Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's note: Sorry for the delay, for those of you who want to know yes this is an Ita/Sak story.Also I would like to thank people who reviewed the last chapter.

Ashley thanks for betaing

Enjoy!

'It's been 2 days and 6 hours since I left Konoha, but I'm almost there sensei.' thought Sakura.

Even though Sakura was on a very important class A mission, her current thoughts were revolving around Kakashi and Naruto's reactions when they were informed of her betrayal. Suddenly the feeling of being very alone and unprotected washed over her and she began to realize she had lost the trust of the people she had come to love as a family.

'Stop it! Dwelling on these thoughts won't get you anywhere! Besides, you have a very important mission which needs your full concentration.' She thought to herself.

Pushing the depressing thoughts to the farthest region of her mind, she tried to focus on strategies for the mission at hand. Unfortunately her stomach had other ideas, for she hadn't eaten anything since she left her village two days ago.

Not eating was part of her mission; after all, she had to look pitiful.

The hunger was really getting to her. All that had passed her lips for the past two days was water.

"I'm not going to give up; Haruno Sakura doesn't give up easily!"

In order to fit the part for her mission she rubbed some dirt on her skin, and tore open parts of her clothing while traveling.

"I hope I look presentable enough for my future teammates."

Everyone in Konoha village was in shock. None of them could believe that the quiet girl known as Haruno Sakura would ever be capable of betraying her village. They all thought that it had to be a big joke.

But it wasn't, Tsunade sent the message around for all ninja to gather in the meeting room. Rank was unimportant. Everyone arrived and listened carefully to what the Hokage had to say.

After hearing about the whole situation, everybody was in shock.

Haruno Sakura wasn't anyone capable of this. She was a former student of copy-ninja Kakashi; team mate of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Aside from her close relationship with them, she was most importantly, the apprentice of the Hokage.

And what she did was totally unacceptable. If found she would be brought right back to the village. That was the order that the Hokage gave to the ANBU squad, which was now on their way to retrieve the missing kunoichi.

After all the ninjas were dismissed from the meeting, Tsunade attempted to return to her office when a loud voice interrupted her.

"Baa-chan!!" yelled Naruto as he came running towards Tsunade. It seemed that Naruto and Jiraiya had returned from their trip only to find out about Sakura's betrayal.

"Baaaa-chan! H-how could-d Sakura-chan do such a thing?"

Tsunade eyed Naruto for a few minutes. She noticed that he was on the verge of crying, which is something he hadn't done for quite some time.

It seemed that the news of Sakura's action really broke Naruto's heart as the tears that he could no longer hold back came running down his face. There was nothing Tsunade could do but to watch as Naruto wallowed in his misery. She couldn't tell him about Sakura's situation without putting his friend and the entire village in grave danger.

"Naruto dry your eyes. I don't want to be questioned about this topic anymore. Do you understand?"

Naruto couldn't bring himself to speak so chose instead to just nod his head in understanding.

"Now Naruto listen, I have sent an ANBU squad out after Sakura. With a little luck they will find her and return her here. Now go and rest."

Once again all Naruto did was nod, and then he took off, his destination being his home.

All Tsunade could do was watch Naruto leave without saying a word.

"Don't worry about him Tsunade."

"The news really did affect him deeply."

"So she did accept the mission, I never thought she was this brave."

"Well, she is my apprentice after all."

"I gathered a little more information on Akatsuki and their whereabouts. It seems like not all the members are going to cloud."

"Do you know which members are going to be there?"

"I'm not 100 sure, but from the information that I have gathered, Uchiha Itachi and Deidara of Iwagakure are going to be there."

"Hmm Uchiha Itachi, I hope Sakura is strong enough to face Uchiha and his mangekyo."

"Tsunade, you said it yourself; she is your apprentice."

"Thank you Jiraiya, please take care of Naruto."

It was around noon when Sakura reached the hidden village of Kumogakure. Before crossing the border into the village, she draped the brown cloak she brought with her over her shoulders. After scanning the area for chakra signs and finding it to be clear, she proceeded towards the village.

After getting in without being detected she focused on finding the akatsuki before the ninjas of the hidden village discovered and came for her. There was no sign of akatsuki for the moment so she removed her scratched headband and hid it in her pocket to avoid bringing unwanted attention to herself.

Slowly and carefully she approached a small old looking building which turned out to be a little café.

'I'll rest here for awhile' thought Sakura.

After she sat at one of the available seats, a plump middle aged woman approached her.

"Hi dear, what would you like?"

"A cup of hot tea would be fine."

"Are you sure you wouldn't like anything else, you look awfully tired."

"No thank you that will be all."

A couple of minutes later the same lady came back with a cup of hot tea. Sakura thanked her and started sipping her tea.

"This tea sure tastes good after running for so long without resting."

Through out her journey to Kumogakure, Sakura didn't stop unless it was a complete necessity.

Upon reaching his house and unlocking the front door, Naruto walked in slamming the door behind him with a loud bang. This went unnoticed by him though for he had much more pressing matter weighing on his mind, such as Sakura's sudden act and Sasuke as well.

Since he was absent for so long, everything in his house had gathered dust, including the picture he had taken with team 7.

He crossed over to the table and grabbed the picture frame with his team in it, then proceeded over to his bed which he dropped on top of on his back. Staring up at the picture in his hand he began observing each teammate one by one.

"Sakura-chan looked very happy back then, what could have caused her to choose a path like this?"

Then his eyes drifted to Sasuke. He had always wished that the Uchiha clan hadn't been murdered and that Sasuke didn't have such a heavy burden weighing on his shoulders.

Finally his eyes moved to Kakashi's picture;

"I wonder what Kakashi-sensei did when he found out, he's probably ashamed of being our sensei, we did nothing but bring shame to his name."

With one last look he threw the frame across the room, causing the frame to loudly crash into the wall with lots of force, and fall to the floor.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore, and didn't stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

He began sobbing uncontrollably. The last time Uzumaki Naruto cried like this was when he was known throughout the village as a monster. Back then he was alone and isolated, and now he felt that way again.

After some time his body couldn't bear the exhaustion anymore and he fell into a deep slumber, the streaks of tears still staining his face. All the while, the set of eyes watching his every motion went unnoticed.

'Naruto' after knowing that Naruto was safe and sound the mysterious visitor left in silence.

Not far from the village two figures wearing straw hats and black cloaks with red clouds were approaching the hidden village of Kumogakure.

"How long have we been traveling?"

"Almost 3 days."

"It took us longer this time yeah! The rainstorm held us back, but we're almost there yeah?"

"Yes."

"Itachi-san I have this weird feeling yeah, it feels like we're going to face something quite interesting."

To Be Continued...

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Kainat