Standard disclaimers apply. I'm just borrowing these characters for a little while.
Author's note: Kishimoto-sensei's plan is to fit the entire 4th Shinobi War Arc into a matter of days in the Naruto timeline, but I'm taking the liberty of extending it since war is never so quick and clean-cut. Events from the manga will be added, removed or shifted around. Please pardon my impudence.
I should be continuing this story, it seems.
"Knock knock."
Girls continued to mystify Gaara.
From the chakra signature outside, he could tell the voice belonged to Temari long before she even spoke up. Also, she had to already know that he could sense her coming.
So why the playful little greeting as a way of announcing her arrival?
Gaara concluded that it must be either something about his elder sister, or something about females in general.
"Come in."
A very familiar, and very coy-looking blonde female poked her head past the tent flap before striding into the tent with the airs that only an elder sibling could possess.
Pressing a hand to his paper-strewn desk, Temari leaned forward and spoke, "I see you've finished your meeting with the Intelligence Division this morning; lots of paperwork being left for you now."
"An astute observation, Temari. I'll be sure to tell our private physician to skip your eye test the next time."
Gaara's complete lack of emotion in both his words and expression only made the grin on Temari's face wider, if that was possible. She was stating the obvious, and they both knew it; the Intelligence Division meeting team left the tent not more than a minute ago.
"Why are you really here, Temari?"
For a second, Temari considered pulling the 'concerned elder sister act' on Gaara, but the more cautious part of her warned that it had been close to a week since he had been left in the company of a certain Yamanaka female, whom – according to Shikamaru's description – was "Headache on Legs". Gaara's fuse was probably as short as it could get without him blowing up already.
"Anything new from Sakura's team?" Temari's tone was a little too airy for her to properly feign disinterest.
"Everything here is from Hatake-san's team," Gaara replied, gesturing to the scrolls and papers with a sweep of his hand, "Since the orders will be given out soon, you should expect all four Divisions to be breaking camp and moving towards the Akatsuki base."
Temari raised an eyebrow, and Gaara did not even have to pause to consider if it was alright to reveal more information to her – Temari was his ranking officer, and elder sister.
On the battlefront, rank came before blood.
"It seems like Naruto and Killer Bee-san have been wiping out whatever nest of White Zetsu clones they can find enroute to the Akatsuki base. While Hatake-san's reports did not make any recommendations, I've consulted with Shikamaru-san and the best tactical move we can make right now is to secure these locations to prevent the enemy troops from taking them over again. This will allow us to make the final assault on the Akatsuki base without worrying about being surprised by more of those clones."
Temari had been nodding her head as Gaara spoke, and was still doing so when her brother had stopped.
"Spill it, Temari," Gaara's voice held just the smallest hint of resignation; there was no way Temari was genuinely here for a debrief from the Intelligence Division – she usually received such information during Gaara's officer meetings when they have been distilled to the bare essentials for each officer to carry out their duty efficiently.
"Well," drawled Temari, "I was wondering if you've been keeping in touch with Sakura since she left on this mission?"
Gaara blinked, both surprised at the question and surprised at himself that he had not thought to do something that might have been considered ritualistic in a normal relationship.
Unfortunately, the circumstances of his relationship with Sakura were anything but normal.
He adverted his gaze from Temari and tried to focus on a random sheet of paper, stating, "You know it is against protocol to include personal communication with mission conveyances."
"Gaara," Temari sometimes really, really wanted to smack the politician part of her brother out of his body, "A relationship does not go by the book, especially one between a Kage and a kunoichi of differing Hidden Villages… Hey, what about that cat of hers?"
"What of it?"
"In that case," Temari pointed an accusing finger at Gaara, causing him to blink in surprise, "Why don't you use it to communicate with Sakura instead? Find out how she is and all?"
Gaara blinked once more, then turned away and simply replied, "It's a cat, Temari."
"A cat made from your chakra-infused sand!"
"It's just a cat. They don't do much," Gaara explained, "Besides, it only listens to Sakura."
"Geez, little brother," Temari placed her hands on cocked hips, "No matter how you look at it, the sand cat is still made from your chakra-infused sand. There must be some way you can control it to send a message of askance or concern to Sakura. That's how you build a relationship – through communication."
Gaara still did not return her gaze, and Temari knew she was going to be ignored for a good, long time. Sighing loudly, she made for the tent flap, but paused just before lifting it.
"Just… think about it, ok?"
And with that, Gaara was once again alone in his tent.
Naruto, Sakure decided, needed to come with an instruction manual. Or at least arrive bubble-wrapped.
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" The blond shinobi practically jumped on top of her head the moment their eyes met, completely ignoring the fact that Sakura had just thrown a fistful of shurikens at him purely out of instinct.
Naruto and Killer Bee had received information from the Intelligence Division that Kakashi's team was close to meeting up with them, and for some reason yet unknown to her, Naruto decided to backtrack to meet them. It resulted in a near-clash when Kakashi's team felt two immense chakra signatures headed towards them and ordered everyone to assume battle positions at once.
Fortunately, Naruto's overwhelming Kyuubi chakra cloak caused Sakura's shurikens to bounce off his aura harmlessly. Either that, or he did not notice them at all, which would explain why he was currently grinning like he just finished off several helpings of ramen.
"Naruto, please!" Sakura all but shrieked as the blond wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet.
She could not convince herself to bash Naruto's head in, not when he wore the smile of a thousand suns.
To the side, Killer Bee did seem impressed by Lee's roundhouse that came at him, and was now chatting with the bashful-looking youth.
Which left Kakashi and Gai standing next to each other, both looking unsure as to how to proceed.
"So…" Kakashi turned to his self-proclaimed rival and scratched his head, "Maybe we should go round up some dinner?" Whatever rations they had on hand would in all likelihood fail to sate the appetites of two jinchuurikis, if past experiences of dining with Naruto were anything to go by.
Gai unconsciously patted his supplies pouch, and then nodded.
Everything about Naruto was infectious, as Kakashi found himself reminded once more about the orange-clad ninja's strange, strange trait. Even his clumsiness was infectious.
I blame Naruto, Kakashi thought to himself as he came face-to-face with a vent-like snout.
Because that had to be the only explanation why he had accidentally stepped on the tail of a sleeping boar, which turned out to be the size of a small barn; which in turn, apparently did not like to have its sleep disturbed.
"Nice find, Kakashi!" Gai flashed him a winsome grin and a thumbs-up, completely missing the point that he too, might soon become one of the irritated boar's targets.
Used to the obliviousness of others around him, Kakashi simply crinkled a smile under his mask and said conversationally, "This may be a bother to drag all the way back to camp, so we should let it deliver itself, ah?"
Gai simply tilted his head, completely ignorant to what Kakashi was implying.
But all it took was Kakashi's sudden burst of speed as he ran towards the camp, leaving an angry boar to turn its head to Gai as it pawed the ground warningly – Gai got the hint, alright.
Sakura was setting up trigger-traps along the camp's parameters with Lee when a commotion from the general direction of the camp caused her to whip around; she quickly assessed the situation – thundering movements headed towards the centre of the camp, but no accompanying voices or clanging of weapons to indicate that the approaching group were Akatsuki puppets or more White Zetsu clones.
That did not set her mind at ease, yet.
Lee leapt down from the top of the tree that he had planted a series of explosive tags, landing in a neat crouch next to Sakura.
He dusted his sleeve to dislodge a few twigs and turned to Sakura, "It's nothing to worry about, Sakura-san. It was just Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei."
Sakura blinked, a shadow of a scowl on her lips, "And what exactly were they doing – sending up flare signals to tell the enemies where we are?"
Lee had one finger raised and looked ready to answer her, but she palmed her forehead and said, "You know, Lee-kun, forget that I asked. Let's just finish up securing the camp."
Lee watched Sakura's retreating figure for a while before turning back to gaze in the direction of the camp.
"We are going to need a bigger fire pit," he mused to himself, and promptly began checking his surroundings for suitable firewood.
The clatter of carelessly-dropped firewood onto the dusty ground earned Sakura but a mere glance from her motley team before they turned their attention back to something far bigger.
Literally.
"… tonkatsu, chasu ramen, buta kakuni, shabu shabu…"
From the direction of the voice, it became clear that Naruto had decided to sunbathe on the back of the unconscious, hugely-oversized boar while fantasising about everything and anything that could be made out of pork.
"Oi, Naruto," Sakura regained her composure and walked towards the side of the fallen beast, "You know we don't have the ingredients for any of those dishes, right?"
From somewhere above her line of vision, Naruto whined.
"Sakura-chan, it's been months since we have eaten anything halfway-decent. Couldn't you just let me dream for a bit?"
Sakura sighed softly to herself as she knelt down to begin picking up the firewood that she had dropped. Lee was heaving along a pile of it that was twice his own height, and she had insisted politely but firmly to help him. On their way back to camp, she had asked the young man why he decided they needed enough wood to build a cabin; Lee simply grinned and said something about a special dinner.
A dinner so special, Sakura worked out that probably needed more firewood to roast the boar whole over a fire.
That image was strangely comforting – only Naruto could inspire such madness around their lives.
Sakura had learnt earlier that when Kakashi and Gai came trampling back into camp with the boar keen on skewering them with its inhumanly-sharp fangs, it took Killer Bee and Naruto but a second to work out that dinner was being served. Two sychronised drop-kicks later, the poor beast was down for the count and most likely suffering from a serious concussion.
Right now, Kakashi was studying the beast, tilting his head from one side to another in an almost academic manner. Finally, he nodded to himself and moved towards the jugular of the still-breathing animal.
Sakura knew what was coming, and despite all her years as both kunoichi and medic, was not prepared to witness a calculated ending of a life, animal or not. So she turned her back to the scene and started in the direction of a lake she saw while setting up the perimeter traps with Lee.
The sand cat materalised quietly beside her, and fell into step with its owner. Every so often, it would rub up against one of her ankles and purr – it was a comforting gesture.
As the sounds of dinner preparation faded into the distance, so did the lake come into view. The sun had started dipping into the horizon, setting the lake aglow in a blaze of liquid fire. It was a fair-sized lake, fed by a slow-running stream that ran almost parallel to the horizon from where Sakura was standing.
Sakura was seated on a patch of feather-like grass before she came back to herself.
It took her a moment longer to realise that she was no longer alone. Well, not counting the sand-cat.
"So," Naruto's voice was almost too serious, "Uchiha Madara."
Sakura looked up at the blond, waiting for him to catch her gaze. When their eyes finally met, she patted the ground next to her as an invitation; Naruto took it after a second of hesitation. They both turned to face the lake, the tension of words yet unspoken lingering above them.
"The whole Uchiha clan is insane," declared Sakura towards the skies.
Naruto blinked, and asked uncertainly, "How insane?"
"Stark-raving, mortality-defying, logic-rewriting insane."
Naruto blinked once more at her, then promptly fell ass-over-head in uproarious laughter. The sand-cat puffed up and made a hissing sound as it narrowly dodged Naruto's flailing limbs, deciding instead to crowd up against Sakura's side to shield its owner from the blond.
"It's not that funny, Naruto," Sakura admonished as she smacked the side of his head with a little more force than necessary, although she could not keep the upturn of her lips at bay either.
"No… no…" Naruto managed between gasps of air to control his mirth, "It's funny… because it's just… so damn true!"
An immortal, bent on gathering the greatest monsters in the land and reuniting them as one. Harnessing the power of the now-singular beast, he would turn the moon into the grandest hypnosis device ever and use it to control the minds of the entire human race.
Oh yeah, that definitely did not sound like a bad science fiction/fantasy movie plot or something.
It was the image of Uchiha Madara standing atop a mountain and giving his villain-standard monologue, his Akatsuki cloak billowing behind him with the snarling Jyuubi as his backdrop that sent Sakura into her own fit of giggles.
Meanwhile, the poor sand-cat, unused to the increased volume of noise around it, chose to show its displeasure by pulling back its ears and glaring at Naruto's pants.
After a few minutes of uncontrolled laughter, both shinobis quieted down and settled back to sitting side-by-side.
"Hey," they both began at the exact same moment.
Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks, and exploded into laughter once more.
The sand-cat had taken to hiding under some nearby bushes. It decided quietly to itself that someday, it would have to remove the orange-clad human from its owner for good – that orange being was just too loud and a bad influence on Sakura.
"Naruto, can you promise me something?"
"Sure." No hesitations, no pauses.
Sakura looked down at her knotted fingers, "Promise me that you will not try to talk Madara out of this war.
"Nagato-san, Raikage-sama… they all listened to you because they were unknowing players in Madara's twisted game of chess. And above all, they are honourable shinobis, willing to put the lives of others before their own. But Madara is the mastermind behind this entire madness – a goal that he spent decades working towards. He uses people like pawns and discards them once their usefulness runs out. He will never listen to reason.
"So promise me, Naruto. Promise me that you will not try to talk sense to a man who has already taken so much away from the shinobi world."
Naruto gave Sakura one of the most serious looks she had ever seen on him, and promptly replied, "Sorry, Sakura-chan. I can't do that."
"Wh…" Sakura did not manage to get even a word out before Naruto held up a fist he made in the direction of the lake.
With a sorrow-tinged smile, Naruto explained, "No one has heard Uchiha Madara's side of the story. I am going to give him a chance to explain his actions, and maybe his actions might have been born the same way that Nagato, Itachi and Sasuke's were."
Every villain is a hero in his own mind.
Which brings to mind a certain former Team Seven member.
"Have you forgiven Sasuke, Naruto?" she asked softly.
"Nope."
Sakura froze, but only for a second.
"I never hated Sasuke to begin with," Naruto turned to her and grinned, "Sure, we fought a lot and always try to one-up each other, but he's like a brother to me. Brothers are always trying to one-up each other. You can't hate someone you consider a brother."
Sakura slammed both palms against the ground; it was fortunate that they were on the grassy banks, otherwise, the ground would have been dotted with cracks by her actions.
"Naruto, putting a hole in your chest and drawing a sword against you is more than just some brotherly sparring! I know he is your good… no, probably one of your dearest friends, but don't you think you should at least be a tiny bit angry that he did all that to you?!"
"Oh, I'm angry alright," Naruto cracked his knuckles, "I'm angry that we never got to settling who is the stronger one between us."
For some reason, Naruto's reply brought to mind Gaara's own words about Sasuke.
"He could no longer see the love and friendship he had waiting for him all along. He claims that he has deliberately closed his eyes to even the slightest sliver of light," Gaara paused to look at Sakura, trying to read her expression, "Do you still think he can be saved, so blinded he is by his hatred?"
Those were not the words of a man who held a grudge, despite the years Shukaku had later inside Gaara to nurse its hatred of Sasuke for the shame that he had brought them at the Chunin Examinations.
Which led Sakura to only one conclusion.
"I'm being really petty… about Sasuke, aren't I?" She whispered, "It seems like everyone I know is ready to forgive him, but for some reason, I…"
Naruto laid one hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently; it was the reassuring presence of someone familiar that she needed.
"Up until a few months ago, I was still completely convinced that I loved Sasuke. Do you think maybe that's why I have so much trouble forgiving his actions? Because of some repressed feeli…"
"Aw, Sakura-chan!" Naruto started scratching his head in an exaggerated manner, "You know I'm no good at this touchy-feely stuff! Maybe, I dunno, you can't forgive him for hurting Gaara instead?"
As if on cue, the sand-cat hissed and leapt out from its hiding place under the bushes, a cloud of sand trailing behind it. It took Sakura a moment longer to realise it was not so much as the sand-cat being followed, but Mr. Fluffy-kins' tail having disintegrated into said cloud of sand. Making an agitated sound, the sand-cat bound right into Sakura's slack arms and crowded up against her chest, turning around only once to hiss at its own now-vanished tail.
"Mr. Fluffy-kins! Wha…" Sakura barely begun to speak when the cat's former tail started to tighten and wind into a compact stream of sand. The sand hovered in the air for a moment, and for one ridiculous second, Sakura thought that it looked… hesistant.
Sakura was not certain that she was up to dealing with self-aware sand with all that she had on her plate already.
It was a familiar ticklish sensation settling on the back of her hand that gave her a hint of what was coming.
'Be safe.'
Naruto, who had by then stopped worrying that the sand cat was going to attack his pants once more, was glancing over Sakura's shoulder.
"Wow. That's really… romantic," Naruto commented in a badly-suppressed tone of disappointment.
The blond was looking forward to seeing some outlandish declarations of undying love that he could hold over Gaara's head when they were to meet again; though, at least Gaara was manly enough to not write love poems to his punch-happy Sakura-chan.
What Naruto did not notice was how some of the sand had settled on the ground next to Sakura's sandal and spelt out a sentence; it formed letters and words out of his view but not Sakura's, and after a pause, vanished to re-form as the sand cat's tail.
'Your absence has been keenly felt.'
Sakura supposed it was Gaara's way of saying "I missed you" in the most romantic way possible within enemy territory.
"Yosh!" Naruto pumped a fist into the air, reminding Sakura that she was not alone, "Now I know there is something I can beat Gaara at – writing love letters! Even I can write better than just two words!"
Sakura nodded at his enthusiasm, too polite to comment that Naruto had no other party to write a love letter to to begin with.
"You should reply to that," came a voice from behind them.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
"Stop sneaking up on people when we're practically in the enemy's backyard!" Sakura all but yelled at the smiling man.
"Forgive me, Sakura-chan," Kakashi looked just about as sorry as he was on any other day, "I shall send out a chakra flare to alert you that dinner is ready the next time."
On one hand, Sakura had to concede that masking his chakra was a correct move on Kakashi's part; on the other hand, she was actually reaching for the poison-tipped shuriken and could have launched them if her brain suddenly reminded her that Naruto was not the only friendly face around.
"Come on now, you two," Kakashi beckoned them with a lethargic wave of his hand, "And Sakura, I'm sure I can spare you some parchment paper to write back to Kazekage-sama with."
"Thank you for the offer, Kakashi-sensei, but I have my own stationary," Sakura smiled.
"Ever prepared, Sakura-chan."
"Of course, sensei."
In the name of sibling bonding, Temari had decided to have dinner with Gaara in his tent.
She was not there to learn more about the developments of her younger brother's love life, she told her grinning self.
Kankurou was an unwilling but unfortunate participant in his sister's plans.
Dinner was a quiet affair – silent, but not awkward. Temari and Kankurou were long used to Gaara's aloofness.
Especially when he had something, or someone, on his mind, the ever-caring elder sister thought to herself.
It was during the after-dinner tea when the situation finally took a turn for the noisier side – namely because the sand-cat decided to materialise over Gaara's table and nearly knock over his scalding-hot cup of green tea. Kankurou was saved from getting second-degree burns on his crotch by Gaara's sand reaching out in time to steady the cup.
"Mun?" Gaara asked in mild surprise; he had tried to summon his creation to pass his concerns to Sakura, but the sand-cat had refused to appear before him. It resulted in him resorting to directly commanding part of the sand-cat's body to change into writing for him at some chakra expense.
Sakura would kill him if she knew he was using chakra to communicate with her.
He would have to come up with some creative explanation as to how he turned part of Mun into a sand message before Sakura returned.
"Hey Gaara, what does the note say?" Temari was almost hopping as she pressed both hands on the edge of Gaara's table.
The redhead looked down at the sand-cat's neck and noted that there was indeed a small, rolled up piece of paper tied to its neck with a pink ribbon. He untied the knot, unfurled the note, and quickly scanned it before smirking.
"Well?" Temari was two seconds away from snatching the note to read it.
"See for yourself," Gaara handed her the note with odd casualness as the sand-cat vanished back to Sakura's side.
Baffled by how easily Gaara relinquished the note, Temari turned her eyes to the content of the notes.
"Is this a… mission status report?" she asked over Kankurou's head who was also reading the note, disbelief evident in her voice.
Gaara nodded once, causing Temari to throw her arms up into the air and nearly clocking Kankurou in the nose.
"You two are romantically-challenged! I'm never going to see nephews or nieces for the next hundred years, I swear!"
"There's still me…" Kankurou voiced out.
Temari shot Kankurou a look that clearly said "I don't want to see what your kids are going to be like."
Gaara continued to watch his siblings bicker, his eyes straying but once to the writing on the inside of the ribbon.
"I missed you, too."