Notes: Just letting you guys know, I will soon be leaving on a TEMPORARY hiatus. I'll be moving soon, so I'll need time to pack, drive upstate, unpack, and settle in. Don't worry, I'm not leaving the story entirely. I'll probably get one more chapter in before I'm gone for maybe two or three weeks. Thanks for the understanding guys, and I'll be back as soon as I can.

3

He was freezing and his legs were stiff as hell. Sasuke frowned beneath his mask as he hid up in the skeletal branches of a tree near a snow-drowned clearing. He and Naruto had followed a weak thread of chakra through a deep tangle of bare trees and found a swathe of swept snow and cold earth where the chakra thread had turned into a puddle, signifying that it had been a temporary resting place of the person they were following. From there they had had a rough time picking the trail up again--it seemed that the person had made several false trails and then backtracked to the original starting place in order to confuse pursuers. It had worked; he and the blond had followed three false trails before getting smart enough to send out bunshin to do the tracking. Now they had reached the clearing. Sasuke and one of his bunshin were keeping watch over the majority of the open area as they concealed themselves in the barren branches overhead. Naruto had made eight kagebunshin and all eight were lined periodically along the clearings edge, blending in with the same dead trees. The real Naruto was up in a third tree a little farther down from Sasuke's position. Not one of them dared to breathe.

"Visual?" the blonde's whisper vibrated through the radio collar attached to his neck.

Sasuke shifted his vision between his own and his bunshin's: "Solo," he mumbled back, his thin lips barely parting with his words. "Northeast travel."

"Close to number two," Naruto pinpointed the traveler's position according to the bunshin he had lined up.

"Move?" Sasuke asked.

"Wait," Naruto said and they quieted, observing the figure. The person was wrapped in a dark cloak, their face concealed by both hood and a thick scarf tucked inside. It obscured the line of the shoulders, making it difficult to tell if it was a man or a woman. They walked unsteadily, hunched against the swirling wind that swooped down into the clearing between two walls of dead trees, their footprints staggered, quickly filling themselves with snow. They didn't have to cover their tracks--the elements did it for them. If you didn't mind freezing half to death, this was perfect weather for stealth travel.

"Action?" Sasuke prompted after another minute. If they waited any longer, they would lose the element of a surprise attack.

Naruto didn't answer for another minute or so, then: "Moving out."

Sasuke watched as the first four bunshin in Naruto's ground line slunk forward, black flickers against the stark whiteness of the snow. They arced in different directions, advancing on the person on four different sides. The figure stopped dead center of the clearing and turned around slowly, uncertainly. The bunshin all lunged. Sasuke blinked, his eyesight blurred, and then he saw everything in slow motion. With a flurry of their black cloak, the mystery person unleashed an arc of kunai vertically, aiming at one of their attackers. The first bunshin fell back to avoid them while the other three closed the distance. Metal rang against metal, sounding hard and shrill in the freezing air--the person unsheathed a weapon Sasuke rarely saw on the battlefield: a two-pronged short katana. Snow flew, chakra spheres flared together, the hair on Sasuke's arms and the nape of his neck rose high--static?--and with a sharp cry, two more bunshin flew away from them, exploding in swirls of smoke. An electric barrier, no hand seals. Sasuke leaned forward the tiniest bit, his eyes narrowing. The other four bunshin rocketed from their positions and rushed the lone figure. They kept the current two at bay with the unusual weapon. one hand flying into seals. One-handed seals? Sasuke frowned. Not everyone can do that--it clicked in his head. Stealth forgotten, he leapt out of the tree and ran for the battle in the clearing.

"Stop!" he yelled into his throat collar. "Naruto, stop! It's the Raikage!"

"Wha--?" his voice came back full of static. "Repe--" The electricity in the air was messing with their communicators.

"That's the Raikage!" he shouted again, fumbling with the catch on his sword. "Stop attacking!"

"--can't underst--"

"Naruto, STOP!"

"Sa--pull ba--"

He came to the fight, wrenching his sword free and using the butt of it to attack one of the unsuspecting bunshin. It squawked in surprise and disappeared. Two of the remaining five rounded on him. "What are you doing!" they cried in unison. Poof! Poof! The Raikage used their distraction to finish her seals and send two forks of concentrated lightning bolts at them. Sasuke tried to shout over the sound of fighting and the howling wind.

"Raikage-sama!" he called. "Stand down! We're not from Heaven's Guard!" Bright yellow eyes flashed at him from underneath the concealing hood. The three leftover bunshin disappeared suddenly and there was nothing between Sasuke and the wild-eyed woman. She sprang at him. "Wait--!"

"Sasuke!" he heard Naruto yell his name and then his ears started to ring. His eyes became unfocused. Warmth flooded his abdomen rapidly. "NO!" A flash of black, yellow, and white rushed past his peripheral. The sounds of fighting came faintly to him. His back was cold and wet. His stomach was too. He blinked dazedly.

"Na..." he sighed. His eyelids got heavy, and so he closed them.

There was so much damn blood--it was painting the snow. Her sword, still alive with blue and white static energy, ripped from his torso and flung hot red drops across the blank sky. Some of it spattered on to his cheeks. Naruto grabbed her, feeling his temper slipping away from him. The blood on her sword was so red, so bright and loud, it vibrated in his vision. He felt her wrists in his hand--they were so thin--he felt no strength or resistance in them. So easy to snap, to pull apart. He fought with himself. Sasuke! Must get to Sasuke! Kill her. She hurt Sasuke. Kill her! With all of his self-control, he breathed in the cold air around them (he smelled the blood, thick and coppery) and looked down into her yellow eyes.

"Are you..." he struggled, " the Raikage?"

"Release me!" she struggled in his arms. He tightened his grip on her wrists, clamped together in one hand, and around her waist, squeezing the breath out of her and cutting off her movement.

"Are you the Raikage?" he repeated.

"Don't ask stupid questions," she glared at him, her face reddening from lack of air.

Suddenly, the world around them exploded in noise and movement. Naruto threw her aside and turned back to the still figure of his partner, knelt beside him and scooped his arms under the other man's shoulders and knees, lifting him effortlessly. Simultaneously in the confusion, he spun off a single kagebunshin and made it connect itself to the dazed Raikage, then took off back the way they had come.

Sasuke's eyes slowly opened. His head was pounding. He lifted a hand to cover his eyes but his arm moved slowly and stiffly. He frowned.

"You were wounded."

He turned his head to the side. Naruto sat back against the dimly-lit wall (they were in a cave again--the same one?), a little fire snapping weakly between them. The blond had his knees drawn up to his chest, his arms encircling them, one hand clamped on his opposing wrist. His mask was off and his head was down, his blond spikes obscuring his eyes. Even though he had a killer headache and was feeling extremely groggy, Sasuke knew something was different about Naruto. He tried to sit up and found that it hurt. He winced and looked down. The blood was dry on his uniform, staining the white vest an ugly maroon. There was a white bandage on the red splotch, taped there securely. When he tried to sit up again, he felt a wet trickle slide down his stomach--he'd torn it open a little. He tried to open his mouth, found the entire thing to be dry, swallowed, licked his lips, and tried to talk.

"Ah..." he winced. Dry as hell.

"The cup next to you," was all the blond said. Sasuke looked down and saw the little silver cup full of water. He picked it up and almost dropped it, fumbled with it, and brought it to his lips. He drank. Some spilled down his front but he didn't care. The sharp cold of it made him wince again, but now he felt he could say a little more. He cleared his throat.

"Where...?"

"We're back in the cave we camped in the night before," he informed in a monotone voice. "I have bunshin patrolling the area."

"The...Raikage?" he wrinkled his nose at his displeasure at the situation. He was so freaking stupid, letting his guard down like that.

"She got captured," Naruto said in that same monotone.

"What?" Sasuke winced a third time but tried hard to ignore the sting in his throat. "Who--?"

"I'm assuming they were with the Heaven's Guard," he explained, "and they found us...because of me."

"You?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Stupid me," Naruto mumbled, shaking his head and lowering it even further. "When you got hurt, I..."

It was then that Sasuke fully noticed the change in Naruto. His shoulders were a little broader, his gloves had sharpened nails poking out of the ripped material at his fingertips. His chakra was not fully his own; it was overlapped by the Kyuubi's essence.

"What happened?" Sasuke wrinkled his brow in confusion.

"I... When she stabbed you, I..." he struggled (his voice was deeper, raspy, like a growl). "I...lost it. And I could smell your blood, and I was so angry and..."

"What happened, Naruto?" Sasuke leaned forward, ignoring his headache.

"They came from the opposite end of the clearing," he whispered, "and surrounded us. I didn't know how bad you were hurt so I just grabbed you and ran..."

"You left her alone?"

"I attached one of my kagebunshin with her," he sank even lower, if that were possible. "I've been watching it the whole time. I...I know where their hideout is. The Raikage and my bunshin were taken to different places though, and they're...serious."

He lifted his head finally. His blue eyes were gone; they shone an angry, fierce red. The scars on his cheeks were elongated, whisker-like. Sasuke's ears picked up a slight hissing noise, which he connected with the small tendrils of smoke rising from Naruto's pale and sweaty skin. Cuts and welts peppered his body and then disappeared just as quickly as they had manifested. Naruto's kagebunshin was undergoing torture, and the real Naruto, keeping his link with his kagebunshin, was feeling every bit of it.

"Naruto--" Sasuke reached for him.

"It's my fault," he said, he hissed. "I'm so stupid. I messed up my priorities and we lost our chance to successfully extract the Raikage. I'm so stupid--"

"Hey!" Sasuke raised his voice and Naruto instantly quieted. "Stop that," he said in a softer tone. "You did just fine. You weren't sure about your casualties so you did what you could to prevent them. You also successfully found the Heaven's Guard hideout and pinpointed the exact location of the Raikage." He shook his head. "It's more my fault, anyway," he said. "I let my guard down and I left you without any other options. I'm sorry, Naruto."

"I thought..." he lowered his head again, "I thought you were... That sword went in, I saw it. That's why I lost it; I thought you were...dead..."

The dinner table was quieter than usual. Hinata looked from one child to the next, worry making her brow heavy. She cleared her throat, trying to think of something to say to break the heavy silence.

"So... Did anything interesting happen after school today?" she asked them.

"We ran into Aunt Sakura," Haku answered, his eyes unfocused. Beside him, Hana gave a noncommittal nod. Hinata didn't know what to do. She felt like she was losing her kids to something she was completely unaware of.

"How was she?" she pressed.

"Fine," he said lamely.

"She was thinking about Daddy and Uncle Naruto," Hana offered to the conversation. Hinata turned to her, eager to pry something out of the more talkative twin.

"Was she?" she asked. "Did she say anything specific?"

"She bumped into Haku," Hana wrinkled her nose. "He fell. She looked like she was thinking about a lot of stuff though. She told us about being chakra tired."

"Chakra exhausted," Haku corrected her automatically, but not unkindly.

"Yeah that," Hana lapsed back into a distracted silence. Hinata chewed on her bottom lip, frustrated with herself and the situation. She racked her brain desperately for something, anything to--

"Ngh!"

A sharp crack made Hinata focus on her kids again. Haku had dropped his rice bowl and was clutching his stomach, a grimace of pain stamped on his face. "Haku?" she leaned forward. "What's--?"

"You promised!" Hana cut her mother off, throwing her own food aside and scrambling over to her brother's bent figure. She clamped her hands on his and tried to work them away from his abdomen. "You promised me I'd be first! Haku, you promised!" Tears were swelling in her frantic eyes. Hinata got up to come around the table and froze, her stare locked onto the gush of blood that was pouring out from between her children's white fingers. "Haku!" Hana kept shrieking. "You promised! You promised! Haku!"