Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter One - Undercover Trouble

"Did you hear something?" whispered Naruto as he and Sakura crept around yet another corner.

They had been given such a simple sounding mission. Go in, gather any interesting information and get out. Of course, Tsunade-sama had failed to mention, until the very last minute, that the entire mission would take place in the darkest, dankest, smelliest sewers either of them had ever seen.

The active part of the mission was simple enough. They stood under several different grates throughout the target building and found out everything Tsunade-sama had asked for, as well as a few things she hadn't but should know about.

They could have stayed there for hours, it was such an easy assignment.

However, just after they heard of a planned attack on Konoha, they heard the strained creaking of a door opening. Gasps and panicked muttering filled the room above them and Naruto and Sakura exchanged as concerned glance.

A dark chakra filled the air and Naruto and Sakura wasted no time in getting away from that particular grate. As they had suspected, the bloodshed began mere seconds later.

***

"Did you hear something?!" Naruto whispered again, his voice growing more urgent.

Sakura turned slightly to face at Naruto. She was about to glare at him but the sudden flash of steel further down the tunnel caught her eye. Her gasp gave Naruto more information than he ever wanted. Instead of turning, as his curious side demanded, Naruto listened to his training.

They had been found. Hiding was no longer an option. There was only one choice left.

"RUN!" yelled Naruto.

***

Sakura slumped against the trunk of the tree she had leapt up into to. She had lost sight of Naruto over half an hour ago but decided not to panic. On missions, there was always a chance of separation. That was why they had arranged an emergency meeting place before going in to those damned sewers.

Catching her breath, Sakura began leaping from tree to tree in a zigzag attempt to reach the meeting place without giving away where she was going.

Sakura suddenly froze. That same dark chakra was back!

"Shit!" she muttered to herself as she quickened her pace and leapt to yet another tree.

Somewhere behind her, she heard a dark chuckle and the snapping of branches. Her pursuer knew she had spotted them and no longer cared about concealing themselves.

Sakura threw all the charka she could spare into her feet and pushed herself faster than she had ever gone before. Her mind flashed back to the day, many years ago, when she had mocked Sasuke for teaching it to her. Sakura silently begged for his forgiveness, wherever he was now, for forcing her to pay attention and practise until she mastered it. That simple, pointless, technique was protecting her right now.

Sakura fought back the smirk when her suddenly increased speed caused her pursuer to curse out loud.

***

Naruto waited impatiently, hidden in the shadows, at the emergency meeting place he had arranged with Sakura. He had arrived only a few minutes ago but was already growing concerned at Sakura's failure to appear.

"Five more minutes." he muttered to himself. "Five more minutes, then I go looking."

Naruto shifted around uncomfortably as he tried his best to hold off the search party urge he had. Something didn't feel right. It was almost as though a shadow of pure darkness was hovering somewhere close by. It didn't help matters that his second chakra, the nine-tailed fox chakra, was spiking erratically. Naruto wasn't sure but it almost felt like it was trying to warn him about something.

Naruto lifted the cover on his watch and quickly glanced at the time. "Four more minutes." he sighed. "Four minutes and I go loo…"

A pained scream rang throughout the forest. Naruto's blood turned cold and his feet sped into motion, even his second chakra was urging him to move faster. That scream had been like a shot of pure adrenaline to his flagging system. That scream had drawn his two chakra's together for one goal.

That scream was Sakura!

***

Sakura felt the branch beneath her shake as the kunai and shuriken slammed into it. Her pursuer seemed even more determined to catch her now and clearly didn't care what condition she was left in.

Sakura leapt a second too late. The branch gave way from under her and the two were sent crashing to the waiting ground below.

Sakura screamed as she fell. A kunai had firmly lodged itself in her right shoulder. The impact with the ground actually came as a relief, throwing her into darkness and away from the burning pain in her shoulder.

***

Naruto burst through the tree line just as Sakura's body hit the ground. He shouted out to her but when he got no response, he panicked and rushed forward.

Kunai and shuriken came from nowhere. They speared through Naruto's clothing, catching one of his shoulders and the side of one of his legs in the process, and pinned him to the tree behind him.

Naruto struggled and strained but just couldn't get free. His arms and legs weren't moving as much as they should have been. Glancing at the weapons holding him prisoner, Naruto noticed the engraving on the blades. These were not ordinary weapons. The engravings were specially designed to restrain.

Naruto was going nowhere.

Unfortunately, Sakura's attacker was! The man stepped proudly out of the tree line on the other side of the clearly and stalked over to where Sakura lay. "Hmmm." he said as he finally saw her up close. "What a pretty victim!" he smirked at Naruto. "I'm going to enjoy this!"

"Don't you touch her!" screamed Naruto. "You stay away from her!"

Sakura's attacker reached down to her unconscious body and tore off her clothing. He opened his own trousers as he knelt down between Sakura's legs, exposing his intentions to her vulnerable core. He looked up toward Naruto, who had tears streaming down his face.

"My name is Youshi. Remaki Youshi."

"You're signing your own death warrant!" screamed Naruto. "I'll kill you for this!"

Youshi grinned. "I only tell you my name so this pretty one will know who the father is!"

to be continued...