An eerie quiet had descended across the remains of Konoha. The battle with the fourth had left a greater psychological wound than a physical one. The sight of the fourth Hokage fighting under Orochimaru's control had pushed morale through the floor. The only upside to the appearance of the fourth was Tsunade's decision to start planning aggressive counterattacks. But of all the Konoha and Suna forces, Naruto seemed to have been the worst affected by the battle. Hinata had eventually managed to coax Naruto into letting Tsunade look him over. The Konoha twelve were scattered around the medical tent as Tsunade examined Naruto, none of them found Naruto's dejected state comfortable. Eventually the fifth emerged from the tent and immediately was surrounded.
"Physically he's fine," Tsunade reported to the worried crowd, "but fighting his father has left him mixed up emotionally. Keep an eye on him."
Tsunade was dragged off by Shizune at the insistence of the council for planning the counterattacks and the ninja disbanded, except for Sasuke. The Uchiha pushed the canvas flap out of the way and entered, he spotted Naruto sitting next to Hinata on one of the makeshift beds, apart from the other patients. He crossed to the pair and sat opposite them on an empty cot.
"How you doing?" he asked, voice unusually soft.
"OK," Naruto shrugged.
"Liar," Sasuke countered, "you feel like they're being pulled in every direction at once. You don't know what to do, be angry, sad or happy."
Naruto dipped is gaze, Hinata tried to stop Sasuke's lecture but he didn't let her.
"When you're emotions stabilize, you will most likely end up hating Orochimaru. Trust me, I've been trough this after Itachi…" Sasuke broke off, the memories still painful.
"Hate is a dangerous feeling; it blinds you to those around you and when finally look around you'll find yourself alone."
Naruto looked up, seeing sincerity in his eyes.
"Besides," Sasuke's voice became lighter, "I can't let you take down Orochimaru all by yourself. I want a crack at him too."
Sasuke stood up to leave.
"Just think about that," he said as he left.
Tsunade studied the Konoha map laid out on the table in front of her. There were various coloured markers scattered over the map, each marking an enemy or allied position. The tent was filled with a cloud cigarette smoke that wouldn't have looked out of place hovering over a poker game. Shikamaru flicked the stub of a cigarette to the floor and ground it out with his foot.
"That's a filthy habit," Tsunade said unconsciously.
"Something I picked up from Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru replied as he lit another.
Tsunade moved three blue markers on the left side and two on the right then shook her head.
"Whatever we try leaves us open on at least two fronts," Tsunade muttered as the returned the pieces to their original positions.
Shikamaru leaned over the map, going over every position for what seemed like the hundredth time. Regardless of how he looked at the situation there were just too few Shinobi left. Tsunade finally lost her temper and kicked the table causing the markers to jump and shift. She flopped into her chair as Shikamaru took a long draw from his cigarette. Shikamaru leaned against one of the tent supports trying to find a strategy he and Tsunade hadn't already gone over and rejected. He glanced at the map and positions again, without paying much attention. Then something clicked. He levered himself off the post and crossed to the table and started moving markers all over the map. Tsunade stood and watched his feverish movements and the wrapped expression on his face. Shikamaru was so absorbed in his actions that he didn't notice his cigarette going out as it ran out of tobacco.
