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Leader	By : mannahpierce Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 2163 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: This story has some of Masashi Kishimoto's characters from Naruto in a universe of my own devising. I do not own Naruto. I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 24
- 25
- 26
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to GreenEyedCat, eunmook, Procastination_is_key, maliya, satterb, eilidhdawn, telynaayuri, cynaga, Aflyingmonkey, melissen, disembodiedvoiceofthedying and sadie237 for reviewing after chapter 24 was posted. Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.
Hits are nice. Rating a story is welcome. Reviews are like a cold drink on a hot day.

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Part 3: Betrayal
25: Distraction

Sasuke was ripped from sleep by yet another alarm. Naruto was, as always, ahead of him, his eyes glued to the scopes, ready to move them again if necessary.
Naruto used tiny bursts of the steering rockets to navigate within the larger pieces of wreckage from the Oak, tucking the Blossom away in seemingly impossible to reach places to avoid the searchers.
It helped that the nekos had left everything in the Sakura switched on; the bug was still giving them warning of approaching enemy craft.

The danger passed. Naruto pushed the scopes aside, making do with the display. “Anything interesting?” he asked.
Sasuke checked the decoder. “Just the usual.”
The usual was a coded ping from Fu on the Cherry confirming that they hadn’t been detected. Sasuke replied in kind.
The Spear was still silent, but Sasuke knew it was out there somewhere because of Itachi’s daily verbal duel with Orochimaru.

There was no more from the Lancet but that was to be expected; Dan would not take the risk. Nothing from the Snow Willow; there had never been anything from the Snow Willow.
“Check for a beacon?” Naruto suggested.
Crews planted and activated a beacon when a ship made an emergency drop to a planet. It was specific to the ship.
“It’s too soon,” Sasuke replied. At this point in its orbit, the second habitable planet was furthest from the hole.
“Maybe not,” Naruto suggested. “Kuu-chan might have gone straight for it, as soon as Itachi said they were abandoning ship. I can imagine him matching velocities with a bit of the wreckage going in that direction, hiding behind it. He’d have been clear of the battlefield before they even thought about looking for him.”
It seemed unlikely but Naruto could think like the kits in a way Sasuke could not. He considered; the Snow Willow was small and fast enough for it to have worked. “You mustn’t be too disappointed if I look for it and it isn’t there.”
Naruto nodded.

It did not take long; Sasuke had rehearsed every step in his head over the last four days. His heart sped up as he realised there was a beacon’s signal buried in the background noise.
“Teme?” Naruto queried.
“Almost there,” Sasuke replied as he decoded the Snow Willow’s signal. “He’s down!” He put his hand out and Naruto grasped it. Sasuke looked across. “He’s only twelve,” he whispered.
Naruto’s eyes steadied him. “He’ll be fine.”
Sasuke knew Naruto was right, just as Itachi had been right to choose Kuuya to man the Snow Willow. Kuuya was the most sensible of the kits. He balanced risk and return when making decisions. He wasn’t a berserker.
He was also stronger than any adult purebred male and twice as fast.
“It isn’t Kuuya I’m worried about,” Naruto added.

Sasuke’s gut twisted. T2 had docked with T1 the day before and they had to assume that the pods had been transferred.
Whenever they discussed it, they always spoke of the pods being taken back to the original Orochimaru. That gave them the whole of the journey to rescue them.
The alternative, that the Orochimaru print had opened the pods, was too terrible to contemplate.

At Naruto’s urging, he embarked on the mundane maintenance tasks that had to be completed each day. He checked his suit and then moved onto the Blossom. The air scrubbers and all the other systems were functioning well.
The only problem he could foresee was the steering rockets running out of fuel.
“Here it comes,” Naruto warned.
Sasuke looked towards the display screen, expecting to see Orochimaru’s mocking smirk.

Instead he saw Akemi: spread-eagled on his front; naked and bleeding; his back ruined by a whip. The rage deep within, contained until now, surged outwards and threaten to consume him.
“Sasuke,” Naruto called.
He pulled his eyes from the screen and locked gazes with his beloved.
“He wants you to lose your temper,” Naruto reminded him. “Don’t give him what he wants.”
It was easier said than done, but Sasuke forced himself to watch and listen.
“This is Sasuke Uchiha,” Itachi’s voice stated on the usual channel. “If this is your opening gambit you have even less style than I gave you credit for. It is very crass, Orochimaru-san.”
The image of Akemi was replaced by Orochimaru in his usual chair. “You wish to negotiate with me, Sasuke Uchiha?”
“I have never said otherwise, Orochimaru-san. What do you want?”
“My fox-human hybrids,” Orochimaru stated at once.
“My sons. Unfortunately you already have them.”
“Only four of them.”
“The others are not here. There was more than one system to survey.”
“The youngster told me otherwise,” Orochimaru claimed.
“He told you nothing,” Itachi replied.
“The Bara hybrid, then.”
“Again, not here. With our other children. Elsewhere.”
“It appears you have nothing I want, Sasuke Uchiha.”
“That is not true. Someone had to stand in Naruto’s place. Someone who has stood in Naruto’s place before.”
Sasuke saw Orochimaru frown. His lips moved and Sasuke read them. “The boy is still in Tarrasade.” Then his eyes lit up. “The sharkman,” he declared.
“Indeed. The sharkman. Now, what can I get for my sharkman?”
Orochimaru smiled. “Who knows? Your daughter? Perhaps even untouched. Or maybe with my child growing in her belly?”
Naruto surged from his chair towards the screen: fingers clawed and teeth bared in a snarl. The straps tore as if they were paper.
Luckily his controller felled him before he could savage the display screen.

It was harder to get Naruto back into his chair than it would have been in full gravity; the space was so limited and Sasuke struggled to control his own movement. Finally he had him comfortable and was mending the straps.
As he did so, he listened to Itachi and Orochimaru’s verbal spar; he would review the recording later to check that he had not missed anything.
What did the Orochimaru print want other than the kits and Kisame? Anything? And how did he know that Sumaru had stayed in Tarrasade?
Presumably the same way he knew that the Oak would be jumping into this system.
Who had betrayed them? One of the hybrid carers? Konan? Five?

Naruto groaned.
“What happened to ‘don’t give him what he wants’, dobe?”
Naruto sat up and rubbed the back of his head. “Teme,” he complained. “That’s why Itachi is negotiating, not us.”
Sasuke pushed a drinking bottle in Naruto’s direction; flipping always made him thirsty.
Naruto caught it as it floated across the cabin. “Does Akemi have a chance?”
“I hope so,” Sasuke replied. He shuddered. “I think Orochimaru prefers playing with his victims to killing them.”

They watched the end of the day’s negotiation together.
“It isn’t going anywhere,” Naruto complained.
“I don’t think it is meant to at this stage,” Sasuke admitted. “Orochimaru thinks he can dig more of us out. He’s probably still hoping that he will be able to locate Itachi using his transmission.”
Naruto snorted in derision.
Sasuke agreed. He was not sure what Itachi had done but he thought it involved using relays scattered throughout the battlefield. Certainly there had been a rush of minky fighters towards a location after each transmission.
He checked. Interestingly, it was not happening this time.
“Something may be up, dobe,” he warned.

They watched and waited. T1, the mothership with the miniature Mulligan drive, was moving. Sasuke told himself not to get excited. It did not make sense that Orochimaru would jump out of the system.
Unless he had decided that he had enough of the kits and that Itachi was lying about Kisame. Then he might jump out of the system and explode all the bombs behind him.
Which was why they had to piggyback.
At least Kuuya was safely away. Haru and Kazuki should be well clear of the battlefield.
“He might be going to pretend to jump to draw us out,” Naruto suggested.
Sasuke did not like the thought of that at all. It would work. If the Blossom was going to piggyback, the Cherry and possibly the Spear would have to create a diversion.
“Or jump out and then back,” Naruto added.
There were too many possibilities. “Whichever, he’s going to have some extra passengers,” Sasuke declared.
Naruto opened his mouth to say something but then closed it and nodded.

Preparing was better than merely waiting. Naruto’s suggestions emphasised that they needed to be ready for anything. As well as checking Naruto’s guns, they had packs, personal weapons, transmitters, jammers, tags, chaff, decoys and bombs of various sizes. They went over their suits and then added an extra layer of flexible armour.
They exchanged coded messages with the Cherry and alerted the Spear. After that there was nothing left but watching the Sakura’s battleboard to monitor the developing situation.
“I can’t believe they left it active,” Sasuke observed. “Do you think it was deliberate?”
Naruto twitched his whiskers and then shook his head. “Those nekos spend more time trying to avoid coming to Orochimaru’s attention than thinking about doing their job properly.”
Sasuke understood. It was like Uchiha under his father; people did not give their best, they gave what it was safe to give.

It was all about waiting for the right moment. T1 was heading for the hole, which would take it into the battlefield. Once it was within it, the situation would change; Orochimaru would no long be able to use the threat of the bombs.
“T2 and T3 aren’t following,” Naruto observed. “Do you think they are going to be left behind?”
It looked like it. “Haru thought that T3 controlled the bombs,” Sasuke pointed out.
Naruto twitched his whiskers. “Having fewer people on the mother ship will make it easier for us.”
But harder for those who were staying behind; Sasuke thought it but did not say it. “We should try to rest,” he suggested.

It was easier said than done.

T1 finally entered the battlefield. Nothing had docked with it, not even one minky fighter. Sasuke was becoming more and more convinced that it was ruse to get them to show themselves.
Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, it had started. The Spear appeared from nowhere, swooped in and attacked T1. Naruto swung the scopes into position and glued his eyes to them.
Itachi’s channel crackled into life. “Where are you going, Orochimaru-san?” he asked. “It is rude to walk away in the middle of a conversation.”
Orochimaru’s image appeared. “You will desist, Sasuke Uchiha, or I will kill the young man, Akemi, and then Captain Gai.”
The Spear did not appear to be attacking again. Instead it was moving away, drawing with it a swarm of minky fighters.
“Kisame has blown a hole in one of the docking bay doors,” Naruto observed.
Sasuke’s heart leapt. It was a brilliant idea. T1 was small for a mothership, like the Maple; with T2, T3 and the minky fighters staying behind, at least two-thirds of the docking bays must be empty. “Is it big enough?” he asked. “Have you a line of sight to see inside?”
“The hole’s big enough,” Naruto confirmed. “No line of sight. I am going to start moving up.”
Sasuke swallowed and nodded.

This was it. Itachi and Kisame had done what they could. They had tried to provide a hiding place for them on the mothership, created a diversion and drawn away many of the small fighters; removing many pairs of eyes.
Now it was up to them and the Cherry.

It was a scenario they had practiced but never used. The Blossom and the Cherry looked identical. The enemy had to believe there was one craft, not two. The enemy would not look for the Blossom if they were convinced that they had left the Cherry behind.
Sasuke imagined Hamaki, Terai and Fu in the Cherry, determined to get them and the children, including Naomi, away to safety. Terai would be piloting, Fu in command and Hamaki on the guns.
If it came to it, they would sacrifice themselves. It was up to him and Naruto to make that outcome as unlikely as possible.

It began. They were weaving in and out of the wreckage. First the Cherry took the risk of being spotted and then the Blossom but never at the same time.
Closer and closer without a shot being fired. Were Terai and Naruto that good? Was the enemy that inattentive? Was it a trap?

Then Naruto growled a warning. Sasuke breathed out and relaxed just before he was crushed by the G force as they accelerated.
The Cherry appeared on the Sakura’s battleboard; Fu had come out of stealth mode. It made the Cherry easier to detect but active sensors meant they could fight more effectively.
His eyes were fixed on the display showing what Naruto could see through the scopes. They were skimming across the surface of the T1 mothership, just behind the Cherry.
Then they were decelerating, which was like Naruto’s acceleration manoeuvre but worse. Sasuke felt his ribs beginning to give way as he blacked out.

He struggled back to consciousness. The Sakura’s battleboard was gone. The display from the scopes was dark; Sasuke could see nothing.
“Sorry about that,” Naruto whispered.
Sasuke tried breathing deeply. It hurt but there were no stabbing pains; his ribs might be bruised but they were not broken. “Are we in?” he asked.
“Yes. Looks good. No radio, though.”
Sasuke guessed that Naruto could see more using the scopes; a combination of his ability to see in low light and looking directly rather than via a camera. “How long was I out?”
“No more than a couple of minutes. Your breathing was fine once the G force let up.”
He wanted to ask about the Cherry but did not. Without any radio signals there was no way Naruto could know. Perhaps it was better this way; they could cling to the hope that Hamaki, Terai and Fu had made it.
“How long do you think it’ll be until we jump?” Naruto asked.
Sasuke thought back to the battleboard and projected the mothership’s path and speed. “Do you think the ship has been travelling at a steady velocity?” he checked.
Naruto nodded.
“A hundred minutes, maybe a hundred and fifty.”
“Time for a recce,” Naruto suggested. “While they are still worrying about another attack this side of the hole.”
“Outside,” Sasuke checked.
“Can’t do much from in here. We need to jam the airlocks and check for hazards. I don’t think there are any cameras but there might be. Or a viewing port. Either way we would need to block it.”
“Good idea,” Sasuke agreed. “I am coming with you. We should also position a radio relay at the hole in the docking bay doors.”
Naruto twitched his whiskers. “I can manage. You won’t be able to see anything and we can’t risk using a lamp.”
“That’s what vision enhancing goggles are for,” Sasuke reminded him. “It will be quicker with two of us. We shouldn’t be wasting time arguing.”

Naruto checked their packs and toolkits. Sasuke prepared the relay before donning the goggles and finding a pair of magnetic overshoes. Helmets and gloves on, they sealed their suits and pumped the air out of the cabin.
Then Sasuke overrode the safety settings so that they could have both doors of the airlock open.

Sasuke peered out. They had been lucky. The docking bay was fitted out to contain rank after rank of the tiny fighters; the Blossom was much less obvious than it would have been in a bay designed to take a single, large ship.
It was also almost empty. Sasuke could see where ten rows of the tiny vessels had been tethered. Only one row of six remained.
He wondered if Itachi had known which docking bay to hole or whether it was fluke. Knowing Itachi he had probably worked it out.

They began with a quick look around. They could not see any viewing ports or spot any cameras, which was a good start. Sasuke began putting together what he could see to make a mental image of what the bay contained. On the wall opposite to the docking bay doors there were ten platforms, one above the other. Six of the small fighters were still moored at the second platform from the top; the other fifty-four had been launched.
Naruto had tucked the Blossom into a corner between the lowest platform and the one above.
It looked like the platforms were accessed by ladders that ran up and down from the fourth platform from the bottom where the airlocks were located. Sasuke started in that direction.

There wasn’t any artificial gravity; he was glad of his magnetic overshoes. He walked along to a ladder and started up towards the airlocks.

Naruto jumped, launching himself across the bay towards the hole in the docking bay doors.

Sasuke reached the fourth platform up and settled to his task of drilling a small hole in the outer door. It would mean that the airlock could not be pressurised; the inner door would not open unless they pumped all the air from the corridor beyond.
It was a slow job; the door was thick.

Naruto joined him. He extended a wire from his suit and plugged it into the socket at the base of Sasuke’s helmet, connecting their microphones with the speakers in their helmets.
“The relay is in place. I checked the fighters. I thought they might be occupied, with the minkies in stasis, but they are empty,” he explained.
“Good,” Sasuke acknowledged; they did not want anyone this side of the airlocks. “Why don't you sort out a tether for the Blossom?”
Naruto nodded, disconnected the wire between them and dived off the platform.

Sasuke moved onto the other airlock and then made his way back.
Naruto had moored the Blossom using two tethers so that they would stay tucked into the corner even if the mothership accelerated.

They went back into the Blossom’s cabin, shut the airlock doors but did not pressurise the cabin. They both plugged into the ship’s communication system and Sasuke connected to the relay.
The Sakura’s battleboard immediately appeared on one of the display screens. There was more static than there had been before but once Sasuke had cleaned up the signal they could make out the ships.
T2 and T3 remained well away from the battlefield. Sasuke could make out over thirty of the small fighters. T1, the mothership they were on, was still heading towards the hole.
There was no sign of the Spear or the Cherry.

They settled down to wait for the jump. Naruto kept watch while Sasuke prepared and coded the message that they would transmit once they were in the next system.
Sasuke had started to doubt it was going to happen when Naruto stiffened. A few moments later he felt it: the Mulligan drive had activated.
That meant the enemy had stopped disrupting the jump field; Sasuke hoped that the two halves of the minigate would engage and activate.

He had braced himself for the disorientation that accompanied a jump when static washed across all three screens and crackled from every speaker.
They jumped.
Sasuke stared at the screens. The ship had begun transmitting a jamming signal even before the jump. Orochimaru was determined that no message got through.
“You don’t think they realise we are here?” Naruto asked.
He could hear Naruto because they were wired in; the suit radios were operating as an intercom. “No,” Sasuke decided. “If Orochimaru thought we were here he wouldn’t have jumped. I think he knows about the minigates.”
“No message home or to the Maple or the Silver Leaf,” Naruto whispered.
Sasuke looked towards Naruto and saw a side view of sad eyes and drooping whiskers.
He thought about those waiting for news, especially those closest to them: Hikaru and Ryuu; Iruka and Kakashi; Shika. He was particularly worried about Shika. Shika would be clinging to the hope that they were alive while trying to avoid the ferocious barrage of ‘what ifs’ that his mind was creating.
He hoped that Neji was going a good job of looking after him.
“Once this ship has jumped out of the system, our messages will get through,” he insisted. “We will leave a transmitter.”
Naruto perked up a little, Sasuke could tell by the angle of his whiskers.
“The priority is the younger children’s pods,” Sasuke continued. “We’ll set the pods adrift in the system for the Dart or the Maple to find. The jamming signal will help with that. It will make the pods harder to spot.”

Naruto was now facing him full on.
Sasuke recognised his expression and scowled in return. “I am not staying with the younger children while you go with the mothership and wait for your chance to rescue the others.”
Naruto said nothing but his whiskers dropped and his eyes told Sasuke that he was falling short.
“It is not my duty to hide and wait to be rescued,” Sasuke insisted. “It is my duty to communicate that I am alive and appraise Kakashi about the situation beyond the hole. We can do that using a transmitter.”
Naruto’s whiskers twitched.
Sasuke looked directly into Naruto’s eyes. “I intend to rescue my children and track Orochimaru back to his lair. Then I am going to watch while you rip his head off so we can take it home and check it isn’t a print.”
“Head-ripping-off sounds good,” Naruto admitted, his eyes brightening.
Sasuke smiled. “That’s the plan then.”
Naruto smiled back. “That’s the plan,” he agreed.
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