Normal

"Speech"

Thought

Kyuubi

Warnings:I do not own Naruto. Rated "M" for language and adult situations.

Chapter 70: The Nightmare Continues

Nine months ago, Myra had been brought up on charges of a murder she didn't commit. Nine months ago Myra had been sentenced to death. As a compromise she had agreed to give up all her knowledge, memories and abilities as a shinobi and Death Dealer to live a normal life. Her knowledge of everyone had been placed behind a powerful seal unbreakable by even the great Uchiha clan. The seal had been placed on her by Naruto and the Kyuubi to protect her from Madara. But it had broken Naruto's heart to do it.

After her memories were sealed, she had looked up at him with a blank stare. She looked so empty. Naruto walked out of the room, went to his apartment, and cried. He couldn't save her from her fate. It was a fate worse than death, as far as he was concerned. Naruto was forbidden to see her after the seal was placed, just incase her feelings for him could break the seal. Her father did manage to sneak the nine tailed fox plushy toy he had won for her on the day she was arrested.

Naruto watched from the shadows of his apartment when they got into the moving truck. Rai handed Myra the plush toy. She stared at it for a few moments as if trying to remember something about it. Myra looked up at his window. Naruto ducked further behind the wall so not to be seen. When he came out from behind the wall and gazed down at the street, the truck was gone.

Naruto had gone to the top of the Hokage monument that night to forget the woman he loved. He wanted to forget that she had made the sacrifice of her memories and knowledge because her DNA was more precious than her life. The council had agreed with the Ravenheart girl when she made her plea for life. The Uchiha clan was a valuable asset to the village of Konoha. And though the blood line was strong with in Sasuke, her blood was just as valuable. Killing her would cause the Uchiha line to completely die with no hope of survival, even if they did order Sasuke to take on more than one wife, with out proper variance in the blood line it would die.

With her life, her children could prove valuable to the village. She would honor the traditions set down by her great grandmother. She would allow her children to be sent to Konoha to be trained. But she would have no knowledge of where they were going. Myra would simply be sending them off to boarding school as far as she knew. The seal on her memories and knowledge were complex and almost absolute. There was one way of releasing the seal and the only person that could do it, was pacing the Hokage's office waiting for news.

Eight months ago Myra was thought to be dead. An accident that killed everyone, but her father, had been the cause of her death. Rai had been badly injured in the crash and didn't recover for several weeks. The body of the driver and what was thought to be Myra where found chard beyond recognition. Naruto had almost spiraled out of control, but Sasuke had been there to pick him back up. It was the Uchiha that told him there was something off about the accident. It was too clean. And somehow Sasuke said they would both know if she were dead.

Two months ago a rumor, just a rumor mind you that a woman was being kept by the Mizukage, now known to be Madara Uchiha. That piece of information came at a hefty price. Lord Hiashi Hyuuga, thought to be one of Konoha's most trusted shinobi had tried to take over the village. He hadn't tried to challenge the Hokage directly, but he had tried to take over the council, thus taking control of the village. His plot was discovered by his eldest daughter Hinata. And she brought the giant down.

Hinata was now the head of the great Hyuuga clan, and it was she that placed the cursed mark on her own father's brow. The meek, loving and caring Hinata nearly killed her own father forcing the information out of him. For a time, the village was in a state of deep despair. Hiashi had confessed to working with Madara to get Myra out of the village. It was Madara that had killed Wakanashi and framed Myra for the murder. And the last bit of information shocked the entire assembly of the council. Madara was more than just alive; he was the Mizukage of Kirigakure.

Naruto paced the Hokage's office waiting for any news to come in. The special ANBU was late, days late even and the waiting was beginning to make Naruto more and more agitated by the hour. It would take a few weeks to find the village hidden in the Mist. It would take a few weeks more for him to find his way in. Once the rumor was confirmed or completely rebuked, he was to return and report. If after six weeks he found nothing Sasuke was supposed to return. Those six weeks were up over two weeks ago.

Tsunade entered her office with a scowl. "Don't you ever go home? You are wearing a path in my floor."

"Where the HELL is he? He should be back by now or at least sent word, or something, right? I want to go after him." Naruto continued to pace.

"If I let you go, you won't go looking for Sasuke, you will take on the entire Village of the Bloody Mist to find her. Although I have no doubts you could actually do it, I don't need other Kage's thinking they need to strike first in order to prevent Konoha unleashing our one man army on them. The only village I wouldn't have to worry about is Suna. I am sure that if you contacted Gaara, he would help you take on the Mist, but he is busy at the moment. He sends his greetings by the way, as does Persephone who told me to tell you to "kick ass" when you find her." Tsunade sat behind her desk.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. Myra is alive…" He stopped pacing and bowed his head. "I know she is."

A very out of breath Shizune burst through the Hokage's door. "LADY TSUNADE! Saskue's been found. He's alive, but badly wounded. He's at the hospital now, Sakura is with him now."

Tsunade didn't have to see Naruto jump out the window the minute he heard Sasuke had been found to know that's what he had done. "Impatient brat" the blonde Hokage grumbled. "What is Sakura doing at the hospital? I thought I had ordered her to stay away from the hospital for the next few months."

"I'm sorry Lady Tsunade, but no one, including Sasuke, was going to argue with her about being there." Shizune stifled the laugh.

"In this case, I wouldn't argue with her either. But we had better hurry before she stresses her self out too much." Tsunade smiled.

0 – 0 – 0

Naruto had gone from pacing in the Hokage's office to pacing outside of Sasuke's hospital room. A very annoyed Sakura sat in a chair out side of her husband's hospital room after she had been kicked out by a very persistent Tsunade. Lately, the only person Sakura would listen to was Tsunade and even Tsunade seemed to cower before the shorter pink haired mother to be. Everyone knew it was the increased level of hormones present in Sakura's blood stream that made her more temperamental than usual, but only Naruto continued tease her by saying it was the Uchiha arrogance that was trying to take over. Naruto stopped teasing Sakura the day she punched him through the wall of his apartment.

"Could you please stop pacing? You're making me dizzy." Sakura sipped on some calming tea forced on her by Tsunade.

"I need to know Sakura-chan. I need to know that Myra is alive." Naruto stopped pacing and sat next to his pregnant ex-team mate.

Sakura padded his arm to comfort him. "You know she's alive. Both of you have kept that line of thinking since we found Rai-sama and the crash. I'm sure that Sasuke wouldn't have drug himself back in that condition if she were dead."

Naruto eyed Sakura. "You sell your self short… Mrs. Uchiha."

Sakura smiled sadly. "I would like to think that, but in the last few months and his never ending search for her, I have begun to doubt how much he loves me."

"Sakura, how can you say that?" Naruto looked shocked. "Teme loves you, are you kidding me? Are your hormones out of whack again?" He put the back of his hand against her forehead. "Because you can't truly believe that."

The hospital door slid open and Tsunade came out. "Sakura, he's asking for you."

Sakura nodded to Tsunade and handed her tea to Naruto. "I'm sure he'll want to see you in a minute."

Sakura walked past Tsunade in to Sasuke's room. She glanced back at Naruto, flashing him that same sad smile; then continued in the room. Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "Don't worry, it's the hormones."

"I take it he heard her." Naruto smirked.

"Yes and they need to work that part out on their own. In the meantime, go home and get some sleep. We have a rescue mission to plan and not a lot of time to plan it in." Tsunade pulled a map from behind her back.

"If there isn't a lot of time…" Naruto stood up.

Tsunade put her hands up. "It's late Naruto. I know you would like to tear out of here and get her now that you know she's alive, but this has to be a delicate snatch and grab operation. According to Sasuke, the Memory Seal is still holding. Myra has no memory of who she is. Myra is safe for now. Madara isn't going to hurt her right now. He may be a sick bastard, but I don't think he's that sick."

"What do you mean, she's safe? She hasn't been safe for eight months! He has MY RABBIT and I want her BACK." The blonde man growled.

Tsunade took a step back. It had been months since Naruto had manifested aspects of the Kyuubi. "Calm down, please Naruto." Tsunade couldn't tell Naruto now. If she told Naruto about Myra's pregnancy, nothing would keep him in the village.

Naruto put a hard fist in the wall of the hospital. The two foot crater in the wall didn't help calm Tsunade's apprehension. The Hokage wasn't afraid of him, but her scent did spike a little when he started to get angry. Naruto took a deep breath and calmed. "I will be in your office first thing in the morning. I would have Shikamaru go over that map and find a quiet way in. If he can't find a quiet way in to the village by tomorrow afternoon," Naruto looked at Tsunade through red slitted eyes. "I will not be quiet about getting her out of there."

Tsunade watched the blonde storm out of the hospital. Shizune walked up next to her mentor. "That went well."

"Hn." Tsunade mimicked Sasuke's classic answer to everything. "It could have gone worse."