Clash in the Snow Country: Legacy Version

Chapter 22 – On the Road Again

5:31 pm

Three figures sped through the tree branches at the speed and grace of a dashing cheetah, fast and agile as they made their way through the snow-covered forest, but at a speed one knew they could only maintain for so long. The three figures didn't care about that, pushing themselves as hard as they could in order to get to their destination. They had to see if what the snake had claimed was true or not.

And regardless if the leader of Otogakure was full of hot air or really was on the level, one of the two most certainly had the Hex Crystal, so if nothing else, they had to retrieve the bodies to reclaim the key asset for Doto's schemes and Snow's ambitions.

Finally reaching the battle site, the San Eihei landed on the snow-covered grounds. They saw that their defeated countrymen were nowhere to be found as everyone was gone. Tracks suggested that summons had helped carry the injured away, but given the number of hours that had passed since the battle, it was difficult to tell if any of the defeated had managed to recover and help their fellows or if a Snow patrol had come along and gave assistance. That second option was the one that seemed most likely to the three Sentinels.

Mizore had mixed feelings about that. He was a Snow Ninja, so knowing that his countrymen were getting aid made him feel slightly better. These weren't rebels like those accursed Saati Koukennin who were the very definition of stubborn fools fighting for a lost cause; these were comrades who had fought against three Leaf enemies in the name of Doto, who had somehow been defeated by these little kids. Though now knowing the blond's little secret changed the perspective entirely and made sense. With the Kyuubi itself fighting on the brats' side, it was no wonder fifty common level soldiers had been defeated. It even explained why such a creature like Gamabunta could be summoned to the battlefield!

The other side of the fence was that they couldn't truly be that weak. Not being able to stop the Kyuubi host, he could understand, but that meant they should have been able to stop the other two! Some low class Uchiha and a stupid little girl! Sure, Fubuki had been taken off guard by the Uchiha's tactics (a thought that still made him snicker in glee), but he dealt with the pink-haired bitch easily enough.

He subconsciously rubbed his nose as the three Jonins began scouting out the battlefield. He picked up a discarded katana and threw it away in disgust as he used his metal arm to clear around the snow, making sure the bodies were simply buried underneath all the snow here.

"Over here!" Mizore heard Nadare call out.

Seconds later, both Fubuki and Mizore landed on either side of their teammate. In front of them was a large hole in the frozen ice.

"So they did escape," Fubuki stated, gritting her teeth.

"How?" Mizore demanded. "They were tired and exhausted. They should have run out of air long before we even left!"

"Perhaps they know how to use chakra to draw air out of water itself," Nadare hypothesized, recalling that the Copy Nin was known for that trick and he was their sensei before his premature demise.

"Then where did they go?" the Ice Maker Witch asked.

Nadare clearly took his time in responding. "That is not an easy question to answer."

Mizore rolled his eyes. "Understatement of the hour, brainiac."

The Analyst ignored the comment. Mizore recognized that look; he was going into deep thought and overworking that brain of his. Looking at pieces and putting them together. Finally he uttered, "Orochimaru knew the two had escaped…"

The other two skipped a few heartbeats. "… you're saying that the snake bastard freed them himself?" Fubuki asked, shocked.

"… it would explain why he was so certain they had survived despite the circumstances," Mizore surmised. "But if that's the case, why wouldn't he just capture them then and waste his time letting us do it?"

"My point exactly!" Fubuki explained.

"Inside information," Nadare answered as the two looked at him. "He gets firsthand knowledge on how we work and individually fight."

"… how we respond and handle a crisis…" Fubuki picked up on.

"… evaluating us firsthand to see if we really are capable of conquest…" Mizore finished off, sighing out as he shook his head.

"Getting two snakes to eat their own tails. His own enemies and ourselves while he pulls the strings," Nadare said. "It would explain everything from his knowledge of the genin, to their survival, even why he'd be willing to let the Kyuubi remain in our hands. We do his dirty work while he keeps the know-how on how to destroy us if it comes to that."

"Brilliant… bloody brilliant!" Mizore raged, throwing his hands up. "So what do we do about it? Bite our tail and swallow ourselves?"

Nadare put on a grin that Doto would have been pleased at. "You know what they say: Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer."


Same time

Sasuke and Sakura were walking through the forest once again, the Uchiha taking another bite of jerky from a meat he didn't know (he hoped it wasn't something like tongue of a wolf) while the pink-haired girl was keenly studying the map she got from Homare.

Once Sasuke had awoken from his crying over the pain of his lost family and life, he had risen to see her preparing a small meal of assorted meats, bread, cheese, a few fruits and several bottles of water. The sight of the food had nearly started making the boy drool like a dog as his stomach automatically agreed with the gesture. It seemed like he hadn't eaten in years, though truth be told it had only been this morning.

Of course, after dealing with an ambush, tracking down a runaway Princess, dealing with another ambush, running straight into an entire platoon of Snow Shinobi, nearly drowning in a frozen lake, having to survive in a homemade shelter half naked, brawling with his teammate into yet ANOTHER ambush... was it really any surprise he thought it was much longer than half a day?

He gratefully accepted the food from his female teammate, eating like a dog while she mirrored the gesture. It wasn't until his third helping that he bothered to ask Sakura where she got all the food.

Without looking at him, she told him.

When she finished, the food went from tasting like a feast out of heaven to lumps of coal. Nevertheless, he forced himself to continue eating regardless. He needed food, and an empty stomach wasn't going to help him survive. As they said: Pride won't fill your stomach.

He could see in the deep emerald eyes of his teammate that she didn't like this any better than he did, and that she also knew there was little choice for anything else given that she had taken the items in the first place. Sasuke didn't bother to ask her the details on how she acquired their meal. He could tell from her stance it had been straightforward enough; sneaking in and out of the village, taking what she wanted with ease while leaving little to any trace of the culprit. Sasuke was willing to bet that if she had to take any extremes, such as subduing anyone unfortunate enough to come across her in the act, her stance would be much different.

However, he could also tell that the act had bothered her considerably. Snow as a whole may not have been that bad off considering its recent history and circumstance in comparison to the Wave Country, but given what Sandayuu said, much of the populace was terrified, so even if their situation wasn't technically dirt-poor poverty, their spirits might have been. He could see in his mind the prospect of Sakura seeing desperate and frightened people before taking the food. It was not something he wished to experience and he could only imagine how Sakura was taking it.

As they had eaten, Sakura had taken out a map of the country and explained how Homare had given it to her. After discussing it between them, they decided to give it a try, reasoning that if it was indeed a trap, traps could work both ways.

With a decision reached, they freshened themselves up as best they could and packed what remained of the food (less than a third of what Sakura originally had), reclaimed Sasuke's discarded katana and made their way out. Kiou had stated that Doto's castle had been 65 kilometers northwest of their position at the battle site. Thanks to the map, they had discovered that they had traveled about 35 kilometers northward, so they hadn't deviated too far from their intended target.

As they continued walking, Sasuke's brain started calculating what their next move should be. They needed to find Naruto, wherever the hell he was. He recalled Koyuki being taken up to Doto's airship and Naruto following, so he was nearly positive that Naruto was still with her, hidden in plain sight and waiting to make a move. Assuming he hadn't already. It seemed the safest bet would be to find Naruto at the castle itself. How to get a hold of him without alerting the entire castle to their presence was a question Sasuke had no answer for.

He also wondered about Naruto's message back home. If their calculations were correct, it still shouldn't have reached Konoha until sometime tomorrow. And even then, with Naruto gone, they had no way to communicate further on a plan of action reinforcements would take.

As Sasuke thought about all the variables, he came to one conclusion: they needed intelligence on Doto's stronghold. Whether they just spied on it, waited for Leaf backup, or broke Koyuki out of the cell, it all came to the same principal: information. They needed to know what sort of place this was, how many ninja and troops would be expected, where prisoners would be held and other critical intelligence. Whatever plan the Leaf came up with, it would all depend on how well they knew the enemy's location.

He and Sakura would spend the next few days learning about Doto's castle until they knew it inside out, ready to act on whatever plan they came up with.

Though how they were going to do that was a very good question.

As they walked, they kept chatter between them to a bare minimum while Sasuke activated his Sharingan every few minutes to scan the area around them. Recovering as he was, he couldn't keep it on for even short periods, but he could still manage a few brief glances provided he did so sparingly. They were operating under the assumption that there were still Snow Ninja out looking for them, since even if those last two Snow Ninja reported that they had defeated them, they wouldn't have any bodies to offer up as proof. And even if they did successfully convince their fellows the two Leaf ninjas were dead, there was still bound to be tight security around the castle perimeter.

It was thanks to this thinking and Sasuke's enhanced vision that he saw it and even then he almost missed it entirely. Acting completely on instinct, he tackled Sakura to the ground before she could even blink, holding a finger up to his lips.

At the edge of the forest, his enhanced eyes detected what looked like an outpost, cleverly disguised to look like one of the trees. Upon closer inspection, they discovered it really was a tree, merely hollowed out to allow an observer inside. Around the immediate area of the outpost were a series of jutsu-related traps and even some commonplace trip wire ones. His red eyes detected several chakra signatures but had trouble placing exactly what or where they were, so it stood to reason that there were some type of detection and sensor jutsu in place, not unlike the barrier that surrounded the Hidden Leaf Village.

Getting off each other and whispering back and forth on what to do, they settled on a plan. Sasuke pointed out the closest chakra source while Sakura hid behind a tree, then lightly tossed some food right by it.

A few moments later, a moose started walking over to where she had thrown the food. It walked right over, sniffing around until it found its new treat and began eating. Taking a deep breath, Sakura created a small Faiatama in her hand, then tossed it right at the spot Sasuke had pointed at.

The reaction was instantaneous. The entire area exploded, the explosion knocking the moose back a few feet and on its side. It gave a cry before getting back to its feet and hauling out of there just as a Snow Ninja (which Sakura saw had that Loyalist symbol on his chest) appeared.

She could almost see the gears turning in the man's head. Animals were constantly near the outpost, so some were bound to accidently trigger the defenses prematurely. But what would have brought out the ninja was a chakra signature – in this case Sakura's Faiatama – only to see nothing present to suggest a ninja and seeing a fleeing animal.

Sakura could see the man's indecision as he was clearly trying to sort out what had happened. Had it just been his imagination and merely thought he saw a chakra signature, hoping it would be the enemy, or was it the same old story of some stray animal wandering in?

That's when Sasuke appeared right in front of him, Sharingan eyes blazing. Caught both off guard and unprepared, the Loyalist didn't have time to react or mentally prepare himself like Team Alpha did. He was theirs.

In rapid succession, Sasuke fired off question after question after question with their 'willing friend', starting with was anyone else with him. The answer turned out to be no, but he was expected to give a report on the disturbance soon.

Sasuke only had enough chakra to keep the Sharingan on for a few minutes as it was, so in that time, they made the guard explain the defenses around the outpost, how they worked and what was expected of him. It took roughly two minutes for them to get the required information, so they quickly questioned the man about the Castle's defenses. Unfortunately, all they got was a basic map detail and some numbers on the castle personal before Sasuke was forced to use the last bit of chakra to modify the man's memories, making him believe that the disturbance was nothing more than a stray animal.

As the Loyalist made his way back to his post, the two Leaf Genin quickly bypassed the post. Two things were prominent on their minds, the first being that there were nearly a hundred Ninjas stationed there, all of them Loyalists and not all of them being Chunin, on top of Nadare, Fubuki and Mizore.

The second was that they were still very much aware of the fact they were in no condition for a fight.

Between the edge of the forest to the castle proper was about seven kilometers, all of it an open valley with no cover. As a result, Sasuke and Sakura roamed the forest outskirts, trying to think of a way to get to the castle and failing rather miserably. The best plan they had was to wait until they recovered enough to use the Sharingan again, get a more detailed analysis on the castle, then stage some sort of diversion.

Needless to say, they were still trying to come up with a better plan.

"That looks like a road over there," Sakura said, pointing to the only set path from the forest to the castle. "Someone's got to come using it sooner or later. Maybe we can shadow them in."

"We still need to know what's in there if we want to avoid getting caught." Sasuke reminded her. "Maybe we can impersonate some Snow Ninja coming to make a report."

"All they would have to do is question our knowledge about Snow and we're dead," The pink-haired girl stated, wiping her forehead.

"Often the best way to sneak in is to make as much noise as possible."

Both of them jumped nearly a foot into the air at the voice. They spun around as Sasuke got into a defensive stance using Sekken while Sakura hurled two shuriken at the speaker.

Makino calmly caught the projectiles with his pipe, twirling them around like a child. "Now, now, you should be more careful with your toys, Sakura."

"MAKINO?" The two teenagers blurted out, all sense of secrecy and caution thrown out the window. Who… what… HOW?

The old director smiled as he gave a nod. "The one and only!"

"Prove it," Sasuke said with venom in his voice, his hand reaching for his sword in the kunai holster.

"You both took a nice deep dive in the lake. Imagine this scene! Both of you get out, dripping wet, seeking shelter in a cave. You both realize you're alone and need to get out of the waterlogged…"

"SHUT UP!" both teenagers shouted automatically, their faces turning a nice shade of red. It was him, alright…

"But don't you want to hear how it ends? I figured a nice declaration of your innermost feelings would be – " Makino went on, once again lost in his own little world of movie making.

"We're convinced; it's you," Sasuke said, gritting his teeth and wondering if any of Doto's forces would notice an extra body in the woods. "Where have you been, how did you find us, what happened to you guys, where's the rest of the group? Have you seen Naruto anywhere?"

Makino calmly held up his hands. "Slow down, now. You can afford to breathe a little easier now. I'll lead you back to the others."

Still cautious, the two slowly followed the director as he led them back through the edge of the forest. "Alright, first question. During your marvelous battle at the railroads, we caught sight of the incoming storm and realized we had to get out as fast as we could. Since we planned to come to this country, we made sure to familiarize ourselves with it beforehand, so we backtracked to a small village not too far from where we were and waited out the storm there."

As he spoke, both Sasuke and Sakura noticed that as they walked, Makino was seemingly uninterested in what way he was going. That's when they realized that Makino's footsteps didn't leave any impressions in the snow and he expertly avoided any obstacle in his path, from tree branches, to bushes, to even small animal droppings that escaped the shinobi's notice.

"Once the storm was over, we figured you guys would still be going after Doto himself and that our best chance at finding you again would be at his castle, so we headed that way."

Sasuke's hand went back down to his sword. "We never saw you guys. You think we'd miss an onslaught of trucks heading to the castle?"

Makino looked back with an all-knowing smile. "You would if you were avoiding the main road."

The main road? You mean they weren't trying to sneak in at all! Were they nuts?

The movie director saw the look on their faces and smiled. "Yes, we're all certifiably sane. Well, most of us." He gave a quiet chuckle at his own joke. "The thing is, most people in this world won't attack without a reason, even in this country. We're movie producers; that's what people see foremost, and that mean's we're no threat. So we keep our noses clean and don't do anything suspicious: we stay in the open where all can see, with no weapons or intents of hostility and defer to locals. And for the truly unreasonable, money is the universal language… and I have plenty of it."

To further prove his statement, they reached a clearing as Makino pushed several branches out of the way, revealing all the movie crew. Kaijo was talking to several people who were manning several pieces of what looked like audio equipment. The actors, Ken, Michy and Hidero were also emerging from the forest from different directions. Makino motioned to where his assistant director was. "That's how we found you. After we waited out the storm, we decided to set up camp hoping to catch you on the way, or at least hear if you went into the castle. We set up mikes all around, turned the receivers on the cameras all the way up and a few other things. We heard that little explosion of yours and I went to check it out; turned out to be you."

Both leaf genin raised their eyebrows at the statement as they glanced downward. Sure enough, there were cords spread out all over the ground (expertly camouflaged) and extending into the forest. That's when Kaijo looked and waved happily as a flood of people immediately came over as Sasuke and Sakura found themselves immersed in the crowd, nearly everyone trying to shake their hands at once, tugging at them and congratulating them all at once.

"You're both alive! Fantastic!"

"I really thought you two bit it for a minute there!"

"You're real heroes, you know that, right?"

"I STILL can't believe you kicked fifty ninja's asses all on your own!"

"I never doubted you for a minute!"

"They'll be talking about this for years, NO, decades!"

"Cool sword! Where'd you get it?"

"So what happened? Where have you two been all this time?"

After ten aggravating minutes of this, Makino finally managed to get the crowd to back off. Sasuke and Sakura were very much relieved to hear that their packs were still here, so they headed over to the truck and changed out of their battle-weary clothes into fresh ones.

As they headed back into the snowy, bitter coldness outside, they saw the movie crew was packing up all their stuff, clearly getting ready to move out again. They saw that the director was conversing with Kaijo and Makino's face seemed to waver.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked as the two headed over.

The old man looked down at the two. "Kaijo heard some Snow Ninja talking. It seems both Yukie and Naruto are prisoners of Doto."

Like someone had taken a wet rag and slapped them with it, Uchiha and Haruno both whipped backwards. "HOW?"

"We're not entirely sure," Kaijo admitted. "Yuki… Koyuki-hime… we're positive on. Doto broadcast his capture of her hours ago to all of Snow, so for now, she's still alive. Naruto's harder, but we caught parts of a conversation between some Yuki-nin about a 'new prisoner' and 'Leaf's trump card', so we're guessing it's Naruto."

Sasuke had to struggle to keep himself from letting out an angry sigh. So Naruto was captured. So was Koyuki. He looked at Sakura and their eyes passed along the same message: they couldn't afford to wait for any reinforcements. They had to get the two out now before Doto decided to terminate those two.

Ken noticed the look in their faces and was already shaking his head. "I know what you are thinking, but rushing in won't do any good. A good soldier knows when to plan and wait."

"Only when you have the luxury of time," Sasuke countered, Sakura firmly nodding in agreement. "The longer we leave Naruto and Koyuki in Doto's hands, the more likely he is to just kill them and be done with it."

"That's true, but if we just rush in there, you'll just be adding more deaths. And don't worry, we already have an idea on what to do," Hidero said.

We?

"You guys can't come," Sakura spoke, quickly realizing what they were getting at. "You're not fighters! It'll be suicide for any of you to come!"

"You don't think we know that?" Michy asked, giving her a smile that made the pink-haired girl blush. "Last time we weren't able to help you and had to abandon you. None of us liked that. This time, we are in a position to get you inside and help save those two."

The Uchiha heir snorted. "And do what? Ask Doto to pose for the camera? You may have been able to avoid trouble in the countryside with some small villages, but this will be completely different. Doto will cut you all down on principle because you were with Koyuki and us. No amount of talk, puppy eyes or money is going to change that."

Makino smiled. "We know. And that's exactly how we're going to get in."


Black Fang Castle

6:30 pm

Tekiya Sankaku gave a yawn as she walked across the battlements of the castle. Samurai manned their stations with foreign pose and interest. Four samurai were assigned to each of the towers, while eight squads of eight samurai patrolled, half on the walls between the towers and half at the base of the walls. Two more squads were stationed at the gate itself. Several Chunin were also stationed among the walls under the command of a Jonin, but unlike the samurai, whose patrols were fixed and visible, the shinobi kept to patterns and times completely random even to their fellow men-at-arms, always concealed in the shadows. Sankaku herself, however, was stationed at the gate itself, with four Chunin under her command.

She was a special Jonin, excelling in uncovering deception. Like her countrymen, she wore her own brand of chakra armor, though one key difference was the visor that rested on top of her head. To her fellows around her, she was often called Doto's Gate, as anyone who wanted to see him had to first come through her.

The actual gate was twofold. The first part of it was two massive steel doors, each weighing over a ton and two meters thick. It was virtually impossible for man – shinobi or otherwise – to open them physically (which was Doto-sama's pure intention) and they had to rely on the mechanisms. The second was a solid steel portcullis that came down right behind the doors to further reinforce them should a siege happen.

Not that it ever did. It had taken six long years to complete the castle and by that time, the remnants of the Saati Koukennin were falling fast, so no one had ever tried to attack the castle directly. One or two did manage to sneak in, but never got far as the San Eihei eliminated intruders quickly enough.

Typically, the gates remained closed and only opened at certain times of the day, most commonly the noon hour with anyone wanting to enter having to do so at those specific times, lest they be forced to wait outside, which Doto-sama often made a point of doing to make sure people complied to his schedule.

Her days were sixteen hour shifts. Starting at five in the morning and ending at nine in the evening, to which her junior would take over for the night. It wasn't the worst job out there and most of the time relatively dull. Still, she did take pride in the fact that anyone who wanted to come in first had to deal with her, and that made her feel important.

"Sankaku-san!"

The young Jonin's head jerked up as she immediately began running up the stairs to the battlements ahead. The samurai were all anxious, gripping their weapons tightly. The one that called her pointed off to the distance as she looked.

It was a line of trucks driving right towards them.

The gates weren't scheduled to open and no one had an appointment until the next day as it was. Sankaku didn't bother raising an alarm as the samurai were already alerting each other as it was. Several of them notched arrows onto their bows, while others were keeping an eye out in all directions. She knew some were sending messages to the castle in case there was some fool trying to scale the cliff. The shinobi among them were all waiting in the shadows, watching intently and waiting to strike.

Everyone knew the routine. Everyone was in place. Now came her part. She summoned the four men under her command and waited at the top of the gatehouse. The trucks continued on their way at a leisurely pace. Were they a decoy? Sacrificial lambs loaded with explosives? That was surely what it had to be: some disgruntled Koyuki supporters making a last-ditch effort to save their princess.

She personally had no grudge against the Princess, but her fate was in Doto's hands, not hers. And, she had to confess, she did enjoy the Princess Gale movies. Who would have thought their runaway princess was the great actress? Still, it was her job to discover this group's intentions… and if necessary, dispose of them.

The trucks continued on, stopping short of the gate. A door opened and an old man stepped out, wearing a thick tan coat, a brown director's hat and blue sunglasses, carrying a suitcase. He looked up and carefully put the suitcase on the ground before holding up both arms, showing his hands were empty.

Her guard still up, she motioned those in her squad. The four Chunin channeled chakra into their feet and ran down the stone walls. They landed on either side of the gate, two of them looking on fiercely at the old man like hawks would their prey, and the other two keeping an eye open on the truck he came out of. A few seconds later, she joined them down on the ground, snow kicking up all around her as she landed.

"State your business," Sankaku ordered.

The old man walked towards her. "Seeking shelter for the evening, and I'm willing to pay handsomely for it and my associates here." He reached into a coat and pulled out a card. "My card."

She took it and looked at the picture… and her jaw dropped at the name. "Makino? The Makino? Director of the Princess Gale movies? I saw the last one! That was incredible how Princess Gale stood up to – " She cut off immediately as she could feel the eyes of the shinobi and samurai weighing down on her. Flushed with embarrassment, she quickly recomposed herself. "You're a long way from home. What brings you here?"

"We hoped to use your beautiful country to shoot the next part of our next movie," Makino told her. "That was before we learned the unfortunate premise between our lead actress and your Daimyo."

Sankaku could feel the men and women behind her tense up at the proclamation. The man was admitting to associating with the out-of-favor princess? What was his game? "So you're saying that the Princess has nothing to do with you being here?"

The man threw up his arms in mock surrender. "Alright! You caught me! I was hoping to speak with your Daimyo in hopes to coming to some sort of arrangement about our star actress. It would be a shame to lose her and the movies wouldn't be the same without her! And the weather is growing colder with the coming night."

Was this man truly stupid? This really couldn't be the same famed director of the movies. Surely they wouldn't be that much of a success if they were directed by this flop of a man. Before she could say anything, Makino reached down and opened the suitcase, showing a large sum of money. "I offer fifty thousand ryo. Straight up… with the promise of more to come should you allow us the honor of staying and speaking with the esteemed Kazahana Doto-sama."

Sankaku heard the Chunin whistle behind her at the offer. It was common knowledge that the financial situation was grim in the Snow Country and that Doto-sama was constantly trying to improve in along with his military expansion plans. Thinking it over, she came to a decision. "I will relay your request to Doto-sama, if you allow my men here to search your vehicles."

"Naturally, naturally," he said, walking forward carefully and holding out the suitcase for her. "Take this to show our sincerity. Search it all you like. You'll find no trace of foul play."

She looked down at the sum of money and carefully took it. Sankaku lowered her visor over her eyes, a chakra device that allowed her to detect chakra much like a doujutsu. She found nothing. The Loyalist preformed some rudimentary jutsu on the suitcase and detected no trace of poison, explosive notes, genjutsu traps or anything. It seemed he really was serious in what he was saying, if not completely senile for doing this. Satisfied, she closed the case and beckoned her fellow ninja to start the inspection as she ran back up the castle walls for the gatehouse intercom.


Five minutes later

Black Fang Castle Control Room.

Doto walked inside the control room of his castle, the central nervous system of his entire castle's security. One wall was covered entirely with monitors, each one showing a different area of the castle. His eyes centered on one of the lower end ones for which he had been called for. Several men sat at a desk operating the entire thing.

The gathering of trucks led by the movie director.

So you've come. Sooner than I expected, Doto said to himself, only half hearing the operator.

"… Sankaku reports that the money is genuine and has her men searching the vehicles as we speak. Expected to be finished within half an hour, sir."

This time, Doto wasn't able to keep that sly grin off his face. The lambs were willingly walking into the fox's den, with a sizeable amount of money to make it even more worthwhile. Oh, highly entertaining, you old fool of a movie director. Very well, I'll play your little game.

With that, Doto walked over and hit the intercom. "Sankaku. The group is hereby granted permission to enter. Let them in at once. Inform the Director I will speak to him personally later this evening."

"… sir?" The surprise in his subordinate's voice was as thick as frosting on a birthday cake.

"You heard me."

"… sir… with all due respect… I don't trust them. They clearly have some sort of hidden motive. I think they plan to bust the Princess out somehow. If you'll allow me to continue my…"

"Your concerns are unwarranted," Doto replied. "You will cease your search and allow them inside. Now." The iron in that last word was the warning sign to all who served him.

"Yes, milord."

With that, he switched the intercom off. Turning to one of the men, he ordered him to alert the kitchens and servants to prepare a sizeable banquet for their unexpected guests.


Outside the castle gates.

Sakura breathed out into her hands, the icy breath visible as she watched the Snow Ninja search Makino's car. She and Sasuke were in the fourth car along with Kaijo. Each of them wore disguises that she desperately prayed no one back home would ever see. She still couldn't believe how the director managed to talk them into this.

Makino's plan was to walk right up to the door and ask for lodgings for the night, following back on his earlier statement of 'the best way to sneak in is to make as much noise as possible'. Show the entire group coming, appear to hide nothing. Flaunt the money in their face. The hardest part about rescuing Koyuki and Naruto was actually getting inside the place. Inside, they stood a much better chance of succeeding.

Makino had ordered the two young shinobi to get dressed in disguise as actual disguises were often more effective than henges, even if they did have the chakra to sustain them. The fact that they had so little chakra right now meant they would easily pass for civilians for any Ninja examining them.

The only reason they went along with this plan was because Makino's people were going to do this with or without them. They were all highly motivated and eager to help out, and Sasuke and Sakura felt obligated to at least try and keep them all alive. When they pressed the danger on what should happen if Doto found them, Makino merely said they had a trump card ready, to which they translated to 'throwing more money at them', playing Doto's greed.

To Sakura's utter shock, the gates began opening. She wasn't the only one as the Chunin were visibly shocked at the event as well. You mean this scheme is actually working?

The same Snow kunoichi walked through the opening doors and beckoned everyone in. "They can't seriously be falling for this," Sasuke said as the car started moving again. "No one is that stupid."

"Oh, we're positive that Doto knows exactly what we're trying to do, just as we know this is a trap for us," Kaijo responded, even as the sweat dripped down the back of his neck. "The trick is which side can do the better pretense and act first."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Sakura asked skeptically.

Kaijo looked down at her. "By playing on what we know and what we don't know. We know that Doto is letting us in so he can trap us for his schemes, just as he knows that we're trying to free Koyuki and Naruto. What he doesn't know is how we're going to do that. He doesn't know you two are with us, though I'm sure he suspects it. He also doesn't know how we intend to act. That's our edge."

"But the same is true for him," Sasuke countered. "We don't know what precautions he's taken or plans."

Kaijo gave a nod. "Yes, that's true. And the odds do favor him. However, we have you two on our side." He gave them a smile. "And after what you've accomplished already on this trip, if it's a bet between you and Doto, I'll bet on you two each time."

"It's not Doto I'm worried about," Sasuke said as they started to pass through the gatehouse. "It's those he commands."


Seven Kilometers south of Black Fang Castle.

At the edge of the forest stood a small way station, designed for emergency dispatch and treatment to any lost travelers in the Snow Country. It composed of three small buildings, one of them a clinic, one of them a storehouse and the last one the home to those who ran it. Its normal staff of eight was currently playing host to several dozen Snow Ninja.

"I don't believe it… they're actually entering," Ikusa said as she put the binoculars down. Behind her came many more figures as they all watched the entourage of trucks enter Doto's stronghold.

"They can't be serious," one shinobi spoke this time. "They're actors. Performers. They're going to their deaths."

"And for what? To help some little runaway princess?" another ninja questioned, mirroring the thoughts of those around him.

"Perhaps it's bonds of fellowship," Kiganai hypothesized. If those two are with them, they must be insane. The Uchiha and the girl can't seriously expect to win this. What drives them? I don't get it. Any Snow Ninja would have seen reason and retreated. "Maybe they feel they can ransom the princess back. They should have left while they could. A great leap forward often requires two steps back."

"And sometimes all it takes is the will to jump."

Their heads turned towards the speaker: Homare.

The Fuuton User took a step forward as the last of the trucks entered. "Perhaps they decided to jump after all."


(Author's Note) And the chapter is done as we're getting set to the climax of this story! About time, wouldn't you say? ^_^

Once again, I must express my apologies at how late this chapter was in coming. I'm trying to do better at it, I really am. Having no laptop really sucks for my writing schedule, on top of being more busy the last few weeks. Still, I hope this all satisfies you for the time being: Sasuke and Sakura have finally reunited with Makino's group and everyone is at the castle for the final showdowns. I'll show you next time what costume disguises Sasuke and Sakura are wearing, heh heh.

On another note, to any that remember my little schedule outline for this fic back in chapter three, I figure now's as good of a time as any to mention I'm changing it slightly. It's still going to be within the week timeframe and the events here are still going to be in a single day, but chatting with Tellemicus, we've come up with an alternative way for Team 7 getting home in time without all the rushing. Speaking of which, as usual, a big shout out to him for all the help he gave in planning out this chapter.

Sankaku – armor, helmet and shield

Tekiya – stall keeper

I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Also, any jutsu that Tellemicus created that are used in this story belongs to him. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta reading this!