They all went back to the village, leaving Gai-sensei to watch over the villa.

Naruto was up ahead with Yakumo on his back, while Aceso helped Kurenai.

"How are you doing Kurenai-Sensei?" Aceso asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Kuerani answered. She looked at Sakura. "You did a good job patching me up, Sakura. I feel much better now." Team 8 slowly trailed behind them.

"What the hell?" Naruto demanded as he came to a stop. They all walked forward to see what freaked out Naruto. Aceso's eyes went wide at the sight.

"You guys seeing this?" Aceso as Team 8 ran up to take a look.

" The hidden leaf village," Kiba gasped. " It's..."

"But how?" Hinata gasped. The village was in ruins.

"It looks like the aftermath of some gigantic war or something!" Naruto noted.

"Hinata!" Kurenai called upon.

"Uh, right," Hinata nodded. "Byakugan!" She scanned the whole village. "There isn't anybody in the village. 

"This isn't good," Kurenai frowned.

"What the hell's going on around here?" Naruto demanded. They walked deeper into the village, not a soul in sight.

"Kiba, Hinata, you two picking anything up?" Kurenai asked.

"No signs of enemies in the vicinity," Hinata reported. Akamaru whimpered.

"Akamaru hasn't caught a whiff of anything either," Kiba added.

" I don't understand what happened here though," Naruto admitted. "How could this even be?"

"If there was any trouble we should have heard it," Aceso agreed.

"Let's just get Yakumo and Kurenai-Sensei bac to the hospital for now," Sakura suggested. "We can take a look around the village after that."

"Yeah, you're right," Aceso agreed. They took the two to the battered infirmary.  "This is bad." She has never seen this place so beat up, this was where she lived after all.

"Come on, let's get these two inside," Sakura urged. Once inside Sakura and Aceso were able to place Yakumo and Kurenai into hospital beds.

"Don't worry about me," Kurenai said to Sakura. "Help Aceso take care of Yakumo."  

"Right," Sakura nodded.

"You're totally safe now," Naruto smiled down at Yakumo. "Huh? Oh, no! She's unconscious!"

"Her vital signs are dropping," Aceso reported. "Hopefully, there's still medicine. Sakura, can you and Naruto go see what you two can find."

"Yeah, but-" Naruto began to protest.

"Naruto, come on!" Sakura demanded, putting a hand on his shoulder. Those two left as Aceso started to do some hand signs.

"Don't smell any blood," Kiba reported. "Must have evacuated somewhere."

"Let's go have a look around the village," Shino suggested.

"Right," Hinata nodded.

"Make sure you act as a team, okay?" Kurenai instructed. "And I don't care what you find out there, I want you back here in 30 minutes."

"Got it," Kiba smiled, the others walked out as he softly chuckled scratching his face.

"What?" Kurenai asked. "What? What is it?"

"Heh, heh!" Kiba laughed. " Aw, nothing. Just feels good to be getting orders from you again, ya know?" He happily ran over, and Kurenai smiled at him. She looked over to see Aceso frowning down, her Jutsu wasn't working at all.

"You should go look around too," Kurenai instructed. "You know the hospital best, try finding clues about what happened here."

"Good thinking!" Aceso chimed as she ran out to go have a look around. The place was completely bare, nothing Aceso was used to, she could remember almost every detail around every corner. She was also still stuck on her Jutsu not working. She could recall standing at the end of the hallway begging Gai-sensei or Kakashi not to leave again when she was younger. Her thoughts got cut off by the sounds of screaming.

"Sakura?" Aceso asked coming to a stop. " Sakura!" She started running back towards Kurenai and Yakumo's room. Aceso slid to a stop, she yanked open the door, and the sight bewildered her. In front of her was nothing but fields of snow. Moments later, Aceso found herself waking up on Satomi hill, Naruto had shaken her awake.

"What's going on?" Aceso asked.

"You gotta get up!" Naruto urged as he helped her to her feet. " C'mon, hurry! Old Man Unaki is wounded!"

"Unkai?" Aceso asked as she looked back. She looked back at the man, badly burned on one side of his body. "What happened? These burns are awful!" She ran over to start immediate treatment as the others gathered around.

"The old man here's the only reason we were able to break free of Yakumo's Genjutsu," Naruto explained. "You should've seen it."

"That's not true," Unkai denied. " Actually, we were all driven out." Sakura gasped. "Yakumo doesn't care about us. Her only target here is Kurenai Yuhi."

"So, wait...where is she now then?" Kiba asked.

" I think I may know," Unkai answered.

"Where?" Aceso asked.

"Back in at the villa," Unaki answered, they took off back towards the village, and they got there to see two medical ninjas and the anbu member sitting with Gai-sensei.

"Whoa-oh!" Gai cheered. "You got back in no time!" They watched them run past them. "So uh, where's the cavalry?

"Sorry you guys, but there's no time to explain right now!" Naruto apologized.

"Huh?" Gai asked as he stood up. " Uh, hey! Hold on a second! What was that all about?"

"Dad," Aceso breathed as she walked up with Sakura, and Unaki, Aceso was holding Unaki.

"So who's this? You wanna fill me in?" Gai asked.

" You'll just have to wait! This man needs help!" Sakura urged as Aceso set the man down.

"He is Unkai, a member of the Kurama clan," Aceso answered. "Please, help.

"Okay," Gai agreed as he began to help her. She took off the shirt, so she could apply more medical attention. Aceso looked back at the other medical ninja.

"Anbu and Gai-sensei go tie up the others, medical squad help with Unaki," Aceso ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," Anbu and Gai nodded.

"Yes, captain," the two medical ninjas responded.

"Captain?" Sakura asked herself.

 Everyone sprung into action. They went and tied up the others against a tree, while Aceso and the bearded medical ninja attended to Unaki. Sakura provided some assistance.

"Gai Sensei, there you are," Kiba exclaimed running up to them.

"Hm?" Gai asked looking back. "Kiba. What happened to the others?"

"Shino and Hinata are standing watch in the hallway, but Yakumo's genjutsu created another dimension, and Naruto and Kurenai-sensei are inside," Kiba explained. 

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Gai asked looking lost.

"I think I can explain," Unkai said.

"With your injuries, you should take it easy," Sakura advised.

"No," Unkai denied. " I must tell you everything if you have any hope of stopping her. No one worried about Yakumo's well-being as much as Kurenai has. She tried so hard to convince her, pleading with Yakumo to forget her dream and end her training. Yakumo was completely dispirited. Obviously, Lord Murakumo was concerned about his daughter. But then one day, the unexpected happened. Their family residence burned to the ground while Yakumo stood dazed, watching the whole thing happen. That's when I first saw it. A strange figure appeared in the flames, a horrible monstrous demon smiling back at us. But when I learned what the beast was, I became frozen with terror. We wanted to find out what caused the tragedy. So we ordered a complete examination of Yakumo. They arrived at the conclusion that the creature which appeared in the fire, came from Yakumo's deep subconscious. In other words, it was a manifestation of her id."

"An id monster?" Sakura repeated. Unkai nodded.

" I immediately went to the Third Hokage and asked for guidance," Unkai continued. " Ultimately, the girl was unable to endure the expectations that the village placed on her, and soon, her subconscious cracked under the pressure. To protect itself, it released her pent-up fury." He explained a bit more. "Then the Third Hokage lowered his head and wept." He pinched his nose.

" The one who accepted the Hokage's mission was..." Aceso began.

"That's right, Kurenai," Unkai confirmed. They all gasped.

" Of course," Kiba clenched his fist. " So that's what Kurenai Sensei was talking about this whole time. Darn it. I had no idea she was going through all that." Akamaru whimpered.

" I knew that Kurenai has decided to seal Yakumo's powers, but this is the first I've heard about the danger the girl's subconscious caused," Gai explained.

"Yes. When then the Third Hokage died, so did the secret," Unkai said. "At this point, only Kurenai and Kurama Clan know the whole story."

"Kurenai Sensei risked everything to keep it a secret, even her reputation," Aceso said. "We've gotta go rescue her." Akamaru barked as Kiba ran back towards the villa.

"They're gonna need your help," Gai said as he looked at Unkai.

"But-" Sakura began.

"It's alright, I can handle everything out here," Gai assured.

"Gai-sensei," Sakura breathed.

"You're worried about Naruto, and the others, right?" Gai asked. He gave a thumbs up and a sparkly smile. "So go help 'em."

"Right," Sakura nodded before heading towards the villa.

"That's it, then. It's up to them now," Unkai said. Aceso stayed back to continue healing Unkai. In the end, Yakumo was able to defeat her own ID monster and Kurenai went back to being the Squad Leader of Team 8.

Everyone headed back into the village, and Aceso walked next to Naruto.

"Little sister," Naruto breathed. "Do you think squad 7 will go back to the way it was like with Squad 8?" It was clear he was talking about Sasuke returning. 

"Yes," Aceso answered after some thought. "But it was won't be resolved as easy or as quick as this one." 

"How much longer before he returns?" Naruto asked.

"Only Sasuke knows the answer to that one," Aceso answered. "I've run into him while on my doctor trips, but he was very firm on not returning until he dealt with Itachi." Naruto and Aceso looked back to see Sakura carrying Unkai. "Sasuke is of the Hidden Leaf, he's bound to return at some point, I just hope it's sooner than later."

"I'm going to bring Sasuke back no matter what," Naruto said. "Believe it." Aceso looked at Naruto, it was clear Sasuke's departure has hurt everyone...it was clear Naruto was hurting the most from it.