Retracing the Footsteps Of Love

Itachilova101

Summary: After Sasuke left Konoha for Orochimaru, Sakura gives up on love. Then, she meets the person she least expected to ever see. At first, she hates his mother lovin' guts, but can love, eventually, happen twice in one lifetime? Very bad at summaries...

Disclaimer: Me + Naruto No own! (Please apply to all chapters!)

A/N: Yet another fanfiction of mine! Please enjoy! If you likey, please review, but if no likey, no flames, please!

Haruno Sakura walked through Konoha, alone. She enjoyed the solitude. It gave her time to think about everything that was bugging her at the time. Usually, she only thought of Uchiha Sasuke.

This day, was no exception...

"Thank you," he'd told her. "Annoying," he'd called her... Nothing about Sasuke and his leaving made sense! Why would he want to thank her and call her annoying at the same time? Maybe he was thanking her for annoying her? That was very doubtful... Wait, forget the annoying part. Why would he want to thank her at all?

She no longer harboured feeling for love or an afinity for the Uchiha heir. Her feelings toward him were more similar to hatred, hostility. If she were to never see him again, it would be too soon.

"Haruno Sakura?" asked a man from behind her.

"Yes," she answered, turning to face the man who'd called her name.

"Hokage-sama would like to speak to you in her office immediately," he told her, bowing to her and taking his leave.

She did a transportation jutsu and appeared in the doorway of Tsunade's office. "You wished to speak to me, Shishou?"

She gave a greeting look to all the others in the room: What was left of the Rookie-Nine along with Neji and Tenten. They all returned her looks with a nod.

"Ah, yes, Sakura," Tsunade said, trying to look and sound upbeat.

"Uh, what's with the good mood?"

Naruto stood and whispered in her ear, "I think she's quit drinking and got herself a crack addiction... Sure makes her a lot more tolerant..."

"I heard that!" snapped Tsunade, throwing an eraser at Naruto's head.

"Ow!" whined Naruto, "That hurt!"

She shook her head and told the group, "I have a very important, A-ranked mission for you all. You must find and capture three shinobi of Akatsuki. Their names are: Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame and Deidara. You must bring them here alive."

"Alive?" repeated Shikamaru. "Aren't we usually supposed to kill a very strong opponent on the spot to save time and trouble?"

"Yes, that's what usually happens, but, this time, it's going to be different. We need these three for questioning. That's the whole point of the mission. Then, after we've gotten what we want from them, they'll be executed."

Everybody nodded.

"Once you've brought them all here, nine of the ten of you, which means three people per prisoner, will be in charge of supervising them. The way that will work is as so: Naruto, Kiba and Sakura will watch over Deidara. The people watching over Uchiha Itachi are: Neji, Hinata and Tenten. Finally, Ino, Shino and Shikamaru will watch over Hoshigaki Kisame."

'Yet another mission where I'll be the only girl in my team...' thought Sakura cynically.

"What about Chouji?" asked Ino. "Shouldn't he have to watch over one of them too?"

"Oh, no, that's okay!" Chouji said, looking a bit afraid. "If she doesn't want me to, I won't..."

"Fine, Chouji will watch over Itachi, as well."

Chouji dropped his head in disappointment.

"You will all be staying in an apartment close to my office. Each team will be assigned to a room on different floors. The groups will share one room."

'I have to share a room with both Naruto and Kiba?' Sakura thought, depressed. 'Great, three males to one female... There's too much testosterone in these damn missions...'

"Oh, and one more tidbit of informaition." Tsunade said with a smirk. "It has come to my attention that the Akatsuki are pursuing Uchiha Itachi for his sharingan. Just a little motivation for-"

"WHAT!" yelled both Naruto and Sakura.

'I'm going to be the one to kill Sasuke!' thought Sakura, glaring at the wall behind Tsunade.

'I won't let them kill Sasuke! I have to bring him back!' Naruto thought, glaring at the same wall.

Everybody felt the tenseness grow in the room. It was to be expected when that name was mentioned before Sakura and Naruto...

"You'll be leaving in-"

"LET'S GO!" yelled the two, interrupting Tsunade once again.

"Will you two stop interruptingm me!" Tsunade exclaimed. "You'll be leaving in seven days."

"Dismissed." Tsunaade said, waving her dismissal.

Everybody left the office. Sakura headed toward the training ground to train for her upcoming mission with Hinata, Ino and Tenten.


One week later, the ten shinobi met at the Konoha border a quarter to five in the morning. When everybody was accounted for, they put on a very small ear piece with an even smaller mic.

"Okay, for the mic to work, we have to push the button on the ear piece and keep holding it until we've finished speaking. We'll split up into our assigned groups and begin our search. Once group has found the base, notify us immediately." Shikamaru stated.

Everybody nodded and the three groups separated to search for their targets.

It wasn't going to be easy for any of them to find this place. All of them had been all over in so many different countries and never noticed their base, so they had to be even more watchful while searching.

"Man, it would've been so much easier if we had Hinata on our team..." Kiba stated.

Naruto began to brag about how Hinata was his girlfriend and not Kiba's. He always seemed to be quite proud of that.

"That's not what I meant, Dumbass." Kiba exclaimed, shaking his head at Naruto. "All I meant was that her Byakugan would be useful in times like this..."

"Yea, it would be, but we've got to make due without." Sakura said. "Besides, Hinata and Neji both have Byakugan. So, they'll proably find the base."

They continued to run and run for hours on end.

By about six-thirty in the evening, they made it into familiar territory. They were just outside of Wind Country.

"We should take a break." Sakura said, panting. "We need to keep up our chakra."

Both Naruto and Kiba looked winded and tired. They both flopped onto the ground and pantted.

"Role Call." Shikamaru's voice sounded on the receiver.

"Team Haruno here." Sakura said panting.

"Team Hyuga here." Neji said.

"Okay, where you you?" asked Shikamaru.

"It looks like we're about one hundred kilometeres from lightening country." Neji answered.

"We're just outside Wind."

"We're nearing Sound right now."

"Heh, gonna go beat the shit out of Sasuke while you're there?" asked Kiba.

"This is not time for jokes, Inuzuka." Shikamaru chastised.

"Yea, yea, whatever. Who died and made you boss, anyway?"

Shikamaru said, "if I was over there and I wasn't so tired, I'd beat the shit out of you. This is-"

"Such a drag?" asked Naruto, chuckling.

Shikamaru didn't reply, but they knew he was probably cursing like mad...


A/N: Well, that's chapter one! Please leave a review, but no flames, please!