Chapter 4
"So…" Jiriaya said once out in the little rest area. "They're together…." He trailed off, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear all they would give.
"Yeah, been like that for a while now." Shikamaru shrugged as he bent down and started thinking. Jiriaya and Tsunade looked at Kakashi for more answers. "Sasuke let me know as soon as you get anything."
"It would be so much easier if we had Naruto's foxes to help." Temari sighed as she sat next to Shikamaru.
"How long have they…?" Jiriaya asked.
"Dating for three years, engaged, six months now." Sasuke said walking past to sit on the roof and work his own jutsus. Jiriaya and Tsunade stood stunned as they looked at the only person left with them, Kakashi.
"Engaged?" They both asked at the same time making Kakashi smirk.
"A lot of them have gotten together. Their waiting for the war to be over to do anything more than they've started." Kakashi explained.
"We have a lot to do before we can think about that." Naruto said as he leaned against the doorway with Sakura standing next to him helping him to stay on his feet. "Don't start with me Sasuke." He said making everyone look above the door at Sasuke standing on the roof. "I don't need to be completely healed to work out a plan." He said as he pushed from the doorway wincing as Sakura took his weight.
"You sure you're okay, Naruto?" Tsunade asked.
"I have a war to end." He said sternly as he and Sakura walked over to Shikamaru and Temari to start working while Sasuke dropped from the roof.
"I have the snakes out looking. You think you can get the Foxes out there?" He asked as everyone started gathering around the four. Naruto thought a minute before shrugging.
"It mostly pulls from the Kyuubi anyway. I should be able to call Cho." He bit his thumb flew through the signs and summoned. When the little poof of smoke cleared they saw Naruto pale and barely sitting up, breathing heavy as he gave the orders to the fox and it was gone.
"Naruto…" Tsunade said kneeling on the other side of him as he leaned on Sakura as she tried to ease a little of the pain he was in.
"I'm fine." He said out of breath. "Just took a lot out of me. What do we have for now?"
"Not much, but our best plan is to have you heal completely and then we do some searching. Should be no time before we find them."
"They used a graveyard when they had me with them. It's possible they are hiding there." Sasuke added as he stood behind Sakura and Naruto.
"It's an option to check out, but I think we should only find information with your summons until everyone is healed, especially Naruto. We're going to need everyone to win this and you three are the only ones that can face Madara." Shikamaru said as they nodded. "Once we know where they're hiding we can get a plan worked out, but for now we need to protect ourselves."
"That includes you, Naruto." Sakura said as he nodded.
"I couldn't even fight with you if I wanted to. You won this time, Sakura-chan." He said still trying to catch his breath and leaning heavily on her looking pale.
"Good, then you won't argue when I tell you, you are going to bed and staying there until you can sit up on your own." He looked at her a minute before nodding too tired to argue.
"You really must be drained." Temari said as Naruto nodded and let his head hang.
"Come on, let's get you back to bed." Sakura said as Naruto nodded. "Sasuke, give me a hand." Sasuke bent and helped lift his friend to his feet and into the room.
"He didn't look so good." Jiriaya said looking at the open doorway. "Is he really going to be okay?" He asked looking back at the others.
"He'll be fine after he listens for once." Sakura said walking over to them. "He used too much summoning Cho, he's going to be out for a while on top of his low chakra to begin with and his wounds."
"Then let's get what we can done before he gets up and starts making us force him to relax." Temari smiled as she stood up and walked off with Sakura leaving the others to talk.
Two days later Naruto stood with the others talking when Jiriaya walked over to them.
"You're looking better." He smirked as Naruto grinned putting his hands behind his head.
"Comes with having the best medical-nin in the world as your girlfriend." Naruto grinned and looked at Sakura who shook her head. "You here to help plan?"
"Something like that."
"Master!" They heard making them all turn and see the fox run over to Naruto. "Two evil ninja are in the grave yard. They are making plans on your destruction, Master. They are very angry with you." everyone looked at Naruto as he nodded dismissing the fox.
"He must be pissed about that shot you took at him." Shikamaru said with a smirk as Naruto shook his head.
"No, he's pissed because I was able to run him through with a shuiken-resengon. Knocked him back pretty far and he stayed down a while before he tried to come after me again. He's pissed because he knows I can kick his ass." He smirked.
"You're so full of yourself." Sakura shook her head. "Well we know where he is and we know how to beat him, let's get moving before he finds out that Naruto and I are both alive and fully healed."
"I need to remake my scrolls and get more kunai and all. I'm all out." Naruto said as Sakura nodded.
"I'm going to need bandages and some herbs." She looked up at Naruto who dropped his hands from behind his head to flying through signs in front of him as Sakura did the same. Jiriaya watched as their features changed to make them look completely different. Naruto stood tall with black hair pulled back into a ponytail, dark brown eyes and normal Jonin clothing while Sakura's shoulder length pink hair turned to long brown hair with steel gray eyes and an outfit to match Naruto.
"Then let's get what we need." Naruto grinned as Shikamaru and Temari followed changing their appearances to they could get their own items.
Naruto and his group ran through the trees with Jiriaya towards Madara and Kabuto. Naruto stopped in the lead with Sakura and Sasuke on either side of him.
"How do we go about this?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
"We should slip in and get it blown open." Naruto nodded before he turned around to look at the others.
"Sasuke and me are going in, we'll get in and open it up for you guys. Sakura-Chan, stay out of danger." He said looking at her as she gave a stubborn look, they all knew well. "I'm not kidding." He said before he and Sasuke took off leaving them to wait.
"They going to be okay by themselves?" Jiriaya asked Kakashi who was leaning against a tree waiting.
"They are two of the best." He said as they looked back over feeling rumbles from the ground. "Get ready, we're going to head in soon."
Naruto and Sasuke made their way through the underground tunnels as they searched for Madara and Kabuto.
"You actually know where you're going or we just wandering and hoping we run into them?" Suddenly a kunai was thrown down the hall making both move.
"That answer your question?" Sasuke asked before they both turned kunai ready just in time to block more attacks. "What do you think?"
"What are you asking me for? You were buddies with them for years." Naruto whispered harshly over his shoulder at Sasuke as they continued to block the onslaught of kunai from both sides of the tunnel.
"You're the one with the space movement jutsus." Sasuke said back.
"Can you hold them for a minute?"
"Yeah, I think, but not for long by myself." Naruto nodded, taking a deep breath before he was gone in a bright orange flash. Sasuke turned sideways with his sharingon and focused on staying alive while Naruto tracked through the space time jumps that Madara used. Sasuke dodged, blocked and tried to avoid all the kunai and shuriken he could before he started getting hit by more than he was avoiding. Suddenly the weapons stopped coming from the one side letting Sasuke recover and work on getting to the person still attacking. He walked into a large room as the weapons stopped flying to see Naruto jumping and shifting trying to avoid Madara when Kabuto came from nowhere attacking Naruto. Sasuke moved as fast as he could and blocked the attack, taking on Kabuto as his opponent. After wearing down the two old rivals came back to back to try to work together.
"Time to open up!" Naruto called as he charged forward at Madara again. Madara laughed at him watching Naruto try to fight him until he felt the air in the room shift eerily. Suddenly a dark purple light mixed with an orange making the entire place rumble. Kabuto and Madara looked around as the room started to crumble. Naruto and Sasuke charged releasing as much power as they could at the same time making the roof fall apart and fly through the air. Madara and Kabuto were thrown back hitting the walls hard not having a chance to do anything but look up as Naruto and Sasuke dropped to their knees next to each other breathing heavily after releasing such power all at once.
Sakura dropped between the two assessing if she was needed as the others dropped to surround them. Naruto and Sasuke both turned hatred filled eyes up to look at their opponents and pushed themselves to their feet calming their breath and setting up for another attack.
"You are foolish. No matter how many you bring you cannot defeat us." Madara said laughing at them. Sasuke stared Kabuto down as Naruto pushed closer to Madara as he started letting his chakra flow and whip around him.
"You are the stupid one. You two really think you can win against us? You could barely hold your own against me with an entire army attacking me beside you."
"You were lucky that was all and you will die before you even think about shifting your weight to attack."
"How's that gut wound holding up for you?" Naruto asked making Madara pause and glare at Naruto who smirked. "I know how bad I got you, and you are running from me, keeping your distance to avoid me getting a chance to hit you again." Madara shifted as the group shifted and charged at the two enemies who worked hard to avoid being hit. Madara showed up in the middle of the group knocking everyone away against the walls hard. They slowly climbed back to their feet to see Naruto already on Madara blocking another attack
"Such hatred. Good. But not as good as it should be. Perhaps if I take care of that girl…." Naruto narrowed his eyes and pushed harder before Madara jumped several times before stopping behind Sakura and slamming a Kunai into her upper back.
"No!" Naruto screamed making everyone turn to see what happened to see Sakura pause looking at Naruto as she fell to her knees. Madara twisted the kunai and pulled it back letting her wince and fall to the ground bleeding heavily. Naruto stood eyes wide, shocked seeing Sakura bleeding out on the ground as Madara stood laughing at him. "Sakura…" He said softly as the others watched as the air in the room shifted and Naruto started to change. His eyes went from their clear blue to a blood red as his body started to shift into the demon beast.
"Naruto, No!" He heard but ignored them all, only seeing Sakura's blood. Naruto crouched and was about to lunge when Madara disappeared.
"Now you have that look I like." Madara laughed. "Come find me when you realize it's all lost." Suddenly he and Kabuto were both gone making the others turn afraid of Naruto as Sasuke went to Sakura.
"You okay, Sakura?"
"I'll… I need to heal and rest… stop him…." She barely whispered as she tried to start healing what she could as the blood continued to flow. "Sasuke….. I…. I want him…." She said as tears started to gather.
"Sakura, just heal. Don't worry about him." Temari said as she knelt and tried to help stop the bleeding.
"No… no…. he needs to stop…." She looked over as Sasuke started walking over to Naruto only to have him roar and lift his arm to swing. "No!" She screamed making him look at her.
"He needs to see you're okay." Shikamaru said as he helped her stand up.
"Naruto, I'm okay. It's okay, just relax, I'm okay." She said as she grabbed Sasuke and had him help her closer to Naruto as he followed her with his blood red eyes. "Please." She whispered before collapsing forward making Naruto force the Kyuubi back in and catching her as she fell.
"Sakura…" She looked up pale at his blue eyes and slightly burnt face. "Sakura-Chan…"
"I'm okay. I stopped the bleeding… I just need to…. Rest….." She said with a small smile as he nodded.
"We'll stay here for the night and go back to the village in the morning." Sasuke said. "There's no way we can make it back with the wounds we all have."
"And definitely not the wounds Sakura has." Naruto said as he leaned against the wall completely worn out with Sakura leaning against him. "And I don't think I can move if I wanted to."
"That was stupid Naruto. Why would you let the Kyuubi take over?" Jiriaya asked walking closer as Naruto let his eyes close.
"He doesn't give me a choice when she's hurt. He takes over to protect her." He said as he dozed off.
"Let's set up." Kakashi said as everyone jumped to their work.
Naruto opened his eyes and looked around to see Sakura still lying against him with a fire not far away where the others were sitting. Slowly he moved letting Sakura lay on the ground before he shakily got to his feet and walked over to sit.
"How you feeling?" Temari asked.
"Worn." He paused and looked up. "Kyuubi took over." He said looking at the others as they nodded. He ran a hand through his hair as she sighed. "Sorry, I didn't even…" He shook his head and looked back at Sakura.
"She healed what she could before she fell asleep with you." Temari said knowing what he was wondering. "She'll be fine." Naruto just nodded looking down sadly, thinking.
"You okay, Naruto?" Jiriaya asked as Naruto only nodded and stood up walking away to sit back with Sakura. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's fine. Ever since he has learned to control the nine tails he gets like that when he loses control." Kakashi explained. "He just needs to rest for a while and he'll be okay again." He looked over at Sasuke who was standing to the side.
"I'll take the Dobe out." Sasuke said making Jiriaya look between him and Kakashi who only nodded. Sasuke walked over grabbing Naruto's shoulder, pulling him to his feet and dragging him up the collapsed roof and into the night air. Jiriaya looked back at Kakashi.
"Sasuke's the only one other than Sakura that can go against Naruto on an even field. Well as even as you can get to the Fourth's son."
"Fourth's?" Temari asked. "As in the fourth Hokage?"
"The very same."
"Acts just like his mother though." Jiriaya smirked. "Has the same shape of eyes as her too."
"You have no idea." Kakashi smiled as he leaned back where he was sitting to look at the old sanin. "Although he has his moments he reminds me a lot of Minato-sensei."
"So why is Sasuke going against him?"
"It's how they cool Naruto down. If they don't he tends to sit and brood over what happened." Shikamaru explained. "In this case, it's about the fact he lost his control on the Kyuubi. He hates it when he doesn't have complete control." They felt the ground rumble slightly. "That would be them. They'll be back in no time if they keep that up."
"So what they go out beat each other and then come back to camp?"
"Something like that." Kakashi sighed. "Naruto needs to work things out and if that is taking his anger out training then that's what we do. You'd be surprised at the guilt he carries just from having his eyes turn to the Kyuubi's if he doesn't want them to."
"You don't know the half of it." They heard as Sakura slowly walked over making Temari stand and help her the rest of the way. "You don't see him when he is hidden away from the eyes of the village." She explained softly as she started healing her little wounds again.
"He is always worried about the villagers; nothing is going to change that." Kakashi said as he looked down at the book he pulled from his pouch.
The group sat quietly before Temari and Shikamaru finally moved off to sleep for the night. "How are you feeling, Sakura?"
"I'm fine. Just a little more to heal and I'll be fine…" She said softly.
"You're worried about Naruto." Kakashi said without looking up from his book.
"Do you expect me not to be? Madara could have killed me, Naruto, lost control, even if it was just until I stood back up. He's out there somewhere with Sasuke beating the crap out of each other after taking heavy wounds and being worn down by their jutsus against Madara and Kabuto. Besides, he is my fiancé after all." She said looking up seeing Jiriaya looking at her curious.
"What?"
"You and the kid are really together…"
"Yeah. We weren't going to with everything that had been going on but it all just fell into place and here we are." She said with a small smile. "He's changed a lot from when we were 13. You should talk to him and find out how much he has changed." She paused and looked at Jiriaya who was watching her carefully. "He's changed more than you could know." The camp fell silent before they heard the two drop into the room. Kakashi, Sakura and Jiriaya went to them and Jiriaya watched as Sakura took Naruto's weight while Kakashi took Sasuke.
"Hey, Sakura-chan. You should be sleeping." He said with a smile as she shook her head with a small smile as she eased him to the floor.
"Yes, and so should you. You two didn't go easy on each other." She said looking from Naruto's wounds to Sasuke's. "I don't understand why you two need to go out and nearly kill each other to feel better about something." She said getting to work.
"Well it's that or… your way, and there's no way in hell you're getting me to do that." Sasuke said making Sakura's green eyes snap to him to silence him as Naruto chuckled and laid back onto the floor.
"What are you laughing at?" Sacra asked Naruto as she turned her eyes back to him.
"Apparently Sas-gay has preferences." He laughed only to have Sasuke scoot and hit Naruto in the stomach making all of the airburst from Naruto's chest.
"Sasuke." Sakura said sternly as Kakashi stood back with a smile and Jiriaya watched the three interact. "Naruto, you say that again I'm not going to heal you. And for your information Sasuke we don't do that when we need to calm down."
"She's right." Naruto smiled pushing up to rest on his elbows. "That doesn't calm us down at all." Sakura gave a small jab making Naruto lose the grin that had spread across his face.
"You better watch it, she's going to kill you, Dobe." Sasuke smirked
"It's your fault Teme." Naruto said with a soft chuckle.
"We need to get you two healed before we all get some rest and go back in the morning to regroup what we're going to do. We need to look at what we have on them and find a way to beat them." Jiriaya said as Naruto and Sasuke looked away while Sakura bowed her head.
"We know how to beat them." Sakura said softly looking up into Naruto's blue eyes before looking over at Sasuke.
"We need to take the snake half breed out first." Naruto said looking at his old teacher. "We get him out of the way the three of us need to go full power on Madara. Now that we don't have to worry about an entire army attacking at the same time Sasuke and I should be fine taking Kabuto out and now we don't have a massive number of wonder along with the army the three of us should have no problem with Madara with everyone else as back up."
"And what about getting back to your own time? Do you have the scroll?"
"Once we defeat the reason we are here the jutsu will reverse and everything will be back to normal." Naruto looked away.
"We'll go back to the village destroyed and the dead are still dead." Sasuke clarified looking at Naruto as he forced himself to sit up as Sakura finished and turned to Sasuke to start healing. "There's no way to reverse the suffering and destruction but we can stop it from going much farther."
"This is the first time I've been so close to ending him and couldn't." Naruto said sitting hunched slightly as he thought about the earlier fight with Madara and Kabuto.
"Did you find a weakness?" Sakura asked the two as they both took a slow breath as they closed their eyes replaying the fight to look for opening and weaknesses.
"Kabuto fights at a distance. He is not skilled at close range now that he has Orochimaru in him." Sasuke said looking at her. "We need to get close to him. It's not going to be easy, his defenses to keep everyone away is skilled but the right maneuvering we could break through and tear him apart."
"Naruto?" Sakura looked at him as he sat with his eyes closed and brows furrowed. She scooted closer to him as Sasuke followed her and they watched as he slowly opened his blue eyes.
"Madara's skilled, there's no openings or weaknesses. Not that I found any way." He told them looking up.