Chapter 47: Unorganized Rescue
"Very interesting Sakura… and it might even work, but…" Kakashi said.
"But? But what? What's wrong?" Sakura asked.
"Tsunade might not approve of it," Kakashi said.
"What? Of course she would, she sent Naruto and the others after him before," Sakura said.
"He was still in the Fire Country then, we wouldn't have any diplomatic issues at that point, but from what I hear the Alliance is at the border of the Fire and Rice Field Countries. We don't know which they are really in, putting us in a hard spot," Kakashi said.
"Fine, I'll go anyway, and I'll get him back alone if I have to," Sakura said a little too loud and standing up.
"You won't go alone," Naruto said, though there was no enthusiasm in his voice.
Sakura didn't notice this, she just smiled at him and sat down, "Thanks Naruto," she said.
"You should ask Tsunade first, and I'll pretend I didn't hear you say you'd go anyway," Kakashi said.
Sakura smiled and nodded as she and Naruto stood to leave, "We'll go ask her now," she said.
"Naruto, I'd like a word with you first, Sakura you can go ahead," Kakashi said.
Sakura looked at the two curiously before leaving. Naruto turned back to face Kakashi once Sakura had left, "What is it?" he asked.
"You don't seem like yourself. I know some of it has to be from Sasuke leaving again, but you weren't all that enthused when you said you'd go with Sakura no matter what," Kakashi.
"It's nothing. It's just all this that Sakura's doing… I guess I was wrong is all…" Naruto said looking at the ground.
"Ah, I see. You think her feelings are back to Sasuke, or maybe never changed from him," Kakashi said with a sigh.
"Yeah, I guess you could say it that way," Naruto said shrugging.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you how to think, but you should remember that she was much more frantic and single minded in that area the first few days he left last time. And you probably don't know this, but she had a near total breakdown when you died, and when she found out you could come back, she did nothing but work on getting you back," Kakashi said.
Naruto was silent and still looking at the floor. He turned and left Kakashi's house without a word and headed to Tsunade's office where Sakura most likely was. He entered the office to hear Tsunade's reply to Sakura's question.
"No, I can't let anyone go on such a pointless mission," Tsunade said.
"Pointless? It wasn't pointless last time he left, and this time he was tricked into it!" Naruto yelled.
Tsunade looked at him, "but he won't come back, he left for a reason and until that reason is fulfilled he won't return, when he left with Orochimaru it was to kill Itachi, and one he did he came back," Tsunade said.
"By now he would know that he was tricked. He could be a captive at this point!" Sakura said.
"Or are you questioning the source of the information?" Naruto asked.
"No, Link did tell me what was going on a while before they tried to leave; I have no doubts in her. I only doubt Sasuke's willingness to return, as well as the guaranteed wellbeing of any that I send," Tsunade said.
"There's no way we can change your mind?" Sakura asked.
"Sorry, no. I will not let any go to retrieve Sasuke, if he comes back, I doubt any will welcome him openly anyway, he's betrayed us twice," Tsunade said.
Sakura's face crinkled in anger and she stormed out of the room, pulling Naruto, who was yelling unmentionables at Tsunade, behind her.
Naruto had stopped his yelling by the time the two had left the building, he had also finished thinking over what Kakashi had said and realized how stupid he was. "When do you want to leave?" he asked.
"I'll go ask Link where the secret entrance is, I'll meet you at your house," Sakura said.
"Okay, I'll have my stuff packed," Naruto said.
"We just got back, I should still be packed," Sakura said.
"Oh yeah… want me to go grab your bag for you then?" Naruto asked.
"Sure, see you there," Sakura said before kissing him and running off.
Naruto stood there grinning for a moment, wondering how he could've doubted her. He then headed off to Sakura's house to grab her bag.
After a while Sakura arrived at Naruto's. Link had told her where the secret entrance was and how to get to it. Sakura relayed this information to Naruto as well as telling him that Link swore not to tell Tsunade about what they were going to do.
"Alright, when do we go?" Naruto asked.
"We should wait until nightfall at least," Sakura said.
"But Granny might be expecting that," Naruto said.
"We just have to be careful is all," Sakura said smiling.
Near midnight the two left Naruto's house ready to go and get Sasuke back. Half an hour later they were sitting in the trees outside the walls breathing heavily. They barely made it out without being seen. Once they had caught their breath they began moving again.
"What's this? Traitors to Konoha? What to do…" a voice called from the trees.
"But that's Sakura! And Kid too! We can't fight them," another voice called out.
When the first voice called out Naruto and Sakura started looking around franticly, but with the second they both calmed down.
"Edge! Come on out, who's with you?" Naruto called into the trees.
After a moment Edge, Wiseman, Sin, and Lax came out of the darkness, "don't worry, we're not gunna fight you, we were just trying to scare you," Sin said.
"Sorry I ruined it," Edge said looking at the ground.
"It's okay, we didn't want them to scared anyway," Sin said patting Edge's shoulder.
"What are you four doing here?" Sakura asked cautiously.
"We came to see if you'd really head out without the Hokage saying so," Wiseman said.
"You're gunna take us back, huh?" Naruto asked.
"Nope, we're going with," Sin said.
"What? But the others stopped us fro going back," Naruto said.
"Sage knew you two were far too wounded and emotional to act effectively," Wiseman said.
"And Strag knew that it was a death wish. Sasuke might make it out alive, but you two wouldn't," Lax said.
"Why not us?" Naruto asked.
"By now the entire Alliance believes as Blue seems to that you, Sakura, killed Green. And they already know Naruto killed Roken, and he killed Red there. As for us, they want to rectify their mistake in bringing us back," Wiseman said.
"How do you know Blue believes that? I didn't tell anyone," Sakura said.
"Nomad and Sage were in the trees watching the fight, one of them heard it," Wiseman said.
"So pulling us away was for our safety…" Naruto said slowly.
"Mostly. Now, what's your plan? Barge in the front doors and take down all in your path until you find Sasuke?" Sin asked.
"No, Link told us of a secret way in, aside from her, only one living member knows about it," Naruto said.
"Can she be trusted?" Sin asked.
"Yeah, she told Tsunade-sensei about the spying well before they were caught, even Tsunade-sensei said so," Sakura said.
"Lead the way then," Wiseman said waving his arm signaling Sakura and Naruto to start walking.
Naruto and Sakura did so, Edge Sin and Lax right behind them, but Wiseman stayed put for a moment. He turned to the trees he was in and Dea emerged from the darkness.
"You get everything?" Wiseman asked.
"Every word," Dea said nodding.
"Perfect. Tell the others and any other who should know about what's going on," Wiseman said.
"You gunna tell the Kid?" Dea asked.
"No, we don't want anyone who's not involved to know. It'll be easier and less painful that way," Wiseman said.
Dea nodded and jumped backwards into the darkness. Once he was gone Wiseman took off after the others, catching up just as Naruto noticed he was gone.
x-X-x
A few days later and Naruto and Sakura were in a familiar spot, where Strag had told them to retreat to for safety. They didn't get any closer to the Alliance, rather they starting making a circle around it. They stopped when they were directly east of the building.
"What do we look for?" Wiseman asked.
"The dead tree," Sakura said.
"Which one?" Sin asked looking around and seeing several.
"The one across from an oak," Sakura said.
"Which one?" Lax asked with a slight grin.
"Not funny," Wiseman said.
"Found it," Naruto said a few feet away from Wiseman.
The others crowded around him as he pried back the bark of a dead tree, revealing an opening into a tunnel.
"Alright, I'll go first," Wiseman said climbing into the hole.
Edge followed him, then was Sakura and Naruto with Lax behind him. Sin was still holding the opening open and once Lax was gone he stuck a kunai into the ground to the hole at the end of the handle. Once the kunai was in the ground Sin jumped into the hole as well.
The six crawled through the tunnel in silence until Wiseman suddenly stopped.
"What's the hold up?" Sin asked from the back.
"We reached the end. No one move or make a sound, I'll check it out," Wiseman said before moving through the stone piece that was at the top of the tunnel.
The top of Wiseman's head peaked through the stone and up into a dark room. It wasn't very large but was very empty. The only light came in from the cracks around a door at the other end of the room. Wiseman climbed the rest of the way through the tile and slowly over to the door.
He put his ear through the door and heard the steady breathing of a sleeping guard. Wiseman went back to the tile that covered the tunnel and lifted it off the opening. The others silently climbed out and Wiseman replaced the tile once they were all gone.
Wiseman drew his swords and approached to door, the others silently behind him.