Sakura: Oi! When am I gonna get with Itachi?
Itachi: yes when?
Me: Ugh! Stop asking me that! Man you two are so irritating!
Naruto: Noooooooo! I don't have any money! How am I going to eat Ichiraku?
Sakura: *sweat drops* uhhh, maybe we should leave before he comes over and bothers us.
Itachi and Me: Yeah, let's go! *Itachi poofs away with Sakura while I flail my arms and run like all hell broke loose*
Recap
"Should we go greet them Sasori-danna un?"
"No. Let's go before they sense us. Haruno Sakura is our main priority." Deidara didn't argue, and they disappeared in a poof.
Chapter 1: The Reunion ~Itachi's POV~
We had been traveling in silence the whole time, and if I wasn't the proper, upstanding Uchiha heir, I would have been uncomfortable. Team 7 was unusually quiet, mainly Naruto. I would have thought that he would be hollering loud enough to be heard throughout the shinobi nations, however he was mercifully quiet. Sasuke was silently fuming, as always, was there a hint of worry? Kakashi didn't read his book as usual either.
We finally reached the area and even I was a little surprised by the utter destruction upon the area, and all around it. It had been a vicious battle indeed. The huge trees that surrounded the area were nearly all uprooted and looked as if they were thrown haphazardly. Craters were littered, varying in sizes. Dirt covered all of the green. Everything was also singed. As if someone used a massive Katon here.
"Oh my Kami…" Genma breathed out in horror. The others mirrored that sentiment.
"…This is definitely Sakura and Tsunade-sama's work." Ino said concerned. There was also quite an amount of blood as well. "I've never met anyone who can do this much damage."
"Their scent also lingers here." Hana said sniffing the air. Kakashi nodded in agreement and his eyes narrowed.
"There is also another scent here. It's unfamiliar though." He informed us.
"Kakashi-san, Dog-san, can you follow Sakura and the Godaime's trail as well as the unfamiliar one?" I asked them silently. They nodded and left quickly.
"Hawk, Eagle scout the outer perimeter. I will scout the immediate area." I informed the others, leaving Naruto, Sasuke and Ino to scour this…field for clues. "Leave no stone unturned." I told Sasuke and he nodded. I gestured for my team to head out. This destruction peaked my interest I realized as I was doing my round. When my foolish otouto's teammate returned, I vowed to get to know her better.
~Normal POV~
"Kami, I am definitely not gonna mess around with Sakura-chan anymore. She's as scary as Baa-chan if not worse." Naruto said with dread. Sasuke grumbled, but inwardly agreed. Decidedly, a few jabs at the feisty pinkette were not worth…the consequences.
"You guys! Over here!" Ino's voice cried and they ran over to where she was crouched next to a fallen tree stump. She was looking at what looked like an animal's scratch mark. A closer look revealed that it had been carved on by a kunai.
"Anou…what is it?" Naruto asked and Ino sighed.
"It's flash lingo that Sakura and I came up with."
"What's does it say?" Sasuke asked as Ino looked confused at the message, tracing the scratches lightly.
"It means Dawn. Why would Sakura leave that as a clue?" she asked, but before anyone could answer, the others arrived.
"There is no one in the area." Shisui announced.
"Sakura-san and Tsunade-hime's trail ended, but it seemed to be heading towards Kirigakure." Hana reported.
"The unfamiliar presence were male. Two of them. It's weird though because their scent vanishes around 5 kilometers from here." Kakashi contributed. "Did you find anything?" he addressed this to his team.
"Ino found that Sakura left a scratched message of the word 'Dawn' on a tree." Sasuke provided. The blonde seemed to be in deep thought.
"Well, this is certainly leading nowhere." Genma muttered under his breath.
'Wait, I know Sakura better than anyone here. She wouldn't just leave a damn word without it having any meaning. What is it?' Ino berated herself mentally. Sakura always confided in her. even more so than her own team. 'Come on think! Let's see. The place is trashed, it's even burnt- oh my Kami!'
"I got it!" Ino suddenly shouted, horror in her eyes as realization hit her, like a slap in her face.
"What? What is it?" Naruto shouted and she sucked in a breath.
"….Katon is associated with the color red right?" she asked, glancing in the Uchihas' direction. After all it was known throughout all the shinobi world the Uchiha's had a natural attribute towards fire. Itachi nodded, urging her to continue. She gulped and bit her lip.
"Kakashi-sensei said there were two unfamiliar presence right?"
"Yes. What is it Ino?" Shisui asked.
"It's the Akatsuki." She finally said and everyone immediately froze. Suddenly, all of the hints made sense to them as well.
"What would the Akatsuki want with Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked flailing his arms.
"This isn't good." Hawk said.
"Weasel-taichou, we have to inform Shikamaru-san immediately. If the Akatsuki is involved that is never good." Shisui said, glancing over at Naruto who was clenching his fist so hard, they were surprised blood didn't show.
"What? I wasn't enough? They had to drag Sakura-chan into this too?" he said angrily.
~Itachi's POV~
"I will contact Shikamaru-san. Sasuke, burn the tree with the clue on it. We cant leave evidence for anyone else." I instructed before making the necessary hand seals for the communication jutsu. I closed my eyes, hearing the lazy Nara shinobi answer.
"Ah. Itachi-san. What happened?" he asked in his drawled out way. I relayed everything to him and heard him swear under his breath.
"I see. There's nothing we can do then it seems. Neither group wants to be found at this point." He said and sighed. "Mendokusai ne. Sorry, but I'm going to have to send you on another mission right now. The Daimyo just contacted me. Apparently, his eldest son and younger daughter came to Konoha for a vacation and needs an escort back to his castle. He's requesting two of our best teams and you are them." he briefed me. It wasn't unheard of that this would happen. The Daimyo had sent his children before. For security reasons, no one was told of these travels so as to not alert enemies.
"It wont be a problem. Where are we meeting them?" I asked, assuming that we wouldn't have to travel all the way back to the village. He would most likely send a scouting team to escort them to another location closer to us and have us take over.
"Ah, they are already on the move, meet them in the forest near The Valley of the End."
"Understood." I murmured before letting go of the jutsu.
"We have another mission." I told the others, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"We have to escort the Daimyo's eldest son and younger daughter back to his place."
"Eh? What about Sakura-chan and the others?" Hana asked and Shisui chuckled.
"Lemme guess, Shikamaru-san said that obviously neither groups wanted to be found, and so he gave us a new mission because we're already out here and our dear Daimyo requested us. Is that it?" I stared at him impassively. If I hadn't known him practically my whole life, my jaw would have dropped.
"Hn." I could feel his grin at my answer.
"So, where do we meet them? Knowing my lazy teammate, he already sent someone to bring them to us. Less work that way." Ino asked knowingly.
"At the forest near the Valley of the End."
"Yosh! Let's go!" Naruto shouted and bounded off.
"Oi! Dobe!" Sasuke called after him irritatingly and also bounded off. Kakashi scratched his head and sighed.
"Geez. Where the hell does he get all that energy?" Genma muttered and followed.
I heard the waterfall of the nearby as we traveled through the forest. Chatter broke through to us and eventually we happened upon the group.
"Oh! Kakashi-san!" Izumo and Kotetsu greeted us. The Daimyo's envoy looked us over and I raised my mask. My other members also repeated the action.
"We'll take it over from here. Thank you." I said and they nodded, heading back home.
"are you the ones that are escorting us back to Otou-sama's home?" the eldest son, Kiuchi stepped forward.
"Hai, we are. Rest assured, nothing will befall you." Shisui told him and suddenly the younger daughter shrieked, making me almost wince. Shinobi had sensitive ears, honed from needing to sense our surrounding, and her high-pitched wailing was not pleasant.
"Kyaaa! You're so hot! I'm Ayane! Who are you?" she said practically humping Shisui's arm. We all sweat-dropped at the sight of Shisui trying to subtly take his arm away from her.
"Uhh, I'm Shisui." He said, sighing in relief as Kiuchi pried her off of him.
"Ayane! Behave! I'm ah – sorry about that." He said embarrassed for his sister. She ignored him and went over to Genma next, then looking at Sasuke and even Naruto. She then placed her eyes on me and I nearly shuddered at the gaze of her eyes.
"And who are you men? I must say, you all are so handsome." She purred.
"I'm Genma, this is Sasuke, Naruto and Itachi." Genma said, also uncomfortable. Despite being renowned womanizers, even they had limits and boundaries. Ayane was only 16 after all and we were over 20. Ino coughed and Ayane turned her attention to her.
"Oh. Who are you?" Ayane asked, eying her out.
"I'm Ino. And shouldn't you be looking at guys your own age?" Ino asked putting a hand on her hip.
"Mind your own business. Hmph, at least I'm not the one who looks like a slut." Ayane said, Ino's eyes narrowed into slits and everyone's eyes widened when Ino growled.
"I'm not a slut! I'm not a pompous, selfish, spoiled arrogant brat who's going to grow up as a homewr—" Hana immediately put a hand over Ino's mouth before she could finish her sentence.
"AYANE! How dare you!" Kiuchi chastised and dragged her away. Everyone shifted slightly as their envoy of 6 people followed after them.
"Ahh Ino, calm down. She's just annoying and young." Shisui said trying to calm the blonde down.
"Whatever, let's just get this over with." Ino muttered still pissed.
"This is going to be long." Sasuke mumbled, and I found myself agreeing with him.
~Normal POV~
The trip was dreadful if not downright miserable. The men, mainly Itachi and Shisui were suffering Ayane's seduction…or a miserable attempt at it. Ino and Hana were seething, more of Hana especially since one of the men was her boyfriend.
"A-Anou Hana…" Shisui looked over at her pleading as Ayane latched on to one of his arm again. 'HELP ME!' he screamed in his mind. However much he was a womanizer, he was immensely faithful to Hana.
"Hey, could you kindly release my boyfriend?" Hana finally growled out, stuffing down the urge to rip out the girl's throat when she glared back.
"You? His girlfriend? Please, a hot guy like this can certainly do better than a mutt like you." Jaws dropped, and Shisui finally had enough. He gingerly pushed her away.
"Hey, don't you dare call her that!" he barked and Kiuchi once again came over.
"Ayane! Apologize immediately!" the girl stammered out a 'sorry' when glares were sent in her direction.
"Kami-sama, could this trip be any longer?" Genma mumbled.
Apparently Kami-sama had a very twisted sense of humor. Why do you ask?
"Yare yare, what do we have here?" a wide sharp teeth grin revealed itself on its owner. Its blue-skinned, gigantic shark-like owner. After dropping off Kiuchi and the devi…err Ayane at the Daimyo's place, they started their trek back when they happened upon the Akatsuki.
"Hmm, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and his little posse un." The blonde man that looked strangely like Ino said. The puppet like creature next to the blonde swished his tail back and forth menacingly.
"So it was you we sensed." He said. Itachi narrowed his eyes through his mask.
"Hoshigaki Kisame, Deidara, Akasuna no Sasori." He greeted, through his teeth. Naruto growled and clenched his fist.
"Akatsuki…" he said, causing Kakashi to hold a hand to his chest, holding him back.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" he asked, but his eyes dared them to move.
"Simple, hand over the Kyuubi Jinchuriki." Kisame said and Itachi hissed low.
"Over our dead body." Sasuke said taking out kunai.
"So be it then un." Deidara laughed and took out clay. Summoning out a giant bird, he jumped on it and began to attack from above.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Ino! Deal with Deidara! We'll handle these ones." Kakashi yelled over the explosions said blonde was making.
"Dog-san, Hawk, Kakashi, deal with Sasori." Itachi ordered, dodging the massive Samehada. 'So that's Samehada, the sword that can eat chakra. I can't let it touch me.' "Eagle, be careful of the sword." I warned Shisui.
"Huh, the way you seem to react just in time of my moves. Long black hair kept in a low ponytail. Are you Uchiha Itachi?" Kisame asked me, grin widening when I didn't answer. It seemed he was more observant than I thought.
"Hn. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" our attacks clashed and he chuckled. "Your going to have to do better than that if you want to best me." he taunted.
The battle raged on, but it was apparent that both sides were tiring at a rapid pace. Deidara had a variety of wounds from Naruto's fuma Shuriken, and Sasuke's Katon jutsus. Naruto, and Sasuke were better thanks to Ino, who under Sakura's tutelage and gained more knowledge in the medical arts. Genma, Hana and Kakashi were worse for wear, avoiding Sasori's poison at all cost. However, Kakashi had been nicked trying to push Hana out of the way of an attack. The poison was spreading through his system steadily.
'Kuso, this isn't good. We're gonna have to retreat. And get Kakashi medical attention!' Shisui thought, just as Kisame swung his sword in his direction. Itachi's eyes widened slightly.
"Eagle!" he called Shisui, but it was too late. The sword was going to do major damage if not cut him in half. 'Damn! I wont make it in time!' Shisui closed his eyes, waiting for the blow to come. But it didn't. he opened his eyes, shocked to see that it was mere cherry blossoms that had halted the giant sword. In fact, when he jumped away and looked around, more cherry blossoms encompassed the area, stopping everyone's attack. Ino's eyes bulged out.
"Forehead-girl! Is that you?" she asked the cherry blossoms. A voice chuckled.
"Ah Ino-pig, how I've missed you." Sakura's voice said. The cherry blossoms began to swirl and gather in a ball and dissipated as Sakura landed on the field.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted happily and surprised.
Preview
"I see. So she has returned to Konoha." A man with orange spiky hair, and piercing said, folding his hands together.
"Yeah, one thing's for sure, she packs a lot in her punch." Kisame said.
"So are we gonna track her down un?" Deidara asked, wanting to pay back the girl for interrupting his battle with the Kyuubi, and the mini Uchiha.
"No. At least not yet anyway. I have something else for you to do."
Itachi: Hn. I hate your story.
Me: *glares* you just hate it because you're not with Sakura yet.
Itachi: very true. So when is that happening?
Me: stop pestering me before I pair you up with Anko
Itachi: *shudders*…. Fine…you win.
Me: *grins* hahahahahaha that's what I thought!
Sakura: Please review everyone!
