Title: Dark Secrets in Ink

Author: greenphoenix85, adopted by swiftstar85

Short Summary: Sakura discovers the deepest, darkest secrets of the elder, Danzo, that he has kept from Konoha and it's a secret that can either begin the biggest war in Shinobi history or stop it before it begins.

Pairings: Sakura/Sai/Akatsuki, Yugao Uzuki/Akatsuki, Naruto/Hinata, Sasuke/Karin,

Warning: Rated T, but might go up; for very strong language, violence, and adult themes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters.

::Chapter 2::

For the most part of the day, Sakura had looked everywhere for Sai, trying to find out where he might have been hiding from her. It was obvious he was hiding from her because she couldn't find him anywhere. She had looked everywhere for him. She even asked people if they knew where to find him but no one really could answer her question. No one really knew Sai very well. He was always so secretive and always kept to himself or to his paintings. Not even the members Team Kakashi knew about him. All they knew was that he was a Leaf Shinobi and he had been assigned to killing Sasuke Uchiha when they were suppose to return him to the village. But he had failed his mission by his own choice. He couldn't kill Sasuke because of Naruto and their bond together. He wanted to look into the power of bonds to discover what made Naruto tick and be so loyal to his friends.

Sakura spent hours trying to find out where to find Sai. She even went to his apartment to see if he was hiding there but he wasn't there. Even after she managed to open the door and look inside for him. But he just wasn't there.

So with a discouraged sigh, Sakura figured she would have to wait till the next time she saw him to beat the living hell out of him for ditching her like that and refusing her request. So, she went home for the evening.

The next morning, it was too early for Sakura to even be awake when she was rudely awakened by feeling the cool metal of a blade against her neck. She jerked awake, quickly going for a kunai that she kept under her pillow but a gloved hand quickly subdued her and pinned her down. She nearly started screaming when another gloved hand covered her mouth to keep her from making any noise. Her wide eyes searched frantically in the dark for who was sitting on top of her chest. But it was too dark to see who her attacker was. She tried thrashing to throw the intruder off of her but it wasn't easy at all.

"You would be so easy to kill. You know that right?" came the silky voice of her new partner.

Eyes wide open, Sakura shivered as she looked straight up to see the silhouette of her violet haired ANBU partner sitting right on top of her, straddling her stomach. She watched as the shadow shifted over and flipped on the lamp light, blinding her. The pink haired woman winced at the sudden bright light before letting it re-adjust her eyes. She looked up to see Yugao Uzuki fully dressed in her ANBU uniform and it was one of her katana that was pressed against her throat. But much more to her relief, she was using the flat side of the blade and not the sharp side. The look, however, on Yugao's face was not amusement. She looked rather annoyed that Sakura hadn't been able to defend herself properly from getting attacked while sleeping.

"We have a lot of work to do with you, Sakura Haruno." The ANBU said before she pushed her wolf mask over her face and climbed right off of her.

Sakura continued to lay there watching her with wide eyes before she realized that she was not dreaming. She had thought that she had still been asleep and that Yugao was not in her apartment.

But no.

Here she was, standing next to her bed, looking at a picture of the old Team Seven on the bed stand. "Ho-how did you get into my apartment? I locked the doors and the windows!" She said as she sat up.

Yugao only glanced over at her shoulder at her before she returned to looking around Sakura's room. She seemed to find a few interesting objects in the room, though still was somewhat annoyed with Sakura. "A skilled ANBU can get into any room, locked or not. We're trained to pick locks, latches or even lift hooks with a piece of wire. I'll teach you that too. It's not entirely easy but it's not hard either." She paused looking back at Sakura as she climbed out of bed. "You need to learn how to keep your guard up though. You would do so much better if you did. An enemy could easily sneak up to you and slit your throat before you even knew it." She warned her.

Sakura just frowned at her before looking at her clock to see what time it was. She almost fell back down onto the bed when she saw that it was four in the morning. Something that she was not used to at all. "Geez! Why are you here so early? It's…"

Yugao gave her a raised eyebrow look as she placed her hands onto her waist. She was obviously not amused at all. "Training, Pink Panther. We are starting your training today. The ANBU practically work around the clock. We don't sleep as much as the other ninja do. You'll adjust to it after a week or two." She then shrugged. "Now hurry it up and get dressed. I suggest a cold shower this morning to wake you up more. This will be the roughest training you are ever going to go through in your life. Better bring lots of water. You'll get dehydrated quickly." She told her before heading out of the room.

Sakura sighed but did as she was told. She climbed out of bed and hurried to getting ready for her so called hard core training. She was not really looking forward to it. But the thought of Danzo wanting to assassinate Tsunade and take over the Leaf Village was her drive. She knew that she needed to be well prepared for the day.

Glancing side wards at her picture of the old Team Seven, she shrugged at her friends as if they were watching her. "Day one." She murmured before she went to take a quick shower and then get ready.

The first thing they did, which Sakura was definitely not looking forward to, was go straight to the 44th training grounds, which was the Forest of Death.

From what Yugao said, and much to Sakura's uneasiness, they would do most of their training there. Most of the ANBU trained in the forest, due to how dangerous it was. It was mostly the only challenge for them in the entire village.

Once they reached the forest, Yugao had Sakura stretch for ten minutes before they began to run through the forest. And it wasn't jogging for Sakura having to do. It was full out running. They had to dodge several giant animals like the snakes and insects. A few of them attacked the two so they didn't really have a choice but to fight right back. Yugao wouldn't let Sakura stop until she nearly fell down from exhaustion. It was around that time they took a half an hour breathing break before they began to spar with one another.

Sakura learned very quickly that Yugao was not the kind of person who took things easy on sparring partners at all. Even if they were an under experienced. She told Sakura that an enemy would never give her a break. She also explained that an ANBU must always be wary of their surroundings.

"You must keep all senses open. Listen through your attacker's loud screaming voice. Smell through the blood and sweat. Taste the very flavor on every breath. And even watch for the slightest movement. You must use your senses to stay alive." Yugao told Sakura, who only nodded. "Do this, and you will stay alive. The job of an ANBU is very dangerous. It is the most dangerous job of being ninja. We have many enemies, even among our own village."

The two of them also did a lot of meditating while working on Sakura's senses. They would listen to the noises of the forest, pinpointing certain animal calls and trying to estimate the distance they were at. It was very hard for Sakura to pass these lessons but she tried.

When sparring with Yugao, Sakura also learned that her partner was indeed like a cat in many ways. She was extremely fast on her feet, moving and flipping around like a cat in a fight. She was also very stealth like, always disappearing and reappearing whenever she felt like it. She was no doubt a perfect spy. When she struck, it was hard and painful. There were times that Yugao was playful while sparring with Sakura. So she was no doubt a cat stylist.

Once they finished training for the night, starved and sore, Sakura made her way down the road with Yugao at her side, looking highly amused of how well the pink haired girl was progressing. She offered her to buy her dinner for the first week's abuse. The pink haired ninja gratefully accepted while telling Yugao about herself. She told her about how she grew up being picked on because of her large forehead. Then she explained on how she had been in love with Sasuke Uchiha and how hard it had been when she tried to impress him but never had it work. It had hurt a lot to tell Yugao about how she was, and still is, the weakest of Team Seven. The only strong techniques she had were what she learned from Tsunade.

Yugao, however, smiled to herself as she listened to Sakura before shaking her head. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Sakura." She said, catching her partner's attention. "By the sound of it, you are not a panther at all." She smiled even more when Sakura looked away with a forlorn look. "You are a wolf." That caught Sakura's attention again. "A wolf cub always starts off as a weak creature and not being able to defend itself. It must always have protection from the dangers of life by its pack. Much like what you had when you were a part of Team Seven. You were considered the weakest of the bunch, and were constantly being protected by your companions. But as a wolf grows, with experience, it becomes very powerful. It is a strong and powerful and even more loyal animal. It can also possess a nasty temper, which you must admit that you have, and it can strike with such power behind its claws and fangs. It's very loyal to its pack mates and will do anything it can to protect its family. In a way, you possess the quality of a wolf. So therefore, you will no longer be called Panther. You will be called Wolf." The ANBU said looking at Sakura softly.

Sakura smiled right back as she listened to Yugao's words. She was kind of glad for meeting this woman. She was kind when she wanted to be, yet stern when she needed to be. She was a little protective too, now that she thought about it. Yugao had protected Sakura several times from giant snakes before ripping them apart with her katana.

There was still one thing that bothered Sakura and that was Sai. For the entire week she had tried to hunt him down but he seemed to be avoiding Sakura. When she did find him and asked him once again to teach her how to be emotionless, he completely refused and then would vanish from sight. Agitated, the pink haired young woman voiced her complaints to Yugao, who laughed while they were training.

"So Sai is being difficult, huh? That sounds about him. He's always been a difficult one to get along with." The ANBU said making Sakura look at her in surprise. It sounded as if she knew Sai. But before she could ask, Yugao shook her head. "We'll wait a couple of days before dealing with him. That way, I'll have a week to teach you something that will help you convince him to teach you." She told her.

"Huh?" Sakura asked frowning. "Teach me what?"

Yugao just smiled rather slyly at her as they sat down to meditate after doing their early morning run. That was definitely a Cheshire cat like smile, a predator that just chose her prey. "You are aware that Sai is ANBU, correct?" She received a nod from Sakura. "Well, with the training I'm going to put you through now, you will not only be able convince Sai to teach you, you will become the best pick pocket. And that's a skill that ANBU will need. You will need to know how to pick pocket other enemy ninja or even targets for certain objects." She told her.

"Pick pocketing?" Sakura asked in alarm.

Again, Yugao nodded as she smiled at her. "Steal something of Sai's and hold it ransom until he agrees to teach you, Sakura. That's your only option. Do this, and you will have the skills you will need to be an excellent ANBU. But you will also be able to test your stealth and speed of your hands. Sai would be the perfect one to test it out on. He's not the easiest to steal from. He can almost notice everything, even though it's harder for him on emotions and such." She explained.

Sakura looked a little worried either way. "Do you think I'll be ready for the mission?" She asked, biting her lip.

For a moment, Yugao paused to think about it. She turned to stare at the anxious looking Sakura, studying her. But after a moment, she smiled and nodded. She reached up and brushed a long strand of hair out of her eyes before dropping her hand back into her lap. "Oh yeah. With me as your teacher, you will be a perfect thief. That's another reason why I'm Cat. I'm the only one in the entire village that has managed to steal something from Sai before he actually noticed something missing." She told her grinning.

Sakura could only look at her with awe. She knew that Sai was exceptionally skilled of being a Shinobi and it did seem kind of hard to steal something from him. But hearing the confidence in Yugao's tone, she knew this was about to get very interesting.

And the lessons began.

Yugao showed Sakura how to pick pocket first. She had used the pink haired woman as a target first, managing to steal a bracelet right off of her wrist without her even noticing. It amazed Sakura. She hadn't even felt her bracelet come off of her wrist. She continued that lesson for a bit, watching her partner carefully as she continued to steal the bracelet off her wrist until she began to understand what she had done.

Then they would choose random people off the street, pick pocketing them before giving their items back. And if the targets noticed, they would pretend that the person had dropped it, just so that they didn't arouse any suspicion. It worked for the most part. Only a few times Sakura had been caught. But with Yugao with her, it easy to get out of trouble.

As they trained together, the skilled ANBU observed Sakura for the most part before deciding that she wasn't going to be able to teach her a few things. There was a few things that she couldn't get her pink haired partner to do and she knew she would need a little help with outside help. It would be risky but it needed to be done.

So one day, Yugao frowned as she sparred with Sakura at the end of the week before stopping. "You know, with the Taijutsu you'll need for this mission, I don't think I'm going to be able to teach you everything. You're not like a cat stylist like I am. You're really fast, I'll admit but you're not as flexible as I am. As it is, I mostly rely on Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. Those I can teach you. Even though, you're doing pretty good for Genjutsu on your own. But you still need a little work on your Taijutsu. Do you know anyone that could help you in that area?" She asked, while they took a break.

At the sound of that, Sakura sweat dropped. She knew very well who could help her with the Taijutsu, not that she was going to like it.

"Sakura-chan!" Rock Lee cheered when he spotted the pink haired girl and her ANBU partner, who was dressed in civilian clothing; black skin tight pants, deep violate halter top and her dark hair was pulled up into a loose ponytail, walking towards him and the rest of his team; Neji Hyuga and Tenten. The bowl cut Taijutsu specialist rushed forward with his arms held outward and before Sakura could protest, he scooped her up and gave her a bear hug, cracking her back a little from squeezing her.

"Lee!" Sakura gasped as he squeeze all of the air out of her.

Neji and Tenten both sweat dropped and sighed. They might have been teammates with Lee for so long but they were still not used to his weird personality. But still, they were annoyed with him. "Lee, put her down now, you idiot! You're going to make her pass out!" The weapon specialist kunioichi said with annoyance.

Lee immediately set Sakura back down on her feet while grinning sheepishly at her and rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, Sakura-chan! I was just so excited to see you! My! You get as lovely as a flower every day! Maybe we should have dinner sometime! Please, Sakura-chan! Let me take you out tonight!" He said grinning at her.

Sakura just gave him a dry look but shook her head. She didn't have time for this sort of thing, nor the patience for Lee's fawning over her. She needed to keep her mind straight on the mission. "Ah, no thanks, Lee." She then straightened as she looked right at him. "Actually, I came to see you about something. I need your guys' help." She told them.

All three of the members of Team Gai straightened with a look of surprise on their faces but then they looked rather serious. It was obvious that Sakura hadn't really come for a social call. So why not get down to business?

Neji just tilted his head to the side as he looked Sakura right in the eye. "What is it, Sakura? Is something wrong?" He asked, frowning.

Sakura turned and glanced over at Yugao, who looked right back at her before she shrugged and placed her hand onto her waist. She was going to let the pink haired girl deal with this one. They both had already talked about what they were going to tell these three and what not to say. So Sakura nodded as she looked seriously back at Lee, Neji and Tenten. "All right. I can't go into the direct details but there's a mission that I'm going to be doing coming up but the problem is, I'm not completely ready yet. I need a little help working on…well," She made a face when she knew she must have looked stupid. "I kind of need help on working on my Taijutsu and working on throwing a bull's eye at targets. And since you guys are pretty much the best at Taijutsu and target practice, I was hoping…" She was saying only to stop when Lee began jumping up and down in excitement and throwing a fist into the air.

"Of course we will help you, Sakura-chan! I will do all my best to teaching you to become the best Taijutsu Kunoichi! I swear my life on it!" Lee said cheerfully before giving her a thumbs up and a sparkling grin.

Neji and Tenten both rolled their eyes while Sakura slouched over with a sweat drop on the side of her face. Yugao was snickering though as she watched. She was somewhat amused that this Lee fellow was so enthusiastic about helping Sakura. She figured it was better this way. He wasn't even asking questions about her mission. Not that she or Sakura would tell them about it.

"Thanks, Lee." Sakura said before looking at Neji and Tenten. "Guys? Can you help me?"

Both Neji and Tenten looked at one another before they both shrugged and looked back at her. "Sure. I'll help you out with your weapon accuracy." The weapon specialist told her.

The pale-eyed ninja folded his arms over his chest before shifting his weight. "I'm just curious. What kind of mission is it that you're doing? And exactly how could I help you?" He asked, a little dryly.

Again, Sakura glanced over at Yugao who now moved forward, her head dipped down a little. "It's classified. We can't really talk about it." The ANBU officer said smirking at the long-haired ninja. And that was all she needed to say. She knew if these guys were smart, they wouldn't ask too many questions.

Lee and Tenten both straightened with surprise but Neji's head dipped down as he looked directly into the ANBU's eyes with his pale ones. He was quiet for a long moment before he nodded. "I see." He murmured before he let his eyes flickered over at Sakura, who looked just as serious as he did as she dipped her head down and looked right into Neji's pale eyes. She knew she didn't need to tell him anything. He had already guessed it. The Hyuga prodigy slowly nodded before he lift his head up again. "All right. We will help you. Lee will teach you Taijutsu. Tenten will help you work on your accuracy with throwing blades. And I will help you become a little faster in dodging attacks and blades. How long do you have before your mission?"

"I only have a month. I know it's not a lot of time to train but with each passing day, I should get better than I already am by the time the mission starts." Sakura told them in a quiet voice, not wanting anyone else to overhear, if there were any eavesdroppers. She doubted it though. If there were, Yugao probably would have been off like a bat out of hell kicking the hell out of them.

Neji just nodded before he looked at his teammates, who looked back at him. All three of them agreed with one another in a silent way. They would help Sakura as much as they could, without telling anyone about it. "You can count on us to help you then, Sakura." Tenten said smirking at the pink haired girl.

Sakura smiled right back and nodded. Then she glanced over at Yugao, who gave her a nod of an approval. "Okay. Then, we'll begin today, you guys don't mind." She told them. The three just nodded as they glanced at one another before they began.

For quite a few days, Sakura worked Yugao and Team Gai with her skills. It was pretty much the same every day. Early morning, Yugao would rudely wake her up by pressing a blade against her neck and warned her to keep up her guard up. It was only a matter of time did Sakura start taking her very serious and would sometimes actually set an alarm clock before Yugao showed up in her dark apartment. It was rather amusing one morning with Sakura rearranged her pillows and blankets to make it look like she was still asleep when she was actually hiding in her wardrobe when Yugao came to wake her for the day.

Of course, the very minute Yugao showed up in the room and started moving towards Sakura's bed with her katana, only to halt and just stand there. Then with an annoyed sound, she flung a kunai at Sakura's wardrobe. "Come out of there. Do you really think me a fool?" The annoyed ANBU said.

Sakura, not amused, came out of her wardrobe and began to scold Yugao for throwing a kunai at her furniture. She knew it was going to cost a bit for having holes in her closet.

Then after that, they would go back to the Forest of Death and start training. Sakura and Yugao would run through the forest and fight some giant animals. They also worked on the pick pocketing techniques, so that Sakura would become better at it. They did that all morning until around noon, when they arranged to train with Team Gai.

The training was getting pretty hard, Sakura had to admit. But she was getting better. Taijutsu lessons with Lee wasn't that bad. She was actually rather surprised when he was very patient with teaching her. In all of the times she had seen him fight, he was always moving so fast and using a lot of power behind each hit he put into his fists and feet. She had never thought he had time to be slow and patient. But while teaching her, he took things slow and showed a lot of patience with her. He didn't even try and flirt with her while teaching her Taijutsu. He took Taijutsu rather seriously and it surprised Sakura a little by his change of character when he was teaching her.

Neji was not as patient as Lee was with Sakura but he never took the time to snap at her or make her feel like she was doing something seriously wrong. He pretty much made Sakura do things blindfolded, making her listen hard to the sounds around her. He did what he could to make sure that she got it right. Numerous times, he corrected her stances, which was mostly the Hyuga stance. Now and then Sakura could feel a wave of annoyance coming off of the Hyuga genius but he never acted out on his moods. But she never complained to him, and neither did he. He seemed to know exactly what he needed to do to help her with becoming even more skilled.

As for Tenten, she was not very patient at all. She took the entire accuracy lessons very seriously and would get mad if Sakura missed her target's direct point even by an inch. She was actually kind of scary to work with.

As for the pick pocketing lessons with Yugao, Sakura finally managed to get it right after one week. She was able to successfully pick pocket a wallet without even getting the suspicion from the victim. She had done at least ten wallets in a row before getting caught by someone else. So Yugao finally decided to let Sakura test out her skills against her own teammates, and maybe even get Sai to teach her.

It was nearly in the middle of the month when Sakura went back to training with Team Kakashi. Sakura was a little excited about doing it. She really wanted to find out if her training with Yugao and Team Gai was paying off. This was a test to see if she was truly getting stronger. So while Sakura headed over to the usual training grounds, she was very aware that Yugao was creeping around in the bushes, moving very quietly to watch how well she did. This made Sakura smile to herself before looked directly at the training grounds again where Team Seven was to meet.

Yamato and Sai were the first ones there, of course and Naruto was late. This made Sakura frown and roll her eyes. Her blonde friend was getting more and more like Kakashi, now that she thought about it. They were both always late. It was starting to get ridiculous. It wasn't long before Naruto showed up, grinning at her and waving like an idiot he was.

Now they just had to wait for the 'All Might King of Being late and coming up with Lame Excuses.'

However, Kakashi was not as late as she thought he would be. He was only five minutes late this time, and still Sakura was surprised. He was usually two hours late. But today seemed to be some kind of special or something. He just smiled at everyone before they started stretching for the training session.

"Sakura." Kakashi said, his hand on her shoulder. "I need to talk to you for a moment."

Sakura looked up at him from stretching before nodding and following the silver-white haired Jounin off to the side, well away from prying ears. She wondered what Kakashi wanted to talk to her about. Maybe it was the fact that she was trying to become an ANBU. "Kakashi-sensei, is something…" She was saying.

Kakashi turned around and looked her right in the eye with his revealed one and gave her a soft look. "Sakura, you don't need to call me sensei anymore, seeing that we're the same rank now." He then shrugged as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Actually, I pulled you over here to talk about that real quick. I'm aware that you're trying to become ANBU too." He said in a low voice. "Sakura, are you sure you want to do that?"

"Um….well….I guess so. I thought that you knew….." Sakura was saying again.

The older Jounin just waved a hand as if brushing it off. "Yeah, I know that you're becoming one because Tsunade asked you to, and because it's for a mission. I don't need to know the details because I already did some snooping around. But," He looked very serious at the very thought of what Sakura was trying to do. "Sakura, I have to warn you though. Being an ANBU is extremely dangerous. I would know because I was one once. It's not an easy job at all." He told her.

Sakura only bit her lip as she looked away before shrugging. "Kakashi, I think I'll be fine. I've had you to teach me and…..quite a few others. I can do this. If I couldn't, Shishou wouldn't have put me on this mission." She told him firmly.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side while studying her. But after a moment, his features softened and he nodded as he patted her gently on the shoulder. "All right. I just want you to be very careful, Sakura. The career of being ANBU is no pleasure at all, I'll tell you that. I just hope you will have a enough strong will for it." He quickly held up a hand when Sakura opened her mouth to say something, looking somewhat offended. "Sakura, the ANBU are the Assassin Ops. There will be some targets that you might have to eliminate that will hurt you more than you hurt them. It's not going to be pleasant at all." He paused again. "I'm also aware of your friend hiding in the bushes. I've already spoken to Cat about what you've been training to do. So, don't even think about touching my Icha Icha book." He warned her with amusement.

"Awww. Kakashi-sens…..I mean, Kakashi-san." Sakura pouted as she folded her arms and stuck out her lip. "I just wanted to try it out." She whined.

Kakashi made the sound as if he was laughing at her but shook his head. "It won't work with me, Sakura. I'm just a little too good for a little picket pocketing." He told her before holding out a hand.

Sakura made a face before she reached into her hip pouch and pulled out the Icha Icha book she had tried to steal from Kakashi when he had even first arrived at the training grounds. So with only a pout, she slapped the book into his hand, which immediately put back into his own pouch.

"You almost got away with it. Good job." Kakashi said, rather fondly. This just made Sakura grin up at him. So she was getting better.

The training that Team Seven was going to be doing was just a basic survival test. The three younger ninja were to try and take down the two older Jounin. They were to split up and try to do it on their own though. So once the training began, everyone quickly split up. Sakura, however, stayed a little close to Sai though. She wanted to get close enough to him to try and pick pocket something off of him. She was also trying to decide what to take from him.

His sketch book maybe?

Then again, that was a little too big and she hardly doubted he would keep it in his pouch. She could probably go for his Brother book. That was his most prized possession, after all. He was really protective over the book he had drawn for his brother.

Thinking it was worth a shot, she moved closer to where Sai was crouching and bent down beside him. He only merely glanced over at her before turning to look through the bushes at Kakashi as he leaned against a tree, his back to them. Neither young ninja said a word to each other as they just crouched there for a moment.

Sakura gave Sai a side wards glance before looking down at his pouch. She had to be quick about this. She knew that Sai would catch on quick if she wasn't. So she slowly crept her hand towards him, while his attention was directly on Kakashi. She watched him closely before stopping. She realized something about the way he was looking straight forward. Something that didn't really seem right. "Sai?" She asked, in a very quiet voice.

"Hn?" The ninja in black grunted.

Sakura frowned before tilting her head to the side to get a better look at him, his eyes never even moved from Kakashi. She then frowned as her face fell. "Why won't you teach me how to be emotionless?" She asked, dryly.

Sai's head jerked around and he looked at her with surprise. It was like he hadn't even been expecting her to ask that at all.

And that extremely shocked look on his face, Sakura couldn't stop the growl from escaping from her before she swung a fist and hit him over the head. "Naruto! What the heck are you doing?"

"Ow!" Sai yelped before he burst into smoke and Naruto reappeared in his stead, rubbing his head. "Sakura! Why do you have to hit so hard?" He pouted.

Sakura just glared at him but shook her head. She wasn't in the mood for Naruto right now. "Naruto! Where's Sai?" She asked, dryly.

The blonde just pouted at him as he continued to rub his head. "I don't know. He asked me to imitate him. He just said that it was going to help us get a hold of Kakashi." He said, wincing and rubbing his head.

Sakura sweat dropped before she sighed and shook her head. She knew that wasn't it. She knew that Sai was probably evading her because of her constant request. She seriously was tempted of hitting him.

With a frustrated groan, she stood up and made to leave her blonde friend there but had to stop because Naruto grabbed her wrist, holding her back. "Sakura! Wait!"

"What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked impatiently.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, almost looking like an innocent and curious puppy. It was kind of cute but she wasn't in the mood at all. "Sakura, why are you trying to get Sai to teach you how to be emotionless? Why would you want to be emotionless?" He asked, sounding a little worried.

Sakura sighed as she bent down beside him, giving him a very impatient look. "Naruto, what I want is my business. I'm just getting tired of being emotional, all right? Now, let's just get to Kakashi already." She told him. She stood up and hurried away before he could say anything else. She was furious. She swore that if she found Sai, she was going to beat the living crap out of him. She knew he was avoiding her. He was probably aware that she was going to ask him about emotionless lessons again. He might have an emotionless idiot, but he wasn't stupid.

"Cat." Sakura whispered as she leaned against a tree, looking carefully around the training area for Sai.

In that very moment, her ANBU partner stepped right out from behind the three next to hers, though she stayed in the shadows where it was hard to see her. Even Sakura was having a hard time to see her but she didn't really care right now. She just kept her eyes looking around the training area, keeping an eye out for anyone. She didn't want to get caught talking with Yugao.

"You need something?" The dark haired ANBU asked as she leaned against her own tree.

Sakura only nodded as she tilted her head to the side, still looking around. "Do you know where Sai's hiding? I swear, he's so hard to find." She said, with a little groan.

Yugao smirked herself before shaking her head. She was somewhat amused, though normally she knew she wouldn't be. She would have been annoyed but she was starting to like Sakura. "Usually a true ANBU can find anyone." She held up a hand when Sakura rolled her eyes and looked at her with annoyance. "But then again, this is Sai we're dealing with. And he's from Root, so he's trained to be able to hide himself completely. So he is really hard to find." She shrugged and motioned off into the trees. "He's over by the river. Might I suggest something?"

"Sure. I could use some ideas right about now." Sakura said looking around again.

Yugao nodded as she smirked at her and folded her arms, shifting her weight. "There's some traps that Sai set up over by the river. I'll point them out for you so you'll know where they're at. But my suggestion is, fall for one of them." She smirked even more when Sakura gave her a wide eyed look and started to protest. "Hold on. Let me finish." She waited till Sakura closed her mouth again before finishing. "Now, fall for one of the traps and fall into the river, as if you're going to drown. I'll come help you out and that way I can get involved with your guys' training session. Then things will really get interesting." She told her.

Sakura sighed but she nodded. "All right. I hope this will work, Yugao." She told her before she followed the ANBU off into the trees.

The two partners rushed through the trees, trying to remain concealed before they quickly found the river. Sakura looked around carefully to see if she could spot Sai. But he was well hidden. She was sure he was there because Yugao was crouching very low to the ground, looking around with a serious look in her eyes.

So she crouched down too. "Is he here?"

Yugao nodded as she looked around warily. She didn't say anything for a long time before she pointed towards the far side of the clearing. "I believe he's over there in the far bushes. He's watching carefully for Kakashi and Yamato. He might have spotted you though. Your hair isn't exactly the same color of the forest." She said, smirking when Sakura scowled at her.

After a moment of looking around the clearing around the river, Yugao then began pointing out to certain areas of the clearing. "Looks like he's put a few Jutsu traps all over the place. But see that small rock about fifty kilometers away from us?" She saw Sakura nod from beside her. "There's a more harmless trap there. It looks like a catapult trap. So it should just knock you right into the river if you step on it. Once you're in the river, go to the bottom and count to twenty….." She paused looking at her with a frown. "How long can you hold your breath again?"

"For about a minute in a half at least. Maybe two minutes." Sakura answered.

Yugao nodded as she took it into thought. She seemed a little satisfied with that answer. "That sounds just about right. Count to thirty then. Once you get to thirty, come back up and I'll help you out of the water. Right about then, everyone should have noticed your minor accident." She told her.

Sakura just nodded before she pushed herself through the bushes, running across the area. She was trying to make herself look a little out of breath while looking frantically around to play the part. She also tried to make herself look very alert, as if she wasn't going to let anything or anyone catch her off guard.

However, as she ran across the terrain and stepped on the trap where Yugao told her to step, she felt the hair raise on her neck. It was something that happened when someone was coming up behind her. She jumped a little and jerked around, only to see Sai right there, running towards her, looking hurried.

"Ugly! Don't step there!"

But it was a little too late.

The trap was set off just as Sai reached Sakura and she felt the ground rise very quickly from beneath her. She gasped as she found herself now flying through the air. She also could feel Sai's hand wrapped around her wrist and when she looked, she saw that he was going in right with her. 'Oh, crap. This wasn't a part of the plan.' She thought before.

"Nice going, ug…..!" Sai was saying before they both were plunged right into cold water.

Sakura had barely had time to gulp down as much air as she could before she found herself sinking to the bottom with Sai holding onto her wrist. She was cursing rapidly as she felt her back touch the river bottom before she started to push herself to the surface. She had had her air knocked from her lungs from the impact with the river. So the plan had changed.

However, as she tried to rise back to the surface, she felt her body jerk to a sudden stop from rising any further. She also felt her hip pouch catch something. She frowned as she tried to move again but she was stuck. 'Oh crap!' she gasped as she tried to tug herself free but her bag wouldn't move.

If that wasn't the worst scenario, she could feel water started to seep into her mouth and nose. 'Double crap! I'm going to drown!' She gasped inwardly.