~18~

The lion changed course and turned left toward the west of the border after it reached the edge of the forest. Sai knew the pursuers would follow his own tracks as the ink-made lion would leave no trail.

Besides, the beast should make it back to Konoha before the wounded Anbu bled to death. The shortest route back would be through the edge of Grass Country while he himself had to continue heading up north. He would have to rely on his physical strength from then on to get away as he was using up his remaining chakra to control the lion from a far distance. The sun was starting to rise from the east. The sooner he got to a place to hide and recover his strength, the better.

There had been no sign of the Hail Shinobi for quite some time; no sign of his cat-masked comrade either. His ink lion was running through a grassy knoll with its charge hanging on to its neck. Sai figured it would take at least three hours before it reaches Fire Country, another hour to the hidden village of Leaf. He had to be careful to keep the beast within a route that's unpopulated. His vast travel experience outside his homeland was proving to be an advantage. *He often sent reports back to base by turning written words into a flying creature^ but he had never sent back anything by land before, certainly not a human being.

Sai was also running. He left the forest before dawn and even if he was still in there, he wouldn't have the energy to gallop from tree to tree. Lights. A town was visible up ahead. Good. This was his only chance for cover until dark. He managed to stay out of open areas scrambling between boulders and trees until he reached such a place. He looked back to make sure he wasn't being followed. No one. He wondered if the Anbu with the cat mask had gone to a separate direction and was being pursued rather than him. He could not have gone ahead more than 10 minutes after Sai decided to rescue their wounded teammate.

At last, rows of houses and commercial establishments stretched across the open road. It had only been a few minutes after dawn and fairly dark still. He would have been in trouble if his mission forced him to go east. He made his way to the back row and silently climbed up the roof of the nearest inn. He slumped on the clay tiled roof and remained hidden between oversized eaves.

His body was near collapse but he forced himself to remain conscious to keep the lion going. "Just one more hour," he thought. The lion had entered Fire Country territory. He rested his back against the inclined clay tiles. He managed to bind his wounded shoulder while on the run with a strip of his torn cloak and so minimized the bleeding but his arm felt numb to the touch. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the lion's journey. Even in Fire Country, he still had to keep it hidden.

The sun was getting brighter, so bright from the lion's eyes. He hardly ever got to see daylight like this. His missions always required him to move at night. This may account for his overly pale complexion. But for some reason, his skin color had gotten somewhat less pale from what he remembered. Could it have anything to do with that year-long mission he'd forgotten? But he wasn't thinking about that then. His mind was focused on getting the lion home.

"It's impossible," he thought sensing his chakra level nearing its limit. He realized he couldn't get the wounded Anbu as far as Root's headquarters. "It's too far to go around."

He didn't know what would happen to the Root shinobi if he was exposed. Neither did he consider what rescuing one would mean. "What am I doing?" he finally asked himself. But it was pointless to just abandon what he had already started. He would have to face the consequences later, that is, if he ever survived to do so. He released his remaining chakra to drive the lion to the nearest place where someone could come to the wounded man's aid, Konoha's main gate.

~19~

Naruto and Shikamaru were back in Tsunade's office after only four days, this time with Haruno Sakura.

"For a shinobi village, word sure travels fast around here," Tsunade said with sarcasm.

"It's true then." Shikamaru began. "Kotetsu and Izumo saw it with their own eyes."

"Those blabbermouths are deadmeat when I see them," Tsunade thought. *But then Shikamaru worked with Kotetsu and Izumo on a high-level mission in the past. It's no surprise they'd let him know.^

"Hey, Shikamaru, why did you drag us here for?" Naruto asked. Sakura was equally perplexed why Shikamaru, of all people, would insist on taking them to see the Hokage at once.

"What did they see?" She asked him.

"A lion," Shikamaru replied not taking his eyes off the Hokage's.

"A lion? Naruto echoed. "What's a lion doing here? And what's that got to do with us? Wait, is it going to attack?"

Sakura shushed her teammate sensing something significant was about to be revealed.

"It was a lion created by super beast imitation technique," Shikamaru finished.

"That's Sai's technique," Naruto said turning his attention toward Tsunade.

Everyone waited for the Hokage's explanation but she kept quiet, thinking. She still wasn't sure what the scene at the gate implied.

Shikamaru started the account. "Kotetsu and Izumo were manning the gate when they spotted some kind of black and white beast set down a person on the ground a few meters away. They agreed later that it was a lion, an ink-drawn lion."

Naruto's eyes lighted up. "So Sai's back?" he said with excitement.

"The lion disappeared," Tsunade said. "It faded away."

"Wait, wasn't the person with it Sai?" Sakura asked.

"It was a wounded shinobi but it wasn't Sai. He's at Konoha hospital right now. We assume that he's also from Root," Tsunade replied.

"Great! We can ask him," Naruto said.

"Perhaps," Tsunade answered. "But he's still unconscious." She knew it wouldn't be that easy even if he wasn't.

"But why did the lion stop a few meters from the gate?" Sakura wondered aloud.

"That's the thing," it was Shizune who spoke. "Root shinobi have never been known to use the main gate."

"They're not known to bring back the wounded either," Tsunade added.

"So we can assume that it really was Sai who brought him back," Sakura said.

"We can also assume that he and Sai were in some kind of battle before he got wounded," Shikamaru offered.

"Then," Naruto began then stopped and shook his head. "Sai's okay, isn't he? He got the lion as far as the gate."

"Before it faded away," Sakura finished.

Tsunade surveyed the concerned faces in front of her. "We don't know what that means for sure."

"Sai's beast imitations *disappear when it's either hit directly or if Sai wills them to," Naruto said.

"Or if he loses consciousness^," Sakura declared.

"Or if Sai wills them to!" Naruto said again more emphatically.

The others couldn't help but admire the kind of determination that could only come from the person standing before them.

Continue to Part 20