Day 4: The Truth Shall...Set You Free?

Disclaimer: I own nothing in 'Naruto'

-doing what she thought Ino was going to do. Sakura tripped on a tree root-in slow motion-as she continued to scream "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" distortedly. Ino, swinging the rope in her hand like she was trying to catch a bull, did it, seeming to suddenly be in fast motion.

Ten seconds later..'Team 7’ & ‘10'

Sasuke and Naruto were tied to a tree squirming frantically as they tried to escape-and breath. Ino, who had tied them up the first place, started interrogating them as a police officer would a person who made a living selling crack to little kids. They stopped squirming when they saw her face harden and she stood rigidly straight.

"Who are you?" she asked, pacing angrily from left to right and vice-versa, "And what have you done to Sasuke and Naruto!"

"I-I'm Naruto" Naruto said nervously, flinching as Ino stopped pacing and turned to look at him slowly, a vain in her head bulging like mad.

"..." she paused for a moment before-WHAM! Sasuke's head now had a huge lump of a bruise on it from Ino's blow, but it was Naruto who felt it. He cursed loudly only to get WHAMed again, gaining yet another bruise. This time he just groaned in pain quietly. Sasuke muttered something under his breath like: "Hmph, Baka, Naruto"

"What was that?-!" Ino said, turning her attention from Naruto to glare at Sasuke, her eyes ablaze. She heard me? Uh-oh! Sasuke thought.

"Uhhhh..." he said nervously, sweat-dropping and wishing he had kept his mouth shut, "N-nothing, Ino-chan."

"What do you think I'm stupid!" Ino said, WHAMing him, too, causing Sakura to nearly have a heart attack. Naruto couldn't resist the urge to grin because, for once, Sasuke had been WHAMed instead of him. Ino savagely turned on him again, looking super mad now thanks to his show of happiness. She was about to hit him again when-

"That's enough." Shikamaru said firmly. He turned to the two boys, who were looking relieved for just a second until they saw his serious expression. “Who are you?

"I'm Sasuke and that's Naruto." Sasuke replied in his usual dry tone which sounded weird coming from Naruto's mouth, nodding towards Naruto as he mentioned him. “We’ve-"

"Liars!" Ino yelled, suddenly loooking savage, "What have you done to them, eh! If you so much as touch Sasuke, I'll-"

"Ino, it's true, they've switched bodies somehow." Sakura found the courage to speak to her rival who was giving the two boys death glares.

"Wha-...SHE'S IN ON IT, TOO! GET HER!" Ino shouted, pointing openly at Sakura before pulling out some more rope, "Aiiiiiiiiyyyyeeee!"

"Stop! Ino it's me, Sakura!" Sakura cried desperately as she ran for her life, Ino hot on her trail. Sakura tripped on a tree root-again(cou-dork-gh cough). Ino was about to tie her up, too, when-

"Ino, that's enough!" Shikamaru interrupted again, suddenly standing in front of Sakura, his arms spread wide open. Ino stopped in her tracks, looking furious and a little insane. "They're imposters, Shikamaru, get out of the way!" she yelled in his face, but still not daring to start a real fight with him.

"They may be telling the truth." he said, not feeling too sure it was true himself and hoping Sakura had a good explanation to back him up.

He relaxed a little once Ino had lowered her rope. Still keeping an eye on his female teammate, he asked "Sakura, what do you mean they've 'switched bodies'?

"I mean yesterday after they were hit by your no jitsus, they blacked out, right?." Sakura replied, as she stood up and straightened herself, then she continued, "And then they woke up, but it was after you guys left that they both told me they were..well..each other."

"How troublesome." Shikamaru muttered and sighed heavily before going and leaning on a nearby tree with his arms folded. Ino silently stood there wondering what Shikamaru was thinking about as he looked up at the sky. Does he really believe this story? He couldn't ...could he? she thought as she watched him intently, He seems to be thinking hard. I guess I shouldn't bother him right now. Shikamaru, who had not in fact been thinking hard but just gazing lazily at the clouds, abruptly turned his head to look at Sasuke and Naruto who were still tied to the tree. He calmly walked over to them, a look of triumph on his face which was turned to the ground. He cleared his throat upon reaching them and began speaking with his face still turned downward, a shadow hiding his eyes completely (y'know what I mean, right?).

"I have some questions to ask you. These questions will reveal whether you are really who you say you are or -imposters." he said seriously, looking up at them piercingly as he said the last word.

"This one is for you." he said looking at Naruto who nervously fidgeted a little."..."

'Team 8'

"So, is it a safe place, Shino? Kiba asked.

"My bugs detect some movement approximately 20 meters from here." Shino replied robotically, from behind his high-up shirt collar.

"Then let's set up camp here." Kiba suggested promptly, "What do think, Hinata-chan?"

"Th-that seems like a good i-idea, Kiba-kun." Hinata replied, barely over a whisper, looking down at the ground as she repeatedly made the tips of her two index fingers touch. (or does she only stutter around Naruto?)

"Mmh, then let's get to work." Kiba said, nodding his head eagerly as any good-therefore-unusually-over-ambitious-Anime-kid would. He and Akamaru, who was sitting on his head, walked purposefully towards some trees to get some building wood. They both felt like idiots when Hinata stutteringly told them they were headed towards the shore where, obviously, there would be no wood. They walked in the right direction as Hinata activated her 'Byakkugan' and began using it to find food. Shino's bugs scattered as usual so they could know which places were hollow and which were suitable to build a shelter on.

About fifteen minutes later, Kiba and Akamaru returned looking worried about something. According to Kiba, the whole time they were gone they felt as though, based somewhat on Akamaru's senses, "They were being 'watched' by someone...or something." Kiba was about to tell them more, when Akamaru fainted from the mere knowledge that it was even going to be mentioned. Kiba of course, refused to speak of it so as not to torture his little now-seemingly lifeless dog. Hinata gave him one of her special 'ointments' to help cure Akamaru's state-of-shock. Shino just stood there silently as he waited for either his bugs, whom he had sent to investigate the 'situation', or Akamaru's curing, so they could find out what had happened-whichever came first.

'Team Gai' ('Team 9' mabye?)

Tenten was searching for a place to set up camp as Neji provided the food. They were alone, for Lee had decided to do 2000 laps around the whole island as a result of failing to do 800 push-ups. It was dark out, and they had only gotten about halfway setting up the camp when Lee returned with some urgent news. Looking alarmed and unnerved, which was unusual for him-unless something bad had happened to Gai-sensei-he told them what he knew:

"I was running my 234'th lap around the island when I felt like someone was watching me. I turned and looked around for them,(Tenten listened on edge) but to no avail (she relaxed, feeling a little disappointed). Then later, when I was running my 567'th lap, I sensed it again. I turned around and saw...(Tenten really got excited, this time) nothing again (her excitement died completely). But then as I was running my 890'th lap I actually saw...'it'(This time she thought she would bust out of her skin if he didn't continue quickly). It was disgusting, it was hideous, it was-it was-OH THE HORRER!-"

"Shut up about how 'horrible' it was and get on with the story already!" Tenten interrupted annoyedly-Neji secretly shared her feelings. Lee, who had his hands clutching his head dramatically by now, looked pretty disappointed about the suggestion of 'no drama' but he continued anyway.

"Okay, okay already, sheesh. It was-it was..."

Back With 'Team 7' &'10'

"..What are you?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked, caught off guard by Shikamaru's 'important question'. It wasn't what he had expected. What am I? he thought Let's see, I'm a: boy, ninja, blond, ramen lover/addict...the list is endless... he sighed I don't get it.

"What are you?" Shikamaru asked again.

Naruto didn't look like he understood it any better than the first time. The others looked just as puzzled as he did-except for Shikamaru, of course- but, unlike him, they looked curious too.

The wind blew.

Leaves rustled.

Chouji, who had been stuffing his face with chips since his team had arrived at Team 7's clearing, stopped chewing. He, like the others, was waiting for Naruto to answer. Naruto himself looked as though deep in thought for a minute before he answered.

"I'm..the future hokage." he replied confidently, looking directly at Shikamaru with a seriousness that said he meant business. They all watched as Shikamaru paused for a moment, nodded without giving away his thoughts, and turned his attention to Sasuke.

"This one is for you." he said, knowing it was obvious but wanting to clarify things, "..."

Back With 'Team 8'

Akamaru woke from his daze to find an anxious and worried Kiba looking down at him. Hinata was nowhere in sight. Shino stood in his usual stance: motionless. Kiba's expression brightened from worry to joy and relief; for he had seen that his canine buddy was wide awake, looking perfectly healthy. He asked his little friend/partner if he was okay. Akamaru uttered some garbled sounds that only Kiba could understand. Kiba nodded his head in agreement and looked around into the night to see that Hinata had returned from her little trip. She had gone to replace the herbs needed for the ointment she had used on Akamaru earlier. Now she walked toward them with a small pile of the necessary plants and flowers gathered in her arms.

"Ah, Hinata-chan has returned." Kiba said, stating the obvious, "Akamaru has gained consciousness and is ready to tell you what happened."

Hinata smiled at the news and said "T-That's great!", nodded, and waited silently; she had been dying to know what happened but, like Kiba, she wanted to make sure that Akamaru was alright first.

Shino continued to stand silently, only half caring about what his teammate had to say, as he had already learned some of it from his bugs, who-obviously-came before Akamaru's consciousness. He busied himself with watching a line of ants trail across a tree branch. Kiba had a feeling his bug friend knew and he shuddered a little as he thought about how his bug friend knew. Even though he had grown used to it, it still crept him out a little that his teammate had bugs living inside of him. He pushed the creepy thoughts out of his head and began to tell them what happened. He hesitated.

"Maybe we should get some sleep for now and we'll tell you what happened in the morning." he suggested before letting out a yawn. The other two nodded and they went to sleep...

Back With 'Team Gai'

"...it was-" Lee continued to repeat.

"JUST SAY IT ALREADY!" Tenten yelled.

"It was..an eyeball-a humongous eyeball, floating in midair, just staring at me. It looked like it was covered with sand or something. It was so creepy!" Lee finally answered, shivering at the memory, "When I saw it, I ran into the forest, and I saw..Guy-sensei! But he didn't look normal, I tell ya! He was wearing a-a-a pair of jeans and a normal t-shirt! And worst of all, his hair-IT WAS CUT! OH THE HORROR!" At this, he broke down crying. He remembered something else about Guy-sensei and at the thought of it he burst into fresh tears. After deciding he couldn't bare to say it he chose not to tell them. When he calmed down he continued, "Everything around me seemed like it was..alive and trying to kill me. For example: I was running back here and I had just turned to look at 'The Eye' when a vine just grabs my leg-from out of nowhere!...The trees were blocking my path wherever I tried to go..."

Flashback (For You To Picture)

Rock Lee was running along the sandy shore of the island on his 890th lap. He turns to look behind him and his eyes open wide in terror from what he sees: A floating eyeball made of sand, hovering a few feet above/behind him. He screams like a girl for a full 30 seconds before running into the forest, his arms flailing wildly above his head. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees Guy-sensei wearing jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was cut short and it was spiky. Lee almost fainted on the spot when he saw what his teacher held in his hands. It was a red little book. Lee thought it looked oddly familiar and with horror realized that it was the same red book Kakashi-sensei always carried around. He turns to look behind him at 'The Eye' as he frantically runs from the 'horrible sight' and trips on a mess of vines and his leg gets tangled in one. Thinking the vine is alive and out to get him, he struggles madly and tries to yank his foot out as 'The Eye' slowly and hauntingly hovers closer to him. He screams like a girl again. His foot breaks free of the vines and he runs insanely, turning his head to look at 'The Eye' and, as a result, he runs straight into a tree. Assuming the trees are alive and against him, too, he screams like a girl some more. He runs into about 6 more trees before 'The Eye' stops following him and he reaches his team's hideout.

End of Flashback

"Mabye it was an illusionary technique." suggested Tenten-who didn't know what really happened and was going by Lee's info-thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Lee replied, "I hope so. But I'm pretty sure 'The Eye' was real."

"Hmph," Neji said before muttering something like: "..fate.."

They all stood there for a moment, deep in thought before Neji spoke.

"It's dark out. We should finish setting up camp before we dwell on other things." he said. His comrades nodded in agreement and they finished 'setting up' camp and they went to sleep. Except for Lee who had some nightmares involving Gai-sensei and a certain red book. But he, too, fell asleep-eventually...

Back (again) with 'Team 7' &‘10’ (again)

"..Who is your strongest opponent?"

"The man I want to kill..Itachi." Sasuke replied almost instantly. Sakura and Ino both let out a little gasp at how easy it was for him to say something like that.

Shikamaru emotionlessly nodded again, looking wise, kinda like the Hokage. Ino, who knew him too well to be intimidated by his intelligence, spoke.

"So, what do you think?" she asked impatiently, breaking the tense silence that had fallen upon the six subs. Shikamaru, who had resumed his gazing at the clouds, now looked at her as though just realizing she was there.

"I think they're telling us..the truth." he answered honestly.

"WHAT!" Ino yelled, causing the others to flinch, "But that means that..OMG! I hit-I hit..S-Sasuke!" At this, Naruto rolled his eyes. Yeah, he thought, You hit me too, but does anyone care?Noooo. "Sasuke-kun, ooh, Sasuke!" he muttered mockingly.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru said as he watched Ino have a near heart-attack. The others were watching still, but now they looked more relaxed than before. Chouji started stuffing his face again. Sakura untied Naruto and Sasuke. They decided thay had better get some sleep because it was night time by now. They all settled into they're sleeping bags and, one by one, they fell asleep...