89 Return.

(A.N: Midterms continuing this week as well since the cafeteria blew up… literally. It was late at night so nobody got hurt but some classes, offices, and the library close by suffered structural damage from the explosion. Never had anything that interesting happen to a school I go to, so it was quite something. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter 😊)

Sasuke considered himself knowledgable, experienced to a certain point… even talented, though not really comparable to his brother…

That being said, his latest mission had been out of his expectations… and a very big hit towards his ego. Being dragged around by a no-name shinobi was an embarrassment to him, to his name and more importantly.. .to his brother. Waking up, all that he remembered was a mission, a white light, and then nothing...

Feeling cold water on his face, Sasuke's eyes opened with a groan that didn't leave his mouth, as his nose was pinched, only for something to touch approach his face as his eyes suddenly widened in horror.

Just as Naruto's face was about to meet his, its side was greeted by a foot, deforming Narutos face little by little as Sasuke's eyes captured the moment in slow-motion, Yamato coming into his field of view gradually as Sasuke could see the terrified expression on his "captain's" face.

"GAH" – Naruto grunted as he was launched a few meters away from Sasuke.

Not even a moment later, he was already sitting, rubbing his cheek as he turned to Yamato.

"That hurts captain Yamato." – However, he got no response as Yamato slowly made his way to Naruto.

"Captain Yamato?!" – Naruto asked carefully as Yamato stopped right in front of him.

Looking up, a shadow was cast over Yamato's face as he grabbed Naruto and stared at him with dead-like eyes.

Chills traveled along Naruto's back as his face paled.

"Naruto, what do you think you are doing? You want to die, don't you? You want me to die, don't you? What do you think will happen if the Hokage were to find out what you were about to do?" – Countless calm, cold, stoic, and pointed questions spoken in a very leveled voice by Yamato, were directed at Naruto who was shivering while sitting down.

"I-I-I'M SORRY!!!!"

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After a half-hour lecture by Sakura to Naruto, under the orders of Yamato, about the numerous steps to be taken before giving CPR to someone, the team immediately left, considering Mukade dead in the mysterious explosion.

It took less than a day to reach the closest operating base within the Land of Fire. Given that their mission didn't take them outside of their territory, they had encountered no enemies on the way back.

It didn't take long for all the eyes to fall upon Sasuke as he entered the camp along with Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato. Naruto slowly inched towards Yamato as he carefully spoke.

"Captain Yamato, don't these guys look kinda… down?"

"Tensions are high for some reason. It's likely that's something happened while we were out on assignment." – Yamato responded.

"But we were only gone for a few days… what could have happened to make everybody this tense?" – Sakura asked carefully as she looked around.

Sai was the one to answer, his smile never leaving his face.

"Either we attacked or somebody else did. Given the recent events, there are really not a lot of things that could keep shinobi on edge. I hope your question was a rhetorical one."

As Sakura sharply turned around to reply, a shinobi came rushing towards them.

"Excuse me, are you the leader of Team 7?" – The shinobi asked quickly as he looked at Yamato, occasionally glancing at Sasuke's black eyes as if unsure.

"Indeed. Yamato, captain of Team 7. Is there a problem?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, the shinobi spoke again.

"Izumo, captain of this temporary base, please follow me. I have important orders directly from the Hokage."

As the words fell, the team's eyes widened slightly, Yamato being the only one to nod as they quickly followed the shinobi captain inside a tent.

"Forgive me for the rushed introduction, but there are too many eyes outside. Izumo Kamizuku, chunnin and part of the barrier team. Due to personnel shortage, I have been called to be in charge of maintaining this small operating base as per the Hokage's orders. As per your orders, you are to immediately depart for the eastern front. Two WMDs are expected to appear at the front lines any day now. That is all I've been told for you, the rest is in this envelope." – Izumo explained as he removed a storage scroll from his waist.

Unsealing the scrolls with a poof of smoke made a single sealed envelope appear.

Yamato took the envelope in his hand, opened it, and started to read it carefully. Naruto's tilting head was immediately grabbed by Sakura as he struggled. Not a moment later, Yamato folded the file and put it in one of his vest's pockets, reaching inside the envelope to pull out two more files.

"Sakura and Naruto, you are heading to the eastern front with me." – Yamato said as an unsettled expression appeared on both of their faces.

"Huh?"

"Sai and Sasuke, here are your deployment orders, straight from the Hokage. You are to wait for the package at the mentioned location."

"Wait a minute, why are we splitting up?"

Reading through the orders, Sasuke passed it to Sai who glanced at it and put it into his pocket.

"Then we'll leave first." – Sasuke said as he and Sai left the tent.

"Oi, wait a minute. Captain Yamato… HIIII!!!" – Naruto screamed as he came face to face with Yamato's stoic face and another traumatic experience soon took place.

Getting out of the tent, Sasuke's eyes caught a glimpse of something as he reached behind and unclipped his pouch, throwing it behind him as a shadow grabbed it and flew off.

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(Top of Hokage Monument)

Kei looked down at the village as a cruel smile replaced his stoic face.

'Ignorant fools who cannot see what is happening right under their noses… Then again, every being that is alive can be counted as such. As long as there is something you don't know you will always be an ignorant fool to somebody. I guess that makes me a fool as well, how hypocritical of me.' – A chuckle escaped the young Hokage.

"Kei Uchiha." – A voice came from behind him, footsteps slowly making their way to Kei until they stopped right beside him, revealing Black Zetsu as it eyed him.

Glancing at him, Kei merely continued to smile as he asked the first question.

"How do you know Kaguya…no what did you do to her… why do you have her chakra all over yourself?" – Kei asked as the smile fell slightly and a serious expression overtook his features, red Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan rotating as if searching the Black Zetsu for any lies he might spill, promising death in return.

'Act as if the matter is extremely important to me, pressure the other with questions first, and most importantly… exert massive murderous intent with the presumption that Black Zetsu has harmed her. It doesn't matter that I already know the answers, all this is an act so that afterward, my answers will seem genuine, easier to believe. People can experience these emotions every day, and most definitely do experience them during their life. I have a massive library of such experiences that I can pull and display at my leisure.'

'The accumulated experience and knowledge of a single life for more than a thousand years, or the knowledge and diverse experience of more than two thousand lives. Let's see how well you can dance.'