Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters or plotline. This is a purely fan-based story.

My Really Really Reasonably Relevant Ramble:

So I know I said I'd have a Shikamaru fan-fic coming out but it seems I'm really into the weird paring things (i.e. KahokoXYunoki)! lol so anyways I wrote up a chapter of this so far and it's somewhat good I think. NOt sure how far I'll go with it guess it depends if you guys like it or not lol. But in case any of you wondering when Tsunade says Ino used that technique it has something to do with her mind-controling jutsu I just didn't really want to explain..heh...sorry! Btw Sakura I'd say is around 18 or 20 I forgot to mention it in the story...bad me!!...I suppose I will sometime. So yeah hope youe enjoy it : ) ! Btw I'm sooo sorry they don't interact in the first chapter!! In the second one they would but first tell me if you like it or not lol. Enjoy!

Chapter I


"Itachi, hurry up we have a mission to complete!" Shouts an impatient Kisame. Itachi throws his cape on and ties it in place as he walks towards the door.

"Kisame, stop being such an impatient idiot, most of us actually take a little bit of time in the morning to take a shower…ever heard of it?" He asks, glaring and Kisame with is burning red eyes. Kisame flinches but smiles anyways and walks towards the door to get out of their hideout.

"I take one…or two every week," he says casually. Itachi just brushes past him coldly, opens the door and shuts it the minute he's out, leaving Kisame inside.

"Idiot," he mutters under his breath.

"Hey Itachi you never heard the mission yet!" Kisame taunts from the other side of the door.

"Tch…" Itachi mutters as he opens the door. Kisame smirks and walks out.

"Alright so our mission is to obtain the Forbidden Scroll of the Art of Genjutsu," Kisame informs him. He looks up at Kisame with a slightly annoyed face.

"Where is it?" He asks trying not to get too annoyed by his slow teammate.

"Konoha," the smirks grows even bigger on Kisame's face.

"Why are you smirking? There is no one there that's stronger than us there anymore. They're all to busy making themselves look good to care about fighting, they are all weak," Itachi says bitterly.

"But you just said—"
"There is a fine difference between bathing and making yourself look good," Itachi growls.

"Yeah but what about—"

"Sasuke is long gone, who knows where he is and even if he does show up I will be ready to fight him, I didn't train all this time for nothing. Plus the Kyuubi has been missing for more than a year now, he most likely will not being showing up any time soon. There is always Kakashi, but he has aged and become weaker every year now, he's become what you would say softer…weaker."

"I guess, don't get all high and mighty man you just might end up falling down then," Kisame teases.

"Tch…"

"You really don't know how to take a joke," Kisame laughs.


"Let's move out team!" A pink haired kunochi yells as she jumps into the trees above them. They all put their animal masks back on and jump into the trees after her.

"Sakura, what is our plan?" asks the tall brown-haired ANBU member trailing close behind her.

"I'll tell you when we get to our resting point for safety reasons," Sakura tells him.

"Alright." Sakura and her team jump from tree to tree silently. Although the forest seems peaceful Sakura has had enough experiences in it to know you can't let your guard down in it. Her eyes dart back and forth and she scans her surroundings through her see-through mask. She has never liked the mask she was given when she joined ANBU.

"Congratulations Sakura you are now part of ANBU."

"Thank you sir, it is an honor."

"Here is your outfit and your mask. Once you put those things on you will never be a normal shinobi again, you will be given challenging S-rank missions that you and your team will have to band together to accomplish. You do not wish to back out do you?"

"No sir! I'm ready!"

"Then here you are." The leader gives her the clothing…and then the mask. A fox? Too much like a weasel. I hate weasels…especially the one who ruined Sasuke's life.

"Uh...thank you!"

"Your welcome! And welcome to ANBU!" Everyone around her cheers and she smiles proudly but a pang of sadness sets of inside of her. Sasuke…

"I hate weasels," she growls under her breath. It's only been a year since she joined ANBU and she has already been put in charge of eight missions.

"What was that Sakura-san?" asks the dark-haired ANBU member.

"Oh, uh, nothing Shino!" she shouts back startled that Shino actually heard her. When Naruto disappeared, she really had nothing to lose by joining ANBU, all her friends were either gone on missions all the time or missing, some even dead. 'If I keep thinking about that I will become weak, which is not a good thing to be!' she thinks in her head. She quickly thinks about the mission she was given.

"Sakura this mission is to protect the Forbidden Scroll of the Art of the Genjutsu," Tsunade, the Hokage explains to her. Sakura nods.

"Is it in danger right now?" she asks.

"Yes, we've heard from some of our shinobi spies that Akatsuki is planning to steal it from the base where we moved it to," Tsunade tells her.

"But what would they want with just a little forbidden scroll?"

"Sakura I thought you were smarter than that! Figure it out on your own!" Tsunade scolds.

"Yes ma'am!" She says firmly. 'But isn't their main goal to capture all the tailed beasts so they could dominate our world…of course there are only five members left that I know of right now…but still why would they steal a scroll? Don't they know all the genjutsu?'

'I still haven't completely figured it out, I guess maybe they don't know a jutsu in it…but they might not even be able to do it based on what the jutsu is.' Sakura looks stops and listens for a minute. Her teammates do the same.

"What is it?" Shino asks in a hushed voice. A bird flies out of a tree nearby.

"Oh, it was a bird," Sakura says, half-relieved. She analyzes it as it flies away…nothing un-ordinary about it, just a normal bird. 'Maybe I'm a little too tense,' she thinks to herself, but she shakes the thought away, 'One can never be too careful when one is a ninja!' She clenches her fists and starts jumping from tree to tree again at a faster pace than before. 'I wonder what Akatsuki members we will meet up with this time…if they come.' She stops and jumps down to a clearing in the forest.

"Here is where we will discuss our plan and rest," she says to her other teammates. They jump down and walk to where she is standing. There is a large tree with a big enough hole in it for them to all sit down in. As soon as they are seated their masks are pulled to the side so they can see each other's faces. Four faces stare at her with intense determined eyes.

"Alright, so we all know Akatsuki has very clever and elite shinobi, so our plan needs to have a back up," she tells them. They all nod in agreement.

"Our first plan will obviously be to guard the base where the scroll is hidden, so we will play defense," she explains, "when we get there we will all be assigned bases, but the person that will be guarding the actual scroll will be hidden. We will try and trick them as to where it is also."

"What if that plan fails," asks the brown-haired man again.

"We will go with plan B, Makoto, which is offensive," she tells him.

"Sakura-san have you ever failed a mission?" asks the long-black-haired girl of the team. Her dark brown eyes bore into Sakura's green ones.

"Once…" Sakura's voice fades off as she thinks about that horrible mission."Ino!" Sakura shouts as her blonde-haired friend is thrown into the wall by the missing-nin of the Mist Village, Takai. The pink-haired kunochi rushes over to aid her fallen teammate.

"Sakura, don't use all you energy on me," Ino says weakly, "I'll be alright."
"Let me at least heal a couple wounds," she insists, as she does so as quickly as possible, "here's a soldier pill to replenish your energy too."

"Rarrrgh!" Takai growls loudly. Sakura turns around in time to see him throw some Sebon needles at them and she pulls herself and Ino away safely.

"Here Sakura, take this," Ino says as she hands her the scroll Takai is after and her most prized bracelet. "You go on ahead, I'll take care of this guy," Ino tells her.

"But—"

"No, go on ahead, that bracelet is a promise that I will return home," she says reassuringly.

"Don't forget that," Sakura tells her.

"Forehead-girl, I won't forget. Remember I'll always be there with you," Ino says. Sakura gets up, pulls her mask to the side and smiles at Ino, then quickly covers her face again and leaves. Not daring to turn back, Sakura travels on through the forest, back to Konoha.

"Be safe Ino, I love you," Sakura whispers.

"You didn't accomplish the mission?" asks the female ANBU member.

"I did, Kei, but I failed my mission to keep someone alive…" Sakura trails off.

"Sakura…Ino was found dead along with Takai at the battle site," Tsunade informs the kunochi gently.

"According to the shinobi at the site, she used that technique."
"No! She promised," Sakura whispers angrily.

"Sakura, I know we shinobi are not supposed to show emotion, but take this chance to," Tsunade comforts Sakura.

"Tsunade-sama she promised! She promised she'd come back!" Sakura sobs into Tsunade's arms.

Sakura looks down to her wrist where the bracelet still hangs and back up to her teammates.

"I'll never let that happen again," she says as she clenches her fist. "We all rested up?" She asks. They all nod and put their masks back on as does she. "Alright, so our formation, when we travel, will be Makoto in front since he has the best defensive fighting style and his eye sight is strong. Then I will be next so I can be his back up. Then Shino, you're next, have some of your bugs staked out and you can inform me if you sense anything suspicious. Kei you are going to be last since you can hear so far away and you are the most alert of the group. Let's go!" They all take off into the trees on start on their intended path again.


"Itachi can we stop to rest and eat a little, I'm tired!" Kisame complains loudly.

"Kisame you stop, I'm not waiting for you," Itachi says irritated by Kisame's complaints. They've only been traveling for half a day and he is already on his streak of complaining. How did he ever become a member of Akatsuki? With that being in thought Itachi thinks to Kisame's fighting style and remembers why again. While he is a big pain in the ass, Kisame is a very strong fighter and is an expert in water-based jutsu. He also was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and wields the large Samehada. Even if Itachi denied it Kisame was a great fighter and a petty good teammate.

"Alright but let's rest soon otherwise we'll run out of energy," he says.

"Fine," Itachi growls.

"Hey you have any idea why we are even getting this scroll?" Kisame asks. Itachi rolls his eyes at his shark-like teammate's stupid question. But as he thinks about it, he too can't figure why they need it either.

"Pein will tell us when we come back with it," Itachi tells Kisame.

"Ahahaha! Even the infamous Itachi isn't sure what we are doing with it! Well I suppose we can just trick the shinobi guarding it into thinking we know what were doing with it," Kisame says slyly.

"I suppose, I have a hunch it has to do with something about finding one of the final tailed-beasts," Itachi thinks aloud.

"I guess."

"Prepare yourselves shinobi, I'm not holding back this time."


So there you go!! My first Naruto fan-fic lol. Hope you enjoyed it and it would be great if you could review it : ) so I know if I should keep writing (because trust me I have other stories to work on if no one likes this one lol!) It was fun to write and I love the strange pairing of these two lol. Don't ask me why I chose Shino I just thought he would make an awesome ANBU member being smart and serious and mysterious ya know? Well thanks for reading bye!