Team Kakashi approached the town they'd have to pass through. Naruto had stopped making sad sounds, but he seemed… almost depressed. That didn't quite describe him; 'sad yet too tired to care' fit a little better.

Kakashi glanced down at the bundled baby in his arms, his mind asking a million questions: What kind of jutsu could do this? Does it wear off over time? Will we have to track down the jutsu caster? Is Naruto going to be okay stuck like this? Is Naruto's mind still intact or did the jutsu completely revert his memory along with his body?

Kakashi's deliberation was interrupted by a small hand grabbing at his green vest. Looking down at the small blonde Kakashi smiled. He noticed two things; one was that Naruto's thumb was currently falling out of his mouth and the second was his blue eyes were drooping as if he were more than ready for a long nap.

"Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi looked over at the lone kunoichi.

"Shouldn't we get him some clothes so he isn't half naked?" Sakura asked while glancing at the drowsy Naruto.

Kakashi peered back down at Naruto and couldn't help but agree with Sakura; since the only thing that Naruto had wrapped around him was his own, now too-big, shirt.

"Then," Sai interjected. "Shouldn't we find a store that sells baby items?" Sai had been the one to remember Naruto's clothes abandoned on the forest floor and currently had them rolled in his pack.

The four ninja looked at each other and then at the little bundle in Kakashi's arms. All of them wondering how much the clothes and other essentials were going to cost.

"Excuse me."

The team looked up at the new voice, Kakashi noted that Naruto's attention was caught by the stranger but the boy momentarily disregarded her, turning back to Kakashi and closing his eyes.

"I couldn't help but over hear you and I have some baby clothes that might fit the little one." The woman who looked to be about mid- to late twenties said.

"Oh, we couldn't possi—"

"Nonsense!" The woman cut Sakura off. "My son has already outgrown them, so it would be no trouble at all," she said smiling sweetly.

"Thank you," Kakashi said. "We appreciate it."

The woman's soft smile grew to crinkled her eyes a little, "My house is just down this street, come."

As the Konoha Nin followed the young lady, Yamato leaned in toward Kakashi, "Are you sure it is okay to trust her like this? She didn't seem curious at Naruto's current lack in clothing or ask why he's wrapped in an adult size shirt…"

Kakashi glanced up at their guide, then back to Yamato, "It should be fine; she is definitely not a ninja." 'Not to mention,' Kakashi thought to himself. 'Naruto didn't seem bothered by her at all.'

0o0o0

Naruto realized that his body wasn't always listening to what he wanted it to do as soon as his thumb was in his mouth. Even more strange was the fact that performing such an action actually made him feel better; calmer.

'This stinks.' Naruto thought, gnawing on his digit. 'I finally find Sasuke but I can't tell the others because I get turned into a baby by the teme's bro–'

Naruto's train of thought was cut off by a wave of tiredness.

'Why'm I so tired?' Naruto mulled. 'Should I be… this sleepy?'

Naruto felt his thumb falling out of his mouth and his other hand reaching up to Kakashi's vest; like his body was making sure that someone was there to protect him while he slept.

"Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto heard Sakura call, and felt a slight movement beneath him.

"Shouldn't we get him some clothes so he isn't hal—"

Naruto disregarded the rest of their conversation; it was taking up energy and he was pretty sure that he didn't want to hear that last bit.

'They're starting to sound far off anyway.' Naruto justified while closing his eyes.

"Excuse me."

'That voice… that isn't Sakura's.'

For once, since the little episode with Sasuke, Naruto's mind and body both wanted to respond in the same way … well, almost. The only problem was that he wanted to move his head quickly while his body was too tired to do so.

Naruto looked at the young women who spoke. She didn't seem dangerous. Naruto pondered tiredly, 'Mmgh, I'm too tired… to think… anymore.'

0o0o0

"I'm home" A voice called from outside.

"Momma!" A young boy called back. He rushed to the door to find his mother.

"Hey, wait up!" came a teenage voice calling after him. She found the boy standing still in the hallway just before the door. "Rowen?" The young babysitter looked toward the door to discover several new faces, and the reason for the young boy's blank stare. "Oh! Hello." She said smiling, straightening and giving a slight bow of her head.

"Good afternoon." The older girl she didn't recognize said politely.

"Has he been good for you?"

"Yes! He's been very good."

"That's my big Rowen." His mother said while bending down to her son's eye level. "Would you and Kilari do me a big favor?" She looked at the young girl for permission to include her. Kilari nodded. Turning her attention back to her son she asked, "Would you both please look for your old baby clothes in the attic for me?"

Rowen's brow furrowed. "Why?" He's question wasn't rude or challenging, just curious.

His mother smiled, "Come here, Rowen, there's someone for you to meet." The gray haired man, recognizing his cue, walked forward and bent down to show the young boy the baby in his arms.

"This is Naruto," the masked man said gently.

Rowen's brow furrowed again. "Like the fish cake in my noodles?"

The four strangers looked at each other and smiled knowingly. Mr. Scarecrow's uncovered eye creased like he was smiling but he hid his mouth and nose, "Yes, just like the fish cake in your noodles." Rowen beamed from ear to ear.

"Run along now and do as I asked."

Rowen looked up at his mother excitedly, "Ok, Momma." Rowen acknowledged his mother. "Common Kili-nee-san!"

"My name's Kilari! Kee-LAR-ee !" The young sitter called as she ran after Rowen. The adults smiled and the two women giggled, "You have a couple of good kids there." Yamato commented.

"Yes, they are wonderful." Rowen's mother said.

"Are they both yours?" Sakura asked.

"No, Kilari is my niece, but those two act just like brother and sister." The woman said happily.

"That they do."

Every eye glanced at the male figure with surprise, all except the owner of the house; Sakura was the only one who's eyes were wide.

"What?" Sai questioned.

"It's nothing," Sakura stated, composing herself. "I'll tell you later."

Rowen's mother had a slight question on her face but kept it to herself.
Kakashi looked over what he could see of the house, "Quite a nice place you have here."

"Yes, I agree," the woman smiled warmly as she made her own inspection. "It is all I have left of him." She then looked back at the Konoha ninja in her home and explained further, "My husband died in a carpentry accident almost two years ago; now this house and what he left inside it are all that remains."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Yamato expressed his condolences for himself and the team.

The woman returned a smile. Sakura was beginning to wonder if this lady ever stopped smiling; it reminded her a lot of Naruto's constant enthusiasm. "Thank you," the woman said quietly then raised her voice slightly, "Oh, how rude of me, my name is Kana."

"I'm Kakashi," the silver-haired man stated. "And this is Yamato, Sakura, and Sai," he introduced his teammates, pausing between names to allow them to state a 'nice to meet you' or nod their head.

Kana bowed her head slightly, "It's a pleasure," she echoed warmly.

0o0o0

"Over here, I found them!" Kilari called to Rowen.

He looked up at his cousin with a questioning face, "Why do I have to give my baby clothes to a stranger?"

"Didn't you see him? He had no clothes; nothing besides that too-big shirt." She looked back with a grin on her face. "Besides, don't you think it would be fun to help a baby by giving him your old clothes that you can't use anymore?"

Rowen considered this, "I guess…"

"So let's gather up these clothes and get them back to your mom."

"Hai!" The boy affirmed excitedly, apparently deciding to agree with his cousin.

A few minutes later both youngsters were pounding down the attic steps.

"We found them, Momma!" Rowen called from the bottom of the attic steps.

"Good job my little fish cake!" She called back.

The lady-stranger looked over at his mother, "Fish cake?"

His mom gave a glowing grin, "Rowen's favorite food is the naruto in ramen." She explained.

The lady-stranger and the guy with the metal horseshoe on his face smiled, the white one with black hair seemed to be blank, and the scarecrow's eye opened in surprise for a second.

Rowen ran up carrying his old clothes. "Here Mamma, I got them."

"I don't need them, Naruto does." She pointed to the baby in the scarecrow's arms.

Rowen looked over at Naruto, then at his mother, then back to Naruto before staring at the floor as he shyly began walking towards the silver haired man, who bent down to Rowen's height.

Rowen walked up to Naruto, who was fast asleep, smiled, and set his clothes on the man's arms. "Ne, Naruto, grow up big and strong like me, ok?"

Everyone in the room smiled.

0o0o0

Under a shaded tree, a large white dog whined. The young man sitting next to the dog glanced over and said, "Yeah, I know. I feel it too."

"K-Kiba," A female voice broke in.

Both heads turned to find the voice, "Hinata, what are you doing out here?"

"Ah, w-well, y-you see…" she stuttered.

Kiba couldn't quite place it, but something was a little off today. Hinata was stuttering more than usual so she probably felt the abnormal atmosphere too.

Hinata inhaled deliberately, bringing Kiba out of his musing, "I-Is everything okay?" she finally asked.

Kiba an Akamaru blinked, then looked at each other.

"It looks like you three have sensed it as well…" The three under the tree twisted and craned their necks just in time to see the Aburame leap out of the tree, "The restlessness in the air is making my bugs nervous."

"Shino!" Hinata was slightly surprised at seeing him all the way out in the training grounds. She was sure he had had some sort of appointment with the Hokage.

"What are you guys doing here?" A new voice interjected.

"Shikamaru!" Kiba called smiling and Akamaru gave a friendly bark. "Akamaru and I always come here. I don't know about these two yet, everyone keeps showing up one right after the other."

"I came to check on my teammates," The insect-host stated, characteristically deadpan. "Why? Because my insects are oddly unsettled today."

"I came to s-see if anyone was here at the t-training grounds, and I-I found Kiba, Akamaru, and S-Shino." Hinata explained herself. "How about y-y-you?" She asked tentatively. "What b-brings you out h-here?"

"Uh, I came out here to find some quiet so I could watch the clouds and think."

"Think about what! How about we consider our youthful passion and our will of fire!" There were only two people in all of Konoha with that much excited energy.

"Lee? What are you doing here?" All heads turned to yet another new voice.

"T-Tenten," Hinata Identified her comrade. "How a-are you?"

"Can't complain." She answered while presenting a thumbs-up and a wink.

Choji suddenly broke into the conversation, "Hey everyone, is there a party goin' on?" he asked, walking over with a bag of chips in his hands. "Hurry up Ino!" He hollered over his shoulder.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. What's the rush—" Ino stopped short staring at everyone. "Whoa, what's everyone doing here?"

"That's a good question," Kiba agreed. But he was interrupted by his teammate.

"Neji," Everyone turned at Shino's greeting. Following the Aburame's gaze, they found that Neji was indeed walking over to the group, looking a little surprised.

"See, whud I tell ya," Kiba said. "Everyone's just showing up one right after the other."

Shikamaru eyed his comrades, "What's everyone doing here?" It was extremely rare for the entirety of the Rookies, as they had been labeled, to be assembled at any given time.

"You see…" Tenten searched for the words, "Uh, I guess that's a little hard to explain…"

"There's a certain sensation traveling through the air," Neji clarified for his teammate.

"That's right," Ino and Tenten echoed each other.

"I've been having a bad premonition since this morning." Ino continued.

Murmurs of agreement floated around the young ninja.

"Hey," All eyes came to rest on Kiba. The young man glanced around at his friends' faces, "Has anyone else not been able to get Naruto out of their mind?"

0o0o0

"Get it, Shizune!"

"I'm trying my lady!" Shizune called desperately. "It wouldn't be so hard if we could simply kill it."

"We can't do that!" The Godaime said sternly. "All leads would be lost!"

Konoha's Hokage and her assistant chased the insect for another few seconds, then several things happened in quick succession: first, the office door opened quickly; second, the insect, seeing a way of escape, made a brake for the open door; and finally, Tsunade yelled, "Quickly, shut the door!" and the next thing any of them knew, the bug was trapped in the surprised chunin's cupped hands.

The two women exhaled a breath they didn't know they were holding.

"Well this is a sight to see," The bug catcher said in a laughing tone. "The Godaime Hokage and her assistant running around the office chasing an insect."

"That 'insect' happens to be part of a mission update." The Hokage said shortly.

"My apologies," the chunin said sincerely with a bow of his head. Shizune shut the door and held up a small plastic container and he placed the bug inside.

With the insect safely secured, Tsunade asked, "So what is it?" as she walked toward her desk.

The shinobi tilted his head slightly, "Didn't you call me here?" He asked curiously.

Tsunade, who had sat back down in her chair to go over some built-up paperwork, looked up from the pile. "I called you?" She pressed.

"Yes," He began. "I was compiling my report in the library when a voice came from behind me and said that the Hokage wanted to see me as soon as possible. I turned around but there was no one in sight; I figured you had sent a Black Ops so I gathered my things and came straight here."

"Hmm," the Fifth was deep in thought.

"Um," Attention was back on the jounin. "I know this is a weird question, but do you know how Naruto's team is doing?" Tsunade and Shizune exchanged surprised glances. "I know it's not usually customary to ask about the status of a mission in progress, but for some reason I can't get him out of my head…"

The Hokage peered at the man opposite her, "To be honest, Naruto has been on a lot of people's minds this morning."

She laced her fingers together and tucked her chin behind them, "Mine included."

0o0o0

Sasuke became aware of his body swaying up and down, back and forth; the motion of a person walking briskly. However, the Uchiha's limbs felt limp, which meant that he was being carried. The sharingan user searched for his eyelids. Finally locating them, he opened his eyes slowly and found that he was on Jugo's back. Sasuke discovered that his body felt a little better, nonetheless a groan escaped him.

"Sasuke! Are you ok?" Karin was beside him in a heartbeat.

Sasuke wanted to spit back —Do I look ok?— But he couldn't form the words. He figured it was just as well; it wasn't like him to lose his cool. "Ngh, what's going on? Where are we going?"

"Ah, that's…" Karin stumbled over the words.

"We're following a chakra line that's connected to your body." Suigetsu decided to answer since Karin was getting nowhere in that department.

Sasuke's eyebrows came together slightly, "A chakra line?" He asked, still feeling a bit muddled after waking up.

"Yeah, it seems to be a thread of chakra that extends out beyond my line of vision." Karin explained. "It is connected to the chakra that has enveloped your body."

'Chakra has enveloped my body?' Sasuke thought to himself. 'Sounds like someone cast a jutsu on me… But I was never close enough to anyone for them to have the chance.' A different thought crossed the young man's mind, "Where are we heading?"

Jugo shifted under Sasuke in order to look back at him, "We seem to be heading towards Konohagakure."

"There's a village between here and Konoha though," Suigetsu presented. "So maybe the chakra line is connected to someone there instead of Konoha."

"The chakra thread is connected to someone?" Sasuke queered, blinking. His team was not doing a good job of explaining things. Either that or his brain was far too foggy to make sense of their explanations.

Karin glared at the white-haired ninja, "Suigetsu thinks so." She said shortly.

Sasuke ignored the following insult fight between the duo; instead he tested the strength in his arms and legs. "Jugo, put me down," he ordered, in an even more deadpan tone than usual.

Jugo quickly stopped and knelt down so that their leader could stand of his own accord. "Are you sure that you're feeling alright?" Jugo asked, concern apparent in his voice.

Instead of answering, the Uchiha flexed his muscles, this and the fact that he was much more talkative than usual told his team that 'alright' was the wrong word.

"Okay! Since you're feeling better we can get back to work!" Suigetsu called, excited at the prospect of actually doing something. Karin's head snapped in his direction with an evil glare. "What? Sasuke's fine now, we can get back to looking for Itachi."

Karin smacked the water ninja over the head, "Oww! What was that for!"

"Because you're stupid, that's why!" Karin spat back.

"I am not! You're the one who's stupid!"

Sasuke inhaled slowly and sighed. 'What am I doing? Why am I so much more expressive than usual?' Normally, Sasuke would never show emotion; not concern, restlessness, joy, interest, illness, sadness, weakness… not for very many reasons at least. He decided it was because he was recently unconscious and left it at that. The nuke-nin took a breath in order to address his team, then decided against the idea. Instead, he glanced around to get his bearings, and started walking back toward the place Itachi was last seen.

Jugo noticed him walking away and called out. Karin and Suigetsu stopped their squabbling to stare in surprise at their leader. Sasuke, however, did not stop nor acknowledge that he heard their calls.

"Hey, wait up!" Jugo exclaimed as he ran up beside his leader. "Where are we going?"

"…Back to work." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu presently sneered at Karin who glared in return.

The three ninja followed the Uchiha for about five minutes; in that amount of time they had walked about half a mile back towards the small open field where Itachi was first spotted.

Sasuke began to feel that sickening tug at his chest; the same sensation he felt not long before collapsing earlier.

Suddenly, the Uchiha turned around and began walking back the way they'd just come.

"Sasuke?" Karin questioned after him.

Suigetsu, who was in the lead, whipped around to see his leader walking in the opposite direction, "Ugh, what is it now?" He asked exasperated.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead he presented his own question, "Karin, which direction does the chakra thread extend to?"

Karin was surprised by the question, but didn't delay her answer. "Um, it's that way," she said pointing a little to Sasuke's left. Sasuke changed direction accordingly.

"Oh, don't tell me we're going all the way back!" Suigetsu complained freely.

No one answered directly; the ensuing silence was answer enough.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Suigetsu cried. "I thought we were finally getting back to work!" Suigetsu's voice was beginning to give Sasuke a headache. "Why are we going on this wild goose chase anyway?"

"Suigetsu," all attention was back on Sasuke. "Shut up." He said simply and continued walking away from the shocked faces behind him.

Team Hebi walked in silence, and Sasuke didn't let it go to waste. 'It seems I won't be able to search for Itachi effectively if I can't undo this jutsu.' Sasuke had already suspected genjutsu and attempted to release it, but to no avail. 'It appears that I get sick if I walk away from the chakra…' He thought, considering the results of his experiment earlier when he had been all but forced to retrace his steps, much to Suigetsu's annoyment. 'My only option at the moment seems to be finding whatever, or whoever, this chakra thread is connected to and see if I can learn something.'

Sasuke was still deliberating when a picture of Naruto's tiny face popped into his head, but the image was roughly shoved away. 'Naruto has nothing to do with this,' he thought firmly.

A/N: sis1: Oh my goodness, we finally got the chapter up! And it has like no action in it, ugh! I thought it was hard to write when just one of us had writer's block, but it is nearly impossible when both of us have writer's block... sorry guys, please don't be too upset. . . . . . Hellllooooo... sis ? You there?

sis2: Zzzzz...

sis1: Ok, guess that leaves this author's note to me then. =P

sis2: Hay! I'm awake, I'm awake.

sis1: Yeah, barely, but it is the middle of the night, so I excuse you. =)Anyway, Back on track, so what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Ugly? I hope not, but we still love to get constructive critisism and especially random thoghts. So far those are the best! ^^

sis1/2: We'd like to thank dreamingwandererofthelight, ArrancarMaiden, Bookielovesanimeeee, devil M, InoSakuShine, and Yami Kurushimi for your reviews! When we got absolutely stuck, we'd re-read your reviews and get an idea. Even if for only one or two sentances =] Thanks! A special thanks to our only recuring reviewer, Bookielovesanimeeee, for puting grand smiles on our faces and making us really, really want to get the next chapter up for ya! ^^

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