A year has passed by since the pink haired kunoichi betrayed her village to the Akatsuki. Never she had a feeling of ever returning home to see her best friends, her family, nor the one she loved the most. It seemed that she got stronger by leaving her village and she couldn't careless on what had happened between her and a boy.

-Flashback-

"Good bye, Konoha. Not that I ever cared if this place is going down" she told herself.

Suddenly a black haired boy grabbed her arm as she was about to pass the gates of Konaha in a middle of a dark night.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked still holding a grip of her hand.

She smirked. "Why care now? why when I'm about to leave the village?" she asked but holding a tear in her eye.

"Because it isn't like you to be leaving the village all of a sudden." He said as he looked into her eyes which was full of anger.

"And why would you care? this village is breaking me down. And I won't let myself stay here and let this break me. Besides, I believed that no one cared especially Naruto. All you care about is having your revenge on your brother." She said while hiding her face from almost crying but her voice stayed calm and cool.

".."

"As I thought." she smirked.

He let go of her hand and she dissapeared. The words she has said to him, kept on repeating in his head as he would never imagine her saying that to him 'as I thought'.

-End of Flashback-

Now in the village of Konoha, they are in search of finding her once again. They had tried to find her but was in no luck. Naruto would do anything to bring her bacj to Konoha but it was not only for him to be caring for her once she returned. It would also be for Sasuke Uchiha.

For a long time, every since she had left, he had been thinking of her and what she said. But he hid his feelings as he wanted to keep his image but of course, Naruto was able to figure it out that he also cared for Sakura. Naruto didn't mind at all that he had feelings for her because soon enough, he realised that Hinata liked him.

He also liked her even if she was always shy and blushy. She couldn't admit it either so Naruto would always be the one asking her out and it sometimes made her faint or blush as red as a tomato. She would always accept Narutos dates btu she always stuttered in her answers. The only times when she wouldn't is when she is drunk or talking to Sakura or Ino.

In the Hokage's office,

"Good. You boys are finally here." she said turning her chair towards the two men in front of her. (Me : Though I would prefer the term young men).

The two men looked at Tsunade with a bit of fear in their eyes because she looked very concerned and serious.

"What do you want us to do Tsunade-sama?" asked Sasuke

"I need you and Naruto to go find Sakura Haruno and bring her back here. This is an A-rank mission and do NOT complain that I've already asked you because we've just received words from the land of Wind that Akatsuki was around the area and they are starting to burn down buildings in progress." she said drinking a bottle of sake.

"You must make sure she comes back here in one piece. We want to try to bring back the sweet 15 year old girl you all used to know." she said.

The two men nodded and Tsunade passed them a file of their mission.

"This is a 1 month mission. If you don't return in one month, there will be a punishment" she said.

"What kind?" Naruto asked a little bit worried.

"It won't consist of me hurting you or throwing you out of the village" she smirked.

"Now GO! You have a few hours packing all your equiptment and food for the trip. Do NOT dissapoint me!" she said with a death glare in her eyes.

"Hai!" Sasuke and Naruto said and dissapeared out of the door. Tsunade sighed.

'is this a good idea at all?' she asked herself.

Soon enough, Sasuke was at the gate waiting for Naruto impatiently as he was being annoyed by a red head girl with glasses on.

"How long will you be gone from me?" she asked sweetly.

"Maybe a decade" he said teasing her.

"-gasp- Why so long? aren't you gonna miss me Sasuke-kun?" she asked sweetly trying to seduce him.

"No. Not for a million years" he said while he was trying to get away from her.

"And please stop clinging on me Karin!" he said pulling his arm towards him.

"I'm ready!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped infront of Sasuke. Soon enough he noticed he wasn't paying attention and trying to get Karin off of him.

"Lets go..QUICKLY" he said and they ran pass the gates of Konoha.

"Good bye, Sasuke-kun! Come back soon!" she said waving at him when he dissapeared.

Sasuke tingled a bit hoping he wouldn't be back so soon. Naruto saw the expression on Sasuke's face and he grinned knowing he would run away once he reached the gates of Konoha again and hide.

After 2 or 3 hours of running, the boys stopped at a small town. They decided they'd stay here for a few days knowing the land of wind would be very cold if they arrived there too soon. And they would freeze to death so they were searching for an inn in the town. Soon enough, they found one and got the keys to the room. They only had one room with 2 beds.

Inside the room, it had 4 white seats and a coffee table, the walls had a creamy colour and wooden floor. It wasn't too bid but it was the right size for them to be in and to keep a distance as Sasuke knew Naruto would smell as twice as worse as him. The beds were far from each other. One bed against a window and one which was close to the door. Sasuke took the one next to the window while Naruto took the one near the door because he needed to go the ramen shop early as possible because there would be a long que. Sasuke didn't care because they had room service. He was wise in spending his money besides Naruto. They had a little extra money from Tsunade just in case they were in trouble.

You can guess what Naruto would use it for :P

"Okay Dobe, I'm gonna be down at the hot spring. And don't think of taking my extra from the hokage or else." he said while walking out the door since he was done.

(Oh just to let you know, they both are ANBU now :3 )

"Fine." Naruto grunted almost about to look in Sasuke's bag for his extra.

Meanwhile, in the Akatsuki base,

"Are you sure we are headed the right way Dei-kun?"

"Sure un"

"Besides, since your part of the Akatsuki for 1 year now, you can count on me as your partner even though you have been partners with Sasori for almost the entire year yeah."

"Hmm... We've only been partners for 2 missions and you mostly screw up in directions. Remember the snake problem?"

"Please never remind me un!"

"-smirked-... Lets just stop for a moment at the inn we last went. And be sure to not show those hands of yours! I'll be the one whose getting our rooms!"

"Can-" he was cut when he was about to ask if they could share rooms.

"No! Not again you little pervert!" She hissed at him with a smirk on her face.

"I'm getting a room with connected doors but I'm locking my door so you wouldn't just sneak in and steal my clothes like the last time!" she hissed at him again.

Deidara then crossed his arms and whispered curses to himself. Sakura got the room keys and they both went to their rooms. She handed one to Deidara as they were walking.

"I'm gonna go to the hot springs after I change out of this outfit." Sakura said looking at herself in a mess.

Her shirt was torn and her Akatsuki cloak has mud on it but she took it off when getting inside the inn to not blow her cover as an Akatsuki member. Deidara took his off too but put it back on after they got their keys. Because his shirt was translucent. They went inside their rooms.

Sakura closed the curtains and locked both doors and took off her clothes. She was looking through her bag and found her ninja outfit. It was her old Konoha clothes and she was still able to wear it. The way she looked at it, reminded her about the past as she tried not to remember her comrades,family,friends and most importantly Sasuke. She then thought he might already have a girlfriend since she kept bugging him through the years. She stopped that and cared for him the most when she turned 12 and his fangirls decided to use tactics on him trying to be his girlfriend. Sakura was still defending him from it as she cared so much for him. Now that she is 16, she is mostly expecting the boys having girlfriends already while the girls have boyfriends already. Sakura didn't have a boyfriend except for one perverted Deidara trying to become her boyfriend.

Soon enough after Sakura was done, she went to the hot springs. The hot springs was much more beautiful than she last remembered. She had been here once with Deidara and Sasori as they were escorting her to the Akatsuki base when the day she left Konoha.

She was at the women's side and it was big place with no one women because the people who were in the inn were business women so they had no time to be chilling like Sakura is right now. Soon when she went into the water, she felt a familiar chakra signature nearby. 'It can't be.. That's too impossible!' she told herself. The chakra signature was at the men's side. The men's side was right next to the girl's side but of course, she couldn't see who was it. She can only hear voice. So she hid her chakra signature in case if it was an enemy. Stayed silent and tried to hear who was next to her.

"Hmm. Good" A black haired boy said as he went inside the hot spring.

(He takes a loooong time to get to the hot spring. Idk why XD)

Sakura shook her head. She decided to get out of the waters. She took a towel and covered herself as much as she could. She sneaked into the men's side. 'there's no one here either but 2 clothings...' she said to herself. She was snooping around carefully to be sure she wasn't seen. She looked at the clothes and soon realise there was an Anbu mask hiding inside the clothings and found a leaf village headprotector in both. She realised she was almost right. Before she could look at some more of who it belonged to, she heard the door open and she dissapeared quickly back to the girls side.

'that was close!' she thought. 'hmm I better hide my hair if I wanna make out here alive' she said. She dried herself and put on her clothes. She realised also her clothes were easily to spot as it also has the Haruno sign at the back of her shirt. So she took a towel and covered her pink hair. But it would seem very awkward if she were to walk back to her room. So she did it carefully hiding herself and her chakra signature.

In half an hour later, she reached her room to find Deidara on her bed as he was looking through her bag.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at him.

"Relax Sakura! I left my exploding clay in here by accident and-"

"You what?" She asked with a death glare. "I hope you weren't just peaking through my diary" she said.

"Course not." he lied and blushed a little bit without her noticing.

She sighed "Just get out of my room and stay in yours! We're only gonna be here for a couple of days due to the storm that will occure soon in the land of wind" she said without anything else in her mind.

Sakura was a lot herself when she and the Akatsuki are alone. She will only hide it in public as she is showing her cruel side as how Sasuke would look. She didn't care about impressing him anymore. But she did still have a small soft side for him.

'You're strong Sakura. Do not panic if they see you. Afterall, you've been with the Akatsuki for 1 year now.' she said to herself.