18

"HE'S ESCAPED!"

Naruto ran from the guest hall into the kitchen, barely stopping himself from barreling into Konan, who was setting the table for an early breakfast.

Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu were sitting in their claimed seats with their heads on their arms, dozing off. Suigetsu could even be heard snoring. It was three hours before dawn, so the three couldn't really be blamed for being tired, but the moment Naruto entered the room, Sasuke's team jerked awake. Karin shrieked and Suigetsu, sitting next to her, fell backwards in his chair. Juugo just yawned widely. Konan chuckled quietly, but her expression morphed into a curious gaze as she saw the breathless, excited, confused, and, at the same time, completely serious face of Naruto.

Naruto sat heavily in his designated chair at the end of the table.

"Naruto? Are you alright?" Juugo, the next to notice the blond's expression, asked tentatively.

Naruto shook his head.

"What happened?" Suigetsu preempted everyone by asking the obvious question. Naruto shook his head again.

"I woke up to a strange sound this morning and it turned out to be a messenger hawk pecking at my window. Its harness had an Uchiha symbol on it, so…"

"He came to me to see if I'd sent it." Itachi entered the kitchen and sat at the opposite end of the table as Naruto, next to Konan and a seat away from Juugo. "Obviously I didn't, seeing as I would have just walked the few steps separating our rooms to talk to him. The message is from my little brother."

At this, the three members of Sasuke's team jumped to their feet, causing their chairs to crash to the ground. A pity, since Suigetsu had only just sat down again.

Naruto held up a hand to silence Sasuke's team before they started yelling stupid questions and gave him a bigger headache than the one that already pulsed behind his eyes. Konan pressed something into his hand before moving to sit in her seat, the one between Itachi and Juugo, pulling Juugo down with her. He opened his hand to see a small pill. He recognized it as a medicine for headaches. He smiled at her gratefully and swallowed it down with a glass of water that was already in front of his seat. He settled himself back and prepared to speak.

"Like I said: He's escaped. It's real. Sasuke wrote it. I know his handwriting and Itachi recognized the seal around it as one that he and Sasuke made when they were younger. No one else knows how to make them. But that could be a problem." He rubbed his temples, trying to work the headache away faster.

"How could that possibly be a problem?" Karin asked excitedly, grabbing at the letter. Naruto kept a tight grip on it. And she sat back with a confused look on her face. "If he wrote it, he must be safe!"

Itachi answered for Naruto. "Just because he wrote it doesn't mean he isn't still in captivity. Madara could have forced him to write it in order to lure Naruto out."

"But in that case, Sasuke didn't need to use that special seal. It could even be a warning to us. And the other thing that doesn't add up with that is that Madara doesn't need to lure me out. He knows I'll come after Sasuke. He even went as far as to tell me to train then come after him. He knows I'd go after him as soon as I could. And Sasuke only addressed me in the letter, no one else. Which is what makes me think it could be a trap to make me go find him by myself, and…it…just seems too good to be true." Only after expressing these worries did Naruto hand over the letter. Konan got to it first and read it aloud.

Naruto,

I've escaped from Madara. A traitor Akatsuki member helped. I'm travelling to the land of waves right now to send them off our trail. Meet me at our old temporary training grounds. We won't contact the Bridge builder. I don't want him to become a target. We'll be moving on in a week if you don't find us.

-Sasuke

There was silence for a moment, and then Naruto spoke again.

"Another problem is that only five people know of those training grounds: Me, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, and…well, Haku knew about them. And that's what makes me believe it's not a trap; Madara couldn't make Sasuke write about something that he, Madara, doesn't even know about. But then again, Madara could have gotten the information with his Sharingan. I don't know. I'm probably just being paranoid." Naruto finished with a sigh.

"No." Itachi said. "This is Madara we're talking about. He could have gotten into Sasuke's mind. You're right to think this through, but I think this letter is exactly what Sasuke would write. If he was being forced to write something, he would put a trick in, something to warn us, perhaps a badly written word or sentence." Naruto smirked, knowing that Sasuke would never ever do anything less than perfect unless it was absolutely necessary. There was a reason for the raven's arrogance after all.

"And if we agree that it's not a fake…then I think I know who the traitor Akatsuki member is, too. And we can trust him." Itachi added slowly. After a second of studying the man, Naruto decided that the new information had convinced him. He nodded slowly and surveyed the others' thoughts. They, one by one, slowly agreed with Itachi's reasoning.

"Plus, it's only been five days. Sasuke wouldn't give in in such a short amount of time. It would take months, maybe even years." Suigetsu added.

Naruto grinned at that. "You know him well."

"You should go speak with Tsunade, Naruto. Tell her that we're leaving at noon. I'm right in assuming none of you want to wait much longer than that to go to find Sasuke, right?" Konan's suggestion and question were greeted by affirmations all around the table.

xXx

Two days after escaping from Orochimaru and travelling east, a day after sending his message to Naruto, and six days since his capture, Sasuke and Deidara stepped onto the Great Naruto Bridge. Merchants could be seen and heard, the wheels of their carts crunching over small rocks and sand that had migrated its way across and over the bridge by way of the shoes of travelers. The Land of Waves seemed to be very prosperous now and it showed its wealth in the glow of happiness surrounding the natives around them.

Sasuke hoped that Tsunade had treated his team well, although he supposed they'd been imprisoned by the fact that Orochimaru hadn't come in bragging about a failed rescue mission, and Deidara had told him that there'd been no reports of any Leaf ninja at the border, which were normally broadcasted quite loudly. Whether he liked it or not, his hot-headed team would have come after him without fail unless they were taken into custody. He was thankful for that. He may not usually seem like he would, but he would protect his team at all costs, as they would do for him. They would have died if they'd come after him. He would have gone straight back to Konoha to retrieve his team if not for the fact that Madara was probably on his tail by now. He refused to lead the bastard back to his old home.

He was glad for his escape, though a part of him still thought it had been too easy. It had him on edge, tensing at every unexpected sound. Deidara was another unknown factor. The blond refused to tell him more about Itachi, which not only pissed him off, but kept him from trusting the man completely. If he was an ally, why would he keep information from him? Every so often, the man would send small, worried look his way, and it really bugged him.

The only good in the situation at this particular moment was that he'd been able to get a message out to Naruto without Deidara knowing. Even if the hawk he sent the letter with was intercepted, there were only two people in the world who could read it; Naruto, who the message was meant for (although the blond would have to run some chakra through it, which would likely take him some time to figure out), and his brother, Itachi, who Deidara suggested was alive and well, and who had helped him create the seal (a method of disguising the words so only the intended receivers could read them without breaking the seal) when they were younger, and who could probably break the seal with his eyes closed.

"What are you thinking about, Sasu-kun?" Came the slightly crazed voice he'd come to recognize as Deidara's.

"What do you think?" Sasuke snapped. "And don't call me that!"

"Geez… you don't have to be so snippy, Sasu-kun." Sasuke growled and increased his pace. He was glad to have been taken out of Orochimaru's and Madara's prison, but the questions, and company, that freedom brought, were unwelcome.

Deidara took the hint, but the quiet only lasted until they reached the other side of the bridge. Passing the sign, Sasuke just ignored it, but Deidara grabbed his shirt sleeve and dragged them to a halt. When Sasuke spun around and glared, Deidara pointed at the large sign on the side of the bridge.

"Is this about your old team? Last time I was up this way I saw the sign, but I didn't really register it until you said you were leading us to a safe place in the Wave country."

Sasuke was still seething over the fact that Deidara had seen fit to stop him over a sign, but as he read the said object, his anger ebbed and turned into dull surprise. He had known that Tazuna had seen fit to name the bridge after Naruto, but he hadn't known it had been turned into a historical landmark. The sign described Team Kakashi's efforts for the bridge and village in full and even went so far as to honor Haku and Zabuza as well for ridding them of Gato. It didn't give the actual name of anyone who had still been living at the time the sign had been made, of course, as that could make them targets for anyone who wanted to be known as the killers of the saviors of the Wave country, but for a person who had been there, it was quite easy to understand the subjects of the words. He ran a hand over the raised letters of the sign almost reverently, losing himself in thoughts over the events of the mission…

Suddenly, Deidara grabbed Sasuke's arm. He rushed to hide them in the shadow of one of the larger merchant carts, in and among the oxen, horses and wagoners. One of the two guards gave them a withering look, warning them not to go any closer to the wares-as if he could stop them if they really wanted to rob the wagon- and they ignored him.

"Who is it?" Sasuke hissed as they both concealed their chakras and scanned the area. He wasn't a fool; Deidara wouldn't have done that unless he sensed danger. Or saw it. They continued to walk in the shadow of the cart, much to the displeasure of the guards, while Sasuke waited for an answer. By the time he finally got one, though, they were already deep into the quickly growing city on the other side of the bridge.

"Kisame." That was the only thing Sasuke needed to hear.

"Fuck! They already know I'm here?!" The two of them pulled away from the cart and ducked into a narrow and dark back-road. Sasuke started to pace until Deidara laid a hand on his shoulder.

"No. That's not it. He probably doesn't even know that you're missing. He told me, a day before I got you out of your little prison, that he was going to visit a friend in the Wave country. When I asked who, he said that the man used to be a part of the Seven Swordsmen…"

"Zabuza Momochi…" Sasuke guessed.

"I think so, but he never said the name. Probably didn't want to be seen as sentimental." Deidara said offhandedly. "But, either way, if he'd seen you, we'd have been in trouble. He's stronger than me, and in your condition, you couldn't take him either." Sasuke glared at him.

"What? It's true." Deidara whined.

The blonde was right, even though he was loathe to admit it. Sasuke wasn't in any condition to fight and Deidara could only do so much with a med kit. Sasuke was malnourished, having not eaten at all in his time at Madara's hideout, from either being denied food and from him refusing it. He had only just regained his normal amount of chakra but his chakra system was in no condition to use it, having been blocked by the chakra repressors. Not to mention, he'd developed insomnia during his short stay in the small prison with - he shivered - Orochimaru. So, he wasn't in the best of moods, either.

"Where are we going now? It should be safe to move around; I saw Kisame as he was starting to walk across the bridge to leave the village." Deidara asked him in a rather serious tone. Sasuke thought for a moment. If Deidara was doing this on Madara's orders…He stared the blond down. He figured he could take him in a fight. Regardless of his condition, he'd gotten stronger since they'd fought.

If the man decided to alert Madara of their position, they would have both him and Naruto in their grasps. But, from the way the man spoke about Madara, when he did speak about him, he conveyed his hate for the man easily enough. Sasuke figured he'd just deal with that problem when they came to it. He needed to make sure Naruto was okay, and to apologize to him, something he hadn't been able to do before Madara had so rudely interrupted. He'd watch Deidara carefully until then.