Naruto followed the Wind Daimyo and his guard awkwardly. He glanced uneasily at the samurai surrounding the two of them, all clearly as tense as he felt. He sympathized with them, in a way. He would definitely hate his job if he had to hang around the Daimyo all the time.
"So…" Yamaguchi started.
Naruto looked aside at him but didn't respond. He'd hoped Yamaguchi was done trying to carry on a conversation. But the man wasn't deterred by his silence.
"The Five Kage sent you here because they assumed Uchiha Madara would attempt to steal your Tailed Beast. It's odd that Madara actually succeeded in capturing you, but left the Tailed Beast intact. Isn't it? What exactly did he want with you?"
Naruto felt a pang of anxiety. He wasn't ready for these questions just yet. Especially from this particular person. But he couldn't refuse to answer outright.
"I don't know," he mumbled. "He wanted to, but he said he couldn't get it from me."
"Oh? Was there anything else you two talked about?"
Naruto shrugged vaguely.
"And I hear you had a run-in with Uchiha Sasuke."
Naruto tensed, and a strange mixture of sadness, anger and apprehension welled up in his gut. What was Yamaguchi searching for?
"Yeah," he forced out after a long pause.
"You know…" Yamaguchi said, so quietly he could have almost been talking to himself. "They've all secretly convinced themselves that Madara used genjutsu on you, and nothing else happened. It wouldn't require much to keep them believing that. If, on the other hand, it's thought you may have learned about any of Konoha's darker secrets… the reason behind Uchiha Sasuke's defection, for example… you might find yourself so restrained that you never stand a chance of returning to your time."
Naruto's head snapped up, and he glared at the Wind Daimyo. "Aren't you the one making it so I can't even leave my room without people following me? And what do you know about Sasuke, anyway?"
"People expect a certain kind of behavior from me. And I'm not claiming to know anything about Uchiha Sasuke. But I understand a lot about how hidden villages work. Considering how slow Konoha has been to send hunters or even officially acknowledge his status as a missing-nin, there is certainly more to his situation than meets the eye. He even assassinated an elder on Konoha's village council, and they haven't arrested him yet? Clearly there is something."
"He did what?" Naruto said numbly.
"My point is, if you didn't really know it was true, do you think they'd tell you it was? If you firmly believed it was a lie made up by Madara, do you think they would correct you?"
"Yes," Naruto said, stating it strongly to try to wipe the smirk off Yamaguchi's face. "They're done trying to hide things from me. They wouldn't do that."
"It wouldn't be hiding, merely allowing you to carry on with a false belief. Are you sure you aren't the least bit curious?"
"I don't like you," Naruto announced. "I don't care if you are the Wind Daimyo."
"Good, you're finally being smart." Yamaguchi gestured mockingly toward an open archway that led to a sparsely furnished sitting room. They'd finally reached the end of the hall. Naruto went in ahead.
Sai, Sakura, and Neji were sitting around a low square table with teacups, but they didn't seem to be socializing. They all looked preoccupied with their own thoughts. But when Naruto and his escorts walked in, they all looked up quickly.
"Naruto! You're up!"
Before he knew it, he was pulled into Sakura's embrace, her pink hair tickling his cheek and nose. In another situation he might have blushed, but he felt too stressed at the moment.
"You really had us worried," Sakura said, pulling back to search his face and peer critically into his eyes. "How do you feel?"
"I..." how did he feel? Honestly, he had no idea. "I don't know. A little weirded out, I guess."
"He was leaving his room when I met him," Yamaguchi said. "He seemed a bit dazed, so I brought him along."
Naruto looked back over his shoulder with a frown. Yamaguchi's expression was a perfectly diplomatic shade of concern. Sakura frowned as well, but for a different reason. She pulled a pen light from her medic pouch and clicked it on, shining it into each of Naruto's eyes briefly.
"Hey! Warn me before you're gonna do that," he grumbled, blinking and rubbing his eyes. She had already put the pen light away and straightened up to her full height.
"Naruto," she said gently, putting her hands on his shoulders. "I don't want to ask this, but since your healing ability makes it impossible to tell through normal ways—do you remember if Madara used a genjutsu on you?"
"Um… I-I'm not sure," he hedged, looking back nervously at Yamaguchi, and then at her.
"Did you see his Sharingan?"
"Oh. Yeah." He remembered the red eye burning through the singular hole in the mask and felt uncertain for a moment. Was he completely sure it hadn't been an illusion?
But what Yamaguchi said confirmed Sasuke's defection was real. And—the rest of it had felt real, too.
"I don't think he used it. He had no reason to."
Sakura's eyes darkened and she dropped her gaze. "Sorry about all of this," she said quietly. "You're safe now, and that's what matters."
Naruto wanted to ask her right then. He wanted to look her in the eyes and demand to know everything that had happened to Sasuke. He wanted to know if the Third had really and truly ordered Itachi to kill the Uchiha clan. But it all got stuck in the back of his throat. It was too unbelievable, and how would he know if the answer was the truth or a lie? She had promised, but… No. Trusting his friends was the one thing he would always do. But the prospect of being proven wrong on that point was frightening.
He'd never envisioned a situation where believing one of his friends would conflict with believing in the others.
"No," he said quietly, stepping away from her grasp. "I want to know about it now. Madara said Sasuke was there of his own free will, but all of you said he was off on a mission somewhere. You're the ones who should know if it was real or not. So, which is it? Where is Sasuke?"
Sakura froze, her eyes wide and her hands trembling, still poised in the air.
"Where is Sasuke?" he repeated a little louder.
"Naruto." Neji walked toward them. He held his palms open, beseeching. "A lot of things happened, it's hard to just—"
"How could you just leave him there? We're a team, we're supposed to look out for one another!" Naruto's voice rose to a yell. He hadn't meant to start. He had been completely ready to say yes, he wanted to wait, he wanted to put the conversation off for later, anything to avoid it. But when he actually opened his mouth, it was like a pressure valve opened and he couldn't hold it back. "Why didn't I stop him? Why am I off doing something else like I don't even care? Does my older self even know he's gone, or has everyone been lying to him, too? You, baa-chan, the older me, Kakashi-sensei—did everyone just decide to let Sasuke join Madara's side and get himself killed fighting the entire rest of the world?"
"No," Sakura choked. "We tried so hard. You don't understand. S-Sasuke… he's not the same person anymore. He's done too much now. The last thing we want is for him to be our enemy, but…"
"Naruto," Sai said seriously, touching Sakura briefly on the shoulder to interrupt her. "Sasuke is an internationally wanted criminal. He tried to abduct the Raikage's younger brother, the Eight-tails jinchuuriki. We had no choice but to join everyone else in condemning Akatsuki, or we would be inherently responsible for Sasuke's actions, and risk war with Kumo as a result. It's out of our hands now."
"Does aniki know about this?" Naruto asked stubbornly.
They looked at one another, clearly trying to figure out the best way to get him to calm down. The guard was getting restless; they obviously feared him going out of control. Naruto knew it was foolish to make a scene in front of the people who already wanted to lock him up, but anger was overriding his sense.
"He knows," Sakura said softly, holding his gaze. "He's training and getting stronger right now so he can save Sasuke. He refuses to give up on him, even if everyone else does."
Naruto suddenly felt really tired. He heard the swordsmen behind him shift uncomfortably and realized there was no point in continuing to demand the truth if he couldn't even let himself believe the answers.
He lowered his eyes. "I guess I just don't understand, after all. I don't understand how this could have happened."
Looking relieved and pained at the same time, Sakura said, "None of us do."
Hoshigake Kisame was not fond of losing, and he wasn't fond of sneaky tricks in battle, either. Leave the fine-tuned deception and manipulation to people like Itachi. Give him a straight up, beat-down brawl any day.
Yet he knew how to deceive with the best of them. It was once part of his job, after all. Though never particularly charismatic or personable, no one in Kiri ever expected it when he stabbed them in the back to keep the village's secrets intact.
And now, for the second time in just a matter of weeks, he had escaped death by faking it.
He was currently laying on his stomach in a shallow cave on the sea, near the coast of the Land of Lightning. Alive, but not in great shape. His battle with the strange green beast of Konoha and the others had left him completely drained. Worse, he had lost his sword, so he couldn't recover his chakra quite as quickly as he might have been able to otherwise.
He had been fully prepared to die in that battle. Akatsuki was all he had left to be loyal to, after all… or so he'd thought.
Kisame finished writing the scroll laying in front of him, then rolled it up and secured it with a bit of twine. It was a second draft. The first had been sent out when he was still fighting against the team from Konoha.
But there'd been a change of plans.
He stretched his long arm out to the edge of the water and put the scroll in the little shark's mouth.
It swam away dutifully and Kisame gave a small, sharp-toothed smile.
"It will be a pleasure to work with you again, Itachi-san," he said.
Sasuke woke unexpectedly.
He was by no means a sensor-type—compared to someone like Karin, he was a novice in that department—but he suddenly felt a heavy, cold presence nearby. As he lay in his bed listening, keeping his breathing even, sleep slowly lifted from his mind and he cast out his senses as far as they would go.
It soon became obvious. He could sense the large, cold chakra because the person was making no effort whatsoever to mask it.
He knew that presence. That chakra was almost as familiar to him as his own—it had been part of his own for four years.
Orochimaru.
Sasuke threw back the covers and put his feet on the cold stone floor. He made his way carefully out the bedroom and into the adjacent lab where the Sharingan eyes were stored. He had never seen his room or the lab before, but he still knew them like the back of his hand. There had been plenty of time to become acquainted with his surroundings.
Sasuke paused at the back of the lab, lingering where several large shelves stood. He could hear voices coming from up ahead, around the tanks. He had no idea if he could be seen where he was standing, but it didn't matter. He wasn't trying to hide.
Orochimaru was speaking. "No one among the Wind Daimyo's group knows where he is. Only the Kazekage himself and a select few others are privy to that information."
"Kisame's information was not very precise," Tobi said thoughtfully. There was a rustle of paper. "He must have been under quite a bit of pressure before dying, if the scattered nature of his message is any indication."
"That's neither here nor there to me," Orochimaru started, but then he paused. Sasuke stiffened. He'd been noticed. But instead of commenting on his presence, Orochimaru simply continued. "As long as you draw attention away from Suna and Konoha, I don't care if you go after him now or later."
"Don't get carried away. After improving the Zetsu, I still need you to revive the jinchuuriki."
"Oh? Have recovered it, then? The Rinnegan?"
Sasuke walked toward their voices, tired of being ignored. "Orochimaru. What are you doing here?"
"My sympathies," Orochimaru said in a conversational tone, as if he hadn't been interrupted. "You've probably come to realize how impetuous he can be sometimes. I personally find it an endearing trait."
"Aa. As for the Rinnegan, I haven't retrieved it yet. The Allied Shinobi Forces are gathering near Kumogakure, so I will focus on launching the Zetsu first."
"How did you survive?" Sasuke demanded, stepping closer to where, by his best judgement, Orochimaru stood. "Itachi sealed you with the Sword of Totsuka."
"Oh, Sasuke-kun. You may be blind, but surely you haven't lost your memory." Orochimaru finally turned to him, sounding amused. "You saw for yourself that I'm never really gone, as long as a part of me exists somewhere. I need to conclude my business here quickly, so unless you have something worthwhile to contribute…"
"Tobi told me you're helping him in exchange for his cooperation with this... time-summoning jutsu. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"
"No need for jealousy. This side project doesn't mean I'm no longer interested in you. Simply put, there was a jutsu I managed to complete after a long time, so of course I had to test it out right away."
"It's not that," Sasuke said. "I don't want you interfering with my revenge against Konoha."
"Are going after them now? I suppose that means you know the truth about Itachi, then. I'm not terribly concerned with Konoha at the moment. I will be more than happy to sit back and watch what you do instead, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke paused. "You knew?"
"Of course. Is that a surprise?"
Sasuke couldn't see his expression, but he could imagine the snake's knowing smirk. He struggled to hold down his temper. He knew it wouldn't do any good to fly into a rage against Orochimaru in his weakened state; not to mention he was wary now of attacking blindly. But it was difficult not to throw out the obvious accusation: Orochimaru had known, yet allowed and even assisted him in throwing years of his life away in pursuit of killing the one person he had love left in his heart for.
"No. it's not a surprise at all." Sasuke smiled bitterly.
Orochimaru laughed. "If you want revenge on me now, you'll have to destroy my new project. Though it won't be easy. That child holds one of the most intriguing possibilities for immortality I've seen."
"Orochimaru," Tobi interrupted, "shouldn't you be getting back before someone notices? The last thing we need is the Kazekage to delay his departure."
"Yes. Until next time, Sasuke-kun."
Yamato knew right away he had his work cut out for him.
The kid looked so small and young it was almost funny. Of course, Yamato knew full well there were plenty of shinobi his age and younger—hell, he'd been one of them.
What made it humorous was the less-than-intimidating glare the miniature version of his subordinate was currently giving him.
"You smell like an old guy, worse than Kakashi-sensei," he said obstinately. "Are you really supposed to be my bodyguard when everyone leaves?"
Yamato fought down the urge to use intimidation tactics to get some respect out of the brat. From what he heard, the younger Naruto had been through a tough time recently. A little kindness was needed.
"Yes, I am. You can call me Yamato. As you've probably heard, I am the captain of Team Kakashi whenever Kakashi-senpai is on another mission, or gets himself put up in the hospital. I was just overseeing your older self's training. I guess that's what I'm doing here too—making sure nothing strange happens while you are training with the Toads." He cleared his throat. "By the way, I am younger than Kakashi-senpai."
"You were just with aniki?" Naruto lowered his crossed arms.
Yamato looked quizzically at the rest of the team. Sakura and Sai were there to help with introductions, though it wasn't proving too helpful so far.
"That's what he calls his older self," Sai explained.
"Oh. Er... yes," Yamato told him awkwardly. "And I have to say, it's pretty strange to see you after that! You sure hit a growth spurt at some point." He held his hand out at the approximate height of the older Naruto.
Naruto stood from where he had been sitting on the edge of his bed. "I don't need someone like you to help me with my training! I know you're really here to keep me from getting away, or going out of control while everyone's gone. Just like with aniki, right? But I don't have to listen to you."
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Hey, just calm down." Yamato made to touch his shoulder, but Naruto Substituted himself with a flower vase from the bedside table, which fell and broke on the floor, soaking Yamato's shoes with water. Naruto hopped down from the bedside table and dashed for the door, only stopping when Sai caught him by the wrist.
"Let me go!" Naruto growled, pulling out of Sai's grip. "You... you fake! You're not my teammate or my friend! You're not Sasuke!"
Sai's eyes widened. He was caught off guard enough to stand still as Naruto turned and ran out.
"And here I thought he might be the easier of the two to deal with." Yamato sighed, carefully picking up the broken shards of vase off the floor. "He seems to know a lot about what's going on."
"Yes," Sakura said guiltily. "I'm not sure what Madara was trying to do, but if his goal was to upset Naruto, he did a good job. We were getting along well until all this happened."
"Yes. That may have been his goal, if he's really not able to steal that version of the Kyuubi," Yamato said darkly, depositing the ceramic pieces into a small bin beside the table. "Is it alright for Naruto to go storming off like that?"
"He won't be left unfollowed, but we should make sure he doesn't do anything like pick a fight with the Suna ANBU or the Daimyo's guard." Sakura walked to the door. She paused beside Sai and touched his arm. "He didn't mean it, you know."
"I know. I suppose it was inevitable, once he was made aware of the truth."
Yamato scratched his head. This was going to take some strategy.
A rare break in the rain bathed the tips of Amegakure's famous skyscrapers with warm evening light. The city sprawled beneath Konan's feet, breathtaking as always. The wind flapped and tossed her black coat emblazoned with red clouds.
The vastness was lonely sometimes, but this was her favorite view of the city, nevertheless.
Today, the pause in the rain was a simple gift from nature. The discarded rain drops dripped from balconies and overhangs, glimmering in faceted colors when they met the sun. It was a good omen.
It's just about that time, Konan thought, a smile curling her lips. She turned and walked inside, pulling the flapping edges of the coat around her.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Naruto slammed his hand down on the stucco roof of Suna's administration building, but nothing happened. He sighed and sat down on the edge of the roof.
Worth a try. His chakra and blood had changed just enough to disrupt his connection with the Summoning Contract, so he hadn't entirely expected it to work.
"No good, huh?"
Naruto looked up with a scowl that faded into surprise when he saw Gaara standing beside him. Naruto whirled his head back to glance behind Gaara, but was even more surprised to see no one else had followed him. He turned back to the desert horizon and curled his arms around his knees.
"I don't think Akatsuki is coming after me again," Naruto mumbled. "So I don't really need someone to guard me anymore."
"What makes you say that?" Gaara sat down beside him.
"Well, it's true, isn't it? They had me, and let me go. Guarding me isn't about protecting me anymore, it's about protecting other people from me, in case I'm working with the enemy. I mean, I can't say I blame you. But if everyone is going to be suspicious of me, then I wish they wouldn't be so nice. It makes it harder to be mad at them."
Gaara was about to answer, but suddenly a loud 'POOF!' sounded and a cloud of smoke appeared on Naruto's other side. Almost instantly, thick tendrils of sand hovered protectively all around Naruto, daring any threat to try passing them.
"Hey! Did you happen to call, little bro?"
Naruto blinked at the sight of the red-and-blue toad sitting beside him, holding a webbed hand up in greeting.
"G-Gamakichi? Is that you?" Naruto got to his feet. Even standing, the toad was taller than he was. "Wow, you got big! Does this mean my summoning worked?"
"Hm, not exactly," Gamakichi said. "I just kind of got a funny feeling in my stomach a minute ago, and I heard about the trouble Fukasaku-sama had getting in touch with you before. So I decided to follow my stomach, and here I am."
The sand floating around Naruto retreated into Gaara's gourd. Naruto had no doubt it could reappear to protect him nearly as quickly as it could for Gaara himself.
"So, what's up?" Gamakichi prompted.
"Oh, right," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to ask Sennin Jii-chan if I could start training soon. There is this old guy Yamato that's supposed to watch over my training. He finally got here, so I want to start as soon as possible."
"Should be fine on our end. But are they really gonna let you go the mountain after what happened before?" Gamakichi looked curiously at Gaara.
"As long as Yamato-san is able to go along, yes," Gaara said.
"Oho! Awesome! You know, even the old man was saying we probably lost the chance to hang out with you. I'll let everyone know! What time should we come pick you up?" Gamakichi bobbed excitedly. They both looked at Gaara. Naruto put on the most beseeching, puppy-eyed look he could muster.
"You can start tomorrow," Gaara began.
Naruto let out a whoop and jumped up and down and gave Gamakichi a high five, grinning all the while. Not even the current situation could dampen his excitement over new training.
Gaara cleared his throat. "You will not be staying there, though. You can train there in the day, as long as you come back to Suna every evening."
"Awww, what?" Naruto whined. "But if that Moku-oji is going to be with me, why do I have to come back here? It's boring here." He didn't mention how much he preferred not to risk being alone with the Wind Daimyo again.
"Yamato-san must be here to make regular reports on your training and the situation within Suna. That is the order of the Hokage. It is for the best. Everyone will worry less if you come back here often."
"I understand, I guess," Naruto grumbled.
"Shima-obaasan is gonna be so excited when she hears," Gamakichi said. "I'm going to go tell everyone. I'll see you tomorrow, little bro!" The toad clapped his hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto stretched. "I guess it could be worse. If I'm training, at least I'm doing something!"
He knew Gaara could have easily refused to let him go. Many other Kage in his situation would have done just that. The training itself was an unknown, too.
But it was something. It was a start.