A/N: Okay, Okay, look a lot changed in this chapter. But I like the changes and I feel like I finally have somewhere to go with Tooru and the character development. Yes, this is going to change the chapters following this by a whole lot. But I hope I can update the actual story line soon. And I hope this remake will actually help a lot of people and that people like it a lot better than before. I sure hope so. So, without further ado, Chapter 30!

Please leave a comment, a question or a thought please! I really want to hear from people about the story!

Chapter 30: The Truth and Dreams

Tooru June 14th:

I keep my eyes closed and try to figure out what is going on.

All my chakra is working and there is no sign of any kind of odd chakra in my system. I push out my senses and can see that the sun is starting to rise. The forest is clam, we are not too far from the clearing.

Good, maybe I can get away. But that is only a possibility of getting away and right now the odds are not in my favor. Considering that I have been out and that I can sense at least two other people in the cave with me makes it slightly harder to figure out an escape plan.

I also know I have a lot of chakra drained from me but that will not stop me from getting back to the village.

I mean Kakashi had to have seen I was missing right?

I try not to sigh, maybe he didn't yet.

I can't let down people again. I am not the helpless little girl anymore. I will get through this.

I have no idea how long I have been out. It doesn't seem like the weather has changed much, so maybe I have only been gone for a day. Who would know honestly? I mean, the fact that I got caught is bad news. The fact that a rescue team has not been sent out is a sign that it hasn't been a full day yet, let alone I have no idea when I was caught.

Or it could be longer. They could be having a hard time finding me. Which isn't good. But now I am more use to them than just being knocked out.

This is a lot to take in.

There are too many factors that I would have to assume and I hate making assumptions about that I have no idea about. This is a worst case for me since I have been left in the dark both literally and figuratively. The two are talking about something, this could be a clue.

"You know this girl is more useful than anyone else right?" I hear a voice say.

Any ninja you capture is use to you, but it's better if you know the ninja's powers. These guys have no clue who I am. And even then they would have to assume that I am the ninja that will make a huge deal in the ninja world going missing.

Are these guys new to being a ninja? I am useful but they have no idea what I can do. Big mistake on their part.

"From the memories that Natsuko pulled from her it has to be that Tooru from the village hidden in the leaves," Another voice replies.

"Idiot, that girl has a huge block on a lot of things that even Natsuko could not pull out. For all we know those are fake memories," The first one argues.

I hear a sigh.

I am a puzzle piece that can fit perfectly but if they put in the piece before they even get a chance to do all the proper investigation they could piss off the wrong person and end up getting killed.

With the current generation of ninja there is a greater chance that they could be beaten by someone younger than them with less experiences. From how they talk they have seen two wars, not counting civil wars and minor ones that did not reach across the whole shinobi world. Not to mention that they are already being beaten by a younger ninja.

But I might be special since I have the seal on me.

"Think about it Mako, there are so many thing that could happen! We could assume this girl is in fact Tooru from the village hidden in the leaves; she would help bring so many things together in our plan. But if that is wrong then we could get in big trouble from the boss," The first one says.

"And no one wants to be on special duty…" Mako trails off.

"Look, its logical and very good. The boss will have our heads if any type of information is leaked out the leaders of any village. Who knows how long this girl has been spying on us?" The first one asks.

There is a moment of silence. They could have code names to help cover up their identities from being discovered, but these two are speaking like they have been comrades for a long time. The way they talk about Natsuko is also very familiar. But it might be coming from working together for a while at this point. I cannot push out my senses anymore that would alert them that I am awake and getting ready to make a move.

But they are making moves quickly.

So they don't want anyone knowing about them yet. I figured that. I just don't want to assume in any place.

There is shuffling in the cave, "I am going out for a walk. Watch her Mako and make sure she does not walk up idiot."

There are footsteps walking out of the cave. This would be the best time to strike, one on one is what I am good at. But, the problem is that I have no idea what power this person named Mako has. He can have any form of jutsu that I am not familiar with and that could cause a problem for me. I don't particularly like thinking on my feet when it comes to one on one fights since that takes time away from me being able to get away.

This group has given me some interesting work over the last year or so, but nothing that could give me an advantage to fighting them now. I never planned on being caught, and just the fact that I was is amazing since no one ever has before. But I do have to wonder when I did get caught and just how much of what I saw was a dream and what I know I actually lived through. Meeting Shikamaru had to have been real, there are things that I can recall never planning. But, that doesn't matter if I don't know when I was taken.

Besides, how do I know that I am even fully awake right now? I could still be out or in a different location.

I hear footsteps approach me. It should be Mako.

Triggering! This is where it about starts.

"What good are you to us anyway?" Mako asks, coming close, "I can think of many ways for you to be useful to me at least. I know that the boss won't mind if I accidently slipped and did something to you. Only what fun would it be if you were awake though."

I hear him chuckling and I am trying to piece together what he means. I could surprise him saying that I am awake but that would blow everything. I need to think of something fast. I feel the footsteps stop for a moment, I can feel hot eyes on me.

This isn't right.

"Natsuko is fun and all but I like when there's more of a fight," I hear the footsteps coming closer to me, "You know when he goes for a walk that gives me about thirty minutes to an hour to have some fun. And I like to drag it out. Just maybe, for once I should take advantage of those that are weaker than me."

It finally clicks in my head.

No… he can't mean. I need to get out of here fast. I cannot waste any more time. I have a bad feeling about what is going to happen to me. Thinking, only one exit and Mako is standing between it and me.

He stops right next to me. I wait for some form of opening to attack him. I wait, I know something is about to happen.

I feel a foot against my side and I let out a surprised yelp. That was a lot harder than I would have ever thought. I feel myself go into the air by a foot, I finally open my eyes to see that I am on my way to the roof of the cave when a hand brings down his whole force to my stomach. I feel the blood coming out of my mouth.

"How long did you think that you could fool me with acting like you were still asleep? Pathetic," Mako says as he grabs me by the collar of my shirt and throws me into a wall.

I prop myself up with my elbow and know that I am in so deep trouble. He has already causes me to bleed like crazy and throwing me against a wall is not that easy. But that doesn't stop his actions.

"I like to play a little bit before the real fun begins," Mako states as he slowly walks over to me.

I spit out a mouthful of blood and slowly stand up. I lean against the wall for support, trying to slow down the bleeding even slightly. I know I have no weapons any more, smart move on their part. I do not have enough chakra to stop the bleeding and fight Mako at the same time. I need to pick one.

I am scared of what the real fun is though. I don't want to be around to find that out.

I glance around and see nothing that can be of use to me. I look back at Mako and see him smiling as he walks to me. I need to just hit him or something, anything that will give me the upper hand right now so I can run and hide.

"You know how we found you?" Mako asks, bringing me out of my thoughts, "We found you, and we knew there was someone watching us. Oh, the joy of having a little friend to play with over the past few days."

I grunt and inch down the wall to the mouth of the cave. Lucky I have a clear shot at it but I know that Mako is going to be faster than me. I just need to get there so I can get out of the cave, fighting in a cave like this is bad.

But they found me. They actually caught me. I overslept.

This isn't good.

"I see you noticed you don't have a lot of chakra, welcome to the regular life of a shinobi where we have a small amount of chakra, you are at a normal level; at first we thought you had a tailed beast inside of you but no, you just have a lot of chakra. We knocked it down though while you were knocked out. Helped us a lot. I just want to know who you are," Mako is a good few centimeters from me.

He pushes me against the wall and pulls my arms over my head. I let it happen and wait for the moment to kick him right where I hope it will hurt like crazy. He takes one hand away and leans in very close to me. He exposes my neck and he slobbers on it.

He is almost a full foot taller than me but puts me at eye level with him. His face is close to mine, I hate the smell of his breath. When did this guy take a bath last or even brushed his teeth?

I feel like vomiting.

This whole situation has gotten out of hand, and I hate to say it but I need the help of anyone. Two people is better than one in a situation like this. Mako can naturally over power me and he is using it to his advantage. I feel him pouring chakra into his muscles to give them a boost in pinning me down. He naturally relies on chakra to take care of his opponents swiftly or to weaken them for someone else to come in. The problem is that this takes a large amount of chakra to maintain, even for a ninja who has spent years perfecting this technique. Not to mention that I am only about 5 feet tall. This always makes fighting slightly harder.

I squint my eyes and try to lower my sense of smell because the smell of him is making me sick.

I put chakra into my leg and kick him right as he closes his eyes. He drops me and grabs where I kicked him. I scramble up and make a break for the mouth of the cave putting all my senses on high alert. I used too much chakra right there. More than even I care to admit.

I feel the air beginning to slice as I turn around and see a tunnel of wind coming at me. I widen my eyes and try to move but the wind catches my foot and slams me face first into the wall. I groan in pain as I start to get up but I feel someone approaching me quickly. The anger is steaming off of Mako.

I silently curse at myself.

"Why you little, you are going to pay," I feel a hand grip the back of my shirt and a sharp object cuts my side, "I was going to make this fun for you too but now you are in for a world of hurt!"

I try to get out of his grasp but my efforts are met with a fist to the face knocking me back into the wall. I can feel the anger coming off of him and for once in my life I wish I was not here, in this situation. He brings his foot up but I am able to barely roll away and throw him away from me. He lands as I get up and back toward the mouth of the cave.

Mako grabs me by the leg and stands up putting me upside down. I feel blood rushing to my head. I cough up more blood. I am lifted up higher into the air; I feel myself beginning to spin and know that Mako is getting ready to throw me again.

I manage to curl up and hit a pressure point in his hand. I hear a small curse as I am thrown toward the mouth of the cave. I feel like some of my ribs have cracked from being thrown. I cannot heal them though. I need to focus on getting out of the cave before Mako gets back up. Great, my lucky break. I struggle up and turn toward Mako who is glaring with a kunai in his hand.

You are safe here! No more trigger.

Mako comes charging at me when I see things flash by me. They all go towards Mako as he dodges, forgetting about me. I can see that he is trying not to get killed. I freeze and prepare to fight, I feel that it is around noon, maybe his friend came back. This is no longer good for me, I am going to die here in this cave by the hands of this stupid group.

I see someone come in front of me and turn his head, "You're Tooru right?"

That lazy voice, it can be no one else but Shikamaru. He was sent to come rescue me since he is one of the few people that know who I am.

"Yes," I say, finally realizing that I am panting.

Two people come and flank him as he turns to me, "We are here to save you, something about you be a comrade that cannot be left for dead. Why we were sent you would have to ask someone else. I have an idea of why we were sent but I will share that with you later."

Behind him I can see clashing as the blonde and the girl with buns fighting Mako. Both of them are close range fighter but it doesn't look like they are giving it their all with this fight. The blonde has to be Naruto, and I have seen what he can do, this is nothing that he cannot handle. The girl with the buns just pulls out weapon after weapon.

I widen my eyes, and I finally see what they are doing. Creating a distraction to get me out of here. I wince in pain, I can feel the cracked ribs. I hold my side, trying to keep eye contact with Shikamaru. I click my tongue, this is something that should have never happened; I know that for a fact. Kakashi is going to have to punish me and he knows it. This is something that I should not have let happen.

Shikamaru grabs me and runs out of the cave with the two other following him. I yelp in pain since his hand is right against the stab wound. I curse him silently since it puts me in pain and I cannot fight like this. I can see behind us and that Mako is unable to follow us since he has a few injuries the will keep him there for a minute or two.

"Calm down we have a medical ninja with us. We have a place where we can guard and she can heal. Besides you have access to my weapons should that guy follow us. You are the eyes behind us," Shikamaru explains.

"Some plan smart one. Go the village instead," I demand.

"As if!" The girl with us exclaims, "We cannot take you to the village like this. You will bleed out before we get half way there."

I snort. This is dumb, some rescue. Grab and run, not even going to capture to enemy? I roll my eyes. But I am grateful that Kakashi sent someone to come and help me. If not, who know what would have happened in the cave. After a few minutes we stop in a clearing and I am laid down. I look up and see a girl with pink hair focusing on closing up my wounds. I watch as she evaluates my wounds and sees the damage and that there is more than even I know about.

"Shikamaru she won't be able to get to the village on her own," She says.

"One of us will need to carry her," Shikamaru replies.

Everyone stands at the ready, the girl with the pink hair is focused on making sure that I make it back to the village. I know medical stuff but I never use it, I would prefer not to. I like fighting way more. I sense that everyone is standing at the ready, something I normally do. I do not like being the odd man out and being treated. But I haven't been beaten up in a long time, so there is that, my body is not use of being hurt. Spying mission tend to make it hard to get hurt, especially since I am small enough to fit in small spaces.

"Watch out the bushes," I say.

I tilt my head toward the bush and watch as the guy with the really long hair changes his stance and attacks the Mako guy who followed us. I attempt to get up but I am pushed back down by the medical-nin working on the stab wound.

"Stop moving, the more you move the longer this is going to take. I don't want to show them everything that I have," She snaps at me.

I snort and lay down. I know to listen to a medical-nin, especially one I am sure trained under Lady Fifth. I hear the clashing of metals.

"Neji fall back. Shino Tenten attack and create an opening," I hear Shikamaru bark.

Even before his words are done the formation changes, I see so this Shino and Tenten are two distance fighter. But in the cave Tenten was hand to hand, I guess that she can do both depending on the weapon she has. The pink haired girl gets up and begins to move as Shikamaru picks me up and we begin to move again.

Shikamaru looks down at me, "Don't worry, I have a plan to get you out of here and capture that guy. It might take us a little bit but I know my team can do it."

I watch as a smirk plays across his face and I can't help but to think I have seen it before. I feel my head fall into his chest and I can hear his heart beat. I feel my eyes go wide again because unlike most other ninja his heartbeat is strong and steady, almost as though he is positive that he will get everyone out of here alive and back to the village.

"Shikamaru the traps are ready whenever we are," the blonde on says.

"Good work Naruto. Now we lead him on the chase," Shikamaru replies, "Ready for another round of healing Tooru?"

I look up at him and wonder what he is planning. No one can have this elaborate of a plan.

But than I remember the dreams.

Shikamaru Nara, a master planner and can change his plans at a moments notice.

Someone Kakashi trust.

"Sure," are the words I hear coming from my mouth.

I watch a small play of amusement comes across Shikamaru's face. I sigh, why can I not form any thoughts? Must be from all the blood lose, from what I can tell I lost a lot when I was in the cave. We drop down into a clearing and they set up again. This time leaving the pink haired girl at my side.

"I healed you to the best of my ability, but doesn't hurt to double check ones work right?" She smiles at me, "Oh, by the way, I'm Sakura. I think you know my teacher, lady fifth."

I nod, "And I am assuming that you know my name is Tooru?"

She nods and begins her second check on me. I wait for this all to be over. I can tell I have gone robotic again. But I never fully got out of being a robot now did I?

Sakura and I both hear rustling in the bushes. We look over and see that it is Mako. I realize that it is only Sakura and I in the clearing. I feel Sakura get up and put on gloves.

"My turn to shine. Tooru, just hang out there." Sakura steps over me and casually walks up to Mako.

"What is this? A girl thinks she can beat me up?" Mako says as he begins to laugh, "Someone is cocky leaving this to a girl. A medical-nin no less."

Mako gets low and charges at Sakura. Sakura just pulls back her fist and right as Mako is about to attack Sakura punches him right in the gut. I look and see that she focused chakra into her fist, something that takes a lot of focus and chakra control. I would expect nothing less from lady fifths pupil.

Mako doubles over in pain as Sakura actually gets in a stance to fight. Mako slowly gets up and looks over to where I am laying down. Sakura slides in front of me.

"I am the one you are fighting right now," Sakura growls.

"Fine by me, take you out and take that girl is what I want to do," Mako replies.

Sakura is ready for him. He throws two kunai at her and she dodges them with ease. I can only lay down and watch. I feel that I am regaining chakra, it is only maybe a quarter full right now.

Sakura is caught in his grip but as she is about to be sent flying into a tree she is able to plant one foot on the ground and send him flying into the tree instead. I see that Mako lands up right and is ready to take her on again. I see Sakura's smile and can tell that she doesn't get much of a chance to fight against anyone. She normally plays support, but she can hit.

Mako looks mad again though. I don't know how much longer Sakura can last against this guy. He doesn't seem like the type that would give up so easily.

Sakura changes her stance to keep her center lower to the ground. Mako mimics her and they simply stare each other down. I am wanting to know who will make the first move. Sakura is using counter attacks against him, which makes fight a lot easier. Only for that you would need to know the fighting style of the enemy. Something that she could do but to know so quickly within the first battle that she has had against him.

Mako takes a step forward, he is actually thinking about his next move against her. He must have evaluated her and realized that Sakura is more than just a medical-nin. She has also trained to fight, something that lady fifth always believed in. Slowly Mako approaches Sakura, only to find three throwing needles scraping the side of his left cheek. He barely dodged it though.

Sakura has a smile creeping up on her face. This was all planned, from the start. Shikumaru is making this plan elaborate to where each ninja looks to be acting alone. Only, he gave them a skeleton outline of the plan; smart on Shikumaru's end since they all trust him when he makes a plan by himself.

Mako charges at her, thinking that she left herself open for an attack but that is where he is wrong. Sakura wants him to attack her so she can create an opening for someone else. I have not figured out the plan yet, but I know that Naruto's shadow clones are plotting something out of sight.

Sakura dodges him trying to punch her in the face, as she comes back up from the backbend she kicks him in the face, hooking her toes under his jaw and throwing him into the tree behind her. Mako never saw it coming; he fell for the trap so easily. A simple one that anyone could see through.

In a flash Naruto ties Mako to the tree and gives Sakura a thumbs up.

"Nice on Sakura! He fell for everything you threw at him!" Naruto basically yells.

Naruto walks over to me and lifts me up. The pain has dulled, but that means that I still cannot fight. I hate this. I still was helpless.

"Good job, now lets get Tooru and this guy back to the village," Shikamaru turns and jumps into the trees.

I hear everyone else following and chatting among themselves about how well the plan actually went. Naruto is giving me a piggy back ride. I slump my head on his shoulder and sigh.

"That was a large sigh for you," Naruto observers.

I click my tongue, "Why do you make the statement?"

"Well, you seem like you are disappointed about something," Naruto pauses.

"It was a mistake, something that will never happen again," I answer.

I look up at the sky. I really don't like the position I am in. I would like to be jumping through trees as well and walking into the village by myself.

Like when I was a little girl. That was when Itachi found me. Curled up, I didn't know my way to the village. I never remembered being there. I had only ever known the hole that I was stuck in. I hated the feeling of being weak. Itachi showed me kindness.

It was dark out and he found me, cry since I didn't know my way back to the village. I failed my family. I failed uncle.

"Relax," Naruto say, "I can feel you tensing up making it harder to move through the trees."

"Observant person aren't you?" I question.

Naruto doesn't say anything. He only looks ahead. I see Shikamaru and Sakura are talking. I wonder what about. Neji and Tenten and also talking. But I have no clue what they could be talking about.

Shino I believe is behind me. He is watching the back so we don't get ambushed. Neji is carrying Mako with him.

I'm still upset that I had to be rescued. Not only that but by some big flashy plan that Shikamaru came up with. He is something else. And that is something I don't want to deal with. It would be too much work and I have better things to do.

Which reminds me.

I pause, "What were the needles dipped in?"

"I see you at least caught that. They were dipped in a poison that causes the person to be suspended between life and death. Thus, making it easier to move Mako through the land and him not causing a scene out here where there can be any one out here," Shino replies, "Honestly, we thought about doing that to you but Sakura has that look in her eye that you had been in that state for too long already, sending you back would only hurt you and might ruin the whole mission."

"You guys think they put me in that state?" I ask.

Shino nods, "Or at least something similar. Either way putting you in a state where you could not move would have harmed us."

I snort at that, "I just feel weakened. Give it a little and I'll be back on my feet."

Shikamaru comes back to us, "You won't be fighting for a while. Looking at you, you have cracked ribs and you got stabbed. Not to mention what they did to you before you even woke up. Sakura only made it to where your life was not in danger in the first clearing, we would have been there sooner but we had to prep for the plan. Be glad the first trapped worked as well as it did, if not the other would have just been stalling for time with less chance of actually getting him. Sakura wanted to fight so putting them up against a medical-nin is something they would not have expected."

Naruto chimes in, "Yo, Shikamaru we should be in the village in about an hour. I'm guessing that she is going to the hospital right away?"

"You bet she is going to the hospital!" Sakura yells from behind us.

I sigh, "I need to report to Lord sixth first about what happened."

"Tooru…" Shikamaru starts.

"You know I cannot go against orders. First thing I must do is see lord sixth, after that is when we can worry about my health. Until than take me to lord sixth," I say coldly.

"Shino," Shikamaru starts, "Tell Kakashi to meet us at the hospital so that way Tooru can get looked at right away and we don't have to put her life in danger because of a rule."

Shino nods and sends his bugs to the village. I sigh. My life is not important, the village is important and that this information should be put first. I can feel the annoyance coming on, something that I hate feeling. Not like I feel anyway. Mostly everything is numb to me.

"Tooru," I hear Shikamaru say.

"What is it Shikamaru?" I ask, clearly annoyed.

"Do you have any idea why Kakashi sent us here to get you?" Shikamaru questions.

Kakashi works in a very different way than Lord Third. Therefore I don't know what Kakashi is thinking. I would have thought ANBU would be sent. Not people who weren't fully ready for something like this. I don't like this feeling. I know everyone is now listening into this conversation. I don't want to answer but I know I should.

I never know what Lord Sixth is thinking, or why he is planning anything. I tried but I figure it out at the last moment.

"Honesty, I have no idea. You guys are all jonin and at that most have only become jonin. Personally, I would have sent ANBU to come and get a ninja who I know was being held hostage by a group I was aware is powerful. So, that raises the question of why you guys were sent," I reply.

Naruto take in a breath, "Tooru, we think that we were sent because of how close we are in age to you."

"What's that suppose to mean?" I ask, a little confused.

"You were out for a few days right?" Shikamaru counters.

I narrow my eyes. I don't know what he is talking about. Was I only out a few days? Come to think of it I have no idea what day it even is. I should know, but no one had mentioned that day. And that should have been the first thing that I asked.

Dumb on my end.

"What day even is it?" I ask.

"The 14th of June, why Tooru?" Sakura answers.

Crap. I was gone for a long time. Which means they pulled a lot of information out of me. I don't like knowing that I have been taken advantage of like that.

I say nothing though.

I am getting a punishment. This much I know off hand.

Shikamaru nods, "When did you figure it out?"

"Figure what out?" I mumble.

"That you were trapped." Shikamaru explains.

"Something felt off when I was forgiven for hurting you guys, but I could not figure out what it was. It wasn't until I was heading to the office that something felt off about the whole situation. I became robotic again and something finally clicked," I respond, "Anything more to your first theory?"

"No, I think I understand it. But the second theory is that no ANBU would take to job or it would tip someone off," Shikamaru changes topics.

I glare ahead of me pushing away the comment I want to make, "Still think someone in the ANBU is part of the group?"

"Yes," Shikamaru pauses, "If Kakashi sent ANBU than they would have known something was wrong right away and that this mission was taking place, by sending us, there would be no leak until we got back to the village and by that point you might recover and we might get some information out of the guy."

"How high up in the ANBU do you think this person is?" I grill.

"Pretty high. One of the ones who recommends members to Kakashi for missions," Shikamaru explains.

"Or they have some good connections. Think there might be a new Foundation?" I ask.

I wrap my arms around Naruto as a wave of sleep over takes me. But we need to figure this out before anything else, I can maybe sleep later. The mission comes first, as always.

Naruto glances back at me. "Possible Tooru, but you should sleep, and we still have a little ways to go before we make it back to the village."

"No," I groan, "We need to figure this out, and this is the best time to."

Sakura chimes in, "After you wake up we can discuss. As a medical nin I am telling you to sleep."

"Fine," I mumble.

No point in arguing with the medical nin on what should happen. Especially one who trained under Lady Fifth, if that gets to Lady Fifth I will be killed. So I comply and sleep.