Lords of War

Chapter 7: The Dawn

Sakura woke up slowly, the gentle warmth of the sun shining through the window and onto her face pulling her out of her dreams. For a few moments she didn't know where she was, until the events of the previous night surged back up into her memory with ruthless clarity. She sighed, rolling over to face the ceiling with an unfocused look in her eyes. She was homeless, both of her parents were dead, somehow she'd wound up living in a compound full of yakuza and she still had a Statistics project to get done by Friday. With Naruto, of all people.

Naruto.

She didn't even know what to think of that kid anymore. One day he was a total buffoon, and the next he was a hardened gangster? The sharp shift in his personality and its many implications were just flat out confounding, and Sakura already had enough things in her life that made her head pound just thinking about them. Still, the memory of their accidental standoff the previous night still lingered in Sakura's thoughts, and it didn't seem to want to budge no matter how hard she tried to get rid of it.

"God damn it," she growled, wishing that she still had her punching bag. But since there was nothing she could beat on until her knuckles got sore, the young gunsmith decided to settle for a hot shower instead. That would at least give her time to sort out some of her issues; the rest would probably need a few solid months of therapy.

The warm water served to ease some of the more stubborn kinks out of Sakura's muscles and lightened the pain in her healing leg, but the soothing sensation also pulled her gently back into the place between sleeping and waking as her eyes drifted shut. With nothing in front of her but darkness, Sakura's thoughts returned to badger her in full force.

She didn't really know what to think of most of her classmates anymore; how she was going to interact with them normally at school, she had no idea. Neji was hard enough to talk to normally, but now that she knew he had taken the lives of others, it would be almost impossible to exchange small talk without it becoming heinously awkward.

But then again, Sakura told herself as she stepped out from the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, it wasn't as if her life was exactly normal, either. After all, how many 18-year-old girls knew how to dismantle and reassemble Kalashnikovs blindfolded, let alone use one effectively in a firefight?

Accepting the fact that her life was now beyond fucked-up and would probably stay that way forever, Sakura sighed, got changed into a clean pair of clothes and trudged down the stairs to grab some much-needed coffee. When she padded bleary-eyed into the kitchen, though, Sakura saw that she'd been beaten to the punch. Naruto and Shikamaru were both sitting at the large table and staring absently at the tablecloth, and there was another girl with them who Sakura didn't recognize. As the pink-haired young woman went to pour herself a cup from the pot, Naruto looked over and gave her a tired smile.

"'Morning, Sakura-chan," he half-mumbled. "What're you doing up s'early?"

"I could ask you the same question, Naruto," she replied evenly as she sat down, giving her other classmate a warm smile.

"Hey, Shikamaru."

"Yo," the genius replied aloofly, not saying anything more.

"I don't think we've met," Sakura spoke to the other girl sitting across from her, extending her hand in greeting. "I'm Sakura Haruno."

"Temari," the blonde-haired girl replied shortly, shaking hands with a surprisingly firm grip. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Sakura said, before taking a sip of her coffee and letting the warm liquid begin to wake her up. After a few minutes, the tense looks the other three people at the table were exchanging became too much for Sakura to bear, and she spoke.

"Look, if you guys have something you need to say, just say it," she said forcefully. "I know what you do for a living at this point, after all. Not much use in keeping secrets."

Shikamaru shifted his dark eyes over to Sakura, his gaze holding her attention in a vise with its intensity.

"That may be true," he allowed, "and in most cases, I'd agree with you. But this is something that concerns someone we happen to attend school with, and I don't know if you'd be able to keep from tipping him off that we suspect him. If he knew we were beginning to monitor him, there's no telling what he would do."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, her early-morning temper combining with irritation at Shikamaru's patronizing attitude to give her voice a sharply cutting edge.

"It's Sasuke-kun, isn't it?" she asked with certainty in her tone. "The guy you were talking about. The one you're suspecting."

Naruto's eyes widened at the declaration, looking at the girl next to him like she'd suddenly turned into a ghost.

"How'd you know that, Sakura-chan?"

The young woman's mouth twisted into a frown at Naruto's disbelief, and Naruto almost shivered as he felt the hairs on the back of his next stand up in silent, frantic warning.

"Because of all the people we go to school with who I might have picked to be in the yakuza," Sakura shot back, "Sasuke-kun is the only one I would have chosen. He's so stoic that I doubt killing someone would faze him very much, if at all. Just because I'm a girl, that doesn't automatically make me stupid, Naruto!"

Shamed into silence, the young soldier could only mutter an apologetic "I never said it did," before he slumped over onto his elbows and said no more. Sakura immediately felt bad for lashing out so hard, but a chuckle from Temari across the table distracted her from her guilt.

"Ooh, I like this one, Shikamaru," the Sand soldier said with an approving smile. "You plan on keeping her around for the long haul?"

Shikamaru did nothing more than nod at the question, silently wishing for some peace and quiet so he could get back to figuring out the riddle Sasuke Uchiha represented. If his suspicions were correct, Sasuke was a potentially catastrophic security risk. But Shikamaru didn't want to say anything unless he was sure, either; if he both failed to convince Asuma that Sasuke was dangerous and tipped off Sasuke that he knew something was up, it would be too complete of a failure for the strategist to bear.

"I don't see why you're stressing out so much over this, Shikamaru," Temari broke into his thoughts with her usual directness, as if she was reading them as they passed though his mind. "From what you've told me and Naruto, you have a solid case for Sasuke to at least be watched closely, if nothing else. It's not like you're trying to get him thrown in jail; just get him tailed by one of your ANBU spooks in case he tries to pull something."

Shikamaru was silent for a few moments, but then his head inclined slightly in the smallest of nods.

"That could work," he admitted, "but Sasuke's not an idiot. If he picks up a tail, he's going to notice it and react accordingly."

"Not if it doesn't look like he's being tailed, though."

All eyes at the table turned to Sakura as she spoke up, and after a moment she continued, her tone lively for the first time since her kidnapping. Naruto raised a curious eyebrow, trying to figure out where she was going with this and failing.

"What do you mean, Sakura-chan?"

"I mean that if someone tails him who he doesn't suspect to be a tail, he'll never think to watch his back, Naruto."

Shikamaru put the implication together in his mind and gave Sakura a focused look again, trying to gauge the depth of her determination. She didn't flinch, and after a few tense heartbeats the strategist nodded. Sakura allowed herself a small, determined smile at the gesture of acceptance, and Naruto finally caught on to what had passed unspoken between her and Shikamaru.

"Sakura-chan," he said seriously, his voice as stony as it had been the previous night at Orochimaru's hideout, "don't tell me you're thinking of spying on Sasuke yourself."

Sakura returned the hard gaze Naruto was giving her with one of her own, completely unwilling to back down.

"If I don't do this, Naruto," she replied, "who will? Sasuke knows for a fact that all of you are yakuza; I mean Jesus, he practically lives with you guys!"

"But now he knows that you know who he is, Sakura!" Naruto snapped back, the friction between the two of them causing Shikamaru and Temari to feel more and more awkward by the moment. "Why wouldn't he get suspicious if you started following him around everywhere and prodding him for information?"

"Because even if I know something about what you guys do, there's no way he'd ever think you would trust me with information that was this important. If I don't do this, who else possibly can?"

"If he finds out what you're doing, Sakura-chan," Naruto answered, his eyes softening slightly in a last-ditch attempt to get her to back down, "he will kill you. Do you really understand that?"

Sakura heard the genuine concern in Naruto's voice and was moved by it, but still refused to back down. If Sasuke was connected at all to Orochimaru, this was something she had to do. Not just for Naruto and the people he considered his brothers-in-arms, but for herself as well. A gaping hole felt like it had opened up in her chest at the death of her only remaining parent, and Sakura needed closure more than anything.

She nodded. She knew that Naruto could see she meant it, and the defeated look that came into his eyes then almost made her take back her words. That train of thought was cut off, though, by the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

"If she really wants to do it, Naruto," Kakashi's calm voice came floating over as the man himself walked into the room, "you know you won't be able to stop her."

"Kakashi-san, sir—" Shikamaru began hastily as he rose to his feet, but Kakashi stopped him with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Calm down, Shikamaru; it's too early in the morning for formalities. Temari of Sunagakure, how nice to see you again," he said, shifting his one good eye over to regard the princess of the Sand. "I assume this means that your father has finally decided to move against us in force, and has begun making preparations for it; am I wrong?"

Temari was taken aback at first by Kakashi's insight and bluntness, but nodded after a moment.

"I was going to deliver the news to the Lord Hokage last night, but you all seemed rather preoccupied."

"To say the least," Kakashi replied tiredly, pouring himself a cup of coffee and taking a seat at the table next to Naruto.

"Now, Shikamaru," he said, his casual demeanor shifting entirely to a serious one that showed why he was one of Konoha's top Lieutenants, "tell me from the beginning. Why exactly do you suspect Sasuke might be working against us?"

Shikamaru hesitated at the question, frowning.

"If you're afraid of casting suspicion on an innocent person, Shikamaru," Kakashi said with mild encouragement, "don't be. No one sitting at this table is innocent, much less anyone in this building.

"But before you start," Kakashi continued, looking over at Naruto and Sakura, "I think these two need to get going. Shikamaru's classes don't begin for another few hours, but I doubt Iruka would react kindly to you skipping out on his English Lit class entirely, Naruto. Sakura, how's your leg doing?"

"It should be fine," the young woman answered, testing the healing limb with a bit of pressure and feeling only the slightest sting of pain. "Your medics really did a good job treating it. To be honest, I'm more worried about dealing with the onslaught of sympathy from everyone today. No doubt my father's death made the front page of every paper in town."

Kakashi shook his head at that, taking another sip of coffee before speaking.

"If I had to guess, Orochimaru ordered the body burned or otherwise disposed of. He's not very fond of leaving traces in his wake."

Sakura nodded before getting up from her seat, feeling more depressed than relieved. It was nice that she wouldn't have everyone offering her their forced sympathies, but the idea of her father's body being impromptu cremated or dumped in a river somewhere was a sad end for someone as nice as him to see.

"Well then, we'll be off," Sakura said as she half-pulled a lethargic Naruto to his feet, looking back at Temari as she left and smiling.

"It was nice to meet you, Temari," she said, and then a moment later both Sakura and Naruto were around the corner and gone. The silence lasted until Temari decided to break it, her dark green eyes still looking intently at the place Sakura had been standing when she'd wished her well.

"She's a nice kid, that one," Temari said, her voice tinged with sadness. "Too nice, from the looks of it."

Kakashi just chuckled, shaking his head at the Suna princess' concern.

"You were too young to remember Sakura's mother before she died, Temari," he said, "so you'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you that Rin Haruno was one of the strongest people I have ever known. And if Sakura takes after one of her parents, it's most definitely her mother."

Temari nodded, her misgivings assuaged somewhat by Kakashi's words. She was still saddened that another person had been drawn into the inescapable grip of the yakuza clans, but at least it seemed like it was the path Sakura had chosen for herself.

"Temari," Kakashi said pointedly, as if he was repeating himself and she just hadn't heard him the first time. She blinked and re-focused, and the Konoha soldier continued. "If you want to go speak with the Hokage, he's waiting in his office."

Taking that as her cue to leave, the Suna princess nodded, rose and left, sparing a single glance back at Shikamaru as she did so. Once they were alone, Shikamaru took the initiative and spoke to his superior.

"I think Sasuke might be dealing behind our backs, sir."

To Shikamaru's continued relief, Kakashi didn't immediately question the credibility of the claim, instead staying quiet for several moments before saying anything.

"And what do you have as evidence to back this up, Shikamaru?" he asked at last. "You're more-or-less accusing Sasuke of treason; that's not something you do without justification."

"When we fought those soldiers from the Sound," Shikamaru began, forcing down the memories that threatened to return to his mind's eye, "Sasuke ran off to deal with a thug one of the Sound people called 'Kabuto'. He broke formation in the middle of a high-intensity firefight, putting both himself and the rest of us at risk by going after Kabuto alone. The fact that Kiba almost died before Sasuke saved him is proof enough of that, sir."

Kakashi finished his cup of coffee with a sigh, pausing to think over what he'd just been told.

"But you said that Sasuke saved Kiba's life, Shikamaru," the Lieutenant said. "Why would he bother doing that, if his true loyalty lay with the Sound and, presumably, Orochimaru?"

"I'm getting there, sir," Shikamaru rebutted, closing his eyes for a moment as he remembered how Sasuke looked after coming back from fighting Kabuto. "Sasuke wasn't short of breath at all when he showed up again, and he didn't have a mark on him. I don't care how good the Uchiha are supposed to be at combat; someone engaged in a no-holds-barred duel doesn't come out without a scratch. And if Sasuke had been exerting himself even a bit over that long a period of time, he would have been tired enough to be sweating, at the very least.

Which leads me to believe, sir," Shikamaru finished as he came to the summation of his proof, "that Sasuke and this 'Kabuto' weren't fighting each other from the start, but were talking instead. And if that was the case, I have to assume that Sasuke was either passing information to Kabuto or Kabuto was giving it to Sasuke. Which would also account for Sasuke killing the one Sound warrior that was left alive: no doubt had we taken him in for questioning, he would have probably ratted Sasuke out in exchange for amnesty. Sasuke was just eliminating any potential threats, sir."

Kakashi fell silent again as Shikamaru took a deep breath to calm down and finished his own cup of coffee, wondering what his superior was thinking.

"Well, I can't argue with those points, Shikamaru," the Lieutenant said after a moment. "It sounds like Sasuke's definitely up to something, and whether it's a light or heavy matter doesn't make a difference. If he lived here in the compound, it would be much easier to keep an eye on him; as it stands, however, we're going to have to rely on Sakura to keep us informed of Sasuke's movements. But I have to request that you not make any moves against him, Shikamaru; not until we have irrefutable evidence against Sasuke."

Shikamaru nodded at the order, hearing the finality in Kakashi's tone and rising.

"Of course, sir," he said with a nod. "I agree completely. For now, it's enough to just keep an eye on him; I only wanted to make sure you higher-ups knew we might have a rat in the ranks."

"I understand completely," Kakashi assured the strategist with a nod, "and your work is, as always, deeply appreciated. It's good to know Konoha has people like you waiting in the wings, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru gave a half bow this time, unused to such unvarnished praise from anyone who wasn't his mother.

"You're too kind, sir," he replied evenly, walking towards the room's exit. "I'm just doing my duty. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I should go check in on Temari."

Kakashi nodded shortly, before turning his eye back to the window looking out over the forest behind the compound. The idea that Sasuke was a traitor was a disturbing one, even if it wasn't that surprising. As one of the last living Uchiha, he certainly did have cause to resent Konoha; at the same time, though, one of the last things that Naruto's father had said to Kakashi before he'd been assassinated still rung in his ears.

"That boy is living proof that this war will not last forever, Kakashi," Minato had said. "The Uchiha High Council may have plotted to war against us, but the wishes of the few are not always the wishes of the many. Sasuke will stand as inspiration to others that vengeance is not always necessary, and that old grudges can and will fade in time. Remember that, Kakashi, and guard that child as well as you can."

Sighing, Kakashi wearily closed his eye and, for the first time since Rin's death all those years ago, felt well and truly lost.

"Minato-sensei, Rin," he said quietly, "what should I do?"

Several hours after leaving the Konoha compound, Itachi Uchiha, Vicious and Hidan finally reached the entrance to the building they were looking for just as the sun began to rise. It was a small, dilapidated high-rise building in a backwater neighborhood that was close to becoming a ghost town: the last place anyone would ever think to look for the people the three soldiers were rendezvousing with.

The three men walked silently into an elevator as its rusty doors screeched open to admit them, and Hidan reached over to press the 'Floor 2' and 'Floor 7' buttons simultaneously. They both lit up, but instead of rising, the elevator groaned and began to sink downwards.

"We really need to get this fuckin' thing fixed," Hidan groused, looking at the inside of the elevator with pure disgust. "'Cause if it breaks down one of these days and I fall to my death in it, I'm gonna come back as a pissed-off fucking ghost and haunt you bastards for the rest of time."

"Cease your whining, Hidan," Itachi said pointedly, giving his comrade a narrow look. "I'm in no mood for it."

Hidan chuckled derisively, smirking in the face of the Uchiha's simmering anger.

"Oh, someone's upset that they couldn't squeeze out a quickie from their girl before leaving last night," he crowed. "Don't worry, Itachi, she hasn't lost any of her spark over the years; I can tell you from experience that Anko's still quite the screw."

Itachi knew that Hidan was lying and just trying to get in his head, but the fact that it was still working despite that put Itachi on edge. How was he expected to maintain his calm in actual danger situations when even a casual mention of Anko got under his skin? If he didn't figure out a way to deal with it, and soon, it was going to become a problem. But the kiss he and Anko had shared earlier had stirred something up within Itachi that had been dormant for a very long time, and it wasn't going to settle down any time soon.

The door to the elevator opened with a slow whine, drawing the troubled Uchiha out of his thoughts and back into the present. The room that the trio stepped out into was well lit, white-walled and barren save for a long table that dominated the middle of it. Several figures sat on either side of the table, their one common link being the red dragon embroidered onto the breasts of their black suit jackets.

"It's about time the three of you came back," a man with black hair and sickly green, bloodshot eyes spoke up, drawing a spiteful grunt from Hidan.

"Shut the hell up, Kakuzu," he spat. "You want us to get back faster next time, don't make us walk half of the fucking way back here before we reach a car, you miserly piece of shit!"

"It was too dangerous to send a vehicle too deep into Konohagakure's territory, Hidan," Kakuzu shot back levelly, "and you know it."

"Jesus, would the two of you just stop talking already?" a younger man with blond hair and blue eyes joined in, annoyed. "One of these days, I'm just gonna blow both of you to smithereens, seriously."

"I'm with Deidara on this one," a man with short red hair and bright, jade-green eyes spoke up, "as much as it shocks and offends me personally to say it. Now is not the time or place for your childish bickering."

"That includes you, Sasori," a woman with an authoritative voice and long blond hair pulled into two ponytails spoke up from the head of the table. The room fell silent as Itachi, Hidan and Vicious took their seats, and then the soldiers at the table all looked to the head, where two people sat side-by-side: the commanders of the Red Dragon syndicate, and also the leaders of this elite group of 12 men and women. The Red Dragon's paramilitary wing:

Akatsuki.

"Now," the woman who had spoken continued, while the man with long, white hair next to her remained silent, "as I am sure all of you are aware, Orochimaru has begun to move in earnest, and is currently negotiating an alliance with Sunagakure."

All eyes in the room turned to Sasori at that, but the former legend among Suna's ranks said nothing.

"Of course," the woman said, "we cannot let this happen; Orochimaru is manageable on his own, but with enough power behind him he could very well become a threat to us and our operations. And that's not the only thing we have to be concerned about, either."

At this the woman fell silent, and the man next to her proceeded.

"I have received word from a reliable source," he said gravely, "that Madara Uchiha is not as dead as we had been led to believe."

The assembled members of Akatsuki went rigid at that, the sudden tension in the air palpable.

"The army of the Uchiha Clan must not be allowed to reunite, under any circumstances," the man continued forcefully. "Their High Council is decimated, true; but they are by no means leaderless, and now the fires of vengeance will burn all the brighter in their hearts. We must strike this pestilence at its root, before it spreads and plunges the Clans into another bloody territory war.

"To combat both of these threats simultaneously, we have decided to split Akatsuki into two groups: one will travel with me to the area surrounding Konohagakure, where Madara is likely to strike first. The second group will travel to Sunagakure with Tsunade, in order to crush Orochimaru once and for all. Any objections?"

The reply came as a unified silence, and the man at the head of the table smiled.

"That's good to hear," Jiraiya said, a spark back in his eyes that had all-but faded after so many years of waiting silent underground.

He just hoped they weren't already too late.

A/N: Holy shit, it's an update! Words cannot express how sorry I am that this has taken so long to post, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Life's been really busy lately, and the fact that I'm studying abroad this year doesn't help things. Hopefully, though, with first semester done and the second not yet begun, I'll have some more time to write now.

On to comments about the actual chapter! Yes, you read that right: Jiraiya and Tsunade are the heads of this universe's Akatsuki, which is in turn part of the Red Dragon syndicate. How and why this is the case will be explained in due time, so don't freak out.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter despite its lateness, and please review! Reviews inspire me to write faster, and keep me from getting lazy and letting stories lie still for too long when I think no one's reading them. Which is what happens when no one reviews. Hopefully next chapter will come out faster than this one did, too.

Jazz