33 - Sasuke and Sai

Scouting was boring shit, but at least they could fly. Better than running around the whole place on foot.

They did not find anything, which meant all Fuyuka got was a nice flying break before meeting up with the team, where they ate some suspicious seeds and began an infiltration.

Fuyuka can certainly be stealthy, she even had a severe lack of presence for it. However, it wasn't her preferred method of dealing with things. It's much easier to just Stellar Snare them in the face. Simple, direct, bloody, fun!

Definitely better than crawling through a wood spike-made hole in the wall.

Once they found Sai, Sakura returned a picture from earlier. Naruto had filled Yozora and Fuyuka in on its contents, but they all kept quiet now.

Fuyuka didn't listen to Naruto and Sakura's rant turned monologue. Sai was seriously pissing her off, regardless of his reasons.

Hopefully Naruto can talk no jutsu him.

Yamato did some more fancy wood stuff to bring them outside of the underground, before binding Sai with more wood. After more talk no jutsu, Naruto, like the idiot (affectionate. kind of) he is, ran off to find Sasuke a moment later. Yamato, as well as the bound Sai, followed promptly.

"I still think there's a reason Sasuke hasn't come back on his own," Fuyuka commented to Sakura, before the two followed everyone else.

Once underground again, Team Kakashi was ambushed by Kabuto. Because nooo, they don't get a good fight and they don't get an easy pass. They have to fight the nerd, who also ended up breaking Naruto's wrist and avoiding Sakura's mega punch.

No, Kabuto isn't the nerd because of the glasses. He's the nerd because he's Kabuto. Get it straight, geez.

Nerd proceeded to free Sai, who he still trusted.

Fuyuka raised an eyebrow in the slightest as Sai poised himself to attack, not Team Kakashi but Kabuto. She wiped her face blank, seeing as the silver haired nerd hadn't noticed yet.

She held out her palm. "Stellar Snare: Triple Bind!"

The blue triangle went flying, managing to catch Kabuto by surprise. While he was distracted, Sai lunged, throwing the NerdMan™ to the ground. "Naruto. I want to see for myself the 'bond' you share with Sasuke."

Yamato quickly cast a jutsu, wood binding Kabuto. With a bit of questioning, the Team soon set off to look for Sasuke once more, this time with Sai's assistance.

Fuyuka wasn't as close to Sasuke as Naruto or Sakura, but he was still a teammate. Heck, maybe even a friend. Plus, he missed out on her birthday, so she's definitely bugging him until he pays her in her own currency- salmon.

But even for the sake of Naruto and Sakura, she had to find duck butt, punch him in the face and drag him back to Konoha. Yozora followed her quietly, having not known Sasuke at all, so he didn't comment or say anything.

Still, none of them found anything. Fuyuka was interrupted from her search by a flare of chakra followed by sounds of combat.

"Geez, Naruto, what did you get yourself into now?!" She cursed rapidly under her breath before rushing towards the sound.

By the time she arrived, Yamato had pulled some crazy wood stuff and Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen.

"Isn't this Sai's?" the blue haired girl asked, pointing her shoe at a bag on the ground.

"Oh, it is!" Sakura replied, opening the bag as everyone else crowded around.

Yamato dug out a book. "It's a Bingo Book... a list of wanted bounties. And this is..."

The brown haired man's eyes widened as he settled on a particular page, holding a very familiar face. "Sai was sent to... assassinate Sasuke!"

At that moment, a flare of chakra caught their attention. What was it with saying 'a flare of chakra' today? The author was feeling lazy, huh?

"Come on, this way," Yozora beckoned, Team Kakashi dashing down the small hallways. They emerged outside, finding Sai standing, staring up at a cliff.

"You- traitor!" Sakura screamed, grabbing the pale boy by his collar. She didn't have a chance to say anything else, as a voice from on top of the cliff caught her attention. "Sakura."

The whole team whipped around, spotting Sasuke himself on top of the cliff.

Fuyuka had plenty of questions about his choice of clothing, maybe training under Orochimaru came with bonus questionable fashion sense. Still, she let Naruto and Sakura go through their dramatic monologue.

With a burst of insane speed, Sasuke stood beside Naruto. The Uchiha turned towards the blond, raising his sword. Even Sasuke had a weapon now? Fuyuka should really consider getting her own. The girl summoned a Pentagonal Web, ready to defend her teammate but Sai beat her to it.

The fight was pure chaos in a matter of moments. Naruto was foxified again, Yamato was injured, it was clear Sasuke had grown far too strong during the two years.

Yamato formed a hand sign, trapping Sasuke in wooden walls, only for the raven haired boy to break out of it with ease. She flinched, forming a defensive stance as her former teammate began to make hand signs.

"Careful," Yamato warned. However, they didn't need to fight anymore, because a hand on Sasuke's shoulder stopped his mysterious jutsu. Normally that would be good, except this hand was Orochimaru's.

Poof.

No more Sasuke.

Naruto collapsed to the ground, tears starting to prickle at his eyes. "No, Sasuke! I... I failed again."

Sakura blinked back a few tears of her own, pats the blond's shoulder. "Don't cry, Naruto. That's not what Sasuke would want."

"She's right," Fuyuka announced. Again, she wasn't as attached to Sasuke as the others, not enough to cry for sure. But he was her teammate. It's as simple as that. "We will save him, we just need to try harder, to do everything we can."

"I don't know Sasuke, but if he matters to you, then he must be a good person," Yozora said softly.

"Me too. I will protect your bond, Naruto," Sai added, moving to stand by the team. "One more person can make a difference. I'll be that one."

"Okay, what questions do you have for her?" Sakasa plopped down on a rock, Ivory still bound. Thankfully, Makoto hadn't 'disconnected' yet, if that was even possible.

"Do you... have to stay and watch?" Rina questioned dubiously, helping herself to her own rock and crossing her legs. The orange haired male nodded eagerly in response. "I wanna know what's up too. You asked me about Makoto of the Masquerade, now I'm curious."

"Well, that's fine," Kessho replied with a smile, earning a glare from Rina. "Okay, Makoto of the Masquerade... How do your remote puppets work?"

Ivory fell silent.

"Shit!" Rina shouted angrily. Actually, she said a lot more than that, but there's no point in listing it all. "Her chakra's gone, apparently she can disconnect."

Kessho scowled, but didn't react as intensely as his companion.

"Well, Sakasa-san, I think we'll take the puppet back. Makoto will probably come for it again at some point," the silver haired male announced, picking up the bound puppet by the rope.

"Rina, stop glaring at nothingness. Let's get back."

"I'm not glaring at nothingness, dumbass, I'm expressing anger with facial expressions!"

"Anger is the only expression you have!"

"Shut up, fucker!"