A/N: Sorry for the wait. I just didn't feel like writing for a while.

Now I do! :D

Look forward to updates. :)

Chapter One: The Beginning

"I saw it again."

The manner in which he said the words seemed alien to his own ears. There was not the minutest trace of emotion in it, not even the vaguest display of feeling. The paltry crack in his voice that had accompanied most of what he had uttered, was gone, now that he was treading on such grounds.

He failed to grasp the entirety of it.

Or perhaps, that was what he liked to give credence to.

"I... had believed that you would."

Blonde eyebrows furrowed.

The baritone rang throughout the hall, colossally overpowering the crackle of the fire-lamps. He didn't express any hint of surprise; nothing that would take away from him the barrier that he had so meticulously created around himself. He was not prepared for this, and he most undoubtedly did not desire to be.

All of this was supposed to be a part of his past. An extension of the darkness he liked to believe he'd been capable enough to leave behind. Most definitely, it was not something that should have had the power to exist anymore.

But there it was, following him, menacingly taunting him, vilely clinging on to his being like a shadow; refusing to allow him to be calm.

The implicit agony threatened an overtake.

His hope was his only weapon.

"What does this mean, Gamamaru-sama?"

The toad tilted it's head, as if contemplating something. The enormous scrolls behind him unintentionally served the purpose of emanating a sort of solemn atmosphere. He felt weirdly claustrophobic, even though the hall was of gargantuan proportions.

What was the unsettling feeling in his chest?

It was... almost like the power that kept him frozen in that dream.

He shuddered.

"Naruto, listen carefully to what I have to say."

Sapphire eyes shot up to look at the speaker. The tassels on the professor's hat it wore shook gently, as the enormous toad tilted his head backwards, shifting in its seat. Squinted eyes bore down on the blonde; prudent in their manner, thoughtful in their approach.

"Yeah, Grandpa sage?"

The ninja attempted to fake a smile, to give the impression that he could take whatever was about to be forced upon him, regardless of the situation. However, he seemed to have lost the ability, and all that came out was an expression broken with confusion.

He gulped.

Perhaps everything advocated the triumph of the wrong. Perhaps nindo itself promoted chaos. Perhaps when the flow was inevitably against, even the potent became bereft of power.

"There is a bit of trouble with prophecies," the toad began, bringing its giant hands together, and bearing down on the blonde with an analytical expression, "You see, we aren't particularly blessed with the ability to understand what their manner of culmination will be."

Naruto nodded, even though he couldn't conceive why the sage was talking about something like that.

"However, there is a unique glitch when it comes to prophecies of grand scales. They seem to proceed in a particular manner, and end in the same way," Gamamaru shifted again, pausing momentarily, seemingly thinking what he was about to say over.

"The reason is that they are associated with events of great influence, and their link to such events is so profound, that they end in the way which can be deemed only and nothing but fitting."

A look of confusion spread over Naruto's face.

"But, we haven't had any prophecies of late."

He said that more to assure himself of it being the truth than anything. Ages of pain, of sardonic torture, and devastation were attached to the last one, and the consequences were such, that it was an insurmountably difficult task to bring its share of normalcy back to the ninja world.

A task which was yet to be considered accomplished in the complete sense.

Gamamaru's eye twitched, providing a vague hint of some evaluation of prudence.

"Yes Naruto, we haven't had any prophecies as of late."

The blonde's look of confusion didn't lift.

Ambiguity, was not something he was especially fond of.

However, he had, over the years, learnt of the fact that sometimes silence yielded answers. And for then, any answer to his dilemma would, he believed, be a welcome change.

Gamamaru sighed.

"Moments of revelation, are for time, and not the mind, to decide upon. I believe we'll meet again in the future, when the obscurity clears. But understand this, Naruto, sometimes we believe in an apparent solution so much, that we overlook reality.

"And failure has no better address, than the actions of a delusional fool."

Kakashi smirked as Gai's frown assumed a more pronounced look.

"I swear, my ability of kicking your ass seems to be wilting with my youth."

"Believe what you want to."

The room looked the same as the last time he'd been there, before embarking upon his short 'vacation', as he liked to call it. Apart from the few pictures of a sweaty Lee, with his sweatier disciple, that had been added, Might Gai's parlour seemed quite humble; without the simplest hint of the grand amount of fame that was now a part of his life.

The weather had, from what the Hatake gathered, evidently been brilliant of late, given that spring was around the corner; and the soft breezes that blew in from the open windows seemed to add to the pacific atmosphere of the room.

Some believed life had become stagnant after the war.

Kakashi disagreed.

No matter how subtle it was, there existed a fine line between peace and stagnant lifestyle.

"I see you look healthier."

Gai seemed taken aback by the statement.

The previous meeting of theirs had been when Gai was still undergoing some treatment on his right leg, the medical unit focusing on gathering information on how one could completely cure a shinobi who had gone through the opening of the Eighth Gate. Apart from the obvious objective of restoring one of the Allied-Regions' greatest martyrs back to his full health, the Medical Department also saw the amount of potential the case held.

Because if taijutsu users could use all the Eight Gates without the fear of imminent death, then it would undeniably be an enormous stride forward for the shinobi world as a whole.

"Yeah, the unit has been quite immersive in their treatment," Gai chuckled, "They say that another year will be all that it'll take them."

Kakashi smiled.

"What with Tsunade-sama breathing down their necks all the while. She's got a very unique perception of the word retirement."

Gai nodded in agreement.

Ever since the end of the previous Shinobi war, the Godaime had engaged herself entirely with the rebuilding of Konohagakure. Reeling Yamato in to help her, and gathering some of the best architects in the elemental regions, work had proceeded smoothly, and at an amazingly rapid pace. Within the space of three years, Konohagakure had been able to completely witness the establishment of its new village, its facilities, and the layout of the city.

In a couple more, as a plethora of new workers got added to the force in charge, the vibrant and vivacious metropolis was finished, gleaming in all its glory, as a paradigm of the Shinobi-World's awe-inspiring advancements in technology.

"I'd thought she'd finally start resting after the city was done with, but to think that she'd start 'part-timing' as the Deputy Head of the Medical Department, was surprising to say the least."

Kakashi shrugged, "One never really can understand what fuels her spirit. But everybody agrees that her job's been splendid."

"Yeah, it does warrant Naruto's little 'gift' to her."

Both the shinobis joined in for a few moments of laughter.

The first thing Naruto Uzumaki had done, after coming to power as the Hokage on the eve of his twenty second birthday, had been to commemorate Tsunade's contributions to the ninja. Adamant in his way, he had nagged the elders in the council for days, before they'd finally let it pass. After all, there was no particular negative to sanctioning a way of paying respect to a warrior.

Even if it involved the building of the biggest casino in the Fire Nation in the heart of its new capital, and naming it after the Fifth Hokage.

Not that the said Hokage was expressively displeased with the situation.

"That reminds me, Shizune had asked me to meet her after I returned."

Gai smiled sheepishly, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Romancing on the eve of your manhood's collapse, eh pervert?"

It was impossible to tell what Kakashi's reaction was, given the amount of his face that his mask covered.

However, it wasn't like a blush was the only giveaway for embarassment.

"Idiot."

"Thank you Haruno-san."

"Don't mention it."

The roseate smiled at the old woman seated opposite to her.

A couple of moments later, the woman's daughter had led her outside, and Sakura had finally been able to catch her first break of the day. Sighing softly, she rubbed her temple, trying to get the mounting headache to go away. Insomnia had recently emerged as a gigantic deterrent to her ability to work efficiently, no matter how hard she tried to mask it.

She'd taken leaves frequently, constantly asking her ever-willing mentor to fill in for her, until her bashfulness got the better of her. The position of Chief Medic was not something that could be dealt with so casually, and it would obviously be unwelcome for the Unit to view her leadership as a lethargic one.

After all, she'd taken the responsibility willingly.

She owed it to the village to put her best into the effort.

Stretching softly, Sakura pushed herself off her chair, and made for the coffee machine in a corner of the room.

'I'm sorry, Sakura. But this can't be helped.'

She frowned.

Settling the cup in the groove, and pressing the button beside the nozzle, she sighed again. The troublesome headache threatened to re-commence. It had been enormously difficult to gather the strength required to continue with her daily lifestyle without openly showcasing her discomfort.

The dreams.

She slammed her left palm against the table, causing her cup to quiver.

It was terrible enough to not be able to catch one night's worth of peaceful sleep for weeks. However, the fact that she slept under constant threat of being reminded of that one hazy and irrationally disturbing scene...

Her eyes caught sight of a slight crack that she'd caused in the wood.

Reflexively loosening up a little, she focused her eyes on the cup.

The incident was never clear, ambiguity being etched into every moment of it that she was forced to watch. Darkness was present, always present. The shades were exaggerated, as if extending because of some unknown reason, engulfing her in its hunger-fueled manner. The scene itself was so blurry that she was yet to fully comprehend whether the place was a forest, or one of the nefarious-centers of crime she'd gone to for missions.

And then, there existed the dilemma of the voice.

Whom did it belong to? Why was it so abnormally distorted? How did it surround her vicinity so alarmingly?

Her eyebrow twitched as her anger threatened to consume her once more.

Gulping down her ire with a sour face, she picked up the cup of coffee, and turned to make her way towards her desk. With every step, she felt a thought nag at the back of her mind, urging her to confide in somebody, to ask somebody for help, to at least endeavour to receive some help in clearing her thoughts of the disturbing vision.

However, even she knew how impossible that was. Ino was away being the leaf's ambassador in the meeting of the intelligence units of the countries, and she didn't trust that she could speak of her situation in front of any other member of the unit.

Sasuke hadn't been home in a year.

Her irises darkened as she remembered what he'd told her the last time he'd left the village.

'Why are you still going around wandering?' she'd said, trying to see reason in his seclusion, 'It's been seven years Sasuke, how much longer do you plan on eluding your actual responsibilities?!'

He'd remained quiet, stopping in his tracks, as if contemplating something.

She'd counted as the moments passed, the bitterness in her mouth increasing.

And then he'd bowed his head, sliding the door open.

'That's what you don't understand Sakura. I'm not eluding my actual responsibilities.'

She had, as time passed, gotten over the inexplicable change in her character when she'd been around him. She'd deemed that the large intervals of time between their meetings, and the extremely short periods of his stays in the village had been the reason why.

He'd always seemed so aloof.

She had believed that the end of the war would change that.

She cursed herself at the childishness of her dreams.

Gritting her teeth, she shook her head, trying to get herself to forget. It was useless pondering the problems of her life, she knew that. She'd always known that, even if subconsciously a certain sort of hope had started to arise.

A blur of orange shot past her window.

A few moments passed until she realized that her eyes had widened.

It wasn't like she hadn't thought about asking him. In fact, his was the first name to have come to her mind when she'd started considering getting help on the matter. It was inexplicable, the amount of confidence that seemed to pass through her whenever she thought of discussing something with him.

But he had his own preoccupations off late.

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

It didn't take a genius to see that the Seventh Hokage was presently troubled. He'd stopped going to the public places, hadn't delivered his monthly account, and didn't even attend the recent festivities. It had been so out of character for the blonde, that even the most oblivious of Konoha's townfolk had started to take notice.

Naruto Uzumaki was not being his usual self.

Sakura had tried to go and meet him, but she had never been able to find him. He'd masked his chakra signature, and his office's staff didn't allow anybody with the exception of Shikamaru to go and meet him anymore. The absurdity had been infuriating, and many of their friends had started voicing their dissatisfaction.

However, one look at Shikamaru's expression when he talked about the matter revealed it all.

The Hokage wasn't doing this because he wanted to.

Taking in a deep breath, Sakura cracked her knuckles.

Now that she had seen him, she wasn't going to let the opportunity slide, no matter what reason he shoved at her. Naruto needed to talk, and so did she. There was no point in building a cocoon about oneself in such times anyway.

She got up, and bent to pick up her coat.

And that was when the alarm started blaring.

"Send word to Naruto-sama!"

"That has been dealt with tai-cho, I've been trying to locate Nara-sama."

"Nara-sensei's been affected."

"What?!"

Konohamaru ignored the surprised look that the chunin shot his way, and broke into a run.

This was bad.

Very bad.

It had all happened so suddenly, and so inexplicably that they didn't even have the time to process the situation before having to start with the counter measures. Seven of them. Seven.

"Fuck it."

His eyes caught sight of the smoke billowing from the western sector, as he passed by the line of windows leading to the Hokage's office.

What caused this?!

Rounding the corner, he turned, his right hand instinctively reaching out for the handle.

Hence, he stumbled momentarily when his hand didn't settle on substance.

He blinked.

The door was open.

"Fill me in. Fast, Konohamaru."

He looked up.

And found an expressively displeased blonde looking at him.

The man's blue eyes fixed aggressively on his face, the sheer demanding vibe coming out of them making him shiver. A knot formed in his throat, threateningly suffocating. He realized, for the hundredth time, what lay beneath the jovial and loving facade of the Seventh.

"T-They went slack, all of a sudden. The reports all say the same. And then, without any warning, they started moving towards the western wall, incapacitating anything that came in their way," Konohamaru paused, considering the next part.

"They're already outside the confines, Hokage-sama."

Shame burned through him, and he turned his gaze downward.

He couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more that could have been done. That somehow, this entire event could have been prevented. A curse played at the tip of his tongue, but he refrained for voicing it. He didn't believe the situation would have permitted that.

"Seven of them..."

He heard the man turn, and instinctively looked up.

Naruto Uzumaki picked up his stack of kunais from his desk.

"Sound the alarms, and call the remaining members of the jonin unit."

Konohamaru saw him bow his head.

Realization hit him, and his jaw tightened. He turned his gaze away, understanding what lay in store, and what it was that was making his beloved mentor speak like that.

It was too obvious to not see.

The Seventh Hokage was feeling ashamed.

"Tell them, that seven of the Konoha Twelve have been possessed and led away."

And that, ends the first chapter. :D

For all of you who have been asking me whether this will be an 'affair fic', let me tell you that that is not the case.

This will be a normal adventure/romance fic.

And will end in NaruSaku, in keeping with the canon. :D

I hope you keep reading this.

Also, this has not been proof read. You are free to point out the mistakes. Constructive Criticism is always appreciated.

~THA musIc GuY

Pleease review! :D They make me feel motivated to write more! ^_^ :D