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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
- 45
- 46
- 47
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to cynaga, SunaoTsuji, satterb, v, Aflyingmonkey, sadie237, disembodiedvoiceofthedying, melissen and Slynx for reviewing after chapter 45 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
46: Next

By the time they had all the children aboard it was the middle of ship’s night and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to tuck his children into bed and watch them sleeping.
Unfortunately, that was not an option. There was too much to do. They had to check over the wreck for their missing people and then get back to the Spear.

Shikamaru planned the search of the wreck and Neji showed Haku the accommodation while he and Naruto tanked Yoshimi.
It seemed the best thing to do given the drugs in his system and the lack of a replacement controller. The few minutes they had with him were precious but painful. He was nothing like himself but he was safe and Naruto was certain that he had not bonded with the Orochimaru print.
“His whiskers are gone,” Naruto whispered as they spared a few moments to watch him through the green regen gel.
Sasuke found his hand and squeezed it. “They will grow back,” he insisted.
Naruto managed a small smile.

Then it was back to work. Ran volunteered to look after their two toad hybrid guests; the younger one looked particularly traumatised. Kuuya and Kazuki insisted on helping Naruto and Neji check over the wreck; the Zetsus had volunteered to pilot the shuttle for them. Shikamaru was going to coordinate the search from the Renaissance’s bridge while he kept an eye on the other ships using the telescopes. Haru, if he could stay awake, was going to help him.
Sasuke’s job was to receive the report that Haku insisted on giving him in person.

By the end of his meeting with Haku, Sasuke was struggling to hold his temper. He suppressed the urge to shout or curse or hit. Haku, as usual, was behaving perfectly and it was the least he could do to do likewise.
Haku’s report had been full of detail about what the Orochimaru print had done to the children, but had skated over the sacrifices he himself had made.
Sasuke could fill in the gaps. Haku had given himself to a sexual sadist, night after night, to prevent atrocities being enacted on children.
Including his children; the monster had tortured Haru, twisted Yoshimi’s psyche with drugs and used a controller on Kazuki but it could have been much, much worse.
Then there was Rin. Was she really pregnant with Orochimaru’s child?
When Haku stood, Sasuke did likewise.
Sasuke brought his hands together and bowed from the waist. “You have brought honour to yourself and to Uchiha by your actions, Haku-san. As my children’s father, I am deeply grateful and consider myself indebted to you.”
Haku gave a small bow in return as Sasuke straightened. “There is one thing you can do for me, Sasuke-sama.”
“Please tell me, Haku-san.”
“Don’t give him to Kisame to kill, or Naruto, or Dan. Allow me to do it.”
“If the opportunity presents itself,” Sasuke agreed.
“Although I would step aside for Rin-san if she wished.”
“I shall remember that, Haku-san.”
Haku sniffed. “I shall check on Kichi-chan and Tatsu-chan before looking around the ship,” he hinted.
Sasuke did not miss his cue. “Haku-san, I am officially asking you to be queen of the Renaissance for as long we have use of her.”
“I accept, Sasuke-sama. I shall speak with Neji-san about the current arrangements once he is back aboard.”
Sasuke then walked him to the door of the room he was using as his office; an extra courtesy that Haku would appreciate.

Haru had been relieved when Ran refused his offer to help settle Kichi and Tatsu. Instead he had gone into the next room, which Ran said they were sharing. He stripped off the ill-fitting suit and seen to its waste collectors before taking a shower. By the time he had finished drying himself someone had put a bag on his bed.
Inside were some of the clothes he had left in Tarrasade. He chose a pair of pants with many pockets and a blue top to go with the low, soft boots. After he pulled on the top he stroked the Uchiha crest in its place over his heart. It made him feel good.
Then he went to the control room to see if he could help with the search.

All the Renaissance was nice, like Klenn-san’s apartment in Prime, but the control room was fantastic; like an old fashioned bridge in a story. The view port that doubled as a display was amazing and the captain’s chair was really neat.
“Why don’t you sit in it for a few minutes?” Shi-chan suggested. “I am sure your Papa wouldn’t mind.”
It was tempting, but Haru knew that there was work to do. “Later. What do you want me to do?”
“We need to get a grip on how the radiation from the explosion is dissipating. Ideally, we want to be able to filter it out so we can re-establish radio contact. At the moment we are communicating using telescopes and flashes of light. Use the console over there.”
“Explosion?” Haru asked as he sat down and activated the interfaces.
“Itachi-san managed to get the disruptor at the first hole off line for long enough for us to jump the Linden back through and explode the Mulligan drive.”
Haru was impressed; he didn’t think he would have thought of using a Mulligan drive as a bomb. “The Linden?” he queried.
“The Akatsuki mother ship. Hoshi and Yuki renamed it after your Papa and Na-chan captured it.”

Haru settled into the task before asking any more of the questions in his head. Shi-chan was multitasking as usual. On the left of the display was a three-dimensional map of the wreck. Areas that had been checked were in blue. Four bright dots showed To-chan, Ka-chan, Kuu-chan and Neji-san.
Over to the right was the enhanced feed from the telescopes. All three were focused on specific areas of space. One showed the Spear and the Blossom, another the T2 enemy ship and the third an area of space that Haru recognised; it was the location of one of the two best holes he had found in Orochimaru’s data.
“Is there another jumpable hole linked into known space?” he asked.
“Yes, but it’s blocked by a second disruptor,” Shi-chan told him.
Haru felt awful. “The Orochimaru print showed me data. He told me to pick out the holes,” he admitted. “I was scared of what he would do to Ka-chan.”
Shi-chan turned to face him. “Did you tell him about all six?”
“Yes,” Haru admitted.
“Without saying that two were better than the other four,” Shi-chan suggested.
He nodded.
“Well he didn’t build six disruptors so I think he picked the right one because we tested it from the other side.”
Haru was about to ask why they had hadn’t just jumped in with an attack force but he stopped himself. Papa would have taken what seemed the best decision at the time.
“There are things I need to tell you,” Shi-chan continued, “but first we need to concentrate on finding Rin-san and Akemi-kun.”

Haru took that to mean that he should get on with the analysis, so he did. Even so, he began to wonder what Shi-chan had to tell him.
It couldn’t be that bad. If it was really bad To-chan or Papa would have told him. Maybe it was something to do with Shi-chan himself.
It was then that he noticed that Shi-chan wasn’t wearing Neji-san’s love ring.

He looked back at his console, his mind filled with speculation. Shi-chan and Neji-san had been together forever and Haru had never imagined them separating. Was that why Shi-chan looked so bad? Why had it happened? Had Shi-chan met someone else? Who could it be?
The only new person was Izuna-sama. Could Shi-chan be involved with Izuna-sama? It didn’t seem very likely because, as Ka-chan had said but Haru hadn’t been willing to admit, Izuna Uchiha was boring and a bit stuffy.
Maybe Neji-san had fallen for Izuna-sama. That made more sense, because it explained why Shi-chan looked bad.

As ship’s dawn approached they had almost finished checking the wreck but there was no sign of Rin-san or Akemi-kun.
Haru thought that the Orochimaru print had taken them down to the surface. At least he thought he had taken Rin-san. No one had seen Akemi for ages; not since shortly after the Sakura had been taken. Maybe he was on the T2 ship. Haru’s gut twisted; maybe he was dead.

Haru had managed to get his head around the radiation and started writing code for processes to clean up transmissions. The problem would be getting the programme to the other ships, so they could use it too.
At least they would be able to make sense of the transmissions they received. He checked; Shi-chan had recorded everything the Renaissance had received since jumping into the system.
He worked quicker; it would be good to have everything cleaned up and decoded by the time Papa asked how he was getting on.

“Haru-kun?” a voice asked and Haru jumped. He had been deep in a world of coding and encryption.
Papa was in the captain’s chair; Haru had not even heard him enter. “I’ve almost finished, Papa. I am just adding a few refinements.”
“Finished?” Papa queried.
“Ha-chan has been working on filtering out the interfering radiation,” Shi-chan explained.
“You have done it already?” Papa was obviously excited by the prospect.

In answer Haru put up all the cleaned up and decoded transmissions in order with the most recent first. Papa was delighted. He was about to open the most recent from the Spear but hesitated.
“Your To-chan and the others are on their way in. Why don’t you go and meet them? Then you should get yourself some breakfast.”
Haru understood; there might be something in one of the transmissions that Papa would prefer him not to know yet.

Ran was already there, waiting at the shuttle bay for the search party to dock.
“How are Kichi and Tatsu?” Haru asked.
“I left them soaking in a bath and then they’ll probably have a sleep. What have you been doing?”
“A data processing job for Shi-chan and Papa.” Haru hesitated and then decided to tell Ran. “Shi-chan isn’t wearing Neji-san’s love ring.”
Ran was not surprised. “I saw Neji-san wasn’t wearing his when we boarded and he showed me and Haku-san where things were. Have you asked Shika-san about it?”
“No, but he said he had something to tell me later.”
Ran was studying him. “Better wait rather than ask,” he suggested.
Haru thought about it and nodded.

The Renaissance was big for a yacht but not huge and Shi-chan had decided it would be best if they didn’t use Klenn-san’s apartment, or Garner-san’s or Miriam-san’s. That left the three guest apartments. Papa, To-chan and Shi-chan were in one, which had rooms set aside for Su-chan, the triplets and Kiba-san.
The other two were being used as crew rooms. All the youngsters were in one with Haku-san looking after them. Kichi and Tatsu had the room with a bath. Ka-chan and Kuu-chan would be sharing with Haru and Ran. Haru guessed the other, smaller rooms would be for the rest of the big litter when they came aboard.
Ran went to help Haku-san, who was preparing breakfast. Haru showed Ka-chan and Kuu-chan to their room and waited for them to shower and dress.
Haru yawned; he hadn’t had much sleep either of the previous nights.
“You should have slept,” Kuuya told him.
“I was doing a job for Shi-chan.”
Kazuki twitched his ears, asking for more details.
“There was background radiation interfering with all radio communications,” Haru explained. “Shi-chan needed it filtered out.”
Kuuya smiled. “And this task that Shika-san couldn’t do took you how long?”
Haru flushed. “He probably could have done it if he had time.” The two of them just looked at him. “About fifty minutes,” he admitted.
“That’s our genius little brother,” Ka-chan declared.
“Less of the little,” Haru complained.
“Why? We are both older than you and taller than you.”
“It’s minutes,” Haru complained. “And I am not convinced Ka-chan is taller than me.”
“He is,” Kuuya confirmed. He held up a finger and a thumb a little way apart. “By this much.”
Ka-chan grinned. “I’ll be taller than Hikaru soon.”

In-san and En-san never ate this early in the day and Papa, Shi-chan and Neji-san were having a working breakfast elsewhere. With To-chan being the only stranger, Haku-san was able to persuade Kichi and Tatsu to join them.
Haru watched To-chan work his magic on Tatsu, coaxing a shy smile and even a few words out of him. Kichi was besotted; quite willing to struggle with speaking the ‘old way’ to tell To-chan about their home and Riki-san.
At the end of the meal To-chan gave each of them a quick hug.
“We will get you home, we promise. Home to Riki-san. Now, why don’t the two of you go back to your room and have another bath or a good, long sleep?”
Tatsu hugged him back as if he would never let go; in the end To-chan carried him back to his room with Kichi running ahead opening doors.
Haru watched; perhaps a tad jealous.

He had just decided that he should forget about it being morning and get some sleep when Shi-chan appeared in the doorway to the galley. Haru exchanged looks with Ran; time to find out what had happened between Shi-chan and Neji-san.
They walked along one of the viewing decks and sat on one of the benches there.
“I have something to tell you,” Shi-chan began.
“About you and Neji-san,” Haru supplied, trying to make it easier.
Shi-chan looked down at where his ring has been. “No, not that.”
He had been so sure; if not that, what?
“It is about Sai,” Shi-chan continued.
Haru froze; he was going to shake Su-chan until her teeth rattled.
“There is no easy way of saying this, Ha-chan. I think he is dead.”

It took a moment or two for it to sink in. Sai was meant to be safe in Sumiko’s purse. “How?” Haru whispered.
Shi-chan told him everything: Sai revealing who he was; the help he had given; how desperate they had been to come up with a new plan when the second hole was blocked; the craziness of jumping a Mulligan drive within three-hundred seconds; Sai assuring Shi-chan that he would copy himself into the new array.
“Sai would never agree to a back up,” Haru whispered. “A backup would be other.”
Shi-chan shook his head. “I didn’t know him well enough to know. He put a simulation into the new array to trick me. By the time I found out it was too late. He was alone on the Linden and I couldn’t stop him.”
“He was real,” Haru insisted. He was not sure how he felt; he was numb.
“I know that, Ha-chan. He was a special and unique person and if I had realised what he was going to do I would have stopped him.”
Haru suddenly realised that the reason that Shi-chan looked so bad was because he was grieving for Sai.

They sat there side by side looking out at the moon with the planet and the stars beyond.
“Have you told Su-chan?” Haru asked finally.
Shi-chan flinched. “No. She was on the Silver Leaf and it isn’t a conversation I want to have over a radio link.”
Haru imagined how Su-chan would react; she would be devastated.
“Anyway,” Shi-chan continued, “she will ask if I have looked for him. She made me promise to build an explosion-proof box.”
Haru felt a tiny glimmer of hope. Shi-chan had said that he thought that Sai was dead. “You made the box?”
Shi-chan gave him a disbelieving look. “Ha-chan, it was an overloading Mulligan drive and Sai was at the epicentre.”
“But you made the box,” Haru checked.
“Yes,” Shi-chan conceded.
“And you’ll have to look, because Su-chan will never forgive you if you don’t.”
Shi-chan sighed. “Yes.”
“Can I have the specs of the box you made?”
“Haru...”
“Please?”
“Very well. Haru, please don’t build your hopes up.”

Haru did not answer. He would not give up until he had found Sai’s array, even if it was as dissipated atoms. He decided to change the subject.
“What happened between you and Neji-san?”
He did listen to Shi-chan’s reply but he was already planning how to search for Sai without anyone but Shi-chan realising what they were doing.
“You should get some rest,” Shi-chan told him once he had explained about Neji-san and Hinata-san.
Just the mention of it made Haru yawn. “Maybe a nap,” he agreed.
“Do you want me to walk you back?” Shi-chan asked.
Haru shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

Shikamaru felt a little better once he had told Haru about Sai, even if it looked like Haru was going to cling to the hope that Sai had survived the explosion.
He would have to cover for whatever searches Haru wanted to do.

He went back to the bridge. They had sent a message to their other ships in long-short, using flashes of light, saying that they could make sense of any transmissions received.
In response they had received an update from all four Uchiha craft. Shikamaru settled to the task of filtering, decompressing and decoding their communications.

Shikamaru sent the spoken reports to Sasuke and updated the battle board. The Blossom had managed to keep the minky fighters at bay while Itachi and Kisame patched up the Spear; both ships were now on their way to join them.
The Dart was almost at the second hole and was in contact by long-short with the Cherry.
The T2 ship had stopped. Shikamaru deduced that they did not know what to do now that they were out of contact with the Orochimaru print.
For now, the Renaissance would stay in orbit. The evidence was that the Orochimaru print was probably on the planet but might be hiding on one of the moons.

Sasuke took out his earpiece; a sure sign that he had finished listening to Inari’s and Itachi’s reports. Shikamaru sat back to indicate that he was listening.
“Inari says that there are no remote control bombs around the disruptor,” Sasuke told him. “It looks like they are relying on minky fighters to self-destruct if the disruptor is damaged. Inari suggests that they will hesitate to sacrifice themselves without a direct order from the Orochimaru print or a neko. He wants to attack the disruptor now, before normal radio communications are possible. What do you think?”
It was risky; if the minky fighters organised they would be more than a match for the Dart and the Cherry. On the other hand, Inari was correct; their window of opportunity was limited. “I think Inari is in the best position to make the decision.”
Sasuke nodded and began composing a message in long-short to send using flashes of light.

Having caught up, Shikamaru sat at his console wondering what he should do next.
“Shouldn’t you be taking an anti-stim and getting some sleep?” Sasuke asked from the captain’s chair.
Shikamaru checked the chronometer. It was just after ship’s noon; almost exactly a day since they had jumped into the system. “Not yet,” he replied. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Tell me.”
“We can’t afford to abandon this system, like we did the one containing Naruto’s planet, but we’ll always be worrying that the Akatsuki have left yet another surprise for us like a bomb or a jammer or even ships manned by prints.”
Sasuke looked alarmed and Shikamaru almost felt guilty.
“I suggest we thoroughly search the system. We can programme probes. They might need a few extra bits of kit but we should be able to build those once Kotetsu and Izumo are here. As a bonus, we can look for useful stuff from the Oak and we can pick over any fragments of Akatsuki technology that are left.”
“Sounds sensible,” Sasuke conceded.
“It would be a great project for Ha-chan,” Shikamaru added. “He’s brilliant at that systematic, data-based stuff. Like filtering the interference caused by the radiation and sorting out the route finder.”
There was silence and Shikamaru resisted the temptation to say more.
“I will think about it,” Sasuke said finally.
It was a yes to at least the search, even if not to Haru leading it. “Thank you, Sasuke-sama.”
“Go take an anti-stim and get some sleep, Shika-san. That is an order.”
“Yes, Sasuke-sama.”

He felt unusually hungry and in need of caffeine when he woke up. Shikamaru knew the signs. He checked the chronometer; he had slept through to midmorning of the next day.
He stretched, wondering what had been happening, and had a quick shower before heading out to seek food.
Iruka-sensei was sitting in the galley, which was crazy; Shikamaru wondered if he was still asleep and dreaming.
Iruka laid down the tablet he had been reading and smiled at him. “Shika-kun.”

Next thing he was in Iruka’s arms, sobbing. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, or why. Iruka held him tightly.
“It will be all right, Shika-kun,” he whispered. “However bad it seems now, we’ll find a way through.”
Once the initial outburst had passed, Shikamaru sat back, wiped his face on his sleeve and tried to smile. “Sorry about that,” he admitted.
“No need,” Iruka assured him. “I am going to make you tea and toast and you are going to tell me about it.”
Shikamaru would have preferred coffee but he had more sense than to ask for it.

He was careful to avoid mentioning Sai but almost everything else out came out. Iruka knew and had shared some of it, when the Oak was lost and Neji’s kidnapping, but not all. Shikamaru realised that he was giving away more than he should about Izuna and moved on his decision to let Neji go, the disappointment of the second hole being blocked and the horror of seeing the Sakura in pieces.
“I was so sure he was dead,” he admitted.
“Haru,” Iruka checked
Shikamaru nodded. “I know I shouldn’t care about him more than the others.”
“You don’t,” Iruka assured him. “Haru will always be extra special to you because there are so many ties that bind the two of you together.” He squeezed Shikamaru’s hand. “He is safe now. All the children are safe.”
“Including Ran,” Shikamaru reminded him.
“Including Ran-chan,” Iruka acknowledged. “Who allowed me to hug him, which was very understanding of him.”
“How did you get here so quickly?” Shikamaru asked.

Iruka explained. Inari had acted as soon as he had received Sasuke’s message. The disruptor had been disabled, none of the minky fighters had sacrificed themselves to disrupt the field and the Maple had jumped through.
Iruka and Kakashi had changed places with Inari and Tayuya. Then the Dart had travelled at full speed to the Renaissance.
“Kakashi has been impossible,” Iruka told him. “I confess it has been frustrating to be sent this way and then that but never to arrive anywhere in time to make a real difference.”
Shikamaru could imagine.

Sasuke watched Kakashi warily. He had rarely seen him so edgy.
“Each decision seemed the best at the time,” he reminded him.
Kakashi gave him a look but then managed a small smile. “I know,” he admitted. “Is there no sign of the print?”
“None.”
Kakashi sighed. “Nor Rin nor Akemi?”
Sasuke shook his head. “Akemi may be on the T2 ship.”
“Or dead.”
“Or dead,” Sasuke conceded, “but there is no point in dwelling on that. We must assume that he and Rin are alive.”
“We shouldn’t waste too much time on the print. We need to get rid of the Akatsuki once and for all.”
“True.” Sasuke hesitated but pushed on. “Then there’s Izuna.”
Kakashi smiled. “That’s the first time you haven’t called him Izuna Uchiha or Izuna-sama.”
“Shika thinks he is going to try to take the clan leadership.”
“And?” Kakashi challenged.
“Over my dead body,” Sasuke declared.
“It might be,” Kakashi reminded him. “You’ll have to prepare for that eventuality.”
Sasuke imagined the intensity of training that Kakashi had in mind.
“In the meantime, you’ll have to stay away from him. Leave him to Shikamaru. Shikamaru will divert all his plotting and tie him up in knots.”
“Not Shika,” Sasuke disagreed. “At least not in person.”
Kakashi scowled. “Why?”
Sasuke hesitated. “I think Izuna did something to him.”
“What?” Kakashi demanded.
“He won’t say.”
“Order him.”
“That doesn’t work with Shika, you know that. He will appear to comply, but it’ll be so interlaced with distractions and additions that we won’t learn the truth.”

Kakashi got up. For a moment Sasuke thought he was going to speak with Shikamaru.
“I’m going to get Iruka. By this time he will have spoken to everyone.”
“Shika is sleeping off stims,” Sasuke reminded him.
“We’ll see,” Kakashi replied and was gone.

Sasuke prepared tea in case Iruka was available, so he was ready to pour when Kakashi returned with Iruka and Naruto.
Sasuke smiled and found another cup while Naruto located a fourth chair.
“Shikamaru,” Kakashi began. “What’s our best guess at what happened between him and Izuna?”
“Izuna was pursuing him,” Naruto told them. “Right from the start.”
“Did Shikamaru respond?” Kakashi asked. “Is that why he broke up with Neji?”
“Shi-chan fancied him but soon decided he did not like him,” Naruto replied.
“He made a pass at Shikamaru,” Iruka told them. “Only Shikamaru threw up on him. Something about too many stims.”
Kakashi’s eye widened at the thought of it. Then Naruto burst into laughter, Iruka followed and Sasuke found himself joining in. Even Kakashi was smiling.

Then a thought crept into Sasuke’s mind; a memory.
“What’s wrong?” Naruto asked immediately.
“Something in one of the five-daily reports,” Sasuke admitted. “Konohamaru compiled them even when Asuma was tanked. Once we were back in contact, Asuma forwarded me the backlog.”
He grabbed a tablet off his desk, activated an interface and began looking. “There was something in one of Moegi’s regular medical reports. She mentioned finding Shikamaru in the infirmary giving himself treatment. Here it is. He required treatment to his face.”
Naruto growled.
Sasuke found what he had been looking for; he had known there had been something about vomit. “There’s more. He threw up on the floor. She took a sample and tested it once he was gone.”
“And?” Kakashi asked.
Sasuke had never looked at the results. Moegi’s report had been four statements of fact: she had found Shikamaru treating himself in the infirmary; he had required treatment for a minor injury to his face; he had vomited; she had taken a sample from the vomit and tested it.

Re-reading it, he realised that the report was unusually devoid of deduction or comment. He opened the results and his gut twisted.
The vomit had contained a rare drug used to reduce willpower and make the subject suggestible.
Naruto had leaned over him and read the display before Sasuke could think of stopping him.
“He poisoned Shi-chan!” he announced. “He hit him and he poisoned him.”
Sasuke thought it was probably the other way around. Izuna had drugged Shikamaru in order to seduce him, Shikamaru had thrown up and Izuna had hit him.
Then he saw Kakashi’s expression.
“It wasn’t a poison,” he said hastily.
“Izuna drugged him,” Kakashi checked.
Sasuke nodded. “It looks that way.”
“Who provided the drug? And how in known space did he get it into the household?”
They were two very good questions.
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