Follow Me or Fall Before Me

Sticking to the ground with mainly his running, Naruto had crossed nearly half the country by the time the others appeared. Sai had again taken up transporting them but they flew low and instead of two birds, this time used three that formed a V formation, which helped to slice through the wind. Hinata's bird was in the lead and as Naruto glanced up at her, he saw she'd activated her Byakugan, searching diligently into the snow for any clues.

"You know, Naruto, there is also the possibility he's not here anymore," Yamato called down. "Whoever took him is quite adept at covering their tracks."

So Yamato had also concluded that Sasuke had likely been taken, Naruto picked up. He ran that much faster, trying to contain his worries. As he ran, he focused on any other signs of struggle in the snow but it'd begun snowing, the powder steadily covering any physical tracks.

Or so he thought. He slid to a halt when he came upon a short set of footprints. "Hey guys, look!" He called out. He'd run ahead of them but they circled above him once they'd caught up. "Someone came through this way. The prints don't look too old either."

"Good, if it's relatively new, then the person can't be too far away," Yamato said. "Let's increase our radius to see if we pick up anything else." He took off flying towards the north-west, Sai angled himself to head north-east and Hinata kept their original path of going steady north. Naruto ran with her, following the same direction he'd seen the footprints, but increased his speed. He didn't want the snow to cover any more evidence.

As they traveled, Hinata watched him, noting his determined posture. It was a testament to how life often repeated itself that once again, they were searching for Sasuke. Naruto dropped nearly everything in the name of finding his old teammate. As she thought of her own feelings, she felt ashamed when a pang of jealousy crept over her. She'd been present when Naruto had confessed that he and Sasuke were together, and then too, she'd felt the same thing. It'd been much stronger then, though…

After their academy group had dissolved from the get-together, she'd returned home to think about Naruto's confession. Alongside the jealousy, there was a bitter hint of frustration (she was very reluctant to call it anger). Over the years, she'd been much too shy to tell Naruto her feelings, but had done what she could to at least show them. She'd nearly given her life for him when Pain attacked and had stood strongly beside him during the war. He'd even taken her hand and at last, she'd thought her feelings had reached him.

Had it all been for nothing? She remembered sliding her back against her room door and crying right there, hating herself for wallowing in her pity, ashamed at doing so much in the name of a crush on a boy. A boy that was too dense to notice her underlying affection. Her sister, Hanabi, had knocked on her door to ask what the matter was and for the first time ever, Hinata had yelled at her, sending her away. That only made her cry harder.

She willed herself not to cry now so that her tears wouldn't freeze to her face. She'd promised a long time ago that she was going to stop being weak and that didn't mean stop until her emotions were shaken. Even now, she knew she should be strong. She was here, wasn't she? Yet again helping the boy she loved. Sometimes, strength was knowing when to let go. The least she could do now was to help the person she loved find the one they loved the most.

A change in the landscape caused her to slow her flight, coaxing the bird to land. Naruto skid to a stop beside her, looking around. "Why'd we stop?"

"Sai and Yamato are coming back," She said, nodding ahead. Sure enough, heading back from the direction they'd left, Yamato and Sai flew towards them. At seeing them though, both wore a puzzled expression.

"Find anything?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No…" Yamato murmured, looking around him as he and Sai landed, the birds dissipating. "Did any of you change your direction? I could've sworn I was still going north-west."

Sai nodded, adding, "I never changed my path either. I should still be going north-east."

"…Wait a sec," Naruto said, already feeling his heartbeat increase. "Neither one of you changed your course but still ended up back here?" He turned his eyes to Hinata, who looked back with a similar confusion.

"I think…we're going in circles," She said. With a hand, she pointed ahead. "Those are the footprints we found, but I don't see Naruto's footprints beside them. The old footprints should've been covered by the snow before any new ones but aside from whoever's footprints those are, the snow looks new."

"Seems like it's a genjutsu then," Sai said what everyone else was thinking. He put his fingers together and commanded "Release!"

Nothing changed. Yamato breathed out a frustrated sigh. "This might be one of the ones where you have to destroy the item causing the genjutsu. Yet, aside from the footprints, there's nothing else here."

Naruto punched a hand in his fist. "I remember during the war, Wispy Whiskers, ah, the second Mizukage, had a genjutsu sort of like that. Fine then, we'll destroy those first!"

He began to walk over to them but Yamato grabbed his arm. "Don't! That's currently the only marker we have to tell when the genjutsu has repeated itself."

"What if we leave something here instead?" Hinata suggested. She pulled from her pocket a kunai blade and stuck it in the ground, next to the prints. "Now let's destroy the prints to see what happens."

"Before that, Hinata," Sai spoke up, "Do you get any sort of reading from them?"

She shook her head. "No…any chakra associated with it has long faded." Using her own foot, she smeared the prints while putting her hands together to also call out "Release!"

Still nothing.

"Alright then, what we first need to do is ascertain how wide-spread the genjutsu is," Yamato directed them. He took from his pocket several coils of wire, each a different color. He passed a blue spool to Hinata, a red one to Sai, an orange one to Naruto and kept a green one for himself. "Each person will tie an end to Hinata's kunai. We're going to go the same directions as last time, though Hinata, you go directly east this time. Count your steps to see how long it takes before you're led back to here. From there, we'll know how far we can go in other directions to find whatever—or whoever—is casting the jutsu. The wires should be left behind us, considering any trail made by our own bodies won't remain."

He started first, knotting his end of the wire tightly to the hole in the blade handle, then unrolled several feet and began to head in his initial direction. "Once you've done that and you've come back to the kunai, communicate that with Naruto's chakra, then head in another direction. If you find anything worthwhile, let everyone know."

"Right!" The other three nodded and began to follow his example.

~.~.~

With seemingly no effort, Sasuke felt himself being lifted from his cell floor and hoisted over someone's shoulder. The trip was short, a walk that lasted only a dozen seconds or so, before he was put down again.

He didn't struggle as they pulled his arms and legs, strapping them to the surface of what he could only surmise to be a table. Even with his eyes still closed, he could tell a strong light hung above, creating a red glow on the back of his eyelids.

He heard the sound of footsteps approaching, heavy and impatient. "Let's finish this quickly before he creates another Susano'o. This should've been completed days ago but…other business came first. You there, bring that cart here."

A loud cart was pulled over and Sasuke imagined a spread of various operation utensils. Somewhere close by, another person spoke. "Do we have to destroy them? A Sharingan, and definitely a Rinnegan, is all but priceless, both in terms of selling them or using them ourselves. It's a waste to just get rid of them."

There was quiet for a moment until Sasuke heard something on the cart being lifted and projected through the air. The sound of something soft being pierced followed after with someone gasping painfully. The person clung to life briefly before collapsing, wet gurgles covering their last words.

To the rest of the room, the first person addressed, "We're not doing this for greed. We do not do this because we covet power. We seek to destroy the Sharingan, Rinnegan, and other powerful kekkei genkai to bring back balance and to help restore the teachings of ninshu. Abilities like these, which are now used to only kill and hurt, were not the Sage's intentions when they were gifted to humanity. We shall eradicate that which has been so sorely abused and I will not tolerate any who stray from this goal."

There were various mumbles of "Yes, sir" and "Of course not, Takami-sama", though their voices sounded shaken. As far as Sasuke could tell, the utensil that'd been flung at the now-dead person had not been lifted with a hand. No physical movement had come from the man standing beside him. Telekinetic powers? It was rare but not entirely unheard of.

There was a quiet sigh that came from the man—Takami?— and Sasuke got the sense that he was peering down at him. "What a pity to have to do that, but we cannot have subversion amongst us," he seemed to murmur to himself. The cart next to him made a slight metallic noise as something was picked up, this time physically. "As for you, you shall be remembered as a martyr for a noble cause…just as your brother should have been."

Sasuke stifled a jolt at the mention of Itachi.

A gloved hand rubbed his face until a thumb rested just at the edge of his eye socket. Sasuke felt his heart hammering in his chest, but he remained completely still, refusing to cave. A thin but sharp blade was placed just below his brow and he could tell the other person had leaned in close, concentrating on making a clean cut, analyzing the perfect angle.

With one shot, Sasuke acted. He instantly opened his eyes, putting all his energy behind the Amaterasu. It was the same trick that led to Sasuke finding out he had the ability in the first place. With his weak body though, he knew the flames wouldn't go far and it'd certainly been too dangerous to use it in his cell. At such close proximity, the flames hit their mark and Sasuke was pleased when the person stumbled back, grabbing their face.

Now he focused his attention on the binds for his arms. His body was already trembling from the effort it took for the first attack, but he'd need to get off just one more to free at least one hand. However, he'd already pushed his body to nearly its limit, forcing the attack to be delayed. That allowed enough time for the man to rip off a surgical mask, discarding it with a fierce throw which took the flames with it.

In a split second judgement, Sasuke went ahead and attempted the Amaterasu, but his eye pulsed, sending bolts of pain through his skull. He gasped but instantly felt his hair being grabbed and his head lifted. With a rough jerk, it was brought back down, fast and hard, slamming it on the table. At the impact, his vision degraded and he knew both his Sharingan and Rinnegan had vanished.

"After all this time, you still have that much fight in you? Quite impressive," The man said, still gripping his hair. "But here is where your struggles end. Try to die with at least a little dignity."

A hand was placed on Sasuke's stomach and he felt a very familiar shock that ripped through every single one of his nerve endings. It was the same pain from the day he'd been captured, the one that'd prevented him from casting any jutsu. He screamed until his throat was raw, this time the attack being prolonged far beyond the last time. He never could've imagined agony like this, wishing, praying that this would just kill him. It didn't matter anymore; please just let him die—

From beyond the room, there was a muffled pound before a force of powerful debris dented the metal door. Sasuke felt the torture stop as everyone ran to see what had caused the explosion. He heard many voices in the corridor but one stood out well above the others.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, taking out several of the people heading his way, only having a split second to adjust to the new setting. Seconds before, he'd been above ground, still trying to understand the genjutsu they'd been trapped in. However, he'd lost his patience and after a warning to get the others off the ground, he'd released a mini Tailed Beast Bomb, detonating the earth. The intention had been to only destroy the item casting the jutsu but he was pleasantly surprised when he'd instead fallen through to a sub-level compound.

That amusement quickly shifted however as he heard Sasuke's screams. Yamato, Hinata and Sai jumped back as he flared up with the Six Paths chakra, the Rasengan in hand. Usually, he tried to be careful to not fatally injure anyone if it could be helped but that sympathy was forfeit to any who dared to hurt Sasuke. Each person he attacked went down and stayed down.

"Naruto, over here!" Hinata called, using the Byakugan to see into the room where Sasuke was being held. Just as she was about to lead the way, she stopped before a man who exuded a powerful aura. His attire, while outdated, was one she'd seen only once before but was easily memorable. Adorned in a white robe much like the legendary Sage himself, he peered down at her with dark eyes from under a fringe of equally dark hair.

Instinctively, she took a step back. He was strong, definitely much stronger than her.

Seeing that she understood this, the man smiled. Reaching out a hand, he stroked her face, but when she began to shake, he frowned slightly. "A Hyuga. Fear not, child, for while I seek to eradicate those cursed with powerful kekkei genkai, a Byakugan does not have a singular purpose of hurting others. You and your clansmen are spared."

Turning away almost regally, he strode down the opposite corridor away from the fighting and then—was gone. Hinata blinked, snapping out of her trance with a shudder. Just who was that? She'd have to figure it out later. From behind her, Naruto had finished taking out the last few who'd dared to challenge him before leaping over the bodies and running along with her to the room she'd pointed out.

When they got there, Naruto saw Sasuke in the worst condition he'd ever seen him in. Emaciated and dirty, he lay strapped to the operating table with only shallow breaths giving any indication he was still alive.

"Sasuke…" he whispered, using a blade to cut the thick binds. Once undone, he put a hand on Sasuke's face, gently guiding it to turn his direction. Behind those eyes, which still held the residual traces of terror and pain, was a light that let Naruto know Sasuke was just present enough to recognize him. He buried his face in Sasuke's neck, pulling him in tightly but Sasuke remained limp, not raising his arms to complete the embrace.

"His chakara points are blocked," Hinata said gently. "It looks like someone's done this to him several times already. If he doesn't get medical treatment soon…" she trailed off, biting her lip and turning her head away.

Yamato and Sai had remained in the doorway of the room, in case anyone else had come in to attack. Over his shoulder, Yamato said, "Then we need to hurry. Naruto, take him to the Union fortress. The genjutsu up top should be released now. Sai, you go with him to send word back to Tsunade that we found Sasuke." He lowered his voice so that the others wouldn't hear. "Also, watch over Naruto. He can get…quite emotional over Sasuke, as Kakashi has told me. I don't want him getting impatient and giving the doctor's a hard time."

Sai had already seen the rather scary and fierce look from Naruto when it came to Sasuke. He knew he wouldn't be able to handle him if Naruto really became frantic, but he'd do his best.

Speaking louder again, Yamato added, "Hinata, you stay here with me. We'll search this base to see if any evidence was left behind to find out who these people were."

She was secretly happy for that. It'd give her a little time to compose herself before she was back in Naruto's vicinity, watching as he agonized over Sasuke.

As for Naruto, he'd barely listened to anything else Yamato had said. At Hinata's warning that Sasuke didn't have very long, he'd begun to tenderly pick him up in his arms, cloaking him in his chakra to protect him against the cold. He was so light and Naruto choked back a sob. Instead of going back the way they'd come in, he created another hole in the ceiling, jumping through which put him above the base, hidden under the snow. Without waiting for Sai, he immediately took off in flight, racing towards Sasuke's salvation.

I'm sorry I ever let you leave. I won't let anyone—anyone—pull us apart again. I swear that on my life.