Note:

" talk " - The characters are speaking in Japanese.

" talk " - The characters are speaking English.

' talk ' - The characters are thinking.

More notes at the end of the chapter.

This chapter is unedited/ not proofread. (8/21/20)

Eternal

Part Two: Thallo

Chapter Twelve:

Loopholes I

He wasn't the same, Temari observed. Who would be? He still hadn't regained his memories and already had to use jutsu in combat and witnessed Sai finish a man off.

He doesn't say much, doesn't show much to other people. But she knew him then, and she knew him now.

Shikamaru wasn't as open with his emotions as Naruto and Sakura, nor was he as prone to acting impulsively due to said emotions like Sasuke. But he was conflicted. Having been born into this new life and having to experience all of this with the limited training he received from the group and already having to witness death. Enemy or not, it was death.

This was a completely different time. When learning to be a Shinobi as early as childhood and growing up with the tragedy of loss and war, they all had to mature fast.

Now, that wasn't expected. It was frowned upon. They were essentially child soldiers, children thrust into bloodshed all for the protection of their village.

In this case, it was self defense, but it doesn't make the first kill any easier.

Landing the helicopter on the rooftop heliport of New Chitose airport, a few miles west of the Hokkaido Mountains, she removes her headset and carefully places it on the dashboard before turning to Shikamaru. He was still facing the side window, deep in thought.

Unbuckling herself from her seat, she stood, careful not to hit her head. She turned her attention to the three other passengers, all quiet during the flight to the airport. They all looked shaken, something she wasn't used to seeing, having remembered them as war heroes, legendary ninja who ended the Fourth Great Ninja War.

"Alright, Sai and the others should be landing right about now," Temari announced. "Let's all get out of here."

They all unbuckled themselves and one by one silently left the helicopter. They were tired, understandably so.

Shikamaru was still glued to his seat.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she spoke. "Hey."

He looks up, the tension on his brow slowly lifted. "Hey."

She takes a short moment in quiet before speaking. "What's got you thinking so hard."

He sighs, fatigue evident in its length. "I had a hunch that something supernatural or whatever this is had a hand in the weird shit in my life, but to think reincarnation..." He pauses. "And you already knew about it."

The corners of her lips rose slightly, if a little sheepishly. "I assume Kakashi's already told you about that caveat about not saying anything about it."

"Having to train this ability through a bunch of riddles makes a lot more sense now."

"Trust me, it was really weird for me too when I first found out."

"I believe you." He unbuckled his seatbelt. "It doesn't make it any less crazy."

"No, it doesn't." She shook her head. "Let's talk more about this later. Everybody else is waiting."

He nodded, saving his questions for later.

Once out of the vehicle, Shikamaru saw the other three's back facing them, all in quiet conversation. Somehow the mix of colors, odd and bright with Sasuke's coloring to darken it, sent an odd sensation coursing through his body.

He had felt it before, when first meeting them in Maiso. They were a flashy group, an unusual mix of personalities. And yet, he knew they all fit like puzzle pieces molded specifically for each other.

Reincarnation.

Now that he knew, he came to the conclusion that they were friends, to some degree. Out of everyone he had met with chakra, the few people gathered by Kakashi, Temari felt most familiar to him, since, judging from his dreams, they were married in their past life.

It was odd for him to think that. After all, they had only just started dating. Whether or not the end would be the same as in their past life, entirely depended on them now.

He had been piecing together his odd dreams ever since he got confirmation from Itachi. From what he gathered, he was in a squad of three. A blonde woman. A man who loved barbecue. And then, a man who brought a pained ache in his chest when he would appear, always lighting a cigarette.

His head began to pound.

"Don't bother."

His hands began to shake.

"I'm dead anyway."

A deep voice emerged from the recesses of his memory.

"Shikamaru?"

His heart rate sped up.

"Which reminds me… about the king."

A bloodstained face, marred with scars of battle.

"I'm counting on you…"

Warm hands gripped his shoulders and he looked up to see the worry etched on Temari's face. "Shikamaru?"

The pain began to subside, slowly his hands steady.

Temari knew immediately what was happening. Instead of saying anything else, she let his hand guide her head to his chest, his arms loosely around her in a soft embrace.

Though the pain was beginning to ebb, Shikamaru knew that his questions would be answered soon.

Kakashi walked out of the helicopter and the first thing he noticed was Shikamaru and Temari engaged in what looked to be an important conversation. Judging by the way Shikamaru's chakra had suddenly grown fuller, he knew it was about their situation. Which means Shikamaru was most likely the next one to regain his memories.

And that only left his three adorable students.

He expected as much. It was never going to be simple with them.

He had noticed Sakura's odd behavior that morning, how she was avoiding Sasuke. He also saw how Sasuke was reacting to it. And then there was Naruto, who also noticed, but was completely oblivious.

It may be a different millenia, but they were still the same. This complicated things even more though. The sooner the three regained their memories, the better their chances, but he couldn't just lunge them into danger.

Shikamaru had minimal training prior to today. Kakashi was afraid he had waited too long to start with his students.

The three in question were standing side by side and the familiar sight warmed his heart. He just wished things weren't as hectic. They, of all people, deserved a break from all of life's sadistic gifts.

Sai stood next to him and observed the trio, whose backs were facing them. "And they still do not remember?" He asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm hoping training will be that push to helping them to the right direction."

"Then perhaps some familiar names could also help?"

Kakashi turned his attention to him, his brow raised.

Sai took that as a yes and began walking their direction. "Dickless. Ugly. Traitor."

He should have known.

Naruto felt his left eye twitch instinctively at the sound of his voice. Turning around to face the source, he came face to face with a pale face smiling right at him.

"It's been a while, dickless."

"Who're you calling dickless?"

Sasuke studied the man who, despite being the focus of Naruto's irritation at the moment, kept the close mouthed smile plastered on his face.

"And looks like Ugly and Traitor are here too."

Unsure of which was which, Sasuke chose to silently glare at the name caller.

Sakura, though annoyed with the nicknames, only stared at him. She knew he wasn't a stranger, that much was obvious with how he came up to them so carefree. She knew his face. She'd seen it before.

'Alright, enough! Tell us what you're really up to! How many times are you going to betray us before you-'

That was it! That same recurring dream. He was there, too.

But she remembered calling him a traitor. That seemed not likely since he was on their side right now.

"That's enough, Sai." Kakashi walked up to them. "It's been a long morning for them. It's best we get to the base."

Sai nodded.

Everyone gathered right in front of the elevator at Kakashi's call. Tsunade observed the group. 'The kids look tired,' she thought. That much was an understatement. Hell, even she was exhausted with all the events that had occurred the past week and the morning alone. It wasn't even noon yet.

A small part of her was angry. Angry that Jiraiya and Kakashi had hid so much for so long. At first, she had assumed that their goal was merely to gather people with their strange gift. It turned out that it was far more complicated than that. But she knew she couldn't stay too mad. The implications and the risks were far too great to risk to tell everyone the truth outright.

She knew now the familiarity of Sakura's face was what allowed the girl to come to the Maiso mission. For years, she saw flashes of faces in her dreams, some too painful to think about. Jiraiya was one, for example. She just couldn't pinpoint why.

But with the information she currently had, things were beginning to piece together, albeit slowly. However, she did have one glaring question.

What exactly would trigger their memories to return? For Itachi, it was with the help of the scroll and whatever was in it. For Kakashi, it was being told about his past, and that didn't end well for the messenger. But how did everyone else realize? She was going to have to ask them a few questions. Perhaps it would help speed up the process.

Temari began handing out their plane tickets, Tsunade and Itachi getting two, one for their flight to Tokyo and another for their late night flight to Sendai.

"I'll have to make sure Uchiha Towers is secure."

"And I need to talk to my staff, figure out something for damage control." Tsunade sighed, exasperated.

Itachi nodded. "And as for all of you." He shifted his attention to the young adults. "Use today to take a breather. It's been an eventful weekend."

"Wait." Sakura turned her attention to Kakashi. "What about Toma?"

Expectant eyes focus on the man as he took a moment to respond, only for him to shake his head.

Sakura felt her shoulders drop and looked away, mouth pursed before she took a long, deep breath. She had a feeling that was the case, but she still wanted to be proven wrong.

She was so excited to go to Maiso, to be accepted into the mission and work under Tsunade Senju, but life had other ideas, and now she was faced with questions about herself that she wasn't sure she wanted answers to.

The walk to the terminal was quiet, everyone wary of catching attention. After all, Shimura's men could have caught up with them.

When the time came for them to split into two groups, Itachi stopped the group, and his eyes met Sakura's.

"Before I forget." Itachi looked at Temari, who looked back at him confused before her eyes lit up with recognition. Reaching inside of her pocket, she took out a phone and handed it to Sakura. "You needed a replacement."

Sakura let a small smile grace her lips as she took the phone. "Thank you."

"Try not to smash it into pieces this time," he joked.

Temari looked down, trying to hide the amused grin she had on her face at the information. Different life, same strength.

The flight to Sendai felt awkward to Naruto. And it wasn't just because Sakura was still keeping a distance away from Sasuke, but also because he had to sit smack dab in between the two during the flight.

Sakura made sure to keep her eyes out the window (she took the window seat before he could), and Sasuke sat by the aisle, arms folded and eyes closed pretending to sleep. But Naruto knew he was wide awake.

During their short time together as a trio, this was the first where no one said a thing, and Naruto for sure didn't like it. Of course, it could be the fact that everyone was tired from literally being chased through the woods and witnessing someone explode just so they could safely get away. All of that before noon.

But Sakura had been avoiding Sasuke before they left the cottage.

Pouting, Naruto leaned back onto his chair, arms folded, unhappy with the situation. He didn't like being left out of the loop.

Though he was upset about his friends, he also knew he was using it as an excuse to not think too much about what had been happening. Truth be told, he too was tired of the tiptoeing around them, the vague hints to their pasts, the threats to their lives.

The possibility of having to take a life.

He shook his head.

No, he was going to take Itachi's advice and take the rest of the day off. But with all that time free, he knew he'd have to process everything that had just occurred.

'It is a hard pill to swallow.' A deep, gravelly voice entered his mind. Startled, Naruto abruptly sat up, eyes wide at the unexpected voice. Sakura sent him a curious look, but he only gave her a sheepish smile. She turned back to the window.

'Is this…' He blanked out on the name. 'Karma?'

'Kurama!' The voice replied, agitated before sighing. 'I should be offended, but knowing you…'

Naruto leaned back onto the chair, relaxing. 'Mind giving a guy a warning next time?'

'You'll get used to it.'

He didn't doubt it, but it was still weird. Still, it was one of the less weird things that he had to experience this past week.

'Hey,' Naruto began, frowning. 'Did I ever have to… kill anyone in my past life?'

Kurama didn't say anything for a beat. 'You know I can't tell you that.'

It was worth a shot, Naruto figured. He was going to figure out to get answers one way or the other. Just then, he got an idea.

'Hey, Kurama,' he started. 'Since you're kinda a part of me, does that mean that if you answer my questions, we both die?'

'Do you really want to risk it to get an answer?'

That meant no.

'So you're a part of me, but we're not the same, I don't know… soul?'

'I'm a fox. You're a human, of course not.'

'Does that make me a furry? Or furry kin or whatever the internet calls it?!' Naruto shuddered at the thought.

'You expect me to know what that means?'

He supposed not. 'Wait, why are you inside me?'

'Another thing I can't tell you.'

He groaned. 'Come on! At least a hint?'

'I am not risking our lives because of your impatience, boy,' his tone sounded more menacing. 'You heard the Uchiha. You're too important.'

He knew that, but he was sick of not knowing. He was going to have to think of some kind of loophole.

Temari sat next to Shikamaru on the flight to Sendai. With it only being an hour long flight, she expected Shikamaru to want to have that talk he wanted during the plane ride. Instead, he was fast asleep, somehow able to get comfortable on the last minute seat she managed to get for everyone.

Busy on her phone, reading files she had saved onto the device to go through in her spare time, her eyes caught sight of Shikamaru. His closed eyes were twitching, his body a little shaken.

Worried, her hand was reaching for his shoulder, aiming to shake him awake, but an odd sensation forced her hand to stop. Eyes widening, she turned her head to the seats behind her where Sai and Kakashi were seated. Their eyes met hers with equal shock.

From where the other three were seated, Naruto cut his conversation with Kurama short once he felt the prickling of his skin at the change in the air. The same feeling when Itachi had looked into the scroll.

Sakura had noticed too, her back straight as she tried to look over to where the others were seated, looking for the source. She met Temari's eyes, worry brimming in hers. The blonde slowly nodded, assuring her suspicions.

Eyes shooting wide open, Shikamaru sat up, his breath labored, beads of sweat dripping down his temples. Once his heart rate steadied, he focused on the woman next to him.

"Shika-"

Grabbing her shoulders, he took her in an embrace.

Flustered by the sudden act of affection, she stilled in his arms, aware of the people around them. "What," she stuttered. "What's this all of a sudden?"

"Just let me have this, woman."

Relaxing her shoulders, she rolled her eyes before patting his back. "It's about damn time."

Temari led the way to a parked vehicle, and everyone entered and took their seats. "The base is only a twenty minute drive."

"What is this base?" Sakura asked as Temari started the car.

"Itachi had it built two years ago for us to be able to train in private."

Sasuke frowned, unaware of his brother's actions. He knew he kept secrets, but the more secrets he uncovered, the more unsettling it felt to the younger Uchiha. "If Itachi only just recently got his memories back, how come he agreed to have it built?"

"He'd already met Tsunade and Jiraiya before we met in this life, knew about his powers but nothing specific. I managed to talk him into building a base for us to train in so we wouldn't have to worry about damaging public property."

"And he got a permit for this public training facility?"

Winking, he answered, "In paper, it's a private home."

Home was an understatement. When their destination came into view and the large gates opened by the press of a button Temari had on the dashboard, Sakura could only gape at the size of the property. It wasn't so much a private home as it was a private mansion.

It was a modern build, large windows the size of the walls, tinted black to hide the view of the inside. Only one story, but it was large. The roof, flat and shed like, but colored in a rich, dark brown that only made the houses lighter shade look all the more vibrant. From Sakura's view, she could tell that the property had a large wooded area in the back, perfect for the training Kakashi had mentioned.

"You Uchihas never half ass shit, huh?" Naruto said, walking out of the vehicle. "And you never knew this place existed, Sasuke?"

He shook his head, eyes studying his surroundings.

"We'll give you the full tour later." Kakashi led them up the steps to the mansion's entrance.

A camera greeted them from the top corner of the door as Kakashi placed his hand on the empty area where a door knob should be. It didn't look like it was checking his hand print, but if Sakura were to guess by the rise in temperature in that brief moment, it was checking his chakra.

The doors opened and the sight that greeted them from the inside looked like a typical mansion's entryway. Naruto didn't know what to expect, but from the way Kakashi had to open the door, he expected something a little more reminiscent of a science fiction movie.

Sasuke looked around cautiously, having felt another presence in the area and still on edge from the morning's events. The presence grew closer until, from the hallway to the right, a woman entered the living space.

"Ah, you're here." She was smiling, but Sasuke could tell she was nervous. "Thought you guys might be hungry, so I ordered take out. It's in the patio dining space right now."

"Thank you, TenTen," Kakashi said. "I'll lead them to their rooms first. Sai, go check on new reports. See if Shimura released a statement regarding Maiso or if there is anything regarding the explosion in Poroshiri-sanso."

Sai nodded and disappeared into the hallway TenTen had appeared from.

"Shikamaru, Temari. A word when I'm done."

While no one was looking, Naruto was on his phone. Another idea had popped into his head while Kakashi was giving orders. Looking for the voice recording app, he slipped his phone into the potted plant by the large television placed on the wall in front of the plush white leather couch.

'I don't think this is a good idea,' Kurama said, communicating through his thoughts.

'It's worth a shot. They wouldn't exactly be telling me anything if they didn't know someone was listening.'

Kurama thought about it for a moment. The idea had merit, but still, he had his doubts.

Kakashi proceeded to lead them to the guest rooms of the house, through the hallway on the opposite side TenTen had emerged from.

Once in her room, Sakura finally turned on her new phone, installing a messaging app that would allow her to contact her parents. She hoped they weren't freaking out.

Thankfully, all she had to do was give them a brief call ensuring she was fine. It was then that she realized how much she missed them. Tears threatened to escape her, longing for the normalcy she had grown accustomed to.

But it wasn't going to come back. She knew that. No matter how much she'd fight it, it wouldn't be the same. This was what was going to be of her life from this point on. And she was afraid.

So many questions, so many fears, so many secrets to be uncovered. But she had already told herself before that she wasn't going to run no matter how much she wanted to.

And the first thing she had to do was to talk to Sasuke.

The dream was terrifying, but she knew there had to be more than that. Her talk with Tsunade cleared her mind a little, and she told herself she had to talk to him, even though neither of them knew the answers. Still, it was a step.

She kept a distance from him this morning so as to not psyche herself out. She was still reeling from how real the dream had been, how painful it was. But she'd come to realize that the sight, the thought of his hand stabbing right through her was not what had hurt. It was the immense agony her heart had gone through in the process, his eyes looking dead at hers, empty, like he was a completely different person. Completely different from the eyes that stared back at her that one night on the roof a few nights ago.

Making up her mind, she steeled herself and walked to the room across from hers and raised a fist to knock, only for the door to open once her fist hovered over the wood.

"Uh," she started, awkward. "Hi."

He raised a brow.

"Can we talk?"

"So your memories are back?" Kakashi asked, relaxing onto the leather couch.

Shikamaru nodded. "I guess the thrill of real battle kind of beat it out of me."

"Does that mean it would work on Team 7?" TenTen asked, leaning onto the door to the patio.

"Probably." The former Hokage sighed. "I knew it was going to be complicated with those three, but the level of how always seems to surprise me."

"They're your students. You know them best."

"About the masked man you fought in Maiso," Temari chimed in. "You know who it is?"

Kakashi shifted his gaze briefly to the brunette, her hair tied into two buns atop her head. "Yes."

Rain.

He looked up at the dreary sky as the droplets continued to fall onto the earth from behind the window where he stood.

"The men in Maiso are not responding." He looked back to the sound of Kaiju's voice. "They've made their move."

"Where would you need me next?"

"Track them down. We can't let their whereabouts remain unknown."

"Understood."

"Don't fail." Kaiju turned to leave, walking to the exit door. "You know what would happen if you do."

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He opened the door, stopping before he left the room. "You will finally understand your pain soon, Neji."

He wondered if that was truly the case.

Notes:

NEW CHAPTER ALERT AND OH? WHO'S THIS? TENTEN AND

GASP

IT'S NEJI!

lol here, he is. NejiTen deserved better in canon, so of course they had to be part of this story! Some of y'all had the right guess, the masked man was Neji!

And Sakura's FINALLY going to talk to Sasuke, phew. Will things get more complicated? Probably.

And Naruto with his one braincell is trying to get answers. That's a powerful braincell of yoursdjfskfjsl

A lil ShikaTema moment because I love them.

I'm so thankful y'all are still here reading even though I take forever to update at times. Sending y'all my love. Hope y'all stay safe and stay masked. My other fics will be updated too by the end of the month.