Ink's Notes:

[sarcasm] Having a cold has done wonders for my productivity, [/sarcasm] so I managed to get this done. Let's see...

Krazyfanfiction1: I'd have to check what Jugo's preference for elemental manipulation is... but maybe?

XxFire-PhoenixxX: Aisa is the little girl who the Straw Hats met while they were on Skypeia. She had a natural talent for Haki, or as the Skypeians called it, Mantra.

Allykrau: Two more. And thanks~

Guest: We'll see! And... mm, Vivi's kinda hard to get a grip on, but I'll see what I can do.

The Keeper of Worlds: Jugo is the best big bro.

RedGoddessEclipse: Thank youuu~!

Ddash2157: Hmm, Conquerer's, huh? Mm, I'm honestly not sure if any of them would have it. Maybe? Although, even if they do have it, I don't think any of the Grand Line guys assembled do, so learning it would be hard...

Anyway. Chapter time!

Chapter Thirty-Seven

About a week had passed since the group had added Aisa to their party. The team had made quite a bit of progress, sneaking through the Land of Sound and Otogakure, stopping a night in Yugakure, and passing through Shimogakure before beginning the trek across the Land of Lightning towards Kumogakure. With just about the entire group learning Haki, and several experts in Observation Haki amongst them, they were able to progress at a reasonable speed without fearing that they'd accidentally passed someone from the Grand Line without realizing it. They had decided to abandon the idea of traveling quickly, in part because they were running out of ways to group everyone in order to do so, and in part because they were simply enjoying each other's company.

On the road again, Sakura mused to herself. It was certainly a change of pace from how things normally were. There'd usually be a mission, which could take anywhere between a few hours and a few days, then a week or so of lull before the next one happened. Traveling with Marco and the others, however, was a far different experience. They were constantly moving about, only stopping to rest or when something came up, without much time to even consider a lull in activity. Not that Sakura particularly minded – it was nice traveling with them, and there was never a dull moment in the group.

She was walking at the front, with Marco in his phoenix form on her shoulder, so she glanced behind her to see how everyone else was holding up. Jugo seemed to be having a conversation with Carue (Sakura had learned that he could apparently understand animals), and Aisa was riding piggyback on Jugo's shoulders. Vivi and Karin were chatting back and forth about what Alabasta was like, while Tashigi and Suigetsu were arguing about different kinds of swords and their effectiveness in certain situations. Bepo and Perona were talking amongst themselves, though they were periodically glancing at their surroundings, suggesting that they were keeping watch to make sure nobody was following them.

Aisa suddenly stiffened up on Jugo's shoulders, just as Marco called out to the group to get their attention. Everyone immediately caught onto his meaning, abandoning their conversations and coming to a stop in favor of turning their attention to the front, some even preparing their weapons. Sakura moved a hand to her kunai pouch as she began feeling outwards with Haki to get an idea of what or who was coming. She paused in consideration when she felt something that seemed familiar, but still remained wary. Marco seemed to have gotten the same idea, then looked at the group with an expression of dread before cradling his head in his wings.

"…Marco? What's wrong?" Sakura asked as the bird let out an audible groan.

"This… I can't see this ending any way except badly, yoi," he grumbled, though Sakura barely heard his words. Briefly, she wondered what he meant by that, until the rustling of bushes signaled the arrival of the people that they'd picked up on. Three figures jumped out and landed before them, and Sakura bristled visibly when she recognized all three of them.

"Ah…" she laughed nervously as she stared at the three shinobi before her. "Naruto, Sai, Kakashi," Sakura greeted, lifting a hand in an awkward wave. "What brings you out here…?" she questioned, though she had a feeling she knew exactly why they were in front of them now instead of back home.

Kakashi took a moment to look over the group that had substantially expanded since it had left Konoha. In addition to Marco, and the woman and her duck who Tsunade had said were Vivi and Carue respectively, they'd gained a polar bear, a pink-haired woman who looked as if she could be related to Sakura and Lee, a woman with dark blue hair and glasses, a woman with red hair and glasses (who he got a vaguely Kushina-esque vibe off of), a shark-like man who had what he recognized as Zabuza's sword, and a large man with orange hair who was giving a piggy-back ride to a little girl with wings.

"Odd traveling group you've got here, Sakura," he idly commented, though there was a slightly threatening tone beneath his words. "Some strange people, a few missing-nin, an animal..."

"AH-!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Perona. "Sakura-Chan, you have a sister?!"

Sakura thought she heard Marco say something along the lines of Oh my God, but the sound was muffled because of his wings so she couldn't be certain. Kakashi seemed to share his sentiments, since his expression – from what Sakura could see of it, anyway – was one of exasperation.

"It seems more likely that she's one of the people Sakura was given the mission to find," Sai put in. "Them resembling one another is likely nothing more than coincidence."

"Um, excuse me," Vivi cut in. Both groups turned their attention to her. "Not to be rude, but… why are you here?" she asked. "Tsunade-sama said that she would trust this mission to us."

"Maa, that's true," Kakashi noted, cleaning out one of his ears. "But we're actually here to confirm something."

"Confirm…?" Sakura cautiously asked, but she had a sinking feeling about where this was going.

"Two members of Root who had been following you reported back to Konoha," he began. "They said they encountered you guys cooperating with those missing-nin." His eye traced over Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo, and each of them prepared for a fight. "There were also some other details."

"Let me guess," Marco spoke up as he finally lifted his head out of his wings, looking very tired all of a sudden. "The other two missing-nin that were there, yoi?"

"Well, yes," Sai smiled, and Marco frowned. Something about the way he was smiling made him uneasy. "The fact that your rag-tag bunch of misfits encountered not only Sasuke, but a member of Akatsuki, and not only did you cooperate with these missing-nin who you seem to have no intention of turning in, but you let Sasuke go and left him with a very dangerous member of Akatsuki." Naruto snapped to attention as Sai inclined his head to the side, the smile never leaving his face. "Weren't you one of the ones who desperately wanted to bring him back to Konoha?"

Sakura bit her lip and quickly tried to come up with a response, but fortunately she was saved from speaking when Tashigi, of all people, spoke up for her. "There was no reason to bring scum like that back to a peaceful town. We're under no illusion that he would be willing to go back peacefully, and even if we were somehow able to force him to go back, he would just leave again the second he got the chance."

Naruto let out an audible growl as his features turned a little more feral. "Don't talk about Sasuke like that! You have no idea-"

"Naruto," Sakura interrupted, snapping him out of his rage as he turned to her in shock. "She- she was traveling with him for a while. She knows him, and his motivations. So do Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo." The three in question nodded, each with a varying degree of bitterness on their faces. "When we encountered him- purely by chance when we got a lead on Tashigi's location, might I add- he very clearly had no intention of… of things going back to the way they were. He insulted me and my friends, Naruto. He's…" Sakura's voice caught in her throat as she fought back tears. She knew it, but she didn't want to have to say it out loud. "He's not the same Sasuke that we knew." Naruto looked heartbroken, either from Sakura's words, the fact that it was her who was saying them, or some combination of both. "He insulted us, and…"

"And then there was fighting, yoi," Marco put in, stroking Sakura's hair to help comfort her. "Quite a bit of fighting. We paired off and each of us fought someone."

"I was up against Vivi and Carue," Karin joined the conversation. "And we… discussed some things. I realized that Sasuke – he was only using me, Suigetsu and Jugo. So we figured there wasn't much reason for us to fight…"

"They went around stopping the rest of us," Suigetsu explained, putting his hands behind his head. "Admittedly, I was doing a kind of terrible job at fending off the bear."

"I'm sorry," Bepo apologized, slumping over in an apparent state of depression. Naruto jumped at the fact that the bear was talking.

Perona laughed into her hand. "Horohorohorohoro~! Jugo and I squared off briefly, before we were stopped as well. Tashigi and Sakura managed to discuss their situations and realize they were on the same side before we had to step in."

Kakashi frowned and did the mental math, figuring out who had been fighting who. Unless they had picked up the little girl before the encounter, and there was something about her that they weren't telling them, that just left…

"Wait," Naruto frowned, seeming to come to a similar conclusion that Kakashi had. "Then who fought Sasuke?"

"That was…" The group simultaneously exchanged awkward glances. Kakashi bit his lip at this reaction, taking a moment to scan over the group and note who wasn't present, despite what the report he'd received had said.

"The members of Root told us that Edward, of all people, was with you when they found you, and that he knocked Sasuke unconscious and left them to fight the member of Akatsuki for the right to take him captive," Kakashi frowned. "I'd think Edward would still be with you if that were the case, but they also said that Marco was suspiciously absent at the time." His eyes narrowed in on Marco. "Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

Marco shrugged, and Kakashi muttered something under his breath.

"Sakura…" his tone was filled with regret. "There's… something you should know."

"What's that?" Sakura asked, doing her best to remain stone-faced, although she had a distinct feeling she knew where this was going.

"Allow me," Sai cut in, that sly smile still on his face. Marco suddenly wasn't as worried about it anymore. "Sakura… based on our judgment and information, we have determined that your pet bird, Marco, and the sailor, Edward… are actually one and the same."

Dead silence filled the clearing as several of the people from the Grand Line facepalmed (or facepawed, in Bepo's case). Sakura stared blankly at Sai and Kakashi, while Naruto sputtered at the sudden revelation.

And then she and Marco burst out laughing.

"Oh my – it took you guys that long?!" Sakura laughed, clutching her stomach. "I've known since about five days after I met him!" She wiped a tear out of her eye as the smug expression on Sai's face was replaced by one that indicated he was completely dumbfounded. "And I was suspicious a day or two after we met!"

Marco grinned at the expressions that Naruto, Sai and Kakashi were making. Naruto was gaping like a fish out of water, Sai looked embarrassed, and Kakashi just looked mildly annoyed. "I thought shinobi were supposed to be observant, yoi," Marco grinned. "I am probably the least bird-like bird to ever bird, and it took you that long? And here I thought I might have to go to bird school, which is for birds, to fully convince you that I was a bird."

"Bird school, which is for birds…?" Aisa asked, blinking a few times. Marco waved her off in a motion that said it wasn't important.

"I… had a feeling," Kakashi admitted. "That there was something off about you since we met." He frowned. "The state that Tama was in after you'd dealt with him didn't exactly help. But to think… what kind of a jutsu were you hit by?"

"Jutsu?" Tashigi asked. "He ate-" her mouth was quickly covered by Vivi and Perona, and she struggled a moment before getting the hint.

"Ate…?" Kakashi prompted, and Tashigi cleared her throat.

"…a cursed fruit that was part of an experiment to see if jutsu could be transferred through foods," she quickly lied. Perona gave her a flat look, and Tashigi glared at her to indicate that she had no idea that the origin of his abilities was meant to be a secret.

"Cursed… um…" Sai frowned. "…right. I… huh." He didn't seem to know how to react. Here he'd been expecting to expose Marco as some sort of liar to get Sakura upset with him, perhaps turn him over to Konoha so they could learn more about how he was able to become a phoenix at will… but as it turns out, not only did she already know, but she was willingly keeping his secret for him.

"Is that all you came here for?" Vivi asked, bringing everyone back to the topic of focus. "We'd like to get back to finding the others. There's apparently still two more to find."

Kakashi sighed, and nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, they didn't really have any further reason to hang out around the group. "I suppose," he admitted. "But, if you tell us where you encountered Sasuke, I might be able to clue you in as to where one of those two is." Everyone's attention snapped to him, and he lifted his hands in mock surrender. "You guys first."

Marco sighed, then pointed somewhere behind them. "We ran into him about a week ago near the western border of the Land of Sound, yoi. But that was a week ago, and we left him with that Zetsu guy, so I have no idea if he's still there."

"…I suppose that's better than nothing," Kakashi sighed when he saw Naruto getting ready to take off in the direction that Marco had pointed. "As far as my end goes, there've been rumors that a few months ago, a strange guardian appeared on the coast of the Land of Water. There's a small port town in the Land of Lightning that's known for making ships- you can probably get one there and sail over to the Land of Water to check it out."

Sakura didn't miss the smile on Marco's face as she nodded. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." She bowed slightly, so as not to disturb the phoenix on her shoulder. "Good luck finding Sasuke, if you even still…" she shook her head. "Nevermind. Good luck."

Kakashi nodded, and he, Naruto and Sai took off into the trees, heading back the way that Sakura's group had come from. She turned to watch them go, then smiled at Marco, the smile still firmly on his face. Playfully, she poked him in the chest. "What's gotten you so happy?" she asked, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"The sea," he smiled. "We get to sail on the open seas."

I get the feeling at least one of the things here will be coming up again.

Until next time!

-Ink