Another chapter is here!

Enjoy!

"And then I—" The memories came rushing to Naruto in the middle of talking to Shikamaru and Shino, the former lazily leaning on the railing and the latter keeping his eyes on Sasuke and Gaara as they stood opposite each other on the field. He reeled backwards, stumbling over his own feet and then falling onto his rear. The others looked to see that he was covering his mouth, a spot of red on his cheeks.

Shikamaru's head craned around from his perch on the railing and he eyed Naruto wearily. "Naruto, what was that?"

"I… uh…" He couldn't find the words or emotions. Not when the memories all came rushing at him at once. He could recall the sight of her tears, the sweet scent wafting from her skin, and the softness of her kiss. "I have to go!"

Naruto fled back into corridor just before the participants' booth and leaned against the wall, trying to grasp what was happening. Did that really happen? How did he know it wasn't just a fantasy or a delusion? He could be worrying over nothing, yet… Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that it was real.

He had to test it somehow. He rapped his knuckles against his head and frowned as he tried to think of a method. Then he abruptly stopped and looked at his clenched hand. It clicked, and he created two shadow clones.

"Go down the stairs and play a game of Janken," he ordered. "Loser pops himself and the winner comes back."

They did so, disappearing from his line of sight. He paced back and forth for a full minute before the memory returned. The clones had ended up getting the same results due to the similar train of thought until one of them decided they were getting nowhere and dispelled itself. The other came into view ten seconds later and shrugged.

"Okay, so I get the memories of my clones." He slid back against the wall and held a hand against his head, ignoring the cheers coming from outside in lieu of the discovery. "That means it was real…."

The clone looked depressed as well before a sudden determination crossed its face. "I'm going to go check to see if she's left!"

It ran away, leaving the original alone with his thoughts. Karin had… she said that she had fallen in love with him and then kissed him. Then she ran away.

He wasn't sure what to feel there. Just thinking about the kiss left his blood pounding in his ears and his heart hammering at his chest. And yet… she was gone, and now he had to think about everything and question whether she was telling him the truth or just following orders.

How do I feel about her? Naruto wondered as he sat against the wall. He'd felt… safe, around Karin. And she was always encouraging and helping him. He wasn't sure if he loved her in a romantic sense, but he was sure that he cared for her enough over this last month that he'd be willing to put his life on the line to save her.

Right now though, he felt a myriad of other feelings. He was still flustered from the kiss, which was nothing like what he felt when he and Sasuke had that… accident that they swore they would never talk about again.

He was sad at the deception, like a weight in the pit of his stomach. All this time, he had trusted her. He let her into his life and home without a second thought, and it had been orchestrated from the beginning. When he thought about the life they could have had back in the village together, only for it all to be gone now, it made the weight in his stomach heavier.

He tried to think about where she could run off to, just so that he could track her down. It was too much to hope the clone would be able to catch up to her. Chances are she was long gone, and she could sense his chakra so it wouldn't take her any effort to hide or avoid him. There'd still be a chance if she was in the village, but what she said about how the Old Man would have to treat her as a spy also made him sick to his stomach. Should he just let her run away then?

Maybe… but he didn't want to let her leave him behind. That much he knew for certain. And he didn't think she wanted to either. Even if she was acting as a spy, she accepted him for what he held inside of him and never once looked at him with disdain because of it. He would at least try to get the Old Man to show mercy to her.

But, whoever it was that scared her into running away, and trying to play him like a chump in the first place… they were going to pay for this. It was one thing to try and come at him as an enemy, but this was unforgivable. They dangled family in front of him, the one thing in the world he always wanted and never could have, and then used that to mess with him.

The clone returned about two minutes later. It was short of breath. "She's…taken...Byakko."

Naruto groaned as he gritted his teeth. There was no way they would catch up to her if that was the case. "Darn it. Now we'll never find her."

"I don't think she knew that we would gain the memories of a clone when they were destroyed," the clone said, sitting across from the original. "If she did, she probably wouldn't have said anything. I still hate that she left, and that someone put her up to it."

"Maybe if we figured out who that is then we could do something about it?" Naruto scratched his head in thought before speaking aloud again. "It has to be someone who knows we're a jinchuuriki. But that's just about all the adults in the village. Even if the Old Man would put them away, someone could have spilled it."

The clone shrugged. It was true enough. "But they also know that Gaara is also one… and currently fighting Sasuke! Crap!"

Naruto leapt up and grabbed him before he could run off to tell them to stop the match. "Remember what she said before? She sounded so sure that Sasuke wouldn't be hurt too badly during the match. If she knew that much and that he's also a jinchuuriki—"

"They might be in on it too!" The clone settled down. "And Sasuke's eyes are supposed to be super-rare, so whoever is after us might want them. So it'd have to be someone who knows we're a jinchuuriki, possibly works for another village, and probably wants Sasuke's eyes. Do we know someone that fits those three things…?"

They realized at the same time and slapped their foreheads with their palms. "The creep in the Forest of Death!"

"They had to have known," Naruto said. "They knew how to screw up the seal on our stomach and messed up our chakra in the first place. From what we learned this month, that sort of thing means you know what you're doing or it goes bad."

"And they put one of Sasuke too and left us alive after beating us," the clone continued. "They did that because they wanted us to get away… and Karin was from the same village, so they could have spoken to her anytime before the rest of her team left. If they wanted her to bring us to them, then chances are they could be hiding somewhere close, or even watching her seat."

"Then we lure them and whoever it is that's working with them out and then pound them," Naruto decided. "And then we'll try to find her somehow. She's a sensor, but we still have Suzaku and can fly. Maybe we can get Kiba to loan us Akamaru to track her by scent?"

Spurred by this revelation, Naruto continued to talk to his clone and essentially bounced ideas off of himself in hopes of comprehending who it was that was threatening Karin and how to find her. While they talked, both were blissfully unaware of the small insect nestled in the original's blond bed of hair. It sat there, listening with the intent of relaying it to the living hive it served.

[0-0-0]

Sasuke leapt back and then darted to the side as three flowing streams of sand reached out to grab him, arching from behind his opponent and acting as another set of arms while his primary ones remained crossed. In a practiced and swift motion, he flung four kunai towards the red-haired boy. The path was direct and thus easy to read, blocked as a surge of sand rose in front of him to intercept them.

Now! He kicked off the ground at full-speed, mirror-wheel eyes spinning in place as the path to take was laid out in front of him. Surprise found itself on his opponent's face as Sasuke suddenly vanished from his untrained sight as the wall of sand lowered. Closing in as a black-blur, he punched through the sand that appeared sluggishly as it tried to cover Gaara's blindside and delivered a double-legged jumping kick that had the full-backing of his speed behind it.

They both flew as a result, Sasuke riding the boy as he sailed airborne. Before the sand-armor that cracked violently under the kick started to entrap his feet, he chambered his legs and then pushed off. The force sent Sasuke backwards in a somersault as Gaara crashed down into the ground, raising a dust cloud that obscured him from view.

Sasuke exhaled as he landed, eyes fixed on the dust cloud as it thinned to reveal Gaara being slow to get back onto his feet. Like I thought, even after Rock Lee had kicked him all over the arena he hasn't compensated for the set speed of his sand by sharpening his reflexes and ability to track.

That complacency would be his downfall. Sasuke was never one to sit still. To remain stagnant was the same as death, and if he grew complacent he would never surpass his brother.

He rushed forward again only for Gaara to sweep his hand out and send sand surging forward in another attempt to ensnare him. Sasuke used a Body Flicker, using three steps at a speed faster than Gaara could see to get behind him again, and finished the hand-seals to unleash a Grand Fireball large enough to engulf him.

The explosion pounded at his ears as it detonated, hot wind and near-molten bits of sand and dirt scattering about. But the smoke and dust cleared to reveal a dense shell of sand, surrounding him like a cocoon. Sasuke tossed two kunai at it to see just how impenetrable it was, only for them to not even scratch the surface.

He felt the ground trembling underneath him. Reflexes kicked in and he jumped away as sand erupted from the ground in numerous geysers. Then they came alive like thick arms with clawed fingers, reaching down and trying to snatch him up. He was fast enough to dodge them as they came crashing down, hitting the ground hard enough to break them apart into loose sand again.

Sasuke was on the other side of the field by the time the assault ended. The loose sand flowed back to the shell to reinforce it. He couldn't wait anymore if he was going to break through that defense.

He would have to use the Chidori.

[0-0-0]

Sakura breathed easier as Sasuke escaped from the rain of sand. Good. Kakashi-sensei had indeed been keeping his training up using Lee's approach, attacking quickly to avoid the sand, but if that was the case then he would get tired soon and then….

"Oh, you're back," Ayame said from next to her. She turned to see that Karin had come back. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine now," she said, though there was a slight change in her voice that Sakura picked up.

She wanted to think that it was just her imagination. But she couldn't help but notice the oddities in Karin's behavior. Her attention was everywhere but the match, spanning instead the audience in search of someone else.

She looked towards the participants' booth and found Naruto doing the same, staring in the same direction in search of something. It didn't take her much thought to piece together a picture. Especially not after helping him train so much over the last month.

Sakura leaned close and whispered. "What are you doing, Naruto?"

Tension ran through 'Karin' and her head turned swiftly in Sakura's direction. The transformed clone held a finger up to tell her to be silent. "Don't give me away."

Sakura fought the urge to slap her forehead at him breaking the rules. Even if it was a clone, it was still a violation. "What are you doing here? Where's the real Karin?"

Even wearing the face of his clanswoman, she could make out the sad expression that came over his face at the mention of her.

Something must've happened. "Sakura, she's gone. And she took Byakko with her."

"What!?" Sakura asked in a heated whisper. "Why would she do that?"

"It's complicated," the clone said. "Just keep an eye out for anyone looking closely at me while I'm like this. I think something bad might be happening."

"What sort of thing?"

The transformed clone shrugged. "I'm not really sure, but—"

"What are you two talking about?" Ayame asked with her head tilted inquisitively at the sight of the girls huddled together.

"Nothing," the clone said. The raised eyebrow Ayame had pretty much gave away the fact that she didn't buy it for a second. But all three of them turned their attention to the rather loud chirping noise that came from arena and witnessed Sasuke standing on the wall as lightning crackled in his hand.

[0-0-0]

Of course Kakashi taught him that technique, Sarutobi mused silently from his seat as he witnessed the lightning growing denser. He acknowledged that it was a technique meant for enemies using similar defensive encampments, but it was also used for assassinations. Should he hit, it would likely be a fatal strike.

The Hokage frowned beneath his veil. While death was a very real prospect during these matches, it wouldn't be ideal for the Kazekage's youngest to be killed in front of him and a crowd. He was about signal his bodyguard to have the proctor intervene when he heard the Kazekage speak.

"Outstanding," came from the Kazekage, eyes fixed on the Uchiha with an abnormal interest rather than his own son. Those eyes reminded Sarutobi of his wayward student for just a moment, making his aged heart palpate. That moment was just long enough for the young Uchiha to rocket forward and making it so having the proctor interfere would be too obvious.

Using his birthright he wove in and out of the counter-assault as spikes of hardened sand erupted from the shell. A combination of his momentum and the technique allowed for his hand to penetrate the defense with relative ease. The thought that it had been fatal after all crept into the Hokage's mind in the silence that followed.

Then the screaming started.

It was a bestial sound, reverberating through the arena and sending a chill down the spines of many veteran shinobi. It was all-too familiar to those that had fought the Nine-Tails when it had been released years ago and survived. The roar of a Tailed Beast filled with fury and rage, ready to destroy everything around it.

Sarutobi cursed himself for not being suspicious of the Kazekage's claims. Jinchuuriki were more often than not linked to the head of the village. Given the boy's track-record and affinity for sand, it made sense that he would be the one to house the One-Tail. And while that in itself wasn't a crime, deception was their nature after all, the fact that none of his intelligence sources had figured it out spoke of oversight that was almost inexcusable—if not for the fact that they were looking for Orochimaru.

The Uchiha fought to free his arm, a look of primal fear on his face. When whatever that had a hold of him wouldn't budge, he reignited the Chidori and a second, more human scream followed as the arm came free. He hopped back as a long, sinuous appendage chased after him for a moment, only to fall limp onto the ground and suddenly retract into the cocoon.

It was then that the feathers began to fall over the arena, a high-level Genjutsu technique capable of encompassing the entirety of the audience. There was no excuse for that. Sarutobi exchanged a final glance with the Kazekage and caught the remorseless and unsurprised gleam within it.

Everything clicked at that moment. The Hidden Sound would stand no chance against the Hidden Leaf alone. But if they were sabotaged from within, with a mad Jinchuuriki to contend with as well, then even they would fall. His guard reached for his poisoned blade only for four kunai to find their way into his chest as smoke billowed from the Kazekage, filling up the booth.

[0-0-0]

Karin looked back from atop Byakko as the white tiger came to a stop on her command. She felt the pulse of chakra as the giant snake summonings emerged, her Mind's Eye having grown yet again. The walls that had stood for at least a decade unbroken came crumbling down when the massive serpents threw their weight against it, clearing the way for the Sound forces that were hidden outside to enter while they sowed chaos, intent to crushing the Hidden Leaf on Orochimaru's command.

There was no going back now. The invasion had begun….