*Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto, nor any characters in it, but if you work for the people who make the Naruto series and like whatever the hell it is I'm doing, please give me a job as the one I'm at sucks terribly and my boss is a slave driver who makes me work the day after Christmas, on federal holidays, and overtime without any pay.... Thank you....

** It's been a few weeks since the new Team 7 returned after their first encounter with Sasuke after all those years of not seeing him. Naruto is busy training to learn how to use the element of wind. Sakura, left to some free time of her own has to wait for new team assignments. **

"Two weeks of no assignments," Sakura moaned to herself as she passed through the streets that were bustling with the afternoon crowd, "that's good, I guess."

After spending a few hours at the library, Sakura's right hand clutched a single book that read, "Human Experimentation: The Banishing of the Forbidden Juitsus." With Sai being out of commision from their last adventure, Sakura and Naruto were left in limbo, stuck between missions until their awkwardly weird partner got better. Naruto at least had a goal to work towards in learning more about his wind element, but Sakura was left with nothing to do but wait for something to happen.

Times like these were the worst for Sakura. Being left with nothing to do only allowed room for her to contemplate the past. Ever since Sasuke had left Konoha, she had to relive the memories of the night she begged him not to go. Things only got worse when Naruto had left with Jiraiya. It was a turning point in all of their lives. Naruto had left to become stronger, and Sakura had taken up her training with Tsunade to become a better shinobi and skilled medical nin. Still, even though Sakura was kept busy in their absence, the pain of having to face the loss of a comrade alone was hurtful. Even in the rare occasions when Sakura ran into Kakashi, she still could not relay the pain of loneliness at having been left behind. No one could understand what she was going through better than Naruto, and with him gone, she had no outlet in which to pour her tears.

Shutting the noise of the market out with remorseful thoughts, Sakura's feet wandered to a place that they had often taken her to. Before she knew it she was standing on the same path and next to the same bench that Sasuke had left her in the midnight hours the night he had left the village. Sitting on the cool stone bench, Sakura hunched over to let the breeze catch her bangs and float them so that a brief glimpse of the sun could glint in her watery eyes. As a lonely tear dropped to her lap, Sakura took advantage of her solitude to let herself sink further into her depression.

Sakura would come here to this bench often, not by her own decision but rather by pure unconcious instinct. Wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, she leaned back and shut them to let the sun dry her tears.

"Sakura-chan..."

"Hmm?" Sakura murmured as she straightened up to see who called her name.

Standing to her right a few feet down the path was Naruto. The look of worry on his face instantly caused her to force a smile. In caution of having interrupted, Naruto walked slowly over to her and sat beside her. The look she had was one he had seen before, and he didn't even need to ask what it was that was bothering her.

"Naruto... I'm glad you're back," said Sakura with the same forced smile. "The whole time you were gone I felt like I was left behind...This whole time I wondered if you were thinking of me, if Sasuke was thinking of me, and it hurt me to know that this whole time we were a team, it was like I was just in the way. That last fight you had with Sasuke, I almost wish that Yamato-sensei didn't jump between us. I thought that maybe if I could stop it this time, I could be confident in death that I did not hesitate."

Naruto waited in silence as the leaves on the ground brushed past them with time. He could feel the loneliness emanating off of Sakura, so he sat there and listened until his heart told him to proceed.

"For me, you were never in the way, Sakura-chan.... Having you there is what made me keep fighting. I knew I couldn't be a screw-up at that moment because if I did, you'd get hurt. I don't care what you say, you were never in the way. Even when I left, you were a constant reminder to me why I can't fail. Training with Jiraiya was not easy, but all the while I was thinking of you, Sakura-chan... I made you a promise to bring Sasuke back, and I will. This last fight with him changes nothing for me. Sasuke wants to return to the village," said Naruto as he paused and looked to her with a smile of reassurance, "he just hasn't admitted it yet."

Looking at Naruto with suppressed tears in her eyes, Sakura smiled to her friend in thanks.

"Arigatou, Naruto-kun."

The moon was high in the sky, and only the sound of crickets could be heard. The forest did not rustle as there was no wind that night. From the shadow of the trees, two gleaming eyes peered out onto a meadow. Out stepped Orochimaru, the person whose eyes like a snake told of his cold and heartless nature. Orochimaru, the person responsible for the death of of the third Hokage, and ultimately the person responsible for enticing Sasuke from the village and into desertion. Facing out across the meadow towards Konoha, he began to slither when he spoke.

"Kabuto..."

From the trees came a sharp flash from the glasses of Orochimaru's most trusted servant.

"Switching bodies did not completely fix the juitsu that the Sandaime placed upon me. Even with your skills I don't believe you have the knowledge to undo what he did."

"Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama, I did not think that the damage would be passed to the next shell," Kabuto explained.

"Kabuto, the only person who could know of how to treat this, is one of two people that I cannot control. Tsunade is the only person who could come close to acheiving such a feat," said Orochimaru with a look of distaste at even saying her name.

"That option is no longer available, and now that she is the fifth Hokage, we have no chance of capturing her," Kabuto said, trying to defeat any reckless decisions before they surfaced. "There is no one else who could do it."

"There is one," said Orochimaru, pausing to let a breeze pass. "Sa-ku-ra... Her skills have grown tremendously under Tsunade's tutelage from what I've been hearing. Apparently she is preparing to even pass Shizune in skill. She might be able to do it. If she can't, then atleast we can eliminate her power before it reaches Tsunade's level. Taking down Sasori was not an easy thing to do. If we get her and she can't do it, at least we can eliminate her before she is a real threat."

"It might work if we use Sasuke as leverage," said Kabuto, now seeing the potential of the idea. "The operation to switch bodies is not for a while. Who and when do you want to execute this mission?"

"I want YOU to do it. It will not be an easy feat. You have two days to prepare and then I want you to bring her back. I'm counting on you, Kabuto..."

The two figures disappeared back into the shadows, but after a few moments passed, emerging from the tree that stood closest to them was the figure of a giant venus fly trap with a man's head in its mouth. It was Zetsu, a member of the Akatsuki, a group of shinobi who deserted their villages and were wanted in every nation. Disappearing back into the tree, he was gone...