It would be hours before the sun crept over the horizon, but Sasuke was already leaping through the forest. He didn't want to enter Yu from Oto and immediately be marked as an enemy, so he'd crossed into Fire Country to enter Hot Springs through its southern gate.

Every time his feet found the solid branches of the forest, his stomach squirmed. Although he hadn't checked, he felt certain Konoha had branded him a traitor and put his name and face in the Bingo Book.

I'm a wanted man, he thought and tried to suppress a shudder. Visions of masked hunter-nin made him glance over his shoulder with every step.

The sun had nearly reached its apex before Sasuke dropped from the trees. Sliding a straw sedge hat down over his eyes, he covertly scanned the horizon for carts or people—the main road to Yu would soon be full of festival-bound travelers. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he'd taken care to don rough-spun peasant clothes and store his weapons in a sealing scroll stuffed deep inside his pocket.

After half an hour's travel by foot, he saw a knot of travelers clustered around a well. Sasuke slowed his pace considerably until he was sure they'd moved on. As he ambled to the well, the only person still lingering was a wiry old man with a full cart and a dead ox.

Sasuke ladled up some water, tipping his hat low over his face to avoid eye contact. It wasn't enough to deter the old man.

"Going to Hot Springs, son?"

Sasuke nodded crisply and turned back to the road.

"I'm on my way there, too. Well, I was on my way before this old lump died on me. I thought he had one more trip in him, but I guess I was wrong. Don't know what I'm going to do now. The daimyo's expecting these casks of ale. Sent for them himself. Said he wouldn't have a festival without my beer." The old man puffed out his chest as Sasuke looked over the cart full of barrels.

"Where in Yu are you delivering these to?" he asked, gesturing to the cart with his chin.

"Directly to the castle. These are for Daimyo Nakamura's celebration feast for his daughter. The daimyo said he wouldn't have—"

"A festival without your beer—you said that. You need to get this cart into Hot Springs, through the castle gate, and into the inner courtyard, right?" Sasuke supposed this would save him a lot of time. The quicker he got close to Nakamura Sachi, the better positioned he'd be when Itachi showed up to claim the girl.

"Unhitch the ox. I'll take your cart."

"You? Alone? Young man, I'm sure you're very strong, but these barrels are heavy. I appreciate the offer, but—"

"Do you want my help or not? Unhitch the ox."

After some fumbling with the yoke, Sasuke situated the leather straps around his shoulders and, channeling chakra to his arms and legs, pulled the cart toward the Land of Hot Springs.


Just one fish! Sakura thought as she pulled her kunai at the last second. Green iridescence wriggled against a tree and she exhaled in relief—she'd stopped in time. It was second nature to gather food for three or more teammates. She wasn't used to fishing for one.

She wandered another twenty yards or so from the stream, searching for a secluded area to set up camp. An outcropping of smooth stone made a perfect shelter—the rocks guarded her on two sides. Without the help of teammates, Sakura had to cut down the openings, allow less opportunity for the enemy. She busied herself with setting up camp and cooking her fish, humming to keep the silence at bay.

Afterwards, she rubbed her full belly happily and thought how nice it was not to have to share. Sakura spread out her sleeping bag and lay on top of it, connecting the dots of the glittering constellations overhead until her eyes drooped.

"Night," she said absently and giggled, remembering there was no one sleeping next to her.

No one…

Her eyes snapped open, suddenly wide awake. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the sounds of the nighttime forest grew amplified and creepy. Despite the warmth of the balmy summer night, Sakura crept closer to the fire. Her head whipped toward a rustling sound from beneath a bush.

"Who-who's there?" she whispered, fear lacing her voice. Her hand drifted toward her thigh holster, fingers tingling in anticipation of a fight. The quick scurry and dart of a squirrel made Sakura jump—and then chuckle nervously at her own skittishness.

What am I so worried about? I'm a ninja! she thought, bolstering her confidence.

Sakura unzipped her sleeping bag and balled up inside, pulling the cover over her head. Within minutes, she was sweating and shifting. It was too hot under the down, but inside she felt safe, protected.

After a few more minutes of fidgeting, she flung the bag open. "That's it!" she growled. Lying in the open air, glad to be out of the stifling heat, Sakura tried to relax.

So…I'm alone. So what. I'm a shinobi on a mission. My first solo mission. I will not screw this up. Sakura forced her muscles to unwind as she thought of her goal—a successful mission and a proud mentor.

The smoky campfire and the clean smell of summer grass transported her back to nights spent with her genin team. Smiling nostalgically, Sakura remembered how frightened she'd been the first nights away from home. The forest's night song—the chirrup of crickets, the trill of frogs, and the crackle of the fire—sounded soothing once again and, before long, she was yawning. Turning her head to the right, she expected to see Naruto sprawled on his back, snoring, with that ridiculous, black sleeping cap on his head.

No one…

That's right. Naruto's away with Jiraiya, she thought with a shiver, despite the sweltering July temperature. When her breathing shuddered with a sob, Sakura cursed herself and rolled over, squinting into the darkness. Maybe it was her overactive imagination, but a collection of rocks ringing her campsite looked so much like a back she'd watched sleep many nights before. Although one hand still lingered over her kunai holster, Sakura's eyes sank as she finally drifted off to sleep.

"Night, Sasuke-kun."


Sasuke's arms ached and sweat trickled down his back as he stopped at the gates to Yu's castle. Yanking his hat down, he rolled his shoulders while the old man spoke to the gatekeeper. After a few rounds of sent for them himself and wouldn't have a festival without my beer, the tall, wooden barrier creaked to the side. He resituated the straps and pulled, the wheels of the cart clattering over the stone threshold.

The castle's torch-lit courtyard opened in front of them. There were islands of ornamental trees, and red bridges over ponds that reflected the moon like black glass. Winding stone paths led to teahouses hidden behind lilac trees heavy with blossoms. A breeze blew a swirl of pale petals against Sasuke's back, leaving his shoulders and hat frosted in snowy blooms. The squeak and grind of his cart on the dirt road contrasted with the tinkle of glass bells, the gurgle of a fountain, and the measured tock of a bamboo sozu striking a rock.

As they moved across the main courtyard and through a second gate, the peaceful sounds of the garden gave way to the crash and ting of swordplay. Sasuke peered from under his brim at the samurai practicing in the yard, their steel blades glinting in the torchlight. Slowing his step, he studied their form.

I can use a sword just as well, he thought, smirking. Probably better.

He watched them as long as he could, pausing halfway through the courtyard to readjust the straps on the cart in order to get a better look at the unmasked face of the captain of the guard—every other samurai wore cloth masks which only revealed their eyes. Like Kakashi, Sasuke thought, wincing at a twist in his stomach.

The old man joked with the head domestic as Sasuke pulled the cart near the storage turret. He kept one eye on the line of practicing soldiers as he shouldered the barrels into the ale house, his gaze flicking from the courtyard to the garrison to the samurai living quarters. He ticked off the variables in his head as he solidified his plan.

As a kitchen boy rolled the last barrel inside, Sasuke summoned a smoke bomb from his wrist seal. While swirling the explosive around in his palm to feel its weight, he glanced one last time at the line of soldiers. Sinking into the shadows, Sasuke flipped the bomb to the curved edge of the roof, watching as it rolled, detonating as it dropped to the other side of the wall. The bright orange flash and sooty fog that billowed up drew the samurai like moths to a flame. Commanding shouts and frightened shrieks added to the clamor in the yard.

In the resulting confusion, Sasuke flash-stepped across the courtyard and ducked into the barracks. The mingled odors of sweat, pine, and katana oil pervaded the samurai living quarters.

"Where is it?" He opened doors quickly and methodically, checking for the uniform he needed. "Not here," he murmured, frustration building as seconds ticked away. At last, he found a uniform with three curved, silver lines embroidered inside a diamond on the left breast—the crest of the daimyo of Hot Spring's personal guard. Infiltrating the elite squad of soldiers who protected Daimyo Nakamura and his family would allow him to get closer to Sachi…and Itachi.

Sasuke retrieved Kusanagi from the sealing scroll and secured it to his hip with a sash. His face and hair would be well hidden beneath the concealing mask that was part of the uniform. His identity was secure.

His ears pricked up—the captain's voice boomed over the courtyard as he dispatched a few, select men to investigate the source of the smoke. Sasuke mixed in with the distracted soldiers. Tapping a similarly dressed samurai on the shoulder, he brought him under his control with a glance from his Sharingan and led him into the shadows. In less than a second, he'd invaded the man's mind, discovered his name, rank, and duty, and implanted a command for him to change into Sasuke's discarded clothes and help the old man haul his cart back to Grass Country.

The squad snapped to attention at the captain's command and Sasuke confidently took his place in the first row as Watanabe Seiya, Daimyo Nakamura's nighttime guard.


The peach of sunset still clung to the horizon, but Sakura was already rubbing her drowsy eyes. Sleep came last night in fits and starts, none of it truly restful. As much as she dreaded the idea of another night in the forest by herself, she needed to stop. Grabbing a hunk of jerky from her pack, she gnawed the tough meat and wondered if she should just climb a tree and spend the night there.

A tingle at the base of her neck made a kunai leap into her fist as she ducked and turned.

Nothing.

Sakura chuckled nervously as she scanned the dark woods. "Fooled by a squirrel again?"

A blinding light and a hand covering her mouth made her adrenaline surge.

A flash bomb to blind me to how many there are, she thought and threw a chakra-enhanced elbow behind her. There was a satisfying oof and snap and Sakura was free. Remembering the old oak behind her, she backflipped high into its branches and cleared her vision.

Three…no, four. Her stomach curdling, she counted the number of assailants, remembering to add the one they were clustered around, still writhing on the ground. Their pouches and shuriken holsters told her they were ninja. Their headbands told her they were from Sound.

Three? How will I handle three at once? And Oto nin! She shivered, visions of Orochimaru swimming in her head. Maybe one at a time, I might stand a chance, but—

She might be daunted by all of them attacking at once, but if she could somehow separate them, make them attack individually…

Flicking a kunai toward their felled comrade, the last three glanced up as Sakura hit the final hand seal for her Sakura Fubuki. The explosion made them scatter like the lingering cherry blossom petals of her signature ninjutsu. She continued tossing bombs at the three until they'd zigzagged through the forest so much, they were well isolated from each other.

Her first target was to her right. She could hear his harsh breathing even though she was at least fifteen feet up, balancing on a weedy branch. He was pressed against the trunk, peering around, his chest heaving. Sakura's wrist flicked automatically at the expanse of vulnerable flesh and two poison-tipped senbon punched through his neck.

Two more.

She pushed down her excitement and fear—she needed to concentrate. Closing her eyes, Sakura felt the vibration of her second target shifting on a branch below her. Setting off two more bombs in the distance to distract, she glued her shoes to the tree with chakra and dangled upside-down above her unsuspecting opponent.

With precise control, she released the chakra from her feet and redirected it to her fist, rocketing straight for her second target's head. He must've sensed her at the last second because he tried to dodge, but Sakura diverted and brought down the full force of her chakra-laden punch. The branch and his back snapped with a satisfying crunch.

One left, she thought, whipping her head from the right to the left and back again—her final target was nowhere in sight. A burning pain cut through her shoulder. Instinctively, Sakura shifted away from the slice of a kunai. Her hand went to the injury, sealing it up while her opponent disappeared in front of her eyes, his evil grin and Oto headband rippling out of sight.

Panic made her heart hammer in her chest. Where is he? She tried to stay still and listen, but her own frantic breathing filled her ears. Shishou would be disappointed. You need to do better. You're apprentice to the Godaime Hokage. Her brow furrowed with determination. You will not disgrace her or your village.

Placing her hands together in a calming Ram seal, Sakura stilled her chakra. Once the flow was completely subdued, she felt him.

"Kai," she whispered, peering through her lashes.

With his genjutsu released, she caught a glimpse of his pale tunic whipping past. On instinct, Sakura slammed a Ranshinshou behind her. Her nerve derangement jutsu turned the Sound ninja's legs to jelly and he hit the ground convulsing.

Suddenly, her own legs gave out, her adrenaline-fueled body crashing. She crab-walked backwards in terror, away from the four unconscious Sound ninja, the reality of her situation dawning on her.

She'd been ambushed by four powerful Oto shinobi.

Sakura's lip trembled and her eyes flicked to each downed ninja. A strange bubbling in her stomach gurgled up her throat until she threw her head back…and laughed raucously. The medic in her worried that she was exhibiting signs of hysteria until she stood, brushing dust from her skirt with hands that shook with excitement.

She'd been ambushed by four powerful Oto shinobi…and won.


Absently slurping a bowl of miso soup, Sasuke surveyed the map he'd stolen. It took him a full day to find the daimyo's private library. The Hot Springs palace was bigger and more labyrinthine than any of Orochimaru's hideouts. It took another day and night of patient observation before an opportunity to slip inside presented itself.

He itched to prowl the palace for more clues, more information, anything to give him an advantage over Itachi, but he couldn't. He was Seiya now, not Sasuke, and Seiya was the daimyo's faithful night guard. He'd be sniffed out as an imposter in a heartbeat if he strolled away from his post. Instead, he had to employ every ninja skill he'd ever learned to sneak around in broad daylight. Stalking Tora the cat through the sunny back alleys of Konoha leaped into Sasuke's mind—Naruto's mauled face and Sakura's exasperated eye-roll made him snort into his soup.

He traced a finger along a hidden staircase that led from the bedroom in the southeast corner of the palace. It seemed the royal residence was full of concealed rooms, back passages, and secret corridors. Eying a passageway between the walls of the samurai captain's office, Sasuke thought that searching there might yield more information about Nakamura Sachi's arrival. Such a prestigious man's office would certainly be a tricky place to get inside under the best of circumstances, but he would have to do it in the light of day when it could potentially be occupied.

Itachi's coming, he thought with a deep scowl. Sasuke would do whatever it took to find his brother and eliminate him.

Slipping out the window and flattening himself against the roof of the castle, he skittered like a spider to the far side, right above the entrance to the passageway. Sasuke grit his teeth as he waited to duck inside what he knew from his map was a washroom. It was currently occupied by a samurai who, judging by the time he spent reading, must've thought he'd wandered into the library.

You've got to be kidding me. Sasuke thudded his forehead against the window frame—the man in the washroom giggled behind his hand as he snapped an orange-covered book closed.

After the samurai finally left, Sasuke slithered through the window, locked the door, and removed the grate above the sink. Shimmying through the hollow between the two walls, he brushed away a tangle of cobwebs that stretched high into the rafters. A beam of light broke the darkness a few feet down—there was a tiny hole in the wall.

It was unbearably hot in the tiny, compressed space and Sasuke wiped the first beads of perspiration from his forehead before pressing his eye against the hole.

There he is.

The samurai captain huddled over his desk.

Is he writing something about Sachi's arrival? Igniting his Sharingan impatiently, Sasuke deciphered the final lines of a mundane daily report. Quietly huffing in annoyance, he settled in to keep vigil over the captain's activities.

Over the next few hours, Sasuke watched as the man filed the daily report, wrote a letter to the palace tailor requesting dress robes for the daimyo's guard, ate lunch, cleaned and polished his sword, and, finally, poured over a map of the village and an itinerary for the Festival of Nations' Opening Ceremony.

Sasuke's hair dripped with sweat and his shirt clung uncomfortably. Waste of time, he thought angrily. He started weaving his way back to the washroom when he heard a knock on the captain's door.

"Enter."

Racing back to position, Sasuke pressed his eye to the hole once again. A guard was bowing.

"What is it?"

"Sachi's replacement will arrive momentarily, sir."

Replacement? They're replacing the daimyo's daughter? With who?

"Good. Have her stay in Sachi's room."

Sasuke cursed as the samurai nodded. The captain had given him nothing to go on. Sachi's room could be anywhere in this damn maze.

"Also, have the kitchen staff bring her dinner. Tomorrow, send the dresser to sort out her wardrobe. We can't let the staff know that there's anything amiss."

"When should I tell her to expect you, sir?"

Sharingan lit, Sasuke pressed harder against the wall. He couldn't miss this information.

"Tell the kunoichi that I'll meet with her tomorrow morning at nine."

As the samurai bowed and left, Sasuke leaned back, stunned.

A kunoichi? They hired a kunoichi to replace the daimyo's daughter? He applauded the sense the samurai captain showed. Sachi was a commodity wanted by both Sound and the Akatsuki. A shinobi was a smart replacement for the girl who'd never been seen in public.

Sasuke's head spun so much from this new development that he didn't remember traveling back to his own window. Question after question multiplied in his mind.

He could care less that Orochimaru wouldn't get the daimyo's daughter—his mission was effectively over. Not that it ever began, he sneered. What was important to Sasuke was whether or not the Akatsuki knew that the real Sachi wouldn't be here. If they did know, then Itachi wouldn't show up. And where was the real Sachi? Was his brother heading there instead? Was Sasuke wasting his time here?

And who was this kunoichi? Did he dare stay? This kunoichi might've seen Sasuke in the Bingo Book. If she revealed his true identity, he'd have to escape immediately and miss this chance to kill Itachi. But the last thing he needed was an entire village of samurai after him.

Frustrated by his lack of information, Sasuke slid the window shut with a bang just as his door shuddered with loud knocking.

"Seiya! Hey, Seiya!"

Slipping on his samurai mask, he flung the door open.

"Captain wants to see you tomorrow at eight-thirty. Says he has a new assignment for you. Something about Nakamura's daughter."

Sasuke nodded and shut the door, a grin shifting his mask.


How do I thank thee, Paige, for even more outstanding editing and patient listening to whining? Why with bacon and hidden shirtless Sasuke, of course! You're the best...you know it. And that typo will live in infamy!

And thank you everyone who took a moment to review Chapter One. I really do look forward to hearing your thoughts about the chapters. I smile like a big dope for hours! Uhh...thanks for that? Hee, hee!