Iteration

‘Iteration’ is part of the space saga that began with ‘In the cold of space you find the heat of suns’ and continues in ‘Tales in Tarrasade’. There is also a one-shot ‘Silver Leaf Tales: Tying the knot’.

Thanks to Small Fox for being my beta. For this story he has also been my muse, suggesting a number of the ideas that have evolved to create this arc.

Thank you to those readers who have written a review and particular thanks disembodiedvoiceofthedying, meow-ku, Moonmoore, v, richon, kanazerosukenaru, prettypurpletiger, Prism0467, The horseman of death, Darling425, sadie237 and cynaga who reviewed chapter 50.

Apologies if the characters have grown differently in their new environment.

This is posted in the Naruto/Sasuke section because it is part of a Naru/Sasu/Naru space saga. However, it does feature many other pairings (and a few threesomes). Apologies to those who are expecting Naruto/Sasuke or Sasuke/Naruto every chapter.

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Chapter fifty-one: Messages

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After about five minutes the howling and growling ceased. Sasuke wished he had the option of going to check how Naruto was but he had to stay at his station. As they left orbit, Sasuke activated the artificial gravity and unstrapped himself.

Another ten minutes elapsed before Naruto appeared at the head of the ladder. He placed a bundle and a basket on the floor and then boosted himself up.

Then, blissfully, he was beside Sasuke and holding him. Sasuke leaned his head against Naruto’s flat midriff and relished his warmth.

“You are doing what you believe to be best in a bad situation,” Naruto acknowledged, his fingers combing through Sasuke’s hair. He put out a long arm and snagged the basket before crouching at Sasuke’s feet. “You ran across rocks in bare feet,” he reminded him and began wiping away the dirt and the blood with a warm, damp towel. “And perhaps you should put on some clothes, teme.”

Sasuke had forgotten that he was naked. He wriggled into the clothes that Naruto had brought him without taking his eyes off the display. He then sat back down in the control chair while Naruto cleaned the cuts on his feet and sprayed them with artificial skin.

Sasuke watched him work. He did not have to see Naruto’s eyes and his whiskers to know how sad he was; it was in the way he was holding himself and in his every movement.

“I will get them back,” Sasuke promised him.

Naruto looked up at him. “You will try,” he acknowledged. “We all will. He made an attempt at a smile. “And Shi-chan will be harder to hold and to control than they think.”

That, Sasuke thought, was so true.


A wait of over three hundred minutes felt like forever. Naruto concentrated on using the optical telescope to collect as much data as he could. Sasuke battled to understand Shikamaru’s analysis of possible travel routes; it was so complex that Shikamaru had never managed to make it easy to use for others.

Sasuke would be doing a lot of very difficult thinking that he had relied on Shikamaru to do for him.

Finally the static died away; Sasuke activated the multi-channel recorder.

“There follows a video and audio message for Sasuke Uchiha,” the harsh voice announced.

Sasuke dived for the button that turned on the projector.


It started showing Shikamaru with Yoshimi, Yasushi, Kazuki and Haru in a small room. He was telling them a story. It then showed him persuading them to sleep.

Tears coursed down Sasuke’s cheeks; he did not know if they were due to relief because they were alive or fear for what was going to happen to them.

The message then cut to Shikamaru sitting in a chair reading from an autocue. Sasuke immediately registered that Shikamaru had developed a facial tic; he would transcribe and decode the message later.

“I will never be returning to you,” he began. “You let me go or they will kill Haru. They will kill me rather than give me up. If you do exactly what you are told the other children will be returned to you. If you deviate in the slightest way from the instructions you are given a child will die.

“This ship will jump Inwards. You will follow using the same route with at least a hundred minute delay. The Oak and the Dart will jump separately, will not deviate from the route and will make no attempt to hide their positions. You will not lay a string of your miniature communication relays behind you. Occasionally, a child will be expelled from this ship in a pod. When this happens you will have a limited amount of time to find the pod and retrieve it before the air supply in the pod is exhausted. Not all pods expelled will contain a child, although they all will appear to do so. You will never know how many children have been expelled until you have checked every pod.

“The Oak will now move away from the hole to a distance of not less than one thousand klicks.

“The Sakura may now land, retrieve your personnel and rendezvous with the Oak. We advise haste. By the time you jump into the next system you may face the challenge of finding the pod containing your child amongst many before your child dies from lack of oxygen.

“There will be no further gaps in the interference. If you behave appropriately, there will be no blocking of your communications in other systems along the route.”

The message ended in a burst of static. Sasuke automatically muted it, his mind racing. He had wondered how they intended to get away when there was only one route open to a ship without an improver. His fingers danced across the control pad. There were seven jumps before they reached a system with more than one navigable hole. At that point, the enemy ship would have a choice of two routes. One continued Inwards, the other cut across the Fringe.

“Naruto, please prep a probe,” he ordered. “Programme it to travel to the mini-gate, connect with the communication relay and inject a message.”

Naruto had been staring at the visual static where Shikamaru’s image had been. He blinked. “You will have to check my work,” he admitted.

Sasuke nodded. He spared a moment watching Naruto vanish down the ladder. It might not work; if the enemy knew about the mini-gates, which they appeared to do, they may have developed a way of detecting them and already destroyed it.

On the other hand, the mini-gates were as invisible as Kotetsu and Shikamaru had been able to make them. Also, the route they had used for this visit meant that they had entered the system through the conventional hole, the one of which the enemy was already aware, rather than the one with the mini-gate. It was possible the enemy had not been able to find it.

He used the telescope to confirm that the Oak was moving away from the hole and that the Sakura was landing. He then set a course for the Oak.


Then he turned his attention to Shikamaru’s message. The disadvantage of Uchiha long-short was that it was slow; there would be a limited number of words.

DEVA_CLONES_LEAK_RANM_HED?_RECORDR?_MINDPRT?_NET?_KD_TRUST

So Shikamaru was certain that Ranmaru was the source of the leak. That would explain the enemy knowing that Naruto’s planet existed, their behaviour when on vacation, about the mini-gates and that their weakness was the children. Could he really be suggesting that there had been a recorder in Ranmaru’s head? Sasuke thought back; perhaps they had not considered that Ranmaru’s head could have been swapped with that of a clone.

Trusting Klennethon Darrent went against the grain but Sasuke had already decided that he would need to do so.

Shikamaru had put DEVA and CLONES first, indicating that he considered those the most important words to convey. Sasuke recognised Deva as a name that had come up in Shikamaru’s investigation. He assumed that Shikamaru was telling him that the enemy used clones but Sasuke wondered for what.


He decided that he could not spare any more time on it, took a stim and moved onto planning a strategy for retrieving the pods as swiftly as possible. He was annoyed that he was being manipulated into dealing with immediate problems rather than concentrating on rescuing Shikamaru and Haru; the prize of retrieving Yoshimi, Yasushi and Kazuki safely was just too great.

Perhaps the enemy had made an error in insisting that they delayed one hundred minutes before following them through the hole. The hole had no gate or communication relay; the enemy could not see what they were up to. For example, despite the enemy’s instructions, they could lay a string of mini-gates behind them; safe in the knowledge that the enemy would not know.

On the other hand, they would not be able to see the enemy. There was a chance that the enemy would use those one hundred minutes to hide Shikamaru and Haru for future retrieval.

Did he leave one ship in each of the seven systems to watch for that possibility? If he did, would they have enough ships to retrieve all the pods?

He went to use the telescope; the Sakura was still on the surface. He willed them to make haste. He then turned his attention to the information they had managed to exchange during the time Shikamaru’s message had been broadcast.


By the time the enemy ship was approaching the hole to jump they were as ready as they could be. The Oak had moved thirty-five minutes’ journey time from the hole to speed up rendezvous with the Sakura; they would have those thirty-five minutes to confer, redistribute personnel, launch more probes to interact with the communication relay in the mini-gate and finalise their strategy for retrieving the pods.

The Dart lurked beside the Oak. As soon as the enemy ship jumped they launched the first probe and docked with the Oak.

Kotetsu was waiting for him in the docking bay.

“We have covered their ship with the tags we used on Kabuto's; the ones that keep reproducing themselves and are so hard to spot,” he gabbled. “We have confirmed that the mini-gate is still there and is functional. We can either lay mini-gates behind us or we think we can improvise a way of blocking the holes so they can’t sneak back behind us. We are working on enough information-collecting devices to leave one in each system. We have a superfast miniature dart that can supplement the programming of the probe you have launched before it reaches the mini-gate. We’ve worked out where the blocking signal is coming from and just launched a missile to deal with it. We’ve got a harpoon system to speed up retrieving the pods. We’ll need help building all the devices, but we have the ones we need first ready. Oh, and there is a message alerting you to a recording Shika-san left for you if something happened to him.”

It was painfully like listening to Shikamaru. Not that Shikamaru was practical enough to achieve what Izumo and Kotetsu had managed.

“Thank you,” Sasuke said, hoping that his tone and manner made up for the inadequacy of his words.

“We will save them,” Kotetsu insisted, “and if anyone can find his way back to us it will be Shika-san.”


Despite it being ship’s night, every available pair of hands was making Kotetsu and Izumo’s devices. Sasuke spotted Iruka, who looked terrible; his skin was a horrible shade of muddy grey. He was still thinking of what to say when Naruto was past him and had Iruka engulfed in a hug.

Naruto began helping while Sasuke and Kotetsu talked through the way their probe to the mini-gate had been programmed. They concluded that they should modify it using Kotetsu’s miniature dart but decided that Sasuke had enough time to check whatever message Shikamaru had left for him.

Sasuke went to his office and activated his desk. A light flashed immediately and, strangely reluctant, he opened the incoming message.

The holoprojector activated and Shikamaru’s image was sitting opposite him.

“This message is sent to appear automatically unless I prevent it. If you are seeing it I am probably incapacitated, captured or dead. Please select the appropriate option.

“Captured,” Sasuke instructed.

“That is annoying,” the image of Shikamaru admitted. “When the nearest data communication relay does not receive a regular signal from me a parcel of instructions will be opened and spilled into the data streams. It may have happened already. However, just to be sure, you can initiate it. I will tell you how at the end of this first message.

“The three main things that will be initiated are as follows. First, my parents and my sister will be protected. The people I have hired to do this will keep them safe in the short term but I am asking you to take responsibility for caring for them. Whoever has me will soon realise that the people I love are the only leverage that will work against me.

“Second, Tennyo One, Two and Three will contact you. They will receive instructions from Chaaruzu-san to provide unlimited assistance to Uchiha as an ally in need. Please do not tell them that I am Chaaruzu-san unless it is unavoidable. Good luck with Sakura-san.

“Third, Klenn will be alerted. Hopefully you have decided to contact him yourself and it would be better of you could bring yourself to ask for his assistance. I guess this is when we find out if he is genuinely fond of me or whether I am merely an entertaining distraction.

“There is loads of other stuff for you. You will find a new database with a dedicated search function in your desk. I hope you can understand everything with Neji and Kakashi’s help.

“My love to Na-chan, Iruka-sensei and the children, with a special hug for Haru. If any of the crew or the children were captured with me don’t you dare prioritise me over them. Tell Kakashi-san that this is a crisis, not a learning curve, and he needs to come off the sidelines. Forget being super-sensitive about not treating Itachi as Uchiha and use him.

“You may need to give Neji some attention. He’ll blame himself and get depressed. Set Haku on him.

“Finally, I offer you my deepest apologies for the errors and lapses in judgment that led to me being captured. I know that I have let you down. If it was feasible I will have hidden the ring before I was captured because I can’t bear the thought of whoever has taken me having that as well. Hopefully someone will be able to retrieve it.

“You are my family and I love each and every one of you. Look after them, Sasuke.

“Instructions follow.”

Sasuke wished he had more time to think about the message and to look through the database. Instead he worked with Kotetsu to finalise the programming of the miniature dart that would intercept the probe. By the time they were done and the dart was launched, the Sakura was docking.


Sasuke and Naruto were both there, waiting to reassure the children. Some of them were hyper-alert, despite it being nighttime. Others looked like they had been woken up to disembark. Kuuya reached Sasuke first.

“Kiba-san broke all the bad men’s necks,” Kuuya told him.

Sasuke hugged him tightly and looked across to where Kiba was standing. There was not a mark on him. “Kiba-san was protecting you,” he confirmed to Kuuya and then hugged a sleepy Keizo.

Hoshi was next. She looked at him with her serious blue eyes. “Yuki and I stayed with Haku-san while Kisame-san and Itachi-san made the bad men go away,” she told him. “It will be all right, Papa,” she added.

Yuki was already clinging to Naruto. Sasuke concentrated on hugging Hoshi; he would give Yuki a kiss later. Next was Hikaru. Hikaru was uncharacteristically silent; his skin far too pale. Sasuke made sure that his hug was long and tight.

“They took Haru,” Hikaru whispered. “They won’t give him back.”

Sasuke pushed him far enough away so that they could make eye contact. “We will get him back,” he promised. “It may take time, but we will do it.”

“We will do it,” Hikaru echoed and then pulled away to give Ryuu his turn. Sasuke picked Ryuu up and went over to where Naruto was with Yuki for a four-way hug.


The children left with Kiba and Naruto, who were intent on getting them settled for the remainder of ship’s night. Sasuke turned his attention to Neji. The moment their eyes met Sasuke knew that Neji was planning on abasing himself, something that Sasuke could not allow.

Sasuke stepped forward and grabbed his elbows, stopping him sinking to the floor.

“Don’t, Neji,” he insisted. “It was not your fault and I need you. I need you very badly. It is like trying to function with three-quarters of my brain missing after someone has stuck a knife in my heart.”

Neji steadied himself and gave a small nod. He dug into a pocket and produced Shikamaru’s duty ring. “He had told me he would hide his rings if he was ever captured. He would want you to hold this for him.”

Sasuke could see both love rings, the one Shikamaru had given Neji and the one Neji had given Shikamaru, on Neji’s heart finger. He accepted Shikamaru’s duty ring. “Thank you, Neji-san,” he replied.


Kakashi’s voice was harsh. It reminded him of the enemy’s. “Sasuke-sama, we need to hurry,” he demanded.

Sasuke realised that Kakashi was angry. He hoped it was directed at the enemy and not either Kakashi himself or other members of the crew. “I need Neji, Itachi, Kakashi and Asuma in my office. Gai, can you liaise with Izumo-san about the harpoons and then familiarise the elite warriors with their use? Everyone else, please assist Kotetsu-san and his team who are building the devices we require. Further information will come over the intercom. We jump in thirty minutes.”


Once in Sasuke’s office, they went through the plan.

“There is only time to discuss operational details,” Sasuke admitted. He glanced at Kakashi. “I realise that some of you may disagree with cooperating with kidnappers.”

Kakashi’s expression was unreadable. He said nothing.

“It is your decision, Sasuke-sama,” Asuma insisted. “I am only glad it is not me who has been forced into making it.”


Sasuke held Kakashi back for a few moments after the meeting. “Shikamaru left you a message in the one he left me. He told me to tell you that this is a crisis, not a learning curve, and that you need to come off the sidelines.”

Kakashi froze and then forced himself to relax slightly. “He said that did he? Very well. We have made an appalling error and will suffer terribly because of it. It will change everything. We have lost Uchiha’s greatest asset. They have a full blood Uchiha to raise and corrupt. Part of me thinks you should have destroyed their ship, as your father would have done. The rest of me knows that is not what you are. Shikamaru is vulnerable but he is also unimaginably dangerous. We have to hope that he will find a way out for him and Haru. I agree that you should try to retrieve the kits; the fewer bargaining chips outsiders hold the better.”

Sasuke had a sudden image of Yoshimi, Yasushi and Kazuki being given over to Orochimaru and Kabuto. Then there was the reassuring weight of Kakashi’s hand on his shoulder.

“We will talk much more later,” he promised. “For now, I shall take the Sakura and retrieve pods. Thank you for assigning Iruka to be with me so that we have some time together.”

“He looks awful,” Sasuke admitted. “I know how important Shika is to you and to him.”


Sasuke checked the chronometer. He needed to be in the control room, on the battleboard. Naruto would already be at his position on the Silver Leaf. He wished that there had been a few minutes for a hug but it was not to be so.

When he arrived in the control room, Asuma, Shino and Neji were already in their positions. He sunk into the control chair, activated the intercom and opened a channel to all ships.

“This is Sasuke. Everyone knows the plan. Watch out for each other. We are tired. Make sure that you are alert. Rest whenever you get the chance. Ship’s captains report.”

“This is Hamaki. The Blossom is ready.”

“This is Inari. The Cherry is ready,”

“Itachi reporting. The Dart is ready.”

“Ibiki reporting. The Lancet is ready.”

“Kakashi reporting. The Sakura is ready.”

“This is Tsunade. The Silver Leaf is ready. Naruto sends his love.”

“Tayuya reporting. The Snow Willow is ready.”

“Konohamaru reporting. The Spear is ready.”


The Dart jumped one hundred and one minutes after the enemy ship with the Oak close behind. The Sakura undocked first, followed by the Silver Leaf, the Lancet, the Spear and the Snow Willow. The Cherry and the Blossom then separated from the Sakura.

Shino scanned for pods; there were thirty-eight. Once their positions were entered into the battleboard, Sasuke allocated pods to ships using the criteria they had decided. The faster ships headed for the pods furthest from their route through the system.

Each ship had a suited elite fighter who would be in the airlock and use one of the harpoons to retrieve a pod. The airlock would be cycled and the pod passed to another crew member while the pilot headed for the next pod.

Most of the pods were checked within the first one hundred minutes; the last one by two hundred. Not one of the pods contained a child.


Sasuke stared at the battleboard, seething with anger, as the last pod was reported to be empty. At least the Oak had not deviated one iota from its course through the system. Also, either they were faster than the enemy ship or the enemy ship was choosing not to outrun them; they would be ready to jump well before they were allowed.

He activated the intercom and opened a secure channel to the ships. “This is Sasuke. Well done everyone. Come home. Get some food and some rest. Jump is estimated to be in three hundred and twenty minutes. We have to be ready to go again.”

Gai arrived to stand watch, releasing the others to leave the control room. Sasuke was careful to walk back to the crew room with Neji, very aware that he would be missing Shikamaru.

“I shall sleep in my own room,” Neji assured him.

Sasuke understood; Neji and Shikamaru usually slept together in Shikamaru’s room. “We are planning to eat our midmeal at the regular time. Please join us.”

Neji hesitated and then nodded. “That would be welcome,” he admitted.


Naruto was in their room waiting for him. He stood as Sasuke entered and held him close.

“The children?” Sasuke asked.

“Kiba is trying to follow their usual routine,” Naruto told him, “so they are asleep now. We should sleep.”

Sasuke nodded. “I’ll need a shot to clear the stim,” he admitted.

Naruto produced one as if by magic. “I knew you would need it,” he replied and pressed it to Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke staggered as the wave of exhaustion hit him but Naruto was there, as always, to catch him.

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