Summary: During a mission, Naruto gets kidnapped by Akatsuki. But, the nine-tails has to be sealed last being too powerful to seal without having sealed the previous ones. There are three remaining demons left. So the Konoha nin must rescue their friend before its too late. Will they be able to help their friend? Or will Naruto die at the hands of Akatsuki?

-(.),(.)- --this is Mr. Owl (with glasses, he wears them sometimes). He's an ongoing joke in my group of friends. Whenever the chapter breaks, starts, or ends, he'll be here to say hello. XD. Yes, I am insane and proud to admit it!

Chapter 1: Mission Briefing

"Naruto come on! We have to meet Tsunade-sama for the mission briefing!" A pink haired kunoichi stood outside of a small apartment. She placed her gloved hands on her hips, annoyed at her teammate's laziness. The two had an S-ranked with their old sensei Kakashi. It was five to twelve, and the duo was supposed to be there at twelve. And while that time slot wouldn't be a problem, any shorter would be cutting it close.

"Okay Naruto, if this door isn't opened in three seconds, it's going down. Three, two, one..." She pulled her fist back, and just as she was about to make contact with the wood, the door shot open, revealing a tall blond haired teenager. He was smiling, rubbing the back of his head. "Gomen, Sakura-chan. I was waking up when you came by..." While saying this, Sakura had grabbed the boy's wrist, dragging him to the edge of the building.

"Save it Naruto. We have to leave now if we don't want to be late!" Sakura hated being late to see the Godaime. While Naruto escaped most punishment because she seemed to favor him (even if the woman would never admit it to anyone's face), most didn't. Memories came back from when she was training under Tsunade and what happened when she was late. She shivered at the extra work (and pain) that was always required. Naruto stumbled after her, his wrist still in her grasp. Once the two of them were at the edge, they started to jump the rooftops of the building towards the Hokage Tower.

Obviously the most prominent building in the village, the tower was flat on top to allow ninja to line up with the Hokage giving out orders. An ornate sign with the kanji for "fire" adorned the front of the building. Staying with the theme of fire, the entire building was red.

Naruto and Sakura had now arrived on top of Hokage Tower, and ran down the stairs to arrive on time. Sakura was stressing out, Naruto had on his classic foxy grin, and as they arrived at the door to the Hokage's office, Shizune walked around the corner, smiling.

"Good job you two, you're just on time." Tonton the pig was walking beside her, with her classic red vest and pearl necklace (A/N: why does everyone forget Tonton? she is so awesome! I mean how many ninja pigs do you see?). Shizune was in her blue robe with a white undershirt and high heels. "You guys can go in; I think Kakashi-san is already in there."

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei arrived first? Something's up." Naruto, always the one to point out the obvious, was scowling. His arms crossed over his black and orange jacket, He still maintained that childish air about him, even though his outfit and physical appearance had changed. He now stood six foot, and even with her boots on, Sakura couldn't reach the top of his head. His blond hair had grown a little longer. His black pants ended a little before his black ninja shoes started. But still, no matter how much he had changed appearance, he still was that annoying hyper-active ninja everyone loved.

Shizune laughed a little. "Don't worry, Tsunade-sama told him that the meeting was an hour earlier, to make sure he was there on time. But hurry up, you two need to get in the mission briefing quick." The two ninja opened the door at these words, hoping to not have to face to wrath of the Hokage.

Inside the office, paperwork surrounded a small desk, which also had more paperwork stacked on you top of it. Behind the desk sat a woman in a green robe on top of a shirt underneath. Her blond hair was tied into to hanging ponytails in the back, and her green eyes were sharp and piercing from years of being a ninja. In front of the desk, a man with gravity defying hair in the classic Chuunin and above stood with a book in his hands. His Hidden Leaf hitai-ate was angled over his left eye, keeping it hidden from view.

"Yo," Kakashi replied to the sound of the four of them entering the room. He never looked up from the book.

"Ohayo Kakashi-sensei," Sakura greeted her former sensei. Even though they no longer operated on a student/sensei team, it was hard to drop the suffix.

"Yosh, Kakashi-sensei, how've you been?" The trio hadn't been on any missions recently together, mostly breaking off into pairs. The area had been pretty clam lately, and any missions that were even high ranking really only required two people. They were all ecstatic to be together again, although they might not all say it out loud.

"You three be quiet. Let's get this briefing done, so you three can get out of here." Tsunade was obviously stressed out, and from the looks of it, from the mission she was about to send this group on.

"Hai," was the reply from three out of the four ninja. The other stood quietly behind the desk with the Hokage and the pig.

"Now this mission is taking place in neutral territory, in the Wave Country. That's not what I'm worried about though. The daimyo of the country has said that there has been a lot of reports of men in black coats with red clouds on them."

"Akatsuki," Naruto growled. His fists were clenched, and anger was apparent on his face.

"Yes," Tsunade replied to his growl. "I have a feeling that they are starting to get a little more active because of Jiraiya's... passing." Naruto and she flinched. The other two merely had sad faces, for neither had gotten to know the man, but they were saddened by the loss of great shinobi. When Tsunade and Naruto had found out that the old hermit had died at the hands of the leader of Akatsuki, both had withdrawn from society for a few days.

"Now, this mission is simply a scouting mission, but it's an S-rank because of who you are scouting out. Now, do not engage in battle if possible. Just try to find out what Akatsuki is up to in the Wave, then report back. Stay out of sight. This mission should last about two weeks. I expect you back then, even if you hadn't found anything out. You'll leave tomorrow morning, first thing. Dismissed,"

"Hai," came from the two younger ninja, but as they were leaving, Kakashi said, "I'll see you two tomorrow. I have to ask Tsunade-sama something." The two shrugged and left.

Tsunade sighed. "You're wondering why I would choose your team to go on a mission to scout out Akatsuki."

"Yes, I was thinking about that," Kakashi said. "I mean, we both know what Akatsuki is after. If we even go near their territory and are found out about, Akatsuki is bound to find out and come after Naruto. Don't you think it would be wise to send out a different team?" Kakashi was seriously against this mission. But, the team couldn't refuse an S-rank directly under the order from the Hokage.

Tsunade sighed. She truly didn't want to have to send them out, but they were the only team that was able to do this mission. "I'm sorry Kakashi, but your team is the only one that has the strength to perform this mission correctly. Naruto and Sakura were both trained by a Sannin, Jiraiya and I. No one else has had that privilege. You yourself are one of the best Jounin, so I need someone strong to be with them. And last but not least, once Naruto found out about this mission, don't you think he would demand to go? And then Sakura would have to go to protect him. And then you would have to go to protect the two of them. Might as well take out the extra step."

Kakashi sighed, inwardly berating himself. The Hokage was right of course. His team was the only one with the strength to fight Akatsuki if a fight did occur. He just really wanted to keep his teammates out of danger.

-(.),(.)-

Naruto and Sakura were walking along the street, heading nowhere. The pair just walked along, enjoying each others company. Well, Naruto was just enjoying it. He loved spending time with Sakura, and even though he had a mission tomorrow that involved people that had been hunting for awhile now, he couldn't help but feel happy.

Sakura one the other hand was not feeling so great. She liked being with her teammate, but the fact that he was so damn calm unnerved her. She looked over at him, now having to look up at him a little, unlike all those years ago. His hands were behind his head, sapphire eyes behind closed eyelids, and his sunlit hair catching the small breeze. Still thinking about the mission, she was reminded of the mission to Suna when the three of them went to save Gaara from the clutches of Akatsuki.

FLASHBACK

Elder Chiyo was talking to the team while they stood over the body of the fake Itachi, whose disguise had worn off when they were killed. After questioning Chiyo about how a bijuu could be removed from its host, the reply came.

"When the bijuu, is extracted from the container, the container… dies."

END OF FLASHBACK

Sakura shivered at the memory. Even though Naruto and herself were now much stronger than the two of them were before Naruto had left, Sakura stilled worried about her teammate. "Naruto…"

"Yeah, what is it Sakura-chan?" Naruto was curious to what could make her voice sound so…frightened. Sakura rarely showed fear anymore, and it was only in the strictest of situations.

"Don't you think that this mission is a little risky? I mean, you've faced Akatsuki before, and survived, but it's been a while before they last tried to attack any of the jinchurikis, according to Jiraiya's spy network. They might have recruited more powerful members by now," As Sakura's speech continued, she began to become more and more distressed. She had already lost one teammate, and she'd be damned before she lost another. Naruto looked at his teammate and long time crush. He wasn't going to let her worry, at least not about him.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan. I promise that I won't get hurt. It's just a scouting mission, right? What could possibly go wrong?" Naruto had his classic foxy grin on, with his hands behind his head. Running through Sakura's mind, the same word remained in one position. Everything. But she couldn't say that. He was too resilient, too absorbed in his goals.

Sakura decided the best way to handle him was to just put up a front that Naruto would accept. She smiled and scoffed. "I don't know. But knowing you, you'll fall in the lake and drown because you thought you saw a bowl of ramen at the bottom," Naruto pouted.

"Sakura-chan, you know I would never do that," Sakura laughed.

"Yeah, I know. So, should we go get ready? We have to leave tomorrow morning, and I want to get packed before then," Naruto sighed at her comment. He was hoping to ask her on another date, but it looked like that wasn't happening. For some reason, even unbeknownst to our young ninja, he had a crush on the girl for as long as he could remember. He hoped that one maybe she would return the feeling.

So instead he just smiled and said, "Hehe, yeah. I need to pack up all my ramen!" Sakura hit him over the head for that.

"Baka! Only pack the necessities, okay?" Even though she hit him for these things, she enjoyed these strange little comments. It made the day more interesting.

"Hai, hai, Sakura-chan. I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" His voice sounded as though he wished that she would give a different reply then the one he was expecting.

"Yeah, I'll see you then Naruto," she left him in front of her house. Neither of them had realized where they were walking, and had automatically walked straight to her house. She was confused by the tone of his voice. Why did he sound so resigned? Was he finally giving up on asking her out? On the surface, Sakura was cheering, but underneath, she wasn't so sure. She liked having the blonde near her, and was comfortable when he was near. But to her, their relationship was a brother and sister kind of thing. She didn't want it growing past that. She was scared of growing close to him. She still had nightmares of Sasuke...

She arrived at her apartment. During her time training with Tsunade, she moved out of her parent's house and into her own place. It made it easier to not have her parents nagging her all the time. It was now about twelve thirty, and she had some time left to think about the mission. She packed everything then, so she wouldn't have to deal with it later. She headed out to the training ground number 7, and sat by the river running through there. A flood of memories came back…

The survival exercise, Naruto coming out of the water saying he was better than all the rest…

Training with Tsunade, dodging balls shot at her with the monster strength she possessed…

Spending a night here all alone, with no teammate to be there with her…

Naruto back, and the two of them fighting against Kakashi, and winning, using Naruto's maverick mind…

Sakura's eyes shot open. She had been sitting there for a few hours, longer than she had wanted. Right in front of her face, instead of the ice blue of the river, she saw warm, gentle blue with yellow hanging in front of them. She was so surprised by him being right in front of her, she fell back onto the ground.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" She picked herself up, trying to retain some dignity.

He stood up, once again rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. He was smiling again, that foxy grin. "Sorry, I went to your house to see if you wanted to go out for dinner before going to bed for the mission. But, you were already gone. I was looking all over for you before I thought to come out here."

Sakura smiled. Typical Naruto, he went looking for her just because he wanted to go out. "How about when we get back from the mission Naruto? Its getting late now, and we have to leave early. I promise okay?"

"Okay Sakura-chan! Definitely, when we get back!" Around them, the sun continued set. Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Um, Sakura-chan, can I walk you home? It's getting late…"

"Sure Naruto," Sakura replied, a small laugh under her answer. He was never subtle, and he would pretty much do anything to be around her.

The two of them walked the trail back to the village, talking about nothing and everything.

-(.),(.)- The next day

Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura were lined up at the gate, and Tsunade was sending them off. "Everyone ready?" Tsunade asked the three of them. Naruto, Sakura, and Tsunade had been waiting and hour for Kakashi. The three of them nodded. "Okay then, see you when you get back," The trio nodded, gave a goodbye, and left the village.

Tsunade sighed and turned back to the tower. As she walked, she looked to the sky.

Please, come back.

Yes! First chapter done! Yeah, I know, kinda lame right now. But I it will get better. One review, and I'll post the next chapter. That's all I need!