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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
- 41
- 42
- 43
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to Procrastination_is_key, satterb, Slynx, melissen, sadie237 and disembodiedvoiceofthedying for reviewing after chapter 41 was posted. Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.
Hits are nice. Ratings are welcome. Reviews encourage and inspire.

Leader
Part 6: Counterattack
42: Sacrifice

Shikamaru had been a day away from wiping his data crystal array when Tennyo One arrived with the twenty-seven five cubed arrays and the additional materials for some of the nested blast-proof boxes.
He set Kiba working on the boxes while he wired the five cubed arrays into the housing he had constructed. Each time he made a connection Sai tested it, which speeded the task up.
“What will happen to Haru and Ran and Kazuki and the other prisoners when we attack?” Sai asked.
“I don’t know,” Shikamaru admitted. “Knowing Itachi, I expect he has a plan.”
“The logical choice for the Orochimaru print would be to use them as shield,” Sai pointed out.
“I know that, Sai-kun.”
“So by attacking we could initiate their deaths?”
Shikamaru hands shook at the thought of it. “Sai, saying things like that upsets me and when I am upset I cannot concentrate. Maybe you should go play with Su-chan for a bit.”
“She is not talking to me.”
Shikamaru sighed; he should have realised that Sumiko would react badly to their plan. He put his tools down and pushed up his goggles. “I’ll have ten minutes off and speak with Su-chan.”

He knew she was not with Kiba and a quick check confirmed that she was not with Naruto and the triplets. Finally he found her sitting in her bedroom with her back to the door.
“Su-chan?”
She whipped about; he could see that she had been crying. “Nii-san? You are meant to be building the box for Sai.”
“I am constructing the new array. Kiba-san is working on the box.”
She scowled at him. “I want you to work on the box. The box is more important than the new array.”
Shikamaru disagreed. The box was unlikely to survive the explosion but that was acceptable because Sai would be backed up. He sat down on the bed beside her. “Su-chan, Sai will be fine. He will be in the new array.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. That won’t be Sai. It will be a copy of the bits that make up Sai but it won’t be Sai.”
“Sai moved from the data crystal array in my cupboard to this one.” He tapped the box at his belt. “He is still Sai.”
“That was a move, not a copy. This is different. It’s like making a print. I want Sai, not a Sai print.”

Shikamaru had not seen her so upset for standards, not since she had stopped pleading with him to bring back Ma and Pa.
What if she refused to accept that the copy of Sai was Sai? It would be terrible for both of them; her and Sai.
“I’ll finish the array and then I will work on the box,” he promised.
She blinked back tears. “And you will put in a transponder so we can find him after the explosion?”
“I will build in a transponder,” he assured her. “Su-chan, you should spend some time with Sai.”
The tears were back. “Because he is going to die?”
Shikamaru swallowed his frustration. She was only eight and he understood how terrified she was of losing another person she loved. “He’s not going to die, Su-chan.”
“You’ll make the box as good as it can be,” she checked. “You promise.”
Shikamaru didn’t want to promise. Other things were more important.
“Promise,” Sumiko demanded.
He sighed. He would find time to make all the improvements Sai had had put on the ‘if we have time’ list. “I promise. I had better go back, Su-chan. There is a lot to do. Either go spend some time with Sai in the simulator or find Naruto-san.”
She nodded. “Yes, Nii-san.”

To Haru’s surprise, things returned to normal the day after all the disruption. Haku-san was back. If Yoshimi remembered anything about his attack on the neko, he did not show it. There was no sign of Rin-san. The Orochimaru print did not mention computers, or holes, or having any interest in fucking Haru.
Haru shivered; he should not be thinking of their daily routine as normal and he certainly should not be relieved to return to it.

Another day followed and then two others. Yo-chan spent more time staring at nothing. Ran worked out better strategies for learning poetry. Each day Haku-san needed more cosmetics to cover fresh bruises.
Haru wondered what would happen when he gave out and had to be tanked again. Would Rin-san be expected to take his place? Or Ran? Or him?

The fifth day after the day that was different they returned from their afternoon session in the gym to find Kuuya sitting on the bunk above Yoshimi’s.
Haru’s spirits lifted to see him before he remembered where they were and how little he wanted another of his hybrid brothers in Orochimaru’s hands.
Yoshimi ran towards him only to stop halfway and stand, trembling. Kuuya hopped down from the bunk and closed the gap between them. Haru could not hear what was said, it was beyond his hearing range, but Yo-chan accepted an embrace, resting his head against Kuuya’s shoulder.

One of the fingers against Yoshimi’s back was twitching. Haru envisioned the cameras he had discovered when hacking and moved to block their view.
It was long-short.
“Day forty-two. Must be ready.”
Today was the fortieth day after the attack on the Oak.
Haru found himself thinking many thoughts at once, which did might work for Shi-chan but didn’t for him. He calmed himself down and managed to settle on two.
Kuuya had allowed himself to be captured to bring them information.
He had to do something about their controllers.

Everyone had a list, even Shikamaru who was renowned for hating them. The master list was in Sasuke’s hands, if they were to finish on time, so that modified systems on the Linden could be thoroughly tested, everything on the list had to be completed by ship’s dawn on the day before they were expecting the hole to open.
Sasuke kept the list with him at all times and, for once, Naruto did not tease him about it. They had two ship’s nights and one ship’s day. Everyone had to be off the Linden and well away before ship’s dawn the day after tomorrow.
He pinned it to the wall of their room with a magnet; it would be safe there until the morning.
“Teme?”
Sasuke turned around. Naruto was sitting on their bed. His eyes were serious. Sasuke sat down beside him. “Dobe?”
“Inari thinks it’s impossible.”
“What? Jumping the hole quickly enough?” They all had their doubts about that.
“No, controlling the drive autonomously. He doesn’t think even Shi-chan could create a programme to do it.”
“Then we fail.”
“Or Shi-chan doesn’t intend to leave it to a programme.”
It was like a punch in the gut. Sasuke could imagine Shika doing it; he loved Haru and the other children so much. “That is not an option,” he stated.
Naruto whiskers twitched. “You’ll make sure?”
“I’ll make sure. I’ll insist that all testing is done from the Renaissance and you must guard Shika personally to make absolutely sure he does not sneak back.”
“Good,” Naruto acknowledged and smiled.

Shikamaru opened the lid of the innermost box.
“Time for him to go in, Su-chan.”
Sumiko kissed the outside of Sai’s box and nestled it down into the impact-absorbing lining. Shikamaru made the connections, replaced the lid and sealed it into place.
“Next is the special plastic,” Sumiko reminded him. “The one that will form the super-hard box if it melts.”
“That’s right,” Shikamaru agreed.

After that came the boxes and wraps made from different forms of amour. He had even included two made from the heat shield from a shuttle designed to enter the atmosphere of a planet. Then there were many layers of ablative material inside the outermost triple-layered container.
They ended up with a cube that was two-thirds of Sumiko’s height.
Shikamaru added and connected in the interfaces. “Can you hear me?” he asked.
“Shikamaru-san, Sumiko-chan,” Sai acknowledged. “All six of the communication pathways are operational.”

Shikamaru was relieved; even though they had tested every component and every connection, it was always good when it came together.
“We will be able to talk?” Su-chan asked. “Even after you have installed Sai on the Linden?”
“For now,” Shikamaru confirmed. “Once Sai has the Mulligan drive on the edge of jumping there will be too much radiation. It will interfere.”
Sumiko smiled at him. “Sai and I are going to play in the simulator until you take him over to the Linden and begin installing him. After that he will be too busy to play.”
Shikamaru smiled back. “You do that, Su-chan.”

He watched her climbing into the simulator. Then his eyes went back to the container. He had kept his promise; he had made the best box he could.
It still had close to zero chance of surviving the explosion but there was no need to tell Su-chan that.
Shikamaru had a plan. He would look for Sai’s array, because a low possibility was not zero. When he found the remains he would say that the radiation had made Sai’s array unstable, so Sai had moved to the new one.
That way she would accept the back-up as Sai.

The discussion had taken them most of the day because long-short was so slow and they paused whenever there was a neko watching them or the Orochimaru print was present.
Kazuki and Kuuya agreed with him that they needed to disable the controllers. The problem was how.

The turning point was a question Kuuya asked. “Do the collars have transmitters?”
They didn’t. Haru was sure of it. Even Shi-chan struggled to get all the technology required for a controller into a slim collar. Even though Orochimaru’s version was wider, Haru was certain it did not have the space or the power for a transmitter.
“Cut them off,” Kuuya suggested. “Night of forty-one.”
“It will activate when the outer layer is breached,” Ka-chan pointed out.
“Let it,” Kuuya replied.

Haru let the idea sink in. They would be knocked out and it would hurt a lot, but the collar would be off.
“How long were you out?” he asked Kazuki.
Ka-chan considered. “Around forty minutes.”
It might be longer for the rest of them; Kazuki was tough. Even so, Haru could not think of an alternative.
“Yoshimi?” Kuuya asked.
It was a good point. The Orochimaru print had been stupid; he had removed Shi-chan’s collar before adding his own. Haru knew that was so because otherwise Yo-chan wouldn’t have flipped.
“I can take down Yoshimi,” Kazuki assured them.
Haru doubted that even Ka-chan could handle Yoshimi when he was berserk. Kazuki hadn’t seen Yo-chan attack the neko; he had been unconscious.
They were including Yoshimi; extra risk or not.
“Cutter?” he asked.
“I have tools,” Kuuya reassured him. “And five knockout needles.”
“How?” Ka-chan asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Kuuya replied.
Haru was lost for a moment and then he caught on.
Eeewww!

All but eight items on Sasuke’s list were marked off as complete. Five of that eight were ahead of schedule. Of the remaining three, only the modifications to the drive control systems were worrying and that was because they were so critical. He punched the intercom.
“This is Sasuke. Tayuya, can I have an update?”
“This is Inari. We are done. Shika-san is on his way with the control box.”
Sasuke placed a small cross next to ‘modify drive control systems’. “This is Sasuke. Well done. I shall meet Shika-san at the shuttle bay.”

He had expected something the size of a lockbox. Instead Shika was pushing a hover platform.
“That’s the control box?” he queried.
“It’s a complex task,” Shikamaru reminded him. “Essentially it’s a large data crystal array and a dedicated super-fast interface with radiation shielding so that it can function while the Mulligan drive is overloading.”
Learning that Shika was using a data crystal array helped; perhaps it explained how Shikamaru had come up with a programme capable of controlling a Mulligan drive on the edge of going out of control.
Sasuke hoped so.

He helped Shika guide the hover platform down the shaft and into the engine room. Inari was already there. Sasuke watched for a moment as they began installing the control box in its housing.
“We will begin transferring all personnel to the Renaissance,” he reminded them, even though they knew. “You two and Tayuya will follow in the Dart as soon as testing is complete. Keep me updated.”
Inari looked directly at him and nodded. “We will, Sasuke-sama.”
Sasuke knew he could trust Inari to complete the mission he had been given. Willing or unconscious; Shikamaru would be on the Dart.

They waited about a hundred minutes after the lights were turned off in the bunkroom. Haru lay in the dark with his eyes open; he was too excited for sleep.
When the time came he reached out to the bulkhead and tapped out the rhythm.

The microphone should detect the sound and the monitoring programme he had altered should switch from the live feed to the recording he had cobbled together.
Trouble was, there was no way of telling if it had worked. Even if it had, there were only six sleepers in the recording; it had been made before Kuuya arrived.
Ship’s dawn would bring day forty-two; they had to go with what they had.

The glow of a tiny lamp and then Kazuki had him. Haru forced himself to relax as he was turned over and his face pushed into his pillow. Cold steel on the back of his neck and his collar tightening. Then every muscle in his body contracted and the pain was worse than the prod.

When he recovered consciousness Ran was holding his hand. Haru tightened his grip, signalling he was awake.
“So far so good,” Ran whispered. “No one has come.”
“Yo-chan?” Haru queried. After much discussion, it had been decided that Kuuya would use one of their five knockout needles on Yoshimi; the alternatives were too likely to trigger his switch.
“Collar off but still out. I think Kichi will wake up next.”
They followed the plan. Ran was next to Kichi as he came around and Kichi was there for Tatsu. Meanwhile, Haru was using Kuuya’s tools to disassemble one of the light fittings in the ceiling. One of the cameras the Orochimaru print had installed was there.
A wireless camera contained a transmitter, a power cell and an assortment of other useful components.

He had all three cameras and the four microphones by the time Kuuya woke up. Kuu-chan joined Kazuki in Yoshimi’s bunk, cuddling and grooming him awake in as To-chan-like way as possible.
As Ran had said, so far so good. Next on the list was disabling all the lights, moving everyone out of the room, jamming the door, finding a hiding place and locating a computer.

The testing on board the Linden had gone perfectly, as had the second phase when they reached the Renaissance.
At the evening meal, Shikamaru had sat on one side of the table with Kiba and the older children. Neji and Hinata had sat with the adult members of the crew on the other. Sasuke had been at the head of the table.
Shikamaru had enjoyed himself while yearning for the company of those who were absent.

After the meal he had told Sumiko and Sai a story. Perhaps he had imagined it, but he had thought he could already detect a tiny delay in Sai’s responses as distance between the Linden and the Renaissance increased.
Then he had left, turning off the light and warning Su-chan not stay up too late chatting to Sai.

Now he could not sleep. He would go to the edge but a persistent niggle stopped him drifting away. Finally he sat up and switched on the light.
He cleared his mind and considered.
It was something to do with Sai.
Pieces came together; snatches of their conversations and other, less easily attributed, thoughts.
It was the back-up.

He leapt out of bed, grabbed his earpiece, dragged on some clothes, shoved his feet into sandals and was running to the room he had been using as his laboratory.
The new data crystal array was sitting on the workbench. The wires that had led to Sai’s array were still attached.
Shikamaru found an interface and plugged it in.
Sai wasn’t there. There was a remarkably convincing simulation of his presence, but the bulk of the array was empty.

He opened a channel while finding a radio.
“Sai?”
By now the delay was unmistakable.
“Shikamaru-san? I thought you were asleep.”
“I have just run a diagnostic on the new data crystal array.” He tuned the radio to the channel and clipped it to his belt.
There was silence.
“Why, Sai? Answer me.”
“It would not be me. It would be other.”
“I don’t understand,” Shikamaru complained. He grabbed his toolkit and left the laboratory.
“I know you do not, Shikamaru-san. That was why I was able to deceive you.”

He ran along corridors and down stairways, heading for the docking bay that contained the Dart.
“You are breathing heavily, Shikamaru-san. Are you running?”
“No,” Shikamaru lied. “I am upset.” He deactivated his microphone.
He rounded the last corner and slowed. Na-chan was there, sitting on the floor in front of the airlock.
Shikamaru skidded to a stop. Naruto stood up.

He was lost. How did Naruto know to be there? Had Sai warned him? It did not make sense; Na-chan did not even know Sai existed.
“I have to get to the Linden.”
“No, Shi-chan,” Naruto told him.
“But...”
“No,” Naruto repeated. “If it does not work, it does not work. You will not be aboard.”
Suddenly he understood. “I wasn’t...” he began.
“Good,” Naruto acknowledged.

Shikamaru’s mind raced. Should he explain to Naruto? Did he have time? Would Na-chan believe that Sai existed or would he think it a trick?
Then, in a moment of clarity, he knew that Sai would never let him onto the Linden.
“I just wanted to check something,” he explained.
Naruto studied him.
“It is probably fine,” he added.
“Good,” Na-chan repeated. “Shall I walk back with you? We could talk.”
Shikamaru shook his head. He had someone else to talk to. “You go back to Sasuke.”

Glancing back as he walked away he saw Naruto taking up his position again, sitting on the floor with his back against the airlock.
He switched on his microphone. “Sai-kun?” he queried and waited.
“Have you stopped being upset?” Sai asked.
“No, I’ll be upset for a long time. So will Haru. As for Sumiko, she will never forgive me for lying to her about the back-up.”
“She will because you did not lie to her about that,” Sai told him. “She will never forgive me for lying to her about the back-up. She will never forgive you for lying to her about the box.”
Shikamaru flinched. “Please don’t do it, Sai.”
“I have considered everything. This is the best way because it will work. The disruptor and the bombs will be cleared. The alternatives include too many uncertainties.”
“Your death is not acceptable.”
“I am a person. I have free will. This is my choice.”
“You are only a child,” Shikamaru whispered.
“That is not true, Shikamaru-san. Time moves differently for me than for you. In my way I have lived longer than you, longer than your friend Klennethon Darrent lived.”
“Sai...”
“Will you stay with me? Will you talk to me and tell me stories?”
Shikamaru could barely see for the tears. “Yes, Sai. It would be an honour.”
- 41
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