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The original Naruto teleported himself back to the village just as the sun was beginning to eclipse the horizon. He did not have a mark in the Hokage's office, so he settled for the one on his father's stone visage. Even now, it was hard to reconcile the fact that the man who his genetics came from was the same one the village worshipped.
He let his chakra open, doing his best to filter through the sensory feedback. It was still a skill he was working on. He naturally recognized when a chakra signature was approaching, it was sort of instinctual. It was much harder to locate one that may be static, or even moving away, amongst the thousands of others in a given village or city. It was much easier when his targets were wearing a tag with a unique chakra signature though. Especially when it was one he had created.
He quickly found a sense for them, unsurprised to find them gathering in the Hokage's office. He launched himself off the monument, using chakra to slow and absorb the fall. He landed and immediately propelled himself towards the office, making quick work of the short route. In seconds, he was propped on the window sill, sliding the glass open.
Tsunade sighed, used to his antics, but still annoyed. "You don't even look tired," she said. "Do you need a soldier pill?"
Naruto shook his head, "I'm fine. I got a little boost as I crossed into the desert, only Gaara would have been able to detect the fox in an area that remote."
"You hid your markers like I asked?" Tsunade said. Ally or not, it would be bad for the sand to find hiraishin kunai anywhere in the Land of Wind. Especially when their Kage had just been kidnapped.
"Yeah yeah, I placed them on rocks and up in trees rather than leaving kunai so that I could hide them. They would have to stumble across it with chakra to find them." He was serious, but not downtrodden by the recent news.
"Very well," Tsunade said. "The team has been briefed, so I'll turn it over to Kakashi in a minute. I just want to say a few words before you leave." She stood up to her considerable height, letting her presence wash over the room. She was wearing the hat of her station, a rare sight. She knew Naruto had a respect for it, though she wasn't sure why. He always spoke of taking the hat, rather than the job, from her.
"This is an S-rank mission because of the difficulty, not the necessity. No doubt it's important, but the four of you are extremely valuable to the village, perhaps the four most valuable. The elders argued vehemently against sending even one of you. I am sticking my neck out for you. You will all return in one piece. That is an order."
The four ninja nodded, conveying their understanding. Not a single one of them planned on dying anyway. They would ensure mission success and the safe return of their comrades. It was ingrained in the very fabric of their being.
"Kakashi," Tsunade said, beginning to exit the room. The Leaf did not come to a standstill because of the chaos of another village. There was still work to do. "They're all yours." And then, it was just the four of them.
"Right," Kakashi said. He strode smoothly in front of them.
Prior to Naruto's class graduating from the academy, it had been a long time since Kakashi had been himself. He looked each of them in the eyes, turn by turn. His single uncovered eye held a spark in it. It was not something Naruto had seen before, even when Kakashi was in charge of their training.
He knew Kakashi had rejoined the Anbu, at least in part. The stories of his first stint in it were not for the faint of heart, but Naruto had heard them. Whispers here and there. Kakashi of the sharingan. The copy-nin. Famed assassin. Friend killer. A man who was lost. Was.
A clone of Naruto's even asked Might Gai about it once. Never before or since had he seen the jonin's face darken like that. He insisted that Naruto need not worry about that, that Kakashi had never killed a comrade before, and never would. That had not been the information the blond was after, but he supposed it did not hurt to hear anyway.
Naruto suspected that Kakashi went to a dark place after the death of his team. He had been to that dark place himself, though he knew he was only one talk, one friend reaching out a hand, from the light. Kakashi on the other hand, seemed to have been buried so deep that it's a surprise he even survived the training for the black ops, let alone that mission record.
That was the life of a ninja, Naruto had come to learn. You either crack under it all, then mend those cracks, or you are shattered into a million pieces. Lost forever.
Except forever was not as final as it sounded, not when Kakashi Hatake was involved. The man looking at him right now was not lost any longer, and so Naruto's faith in him grew. No, this Kakashi was no longer lost. He had fought tooth and nail, dragging himself back to the light. He was something different now.
The man he was always meant to be.
Naruto saw it, felt it in the air and in the sixth sense that every capable ninja developed. The man now standing in front of him was a force to be reckoned with. Naruto hid a grin.
"You heard the orders," Kakashi said. He spoke sharply. Firmly. The voice of a commander who had been through it all. Somehow though, he maintained the soul of his typical lazy drawl. It was almost as if even this, an S-rank mission they cannot afford to fail, was casual to him.
"We look out for each other, we have each other's backs, and we keep our heads. I know Gaara is important to you, Naruto, but don't let that compromise the mission. I'm trusting you." Naruto's jaw clenched tight at the mention of Gaara, but he nodded. He would not let them down. Never again.
"I will need a full briefing of your abilities that are combat ready, but we can do that on approach to Suna. I want to get going now. The sooner we talk to Sand, the sooner we'll know what we're up against." They all nodded their heads, though they did not need to. He had their full attention, and he knew it. There was something undoubtedly special about Kakashi Hatake when he entered that zone. It was no wonder he was a legend amongst the Anbu.
"Naruto," Kakashi said. "Take us away."
They all steeled themselves. The moment they left the room, the mission began. In fact, to them, it already had.
They formed a circle around Naruto. Hinata to his right, he took her hand. Yamato on his left, he did the same. Kakashi stood behind him, laying his hand on Naruto's shoulder in a way that seemed to command the thought that he had done this before. The squad of four vanished from the Hokage's office.
The four shinobi appeared in the desert, the fading light casting long shadows across the sand that surrounded them. Naruto squatted down to remove the lone kunai that he had placed on his trip, ensuring there would be no evidence that he had tagged the area. There was a large rock a few miles back that he had marked anyway. He could cover that distance in no time at all if he needed to.
"Perimeter check," Kakashi said. Hinata's chakra pulsed. It was sharper than Naruto was used to, so fine he almost felt like it would cut him. It did not take her long to scan the area. She let the chakra recede, conserving it for any battle that may come.
"Clear," she said. Kakashi made a hand gesture, and the four of them moved out in a square formation. Hinata took the front left, Kakashi the right. Yamato the back left, and Naruto the back right.
It was not a standard formation. In fact, it was Naruto's first time running it. Having a Hyuga and a one-eyed captain on the same team was not exactly common. The formation allowed them to cover for each other's weaknesses, both in form and experience, as well as emphasize their strengths.
They moved nearly soundlessly through the waning light, determined to arrive as fast as possible. Receiving a missive from Sand can take more than a full day, even with a fast hawk. They could afford to waste any more time.
It did not take them long to reach the large walls of the village. There once was an opening in the wall, large enough to be considered a full street. Now, there was rubble. Lots and lots of rubble. It appeared the Akatsuki had laid a trap on their way out. There were still ninja sifting through the debris, searching for survivors. Naruto and Hinata both know they would find none.
A chunin who looked far out of his league led the operation. The poor man was nearly shaking in his boots. He was rather scrawny for a chunin, but he probably wasn't even twenty yet.
Kakashi approached him, scroll in hand. He unfurled it, handing it to the chunin and explaining they were there to offer aid. The chunin did not put up any sort of fight, which was odd for a Sand ninja. He waved them through.
"Captain," Naruto said. It was a respectful choice of words, something he had learned to use when he was about to ask about something he should not. "Permission to leave shadow clones to help?"
Kakashi nods. "We'll need several for scouting, not to mention combat. Don't overdo it."
Naruto nodded, face grim. He made the cross hand seal, both hands coming up crisply in front of his face, as if being set into a mold. Suddenly there were twenty copies behind him. The Leaf team moved on, while the clones reported to the Sand chunin. He seemed shaken, but accepted the help quickly enough.
The original Naruto strode through the village with the rest of his team, maintaining a compact version of their square formation. Time was of the utmost importance, but foreign shinobi sprinting through the village would set anybody on edge even in the best of times. They were being watched by guards set on the rooftops. It seemed they had already been briefed that a Leaf team would show, so no trouble was caused.
They arrived at the Kazekage's tower. Gaara's tower. They were ushered up a set of stairs, and then two more. Finally, they arrived at the second highest floor. They were steered down a long hallway to a large set of double doors. Naruto knew this was the office of the Kazekage.
The door opened, and Kakashi led them in. Naruto sensed something was wrong. He let his senses - all six of them - open up fully with only a drop of the foxes chakra. He was assaulted with stimuli. He had trained for this though, perhaps more extensively than any other skill. His mind and instincts quickly prioritized information in factors of importance. Chakra sense and eyesight filter to the front. Smell takes a backseat as it's not something that was likely to matter in snap judgements.
As he stepped through the door and to the side of Kakashi, intent on flanking the man's blindside, he assessed what he sensed. Kankuro laid on the table, chakra weak. There are five other Sand ninja in the room, four of which he did not recognize.
One was Baki, Gaara's sensei. Standing cross armed, he was not a threat. Another's chakra was docile. An elderly man who looked less alive than many of the puppets the village was known for. Two were certainly healers, and a third had the chakra control for it, though it had a dangerous edge to it. It was this final ninja that was the cause for alarm. She was flying at Kakashi with a fierce intent to kill.
Naruto could feel Kakashi's confusion, and so he took it upon himself to handle the situation. He stepped in front of his team leader, left middle finger crossed over the index. The original Naruto caught the old lady's punch with his right hand. It was laden with what was a surprising amount of power, though only because of the deceptive wrinkles that covered her face.
In the next instant, two clones materialized from nothing, gripping the elderly shinobi's arms from either side.
"What are you doing, Lady Chiyo?" Naruto asked.
"The White Fang will pay for what he did," she hollered. The look in her eyes was not senile, but it was not entirely sane either. That made her even more dangerous.
"Huh?" Kakashi grunted.
"How do you know Lady Chiyo, Naruto?" Baki said. "She's been retired for years."
Naruto reached out and tapped Chiyo on the forehead, a small seal scrawling across it as he removed his finger. It's a nifty little chakra filter, and it did the trick, as she stopped struggling.
"Hiruzen-sensei saw fit that I knew of all the important leaders in all the villages. Past, present, and future." A wave of the hand and the clones blinked from existence.
Naruto, to everybody's surprise, bowed to the old ninja. "Chiyo-sama, I'm sorry for the fuinjutsu, but I think you've got your history mixed up. Kakashi is not the white Fang of the Leaf, and he did not kill your son." His voice was solemn as he spoke. Hiruzen also saw fit that he learned his history. All his history. Even the darker side of the Leaf that they preferred to hide.
"The White Fang of the Leaf died years ago, Big Sister," the elderly man said. He did not seem to care how things turned out either way. A gust of wind would likely blow him away.
"Oh," the old lady said. She began to giggle, and then cackle madly. Naruto reconsidered his previous assessment about senility.
Her laughter was interrupted by Kankuro groaning on the medical table.
"He's getting worse," one of the Sand medics said. Naruto stepped over to Kankuro, resting a hand on his chest. He closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply, letting the scents come to the forefront of his mind. The feel of his heartbeat and skin. The way his chakra and heartbeat struggled.
"He's in trouble," Naruto said. "A strong poison. Beyond what Hinata or I can handle." He looked directly into the eyes of the medic that spoke. "Do you have the ability to heal him? I can get you antidote ingredients if that's what you're missing." He was deadly serious, his voice almost willing them to have an answer.
"The poison is beyond us, I'm afraid," she said. "We think it's a new poison. It's certainly not one we've ever seen before." Naruto cursed, and in the same moment, was already considering other options.
"I bet that old hag Tsunade could cure it," Chiyo mumbled under her breath, and Naruto was struck with an idea. He straightened, removing his hand from Kankuro, and strode towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Baki asked. His voice was a mix of curiosity and irritation, a tone that Naruto was far too familiar with.
"To get the fifth member of our team, she hung back at the gate to help any wounded," Naruto said. He could see the questioning look in Kakashi's eye for a split second– though he was sure nobody else could– before the masked nin seemed to catch on.
Naruto bolted out of the door and down the hallway. He found the stairs and went down two floors, sensing that the floor was mostly deserted. He located the nearest empty room with a lock, stuck a kunai on the table, and closed his eyes to focus. After about four seconds, he was gone.
He arrived on the head of the Fourth Hokage, instantly making a clone with barely a thought or movement. The clone headed for the Hokage tower, while he scoured for his team's fifth member. Surprisingly, he didn't sense her in the Hokage office or the hospital, so he spread his awareness and sharpened his focus.
There were roughly twenty chakra signatures that he knew so well that he could pick them out of the thousands. He knew three of them were in the Sand Village at this very moment, two were in the Hokage tower. Another four were on a training ground together. Sakura's though, was quite a bit closer to home. So close, in fact, that he took the time to focus again, teleporting across the village to his new house. It took him less than a minute to find her.
She was standing just fifty feet inside the gate that used to mark the Uchiha grounds, and that now mark his clan lands. She stood silently looking over the sharingan monument, looking thoughtful. Naruto body flickered to her side.
She did not flinch— a testament to her training. Not a hair on her head ruffled— a testament to his. He gingerly laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and he was\s surprised to find her smiling.
"I'd love to talk about whatever is going on here," Naruto said. "But right now, I need your help. My clone is getting permission from Tsunade as we speak. We're headed to Suna."
Sakura did not bat an eyelash at his words. "How many?" She asked. She was more than clever enough to figure out what she was needed for.
"Just one," Naruto said. "Well there's probably quite a few, but Kankuro is the main issue. Poison. I think it's metal based but I don't have enough experience to say for sure. Elevated temperature and heart rate. Sweating profusely, chakra is raging. Sand medic said they'd never seen it before."
Sakura took the information in and categorized it by importance, as she always did. The questions rushed through her mind, but she settled for only the most relevant. "Can I have twenty minutes to gather some herbs?"
"I've got everything you could possibly need and more in a scroll. You can have the time if you need it to prepare though," Naruto said. She shook her head. "Right then, ready?" This time she nodded. "You're gonna feel a little churning in your stomach."
He reached out, slowly feeling for the connection to the kunai he left in the Kazekage's tower. Technically that was an act of terrorism, or maybe war, but he was sure Gaara would pardon him, once they saved him.
It took time for him to find it, much longer than it would to find the mark in his home. The distance muddled things, and he was not as experienced as he would like. Still, an extra five seconds to travel from Konoha to Suna was nothing. They blinked out and into existence. Sakura took only a second to get over the queasiness.
They rushed out the door and up the stairs. Quickly they were back in the room Naruto left less than five minutes ago. Sakura saw Kankuro thrashing on the table, and Naruto felt something within her shift. She took charge of the room as if it was her own hospital. She began asking questions of the medic, and doing a quick examination of Kankuro, confirming Naruto's suspicions of the poison.
As she did that, Naruto found a table in the corner of the room, and moved it out just far enough to give it good lighting. He removed the scroll he kept strapped to his back, and unfurled it on the floor. Locating the section he knew held all his medical related seals, he pressed his hand on it. A slightly smaller scroll appeared, standing vertical on the paper. He repeated the process once more, finding his herbs and antidotes section. This scroll was of the standard size, and he unrolled it up on the table.
The seal, like its predecessors, had eight sections. He unsealed four of them, each time sliding the large flat container out of the way to make room for the next one. He left the scroll underneath them for now, but resealed the other two, strapping the largest on his back once more.
He finished just in time for Sakura to come striding over, ready to grill him over whether he had the proper ingredients. He was certain he did. Hiruzen would not settle for less. Neither would Naruto.
The four containers are modeled after bento boxes, though they are much larger. There were dividers evenly spaced within. They split the plastic rectangle into 20 different slots per container. More abundant or useful ingredients took up several slots in some locations. The rarest were seated inside metal containers of their own, that fit neatly in one of the divided sections.
Sakura paused whatever words she was going to say, and instead settled for nodding at him. Each ingredient was clearly labeled with the necessary information, so he cleared out of her way. He walked over to Baki.
"He's in the best care the Leaf can give him. Now it's time to find Gaara," Naruto said.
"Please, as if some pre-adolescent pink-haired child could do better than our best medics," Chiyo said. The seal was gone from her forehead. He only gave it about thirty seconds of charge, so that was not surprising, but it was missed. She was agitated once again. Naruto did his best to remain calm.
"She'll heal him. If she couldn't, she would have sent for Tsunade."
"As if the slug princess would come to our aid herself."
"She would," Naruto said with a smile. "Sakura was her best and brightest student after all. Anything that can stump her would have to be a real challenge for Granny Tsunade."
Chiyo looked mildly surprised, though she hid it well. The history of the shinobi wars show the Leaf and Sand on opposite sides when Tsunade was last an active ninja, so it came as no surprise that Chiyo was not a fan of the Hokage. It was even less surprising that someone from the oldest remaining shinobi generation held a grudge. A healthy dose of paranoia was often required to live such a long life.
Naruto could feel Sakura's chakra, and had to suppress a chuckle.
"Alright," he said. "Non-essentials need to clear out of here so Sakura can focus on her task." Sakura's chakra relaxed as she ordered one of the Sand medics to prepare a solution for her. In the meantime she began writing notes down in a book she pulled from a scroll.
"Baki," Naruto said. "Why don't we go somewhere to discuss what you know of the attack. The sooner we're briefed, the sooner we can rescue Gaara."
Baki nodded his head, and made his way out of the door. The newly assembled Team Kakashi followed quietly. They did not go far, only two doors down. They were not in the hospital after all, but in the Kazekage tower. Kankuro was being treated in a specially modified room that was typically reserved for the Kazekage himself, were he to ever actually need medical attention.
They sat down at a long table, Baki stood before them. He assumed a soldier's stance, and proceeded to give them the most concise and efficient report Naruto had ever heard. He told of the exploding projectiles that looked like birds, of Gaara's defense and saving the village, and of Kankuro's effort to track down his brother alone.
All in all it was a perfect report, but did not give them a lot of information on what to do next. The team was pondering just that when the younger of the two sand ninja's assisting Sakura burst into the room.
"Lord Baki, Kankuro is awake!"
They scrambled back down the hall and into the modified medical room. Kankuro was sitting up on the table, sweating profusely and heaving deep gulps of oxygen into his lungs. Sakura was trying to get him to lay back down, and Naruto could tell that she was only a few seconds away from resorting to sedating him. Perhaps with a well placed punch.
"Baki!" The young man yelled when he saw his sensei. His eyes and tone were frantic. He looked much different now, though that was probably because his face paint had been removed.
"What is it, Kankuro? You should be resting."
"The men who took Gaara," Kankuro said. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost. "It was Sasori, Baki."
Baki went limp at that, and a gasp came from behind them. Chiyo must have made her way back into the room just after they did. She looked much worse for wear hearing this than Baki or even Kankuro.
"Sasori? Are you sure?" She said.
Kankuro was clearly struggling to grasp the fact himself, not to mention dealing with his physical ailments, but he nodded his head.
"I'm sure. He knew my puppets better than me, and outmaneuvered me with only one of his own. And I don't have to tell you about the poison."
"What the hell is Sasori of the Red Sand doing here? I thought you guys had declared him KIA?" Naruto said.
"That's the official report," Chiyo said. The life was gone from both her voice and her posture. "But he's the strongest puppeteer we've ever produced, and he just up and disappeared on a routine mission. The truth is, we don't know what happened to my grandson."
Hinata appeared surprised at this fact. Naruto had studied it, both in books and from the mind of the Third Hokage himself, so he was not. Kakashi had a history with the sand, and that family in particular, so it was not surprising that he did not react. Yamato almost never reacted, so Naruto could get a good read on him.
"Well it appears he's a member of the Akatsuki now," Baki said, and Naruto was glad for it. Better than a member of the Leaf having to state it, even if it was obvious. "This does not bode well for Gaara."
"There's one more thing," Kankuro said. He was nearly gasping. His muscles were shaking from trying to hold his body up. Sakura was clearly ready to lay him out flat. "I snagged… a piece of cloth… from him… when he poisoned me… Bring me… my puppet." He flopped back flat on the table, clearly overworked. Baki issued an order, and three scrolls were brought to them in less than three minutes.
Lady Chiyo did the honor of unsealing the scroll. This one was Crow, if Naruto remembered correctly. He did not miss the tension in Kankuro as somebody else's chakra maneuvered his puppet, even just to open its hand.
They were outside as soon as they had the assurance that Kankuro would be okay. Kakashi summoned his ninken, passing the cloth around, finishing with Pakkun. Naruto sent a clone with each dog after discreetly handing them a kunai, and they were quickly off in seven different directions. The dogs did not have the ability to pulse chakra externally, so they would have to rely on Naruto's clones to keep them up to date.
For now, they would head in the general direction of footprints left behind. Ideally that would put them as close as possible when they got word. Naruto had other plans that he would reveal to Kakashi when they were out of the purview of the Sand.
"Are we ready?" Kakashi said. "We don't have to push since we don't know what direction we're going. I don't expect the ninken to have any solid leads for at least a day."
"Naruto can keep seven shadow clones running for that long? Is that even possible?" Baki sayid. Naruto chuckled at that, knowing he had been capable of the feat since before he even graduated the academy.
"I've got a lot of chakra," Naruto said. "S'not that helpful most of the time, but it sure can keep clones running for a while."
"Don't forget about the 20 he sent to help clear debris." Kakashi said with an eye smile. He was not above revealing certain intel if it meant putting a healthy dose of fear into another ninja. Even an ally.
"There's two at home too, just in case Jiraiya gets back from his mission," Naruto said. "He usually avoids Tsunade for at least a day. This way I'll be able to notify him as soon as possible, if he doesn't already know."
"You wasted two clones to alert a ninja who might already know what's going on?" Baki asked. He was the only other Sand ninja with them, aside from Chiyo.
"Well the first one usually tries to get the drop on the Pervy Sage, and he's not above stabbing them, so I always send two." Naruto smiled at that, as if it was a fond memory. Baki could only shake his head in response.
"I think we're ready to go though," Naruto continued. "It's been a few days since I've slept, I'd like to get a few hours of travel in, and then I could really use a few hours of sleep if we're going to be fighting the Akatsuki, ya know?" The Leaf team nodded their heads at that.
"Your fifth member is missing," Chiyo said. "It's not wise to fight Sasori without a medic."
"We've got Hinata, and I'm not so bad myself," Naruto said, knowing Sakura was never a part of this mission. "We should be fine."
Chiyo shook her head. "You'll have to wait until more antidotes are synthesized, at which point she will be too tired to accompany you. I will go as the fifth member of your team."
"That's really not necessary, Lady Chiyo," Kakashi said.
"Neither is your village sending a team on a mission for us, and frankly I don't trust you all. I will be going, and that's final," she said. Kakashi looked at Naruto, and he could only shrug, so Kakashi did the same.
Soon enough, Sakura met them outside the gate. She was sweating and a little out of breath. Naruto knew first hand how much medical ninjutsu could take out of a person. The concentration alone was beyond most ninja.
She handed out one antidote to each ninja, including Chiyo, who remarked how lucky it was they had enough ingredients. Naruto did not say anything, but he knew it was not luck. Hiruzen-sensei always said that half the battles were lost before they started, because one side was not prepared. Because of that, Naruto was always prepared, for everything his considerable imagination could come up with.
"That's all I could make," Sakura said, handing him the scroll with his medicinal containers. "You ran out of hovenia dulcis, otherwise I could have made more."
"That's alright, Sakura," Naruto said, taking the time to reseal his medical scroll in the larger scroll on his back. "You did great." He grinned at her.
She smiled in return, and made her way back into the village. No doubt she had been briefed on any and all injured, and would be joining triage to save lives and limbs. He trusted that she would be safe here for now.
"I believe it is time," Yamato said. Punctual as always, Naruto was beginning to see he got antsy waiting around without orders. Everybody had their quirks.
"Let's get a move on then," Kakashi said, and they began their run.
They started slow at first, until it became clear that Chiyo could keep up with a moderate pace. Their formation was different this time, dictated by necessity. Yamato brought up the rear, Hinata at the front, Naruto directly behind her in between the two, Kakashi on his right, Chiyo on his left. Naruto did not trust her, not after she flung herself at Kakashi. Maybe she just had a lapse in judgment caused by grief, or maybe there was something more sinister to her. Mauve she was mad. Regardless, he would not take any risks.
It did not take them too long, a few hours, to arrive at the forest on the edge of the land of rivers. They did not venture far into the trees before breaking for camp. It was pitch black by the time they did, and Naruto needed rest. Physically he could easily keep going for days, but the Akatsuki were more than just a physical opponent. They were smart, well planned, and wreaked havoc on his emotions. They had taken Gaara, and he knew if he was not rested enough to think clearly, they would take him too.
Kakashi took the first shift of the night, knowing Naruto already had enough clones in existence. Naruto did not argue with him. Second shift went to Hinata, and the final one to Yamato, who was an early riser anyway. He was grateful for the three of them, even if he did have a hard time relinquishing control.
All said, Naruto got nearly a full night of rest, and the rest of his team was also fresh and ready to go. It was a fantastic start to the mission, which in turn, made them all a little bit weary and alert.
As they were preparing breakfast, some fish Naruto's clone caught at the nearest river and rice Hinata had brought in a scroll, Naruto pulled Kakashi aside and let him know the scouting plan he had concocted. Soon, he was in an isolated location, several minutes away from the rest of the team. For what he was about to do, it was important that he felt surrounded by nature. A part of it, even.
He found a nice spot under a tree, the branches this far from Konoha were not thick enough to sit on, and relaxed into a meditation pose. Legs crossed, hands in front of him, knuckles pushed together. He straightened his back and breathed deeply, inhaling the scents of nature. Two more long and slow breaths, and he felt the wind on his skin.
His body slowly became more sensitive, and he was soon fully aware of the grass he sat on, feeling each blade, even through his clothes. He continued to breathe, his respiratory rate slowing until he was only breathing a few times per minute. It was all in the breath. Inhale slowly. Feel the world around you. Feel nature. Feel its energy.
The rush of a nearby river soon invaded his mind as his hearing began to sharpen. It did not distract him though, it energized him. This was the hardest part. As he drew in the energy of the world around him, mixing it with his chakra, he had to remain focused. His body would come alive in a way that made his normal senses feel hollow. Almost dead. This much energy called for him to act, and his body needed to make it happen.
Sage mode required discipline though, and he was barely able to maintain it. Fukasaku first told him that to obtain it he would have to die. That was awfully dramatic, but the point came across eventually. He had to become a statue, while avoiding becoming an actual stone statue. Stillness.
It took a few more minutes, but he soon found the proper chakra balance. It was an eerie feeling. His body became more alive than ever, but his mind became calm. During his training, he often wondered if this was how normal ninja felt. He had never been calm before, but sage mode brought a sense of serenity.
His chakra sensing was so heightened, he felt as if he could reach out and touch his team, even from so far away. He could feel each breath they were taking when he focused on them individually. Feel their heartbeats as if he had his hand pressed to their chest.
Kakashi's chakra was electric, like lightning. Everybody said he was the best lightning user that the Leaf had ever produced, and it was no wonder. His chakra did not just have an affinity for lightning, as near as Naruto could tell, it almost was lightning.
Hinata's chakra was as sharp as he sensed earlier. Her pool was also larger than he expected. She was excellent at suppressing it, her control was phenomenal, but suppression did not work against the sensory input of sage mode. He could feel the way it circulated through her body. It was a constant flow, rather than pulses like most ninja.
Yamato felt different. He was somewhat hidden, his wood release chakra blending into nature better than most. Naruto had to focus to feel it. It also felt disconnected from him, which was not a surprise, considering what Hiruzen had told him.
He focused on Chiyo for only a second, and quickly understood how she had been able to move so fast in her old age. It's not a surprise, all things considered.
Finally, he re-centered himself, focusing on his own body and chakra. Sensing his own chakra was an odd experience. It was certainly not normal, as he had never felt it before learning sage mode. It was a massive pool, the chakra strong and wild. Yet the nature chakra running through it had mixed with it. It was not necessarily changed, but it was not the same either. It was as if his normal chakra was a million strings, weaving and waving, tangling up everywhere. The nature chakra mixed and suddenly all those wild strands braided together perfectly, listening to his every command. It did not rush, it flowed powerfully but smoothly. It felt incredible.
He extended his chakra sense, allowing the world in. The first time he did this he fell off his stone spire on Mt. Myoboku. Luckily, sage mode gave him increased durability and reaction. If there was one thing that Naruto was known for though, besides unpredictability, it was his unrelenting determination. Time and time again he climbed that spire, until he could take in vast amounts of chakra sensing information, and filter through it all.
He searched River Country, feeling for a massive chakra signature. It did not take long. The hot wind and sandy chakra of the One Tailed Beast called to him like a beacon. It was hidden behind seals, ones that would stop a normal chakra sense of a normal ninja. Naruto's sage mode chakra sensing was not normal. Neither was Gaara. Naruto's eyes snapped open, and he was on Kakashi in seconds.
The look on his captain's face was… strange. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost, and Naruto thought that he probably had. He certainly had his fathers hair, and now he had the same orange pigment around his eyes that Kakashi likely had seen on his father.
Hinata gasped lightly, her Byakugan no doubt getting a better look at Sage Mode than most ever would. He would have to ask her about that later. For now, he had a job to do.
"He's only a couple hours from here," Naruto said. "I'm going ahead, I can get there faster than that." He was nearly pleading with Kakashi.
"I'm sorry, Naruto," Kakashi said. "I can't allow that. We don't know what kind of traps they might have set up. We go as a team."
Naruto had a hard time accepting that. He was certain he could handle whatever traps were thrown at him. Internally, he fought with his own thoughts for several seconds. Eventually, he nodded to his team leader, and quickly began to break down camp.
Before they left, he snuck behind a tree, and funneled the nature chakra out of his system, into the ground. The grass here turned greener and thicker, weeds and flowers sprouting all over. As the ninja ran off in their formation, a small acorn, buried beneath the earth, sprouted into a small sapling, just barely sticking above the ground.
Next chapter is our first major fight. Leave a favorite if you wanna see it. Thanks for the support!