I do not own Naruto or the characters of the show. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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He sighed. Tsunade really needed to cut him some slack. He grew impatient, so he rolled his shoulders an ran out the door with his bag on his back. He knew that the trip to Sunagakure was a about three days away and would have to be quick about it, squishing the three days into two. He hoped that no interruptions would happen on this trip, because he did not know how easy it would be to retrieve this Naruto person. He did not want to be a super long trip, because he still needed some breaks.

He was at the gates when Sakura stopped him. He almost glared at him when he saw that she was going somewhere too. He frowned and wondered where she was going. He was about to ask when she blurted out, "I'm going with you Sasuke. I already asked Lady Tsunade, and she said it was alright. Don't worry, I'll stay serious on this mission, I promise."

What? Tsunade had just told him this mission was a secret and that he was the only one supposed to know of it. He gave her a skeptical look and just turned around to leave the village. He could feel her smiling eyes on the back of his head, and he waved her to hurry up. When they got out of the village they began sprinting to the Sand Village. He wondered if Sakura knew what they were after or if she just had vague details of the mission. He would ask her later. He did not feel like thinking too much at that moment.

xX Two Days Later Xx

"Sasuke, behind you," Sakura yelled, serious, but Sasuke was already a step ahead and shifted just before a knife entered his back. He bent backwards and forced his fists down on the man's skull. When his fists connected, the guy quickly fell from the old building they had been fighting on and landed face first on the ground. He turned to look back at the pink haired girl with an intent to help her, but she too had brought down her opponent. There were still three more bandits though, so Sasuke jumped down from the house to fight them off.

Why does this always happen? Sasuke thought as he kicked the tall, gray haired one in the stomach sending him flying with a trail of spit and an 'oof'.' He felt a sting in his back and looked over his shoulder to see that he had been stabbed with sword. He heard Sakura scream his name, but he ignored her to turn on the man that stabbed him. He ignored the pain that shot through his back as he went to swing at the man. His beady green eyes looked widened as the force of the punch cause so much pain. The man was out cold on the floor. Sasuke wondered why these people attacked them if they were so weak. They must have been desperate or something.

He turned around to see that Sakura had taken down the one that Sasuke kicked in the stomach and watched as the last one ran away. Sakura was about to chase him, but Sasuke stopped her. They had no time for this.

"We have to keep moving," He said and he started sprinting in the direction of the sand village. He knew she was following him, so he did not have to bother looking back for her. They were not ten minutes away from the Sunagakure when those thugs had attacked them out of the blue. They had gotten that far, and it took that long to get attack? What was with his luck?

"Sasuke-kun?"" Sakura spoke.

"Hn?"

"What do you think this guy is like?"

Oh, so she does know what they're after. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. He really did not know and was not too keen on figuring it out. He gave a sigh when he could finally see the gates. He was a little relieved, and he pushed harder on his feet to get there sooner. Sand kicked up higher as they both ran and continued to float heavily in the air even when they stopped at the gates.

A guard with long white hair, green eyes and a tall muscular body jumped out from behind the gate. He looked prepared to kick some ass, and he asked, "Who are you? What is your business with Sunagakure Village?" He looked impatient and looked Sasuke straight in the eye.

Sasuke quickly said, "We are shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and we are here on a mission. Lady Tsunade had said that the leader of your village already knew we were coming."

The man looked skeptical, and it took him a while to respond, "Alright, but I don't want you two causing trouble. We have enough already.." He signaled in a weird way and allowed Sasuke and Sakura to come in. The two of them walked in and headed to the center of the village. Sasuke looked around at the people. It had been a few months since Sasuke had been to village, and it still looked that same from last time.

"Sasuke, we should stop to get something to eat," Sakura said, pointing to a ramen stand that looked decent. He nodded and walked with her to the ramen stand. They were getting a little tired of eating granola bars, so ramen would be good right about now. He pulled back the cloth entrance and sat next to his comrade. Sakura said to the stand owner, "Spicy Miso Pork, please."

"I will have that, too," Sasuke said when the man turned to him. He placed his head on folded hands and waited patiently for his food to come. While waiting he would think of possible strategies on how to get Uzumaki Naruto. He had to find a boy with blond hair and marks on his cheek. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

"Here you two go," He said, placing two bowls in front of them. Sasuke took his chopsticks and began to eat slowly and determined how they would probably capture the boy. Sasuke looked over to see Sakura sitting eating just as slow as he was and frowned. She looked like she was thinking of the same things as he was. He was about to tell the girl to think about those things after she eats when a someone with a hooded cloak walked in that caught Sasuke's attention.

The stand owner was turned to his cooking when the mysterious man said, "Spicy Miso Pork, make it a double." and he placed his head on one hand to wait for his ramen. Sasuke pretended to be looking at Sakura while he really looked at this man. There was something about him that drew Sasuke eyes to him, which was very rare.

The store owner filled two bowls with the soup and other ingredients without even looking at the customer. The sand people do not really seem all that friendly, so Sasuke did not see anything weird about it. He turned back to his ramen after a few more minutes and began to start eating again. He did not have time to focus on the stranger. They had to get Naruto very soon, because Sasuke needed rest. He would not admit it out loud, but he really just wanted to have a night's rest.

"Here you go, Naruto-kun."

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I'll leave you guys there. Sorry for the long wait for any who were reading. Read and Review, please.