. I thought this would be a good time to give you a last sealing lesson before my Hokage status goes public."

"I thought Tsunade was going to be Hokage?"

Jiraiya smiled uncomfortably. "Not exactly. She agreed to return to the village and help out as long as I stayed the figurehead. What with the threat of Orochimaru looming it would be a good idea to outnumber him."

"So there are sort of two Hokage now, that's clever. That way the assassins will only go for you," Naruto affirmed with a small grin. A dawning horror quickly took the place of his grin. "Does that mean we're not chunin anymore now that she's not going to be Hokage?"

"No. She ordered me to let you keep the jackets and she's making me announce one more chunin once I go public."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the defeated look in Jiraiya's eyes. "So, sealing?"

Jiraiya, put his brush aside and leaned back in his seat, tilting his Hokage hat back to reveal some of his white hair. "Summoning, to be specific. This is unlike anything else you have ever done before." With that said he pricked his finger with one of his canines and watched the blood pool into a small ball. Wiping it across his other palm he performed a few simple hand signs then place both of his hands on the desk. Upon contact, small red letters swam out from under his hands and covered a large portion of the desk before releasing a small puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared a giant frog was revealed and it was. . .talking?

Naruto stared at the frog that looked like it had eaten ten frogs and instead of digesting them had instead gotten bigger. He blinked once or twice, then attempted an ear cleaning. But no, it was talking, casually and it seemed to know Jiraiya like he was an old friend. He listened out again and reassessed. It was more like the frog knew a mutual friend.

Jiraiya eventually decided to introduce Naruto. "Naruto, this is Gamakichi. He's one of the toads from mount Myoboku. Gamakichi this is Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto raised his hand and waved, feeling awkward. "Er, hi."

The frog ignored him and turned back to Jiraiya. "Is this our new summoner?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Nothing to that degree. I was merely demonstrating summoning jutsu. You can go now."

The frog did what probably constituted as nodding in frog body language then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto stared after the frog, only slightly worried for his own sanity. Raising his eyes to meet Jiraiya's own, he gulped. "Are there. . .a lot of frogs that can talk?"

"Toads," Jiraiya snapped. "And yes. There are quite a lot. Of frogs as well I'm sure. And snakes, deer, snails, eagles, insects, dogs. Basically any animal you could ever think of, there's probably a summons version."

Naruto leaned against a wall and rubbed his eyes. "And why haven't I heard of these. . .summons until now?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "They're a secretive bunch."

"So how does summoning work then?" Naruto asked, still looking a little dazed. "Can we summon ourselves to where they are?"

"I'm going to dumb it down a little. But basically summoning is like fishing. The seal is like the line and the blood is the bait. How much chakra you use changes how tasty the bait is. So when you throw your line into the unknown you just have to wait for something to bite then you tug. If you aren't fully aware of what you're tugging at you might get tugged instead and end up being pulled to them. Is this all making sense?"

Naruto scratched his nose. "I'm not very good at fishing. How does the seal reach them?"

Jiraiya's contempt expression faltered. "No one's really sure," he said sheepishly.

"Do you have a copy of the seals used?"

Jiraiya nodded, reaching for a drawer in his desk and drawing out a scroll. "This can be used for the summons in the place of blood, but it's keyed to a specific summons. It won't work for anything else."

Naruto reached for the scroll and opened it, his eyes widening as he looked over the unfamiliar characters. "This is gibberish," he said plainly to Jiraiya. "Why is this even considered sealing?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "You're right for the most part. I'm sure those that dedicated the branches of learning had some good reason to connote summoning with sealing. The two can be joined but besides for that it would seem completely irrelevant."

"Then why are you teaching it to me?" Naruto asked cautiously, then brightened. "Did they use summoning seals in the chunin exams? Are you going to teach me how to summon myself?" he asked excitedly.

Jiraiya eyed the clock hanging above Naruto and shook his head. "I don't have time for that, but Kakashi can teach you. This is more of a conclusion of what I had been teaching you before the exam. You mentioned that you had a theory about the fourth Hokage's jutsu?" he prompted.

"Yeah. Reverse summoning. After seeing it in the second exam I thought that all you would need is a mechanism to activate the scroll from a distance and you would be able to summon yourself."

"Right. So that is most likely true about the second Hokage's jutsu. However the requirements for such a jutsu wouldn't allow for much range and it would require huge amounts of chakra to be used every time you wanted to go somewhere. This, however, is what the fourth Hokage used," he finished, drawing out a kunai from his desk.

Naruto recognized the kunai instantly from accounts he had read of the fourth Hokage's exploits. "Is that. . .? Can I?" Naruto stammered, awed by the presence of such an artifact.

Jiraiya handed the kunai over and Naruto took it gingerly, turning it over in his hands with reverence. This was one of the few kunai that the fourth had left, the majority having been destroyed after the war to prevent the knowledge falling into enemy hands and the remainder had been collected long before the fourth Hokage's untimely death. To actually see what the seals on the kunai were, he realized, was probably a great honor that hadn't been afforded to many.

He had been expecting it to be covered in sealing complexities so layered and difficult to understand that it would hurt his brain just to look at it. He had been expecting something he could work towards. What he hadn't been expecting was- "This is just a normal storage seal?" Naruto said confusedly.

Jiraiya nodded. "Do you see the problem?"

Naruto shook his head. "This is a joke. Or there's something missing. This can't be it," Naruto protested.

"Remember that I was his teacher. It's real and that's all there is."

Naruto's eyebrows creased together in deep concentration. "This doesn't make any sense," he mumbled.

Jiraiya shrugged. "I think we're done. Keep the kunai. He would've wanted you to have it. In the meantime I have. . .work," he finished with a pained expression.

Naruto eyed the kunai uneasily but slipped it into his pack nonetheless. "Thank you for the lesson," he said. "Good luck with running the village," he said. It fell on deaf ears however as Jiraiya had already gone back to his work.

Naruto returned to the hospital and decided to follow Jiraiya's advice, procuring a futon to sleep on while he waited for Sasuke to recover. Gaara was on a mission with team Gai and he hadn't seen Sakura. Kakashi hadn't responded to the news of Sasuke's sickness which meant he was probably out of the village on a mission. That left Naruto alone with Sasuke, alone with his failures. Had he been awake he might have been able to help. Had he not insisted that Sasuke carry him home, Sasuke might have had more energy to fight whatever it was that attacked him. What hurt the most was that to a certain extent, Sasuke preferred to stay asleep than to spend time with him.

He had given up on the weight training as it was mostly ineffective. His body healed too quickly to build any muscle. He would need to find a different way to get better. Lying down next to Sasuke's bed, he held the Yondaime's kunai above him and stared at the simplistic letters that adorned the kunai.

Day turned to night, his eyes burned from staring at the kunai, turning it to look at it from different angles, channeling chakra into it. There was nothing though. No clarity, no sudden spark of genius. In that moment Naruto realized just how deep the waters were that he thought originally were shallow. Eventually he put the kunai away and started thinking about other topics, mostly to keep his mind off of his teammate sleeping next to him, there was nothing he could do about that.

Instead, he thought about Dosu, more correctly his jutsu. The ability to manipulate sound was something unheard of in the shinobi community, even though there should have been a plethora of them. Half of avoiding detection was about the sounds one made. There were abilities to block out sound, but pure silence was actually very suspicious. Natural sounds however lulled people into a false sense of security. Birds singing, crickets chirping, the rustling of wind in leaves, these were things that ninja should have been looking into. Genjutsu could fool the mind into thinking those noises were indeed there, but anyone with a healthy level of paranoia would dispel it quickly. There was Sasuke's lightning glove of course that made the sound of birds, but that was just a side effect of the sheer power he was packing.

The essential question here was why no one incorporated sound as part of a jutsu. According to Sakura, sound was just air being vibrated at high speeds. So maybe the reason nobody did it was because the chakra control required was too much work for so little gain and as Dosu had demonstrated, it was good at incapacitating but not necessarily very useful when it came to killing unless a special tool was used. So maybe no one had focused on it solely because it wasn't as effective as other techniques. Then there was also the possibility that it was exclusive to those shinobi with a wind type. Maybe he ought to get his chakra nature checked out. The whole team would most likely benefit from that. He would suggest it when they next got together to train. When Sasuke got better. Although he could just use some of his chakra paper to do a quick check right then.

With a shrug he started rummaging through his pack for some paper that he wasn't planning on using. No sense on wasting that which he could still use. A sharp intake of breath made him pause. Turning slowly, he let go of his pack and faced Sasuke who was pushing himself up slowly.

"Sasuke," Naruto exclaimed, jumping up to greet his friend excitedly. "We were so worried. What happened?"

Sasuke looked around slowly as if not having heard Naruto. His eyes met Naruto's own, now two black commas in each eye, surrounding his pupils. "Itachi," he said, his ragged voice making him cough.

Naruto backed away quickly. "Don't do anything. I'll go get Tsunade. Be right back," he said, then stormed out the room.

It took a few minutes to track Tsunade down but when he did find her, she was ready to respond and sped to Sasuke's room, with Naruto and Shizune hot on her heels. As she reached for the door handle it unexpectedly opened inward, startling them, especially when Mizuki faced them all casually.

"Lady Tsunade," he said politely, then slipped out around her. "Didn't mean to inconvenience anyone. Just checking up on one of my old students," Mizuki said, not meeting her eyes. "You should all have a great day. Good to see you Naruto," he finished, winking and heading away before he could be questioned further. Something was suspicious about Mizuki's sudden desire to leave but it didn't bear thinking about right then.

Tsunade slammed the door open, startling all living beings in the vicinity. "Get back in bed," she ordered to Sasuke who had just stood. Even Sasuke in all of his cool and calm wasn't one to refuse the Sannin and quickly got back in bed. Sasuke sat eerily still as she performed a diagnostic jutsu and bombarded him with questions about how he felt. After a few questions it seemed that he was fine and Tsunade allowed herself to slow down. "What happened?" she asked finally, and Sasuke immediately tensed.

Tsunade backed away, most likely to comfort him, but Sasuke didn't calm down.

"It was him," Sasuke spat. "Itachi. He broke into our apartment and used a genjutsu on me."

Tsunade stiffened. "He didn't do anything else?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Not that I can recall."

Tsunade let her hands drop to her sides, her diagnostic jutsu complete. "You appear to be in perfect health. If there is nothing else, I should report this to the Hokage."

Sasuke grunted and Tsunade left, Shizune following closely behind and leaving Naruto alone with Sasuke once again. "Nice of Mizuki to come visit you," Naruto said appreciatively.

Sasuke startled from his position in bed, then visibly calmed. "Yes," he forced out. "It was very kind of him," he said, then pushed himself out of bed and started dressing himself.

"Are you coming home now?" Naruto asked as he watched Sasuke dress with a religious fervor.

Sasuke shook his head. "There's something I have to do first. I'll meet you later."

"Is there anything you want for dinner. I'm thinking of inviting Sakura over-," Naruto started.

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke cut him off. "Just do what you have to," he finished and left, letting the door slam behind him and leaving Naruto alone.

After a few minutes of Naruto watching the door, he packed up his own belongings and started heading home. Dinner wasn't going to make itself.

(O_O)

Sasuke headed to the academy at a steady pace, keeping his guard up and trying to detect anyone following him. Naruto wasn't following him, which was good, he wouldn't approve of this meeting. Just before arriving at the academy, he changed direction, heading into one of the less used academy training grounds and concealing himself behind a statue of a hand held in the shape of a hand sign.

He didn't have to wait long for Mizuki to show himself. He was cautious but he wasn't going out of his way to stay undetected. That meant it wasn't a trap. Hopefully.

Sasuke waited until Mizuki looked like he was getting impatient then revealed himself, sliding out of his cover silently to stand behind Mizuki with a kunai drawn. "Don't move," he whispered.

Mizuki stiffened inadvertently but followed the order and didn't move. "No need for violence Sasuke," he said carefully. "I'm just the messenger."

"Then deliver your message," Sasuke snapped, without removing the kunai.

Mizuki nodded to himself inadvertently. "Lord Orochimaru has offered through his immense generosity to take you on as his student. Benefits include his immense knowledge of all jutsu including your sharingan, you will be given a competent team of which you will be the leader to carry out missions that are far above B rank and last but not least, he will add a secondary seal to your first which will stop the cursed seal from killing you while also making you more powerful than you could ever imagine." Mizuki turned slowly when Sasuke proved to be unresponsive and smirked at the kunai being held at his stomach.

Sasuke's arm shook, but he still made an attempt to hold the kunai out. "What's the catch?" he asked suspiciously.

Mizuki shrugged. "I couldn't say. But he guarantees that you will have the power to kill your brother when the time comes that he deems you ready," he affirmed and handed a small slip of paper to him. "Should you choose to accept the offer, show up here in a week at nightfall and you will be smuggled out of the village."

Sasuke took the piece of paper, unfolding it to stare at it with his sharingan active then channeled his chakra to burn the paper to crisp. As Mizuki turned to leave he called out. "How long?"

Mizuki stopped, facing Sasuke with a questioning look. "Hmm?"

"How long have you been working for him?" Sasuke asked.

Mizuki looked thoughtful. "It doesn't really matter, does it?" With that he walked away.

"I guess not," Sasuke confirmed then followed. Mizuki was long gone but it was better that way. He needed time to think. These things couldn't be rushed.

(O_O)

Dinner with team seven was considerably less fun than Naruto had expected. Sakura was falling asleep where she sat, not having expected Sasuke to recover quite so quickly and therefore having trained herself into the ground. Sasuke seemed to be stewing in something that took up most of his concentration and while Naruto would ordinarily have prattled on about sealing, the classified information he had received that day had taken up most of his concentration, preventing him from letting his guard down. As such, dinner was a quiet affair, not helped by the fact that Naruto made ramen and neither of his teammates appreciated his cooking as much as he himself did.

Sakura tried to stick around for as long as possible, but even she had to admit after almost collapsing, that she needed to sleep. As she retired for the night, Naruto was more than concerned to see that Sasuke hadn't touched his food at all, even after having nothing to eat for several days. Most likely having bumped into his hated brother after so long was bringing up unpleasant memories.

Naruto cleared the table, leaving Sasuke's food in front of him, should he choose to eat it, and busied himself with the various chores that he had been neglecting in lieu of Sasuke's unconsciousness. He wasn't talking to Sasuke right then unless Sasuke started the conversation. He needed the silence and Naruto would give it to him. But at some point he would also need Naruto to break the silence. It was up to Naruto to decide when that was however and it was hard to gauge. At least for the night though, until after they'd both had a full night's sleep, was Naruto content to let Sasuke stew.

As they both made their way to their beds, Sasuke picked up the framed photo on the table in between their beds and stared at it for some time while Naruto got comfortable. "I want you to fight me," Sasuke said, keeping his eyes trained to the photo.

Naruto perked up slightly. "You want to spar now? I just got into bed," he complained halfheartedly.

Sasuke placed the photo back down and turned to face Naruto, his blank expression not giving anything away. "Not tonight," he corrected. "Tomorrow. I want you to fight me without holding back."

Naruto grinned. "Sure. Although I doubt I'll be able to do much against you after all the training Kakashi gave you."

Sasuke nodded. "It's important," he said, ignoring Naruto's smile.

"I get it, I'll be there."

Naruto slept well that night which was more than could be said for Sasuke, who woke up looking like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Nonetheless he didn't back down from his desire to fight, especially not after Naruto suggested they delay it to the next day. Naruto still knew that Sasuke would win. He was just that good.

Tsunade had informed him that the Hokage would be officially announcing the exam results later that afternoon so until then it wasn't suggested that they wear their chunin jackets. It was a shame because it would have been nice to not have his clothing being ripped to shreds by Sasuke's desire to deprive Naruto of his savings and the chunin jackets were made of a much stronger material that was resistant to kunai and didn't stain easily. Naruto sighed longingly at the thoughts of having a full wardrobe made of the stuff used for the chunin jackets. Then rethought it as it probably chafed and didn't allow for much flexibility. That was probably why Kakashi's girlfriend preferred the wire mesh look. Maybe he should look into getting some wire mesh.

They arrived at the normal training ground together, finding Sakura already warming up. Sasuke at least acknowledged her presence this time, although that may have just been because she was taking up space where he wanted to fight Naruto.

Naruto took his starting position, limbering up while he waited for Sasuke to maneuver Sakura out of the way. When she was finally at a safe distance, Sasuke turned to face Naruto, their eyes meeting. That was the signal for the fight to start.

Naruto tensed, waiting for an attack and was surprised when it didn't come. Sasuke hadn't moved, standing at a slight distance from Naruto with a relaxed stance. It was odd. Sasuke normally tried to attack first because Naruto could break through his defense just by sheer force. The fact that he wasn't doing so now meant that he had something new up his sleeve. They hadn't sparred seriously since long before the exams, leaving it casual. Naruto had expected his friend to be more or less the same but he was starting to realize now that he had changed quite significantly.

Grumbling, Naruto decided to spring the trap, whatever it was, and charged, not bothering to draw a kunai. No sense in being wasteful.

He expected Sasuke to dodge, he expected wire to trip him up, he expected a lightning shield to appear and protect Sasuke, what he didn't expect was for Sasuke to block the attack easily, stopping Naruto in his tracks.

Naruto jumped away but found that Sasuke hadn't tried to counter, instead he continued to stand there, letting his arm drop to his side until it appeared that he hadn't moved at all. Sasuke had gotten stronger. That was good. It looked like Naruto would have to pull out some tricks.

He threw two kunai, each streaking past Sasuke on either side of him, too far from his person to reach and he lowered his goggles as they flew. Two red flashes later and Naruto was once again charging Sasuke, instead this time he didn't take a direct approach, skirting around Sasuke to attack from behind.

A hand caught his wrist before it was even close and his momentum was redirected, past Sasuke, to land him on the floor. He rolled quickly and took up position again, readying his kunai to defend himself. Still, Sasuke hadn't moved.

Raising his goggles, Naruto grinned appreciatively. "You've gotten really strong Sasuke. I don't think I'll be able to beat you as I am now."

Sasuke's eye twitched. "Stop pulling your punches and maybe you'll actually be able to do something."

Naruto opened his mouth and frowned. "I'm not pulling my punches."

Sasuke's eye twitched again. "Yes," he affirmed. "You are."

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know why you would think that. Sakura doesn't think I'm pulling my punches, do you Sakura?" he directed to the pink haired girl who was trying not to look like she'd been listening in.

Sakura smiled sheepishly. "You don't look like you're trying very hard."

Naruto grumbled. "Fine. You want me to try harder. I can try harder." With that he lowered his goggles and threw a volley of shuriken around the clearing. None of them hit Sasuke, but none of them were being aimed at him. Quickly he jumped out of the small area they encircled and brought his hands together, flaring his chakra. Thin blue lines shot out from each of the shuriken, joining from one end to the other, shaping a circle around Sasuke that would trap him for the rest of the day.

Naruto lowered his hands and looked at Sasuke gleefully. "I didn't even have to make you bleed," he said proudly. "Forfeit and I'll bring the barrier down."

Sasuke cocked his head, then burst into a cloud of smoke to reveal a log. Naruto groaned and brought down the barrier, wondering where Sasuke had got to. Only too late did he realize that Sasuke had just henged himself to look like a log and before he knew it there was a kunai being pressed against his throat.

"Again," Sasuke said, barely a whisper and he stepped away from Naruto, sheathing his kunai.

Naruto shrugged and readied himself. He needed to think of something else. The flash tags weren't working so well for some reason, he could try to use explosive tags, but what with Sasuke's newfound speed he doubted he would be able to get a tag close enough to be of any use. He could use a clone. . .actually that was a great idea. The pain feedback wouldn't be so great, but that was something he could endure for a victory.

With a grin, Naruto created three clones, concealing a tag on each of them and sending them forth. Sasuke somehow managed to redirect each one back towards Naruto before they exploded, sending him flying back to bump his head against a tree and lie still, groaning quietly.

Sasuke sauntered up to him and held his kunai out to his neck then rose. "Again," he said.

Naruto moaned in pain, neglecting to move from his position. "You win. I can't think of any other way to beat you. You're just so much stronger than me now. Maybe once Kakashi starts training us again I'll get closer to your level."

Sasuke scowled down at him. "Don't lie to me. I know you're holding back. Fight me properly."

Naruto pushed himself up on his hands to look at Sasuke quizzically. "Why do you think I'm holding back. When have I ever given you reason to think I can do better than this?"

"When you beat Gaara."

Naruto forced a grin. "I mean, yeah, I beat him, but that had more to do with being unexpected than with my actual strength. I'm really quite weak."

Sakura chose this moment to sidle up to the two of them. "Didn't you say you could create about fifteen clones easily, probably more. Why did you only make three?"

Naruto winced. "I didn't think I needed more."

"And aren't you able to channel chakra to your attacks to make them stronger?"

"Yeah, but that gives me fractures. I don't like to use it unless there's an emergency."

"And aren't you able to use chakra strings?"

"I figured Sasuke would be able to see them with his sharingan."

Sasuke's brow furrowed further. "But why didn't you try at least. I would have had a much harder time fighting ten of you than three, especially if they were all loaded with explosive tags. I think you would've won."

Naruto frowned. "Listen, you're stronger and cleverer than me. So it's fine that I lost. You guys don't have to rub it in," he said, pushing himself to his feet and rubbing his head.

Sasuke's eyes darted to Sakura's and a silent message passed in between them. An instant later, Sakura walked away as if nothing had happened, leaving the two boys alone. "I need to know why you're holding back. I can't train with you if you're always holding back."

"I'm not-," Naruto started in protest.

"Don't lie to me," Sasuke hissed, his eyes shifting into the deep red and black of the sharingan. "If you lie to me one more time I'm never talking to you again."

Naruto stared down his friend for a long time, neither budging an inch. Finally he turned away to look at his feet. "I'm scared, okay."

Sasuke snorted. "You really think I'm going to hurt you that badly? You can come back from death's door whenever you want?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not scared of getting hurt. I'm scared of hurting you. I'm scared that I'll lose control and I'll. . ." he trailed off and glanced up at Sasuke who seemed to be fuming inwardly.

"Well stop being scared," Sasuke responded finally. "You're not going to cripple me or kill me."

"How do you know?" Naruto snapped.

"It won't happen," Sasuke affirmed again.

Naruto smiled at him sadly. "I'd like to believe you, I really would."

"But you don't," Sasuke finished grimly.

Naruto nodded, shouldering his pack. "I think we just need to sleep on this. Once we get our chunin jackets we can start doing B ranks and you won't have to worry about my holding back anymore," Naruto attempted to assure him. "And I will get stronger. You'll see. Eventually I'll be able to keep up with you without being scared of doing so. But right now, I just can't afford to. You understand, right?" he finished, almost pleading.

Sasuke turned away and humored him with a grunt, but from the faraway look in his eyes, it appeared that Sasuke had already checked out of the conversation.

(O_O)

For some reason, shinobi, who were supposed to operate in the shadows and keep their secrets, appreciated public ceremony more than anyone else. The Hokage had taken the occasion to give a big speech about how wise he was and how the next generation of the will of fire would carry the village on their shoulders. At least Jiraiya was a more entertaining speaker than the Sandaime, especially with Tsunade standing behind him and noticeably kicking his shin whenever his speech veered from the main point.

Naruto accepted his chunin jacket with feigned reverence, along with his two teammates and Shikamaru Nara of team ten. Shikamaru seemed confused more than anything, muttering to himself that there must have been some mistake. It was probably an act though, Shikamaru was good at making people underestimate him.

Glancing over at Sasuke, Naruto couldn't help but feel his spirits drop, even amidst the joyous occasion. They had been speaking normally, casually even, but Sasuke was distant now, as if always thinking about something else. It was clear that Sakura had noticed Sasuke's strange mood, if the worried glances she kept sending his way were any indication.

Kakashi wasn't around, so they held off any celebrations until later, instead taking the newfound opportunity to take a mission. Just a B rank this time. There was no sense in rushing into things, especially since it had been quite a while since they had actually done an official mission. The paperwork was surprisingly more exhausting than Naruto remembered, and that was just getting the mission.

Their task was to collect some golden statue, which had been stolen by a bunch of bandits. Although they were likely only civilian level, the mission was called for B rank due to the speed required to take care of the mission. Three days at most and it wasn't exactly close by.

This was the second time working together since going to find Tsunade and the going was awkward. The differences in speed became more readily apparent, as Sasuke had to keep on stopping to let Naruto and Sakura catch up. If it bothered him, he didn't show it, which only made Naruto more worried.

They found the bandits quickly and set up an ambush with Naruto being the distraction, while Sasuke and Sakura neutralized the bandit leader. Hopefully they wouldn't need do more than that. At Sakura's signal, Naruto leaped down to land in the middle of the bandit group and start attacking while shouting inane words.

It was easy, almost too easy. The bandits were untrained and unskilled. One flash tag and he didn't even need to injure any of them, short of knocking them out. Looking at his work contentedly he turned back to see how his team had fared with the leader and was immediately confused. The leader was lying unconscious on the floor, that wasn't the confusing part.

"How-?" he started, looking at the awkward picture. Sasuke grimaced and Sakura blushed. Their reactions made sense, especially considering that their hands seemed to be stuck together with some form of sticky substance. Glancing down at the bandit leader he managed to formulate a picture, even though it was still a little hazy. "Bloodline limit?" he guessed.

Sasuke shrugged, by doing so accidentally pulling Sakura in closer to him, making her blush intensify. "It won't come off," Sasuke explained, sounding annoyed.

Naruto tried to hold back a smile. "We might be able to melt it later," he suggested. "You two get camp set up and tie these guys up. I'll go take the statue back. Good plan. Go Naruto," he exclaimed and dashed off before his teammates could stop him. A few minutes later he returned looking slightly embarrassed and grabbed a chest off the bandits' cart, leaping away again before anyone could stop him.

When he returned that night, it was to two very embarrassed teammates looking away from each other, while sitting next to the fire.

"I take it the fire didn't work," he commented, startling his teammates. They looked at him, looked at each other, then both blushed and turned away again.

"No," Sasuke said angrily. "It didn't work. We interrogated the bandit leader and he informed us that it would take three days for the web to fade."

Naruto snorted and then looked very concerned. "Three days?"

"Yeah."

"How long can you hold it in?"

"Not long enough."

"That's not good."

"Hn."

"Can I assume that you two already experienced the complications?"

"What do you think?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

Naruto shrugged. "I just hope you washed your hands."

"I'm going to kill you."

"You can try." Naruto flashed him a gleeful smile and sat down on Sakura's side and started cooking dinner.

For the next three days, Sasuke and Sakura got to know each other a little more intimately than they desired. Sakura didn't complain for the most part because she enjoyed being so close to Sasuke, and Sasuke didn't complain because it would have ruined his cool image of not being bothered by anything. Naruto had left them to figure out the toilet and bath issues by themselves, not wanting to be caught in the blast.

Even with all the stress and grossness that ensued, they both looked like they were enjoying themselves. At least when they thought Naruto wasn't looking. It was painful to watch Sasuke, every time a spark of joy rose in his eyes it was smothered quickly by the distance that had taken up residence. Something was still bothering him and of course there was something bothering him. He had just seen his brother, the one that had killed his entire clan. Naruto was frankly surprised that he was doing so well. So surprised in fact that he was suspicious. He had a feeling that their conversation from a few days ago hadn't been forgotten.

(O_O)

Sasuke watched his teammates spar. Gaara had returned and was taking Naruto to town, doing everything in his power to impale him. He watched the fight with his sharingan, confirming the unfortunate fact for himself. Naruto was moving faster, hitting harder, employing more clones and explosives in his tactics, even if he wasn't doing so consciously. The worst part was that Sasuke understood why, he understood Naruto's concern because it was true. If Naruto tried, he could probably kill Sasuke, or do just as bad. He never did though, Naruto had the killing instinct of a four year old. A civilian four year old that grew up in a happy home and had lots of friends. Sasuke was sure that he was even holding back against Gaara, putting just enough effort in to put up a fight. Eventually he would probably either tire Gaara out, or Gaara would win with a few easily healed injuries.

The problem with this, even though Naruto probably could do as he said and catch up to Sasuke, was that unless he was fighting to kill, Sasuke would never feel threatened enough to get stronger as he had done with Kakashi. Even though Kakashi probably could have killed him in an instant, he exuded killer intent enough to make Sasuke fight like his life was on the line. Naruto wasn't a killer though, it wasn't in his nature.

Today was the day. He had to make the decision before nightfall. But watching the fight, Sasuke realized that the decision was already made. Sure, if he stuck around he might eventually be on a level to fight Itachi, but it would take much longer than was necessary. He would leave that night. It would hurt in the beginning, his friends would hunt him, try to bring him back to the village. But the feeling would pass after a while. They would forget about him, see him in a bad light and leave him to his own goals. Maybe Orochimaru would use him for whatever he needed, leaving him an empty husk and maybe he would pull one over on Orochimaru.

Itachi had told him to learn to hate and he had forgotten about it for some time, relying instead on his teammates to carry him the lengths of power in the place of hatred, but now he saw that a team was not enough. They had gotten him this far, and for that he was thankful, but to truly beat Itachi, he knew, he needed to hate so much that it neglected his own safety for the sake of his revenge.

Still, it would be hard to leave. He intended to travel light, just packing away his emergency survival scroll so as not to appear suspicious.

For the rest of the day he acted casual, going through the motions, even going so far as to argue with Naruto about what they would be eating that night. Naruto and Sakura seemed surprised by his feigned good mood, but they also appeared relieved. That meant his charade was working. It meant that by the time they noted his absence, he would be long gone.

When it started getting dark, he took his leave, giving himself an excuse of needing to train. He left the details ambiguous on purpose, so that they wouldn't be entirely sure of which training ground he was using. Then he headed towards the rendezvous.

Team seven would do just fine without him. Of that, he was sure.

(O_O)

"I'm worried about Sasuke," Sakura said, sitting down across from Naruto in his and Sasuke's kitchen.

Naruto attempted to slurp up the noodles sticking his mouth quickly before replying. "So. . .am. . .I," he managed through mouthfuls.

Sakura watched him eat with a slight modicum of disgust. "How can you be so casual about it all? He's been acting like a different person for these past few days," she exclaimed when he bent over his bowl to carry on eating.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly then lowered it in realization. "I keep on forgetting that you've only known Sasuke since we graduated. I've known him since we were-," he scrunched up his face. "Seven maybe. I dunno. But the Sasuke you know wasn't always the way he is. This is what he used to be like all the time. Angry, distant. . .sad. You know about the Uchiha massacre?"

Sakura nodded.

"Right. Well, Sasuke saw his clan murdered in front of him by his older brother. I don't know any of the other specifics, but it was bad. Whenever he thinks about that night it sets him off, he'll be moody for a week before he gets better. But you're right. I am worried," Naruto said. "Not because he's been acting moody, but because today he wasn't. He was hiding it and I'm not sure why. I have a feeling that it's bad."

Sakura paled. "Do you think he's going to. . ." she gulped. "Chase after his brother now? Try to catch him?"

Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke's not an idiot, even though he sometimes is. He won't challenge his brother until he knows he will be victorious. I'm more worried that he'll find a shortcut, some other way to bridge that gap."

"How would he do that?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I could think of a few ways. But I doubt it would be anything less than being trained by Orochimaru."

Sakura's face managed to become whiter than it was before. "O- Oro- Orochimaru?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah but I'm not so worried about that for now. Orochimaru's not going to come close while there are two Sannin in the village."

Sakura slammed the table in between them. "But he won't need to come here if Sasuke goes to him," she hissed.

Naruto blinked. "Huh. You don't think-?"

She looked around, noting the clock and Sasuke's absence. "He's usually on time for dinner, isn't he?"

"Yes. But-,"

"Did he tell you where he was going?"

"He said he was going to train."

"Which training ground?"

Naruto scratched his head. "I don't know."

Sakura jumped up, pulling Naruto up with her. "I have a bad feeling," she said. "I need you to make a bunch of clones and send them to all the training fields. You stay with me. In the meantime I need to find out how many shinobi are currently in the village."

Naruto nodded slowly, seemingly dumbfounded. Sakura released him, and he immediately made a few dozen clones, all of which headed off without any further prompting. Then he was promptly dragged off with Sakura to the mission desk. While Sakura attempted to find out how many shinobi were currently in the village without task, Naruto started going over his plan. This had been a long time coming. He had wanted more time to improve on his skills, but that would have always been preferable. As he was, he knew he wouldn't be able to bring Sasuke back, he needed allies and lots of them. Sasuke would most likely be travelling with a bunch of Orochimaru's elite and therefore overkill would be necessary.

One thing bothered him, being, why now? Sasuke wasn't exactly in the best state for Orochimaru to use him as he saw fit right at that moment and it was a heavy risk taking Sasuke from the village under the noses of two Sannin. So why now? And now that the village was high alert after Itachi's appearance, interference from Orochimaru was suicide. Which really just made the question stronger, why now?

The answer, obviously, was because Orochimaru needed him now. But what could he need him for? Whatever it was, it would most likely not be pretty. So in other words, what they would need to stop Orochimaru's plans was overkill. They would need every single available ninja on this mission to slow down Sasuke's escorts.

Naruto shook his head and plastered on a nervous smile. He was getting ahead of himself, he didn't even know that Sasuke was gone yet. It could all be a false alarm and his clones would soon all disperse, sending Sasuke's exact location to him. Then he and Sakura would go find Sasuke, tell him what happened and have a laugh.

Sakura returned after a lot of arguing with a grim expression. "There's just us, Gai's team, team eight and team ten."

Naruto kept his smile up, just because he wasn't sure that was bad news necessarily. "No jonin?" he confirmed and Sakura shook her head in response.

"Any news from your clones?" she asked, looking slightly hopeful.

"Nothing yet. Some still haven't reached the further training fields, but up until now they haven't even found any sight or scent of him."

Sakura didn't respond, instead, staring at the floor, apparently deep in thought. "We can't do anything until we have confirmation that he's gone," she started, speaking more to herself than Naruto. "And we don't want to get all of our friends combat ready for nothing. All we can do is wait," she said.

Naruto nodded. "We can still make our own preparations. I think this would be a good opportunity to tell your parents about the mission you might have to carry out. You might want to make them aware of how long you'll be gone."

Sakura's head rose, looking startled as she blinked at Naruto slowly. For a moment she looked soft, like she had looked in the academy before joining team seven. It was a stark contrast to her usual hard and hidden self. She looked innocent and unprotected, like at any moment she could shatter. It only lasted for a little while and a few seconds later she was back, cold steel in her eyes. "I understand," she said. "I'll be at home if there are any further developments. Don't forget to use your clones," she finished, then started heading home.

Naruto watched her go and started fiddling with a kunai until she was out of sight, then created a clone and started heading towards the post office. If nothing was wrong he would be able to pass it off as a joke. If there was something wrong then this was necessary.

With that errand done he headed home and finished his meal. He ate quickly even though he felt sick to his stomach, but he knew that he would need his energy. Besides for that he set about making the house look a little more chaotic. After an hour or so, his final clone dispersed, sending the unfortunate information back to him. It had caught Sasuke's scent in the forest of death and had followed it until close to the village exterior where it became muddled with a bunch of other scents. It would have continued to track them but it felt the information was necessary and Naruto couldn't help but agree.

He jumped up and created another ten clones to retrieve all the available ninja, then, after grabbing his pack, rushed to Sakura's place.

Sakura was waiting for him, her parents having already gone to sleep. Her room was more of a mess than usual but it appeared chaotic, which was the point. "He's gone?" she asked.

Naruto knew that she had already guessed the answer but nodded anyway. "My clone followed his scent to the middle of the forest of death. He met what smelled like four other ninja before heading out."

"Have you woken everyone?"

"My clones are in the process."

"Good."

Naruto looked at her carefully. "Did you. . .tell your parents?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Better they don't worry."

Naruto frowned. He couldn't say he related but he would've thought it would be nice to have somebody worrying about him. His eye twitched and he sighed. "It sounds like Shino's not here. He's apparently gone away with his dad. At least that's what Kiba said. Everyone else is on their way to the Hokage tower though. We should head there as well."

Sakura nodded determinedly. "Lead the way."

They arrived just before everyone else. It was a lucky thing that Gaara had been spending his time with team Gai, otherwise Naruto had no idea how he would have found him.

Shikamaru was still blinking sleep out of his eyes and eyeing the moon in the sky. "What is this about Naruto? It better be important," he said, stifling a yawn.

Naruto saw Sakura's hackles raise and interrupted before a fight could start. "It's important Shika. Trust me. Thank you for coming," he said.

Shikamaru eyed him up carefully and nodded. "Very well."

Naruto sent him a grateful smile and beckoned the gathered ninja to follow. Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Neji, Rock, Gaara, Tenten, Hinata and Ino followed Naruto and Sakura into the Hokage tower, all looking tired yet curious. As they walked along Naruto tried to explain, however brief. "It would seem that Sasuke's been kidnapped by Orochimaru's forces. We're not entirely sure when it happened or where but from what we understand it's been at least several hours since they've set off. From what little intelligence we've gathered, there are four kidnappers, most likely stronger than an average chunin and probably crafty enough to sneak into and out of our village without alerting anyone. I've gathered all of you even though there are only four of them because this needs to be done quickly, we can't afford failure and we can't afford delay. They've taken one of our own and that is an insult we can't let stand. Understood?"

They nodded wearily.

"Good. Sakura will be in charge of our tactics. We just need to ask the Hokage's approval and then we'll set off. If anyone wants to back out, now is a good time."

None of them did back down, but Shikamaru was eyeing Naruto strangely all the same. Naruto wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and let his shoulders fall in relief. That was the first hurdle passed. The rest of the mission would be much more complicated.

Sakura stormed into the Hokage's office to reveal a slightly inebriated Hokage and assistant having a drink together. Ever the professional, Sakura ignored their hurried attempts to stash away the wine and bowed. "Sakura Haruno requesting permission to seek out four kidnappers. Sasuke Uchiha has been kidnapped by those we believe serve Orochimaru at an unknown time earlier this night. A team of available shinobi have already been gathered and await the permission of the Hokage." With that said she straightened and kept her face impassive.

Jiraiya and Tsunade both seemed surprised by the development. "What makes you believe these are Orochimaru's men?" Jiraiya asked.

"Orochimaru has hinted to desiring Sasuke for his own ends before," Sakura answered smoothly. "Please Lord Hokage. Every moment we spend here deliberating, is another moment Sasuke remains in their clutches."

Jiraiya turned to Tsunade and raised an eyebrow. "Could you go help them?"

Tsunade shook her head. "It could be a trap to draw us away from the village. Besides we still haven't had any update on the Itachi situation yet."

Jiraiya nodded. "Alright then. Take your team and seek out the kidnappers. Your mission is classed as A rank if this is Orochimaru we're dealing with. If Orochimaru does show up in person you are to abandon Sasuke and report back. I repeat, if Orochimaru shows up do not attempt to fight him because you will die. The status of the kidnappers is preferred captured, but should capturing affect the mission parameters lethal force is permitted." He stopped and looked at all of them strangely. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go," he exclaimed, pointing to the door.

The collected shinobi scrammed and didn't regroup until they were out of the tower. Sakura looked at the team in front of her and sighed. Naruto could agree with her sentiment. They weren't much. Hopefully they would be enough though.

"Alright, listen up," Sakura barked. "Naruto's told you the details of the mission but it is essential you know these things as well. None of you are expected to die. In fact you are all expressly forbidden from doing so. We've gathered such a large team so that we can avoid any sticky situations that might require sacrifice. We stick together and only separate when I order you to. Understood?"

They all nodded, although Ino seemed to be hesitant.

"Meet at the front gate in twenty minutes. Gather all that you can, anything that will give you an advantage. Kiba go wake Akamaru, we'll need his nose to track them."

They dispersed when she was done, and Sakura sagged. "It's all moving so quickly," she mumbled.

"It'll be okay, Sakura. Trust me," Naruto said, trying to keep her spirits up even though he didn't necessarily believe it himself.

She smiled weakly. "Don't you always tell us not to trust you?"

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah. Good point." He shouldered his pack. "Let's get to the gate. We'll need to explain the situation to the guards before we leave. Better to get that done now."

Almost as if prompted by his words, one of the two gate guards came running up the to the Hokage tower, looking desperately out of breath. His name was Izumo, Naruto was pretty sure.

"Is the Lord Hokage awake?" Izumo managed in between pants.

Naruto and Sakura nodded. "Has anything happened?"

"Yeah. Two chunin were attacked. They're still alive but it's not looking good."

Naruto and Sakura shared a glance. "Any idea who did it?" Sakura asked.

Izumo shook his head. "Nothing conclusive. We just know that whoever they were, they're strong." He blinked suddenly realizing who he was talking to. "I should probably go tell the Hokage," he said, then sped off into the tower.

"Think those are our kidnappers?" Sakura asked.

Naruto could only shrug. "We'll find out soon enough."

(O_O)

Kiba picked up Sasuke's trail by the site of the attack. Two chunin were indeed incapacitated with heavy injuries, although Shizune, who had accompanied them that far, said they would likely be alright. He seemed to indicate that the kidnappers weren't as far off as they fought, which led to them either being exhausted from the fight with the chunin or they were setting a trap. The prior was unlikely if they were Orochimaru's trusted however. In response Naruto had created three clones to head the charge, the rest of the team staying a few paces back.

"Hold," one of the lead Naruto's called suddenly, raising his hand. "Double tripwire."

Naruto looked at Sakura wo shrugged. "Spring it," she said. "They likely know we're chasing them already. Let them think we're not clever enough to spot their trap."

The Naruto clone nodded and stepped forward. The tripwire went taut, snapped and nothing happened. The clone bent down to look at the ground and grimaced. "Looks like there was a third tripwire. Probably an alarm from the lack of effect."

Sakura turned to Hinata. "Can you see anything with your byakugan?"

Hinata blinked, as if surprised to be spoken to. The veins around her eyes swelled up and took a cursory look around. "I think I can see an encampment that way with four ninja and. . .there's a box, with chakra. There are explosive notes in the trees almost all the way around and a few other tripwires," she said, finishing her account and deactivating her byakugan. "Maybe Neji should have a look as well," she suggested.

Naruto looked up at Hinata, trying to hide his surprise. She hadn't stuttered once throughout that entire account. It looked like she had gained some self confidence over the past few months.

Sakura shook her head. "Better that Neji conserve his chakra, we may need his defense ability if any of the traps prove too quick to dodge." Turning to the rest of the team she clapped her hands together. "Alright, they likely know we're here. If they're weakened they won't want to fight all of us at once and with their mission to kidnap Sasuke they'll probably want to separate us. Which is why as of right now these will be your teams until otherwise specified. Each of you will take four Naruto clones with you to help with trap diffusion, capture and to inform the lead team of your statuses. Try to at least keep one clone intact until successful capture of the targets. Your teams will be Hinata, Rock, Tenten and Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Neji, Kiba and Gaara and finally myself with Naruto. Are there any reasons any of you would have to change the teams?"

"Yeah. Why don't you let us keep our original team formations and just add the extras where needed?" asked Ino, looking slightly annoyed.

"We need a sensor on each team, as long as we don't know what we're dealing with," Sakura said. "I also need the sensors to be balanced out with fighting ability, that's why Kiba and Gaara don't need a third member and I've assigned four to your team. Please understand Ino, I'm not trying to insult you with these teams, they are precautions based on what I understand of everyone's abilities. If there is anything I don't know please tell me and I can reassign someone."

Ino opened her mouth to speak and closed it again shortly afterwards.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "Naruto would you please," she gestured and Naruto followed, creating sixteen clones and letting them disperse among the groups. "When they do try to separate us, I want Shikamaru's team to go first. Be quick but efficient and remember who you're dealing with. As soon as you're done, carry on and try to catch up. If you find another team in distress then help them out. It is advised to carry the prisoners with you. Make sure to keep one Naruto clone around so that he can seal their chakra. I think that's everything," she finished, looking back at Naruto for confirmation. He smiled in response.

The four teams converged on the kidnappers' location from four different angles, all sending a Naruto clone to go first and trigger any traps. If the kidnappers hadn't realized before that they had company, there was no doubt that they knew about it now. Naruto grimaced from his position in the treetop. This was going to be tricky. Maybe overkill hadn't been the best idea.

The kidnappers appeared to be a lively bunch. One had four arms, another two heads, a third was clearly a teenager but was also heavily balding and a third was a female redhead. It was almost a shame that she was an enemy, Naruto would have liked to know what her lineage was.

"We know you're here," four arms called out, moving to stand protectively in what looked like a barrel covered in seals. "Show us your faces before you die."

Naruto shrugged. It sounded like the jig was up. He jumped down from his hiding place to stand in front of four arms, grinning at him brightly. "Hi there. I don't suppose you've seen some kidnappers pass by? They would have been carrying a thirteen year old boy, dark hair, very angry, about this height." Naruto held his hand out to show him to indicate Sasuke's height, all while trying to look innocent.

Four arms laughed while the other three scowled. "I can't say I've seen anyone like that. What do you say Jirobo?"

"Nope," apparently Jirobo replied.

Four arms looked back at Naruto with a pitying expression. "Sorry. I guess we haven't. So you can tell your friends that as well and leave."

Naruto frowned. "Yeah. I can't do that," he said regretfully. "Could you maybe just tell us what you've done with Sasuke and hand him over?"

Four arms glanced to his side at the two headed ninja, a signal of sorts. The two headed ninja threw a kunai, the explosive tag barely registering in Naruto's vision before he was able to shout a warning. Four arms flexed his many appendages and seemed to pull at invisible strings. Suddenly the ten shinobi that had been accompanying Naruto fell out of the trees to land awkwardly around the clearing. At least that's how it may have appeared. In truth they were another ten Naruto clones, henged to look like the actual members. Of course, the kidnappers didn't need to know that yet.

The real Naruto scratched his head, smiling sheepishly. "You got us. Good job. What now? Surely you can't take on all of us." This was it. He hoped they were as gullible as they looked.

"Stupid brat," the one known as Jirobo muttered and he brought his hands together. "You three go, I'll take care of these children."

The rest of his team had no qualms abandoning him apparently and left without even saying goodbye. Naruto faced down Jirobo, waiting for him to attempt his neutralization. Jirobo brought his hands to the ground. From his hands spread a dome of stone, encasing Naruto and his clone troupe until they were completely trapped.

Naruto sighed and started tapping his feet rapidly, feeling impatient. Any minute now. . .

The dome fell apart suddenly to the sight of Choji's body turned ball attacking Jirobo. Good, so that was working. Jirobo seemed to be putting up a fight of course but he would be no match for them if Neji could lay a finger on him. "Alright Shika, you got this one. Meet you later," he shouted, then headed off in the direction his nose was telling him to go. Six of the clones followed him, another six were most likely ahead of him. Even though he was going to have a hard time sifting through all the information and experiences later they were necessary if only to seal the prisoners' chakra and make sure they couldn't move. They were also there to prevent any death if possible. He didn't want anyone dying on his watch, even if it wasn't his mission per say.

He caught up to some of his teammates quickly, Ino's team had already been dispatched to take care of four arms, leaving Sakura, Gaara and Kiba in the chase. Naruto's four clones joining the fray filled the gap that had been left for Kiba and Gaara's team. So just two of the kidnappers remaining. No words were exchanged, no one was in the mood to talk, which was rare for Kiba, even if it was pretty normal for Gaara and Sakura was far too focused on the mission.

They caught up to two heads quickly, he seemed to have just been waiting for them so that he could obstruct them. It wasn't a very good obstruction though and Sakura signaled Kiba and Gaara to take care of him while they went on ahead. Only the girl with the red hair was left and she would probably pose a suitable challenge against Sakura and himself. She was most likely the weakest of their group though seeing as she had been chosen to continue instead of delay.

Sakura eyed Naruto wearily once they were out of earshot. "Is all going according to plan?" she asked.

"Yeah," was the response. "Although I don't know if that's a good thing."

"We've never really been good at drawing the moral line," Sakura said in agreement.

They continued on in silence for some time. "This is worrying," Naruto said nervously. "It's too quiet."

Sakura stopped then, leaning against a tree trunk for support, then winced and held a hand to her head. "I feel-," she started, then jumped to the side as a massive fist came rearing in to crush her.

Naruto swore and made to get out of the way but wasn't able to in time and was sent smacking into a tree. This is what happened when there weren't enough sensors. He really wished Shino was there right at that point. He sniffed the air, leaping from the tree as another giant fist came at him, this time only narrowly dodging, then spotted his target. She was high above them in the trees playing what looked like a flute. Was this another sound jutsu?

She played a note and something moved, something big, it was. . .a puppet? A really big puppet. No, several really big puppets. And she was controlling them with the flute, or at least that's how it appeared. Why would she need the flute to control them though? Maybe it was a form of summons, but then why couldn't she just order them to do what she wanted? Maybe they only responded to sounds of music then. Naruto supposed there was only one way to find out.

Rummaging through his pack, he found the correct scroll, unrolled it to the item he wanted and brought it out. He held the full wooden flute to his mouth and blew with all his might. A high whistling sound came from the flute, making him frown. Maybe he needed to blow harder.

Sakura came up behind him and slapped him upside the head, grabbing the flute before he could protest, then started playing it. It didn't do anything, but at least that gave them some idea of what they were dealing with. Or rather of what they weren't dealing with.

Naruto and Sakura jumped apart as the summons tried to squash them again. It was irksome. Naruto had already received memories from Shikamaru's team who seemed to have done fine against the Jirobo guy. So why was the apparently weakest member so strong? It did look like she relied heavily on her flute, so it would make sense then that she wouldn't be able to do much without it. So their next course of action would be to get the flute away from her, if only they could get close enough.

Creating a few clones, Naruto sent them at her, just to see her reaction. The summons were quick and the clones were neutralized almost immediately, making Naruto wince from the pain feedback. He could create more clones, but didn't want to endanger any of his other teammates. What would be best in this scenario would be to delay her until his more able teammates could show up, then Choji could hold off the summons while Shikamaru caught her in his shadow trap and then Neji would cut off her chakra as they had done to Jirobo. Easy simple quick. The problem was that they were still far off and from what he could tell they were the only ones to have captured their target, which meant they would be stopping to help all the other teams on the way, which meant no help was coming for a while. Although he was hopeful that Gaara and Kiba would finish up quickly and catch up, he knew that there was no point in hoping. They had divided up the teams in that way for a reason of course. Naruto huffed grumpily and looked to Sakura for guidance. She too seemed to be having the same problem as himself.

"Can you seal off sound or something?" Sakura asked, trying to keep her voice low even as one of the summons took another swipe at her.

Naruto tilted his head while flipping through the air to follow. "Why would blocking out sound help? We already know it doesn't have anything to do with sound."

Sakura shook her head. "It doesn't have anything to do with the sound from a normal flute. The sound from that flute might be a different wavelength though. If you could remove the ability for sound or at least disrupt it we might be able to get past her summons."

Naruto nodded then frowned. "I might have a way. I haven't actually tested it because it could potentially do grievous harm to my body, but if you think it's the only way-,"

"Just use a clone and stop being a baby," Sakura snapped.

Naruto blinked. She was right. He could use clones for his experiments, all of the advantages without any of the harm. "You might want to get out of the area then. And put in some earplugs," he added as an afterthought."

Sakura scrambled away and Naruto created a few clones then followed, putting in earplugs as he went. He hoped this would work. His clones had the orders to wait a minute for him to get out of the way and then they would attempt the ability, he just hoped they didn't all get dispelled before they tried.

After a minute of running he caught up with Sakura and waited. And waited. Had he miscalculated? He was sure he had said a minute. Then again his clones didn't exactly have watches. Maybe they had. . .

He doubled over, clutching at his ears. He could hear desperate inhuman screaming penetrating his ears as if the earplugs weren't there. Some small instinctual part of him was telling him to run, to run away and never look back. To find somewhere nice, warm and safe and never leave.

Then he felt his clones disperse and the memories of the pain came to him. He could feel his throat rupture and then some, destroying his vocal cords until he was coughing blood, then again, then again. He couldn't help it. He threw up off the side of the tree, heaving out what was left in his guts. That was going to take some getting used to.

Raising his head he could see that Sakura had also paled visibly although she was holding herself together better than him, probably because they weren't her clones that had to go through that ordeal. Naruto removed his earplugs and inquired after Sakura's health, holding out a hand to help her rise. "I, uh, I didn't expect that," he said finally.

Sakura sent him an awed look. "Do you think it worked?" she asked then shook her head. "How did you do that?"

Naruto scratched his head. "I'm not really sure."

Sakura's expression morphed to disappointment. "What do you mean you're not sure?"

Naruto shrugged. "I did a bunch of stuff at once, I'm not entirely sure which one of them did it. I used chakra to make my vocal cords vibrate faster, I also used chakra to strengthen my lungs and I tried to channel chakra from my tongue into the air when I screamed."

Sakura's head drooped. "Do you have any idea what your chakra nature is?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not yet."

Sakura looked like she wanted to say something then sighed and headed back the way they had come from. "I guess we could just scream her to death if nothing else works," she mumbled.

Naruto chose to ignore the death part and followed.

They found the red haired woman quickly although she had turned into a purple bodied. . .thing for the time and she seemed to be doing okay although she did seem a little off balance. Her summons had disappeared which didn't necessarily have anything to do with Naruto's attack but it was a sight better than what they had to deal with before.

Upon seeing them, the woman scowled and brought her flute up to her lips to play a tune. Naruto readied himself for another attack and instead felt his muscles contorting, his spine bending, forcing him down to make him kneel with his arms out by his sides.

He was held up by chains, the vultures pecking at his form. They kept on pecking and he kept on healing, every time they took a bite he would cry out and he would heal as good as new then they would peck again. All over his body, making him scream. He needed to. . .he needed to what? The pain. . .it was too much it was. . .was what?

He felt his clones dispel, sending him memories of Ino and her team's success with the aid of Shikamaru's team. That's right, he was in the forest, they were chasing Sasuke. He had been kidnapped. No, Sasuke had chosen to go. Then why was Naruto telling everyone that it was a kidnapping?

What felt like eons passed in Naruto's head of confusion then suddenly he was slumping forward, the greenery of the surrounding forest coming back to him all at once. He caught himself at the last second, sticking his feet to the branch he had been kneeling on. He had been under a genjutsu and he hadn't noticed. That was bad. How had he gotten out?

He glanced to his side and he could see Sakura massaging her head next to the prone figure of the redhaired woman, her skin now back to normal and with two senbon sticking out of her arms. "She's going to sleep for a week," Sakura affirmed with sly grin.

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking around the clearing. He could smell him but the scent was faint. "We need to go now. I think someone else came to collect him," Naruto said, panic rising in his stomach.

Sakura jumped up, gesturing for Naruto to lead.

Naruto channeled chakra to his nose and sniffed the air, trying to pinpoint the scent. Sasuke's was too hard to pinpoint, but there was another unfamiliar scent, one that was almost sickly. With a mad fervor he dashed forward, heading after the unfamiliar smell.

He channeled chakra to his legs, timing each jump to carry him far more than normal. He knew on some level of his brain that he had stopped calculating and was working solely off of instinct but he couldn't be bothered to care. Whereas before he would have missed his mark with every jump, now he was spot on accurate with his timing. It was a wonder that all he needed to be a good ninja was to let go and-there. He spotted a figure in the distance that had already cleared the forest and was running across a wide grassy plain. The figure, wearing white, was carrying the wooden box that the kidnappers had been carrying until then. The figure in white had Sasuke.

He shouted to the figure, attempting to make him stop and was extremely surprised when he did in fact stop, turned around and placed Sasuke's box down next to him. "Who dares interrupt the mission that has been passed down to me, Kimimaro, by the great Lord Orochimaru?" the man in white asked.

Naruto stopped when he was in earshot then looked at the man strangely. "I guess I do," he said, looking behind him for Sakura who was still not yet past the forest border. "Is your mission urgent?" Naruto asked to stall for time. "Could we have a chat or something now?"

The man who called himself Kimimaro shook his head. "No. Orochimaru needs him tonight if he is to use his body as his new vessel."

Naruto nodded. He had thought it would be something like that. "So if you don't get him to Orochimaru on time what happens?"

"He must pick another. Thus delaying him another three years. Would that I could I would be his vessel. Unfortunately I cannot. Still I will serve my lord to the end."

Sakura caught up to Naruto just as Kimimaro was finishing his monologue. She stood next to Naruto, panting heavily. "Since when are you able to run that fast?" she asked confusedly. She straightened then and noticed Kimimaro. "Oh hi. What's your name?" she asked, waving awkwardly.

Kimimaro straightened. "I am Kimimaro, the greatest of the sound five and Orochimaru's highest ranking lieutenant. I am-," Kimimaro paused, his eyes glazing over and his features going slack, then he slumped to the floor revealing around twenty needles sticking out of his back. Sakura dropped her hand and started massaging the muscles as she looked at the prone body. "Chakra strings suck. I don't know how Tenten does it. My hands going to cramp for days," she said, groaning loudly. Then, at a shocked look from Naruto, "What? I didn't kill him. I just figured that we could have avoided most of these fights with some well placed pois- I mean sleeping needles and besides the guy was so boring and he was getting in the way of me being with my Sasuke forever. Can you believe he wanted that disgusting excuse for a ninja to take my Sasuke. I'll kill him. I'll-,"

"Sakura?" Naruto interrupted. "You seem. . .different? Is everything all right?"

Sakura nodded eagerly. "I forgot that we haven't met. I'm Inner Sakura, pleased to meet you. Outer Sakura had to go on vacation after that nasty woman's genjutsu attack."

Naruto nodded slowly, his eyes widening. "Oh. Okay," he said, at a loss for words.

They both turned towards Sasuke's barrel. "So what now?" Sakura asked.

"Now we wait," Naruto said. "I hope you have a lot of those needles left, we're going to need to double dose all the prisoners to make sure they don't wake up anytime soon. Not enough to kill them obviously," he said, although he didn't think it was obvious for this new Sakura, which he had actually met before, although she had seemed more confused then. "I'll get started on sealing the prisoners up. You watch Sasuke's barrel."

"Yay," Sakura said gleefully, clapping her hands together then she put on a serious face to stare at Sasuke's barrel.

Naruto watched her then shook his head and got to work. He made a clone to go find the red haired woman and bring her to him then, after rummaging through his pack, started painting on Kimimaro's back. Although he had seen the man collapse, he was still cautious and stood a good ways away while using chakra strings to manipulate the brush. It may not have been the best time but it was good practice for when he wanted to do it on a conscious moving target. With the chakra seal done he set about restraining Kimimaro, tying his hands together then placing a seal on the rope that would make them chakra absorbent just in case. One could never be too careful, especially not with people that called themselves Orochimaru's elite.

His clone returned a few minutes later, bringing the red haired woman over its shoulder, also tied up and with a chakra seal on her forehead. He took a needle from Sakura and stuck one in the woman's leg. The clone presented him with the flute which he promptly broke. She wouldn't be needing it in prison. His clone dispelled and he sat down to wait, going over the information that he had in his head already.

Gaara had finished the fight quickly enough, restraining the two heads without killing them was what had taken so long, eventually though, Gaara had just held them in place while the Naruto clones set about sealing them and restraining them. Ino's team had succeeded quite tremendously, although Rock had spent most of the fight stuck to the floor and it seemed that their prisoner was gift wrapped in spider webs in addition to the restraining. Shikamaru's team had succeeded the quickest, but had lost their way a few times due to the heaviness of their prisoner. All in all they would be arriving in a few minutes. Naruto could only wonder if they would arrive before Sasuke left his barrel.

Kiba and Gaara found them first, Kiba plopping himself down on the grass to lie next to Naruto while he recounted their fight. Naruto knew the whole story already, but he was happy to listen to Kiba prattle on. It was one of those little things that he would miss, that he did miss. Gaara stood and stared at the barrel then at Sakura and finally at Naruto, all with the same level of inquisitiveness.

Soon the other two teams arrived with their giftwrapped prisoners bound and sealed by Naruto's clones. That was five gift wrapped prisoners from the Hidden Sound. It would be a good day for the Leaf.

Standing up to look at his handiwork, Naruto looked pleased. "You guys did great. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to us," he said indicating himself and Sakura. In fact he was most likely correct, they probably didn't fathom how big of a favor they had done them.

"I know this is the first time working with some of you but I want to say that it's an honor to call you my friends. Say one thing about Naruto Uzumaki, say that he lies. But if there is one truth that Naruto Uzumaki has told it is that your are his friends, he cares for you and he would be devastated to lose a single one of you. That goes for Shino as well. One of you should tell him that."

"Tell him yourself," Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. I guess I should. It was a real shame he couldn't come on this mission, he's going to complain about it for months."

"Naruto-?" Shikamaru started tiredly.

"Not now Shika, this is important," Naruto interrupted, glancing nervously back at Sakura for a moment then facing them again. "What I'm trying to say is thank you. Again, for being my friends, for being our friends."

"We only went on one mission with you. You don't need to give us a thank you speech," Ino intoned.

Shikamaru startled then looked at Naruto who was wearing a sad smile. "It's not a thank you," he said slowly, his breath catching in his throat. "It's a goodbye," realization falling only too late. He tensed and slumped. Everyone else followed save for Gaara, Naruto and Sakura. They would have knocked out Gaara as well if not for the sand carapace that covered his body at all times, preventing any needle attacks. The clones that had performed the attack all dispersed, sending Naruto a mild headache. HE would need to deal with those memories later.

Naruto looked at Gaara and held the smile. "Keep them safe Gaara. They're your meaning now. You get to feel their pain and they get to feel yours."

Gaara nodded his understanding. He wouldn't protest, Naruto knew that much. Raising a hard mound of sand, Gaara made the earth move, starting the quiet journey back to Konoha.

Watching them go, Naruto looked at Sakura and saw with relief that she had come back to a semblance of herself. She was watching the barrel with calculating eyes, no doubt wondering if Sasuke was in any form of danger. Naruto didn't think he was though, Kimimaro had seemed to think all the job required was bringing Sasuke back to Orochimaru.

After a few minutes of watching, their received the confirmation they needed as the barrel opened to reveal a crouched Sasuke, half of his body covered in curse markings. Naruto tried to hold himself back but shuddered at the sight of them. He could only hope they didn't kill him this time.

Sasuke stood from the wooden slats and stretched freely, not even bothering to look around. When he did look around to find Naruto and Sakura staring back at him, his expression turned harsh. "Go away," he said hoarsely.

Naruto glanced to Sakura. "Are you sure about this? You can still turn back," he asked her.

Sakura shook her head resolutely. "I'm sure," she said, and stood.

"You're not taking me back," Sasuke insisted angrily. "I will not go back to playing their games. I'm going to Orochimaru and you can't stop me. I'll fight you if I have to," he growled.

Naruto yawned. "Wow Sasuke, sitting in a box all day sure has made you chatty. Now I know what to do in the future if I want you to start talking to me."

"Do you think this is a joke?" Sasuke shouted. "You can't take me back. Go away before I do something I'll regret."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and started rummaging through his bag, making Sasuke tense. All he did was retrieve a scroll and throw it in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke caught the scroll quicker than Naruto's eyes could follow and he eyed the scroll suspiciously before looking confused. "I don't understand. Why are you giving me my travel scroll?" he asked.

Naruto shouldered his pack. "For the Uchiha genius you're really an idiot sometimes," Naruto said. "We're coming with you."

"I- what?" Sasuke asked shaking his head.

Naruto untied his headband and drew a kunai. "Team seven sticks together," he said, then scratched a line horizontally across the headband. Sakura performed the same gesture a moment later. Then they both looked at him expectantly. "You can't get rid of us."

Sasuke stared them down and finally gave in, removing his own headband and taking Naruto's proffered kunai. "Team seven sticks together," he concurred.

(O_O)

Shikamaru woke with a blistering headache and a vague sense of wrongness. He was in his bed, but no, his bed was more comfortable and there were less beeping machines near his bed. His guess, he was in the hospital. Why was he in the hospital? Most likely because the doctor were trying to diagnose. . .right, the drugs in his system. The doctors were trying to make sure that Naruto and Sakura hadn't poisoned him. He expected that if he were to open his eyes he would see all those present from the mission in bed save for Naruto and Sakura.

Opening his eyes, he was disappointed, yet the expected was true. He sometimes hated being right. Save for Gaara the hospital was filled with the members of their expedition. Gaara had most likely gotten them back home as it was clear he still held more loyalty to Naruto than to the Hidden Leaf.

He got out of bed quickly and dressed. This wasn't a time to be lazy. The higher ups would most likely want to know what happened and Shikamaru knew that he needed to paint them in as good a light as possible. It was going to be difficult.

No nurses stopped him on his way out and he reported to the mission desk to give his full report. Seeing as he was the only chunin left on the mission it fell to him anyway. As soon as the clerk at the desk heard his name, his eyes widened and he insisted that the Hokage wanted to speak to him.

With a groan, Shikamaru was ushered to the top floor of the Hokage tower and then into the Hokage's office where he sat with his advisor. "Lord Hokage, Lady Tsunade," he said bowing, even though it hurt to bow. His back felt like he'd been sleeping on a rock. "I have dire news to report."

The Hokage nodded hurriedly. "Out with it then."

"We were sent to retrieve Sasuke after he had been kidnapped. After some deliberation it would appear we were misled, that Sasuke Uchiha was not in fact kidnapped but rather merely transported out of the village bounds. After speaking with the troops, that called themselves the Sound Four, we can conclude at least that they were operating under orders from Orochimaru," Shikamaru said formally. "Speaking of which, did you receive the prisoners?"

Tsunade nodded. "One of them died on the way, perhaps from being drugged too heavily although its hard to say. The other four are being interrogated as we speak. Now carry on your report. What happened?"

Shikamaru licked his lips nervously. "Well as you know it was Sakura and Naruto leading the mission. They split us up to cover more ground and assigned us each four clones of Naruto's creation."

"I taught him those," the Hokage said proudly.

Tsunade slapped his arm hard enough to bruise. "And look at what you've gotten us into."

Shikamaru cleared his throat, regaining their attention. "Naruto and Sakura led the charge, following Sasuke more than taking care of the distractions. All the teams beat their opponents then made their way to Naruto's position where he and Sakura had apparently defeated two opponents. Not an easy feat. Naruto started giving a speech, at which point I realized he was saying goodbye, then his clones mobilized all drugging us before we notice anything. The next thing I know I'm waking up in a hospital bed."

The Hokage pondered the story for some time. "This speech of his, what was it about?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Something to do with how he's a liar but that he cares for his friends. I think he was just being a little dramatic."

The Hokage shrugged. "Could be. You're the Nara boy, correct?" he asked scrutinizing Shikamaru to the point it was growing uncomfortable.

Shikamaru nodded. "Shikamaru Nara, son of Shikaku."

The Hokage smiled. "I knew I recognized your bored expression. Naruto speaks very highly of you. Thinks you're one of the smartest people he's ever met."

Shikamaru scowled inwardly. "Naruto says far too much and thinks far too little."

"Perhaps," the Hokage replied. "Did Naruto send you anything, a letter or a package by any chance?"

Shikamaru blinked confusedly. "Not that I know of."

The Hokage considered him for a moment more. "That will be all. Thank you."

Shikamaru bowed and walked out as fast as his feet could take him. He stopped suddenly once out of the tower and breathed heavily. Why was the Hokage looking at him like he was party to the traitorous acts? Was he a suspect?

Shikamaru wasn't good at staying nervous for long though and after a few seconds he was ready to head home. As he neared the Nara compound a courier ran up to him. "Shikamaru Nara?" he asked.

Shikamaru nodded absently.

"Letter for you from Menma the Great Ramen Connoisseur."

Shikamaru waited for the boy to start laughing but he never did. "Where do I sign?" Shikamaru heard himself ask and letting his head droop.

A few seconds later he was left with an envelope from some guy named Menma. He wasn't liking where this was going. Opening the letter he read through the words once, memorized them then stuffed the paper into a lantern as he passed by.

He made a heavy detour, looping around and doubling back, taking shortcuts through stores and applying henge, all for the sake of losing any pursuers he may have had. When he finally came to a stop, he was in the academy's training ground, staring at a tree that he always slept against. The words of the letter came back to him, 'Find me where it all started.'

The location was obvious if someone was looking for it and impossibly difficult if one wasn't. One of the knots had actually been hollowed out then sealed back, looking like it had never been moved at all, save for the slightly hollow sound that came when he knocked.

Pulling at the knot didn't do anything and it wasn't until he put his blood on the knot that it loosened. What it revealed was scroll, a seal of some sort, although he wasn't an expert, and a letter.

This is a summoning seal, keyed to my chakra signature. With this you can bring me back. I didn't give this to the Hokage, I gave it to you. You're a clever guy Shika. You'll know when to use it. Preferably in emergencies though.
Menma

Shikamaru stared at the letter and then at the scroll in his hands. He could take it to the Hokage, but he supposed that it would be such a drag. He would just seal it back up in the tree for now until he needed it. Besides, he didn't even know anyone with the name Menma.

Heading home Shikamaru had the bad feeling that he was going to be hearing Naruto's name far more often than he liked.