(A/N): Hello all! Thanks again to everyone that favorited and reviewed my story. It makes me happy to know that others think I am doing a good job. Alright, on a side note- would anyone be so kind as to tell me what those 'fruit ratings' are? Like Citrus, and Lemons and I think Lime is what I've seen, I caught on enough to figure out that they refer to how intense the romance is or some shtuff like that, but where exactly they stand.. I don't know. Like which is the most... um PG and which is- okay well Highest to lowest. You get it. So, again if someone could let me know that would be cool. I guess I'm a noob XD Speaking of, some friends and I were talking about anime- Naruto- and stuff and someone asked if we were 'B tards' or B tangs, or something. I know it's anime related, and that not being one or something has got to do with how hard core anime you are. Or something, I really don't know. When I asked him, he said "I can't tell you, It'd be breaking rules #1 and 2." and then laughed at my dissapointed expression. I wants to knowww! *pouts* So now you all know I can sometimes have no regard for rules... well at least some.

Finally on to my chapter, by the way- thanks for waiting and to Jinchurikigrl- your welcome. And by the way, You and alexxsakura are so far my biggest viewers. Like review wise XD-

DISCLAIMER: I swear to GOD, I wasn't the genius that thought up Naruto! Therefore, I do not own it. Cha!

IMPORTANT! Orientation for the story, after Sasori was nearly killed, Deidara went on a mission with Tobi to let off all his steam, almost getting himself killed against a 'certain someone', luckily Tobi got his butt in there and got them both out in time before he knew Deidara would resort to blowing himself up. 'Wink wink, nudge nudge- you better have read this! It's too troublesome to explain in the story. Or at least in this chapter. Yeah, it'll be a few chapters later. Alright! Here!

~Chapter 2 recap-

"What is it, Captain Yamato?" She asked cautiously.

"Uh, Sakura-san... Pakkun is having some trouble finding Sasuke's scent...," he finally admitted after what seemed like forever. "Until we find out which way he went..."

"We can't go far," she finished for him. Though this annoyed her, thoroughly, she didn't mind all that much when it came down to it, but Naruto would be jumping off walls. And spending the next day or so with an agitated Naruto from sitting practically still for any long period of time could drive her insane. "Alright, goodnight, Cpt. Yamato." Suddenly, her question was un-important and forgotten. She just wanted to escape her thoughts and get some sleep.

"Sakura?"

"It's nothing, Naruto. Night." Sakura dismissed him with a yaw, making Naruto chuckle and lay his head down on his pack, using it as a pillow.

"Night, Sakura."

Chapter 3 ~New strengths and New allies~

The next morning, Sakura woke up early. She'd been restless for the most part of the night, and stealing a glance back at the peacefully, sleeping Naruto, she envied him. Nothing woke him up, not unless there was ramen handy. The mere smell of it would have him bolting up faster than any jack-rabbit would out run a snake. He looked so calm and oblivious. Sakura chuckled softly, he was still fairly oblivious while he was awake. Even so, despite his heavy sleepers habit, she carefully removed herself from her sheets and rose from the make-shift bed, using the tree for support in her current state of wearyness.

Sai, and Captain Yamato were fast asleep at the moment, too. They'd all be up within an hour or so, so she let them have the extra time to rest. Pakkun, however was still awake, he hadn't gone to sleep yet, and was still searching for any remnants of Sasuke's scent. Sakura thought absently that the mist-nin, Suigetsu, from Sasuke's team, must have covered up their scent. His water chakra was skilled enough to accomplish such a feat from what Sakura remembered.

Sasuke. There wasn't anymore twisting of her heart when she thought about him, like there would have been a year ago. Her 16th birthday had marked off a new start. The day she didn't get her wish, she gave up on it all together. She was sick of constantly letting Sasuke weigh her down. Sick of fawning over him even longer before that. Instead, she felt just the slightest hint of remorse. She really didn't care anymore. Her inner never argued with her on that point, and she didn't feel weird admiting to it, but there was something that felt hollow. Like some part of her felt that it should care, and felt guilty that it didn't. Leaving it empty, and undecided.

"Undecided?" She murmured to herself, low enough for only her ears. Pakkun was too in the zone to notice her anyway as she walked down to the river bank to wash her face. She stared into the water a moment before slowly cupping her hands down to catch some of the water and splash her face. Rubbing out the sleep from her eyes the girl moved her partially wet bangs away and out of her vision. The bright green orbs resembled groggy cats eyes as they trained their gaze back into the watery mirror. She thought about how she could have been undecided, the word sounded right, but she couldn't make sense of it herself.

Staring back at her was a lithe figure, knelt down onto the river-side. Silky and short pink hair cut in a way that gave a hint to her attitude, despite it's vulnerable color. And eyes that captured the essence of the forest, but none of it made sense. She was pretty, and yet she didn't feel like she was. Weren't inner emotions supposed to shine out in a persons exterrior? She leaned forward on her hands which gripped the grassy edge. She looked -dejected, but in a way that she would still appear animated. At least to some extent. The kunoichi from team 7 didn't have to try very hard anymore to forget things like the past, and so she took on a certain facade. One in which her emotions raged inside her, but filtered through her skin into indifference. But that word, undecided, racked through her brain relentlessly. It came up when she was thinking of him, so did that mean something? She felt as if there was a low hum of agreement inside her, echoing against the hollow walls.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" She asked herself in a hushed, irritated tone. She had just seen Sasuke yesterday and nothing had happened. Nothing changed in her. She had cast out that piece of her soul and thrown it away. Something that caused her pain wasn't worth holding onto, she had reasoned. And when she encountered him, she remained indifferent. Like she'd almost never even known him. Excluding the fact that she spazzed out and attacked him. Which was inevidable. It was either her or Naruto that would have done it, and she wanted to show that jerk just how 'weak' she still was. She'd done that at least, and given him a small memento to boot. Then why was she 'supposedly' undecided?

Staring down hard at her reflection, she tried to see something. Anything. The water shimmered, partly because the sun was just beginning to rise and the glow streaming from it filtered through the trees in an enchanting sort of way, and partly because of something else she wasn't aware of. From her peripheral vision she could make out a small pink sakura petal floating down. Riding the soft breeze and landing onto the water, creating a patern of calm ripples drifting and growing around it's touch. Sakura's reflection was distorted and... slowly... began to shift in appearance.

"Naruto..." The image in the water showed Naruto, giving her a bright smile and thumbs up.

'We'll get him back, Sakura-chan. Remember? I made a promise, ne?'

Sakura's brows knit together, mostly in confusion, but she felt bad for burdening him with such a task. She was about to say so when just as quick as he'd come, he was replaced by Kakashi.

'The life of a ninja is hard, Sakura. It surprises us with things we aren't always ready to deal with. That is why a ninja must always look beneath what they see and hear and reach down into their feelings and instinct. The truth in us all is always somewhere within our reach and yet, there are times when we don't always want to see it. A ninja must be willing to tackle any feat, and in doing so must understand themselves. Look behind the obvious, beneath what is already hidden, and deeper. No one is ever without an answer,' Kakashi lectured her.

He had always been fairly wise, infact she remembered this one, having heard it once before. It was a memory of hers... wasn't it? She knew she was right when the picture changed again into the Sasuke she remembered from her childhood.

'Hn. Go home. You're in my way here.... You're still...annoying.' The harsh stare of Sasuke is what glared back at her now. And suddenly she realized.

"I am undecided... in that I don't know if I want Sasuke to return."

"Or if you need him to," Inner threw in.

"But why the hell would I want him back? He doesn't give a damn about us? What hurts even more is that Naruto still has hope for him. Sasuke is going to crush him, like he did me and he doesn't see it," she thought angrily.

Sakura felt a hot sting brim the edges of her eyes. The tears betrayed her as they fell onto her porcelain cheeks. "Sasuke made his choice. I won't try and change it anyway. I'm done with it."

"You can't change what you feel, Sakura," her Inner stated calmly.

"Watch me!" she retorted quickly out loud, rising from the waters edge and throwing in a nearby rock to disturb the images.

"Stubborn like always..." Sakura took about four determined steps back to camp before she stopped abruptly to look back at the river. Finally registering that what had just happened in the water, was not a normal occurance, and was shocked.

"What the hell...did I...?" Sakura trailed off.

"You aren't insane. I'm just going to say that now."

"Then.., what...?"

"I think I'll let you figure this one out for yourself this time around. I wonder how fast you'll get it..." Perturbed, Sakura did two things. One; calmly did a mental re-run of the previous events, and two; stole into her inner's mind for an answer. It was decently guarded, but she got enough information to compose a decent guess.

"Holy.... -Kami."

"No way," she thought. The pinkette walked back to the edge of the water, her steps guarded and careful and pulled out a small packet from her butt pack. She looked at it for a long minute before her bright green eyes slid over to the water. She swallowed, and breathed deeply. Ignoring her inner's rants about cheating, and such- it was after all, nearly impossible to hide any information from one another. Sakura didn't know why inner even tried. Finally she opened it up and placed the small piece of paper in her palm, quickly flowing her chakra through it before she could change her mind.

To her utter astonishment, the chakra paper became very soggy, very quickly. Tilting her hand to the side, the paper dripped off onto the dewy grass and she sighed in awe.

"I... got my first chakra nature. It...finally developed." She paused in astonishment, wondering how it could have possibly happened. "Wow...."

"I don't believe this...what's going on?"

"Well you better. And it's exactly as you said. Duh. What else could it be?"

"I don't understand. Why?" Sakura wondered aloud.

"How should I know? I'm the same as you. Why don't you ask someone else with this nature. They'll know what happened, right?"

"But Kakashi is gone."

"Yeah but Cpt. Yamato isn't. He also has this nature, remember?"

"Right."

Sakura let the rest of the soggy paper, that was more or less completely water now, slip through her fingers and turned back to camp. With more questions than she'd left with. Not only did she have to deal with her conflicting emotions, but now she had new chakra to figure out. Although, it was more the shock of actually getting it rather than if she could use it properly or not. Chakra was like puddy in her capable hands. More or less.

A low thud sounded as he threw a sharp kunai effortlessly into a far tree to his left. His eyes slid over to glare in that direction, Sharingan boring through the dense wood to pierce an unknown chakra. Aside from that, he didn't move. The fire crackled in the quiet night and shadowed his features considerably. But his eyes, they were visible no matter how dark the surrounding area got. They emitted their own personal, predatorial glow.

"What do you want?" he demanded in a slow languid tone. He didn't bother asking 'who', because whoever it was, he was probably going to kill. He'd been in a particularly bad mood lately and this guy had bad timing. He had just woken up from a light sleep -he hardly ever really slept anymore- after sensing a chakra presence approach.

There was no response and so he became impatient, "I won't ask again," he warned threateningly. Sasuke didn't look it, but his body was coiled expertly ready to react to most anything. He sat leaning against a tree of his own, one arm draped over a bent knee, the other rested at his side. His Kusanagi lay slanted against the curve between his neck and shoulder. If anything, Sasuke looked rather bored.

At last the figure came out from behind the exact tree he had planted his kunai in. The flickering flames revealed a tall form adorned with the infamous Akatsuki cloak and an orange mask. He narrowed his eyes, recognizing both the clothing and the member.

"You." He didn't remember a name, but he knew they both understood what he meant. The orange masked Akatsuki had interrupted his fight with that blonde partner of his(A/N: Read IMPORTANT Notice at top of chapter- shame if you didn't... TT_TT JOKES! But seriously..for shame. XP P.s. Sorry for the A/N here, I felt it was needed).

He ought to settle that score right this second, but honestly-he didn't feel like it. The member didn't appear to be worth his time from what he remembered and from now...

"G-g-g-gomei! Tobi didn't mean to bother Uchiha-san. He promises he isn't here to cause trouble! Tobi is a good boy! Only wanting to talk, Tobi swears!" The idiot blurted out in a reasonably loud rush.

Before he could say anymore, Sasuke interrupted with quiet harshness, "Yeah, well yelling stupidly like that is a good way to start trouble. Tch." He motioned with a jerk of his chin towards the three lumps laying about the camp site.

Team Hawk all lay sleeping -for the time being that is, thankfully their chakra patterns flowed evenly and showed no sign of being aroused by the Akatsuki's disturbance. The last thing he needed was for Karin to have another excuse to fawn over him and 'protect' him. Even worse still was that an argument between her and Suigetsu would surely follow... Kami, sometimes he swore they were more annoying than his ex-teammates themselves. And by his standars, that was saying something. The more time he had to himself without Karin and her disgusting attempts, the better. It was really the only time he had peace and come to think of it, this Tobi person was disturbing it... Of all times-

As Tobi began to nod in acknowledgement while miming the sealing of his lips through his swirly orange mask, Sasuke quickly spat; "Get on with it. You're trying my patience. What business is it that the Akatsuki has with us?" Sasuke re-thought his wording and figured it wasn't actually his entire team they had 'business' with, but rather with only him. Still, he didn't take back his words.

"Oh, Hai! And Leader-sama doesn't want all of you, just Uchiha-san." Tobi spoke in a ridiculous whisper and Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes before thinking over his words. 'Wants'? What for..?

"..." Rather than waste the energy of asking him, Sasuke fixed Tobi with a glare that said it all in a scarily obvious way, Sharingan, of course, still activated. His eyes prodded him to continue without much effort on his part.

Tobi muttered something under his breath about how scary and alike Sasuke was compared with Itachi-san. Sasuke heard it easily enough, even if it was partially muffled by that dumb mask he always seemed to be wearing. In response, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and that's all it took to get Tobi to sing like a bird.

"Ah! -Leader-sama wants Tobi to bring back Uchiha-san! Leader-sama said Uchiha-san would be very good in helping Akatsuki." Sasuke thought over Tobi's words, immediately being opposed to such an idea. His 'brother' was one of them, and there was no way in hell he'd let himself work with him, not a chance that he'd let himself be on the same side as Itachi.

"Go to hell. Why would I ever help Akatsuki? What good does it bring me?" Sasuke didn't exactly snap, he was relatively calm, but anyone could tell a button had been pushed and that his voice betrayed his anger.

Tobi seemed to think honestly about that for a moment before you could almost literally see the lightbulb go on. He'd apparently thought of something viable.

"Tobi knows! We have the same goal! Tobi is a good and smart boy!" Tobi paused enjoying his moment, but quickly resumed before Sasuke could become angry, "Uchiha-san knows about Konoha's role in the destruction of the Uchiha clan, yes?" Recieving a slow nod from Sasuke he continued,

"Well, Leader-sama is going to destroy Konohagakure! Uchiha-san wants revenge, yes? So Akatsuki will help, in exchange for your help." Sasuke could tell there was more than just that on their list of things to do, but he found himself considering it and his mind wandered back to another possibility.

His brother would be there. All the time. He'd have countless opportunities to kill Itachi then. Though they weren't stupid, and neither was Sasuke. He figured they'd take that into consideration before allowing him to 'join' their group. He'd have to bide his damn time for who knows how long before he were given any sort of leeway. Even worse is wondering how long he could take being around Itachi without snapping. Yes, the destruction of Konohagakure was a goal of his, but that did not exempt Itachi in Sasuke's eyes. He had two things he would accomplish. One: Destroying Konoha and eveyone in it. And Two: Killing Itachi. Nothing would stop him, his mind was set.

A few things bothered him though. "Why does the Leader of Akatsuki need my help? Why not someone else?" It almost seemed like a dumb question when he really thought about it, he was almost sure he already knew why.

"Tobi thinks it's because of Uchiha-san's strength and Sharingan, but Uchiha-san would have to ask Leader-sama to be sure. No one else has the Sharingan, that is why. So does this mean Uchiha-san accepts and Tobi's mission is a success?" Sasuke could feel Tobi grinning like a mad idiot beneath his mask and his eyes narrowed, searching for what little information he could gather no thanks to that damned mask.

"How do I know I can trust you?" He wasn't all that worried, infact he felt confident in his capability of taking Tobi down if need be. The Dobe was an utter moron.

"Oh, Tobi swears! He is a good boy!" Tobi declaired a little too loudly. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched and glanced over quickly to scan his sleeping teammates.

"What about them?" He asked looking back at Tobi. His tone was emotionless, and well practiced with a blank face.

"Tobi can't say. It isn't Tobi's choice, Leader-sama asked specifically for Uchiha-san."

Looking back at team Hawk Sasuke thought it over, ignoring Tobi's pry's and constant chanting of that same damned question. 'Are you coming? Is Uchiha-san coming back with Tobi?' He drowned it out easily.

This seemed like the best option. With the Akatsuki both his goals would be achieved much easier than with team Hawk. The only problem was that he was pretty sure just getting up and leaving wouldn't be the end of it. He had no doubts what so ever that Karin would hunt him down, and for her it wouldn't be hard. At all. On top of being an expert chakra sensor, she also knew his chakra like she would her own. Dammit. And with her, Suigetsu would follow either by Karin dragging him along or under the guise of getting back at Kisame. He still wanted that sword, too. And Juugo, no doubt there either. He finds safety in Sasuke and would go anywhere to keep it.

Sasuke let out an exasperated sigh.

"So? So? So? Is Uchiha-san going to come? Please say he will!"

"Shut it. Fine, yes, I'll go. Just, stop, talking. I have a headache." The raven haired teen sighed once again, and stole one last glance up into the starry sky. His peaceful moment had long since been ruined. And... he decided he'd play things by ear. He knew he'd sense team Hawks approach if they ever came after him, and figured he'd be able to escape quick enough without a confrontation. He thought he'd have some time on his side, too. They wouldn't wake up for at last another six hours and they had to continue the trip to the mountain base for supplies before attempting to go after him. His head was tilted up and his eyes closed, mentally prepairing himself.

Suddenly in just a blur of movement, Tobi was next to Sasuke, grabbing his hand and hauling him up to his feat. It had been faster than Sasuke had expected from the childish ditz. In a swift action, Sasuke both effectively shrugged free from Tobi's grasp and equipped his Kusanagi on his sound style belt.

"Lead the way," was all he said, not knowing if he was eager to get gowing or not.

"Hai, Uchiha-san, but first Uchiha-san must retrieve something before Tobi can take Uchiha-san to the rest of Akatsuki and Leader-sama. Tobi will take you there and then take us to the base," The excessively loud and annoying masked Akatsuki explained as they bounded off through the forest, abandoning the still, sleeping team Hawk. He, Tobi, regretably reminded Sasuke of his former team mates, like a damned two for one deal sent from hell, times one hundred. He found himself thinking he'd make that trade any day.

"Hn."

"Uchiha-san speaks just like Itachi-san! Itachi-san is scary, but not Uchiha-san, right Uchiha-san?" Tobi attempted to glomp Sasuke mid-air stride, and he stiffened before giving Tobi an icy-cold glare, clearly communicating a death threat. Easily regaining his footing, while Tobi stumbled idiotically.

"Nope, Uchiha-san glares just like Itachi-san, too. Uchiha-san is scary. But not mean, right?" And somehow or another, Tobi kept finding things to prattle on about the entire way to their destination. Sasuke gave up any interaction with him unless absolutely necessary and ignored everything else. Kami, it was so hard to drown out that annoying voice of his.

"It's called Clarity, Sakura." Cpt. Yamato emphasized her name, hinting for Naruto to butt out. That morning, Sakura had come to him about her Chakra Element, which he confirmed -if the chakra paper didn't already- that her element was Water. She told him of what happened, although hesitantly, she knew it wasn't a very common jutsu seeing as she'd never heard of it before. Of course, the moment Naruto woke up and caught wind of Sakura getting her first chakra nature, he jumped in asking more questions than Sakura. For which she was actually grateful. He would ask questions she maybe didn't feel comfortable asking hersefl and it happened conveniently, so that in the end her curiosity was sated, without having to suffer any possible humiliation by maybe asking a dumb question. Like now...

"But, what's it for , Cpt. Yamato? I don't get it," Naruto prodded in a sort of half whine. Clearly he had missed the hint to leave.

With a sigh he explained again, only more in depth for Naruto, since ignoring him evidently did not make him go away. He dragged a hand down his face, it really wasn't hard to understand.

"Okay, Naruto, I'll take it nice and slow for you." Yamato had picked up on a few of Kakashi's most recent habits, and Naruto scoweld, but wisely kept quiet. Obviously his curiosity outweighed any smart aleck remarks he might have made.

"Clarity is a form of Meditation Jutsu. Called Hijutsu, Mokusou no jutsu: Meikai, or Secret Art, Meditaiton Jutsu: Clarity. This one imparticular is just as the name implies. It clears the mind and brings to the surface all scrambled thoughts and presents them clearly. It manifests usuallly when one feels conflicted about many things. Why it's a water element is because the jutsu literally reflects your thoughts to you and brings forward memories within the subconcious through any body of water. Specifically ones that answer a major problem the user may have.

"Sakura, you mentioned a memory about Kakashi? He told you that the answers are always within a persons grasp and is often hidden within themselves. Meikai(Clarity) brings that hidden answer to the fore-front of the users mind, resulting in the desired answer being reflected and making it easier for the user to understand their own thoughts. It's a cipher. There are many stages to this jutsu, the first being a self thought decoder. There's a photographic memory stage, in which you would actually call upon that memory-"

Naruto looked semi lost until this moment when he chose to pipe up, "So it's like having the ultimate cheating system during a test..." he chuckled mischieviously.

"Naruto!" Sakura thumped him in the back of the head, not hard, but enough to get his attention. "You do know that that would only work if you actually studied and payed attention in class. You can't call up memories you don't have...Baka."

Naruto ginned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense, huh?" He let out a few nervous laughs before shutting up. Sakura couldn't help but smile at him despite herself. She knew Naruto was just being, well, Naruto and she admired him for it, sometimes.

"Very good, Sakura," Yamato praised. "Now, as I was saying; Eventually you can develope it enough to mold with genjutsu." Yamato held up his hand before Naruto could ask the obvious. "Wait for it. Sakura, how do you think this works?" Naruto pouted, he'd wanted to guess, but setteled for crossing his arms. Sakura paused a moment, giving it some thought.

"Well, it's a memory jutsu, so I would think that combined with a genjutsu you could manipulate an opponant's thoughts. Give them memories they never had, remove ones they do. Mess with their thinking during battle, giving them combat intructions they think are their own and then later appearing as if you'd read their minds. The possibilities are limitless, almost, but something seems off." Sakura looked a little skeptic, and Yamato felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Could she have...? He let her continue.

"This...is a Water based jutsu, but the jutsu itself isn't expelling any water. It's working with the mind and the body.... So the water element chakra circulates inside the body and chakra system, constantly running to feed the users mind to support the jutsu. But because it isn't being used in one short burst, it uses more chakra the longer it takes. But there's something else, I think it uses the actual water stored within the body, not just chakra. That's what makes it so potentially poweful. The jutsu is only as strong as the user, it runs partially on their own life source. So the longer it's being used, the lower my actual health gets, not just my chakra. I could dehydrate if I weren't careful."

Yamato was nodding happily, she knew pretty much all she needed to. Naruto gave them both a blank stare, and blinked once before finally caving, "So, when it's mixed with genjutsu, you get really thirsty...?" Yamato and Sakura both sighed, but Sakura ended up smirking anyway.

"You know what, Naruto? To put it rather simply, that's exactly it. Sakura, it'd be a good idea to always have a sufficient amount of water available to you from now on. Since you are primarily the genjutsu type." Sakura nodded and held up her canteen to show she was already a step ahead, taking Yamato's advice seriously.

"There are probably multiple other ways to use Meikai, but just try and keep it small until you get the hang of it. For the Mokusou jutsu's you really have to focus and clear you mind. You've already done it once before, but just so you know in advance. The higher up in skill the jutsu is, the more concentration it will require to pull off in the first place. You'll have to find out on your own which jutsu effects you more with the dehydration. It's different for everyone." With that Yamato was about to go and check on Sai. He was fine now, but they were getting ready to scout the area soon so he wanted to be sure.

"Um, Cpt. Yamato?" Sakura said before he could go. She'd been wondering why it was that this jutsu ever happened, it wasn't a bloodline trait, but it was seriously uncommon for someone to posses such an ability. "Why is it that this Jutsu is so rare and... Why me...?"

Yamato smilled, "Sakura, the first stage is clarity, right? A ninja must not be distracted in battle, and so they block out feeling, and emotion. Most shinobi devoid themselves of all of that. You do not, it's that raw emotion that enabled you to use that jutsu, that and your mind had been relatively clear for a moment long enough to show you what it did." And with that he went on his way.

Sakura swallowed a little, she didn't tell him of the other two memories the jutsu called forth, just the one about Kakashi, but he obviously knew she kept something from him. She sighed before going over to pack her things, all the while thinking of the most important question the jutsu raised. 'Do I really want him back?' Naruto had promised, but now she wasn't so sure. Besides, from their last encounter Sasuke seemed just the same. Sakura found herself shoving things a little more roughly into her pack, before finally sealing them in a scroll.

She hadn't even noticed Naruto approach her and jumped slightly when he made himself known. "Jeez, Naruto! Since when could you sneak up on anyone?"

He let out a barked laugh, "Since you started spacing out, Sakura-chan. I stepped on every twig on my way." He pointed behind him to prove it.

Sakura shook her head, "You think being a shinobi you would at least by now have been avoiding that kind of stuff on second nature." Naruto just shrugged, and his smile broadened a bit.

Hooking up her kunai pouch she notice how he held his hands behind his back. "Ne, Naruto? What's that behind your back?" She asked, curious.

Naruto turned sheepish again and smiled innocently, "Well you know what Cpt. Yamato said about the whole water thing, and that you should be keeping a lot around? Well..." One hand moved up to rub the back of his head, while the other came forward to reveal his canteen. "I thought we could trade canteens since mine's a lot bigger than yours. It'd be more convenient, you know?" He offered it to her and she looked at it for a moment before breaking into a smile.

She unhooked her canteen and before handing it off in exchange for his, snuck in a quick hug. "Thank you, Naruto. You're the best." And she pulled back, making the trade and began to hook on Naruto's black and orange canteen.

"Heh heh, no problem, Sakura-chan. I mean, dying of thirst would just suck-" The decently filled canteen came hammering down onto Naruto's head, which immediately sprouted a huge lump. Sakura resumed clipping it on before walking away, completely indifferent.

Only she muttered to Naruto, "You always spoil it." Naruto went on to complain and ask what he did wrong, Sakura only smirked. He always messed up these honest and sincere gestures with his mouth. Naruto most certainly is the biggest loudmouth ninja there ever was.

"Cpt. Yamato, we're all done here!" She called to their teams captain. After the campsite had been disassembled, they were ready to do the days scouting. It was the last day for it before they gave up till another time.

Sai and Yamato came over to meet her and Naruto. "Alright, team. Here are your radios, please make sure the volume is not full blast this time." Cpt. Yamato looked pointedly at a certain blonde haired boy who took the offered radio while looking away. 'Oops' he thought.

"Everyone set your channels to seven, sub-frequency; nine. Sai you'll head North, Naruto; west, Sakura; North-west and myself; North-east. We know from Pakkun's latest report before he left that that is the general scope in which Sasuke's team had traveled. We have till nightfall, keep an eye out for anything that might indicate they'd been through that area. If we find anything good I've set up Pakkun with a radio as well, and will be able to call him back here and start again from there. Questions?" Yamato paused, everyone had their radios hooked up accordingly around their necks and the ear pieces were all in place, none were broken, he'd made sure of that.

"Alright! Let's get this show on the road! Last one to find anything's a rotten thousand year old egg!" Naruto cheered enthusiastically, as if he'd gotten more than three hours of sleep last night. Where he got that energy from all the time, no one knew.

Yamato sighed, he'd been the so called 'rotten, thousand year old, egg' last time and shot Naruto one of his creepy stares as a reminder. Yamato had received endless teasing that day from Naruto because said blonde had actually recovered more on their small retrieval mission awhile back. In all fairness it was by accident, but Naruto insisted otherwise and pestured Yamato about not having a ninja's keen eye.

Naruto paled slightly, that look always freaked him right out!

"Alright, then, GO!" Each of the four ninja set out in their designated direction, with six hours before nightfall, it was going to be a long scouting mission.

Sakura lithely dove through the brush and avoided obstacles with practiced ease, though for a seventeen year old Chunin like her, flying through the air like an acrobat was like breathing air. Easy and relaxed, the only thing taking any effort was to keep vigilent and spy every little detail with the decisiveness of a shinobi. She sent out thin waves of sensory chakra at regular intervals to scout the area ahead. She wasn't about to let anything surprise her. She'd bring Sasuke back now for one reason: Her promise to Naruto. She'd made up her mind... At least she thought as much. She found herself wondering if Mokusou: Meikai would just give her straight answers instead of just making the options more clear. Ughh.

With a sigh she focused on the task at hand and ignored her thoughts. They'd still be there when she was done. They could wait.

(A/N) Thank you all for being patient, I apologize for taking this long. I really felt like the chapter was Mocking me the entire way through. Yeah, mocking me. I found it harder to write Tobi in this one, I've no idea if he is alright or not. I'm pretty sure there's no chance of him being OOC, or anyone... if they are let me know! I love what you have to say.

Also, big thanks to my beta AGAIN for the sweetest advice EVER and to my every faithful reviewers, expecially Jinchuurikigrl whose pen name changed to Okami X Ko X Bites.

Next chapter soon!