Sasuke slunk in the shadows between the fires of the the Iwa camp. He had jumped out of the tent at top speed, using every trick he knew about sneaking and skulking to avoid detection from the Iwa captain and the woman beside him. He wanted to race out of the camp but evidence of his presence could make Sakura's detainment even more difficult. For now he erased every detail of his existence and moved with great caution.

But he was only several dozen feet away when he heard a woman screaming and Sakura yelling. Several Iwa shinobi stood up and a few began to run toward the tent Sakura was in.

It was reckless but he made a decision. He put on a henge to appear as a nondescript Iwa chunin and made a nervous face while crowding in with the other Iwa shinobi.

He walked in just in time to see to see one of the guards who had recently been under his genjutsu make a sign. The seal on the manacles around Sakura's wrists glowed a blazing white and seemed fly up and pierce her brow, knocking her back.

Sasuke tensed to leap to her side but he was not the only one surprised by it. Two Iwa had jumped forward, kunai drawn, apparently ready to kill Sakura there and then.

Under his henge Sasuke activated his Sharingan and readied himself to kill all of them, but the captain was moving through hand signs and the earth trembled as thick cement walls flew up around Sakura's cage. Touru was hollering at his men to disarm and get the hell out of the tent, saying that the prisoner would not be harmed until she was tried for murder. One of the guards took hold of the red-haired woman who was sobbing in pain and clutching her arm and guided her out of the tent.

Sasuke stared hard at the walls and thought briefly about using Amaterasu to burn them down. However, he quickly dismissed the idea as foolish - it ran the real risk of burning Sakura herself. It would take several chidori strikes to destroy the walls and he would have to battle a full company of Iwa shinobi at the same time.

Grinding his teeth he turned around with the other ninja. At least they also looked disappointed and angry as well, though for different reasons. He was committed to his oath. But for now he would have to leave it up to the damned Iwa captain to keep Sakura alive and unharmed.

As he exited the tent, Sasuke overheard someone mutter that the seal would have Sakura unconscious for 24 hours, which meant there couldn't be a trial until at least that point. Sasuke's heart jumped. If that fool of a captain could keep his underlings in line for that long...

Once back in a shadow Sasuke moved as quickly as he dared out of the camp. He ran at top speed through trees toward the Konoha camp and up to his tent, dropping the henge somewhere along the way.

He raced through the Konoha camp, ignoring the yells of surprised ninja, until he arrived at his cottage. At the door Yamato stood with his arms crossed, a completely calm look on his face.

Sasuke said the first thing that came to mind. "I want to see the Hokage."

Yamato nodded. "He's been expecting you." He held open the door for Sasuke, then shut it after him.

Sasuke swept into the cottage and shut the door so fast, the little fire heating tea in his hearth wavered and flickered. On one side Kakashi and on the other Naruto both looked up at him, nonplussed.

"Sakura!" Sasuke exclaimed. "She..." It suddenly occurred to him that they didn't know where he had been and that letting Naruto and Kakashi know that he just been sneaking around in the Iwa camp could be very bad for everyone. He cleared his throat and stood up straight. "Let's go see the daimyo. We need to get Sakura free right away."

Kakashi glanced at Naruto. Naruto nodded. "Did you see anything important over there?"

Sasuke hitched, shocked by both the astuteness and directness of Naruto's question.

Kakashi sighed. "You haven't worked with most of the people in this camp, Sasuke. You shouldn't underestimate them."

"You knew I was there?" Sasuke frowned.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well it was kind of obvious. Where else were you gonna go?" He nodded to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei and Captain Yamato know how to track really talented shinobi, you know. And I really wanted to know how Sakura-chan was doing."

"So you knew where I was going but you didn't stop me. Because you thought I would be your spy." Sasuke glowered. "Don't assume so much, I don't owe you a report."

Kakashi tsked and nudged the kettle as it started to steam.

"You..." For just a moment Naruto looked nettled. Sasuke knew he was being childish by being so stubborn, but it felt good to challenge the authority Naruto had naturally assumed.

"I want to help Sakura. That doesn't mean I'm going to go right back to Konoha like a good little ninja and accept you as the Hokage. Tsch." Sasuke nearly spat. For just a second he could remember the loudmouth knucklehead who always swore he would beat Sasuke, the one who could barely throw a kunai and messed up every jutsu. He was supposed to acknowledge that idiot?

Naruto rose to his feet with annoyed look on his face and Sasuke felt a thrill. It was immature, he knew, to try to goad Naruto like that, but he was feeling restless.

"Do you really think Sakura has time for this?" Kakashi's calm voice stopped them both. He remained sitting, watching steam lift from the kettle. "Weren't you just demanding action on her behalf, Sasuke? Naruto..."

"I know, I know, Kakashi-sensei." With an effort Naruto removed his glare from Sasuke. "I don't really care if you don't think I deserve to be Hokage, you bastard. I am the Hokage."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and asked a question that had been in the back of his head for most of the day. "If you are, then why are you here?"

At that Naruto snickered. He jabbed a thumb into his own chest. "I'm not really here. Do you have my hiraishin, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes."

"Keep good care of it for me."

"Of course."

Naruto nodded and grinned at Sasuke. "See ya." Then with a puff of smoke he was gone.

Sasuke blinked. No way... "A shadow clone? Wasn't he...?"

"Naruto has gotten much better with his clones. Much, much better. Here." Kakashi held out a slip of paper to Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke took it. "This is a summoning jutsu." He had drawn an identical seal on Sakura's bandages but had worked particular instructions for it to summon him. This seal summoned who ever - or whatever - was touching it.

"Yes. You'll want to hold on tight to it." Kakashi poured the boiling water into a plain white tea pot.

"Is this how I'm going to get to the daimyo's palace? I thought Naruto and I would run through the whole night to get there."

Kakashi grunted. "Naruto has a lot of trouble with the original hiraishin the Fourth Hokage developed. So he did what he's always done and changed the jutsu so it works the way he needs it to. But he kept the part where a Konoha-trained shinobi throws the knife, activating the jutsu."

"And that way Naruto can be in the middle of any action anywhere there is a Konoha shinobi." Sasuke completed.

"Pretty much. So far the concept is a Konoha secret. I wouldn't want another nation to figure out Minato-sensei's secret, so we keep track of every single one."

"Hn."

"He's figured out a few things, Sasuke. You don't have to give him your admiration, but at a certain point constantly challenging him starts to waste time."

Sasuke's mouth twitched.

"Well, I'm lecturing you again. I hope you're ready to meet the daimyo."

The only tea Sasuke had in his cottage was a simple black that he liked for its bitterness. The smell of it hit his nose as Kakashi poured it into two teacups. He remembered he had barely eaten over the course of the day. He sat in the place Naruto had been seated and accepted a cup from Kakashi.

The men nodded to each other in silent cheers over their steaming cups. Sasuke blew gently on his tea and cleared his mind.

He had been caught unprepared entirely too many times over the past few days and he could not allow that again. Even if he was not ready to be a Konoha shinobi again, his mind and his heart had to be ready. They had to be keen. He couldn't be just any shinobi, he had to be Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke grunted to himself. He drank his tea as quickly as he could tolerate and then stood up.

"Hmm. You look like you've made your mind up about something."

"Aa." Sasuke stepped over to his knapsack. He put the summons paper between his lips and dug through the pack all the way to the bottom. He pulled out a threadbare black kimono with the sleeves torn off. He had meant to throw it out several times, the only kimono left that predated his short marriage, but he had never managed to get rid of it.

"Hunh." Kakashi muttered as Sasuke quickly switched into it. "I thought you tossed those."

"I was going to," he said out of the corner of his mouth. It was snug around his chest and shoulders but its effect as he tied his obi was complete. He could almost feel his sword pressing on his back. He straightened the hem over his chest and brushed fingertips over the faded Uchiha crests sitting on either side of his heart.

He took the summoning paper from his mouth so he could speak. "Sakura thought the looks on the elders' faces would be funny when they saw Sasuke Uchiha standing next to Naruto. Actually what she said was their 'heads will explode.'"

Kakashi managed to look both exhausted and amused. "So you're doing it for Sakura's entertainment?"

"Naruto wants Sasuke Uchiha there to scare everyone into action. I should dress like they expect-"

Kakashi heaved a sigh, cutting Sasuke off. "Have it your way. You're just playing a role, complete with a costume. You're not attaching any pride to your name; it's just a means to an end."

Sasuke gave Kakashi a mildly irritated look and crossed his arms. "When I was a kid pride was the only reason I could get out of bed every morning. Now that I don't want it anymore, everyone wants to lecture me on how much I ought to hold onto it. You know exactly what it cost me, Kakashi."

Kakashi hitched softly. "I didn't mean to upset you. I know you don't want to see another person important to you get hurt. I just wanted to determine your motives."

"Tsch." Sasuke looked down at the summoning seal in his hand. "You and your trackers will know where Sakura goes tomorrow?"

"Yes." Kakashi stared at him calmly.

He grunted. "They'll have her in a court by this time tomorrow, trying her for murder."

"I see."

"I'm going to be there with or without a treaty."

Kakashi looked like he expected to hear that but remained quiet.

"Naruto had better-"

It was like a wind, spiraling out from the slip of paper with the summons in his hand. Sasuke could feel time stretch even though he knew it was not even a second. The wind pulled at him, compressed him and sent him flying. He could smell smoke.

And then he was standing on a stone floor beside a long table with several empty chairs. Naruto stood up from a scroll lying on the ground in front of Sasuke and grinned at him.

"Now can I have my hug?" He exclaimed.

-傷-

Thank you for the reviews! I love them and they encourage me to keep writing!

I had to publish this chapter even though it's short. Otherwise I would just keep editing and rewriting it forever. Have to move on...