Author's Note

If you are reading this, then I'm glad, this is the first real chapter, so it will make more sense than the prologue, which was just explaining the whole... Erm.. How he got there.. ( Geez, I really need to stop typing as I think. Think it up before you type it, Hideki l: ! ) Anyways, thank you so much for at least reading this far, review this chapter for me please. Annd, I will be working on the next chapter too.. Oh! Give me some ideas for what should happen and stuff, like.. What you want to see happen and stuff. Yep, well... This is several weeks after they first met Itari, so yeahh.. He knows all about being a ninja now, yay~. Anywayss, tooo the storyy... ( X3 I'm so hyper right now, hahaha. Woah.. Awesome commercial o-o )

Chapter One: New Mission, New Enemies

" Kill... Hmm, sounds like my game.. Kill.. How many are there..? They're with a guy named Orochimaru...?" Itari mumbled, narrowing his eyes at the Hokage.

" Four, if you want, interrogate them and see if you can get information on Sasuke or Orochimaru." Tsunade answered, glaring a bit at the boy. He didn't seem to respect anyone. Naruto nodded, smirking as he fist pumped the air in front of him.

" Alright! We'll totally get this done, awesome! No more easy missions!~" Naruto yelled out very excited that they got to do something useful on finding Sasuke. Tsunade smiled a bit as Sakura bowed.

" Thank you, Lady Tsunade." Sakura mumbled as she smiled, looking up at the blonde woman. Tsunade nodded and then gestured for them to leave, Kakashi nodded and lead the group out, then sent them to go pack.

The group met up at the village gate, waiting for Kakashi, who, as usual was late. Itari sat down, stretching his long legs out in front of him. Sakura leaned up against the gate looking down at Itari, blushing a bit. Itari was a lot like Sasuke, dark hair, dark eyes, and amazing skill, but Itari was also very different, he didn't use any jutsu in training and he was hurt so easily, but always recovered so quickly, the day after he was hurt he would be fine, but healing him with chakra never worked, so everyone just left it to guessing. The boy was very odd and mysterious indeed. One time Kakashi had gotten Itari in a tight situation and slammed him against a tree, and that had seemed to be Itari's greatest weak point. No one knew why though, maybe he had a permanent injury there, was what Sakura though. Naruto paced back and forth, cursing Kakashi for being late as he left his hands to grip the back of his neck, squinting his eyes as he walked back and forth. Kakashi finally arrived after several more minutes and they took off. Itari jumped through the trees so easily, almost as if he was flying, but he never had been able to use any chakra. Sakura found him very amazing, but also weird at the same time; Kakashi agreed to her statement.

" Um, Itari.." Sakura called out, looking at Itari who was in the air in front of her, his dark cloak flowing due to the wind as he flew through the air. Itari turned a bit in the air as he then landed on a branch, jumping up off it and propelling himself forward. Sakura watched, his moves seemed to effortless and graceful, she was a bit jealous. " Why do you always wear the black cloak..?" She asked. Itari blinked as he shrugged a bit, he didn't smile, he never really smiled, he only smirked. He was very full of himself and also ignorant; those were several other ways he was different from Sasuke. Sakura turned over to Kakashi. " Kakashi Sensei, um, why are we on this type of mission, we aren't even chunin.." Kakashi looked over at her sighing a bit as he moved slightly closer.

" Well, you two are involved with Orochimaru, and Itari.. He should be a chunin; maybe an even higher rank. Once he figured out my moves he was able to fight me perfectly, and he's just a kid." Kakashi said as he looked up at Itari. " He's a lot like Sasuke, probably better than him.. I wonder what kind of tricks he has.. We don't have very much information on him at all." Sakura nodded as she looked back at Naruto. Kakashi jumped off of a branch as he moved closer to Itari, Itari looked to his side to see him.

" Itari, you can't use chakra, can you..?" Kakashi asked as he flew through the air beside the young boy.

" No.. I don't even know what it is." Itari said as he smirked, an odd glint in his dark eyes.

" Then how can you keep up with us like this, just by jumping..? We use chakra to help propel ourselves through the air and jump higher and stay in the air longer, but you can't do that.." Kakashi said very puzzled by how the boy could keep up with the group.

" Yeah, well, if you notice, I'm not average, and I'm a lot lighter than any of you, so... I guess that's it, huh." Itari said as he looked up at the setting sun. Kakashi dropped down from the trees then, the group following suit quickly. Itari leaned his shoulder against a tree, looking over the group.

" We'll set up camp now..." Kakashi said as he stopped suddenly. " Do any of you... She.. She sent us to find them, she tricked us.." Itari fell onto his knees in hysterical laughter, Naruto glared a bit as he looked at Itari for a while, then looked over at Kakashi.

" What the hell do you mean?" He asked, glaring at the white haired man.

" She didn't give us any information on where the targets were.." Kakashi said as he slouched a bit, Sakura seemed a bit shocked, then turned to Itari.

" Why.. Are you laughing so much? This isn't very funny." Sakura said, putting her hands on her hips.

" Well, actually, it is.. She didn't tell you? Ah, how funny, she told me.. We have to go to the Village Hidden In Sound or something, I thought you knew.. But how the fuck do you hide a village in sound?" Itari said, smirking. ' He's being ignorant again, isn't he..' Kakashi thought as he sighed a bit, setting up a tent then. Naruto then began changing into more comfortable clothing, but Sakura hit him upside the head yelling something at him. Itari didn't pay any attention, he just looked up at the darkening sky. " We're gonna sleep in that tent...? Um, I'll pass, I will sleep outside.. Okay? I'm serious.. I don't like small spaces.." Itari said, backing up away from the orange tent. Kakashi shrugged and tossed him a sleeping bag. Itari didn't even reach for it; it landed a few inches from his feet. Itari unrolled it and set it on the ground, then sat down on it as the rest of the group sat in a bit of a circle. Kakashi made a fire and the group ate. Itari ate a lot more than anyone had expected, his whole bags were full of food and daggers.

" H-how do you eat so much and still be so skinny?" Sakura asked, looking at Itari in shock, she had long since finished his meal, but he was eating a chocolate bar at a slow pace.

" Ah, um.. I dunno, erm.. Yeah.. Don't know.. Sorry." Itari said, stopping just as he was about to take a bite, looking at the others who were watching him eat.

" You don't eat like a pig, but you eat so much.." Naruto mumbled under his breath.

" And, I can also hear well, Naruto." Itari said, glaring as he bit off a small piece of the candy. Itari finished the candy bar and then lay down on his side, not getting in the sleeping bag though, he didn't like sleeping bags..

" Um.. Itari, your back is sensitive, is it?" Sakura asked, looking over at Itari. He blinked, sitting up as he nodded slightly.

" Um, yeah.. You could say that.. You should sleep.." He said as he then shifted around a bit, turning his back to her as he lay back onto his side. Sakura nodded and then went into the tent, curling up as she got into her sleeping bag.

The next day everyone got up Itari was sitting in a tree, he smirked at the others, teasing them for being so lazy, even though the sun was still rising when the rest of the group had awakened. Itari had packed his things already.. He took care of himself first, he didn't really need to help the others, he then stood in the tree, looking down at Sakura.

" Hey, Sakura, mind if I call you Cherry?" Itari said as he smirked, holding back a laugh. Sakura blushed.

" Uh.. Um.. Y-you can if you want, I mean, like.. Yeah.. You can." Sakura said, putting her hands behind her back as she closed her eyes, moving her head down so Itari couldn't see her blush.

" Alright, that's cool, I like Cherry better, it's cuter." Itari then jumped up, grasping a smaller branch, he climbed up onto it. Sakura wasn't even light enough to stand on the branch, but Itari did just fine standing there, it didnt even break.

" Mangetsu, how much do you weigh, I mean geez, that branch is so small.." Kakashi said looking up at Itari. Itari shrugged looking down at Kakashi. ' He looks pained.. Like something happened to him in the past he doesn't like..' Kakashi though as he met the boy's gaze. Itari's eyes did seem to carry a large amount of sorrow and emotional pain. He seemed to realize Kakashi's thoughts as he blinked, looking away. " Well, let's set off now..We really don't know where we could see these guys." Kakashi said looking to the rest of the squad. When they finally got to the Land Of Rice patties Itari seemed tense.

" Where now..?" He asked looking around.

" Well, we follow this path, I'm not really sure where we can find these guys..." Kakashi said as he took out his book and started walking while reading. The rest of the squad followed him. Itari looked up at the sky seeming to remember something from his past.

" Hey! Come 'ere, kid! Don't you dare run! Give it back! I'll call the police!" Itari was running with a large amount of jewelry in his hand. All of a sudden he stopped, a taller male was in front of him, he had messy blue hair and electric blue eyes. The man grabbed him and Itari yelped, struggling for a moment before he realized the man was leading him somewhere. Itari followed the man until he stopped at a lake, telling him to look into the water at his reflection. Itari did so and frowned, he then turned, tossing the jewelry at the man.

" You're why I'm like this! You're the one who drove me to be like this, father! I hate you!" Itari screamed, tears welling up in his eyes as he took off, he was very young, only about nine, but he had been through a lot. The man watched him go, a pained expression on his face.

" Itari.. Look up at the sky, it's blue isn't it..? Where they are going.. To take you.. There is no blue.. Remember the sky Itari, remember your life when it was good, for me, please, if not for me for your sister... For your mother.." The man said, calling after Itari, Itari then looked up at the sky, halting his movements as all of a sudden he felt something prick into his shoulder. He looked down at it.. It was a dart.. Itari's vision then went black as he fell.

" Itari, hey.. Are you alright?" Sakura said, looking over at Itari who's eyes had a faint glaze over them. Itari blinked, his eyes shining again as he looked at her, nodding a bit.

" I. Just, remembered something, about w-" Itari was cut off as he jumped back, a kunai sailing past him. Then the whole group was on alert, watching the area where the black knife had come from.

Author's Note

SO! Nice cliffhanger, huh? ( Oh yeah, you totally rock, Hideki X3 ... Ahem, well anyways o-o ) Okay, so, I don't really know about Orochimaru people who are still alive, and I don't know how they act, I mean, well... I'm going to create some new characters to be Orochimaru's.. Subordinate people, so yeah.. Um.. Anyways, thanks for reading this.. Really, it means a lot.. ( I'm not getting emotional though ._. '' Must have problems, huh..) Oh, and yeah, review, please, please, please review, that would be the greatest thing if you could.. Like, really.. Anyways, I might hook Sakura up to fall for Itari, unless you guys think that's a bad idea.. Well, tell me what you think I can improve, what I should keep the same, how good is it, what you want to see, stuff like that, pleeease? And once again, thank you for reading this far. I will have the next chapter up soon.~