A/N: BEHOLD, I ACTUALLY UPDATE ON SUNDAY INSTEAD OF MONDAY! A MIRACLE!

Next chapter, we see the beginning of Wave! Though there will be an interlude between the two, for those of you who want to see how Team 7 discovered Kakashi's treachery… There may be a second interlude about Sakura's parents entering the mindscape to speak to her for the first time, though whether that will come before or after chapter 18 is hard to say. Sorry it's taken so long to get to the meat of the plot! Hopefully everything picks up speed from here, I'm thinking Wave and one or two unique C-ranks I make up, then we hit the Chunin exams. Once we get there we'll be coming up on the end of this book as long as it stays on track to my summary, though how many chapters exist between here and then is hard to say and I'm not even going to try and guess. After all, we're going to start seeing how things really go different from canon now, what with Natsu being a much more active person than Sakura, who didn't really hit her niche until Shippuden.

Hopefully this time-skip wasn't too poorly handled, and as for the time period itself, I'm operating under the assumption that Team 7 (and the rest of the class) graduated the Academy in April. Google says that's when the Japanese school year starts, as opposed to America's August, so early/mid April is probably when graduation was. Giving the rest of April and all of May before the Wave mission, known to take place in June. So at least a month. Yep. That's what I'm going with.

Anyway, thanks for reading! And don't feel bad for Kakashi, because he really deserves everything that happens to him!

The Field of Inoichi's mind is nothing like Sakura-chan's. Pale tiles cover the ground, a marble floor that looks half a second away from bursting into motion; the blues blur together in a way that mimics the complexity of water, and Natsu gets the feeling that Inoichi can make them become water whenever he wants, pulling unwary mind-walkers into the shadowy depths. The man himself reclines easily against a barely-visible wall, watching as Natsu tests every step before he puts his weight down.

"Not what you expected?"

Natsu nods. "You've got defenses. I can feel them… the floor is one, and the walls too? That door is a trap…"

Inoichi's eyebrows raise. "Impressive. Your instincts really are something to behold."

Natsu shrugs. "I guess. How's this supposed to help me, anyway?"

"There's such a thing as double-diving. Where you first enter someone's mind, then dive deeper to hit their subconscious - since chakra cannot traditionally be used in a mindscape, you have to perform the first dive in a unique way in order to manage it. Unfortunately, due to my position in Konoha, I cannot allow you to perform a secondary dive on me. My defenses will activate if you attempt such a thing. Even so, I can and have shown you how to perform an initial dive with the proper techniques. The variation that allows you to dive yourself in such a way are complicated enough that it's best you be able to perform it on someone else first. Does that answer your question?"

Natsu remembers, a month ago now - has it really been that long? Everyone… - how he ended up in a weird part of Sakura-chan's mind after Naruto accidentally knocked him unconscious.

"The subconscious is… dangerous, isn't it?"

Inoichi nods, striding over to stand next to him. "Very. Spending too long in someone's subconscious mind can be quite risky. In truth, if we were not running out of ideas, I would not even dare to suggest it. Turning the technique on yourself… I will not make you do so. At the very least, it should only be dangerous to yourself, not Sakura-chan."

"What can I do there that I can't do normally?"

"Find an alternate route back to that divided path, most likely. The subconscious doesn't have any set entrance or exit, which is half of what makes it so dangerous. Finding the right way out isn't straightforward. But that also makes it more flexible - a trained person can usually decide on where they exit, if not necessarily the direction they need to go to get there. I'm hoping you can get back onto the other side of that door. If you can't… I hate to say this, Natsu-san, but I am truly running out of ideas."

Natsu hasn't been able to conjure his fire in the mindscape since the door locked. He didn't realize, at first, what he was missing after Inoichi pulled him out of Sakura-chan's Heart that time. The lack of his magic, no longer flowing beneath Sakura's own chakra coils, unable to be called up even inside her mindscape, and the ability to remember stuff he knew he'd forgotten for a while…

That door locked. And took something important with it when it did. The Dragon Slayer knows he probably should have told Inoichi everything about that, the door and his missing magic and the left-hand path he never did describe to the older man - some days, Natsu wonders if the left-hand path lead to his own mindscape.

Some days, he wonders what it would mean if it did.

Sighing, the pinkette leans back, fingers laced behind his head. "It's hardly your fault, Inoichi-san. This is probably a result of something we did, after all. If this doesn't work, then… I'm not gonna give up. Even if I'm gonna have to accept being stuck here for even longer, I'm not gonna stop looking for a way home. You shouldn't either. We'll find something sooner or later!"

"Well, I'm glad you're confident, Natsu-san. For now, let's take this back to the physical world, shall we?"

Natsu might never have believed, before, how used he would become to the odd sensation of pulling himself out of a mindscape. A bit like grabbing a rope, a bit like jumping off a cliff, a dizzying whirl of black, and he's blinking to awareness in a boring, nondescript room that probably has more security on it than the Master's magazine stash.

Not that Natsu would know how secure that stash is.

That fire was entirely accidental. And no one will ever prove otherwise.

Sometimes, it sucks being the most potent fire mage in the guild. Every inconvenient fire is his fault no matter what.

...even if it's true that a lot of them were his fault. A lot isn't all!

It's strange, the things you miss when you've been gone for so long. I'd take Mirajane blaming me for a kitchen fire right now as long as it meant I was home.

Natsu shakes away the maudlin thoughts, flopping over the stiff couch. "So, when're we doing that then?" he asks, flopping a hand in Inoichi's direction. The man sighs.

"Not for a while, I think. I want you to be a bit more comfortable diving first, since any mistake can be deadly. I also believe Hatake-san was talking about actually taking you guys out of the village soon?"

"Wait really?!" Natsu bolts upright, nearly toppling off the couch as he spins to face the blond. "He never said anything like that to us! When'd he tell you, how soon until we leave?!"

Inoichi smirks. "I'm not sure, Natsu-san. I do believe he mentioned something about a 'final test' however… considering that was last night, I would think today to be an especially poor day to be late. Wouldn't you?"

Even Natsu can see that manipulation for what it is, but he can't quite stop himself from bolting out of the room at top speed regardless. He's never been kept inside a single city for so long before, not really, and all the team training and private lessons in the world can't make him any less stir-crazy. He would have left, struck out on his own ages ago, if Sakura-chan hadn't burst into literal tears the first time Inoichi helped him bring her parents into the mindscape to speak with her.

Natsu's already taken her life from her. Despite still being uncomfortable with everything Konoha seems to stand for, he couldn't bring himself to leave the village and take even her ability to speak to her family away too. No matter how much he hates the confinement.

And so he skids into the clearing, panting lightly, only to stumble into gaping confusion.

"Wha- heh- what're you guys doing?"

Naruto stands straight as a board, hands clenched at his sides and eyes tightly closed. Sasuke stands on his shoulders, arms crossed, glaring fit to murder at Kakashi, standing a few feet off to the side.

"Oh, Natsu-kun, you made it!" Kakashi skips forward cheerfully, Sasuke's furious glare following the man every step of the way. "We're doing teamwork exercises! Can't you tell?"

Natsu looks at his teammates, then back at Kakashi. He bites back an urge to question the man's age. "What… does that have to do with teamwork?" Kakashi smiles in that particular way only he can, radiating cheerful sadism even with just one quarter of his face visible.

"Maa, Natsu-chan, are you questioning my methods?"

In his peripheral vision, he sees Naruto's eyes snap open, as even Sasuke begins to look apprehensive.

No one's forgotten the Cookie Incident, and Natsu gets the feeling none of them are going to anytime soon. He backpedals rapidly.

"O-of course not, I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'd just like to know how it works, I mean, is it like, trusting your teammate not to drop you sorta deal, or is there more to it than just standing on each other, or what… Obviously I don't need to know, I was just curious, ehehehe..." he waves his hands in front of himself, chuckling nervously.

"Hmm… I believe you! To answer your question… I don't think I want to. Feel free to climb up onto Sasuke-kun - try not to pull everyone down!"

Natsu grimaces as he steps up to Naruto. The blond cups his hands as Sasuke bends his knees. The pinkette gets the feeling Kakashi is having them do this purely for his own amusement, but he's not about to say anything. Rocking back a step, he plants a foot into Naruto's linked hands, the blond pushing him up. He gets his hands on Sasuke's shoulders, and the Uchiha does his best to maintain balance while using his own hands to get Natsu onto his shoulders.

Natsu gets the feeling that if anyone else were in the middle, it wouldn't work. Naruto's balance isn't awful, but he doesn't have the same degree of control over himself as Sasuke does, and if Natsu thinks about his own balance too much he still tends to compensate for his older, male body instead of Sakura-chan's lighter, smaller one.

Somehow, with Sasuke's help, he gets one foot on the Uchiha's shoulder and then manages the second with only a little bit of dangerous swaying. He can practically feel both Naruto and Sasuke beneath him breathing simultaneous sighs of relief.

"Maa, Natsu-chaaan, you're facing the wrong way!" Kakashi's voice comes out exaggerated, as though calling from a long distance, and Natsu feels his eyebrow twitch. There's absolutely no good way to turn around from this position, and Kakashi knows it.

The man in question snickers.

A full-body twitch snaps through Sasuke, and the pinkette lets himself fall. He turns the face-first fall into a roll as he lands, catches sight of Sasuke turning it into a handspring, and distantly wonders if Kakashi is going to make them do it again.

The man doesn't, skipping forward with a particular bright smile that has only ever meant one thing in all the time Natsu's known him.

"Not Tora!"

Three voices ring out at once, and Natsu trades a nervous look with Sasuke. The Uchiha doesn't actually look nervous himself, but Natsu swears the kid has made a particular facial expression just to convey Tora-unique disgust.

As Kakashi herds the three of them to the hellcat's last known location, Natsu wonders at the 'final test' Inoichi-san mentioned.

It would be just like Kakashi-san to make us do something like that after he already got our tempers up with Tora… He probably won't leave us alone long enough for me to tell Naruto and Sasuke either… Even if he doesn't, I'll think of something! No way are we failing now!

"I-I can't believe it… all this time, he's…" Naruto stutters, trapped in a haze of disbelief.

"Hn."

Sasuke's monosyllable grunt sounds more furious than usual. Before he met the kid, Natsu didn't even think it was possible to pack so much emotion into a single grunt. Not that he can blame him…

"We have to do something."

"Like what?" Naruto crosses his arms, but he looks more upset than defensive or angry.

Natsu leaps forward, spinning around until he's standing in front of his two teammates.

"That's what we're going to figure out! Kakashi doesn't get to get away with this. He had us hunting that damn cat past midnight before, which cost us our pay, Naruto-kun actually broke his leg once and even if that was an accident, it's an accident that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been deliberately dragging out that mission for us! I don't care if he caught the cat himself after taking us to the hospital, it doesn't make up!"

"He's a jonin, Natsu… it's not like we can just punch him in the face or something."

Natsu crosses his arms, staring up at the stars. It always gets him, just how different they look compared to the stars from home.

Distantly, he wonders if Lucy would be able to recognize any.

"We gotta do something." He mutters.

"Light his house on fire?" Sasuke's voice sounds downright malicious, though considering Tora'd gone for his eyes twice over the course of the last month, Natsu can hardly blame him.

"He's good at hiding his scent when he actually wants to… I don't think we could track down his place, unless you already know where it is." Natsu wishes he hadn't mentioned his enhanced senses back on that first day, but there's no hope for it now. Sighing, he looks to Naruto. "You're the prankmaster here. Any bright ideas?"

"What… about that green guy?"

"Hn?" Sasuke raises an eyebrow, and Naruto scratches at the back of his head.

"Remember, last week when we'd caught Tora, but then she escaped at the last minute because a man in green showed up and startled her before we could lock the cage? Kakashi caught her himself, stuffed her in, and made us practically run to the admin center… that cheapskate actually conned us into taking him to dinner in exchange for helping us on our mission! I can't believe it! And all that time, he was-!"

"And?" Sasuke cuts off the blond's rant before it can get going, and Naruto deflates.

"Well. I mean, he seemed to really not want to talk to that guy. So, maybe if we found him…?"

"I don't have any better ideas. Though if they just don't get along, I'm not sure how that would help us…"

Sasuke shrugs. "Won't know until we try."

"Can we find him though?" Naruto asks, looking between Natsu and Sasuke. The pinkette nods.

"I remember his scent well enough. It was… kinda memorable. Turtles and blood and sweat, with a bit of woodiness for good measure. Since he was wearing that vest he's probably a jonin too, but at least we can try to track him by it."

"Who smells like turtles?" Naruto curls his lip in exaggerated disgust, and Natsu shrugs.

"Him, I guess. Let's head toward the market, maybe we can pick it up over there…"

It takes only a moment to increase his awareness of his senses, sorting through every scent that crosses his path. By necessity, Natsu's learned how to filter scents more subconsciously, something about Sakura-chan's body or brain just not capable of handling the amount of sensory input he was used to before, but Natsu's not about to let a little thing like that stand between him and his goal.

Even so, ten minutes after he starts searching for any trace of that man's scent he can already feel the headache pounding between his temples in time with his heartbeat. Naruto tries to help too, nose perhaps less sharp than Natsu's but still surprisingly capable, while Sasuke hops across the rooftops with his keen eyes searching out any flash of bright green among the populace.

It takes nearly an hour, when the sun's been set for two, before Natsu picks up on the faintest scent of turtles, far away from Konoha's marketplace. Naruto and Sasuke are by his side in an instant, as they track the scent further and further away from the heart of the city and towards the… village walls?

"Oh no, what if he went on a mission?"

"Dobe. His scent was nowhere near the administration center."

"B-but he's a jonin, maybe they don't always have to go there to get their scrolls-"

"Hn."

Natsu chokes back a laugh as Sasuke cuts Naruto off, struggling to stay focused on the scent when his head feels like it wants to pound straight out of his skull.

"Smell's getting stronger." He mutters.

They hear the man before they see him, shouting something about a young student, and fire.

Longingly, Natsu wonders if the boy will help them light up Kakashi's apartment.

They turn the corner, and standing in front of one of the wall's guard towers are…

"A pair of clones?" Natsu murmurs, squinting. He wonders if he's seeing double from the headache.

"Scary…"

"Hn."

"Ah! If it isn't my Eternal Rival's team! Are you here to run laps around Konoha as well? How youthful!"

"Uh." The man almost literally sparkles, and Natsu finds himself edging backwards. Somehow, it's like seeing what would happen if Elfman decided to act like Lucy when she's buttering someone up for a favor, all loud and sparkly and-and creepy!

Shuddering, the pinkette shamelessly pushes Naruto forward.

"Ah- uh- um, ehehe, what's your name, mister? Kakashi-sensei's never mentioned having a rival before!"

"What?! Oh Kakashi, must you always be so hip and cool?" The man literally starts crying, then instantly grins brightly while offering them a thumbs up. "I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Green Beast, and Kakashi's Rival! How may I help you stoke your Flames of Youth, young ones?"

Naruto blinks rapidly, then chuckles. "Uh… we actually wondered if you knew where Kakashi-sensei lived… since, uh…"

"My Rival's home? I am afraid I could not help you with that, for it would be a betrayal of our Epic Rivalry! He is very hip about his privacy! Why would you like to know?"

Natsu steps forward before Naruto can answer, inspiration slapping him in the face. "He did something very unyouthful! So we wanted to go and tell him we didn't like it! Uh-huh!" The pinkette nods firmly, and tries not to look like he's praying that was the right thing to say.

"What? What unyouthful behaviour has my Rival engaged in?"

...the fact that Gai doesn't try to defend Kakashi's honor says something. Natsu gets the feeling Kakashi trolls everybody, not just the children unlucky enough to be stuck with him.

"He cost us our mission pay." Sasuke speaks up, arms crossed, face blank. Too blank. Natsu knows he's as weirded out by Kakashi's self-proclaimed 'rival' as the rest of them.

"Yeah! He admitted to it! Sabotaging our attempts to catch Tora if he thought we didn't do it good enough! One time because of it we took so long the client refused to pay! That's definitely gotta be unyouthful doesn't it?!"

"I had heard that my Rival's team struggled unusually with the mission to catch the Lady Shijimi's most Youthful cat, but to think that my Rival himself was the cause-! Indeed, young genin, your frustration is just! Lee! Continue your training with my Rival's Youthful team! I shall go and seek him out, to correct this injustice! Yosh!"

The man disappears in a blur, so fast the whiplash from the wind stings as it hits them. Naruto stumbles a step to the side, Natsu reaching out a hand to steady him.

"Yosh! Gai-sensei will take care of things, I'm sure! For now, let us run ten laps around Konoha!" ...Lee turns, jogging up the steps of the guard tower, and Natsu trades confused looks with the others.

"Come, my friends! The laps will not run themselves!" Lee waves at them from atop the wall.

"I think we made a mistake…" Naruto mutters, looking at the wall with apprehension. Sasuke scoffs.

"As if someone like that can beat me."

Natsu groans as the Uchiha starts up the stairs.

"I haven't even eaten dinner yet…" He mourns, before grabbing Naruto's arm and following.

The test Inoichi mentioned that morning isn't even a distant thought in his mind anymore, as he drags Sakura-chan's burning muscles up the stairs and onto the wall.

Unbeknownst to them, Gai's sudden involvement saves them from a 2-am wake up call and subsequent test.

Kakashi decides (for his own safety, really) that coordinating enough to get Gai of all people involved should count as a pass.

The three genin, as they come to learn first-hand just how big Konoha really is, curse their decision to ever seek out the 'Green Beast' for help - and fail to realize just what fate they've saved themselves from.

Perhaps that's for the best...