Slight AU. Post ch. 305. Takes place directly after Sasuke is reunited with Naruto and Sakura. After battling Naruto, Sasuke is betrayed by Orochimaru and leaves. It is nearly 2 ½ years later when Sasuke returns to Konoha. With no word about Orochimaru or Itachi, Sasuke nearly gives up hope. But just when you're about to give up, fate has a way of blindsiding you.

Bet you all thought I was dead! I was digging through my old messenger bag full of papers when I found this story. I was real excited so I had to post it. This is my first and only Naruto story. As usual my pairings are unorthodox but very fun. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1: The Meeting

The orange sun was slowly setting over a village in the fire country. The residents of Konohagakure were closing their shops up. Vendors on the street were packing up their wares and preparing for the trips home. Store owners were trying to close up their shops in order to get home before night fell. Everyone was closing up the day except for the bar owners who relished the business that the nighttime brought them. Like the shop owners late shoppers also wanted to get home before night fell on them. Mothers and fathers walked their children home while they held one another's hand. It seemed like everyone was trying to beat the impending darkness. Everyone except for one young man.

A young man no more than seventeen years of age stood on a cliff watching the sun set over the mountains. He was sort of tall at 185.4 cm. and he weighed approximately 83.2 kg. (A.N: That's about 6 ft 1 in. and 183 pounds.) His body was lanky but muscular and well filled out. Being overly muscular didn't concern him as he didn't even like the look. Long ebony hair fell just past shoulder length; long thick strands hung down in front of his face. The hair slightly obscuring the view of his pale skin. Ask anyone and they would say that he had grown up a lot. His facial features were sharp and very striking. He was a handsome young man (some would say beautiful) whose face remained unmarred by the years and years of fighting. Despite his good looks he gave off a very dangerous aura that would frighten almost anyone.

It was almost impossible to see the young man in the waning daylight. He was wearing a black, calf length trench coat made entirely of leather. Sewn onto the back of the coat was a red and white paper fan, the symbol of his family. He was wearing a black high collar shirt that covered his neck. The top three buttons of the shirt were left undone, revealing his muscular chest. Keeping with the color scheme of his outfit his pants were black and rather loose fitting. His feet were clad in the typical sandals that were worn by most shinobi. His hands were clad in fingerless leather gloves with a metal plate over the back of the hand. Across his head was a black hitai-ate that bore a metal plate with his village's symbol carved into the center. This served to show that he not only came from Konoha but was also a ninja.

Uchiha Sasuke stared down at the picturesque setting below him. Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was set aglow by the orange sun. His ice cold eyes the color of the night held a small flicker in them from the lights below. The 'Uchiha Avenger' loved the nightlife. 'Uchiha Avenger', hah, that was a joke. It had been years and he was no closer to finding the man that had slaughtered his entire family. Though he couldn't find the man he found that he was becoming like the man himself. Every day made him a little colder, darker and more cunning. Sasuke's whole life since the age of eight was spent trying to gain revenge and restore his noble clan. Though with every passing day it seemed less and less likely that that he would get his revenge.

A strong breeze blew around him. The breeze was warm and just strong enough that it could make his trench coat flutter in the wind. As usual when he came to this spot, Sasuke contemplated why he even bothered to come back to Konoha. More often than not he couldn't come up with a good reason. After defecting from the village in order to receive training from one of the villages most feared enemies; there were very few people that trusted him. There was always his large group of fan girls, a couple of teammates and his old sensei. There were just so many watchful eyes on him that he wondered if what he had was really worth it. It wasn't like he could blame any of them though. Sometimes he wished that he could just go back to Orochimaru and continue his life as a criminal. Of course by now that was far from possible. And at times like this there was only one thing that kept him grounded. His determination for revenge.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up from the scene below. He recognized the smoothness of the voice that had addressed him. There was no friendliness, no hate, just a cool and crisp voice. "What is it Shino?" Sasuke turned around and raised an eyebrow. "A meeting?"

Shino pushed his pince-nez sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Tonight. Ten minutes." That was Shino. Quick and always to the point.

"We had better hurry."

Sasuke walked up to his companion and the two of them fell in step with one another. Shino hadn't changed much since the last time Sasuke saw him before leaving the village. Of course some things were expected to change. For example the fact that he was maybe just an inch or two taller than Sasuke. His skills as a shinobi had also grown quite considerably since his Genin days. He still wore his dark earth colored hair in the same unusual messy style has he had years ago. He still kept his eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses. The people that had managed to see his eyes over the past seventeen years could be counted on one hand. He wore a black heavy shirt with a high collar that covered the lower portion of his face. He wore a dark green jack, unbuttoned, with the hood down over his face. To those who didn't know the young Aburame he was sort of an enigma. Even to those who did know him he was a mystery. That's just the kind of person that he was.

The two ninja set off on a path that would lead them down towards the village. Neither of the men talked and neither of them needed to. It was an unlikely pair but since coming back to the village the two of them had become pretty close friends. After all it was sort of hard for two such similar people to not get along. It wasn't as if the two of them talked a lot but then again they didn't need to talk to one another half of the time. They could just understand each other so well that they didn't even need words too often. For example: Despite Sasuke's perfected mask of icy coldness, Shino could tell that there was something wrong with the Uchiha.

"Something on your mind." It wasn't a question but a blunt statement from the Aburame.

"Is there a point in lying?"

"Sorry boss. No."

Sasuke hated to be called boss. "I told you not to call me that," he said lowly. "I'm your captain. But don't call me that either."

Sasuke and Shino had joined Konoha's ANBU unit just last year. The ANBU were considered the most elite of ninja and Shino and Sasuke had made it in with no problems. For better efficiency the ANBU had been divided into teams of three. Sasuke was the captain of his team and Shino was his second in command. As a result of their missions together and unusual friendship the two of them had formed an unspoken bond. Even going as far to trust one another with their very lives.

Shino didn't say anything to this. He wasn't the type of person to pry into others lives unnecessarily. Also Sasuke was a very private person and being one himself Shino knew the need for secrets. The two ANBU members veered off into the woods, heading for the meeting place. As soon as the two of them walked into the forest they lost what little light was left. The woods around Konoha were so dense that very little light made it through, even on sunny days. Sasuke led the way down the narrow path. He was used to the dark and his keen eyes were well adjusted. As he walked through the dark woods he couldn't help but feel something burning at the back of his mind. He couldn't think about what it was but he had a bad feeling about this meeting.

"There is something strange about all of this," he stated, barely above a whisper.

Despite it being so quiet Shino was able to easily hear. He arched an eyebrow behind his glasses and asked, "You have the feeling to?"

Sasuke nodded. "Something is changing."

Sasuke didn't want to admit to Shino that he was having bad feelings about the upcoming meeting. It didn't exactly inspire confidence if the leader of your team was having those kinds of feelings. The two Jonins continued until they reached the clearing in the middle of the woods where the meetings took place. Sasuke glanced around the clearing and saw that most of the other ANBU were present. Normally they would all be wearing masks but it seemed that no one had theirs on. Most likely due to the fact that they had all assembled on such short notice. He took another look around the clearing taking notice of the different teams.

The first team that caught Sasuke's attention was team Ookami. Each team name and mask was chosen by the members of the team themselves. The leader of team Ookami was none other than Hyuga Neji. Neji was the first of the new ANBU to become a Jonin and he joined the ANBU at the same time Sasuke did. Neji was standing against a tree on the other side of the clearing. Standing next to him were his teammates Akimichi Choji and Haruno Sakura. The three of them hadn't changed much, at least in Sasuke's opinion. Neji was a handsome young man as well but he was still arrogant and a bit of an asshole. There were very few people that Neji trusted but those he did trust had a great ally. Choji had become even larger than he was previously but had put on more muscle as well. He had also gotten taller and his reddish brown hair had become even longer. Sakura, well she was still Sakura. While she had grown into a pretty young woman and a talented kunoichi; Sasuke thought she was still annoying. Despite having been teammates with her in the past she was one of the few people that Sasuke showed open dislike for, even though she showed nothing but affection towards him.

Sasuke's cold eyes moved on to the second team in the clearing. Team Kitsune consisted of an even more annoying group of people. Though both Sasuke and Shino had to admit that the team's leader, Nara Shikamaru, wasn't that bad. Shikamaru was the same lazy, pony tailed genius that everyone had come to love. With an I.Q. of well over 200 it was obvious why he was the leader of his team. Shikamaru was a genius strategist and would do anything to protect his friends. He was certainly more grounded than the other two members of his team. Though seeing as the other two members of his team were Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino this was no surprise. Ino had only grown even more beautiful over the years. The blond kept her hair styled in the same ponytail and thick tresses that hung down in front of her face. Gorgeous sea blue eyes, belonging to an equally gorgeous face, sparkled slightly in the moonlight. Naruto, the number one knuckle headed ninja, was the same as ever. The blond boy had grown taller and more powerful but in Sasuke's eyes he was still the same loudmouth. Despite having a small amount of respect for the young Kyuubi container he still hated Naruto with a passion. He doubted that that would ever change. Even though this was considered one of the weirdest teams it was a good one with a perfect mixture of strategy and power.

"Seems like everyone is here," Sasuke said disinterestedly,

Shino glanced covertly around the clearing from behind his glasses. "Actually. We're one short a full deck."

"…So it would seem."

They were indeed missing a member of their team. It was odd considering that the kunoichi was never late. "Sasuke-kun! Shino-kun!" The two Jonin rolled their eyes in annoyance. All the years hadn't changed the fact that Naruto was loud. "I didn't think you were going to show."

Shino responded to Naruto not wanting to be rude. "I had to get Sasuke." He knew that he sounded a little gruff but there was something about Naruto that got his blood boiling.

"Yeah! That reminds me! Sakura told me to tell you that she's worried about you. You know we really haven't seen you much lately!" He said with an idiotic grin.

"It's a shame," Sasuke responded coolly.

Naruto decided that he would ignore the sarcasm and immediately changed the subject. "Yeah it is. Do you guys know what this meeting is about?! I've got a really bad feeling about this?!"

Shino and Sasuke shared a quick side glance. Neither of the dark shinobi wanted to admit that they were also having bad feelings about everything. Until their leader showed up they could only wonder why the meeting had been called. In response to Naruto's question the two of them just remained silent.

"Well I bet it's something really important! I can't wait to accept this mission!" Naruto cried in excitement.

"Hey." Naruto turned to look at the dark haired Uchiha with a grin on his face. Sasuke glared back at him. "Stop acting like a kid," he said coldly.

In response to the insult Naruto growled and bared his teeth. "Shut up Sasuke-teme. Unless you want me to kick your ass again!" The blond grinned cockily and pointed his finger in Sasuke's face.

"Hn! Like last time?" Sasuke asked in his Uchiha drawl.

For once the hyperactive ninja had no comeback. The last couple of times that he faced off with Sasuke things had ended unfavorably for him. In fact, in their last fight Naruto had been completely trashed. Sometimes he wondered if he was ever able to keep up with Sasuke in the first place. Right now though that didn't matter to him. It was enough just to have the Uchiha back on their side. Even though he didn't seem to notice that Sasuke wanted nothing to do with him. Luckily though he was spared the embarrassment of coming up with a response.

"Hey guys!"

The three ANBU turned around and saw a young girl running towards them. She stopped just short of the three boys trying to catch her breath. Her head was bent low so that all they could see was the top of her head. Her brunette hair was pulled up into two neatly tied buns n the top of her head. Her skin tone was somewhere between pale and tan, not too dark but not too light. She was dressed in a pink Chinese style blouse embroidered with two dragons. The blouse was held closed by button closures near the neck and shoulder. Her pants were like the traditional pants that most shinobi wore, the only difference being that they were a dark green in color. All up and down both legs were pouches containing kunai, shuriken and various other ninja tools. Unlike most other ninjas she wore a pair of black heeled shoes with an open toe.

Naruto giggled childishly at the girl. "That's the problem with women. They're always late."

The young woman slowly lifted her head; a cold glare had taken over a pair of coffee brown eyes. The girl had a pretty heart shaped face that was a little flushed from running for so long. In fact if she hadn't currently been glaring at Naruto she would have looked beautiful. But if there was one thing that could always annoy her then that would be Naruto. She reached down towards one of the pouches and clicked it open. Her long slender fingers drew a kunai from the pouch with great speed and she immediately pointed the weapon at Naruto.

Suddenly a somewhat crazed grin spread over her face, scaring the daylights out of Naruto. "Say that again," she growled.

"Aaaaoooohhhhh! Tenten, I'm just kidding!" He cried, cowering in fear.

Sasuke watched the whole scene before him with an indifferent expression. He didn't care if Tenten threatened Naruto but the blond boy was starting to give him a headache. "Naruto…"

The panicking Naruto shrunk away from Tenten and walked closer to Sasuke. He decided that Sasuke's scary tone was preferable to a kunai wielding Tenten. "Wh-what is it Sasuke?" The Uchiha's only response was to point at something behind Naruto. "Oh no! There at it again!" Naruto cried, running off.

Sasuke, Shino and Tenten were treated to the sight of Naruto trying to pull a furious Ino away from Shikamaru. The latter wore an annoyed expression as he merely sat down and leaned against the tree. Tenten lowered the weapon and placed it back in its pouch. She turned towards Sasuke with a gracious smile on her face. She looked much different from when she was glaring at the other boy.

"Thanks for that!"

"…Whatever."

Tenten watched her leader walk over and lean against a tree as was his usual behavior during a meeting. Sasuke took a moment to look at the other two members of his team. Sasuke was the captain of team Karasu. (A.N: Karasu can be translated to be either crow or raven. It will mean raven for the purpose of my story.) His team was named such because of their unrivaled kill record. Before Tenten joined the ANBU Sasuke and Shino had taken many assassination missions and passed them easily and with no regrets. As such they were known as Karasu, which were often said to be the harbingers of death. Tenten also accepted assassinations but was less inclined to kill than her two teammates.

Tenten's coffee colored eyes remained on Sasuke. Being around Neji for so long should have taught her how to deal with guys that have standoffish attitudes. Sasuke and Shino on the other hand were different. She had only known the two of them for a short while but she knew that they were both colder than even Neji. She hated to admit it but the Uchiha prodigy scared her. More often than not just his stare was enough to make her freeze in fear. How could she be so afraid of someone that she barely knew? Maybe there was more to him than meets the eye? She glanced over into his cold onyx eyes and shook her head. Nothing but ice. Shino was a lot like their leader. It wasn't just the fact that he had bugs living in him that made him scary either. Shino was fierce and unforgiving when in battle and often his methods seemed cruel. Just like Sasuke he never seemed to show emotion and he had the same mysterious air as the Uchiha.

"So…am I late?" Tenten asked, trying to break the ever present tension between her and her teammates.

"…Just on time," Shino answered in a monotone. He shoved his hands in his pockets and gazed out at Tenten from underneath shaded eyes.

"Che! Like you can ever be late to a meeting," Sasuke replied.

Tenten nodded. "True. So, any idea what this meeting is about." Neither of them said anything, acting once again as if the person that asked the question barely existed. The brunette sighed and shook her head. "Probably just another assassination job."

A small bang followed by a puff of smoke announced the arrival of their illustrious leader. A tall, lanky young man with white hair appeared in the middle of the clearing. He was dressed in the garb and equipment of a typical Chunin but was so much more. He wore a pair of black pants, a long sleeved black shirt and the dark green tactical vests of the higer ninja ranks. The lower portion of his face was covered by his mask and his left eye was covered by his hitai-ate. In his hand was a book with a title that read Ich-Icha Paradise. He glanced around the field with his visible eye noting all of the other ninja that were standing around him.

"What?" He asked in a seemingly clueless tone. "Is there something on my face?"

"What do you mean what?!" Naruto cried. "You are late again and you act like it's no big deal!"

Ino scratched the back of her head and leaned against a tree. "He's always late. What's the big deal?" Naruto turned and glared at the girl out of the corner of his eye.

"So why are you late this time?" Sakura nearly shouted at her former sensei.

Kakashi turned to look at her with a blank look in his eye. "I took the impending fog as a bad omen and hesitated."

Just about everyone in the clearing groaned at the lame excuse that the famous copy ninja used. After an attack gravely injured Morino Ibiki some time ago, Hatake Kakashi had been asked to lead the ANBU. Of course Ibiki was still a vital part of the ANBU interrogation squad. Sasuke merely looked down at the ground as if he weren't paying attention to the world around him. He hadn't groaned like most of the others or even showed any indication that he noticed the arrival of their leader. By now he had become use to Kakashi's excuses and just accepted them without question. Besides he rarely spoke to anyone besides Shino, Kakashi and on the rare occasion Shikamaru. Most of the other people in the village still saw him as the traitor. He didn't care what they thought and did nothing to dissuade them of their beliefs. It wasn't his primary concern and probably never would be.

"If you are all done," Neji began coolly, "could we get on with this?"

With his one visible eye Kakashi glanced over at the Hyuga prodigy. "Always to the point. Where is team Tora?"

"They haven't returned from their mission yet," Choji replied.

"I guess that we will have to start without them then." Kakashi stated in his drawl. "As you have noticed we are meeting in the forest tonight instead of head quarters. This is because of the severity of our mission. The Hokage has declared this a S-Rank mission." Suddenly Kakashi had the undivided attention everyone in the clearing. "With the danger of an A-Rank mission."

"A mission with S-Rank importance and A-Rank danger severity?" Shikamaru asked in slight surprise.

"I've never even heard of anything like this before!" Tenten exclaimed.

There was a murmur of general agreement among the rest of the ANBU; only Shino and Sasuke remained completely silent. The young Uchiha stared at his former sensei with narrowed eyes. He had known Kakashi long enough to know when to be quiet. The older shinobiobviously had something to important to say. So far they hadn't even been properly briefed on the mission. There had to be a reason that the mission was so crucial as to warrant it's ranks.

"So what's this mission anyways?!" Naruto asked loudly with his cocky grin in place.

"Actually I was just getting to that." Kakashi pulled a kunai and a piece of paper out of his pocket. He turned around and nailed the piece of paper to a tree with his knife. The others turned to look at the paper and saw that it was a picture of a young man. "A couple of hours ago a request was made by Sunagakure for our ANBU to carry out an assasination on this man."

"Suna has their own ninja," Sakura said. The tone of her voice suggested that she was more than a little annoyed. "Why can't they do it themselves?"

"For a very good reason I assure you. The man that you see here is named Kazeno Takeshi. He's a represenative from the Village Hidden of the Cloud. He's also allegedly been involved with the massive slaughter in the Village of the Rain two years ago."

'I still don't get why Sunagakure couldn't do this. What is Gaara so worried about that he would entrust this mission to us?' Sasuke thought to himself.

Kakashi leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. "Presently Sunagakure is at war with the Hidden Village of the Rock. Information obtained by a Suna spy states that Kazeno is coming to form an alliance with Tsuchikage."

"So that's why Sunagakure can't send their own men," Sasuke replied.

Kakashi nodded. "That's right. If word got back that they were the ones that carried out the assassination, retaliation would come swiftly."

"Why would the Raikage want to wage war against Suna?" Neji asked.

"We don't know," Kakashi answered.

"More importanly, why did we accept this mission?" Shikamaru asked.

Shino fixed his glasses and gave a slight nod. "Carrying out the assassination would put our danger in village as well," he stated calmly.

"It seems that you guys are one step ahead of me as usual." Kakashi suddenly became very silent and the air around them grew chilly.

"...You want to say something Kakashi." Kakashi's eye opened and he turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke leaned back against his tree never breaking eye contact with his leader.

"Hm. As Shino said, it would indeed put our village in danger. Also our operatives. Kazeno has set up a small base of operations on the Konoha border. It is very likely that he will be heavily guarded. Anyone who enters is required to wear a chakra dampening device. A chakra detection barrier has been erected to detect any who try to infiltrate the base. It will pick up even the smallest of chakra signatures."

"That would make it hard for a team to get inside," Neji replied.

Kakashi sighed. "That's why we will only be sending one of you."

"What?!" Naruto cried. "But that's suicide!"

"Exactly," Kakashi deapanned. "Whoever gets sent on this mission it would be preferred if you didn't come back." Every eye in the clearing widened, save for the two stoic shinobi of team Karasu.

"Shouldn't we send a team then?" Choji asked.

"Yeah it would increase chances of survival!" Sakura agreed.

"All it would do is mean more of you to die. That is why we can only send one." This was the hardest thing that Kakashi ever had to do. "I can't force any of you to take this mission. All we need is one volunteer. Just one."

'How could they ask us something like this?' Ino thought frantically. Her legs began to shake and she could barely stand up. She felt as though she was going to have a breakdown. 'M-my legs are shaking so badly. I don't think I've ever been this afraid. I-I can't do this.' Ino hung her head in shame. There was no way that che could accept this mission. Not when she was so close to, 'Shikamaru...'

Sakura shook her head. 'Why would Tsunade-sama accept this mission? I can't do this.' Her green eyes drifted up to land on Sasuke. 'No! I just got Sasuke back! I can't miss my chance again!" Sakura wouldn't accept this mission either.

Choji glowered at the ground. 'If this was any other assassination mission I would take it. But a suicide mission? I don't think that they have barbecue in heaven.'

'I've always wanted an S-Class mission.' Neji thought excitedly. There was something else in the back of his mind. It was doubt. 'But I made a promise that i would protect Hinata-sama. If i take this mission who will protect her? Or is that an excuse?' Neji looked down at his hand that had begun to shake. "My hand is shaking. Could I be scared?' Yes, for once the Hyuga prodigy was scared to accept a mission.

Naruto was visibly trembling. He never turned down a challenge before but this was a suicide mission. 'I can't believe this!' The voice in his head raged. 'I've trained hard my entire life to become the best. To become Hokage! And now this comes up! I can't be Hokage if I'm dead! But what kind of Hokage would i be if i turned down a mission?' Naruto took a step back and shook his head. He couldn't die until he fulfilled his dream.

'Choji doesn't look too good. Naruto is shaking and Ino looks like she's on the verge of a breakdown. What a drag. This one is too troublesome.' Shikamaru wanted nothing more than to save his friends the anxiety. He just couldn't bring himself to accept the mission. After all, he was the first to admit that he was a coward.

'I have never turned down a mission before. Especially one that was this challenging.' Shino reflected on his record and decided that this statement was true. 'A good test of my abilities.'

Tenten fidgeted nervously where she stood. 'I can't believe they would accept this mission knowing that one of us would have to die.' Her coffee colored eyes glanced around the clearing and landed on Neji. 'Everyone seems so shaken by the briefing. Even Neji, he looks pale. Almost like he's frightened. Kakashi looks really upset as well. I don't think that he wanted this to happen. The only one that seems completely calm is Sasuke.' Tenten turned to look at her leader. He was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed, seemingly in his own little world. 'He's so calm. There is no way that he is human.' What was she going to do.

There was dead silence all around the clearing. Sasuke glanced around at all of his fellow ANBU. Some of them were actually shaking from the anxiety caused by the situation. Even Naruto had finally gone silent. There was a first time for everything. He looked over at his teammates to guage their reactions to the situation. Shino as usual, had no reaction what so ever. Tenten on the other hand was a different story. The young kunoichi turned several shades paler and was shaking like a leaf. Sasuke could sense the apprehension coming off of her in waves.

'She's scared. They all are. Only Shino seems normal.' Sasuke tilted his head upward and opened his eyes.

Kakashi looked at each one of his men in turn. 'None of them want to accept this mission. Not that I can blame them. They all have a lot to live for. Looks like I have no choice.' The white haired ninja cleared his throat but no one seemed to hear him. This time he cleared his throat louder and garnered the attention of everyone. "I don't blame any of you," he stated in barely above a whisper. "I have no choice but to-" Kakashi stopped mid sentence, his eye wide open in shock.

"I accept," said a serene voice.

Tenten and Shino stood rooted to their spots. Shino, who had his hand half way raised slowly lowered it to his side. The brunette simply stared at her leader in shock. She didn't understand how Sasuke could accept this mission! Was he so cold that he even his own death didn't frighten him? Was he putting up a front and making a scrifice for the group. Tenten never showed any open emotion towards her leader before. She hated him for what he had done all of those years ago. Neji and Lee had nearly died because of his betrayal. However, at the moment she couldn't help but feel a certain amount of respect for the dark young man.

"Sasuke what are you doing?! You can't volunteer for this mission! Are you insane?! This is a suicide mission!"

"Thank you Naruto. I did not know that," Sasuke said coldly.

"Naruto...shut up." Kakashi walked towards Sasuke keeping his emotions blank. "Sasuke think twice about this. Is this what you really want?" He asked quietly.

Sasuke gave a curt nod. "Besides you and Shino I am the only one that is willing to accept this mission. Everyone else is to scared." His onyx eyes shifted meaningfully from Neji to Naruto.

"Sasuke..."

"Quiet Sakura. If this is what you really want Sasuke then so be it. The mission is yours." Sasuke nodded and Kakashis nodded back. "Okay everyone. Any new business?" Everyone shook their heads numbly. Their eyes still on Sasuke. "Old business? Then you are all dismissed."

Sasuke raked a hand through his long ebony locks and walked away.

"Sasuke." Shino tried to walk up to him but Sasuke just walked right past his. "...What the hell is going on?" Shino wondered aloud.

Shino watched his captain disappear from the clearing, into the night. He couldn't help but wonder why Sasuke accepted the mission. Knowing full well that he probably would never see the other man again. One thing was for sure though. Kazeno Takeshi would not live to see another day.

End Chapter

Well, this chapter was kind of short for one of mine. Also a little boring. But this was just the opening to get the story started. Things will definitely pick up in the next couple of chapters. As for pairings, those will become evident over time. Enough rambling! Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks! Peace!