Saki slammed the door open to the meeting room, panting.

"Is it true?" she demanded, not caring that the Hokage was in a meeting that she was most likely not invited to.

Kakashi looked exasperated.

"Oh, no, Saki, come on in. It's not like this is important or anything," he said in a genial tone.

"I am soaked with sweat from running here," Saki snarled. "Now tell me if it is true."

He sighed again.

"Yes," he said to her. "Naruto is... In this plane of existence."

Saki smiled.

"That's great," she whispered. "Is she here?"

"She's not responding," Kakashi said, basically admitting it. "It's why I haven't called you here first."

Saki nodded. "I'm sorry," she said, bowing formally and retreating.

She waited until she was out of sight of the ANBU watching the door before she jogged to her brother's place.

She perched on the windowsill, taking a deep breath.

"Nii-san." Her older brother jumped a little.

(Technically, he was older. But he'd been dead for nine years - and he was nine years older than her, so...)

"Yes?" Shisui looked up at her.

"I need your help sneaking into ANBU headquarters." She had little talent there.

Shisui sighed, pretending to look annoyed.

"All right, little sister."

~:~

Neji had an early date that night.

It wasn't his first date, by any means - they were courteous ninja who were usually younger than him and only wanted to date him for the war.

Nevertheless, he had to go.

So he went. He smiled, chuckled at the right times - and then the younger ninja told him.

"Look, I know you're into someone else." She had perceptive eyes - they were green, and her red hair made him remember Naruto. Vividly. "I am, too. I just came on this date because you needed to know things aren't as impossible as you think, Neji-san." She stood. "Unfortunately, I don't have any money with me."

Neji got over his astonishment and chuckled. "I have money, miss-?

"Ina, Neji-san. Ina." He blinked. There was no ninja named Ina in Konoha forces. He felt no alarm, though. "Have a good night." She put on her cloak, leaving a green hairpin. She walked out of the barbecue restaurant, and Neji hurriedly paid.

He found her, walking towards the Hyuuga compound.

He reached out, holding the pin.

"You forgot -" He switched with a bunshin as the woman attempted to kill him. He threw a few senbon, leaping back - whoever this was, was very dangerous. He hit the points of chakra, but there was no pause as she leaped forward.

He activated his Byakugan.

He ignored her face, to look at her chakra network - and chills went down his spine as he dodged her strike and went to hit her with the customary Gentle Fist. More ninja were arriving, and he heard a whisper, not enough to tell who it was.

"I don't want to do this," she admitted.

A ninja threw a kunai. She dodged.

Neji punched chakra towards her.

Her hood was destroyed.

Perfect silence descended, and the word was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Naruto?"

How could Naruto do this - aim to kill him? He thought -

Her head lifted, and she launched herself at him, unable to look away.

Those aqua eyes were melancholic, sad, and there was a little happiness there. Happiness to see him.

She stopped herself.

Wind fluttered.

She moved back, lethargic and slow. Her Edo Tensei eyes closed.

"Hello, Neji," she whispered back.

The other ninja were horrified, shocked and overwhelmed.

He had been debriefed immediately, and he knew that the ninja were already spreading the word.

He, himself, decided to watch her.

She remained in that upright position, even as they moved her - and he was the only one that seemed to notice that she was breathing minutely, even though Edo Tensei didn't need to breathe.

Footsteps came down the passageway.

He glanced up and saw Saki.

She'd grown into a rather beautiful woman, if Neji was honest. Her hair had grown out from the impatient cut she'd once had, and her eyes reflected her maturity. A small tattoo on her ring finger that was popular with shinobi indicated she was married, and to Itachi at that.

Neji didn't pretend to understand Uchiha clan politics. Saki was simply his partner when it came to S-Rank missions.

He returned his glance to the immobile Uzumaki in the cell.

"She alive?" Saki's voice was rough.

"No, she's dead," Neji said flatly. "Edo Tensei," he added for her knowledge. "Whoever's controlling her ordered her to pretend to be immobile or something."

Saki glanced in the cell. "She's breathing," Saki noted.

"Yeah, I don't know what's up with that," Neji nodded.

"Chakra?"

"As large as Naruto had it, but without the regular flow points and added red of the Kyuubi. Speaking of -"

"Yes, I sent him a message through my newest partner summon, Celeste." Neji nodded.

"Have you heard from the Uzumaki?"

"No. Hokage-sama is holding a meeting with the Uzumaki emissary." Saki sounded ashamed. "I walked in on it."

Neji nodded absently. "Good. Someone has to go to her grave, though."

In the utter silence, he heard Saki's teeth clench.

"I'm going to kill whoever did this," Saki spat. "Whoever desecrated my friend's grave is going to feel my wrath."

Naruto moved, her eyes opening.

Instead of her aqua eyes, they were blank white with no pupil.

"Fools! Konoha will fall." A sinister grin that did not match the blankness of those eyes stretched over her face. "And I shall watch and laugh."

Neji tensed as those eyes faded to aqua, wondering if she was going to go inert again.

Instead, she stared at him, looking uncertain and as if she had no idea what she'd just said.

Saki spoke first. "Naruto?" Her voice was tiny, and hopeful.

Naruto looked at her, puzzled.

"...Saki?" she asked tentatively. She remained where she was, as if unwilling to move and break the spell. "You got old."

Saki snorted. "You know how long it's been?" Neji noticed the dejection that passed over Naruto's face.

"No," the Edo Tensei said, finally moving. She sat on the ground.

"Ten years," Neji said before Saki could. He moved closer to the bars. "Which means, once we find a way to reverse the Edo Tensei process, I will be eleven years older than you."

Naruto stared at him for a long moment.

"That's bullshit. You can't revive me from the dead." Her voice was flat and monotone. "I don't even have the Rinnegan to use."

"What?" Saki frowned. "That's not how Madara was revived."

"I was revived with a single lock of hair," Naruto said flatly. "A hair that somehow didn't carry the Rinnegan properties. I assure you, if I had, Konoha would be gone."

"Is that a threat?" Neji asked softly.

She shook her head.

"No, Neji." She looked down at the ground, at her hands that were cracked like all Edo Tenseis were. "If I had the ability to use the Rinnegan, Konoha would have been razed to the ground." She paused. "Or not. She is sadistic."

Neji frowned. Naruto was lying about not having the Rinnegan.

He glanced at Saki and opened his mouth, but Saki snorted and shook her head, her Sharingan eyes flashing.

This was their code for 'shut the fuck up' when they were partnered during S-Rank missions.

"Are you willing to cooperate with us for now?" Saki asked, and Naruto remained looking at her hands.

"I am," she said steadily. "I am allowed to tell you anything but my master's name and location."

Well. That was odd.

"Do you have any long-lasting orders that will be detrimental to the village?" Saki questioned.

"Only one, and this order takes precedence over every other order my master gives me," Naruto admitted freely.

Neji frowned. "And that order is?"

"To protect her son," Naruto answered. "I cannot fail to protect Mitsuki."