At Tsunade's prompting, Kakashi put his book away and knelt beside Naruto. He brought up a hand and touched his glowing fingertips lightly to the Kyuubi's seal. It reappeared at the touch.

"It's all okay, right?" Naruto asked. He couldn't tell anything from the small visible patch of Kakashi's face.

"It's exactly how it was before," Kakashi said, pulling his hand back. "Really, I think that's proof enough. It would be nearly impossible to replicate your seal, especially as it was four years ago. It's different now. Only a few people know it was reset, and how, and why."

"Let me guess: you can't tell me that either?" Naruto grumbled, pulling his shirt back on.

To his surprise, Kakashi seemed to be genuinely considering it. His brow furrowed thoughtfully.

Naruto sensed weakness. "If only a few people know anyway, it doesn't matter if you tell me. C'mon, Kakashi-sensei. I'll keep my mouth shut about it, I promise. It's my seal, so I have a right to know."

"Yeah, I think you do," Kakashi said. "Now that you've seen what's happened to the village, I bet you've decided to change history the moment you get a chance, regardless of what any of us say, using any means necessary. Am I right?"

Naruto jutted out his lower lip. "Wouldn't you do the same thing?"

"I'm not saying I blame you. It's too late to hope nothing will change when you go back. Even if you tried to keep it the same, you probably couldn't. So it might be good to warn you about that incident, at least."

Naruto nodded, not daring to speak lest Kakashi change his mind.

"Your seal is designed so the Kyuubi's chakra slowly merges with yours over time. It also lets you use its power in life-threatening situations. You've seen how powerful it can be."

"Yeah. I get why Akatsuki would want to steal it."

"But your version of the seal will start to weaken very soon. The more you use that power, the more quickly the seal will corrode, so you have to be careful. There's no telling what would change if it happened too early."

"If what happened?"

"The seal was close to breaking," Kakashi said quietly. "It was weakening anyway. But when you were fighting against Pein, your anger and hurt nearly broke it entirely. The Kyuubi was taking over to a point where you couldn't stop it. I didn't get to see it, but they say your body was completely replaced with its form. It was just one step away from being released, and if it had been, you probably would have died, and the Kyuubi would be out in the world."

Naruto's throat constricted tightly. He remembered vividly how scary it had been to see Gaara transform almost entirely into his beast's form. That visceral, wild state was something he never wanted to experience.

"Fortunately, there was a fail-safe," Kakashi continued. "The seal was made to reset itself if it was about to break. But if you're too reckless and draw on the Kyuubi's power too much, it will try to control you. Even with the fail-safe, you shouldn't rely on that power until you find a safer way to use it."

The door to the hospital room opened loudly and Sakura came in. Naruto looked away from her and Kakashi stood to pull up a couple of chairs.

"Sit. I've got some things to go over with the two of you," he said, taking a seat himself and looking relaxed, as if they hadn't just been interrupted.

"Are you really going to tell us what you found out in the investigation? We thought it was going to stay a secret." Sakura took a seat and glanced at Naruto.

"I don't think that's a good idea anymore. I have to follow Tsunade-sama's orders, which are partly a reflection of what the elders, Heads, and jounin want. But I'll tell you whatever I can get away with." Kakashi leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. "We retraced Naruto's steps to a small farming settlement north of here. Akatsuki wasn't there, but they definitely were before. We don't know exactly why, but the villagers were all detained in their homes and… killed."

Sakura's eyes widened and she glanced at Naruto again. Resolved to hearing out the worst, he didn't say anything, but he clenched his fists. It felt like a clawed hand was squeezing his heart.

Kakashi lowered his gaze. "What's worse, the bodies resembled those killed by Pein's Human Path Absorption Soul Technique. The autopsy confirmed that. The evidence points toward something that should be impossible: those villagers were killed by Pein's technique."

"Wasn't he the one who—I thought you guys said he was dead," Naruto blurted.

"He is."

"The Edo Tensei," Sakura said grimly.

Kakashi nodded. "Since a Reanimated Itachi showed up in the village, there is a good chance Pein was also brought back with the Edo Tensei. Someone is going around summoning dead Akatsuki members to use as their very dangerous puppets."

"What is it? This Edo Tensei thing?" Naruto asked, determined to be on the same page as everyone else.

"A technique that was invented by the Nidaime Hokage," Sakura explained. "It was stolen and perfected by Orochimaru. It allows the user to summon someone from the dead into an immortal body and control them like pawns. That was how Orochimaru managed to kill the Sandaime."

She hesitated, as if suddenly unsure whether he knew about the Sandaime's death. Naruto gave a nod, and she looked relieved.

"So basically, Orochimaru is behind this," Naruto said darkly.

"Orochimaru was also defeated," Kakashi said. "But we know his apprentice Kabuto has taken up his mantle. We also know Kabuto recently joined forces with what remains of Akatsuki. He's definitely the most suspicious-looking in this case. If he really has learned how to use Edo Tensei, the Allied Shinobi Force will need to step up their plans. And if he has something to do with you being here… that's a whole other can of worms."

Naruto sat for a moment, letting all this information sink in.

"I can't believe Kabuto made it longer than Orochimaru," he said finally. "He just seemed like a random lackey to me. A jerk and everything, yeah, but still. What happened to Orochimaru?"

"He was killed... by Sasuke," Kakashi said.

Naruto's mouth fell open.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said sharply.

"But... no way." Naruto looked back and forth between the two of them. "I saw Orochimaru fight against Tsunade-baachan and Ero-sennin at the same time! And you say that Sasuke—and why? Wait, was it like, something to do with Itachi or something?"

Kakashi stared at him. "You have no idea whatsoever why he wouldn't like Orochimaru? I thought you would at least remember the Forest of Death. That was, what, just a couple of months ago for you?"

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura hissed.

"Um..." Naruto said, glancing at Sakura. "Obviously I remember Orochimaru attacking us. How could I forget something like that? And Sakura-chan had to stand guard over us because we both got knocked out. He scared everybody. I don't get what you're trying to hint at."

"Huh."

"What's the big deal anyway, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked Sakura, who was still looking at Kakashi as if she wanted to shut him up quickly and violently. "I don't care if Sasuke killed Orochimaru. I mean… it's hard to believe he could, but I already heard that he killed Itachi. It's a weird idea to get used to, that's all."

"Sakura... I understand how you feel, but..." Kakashi started.

"What is it?" Naruto said impatiently. "You're both acting really weird! Look, even if something happened that I don't know about that made Sasuke want to kill Orochimaru, seriously, who cares? It's not like I like Orochimaru. Unless... I do? Oh my god, no. N-no. Don't tell me... he's secretly my father or something?" he suddenly panicked.

Kakashi choked and laughed louder than Naruto had ever heard him laugh before.

"When you're acting like it's something really terrible—" Naruto started defensively.

"You dork." Sakura sighed. "It's not that. Geez. It's just..." she paused, struggling for words.

Kakashi watched her face contort for a moment before giving a shrug and a sigh. "She's just afraid that hearing about how powerful Sasuke's grown will get you down, Naruto. We all know how much you compete against one another."

"Yeah..." Naruto said slowly. "But it's not like I didn't expect Sasuke to be really powerful by now. I only care whether my future self can keep up with him or not. I mean, Orochimaru is like... whoa. But I faced that Pein guy who destroyed the village, so it's pretty much even, right?"

Naruto frowned when they just looked at each other instead of answering.

"You won't tell me how strong I am." He pointed at Sakura accusingly. "I'm really weak then, is that it? That's the real reason why I'm still a genin, isn't it?"

Sakura winced.

"Of course not," Kakashi said. "Sakura, before this gets out of hand, I really think we should—"

"Just forget it, it doesn't matter!" Sakura said roughly. "Right now, we need to worry about Kabuto and the revived Akatsuki. So—was that all you had to tell us about them?"

Kakashi looked at her doubtfully, and Naruto scowled deeply at the ungraceful change of subject.

"Pretty much," Kakashi said. "Tsunade-sama will be reporting all this to the Allied Shinobi Force, so whatever happens next depends on what the Five Kage decide. We just have to wait and stay alert."

Naruto kept scowling, but he played along. "If we catch Kabuto, we can get him to send me back, right?"

"Maybe, but there's no point getting ahead of ourselves. We just have to wait," Kakashi said.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He was now certain something had happened to change his older self's relationship with his peers. He just couldn't figure out what it was, whether or not it was something to do with Sasuke, or Pein's attack on the village. Everyone knew about the Kyuubi, but fake respect out of fear felt completely different from real respect, so it wasn't that. Or was it?

And his older self was sent into hiding. If he was strong enough to take on someone like Pein, why whisk him off somewhere? And why would his older self allow it? It already rankled bad enough at his age, even when he knew he couldn't match the power of the enemies they were currently facing.

Naruto sat and listened to them speculate on Akatsuki, but he was far from letting the topic go. He was more sure than ever there was something to find. It didn't matter if other people were hell-bent on sparing his feelings, or thought they were hiding things for his own good. All it did was firm his resolve.

Tsuande left to attend a meeting with the other Kage.

Three days in the hospital under ANBU guard was not the most pleasant of experiences. But there were a few highlights, and Naruto kept his eyes and ears open for clues the entire time.

He and Sai had visitors every day. After Konohamaru found out who the other genin had been, he came by immediately, showed off his improved Oiroke no Jutsu with gusto, and plotted ways to bust Naruto out of the hospital. He was delighted to be around a version of his mentor that was the same age as him, and "more fun" since they were nearly identical in size, power, and temperament. They were the only ones who found it so fun, though—it just made everyone else extremely nervous. It wasn't long before Sakura was the only medic brave enough to check on Sai when the two self-proclaimed future Hokage got together.

Sakura also checked Naruto's chakra at the end of each day. The scans soon showed the disruption of his chakra flow was completely gone, but the plant-like element remained. She theorized it was just residue from the spores in his system and should fade soon as well, but they'd have to get Tsunade's opinion when she returned.

They wondered what the Five Kage would say or do about the strange situation once it got out. Maybe someone within the Alliance would figure out how to send Naruto back home.

But for all his hopes and plans to change the past, he didn't consider it might be moving on without him.

On the second day of his confinement, Naruto finally found something about his older self.

It was after a failed break-out attempt co-directed by the Konohamaru Corps. The team was sent home with a stern warning by the ANBU, and Naruto was left with nothing to do.

He started reading Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, but it hadn't caught his attention the way he hoped. He was halfway through the lengthy prologue, which waxed poetic about the state of the shinobi world in flowery language and seemed, frankly, boring to him. He knew there had to be something special about it, but he didn't feel like slogging through the rest at the moment.

So Naruto went flipping through Sai's sketchpad, for lack of anything better to do. Most of the sketches and drawings were abstract or still life, but then he found the missing pieces to his future team.

It was a rough, quick pencil sketch done landscape-wise, and it was split into four panels with faint lines, to evenly dividing each portrait. Naruto's heart leapt when he realized he was looking at the older Team 7, each of the now four members standing in a panel with their hands linked together.

He stared at the drawing for a long time, grinning. His eyes roved over each face eagerly. Most of the sketch looked unfinished, but all their faces were fully realized, as if Sai took special care to get their expressions right. Naruto's older self was grinning right back at him, and Sasuke was on his right, looking peaceful. Sai and Sakura stood at the ends. All four of them looked happy.

The young adult grinning brilliantly between the whisker marks on his face didn't look like someone suffering under the weight of Akatsuki. Nor did he look monstrously powerful or awe-inspiring, but Naruto liked the feeling it gave him. It was like his older self was laughing at him for worrying. Sasuke also looked… happy, though it was a muted happiness compared to his neighbor, and it suited him even though Naruto had never seen him look like that in real life. Was it because he'd finally gotten his wish? When would he get to meet the real thing? What was Sasuke doing right now?

Naruto could feel from the simple sketch that Sai really cared about his team, which made the strange boy go up in his estimation. He eagerly flipped through the rest of the sketchbook to see if there were any more portraits of the team, but there were none.

Later, he asked Sakura to tell him more about Sai, since he still didn't really understand him.

"You want to know about Sai?" Sakura asked, looking up from changing Sai's IV. "What brought that on?"

"Nothing really. I guess I'm just wondering what Root is, and what Sai has to do with it, and why Kakashi-sensei thought that would be a good disguise for me. Everyone seems to know about it but me."

Sakura just hummed skeptically and turned back to her work.

"He's in here because he took the attack meant for me." Naruto tried to keep the frustration from his voice, but failed. "I don't care if he's not supposed to be my friend yet. It's too late for that, because he already is. And I wanna be able to help him when he wakes up."

Sakura gave him a small smile. "It's kind of funny. You didn't get along at all when you first met. If you make friends with him now, you might be disappointed if you make it back to the past. You'll have to make friends with someone you can't stand."

"Eh, I'm used to that." Naruto shrugged. "So?"

Sakura hesitated, resting her hands on the bed rail and looking down at Sai. "I don't suppose it could hurt anything. Even if you make it back, you probably won't see him before the time we originally met, anyway."

"Yeah, okay, start with that. How come we never met before, even though he's the same age as us—you—whatever? He wasn't at the Academy with us, was he?"

Sakura shook her head. "It's not all that complicated, really. He wasn't in our class because he was in Root. Root was a secret training division of the ANBU. Most of the kids in it were unclaimed or unwanted, and they went through some pretty terrible training in order to stunt their emotions. The theory behind it was that a lack of emotions made for a better shinobi."

Naruto's eyes widened in realization and horror. Sakura continued.

"The man who founded it kept it up in secret after Sandaime-sama ordered that it be shut down. It was unknown to almost everyone. It wasn't until recently, when the founder died, that it was really stopped. Even that is sad. Many of them have lost their purpose and don't know what to do with their lives. They were bound to Root in a lot of ways. Some of them even followed their old master in death."

"So who was—?"

"Someone you're better off staying away from," she said sharply. "If all the Hokage from the Sandaime to the Godaime couldn't sniff him out and stop him, there's nothing you can do. It all worked out... mostly."

"I wonder if that's the reason Sai didn't want to tell me about Root," Naruto mumbled. "He doesn't think I could help him, either."

Sakura rested a hand on his arm. "Sai knows you, and he knows Root. I'd say he's the best judge of that. Besides, he just wants to put it behind him."

"When is he going to wake up?"

"Could be any time." Sakura moved to feel Sai's forehead, and her hands glowed green for a moment. "The mental damage was minimal, and Tsunade-sama was able to treat it right away. It was good we were able to get him here so quickly. It's really just a matter of his body catching up, and he's been out for two days already. I would say another day at most, as long as he's stable like this."

"I wonder what he saw."

"Don't worry," Sakura assured him. "I think there are only a couple of things that could really shake Sai, and since the Tsukuyomi was meant for you, I doubt any of those came up."

'Don't worry': Sai had told him that too. "If Kabuto was commanding Itachi, does that mean Kabuto made up whatever happened in the attack? How does that work?"

"How should I know? Either way, you're probably really lucky it missed," Sakura said darkly.

Sai finally woke up on the third day, at a time when the room was particularly crowded and noisy. Team Gai (minus Gai) had come to visit him and Naruto, and most of the commotion came from Lee eagerly challenging Naruto to a battle right in the hospital room after gushing over Naruto's 'reclaimed youth'. Kakashi was also there, looking as if he wondered how he'd ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time; Neji, Tenten, and Sakura were respectively exasperated, amused, and irritated.

"This is a hospital room, not a playground!" Sakura roared as Lee hopped from one foot to another and tossed out a few warmup kicks, nearly knocking over a partition screen.

"Lee!" Tenten said exasperatedly. "Sakura's right. You can challenge whoever you want later. Right now, we need to consider Sai-san."

"Ah... you are right," Lee stopped kicking at the air and bowed his head apologetically. "Next time then, Naruto-kun."

"It looks like you bounced back from your injuries," Naruto said excitedly. "The last time I saw you, you were hurt pretty bad."

"That is all just a memory now, thanks to Tsunade-sama and Gai-sensei," Lee said.

"It's great to see all of you," Naruto looked over the whole of Team Gai. "Bushy Brow, I think you've changed the least out of anyone I've met so far. How're the rest of you getting along?"

"Keeping busy, as usual," Tenten said. "You know how it goes. Never a dull moment with this team."

"And, um, the last time I saw you, you were trying to beat me up," Naruto joked to Neji.

Neji smiled faintly. "I hope you don't mind me saying that I remember it fondly."

"Just as long as you're not holding any grudges," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess you've probably figured out by now how I won. I didn't fully understand it at the time, myself."

Neji shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I deserved to lose for underestimating you, even if I was unaware of your power. Besides, it was the most profitable loss I've ever had."

"Since I barely won then, I'd probably get completely thrashed against you now. Same with Bushy-brow. Could be fun to try, though!"

"Indeed!" Lee got into another fighting pose.

A quiet groan made them all stop and look toward the hospital bed. Sai's eyes opened slowly and he stared confusedly at all of them.

"Sai-kun!"

"Sai!"

They gathered around him and Sakura said. "Give him a little space!" before bending into his line of sight.

"Sakura," he said weakly. His eyes drifted to her side. "Naruto," then he looked around the room, "there are a lot of people here."

"Not for long," Sakura said. "I'm sorry, but do you think you guys could come back later? It's probably best if there aren't so many visitors at one time, so it isn't too overwhelming for him."

"Ah, of course. We'll let his team visit first," Neji said. "Come on Lee, Tenten," and they left.

"Good," Kakashi sighed. "They're overwhelming at the best of times even without Gai, thanks to that mini-clone of his. Nice timing, Sai."

"How are you feeling?" Sakura asked. She drew a small flashlight from her pouch and used it to peer into each of his eyes.

"I'm fine, I think," Sai blinked when she put the flashlight away and tried to sit up. Sakura helped him by tucking some pillows behind his back. "I'm pretty hungry and thirsty, though."

"Ah, I remember that. Hope you like soup," Kakashi said lightly. "That's all they let me have for a while after I woke up from a Tsukuyomi-induced coma."

"Now that you're awake, your recovery should be relatively quick," Sakura said briskly. "You'll need a little more rest until you get your full strength back, though."

"What was it? What did you see?" Naruto ignored the sharp look Sakura threw at him.

Sai's gaze settled on him. Naruto saw with a rush of relief that his eyes weren't dull or uncomprehending this time, like he feared they would be. But there was something unreadable there.

"I can't," he said softly.

"Why? Is it just something else I'm not supposed to know—or..." it occurred to him too late that he might be acting extremely tactlessly. "Or... maybe you don't want to talk about it."

Sai shook his head. "What I saw was not reality, so in that sense it wouldn't matter. But that attack had been molded for you, to destroy you. It would not be kind to tell you what I saw."

Naruto leaned back. He believed him without question. "Are... you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine. Illusions are just that. It will never happen," Sai looked at Sakura, whose mouth hardened into a thin line.

"What won't?"

"Naruto, why don't you go down to the cafeteria and find some food that's not too solid for Sai to eat?" Sakura said.

"Ohhhh no!" Naruto pointed accusingly from her to Kakashi. "You guys are going to talk behind my back again!"

"Naruto, go," Kakashi said, a warning in his voice. "Don't make me summon Bull to drag you down there."

Grumbling, Naruto went out into the hall and slammed the door behind him. He had only given up so quickly in order to listen at the door, but then he saw that there was an ANBU guard posted right outside of it, ruining his plan.

"I wonder if the ANBU know they're supposed to be guarding me, not hospital doors," he said petulantly (and loudly) to himself. "Well, see you later, I'm gonna go get myself kidnapped now."

The large boar-masked ANBU was completely unmoved by this declaration, and Naruto walked down to the cafeteria muttering expletives under his breath the entire way.

Inside the room, they were all silent for a while. Kakashi crossed his arms. Sai stared across at the opposite wall, frowning thoughtfully.

"How bad was it?" Sakura prompted.

"Bad," Sai said after a moment. "It was... not easy to go through. But I—it was easier to stay grounded, to keep my head clear when I thought about Naruto being there instead of me, and what it could have done to him."

"Tell us about it, if you can." Kakashi moved to stand at his bedside.

"Unless it would be better to wait," Sakura added quickly. "Don't force it."

"No. The genjutsu itself didn't bother me. It was knowing who it was for." Sai took a deep breath and shuddered slightly, and let the breath out again, "I saw Sasuke. He killed everyone in Konoha one by one. He kept saying that it was all because Naruto was too weak to stop him."

Sakura buried her face in her hands and Kakashi clenched the guardrail.

"That's the older Naruto's fear," Kakashi said. "The younger one wouldn't get the full meaning of it."

"Do you really think it wouldn't affect him just as much?" Sai asked placidly.

"I think... that was a really close one," Kakashi said. "I think we need to tell him the truth about Sasuke now, before someone else does."

"No," Sakura said fiercely.

"Hearing about it first from the enemy, or even one of the other villages—particularly Kumo—would be doing him a disservice," Kakashi insisted. "Tsunade-sama is going to send him to one of our allies. If anyone says something to him, you know he would stand up for Sasuke first and ask questions later."

Sakura shook her head. "It will hurt no matter what. It'll hurt even if he makes it back without knowing, because he'll have to experience it the same way again. But right now, he's... for the very last time, he doesn't have that burden hanging over him. For once in my life I have the chance to protect him from that burden, instead of..." her breath caught. She grimaced and looked down. "I'm not in a rush to see that weight put on him again."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sai said quietly. "I was inclined to agree with you before, but during those days I spent in the Tsukuyomi, and the days I spent afterward dreaming about it... all I could think about was how glad it was me and not him. Perhaps I'm not the best judge right now, since I am still recovering. But I'm not yet ready to throw him into that hell either, when I know he will have to live in it every day of his life afterward."

"We have to undo this as quickly as we can," Sakura said.

"And if it can't be undone?" Kakashi said. "And what if the Naruto of our time is gone?"

"Yamato-taichou and the others would have said something if he was gone," Sakura said in a low voice.

Kakashi shrugged and let it drop. He didn't exactly disagree with them. If he could have it his way, the entire fiasco with Sasuke would have never even happened to begin with. But it had happened, and it would happen, even if Naruto made it home without ever knowing. Privately, he thought getting it out of the way might actually save Naruto a few years of pain and uncertainty.

He sighed. "I guess we'll see how it goes."