Authors' Note:

This is PUP here (my AN's are underlined) and both me and InnocentBlossom (AN's are bold) are working on a collaborative story. I hope you enjoy...now a word from her.

Hey guys, so here it is finally! Hopefully you guys will like it, and please review!

Naruto is not owned by us!

Dear Diary,

Today is the 23 of June 1854 and I have just been given this diary as a present by my mother and what better way is there, than recording things that go on.

How to start... Hmmmm... My name is Sakura Haruno and I am the local nurse in a small, rural town in New South Wales, Australia. I just turned 18 today and this beautiful leather bound book was given to me to celebrate my coming of age. I don't feel any different I guess, perhaps it is just me because even my best friend Sai said that he felt a slight change...but then again, boys will be boys.

My biological parents are dead and I was adopted by the governor of this town, who I now call 'mother'. Her real name is Tsunade but I am too close to her to say that kind of thing. My long time boyfriend has just proposed to me and we are to be married when I turn nineteen, under the restriction of my mother. If I had any say in the matter I would have been long married and happily at that. Not many people are happy these days what with all the trouble that has been going on recently...

I shut the diary. Indeed there have been too many things been going on at once here in my town. The rumors that bushrangers will be attacking your home any minute are unnerving all the people around us. I am not scared or anything, just slightly worried for my mother is now getting rather stressed under the amount of paper work that she has to do. She has a lot on her plate and I do the best I can to help out, but even with her assistant, she still struggles and barely manages to get away with it. Back onto topic...The bushrangers... yes there are quite a few at large, most of them prefer to work alone but there is one group of rangers that work in a large team. This group is feared around the whole of the state; The Konoha Bushrangers. There have only been a few sightings of them around the place where only about three of them have been seen but there are many of them who work behind the scenes.

I walked out of the building I called home and towards the markets where I knew my cousin Karin would be working as a shop assistant. A few minutes later, I found myself nowhere near the shop but instead at the memorial of people who had died protecting this town. Mum. Dad.

"Hn...so you're here too." I whipped around to see a member of the organization that has been employed to look after our little town. The Akatsuki, as they liked to call themselves, preferred to keep to themselves, only appearing once in a while. I know many of them and we aren't all that close, except for one, who was also raised in this town.

"Remembering your parents?"

"Hn..."

"I'll take that as a yes."

We both stood there and watched the sun set over the red, rolling plains. As dusk approached, we bid each other farewell with a simple wave and headed in opposite directions. Goodness knows where that man goes off to, ever since his brother became a bushranger he has been more reserved. I walked back in silence watching the milky-way in the sky as I headed towards my fiancé, Neji's, house for dinner.

Somewhere many miles away.

"HINATA! GIVE ME BACK MY RAMEN!"

"N-n-no you'v-v-e had en-n-nough."

"HINATA!"

"Quiet your whining Dobe."

"TEME! I don't see you being restricted from your tomatoes!"

The man, now dubbed 'Teme', choked on the piece of fruit that he had been munching away on. He sent a deadly glare towards his best friend, which was enough to send the klutzy orange clad bushranger over the edge of his seat, onto the floor and behind his girlfriend, whom he had dragged down with him.

A new group of bushrangers came in and sat down on unoccupied seats. They huddled together and began to mutter amongst themselves.

Sasuke glanced at the new guests, waiting for them to stop their constant chatter. Lifting himself off the ground, Naruto brought his gaze towards the group of bushrangers.

"Hey Teme, who're the newbies?" He inquired, as he picked Hinata up off the ground as well.

Sasuke ignored the man's childish remark and instead waited, slightly impatiently, as the group finally ended their conversation.

The sole male of the trio of bushrangers spoke first in a slightly muffled voice, due to a mask concealing his mouth and nose.

"Yo." The man smiled into his dark navy mask. And Naruto immediately sweat dropped. "My name is Kakashi. Kakashi Hatake. I will act as the organizer of this group as per instructed." The silver-haired man spoke. He then gestured for the other two members of his group to introduce themselves.

The first female had platinum blonde hair and spoke in a voice that was equally as loud as Naruto's, maybe even louder… If that was possible.

"My name's Ino Yamanaka; Stable hands. How ya doin'?" She introduced herself, flashing a flirtatious smile in Sasuke's direction. 'He's hot.'

Naruto snickered and whispered to the blue-haired female who was seated beside him.

"Hey Hinata, do you really reckon she's a bushranger? She looks like a total sissy to me."

"Na-Naruto, I-I think s-she can hear y-you."

Alas, she could. Because, when Naruto turned his head back, to face the blonde girl before him, steam was practically pouring out of her ears. Naruto chuckled nervously as the female spoke in a deadly voice.

"You… Really… Shouldn't be talking about sissies when you look like that." Ino hissed through gritted teeth, as she eyed the blonde man's attire.

Naruto's jaw was about to hit the ground, when the final member of the new group cleared their throat.

It was another woman. Her sandy blonde locks were held together in four separate spiky pigtails. 'What idiots… They're already giving off the impression that we are a bunch of jokers. And sissies. Seriously, Ino…' She mentally groaned, before introducing herself.

"Temari. I specialise in raiding."

"Sasuke Uchiha. I am the leader of the Konoha Bushrangers."

The blue-nette spoke next, seeing as her boyfriend didn't. "I-I… M-My name i-is Hi-Hinata H-Hyuga. I… I-I'm the scout. N-Nice t-to meet y-you."

Naruto, still not having recovered from the huge blow to his ego, courtesy of Ino, remained stubbornly silent. Hinata nudged him in the ribs gently.

The blonde man sighed. "The name's Naruto Uzumaki. Believe it!"

Ino scoffed and Naruto glared at her.

'So… We got off to an… Okay start…?' Kakashi thought to himself dubiously.

"Alright, the six of us will act as the Konoha Bushrangers." Sasuke began, as he brought his gaze to the three new recruits of the gang.

"We steal from the rich and keep for ourselves." Announced the blond knuckle-head.

"So… Where are we heading next?..." Ino asked. "… Captain…?" She added, batting her eyelashes seductively.

Sasuke, ignoring the blonde's unnecessary gesture, explained. "Our next raiding will be in a small town in New South Wales."

"Is it rich?" Temari questioned, smirking slightly.

"Hn… We will set out early at dawn, tomorrow morning."

His onyx eyes scanned the room, glancing around at the rest of the group.

"Dismissed."

Naruto, Sasuke and Temari walked out of the base towards where Ino was casually grooming a chocolate coated horse. A palomino, standing tall beside his friends, occasionally nipping at one of them in dominance, raised his head towards his owner.

"Man, that stupid Ino! Say Sasuke, are we going to see that lazy ass for some information about the people who we can target..." Naruto questioned.

"Hn..." Sasuke mounted his tall stallion. "Go." He whispered to it and off they went.

"Hey Teme, where are you going..."

Naruto's voice trailed off as Sasuke pulled his palomino around and charged straight at him. Naruto jumped out of the way, grabbing onto the nearest thing. Ino wasn't impressed as Naruto clawed at her pants. She handed him the newly groomed horse and Naruto charged after Sasuke into the early light of morning. Ino glanced towards her friend who simply shrugged and placed her foot into the stirrup. Temari rolled her eyes and kicked her own horse into gear, as she swung into the saddle. The horse galloped off at full speed after those two morons.