I've raised the rating on this to T. There's nothing *too* gruesome in this chapter, but I just want to be on the safe side for the future. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Chapter 3

Sai tugged the dark hood over his face, hiding the bright purple-black bruise over his eye. He wasn't sure if Danzo had told the rest of Root that Sai wasn't allowed to see Naruto. But if there was one flaw in the organization of Root, it was communication. All that secrecy backfired on them. Members of Root did not communicate with each other much; it was mostly solo missions with Danzo telling them face to face what they had to do. Sai only knew a handful of members from the ANBU subdivision and even then only by codename. Other than that, each member stayed relatively anonymous from his peers. It was said that only Danzo knew each members' identity. That way if one member was captured he couldn't divulge the identities of the other members. Therefore, word traveled around very slowly. If he acted now, Sai would probably get to see Naruto.

Naruto… Sai's thoughts were suddenly scattered. With alarm, he realized he was reliving the moments in which Naruto had been captured. Is this what they call a…flashback? Sai mused curiously. He remembered arguing with Naruto loudly. There was something that made him want to anger the blonde ninja, to rile him up. I was teasing him, Sai corrected himself. Teasing, he had read, was a normal occurrence in any friendly relationship. Sai was happy he had graduated to teasing ability quite a while ago, but only with Naruto and Sakura.

Suddenly there had been hands on Naruto, restraining him. A dark cloaked ninja. He had told them that Naruto was going to be taken to see his master. He had done some kind of ninjutsu, and then Naruto's wild blue eyes had rolled back in his head. The boy slumped in his captor's arms.

Of course, Sakura and Sai had tried to rescue Naruto. Sai had gotten a blow to his face for it, and the ninja had still gotten away. Sakura had thrown a kunai at him in desperation, but the ninja had blocked it with his tanto. It was then that Sai had realized that Danzo was behind this. All Root ninjas were issued a standard tanto, a short double-edged katana. Sai himself had one. It was true that other ninjas carried them sometimes, but the coincidence was too much to be merely an accident.

Danzo had captured Naruto. Danzo. Sai could still feel Sakura's fingers digging into his arm in shock.

Sai caught a look at his reflection in a passing window and he stopped walking. The visible part of his face was flushed red with rage. His hands were even curled into fists! There wasn't an enemy in sight, and he hadn't even physically exerted himself recently. I hope I'm not sick, he thought to himself, and walked on until he reached the Root headquarters. From outside, the building looked like an inconspicuous civilian home. Still, Sai looked around carefully before slipping in through the unlocked door. Immediately, the ninja guard waiting inside pried Sai's mouth open. Sai let him, sticking out his tongue farther so that the ninja could see Danzo's cursed seal mark imprinted there. The guard nodded and released Sai. Without even a twitch, Sai continued walking down the stairs that led to the secret catacombs under the village.

Danzo required each member of Root to have that cursed seal. It was of simple design: three thick bars and two broken ones. It not only identified one as a Root member, for those who knew where to look, but it also gave Root its secrecy. With the cursed seal, no one could talk about Danzo, at all. That was why Sai hadn't been able to tell anyone that Danzo had been behind Naruto's capture. Hopefully Tsunade would be able to figure that out on her own.

Sai's mind wandered again as he traveled down the damp, dim torch lit corridors of the catacombs. In actuality, the underground caverns were not quite secret. In fact, they were infamously legendary. Every child in the village knew about the catacombs. How to get in was an entirely different matter. Danzo guarded every entrance fastidiously. The old man was rather good at secrecy, Sai acknowledged grudgingly. There had never been an intruder.

Would I count as an intruder? After all, it's not like I'm working in Danzo's best interests right now…

Sai surfaced from his thoughts long enough to make a sharp turn into a narrow tunnel. He had to hunch over to avoid scraping against the slimy walls, grateful that he was not claustrophobic. At the end of the tunnel, he crouched down and gripped the cold iron bars of Naruto's tiny cell. At least the air was not so dank here; there was probably an air vent nearby. But there was still virtually no light at all and hardly any space. Sai found himself wondering what it would be like to live in such conditions, and involuntarily shuddered in distaste. Empathy, he identified triumphantly. This had been a good day for learning new emotions.

"Naruto?" Sai called out softly.

There was the sound of stirring and a groan but other than that, Naruto did not reply.

Hinata cast her eyes downwards and forced back tears. I failed. I was captured by the enemy. I didn't even manage to rescue Neji.

The thought of her cousin violently brought her out of her depression. She confronted Sasuke. "Where's Neji? What did you do to him?" Hinata had to twist around painfully to look Sasuke in the eye. Not for the first time did she wish she had a more intimidating voice than her high-pitched, squeaky one. Sasuke did not look impressed with her vehemence.

"He's with us, nearby." He said impassively, staring down at Hinata. She shivered slightly when she saw the coldness in his eyes. This man truly felt nothing. And she had thought Neji was expressionless.

Neji. Hinata closed her eyelids and tried to concentrate. She could see him! He was some ways behind them, his chakra was still flowing, albeit a bit slowly. He must have used up quite a lot defending himself. But his arm was twisted at an abnormal angle, and his entire right sleeve was stained red. Hinata anxiously tried to look for more injuries, but suddenly she was pushed forward roughly. Her eyes shot open and she lost her concentration. Sasuke had pushed her into the arms of the orange-haired boy.

"Jūgo, make sure she doesn't get away. Let's get going." Hinata was able to see Sasuke fully. She could see almost nothing of the old Sasuke in him. He was wearing the cloak of the Akatsuki now. Hinata wondered with a stab of pain how Naruto would feel on seeing his friend taking up the hated organization's colors.

"What did you do to him? His arm's broken…" Hinata whimpered, addressing the red haired kunoichi. She felt drained and empty. Neji was hurt.

"How do you know that?" The girl demanded in a familiar voice. Hinata realized that it must have been her voice she had heard over the communicator. She was holding Neji's headset in her hands. Hinata felt so stupid. She had charged straight into the trap, even while knowing fully that it was a trap! If she had planned it out more, she could have found Neji and got them both back to the village.

"They're her eyes." Hinata heard Sasuke say, and then suddenly he was right in front of her, bent down so close that she felt his breath on her forehead. He lightly rested his fingertips around Hinata's eye, as if about to pluck them straight out of her skull. Hinata shrank back as much as she could into Jūgo. "These eyes are the keys to destroying Konoha." He said it so softly and yet Hinata knew that everyone in the clearing had heard him loud and clear. Sasuke's fingernails suddenly dug into the skin around her eye, leaving a ring of marks.

The kunoichi's name was Karin. The white-haired one was Suigetsu. He was still holding the ridiculously large sword, but it didn't seem like he was having any trouble holding it. The two bickered constantly, and Hinata was invariably reminded of Sakura and Naruto. But no, Hinata reminded herself bitterly, Naruto and Sakura cared for each other. It was obvious these two did not.

Hinata lifted her hand slowly, aware that Jūgo was watching her warily, to gingerly touch her eye. Sasuke's nails had drawn blood, and there was some beginning to drip off her eyelashes. She wondered how bizarre her injury looked.

Hinata clenched her fists and reminded herself not to give up. Neji needed her.

Sasuke seemed to know that Hinata wasn't planning on running away any time soon because he let her walk free in the watchful gaze of Jūgo. The towering boy still had not said anything, and Hinata wondered not for the first time why such a gentle person was following Sasuke.

It was still unclear where they were taking her, and Hinata did not want to risk asking. She tried to keep her head down and think on a plan, but so far she had nothing except questions. What could Sasuke possibly want with her Byakugan when he had the Sharingan? Why her, and not Neji? And where was he taking her?

They were getting closer to Neji. Hinata saw a smoking campfire, some bedrolls, and then nothing else. Her eyes were immediately riveted to Neji, who was slumped against a tree, his face pale as milk. "N-neji!" Hinata tried to run towards him, but Suigetsu grabbed her arm tightly. She winced. He was definitely stronger than he looked.

"N-Neji!" Suigetsu mimicked in her high stuttering voice and snickered. Hinata tried to ignore him, but she knew she was blushing fiercely.

"Let me just make sure he's okay." Hinata said, keeping her voice as even as she could.

Sasuke regarded her with his cold eyes. "Karin, Jūgo, Suigetsu, make sure the Hyūga is okay and that he stays put. Hinata and I will go get some food." Karin looked like she was going to argue, but decided against it and went to crouch down next to Neji. Hinata stiffened; she didn't want any of them touching Neji. But before she could make sure of anything, Sasuke had his hand at the small of her back and he was steering her away from the camp.

Hinata tried to think. She was alone with Sasuke. When we get far away enough, I'll strike.

Tsunade tried to appear calm as she sipped her sake. She was being watched. And this time it wasn't some enemy's animal summons. She was under surveillance of Konoha ninjas. The irony was just killing her.

I have to throw them off. I need to tell Kakashi what I know. This whole thing reeks of Danzo.

There was a knock at the door. Shizune walked in, sporting a faintly fake cheery smile. Tsunade handed her a file. "Take this to the hospital." She said. She leaned forward to straighten some papers on the edge of her desk. Shizune leaned forward as well, as if to help her.

"Take it to Kakashi, at the battle memorial." Tsunade whispered, trying to move her lips as little as possible.

Shizune gave no sign that she had heard, but as she walked away from the office she discreetly lifted the file's cover. Inside, resting on a stack of blank papers, was a tiny blue slug. Shizune smiled and walked on towards the memorial.

"Hurry up." Sasuke said to Hinata because she was lingering, trying to get a bearings on where they were. Was there really somewhere to get food nearby? I have to get away from him before we get too far away from Neji.

She didn't have to wait long for an opening. When Sasuke bent down to pick something up from the ground, she jabbed a chakra loaded palm at the chakra node located at the back of his neck. He rolled away from the blow and pulled out his katana, but not before she leaped at him with another blow.

Her palm stopped two inches away from his heart. Sasuke had the katana between them; one move and it would slice through her throat. With her Byakugan she could see sparks of chakra running down the blade. Hinata gulped audibly.

"An impasse." He said blankly, as if noting a curious change in the weather. He began to draw his katana back. Hinata took this as a sign that he was retreating, so she withdrew her palm as well. She saw his eyes gleam too late. He had her pinned face first against a tree, both arms locked behind her back. She bit back a gasp of pain as the rough wood carved into her cheek.

"I need you alive." He said. "The Byakugan has everything the Sharingan doesn't. With them both I can crush Konoha. You're valuable to me, but just your eyes. Don't push it." All of a sudden Sasuke's voice was breathless, maniacal almost. Hinata screwed her eyes shut tight in terror. She felt him pushing her harder into the wood. She was sure her cheek was beginning to bruise.

"Naruto." Hinata muttered, her words partly muffled by the tree.

"What?" he said, lessening the weight on her some, so that she could turn her head around and look at him directly. There was no semblance of expression in his voice anymore.

"Naruto will make sure you don't, even if he is your friend, he'll make sure you don't touch Konoha." She said quietly, but with such passion that it startled even her. Where was this fire coming from? Was it because she knew how much Sasuke meant to Naruto? In any case, her reply made Sasuke completely back away from her. She turned around fully and continued on.

"Why are you doing this? Aren't you a Konoha ninja? Weren't you once Naruto's comrade? Don't you know how much he's been working just to see you come back to the village?" It seemed Hinata's inhibitions were being erased by the adrenaline. She walked right up to Sasuke and glared up at him. Even he seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanor.

"Do you love him?" Sasuke asked ironically.

Hinata felt a cold wave wash over her, as if she'd been hit by an icy wind. She felt her Byakugan deactivate itself as the adrenaline died away. "Wh-what?" she stuttered, backing away. He just smirked.

"Enough. Let's go get some food. And if you attack me again, your cousin dies." He said with the same exact smirking expression and turned around to walk, leaving behind a shivering Hinata.

Blessed be whoever invented Narutopedia. Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It was done a day or two before but ffnet was blocked on the computer I was using, can you believe it? Well, hopefully this chapter was okay, it was a pain to write for some reason. Please review! And oh my God, when I uploaded this for some reason, it got rid of all the spaces between the paragraphs! Sorry if you saw that... I tried to fix it as quickly as possible.