Chapter 7 - Investigation

NOTE: Keep in mind that time periods and people may differ from the canon storyline
--

The food had been excellent; the hot springs great, and the beds comfortable. Team Kakashi hated to leave, but at the same time, there was an unspoken determination among them to make their mission a success. Well, mostly unspoken.

“HURRY IT UP!” Naruto shouted, scrambling around the room, tossing clothes, weapons, and a couple scrolls into his backpack. Sai, Sakura, and Yamato were already packed, and waiting on Naruto.

“Hey, Captain Yamato, what does this guy look like, anyway? This informant, I mean. What’s his history?” Sakura asked, suddenly realizing that nothing had been said about this mysterious helper.

Yamato looked in the file he kept in his pack. “Let’s see…he’s from the Hidden Grass Village…he’s a chunin…nothing really notable about him, except his sister was a host for Orochimaru. That, we can assume, is his motive for assisting us.”

“That would also mean he may be assisting Orochimaru,” Sai pointed out. “There’s no sure way to say that he isn’t loyal to Orochimaru, he and his sister may have the same loyalties.”

“So what do we do?” the finally-packed Naruto wanted to know.

“We should operate under the assumption that this is a trap. Any information he gives us should be checked thoroughly before we follow the any leads. And even if the information turns out to be true, we need to be careful. The truth can contain traps as well.” Yamato wasn’t quite ready to trust this lead yet, but there was no better lead to go on for now.

--

Shikamaru walked down the hall to Tsunade’s office, Temari and Choji still in tow. Shikamaru knocked on the door, and opened it at Tsunade’s invitation.

“Here, Lady Tsunade, the ambassador from Sunagakure, regarding the chunin exams.” I hate formal introductions. What a drag…

“Good to see you again, Temari. Is all well with the Sand, I hope?” Tsunade offered her hand to Temari, who shook it carefully, not fully trusting Tsunade, who could have ground her hand into powder.

“Things are not all good, Lady Hokage…” Temari suddenly looked preoccupied, thinking heavily about something. Or, rather, letting herself show she was thinking heavily. This problem had never left her head.

Tsunade cocked her head. “What’s the problem?”

Temari looked around the room, as if she wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

“Well, it’s…it’s Gaara. Since the Akatsuki extracted his demon, he’s been loved by our village…but his decision making has suffered. He’s lost his edge, and now we’ve gotten a threat from the ‘Akatsuki’. I’m sure it’s fake, but Gaara…” Temari looked at the floor sadly.

“Gaara just isn’t himself.”

Tsunade clasped her hands together. “Well, the Leaf and the Sand are allies. I want to offer the Leaf’s assistance. I’ll send a team to investigate, while you get Gaara back in order.”

Temari bowed. “Thank you very much, Lady Hokage.”

Tsunade waved the thanks aside. “Let me see…might be best to send…yes, yes, they’ll do. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are three of my best tracking ninja. They’ll find the imposter Akatsuki.”

--

“So where are we meeting this guy, anyway?” Naruto had his arms stretched out behind his head while walking.

“The outskirts of the Sound Village, by the farmhouse near the dirt path,” Yamato recited from memory.

Sakura looked sideways to face Yamato. “Isn’t that risky for us? Meeting so close to Otogakure? Especially if we’re not sure we can trust this guy.”

“Risk is part of the game. Although, this IS more risk than I want. It’s too perfect a setup for a trap. Or, it would be, except for our ace in the hole,” Yamato added, keying up his field mic, and tapping the communication button twice.

“Huh? Ace in the hole? Oh, Ryouko!” Naruto figured it out.

“That’s right! Will we get to see him?” Sakura asked, surprised at this development.

“No…not this time. He has to remain low-key until he’s got Orochimaru’s trust. Contacting him this early is risky, but we don’t have much other choice…Now, remember, this does NOT get put in your report to Lady Tsunade. She can’t find out we’ve contacted Ryouko…”

“But how are we going to contact him?” Naruto queried.

“Yes, it would be difficult, he’ll surely have been checked for a headset,” Sai said, not seeing how this could work.

“You don’t give Ryouko much credit…” Yamato stated. He was looking off into the distance, watching for something. “Ah! Message received!”

Holly, Ryouko’s dog, came running up. She stopped, sat down, and saluted with her paw.

“Holly, at your service! And…” Holly dropped the act, and trotted over to Sakura, sitting at her feet expectantly. Sakura smiled and knelt down next to Holly, stroking her fur and talking to her.

“Hi, Holly! How are you doing?!”

Holly sighed appreciatively, tapping her leg in rhythm with Sakura’s petting. “I’m great! Man, I gotta say, you’ve got a nice soft touch! I wish my kid would marry you so you could pet me! I gotta say, Ol’ Ryouko’s heart is in the right place, but he can’t pet worth a damn! Not like YOU, Sakura!”

Sakura, eye twitching, turned around to gaze at Naruto, Sai, and Yamato, all of whom were snickering.

“So, you must’ve seen Ryouko a lot, huh Sakura-chan? How come I never saw you visit…” Naruto slid closer to Sakura, whispering “Only at night, huh? Secret visits? Maybe at a hotel, huh, Sakura-chan? Getting’ a little lovin’ Samurai-style?!”

Sakura gritted her teeth, trying not to hit Naruto. She had been hitting him a lot lately. But Yamato snickering, and Sai smiling like he knew something was irritating her.

“Oh, I know! They studied together every night, I bet! Anatomy, Sex ed…” KABLAM!

Sakura’s fist collided with Naruto’s head. Holly put her ears down and whimpered, while Sai and Yamato stood still, afraid to move.

“That’ll teach you! How DARE YOU accuse me of that?!”

Holly felt a sweat drop grow on her head. Wow…I like this girl! I totally have to get her to hook up with my kid! He needs sense beaten into him…nah, he’d treat her right, and I’d have someone to pet me! Everyone wins! Well…maybe not Sakura, but two outta three ain’t bad ^^

Yamato stroked Holly, who relaxed at the touch.

“You’re not bad, Yamato! Now, I guess you summoned me for a reason other than stroking my gorgeous fur…”

Yamato smiled and patted Holly on the head. “That’s right. Holly, we need Ryouko to create some sort of diversion while we question somebody. It doesn’t need to be long, we just need five minutes to extract this man and leave.”

Holly nodded her head. “He anticipated this, I guess. He wanted me to pass this scroll on, it contains the handsigns for a ‘ranged’ version of the “False Surroundings” genjutsu. According to him, Sakura is a genjutsu type who should be able to perform it. Just follow the handsigns, it uses minimal chakra. The range is roughly 25 meters, enough to camouflage your immediate area.”

“I see…so, Ryouko-kun anticipated our need for his help, and thought of a way to do it without putting his mission at a major risk…” Sai turned the idea over in his head. It was sound, in theory, but put into play, who could tell? It was certainly their best option.

Sakura knelt down again, petting Holly’s ears, thinking back to Valentine’s Day. It hadn’t been that long ago, less than a week, and she wasn’t sure how to feel, she had so many mixed emotions…but that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about Ryouko. And, if nothing else, he was the closest to Sasuke at this point.

“Holly…is Ryouko okay? I mean…” Sakura’s voice trailed off. Holly snorted.

“If it’s Sasuke you’re worried about, those two might hate each other, but they’ve got common ground now. Just looking at Sasuke…he’s waiting for Orochimaru to crumble. He’s looking for a soft spot to stab him…just my opinion, don’t take it as fact.”

That sent a shock through team Kakashi.

“Huh? How do you figure that?” Naruto asked, petting Holly TOO hard. Clearly irritated, she bit down on his hand to stop him.

“My kid said it, actually…Sasuke never adds any honorific to Orochimaru’s name. Not “Lord”, not even “San”. Orochimaru doesn’t seem to care, but my kid said that it’s significant.”

Yamato bowed his head while speaking. “It’s VERY significant. It means Sasuke is playing for another side. Not the Leaf’s, and not Orochimaru’s. But who knows what that third side is? We can be sure it’s not the Akatsuki…and we can be sure that this side offers Sasuke power…”

Naruto was shaking with anger/sadness by now. Sasuke was always a sensitive subject. Every time he was discussed, Naruto’s memories of his first friend, rival, and ‘brother’ came flooding back, almost driving him to tears, sometimes succeeding in doing so.

“Don’t you get it?” Naruto began, quietly at first, though his voice gained volume as he talked. “The other side is HIMSELF! Sasuke only cares about himself! If he topples Orochimaru, that means he’s one step closer to beating his brother! That’s all that matters to him…that’s all that EVER mattered to him!”

Naruto looked away, trying to hide the tears that were now flowing freely down his cheeks. Shinobi NEVER showed their emotions, as Sakura would say, it’s the twenty-fifth rule of Shinobi conduct. Naruto, however, as he had always been, was different. Emotions made him stronger, not weaker.

--

Kiba, Shino, and Hinata hadn’t been to the Sand Village before, so it was new to them. The food, the people.

“Weird how these people act like us, but we see them as foreigners. Right Akamaru?” Kiba said upon completing a tour of Sunagakure with Kankuro at the helm. Kiba hadn’t been much help; he was fretting over the fact that it might be too hot for Akamaru in the Sand Village.

Shino had his mind on the case (although a rare insect from Sunagakure that excreted a fire repellent had his attention for quite some time. He had eventually cajoled it into ‘joining’ him.

Hinata was quiet, and, honestly, a little scared of Temari. She had only seen a little of the chunin exams, but the buzz about this strong kunoichi from the Hidden Sand was enough to make her weak in the knees. But Hinata didn’t run and hide, she faced that fear. Now she just wanted to learn to lose that fear altogether.

Kankuro looked at the Leaf Shinobi, almost studying them. “We can trust you guys, I’m sure. The message we got from the ‘Akatsuki’ came from the direction of the Rain Village. We’ve been having problems with the Rain lately, so that might be what’s going on. But, since the Akatsuki have also given us trouble, we figured it’s better to just double-check. I’ll be going with you and letting you guys handle the tracking. But I’ve got a score to settle with the Akatsuki, if we meet the real deal…Crow needs a workout…’

‘Crow’ was one of Kankuro’s puppets, the one he tended to favor above the others. There was also the ‘Salamander’ and the ‘Ant’. The were modified version of Kankuro’s old puppets. The originals had been destroyed by their creator, Sasori of the Red Sand, in a skirmish with Kankuro. It had taken months to put them back together, but Kankuro wanted to see justice served against the Akatsuki. More than that, Kankuro wanted to be the one to serve it. Sasori was dead, but there were plenty other of those cloak-wearing freaks that could use a good @$$-kicking, in his mind.

“It might be best to intercept one of their letters…then Kiba and Akamaru can trace them, even if they run,” Shino pointed out. “They won’t lose the scent.”

“Got that right!” Kiba said proudly. He was never shy to accept praise when it was offered to him.

“You think they’ll write again?” Kankuro questioned. Shino nodded.

“The contents of their last letter indicate that they’ll send future letters. That, and if they were only going to send one letter, it would be pointless, the Sand wouldn’t take them seriously. They’ll be sending another.”

“How did the first message arrive?” Kiba questioned.

“Uh, by a summon, a bird. Tropical thing, a parrot, maybe?” Kankuro didn’t know exactly what the animal was, but it was close to a parrot.

“Okay Hinata, go for it,” Kiba nudged her to shake her out of her stupor.

“Right! (Handsigns) Byakugan!” Hinata’s kekkaigenkai kicked in, in a big way. One hundred fifty meters in every direction, everything became shades of black and white. Hinata turned her focus to the sky. After about three minutes, she spoke up.

“One hundred meters North-west!” she exclaimed, secretly proud of herself for finding the bird at all. I’ve gotten stronger!

“Awesome, Hinata! C’mon, let’s go! Show us where you receive messages, Kankuro, and then this mission REALLY starts!” Kiba jumped on Akamaru’s back and was riding in style to the Kazekage’s office.

--

Naruto’s crying forced Sakura’s mothering instincts to kick in. She knelt down next to Naruto and a put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll find him and save him from himself, Naruto. Don’t worry. We’re all stronger now, and we know what Sasuke can do. We won’t get caught by surprise again. Now, come on, crying won’t bring Sasuke home.”

I know it for sure…I spent too long crying…time I could have spent training, or enjoying myself…I wonder about you, Naruto? Have you cried a lot?

-

“Okay, once more Sakura. This time, we move. Maintain a chakra flow to keep the genjutsu up. If the genjutsu is released, my Wood Prison will deal with the attackers.”

“Right!” Sakura started to make the handsigns. The plan was in place, they just needed to execute it.

“Hey, wait, how is this guy gonna find us if we camouflage our surroundings? It’s not like we can end the jutsu so he can see us…I mean, if it was me, I’d think we were an enemy, and attack! We should wait until we’ve seen the guy, THEN use the genjutsu, and camouflage him with us!”

This surprising bit of wisdom came from Naruto. It was surprising to know that, now and again, he showed a real ability to have a handle on any given situation. In this case, he was absolutely right.

“Good thinking, Naruto! But it comes too late…he’s already here…” Yamato pointed, a kunai in hand, to a figure hiding in the shadow of the mountain range above them. There was a canyon behind them, with a twenty-foot drop. It would hurt, but you would live if you fell.

The figure stepped away from the rocks. “Forgive me for not speaking up…I had to make sure you weren’t Sound agents in disguise…”

The stranger’s speech was muffled, as if he was talking through a mask. He sounded young and nervous, which might explain why he was wearing the mask. To hide both his face and his quivering speech.

“I had to make sure as well, I hope you’ll forgive me…” Yamato nodded to what was either a clone or his real self, holding a kunai to the back of the stranger. This caused the stranger to gulp and panic.

“I’m with you, honestly! Here, this is all I’ve got, everything I managed to take!” the stranger tossed an envelope and Naruto’s feet. Naruto bent down and started to pick it up. He didn’t notice Sai drawing, and only noticed that he was using his Great Beast Animation Jutsu when two ink-lions pushed him out of the way and dove on the envelope.

BOOOM!

The envelope exploded, and the lions disappeared. Ink splashed all over, as the lions had covered the envelope.

“Now, Sakura!” the two Yamato’s said.

“Right! Ninja Art: False Surroundings Technique!” Sakura cried out, her hands in the ‘tiger’ sign.

The stranger couldn’t release the genjutsu. He was outnumbered now, and his plot had failed. He tried to pull a kunai out, but the Yamato that was behind him cut his hands, making that impossible.

“There’s more than one way of getting information. It doesn’t have to be a friendly exchange,” Yamato explained to their new prisoner. Naruto shivered at the look in Yamato’s eyes.

Man, his eyes are really freaky when he gets like this!

--

After reading the note, Kiba, Shino, and Hinata came to a conclusion:

“This isn’t the Akatsuki…but it’s someone very good. They’ve tried to mask their scent with perfume…strong stuff, too! (sniff sniff) It’s just a generic perfume, too, not any special brand…” Kiba sniffed again, still shaking his head. Everyone in the group seemed down, except Shino.

“Send a message back with this bird,” Shino said quietly. “Anything will do, just a message that seems real, and important.”

“I don’t see the point…” Gaara said in his raspy whisper.

Shino pointed to the bird’s neck. “I put one of my tracking beetles in it’s feathers. It’s a female that leaves a distinctive scent to the males of the breed. The males will be able to track the female.”

There were sounds of approval from everyone for that idea. Kankuro thought back to the chunin exams at the Hidden Leaf three years ago.

This is how he found me after the Sound sprung their trap. That trick with the beetles…I hate to say it, but this guy’s good. Our poisons canceled each other out. If Temari hadn’t bailed me out, I would have been done for. Not sure how HE survived, but he’s definitely good to have on your side…

“Alright, the message is sent…Kankuro, go with them. Best of luck,” Gaara told the team before sending them on their way.

--

Team Kakashi was waiting for Tsunade to have a free moment so they could debrief. There wasn’t a rush anymore, since the prisoner was in the hands of Ibikki Morino. Sakura took the opportunity to write down her thoughts:

I never want to go there again! The Sound Village has so many bad memories for me! How am I going to face Sasuke when the time comes? I…I know it’s selfish, but I never want to go back! Ryouko would be okay without my help, wouldn’t he?

No. Not just that. It’s not just Ryouko. I promised to help bring Sasuke back home, and I want to see Ryouko’s name cleared! But how can I face this? This is one of my worst nightmares come to life! I know you’re supposed to face your fears, and that’s the only way to beat them…

But that doesn’t make it easier. I have no choice- I HAVE to get stronger!

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