Chapter 6

Hinata thought furiously, of anything but Neji. She didn't have that much time. When the village found out that she was still missing, it would only be a matter of time before they found her. There's still Tonton after all. And the blood that I dropped onto Neji. That should help with the tracking. Normally, this shouldn't have bothered her. She wanted to be back at home. But she felt it was her duty to find out about Sasuke. She couldn't return to Naruto empty-handed. If he found out that I had the ideal chance to find out Sasuke's motives and I wasted it…he'd never even think about me again. Hinata told herself grimly.

But Hinata was only lying to herself if she said she wasn't curious herself as to why Sasuke was trying to destroy Konoha. The boy was completely set on this dark goal; she had the marks around her eye to prove it. She could understand why Sasuke had killed Itachi, to a point. After all, Itachi had slaughtered Sasuke's entire clan. But in her heart, Hinata knew that even if Neji did the same to the entire Hyūga clan, she would never have it in her to hunt Neji down and kill him. Wouldn't that cause even more pain? No, Hinata was definitely not an avenger. Not like Sasuke was.

But the question is what is he avenging now? What did Konohagakure ever do to him?

While she was pondering this, Sasuke hauled Suigetsu up on one shoulder and together, they went back to the campsite. Suigetsu's pale white hair glowed in the moonlight, serving as a flag for Hinata through the darkened woods.

When they arrived at the campsite, Sasuke dumped Suigetsu down on a bedroll next to a dying fire. "Go get some firewood." said Sasuke, not looking at her.

Hinata hesitated at his tone. Her lack of movement made Sasuke look up. He stared at her. "What's wrong? The fire is getting cold."

Hinata clenched her fists and felt blood rush up to her face, but she turned around and gathered wood. She missed Sasuke's brief expression of confusion. When she had gathered enough, Hinata began to carefully feed sticks into the fire but Sasuke motioned for her to back away. She did so uncertainly, and watched as he made quick hand signs, then shot a small fireball into the pile of wood. It began to blaze cheerfully.

Hinata could not help feeling that he was showing off.

Sasuke sat down and passed a sandwich to her. It had long since gone cold and slightly soggy but Hinata was not complaining. It had been a long time since breakfast.

"So you've killed Itachi, right?" Hinata asked quietly between mouthfuls, trying to sound nonchalant, as if talking about killing one's brother was a perfectly normal topic in conversation.

It was the wrong thing to say. She could see how his shoulders tensed, and she was forced to look away from his face due to the hostile glare he directed at her.

"Yes. Why?" Sasuke asked shortly.

"J-just wondering," stammered Hinata. She could practically say good-bye to coaxing information out of him now. Sasuke looked like he was ready to attack her. But why? Hadn't killing Itachi been his goal ever since his genin days? Shouldn't he be glad about finally killing his brother and avenging his clan?

Sasuke turned his burning eyes away from Hinata's face, and she sighed in relief. He shrugged out of his Akatsuki cloak, laying it in messy pile next to the fire. Hinata couldn't help herself. "Wasn't Itachi in Akatsuki?" she questioned.

He did not react so violently to this question, but he still sat stiffly, staring into the fire. "Yes, he was."

Hinata sucked on her lower lip nervously. She didn't want to push Sasuke too hard for answers, but she had to try, right? "Uh, s-so I was just wondering…why you joined the organization if you hated Itachi so much."

Sasuke sat with his knees pressed to his chest, staring avidly into the fire. "I don't hate him." He said in a low voice.

Hinata realized her mouth was hanging open and she shut it hastily. Sasuke was making no sense! If there was anything she remembered of Sasuke in his genin days, it was his passionate hate of Itachi. And now, it sounded like he even regretted killing his brother. Something must have happened that made him change his mind. But what?

Hinata watched Sasuke in silence. Neji had told her a couple things about interpreting one's body language, and right now Sasuke's body language was practically screaming loneliness. But his expression still remained as blank as ever. It filled Hinata with such sadness to see Naruto's best friend suffering like this. "You miss him, don't you?" Hinata asked on impulse, momentarily forgetting that she was talking to Uchiha Sasuke, and not her little sister. She snapped her mouth closed as soon as the question was out of her mouth. Hadn't he already made it clear that Itachi was a touchy subject? I'd probably be the world's worst interrogator.

Sure enough, Sasuke shot up to his knees and glared at her again over the fire. The heat from the flames was making his face undulate weirdly, but Hinata could tell just how lethal his expression was. "Shut up." He ground out. "Don't talk like you know anything about me, because you don't."

"O-okay," said Hinata, leaning back from his sudden vehemence, which was twice as hot as the campfire.

Sasuke sank back to the ground and finished his sandwich with such speed, she was afraid he'd choke. "You can use my bedroll until we get you another one." He jerked his chin to the left. In the darkness Hinata could make out something that might have been a pile of blankets. "I'm going to stay up and wait for Jūgo and Karin."

My own bedroll? Hinata wondered bleakly. Just how long was this arrangement supposed to last? Right now, Hinata didn't feel like staying with Sasuke, but to be frank she didn't feel like returning to the village either. She knew that once word got out of what had happened to her, they'd probably send out ninjas to retrieve her right away. They think I can't handle this. Hinata frowned. But I'm not as useless as they think! She nodded to herself and dragged Sasuke's bedroll closer to the fire. As she settled into the blankets she tried to ignore how they smelt slightly burnt, as if Sasuke had done a Fire Jutsu while still in them and gotten some of the fabric charred. It was just as well that the smell made her want to sneeze, because Hinata was determined to stay awake until Jūgo and Karin came back. She wanted to make sure that Neji had been delivered safely.

Just as her mind was slipping back to the questionable health of her cousin, Sasuke asked, "How long will he be out?"

It took a while for Hinata to grasp what he meant, but when she did her eyes settled on Suigetsu. From the outside he looked fine but Hinata knew better. Inside, his entire chakra pathway system was a mess. "P-Probably tomorrow afternoon, at the earliest." She estimated, searching Sasuke for his reaction. Neji had told her a couple of things about assessing someone's inner thoughts by the way they arranged themselves Sasuke's eyes remained as carefully blank as ever but Hinata caught the way he dipped his head down and clenched his fingers slightly. If she hadn't been taught by Neji and she hadn't been looking carefully, she would never have seen it. But it was there. Sasuke was frustrated and impatient. This delayed his plans. Hinata turned away from him and buried her face deeper into the smoky blankets to hide a satisfied smile.

Kakashi, Sakura, Sai and Yamato huddled together over Kakashi's tiny kitchen table.

"So basically you know where Naruto is, but you don't know how to get there?" Sakura ground out in a low voice.

Yamato nodded grimly. "When I was in ANBU I heard more about the secret catacombs, and that they were Danzo's hidey-hole."

"I always thought the catacombs were just a legend." Kakashi said.

Yamato smiled humorlessly. "You forget, I have the wood element. A lot of the old trees in this village have roots that sink into the ceilings of the catacombs. So I knew there was something under the village."

"But you don't know where the entrance is to the catacombs?" Sakura asked. Yamato shook his head.

"Yamato, if the roots of the trees go all the way into the catacombs, couldn't you make an entrance by moving the trees?" Kakashi asked.

Yamato leaned back and considered it. After a while, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, I could."

Sakura beamed. "Brilliant! Then we can get in and save Naruto."

Kakashi shook his head. "It's not that easy Sakura. If I know one thing about Danzo, it's that he won't leave an inch of that place unguarded. We'll have to be very careful about this." Sakura's smile vanished and she slumped in her chair.

"I just don't get it. Why did Danzo take Naruto in the first place?" She said.

"Probably because he's the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Danzo doesn't want that power falling into Madara's hands. If that happened we would lose the war." Kakashi said gravely.

"But if Naruto's fighting out there, he could win the war!" Sakura growled, kneading her head in frustration. She sighed and looked up at the clock. "I had better get to the hospital. Shizune's probably got her hands full with Neji." She got up from the table and walked out.

Kakashi turned to Sai. "Sai, you haven't said a word. You're on Root, aren't you? Can't you tell us how to get in?"

Sai shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the two jounins. "I…I can't." He said, looking down at the table.

When Sai looked up, he saw that Yamato's expression was severe. "Why not?"

Sai cast his eyes away as he tried to come up with what to say. "It…it would be giving information away. I can't do that."

Yamato stood up suddenly, knocking his chair back. He grabbed the front of Sai's shirt. "Don't tell me you're still following Danzo's orders after all this! You're worse than scum! Anyone who does that to their teammates is worse than scum. Isn't that right, Senpai?"

"Tenzou," said Kakashi quietly. "Sit down." After a startled look, Yamato picked up his fallen chair and sat down heavily. Sai watched him dispassionately. "Sai, open your mouth." Kakashi said.

Sai did so, and stuck out his tongue for good measure. It seemed showing the seal did not activate it. But he doubted he could get away with telling Kakashi and Yamato what the seal was for. Consequently, it turned out that he didn't have to. Kakashi knew exactly what the seal was for.

"They were very popular in the beginning of the last war. But the jutsu has one flaw. You can't tell anyone any information, even your comrades. It got a lot of good men killed before the Hokage banned it." Kakashi shook his head in distaste. "So I'm guessing you can't tell us anything about Danzo?"

Sai nodded. "I'm sorry." It surprised him how much he meant it. Yamato apologized to him somewhat sheepishly.

"Don't worry. There's a way around the seal. But we're going to have to be very careful." Kakashi said wryly.

Sakura made it to the hospital just in time to see Shizune nearly collapse from chakra exhaustion. She wasn't used to such in-depth healings. Usually it was Tsunade who dealt with matters like this, but as she was busy dealing with Danzo, it was left up to Shizune.

Sakura sternly ordered a nurse to make sure that Shizune got some rest, then rushed into Neji's room. He was a bit more than halfway healed. But the inadequate healing on the wound on his back was beginning to break open. Neji's face glistened with sweat but he was unconscious. They had probably anesthetized him very early on. Sakura took in the bloody bandages that had been peeled off and laid to the side. What had happened? Had Sasuke found Neji and done this to him?

But now was not the time to think about that. Sakura rolled up her sleeves, yelled sharp orders for a nurse to get clean bandages, and began to heal Neji's back. It took a while, but when Sakura left the room to wash her bloody hands and get a glass of water, Neji was sleeping peacefully, his wound completely closed. When she came back to Neji's room to check up on him, she was surprised to meet Kiba, Akamaru and Shino.

"What are you two, er three—sorry Akamaru—doing here? How'd you get in?" Sakura asked, and saw Kiba's eyes trail guiltily to the open window. They had snuck in. Sakura sighed. "He won't wake up for a while. It's useless to get any information of Hinata out of him now." Sakura said. Her guess was right. Kiba flushed and looked away. They really had been trying to interrogate a hospital patient in the critical ward. Sakura might have expected it from Kiba, but not Shino. She sighed. "When he wakes up, I'm sure he'll tell you everything he knows."

"You don't get it," snarled Kiba. "Neji, prince of the Hyūga clan, their prodigy boy, practically ANBU level skills. And look at him. He was nearly killed. And you expect me to just lie around and wait while Hinata could be…" Kiba's voice trailed off and he swallowed visibly. Akamaru came closer to lick his hand reassuringly.

Shino spoke up. "We know that Hinata is being held by Uchiha Sasuke in the woods near the small farming town to the east. How do I know this? Before Hyūga Neji was discovered, Tonton the pig arrived bearing a note written by the hand of none other than Neji."

Sakura raised an eyebrow quizzically. She wondered how Shino and Kiba had heard about the note, but she decided she really didn't want to know. "If you already knew where Hinata was then why are you in Neji's room?"

Kiba found his voice again. "We needed to know what Sasuke needed with Hinata. We also were looking for Tsunade. So we decided to kill two ninja with one kunai and come in through this handy open window." He grinned wolfishly but it did not change the expression in his worried eyes. "But we couldn't find Tsunade."

Sakura scowled. "You won't find her here. What do you need with her?"

"We wanted her to give us a mission to find Hinata." Kiba said.

Sakura's mouth fell open. "Don't tell me you were planning on going after Sasuke by yourself? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Sakura said, mostly to Shino because she was surprised he was being so reckless. Even as she was speaking, Sakura saw Kiba glance back at Shino. Shino nodded. Sakura took a step back uncertainly. "What—"

She didn't get a chance to say anything else. Shino outstretched his hands and a swarm of black bugs flew out of his sleeves and straight at her, surrounding her in a black cloud. Sakura fought the instinct to shriek, because she knew opening her mouth now would only earn her a mouthful of bugs.

As suddenly as they came, the bugs dispersed. Sakura opened her eyes to see them buzzing out of the window and into the night. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were gone as well. Sakura breathed heavily, then turned around and punched a hand straight through the solid wood of Neji's door. Then, ignoring the terrified looks of the surrounding nurses, she stormed out of the hospital and headed back to Kakashi's apartment. She didn't think Shino and Kiba would leave until morning; after all tracking during the nighttime was tricky even with Kiba's strong nose. But that didn't reassure her at all. She knew there was no way of finding Kiba or Shino before morning, if they didn't want to be found.

But that wasn't what irked her. She was mad because Kiba and Shino were going after Sasuke. Without her. If Naruto had not been locked up in God-knows-where, she knew she would have begged to come with them.

Sasuke tried not to grimace. He had planned on setting out to meet Kabuto the next morning, but they couldn't travel if Suigetsu was unconscious. Jūgo might have been able to carry Suigetsu, but that left the enormous sword. Sasuke sighed.

He glanced at Hinata. The girl was pretending to be asleep but her breathing wasn't deep enough to fool him. She had to go to sleep soon, or else he wouldn't be able to do what he needed to do. Sasuke rose slowly from the fire and saw Hinata twitch tellingly. He took a step towards her, and she abandoned the pretense of sleep to turn around and stare at him in suspicion.

Before she could roll away from him, Sasuke grabbed her shoulder firmly. He activated his Sharingan. He saw a horrified expression crash over her face, only to be replaced with sleepiness. Her eyes were going glassy and blank.

Hinata squirmed, and her eyes began to regain some alertness. Sasuke frowned and he noticed that she had activated her Byakugan. She should have been asleep by now but she was fighting him. He could feel her chakra pressed out against him like a defensive wall. She was trying to look away from his eyes so with his free hand he took her chin and fixed his eyes to hers.

"Go to sleep." said Sasuke compellingly, leaning closer. He used his chakra, weaving an additional genjutsu over the power of the Sharingan. Hinata's eyes rolled back in her head, and with a small whimper she slumped in her blankets and fell asleep. With two fingers, Sasuke closed her eyelids and sat down on the ground with a sigh of relief. She was fighting the Sharingan with the sheer force of will? Sasuke thought with disbelief. Never had it taken that much effort to make someone go to sleep when he was that close to them. Once Sasuke had even felled a man who had been charging at him with a sword. Yet this girl could put up more of a fight? Maybe the Byakugan negates the effects of the Sharingan? Sasuke wondered. He had never heard of this before. Surely someone would have told him about it? But then again, the Uchiha and the Hyūga had been allies for generations. It had probably been a very long time since a skilled Sharingan user met a Hyūga in combat. The knowledge could have been lost or forgotten.

Sasuke put the matter out of his mind. He had to send the message to Konoha before Jūgo and Karin returned. Sasuke bit his thumb until he could taste blood, and then made the hand signs for summoning. A large black snake promptly exploded into existence. The noise was not enough to stir Hinata; her Sharingan-induced sleep was too deep. The snake coiled on the ground, green eyes shining up at him. Sasuke held out a hand and the snake slithered up his arm and around his neck. His head rested on Sasuke's collarbone.

"You've been summoning me a lot today, Sasuke." hissed the snake into Sasuke's ear. "I only just finished telling Kabuto that you captured a Hyūga. He was impressed at your speed."

"What did he say?" asked Sasuke.

"He wants you to meet him at the port town near the Northern Konoha outpost as soon as possible."

"That might be a while. One of my teammates has been injured."

"So I saw. Handling two Hyūgas at once is more than you bargained for, eh Sasuke?" The snake gave a dry laugh.

"Had I had been there, it wouldn't have happened." Sasuke clenched his jaw.

"If you say so."

Sasuke ignored the snake's mocking tone. He didn't have much time. "I need you to take a message to the Leaf Village."

"Oh?" The snake asked coolly.

Sasuke whispered the message to the snake. When he was done, he made him repeat the message back to him to make sure he'd gotten everything. "Remember, to the hospital." he reminded the snake, then watched it slither away into the darkness.

Sasuke sat in the crushing silence for a few moments, contemplating. So Kabuto would come to meet him? That was good news at least. Sasuke would not have to worry about Madara and Kabuto breathing down his neck at the same time.

Hinata stirred in her sleep, mumbling incoherently. He leaned closer out of curiosity. "Naruto…" she sighed. Sasuke drew back in disgust. He watched her, but she did not move again. She shouldn't be moving at all, he thought. The sleep of the Sharingan is supposed to be so strong that it banishes all dreams.

So the girl thought about Naruto even in her sleep. Sasuke wondered absentmindedly if Naruto even knew her name. She didn't seem like the type to catch Naruto's eye.

Any other wonderings were cut short by the arrival of Karin and Jūgo. Karin came into the light of the fire loudly, beating the ground forcefully with the soles of her feet and sitting down heavily on the ground. She was muttering darkly to herself. Jūgo came in much more quietly. He skirted the edge of the shadows and stopped to stand behind Sasuke, as if putting a barrier between himself and Karin.

As the answer was not forthcoming, Sasuke was forced to ask what had happened.

Karin shot a dirty look at Jūgo before answering. "When we were heading there I sensed the chakra of an animal summons, a pig. Jūgo wouldn't let me kill it. It was heading straight towards the Leaf Village. It was carrying a message, I'm sure of it. Now the entire village probably knows where we are."

Rage made the edges of Sasuke's vision go white for one scary moment, but he forced the emotion back and stood up. "Then we have no choice. We're leaving at dawn. And if Suigetsu isn't up by then we're leaving him and his stupid sword behind."

Sasuke had never seen Karin look happier.

Thanks for reading! Please review, or I might have to do something drastic like kill off Sasuke.

…Just kidding! Don't kill me.