Later, Neji, Shuji and Junshin stood outside the severely dense fog. Danzo nodded to them and they entered. Neji had activated his Byakugan and Shuji activated his Sharingan. The three of them ran through the fog, secretly placing tags all around the Rock ninjas. A few minutes later, they had finished and were on their way out of the fog. Shuji saw that Junshin was about to run into a rock ninja but he quickly grabbed him. They leapt out of the fog and out of sight.

"Do I want to know how close I was?" Junshin asked.

"No." Shuji said.

A few seconds go by and Rusu appears from the Fog.

"Your presence here…"

"I'm not going to argue with you. All around your team of ninjas are explosive tags and my finger is on the trigger."

"You can't intimidate us."

"Taku, set off one of the tags."

Taku nodded and did the seal of the Ram. A second later an explosion erupted. Rusu looked around with worry.

"Fortunately that was just a small one. The bigger ones are actually attached to the ninjas and are just waiting for me to give the word."

Rusu sighed. "I'll agree to the terms of leaving the Kiri Fog."

"Excellent. Oh and I believe that you are holding a Konoha ninja named Shiranui Satori. I want him returned. Immediately."

The Leaf team behind them all smiled at the demand. Rusu gave Danzo a long cold look.

Satori sat in the chair staring at the lights. He was having a hard time focusing on the lights. He couldn't tell how many there really were. Four turned into eight. Eight turned into sixteen. Sweat ran from his forehead and into his eyes. He blinked and squinted at the lights. He shook his head and sat up. He realized that he was alone. He did a series of hand seals. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)

Nothing happened. No fire shot from his mouth.

"It won't work. You know that." The Rock Jonin said walking into the room.

"Still…felt good."

"Enjoy your good feelings when you can. There may not be many more of them."

The Rock Jonin sat at his desk. "I just received word that the invasion of Konoha was successful. All of your friends are dead. You might have saved yourself a great deal of torment by yielding at the beginning."

"I…want to see…a neutral…representative."

"There is no such person. The word will be that you perished at Konoha and no one will ever know you were where. As you will be for a long, long time."

Satori looked at him with bleary eyes.

"You do however have a choice. You can live out your life in misery, held here. Subject to my whims. Or you can live in comfort with good food and warm clothing, women if you desire them, allowed to pursue your studies of History. I would enjoy debating with you. You have a young keen mind. It's up to you. A life of ease of reflection and intellectual challenge or this."

"What…must…I…do?"

The Rock Jonin smiles.

"Nothing really, just tell me how many lights you see."

Satori didn't answer. He stared at the lights.

"This is your last chance. The guards are coming. Don't be a stubborn fool."

Satori kept staring at the lights. His eyes were glazed over and didn't respond.

The door opened and Rusu entered with his two aides.

"You told me he'd be ready to go."

"We had some unfinished business."

"Get him cleaned up. A team is waiting to take him back to the Fire Country."

Satori stared at the Rock Jonin. He realized that everything he had said was a ruse; one last ditch effort to have him bend Satori to his will. The Rock Jonin looked back at Satori, a complex welter of feelings overwhelmed him. Chagrin that Satori now understands, anger at failure, and in spite of himself, the beginning of respect for this sixteen year old's extraordinary courage.

"Shiranui Satori, if you will go with the guards, they will take care of you."

Still looking at the Rock Jonin, Satori rose, started to lose his balance but caught himself. He took a deep breath, and straighted himself.

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!"

The Rock Jonin stared at him briefly and then, the slightest possible nod and smile, in deference to a ninja he had come to admire. Satori turned and walked out of the room with the guards. They placed their hands on him but he shook them off. Rusu looked from one to the other, feeling the charged atmosphere but completely out of touch with what had happened.

Tsunade, Junshin, Tenten, Hanako, Shuji, Ino, and Tsuku stood at the gates of Konoha. Satori came into view being escorted by Aoba.

"Welcome home, Satori." Tsunade said.

"Thank you."

Later, Satori walked into his room. He looked around the room He then heard a knock on the door. The feeling of relaxation finally hit him. He turned around to see his sister, Tenten.

"I don't know where to begin, Nee-chan. It was…quite an experience."

"I read your report."

Satori nodded.

"One thing I left out of the report, at the very end, he offered me a choice. Between a life of comfort or more torture. All I had to do was say there were five lights."

"You didn't say it."

"No, but I was going to. I was ready to tell him anything he wanted. But more than that, I was beginning to believe there were five lights."

The End.