A/n: Hey guys! It's me again! Sorry for not updating 3G for a looong time... (My head was stuck with other ideas, like this one, and I haven't really wrote out the plot for the next chapter of 3G yet...) I hope that this new story can make it up for the superrrr slow update!

So anyway, this plot takes place after Konoha is destroyed by Akatsuki. In this story, however, Sasuke has come home to Konoha, (finally! :D) and most of the characters have different ... erm... characters... (Meaning like, instead of being a ninja, Sakura is a tribal princess? ^^') Hehe. Lam, I know. But I had a sudden urge to just write this out... I was also running out of ideas for the title of this story- sooo promise not to laugh! 0_o''

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...

... On with the story!

.Of chocolate-laced hugs and sugar-coated kisses.

.1.

Sasuke and Naruto moved swiftly and quietly as they hopped from tree to tree. They were on an undercover mission which the Godaime had assigned them- they were to have a negotiation with a certain ancient tribe that had recently appeared north of Konoha's boundaries.

"Ne, Teme! What do you think those tribe's people are like? Do you think they have chakras like us, too?" Sasuke shrugged. Truth to be told, he didn't know either.

Tsunade had told them that this tribe was a powerful and ancient one, existing even before the time that the Uchiha clan and Senju clan were born. The tribe was said to have tried to conquer the Uchihas once, and the thought made Sasuke frown. If they had tried to do so, then Sasuke considered them to be his enemy. However, it was rumored that when the tribe had failed to do so, they vanished and were not seen by anyone up till recently, which meant that they either fled or stayed under cover for almost a century. Che. What losers. He inwardly mused.

For once, Naruto was quiet throughout the whole journey. He was also lost in thought, pondering about this tribe. It was called the Haraki tribe, if he was not wrong. He wondered who they were, if they were powerful as ancients usually were. A frown marred his face. According to what Granny-Tsunade had said, this ancient tribe had ancient healing and excellent fighting skills. As the Great Ninja War had, quite recently, ended, Konoha's military defense had been weakened drastically due to the sharp drop in the number of shinobis. The Godaime was so worried that other villages would try to conquer Konoha at this state that when she heard of the sudden appearance of this ancient tribe, she immediately sent Sasuke and Naruto- the two ANBUs that were available at that time, to try to negotiate with the Haraki tribe in order to receive military assistance.

"I expect both of you to return on time with a successful negotiation." Tsunade had said. "And please, you two, try to refrain from violence lest you are asking for an express train ticket to hell." She finished. Sasuke had rolled his eyes and Naruto just pouted in a corner. "No fighting?" He lamented. "This is gonna be so-"

"If you won't quit complaining, I can assign you a D-ranked mission, Naruto!" Tsunade hissed, cracking her knuckles and giving him a toothy grin. Naruto swore he saw razor-sharp teeth and shuddered. "H-hai, Baa-chan…" he replied weakly. With that, the two ANBUs teleported themselves out of her new office with a silent 'poof'.

Snapping back into attention, the two ANBUs continued their way through the forest.

Back in Konoha, Tsunade gave another weary sigh. With a sake cup held in her hand, she thought back about how she almost died during the recent Ninja War, how many lives had been lost- and how she had lost so many of her loved ones. At least Naruto is safe… And on top of that, his best friend is where he belongs too. A small voice echoed in her head. She nodded quietly to herself. During these past few months, all the survivors of this war had pulled themselves together and learned to get on with their lives. Houses were being re-built; many people pulled themselves out of their misery and started anew. Sensing the will of fire in all her people, she felt proud and motivated. Come back safely, you two. She thought. And please bring them back for me. For us. For Konoha.

"Ne, Temeee! I'm starving now! Can we rest here for the night? We're almost at the border anyway- we should be able to cross the border by tomorrow." Naruto complained. Sasuke glared at him before stopping. A small sigh of annoyance escaped his lips as he jumped to the forest floor silently. After carefully scanning the surroundings, he quietly sat down and opened his rucksack. Silence ensued between them after that, until...

"Why are you staring at me?" Sasuke hissed after a few silent moments. His hand twitched in anger and he felt like punching the dobe's face. Naruto was staring at him intently with huge, puppy-like blue eyes. Sasuke grimaced at this and smacked the dobe's head. "Yeow! Teme, what was that for?" Naruto yelled. "Quit staring at me, dobe. It's absolutely disturbing." Sasuke grunted in reply. "Che! I was only 'asking' for a little of your Katon! I mean, there's no way I can eat my ramen without a fire…" "No." Sasuke replied without a moment of hesitation. "But Temeeeeeee! Temeeee! Tem-" Naruto's sentence was abruptly cut off when a huge fireball was directed at his face. "Ita- itai!" Naruto's loud howl could be heard throughout the whole forest.

"There are intruders which are headed in our direction, Father." A redhead muttered. "They were travelling during the day but now it seems they have stopped to take a rest. Do you think we should ambush them?" she asked quietly. Her father looked up from his seat. "No. We'll wait and see what they are here for." The redhead nodded silently before bowing and leaving the room in a wisp of smoke.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was trying in vain to control his headache. The cause of it was Naruto's slurping of noodles and continuous rambling about how cruel he was, having singed off some of his shiny, beautiful, blond hair… Sasuke's control finally snapped. With deadly accuracy and a quick flick of his wrist and, a kunai plunged into Naruto's instant ramen cup, hot soup poring onto the dobe's lap and scalding him instantly. "Temeeeeee!" Naruto screamed in rage.

_short time skip_

Naruto and Sasuke plopped down onto the forest floor in exhaustion, panting heavily after the fierce spar that Naruto had engaged. The sun had sunk all the way below the mountains- it was very dark already. Sasuke winced when he clenched his jaw. That damned dobe had broken it when he unexpectedly lunged at Sasuke and gave him a punch after his ramen was ruined. Without blinking, Sasuke jerked it to the other side, dark chakra emitting from his fingertips at the same time, trying to heal the fracture. He may not know much about medical chakra, but at least his Sharingan had picked up the basic healings when watching medics carrying out their healing sessions.

As for Naruto, he felt his wounds closing- the Kyuubi's chakra was rapidly healing his wounds. "Damn you, Teme! First burning off my hair, then destroying my ramen, and now you just gave me another kick to my stomach!" Naruto half-yelled half-grimaced. In reply, Sasuke just gave him his trademark smirk and turned away. When both their breathings had evened out, Sasuke stood up and said, "I'll take the first watch." Naruto nodded gratefully before setting up his tent and crawling in, snoring loudly as soon as his head touched the sleeping bag. Sasuke sighed in annoyance before jumping up onto a tree branch and looking around at the dark forest that surrounded them. Night wrapped around the whole forest like a giant blanket, silencing most of nature's calls. Putting a genjutsu around the perimeter, Sasuke surveyed his surroundings once more before hopping off the branch and crawling into his tent, letting sleep consume him.

Sasuke awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and frogs croaking. Looking around, he decided that he could not go back to sleep. He estimated that it was already about seven in the morning, and if they wanted to get the mission done and over with, they had to set off very soon. He shuffled out of his tent and proceeded to stalk over to the dobe's tent. "Dobe, wake up." Sasuke called out monotonously. Just as expected, Naruto just groaned and tossed in another direction, snoring loudly. "Dobe, wake up!" Sasuke grunted louder, becoming rather irritated. When Naruto still did not respond, Sasuke smacked Naruto's head harshly. "Teme? What the hell was there for, you bastard?" Sasuke flinched. It was barely a minute and Naruto was already screaming right into his ear.

Sasuke huffed in frustration before saying, "Get ready, dobe. We need to get moving or we won't make it back in time." "Heheh. That's like, the longest sentence I've ever heard you say, Teme!" Naruto laughed giddily. Sasuke frowned. Just how was this idiot his best friend?

"They're nearing, Father. The two intruders from yesterday." The redheaded girl spoke again. "Get some guards to stay in the clearing. We'll test them a little bit." Her Father replied gruffly. "Fatheeerrr!" A childish and cheery voice called out. The old man smiled gently, welcoming his younger child with open arms. "We're going to encounter some intruders." Her father murmured. "Ne? Really? Do I get to fight?" The lithe female questioned in excitement. "Maybe. I'll place your sister at the clearing first. After drawing information and if they are able to defeat two of our men, we shall see what we'll do next." His daughter nodded eagerly. "Sounds cool!"

They were nearing their target. Both Sasuke and Naruto could feel the pulsing waves of powerful and ancient chakra. Sasuke was silently awed by the soft, steady beat of this new chakra. It felt ancient- pulsing gently, yet there was an undertone of deadly destruction. Although chakras were generally blue in color, this ancient chakra was a very glaring and bright color. White or golden, maybe.

To say Naruto was not amazed by this new chakra presence would be an understatement. His mouth hung open in wonder as he gaped at the presence of the mysterious chakra. It gave him a soothing feel, and its gentle beats were like the pulsing beat of life itself. He suddenly felt very light- hearted and giddy, and had a sudden urge to shout out in joy at the feel of a cool breeze grazing his face. For some unknown reason, his whole being felt exhilarated, adrenaline rushing throughout his whole body.

A steel knife, which resembled a kunai, was thrown so quickly that Naruto managed to avoid it just in time. The two ANBUs wasted no time hopping down onto the forest floor and got into their fighting stance. When a slight rustle was heard, Sasuke released the tension in his muscles, lunging forward with absolute speed and grace, the tomoes in his Sharingan spinning wildly. Behind him, he heard Naruto summoning his shadow clones and focused on his opponent. His opponent wore an eagle mask, which closely resembled their own ANBU masks. However, his opponent's chakra was not the ancient, golden chakra. It had a partly ancient and partly normal feel to it. He swiftly whipped out his katana and made a move to slice the opponent. His masked opponent swiftly back flipped out of his slicing range and he smirked. Not bad.

Performing the hand seals he required quickly, he shot fire balls after fire balls at his opponent. Though his opponent managed to dodge most of them, one of it grazed his left forearm and taking the opportunity to attack his slightly distracted opponent, he surged forward with his katana crackling fiercely with the Chidori Nagashi which he had implanted in it. With a fierce slash, he injured his opponent severely. Standing over his opponent's groaning form, he questioned, "Who are you?"

At the same time, Naruto was creating several Rasengans and hitting his opponent with his Naruto Rendan. It's a good thing that I am able to summon so many shadow clones at one go! Naruto inwardly grinned. But damn, his opponent had an ability to create shadow clones too. He sighed in frustration. His opponent was highly skilled, following his every move. How does he do that? It was as if he had the Sharingan and thus had the ability to copy Naruto's every move. Rather fed up, Naruto finally thought of a simple trick. He used Henge no Jutsu, and when his opponent made the mistake of attacking his Henge, Naruto stabbed him with his kunai from behind.

Once he was done, he turned to look at his teammate. Sasuke was standing over one of the opponents, glaring hatefully at the man who was lying in the ground in pain. "Who sent you?" He asked maliciously. When he saw the man ignoring Sasuke and not replying any of his questions, Naruto swiftly went over and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Ne, Teme, it looks like he isn't going to answer any of our questions. We might as well finish him off!" Sasuke made no move to show that he had heard Naruto, but after a while he swiftly plunged his katana into the opponent's chest.

"Well, well! Look what we have here!" A brown-haired man with red tribal markings appeared from between the trees. Right behind him was a gigantic white dog who was panting and looking at them curiously. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in warning when the stranger moved closer. His hold on his katana tightened in caution, the tomoes in his Sharingan swirling dangerously. Beside him, he felt Naruto tense up too.

Out of the blue, a shadow fell over Sasuke and he looked up in alarm just in time to see a lithe figure jumped over him and landed on the forest floor behind him. He swiftly pointed his katana toward the unknown figure, Naruto's back touching his. That way, Naruto could deal with the dog-boy.

Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction when he finally took in his opponent's appearance. A slim figure with slender waist and well-toned limbs, he noticed. However, what struck him was the color of her hair. It was a soft, coral pink, definitely a unique hair color- he inwardly mused. He quickly scrutinized her face. She had soft, pink lips, and large forest green eyes. Just as he was looking her over, she suddenly appeared in front of him, her face grinning cheekily up at him. Up close, he could smell her earthy scent. She smelled of the forest and peppermint, with a slight hint of strawberry aroma. With amazing speed and grace, the strange female had crushed him onto her chest, the force of her bear hug sending him tumbling roughly onto the forest floor. Alarmed, Naruto turned around to look at his fallen comrade. "Oy, Sasuke! What the hell are you-" He was cut off by the sudden laughter that broke out of the dog-boy's lips. He spun around in confusion. What the hell was going on?

Sasuke was downright pissed. Not only had he let his guard down by scrutinizing the pink-haired female, he had also been tackled to the ground out of the blue. And he was very angry- he had always loved his own personal space. The female's hug was crushing him- she was hugging him with so much force. How could such a small girl have so much power? He roughly pushed her off him in retaliation to his personal space being invaded. However, just when she was about to be pushed off, another female voice said, "Sakura. Get off him."

In a flash, the girl released her grip on him and he was left alone on the forest floor. He turned to look at the newcomer. She looked a tad bit like Sakura, except for the fact that her hair was red in color, and her eyes were not a sparkling green like hers but a piercing red. She was taller than Sakura, and her face was clean of markings, unlike Sakura's who had glowing pink markings everywhere.

One look and he could tell that the redhead was much more serious than Sakura. Sakura had an air of childishness and bubbling joy around her- very much unlike the redhead. "Ne, Karin nee-chan! No need to be so cold!" Sakura pouted childishly. Whilst Sasuke stared blankly at the two of them (plus the dog-boy), Naruto was gaping at them. "Are you guys from the Haraki tribe?"

"Haiii!" Sakura answered in a cheery manner. "Ne, ne! What are you guys here for? What are your names anyway? I'm Sakura! And this is Karin nee-chan, and that is Kiba-kun!" She rambled on. Sasuke groaned in frustration. He was not only angry about the stupid invasion of his personal space just moments ago, but he was also beginning to think that this Sakura would be an exact copy of Naruto…

... ...He really wished that he was at home sleeping, with his huge pile of tomatoes at his bedside… …

His train of thought was immediately broken as Sakura suddenly, like just now, appeared in between him and Naruto and gripped their forearms. "And now I shall bring you to meet my father!" she squealed happily. Sasuke tried to remove her hand from his desperately, but as he turned around to grab his sword, he noticed that the dog-boy -Kiba was it?- had gotten hold of it and was grinning in triumph. Sasuke shot him a death glare before stalking angrily with Sakura pulling him and Naruto along.

So, how was it? I hope that you will tell me how I can improve! Sorry if Sasuke's kinda OOC! (Sometimes I just can't help it! :P)

Your reviews make my day!

- Izumii (Thanks so much for reading- until next time! =P )