Disclaimer
K. I'm not sure if I have to write these things but I will. I don't claim any rights to Naruto or the charecters. I give full credit to the rightful owners, blah, blah, blah. Except my story line. I mean I have no problem with them using it in Naruto, but I want credit if they do. lmao.
'A word is a word, until you mean what you say. And love isn't love, until you give it away.'
-Unknown.
Sasuke watched his teammate calmly, a slightly bored expression on his face. If one watched him long enough, they could see a protective way about how he watched her. He watched her back and forth motion with a passive expression, but his stance told people to back off. He jumped slightly when she broke through his trance and stopped her pacing. Sakura let out a groan of frustration and threw her arms up.
"I can't believe it!" She cried. "The first training real mission since we vanished, and their both still late!"
Vanished? Sasuke asked himself silently. He knew how sensitive she was about her.... 'membership' with the Akatsuki, and she knew how much he hated the fact that he left when they needed him most. He shook his head, ridding all thoughts of the past from his mind.
"No matter how many of his students go missing, Kakashi will still be Kakashi." Sasuke stated, watching as she resumed her pacing. He let his guard drop temporairily, to sigh. "And you, of all people, know how knuckle-headed Naruto can be..."
Sakura turned to him, bewilderment written across her face. She wanted to vent, and Sasuke shot down her main source. She groaned again and leaned against the other railing of the bridge, watching the water run underneath them.
After minutes of watching her back, she spun around to face him. "Yeah? Well, you know what? I-"
"Oi!" Naruto's cheerfull yell caught their attention. Both froze.
Sakura spun towards him, changing targets. "Naruto!" She screamed, a few passerby's paused at the 'Kyuubi child's' name. When they saw Sasuke and Sakura with him, they continued on nervously. "Hurry up!"
"Calm down." Sasuke murmured, watching her expression.
She responded with an "ugh" and slide down the railing, so she was sitting on the bridge.
Naruto jogged up to them, panting. "I'm here!" He declared, patting his backpack emphathetically. "I had to make sure I had enough Ramen Noodles."
Sakura blinked. "Weren't you just bragging that Iruka's taking you out for noodle after the mission?" She asked, bewildered. "Why could you possibly need noodles during the mission?"
Naruto stared at her in disbelief. "I like to keep things interesting." He stated, grinning at them.
Sakura glanced between her two teammates in bewilderment.
"Yo!" A large puff of smoke appeard on the over-head bar. Kakashi was hunched over, holding his right hand forewards with his index and middle fingers up.
Naruto opened his mouth to accuse Kakashi of being late, before Sakura intterupted him.
"So are you, Naruto, so are you." She muttered. Naruto froze, smiling sheepishly.
"But he doesn't know that." Naruto stated, adding a light chuckle.
"We have an...," Kakashi jumped down to their level and pulled out his book. He kept his eyes on the book, but continued talking, " interesting mission today."
"Really?!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fists. "What rank? S-ranked? Please say it's S-ranked!"
"Nope." Kakashi said simply, flipping the page.
Sasuke and Sakura sighed. A game of 'guess-the-mission-rank' was about to ensue. Sasuke slid down, so he was at Sakura's level. She smiled over at him, he smirked back. They sighed again.
"A!" Naruto yelled.
"Nope." Kakashi repeated.
"B?"
"Nope."
"Good thing for us there are only five ranks." Sasuke muttered. Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Don't tell me it's D..."
"I would kill myself if there were any more..." Sakura stated, shaking her head to get the picture out of her mind. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Nope."
"Okay, maybe not me. But I'd kill Naruto and Kakashi, for sure." She said, blocking Naruto's whining out of her mind.
"C?"
Kakashi nodded, closing his book. "Scouting mission. There has been mysterious activity on the border of earth and fire."
Sakura glanced up. "Sensai?" She waited until he glanced down. "Aren't scouting mission usually done by ANBU Black Ops?"
"Well...yes, but- Naruto, Shut up!" Kakashi snapped. An incessant scream of 'Anbu ranked mission, woo-hoo!' coming from the hyperactive blond. He turned back to Sakura. "Yes, but the Hokage isn't to worried about it. We've had a fairly good relationship with Earth since the war, and she figures there shouldn't be anything dangerous."
"What?" Naruto asked, his sapphire orbs resembling a puppy who had been kicked too many times.
"uh..." Kakashi trailed off, nervously watching Naruto's pout.
"Yeah." Sasuke said quickly, sending a pointed look at Sakura. "Kakashi was just kidding, right, sensai?"
"Yeah, Naruto." Sakura said, joining in. "The entire mission is dangerous. Horribly dangerous. We might not make it back alive."
They turned to Kakashi. He glanced between the two before realization dawned on his face. "Oh!" He said. "Yes, the mission is too risky for ANBU. So we have...uh..."
"Given ourselves to...." Sakura trailed off as well.
"Protect the leaf!" Sasuke concluded.
Naruto stared, glanceing between them. "Really?" He asked.
"Geez." Sasuke muttered. "You make dumb blonds look smart..."
Naruto turned to him, confusion evident on his face. "What?"
"Come on, children." Kakashi said quickly, pushing them towards the gate. 'This is going to be a long day.'
The group of four rushed through the forest. C-ranked or not, a mission was a mission, and ninja's gave their all. Soft thuds echoed around the trees from their foot falls, and the ocassional creaking wood accompanied it. All four were tense. The forest held a tense of dread, almost like a premonition. Kakashi sighed and put his book into his pocket, replacing it with a kunai. His team copied him.
"Hey!" Naruto screamed.
His three teammates fell into defensive stances, waiting for an inevidable attack. None came. Sakura was the first to turn back to Naruto. He stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Sasuke.
"What?" She snapped, glaring daggers at her half-brother. "Why did you stop us?"
"You!" Naruto yelled, pointing a finger at Sasuke. "Said I was dumber than a dumb blond!"
"Oh, yeah...." Sasuke muttered. "Sorry."
Sasuke's teammate froze, including Kakashi.
"I meant dumber than Deidara." He ammended.
Sakura stifed a giggle behind her hand, Kakashi sighed. Sasuke smirked at the confused blond, and continued their journey. Naruto grumbled something inaudiable and followed his teammate. Sakura jumped after them when her laughter was under control. Kakashi sighed, re-adjusting the kunai in his hand. 'Three years, and already their back to the way they were. I guess they haven't changed much...' The silver-haired jounin thought to himself. He followed the three teenagers in front of him, subconsiously searching the trees around them for signs of attack.
Sasuke grabbed a branch and used it to swing himself higher. He jumped from that branch to another, and yet another, following his teams path at a higher level. If an attack was coming they would need as much advantage as possible. Naruto still seems clueless, as usual, and Sakura's falling back slightly. Sasuke thought mindlessly. Good. She knows a battles coming and is making changes to our formation to compensate. Kakashi's ready as well. Dammit, Naruto, get into position...
Naruto jumped back slightly, an uneasy feeling falling over him. He tightened his grip on the kunai, and got ready to whip out a handfull of shuriken if nessecary. He carefully took in the positions of his teammates, and nodded to himself. Sasuke's position wasn't too obvious, and Sakura was hanging back. Kakashi's hand was twitching, ready to un-veil his Sharigan. All four of their senses were on high-alert, waiting for any signal an attack was coming. He was the first to notice.
Naruto froze mid-jump, and grabbed a vine to pull himself behind a large tree. He signalled for his team to do the same. Kakashi tossed the communicators at the three of them, attaching one to his neck. He waited until they gave the 'okay' sign - the index and thumb making a 'O' shape - before pulling the corner of his mask down, revealing his Sharigan. When the team was fully hidden, two ninja darted where they had been moments before.
"Sakura, stay behind and only come out if there's danger or one of us is hurt." He said quietly into the receiver.
"Hai." Her reply sounded, almost a whisper.
"Naruto, Sasuke. Follow my lead. Watch each others backs, if it becomes too dangerous, I want you three to leave." Kakashi asked, lowering his voice even more.
"What?!" Naruto hissed, annoyance flickering in his voice. "Kakashi-sensai!"
"Why?" Sasuke's voice came, a slight amount of tension in his voice. "This ninja doesn't seem to be so powerfull."
"He's advanced in genjutsu, almost at the Mangekyou level. It's next to impossible to break through. He's cold-blooded and won't hesitate to kill you." Kakashi paused. "He's been on the S-ranked criminal list for years."
They paused, but finally responded. "Hai."
"I'll take out the big one, watch each other and be carefull." Kakashi ordered, all business.
"Hai." They repeated.
"Go!" He yelled, jumping out from behind the tree, and dove towards the larger ninja.
Sasuke jumped from the higher branches, as Naruto leapt from his hiding place, both aiming at the scrawnier of the two ninjas. Both collided with him at the same moment, driving their kunai into his skin. A puff of smoke surrounded them.
"A replacement?" Naruto growled in frustration, swinging his arms to get rid of the smoke.
"Where is he?!" Sasuke yelled. A sense of dread, that had nothing to do with the earth ninjas, washed over him. A feeling he had only felt once before.
Sasuke leapt out a the smoke, a low growl rising in his throat. "Itachi!" He bellowed, pulling a Demon-Wind Shuriken from his backpack. The Akatsuki was standing near a tree, with his hand outstretched and wrapped around...
"Sakura!" Naruto screamed when he took in the scene. "No! Let my Imouto go, you jerk!"
Itachi glanced over at them, he leaned forward and whispered something next to Sakura's ear. Sasuke pulled his arm back, and threw the large shuriken at his brother. It went straight through him. 'Clone...' Sasuke thought angrily. He landed a few feet from where Itachi had been moments before, and rushed towards Sakura. She had her back pressed against the tree, and a distant, almost dreamy, expression on her face. Sasuke made the seal for Tiger.
"Ka! Release!" He ordered.
Sakura's eyes became more alert in seconds, but she still seemed woozy. Sasuke turned when Kakashi and Naruto arrived. Naruto was immediately at their side, and asking Sakura a thousand questions a minute. Kakashi slowly crouched next to his students.
"What did he say to you?" He asked softly.
Sakura focused on him before answering. "He...wanted me to go back to the Akatsuki...and he....said a bunch of stuff, I don't really remember, it's kinda blurry..." She paused, thinking. "...then he said to think about his offer and left." She shrugged weakly.
Kakashi sighed. "I took care of the big guy, but the other one got away." He sent a pointed look at Naruto and Sasuke.
"I'm sorry." Sakura murmured.
Kakashi sighed again, watching as Sasuke wrapped his arm around Sakura's waist and lifted her up. Naruto grabbed their backpacks and held them carefully. 'I was wrong...they have changed....so much.' He thought sadly.
"Geez, Itachi. Can you be more forward?" Kisame asked, watching the old Uchiha's expression. "We erased her memory and almost killed her, do you really think she'll want to come back?"
"You're right, Kisame-sempai!" Tobi cheered happily from the bench.
"No member has quit without death involved." Itachi said simply, walking towards the large manor.
"And to top it off, she's one of our targets!" Kisame exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "She's a jinchuuriki, if she comes back, we'll just have to kill her!"
"We have to eventually, whether she comes or not." Tobi stated, all traces of happiness vanished. "We'll have to get all of them eventually."
Itachi ignored them and kept moving, straight into the large building.
"Konoha it is then." Zetsu said quietly.
Authoresse Note
K, so, I had posted the old version (I think), but I re-read it and decided it sucks. So, I'm re-writing it. (Great, ne?) Yeah. I left the first two chapters the same, cause I didn't feel like changing them, but after this I'll be changing everything. Dun Dun Duhhhhhh! R&R!