Summery: The mission clear then? And remember, under no circumstances are you to tell Naruto.
Disclaimer: (Checks closet) Nope, not there, which means i either dont own or they're lost under my bed...probably the first.
A/N- this IS my FIRST Naruto fic, so go easy on me, and im not sure if i should continue it, so review and tell me what you think! If i do continue, it may take me awhile to post...unless i stock up on sugar! yay!
Pairings: NaruSasu, ShinoKiba, maybe LeeGaara later and there might be others.
"The mission is clear then? Good and remember, under no circumstances are you to inform Naruto of what you are doing."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Four figures stood, cloaked by the shadows, just in front of a small alley way in Konoha. Two with ANBU masks, two clad in Jounin gear.
"We need to tell him, who's the old hag to say that he shouldn't now?" One of the masked figures argued, face hidden behind a dog mask.
"It makes no sense doing this without him." The smallest of the four added, mouth set in a frown.
"Hokage-sama will probably have us watched to make sure we do not go to Naruto." The third concluded.
"Not all of us she wouldn't." The first one said slowly, turning to look at his masked companion, slightly taller then himself, with a beetle mask covering his features. Silence greeted them, as the three gazed at their ANBU companion. "Aww come on, someone's gotta tell him, this is what he's been training for, for years now! We can't just do this without him. Please?" He whined lightly, completely aware that he had won, by the near silent sigh that the beetle masked figure released.
"I will find him."
"Yes!" The taller Jounin pumped his hand in the air in victory, grinning, as his fellow Jounin hugged their fourth member, before stepping back, appearing slightly sheepish.
"Thanks Shino." Kiba muttered from behind his dog mask, brushing his hand against the back of his friends. Shino nodded, glancing at the grinning Jounin across from him, Ino and Lee. They had no need to use code names around their friends, they already knew who was behind each mask. Shino's brow furrowed behind his beetle mask, but just what had he gotten himself into, agreeing to be the one to tell Naruto?
aAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAa
Naruto had a kunai out from under his pillow, taking a defensive stance, even before the intruder made it to the windowsill. He hadn't been able to sleep, a strange feeling that something was going to happen had kept him awake, keeping him away from the few precious hours of sleep where he could dream and escape life's harsh reality.
The kunai was tossed back under his pillow when he identified the masked face staring back at him.
"Shino, it's three in the morning, what are you doing here?" He demanded, pulling off his sleeping cap, as Shino stepped into the room, removing his beetle mask.
"Kiba wished for me to speak with you." Naruto merely raised an eyebrow, sagging down onto the bed, thinking that this had better be important as it was keeping him away from his attempt at sleep.
"What does dog breath want this time?" A slight twitching of Shino's nose was the only sign that he wasn't impressed with the nicknames the two shinobi's had come up with for each other.
"A mission from the Hokage." His face lit up in an instant, about time the damn hag had given him a mission, he'd been stuck in Konoha for too long, he needed to be out there, going on missions, looking for Sasuke…
"Great! When are we leaving? I can be reading in half an hour, just have to find my bag, been ages since the hag sent me on a mission, what's it ranked…?" He trailed off at the look Shino was apparently giving him, from behind his dark glasses. Who really wore sunglasses at night? He wondered, aloud he said, "What?"
"You are not coming."
"What?" He cried, outraged. Damn Shino, telling him about the mission and then telling him he wasn't going? Bastard must get some sick pleasure in torturing him.
"The hokage instructed us not to inform you of the mission."
"What the hell? Why not?" Naruto was pissed, the old hag was screwing him over again!
"We are to retrieve a missing nin, dead or alive."
"Sasuke…" The words stuck in his throat, eyes widening. Shino's nod told him his guess was correct. They were going to bring Sasuke back…dead or alive…the word dead rang through his head, sounding hollow.
"The hokage ordered this?" He asked quietly, fists clenching and unclenching in the bed sheets.
"The hokage is being put under pressure from the village elders and our allies in other villages. Uchiha has become a threat." Naruto nodded, eyes glued to the floor. Sasuke was a threat because of the snake bastard, because the snake bastard wanted his body. He clenched his fists, feeling the sharp pain of his nails digging into his hands, piercing the flesh, as blood trickled through his fingers.
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked quietly, trying desperately not to storm off and show the fifth exactly who was a threat- he'd been training for this for years, she had no right to exclude him!
"Kiba asked me to." Naruto growled, leaping to his feet.
"I'm gonna give that old hag a piece of my mind, if anyone should be going after Sasuke it should be me!" He threw open his bedroom door, pulling on his jacket as he went.
"Too emotionally involved." Shino's quiet voice made his pause; hand on the doorknob, leading outside.
"What?" He asked, eyes following a small bug that was crawling across the door.
"The hokage said you were too emotionally involved. The kyuubi would also be in danger if you went." Naruto's eyes drifted over to a picture he kept near the door, of himself, Sakura and Sasuke and the ramen stand. I will keep my promise, he told himself firmly.
"Well, I'll go convince the fifth that I should go!" He grinned fiercely, glancing over his shoulder at the other teen.
"You don't need to."
"Huh?" Shino wasn't making any sense, well at least, less then normal, where was Kiba when you needed him, he understood the bug teen more then the rest of them.
"You cannot go." Shino stated, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I know!" Naruto growled feeling frustrated.
"The fox ANBU has no restrictions however." The teen added. He swore he almost saw a mischievous grin on the pale features, before the beetle mask covered it up.
"I think you're hanging around Kiba too much, Shino, you're starting to think like him." Naruto grinned, laughing as his friend merely dropped a piece of paper on the table with the time and location to meet at, and exited the same way he entered, through the bedroom window. Grabbing the paper, he quickly read it over, before stuffing it in his pocket and heading back to the bedroom. He had two days. Quickly shedding his coat, he lay down on his bed, pulling the covers up around his shoulders. As long as the Hokage wasn't there to see them off, he would be fine and would deal with what ever trouble he happened to get into when he got back. Not that it mattered.
"You better be ready, Sasuke." He grinned at the ceiling. "I'm coming for you and this time I'm not coming back till you're with me."
He had no problem sleeping after that.
KkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkKkK
Two days later found the Fox ANBU standing amongst the Beetle and Dog ANBU as the two remaining two ninja's from their team joined them.
"We ready?" Kiba asked, voice calm, but the rest of him bouncing slightly with excitement, as the sun rose lazily in the background.
"Yup." Ino nodded, checking her pack quickly. She glanced over at Naruto, breaking out into a grin, before quickly concealing it.
Two chunnin stood at the gates with them, to wish them off, no one else was there, as the mission was supposed to be kept quiet.
"Gai-sensei says it is unhealthy to be kept inside the gates for too long!" Lee exclaimed, dramatically. "But I will miss Konoha!"
"Aww, don't worry, bushy brows, we'll be back in no time! Except we'll have Sasuke on the way back." Naruto slung an arm around the Jounin's shoulders, as Shino glanced over at Kiba, then set off, up into the trees. Kiba followed close behind, then Ino and finally Lee and Naruto.
The old hag would certainly be mad when she found out they went against a direct order, well technically 'around' a direct order, but really when did he ever listen? Besides, nothing would stop him from fulfilling his promise and bringing the teme home with him. They had some things to talk about.