Ever-so Complicated Mission
Okay so this is my first Naruto fanfiction. Please feel free to tell me anything good or bad about my story: especially whether the characters are becoming too OOC. I don't know whether I'll continue this or not. It depends on the feedback I get, how motivated I feel, and how quickly I finish my Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfiction (which will be my priority until it's complete no matter what I choose).
I own absolutely nothing with the exception of the plot (though I wish I could have Itachi).
Chapter One: Uchiha Itachi
In the darkness, three teams of ANBU jumped swiftly from tree to tree. The secondary teams were each a mile apart from the center team: just enough space to keep them in an easy distance from one another. Itachi's team was the center team, the leading group.
As Itachi closed his eyes briefly, he remembered when Tsunade had called the twelve ninjas. The mission was to protect a town that was in an alliance of sorts with Konoha. This town was being terrorized by the Akatsuki. Reports of murders were constantly flowing into Tsunade's office. There was also a shady group that teams of jounin had been monitoring. It was high time that they interrogated them and, if necessary, kill them.
The town was apparently rather large. It was much larger than an average town, but nobody was sure of what to call it so they continued to call it a town. The teams would split upon reaching the town and the captains would meet every Monday to discuss what their team had discovered and what the next step would be. If anything important came up they would call a meeting and the captains would bring one other member from their team so that there would be no hot-headed, rash decisions made.
Uchiha Itachi, Nara Shikamaru, and Hyuuga Neji were to each lead a team. Itachi remembered the scowl on Neji's face upon being told that Naruto was on his team. Naruto, despite having entered the ANBU ranks, was still considered quite juvenile. This was a trait that Neji detested and had no interest in dealing with. Neji's scowl disappeared when Tenten was announced to be on his team. She had been on his team when they had been genin and while neither had approached each other, they obviously were attracted to one another. Kiba was the last member to be added on to Neji's team. Neji was indifferent to Kiba. After all, Kiba was often visiting Hinata since they had been on the same team as genin.
Itachi then remembered Shikamaru's team being called. Poor Captain Nara Itachi thought to himself humorously. Shikamaru had groaned something that sounded like, "how troublesome". Ino had been on the same team as Shikamaru when they were genin so he knew how to handle her. However, Itachi guessed that the thought of having to deal with Ino's attempts at wooing Sasuke and Sai were going to drive him crazy. Not to mention, Sasuke still didn't really like Sai despite the fact that they had been on the same team for quite a while.
When Itachi had been told of his team, he had simply nodded. He was used to not showing emotion and felt no need to show anything, but acceptance. Shisui, his cousin and best friend, was to be on his team. Itachi was pleased with that since the two were great at fighting together. Hinata was nothing spectacular, but at least she had remarkable speed and being a Hyuuga she had those eyes. Sakura was one of the best medical ninjas ever seen and had remarkable chakra control. Not to mention, Itachi had seen her frequently since she was always coming over to have tea with her former teammate, Itachi's brother Sasuke.
As Tsunade called an end to the meeting, she dismissed the teams one by one. Itachi and his new team had tightened his muscles in preparation to jump out of the window after all the other teams. However, Tsunade then told Itachi and his team that they were to conduct a few side missions to find out more about the Akatsuki. By more, she meant she wanted Itachi's team to go beyond simply figuring out why the Akatsuki were attacking this town relentlessly.
Tsunade ordered them not to tell anyone of their side missions and that Hinata was to stay behind to cover up for their disappearances. Apparently, she had become a talented liar. Itachi was glad to hear that the Hyuuga on his team had some talents outside of her eyes and speedy fighting. She was sure to come up with reasonable enough lies. Tsunade then told them that Hinata was the only one who was to stay behind. Sakura would be needed to take care of any immediate medical emergencies on these missions and Itachi and Shisui were to take the brunt of any fighting that occurred. Sakura had protested that she could fight and Tsunade had told her that she was supposed to help her teammates fight, but not supposed to get injured. After all, someone had to make sure that they didn't come back with too many injuries or else their side missions would be found out. Sakura had held back on saying anymore after that.
"Weasel," Sakura's voice interrupted Itachi's train of thought. It was some kind of joke that Itachi's name meant weasel and his mask was that of a weasel. Itachi had argued that it'd be too obvious who he was and the Hokage at the time had simply replied that Itachi's skills would make his opponents fearful of him. Sakura was directly to his right and, like him, deftly jumping from limb to limb. "We will be overly exhausted and incapable of doing much tomorrow if we continue much longer."
Itachi glanced at the pink-haired ninja, "Tell Wasp to give the camping signal." In a moment, all twelve ninjas were entering a small clearing and taking off their masks.
"Thanks Haruno," Shisui grabbed Sakura's waist and pulled her to him. "I thought Itachi was going to kill us all."
Sakura rolled her eyes and pushed Shisui away roughly, "Keep your hands to yourself Uchiha."
"Oh come on Haruno, you know you can relax now," Shisui laughed. Sakura gave Itachi's cousin a little smile and shook her head in exasperation.
Within half an hour, Hinata had cooked a simple dinner and all the ninjas were chatting around a small fire.
"Why couldn't the old lady have put Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, and I on a team together. I'd even let Sasuke lead. We fight so well together. We've always been a team," Naruto complained.
"Don't insult Tsunade, Naruto," Sakura growled. "She knows what she's doing. The teams are very balanced. Plus, the four of us would make a young team since we're only eighteen."
"Still Sakura," Sasuke spoke up. "We're good enough to be on a team on our own."
"Foolish brother," Itachi turned his head to look at Sasuke. "Too many mistakes would be made. None of you had enough experience as ANBU."
"How are Shikamaru and Neji leading teams then?" Sasuke demanded.
"They've been in the ANBU for four years and are talented enough to be secondary leaders. Plus, many of the older, more experience ninja are out on other missions right now or have just returned from longer missions and need to recuperate. Not to mention, this isn't a large-scale mission. Jounin would take care of it if it wasn't the Akatsuki who was attacking the town."
Sasuke scowled at Itachi, but didn't say anything else. Suddenly, Itachi's head shot upwards, his ace tilted towards the treetops. "Douse the fire and put on your masks," he ordered. "We have visitors."
Everyone looked around with sharp eyes. Itachi then gave another order. "Pair up- there's not enough room to fight well as a four-person team."
Itachi made a quick look around the clearing. He himself had paired with Shisui. Upon seeing the other pairs Itachi was satisfied.
Suddenly, a shuriken whirled towards Itachi's head. As always, his Sharingan seemed to slow time down. Itachi heard Sakura call out, "weasel," in a calm yet warning tone. It was unnecessary to worry over Itachi and Sakura knew that. Calmly and smoothly, Itachi blocked the shuriken with a smooth draw of his katana. Itachi smiled behind his mask: the attack had begun, but it was weak based on the relatively slow speed of the shuriken and the barely concealed chakra signatures.
Itachi was right and all the attackers had been killed within fifteen minutes. Itachi scowled. He had wanted to keep at least one or two alive, but he guessed everyone was exhausted and didn't want to deal with an interrogation.
Sakura and Ino were now checking for wounds, but of course nobody had gotten more than a few scratches. In fact, Ino hadn't seen a point in looking at the wounds, but when Sakura had announced that she would examine them, Ino had hesitantly offered to help.
Within another fifteen minutes, everyone had taken off their masks and was joking around the relit fire. As much as Itachi wished that they could relax, he knew they had to discuss the attack.
Sakura, however, reached the matter before him. "That attack was weak," She spoke while closing the journal she had been writing in. She looked at Itachi who signaled with his hand for her to continue. "I don't think they were there to attack us. I believe that the original intent was to spy on us so that they could later send in teams to kills us. From the determination in their eyes upon attacking us, it is obvious that someone wants us dead. So, obviously, someone knew we were coming probably sent those spies in to double check the numbers and assess how strong each of us seemed. Lucky for us that Captain Uchiha noticed that we were being watched."
Itachi watched Sakura as she spoke. She didn't seem nervous about bringing up any of her ideas. She spoke in a matter-of-fact manner and spoke slowly to let her words sink in. After she spoke, Itachi spent a fraction of a second contemplating before deciding that he didn't have that much to add. The kunoichi was smart and very quick and analyzing situations.
Nevertheless, Itachi figured that he should at least say something to show he agreed with Sakura. "Haruno's theories are probably correct. The positive side of this is that they probably still don't have our numbers since I think we killed them all. The negative part of this is…"
"They know that we have the strength of at least ANBU," Sasuke interrupted.
"I know our mother taught you manners Sasuke," Itachi spoke drily. "You should not interrupt anyone while they are speaking."
From the corner of his eye, Itachi could see Sakura and Naruto sharing a glance before trying to suppress a laugh. Sasuke scowled when he heard their mirth.
"It is still rude, but we will discuss your manners some other time. There is a mission at hand." With that Itachi ended his conversation with his brother.
"How long do you think we have until they send in ANBU- level spies or assassins after us?" Shikamaru asked.
"It can't be too long," Neji mused.
"They might come by tomorrow afternoon; though that'd be the latest time I think that they'd come to be honest. For all we know, we will be attacked within an hour. If they really want us dead, which it seems they do, we can be assured of a stronger, ANBU-level back up team." Shisui had abandoned his humorous manner to tackle all possibilities. It was one of the reasons Itachi was always grateful to be on the same team as his cousin. Despite all the things that Shisui was, he was not stupid and knew how to act serious.
"I agree with Shisui." Itachi spoke as he looked at his comrades. "We should double the guard. Each team will have two members watching at a time. We'll change guard in four hours."
"Hai," everyone dispersed into their teams.
"I can take guard first," Sakura offered.
"Sakura-chan, I think you should rest. You did do some healing and I think I have more energy than you," Hinata quietly spoke.
"I'll take the first watch with you," Shisui stood up."My baby cousin needs to sleep."
Itachi narrowed his eyes at Shisui. "Sasuke is the baby cousin."
"No, he's just a little runt."
"Hn," Itachi didn't say anything else. The famous Uchiha response was enough. He moved on to lay out his sleeping bag. Sakura hesitated before doing the same. "Don't worry, Haruno. They'll be fine on the first watch."
As always, Itachi had difficulties falling asleep. Normally during missions he was able to force himself to get at least an hour or two of sleep, but this time he just couldn't. Finally, he gave up and looked around the camp. Shikamaru and Ino were sleeping next to each other. Ino's platinum blond hair was in Shikamaru's hand and the two were facing each other. However, Itachi doubted that they had fallen asleep like that. Naruto and Neji had their backs to each other. Even sleeping, there was an apparent disdain for one another.
Itachi sat up and let his long black hair out of its tie. Quietly, Itachi reached for his bag. He needed to bathe. It would relax his muscles and maybe allow him to sleep for even half an hour.
"Captain," Sakura whispered. Itachi turned around to face the kunoichi. "Where are you going?"
"I couldn't sleep so I was going to go bathe."
"Captain…"
"I'm going to signal to Shisui. He's used to me doing this. You shouldn't worry Haruno. You know I'll be fine."
"Nevertheless Captain," Sakura angrily lashed out. "There could be an attack at any moment. We need to all be here. Damn it Uchiha, why didn't we question those ninjas?"
"Haruno, I'm sure everything will be fine." Itachi was getting irritated. He wanted to get to that bath. Preferably sooner since Itachi was hoping to catch some sleep. "This may be a young set of ANBU teams, but everyone here is talented."
"Please, Captain, stay here. I don't want to worry about you along with my other worries," Sakura pleaded. This caught Itachi's interest.
"What else are you worried about?" Itachi implored and after the kunoichi didn't answer he gently spoke a single word, "Sakura?"
Sakura's head shot up to face Itachi when he spoke her name. He had never done that before so it was obvious that she'd be shocked. After staring at him for a long time she slowly answered. "They're nothing, but silly fears. There's no reason for you to be concerned."
Itachi decided to let it go for now. He had a feeling that one day she'd come to him on her own and tell him. While he was worried, he knew from Sasuke that Sakura had learned to keep her thoughts hidden. She rarely betrayed what was going through her mind anymore unless the feeling was strong. Of course, she was no where near as brilliant as an Uchiha at doing it since Itachi could always figure out how she was feeling after looking at her face for a moment. Right now, she was confused. Itachi had a feeling that Sasuke was at least a part of the reason for this.
However, all Itachi did was apologize and watch as Sakura wordlessly lay back down and went to sleep. Itachi stood there watching her petite body rise and fall. Itachi was used to seeing Sakura sleep. There were many times when she and Naruto would visit Sasuke and simply fall asleep on the floor of Sasuke's room. They didn't know it, but it had always been Itachi who would put the three of them to sleep on the spare mats that had made their way to Sasuke's room.
"Itachi," Sasuke had come down from the three he was in and was not in front of Itachi. "Don't tell me that you've also fallen for Sakura. There are already so many men in Konoha are enamored with her."
Itachi allowed himself to quietly laugh. "Do not fear, little brother, I have not fallen in love with your cherry blossom."
"She's not my cherry blossom," Sasuke mumbled.
"You wish that she was though," Itachi smirked. "Almost as soon as she stopped showing interest in you, you realized that you'd fallen for her. You often murmur her name in your sleep."
"Is this true, Sasuke?" Sakura had not been asleep after all. Sasuke was obviously mentally kicking himself and wondering why he'd forgotten about Sakura's acting talents.
"You… you weren't asleep?" Sasuke stared at the pink-haired kunoichi in disbelief.
Sakura looked at Sasuke for a long time. She wasn't hiding anything this time. Itachi watched as the kunoichi leaned towards Sasuke. Her vibrant emerald eyes were glowing with passion and her lips were parted slightly. In one quick movement, Sasuke captured Sakura's lips. When Sasuke realized what he had done, he hesitantly began to pull away.
Itachi was thoroughly amused by his younger brother's actions. Sasuke had acted on impulse (something that Uchihas had been told not to do) and was now staring at Sakura without trying to conceal his emotions (Itachi was beginning to wonder if Sasuke had erased all the things that the Uchihas had drilled into his brain).
Sakura had been even more interesting to watch than Sasuke. Her eyes had widened slightly at the feel of Itachi's lips. Itachi could have laughed at the joy and disbelief on her face. What had surprised Itachi though was the unexpected fear that flashed through Sakura's eyes a moment after the disbelief had faded away. Itachi could not remember Sakura looking afraid in a long time. If he remembered correctly, she hadn't been afraid since her parents had died when she was fourteen.
With his teammate's fear, Itachi felt a sudden urge to separate Sakura from Sasuke and hold her in his arms to keep her safe so she wouldn't be afraid. That was the moment when Itachi realized that he actually had fallen for "Sasuke's" cherry blossom. Of course, being an Uchiha, Itachi would be patient and let Sasuke and Sakura's newly-found romance deteriorate before he swooped in to take his cherry blossom into his claws where she'd be safe.
As Itachi watched Sasuke and Sakura confirm their relationship with a few words and another sweet kiss, he vowed that Sakura would be his cherry blossom. Itachi was prepared to wait for Sakura as long as was necessary, but he was already calculating that by the end of the mission, Sakura would have begun to fall for him.