A/N- Hey look who's early! I hope you enjoy this chapter so I'll see you on the other side.

The ear-popping thunder wailed in a frantic rhythm, matched only by the strobing lightning. The blinding strikes flashed with little difference in time to the deafening claps as the winds whistled at their high speeds. The air had the distinct smell of metal, potent enough to make the hairs on any creature's neck stand on edge. Dull clouds of grey hung low in the sky, dropping litres of rainwater onto the dirt roads that paved the routes through the Land of Fire and its surrounding neighbours. The soil squelched under boots as they stomped towards their destination, the precipitation dousing any hopes of survival through warmth as no fire or clothing could attempt to raise body heat whilst showered in water.

Luckily for Naruto, however, Kurama rested inside him. The warmth that the demonic beast sealed inside him burned like hellfire, the flames only stoked further by his desire to achieve his goal. His conviction was only matched by the man next to him as Sasuke strode next to Naruto at a quickening pace. Rain poured over the Uchiha, his cloak was violently thrown about around him as he walked. Even when he pushing through the battering winds and the terrible weather in general, Sasuke's face never changed from his usual serious expression. Naruto wasn't really surprised that he didn't seem cold, considering that Naruto was still convinced Sasuke only had ice running through his veins.

It had been two days since the two had split off from Temari and Shikamaru and they were finally in the last lengthy stretch on their route to the Land of Waves. If they worked out the journeys correctly, then Shikamaru and Temari would also be coming to the end of their journey but Naruto worried that they might have been caught up by the other shinobi that Naruto sensed before they left them. The chakra he had sensed with his own sage chakra seemed quite familiar to Naruto but hopefully with the four of them splitting up into two groups, they wouldn't be easy to track.

"Do you really trust him?" Naruto turned towards Sasuke, who was still staring straight ahead, leaving Naruto to be curious about his question.

"Who?" Naruto asked.

"Shikamaru" Sasuke said the name with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Of course I do but… I'm guessing you don't?" Naruto replied, noticing the change in Sasuke's cold demeanour when he heard Naruto's question.

"I don't know what it is, but something feels off with him" he gritted his teeth as his face contorted into a scowl.

"I'm sure you're just imagining things"

"So you really think that he would just up and leave the Hidden Leaf Village to join us as we try to destroy this corrupted shinobi world?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Because he's still got his family and all his friends living happily back in Konoha?"

"Well it's not like we really gave him much of a choice… I mean we were about kill Choji, Ino and Temari" Naruto tried to explain, waving his arms around in front of him.

"She's annoying too" Sasuke complained.

"I don't know, I kinda like her"

"She's way too loud"

"I like them loud, y'know?" Naruto said, licking his lips.

"No, you're obnoxious enough as it is" Sasuke glared at the jinchuriki. Finally making Sasuke turn towards him, Naruto's lips stretched into a devilish grin.

"Look Sasuke, it doesn't matter if you like them or not because we are much stronger with them then without them"

"I guess so" Sasuke moaned in frustration.

"And besides, Shikamaru is a lot like us to be honest"

"He's an arrogant prick who thinks he's always right" Sasuke stated.

"Exactly" Sasuke smirked at Naruto's reply. The looked at each other in moment of silence, before bursting into a cacophony of hearty laughter. They continued to walk, Naruto made his usual stupid jokes, each one making Sasuke crack a small smile no matter how hard he tried to not show any reaction to them.

Naruto's bright smile began to fade slightly as his thoughts began to direct back to the memories of when himself, Sasuke, Temari and Shikamaru had all left the hideout. Naruto's shoulders began to stoop along with his head as he sulked. He missed Hinata already. All his thoughts were just the mental images he had stored of her in various scenes. He frowned when he pictured what she was currently up to, left all alone with Ino and Sakura. A small throb caused Naruto to adjust his pants at the thought of Hinata toying with the girls. One thing that he liked about his girl was that she had been revealing a more dominant side of herself. He enjoyed how easy it was for her to switch between the cute submissive he'd taken for his own two years ago and the sadistic dominant who had relentlessly teased Sakura and Ino.

Psyching himself up, Naruto returned the bounce to his step at the thought of returning back to Hinata and his girls, and maybe another addition to his fast-growing harem. Looking over to Sasuke, he saw that the Uchiha's expression had returned to his normal hard stare. He was glancing around the trees as if were looking for something in particular. Naruto decided to check his surroundings out as well, curious as to what Sasuke was searching for. His deep blue pupils flickered from one part of his vision to the other, becoming increasingly narrowed as he tried to discern even the smallest of details in order to discover what was bothering him. Yet all he saw were the modicum of leaves that were ripped from the verdant canopy to be blown every which way, sometimes even smacking Naruto in the face at the wind's high speeds and the ones that reached the ground managed to make Naruto slip as they were coated with the slick layer of rainwater.

"What are you looking for?" Naruto asked frustratedly, stopping himself from faceplanting into the dirt path.

"That" Sasuke pointed off to the side. Eyes darting in the direction that Sasuke's index finger was pointing towards. He frowned when he saw the mysterious object of the Uchiha's concern only to narrow his gaze on a slim creature. Coming eye to eye with the odd animal, Naruto's spine jittered, making him turn to Sasuke, confused.

"A snake?" the reptile stared back at the jinchuriki with its slitted pupils, freaking Naruto out. He hated snakes, they were always so creepy, the way they just slithered around, staring at everything. The scaly creatures also sparked a sour train of memories of his encounters with snakes, specifically those who use their powers and one in particular made Naruto grit his teeth.

"Orochimaru" Sasuke said as he watched the snake. Naruto's posture straightened immediately, his shoulders tensing up when he heard the name of one of the legendary Sannin. Sasuke gripped the handle of his sword tightly, spooking the creature's most natural instinct. With fight or flight the only thought in its reptilian brain, the snake bolted. It streaked through the grass at a blistering pace, its scale running smoothly over the sheet of water that covered the soaked dirt of the forest. A growling inside him caught Naruto's attention. It took him a bit too long to realise that it wasn't his stomach and it was actually the demonic tailed beast that took residence inside his body instead. Kurama seemed to react to the snake's presence, waking up grumpily but that was nothing unusual for him.

Shunk!

Naruto regained his focus, flicking his eyes up from his abdomen.

Hisss!

The jinchuriki watched as the snake hissed as it writhed and wriggled. What confused him though was the fact that the reptile seemed to not be making any distance in the grass. All his confusion was alleviated, thankfully, by the sight of the metre-long sword sticking out of the snake's scales, seemingly pinning it to the ground. The creature twitched and spasmed as the long blade crackled with electric blue bolts of lightning that arced around the reptile's scales.

As it bled out the snake looked as if it craned its head to look directly at Sasuke. The Uchiha stared back at the snake and, for a second, Naruto thought he could sense an unspoken conversation carried out between the two but before he could ask more, he recognised the crimson shade that Sasuke's right eye had developed. In a blink of his own eye, the snake was consumed by pitch black flames that burned ferociously, the raindrops hissing as they evaporated the instant they came into contact with the fire.

With his strained eye revealing the veins pulsing around his sclera, Sasuke watched until the snake had finally been left as nothing but a small pile of ashes. His eyes returned to his normal onyx colour as his gaze followed the ash particles as they were blown away into the violent winds. He walked over to pull his sword out of the ground, giving it a little tug as the blade unsheathed itself from the soil. Looking around, Naruto saw Sasuke's gaze scan the surrounding area carefully, until he nodded in an odd direction. From what Naruto knew, the way he was gesturing to wasn't completely the opposite way from their path, but it certainly would end up being a deviation from their journey's route.

"They're close by" Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"Fine, let's go" Naruto followed after Sasuke through the woods.

They must have wondered around for at least an hour before finding any signs of life. Eventually they came into a strange part of the forest. The rain continued to drizzle along with the horrendous weather that had plagued the two shinobi for the last day or two. Naruto couldn't help but feel off as he stood in this area of the woods. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, his spine tingled with shocks as he felt as if someone was watching. The jinchuriki looked around the trees, hoping that there wouldn't be a pair of eyes in one of the many trunks. Even in the stormy climate, Naruto couldn't help but feel freaked out at the strange atmosphere of his surroundings.

The claps of thunder and the howls of wind seemed to have been drowned out along with the constant pitter patter of the torrential rain. All that was left was an eerie quiet that shouldn't have belonged to this part of the woods. Completely bare of life, Naruto's instincts were only telling him one single thing. You shouldn't be here. Naruto's thoughts took a paranoid turn as his eyes darted around the branches constantly. He saw Sasuke stood just in front of him, he seemed to be completely calm as he looked around.

"Here" Sasuke exclaimed, turning to Naruto with an expectant look.

"Here what?" Naruto asked.

"We're close to the entrance, but there's no way I'll be able to see it, so you'll need to use your sensory abilities to find it" he replied.

"Oh… okay!" Naruto focused for a few moments. He became quiet as he shifted his feet into a more comfortable position. Taking deep breaths, Naruto worked his heart and lungs into steady beating as he stilled himself. Using the rhythm of his cardiovascular system, Naruto worked through all the motions of his body, focusing on the natural surroundings and sensing their unique chakras. He directed the huge swathes of nature energy towards him, allowing it to be absorbed into his own body.

Cautiously, he began to direct his own chakra to meet the nature chakra inside him, taking extreme care when he attempted to mix them together. Thankfully, Kurama hadn't drifted into his usual deep slumber, allowing him to be aware of Naruto's task and permitting the tailed beast to help his jinchuriki. Adding his own chakra to Kurama's and the nature energy he'd absorbed, Naruto focused on the pool of sage chakra he had created, and he infused it around his body.

In an instant, Naruto could completely map his surroundings even with his eyes shut tight. Every single piece of energy from both the flora and the flora of the forest could not avoid being sensed by Naruto's sage mode's sensory abilities. Searching through the forest, Naruto couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, most of the wildlife had taken shelter from the threatening weather. The jinchuriki also had the suspicion that these creatures were also hiding away from the two shinobi, whose power was unmatched across the entirety of the vast continent that they traversed, in fear of losing their lives.

However, there was one area that caught Naruto's attention. Helping him out again was his ability to detect malicious intent. Unfortunately, the part of the forest that he was sensing was violently radiating evil intentions like a cloud of the plague. It seemed to come from somewhere hidden in the brush, camouflaged by the dull shades of the verdant colour of the blades of grass. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Naruto's skin tingled as his sensory chakra came into contact with a similar feeling energy. The only way that he could describe it was as a mix of sage chakra mixed with an insatiable thirst for murder.

"Over there!" Naruto pointed past Sasuke, to where he sensed the hidden chakra. The two made their way towards the spot, heading deeper into the thicker parts of the brush. Soil squelched and twigs snapped under boot as they came closer to their destination. Once they stood over the spot Naruto had sensed, Sasuke began looking around the ground, brushing aside blades of grass and branches as he uncovered a fairly wide, small hole at the base of the trunk of a particularly inconspicuous tree. It seemed to be just the right size to fit a human body, but nothing larger had any chance of slipping into the well-hidden entrance.

"Let's go, Naruto" Sasuke, without turning to his comrade, dropped into the hole. Not wanting to be left alone in the pouring rain, Naruto followed after him. They must have been falling for more than a dozen seconds before Naruto felt his heels connect to solid ground. In the dim torchlight, he could just about make out Sasuke a few metres in front of him, who had begun to stroll through the draughty corridor.

Walking around, Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu as the two wandered through the long hallways, twisting and turning into an almost unmappable maze. Thoughts of their own hideout flooded his mind as they passed by rooms filled with a myriad of what looked to be research equipment and Naruto grimaced, knowing the typical nature of Orochimaru's experiments. Thankfully, in their own hideout, they had made sure to clear out any of the equipment that they had no use for, the only parts remaining were related to medicine which came in handy when Hinata was injured by Kiba.

A stinging pain distracted Naruto, drawing his attention to his palm. Without realising, Naruto had clenched his hand into a fist, tightening the grip so hard that his nails managed to pierce the soft skin of the inside of his hand, allowing blood to spill out down his wrist. He grinded his teeth together, silently swearing to make sure that Kiba paid for hurting his Hinata. In his trance of gritted rage, he had failed to notice that Sasuke had stopped in front of him.

Bumping into the Uchiha, Naruto was about to ask why he had stopped so suddenly but soon discovered the answer to his question himself. He looked around the corridor which had led them into a dead end. Sasuke was staring at the wall in front, carefully combing over each stone in order to work out if it was another hidden entrance of some sort as he wouldn't have put it past Orochimaru and his conniving personality.

"It's you" an irritated voice echoed from behind them in the hallway. The two shifted their feet, turning to see a short figure cross their arms as they stared at Naruto and Sasuke, shifting their crimson hair out of their glasses.

Elsewhere…

Temari strode along the path, making her way through the field. Shikamaru faltered, shuffling a few paces behind the kunoichi as the sun bore down into the back of his neck. His feet ached from all the constant walking their journey had forced them to suffer. After rushing off when they split from Naruto and Sasuke, Temari had seemingly turned into a drill sergeant, marching him to the ends of his body's limits. Barely getting a chance to shut his eyes, Shikamaru had whined and complained every chance he could as they followed their route.

There was one thing that Shikamaru couldn't possibly complain about, however, and it had been teasing him for almost two days straight. No matter how much it pissed him off to watch Temari strutting around like the queen of the world for the last couple of days, but his irritation was soon replaced by the entranced daze of watching as her perfectly wide hips swayed from side to side. His saliva practically drooled down his chin as his almond irises took in every movement of her waist, every time her behind was cocked to one side as took a step on that leg. Unfortunately for Shikamaru, the object of his barely contained lust was covered by the flowing robe of the Akatsuki, obscuring most of her incredible features from his view.

Luckily, the Nara was famous for his intellect and, thankfully, within the bounds of his mind were the impressively stretched limits of his imagination. And with his powerful ability to imagine his desires, he stupidly grinned as he visualised the amazingly toned ass of the foreign beauty walking ahead of him. Unbeknownst to Shikamaru, Temari was doing her best to hide her rosy cheeks from his sight, subconsciously exaggerating the arc of her hips' swinging, all while realising that Shikamaru was watching from the one glance she sent back.

"C-Can I ask you something?" Temari's sudden question shocked Shikamaru out of his hypnotised gazing. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he straightened up at the sound of her soft voice.

"I guess so" he scratched his head, grunting his frustration at the glaring rays of sunlight that heated his entire body up to an uncomfortable degree. Looking around, the fields of plains stretched for lengths and lengths all the way to the horizon with no clear signs of any life, human or beast. But looking closely and concentrating on the repetitive surroundings, Shikamaru could tell that he and Temari were not entirely alone. The marks on the ground presented themselves as tiny pawprints and other animal tracks to Shikamaru's eyes. Listening carefully, he could he hear the constant chirping of the birds above form an annoying melody with the noisy buzzing of the hidden crickets that rattled in his eardrums.

"What happened between you and Sasuke? It seems like you two absolutely despise each other" Temari asked, her tone was cautious which Shikamaru assumed that it was in order to avoid agitating him.

Temari shivered when she heard Shikamaru let out an exasperated behind her, she began to worry that she had struck a nerve. "I don't know but… we just never really saw eye to eye back in the academy or even when we where genin… then all of a sudden he just leaves to join Orochimaru" he spoke in a roundabout way.

"I get it… well I definitely remember saving your ass that day" Shikamaru was met with a cheeky smirk. Thinking he would have struck back with a quick retort like usual, Temari raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's stunned face. She whipped her head to her front, cursing herself under her breath for saying something so carelessly to Shikamaru. He, on the other, still couldn't get the image of Temari out of his head. He'd seen her grin countless times but this time, in the sunlight, Shikamaru couldn't process the most beautiful image he'd ever seen. The intense rays of light seemed to soften when they reflected off her blonde locks, her bronze skin glowing with her tanned beauty and the pearly whites of her mouth always made Shikamaru's lips curl into a pleased smile.

"Umm… ahh… yeah I guess" Shikamaru turned his head, trying to hide his smile as he scratched the back of his neck nervously. He shook his head to reset his short-circuited brain. "But the way he is now just… terrifies me" he gulped when the image of Sasuke holding a sword at Temari's throat appeared at the forefront of his mind.

"You're scared?" Temari looked back with a disbelieving and quizzical look on her jaw-dropped face.

"Yes! I am scared! At any point in time, he could kill me… or you" he muttered the last part after shouting his sarcastic reply. Temari had very acute hearing, however, making the blood rushing through her cheeks become even more vibrant. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up at the chill that ran up her spine at the thought of Shikamaru being just as concerned for their inferiority. 'If Shikamaru's scared, then what chance do I have?" Temari thought to herself. Growing up, she'd always doubt herself, but that self-doubt was what drove her to become stronger and she promised herself that she'd become as strong as possible to protect Shikamaru if necessary. She clenched her fist as silent oath for that purpose.

"But why did you too seem to want to kill each other when you told everyone your plan?" she asked, moving on from her disheartening teasing.

"Oh… that" Shikamaru looked back towards her, a frown appearing on his face. "Well when I went to go get him I… uh… found out what happened to Sakura"

"Sakura? Was she okay?"

"I don't know if you'd call it okay…"

"What do you mean by that?" Temari asked, confused.

"The best way to put it would be… she's just not the same as she used to be" Shikamaru expression turned grim.

Temari's mind filled with the memories of her encounter with Naruto and Hinata. She felt her absentmindedly-chewed nails dig into her palm's soft skin as she clenched her fist at the image of Ino on her knees and acting obediently. Her face dropped when her train of thought shifted to Shikamaru; if she was disgusted by when she saw what had happened to Ino after Naruto and Hinata were done with her, then she couldn't have even fathomed what Shikamaru had seen of Sakura after she was with the cold-blooded rogue ninja that was Sasuke Uchiha.

She must have gulped a little too loudly as she felt a reassured hand squeeze her shoulder, making her soften the grip she had on her palm. Craning her neck, she offered Shikamaru a thankful glance. Realising their newfound close proximity, Temari blushed. She leaned in closer to his chest hiding her rosy cheeks in the mixture of crimson and onyx shades of the folds of his robe.

They continued walking the same way for what felt like hours, the scenery beginning to change, only slightly at first, as the sun slowly lowered across the sky. They enjoyed the pleasurable silence that seemed to follow the two of them everywhere they went. It might have been awkward a lot of the time, but there was always an unspoken understanding between the pair that told them when they should and when they shouldn't interrupt the experience of each other's company. There was no other man who Temari had met in her life that could offer same atmosphere that she basked in. The aura of never having to worry about a subject for small talk: Temari knew that one thing that the both of them hated was superficial conversation.

The setting sun interrupted the romantic moment as the few strays of sunlight glared through the tree leaves and shining directly into Shikamaru's and Temari's eyes. Squinting as they looked around, they realised that their route had led them into a forest that was all too normal. Shikamaru looked around the trunks whilst Temari checked out the treetops, eventually deciding to move on.

They took a cautious step, following the dry track.

"Stop right there!" The voice echoed around the trees, as birds flew off spooked from the sudden increase in volume.

A/N- Hey everyone, how are you all doing? I have come to the realisation that my pacing of this story may be a little on the slow slide but let me know what you think because I'm not sure. I do come bearing some good news as well; there will be a couple new girls joining the harems very soon and I think it's ok to say that two of them are for Sasuke. I know that I have not really been doing my best to write Sasuke but hopefully I can start doing better with him now. Also, the spacing between Sasuke obtaining the first girl and the second is going to be a bit longer than usual but the second girl is definitely worth the wait. Let me know who you think these three girls are going to be and who they're for. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and don't hesitate to tell me how you'd improve the chapter. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

Yours truly,

Signing off