Shikamaru followed close behind Kiba, the Inuzuka heir following Hanako's scent trail through the forest. It was only a matter of time before they encountered the group of Oto ninja, and he was running scenario after scenario in his mind, trying to cover every possible angle. In the weird, parallel world Hanako shared with him, Chouji was the one who fought first, almost dying in the process. Like hell he was letting that happen again, not while he had the knowledge necessary to stop it.

Someone bumped his shoulder and he turned to look at Sakura, her green eyes understanding as she easily kept pace. Right. He wasn't the only one thinking about this. He'd already discussed his plan with both her and Hanako, two of the smartest people he knew outside his family, and they both agreed that it was the best course of action. Still, he couldn't help but foster a few doubts.

He was doing it purposefully, though, so it wasn't really having the intended effect. Hanako had always been one of the most confident people he'd ever met. Every action she took, every decision she made, she did with absolute certainty. It wasn't hard to see why, now, but before she let him in on her secret it seemed a marvel to him. It wasn't hard to see the consequences that kind of overconfidence could have, either; a newly missing limb was hard to overlook. Though she, like all kunoichi, was an excellent actress, but he could still see the way her injury had affected her. She was no longer as certain, hesitating where she wouldn't have, before. She was absolutely sure in her ability to stop Orochimaru, and her defeat at his hands had completely destroyed her foundation as a person.

It was hard to watch. He'd known her for half his life, watched as his father taught her how to think like a Nara, held weirdly philosophical conversations with her that made a lot more sense now that he had context. Having witnessed her confidence grow, it was all the more shocking to see her suddenly without it.

That was why he was trying not to rely on Hanako's weird vision, for all it was the best source of information for...well, anything happening in the next several years. Of course, he knew that information would only grow less and less useful as he acted on it, changing the course of history. He could understand why Hanako had made the changes she had—namely those surrounding Sasuke and Naruto—but he still felt she could have done more.

That was a conversation for another day. He couldn't afford to be distracted when they caught up with Hanako and her erstwhile cousin. Known quantities the Oto nin may be, Hanako was not. She was like a warp in the fabric, changing the picture wherever she went. So far, that was a good thing. Consequences were often slow to show themselves, though, and he'd rather not risk anything he didn't need to.

Especially not Chouji.

"So," Temari asked, coming up to run along his other side. "What exactly is the plan?"

"When we catch up to them," he began, trying not to let the memory of his maybe-future-relationship with her affect him. "They will most likely try and waylay us using a capture technique. Chouji's our best defense if they do, but if they don't, then we have a few options. Do you guys remember your groups?"

Everyone gave some sign of the affirmative. He'd split them up into pairs based on who he believed had the best chance against specific opponents, but he had no way to be sure. Two heads were still better than one and having back up should go a long way to preventing the injuries their fantasy counterparts suffered.

"They're up ahead." Neji's voice put them all on edge, the coming fight now a reality they couldn't deny.

Shikamaru made a gesture with his hand and the group spread out, grouping up in accordance with their pairs. Naruto and Gaara came to stand beside Shikamaru, theirs the only group with more than two fighters. He tossed another glance at Chouji, his gut tying itself into knots as he once again considered the worst case scenario Hanako's Sharingan had shown him. Chouji was still the best choice to fight Jirobo, though, and he could only hope that pairing him up with Shino would have the intended effect.

The group came to a stop as they finally caught up with the Oto shinobi, staggering themselves throughout the trees. Shikamaru came to stand in front, looking past the kidnappers to Hanako, who raised her one hand at him, her weight resting on one leg in a perfect replica of her father.

"Yo."

Shikamaru sighed, slouching dramatically. "Can you at least pretend to be a victim?"

She shrugged, impossibly dark eyes half closed in the patented Hatake fake smile. "Mah, but that would be a lie."

Tch. How troublesome.

"Woah," he heard Naruto saw under his breath. "They really do have the same eye thingies."

Shikamaru turned his gaze to the sickly pale Kaguya standing behind Hanako, one of his hands placed threateningly on her shoulder. Indeed, their family ties were written on their faces, red markings perfect mirrors of each other. Kimimaro didn't react to their scrutiny, green eyes looking the Konoha group over before dismissing them with a sniff.

His voice was surprisingly deep as he spoke. "What an unexpected turnout. I would have thought the Hokage would send more than just genin to rescue his daughter."

Shikamaru didn't respond, though the insinuation rankled. In the wake of an invasion, high ranking shinobi could not be spared. Kumo was no longer an enemy, but they weren't the only ones who might seek to benefit from Konoha's recent misfortune. It was why genin were sent after Sasuke in the original timeline, too. Genin could be spared. Jounin could not.

Of course, Gaara and Naruto were technically natural disasters waiting to happen, the former more so than the latter, if he understood the seal technicalities correctly. That was Hanako's specialty, and she hadn't explained much. He hadn't asked her, either, though. An oversight, but not one that had much bearing on their present situation.

"I don't know," Hanako said to her cousin. "It looks like a pretty good line up to me. Definitely enough to deal with all of you."

Tension he didn't realize he was carrying left Shikamaru's body. When he and Sakura first started planning for the retrieval mission, Hanako asked to be left out of it as she had plans of her own regarding Kimimaro that required 'plausible deniability'. Knowing she approved of his choices, even if she didn't fully understand why he made them, was a relief.

Kidomaru crossed his many arms and huffed indignantly. "Oh, really? Care to explain?"

"Not particularly, no."

Shikamaru chuckled at Hanako's deadpan response, meeting and holding her cousin's unimpressed gaze. "I don't suppose I can convince you to surrender?"

The older boy's handsome face somehow managed to express disdain without moving. "Jirobo, handle them."

Ah, so he was following the script, then. That was a relief.

Closely followed by his underlings, Kimimaro dragged Hanako off. Jirobo, the largest of the Oto nin, stayed behind, cracking his knuckles and smiling cruelly.

"Group One," Shikamaru commanded, cutting their enemy off before he could fire off whatever one liner he had primed. "This is your enemy."

Chouji and Shino acknowledged his order, leaping forward to take their place opposite Jirobo. The tall red head looked a little surprised to be confronted so quickly, but he brushed it off easily and settled into a fighting stance.

"Other groups, retreat!"

Leaving his best friend behind lit a burning coal in his gut, but he couldn't risk getting them all caught inside Jirobo's chakra siphoning jutsu. One of the reasons the original team had such a hard time fighting their opponents was their low chakra stores after the first set back. Chouji had already defeated Jirobo once, and now, with Shino's kikaichu countering the chakra theft, he had the chance to do it again, hopefully without hospitalizing himself. At the very least, Tsunade was in the village. If she wasn't, Shikamaru might not have brought Chouji with him.

The sound of combat tugged at his conscience as the remaining Konoha shinobi regrouped and continued their pursuit. Kiba came right up to him, teeth bared angrily and a growl in his voice.

"What the hell, Shikamaru," he demanded. "You didn't say she was hurt so badly."

Right. He probably should have told everyone about her injury, but it wasn't something he wanted them stewing over as they ran. In hindsight, he should have at least told Kiba.

"It's fine, Kiba, believe it!" Naruto's tone was a little too optimistic for the situation. "Hana-chan can use one handed jutsus! Besides, when we get her back, Tsunade-baa-chan can fix her!"

Shikamaru highly doubted that. Hanako lost her arm over two weeks ago, now. The injury had already started to heal. Even though they had the severed limb in a storage seal, the likelihood of reattachment was incredibly low.

Still, this was neither the time nor place—nor company—to say so. If keeping his silence meant Kiba would drop the issue, then he would do so, lie of omission or not.

"Neji," he said, turning to the Hyuuga and ending all talk of Hanako's missing limb. "Keep your Byakugan primed. We may find ourselves running into chakra webs, soon."

It was an accelerated schedule, Shikamaru's foresight allowing him to plan properly, this time. Hanako told him and Sakura that some things just didn't—or couldn't—change, and he was hoping that the order of fighters they faced would be among them.

Sure enough, Neji brought them all to a halt as his eyes caught sight of the giant spider trap laid for them. He and Temari split off from the group to handle Kidomaru. Neji's Gentle Fist was the only technique Hanako's vision had shown was capable of cutting through Kidomaru's webbing, and Temari's fan and wind techniques would help compensate for his blind spot, keeping the Oto shinobi's projectiles at bay.

Down four people, the Konoha group carefully avoided the webs, Kiba taking the lead as he followed Hanako's scent. He was clearly still upset, but he knew better than to bring it up.

Ino, on the other hand.

"How do you know all this stuff," his teammate demanded shrilly. "You don't expect me to believe they used all their techniques while they were in the village, do you?"

Of all the times for Ino to drop her ditzy blonde disguise...

"I don't have time to explain," he said lowly, pointedly keeping his eyes trained ahead. "But I need you to trust that the information is correct."

She scoffed. "Well, yeah, I know that. You wouldn't be risking our lives if you weren't completely sure. I just want to know how you got it. But." Oh no. He knew that tone. "I would much rather know when you two got so close."

Reflexively, he exchanged a glance with Sakura, the pink haired kunoichi once again running by his side. That was the wrong thing to do.

"Aha! I knew it," Ino crowed triumphantly, a predatory glint in her pale eyes. "Spill!"

"There's nothing to spill," he said lowly, trying in vain to avoid her sparkling eyes. Once Ino caught wind of new information, she hunted it down to the source. While it was easy to dismiss her as a gossipy teenager, that was part of her act. Information gathering was one of their team's specialties, after all, their wildly different personalities allowing them to appeal to more people. Ino was a master of it, though, and not even her friends were safe.

Ino clearly didn't believe him. "Right," she drawled, a wide grin spreading across her face. "That's why Sakura's the only one in on your little plan. Don't look at me like that," she said in response to the quick glare he threw at her. "It's super obvious. Billboard Brow is smart, but she'd not a mind reader. Still, she hasn't asked a single question this whole time. That's super suspicious, Shikamaru."

Damn. She was right. He hadn't even considered how his new foreknowledge might change his behavior, let alone Sakura's. Ino knew them both very well, so of course she noticed the shift in their relationship.

"Ino Pig," Sakura interjected, glaring pointedly at her rival. "This isn't the time or place for this conversation."

"Ooh~! Does this mean you're giving up on Sasuke?"

Sakura's derisive laugh surprised both members of Ino-Shika-Cho. Shikamaru could clearly remember the adult Sakura Hanako's vision had shown him, and the Uchiwa on her back. A dark haired child came to mind and his mouth twisted.

"Ino," Sakura's voice was dripping with haughty disapproval, not at all unlike all their fights in the Academy. "You of all people know why Sasuke is off limits."

That...wasn't what he thought she would say. Having seen her future marriage to the sulky Uchiha, he figured she would be doubly as confident. Instead, she seemed to have given up on him, entirely.

Ino ran along beside them in stunned silence for a moment before she threw back her head and laughed. "I thought you would never figure it out!"

He was missing something, and the smiling looks the girls exchanged with him between them only compounded his discomfort. Luckily, he didn't need to dwell on it long. Kiba called for a halt, his nose twitching violently.

"They've stopped," he said, voice rough with a canine edge. "I can hear them up ahead."

Well. Some things really couldn't change. How fortuitous.

"This is a good opportunity," Shikamaru told the group, meeting all of their eyes to make sure they were following his train of thought. "We can ambush them and force them to fight on our terms. We know the land here better than they do, so we should take the chance to choose our battlefields."

"Should we be going after them while they're grouped like this?" Sakura's question was one he was asking himself. "Maybe we can get them to separate, somehow."

Right. How to get them to behave according to the script when Sasuke was at home in the village?

A voice brought his thoughts to a halt.

"I have an idea."

🐶🐶🐶

Hanako resisted the urge to sigh. Kimimaro's large hand weighed heavily on her shoulder, holding her in place while he gave orders to her other abductees. She had no idea what her friends were up to, but she trusted Shikamaru and Sakura. She had to.

Her insides were a ball of ever twisting anxiety. She'd never regretted anything more than she did telling her friends the truth—one version of it, anyway. Knowing that someone other than her had the power to change the world and, more importantly, the courage to actually do so, made her physically sick. Shikamaru had more than doubled the original rescue party, and she had no idea what his plans were. While the original timeline had people nearly dying, they still lived. Even Lee managed to be a shinobi, again. Now that things were different, there were no guarantees.

When she made changes, she did so slowly and with extreme caution. It took her years to convince both Sasuke and Kakashi that they were better off together, to make it feel like their idea. Every choice she made, she made with the specific intent of causing as few immediate consequences as possible, in the hopes of keeping the bigger picture intact.

She really was a coward. Knowing the future had desensitized her to uncertainty and she'd completely forgotten how to live like a normal human being. By relying on her knowledge from her past life, she'd crippled herself more than any blade could dream of.

What else was she supposed to do, though? She was an adult with the power to improve children's lives. Her mother raised her properly, damnit.

Pain lanced through her head, like a blade trying to escape through her temple, and she winced involuntarily.

Kimimaro shifted his grip. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, shrugging under his hand. "Nothing. Just a headache."

His lips thinned and he looked like he would say something more, but Tayuya started loudly cursing Kidomaru for taking so long, and he turned back to her, his jaw tight with annoyance. Again, she was stuck with the horrific realization that they were all teenagers, children sent to fight and kill for a man who couldn't care less about them.

Something tickled at her ear and she unconsciously raised her left arm to bat it away only to fall short.

Ha. She should use that one on Naruto, later.

She raised her shoulder to press it against the side of her face and hopefully send the irritant on its way. To her surprise, grains of sand rolled against her skin, moving of their own accord.

Gaara!

He had to be nearby. His sand may be autonomous, but it stuck by his side for a reason. If he was close enough to send some her way, then he was close enough to attract attention. Was he crazy? He was supposed to fight Kimimaro, not three fifths of the Oto team.

Unless...had Shikamaru changed things? Was this part of some plan? Was Gaara acting on his own?

Hanako stood frozen with confusion, her heart eating itself as she bit at her bottom lip, the coppery taste of blood filling her mouth when her sharp teeth tore through the skin. The sand, unconcerned by her inner turmoil, moved, twirling around her shorter arm. She watched it nervously from the corner of her eye, constantly glancing over to Kimimaro just in case he saw it.

The sand twisted and swirled, taking a familiar shape.

Run, the kanji read, and a jolt of panic ran through her. Run? How? Where? Which way? As if sensing her confusion, the word disintegrated, flowing away in a barely visible stream. It pooled into a floating pile once it got a certain distance away, as though it was waiting for her.

Ok. She could do that. No biggie.

Kimimaro's hand on her shoulder burned, holding her in place like a shackle.

No. That wasn't fair. Kimimaro's grip was firm, but not inescapable. She was just afraid. Terrified. Her limbs were locked by a bitter chill, the cold, draining panic in her gut spreading outward and turning her to stone. She wanted to run, knew her friends were out there likely waiting for her to run, but her legs were frozen.

It was a horrible feeling, but one she vaguely recognized. The conflict between the instincts to run and to freeze was not one she'd ever suffered through before, but a weird sense of déjà vu overtook her fear, flipping her stomach upside down and inside out. She hated déjà vu. It was a nauseating experience, especially when, as now, she couldn't pinpoint the original memory.

She couldn't remember ever feeling like this, but she somehow knew she had.

And she also knew she'd run.

Hanako let gravity pull her down, shedding her haori as she fell. Kimimaro instinctively tightened his grip, but he was left with a fistful of green fabric as she rolled away, getting back to her feet and running as fast as she could. Her heart pounded in her chest, harder than it had when she begged the Raikage for help or when she faced Orochimaru in the mokuton forest. She knew Kimimaro wouldn't kill her, so the fear gripping her mind and pushing her onward didn't make sense. Still, the fact was she was afraid for her life.