I present the next chapter! Enjoy.

El'pen sat in his office, scrolling on his tablet and counting the number of reports he had to read. It was more than expected, and El'pen wanted to throw El'kek right out into the void of space for leaving him with such a mess. He was reading through one when the system announcement chimed.

"Visitor approaching Captain, scanning... scan complete. Visitor is of the appropriate rank, unlocking door."

The door slid open but the figure stood just outside, as protocol dictated.

"Come in."

With El'pen's approval the soldier stepped in, saluting his commanding officer before standing at attention.

"Lieutenant El'muln, were you able to fix the bug and transmit instructions to our contact?"

The Lieutenant hesitated, his countenance devoid of his usual smirk.

"...Yes sir."

El'pen raised his eyes from his tablet.

"Is there a problem?"

"A few things sir. The Benu... they've released it."

El'pen inhaled sharply.

"Who did they send it to?"

"The Fernel. I've watched the footage and it's horrible sir. A massacre, our people..." El'muln took a moment and wiped his tears, shaking his head.

"So they think they are close to winning, and are already moving onto the next race?"

El'pen felt his insides ignite, and the energy converted into movement. One hand abruptly reached out to the plant sitting on his desk and heaved it against the wall, the pot shattering on impact.

He took a breath.

"It's not over yet, we haven't lost. Do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes, the terrorists have attempted to attack one of our transmat stations. Nothing seems to be damaged but an investigation is still in progress. We also found one searching around in the Archives. They have been locked in the cells until further notice."

"That's not all, is it?" El'pen could feel a headache forming.

"No... we are unable to connect to Shimura Danzo, and had to do manual intervention to save one of the characters who went off script."

That made El'pen pause, it was very difficult to sever a connection from a main station, and this level of change was no laughing matter. The unsealing of the Food would depend on Shimura's participation, so having him unavailable was a problem. And with the recent news from the Benu... it wasn't good.

They needed power.

"Which character did you have to evac?"

"The root member of the main character's team, the Replacement. He was heavily damaged but we are expecting him to pull through, but there might be some health concerns later."

"Well enough to perform his role?"

"Yes sir."

El'pen waved his hand. "Then the injuries don't matter. Connect to him directly and do not send him out again, under any circumstances."

"Yes sir."

El'pen lifted his tablet and swiped a few times before tapping. He laid the tablet flat on the desk, inserting it into the depression, and watched as the screen's contents were three dimensionally projected. Various faces were displayed, and his eyes were drawn to the biggest pain in his ass.

Haruno Sakura, she was going to be a problem.

Things were starting to spiral out of control and it all started with her. They still had no idea who was helping her, or how they were able to alter her chip. When they fixed the bug they looked to see where the integration originated, but there was nothing.

"Does the contact still have eyes on them?"

"No sir. He had to disengage due to her teammates, but he knows where they are staying."

El'pen hummed.

"Change of plans then. Reach out to our contact and have them jump ahead a few steps, we can't leave them alone."

The El'os couldn't afford to wait. El'pen paused for a moment, thinking.

"Connect to the Akatsuki for support, we cannot fail again."

"Yes sir."

"I want it done by the end of the Chunin Exams, you're dismissed."

El'muln saluted and left the room. El'pen was left to his thoughts, and they drifted back to the Shimura situation. He didn't think it was the terrorists, otherwise they wouldn't have gone after Yamanaka. No, this had to be someone else.

"System... connect me to the Council." There was someone he needed to find. Whatever games that were being played, needed to be stopped.

For the good of the El'os.

"Command received Captain, connecting..."

.

Sakura woke in her hotel room, and the first thing she noticed was the genjutsu on her body. She almost dispelled it, but after realizing it was Kakashi-sensei's chakra she left it in place. Laying in bed Sakura studied the ceiling, thinking about her situation.

The Burning was back, and Inner wasn't here.

It hadn't even been a month and she was back to suffering. Her lips quivered. Sakura's life just turned for the worst, and she had embarrassed herself in front of everyone. Family trading partners, friends, her teammates. Everyone saw her collapse.

Her moment of weakness would be remembered, probably talked about at auctions to come. It would be a memory that forever tainted her clan. The worst part was, she was so close to recovering from the flare. The small smile flashed in her memory, and her frustration transformed into anger. That man ruined everything!. Did Sensei take care of it? Or figure out why?

She had to find out.

With slow motions she sat up and saw Naruto sitting at the foot of her bed, staring at the floor. His face was grim as he sat lost in thought.

"Naruto." His head whipped towards her.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan..."

Sakura watched as his expression switched from excited to sheepish and knew something was wrong.

"Naruto... what did you do?" Sakura asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. The familiar situation calmed her raging thoughts, surprising her.

He laughed weakly.

"Sorry Sakura-chan, but I may have accepted a bet... for you." The last couple of words were so soft Sakura wasn't sure if she heard them right.

" You accepted a bet on my behalf?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Naruto!"

"But Sakura-chan! You should have heard what this old granny was saying about you! I had to accept it so you could redeem your honor! The Haruno clan name was at stake!"

Honor? What exactly happened while she was unconscious?

"Do you really think dropping her clan name would make you in any less trouble Dobe?" Sasuke spoke from the doorway, Kakashi-sensei right behind him.

"Maa, maa, it all worked out in the end. Sakura-chan is awake, and all she has to do is show an inkling of her talent and Tsunade-sama will owe us a favor." Sensei put a hand on Sasuke's head but he smacked it off.

Sakura jolted.

"Tsunade-sama? She's here?"

"Right next door. She's asleep right now, but I will introduce you later. How are you feeling Sakura-chan?" Sensei walked over, and uncovered his sharingan to look at her.

"Your chakra levels seems to be normal now." He mused.

"Pretty sore, but mostly I feel fine." Sakura rotated her shoulders a few times. "Why am I still under a genjutsu?"

Sensei hesitated. "I'm not sure how to tell you this Sakura-chan, but I don't think flares are flares anymore... I believe that's your new Burning."

"What do you mean?"

"If we don't have a genjutsu on you for a period of time, your body starts to convulse from the pain."

What? Does than mean she would be in excruciating pain for the rest of her life unless she was under a genjutsu? How could she hold one constantly?

Sakura immediately raised her hand to the back of her neck, and released healing chakra into her system. Her soreness she didn't notice before eased, but without removing the genjutsu it was hard to measure the extent of the damage, and that was something Sakura was not going to do at this time.

"I guess I will need to increase my chakra reserves, not that I didn't know that already." The words came out more bitter than she would of liked, but it was the truth.

"Kakashi-sensei already promised to teach me a genjutsu Sakura-chan, so don't worry! There will always be a clone by your side." Naruto spoke confidently.

Sakura suppressed the grimace from rising on her face. She appreciated Naruto's help, truly, but Sakura needed time alone. There were things she pushed off to the side that needed to be addressed, Inner being one of them.

"Thanks Naruto, if you can hold it while we are on missions I can do it at home."

"You got it Sakura-chan!"

"But Naruto... " Sakura leveled a hard stare at the blonde. "Don't you ever take another bet in my name, or on behalf of my clan ever again."

He gulped.

"I won't."

"Let's go Naruto, Sakura needs her rest." Sasuke said, dragging her teammate out by his jacket.

"I can walk you know." Naruto muttered.

"Debatable."

"You know, sometimes I wished you went back to not talking."

"Boys..." Sensei warned. The two winced, the motion betraying a memory Sakura was very curious about.

"This is your fault, I hope you know that." Naruto said to Sasuke, and that was the last thing Sakura heard from her teammates, leaving her alone in her room with Kakashi-sensei.

Sakura looked up at her Sensei, who was staring at her.

"Any word from Inner?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head.

"No, she's not back yet. It's normal, she's been gone for weeks before."

"Hmm, that's unfortunate. I had questions for her about that 'doctor' that tried to help you."

"What did you learn?" Was this 'doctor' part of the story? How did he know that the genjutsu was important to stop the Burning? Could it be an El'os controlling a body?

Sensei tapped her on the head with his book.

"Nothing you need to know right now, you have a bet to win."

Yes, yes she did.

.

Sasuke released Naruto when they reached the end of the hall, though the Dobe made a big deal of fixing his jacket as slow as possible.

"I swear Sasuke, you are so pushy nowadays." Sasuke glared at the blonde. The Dobe was more annoying these days, but you didn't see him complaining... much.

"Hn. Is your clone still watching him?"

Naruto nodded his head.

"Yep, he hasn't popped yet, but he will soon. I still waste too much chakra on transformations, hehe." He rubbed the back of his head.

"If your chakra control wasn't shit, you wouldn't have this problem." Sasuke gave Naruto a knowing look before stepping in front of his teammate.

He felt a tug on his shoulder.

"Excuse you! I'll have you know my water walking skills are amazing Teme, last night was just a fluke. Sooner or later my chakra control will be better than yours, believe it!"

Sasuke snorted, shaking Naruto off and continuing to walk. There was no way Naruto would have better control than him. Especially not after the incident last night, it was all his fault they got caught by Kakashi sneaking out. If the Dobe didn't splash into the lake they would have made it, and he wouldn't have had to suffer washing Kakashi's clothes.

"It has to get better if I am going to put Sakura-chan under a genjutsu." Naruto said, the seriousness of the topic dampening the mood between the two.

"When is your lesson?"

"Tonight, Kakashi-sensei said he would teach me after dinner, but I guess it depends on what happens with the bet."

"I'll stay with her tonight and put a genjutsu on her. If we're lucky Inner will come back with information on the doctor." And if he is very lucky maybe about his brother too.

Sasuke stopped walking and Naruto shortly followed.

Itachi...

Sasuke wondered how he was doing, if he was eating and sleeping well. If he had nightmares like him. He thought back to Wave, and the words the corpse said:

'Of course that's why Itachi was here, he's the best dog I have. Out of everyone he's the easiest to use. Just put the thought in his brain that it would help Sasuke and he wouldn't resist.'

If everything Itachi did was to help him, then Itachi must think of him, right? Was he in his head as much as Itachi was in his own?

The warning Sakura gave him still echoed, he wasn't sure how much the chip altered his brother, but he would do everything he could to get him back. He owed him that much.

But first, he had to find him.

His crows still hadn't found anything the last time he sent them out, but it wouldn't stop him from trying. He would send another few out tonight, and send them south instead of north. Hopefully he was in the Land of Fire, somewhere.

Sasuke felt an arm snake around his shoulder.

"Hey, we'll find him. You, me, Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei, believe it!" Naruto gave him an encouraging smile, knowing just who was on his mind.

Yeah, they would find him, together.

"Spar?"

Naruto laughed.

"You're on Teme!"

Bad news is given on both sides, and neither Sakura or El'pen are pleased with their circumstances.

Can't believe we are already 23 chapters in. When I first thought of this story it was entirely in Sakura's pov, but in actual execution I jump around to more povs than I realized. Hopefully it doesn't take away from the story, and everyone enjoys it. I know I do.

I have a little bit of a mini writers block, so I won't promise the next release date. I should have it all worked out within two to three weeks if all goes well, but regardless of when I release it will be sometime on a Sunday.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reading!