This chapter isn't going to have much input from Sakura, Sasori, or Deidara. Much less any other Akatsuki member (or captive). In fact, the only Sakura…anything you'll see until the next chapter is just below this author's note. So yeah.

Two: Repercussions

It wasn't too terrible…The room was nice, the clothes were nice (save for the black cloaks lining the back of her closet), and the newfound sense of superiority wasn't too bad, either. But it was the fact that she was now the centerpiece of a mastermind terrorist cell. What's more was that she'd lived her entire life in Konoha. She'd made friends, had family, a team…Though she couldn't say she was too sad to part with Sai…but Naruto. All those years of treating him like a piece of useless junk? He couldn't possibly want to help someone who held her fist up at everything he said.

"Where is Sakura!?" The shriek could be heard rumbling even into the forests outside the village. "Why wasn't I told sooner?"

"Naruto, there was nothing we could do. He won her in a custody battle. How he did that, I'm still not sure, but—"

"You're just giving up? On one of your own? Of Konoha!?"

Tsunade threw her hands onto her desk, shoving herself up from her chair. "You will not speak to me as if I've done nothing!" Naruto silenced himself. "Sakura was my student! My comrade!" Her eyes ran him up and down before settling in his. "I have been busting my ass to get Sakura back! You can't possibly understand how hard I've been trying!" She couldn't stop herself before the words escaped.

Naruto's shocked expression quickly morphed into one of repressed anger. One of an enclosed sadness releasable only by words like those Tsunade just used.

"Naruto, I--"

"No, no." He threw up his hands, closing his eyes and shaking his head. A mock defeat. He turned his back to leave. "I totally understand. Two years? Just not good enough." He opened the door to leave. "Sory to have wasted your time." The door slammed hard enough that the rest of the room shook with it.

Tsunade stood in awe of the situation for a moment before falling back into her chair. She placed her hand over her mouth and stared blankly, fearing the worst for Naruto. Shizune only inched toward her, worried of speaking. Finally she gained control of her vocal chords. "Tsunade-hime?" She readjusted her hold on Tonton. "Is everything going to be alright? With Naruto-kun, I mean?"

Tsunade didn't answer for quite some time. "I'll be sure he's under careful watch. In case of emergency." Shizune nodded. "Go inform Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Iruka. They'll be taking shifts."

The Kaze-kage's office was packed. Chuunin after Jounin after ANBU after Chuunin and so on crowded through the door, trying to reach the desk at which Gaara sat.

"The Akatsuki must have a plan!" One yelled, waving a stack of papers; no doubt his ideas and plans on what their actions should be.

"We have to be extremely cautious with our movements!" A woman was doing exactly the same. She, however, was considerably shorter, and no doubt suffered from a severe case of Napoleon syndrome. This was proven, in fact, when a taller man tried to step in front of her. Somehow, he ended up hunched against the back wall…

"The whole of Sunagakure is needed!" A good portion of Genin said. A Jounin herded them out shortly after, unsure as to why they were even present or what kind of crazy game they were playing.

"Silence." The reserved voice, no doubt quieter than the commotion, managed to bring all present to attention. "Where are Temari-san and Kankurou-kun?" He asked, only so casually looking up from his desk.

"They're out training." A lone ANBU spoke up quickly. "We're in the process of tracking them now." The crowd split to reveal the dog-faced operative.

"Get them here immediately. Waste no time." All ANBU present nodded, then vanished. The remaining nin looked back to their superior, waiting on their orders diligently. "The rest of you, split into four teams of seven." They all nodded. "As soon as that's done, designate which two teams will stay here in case of attack. The other two will travel to Konoha to aid in the return of the Hokage's apprentice." They all nodded again, then vanished (of course, their disappearances were less graceful than those of the ANBU ops; Gaara never did have a liking for that damned smoke).

It wasn't more than five minutes before Kankurou and Temari came bursting through the door.

"Something wrong, Gaara-sama?" Temari asked, bowling over her oldest brother to approach her youngest. "The ANBU said it was urgent." Kankurou sighed, having at least hoped to get that part in.

"Haruno-san, of Naruto-kun's team," This got their attention. "Was just recently relocated to the Akatsuki headquarters." He watched as his older siblings' expressions fought to hide their feelings. Despite having become such good friends with the Konoha rookies, it was against protocol to show it.

"You mean she was kidnapped?" Kankurou mentally applauded himself for beating Temari to the punch.

"Unfortunately, it's a bit more unusual than that." Their expressions were now allowed to change, only because they were confused. "In Hokage-sama's message, it says that the Akatsuki's leader…is her biological father." The two shivered. Just the thought of…ew. "He somehow came up with irreprehensible proof that he was a more suitable parent than her mother."

Temari puzzled over this for a moment. "Then…there really isn't anything we, or anyone, can do. I really hate to say it, but we're powerless." Gaara shook his head.

"We believe the Akatsuki may be planning something." He stood, moving around his desk. "We're going to prove it."

Naruto raged through the streets. He passed Jiraiya, who offered to take him training for the day, he passed Iruka even along with the offer of ramen, and he passed Kakashi's lame 'yo'. He passed Hinata (though it can't really be considered passing if the person to be passed runs away), he passed Shikamaru who, noticing his anger, moved to the other side of the street, and he passed other nin of the original Rookie Nine.

"Two years. Two damn years." He shook his head. "And she think's she's busting her ass?"

He started stomping (though he wasn't aware of it, really), leaving deep footprints in the ground behind him. The back of his throat grew sore seemed to clench in upon itself. He wouldn't admit it if it were pointed out, but he was holding back tears. He watched the ground a few feet ahead of him, not paying any attention to where he was going. People fanned around him because of this. That, and they didn't want to bump into such an angry ninja.

He walked along, mumbling and huffing and doing all the things that usually lead to him calming down, when suddenly he bumped into something. Someone, more like. He looked up, growled an, "Excuse me," then moved around the still motionless figure to continue walking.

A good five feet ahead he froze. The tears he'd worked so hard to suppress welled in his eyes and fell like waterfalls, their streams completely unbroken, even by the roughness of his skin. He took a moment before he turned back around, staring blankly at the back of the person he'd bumped into. They had yet to move from their spot in the street.

Naruto took a deep breath. The remaining pain in his throat didn't will him to, but he did anyway. He spoke one word, and only one word.

"Sasuke…"

Yay for more shortness.

Aurora Marija: Thanks so much, I'm glad you like it. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, though. It's a very good story, and that's the reason I wrote a fan-fic about it. Not because I thought I could be better than you, just to see how my own ideas would work in conjunction with it. So don't stop writing it, please. It was your idea in the first place.