Till The Wind Changes ✔

V. Mutiny

"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

- Martin Luther King

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"Shikamaru you...from the very beginning," Sakura said as she tapped him checking his chakra.

Pukkun bit his leg and Shikamaru jumped in pain as a reaction to the imminent bite. That definitely did hurt.

"You were able to deflect the genjutsu too!" She screamed angrily at him. "Why were you playing possum?"

"Bah! I didn't want to get involved. Just give me a break," he said as he held the summoned dog and inspected him by stretching his skin. "Who cares about Sasuke..."

Another bite. The second one, now in the left hand. This one hurt even more. He looked around. Almost everyone in the arena had fallen into the genjutsu, besides some Jounins, Sakura, Naruto and him everyone had passed out, or worse, away. None of the three Sand Siblings could be seen anywhere. There he confirmed his suspicions, the Sand had betrayed the Leaf.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, disoriented.

"Naruto! Behind you!" Sakura warned him. A sound shinobi attempted to attack him but was stopped by Gai-Sensei in a matter of seconds. The three genin stood still, surprised by the agility of the jounin.

"Fast." the sound ninja said pegged to the wall.

"Not just fast..." Gai corrected him as he pushed him even backwards, breaking the arena's thick wall and throwing him to the ground.

"Now I'll restate your mission! Once you've heard it, escape through that hole..." Kakashi said as he covered them in case more enemies decided to attack. "Chase after Sasuke, join him and stop him! Then take him away to a safe location."

"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto pondered in desperation.

"I'll explain as we go!" Sakura said as she gravelled his teammate and pushed him through the hole out to the woods followed by Pakkun.

"Urgh...why me..." Shikamaru sighed and reluctantly followed them outside. Why did he deflect the genjutsu? This was just such a drag...

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"Abort the mission," Baki stated. Temari and Kankuro looked at him, their eyes widened in surprise. "You guys take Gaara and retreat."

"Damn..." gasped Kankuro as he knelt by his brother's side. Gaara was clearly experiencing some major side effects making it impossible for him to carry on with the plan. Still, what was Baki going to do? Without the power of the Shukaku there was no way they could actually even think of winning this war.

Still, he decided to stay and fight. Although Temari made the effort to understand it she couldn't do it. Men were stupid, especially when they let themselves be guided by their desire for power. That was why they were now there, that's why three kids were escaping like terrorists trying to survive. At least that was nothing new to her. All her life was about just that; surviving.

But this time there was something different. At least she felt there was. While her common sense told her to run, something inside her felt wrong in doing so. A knot in her stomach makes her feel uneasy. Her people back there were dying protecting them, fighting for a cause that was deemed to fail from its very conception. If only she would have done something; but now it was too late and she felt that (to some extent) she was to blame.