"Don't move," he said blandly, obviously expecting to be obeyed. The pink-haired woman tensed, clutching the infant tightly to her but otherwise complied, as expected.

Itachi waited, the kunai in his hand pressed against the woman's jugular artery, for the jinchuuriki's response to the situation. The infant's eyes were filled with fearful shock, but he made no movement; almost as if his own throat was the one in danger.

The elder Uchiha could feel the sakki emanating from the wooden crate a few yards away but he ignored it.

Itachi was patient as he waited for the blonde to show signs of recognition. He was looking for evidence to support his theory: that the jinchuuriki's mind had not reverted along with his body. Fifteen seconds went by with absolutely no change. The infant continued to stare as if his life depended on it, fear filled azure eyes glued open. That reaction was of little use since it could support both his theory and the contrary.

The pink haired woman turned her head a fraction of a degree and asked, "What do you want?" Her voice was terse, waiting for an honest reply. Itachi, however, had no intention of broadcasting his goal.

"I was looking for the jinchuuriki," he lied smoothly. "But it appears you have your hands full." She said nothing. Itachi glanced over the woman's shoulder at his tiny target. Eyes were the window to one's soul. Calculating sharingan met petrified blue irises, reveling only frozen apprehension and alarm. He was reacting exactly as an infant should.

As if to prove this, his sapphire eyes suddenly began to well up and tears poured down the infant's face as he started sniveling. Two seconds later the blonde was wailing mercilessly while the kunoichi shushed and begged the boy to be quiet. Itachi decided to use the distraction to ensure that the jinchuuriki found its way back to him. Bringing up his free hand, Itachi flashed through the one-handed signs and applied the condition-activated jutsu to the woman without her knowledge.

Finished with the current steps in his plan, Itachi simply disappeared. Leaving a confused kunoichi, a raging caged Uchiha, and a screaming infant.

0o0o0

The moment he realized that someone was in his peripheral, Kakashi knew that something was off. There were two— no, three of them, and they were not even bothering to conceal their chakra or presence. He had immediately stopped his team and readied for an attack. But the ninja he'd detected didn't advance, and it bothered him.

It wasn't really the fact that the ninja were static that had him on-edge —since it would make perfect sense for a ninja who is displaying their chakra like a homing-beacon to remain stationary and prepare a trap— it was the fact that he couldn't come up with a single logically-sound explanation for all of them to reveal themselves, especially since Konoha's gates could just be seen from the road.

As they leapt towards the strangers, Kakashi considered all the possible scenarios he could think of to explain the situation. 'Why would the enemy simply expose themselves? A trap seems the most likely reason. Though only inexperienced shinobi would make the mistake of showing their numbers. It's possible they're a patrol squad from Konoha, but I was unaware of a change in the patrol routes… A genin team? No, these ninja possess too much chakra. Unconcealed chakra. What would be the purpose of not masking their chakra? Luring us out would be an obvious assumption; but we are so close to Konoha that engaging us here would only serve to alert the village which would send a team out within ten minutes.' Kakashi couldn't help but feel like he was missing something. 'What is their motive?'

At that moment, he and his team made visual contact with their likely-enemies and halted in the trees a safe distance away. Kakashi noticed that none of these shinobi wore hitai-ate. Strange. Most shinobi wore an identifying headband to distinguish where their loyalties lie. Even nuke-nin usually wore one, if only to display their place of birth or to remind themselves of the home they could never return to.

There were two males; one slender with white hair carrying a familiar, large sword, and the other stocky with short orange hair. The lone kunoichi was a thin-build redhead. All in all a standard team for most villages. However, it would seem that they didn't get along judging by the way they were quarrelling.

"What are they doing?" Yamato's voice was barely a whisper.

A warranted question. The more Kakashi observed, the more confused he became. What were they doing? It was obvious they were arguing, but the issue was with their apparent lack of common sense. These ninja had lowered their guard, proclaimed their exact location, and above all were continuing to do so. They were, by definition, dim-witted.

Kakashi signaled to get closer.

Once in position, he could understand most of their heated conversation: "We need to get Jugo here to Sasuke before…" the man never finished as the two arguing turned to look at their teammate, presumably 'Jugo'.

'This must be Sasuke's team,' Kakashi mused.

The Copy Nin turned to his team and assigned everyone their target. "Yamato, take the slender one with white hair," he instructed quietly. "Sai, you'll secure the woman with red hair. I've got the big one."

"Understood."

The redhead sighed then looked back at white-haired man and asked, "So what's the plan?"

Kakashi gave the signal to take action.

Getting around their guard was easy enough, considering they had dropped it almost entirely, and he got behind his target in just a few seconds.

"Don't move," Kakashi warned, pressing a kunai against the man's jugular.

0o0o0

The godaime tapped her fingers on the desk absentmindedly. She had been unable to focus all morning. Kakashi's team was due to arrive within the next couple of hours and the Hokage just couldn't get the mission-update Sai had sent yesterday out of her head.

After little more than an hour fretting and spacing out, Tsunade heard a light tapping on the window. Turning, she was slightly surprised to see another one of Sai's ink-birds pecking at the glass. The mission-update flew and landed on her desk when the blonde woman opened the window and immediately morphed into parchment with writing, and Tsunade's eyes went wide with surprise when she read its contents.

"Tori!" the Hokage ordered and a woman wearing a simple bird mask appeared in the office on one knee. "Take your squad and provide prisoner security at the south gate!" The Hokage commanded, and without a word the ANBU vanished.

The Fifth attempted to wait patiently, but her fingers drummed the desk, betraying her thoughts. 'What does Kakashi think he's doing?! His mission had nothing to do with capturing and transporting possible-missing nin!' Her mind continued with other such thoughts in an attempt to calm her frustrations. Tsunade blew out a sigh. Why couldn't missions be simple affairs? Of course, the answer to that was obvious. She sighed again.

Ten minutes later, Shizune frantically burst into the Hokage's office. "My Lady!"

"What is it?" There was more trouble? 'This day just keeps getting better,' she mentally intoned with a half growl.

"It's Naruto… He's—"

"Yo."

"Kakashi," the Hokage's her voice was all business, even though she was eager to learn the circumstances. "What's the situation?"

"The mission was completed successfully. Yamato, Sai, Sakura, and myself have suffered no injuries."

"And Naruto?"

"He's… How should I put it?" After a few infuriating seconds of thought, he continued. "I gue—"

"My Lady!" an urgent voice interrupted.

Tsunade blinked. "Sakura, what ar— Who is that?" the Kage interrupted herself, referring to the whimpering infant in the blossom's arms.

When Sakura couldn't find her words quickly, Shizune attempted to explain. "He got caught in a jutsu, my Lady," she said in a rush.

"Who did?"

Kakashi sighed. "This infant is Naruto," he clarified calmly. "He had a run in with an unknown shinobi who apparently saw fit to cast a jutsu we've never heard of, reverting Naruto to an infant."

"What are we going to do?" Sakura interjected, her voice pleading.

Stunned, Tsunade couldn't speak for a moment.

The tiny blond began to cry pleadingly, pulling the older blonde's attention back to her office. Tsunade watched as her apprentice started to lightly bounce and rock the infant, trying to get him to calm down, the worried expression never leaving the young girl's face.

"Injuries?" She steered the conversation back in its original direction.

"One," Kakashi informed. "Naruto's arm was superficially wounded by a small canine. It was taken care of but should still be looked at."

The Hokage nodded at the bandages adoring the tiny arm. Lacing her fingers, Tsunade tucked her chin behind her hands in silent contemplation. Every question she wanted to ask relied on someone having seen the hand signs used, the jutsu being performed, the jutsu caster, or something of the sort.

Her thoughts shifted to Naruto's condition. 'He'll have to have a physical examination and a psychological scan.' Tsunade glanced up at the teenager-turned-baby. 'We should also check his chakra coils.'

Without warning Naruto's crying became a full out wail.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure," the worry in her voice mixed with confusion, and then she froze.

Concerned that something was wrong, Shizune approached but stopped mid stride. The assistant turned around with a crinkled nose. "I think he needs to be changed," she declared.

The godaime almost burst out laughing. Sighing to conceal her efforts to not cackle out loud, and pinching the bridge of her nose to obscure any expression that might escape, she said, "Take him to the infirmary."

Sakura was so flabbergasted that she forgot to acknowledge the order as she began leaving the office, attempting not to drop the loudly squirming infant. Shizune nodded and began following Sakura out the door.

"Sakura."

Said kunoichi halted in the doorway and turned to face her leader. "Yes?"

"Do not let this situation leak out. I am classifying this an S-rank secret until further notice," the Hokage said sternly as her composure returned. 'If the elders knew about this...' she didn't finish the thought.

"Do not let this situation leak out," the hokage said sternly as her composure returned. "Make sure everyone who knows Naruto's identity talks to absolutely no one about it." 'If the elders knew about this...' she didn't finish the thought.

"Hai !" Sakura acknowledged and headed to the infirmary. Shizune nodded her understanding and followed the young kunoichi out.

When the door clicked shut Tsunade regarded Kakashi seriously. "Tell me what happened," she demanded.

Immediately he recounted the events that took place. When he finished the oral report, Tsunade held her chin in contemplation.

"I believe," Kakashi interrupted her musings. "That Naruto and Sasuke are connected somehow."

"Explain."

Kakashi paused before continuing. "When Sasuke was first spotted, he was almost a kilometer from Naruto's position. However, the only reason we captured him was because he had collapsed. As we approached him, Sasuke attempted to flee but his coordination seemed completely impaired. His condition worsened as Sakura carried Naruto away. He didn't improve until he was transported back to camp. Towards Naruto."

"What are you implying?"

"That either their chakra or nervous systems are linked. Maybe both."

Tsunade was pessimistically fascinated by this prospect.

"Do you think Sasuke is responsible?" she asked pensively.

"It is highly unlikely. Sasuke wouldn't cast a jutsu that would result in self-impairment," Kakashi stated.

Tsunade could see the reasoning. Sasuke put a lot of stock in his visual jutsus, and the Uchiha would be at a disadvantage if his senses were impaired.

"Then who would have, or could have cast such a jutsu? Why did they go through the trouble of transforming Naruto yet did not take him?"

The room was silent.

"One thing we know," Kakashi mused into the silence. "Whoever it was, they aren't finished yet."

"Agreed. We'll have to keep a watchful eye on Naruto."

Kakashi nodded.

"There's one more thing," the jounin added gravely.

A/N: chapter posted 11/24/12

Sis1&2 – We're not dead! \o/ Whoo Hoo! Thanks to our follows, favs, and reviewers! We would have no reason to keep posting if not for you guys. :)

Sis1 – Man, this writers block is a killer! We are having so much trouble trying to get simple POVs out… It's horrible! On a different note, I quite like this chapter :)

Sis2 – Even though we fought our way through it.

Sis1 – And even though the chapter is Really short after being gone for so long… OTL

Sis1&2 – We're Sorry! /\ Please don't kill us! We'll never be able to finish if that happens!

Sis1 – Back to the fic. To help clear up any possible confusion: Last chapter we left you with the cliffy of some 'unknown person' telling Jugo "Don't move", and we begin this chappy with Itachi telling Sakura "Don't move". They are different, as you should have seen in Kakashi's POV. And just so we're clear, Kakashi is that "unknown person"

Sis2 – So, any questions from the reader division?

Sis1 – Comments? Pointers? Opinions? Any form of help is welcome.

Sis2 – Like a beta! Our betas are both MIA! :(

Sis1 – So we apologize for any obvious mistakes. If anyone would like to beta reading our story—

Sis1&2 – We'd love to hear from you!

Sis2 – We are looking for someone who can help with plot/story line, spelling/grammar, writing style improvement, and character check (making sure a character is in character). If you feel that you may be able to help us with two or more of the above, feel free to PM us. :)