.:. Author's Notes .:.

I apologize for such a late update. I've been so busy (more mentally than literally) this entire summer that I haven't had much of a chance nor inspiration to finish writing chapter seven.

This version of chapter seven is one that I have been forced to start completely over from scratch seeing as my laptop has recently broke, taking with it my 10 page long first half of chapter seven.

It sucks cause I was really doing some good things with that damn chapter. But, no use crying over spilled orange juice (I don't wanna say the "M" word because I'm still feeling a bit nauseous from drinking a glass of it earlier today).

My goal originally for this story was to keep it up with the Naruto manga. When I wrote chapter one, I killed of Kakashi and Tsunade, as the two had been technically declared both "dead" and "near death/comatose". Then, I was reading the Narutopedia, and damn near choked on air upon reading the revival of Kakashi, along with all of that Danzo bullshit. -_- Ugh, thanks a lot Kishimoto!!! x_x

Anywho, here's my completely redone, and hopefully still good, chapter seven.

.:. Disclaimer .:.

I do not own Naruto. That much is obvious. I hate writing disclaimers. I love you guys though for reading this story :)!

Shikamaru, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon traveled swiftly through the treetops, their destination: The Hidden Cloud Village. Everything seemed to be growing more tense among the disgruntled teammates as time progressed in their travels.

Shikamaru was aggravated that he had to actually do a form of physical activity; Konohamaru was aggravated because he truly believed that Naruto had cheated him over as the "team leader" by placing Shikamaru in the team; Moegi was aggravated at Udon because he kept falling behind; and Udon was aggravated because he was being the center of her blame.

To Konohamaru, it seemed that every five minutes, Shikamaru complained about something being troublesome, and in a sense, he was right about them all. Somehow, he had managed to find just about every little thing involving this mission to be completely and utterly… "troublesome"—an opinion which he made note to enlighten on every five minutes or so.

However, despite the troublesome factors in this mission, in the back of his mind, he knew the necessity of the alliance between the two villages. In fact, that is what was motivating him to keep the team traveling at such a rapid pace.

In his mind, he replayed different strategies and scenarios of how this mission should go, as well as what may potentially happen along the way. The possibilities were seemingly endless, and considering Cloud's track record with loyalty to Konohagakure as allies, the allegiance was going to be risky probably throughout it's duration. He knew that merely hoping for the best of things would never actually work, so he didn't even try.

He knew what could happen on this mission as well. In fact, there were a number of things that could happen, both during their travel as well as after they reached their destination. Potentially, they could be ambushed, injured, taken as prisoners, or even worse, killed.

Also, the Raikage could deny the treaty request, which might also result in them being killed, and their deaths would only fuel the joining of Cloud in this shinobi world war as yet another enemy, especially with Naruto as the Hokage.

It was all ironic really: Naruto becoming Hokage; the village nearly getting blown to smithereens; a Fourth Shinobi World War breaking out—nobody certainly seen any of it coming, and yet it still did. It truly is amazing: the large amount of things that could happen in such little amounts of time.

"One day I'm going to get the Hokage name... AND THEN I'M GOING TO SURPASS ALL PREVIOUS HOKAGES!!"

—Naruto, giving his infamous Hokage speech

Shikamaru smiled inwardly to himself, remembering how once upon a time ago, nobody in the entire Leaf Village would have dreamed that Uzumaki Naruto—the village knucklehead and prankster of his youth—would ever stand a chance at having succeeded in becoming the Hokage, but alas, Naruto was made the Rukodaime.

Naruto becoming Rukodaime Hokage, however, had truly shown Shikamaru and pretty much everyone else that Naruto truly has always cared deeply about his village and always will, no matter how poorly he had, or in the future may be, treated due to the Kyuubi caged inside of him.

The villagers had been cruel, that much Shikamaru was aware. On a personal note, he avoided conversation with generally anyone as a child, save for Chouji and Ino. It was nothing personal—he was just too lazy to do otherwise, really.

His lack of conversing with Naruto back during their youth, before they became the Rookie 9 and later the Konoha 11, wasn't at all related to the elder villagers' hatred towards the beast who had nearly destroyed their village. Then again, to all of them them, Naruto WAS the beast. Kyuubi was Naruto. They were one in the same. And the villagers? They were too damn stubborn to see things in any other way.

Naruto had true spirit though, and followed through on his words and promises all the way to the role of Hokage. And here he was, ruling his village honorably, just as his father had done once upon a time ago. Times were getting harder on his village. Shikamaru had been awake the last two days in a row now, too anxious to sleep, to thoughtful to dream.

So lost in his thoughts, Shikamaru failed to hear the sound of several leaves rustling from behind him, though Konohamaru was ready and alert. Holding out his arm, Konohamaru set Shikamaru right up for a clothesline to the throat, which he performed perfectly, nearly causing Shikamaru to lose his footing on the branch he had landed on.

"Baka, pay attention!" Konohamaru whispered to Shikamaru rather loudly, the genius ninja's eyebrows raising in confusion before furrowing in anger towards himself, finally being able to notice a chakra signature.

Everyone in the group stood perfectly still, each with a kunai gripped tightly at hand as they waited on their new "guest" to make their appearance known, ready now for just about anything.

"Team Konohamaru, I come with orders directly from the Hokage."

A male voice erupted from the leaves, before a man wearing a Konohagakure headband appeared from the foliage, landing in a crouching position on a branch several feet away.

"This mission is to be aborted immediately." The man said, panting heavily having trailed them all so far at a fast pace.

Shikamaru was utterly surprised at the news, the man being someone he did not personally recognize for one thing, and the abrupt news also coming to him as such a shock, considering the importance of the mission at hand. Something was certainly going on, and Shikamaru was about to find out what it was.

"Abort the mission? Are you sure? What's going on? Naruto—I mean, Hokage-sama—said that—" before he could finish his statement, the messenger shinobi cut him off.

"Cloud has joined the war…Against Konoha. You have new orders sent directly from the Hokage himself: Change direction and head directly to Amegakure as soon as possible. The new leader has requested you come as the ambassadors of Konohagakure to sign an official allegiance treaty with them. The new Amegakure leader, has already gotten approval from the Hokage for shinobi from our village to come for the signing in substitution of the Hokage due to the circumstances at hand, and he had sent me here to inform you of the change."

Shikamaru's face completely paled at the mere thought of Cloud having joined in plotting against Konoha, as well as the other villages already taking part in this war.

Things were only getting worse from here, Shikamaru was certain. Two powerful allies were an excellent resource to have, but would it honestly be enough? Shikamaru wasn't too sure.

"Another thing Hokage-sama has requested I inform you of personally Shikamaru-san…Yamanaka Ino has been severely wounded after being caught in the crossfire of a random ambush on the village. She's been unconscious for the last several hours now, and the Hokage requests that you do not allow that to hinder your mission at hand—"

CRUNCH!

Shikamaru punched the tree that he had been leaning on, his body trembling from head to toe with worry, anger, and feeling completely powerless now. A part of him wanted to return to the village to be with Ino, though another part of him wanted to high tail it to Amegakure. He knew the latter was his only choice however, and the part of him wishing to return to the village wasn't the least bit pleased about it.

"Anything else?" Shikamaru said through gritted teeth, trying his best not to lose his cool completely and have a breakdown of some sort. The messenger shinobi, simply shook his head 'no' in response before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Shikamaru looked back at his three teammates who were all looking from his form to the tree beside him, which was now wielding a rather large gaping hole in it from Shikamaru's punch. Shikamaru's eyes shifted towards the gape before closing in attempts to calm himself.

"Well, you heard the man. To Amegakure it is…" He said suspiciously and calmly, yet very sharply. It was painfully obvious that it wasn't a decision he was pleased with, but nonetheless, it was one he knew he had to do for the sake of the village.

And so, they darted off into the treetops into the opposite direction, their new destination—Amegakure. The Land of Rain, however, was a good two days travel away, and everyone was obviously exhausted from traveling so far, only to begin re-traveling the same distance halfway back.

Nightfall would soon come as the sky was beginning to fade from bright blues in shade to a mixture of reds, oranges, pinks, and purples as the sun began to slowly sink down to the Earth.

Shikamaru looked around before spotting a small cave nearby that would serve as a perfect place to safely rest for the night. He gradually stopped his pace, holding his arms out to indicate to his teammates to do the same, which they all obeyed gratefully. Having been running the entire day without many rest stops, they were all equally exhausted.

Shikamaru pointed to the cave and the team shared a silent understanding. All nodding their heads, they dropped from the treetops, landing on their feet with feline swiftness, as all shinobi were capable of. They walked at a normal pace towards the cave and began setting up a fire, Shikamaru and Konohamaru scouting the perimeter for any nearby people.

Naruto sat alone in his office, his paperwork all finished, and he was left with nothing left to do. He was growing restless, he knew, but he remained hopeful, just as he always did. Sakura had been spending more time at the hospital lately, so he hadn't had much of a chance to see her for the last few days.

He was beginning to miss her, and was reaching the point of not being able to stand being away from her any longer, despite it only having been a few days to have passed since they had last seen one another.

But, like always, there was never enough time to break away from being the Hokage. At least, not with an on-going war raging about the village among several opposing shinobi villages. Attacks, killings, injuries, loss, and suffering seemed to be the burden his village must for now suffer as the Fourth Ninja World War continued its paces with seemingly no end.

Nobody wanted to surrender—every opponent wanted to see Konoha fall completely. Villages that were seemingly "in the clear" from a future possible enemy list had turned on them, joining in a series of attacks which were slowly wearing the village down even further.

Shinobi whom had been worn out before due to over-extension of their work were nearly wiped out at this point. Things did not look good.

Even with the Sunagakure shinobi serving Konoha as backup at the moment, it still wouldn't be enough. Amegakure's alliance would definitely help the village greatly. He just hoped that Shikamaru and his team would make it on time, and safely, of course.

During his time spent as Hokage, Naruto had come to realize something about himself. The role of village leader has hardened him—a lot.

He seldom acts on impulses anymore on his decision making abilities because he knows that he can't afford to mess up. He's a lot more calmer; quieter; and he's found himself thinking things through a lot more than he ever had in his life.

Being Hokage had truly matured him in ways he didn't even know needed maturing. But his heart still was in the village that had once upon a time shunned him for his tailed beast. He still loved his village more than his own words could express and to him, the changes were worth it all.

His dream had come true, and for that he was happy. Now, his only wish was that he could somehow solve this war and finally allow his villagers to once again live in peace rather than warfare.

One thought had been plaguing the back of his mind however since the day he had met his father—who was his mother? His father never did say. It was a question that had been plaguing him for awhile now, though he didn't quite feel comfortable voicing those thoughts aloud to anyone—even Sakura.

He knew that she had to have been an Uzumaki because his father's last name was Namikaze, but the only Uzumaki records Konoha had were on him and his progresses made with his tailed beast.

He wondered what kind of person she was and felt even more longing now than he had in his entire life, just wishing to know her name, or anything at all. It seemed as though all possibility of ever finding the answers to all of his unspoken questions were at a pretty 'slim-to-none' chance at this point. But even so, he was just as determined as ever to hopefully find out who his mother was someday, even if it took him a lifetime to search for the answers.

As a child, he hardly pondered upon knowing the identities of either of his parents; having never known them his whole life, thus no mystery about them. Now that he had met Minato, however, questions were beginning to spew about his mind and surface themselves more and more by the day, and now it was really starting to fluster him.

The sky was fading to darkness as night reigned over the Five Shinobi Nations, the nighttime stars making their usual appearance, though above all of the smoke, fighting, and damages, they seemed to shine a lot less brighter than they used to.

Shikamaru, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon had finally finished setting up camp, and all were asleep at this point save for Shikamaru,who was currently staring at the ground deep in thought, as well as Konohamaru, who also remained silent whilst occasionally poking at the campfire with a stick, he too lost deep in his thoughts. It wasn't until after about an hour's worth of silence that Konohamaru decided to speak up.

"Hey, do you really think that this is going to work?" Konohamaru asked Shikamaru, causing the genius shinobi to break away from his thoughts and look at him strangely as he furrowed his eyebrows, confused by the younger shinobi's question.

"Huh?" Shikamaru asked in an almost-immediate reaction, causing Konohamaru to merely rolled his eyes in retort to the well-known prodigy's simple response.

"I mean, do you think that allegiance with Amegakure will be enough to help us end this war?"

"Hopefully. Since Amegakure is such a strong village, alliance with them should make the other ninja villages back off…hopefully, that is…It's really a fifty-fifty shot that we'll be taking but there's still definitely a strong chance that it will all work out successfully in the end." Shikamaru replied whilst shrugging his shoulders in response.

After that, Konohamaru went silent once more, resuming his thoughts of the following day's travels, inwardly groaning upon realizing that even though they will be traveling all day, they'll still have at least another day's worth of travel until they'd make it to the Hidden Rain Village.

.:. Meanwhile, In Amegakure .:.

The rain never stops. That's what Konan thinks to herself as she gazes out of her large office window, watching over the entire village of Amegakure. Always rain and rarely sunshine, that is all her life has ever seemed to be.

She felt so lost without Nagato around. Losing Yahiko was one thing, but that was ages ago. Nagato was different. But perhaps the main difference was that all along, she had been in love with Nagato, but never openly took the chance to tell him. Now it was too late, and she was left to suffer. And suffering, she was.

Day in and day out—paperwork, politics, Pein—her pain. Did anyone see it behind her blank, deadened eyes? Did they see how lonely she was now without her lifelong friend and soul mate? She doubted it. But even if they did see, honestly, who would say anything about it? If she didn't want to talk about it, nobody around her would press the subject.

She was feared now; respected as a leader and former member of an elite criminal organization. Who would be honestly stupid enough to upset her? She could end a life with a simple piece of folded paper. That's power within itself. And power is what she had. Power is why she is standing in her office, alone. She hated power.

.:. Flashback .:.

"Yahiko!" a young, 10-year-old Konan yelled at her friend as she tried suppressing a giggle at her friend's goofy antics. Nagato, on the other hand just twirled a flower in his hand indifferently, seemingly ignoring the two. Konan nearly missed the gaze that Nagato sent her out of the corner of his eye every so often. Just as he nearly missed the gaze that she was giving him, just the same.

Affection. Trust. Yearning. Respect. Care. Admiration. Compassion. Love."

Perhaps that was what kept them apart their whole lives. The signs were there the entire time, they just kept missing them until time ran out for them both to act on how they felt. They may have been cold people, but even the coldest heart has loved someone at some point. That is what makes us able to be cold—our ability to love. Both are equally strong as one another and can be equally reversed on one another.

And love like that, never goes away. It's the kind that sticks with you and haunts you for your whole life. It's the burden that tears you to pieces if you are separated from the person you love the most. It is the pain that you feel when you lose that person, in life, as well as death.

It was rainy days like this when Konan would reflect on her relationship with Pein, or rather, lack thereof. She regretted so much now—time wasted, time lost, and time she'll never know again. She was now truly and completely alone.

Then again, sometimes you just need to let the rain fall on your world to wash even a little ounce of pain away. It may not always help you feel better, but it helps with your burdens in ways you may take a lifetime to notice. And so, it rained…

TBC

AN: Whoa, talk about a metaphoric cliffy, eh? It's only 8 pages long but... I figured I'd update SOMETHING for you guys and gals. Hope you enjoyed. R&R! *hearts!*