A/N: So, I've been working on quite a few things lately, and still have a commissioned piece to flesh out and finish, but I wanted to get closer to the end on this one. So, here you go. Enjoy.

Chapter 23

It's a Mad World . . . And We Be All Spinners In It

Sasuke curled back to cover the pillow near his arms. At least, he assumed it was a pillow. Naruto had a bad habit of stretching out in strange ways while sleeping. Blinking his eyes open slowly, he caught a whiff of something strange and wrinkled his nose. Turning his head, he could see a paper sack with grease leaking out of the bottom on the nightstand. He fought the urge to scowl, knowing full well that Naruto had only been trying to get him to eat before the training started up again.

The pounding in his head that had woken him had mysteriously subsided. He reached over to take the sack but trained his eyes on the clock out of habit. His eyes widened and the pounding returned, only from outside his skull. The door to their home sounded as if it was ready to spring back from the force of the assault. They had reinforced the building with seals, locks and barriers and that meant no one they didn't want to enter could. All the same, it didn't stop Sasuke from becoming uneasy. Something just wasn't right. Sasuke wasn't stupid. He didn't think Danzou, as hard-driving and overbearing as he was, would send a ninja out because he was late. So, then . . . Sasuke threw back the covers and slid into the closest pair of pants he could find. He raced down the hall and to the door on light feet but paused before undoing the locks and the catch. Opening the door, his breath caught at the sight of Kakashi on the other side. He didn't have the usual lazy stance and gaze.

"The Hokage requests your presence at her office, Sasuke. Follow me."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he gathered his shoes and walked out after Kakashi, not even bothering with a shirt. His heart beat madly in his chest, though he was almost certain Kakashi's hearing wasn't good enough to pick up on it.

"Why?" Sasuke asked as they took to the rooftops to save time. "What's happened?"

"I'm sure she'll fill us both in when we get there," Kakashi replied, his voice low and calm.

His hands were tightening into tense fists, something Sasuke had no trouble seeing.

"If it's about Naruto, I want to know now, Kakashi."

Kakashi stopped in mid-air and twisted to land facing him on one roof while Sasuke stood on the one below.

"What makes you think this is about Naruto?"

Kakashi's eyes were serious slits and for the first time Sasuke noticed that the Sharingan had been left bare. Kakashi's uniform was different as well. While he did not wear the arm guards and mask, the rest was that of the ANBU Sasuke knew he used to be. Tilting his head, Sasuke could just see the dog mask at the back of Kakashi's right hip. Instead of feeling impressed, Sasuke's anxiety took hold in a frightening grip, one with claws.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

Kakashi swiveled his gaze to either side of the street they stood above. There was an imperceptible shake of the head and Kakashi turned to leap onto another roof. Sasuke had no choice but to follow behind him and hope that Tsunade was going to clear this all up. Once they'd reached the office, Sasuke met up with Yamato, also dressed in ANBU gear complete with mask and Shikamaru.

He glared between them all before settling quiet, empty eyes on Tsunade.

"What the hell is this?" he asked nonchalantly. He was covering the growing unease as best he could, the only way he knew that worked.

Tsunade checked to see that the door had been secured by Shizune, who inconspicuously settled herself in the back near the corner.

"Sasuke," she started then paused. It wasn't going to be easy convincing the boy. Naruto had been much better at drawing the young man out into the world again. She needed to know, first, if this would drive him back behind the walls.

"Naruto is gone." She said it as plainly and as gently as possible. Sasuke continued to stare at her.

"So?" he challenged. "What does that have to do with me? If he's on a mission or has something else to do in order to complete the test, why involve me?"

Sasuke resisted the urge to bite at his lip and instead continued to glare. Tsunade pierced him with her gaze and managed to hold it while she slapped the desk with her hands.

She rose halfway out of her chair and barked out at him. "Stop that! You know very well that's not what I'm talking about! He's gone after Madara in order to keep him from bringing the fight here."

She settled back into the chair and watched Sasuke carefully. His back had gone rigid but there wasn't any other reaction save his head tipping downward. The fact that his hair no longer covered them, something new that she had noticed the moment he'd entered, wasn't helping him. She sat back and clasped her hands in front of her, forming a steeple.

"Do you want to know who is responsible for his leaving?"

Sasuke frowned and grunted under his breath. But Tsunade held out. When Sasuke could no longer bear the silence, especially considering what danger Naruto had gotten himself into, he broke.

"What? So it's Danzou, right? But you're not worried about it or else you wouldn't be so calm. Are we going to get him back or do everything myself? Again?" he muttered, keeping his voice tight.

He didn't want to appear overeager or worried. It was Naruto that could see that, and only Naruto that deserved it.

"Relax, Sasuke. Tsunade has a job for us and then we will all head out after Naruto."

Sasuke stopped breathing for a moment and pursed his lips. They were waiting? Naruto would be going after someone as powerful and deranged as Madara without any support?

"I'll only ask for you to hear me out first, and then you can give your argument," Tsunade started off. Sasuke forced himself to relax and nod, feeling his fisted hands beginning to tremble.

"I have a mission for all of you. Should you succeed in the next few hours, you won't be that far behind Naruto according to the reports of when he was last sighted in the village."

Sasuke glanced over at Kakashi, who nodded. He felt a hand on his back and turned to gaze at Shikamaru steadily.

"Naruto would want us to secure the village first. If we leave now, it will only make him feel guilty and angry at himself," Shikamaru told him monotonously.

Sasuke could see that he wouldn't meet his eyes. He hoped it was because Shikamaru had spied on one of their bouts of lovemaking and not because he knew something about this entire affair that Sasuke didn't.

"What do you want us to do?" Sasuke asked softly, biting his treacherous tongue. He wanted to scream. More than that, he wanted to run, to get closer to where Naruto was. Sasuke knew that he could take care of himself, far from the boy many years ago who couldn't handle being confronted by a Jounin level ninja or someone as bent as Gaara of the Sand had been. He just wanted to be near, to help him silence Madara once and for all.

"I want you to confront Danzou with the information that we've gleaned from a ninja who was found very near death this morning. Apparently, he was injured in an argument with a fellow ROOT ANBU member. Though the injury was critical and the time he spent buried in the dirt didn't help his condition, we were able to stabilize him." Tsunade let the import of what she was divulging sink in. Shikamaru, though surprised, recovered quickly. Yamato and Kakashi had already shared their views and fears about Danzou with her before, so she wasn't surprised to see anger and determination blazing in their eyes. Sasuke, however, sometimes so hard to read, glared as if he carried all the tailed beasts and their progeny within him.

"So, this ninja who was injured by a comrade and left for dead . . . what did he tell you?" he asked.

Tsunade turned her full attention on him, secure about how every other person in the room would react.

"He said that his teammate was to relate information on Naruto's whereabouts and his fighting skills along with the modified guard assignments to Madara. They've formed a partnership, though Danzou will likely use the excuse that it is a ruse. But it's blatantly apparent that Naruto was to overhear the conversation. He told me that he and his comrade could both feel him there though he'd been cloaked from sight."

Tsunade kept her focus on Sasuke. He frowned and his shoulders stiffened as she related the details.

"So, Danzou is trying to get Naruto out of the way? Not that I'm defending that asshole, but why send him out to Madara? Or is that ninja supposed to kill him before he even gets close?"

Sasuke's voice was even and low, as if he couldn't care less what was going on. Tsunade could see his hands tightening and releasing the tension he felt though.

"Danzou truly does care for this village. And his ways would not have been passed over for a more peaceful interaction with our allies and less war had this been another time. But it isn't. I believe he intends to use Naruto as bait to lure Madara out of his fortified hideout and away from the remainder of the Akatsuki members. It may be his way of thinking that he will have a better chance at assassinating him then," she explained.

Kakashi grunted and sniffed sarcastically. Tsunade glared at him and he went silent. Sasuke knew what she was going to say next and though he'd wanted it for so long, he didn't think he could do it when it meant losing valuable time to find Naruto.

"I want you all to take him into custody. Do whatever is necessary and should it become vital to use lethal force to save one of you, then that is regrettable but allowed," she finished.

Sasuke waited until he was sure there wasn't any more information on Naruto's heading and turned to leave the room. Kakashi put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"I'll lead," he murmured next to Sasuke's ear in that deep baritone of his.

Sasuke gritted his teeth but knew that he would have no choice but to give in.

"Fine. But you all should know that Danzou's quarters are vastly protected. The training fields, or his office in the main ROOT facility, would be a better place to try to corner him," Sasuke relayed.

Shikamaru nodded. Sasuke could see that his mind was already working toward a strategy of attack. Yamato and Kakashi beckoned for them all to move and they headed off to gather near the barracks that Sasuke had trained at the previous day. Sasuke waited to see what Shikamaru had come up with and was surprised with the plan.

"I want Sasuke to go in first, just as he is. He was supposed to be training today anyway. He could arrive and begin to workout. Knowing how he is, Danzou won't suspect anything until he calls him in to speak to him. That's when the rest will emerge through the opening Sasuke will make in the wall."

He turned to direct his next words at Sasuke then.

"You'll need to use the Sharingan to hold him under the illusion that the two of you are staring or talking or whatever, at least until you get the wall down."

Sasuke frowned.

"Why don't I just use the Amaterasu or another technique like it if I'm getting that close?"

"Because Amaterasu would kill him, Sasuke. We are to take him alive if possible. This is a necessary part of our world still," Kakashi explained. It made Sasuke feel foolish that he was too preoccupied with getting the job done so they could move on after Naruto to have been paying proper attention.

"Right," Yamato said. "We'll come in through the walls and try to distract or capture him. Use whatever techniques you think will help. But if he refuses to come quietly, we'll up the power, got it?" he addressed everyone, even Kakashi.

But before they could all start off, Sasuke had one more thing he needed to know. It was something that would surely jeopardize the success of their mission if he was lied to, so he turned the Sharingan on when he faced Kakashi.

"What about the other ROOT members?" he asked. "How do we know Danzou doesn't have one or two of them in Tsunade's office and they now know we are coming, or at least what we are planning? How do we know the information about Naruto is still secure with just us?" he queried.

Kakashi glanced at Shikamaru and then at Sasuke.

"I'll take it, Kakashi," Shikamaru offered before he could explain. Shikamaru rubbed at the back of his head and sighed.

"Listen Sasuke, there's no reason for you to want to trust anyone here. But think about it like this. You care a lot about Naruto, who is a friend of mine and as good as a son to that one," he began. He pointed at Kakashi and Sasuke couldn't help but catch his gaze. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could read from it.

Shikamaru kept talking and Sasuke found himself listening, really listening.

"He's special, that Naruto. There isn't anyone here who doesn't agree even if they felt differently before. So don't worry about how this will pan out. And as for any ninja in Tsunade's employ, I'm a prodigy and a genius, remember? I found them all weeks ago when she asked me to. There haven't been any new appointments since, though she would have liked to see you on her guard," Shikamaru finished quietly, his voice hiding a lilt of pride.

Sasuke found it strange as they weren't all that close but perhaps it was because he was just someone the other boy knew. In any case, he wasn't going to worry about it. They had a mission and after that they could go find his stupid lover.

"So, I'm just going to keep him talking and open a hole, right?" Sasuke said in way of reply. Shikamaru smile and nodded in understanding.

"Fine then, let's do this," Kakashi let out as he secured himself to a tree and used a cloaking technique to seemingly melt into it.

Sasuke stared at Danzou's scarred face feeling revulsion force bile into the back of his throat. The man was so manipulative that Sasuke wanted to force a blade of Chidori Nagashi into him and be done with it. He had actually tried to threaten Sasuke with reprisal from Tsunade and weeks of extra drills should he appear at the grounds late again. Sasuke sniffed and turned his Sharingan on the moment he caught Danzou's eyes in his line of sight. The momentary lapse in his tirade didn't seem to clue him in on what was happening as he went off on Sasuke again.

"You won't be able to survive as a ninja if you cannot respect power for what it is," Danzou was saying.

Sasuke wanted to vomit but instead he trained his eyes to the wall and forced Danzou to back up into it without breaking his speech. Once he'd pinned him, Sasuke reached back and grasped the handle of his Kusanagi and slashed the wood to the exterior wall. It fell away around Danzou but Sasuke was confronted with a sudden problem. Danzou had set up a clone of some sort and was now behind him with a kunai. Or else he'd had an aide transform into him for the duration of the training. Whatever it was, Sasuke now had to glance at Kakashi to find out what he was allowed to do. Kakashi gave him a very small nod after waving one of his hands in a very tiny signal to wait just a little while. Sasuke smiled.

"Danzou, we are here to take you into custody. You are to stand trial for leaking classified information to enemy forces and needlessly endangering a ninja without their knowing of it."

"You cowards believe you have any right to dictate to me? You all are far too soft. If you want me, then you will have to bring me along as a true ninja, in a bag," Danzou growled out as he stared Kakashi down. His aura was menacing and powerful even for a ninja at his advanced age.

As he tried to bring the kunai across Sasuke's neck, he cringed and wheezed out in pain. While Danzou's attention had been on Kakashi, Sasuke had been able to bring his sword into play without much effort. He'd used it to create a Chidori Nagashi that had impaled Danzou through the abdomen. But Danzou, as crippled as he was with only one usable arm, eye and leg, jumped back a few paces and tried to confront Yamato. Yamato gave a tiny hand signal and shadows thrown by the candle Danzou had been using to read by came away from the walls.

They enveloped him and still he fought. He set off a hail of kunai by triggering a trap in the floor with his foot. He raked his eyes up and down the walls but the effort was useless. His subordinates had all been undermined by Sai and Tsunade working together. The only two he'd had left as far as Kakashi knew had been the two that had helped to mislead Naruto. The shadows continued to squeeze into Danzou as he fought to free himself. His foot slid toward another trap. Shikamaru caught sight of the movement but Sasuke moved forward before he could use the shadows to encase his throat and strangle him.

He drove his Kusanagi, the blade he'd acquired from Orochimaru, through Danzou's chest. Then he filled the metal with lightning chakra that flared and spread in through the wound. The spark dove up and down Danzou's chest, widening the slim gash. Sasuke pulled the blade out when he could no longer feel the man's chakra and could not see his chest rise and fall with his Sharingan.

"It's done," Kakashi murmured needlessly. Sasuke turned to him, slightly out of breath.

"Now can we go find him?" Sasuke asked.

If it had been under any other circumstance, Kakashi would have said that his face and the way the words had come out, so exasperated, would have been funny. As it was, he nodded and they started off in the direction the injured ninja had given to Tsunade. He'd barely been conscious after having to try to hide his breathing, and he'd been covered in earth. But the eye that had been left uncovered had tracked them both. Sasuke sped up to keep in line with the rest of the team as they hurried on. He hoped he wouldn't be late enough to either see Naruto destroy the man he hated most, or else help in that destruction.

Naruto breathed out as best he could while searching the area around the ninja he'd finally caught up with. He hadn't seemed all that surprised or angry to see him and that had put Naruto on edge. The trees around them had begun to waver in the light breeze. All the animals in the area seemed to sense a predator on the loose. They'd gone quiet. Naruto couldn't even smell the wildflowers in the field a few hundred yards away. In his Sage mode, he should have. But time flowed differently, and perhaps weather as well, when he was on guard.

He shook his head free of the irrational thought and scanned the area again. There had been a tiny flicker that he'd sensed using the arts the toads had taught him. But before he knew where it had come from, someone had grabbed his arm from behind and tossed him up and into the air.

A mad cackling filled his senses and Naruto looked down from where he was being held against . . . nothing. He frowned in confusion, feeling his chakra draining away slowly. Madara was the one laughing, not the warped Konoha ninja who had appeared to kill his comrade for mere fun. That man lay in a heap at Madara's feet. Naruto gritted his teeth and began to shout at him.

"What the hell is going on, bastard? Untie me so I can beat some sense into you, you sick fuck!"

Naruto knew better than to hope that an enemy would do such a dull-witted thing. But he needed a distraction so he could figure out where he was. He knew that he was still in mid-air, but what he was tied to didn't make any sense. It was like bringing back the dead, and not to fight for a short time during an attack as Orochimaru had done. Truly having someone come back to life, to see and talk to them again, was impossible. It should also be impossible to float in the air without some kind of aide.

Then he heard the voice. It came from above, not out of Madara's wide open mouth below.

"Is this the one? Is he the one you wish me to devour?"

Madara was still laughing away as if he'd found the answers to everything man had ever questioned. He raised his hands and waved them upward, as if he were trying to get whatever . . . being that held Naruto to crucify him better. Naruto felt his only hand wrapped in the same warm energy that covered his right one. He fought and struggled against it the best he could, whipping his body back and forth and kicking his legs out. But the entity won and he was now strapped into a void of crushing, suffocating power that continued to leech his chakra. Soon, the first of his five clones he'd set up to give him nature energy would have gone to waste. Naruto sucked in a breath and tried to calm himself enough to think. He raised his head enough to catch a bit of color and realized the being around him was coalescing into an actual form.

The same statue he'd ripped apart weeks before, the King of Hell statue that

Pain had used to trap the other tailed beasts, stood over him and had him wrapped in his earthen hands. Naruto swallowed hard. He didn't know how to confront something like that without the Kyuubi, or at least the chance to use his own chakra. He narrowed his eyes and studied the base and the rest of the statue but found no way for just his feet to crack any of it enough to free him. He swallowed again and squeezed his eyes shut. The next voice he heard startled, dismayed, and elated him.

"Madara, put him down. Now." Kakashi's voice rang out from the tree line, a barbed threat leaking out of it at every syllable. Madara turned in that direction, still smiling hysterically.

"Really? Will you be all then? Are there more?" he asked amusedly.

Naruto didn't like the insane nature of his eyes. He could just make them out from his current height and they sent a shiver up his spine as he watched, unable to do anything. He gritted his teeth harder until he almost heard them crack. But the feeling of someone's hand, though he couldn't see it, forming lines and whirls on the back of his own made him jerk a little in the devils' grasp. He knew who it was and could tell from the surrounding area that his lover and Kakashi weren't the only ones nearby. He swallowed again, feeling a little ill at the chakra exhaustion. He hoped Sasuke would hurry.

Madara stopped smiling and turned his face upward to narrow his eyes at Naruto. He was frowning and the mad gleam in his eyes had returned. Well, the one eye. The other was still warped closed from scars that crossed much of his face. Madara stared at him with the one eye and Naruto shivered again, sweating. He knew . . . he just knew that Madara had caught sight of him.

"Sasuke," he breathed out and then winced. Sasuke had apparently resorted to using kunai to try to hack through the rock fingers that held Naruto's hands firm. Sasuke didn't say anything though he drew the word 'stay' on the back of Naruto's wrist. Naruto couldn't fathom what he'd meant by it but they'd run out of time.

"Now, Sasuke," Madara sang out, chastising him. "None of that."

Madara aimed a lightning technique near Naruto's head and he heard the sharp intake of breath before Sasuke materialized on the statue, blood blossoming out from a slash to his shoulder. Naruto breathed in deeply again and began to turn over in his mind any strategy that might help them all get out alive. He could feel Shikamaru's chakra not too far from them and thanked the Gods. They would need him if any of their ideas had a chance at working.