The Chaos Theory

A Prologue of Sorts

(Disclaimer: so, this is kind of pointless, but no, I don't own Naruto)

Because when there's order, there's chaos…

A figure with flowing pink locks walked briskly down a long corridor, slowing down only when she reached the door at the end. She fidgeted with the hem of her cream blouse and adjusted her dark glasses before placing her right hand on the scanner.

"Haruno Sakura. Age twenty-two, lieutenant. Investigation office." A robotic voice recited.

There was a moment of silence as Sakura waited.

"Access granted."

The large doors slid open and Sakura walked in. The doors immediately closed behind her. Inside, the room was brightly lit and filled with men and women all frantically trying to make sense of the reports coming in by the thousand, and the desks were cluttered with numerous folders on the profiles of citizens reported to have fallen in comas earlier.

No one glanced at Sakura as she walked passed them and disappeared behind the elevator doors.

"They seem to be getting busier every day," Sakura thought to herself. Her finger trailed over the buttons and pressed the highest one. The moment the button marking the fiftieth floor lit up, she grabbed onto the rail and closed her eyes as the elevator whisked her hundreds of feet up.

In a few seconds, a bell dinged and Sakura stepped out.

"You wanted to see me Lady Tsunade?"

The blonde woman glanced up and frowned. "The Uchiha's late."

Not long after she spoke the heavy door opened and a man with ebony hair spiking up in the back and dressed in an elegant, black suit stepped in.

"I apologize for the delay Tsunade-sama."

"Drop the formalities Sasuke, we both know you don't mean it. Now sit down, we have matters to discuss."

They both sat down in the leather chairs, and Sakura glanced at Sasuke. It wasn't like him to be late for anything, much less a summon from Tsunade.

Their eyes met and Sakura raised a delicate eyebrow while Sasuke simply shook his head, remaining expressionless. She tried to suppress a smile at him deliberately trying to ignore her in front of Tsunade, when she obviously knows about their relationship.

Tsunade rummaged through the tall stack of folders and finally pulled out two thick manila folders before slamming them down before the two.

"Over two hundred citizens fell into coma this morning, and that's just in this city! I can't ignore this any longer, we need to act now or else it will be chaos!" She barked before massaging her temples and taking another swig of sake.

"Yes, hospitals through out the country are all packed Shishou, but the police have not been able to find the reasons behind this."

"Oh we have reasons all right." The blonde sighed wearily. "It's starting again, Project Konoha. This was before you two were officially enlisted. Now, I'm sure you have both heard of the organization Akatsuki?"

"The organization composed of the geniuses that claimed they created the perfect world?" Sakura let out a small laugh. "I thought they were off the front page for years now. What, they created another one of their little cyber worlds?"

She was met with silence. The air suddenly seemed heavy with tension before Sasuke spoke. "It was real wasn't it?"

Tsunade nodded, and Sasuke slumped back in his chair. "I knew it wasn't a hoax like all those news stations claimed." His hand brushed through his dark hair exasperatedly.

"Seven years ago, Akatsuki launched a cyber world that they claimed had all the solutions to the problems we face today. Well it might sound perfect, but it certainly didn't fool us. They said there were no sicknesses or poverty in that cyber world, and it lured in many."

Tsunade paused for a moment making sure that the two grasped every word.

"Soon record breaking numbers all signed up to experience it, and it wasn't long till it just seemed…abnormal." Tsunade furrowed her brows as she searched for the right words. "It wasn't normal to hang in that space between reality and idealism you see, so I sent in my top agent to investigate. It turned out that the Akatsuki did not create the perfect world, far from it! They created a ninja world, and put themselves as the rulers! I sent orders for him to immediately shut it down using any means, and he succeeded. He—"

"It was Itachi." Sasuke finished for her.

"Yes. The mechanism behind it the first time was rather simple, just severe the connection between the world and the individual minds. But things got a bit tricky with the Konoha Project they launched the second time. It was obvious they did not want a repeat of their failure."

Sakura could not hold it any longer, "So is this what's happening now?"

"I trusted Itachi's capabilities, and I truly believed he could have accomplished this assignment."

Sasuke's eyes showed absolutely no emotion, but Sakura could sense the anxiety rising within him. "That's impossible, he's currently on a long term assignment oversees, he..."

Sasuke's eyes widened when it all clicked. "He never was oversees was he? He's in Konoha."

Tsunade sighed once again. "I sent him in two months ago….and we have not heard again from him for over a week now."

"B-but that doesn't mean anything right?" Sakura quickly stammered. "His mind is in Konoha, but his body is still here."

"That's the tricky part Sakura. It wasn't like this last time. Think of it this way, once you enter that world, they put ties on you, and once you have enough that bind you, it's nearly impossible to get out."

"Itachi's already fading." Tsunade finished. "Along with a quarter of the rest of the population in this country. With the loss of Itachi, this is proving to be much harder. This time, I want no mistakes. I need a team of two to go in and shut it down. Most importantly, they need to share a bond that is stronger than the ties the Akatsuki will put on you once you enter."

"Wait shishou," Sakura said as the meaning of Tsunade's words finally sunk in. "You couldn't possibly mean that we go in to Konoha."

"Yes, that's exactly what I am implying."

-xxx-

Author note-

This idea just popped into my head, and before I knew it, I already had pages of notebook paper with details of Project Konoha. This is just a prologue explaining a few things, so stay tuned for the official first chapter!"

Please don't fav/subscribe without leaving a review! I'll answer any questions you have, but things will hopefully clear up in the next chap.

-Smile Every Day