Chapter One: Nightmares and Missions
"Sasuke…why are you doing this?" the blonde-haired shinobi cried out. He spit out blood onto the ground, which was already covered in the blood of his fellow shinobi dried into the gravel. The young man got to his feet, panting as the blood trickled down his neck, staining his black t-shirt. The man looked at his orange and black jacket, blowing in the wind over the body of his former teacher, Kakashi.
"You think I wanted to do this, Naruto? If I didn't, things would be much worse for all of us, for our families! Naruto, I'm sorry it has to end this way." Sasuke said, dropping his forehead protector with the leaf symbol to the side. There was a roar of water behind him. "The New Breed would have killed you anyway, I'm just making the job easier." he continued, his black hair dripping a mixture of blood and water.
"Good-bye, Naruto." Sasuke said, drawing a blade that was lying on the ground beside him. Naruto's face went pale and his eyes grew wide. The blade already had the blood of Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara, and many more on it. Naruto's was about to join his comrades on the other side. A single tear went down Sasuke's face as Naruto braced himself for death.
Naruto sat up quickly, in a pool of his own sweat, he looked over at the clock. It was eight in the morning. The sun was trying to enter Naruto's room, he looked around, Sasuke wasn't anywhere, and nobody was dead. Naruto quickly shook the image out of his head and prepared himself for another boring day.
Things had died down in the village since Tsunade had awoken from her coma, and the Akatsuki was driven into hiding after Sasuke turned on them and killed their leader Madara. Nobody had seen or heard about the organization for two years now, and things couldn't have been any better. The village was going to be celebrating the two year anniversary of Naruto defeating Pain in only one week. Naruto couldn't believe how much things had changed.
Sasuke was welcomed back to the village with open arms, the other Kages agreeing to take Sasuke off of the missing-nin list once and for all. Sasuke had moved into his old estate that belonged to him, the last remaining member of the Uchiha clan. Naruto had been seeing his close friend Sakura for a few months now, Sakura confessing her love for him after Sasuke's return.
Naruto was the only person who knew that Sasuke was actually in love with Sakura, and Naruto wasn't sure whether he was anymore, Hinata Hyuuga had caught his eye in recent weeks, and Naruto's stomach did back-flips at the sight of her.
"Oi, Naruto!" Sakura's voice called out as Naruto locked the door to his apartment. Naruto turned around to see Sakura Haruno's amazing figure standing below the stairs. Her pink hair almost glowing in the wind, her eyes standing out from the rest of the face. Naruto couldn't help but smile at Sakura's new outfit of the open pink-jacket, revealing a black undershirt, she was wearing a skirt with pink shorts underneath. Naruto jumped down from the top of the stairs down to his girlfriend.
"Hey." Naruto said, and the two quickly embraced, their lips locking for a brief moment, before Sakura pulled away and looked away. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"No. Its nothing. Never mind, why are you up so early?" Sakura asked, still not making eye contact with the boy she thought she was in love with.
"I couldn't sleep." Naruto said, and Sakura looked the other way. Naruto grabbed her head and turned it to face him, tears streaming down Sakura's face.
"Naruto, I'm sorry…but I want to break up with you." Sakura said, stepping back from him. Naruto's eyes grew wide and he could feel the tears building up in his eyes. Naruto tried to speak, but Sakura placed her finger on his lips.
"Its nothing against you, I just…I just think I have feelings for someone else." Sakura said, and before Naruto could try to reply again, she was gone, running back into the village that was just starting to become active.
Naruto sat down on the spot and let everything go, tears rushed down his face and onto the ground, he was desperate to wake up from this nightmare. He pinched himself, he tore his forehead protector off and slammed his head against the metal steps. Blood trickled down his forehead, but Naruto didn't wake up. This was reality, Sakura had just broken up with him.
Naruto picked up his headband and tied it back around his head, his eyes dropping down to the ground as he walked towards the Hokage's office to receive his daily mission.
***
"Come in!" a voice called out from inside the door, and Naruto pushed it open. Inside the room was a large desk with papers and scrolls on the desk, and on the floor all around it. Behind a huge stack of papers was a young blonde woman with a rather large chest.
"Oh, Naruto its you. Wanting a new mission I guess?" the woman asked. Naruto nodded, trying to hide his emotions.
"Did something happen this morning Naruto? I can tell when you are hiding something from me." the woman said, but Naruto shook his head before breaking down in tears. "Take the day off, I'll have Neji take an extra mission to cover for you." the woman continued.
"No! I want to get out of the village for a little while, maybe I could go help out Suigetsu, or Karin, or maybe even Juugo?" Naruto pleaded, wiping the tears off of his face.
"You can't. I have them together as a squad to take care of a disturbance in the land of mist. There are only small missions for shinobi currently not in a squad." the woman explained.
"Tsunade!" a voice yelled from down the hall, and a short woman with black hair and robe-like dress ran into the room containing a scroll.
"What is it, Shizune?" Tsunade asked as Shizune stopped by the desk handing the scroll to Naruto, panting from what seemed to be a long run. Tsunade gasped, and Shizune bit on her lower lip. Tsunade knocked over the large pile of paper and made eye contact with Naruto.
"Gather up three other shinobi, you're forming a rescue squad." Tsunade said, and Naruto took a step back, he was surprised at the sudden change with Tsunade.
"Why? Grandma Tsunade, what is going on? You have to tell me!" Naruto fired back, slamming his hands down on the Hokage's desk.
"Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo are dead. They have been killed by an unknown group of shinobi in the Land of Mist. Gather up Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno and head for the Land of Mist immediately!" Tsunade yelled. Naruto shook his head.
"I'm not going anywhere with Sakura." Naruto said. Tsunade banged her own first on the desk, making Shizune almost jump out of her skin.
"I don't care about what happened this morning with you two, but you need a healer, and she is going with you! Gather up your squad and leave as soon as possible!" Tsunade screamed. Naruto bitterly nodded before taking a step in the other direction.
"What are we supposed to do?" Naruto asked.
"Just get their bodies and get out of there alive. That's all." Tsunade said, pushed Naruto out of the room before slamming the door in his face.
***
"So, who else do we have to get?" a man asked Naruto as they ran through the streets of the village hidden in the leaves. He had long black hair tired up in a ponytail with a Chuunin vest with fishnet underneath, he had black pants with different pouches attached to his leg and waist. His name was Shikamaru Nara.
"Sasuke and…Sakura." Naruto said bitterly. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.
"Something happen with you and Sakura?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto stopped and looked at the ground as he fought back tears. "I'll take that as a yes, come on, we have to keep moving." Shikamaru said and the two started to run once more.
***
Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Sakura all stood in front of the gate to village as it started to slowly open, the sky cloudless and the sun beating down on them. Naruto and Sakura stood at opposite sides of the squad, and once the gate was open all the way, they took off towards the land of mist.
In the Land of Mist
"This is it…the grave of Zabuza and Haku…time to give them a second chance." a man in a cloak said as five other cloaked figures appeared behind him. "Begin the jutsu. We have a world to destroy." the man said, pulling down his hood to reveal a familiar face.
"Lord Madara, who will act as the leader of us?" a female voice called out.
"Simple, the leader will be one who is not with us today, the leader is one of the five that is heading towards the Sand Village right now. The leader will be Temet." Madara said with a sneer as the clouds in the sky started to pour rain down upon him.