OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Naruto gasped in pain as his clone returned to him and again felt the moisture at the corners of his eyes. It couldn't be true, what they said...but he could find no ulterior motive behind it. If they wanted to kill him, they knew where he was, there was no point to their staying for so long. What, he wondered, would they do now?
He got lost in memories of what had happened since the chunnin exam started. He remembered what Kyuubi had said earlier, before he had been cast out of Konoha. Hinata...could she...really like him? He remembered now the date that they had that time, but no, she had looked at him like the rest had then, but when they met again, she had looked at him like she had before. There had been...tears...his curse seal flared up again and he grimmaced, putting his hand on it. He frowned. He would need sleep for the morning. He didn't get any though when he was pulled to Kyuubi's lair as soon as he shut his eyes "What do you want, fox?" Naruto asked, tiredly.
Kyuubi said "I've been working on a plan on how to get in that snake's library, but if you don't want to know..."
Some of the exhaustion Naruto had been feeling left him. He asked "What is it?"
Kyuubi chuckled "That's more like it, gaki. Now, listen up."
Meanwhile, back in Konoha...
Sandaime recieved a letter from team kakashi. It was in Kakashi's handwriting. it read 'from Teams Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai...we ran into each other on the borders of Sound while completing our missions and some of the genin thought to go after Uzumaki Naruto. When approached, said Uzumaki attacked along with some Sound nin and left several of the genin severely injured. We were forced to stop by a hospital on the way home and some of the genin remain there. I was also injured, along with Gai. Asuma and Kurenai will accompany the genin fit to leave Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji back to Konoha. They will arrive home in less than a week. The rest of us will follow when the genin recover, estimated time, two weeks.'
Sarutobi put the note down. Strange...there was something off there. He didn't believe a word of it. He wondered what was really going on. He frowned as there was a knock on his door and his named was called. A council member. Well, he would get the real story from Asuma. "Come in."
"Hokage-sama. Have the teams responded?"
Sarutobi held out the letter and said "They're on their way back."
The council member took it and read it with a nod "A wise choice." He left with it.
Sarutobi frowned. Damned council. He worried about Naruto 'What's happening, Naruto? I wonder what's running through your head right now, and I hope that Orochimaru doesn't influence you. Please, return to the little boy I used to know...'
Outside sound...the two groups were splitting rations.
Shikamaru said "Everybody knows what to do?"
Asuma said "You've gone over it more than once, Shikamaru. We can handle this. Don't worry." He locked eyes with his student "We'll save your dad."
Shikamaru said "Troublesome. Be careful."
Kiba asked "Are you guys moving out?"
Shino said "Yes, it is too dangerous to keep staying here. I have scouted out another location which should be just as suitable with my insects."
Kakashi said "We'll be moving as soon as you leave, once it's good and dark."
Kurenai said "In a couple of hours."
"Hai."
There was a pause. Sakura said "It's going to be tough, acting like I hate Naruto. I mean, he used to annoy me back then sometimes, but I didn't know...that it was all a mask then...but I never hated him."
Shikamaru said "You better become a good actress fast. All of you, or all of us could end up dead."
Sakura nodded with a gulp. Kiba said "The one who we should be most worried about acting their part is Hinata." He looked at his team mate with concern.
Hinata frowned "I don't know if I can pretend to hate Naruto-kun. I ...love him..." She paused "But I will try, try to be cold, like my father and sister, for his sake, and ours."
Kurenai said "This isn't a easy thing any of us are going to do, but we've made up our minds."
Asuma said "Konoha's been running downhill ever since that day..."
Kakashi frowned "Ever since sensei died."
Kurenai asked "Your sensei?"
Kakashi said "The fourth hokage was my sensei. Ever since the day he died, ever since the kyuubi attack, the village has been running downhill."
Asuma munched on a rations bar and offered half out toward Kurenai.
Kurenai smiled "Aren't you hungry?"
Asuma said "It looked like you needed it."
"Hmp, well, don't go hungry on my account."
Asuma smiled back "I've got another. I can't have a week team mate on a mission this important, can I?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Go get a room." Kakashi snickered when he saw them both blush. "You two have been beating around the bush for ever."
Kurenai said "You're one to talk Kakashi. You don't even have a girlfriend. Probably because of all those books you read!"
"Maa, maa, don't be so mean, Kurenai."
Sasuke was staring outside, ignoring the adult's banter, though it aggrataved him. Didn't they realize this was serious? He frowned. They would be going back to the village soon. Oh, he would be able to come up with a good bit of hate, that wouldn't be hard to fake. They'd have no way of knowing that it wasn't toward Naruto. He pictured in his head what he'd like to do to the council members.
Sakura was disturbed when she heard Sasuke murmuring things that sounded like murder plots. "Erm, Sasuke-kun?"
"What?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yes."
There was a moment of silence.
Neji said "I'm ready to get going."
Sakura said "Kakashi-sensei says that we're going to practice our acts and our stories on the road. We'll have them down by the time we get back to Konoha."
"Hn."
A couple of hours later, they split off into two groups. One relocated to another hiding spot outside Oto and the other started back towards Konoha.
With Naruto...
Naruto woke up when it was still very early morning, around 2am, from Kyuubi's lair. He smirked. The fox had a good plan. He would implement it in the morning, right before he was due to meet Kabuto. He should be able to get the justu he needed, if he was careful, but he'd still bug Orochimaru for justu, to put suspicion off himself, but it would take some preparing. He began.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Until later, ja ne.