I don't Own Naruto.
Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like.
Bold is supernatural speech.
-Chapter Eight: Team Seven…Plus-
Sasuke had sent his letter, not knowing that something similar had happened to Naruto, who was supposed to arrive within the next few days.
---- ---- ---- ----
Naruto and Temari had crossed Fire country in a day, much faster than most people could go, but they had a goal in mind, and they didn't worry about stopping. By the end of the third day, they were within view of the Land of snow. They went down into the valley, coming across two bodies.
"This is Sasuke's work here…Which means." Naruto turned and looked at the other body, it's face smashed in. "These were the guys that were sent after them, come on, we need to catch up with them." Naruto looked at Temari, who nodded and followed. She looked worried. Temari's strong Naruto, you're just imagining it. But still, to see her looking like that, it's uncomfortable. Naruto kept his thoughts to himself, but kept them near, just in case.
It took an hour, but eventually that thought gnawed at him, wearing him down. "Temari, something's wrong."
"There's Nothing wrong Naruto." Lie.
"Don't give me that, I know that something's wrong. Tell me, we're a team, we help each other." She glared at him.
"Those bodies were enemies. Are we walking into another war here Naruto?" Truth be told, he wasn't sure. But you could never let them know.
"Probably, Tsunade's sending in more soldiers, so time will tell, but it's seeming more and more like this is a war." Naruto paused. "It also seems like there's something we don't know. Let's see what Sasuke and Sakura, as well as the Daimyo know." Naruto said, examining the snow covered path.
"Okay. Also, Naruto." Naruto couldn't place his finger on it, but this didn't sound like the same Temari that he'd known before.
"What is it Temari?"
"I…I think that I've developed feelings for a person." Naruto raised his eyebrow.
"Does this certain person happen to have blond hair and blue eyes?"
"As well as a godly body." She blushed, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Well Temari, I think that this certain person has feelings for you as well." He softly pressed his lips against her own, his arms around her waist. He broke the kiss after a number of long seconds. "Let's finish our discussion of this topic later, in the hotel." Naruto smiled, and they finished their trek through the snow.
---- ---- ---- ----
Sasuke saw the ninja walk in, Naruto first peeked his head in.
"No one's naked in here are they?" He then walked in. "Okay Temari, it's safe." He looked at the Uchiha. "Only back a month and they can't wait to get rid of you." He grinned.
"Yeah, but you weren't much better." Sasuke had been cleaning his sword. "I believe you were in Konoha for only a week or two before they shipped you off?"
"Yeah but they can't handle me there." He smirked. "It's the same thing with Temari, they can't figure out what to do with her in Suna, but Tsunade doesn't want to keep her either." He made no attempt to dodge the slap in the head that came, he deserved it. "But I guess it's safe to say that I'm the same way, Gaara kicked my ass out of Suna after only a month."
"Naruto, you don't know when to quit do you?" Temari shook her head.
"Not a clue." Naruto admitted blithely. He dropped his pack, and rolled his shoulders. He removed the thick gi he was wearing, leaving him clad in trousers. Their room was actually two rooms. "So how are we going to divide the rooms?"
"Shouldn't that be obvious?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"Nope, I'd think that you and Sakura would like some privacy, I know you came back for her." He smiled at Temari. "Plus Temari and I have a conversation to finish."
"Fine, I guess you have control over the room distribution." Sasuke shrugged.
"Say, where is the cherry?"
"Shower." Sasuke refitted his blade into the handle, pushing the pin back in with a mallet and awl. He inspected his work, and sheathed his sword when he was satisfied he'd done a good job.
"Ah, okay then, I'll let you two to your devices, I take it ours is the room is this half?" Naruto pointed to the side they were on, a divider split the sleeping area in half. Sasuke nodded. "Then I'm going to sleep." Naruto removed his boots, and his equipment, setting his sword against the night stand, and his knives on top of it. The blond ninja then shut the divider. "Care to join me?" He noticed the seals on the shutter that made the rooms individually sound proof. Temari happily obliged, removing all of her extra attire, leaving her clad in a pair of tight shorts, and a t-shirt. Naruto himself wore only his boxers.
Sasuke lay on the floor, trying to peak under the divider, no such luck, perhaps a small space near the wall. Sakura walked out of the shower in a yukata. "What are you doing Sasuke?"
"I want to know what they're doing over there, but I can't hear anything." Sakura shrugged, taking hold of the handle on the shutter and jerking it open, only to find a pair of blonds sleeping in each other's arms.
"There, now close it up, and come on, we need to be up early." Sakura had to admit she was slightly jealous of Temari, who had someone who would willingly and openly share his love with her, even if the relationship was just becoming something enough to be called that. Sasuke seemed almost nervous to show affection. I'll teach him it's okay to show love. She lay down in the bed, soon feeling the weight of Sasuke laying next to her.
---- ---- ----
Morning came, and Naruto woke up first, gently waking Temari with a soft kiss on the cheek, dressing in a ninja shozoku similar to his old one, only white, after which, he went to wake Sakura and Sasuke. He smiled Time for revenge for last night. He grasped the sides of the bed, and with a powerful jerk, flipped the entire mattress over, eliciting a scream from both occupants.
"NARUTO!" Sakura's voice cried out. "I'm gonna kill you!" She got up, and punched Naruto. His body is like stone! She felt the throbbing in her hand. Sasuke's raven haired head poked out from under the bed.
"Naruto, you're going to regret that." Sasuke stood up, taking his shirt off of the back of a chair, he dressed again, and looked back at him. "We're supposed to be going to go train medics today, why don't you survey the regular forces here, see what they're useful for." Sasuke said, drawing his mask over his face, making his voice sound muffled. "Make sure that they're prepared for a ninja attack, the guys that I met today seemed pretty talented, but still around a higher Chuunin level, someone who had a basic grasp of knowledge, but not quite enough experience." He then turned on Temari. "You keep him from killing anyone." Sasuke left with Sakura, Naruto stood there, curious of the meaning of what the Uchiha had said.
"He doesn't seem to think that you're capable of controlling yourself." Temari spoke.
"No, he knows I can, it's just that he wants to mess with me. It's a hobby of his, playing mind games." Naruto strapped his sword and knives on. He adjusted his mask so that it covered most of his face, but left his eyes and forehead uncovered, his hair hung down onto his forehead, while his hitai-ate dangled around his neck.
"Your hair looks better down." Temari remembered what Naruto had said before. "Keep it that way."
"You have to do it if you want me to." Naruto said. "Let's go talk to the Daimyo." Temari huffed in discontent as flicked one of her ponytails.
---- ---- ---- ----
The Daimyo was a man of powerful stature, a strong torso, arms, and neck, he was definitely of samurai upbringing, if the swords next to him didn't say it, his aura did.
"Sir, we'd like to assess your forces, what do you have ready at any given moment?" Naruto asked.
"There are one hundred infantrymen guarding the city at any one time, fifty more can be ready at the sound of a war trumpet, forty five cavalry are available, and forty five ninja are also available when the trumpet sounds. However, we have one hundred or so who have pledged loyalty to us, many of whom do missions to bring in funds for our military purposes." The Daimyo explained.
"Your force is well sized for such a small country." Naruto said. "What of this Oniwabanshu? I've heard that they reside in your country?" The man suddenly looked very nervous, and his tone became hushed.
"You see, they moved their headquarters here around a year ago, when the Sound village fell, their force is composed of ninja, around three hundred or so. Our plan, once your friend is finished training our medics was to attack their headquarters." Naruto nodded, understanding.
"Well, If I may sir, I'd like to take your five best ninja with me to attack the village covertly."
"Only seven against three hundred?" The man huffed. "Not even the Sannin could hope for those odds." Naruto's gaze grew hard at that.
"They would level an entire village with their power!" He regained his composure. "I was trained by Jiraiya of the Sannin, and his elder brother, Hashin Kaisho." Naruto said. "It's not a matter of destroying their entire forces, just compromising their strongholds, setting fires in their barracks, poisoning their water supply, and assassinating the head of the forces." Naruto said. "Temari and I could do it alone if we had to. But I was hoping that we could use some of your men, to even the odds a little more."
"You were trained by both of the Hashin brothers? That you found the self imposed hermit, Kaisho is no small feat in and of itself. Very well, I'll have my five best brought here when they return from their missions. You may take them for your mission." Naruto bowed, and they took their leave.
Their next destination was lunch, they found a soba stand, and ate there.
"Temari, how much do you know about blade work?"
"Little, I know the basics, but not much more than that. Why?" the sandy haired girl looked at him.
"Because, I will show you what I know." Naruto stated.
"How? We've only got a short amount of time to train. I can't learn much so quickly."
"I know a way to, it's something I learned with Jiraiya, it's called a hyperbolic time jutsu. It takes every hour, and turns it into a month, every day into two years, that's what it will seem like anyway, your mind will retain the knowledge, but your body won't feel the aging effect."
"That must use a lot of chakra."
"It does, I've never used it for more than a day. It's a genjutsu, very similar to Tsukuyomi." Naruto explained the jutsu. Temari seemed totally awed by the idea of your body sleeping while your mind learned.
---- ---- ---- ----
Sasuke and Sakura sat in front of twenty five raw recruits, ninja who were fresh from the academy. Sakura held her folder in her hands, to her left was a board.
"Tell me, each of you applied for medic training, but how many of you are really ready?" She asked, all of them raised their hands. She began tacking up pictures, each held a more gruesomely mangled corpse. "How about now?" Several dropped their hands. "Each of you leave." She pointed out the five that dropped their hands. "The rest, you have stomachs, but you will need to learn how to deal with the stresses of being a triage medic." She paused. "On the field, we decide who lives and dies."
"Kept calling it murder when I did it." Sasuke muttered.
"We help those we can, and those who aren't dead yet, we don't take sides, we don't ask questions, we just help them. My bodyguard here watched as his entire family was murdered before his eyes, by his older brother no less. This is the type of place you'll be going to, the shit holes of the world." She smiled. "You'll be bringing people back from hell." She watched as twenty young faces grew pale.
-Chapter Eight: End-
Author's Notes: See if you can find the quote from Pitch Black in here. Anyway, this chapter was a little bit of a stretch, I wasn't sure where to go with Naruto and Temari from here, but now I decided. Next Chapter: Hyperbolic training, and more morbid tales of triage!