Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. No matter how much I would have deemed it awesome if I could have thought it up!

Thank you for the reviews and favorites. You keep me up! It drives the writer's block syndrome away hahah

To my readers( Omy gashh I have readers!): Sasuke will appear. I'm just warming up to the story. It has a lot of elements involved in it. But I'll tell you that it's worth the wait. Please enjoy! and Godbless!

Funfact: Time travel is only possible if you can travel greater than the speed of light. But by then you would be completely blind or non-existent. Unless of course multi-universes exist cause by then you'd be transferring to another universe.

CHAPTER FOUR

INVOLVEMENT

Thick smoke covered the air, making it difficult for anyone to navigate around the area. Fortunately the smoke blinded both parties giving both of them time to strategize. But like any other hot air, the smoke rose giving a clearer view of the place. Without warning, ninjas clashed with ninjas. Weapons flew into the air, some landing on the ground some on human flesh. The fight was so fierce and silent that only an occasional grunt, thud and clang of weapons could be heard.

Both didn't want to give away their location.

When at last the smoke settled, did the gruesome site of bodies lying on the ground and of destroyed buildings was revealed. A man with a scar running from his left eye to his lip stepped out and pulled out a kunai jutting out from a dead man's side.

"Where have they gone, Aiko?" another man addressed the man with a scar.

"They got what they've come here for. Chiro!" Chiro, a man wearing eyeglasses, appeared at Aiko's side. "Check the vault. See if anything is missing."

Turning to the rest of the people standing, he started shouting orders.

"Jiro take some of the men with you and take care of the wounded. Vishna, identify whose dead and whose not. The rest of the men come with me! We'll start burying the dead."

Tents were set up to aid the wounded. They crowded the center market, medical-nins rushing in and out of the tents trying to attend to patients outnumbering them by 3:1.

"Father," Sally rushed to his father, sweating. "The other medical-nins have collapsed. We only have 7 more left to attend to the others."

Jiro looked grimly at the many more unattended townspeople. Most of the people were wounded by the explosion caused by the gas storage nearby the fight. Many got a body part amputated or had pieces of wood or steel lunged on their bodies that had to be surgically removed. And worst of all, their town lacked supplies and trained medical-nins for they were only a town of farmers who kept the food supply up in the capital.

"Sally, go to the store and get the Sleeping Herbs. Give it to those patients with irreparable damages."

"But dad-"

"We can't do anything! This is-"

"Having hard time?" Jiro was interrupted by a woman's voice. Turning around he was met by his visitors earlier this morning.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to go?"

"You need help don't you?" Kishi said matter-of-factly.

During this time, the arrival of the hooded figures had already piqued the interest of the rebel leader Aiko. Seeing that they were in friendly terms with the old man Jiro he walked up to them, overhearing their conversation.

"What can you do?" Aiko said, looking them up and down.

"Aiko," Jiro said," we can't have these people involved in our town business. They might get targeted for it. The capital is always watching us." He very well knew of the consequences of letting his costumers aid them. The capital had recently been more active in pursuing the rebel leaders in the town. In fact some assassins had recently killed 5 of their medical-nins and 3 of the strongest of their soldiers.

"The decision is up to them. Are you willing?" Aiko asked.

Sakura smiled.

"We are willing."

Meijing stooped down to heal a man with a large wound across his back. He was barely breathing but still alive. The heat was starting to get to her. Reaching up, she attempted to remove her hood when a hand stopped her.

"Don't remove it, Meijing." Kiro looked at her with a stern face. "We can't let our village symbol be seen. We might get involve with this civil war going on. I'll take over. You go and rest for a while. "

"But-"

Kiro dismissed her with a smile. His hand glowed a brilliant green as it slowly repaired the damaged tissues.

"Your students are quite tired and I bet you have business to attend to," Jiro remarked after watching the other two. He was helping Sakura clean the wounds of an injured woman.

"Don't worry. They know full well what they are doing. We medical ninjas would never stop until the last man is either healed or died. It is a rule we must follow." Sakura looked at him. She noted the worry in his face. "And as for other businesses, I have already sent the other two to go back to the village with the Snake Vines."

She paused and looked up. For once the old man spied her bright emerald eyes.

"Thank you for caring, Jiro-sama."

Jiro sighed and shook his head. "Fine. I'll let you young ones do whatever you want to do."

"What?!" Aiko screamed. He was talking with Chiro. Jiro beckoned Sakura to come with him. They went up to Aiko.

"What happened?" Jiro asked. This was unusual for Aiko, he usual kept his control.

He reached out and gripped Jiro's shoulder. He towered over the old man by 2 feet.

"They got it Jiro."

Jiro's heartbeat started to rise. "What do you mean? The weapon? But we had buried it in-"

"It's not that! I thought that they were after that too. But I was wrong." He let go and sat on a nearby chair with his face on his hands. "They took all the letters: all the letters that were sent back and forth from our comrades from different bases."

He looked up and Sakura could see the dread in his eyes.

"That Uchiha's going to kill every last one of them."

Uchiha

"What do you mean Uchiha?" Sakura asked. So far as she had been alive, only one Uchiha still exists and that was him.

Aiko looked around as if he expected someone to suddenly attack them. He invited Sakura and Jiro inside a house but instead of talking there Aiko led them to small room just under the house.

"Since you're already part of this then I should tell you everything." He beckoned his visitors to make themselves comfortable and started telling his tale.

"Five years have past since our daimyo accepted the contract with the Sound Village. He thought that being in league with the village would help improve our defenses from other threats. I know this." He looked up. "because I once was a special ops captain. We all thought the same as the daimyo. But we were wrong. The daimyo put his trust on a young talented man. He helped us win our fights. But just as soon as the daimyo weakened, he tightened his grip on power and eventually got it. He got rid of everyone that got in the way."

"You got away?" Sakura rhetorically said.

Aiko bitterly said. "I would have loved to tell you that, but not exactly. I liked him. He was stronger than our daimyo. He had ambitions. Besides, I thought, the people he killed were corrupt ones. But the more I stayed with him I saw how cruel he could be. He started a training program that made our ninjas stronger," he paused. He remembered the cruel methods that brought out the animalistic side of people. "and heartless. I later found out that he had no intention of leading our village. At least not into a future, but into a dark and bloody war. We were only a means to an end-" Aiko was interrupted by a worried- looking Jiro.

Sakura was now looking down, holding her head between her hands. If they could see her face behind her hood, they would have thought that she had lost it. She felt the blood leave her face. She wished she was wrong but if she was right,

Sasuke could be preparing this village in a war against Konoha.