First off, a warning. This chapter is darker than the others. There is a character death. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Anyway, I'd like to thank AbaraiSuki for reading this again and pointing out my horrible mistakes XD

Now, onto the story :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. :'(

Chapter 6:

Most would say that the forests around Konoha were beautiful. There was usually something serene, something calming about the forest. Whether it was the way the light danced through the small openings in the trees, or how the wind softly rustled the leaves, it usually gave a person a sense of peace. However, for Mei Terumi, the 5th Mizukage, the forests were anything but peaceful.

Mei sat silently in one of the trees at the border of the Land of Fire, her body guards Ao and Choujiro next to her. All three watched around them nervously.

Mei hated the trees and the forest. The Land of waves didn't have forests like the Land of Fire did. They weren't used to the environment and there were too many places for an enemy to hide.

To her right, Choujiro scanned the trees ahead of them, waiting and watching for any sign of their contact. To her left, Ao, a hardened veteran of the horrible reign of the last Mizukage, watched around them, making sure that no one would be able to sneak up on them.

Mei groaned mentally. She regretted agreeing to this whole thing. It was stupid. Konoha was not a force to be taken lightly. Even without their Jinchuriki, they had always been a strong nation. It was what had kept them alive after the invasions of Pein and Orochimaru.

Unfortunately, Mei had never really been given a choice. The Tsuchikage bastard had gone right to her village's council members and persuaded them that a war was in their best interests. By the time Mei had figured out what was going on, half of the village had been ready for war.

However, Mei knew better. She had seen what Konoha was capable of in the last war. Not to mention that Suna would not stand by and let Konoha fight alone. She wondered how the Tsuchikage planned to deal with them when they joined in.

Mei shook herself out of her thoughts. She needed to focus. She may not have wanted this war, but her village did. And if it was the will of her village, she would put her all into this war.

A high pitched whistle made all three Kiri shinobi jump slightly. After recognizing the signal from her scouts, Mei nodded to Choujiro who sent back the appropriate call.

The three of them jumped down from the tree branch, landing softly on the ground as four Kiri shinobi dressed as civilians stepped out from the bushes.

The one closest to her nodded and bowed slightly. "Mizukage-sama," he said. Mei noticed her seemed to be dressed as a blacksmith. He was wearing an apron, with dirt and soot all over it. He was about her height and had messy brown hair. Nothing about him seemed to give away the fact that he was one of Kiri's elite ANBU.

Mei nodded back. "You weren't followed?"

The man before her shook his head. "No, we have no reason to believe that they are onto us. We should be fine."

A second man stepped forward from behind the first one. Mei could see that this one was also dressed in dirty clothes, with dirt covering his pants and dried mud all over his hands. Mei recalled that one of her spies had infiltrated as a florist or a gardener of some kind.

The second man bowed to her as the first one had. "There was no reason for you yourself to come all the way out her, Mizukage-sama."

Mei shook her head. "It's fine. Although I don't want this war to happen at all, the village does. So if we are going to do this, we will make sure we do it right. Now, report."

The first man nodded to her. "Well, it's like you said, there are quite a few people in Konoha that could cause us some problems. The biggest one though, would be Shikamaru Nara. He's is their main strategist and is a widely considered a genius. His strategies will be a problem if we fight them."

Mei nodded. "Do you have any ideas of how to deal with him?"

The man seemed to hesitate for a second before answering. "Well, we could ambush him at his home I guess. However, he has a wife. Temari, sister to the Kazekage. If we did try to kill him at his home, we'd have to deal with her as well."

Mei remembered Temari. The Kazekage had trusted her enough to be a bodyguard for him at the 5 kage summit. That would mean that she was at least at Choujiro and Ao's level. Ambushing her and Shikamaru would not be easy at all.

"Actually," the man continued, catching Mei's attention, "Temari is another troublesome person. She would also be a problem in the future."

Mei thought it over for a moment. It would be better to deal with more of their enemies at once. As much as she didn't like this, it was a necessity. Pushing the feeling of regret this gave her aside, Mei glanced at the man and nodded. "Okay, deal with the-"

Suddenly, Mei heard the snapping a of tree branch from somewhere above her. She looked up, trying to see the cause of the noise. Someone was out there, listening to their meeting.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Mei noticed the sleek metal of several kunai flying through the air towards them.

Mei jumped back, avoiding the rain of kunai that fell upon the area she had just been standing in. Unfortunately, two of the four contacts weren't so lucky. They fell to the ground, blood from their wounds seeping into the dirt. Mei looked up, just in time to see a figure descending on her, kunai drawn.

Mei moved to block the figure's kunai with her own and caught sight of the Konoha jounin vest and the Konoha headband tied tightly around his arm.

XXX

Shikamaru didn't know what had come over him. Everything had been going so well. They'd been able to get enough proof that Kiri was going to war, though the Mizukage herself didn't seem too happy about that. Shikamaru had even memorized the faces of her contacts in Konoha.

But then Temari had been brought into the picture. Shikamaru knew Temari could handle herself. She was a powerful kunoichi. It would take more than some Kiri shinobi to bring her down.

At least, that's what Shikamaru's rational, logical side told him. His emotional side told him that he needed to stop this. He needed to protect her. And unfortunately, for a split second, his emotional side won.

Even if it was for only a split second, it was enough to give away his position. Shifting his weight, the branch he was standing on snapped under him, alerting the Mizukage to his presence.

'Dammit' he thought. He could see her already looking in his general direction. 'I have no choice now' he thought as about 8 kunai left his hands, stabbing into two of the four contacts and barely missing the Mizukage as she jumped back, out of the way.

Shikamaru knew he had been discovered. There was no point in hiding now. A couple of trees away from him, he saw Sai give the signal to attack. He'd come to the same conclusion.

Shikamaru jumped out, aiming right for the one person he wanted to kill, the one who'd almost given to order to kill his wife.

Pulling a kunai out, Shikamaru descended upon the Mizukage. She pulled out her own Kunai, and the two of them locked weapons. Out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru saw Sai cut down the third spy. The fourth one was soon dealt with by one of the two other members of their team.

Returning his attention to the Mizukage, he saw her forming hand signs.

"Shit," he yelled, jumping back to gain some distance. It was too late though. The Mizukage finished her hand signs and leaned back, looking like she was about to spit something out of her mouth.

"Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu!"

Shikamaru could only watch in shock as the Mizukage spat out a large amount of lava from her mouth. He jumped up into the trees, barely avoiding the hot stream of magma. However, he wasn't given a chance to rest. Mei was right behind him, forming her hands seals again, ready to spit out more lava as she landed on the same tree branch as Shikamaru.

Shikamaru pulled out a few shuriken, throwing them at Mei. She was forced to stop forming her seals to pull out a kunai which she used to block the incoming shuriken. Using the opening, Shikamaru formed a seal of his own. A second later, his shadow shot out from under him, stretching out to connect with Mei's. She was one set ahead though. Jumping up, and away from the ground, she pulled out a few shuriken in midair and threw them at Shikamaru.

"Shit!" Shikamaru swore as he dove out of the way of the shuriken. Mei expected this however. Before Shikamaru could recover from his dive Mei had already formed her seals again.

"Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he watched the lava come down upon him.

XXX

Naruto grinned as a steaming hot bowl of miso pork ramen was set down in front of him. To his right, Kakashi smiled up at Ayane as she placed his own bowl in front of him.

After Kakashi had finished devouring his bowl within a second like usual, he looked over to see Naruto on his third bowl.

He shook his head in amusement. "So, Naruto, how's it been going lately?"

Naruto glanced at him for a second before returning his eyes to his fourth bowl of ramen. After finishing it, he set it down and let out a satisfied sigh. "Oh, it's been fine I guess. Not much to do."

Kakashi nodded. "Ah, from what I've heard, you've not gotten a lot of paperwork done lately."

Naruto looked at Kakashi with a surprised expression. "What? I have too been getting it done."

Kakashi chuckled. "Not from what I've heard. I went to the tower yesterday and your assistant was complaining about how you've been distracted lately."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment, before his eyes widened in realization. Turning away so that Kakashi wouldn't be able to read his expression he said, "Well I've just been a little out of it lately. I went out for some fresh air a few times."

Kakashi grinned at his student under his mask. "Oh? So where did you go exactly?"

"Nowhere"

"Hm. Sure."

Naruto eyed Kakashi. He was currently staring out of the stand, a smug look in his eye. "Is there something you want to say, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi shrugged, but Naruto could tell he was grinning at him under that mask. "I just wanted to see if you would tell me about your date with Sakura on your own or if I would have to ask you myself."

Naruto started at this and stared wide eyed at Kakashi. His former sensei was looking at him with what Naruto could only guess was a smirk.

"Wha-wha-what? We didn't- I mean… how'd you know about that?"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to look surprised. "You mean you don't know? It's all over the village. People are saying what a cute couple the two of you make. Not that I needed to be told that. I'm just happy you two stopped avoiding the topic."

Naruto blushed lightly. "The whole village?" he asked. Kakashi doubted he had even heard the second half of what he said.

"Yep. The whole village knows. Not that you were very discreet about it apparently. They say that the two of you walked out of the hospital arm in arm."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wha- well that…" he stuttered out before sighing. He looked down at his empty bowl which was still in front of him. "It was just dinner between two friends, Sensei."

Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "Sure it was," he muttered sarcastically, "Why don't the two of you talk about this? I've watched you two enough to see that what you two have is something special. How long will it take the two of you to admit it to each other?"

Naruto continued to stare down at the bowl in front of him with half-lidded eyes. "Maybe. There have been times where I've wondered if she liked me as more than that…"

Kakashi nodded. When Naruto didn't continue he raised a brow at him. "But?"

Finally, Naruto turned his head to look at Kakashi. "What if I'm wrong? What if she doesn't like me the way I think? Why would she even like me? I'm an idiot, I'm a jinchuriki, I…" he said, before turning away and looking into his bowl again.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, Sakura isn't the same little girl she was when she was twelve. You're important to her. Sure, she may call you an idiot at times, but you know she cares."

Naruto nodded slightly, though he didn't really look convinced.

"And you know full well that she doesn't care about you being a jinchuriki. You can't let your own insecurities get in the way, Naruto. Why don't you just talk to her about it?"

Naruto continued to stare ahead, with a slightly depressed expression. However, after a few moments, an ANBU suddenly materialized next to him. Kakashi and Naruto glanced over as he bowed.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san. You are urgently needed at the hospital."

Kakashi and Naruto looked at each other quickly. This didn't sound good.

"What's wrong?"

Even though ANBU were trained to hide their emotions, Naruto could hear worry and concern in his voice. It just proved how bad this news was going to be.

"Shikamaru's team has returned. His arm is severely burnt. The commander is in critical condition. I'm not sure on any of the details. Shikamaru told me that he would only speak to you."

Naruto and Kakashi stood up immediately. Kakashi quickly disappeared, moving towards the hospital. Naruto lagged behind moment longer to nod to the ANBU and thank him before moving towards the hospital as well.

XXX

Shikamaru sat in a bed in the hospital. His arm, which was severely burned, was connected to an IV and lightly wrapped in a clean bandage. He felt drowsy, probably from all of the pain medication that they had given him.

However, he couldn't get Sai off of his mind. He hadn't looked so good when he had last seen him. He had been burned as well. Ino, who was Shikamaru's doctor, had told him that Sakura was now in surgery with Sai.

Shikamaru was a little bit glad he was so doped up on meds. If he wasn't, he might end up thinking about how this had all started from him stepping on that branch. If he hadn't, the Mizukage wouldn't have noticed them and Sai wouldn't be like this. The other two ANBU who had accompanied them were also somewhere in the hospital, though their injuries weren't anywhere as serious as Sai's.

The sound of the door opening made Shikamaru look over slowly. Naruto was standing at the door, his face full of worry. Behind him was Kakashi. Shikamaru tried smiling at them.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. Shikamaru was sitting there with his arm in such bad condition, and he was giving him the dopiest smile he had ever seen.

"Hey…" Naruto called.

Shikamaru nodded to him. "Hey Naruto. I think I screwed up." he said, still smiling that weird smile of his.

Naruto chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Naw, you did fine. I've spoken to the other two in your team already. They said that you ran into the Mizukage. It couldn't have been helped."

Shikamaru's grin suddenly disappeared. He looked down and looked almost teary eyed.

"It was my fault," he said, his words slurring a little. "If I had been more careful they wouldn't have noticed us." He said, looking up at Naruto. "They said that they were going to attack Temari. I wanted to protect her. And for that one second, my emotions took over, blowing my cover."

Naruto leaned back, a little surprised. He had never seen Shikamaru so emotional. He guessed it was the drugs. He'd heard some people get a little high when they took them.

However, Shikamaru seemed to have tears in his eyes. Naruto looked over at Kakashi, who seemed just as uncomfortable as him.

"Don't worry," he said, looking back at Shikamaru, "It wasn't your fault. Anyone would've done the same as you in that situation."

Shikamaru nodded, but didn't look convinced. "What did you learn?" he asked, hoping it would get Shikamaru's mind off of the guilt he was obviously feeling.

Shikamaru frowned. "This whole war is the Tsuchikage's idea. From how the Mizukage spoke, it seems like it was mostly her council and daimyo's idea. She doesn't really want to have anything to do with it."

Naruto nodded. "The council can get annoying at times."

Shikamaru glanced up at him, looking like he wanted to scowl but just lacked the focus. "I know. I mean wh-why would they want to do that? Is stupid." Shikamaru seemed to be slurring his words now. He looked much drowsier than before and Naruto could only guess that the drugs were taking effect.

He placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, which caused the jounin to look at it before looking at him. "Just get some sleep, okay? I'm glad to see you're okay and I'll let you rest. You just report when you're ready."

Shikamaru nodded. Naruto then turned around and began making his way towards the door. Kakashi did the same and exited a few seconds before him. However, just as Naruto reached the door, Shikamaru called out.

"Naruto."

Naruto stopped and looked over his shoulder at him. He was watching his arm with half lidded eyes.

"I haven't had a mission go this bad since…" he said before looking up and meeting Naruto's gaze. Eventually, Naruto couldn't take it. He looked away. "It wasn't your fault. Not then and not now."

Before Shikamaru could respond, Naruto walked out of the room. He knew he had been talking about the Sasuke retrieval mission. It was the worst mission Shikamaru had ever led. However, Naruto had never thought that what he had done had been wrong. He believed in Shikamaru.

Walking down the hall towards the operating room, he passed Temari. She was quickly moving towards Shikamaru's room and nodded as she passed by. He nodded back and continued on his way. He figured she wanted to get to his room as soon as possible.

Eventually, Naruto reached the operating room. The red light above the door showed that the surgery was still ongoing. Kakashi sat in the corridor, his familiar orange book out as his one visible eye scanned the pages. However, even though his behaviour seemed normal, Naruto could tell he was bothered. He never changed the page, just kept reading the same two pages over and over.

The red light went off, catching the attention of the two of them. After a few moments, Sakura stepped out. He hair covered her eyes as she moved out of the room.

Naruto exchanged looks with Kakashi before stepping forward timidly. "Sakura?"

Sakura gasped and looked up. Naruto could see the tears building in her eyes.

Suddenly she was in his arms, her own arms pulled around him in a desperate embrace. He could hear her muffled sobs as she cried into his chest.

Naruto stared down at her, then at the doors to the operating room. He felt his skin go cold. Forcing himself to speak despite this feeling of dread, he pushed Sakura back just enough so he could see her face and asked, "Sakura, where's Sai?"

Her only response was a hurried shake of her head and a few more sobs as she pushed her face into his chest again. Naruto felt numb and barely realized he had placed his own arms around Sakura, gently embracing her. Everything seemed to slow down around him. He just wouldn't believe it. Sai was gone? Hugging Sakura a little tighter to his own chest, he felt a few tears of his own fall, landing in her soft hair, before he began sobbing softly himself.