Disclaimer: Naruto is as much mine as Mexico City.

Warnings: Just language this chapter.

Finding Sakura

By Michiru's Mirror

Chapter Four

Tsunade didn't even try to keep Naruto from leaving Konoha. Though Naruto believed life was sacred, and called many people his friends, there were four people in particular who were as important to him as his ambitions and future: Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. These four were irreplaceable in his heart and indispensable to his future. If he didn't have them he would become Gaara, so lost in his own misery that he might not make it—or so he thought. Personally, Tsunade doubted that any loss could crush Naruto completely at this point in his life. Perhaps when he had been a child, but not now.

Nevertheless, taking these people out of Naruto's life would be a bad idea. The idea of losing not just one, but two of them was enough to send him into a frenzy. That the two in question were the only two he considered peers instead of teachers or parental figures made it worse. That one or both of them might die by each others hands made it about as bad as it could be.

Tsunade did not fool herself: Hokage or not, if she tried to tell Naruto "no" he would do anything up to and including sneaking past her or going through her to reach his best friends. Besides, she had no reason to keep him back, given that she was as worried about Sakura as he. She herself was held from going anywhere by her duties as Hokage, and the combined might and intellect of Team Seven's remaining members had a better shot than most other teams Tsunade could cobble together anyway.

Team Ten was to act as the reserve team. They would follow Team Seven, staying no more than a few hours behind at any time, and in regular radio contact. They would provide backup if a major battle broke out, transport back to Konoha if someone in the main team was injured, and a medic in the form of Ino. Also, in case Sai turned traitor they'd be there to take him down. Tsunade had allowed the boy to go along with Naruto and Kakashi instead of being thrown in jail when Kakashi had promised to keep an eye on him, but she was still frighteningly enraged. She didn't trust him any more than she trusted Orochimaru, and Team Ten had her permission (and encouragement) to kill him if he exhibited any suspicious behavior.

Team Seven set out an hour after the briefing with Tsunade, with Team Ten set to follow in two hours. With light traveling packs on their backs, Naruto, Kakashi and Sai left the gates of Konoha at a run, kicking up dust in their wake. Seconds later Naruto was bounding through the trees at a frenetic pace that would have had Kakashi telling anyone else to slow down before they exhausted all their chakra. But Kakashi knew that Naruto had enough power to handle the pace for a good long time, so he let the boy get a bit ahead of himself and Sai. It wasn't a problem as long as he was leaving an obvious trail for them to follow and didn't get more than a few minutes away. Let him work off some steam.

Besides, from the way Sai was eying him, Kakashi guessed his newest team member wanted to talk. He'd seen it coming. With everyone else currently emotional enough to kill the boy, Kakashi was the only one Sai could ask the questions that had to be buzzing around in his head.

Kakashi patiently waited for Sai to begin. It didn't take long.

"Kakashi-sensei, may I ask you a question?"

Well that was unusually polite. Kakashi understood, though—it was very intimidating to have all of your friends mad at you. Another drawback to "making connections" was how frightening the thought of losing them could be. "Sure, knock yourself out." He made sure to keep his voice light and friendly.

"People are angry at me," Sai began.

"Ah, yeah," said Kakashi, mercifully avoiding the obvious sarcastic response.

"I think I must have done something wrong to elicit such a violent response." Sai had fallen in line next to Kakashi, and was staring up at the older man with dark, confused eyes. "But I cannot think of what I have done. Sakura has no other lover, so there was no infidelity. I did nothing that she did not first request, so there was no rape. I hurt her no worse than you do during training." Sai paused to shake his head and frown. "Can you tell me what crime I have committed?"

It was Sai's turn to wait quietly while Kakashi thought of how to answer. Branches bent and snapped beneath the ninjas' feet, miles disappearing that Kakashi barely noticed as he turned possible responses over in his head. He could tell the boy that hurting women was wrong, but Sai was right that Kakashi did it himself all the time in training and on the battlefield. He could say that violence during sex was wrong, but if the boy found out about S&M he would just grow more confused.

"If all that's true," said Kakashi finally, "You're not at fault. People are angry because they love Sakura, and she's hurting, and you're a convenient target."

"What did I do to make myself into such a convenient target, then?"

"Ah, well, that's a more complex question." Kakashi grinned cynically under his mask, ducking out of the way of a large, looming hornets nest. "I s'pose the answer is that the type of sex you were having with Sakura is…abnormal. Some people, like Genma or Anko, would say that even though it's abnormal it's not bad. Others, like everyone in the Hokage's office an hour ago, would say that it is bad."

"Why?" Sai's thick hair blew around his face with his movement, his eyes never leaving Kakashi's face.

"Because a lot of people think that causing physical pain to a lover—especially when the lover is female—is a horrible crime."

Sai looked no less confused, and even more frustrated. "But…but…what I did was no worse than—"

"—Than the bruises Naruto and I give her in training, right. First of all, when a girl becomes yours, you've taken on a responsibility to protect her that you violate if you hurt her. Much as Naruto might wish it otherwise, Sakura isn't his lover, and of course she's not mine. We haven't made any promises.

"Second of all is intent. Naruto and I don't enjoy hurting Sakura, and we don't do it for fun. We do it because if we let her become weak she'll suffer many worse wounds or even death in a real fight. To enjoy causing someone you care about pain is…strange. Which is why everyone got so disturbed and angry."

Though Kakashi could see a million holes in his hastily-constructed argument, Sai was nodding slowly as he leapt over a strangely angled branch. "I think I see. But in my defense, I don't think Sakura is 'mine'. She has shown no change in her behavior towards me out of bed, nor has she ever spoken about any of the subjects that I've read are associated with romance. And I am already too confused by friendship to want to worry about love at this point."

"Fair enough," said Kakashi. He didn't have a clue of how to explain that this would make the situation better in some people's eyes and worse in others.

"Kakashi-sensei," said Sai suddenly, "If I can ask, why wouldn't Anko or Genma say doing what I did was bad?"

Oh jeez. Kakashi wasn't even touching that one. Just because he liked to read about sex did not mean that he was going to go over the mechanics in detail with a sixteen year old kid. Sixteen year olds shouldn't know about sex in the first place, damn it.

A little voice in the back of his mind began to call Kakashi a hypocrite. You lost your virginity long before sixteen!

Kakashi suddenly felt very old.

"Well, you'll have to ask them about that. Some people just don't think hurting those you love in the way you did is bad, and if you want their opinion on it, talk to them. It has to be your decision whether to conform to their beliefs or ours.

"But I'll give you some advice. If you do decide to take the Genma/Anko route, you'd better be sure that you find a partner who doesn't have protective friends around her. If you touch Ino, for example, Chouji and Shikamaru will kill you. I don't mean they'll hurt you. They'll kill you. And if you try to slice up Sakura again, Naruto will kill you—and I'll help him."

While Sai couldn't fully see the smile Kakashi gave him thanks to the mask, he was eerily reminded of the smiles Tsunade gave before she beat people up.

Several months back, Team Seven had been sent on a mission to get information from Orochimaru's henchman Kabuto. Kabuto had, at that time, been thought to be an Akatsuki spy who was planted in Orochimaru's lair to get information. Unfortunately for the mission, this turned out to be untrue.

Thanks to that meeting, however, some very vague but important data had been passed into Konoha hands: Orochimaru was nomadic. He had a number of hideouts in his own Otogakure village and in the countries surrounding it: small and large lairs hidden in rocks, trees and even the ground itself. Not a man to delude himself about just how many people wanted him dead, Orochimaru and his servants moved from hideout to hideout on a weekly basis.

Unfortunately, this was as particular as the information got. The only lair that Konoha knew about specifically was under a small island in a lake north of Otogakure. As Team Seven had already visited that base, and as Sasuke had blown an entire wall of the complex away last time they were there, it was easy to tell that neither Orochimaru nor Sasuke was going to be there. But it was as good a place as any to go first for clues.

The woods began to grow thinner the closer Team Seven got to Otogakure, and the trees that remained were less healthy and more stunted. Rock grew up to replace the foliage, bare rock, as though even sand and grass couldn't bear to be near Orochimaru's home. Rock was harder to traverse than forest, and with every jump Kakashi was kicking up a spray of gravel. That could be dangerous if Sai wound up behind him, and the unforgiving solid surface was hell for his ankles and knees. If he had to fight with aching joints, he obviously wouldn't be at his best.

Thought Sai had younger joints, the rough pace was obviously hard on him too. When they were less than a mile away from Orochimaru's lair, he quietly suggested they slow down. Kakashi readily agreed.

The problem was Naruto.

Kakashi and Sai hadn't thought anything of letting Naruto get a bit ahead of them, but they began to worry as the landscape grew more and more twisted. Jumping around wobbly rocks couldn't have been any more fun for Naruto then them, and rather than letting his teammates catch up he was just getting further ahead. As the stones grew sharp as knives and the few remaining trees began to resemble the twisted skeletons of beaten women, Kakashi almost said, He wouldn't go into Orochimaru's territory alone, would he?

Then he stopped himself, realizing what a stupid thing that would be to say. It was Naruto after all. Instead, he turned to Sai just long enough to say, "Come on!" Before putting on an extra burst of speed.

He doubled his speed again less than a minute later when the all-too recognizable sound of Naruto yelling at the top of his lungs became audible, carried back to Kakashi's sharp ears on the autumn wind. Oh God, not Naruto too. Please tell me I haven't just lost my last remaining student to his own recklessness—

Naruto had not gone and killed himself, or anyone else, because there was no one left in this lair of Orochimaru's to kill. Team Seven had expected this. They had not, however, expected the base to look as though exploding tags had been set to every inch of it and set off all at once.

"Holy shit," Kakashi said as he came to a stop.

Naruto's choice of words was much more creative. He began by raging against the weather, went into a tirade against Orochimaru's ancestors, moved onto sex in all its vulgar forms and wound down by insulting the mating habits of dogs.

"Wow," said Sai, unusually impressed at Naruto's vocabulary.

"Don't you fucking 'wow' me! How are we going to get any clues from this?" Naruto almost shrieked.

"Naruto, calm down. This is a clue," said Kakashi.

Sai nodded. "Only someone who knew this place was here could have done this, and the only people who know are Orochimaru's men…and ours."

"Yeah, and this work is recent," Kakashi said. "These ruins don't have any dust lying over them or plant life growing on them. They're days old at the most."

Naruto suddenly looked ill and put one arm to his stomach. "Then…then…"

"Don't jump to conclusions, dickless," said Sai in what was evidently supposed to be a comforting way. "I can think of a dozen people offhand who could have done this. It might not be Sakura." Abruptly, Sai sat down and pulled out a pen and a blank makimono.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for clues," said Sai as he scribbled. Naruto and Kakashi quickly jogged behind their teammate to discover that the boy was drawing flies—dozens of them. Naruto looked mystified, but Kakashi nodded his head.

"Ah. Good idea," he said.

Naruto's pride was spared the indignity of having to ask just what the good idea was when Sai finished his drawing and demonstrated. Forming the necessary hand seals, he took a breath and said, "Ninpou—choujuu giga!"

In an instant, the black blobs of ink began to shake in their paper prison. With a ripping sound the insects tore free, swarming the air in a silent burst. Naruto squawked and backed up, and even Kakashi held up a hand to protect his exposed eye. He didn't have to worry for long; the ink-insects almost immediately swept towards the ruins of Orochimaru's lair at their master's command, to seek out the clues that Team Seven had come to find.

Less than a mile away, Sakura's body leapt across the remains of the Tenchi Bridge. The nameless demon, known to Sakura as "Auntie" felt the spirit of her host stir; there were memories attached to this place.

I know, my darling, said Auntie to Sakura's spirit. I know. Don't you worry now; your Auntie will take care of everything.

No! Shrieked Sakura. Auntie winced. Teenage girls were always so loud. I don't want—

Of course you don't. You're a young girl who's been hurt so often she doesn't know what's good for her anymore. Auntie sent out a wave of soothing chakra as she spoke, and Sakura immediately felt the effects. In moments she was soothed and drowsy, as though her mother was holding and comforting her. She was surrounded by love and protected from harm. Well don't you worry, my dearest. Sakura's spirit began to flicker and fade, sliding deeper into the layers of black tar that filled her subconscious mind. I'll make that awful Sasuke see the error of his ways.

With Sakura safely out of the way, Auntie took her body to the edge of the Tenchi bride. This was the perfect place—everything nearby had been blown away, leaving acres of clear space for her to use. It was a bother that Orochimaru's hideout had been so fully destroyed; there would be no finding anything there. She'd need to get some help if she ever wanted to track down Uchiha Sasuke.

Auntie was not a trained ninja, and could no more perform a jutsu than sprout wings. Her particular brand of magic came from older and more sinister forces than chakra. It was a shame that nice young Sai wasn't here, Auntie mused as she pulled off one black glove and rolled up Sakura's right sleeve. Sadomasochism was simply delightful for calling spells of power. But plain ol' pain would work.

The demon drew a kunai and slashed Sakura's arm, not a tiny slice like the ones Sai would give her, but a deep meaty cut that slid through the fatty layers of dermis with horrible squelching noises like a boot pulling free from layers of mud. Mentally, Auntie sent out an apology to her host; Sakura wasn't going to be able to heal this cut until she "woke up". She'd be in time to prevent any permanent damage to her arm, but a nasty scar would be unpreventable.

It's for your own good, you know.

Dipping her fingers under the skin with a hiss, Auntie smeared her left hand with blood and began to paint symbols on the rocks beneath Sakura's body. They were not kanji, but instead a language so old even the first Hokage wouldn't have known it. One would have to go back another dozen generations to know these words.

Finishing up, Auntie used Sakura's chakra to leap back and delighted in the fact that it was getting easier and easier to access her host's abilities. Perhaps in a few days she could try some ninjutsu—how exciting!

Taking a deep breath, Auntie called out a word that no living human could understand. For a moment nothing happened.

Then the demons appeared.

Red-eyed, slobbering demons crawled from the ground, clawing their way past mounds of rock. Blue-skinned brutes with horns and webbed feet emerged from the distant forest, waving clubs as thick as their muscled arms. Dozens of green and slimy monsters, like piles of mucus with the beady black eyes of flies slid across the terrain, their multiple eyes blinking out of tune and looking around at the creatures around them. Hundreds of demons, big and small, ugly and beautiful, flew, swam, crawled, ran and teleported to the Tenchi Bridge where a queen waited for them. They surrounded her, bowing and scraping their way to her side.

Auntie smiled at her followers, her friends and servants, and spread Sakura's arms in a gesture of welcome.

She waited patiently while her followers settled down, their roars of greeting quieting into rustles and whispers. Then, drawing Sakura's diminutive body to its full height, Auntie said, "There is a man I need you to find."

Sai's ink-bugs couldn't talk to him the way that Shino's kikaichuu could talk to their master, so they had no choice but to bring the clues that they found to the men waiting on the surface. In five minutes they brought up three things: scraps of black fabric that looked like the material used to make Sasuke's pants, a piece of white cloth with half an Uchiha symbol…and a few strands of brilliant pink hair.

"So they were both here," said Sai. Buzzing around his head like tiny black snowflakes, the ink-bugs slowly began to disappear. It seemed there was nothing else to show.

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, but they were here months ago too. Couldn't these be from then?"

Kakashi pulled out a kunai. "Let's find out." Swiftly, he cut his thumb. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Pakkun appeared in a cloud of smoke, perched next to Sai's makimono. Blinking and sneezing the smoke out of his sensitive nose, Pakkun looked around to see two familiar faces and one new guy. "Whoa, who's the pretty boy?"

Sai beamed. Someone had finally given him a nickname!

Kakashi didn't even bother to say hello. "We're looking for Uchiha Sasuke—remember him?"

"'Course."

"Smell this." Kakashi stuck the scraps of white and black cloth under Pakkun's nose; the dog wrinkled his snout and drew back with a small eugh. "Is it recent? Can you track him by it?"

Pakkun leaned forwards with a look of deep distaste on his wrinkled features and took a sniff. "This is very recent—like, a couple of hours old recent. I can track him no problem."

Naruto leapt to his feet before Pakkun could finish the sentence. "Do it!"

Pakkun glared at him. "I don't take orders from you, you little—"

"Pakkun." The nin-dog was brought up short by the growl in Kakashi's voice. "Do it."

Pakkun blinked, shocked. What could worry Kakashi this much?

"…Right." Wisely not saying another word, Pakkun leapt off to the west, towards the Hidden Waterfall Village.

Team Seven did not speak a word as they ran after their guide. Though all three male members of Team Seven harbored very different sorts of feelings for Sakura, they shared deep concern for her. Tension sealed three pairs of lips into thin lines and creased three brows, until three very different men began to resemble each other a disturbing amount.

Naruto thought of very little. His determination to protect his friends superseded thought and made it unnecessary; only his will and his goal remained. Still, in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder why Sasuke had been back to the non-secured base just hours before. Was it because the place had been destroyed—or was he the one who had blown it up?

Kakashi's thoughts were more complex. There was very little point to worrying about the upcoming unavoidable battle, because he knew what he was going to do then: fight for Sakura's life. That was a given. What was harder to decide was what to do with Sakura after they rescued her.

Sakura would not forgive herself easily for what she had done. True, she had been under the influence of a demon, but if there was ever a girl born who could blame herself for the falling of the rain it was Sakura. She would hate herself for a long time; for attacking Naruto, for misleading Sai, and for losing her virginity in what could safely be called an undignified way. In his head, Kakashi was already structuring a "don't blame yourself" speech and making a list of kunoichi who could properly counsel Sakura through the confusing and humiliating days to come.

All of which would be moot if Sakura died or killed Sasuke, of course. There would be no helping her then.

Kakashi found that idea too chilling to even contemplate, and pushed it away as quickly as the speed of thought allowed.

If Kakashi's thoughts were complex, Sai's were a mess. Though he was a bit clearer on just why everyone was angry with him, he didn't have a clue of what to do about it. Did he apologize? Did he start researching sex to find out what he was normally supposed to do? Were he and Sakura now supposed to be lovers now that they'd had sex as Kakashi had implied? Could his friendship with Team Seven be saved, or had he worked so hard to understand what a connection was only to lose it now?

Miserably, Sai wondered if having friends was worth this. Right now, he couldn't see how it could be.

Though a corner of Naruto, Kakashi and Sai's minds were focused on their musings, they noticed when the terrain began to change. The first obvious difference was the vegetation; it moved quickly from bare rock to lush and exotic plants and trees. Concerned as they were, Team Seven couldn't help but be amazed at the diversity. Colors Sai and Naruto had thought could exist only in fireworks and paintings were all here, bright and beautiful. And the smells! Wildflowers and fruits, fresh grass and sunny skies all blended together to make intoxicating scents unlike anything Konoha city dwellers could imagine.

But all that majesty came with a price. Soon Team Seven was panting and sweating from the increased humidity that pressed down around them. It was autumn, but this was like Konoha in its worst summer months! Kakashi's mask began to feel like wet plaster of paris against his face, and his breathing grew more and more restricted until his lungs were almost on fire. Sai began to regret the little shirt that he wore, and Naruto quickly shed his orange jacket, leaving himself in only the mesh undershirt. What could this place be like in summer?

Whatever, it wasn't helping their already tired bodies and low chakra levels. If they had to fight with anybody in this condition, they'd be in real trouble.

Strangely enough, they had yet to come across any people. Was Sasuke keeping himself in seclusion to train? Or had he been hurt badly enough that he'd gone into hiding? Or…Naruto bit his lip, something he'd done so much in the last hour that it was almost bleeding. Or had Sakura cornered him out here?

Pakkun jerked to a stop so suddenly that Sai almost tripped over him. Kakashi had to grab the younger man's arm to keep him from falling on his face. "Pakkun, what—!"

"Everybody get back!"

Too late. There was a noise from deep underground, a rumbling sound like the beginning of an earthquake. From below Team Seven the ground erupted upwards, pelting the retreating team with chunks of earth as large as their own heads.

Naruto landed on the ground with a sickening thud many meters away from where he'd been thrown. Oh God, Kakashi-sensei—

Heedless of his aching body, struggling with everything he had, Naruto put his hands underneath his chest and pushed, fighting to right himself. Where were his teammates?

He caught movement out of the corner of his right eye and froze at the familiarity of what he was seeing.

It couldn't be!

Slowly, his screaming neck protesting with every move, Naruto turned his head as far to the right as it would allow.

Uchiha Sasuke was walking up from the smoking crater that used to be a patch of ground, not fifty feet from where Naruto lay.

"Sas…Sas…" Naruto gasped. His voice wouldn't obey him, but Sasuke heard. Raising his dark head, Sasuke saw Naruto and raised an eyebrow as though seeing his estranged friend was of no great interest. He seemed none the worse for wear, at least. In fact, Sasuke was the very picture of health. Naruto was so relieved he momentarily forgot everything but his friend before him, whole and alive. A smile stretched across his face, the widest smile he'd managed since watching Sakura be cut outside Sai's window.

Sasuke was not so sentimental. He looked at his former teammate as though contemplating an uninteresting bug that had alighted on his wall. Wordlessly, he then turned around and began to walk away.

The smile didn't fade so much as fall from Naruto's face. "No!" He managed to gasp out before beginning to choke. He tried to scream, to tell the other boy what he'd been through, what he'd seen; his lungs burned with all the words constricted in them. But exhaustion and pain and dust robbed his throat from doing anything but coughing so hard that Naruto thought he might vomit.

They'd come so far! They'd almost exhausted their chakra reserves traveling across two countries just to warn Sasuke of the attempt against his life. They couldn't fail now when they were sprawled out almost next to their goal—fate couldn't be that cruel!

But it was. Sasuke had turned his back to his old comrades, and was walking away at an almost leisurely pace, flaunting Team Seven's helplessness. "Sasuke…" Naruto tried to cry, but his head was throbbing and ringing and his throat was so sore from coughing that he could barely whisper. "Danger…Sakura-chan is…"

Naruto did not know whether Sasuke had heard him, but if he did, he did not look back. In moments, the Uchiha had disappeared from Naruto's vision.

Naruto closed his eyes, and quietly fainted.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N

Phew! Eleven pages!

I'd like to thank my wonderful and talented new beta, Ceras Gala, for giving me such a great critique on this chapter. She's kindly done the earlier chapters too, so I can revise them properly in the near future. Go read her stuff, she's really good.

Looking online at a map of the world in Naruto, Hidden Waterfall Village is a smaller ninja village northwest of Fire Country, and I don't think we know a damn thing about it at this point in the manga! I'm guessing on the weather by its proximity to the ocean. (Actually, the most challenging part of this chapter—and the reason it took me so long—was re-reading about 58,000 chapters of Naruto to see just what Konoha knew about Sound Village and what the place looked like. I adore Naruto, but after THAT much Naruto in one week, I think I'll take a break for a few days!)