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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
- 43
- 44
- 45
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, melissen, satterb, sadie237, v and disembodiedvoiceofthedying for reviewing after chapter 43 was posted, particularly given the difficulties with the website.
Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.
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Part 6: Counterattack
44: Rescue

Sasuke sat in the captain’s chair. They had been watching the Linden since ship’s dawn. As the morning crept by, Sasuke convinced himself it would not work. Either Itachi would not manage to disable the disruptor for a third time or the jump would fail.
He could not face getting his hopes up only to have them dashed again.

He wished he was in his office where he could pace.

Everything was ready. Gai was in command of the Silver Leaf with the older children as his crew. They would stay this side of the hole with the triplets, Sumiko, Kiba, Hinata and all the occupied pods.
Their starting point was frustratingly distant from the hole; they needed to be well clear in case the Linden’s Mulligan drive went out of control before she could jump. However, both the Dart and the Renaissance were impressively fast; their drives were powerful and their artificial gravity systems were capable of offsetting up to one hundred gee of acceleration.
They would make it back to the hole in under a hundred minutes.
As the Dart was smaller she was quicker so Inari and Tayuya would jump first. They would check the environs of the hole, drop a minigate to replace the one destroyed in the explosion, take evasive measures if necessary, collect data and head towards the second hole.
The Renaissance would follow as closely as possible; they were determined to get both ships into the system before the Akatsuki could re-block the hole.
The Blossom had been retrieved from the Linden and was in one of the Renaissance’s shuttle bays.

He looked about, hoping to find something that would capture his attention.
Other than Naruto, who was at the pilot’s station; if he thought about Naruto he would want to do something other than pace.

The control room of the Renaissance was, Sasuke had to admit, stylish. It was designed to look like a storyteller’s notion of an old fashioned bridge. The captain’s chair was covered in leather and had controls built into the arms. There was a huge, curved viewport that stretched from one side to the other of his field of view.
Trust Klennethon Darrent; everything was beautiful and comfortable as well as functional and effective.
Not at all Uchiha; his father would have sneered at such luxury in a ship.

He leaned back; the chair made him feel like a child playing at spacers. Maybe it reflected Klennethon Darrent’s sense of humour.
Tsuneo would love it; knowing Shikamaru he had probably brought Tsu-chan up here and let him sit in it.
Where was Shika? Sasuke had expected him to be here watching the batteboard. He opened his mouth to ask Neji but stopped himself in time; Neji was no longer Shikamaru’s keeper.
Hopefully he was getting some rest.

His eyes strayed to Naruto. If they were alone he could suggest something highly inappropriate, like locking the door and persuading Naruto that the captain’s chair could be used for other purpose than it was intended.
But Neji was there, at the communications console.
Sasuke sighed.

Then the blob on the battleboard vanished. There was no explosion or debris. The Linden had jumped.
“He did it!” Sasuke exclaimed.
“Setting a course for the hole,” Naruto replied from the pilot’s chair. “Estimated duration of travel, ninety-two minutes.” He turned and smiled. “Yes, he did it.”
“Inari-san is on channel one,” Neji told them.
Sasuke nodded.
“This is Inari. We are on our way. Estimated duration of travel to hole, forty-eight minutes.”
“This is Sasuke. Acknowledged.”
He signalled to Neji to close the channel and activated the intercom.
“This is Sasuke. The Linden has jumped. Prepare for jump in...” He checked the chronometer. “...ninety minutes. We will be going to battle station in eighty-five minutes, as planned.”

Shikamaru had kept vigil from inside the simulator even after the radio link with Sai was broken.
He was torn between wanting the plan to succeed, so Haru and the others could be rescued, and wanting it to fail, so Sai would live.
Midmorning, the minigate’s carrier signal altered; the first sign that the hole was opening.
The Linden jumped.
Almost immediately the minigate went off line again. The enemy had re-blocked the hole, presumably by using a bomb within the threshold.
Shikamaru kept watching. Two minutes later it came; the carrier signal changed again, just for a few milliseconds.
It was exactly what he had predicted would happen if Sai exploded the Linden’s Mulligan drive. The minigate had begun to reactivate but then had been destroyed.
Sai had done it.
Shikamaru wept.

The simulated intercom activated.
“This is Sasuke. The Linden has jumped. Prepare for jump in ninety minutes. We will be going to battle station in eighty-five minutes, as planned.”
He pulled himself together. Grief would have to wait; he had to make the most of Sai’s sacrifice.

First checked for information that had made it through the data relay in the three-hundred and fifteen seconds it had been operational. There was a super-compressed, encrypted package.
For once he decided to leave it up to someone else to expand and decode it.
Sasuke private channel opened. “Shika? Are you joining us?”
Shikamaru wished he could hide in the simulator forever. “Yes, Sasuke-sama.”

He climbed out of the simulator, ate a meal bar, drank water rather than coffee and donned his suit.
Then he looked in the mirror, admitted he felt as terrible as he looked and took a stim.

He took his place on the Renaissance’s bridge minutes before the Dart was due to jump. Sasuke, Naruto and Neji were at their stations, already suited.
“Shika-san,” Sasuke acknowledged. His and Naruto’s eyes shone with hope and gratitude. Neji gave him a small nod and a tiny smile.
“Sasuke-sama,” he replied and began activating his interface.
Maybe, one day, he could explain to them who Sai had been and what he had done for his friends.

The Dart jumped. It was a relief; the hole was open. Shikamaru checked the chronometer; forty-four minutes until they could follow.
Neji had finished expanding and decoding the package from Itachi-san. There was a private message for Sasuke and a mass of data.
Shikamaru checked the status of the second disruptor. He did not think he could bear it if the second hole had been open and Sai’s sacrifice had been unnecessary.
It was operational; the second hole was blocked.
He fed that information and the other data into the model that he and Sai had developed. While it was being processed, he watched Sasuke, who was listening to Itachi’s message.
It was not good news. Sasuke’s eyes widened in shock before his brow puckered and his lips compressed into a tight, narrow line.
He whispered into a private channel to Naruto. Shikamaru turned his attention to his best friend. As Na-chan listened his eyes darkened and his whiskers drooped.
“Kuuya has been captured,” Sasuke announced. “He is on the Sakura with the others.”

Shikamaru took in and processed the information. He knew he should feel something but there was nothing.
Instead he turned his attention to preparing; up-to-date information was essential.

He started by closing the external shutters on the viewport. They would be safer that way and the inner surface doubled as a display.
The centre portion, opposite the captain’s chair, would be the battleboard. To Sasuke’s left would be video. To his right would be information from the model Shikamaru and Sai had developed.
“Review,” Sasuke requested. “Weapons and defence?”
Naruto turned towards him. “Passive armour is at maximum now that the viewports are closed. All the armour has an active mode. We will switch to that when we go to battle stations. There are six guns and a missile system. Control of all guns and the missile system are with me.”
“Communications, Neji-san?”
“We have channels tuned to all relevant frequencies, including the open one that Itachi-san uses to communicate with the Orochimaru print. The channel tuned to the minigate data relay confirms that the minigate is not engaged. This is what we expected if the Linden’s drive had exploded on the other side of the hole. Even if the Dart drops a replacement gate immediately, we do not expect it to be engaged and operational before we jump.”
“Shika-san?”
“This is the battleboard based on the updated information that we just received, which was current when the message was made.”
The central portion of the display activated. It showed the Sakura in high orbit above the toad hybrids’ planet, the T3 enemy ship in the vicinity of the first hole and the T2 ship near the second. There were minky fighters and other small craft dotted about the system.
“Buried deep in the message were the current locations of the Spear and the Cherry,” Shikamaru added, adding the locations to the display.
The Spear was on her way from the first hole to the planet, with about half a day to go, while the Cherry was hiding among asteroids close to the second hole.
“Do you think the T3 craft was within the blast radius?” Sasuke asked.
“The information about exploding Mulligan drives is mostly theoretical.” Shikamaru thought of all the simulations he and Sai had run. “Approximately forty percent chance of it being disabled or destroyed if it was at that distance when the explosion occurred.”
“And the second disruptor?”
“Complete and operational.”
Sasuke nodded. “My turn. Our problem is that the Orochimaru has the prisoners. As soon as the first hole is cleared and our reinforcements arrive, he loses his tactical advantage. He may try to regain this by threatening to kill one or more of the prisoners.
“We are relying on the fact that prisoners are very valuable alive but worthless dead. We believe that he will hesitate to kill them.”

Shikamaru shut his eyes. That was a simplification. Orochimaru would hesitate to kill all of them. He would realise that the children were more valuable than the adults. Akemi, Rin, Haku and possibly Ran were in the greatest danger.
Sasuke was continuing. “Itachi has tried to get word to the prisoners on the Sakura that today is the day that something will happen.”
Kuuya; Itachi had sent Kuu-kun in with a message. No wonder Sasuke had looked so displeased.
“We have to hope that they will be able to do something to protect themselves.”

Tactically, it had been the right thing to do. Kuuya was the correct choice both because he was one of the Bara hybrid clones and he was a child. The Orochimaru print would covet him and it might not occur to him that Sasuke would endanger him.
Also Kuuya had well-developed leadership skills.
“Shikamaru-san?” Sasuke queried.
“Just thinking,” Shikamaru admitted.
“Anything to say?”
“No.”

Sasuke could tell that Shika thought that sending Kuuya in improved the prisoners’ chances. He sighed. It probably did, but he would have never have done it.
It was five minutes until battle stations. He activated the intercom.
“This is Sasuke. Tatsuji-san, Inryoku-san, Enerugi-san, please join us in the control room.”

They arrived within a minute, confirming Sasuke’s suspicion that they had been waiting just along the corridor. Tatsuji took his place alongside Naruto; he would take over as pilot. The Zetsus were between Shikamaru and Neji; Inryoku would control the Mulligan drive and both he and Enerugi might be able to provide tactical insights.
The remainder of the five minutes passed.
“This is Sasuke Uchiha in command. Battle stations. I repeat; battle stations.”

There was little to do. Naruto changed the ship’s armour from passive to active and primed the weapons. They ran checks that had been run numerous times before. Inryoku began the countdown to jump.
Then there were two minutes when there was nothing to do but wait.
“Jump field generator ready, Sasuke-sama,” Inryoku informed him.
“We are crossing the threshold,” Naruto added. “Jump in thirty seconds.”
Sasuke waited for the verbal countdown.
“We are committed to jump,” Inryoku announced. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

There was the momentary disorientation and the familiar wave of nausea. Then there was the rattle of small objects hitting the shields and Naruto was shooting.
“We are in a debris field,” Shikamaru announced. “Mapping fragments on a collision course that are large enough to cause damage for avoidance or targeting.”
“No radio communications,” Neji informed him. “There is interfering radiation, presumably from the explosion.”
They would not be able to deploy telescopes with full armour. “Shikamaru, find us a course that gets us to clearer space where we can use telescopes. Tatsuji, take us along that course. Neji, Inryoku, look for perturbations in the radiation that may give us information. Can you detect the Dart?”
“The Dart’s drive signature can be detected, Sasuke-sama,” Enerugi told him.

They could not accelerate as quickly as Sasuke would have liked; they were going as fast as they could without increasing the probability of a disabling impact.
“The radiation may have masked us and the Dart jumping into the system,” Shikamaru suggested. “Even if they were using telescopes, there would be a lot of light-reflecting objects in this area of space.”
It was an interesting thought that had tactical implications. “But they would have seen the Linden before it exploded,” he suggested.
“The Linden was an Akatsuki ship,” Shikamaru reminded him.

Sasuke considered. The plan had been based around being quick, not stealthy. If they did not want to be detected, they would have to travel more slowly and take an indirect route.
It would be so much easier if they could communicate with the Dart.
“Neji, what do you think Inari will have done?”
Neji considered before speaking. “Changing tactics will have occurred to him, Sasuke-sama. However, I think he would be disinclined to do so without informing you and he will have realised that communication by radio is impossible. Once he is clear of the debris field, he will make his way to the second hole as quickly as possible, as in the original plan.”
“They will recognise the Dart,” Sasuke stated, thinking out loud.
“Maybe not,” Neji suggested. “It’s small. It will not be broadcasting its identity. There is a lot of debris and radiation. The T3 ship may have been destroyed. It could be carrying survivors from the Linden or T3.”
Shikamaru shook his head. “It will be travelling far too fast. The Akatsuki do not have that quick a ship.” He paused. “There is a good chance they won’t spot it immediately.”
There were too many uncertainties. “Get us where we can use the telescopes,” Sasuke ordered.

There was a soft ping in his earpiece; Neji rather than Shikamaru.
He switched his throat mike to their private channel. “Go ahead, Neji,” he sub vocalised.
“Orochimaru will not react well to this level of uncertainty,” Neji whispered. “He likes to be in control and we have wrest it from him. He may raise the stakes very quickly once he realises that we have jumped reinforcements into the system.” There was an ominous pause. “This is a print that knows he is a print, Sasuke-sama. We speculate that he has already gone against his orders by keeping Yoshimi for himself. He may choose to go out in a blaze of defiance.”
Sasuke managed not to gasp or sigh. Instead he said, “Thank you, Neji-san,” before switching off his throat mike.
He wished that he could tell Inari that stealth was now more important than speed. He wanted to speak with Itachi, to discuss how they should handle the print.
He wanted his children and his people safe.

Shikamaru knew it was going badly. There were the obvious setbacks, like no communications, but there were also whispers from parts of his mind that he rarely visited.
He should have realised that the residual radiation from the explosion might disrupt radio communication. He should have considered that the debris meant that slipping undetected into the system was a possibility.
Given the information he now had, there was no doubt that the stealthy approach would have been better.
The Dart would be clear of the debris field soon. She would be accelerating, drawing the enemy’s attention.

Neji was saying something to Sasuke. Shikamaru watched Sasuke’s face; the way he paled and his lips thinned. It was confirmation that the situation was bad and deteriorating.
“Shikamaru-san, we need those telescopes,” Sasuke pressed.
“I am prepared, Sasuke-sama. I have the image-enhancing programmes ready. The best telescope will be focused on the Sakura; if she is still in the same orbit she should be visible. I’ll set the second to look for the Dart and the third to scan. As soon as the risk falls to an acceptable level, I will deploy them. If I do it too soon, they will be damaged beyond repair.”
Sasuke bit his lip and forced himself to sit back in his chair. “I know you will deploy them as soon as it is possible, Shika-san,” he apologised.

Shikamaru looked to Naruto, but he was busy destroying large lumps of debris that would cause more damage than the armour could withstand.
Tatsuji was concentrating on guiding them along the tortuous, but least risky, path. Inryoku was deep in thought. Enerugi’s anxiety was written all over their face.
As for Neji, he was too still; frozen in his effort not to show his emotions.

He checked the simulation. The risk level was falling; at most, they were a few minutes away from being able to use the telescopes.
He linked the output of the image-enhancing programmes to areas of the left-hand display.
There was a sudden drop in the risk level, as if they had passed a threshold.
“Deploying telescopes,” he announced.
They waited.

The images from the lower power telescopes were ready first. They showed debris; wreckage from a ship or ships. The scan showed no sign of the T3, or any other, ship. The other telescope had yet to pick up the Dart.
Then the image from the high power telescope appeared on the screen.
It did not show the Sakura. It did not show a ship. Instead it showed more wreckage.

The telescope had to be pointed at the wrong object. Shikamaru checked. The coordinates were correct. The other objects in the field of view were as expected. Each stage of the image processing checked out.
Naruto howled; a soft, drawn-out sound of anguish.
Tears were running down Sasuke’s face.
The truth hit Shikamaru. Sai’s sacrifice had been for nothing. Haru, Kazuki and the others were dead.
- 43
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