Angellwriter, this chapter was hard to write without revenge and hate, seeing as they're all Sasuke thinks about. But I'm looking forward to the next challenge.
Sakura glared at Yamato.
She should have known it wouldn't be as simple as a little intimidation in a prison cell and a warning. Of course the Hokage wouldn't let her off that easy. If she was the Hokage she wouldn't let a gennin get away with what she did. Hell, even Naruto didn't.
As her Hokage had pointed out yesterday night, there were other options she could have taken, the easiest of which would have been to knock the old man out before confronting Sasori. Instead she nearly exposed their secret.
Yamato explained that Kakashi's skill set had been needed on a mission of undetermined length and that he would be temporarily stepping in as team leader.
To Sakura, it was an excuse to get their sensei out of the way so the Third could put his watch dog in the man's place. And while she had nothing against Yamato, except maybe that he was too strict (and anyone would be in comparison to Kakashi Hatake, but the Mokuton user took it to the extreme), his presence was a threat. She hadn't forgotten all the times he or a wood clone phased out of a tree near her and just about gave her a heart attack.
The pinkette had no doubt that Yamato would be monitoring her conversations and movements closely, and Naruto's by association.
Sakura mentally sighed. So long as Yamato was part of Team Seven, she would have to miss the nightly planning sessions. She could not risk him reporting conversations out of context back to the Sandaime.
On the bright side, she would have a lot more time to train.
Sasuke's feelings surprised him.
Judging by the way Sakura's viridian eyes were trying to bore holes in Yamato's back, he wasn't the only one unhappy by the man's sudden placement. He thought he could even see the dobe narrowing his eyes.
But the intensity of his own emotions caught him off guard. Yamato felt wrong, issuing precise orders, showing up to practice on time, not hiding behind an orange book. The man didn't belong on Team Seven.
The disastrous events of the Chuunin exams had brought Team Seven closer together.
Admittedly, it didn't seem like much, because at that point they were more three completely opposite personalities thrown together as a dysfunctional team, and Sasuke had viewed his two teammates as extra baggage he had to carry.
But Team Seven was more than that. Ever since their mission to Wave Naruto and Sakura had changed. Sasuke disregarded the inconsistencies he had observed until the duo had started holding their own against him. Both of them had mellowed out and were much easier to deal with.
Finishing missions was no longer a hassle. He could give his all in training, and had to if he wanted a chance to win. He didn't view them as annoyances anymore.
Now, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were his teammates. He didn't want to lose them. Unexpectedly, they had wormed their way into his heart, reviving emotions he had long thought repressed. Care. Worry. Respect. Concern. Friendship. Admiration. Joy. Fear. Happiness. Belonging. Team Seven's bonds were more encompassing than a mesh of feelings, and he could see them continuing to strengthen if they came to depend on the others saving the others' asses on the field.
Losing them would be like losing his family again. And Sasuke refused to let that happen a second time.
Especially since that man was targeting Naruto. Sasuke didn't know the reason for it, and right now, he really didn't need to. All that mattered was keeping Itachi from his goal, from getting Naruto.
His clan had waited five years to be avenged. It would wait until Naruto was safe.
Then he, Naruto and Sakura would do it together.
One of the habits Naruto couldn't get rid of was going from sleep to instant alertness. It came from years of being at war, never knowing when the next attack was coming or where it was coming from. He no longer had the luxury of sleeping like a log. The slightest triggering of his senses, whether it be hearing something out of place or an unknown chakra signature or out of place negative emotions caused Naruto to jolt out of his rest.
So, three weeks later when the communication scroll ignited his pillow, the blonde was across the room before the pillow caught fire.
It took him less than a second to take in the situation. The scroll was meant to be inconspicuous, flaring slightly with heat to inform him that Gaara had sent a message. Depending on the severity and how urgent it was that he open the scroll and read it right away, the amount of heat increased.
For his friend to be panicked enough that the scroll lit his bed on fire, Naruto didn't even want to imagine what had happened.
So much was already going wrong and he was certain that their original timeline wouldn't come to be this time.
Naruto ignored how the skin of his hands blistered, unrolling the scroll. The Kyuubi would see them healed fully in an hour or two.
Upon reading the message, he bolted for Shikamaru's house.
There were many things disturbing about it, aside from its horrible contents. It was short and to the point like all of Gaara's communications were, but the red head was never so blunt. He preferred to use as little words as necessary to convey his point, but he was never rude or curt in his letters.
But Naruto understood his panic.
Temari's been kidnapped.
Naruto thought this was possibly the worst case scenario. Not just that one of their own was taken captive, but that it was Temari. At this point she couldn't claim any relation to the Kazekage to keep her alive. She didn't have a Bijuu to protect or Sakura's Inner. And as smart as the blonde kunoichi might be, not once had she ever outsmarted Shikamaru.
Murphy's Law was Team Seven's worst enemy. Hands down. It loved to mess with them. Unconditionally. It was forever screwing with them royally.
It didn't matter that they were more experienced, smarter, and knew exactly what was going to happen when as a result of what.
It changed things up and made the future unpredictable, as it was supposed to be.
Shikamaru had left the village last night. Naruto and Sakura would have gone with him, but they had to report to the Hokage to receive a mission in the morning. And after the weeks of living two separate lives, one the Sandaime and Yamato expected to see and their reality, not answering the summons would send up a red flag.
The future Rokudaime had prayed for something quick. His patience was at its tether and Temari's life was potentially at stake. Even Sasuke could pick up on his tension.
But they were being sent on a C-rank mission to guard the actress Yukie Fujikaze. Naruto vaguely remembered that mission. Their guarding mission was bogus, a cover up to force the woman, in actuality Koyuki Kazahana, princess of the Land of Snow, to return to Yuki no Kuni for a sequel that snowballed into fighting for what would become the Land of Spring's freedom.
He knew his team played an important part in the liberation of the country, but forcing a bratty princess turned even more spoiled actress to fight her own war wasn't Naruto's priority. It wasn't even on the list.
The mission was in the complete opposite direction of Suna, which is where he and Sakura needed to be. Shinobi rule number four said "A shinobi must always put the mission first," but that was not his way, it was not Team Seven's way.
Naruto could not go off overthrowing dictators when one of his precious people was in danger.
So when the whiskered boy packed his bags, it did not include layers of heavy clothing to keep him warm.
The start of the mission went down like he remembered, Team Seven chasing the stubborn actress through the streets mistakenly protecting her from the men who hired them. The ruckus and the dozens of clones Naruto created made the perfect diversion, and the real Naruto and Sakura slipped out of the village.
"How long will your clones last?" Sakura asked as they flew through the trees.
"I don't know," he answered. "They're meant to be distractions, diversions, safe guards, overwhelming numbers, cover. They're not really meant to last more than a few hours."
Jade eyes looked at him from the corner of her eye. Sakura grimaced. "So they'll know we've abandon the mission and left the village illegally. Who would have thought that we'd be the ones labeled traitors?"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so. I ordered all but two to disappear like they normally would. So long as they don't take any hits, they should last as long as they have chakra."
"That's good, I suppose." She breathed a sigh of relief. "And what about Sasuke? Was it really a good idea to leave him behind? His seal's still so new; he doesn't have any control over it."
"There's nothing we can do about that." Naruto said solemnly. "We can't focus on saving Sasuke if we don't save Temari. You and I can't fight the war on two fronts. Gaara, Temari, and Shikamaru didn't come back for Sasuke." He headed her off when she looked like she was going to protest.
"You know it's true. They won't stop us and will help if we ask with good reason, but those three won't go out of their way for him. To them, Sasuke's the embodiment of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. They came back to prevent the worst war in shinobi history."
Sakura sighed, knowing Naruto to be telling the truth. Shikamaru and Gaara especially loathed Sasuke, and were wary of his turning over a new leaf. They didn't think it was possible for the avenger. Shikamaru, because he had destroyed their village and killed Chouji with it, and Gaara because he believed Naruto and herself couldn't think clearly when it came to their raven haired teammate. He had told them many times that the bond they refused to give up on was only causing them more pain with each sequential nonsuccess to dissuade him from his dark path.
The two silently decided on not talking further. It would do them no good to harp on about on a topic they had beaten to death. They concentrated on their chakra, pushing it to their legs so they could run faster and propel themselves further each time they pushed off.
Temari groaned when she woke, on hand already moving to cradle her skull that felt like it had been split open with a meat cleaver.
"Welcome to the world of the living brat. What's your name and what did you do to end up here?"
"Tsunade!" The wind user jackknifed up, regretting it when her head exploded with pain. The other woman came to kneel at her side, gently but forcefully pushing her until she lay down on the stone floor again.
"Do I owe you money?"
"Er . .wha. . no."
"Good. I don't recognize you, but you can never be too sure." Tsunade said. "Now, don't move. You've suffered a fractured skull, cerebral contusions, and acute subdural hematoma."
Temari blinked at the medical jargon. She had no clue what any of that meant aside from the fractured skull, but she gathered they were very serious, judging by the serious look the older blonde was given her, and that she shouldn't even be awake right now.
"They gave me enough access to my chakra that I could reduce the swelling and heal the bruises and bleeding. However, the plates of your skull are only very loosely knitted together and another blow to the head might be your last."
"Who are they? And where are we?"
Tsunade sighed. "I don't know. They're always wearing masks when they come in. They haven't said what they want us for. And I can't tell where we are."
Temari was irritated. "Can you tell me how long you've been here? And why you haven't escaped yet? I didn't know there was a prison in the Five Great Elemental Nations that could hold one of the Legendary Sannin," she sneered.
Tsunade's amber eyes pinned her with a scathing look. "I've been here over two weeks. I've lost count, can't keep track of the days and nights in a windowless cell."
Temari took the hint to examine the room. It was made entirely of stone, solid stone without any grouting they could scrape out. There was one metal door, which had a cat flap she assumed was for pushing food through and a little sliding partition so their kidnappers could look into the cell.
The Sannin continued. "It's not the prison itself, but the chakra draining bracelets." She pulled up the hem of her dark blue pants to reveal a thing metal ring around her ankle. "It drains chakra as it regenerates. They only removed it once so I could heal you."
Unexpectedly, the heavy metal door swung inward. A lone figure entered their shared cell, the weak light of the only light bulb reflecting off his round spectacles.
Alright readers, OPINION TIME!
Are you happy with the direction this story is going (where they haven't told anyone about how they're from the future but some of the higher ups are suspicious) or would you like for somebody to learn the truth?
Review or vote on the poll please. Feel free to pm me or leave a review to tell me who you think should know if that's your choice. (I'm leaning towards Kakashi)