Of Tales now and Long Ago

Of Sunagakure and the Kaguya

Chapter SEVENTEEN

Minato patiently waited for the person he had called to arrive. Shikamaru was the first to appear, followed by Sakura and Naruto. Minato nodded in satisfaction at the two Shikamaru had brought with him.

Then, his expression melted into something serious. "What you hear must not be spoken of outside this room."

He then told them everything. About how Orochimaru wanted Sasuke's body and how Sasuke was on a mission to find out what Orochimaru was after by pretending to join him.

"I'm going to send a team after Sasuke to make it seen like he actually left. We cannot have Orochimaru suspecting that he is on a secret mission or anything." Minato glanced around at the shinobi present in his office. "Make sure Orochimaru and his followers will suspect nothing. Everything depends on how well you play off the idea that Sasuke has gone rogue on his own will."

"Wait! You're going to deliberately send Sasuke-Teme towards Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.

"I gave him a choice. Sasuke himself asked for this." Minato told him gently, then let it sink in.

"Wha-what?" Naruto 's eyes were wide.

"Then wouldn't it have been better if you didn't tell? Why not just send us in not knowing anything either?" Sakura asked.

"Because what if we actually managed to 'stop' Sasuke? You're strong, Sakura, and both you and Naruto affect Sasuke a lot." Shikamaru was the one to reply.

Minato fixed his son with a warm, yet serious look. "I told you this, because I believe you deserve to know, because Sasuke-kun is your teammate. You cannot, however, mess this up, for it might cost Sasuke-kun his life."

  -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-    

The three quickly headed towards the gates where Neji, Kiba and Choji were waiting for them. The three of the didn't know about the Hokage's plan. In fact, the only people who knew about it were the Hokage, a few of the higher ups, Itachi, Shikamaru and Team Seven. Greeting them, Shikamaru led them out.

Due to the lasting damage of the Konoha invasion, it would be believable that only Genin were available to retrieve Sasuke. Itachi, who already aware, had been sent onto a mission to elsewhere as to not arouse suspicion.

For reasons unknown, they easily caught up to the Sound Four. (It must have had something to do with the one-second cocky smirk on Sasuke's face and the annoyed looks of the faces of the Sound Four members.)

"There's another lurking." Sakura murmured. "I can feel it."

Shikamaru nodded. "There are four of them, and six of us, not including Sasuke." He whispered. "I want you to fall back."

Sakura nodded.

Both groups instantly split up.

Sakura did as told, falling back the instant the battle started.

She spread the distance of her vision of her Byakugan, keeping a look out of the slowly approaching chakra signature, as well as those of her teammates.

Choji's battle against Jirobo was the first to finish, with Choji as the victor. She quickly swooped in, Toneri's words on the important points of a mission running through her mind. She fed him a chakra pill, then summoned Hagetaka to carry the Akimichi towards her precious perch.

As she tended to him with what little medical chakra she knew, something tingled at the corner of her Byakugan senses.

Neji's chakra flickered dangerously. The chakra of his opponent's completely died out, but Neji didn't move.