Cold

It was cold today. So cold that Sakura could see the mist of her breath dancing in front of her face every now and then. Were mornings always like this? She couldn't remember anymore. The past used to be so clear, but now, it all seemed to blur into a messy muddle of memories. Ironically, the one memory that was still clear in her mind was the one memory she wished she could forget. It was last night…when he left. She would give the world to make that memory go away, but she knew she was stuck with it, maybe for life. She hugged her form a little tighter as she walked, eventually rubbing her hands along her arms in an attempt to rub away some goosebumps. It was really cold.

After a few more minutes of walking in silence, she lifted her head to see that the village gate was just now looming into view. Shikamaru was supposed to be leading a team of genin on a mission to retrieve Sasuke so she wanted to see if she could be of help on some off chance. She wasn't counting on it, but she just wanted a chance to do something. Anything really. To be useful in some way.

Shikamaru stood against the hard bark of a tree with his pinkie twirling in his ear as he lazily examined the three-man group standing in front of him. He hoped with everything he had that they were enough. (mainly because he didn't want to think about what it would mean if they weren't). The group was comprised of Neji Hyūga, Chōji Akimichi, and Kiba Inuzuka (and by default Akamaru). Not exactly the Chunin group he had asked for, but it was something. At least he had a variety of skillsets at his disposal.

Sighing, he asked, "Everyone ready?"

The usually animated replies were replaced with mellow nods and even the usually talkative Kiba had fallen silent. Shikamaru examined the team, noting the slight shift in behavior, then turned away. At least they understood the stakes. "Alright," he said, pushing himself off the tree. "Let's get moving."

They hadn't taken two steps when he noticed Sakura approaching out of the corner of his eye. An involuntary groan escaped his lips and both eyes visibly drooped. The whole night had been troublesome, and it looked like the morning had no intention of being any different. Regardless, he forced himself to meet her halfway and even tried not to look too annoyed while he did it. She had been through a lot, after all. When they were finally a few feet from each other, he grabbed the first word. "I already know what you're gonna say Sakura, but you couldn't stop him last night. The only way he's coming back is by force and I know you're not willing to do that."

"Won't you guys at least need a fifth member?" she pleaded, tears already filling her eyes.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but even if I felt we needed a fifth member, I still wouldn't take you. You're not a combat type, and besides that, you're too close to this so you're a casualty." His voice was cold, just like the morning air.

"What about Naruto?" she asked, spite creeping into her voice. "You guys are keeping him out of this too, aren't you? What, is he too close too?"

"What?" Shikamaru replied. "Of course not."

"Then why isn't he here?"

Shikamaru paused considering the answer then looked away. As his eyes fell on the forest ahead, he whispered to himself, "I never got the chance to tell him..."

"What?" Sakura asked.

Shikamaru paused briefly, then said, "Nothing." shrugging off the statement.

Sakura looked away with still watery eyes and said, "Well, there's no way he wouldn't be here otherwise."

"You'd be surprised."

"What does that mean?" she retorted.

"Yeah," Kiba added. "Where is the loudmouth anyway? If he knew, we'd have to tie him up to stop him from coming with us."

Shikamaru looked at Kiba, then glanced at everyone else. Unsurprisingly, they were all staring back. They looked like they wanted answers and like they were expecting him to be the one to give them some. All he could do was sigh. He really hated times like these. Those awkward moments when you were the only one who knew a very important bit of information that almost no one else knew about. The type of information that could shake up life as you knew it and literally shatter a person. And of course, it was up to you to decide whether you were gonna reveal said information or not. Premium drag material. Unfortunately, his promotion to Chunin seemed to be leading into these situations more and more. First, that bandaged creep at the Hokage's office, and now this. He had hoped to keep Naruto's departure secret from the team to keep them focused, but now Sakura was broaching the subject at a hundred miles an hour. How troublesome. "Look," he said, making sure to measure his next words carefully. "There's a lot going on that you don't know about."

"What does that even mean?" Sakura asked, clearly exasperated at this point.

She was very quickly followed up by Neji, who Shikamaru noticed now had his arms crossed. "I do not wish to be disrespectful," he began. "But I also find Naruto not being here quite odd."

"Yeah, are we missing something?" Choji asked.

Shikamaru exhaled then lifted his head to the sky and watched as the clouds floated by. They were peaceful. He wished he was one right now. Heck, at this rate, he wouldn't mind being one for the rest of his life. But, alas, they were up there, and he was down here. That was just how it was. A part of him wondered if they ever wanted to be like him in some respect. It was an interesting thought, but he couldn't give it much credit. Who would want to have his life? It was way too complicated. Much better to float around all day without a care in the world. With a sigh, he let his head fell back to the earth and decided to do the one thing that would make his life a whole lot simpler. "Long story short, Naruto was supposed to be on this mission, but he also left last night, so he's not."

The moment those words left his mouth, he noticed that a certain stillness fell over everyone's movements and the only visible motion came from Neji whose arms had uncrossed and fallen to his sides. After a chill-inducing moment of awkward silence, Sakura silently asked, "What do you mean he left?"

"The village," Shikaramu replied, scratching his head near the ponytail. "He left the village."

Shikamaru noticed that as soon as those words left his mouth Sakura's eyes went so wide that they could have rolled right out of her head. Within seconds, her breathing had also quickened, so much so that he could now see each puff of misty breath disappear quicker than the one before it. Before long, her chest was rising and falling dangerously, and as the life drained from her features, he could tell she was unraveling right in front of him. Before she was fully undone, he looked away, a small part of him wondering if maybe he should have kept things to himself after all.

"Like, with Sasuke?" Choji asked.

"No," Shikamaru replied. "From what we can see, he's on his own."

"As in he went rogue?" Neji asked, disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Looks that way."

"Then why the hell are we going after Sasuke?!" Kiba yelled. "Screw his dumb ass! He's had it out for us since the academy."

"This isn't up for debate," Shikamaru stated. "Tsunade is taking care of Naruto. We have orders. We're following them."

"You're lying…"

All eyes turned towards the pink-haired kunoichi who had just spoken. Fresh tears lined the corners of her eyes, and they were not alone. There was something else lingering in those pale green eyes…something unsettling. By now, her lips were set into a grim line and her face had lost all color. Despite the unsettling changes to her appearance, her breathing was unnervingly calm.

"Sakura-" Shikamaru started.

"You're a liar!" she yelled, running back into the village with tears flying from her eyes.

Shikamaru watched her run, and run, and run. Where she was running to, he had no idea, but he didn't stop her. He just watched her with his usual lazy stare. Maybe she wanted to see the truth for herself or maybe she thought she could outrun it somehow. Either way, he knew she'd be disappointed. Searching for the truth would just confirm the reality and running from it would be a sad attempt at delaying the inevitable. This wasn't just some nightmare you could wake up from – heck, he wished it were that simple, but it wasn't. This was real. Very real. And the sooner they all accepted that the sooner they could figure out how to deal with it. It hadn't taken him too long to realize that, but he had his doubts about how soon she'd come to grips with things. Normally, he would classify that as none of his concern, but as her distressed form disappeared behind a street corner, he found himself hoping it was sooner rather than later – for her sake. With a final exhale, he turned back to his team. "Anyone else got something to say?"

He assumed they could see how tired he was of everything because neither of them said a word. Good. Maybe he'd have some peace and quiet for a bit - those things seemed to be in short supply nowadays. Both hands fell into his pockets as he turned away from the team and looked towards the open world before them. "Let's go."

It was probably too late to go back to being a genin, right?

Jiraiya stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he stared into the forest looming in front of him. It was calm for the most part, only disturbed by the occasional gust of wind. The leaves would rustle together and sway to one side, and he would count the seconds before they fell back into their original position. He had hoped that watching the dancing trees would have a calming effect on his inner turmoil, but there was no change. It seemed the morning's revelations were too heavy to be forgotten, even if for a moment. He had already made a trip to Naruto's apartment and found absolutely no clue as to where he had gone, so he had no choice but to return to where he started. The toads weren't finished yet so all he could do was wait. And wait. And wait... It had barely been five minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Every second spent here meant Naruto was getting farther away…and he hated that. He tried to think about other things to pass the time, but nothing really held his attention. All he could think about was that young boy he met so long ago and the memories they would come to share. Memories of ruined expeditions and stubborn water balloons and finished popsicle sticks. How things had come to this, he had no idea, but what he did know was that that same boy was somewhere out there, alone, and he needed to be found.

His contemplative trance was broken when he spotted the toad leader hop next to his feet out of the corner of his eye. Turning to him, he asked, "What'd you find?"

"We picked up the trail thatta way." he rasped, pointing a spiny toad finger in the appropriate direction.

"Is it strong?"

"Yeah, there's plenty of life left in it. Some of the guys are already ahead."

Jiraiya nodded then turned his gaze to the forest in front of him. It loomed over him, taunting him with its vastness and mystery, but he would not be intimidated. His eyes were focused, sharp, resolute. He was a man on a mission, and this was a mission he could not fail. His eyes fell shut and his nostrils flared once more as he took in a deep breath, absorbing the surrounding smells into his being. He was hoping to get one last whiff of Konoha, but the scent eluded him. In its place, he found the smell of damp earth and fallen leaves. Well, it was a long shot anyway.

"Alright," he said. "Let's get to work."

The small rotating fan attached to the ceiling was supposed to have two functions: cool the room down and provide a source of light – it was currently failing at both. Saying the room was dimly lit would be an understatement, and saying the fan was even remotely lowering the room temperature would be a flat out lie. The singular light bulb was…adequate, but it barely gave off enough light to light the room. The fan was no different seeing as the slow spinning blades made sure the room never got any proper circulation. Over time, the air in the room would even develop a certain stale quality to it. It was quite unsettling. Unfortunately, this was the normal state of the council meeting room, and the tense meetings that were held there just made it worse – meetings much like the one being held right now. Tsunade hated them with a passion and today was no different. With how things were going, she could feel her blood pressure rising and she didn't even try to hide the scowl that came as a result of what she was hearing. Once again, the elders had a stupid idea and she was forced to entertain it as she precariously leaned over the rectangular meeting table that had become the bane of her existence. At the opposite end of the table stood Danzo with his right arm in a cast and his left hand resting peacefully on his cane. He seemed to be unphased by her scowl, although the same could not be said for the village elders, Koharu and Homura. They were both sitting on the long side of the table and avoided her gaze while sitting in a way that made them look stiffer than flagpoles. Pathetic. At least if you're gonna do something, have the backbone to stick with it.

Tsunade let out a calming breath then asked, "Who's idea was this?"

"It doesn't matter," Danzo replied. "What's important is for us to act in the best interests of the village."

"And that means sending for the Roguehunter?"

"Under these circumstances, yes," Homura replied.

"His methods are violent," Tsunade argued. "Crude."

"Effective." Danzo added.

"Why are you even here?" she asked. "You're supposed to be visiting the village, not trying to run it."

Koharu replied before Danzo could. "Danzo is only here because he brought the current situation to our attention." Her eyes narrowed as she continued. "Something you apparently couldn't be bothered to do…"

Tsunade sighed, balling her hands into fists on the table. "As Hokage, I made a judgment call. I didn't have time to relay the information because I had to act."

"And we respect your right to make those calls as Hokage," Homura replied soothingly. "But giving a genin team a mission of this caliber is…questionable."

Tsunade could tell he was trying to mitigate things, but, as usual, he was trying to play it safe with both sides. Typical…and still pathetic.

"Those were my sentiments exactly," Danzo added. "Which is why I think the Roguehunter is a reasonable option. If we can't send out our own ninja, then a bounty hunter is the next reasonable alternative."

Tsunade sighed then said, "Not only is the idea extreme, it's completely unnecessary. I've already spoken to Jiraiya and he's going after Naruto. Surely, one of the Legendary Sannin is skilled enough to track down a genin."

With the new information came a brief respite from the brewing conflict. Homura and Koharu began whispering to each other while Danzo remained silent. His body was almost a mirror image of a statue, but the way his gaze came to rest on the table gave him away. He was thinking. About what exactly, Tsunade did not know, but she had a feeling she wouldn't like it.

When a few more seconds of silence had passed, Danzo lifted his head and broke into the silence. "This is an interesting development...but, unfortunately, we've already sent for him."

The dimly lit room fell silent for the umpteenth time and Tsunade could barely feel her reply leave her lips. "You did what?"

"Y-y-you must understand," Homaru began. "You sent a genin team after Sasuke, w-we didn't expect you to send a Sannin after Naruto."

"We feared the loss of the jinchuriki." Koharu added.

"The elders are right." Danzo echoed. "What would we tell the other nations if they found out we had lost the Nine-tails Jinchuriki? There would be no way of explaining our lack of diligence. Now, if you had let us know about Jiraiya beforehand-"

Tsunade cut him off with a sardonic chuckle. "Just like that, huh? Acting behind one Hokage's back wasn't enough?"

That statement was enough to silence Homura and Koharu, and Tsunade noticed that even Danzo had sported the slightest of flinches.

"Yeah, I know all about your part in the Uchiha massacre," she said, casting a pointed stare at Danzo. "All of you." she finished, looking towards Homura and Koharu. "You guys are so bent on doing what you all think is right that you'll go through anyone in your way, even if they're the Hokage."

There was a brief silence before Danzo cleared his throat and said, "The past is irrelevant. What matters is protecting Konoha's future."

"Yeah," Tsunade said raising an eyebrow. "Real convenient for you, isn't it?"

Danzo squinted then adjusted his grip on his cane. "If we're talking about the past, then maybe you'd like to explain your prior reputation as a prolific gambler and alcoholic."

There was a brief pause as the words registered with Tsunade, but when they did, it looked like all Hell was about to break loose. In a split second, her fists were balled up and her body had tensed up to the point where it was clear she was halfway to jumping across the table. "You slimy little-"

"Uh, let's...refrain from insulting each other," Homura said, holding up a hand towards both concerned parties.

Tsunade could feel the rage pouring out of her in waves, and if she was honest, she could've beat that man to a pulp and never changed a shade. Oh, it was tempting…so very tempting, but she held back for one reason and one reason alone. She refused to be the one to give him and his silver tongue any ammunition in his next sleazy endeavor. Next thing you know, news is out that the Hokage assaulted a former council member. So, she stood there, staring across the table mercilessly, all the while curling and uncurling her fingers in an attempt to dissipate her rage.

"You're out of line, Danzo."

Tsunade's eyes flitted over to Koharu who had just made the statement, then back to Danzo who was now looking at Koharu as well. After a short pause, she finished, "Don't make us regret your presence here."

Danzo looked down at her for a moment then looked ahead to Tsunade. There was a short pause before he nodded slightly and gave a short bow. His voice had a certain oiliness to it as he spoke. "Koharu is right. My words were insensitive. I apologize."

There were a variety of things Tsunade wanted to say at the moment, but instead, she made the very wise choice of not saying anything and dropped into her chair. She needed some Sake, cause if not she was gonna kill that man.

Danzo used his cane as support and followed suit.

Tsunade turned to the elders and asked, "When is he going to be here?" Her voice was cold and the blank slate that was her face made it was obvious that she no longer cared for what any of them had to say, not that she cared much before anyway.

"Well, he was last spotted in one of the outlying villages," Homura replied hesitantly. "It depends on how fast the messenger hawk gets to him."

"In other words, you don't know." Tsunade replied, face still blank.

Homura looked down and mumbled, "No."

After that statement came another bout of silence. To be honest, they were becoming so familiar that they almost felt like tradition – bad tradition that is. Tsunade for one was done with them. "We're dismissed," she said, rising from her seat and once again leaving a trail of green coattails in her wake.