Chapter 4: The Plan

Back at the Uchiha Headquarters

Sasuke sat down and laid out a map of Konoha on the large table in the middle of his makeshift staging room. He pointed at a small X on the map.

"This is where the elders usually are, they have a small hidden room in the mountain that backs the village. It shouldn't be hard to sneak in there, they didn't have many guards when I went there." Sasuke said, confidence radiating from his voice.

"Well then, where are we supposed to attack Sasuke?" Juugo quarried the Eagle leader.

"I think advancing through the Uchiha estate would be the most tactical choice" Karin chimed in

"It is completely empty so it would take a while for the villagers to respond, and there are more than enough places to hide and prolong the fight. The three of us should be able to give you more than enough time if we spread out and try some hit and fade tactics. And it's perfect for retreating because it's on the edge of the village, we should be able to fade into the trees and evade the leaf nin easily. I also took the liberty of making a few surprises for those anbu to play with."

She dumped out a bag of explosives onto the table.

"If we can plant these on the edges of town the confusion will further disorient their counter attack."

The rest of Eagle was amazed at Karin's military prowess. She looked at them puzzled.

"What? So I can't have some hidden talents of my own? What else did you think I did while working for Orochimaru. I spent tons of my free time studying war journals, books on strategy, Anbu Black Ops missions, and past assassinations. Orochimaru noticed my talent for undercover ops, he even asked me to help him plan the attack on the Leaf Village."

Sasuke removed the look of shock from his face and replaced it with a pleased smirk. He congratulated himself for choosing such a useful teammate. He straightened up and took a good look at his squad as if measuring them up. After silently inspecting his troops he knew his plan would work, Eagle would capture its prey.

"Alright, time for Eagle to soar!" Sasuke proclaimed, it was the first time any of his teammates had heard him sound excited.

Eagle set down right outside Konoha, the sky was full of thunderous clouds, each seeming like it wanted to drown the world below it. The wind had picked up significantly, leaves were blowing every direction, nature seemed to be in a state of pure chaos.

Sasuke welcomed it, he saw it as an outward manifestation of the chaotic battle raging inside of him. The part of him that wanted to stay in Konoha with his friends was growing stronger, the death of his brother had let him loosen his grip on his "Avenger" personality. He had spent his whole life striving to achieve one goal, and now that he had accomplished it he didn't know what to do. He felt lucky that he had been given another mission, that way he wouldn't have to think about his future.

As Sasuke looked up at the stormy skies he recalled the previous night. He hadn't been able to get the image of that pink-haired ninja out of his clouded head. She was beautiful, she had grown into a breathtaking woman. She had an amazing body, her cute face framed by that familiar pink hair and those gorgeous eyes, he could lose himself in their ocean of emerald forever. He couldn't believe that that girl was the Sakura he had left 5 years ago.

"Hey Sasuke, is everything alright?"

Karin's voice woke Sasuke from his trance.

"Hn, Y-yea, everything's fine, is everybody else ready to move out?" Sasuke asked, gaining back his calm and cool exterior.

"Ready and rearin' to cut some leaf ninja down boss." Suigetsu exclaimed, excited at the thought of getting to use his blade in a real fight.

"Sasuke, are you sure you are alright?" Juugo questioned, he doubted that Sasuke was perfectly fine but he didn't want to push the issue.

"I'm fine." Sasuke said.

Tsunade's Office

"So Sasuke came back to the village last night? Did he say why he came back to the village?" Tsunade quizzed Kakashi.

"He said he had one thing left to do before he could return. Although I havn't a clue what he has left to do. He spent his whole life training to kill his brother, and now that he accomplished that goal I don't know what he has in mind." Tsunade felt a sense of helplessness coming from Kakashi as he spoke. She was not afraid of Sasuke, she knew what the village had gone through in recent years and she believed the village could rise to overcome any challenge, Kakashi however, did not share the same positive outlook. He spoke in an urgent and worried tone, a voice Tsunade had never expected the calm and cool Sharingan Kakashi to put on.

"Well in spite of the current situation I think it would be wise to -"

"Don't worry, I will double our active guard and have every ninja not on a mission is to be ready to respond to any call." Tsunade said, trying to reassure the Jounin. Kakashi's usual self returned, he left the room calm and cool, but he was stopped right before he placed a hand on the door.

"Kakashi" Tsunade said firmly.

"Yes madame Hokage?" Kakashi said, his head slouched down looking at the door handle.

"I need to know if you are not going to let your emotions get the best of you if you happen to run into Sasuke. He's a wanted wanted criminal, I need you to promise me that you will handle him like any other criminal, he is no longer your student Kakashi. He is a threat to this village and he will be treated as such. Got that?" Tsunade said, her voice no longer relaxed, it was now stern and powerful. Kakashi tilted his head to the left, his eyes drifted to the floor and his voice sounded like a child that had just been given a stern lecture.

"Yes ma'am." He headed out the door and made his way to Team 7's usual spot. As he jumped from roof to roof he thought to himself.

"I almost lost this eye when I used it against Itachi and nearly extinguished its power when I fought against Deidara. If I have to use Mangekyu against Sasuke it will most likely be the last time I get to see out of this eye." Kakashi grabbed at the forehead protector that served as an eye patch.

"Sharingan Kakashi might become a name only for the history books."

He arrived at the bridge late (as usual) to see a rather unfamiliar scene. Naruto was acting the same, complaining about how Kakashi was always late but it was Sakura that was acting strange. She wasn't hounding Naruto and telling him to shut up, she was just sitting there, alone in her own world.

Kakashi landed right next to Naruto and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and leaned over to his ear and whispered.

"The day you stop complaining is the day I will be on time."

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin, he shrieked and jumped back a few feet. He raised his fist and shook it at Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei you shouldn't sneak up on your teammates like that! What's wrong with you I could've had a heart attack!"

Kakashi straightened up and scratched the back of his head and put an innocent look on.

"Haha sorry I just figured it would help wake you up."

Kakashi looked over at Sakura, he noticed something was wrong with her and he stared at her with concern written all over his face. She noticed his look and spoke up in an uncaring tone.

"Naruto you shouldn't yell at Kakashi-sensei like that." Sakura sounded like a bully reluctantly saying sorry to one of their victims.

All of team 7 looked at Sakura in shocked curiosity, Naruto of course was the first to ask.

"Ehh whats wrong Sakura, you look really depressed, did something happen? Maybe we could go on a date after today's training, that should make you feel better." Naruto was ready for the verbal abuse to start, he had already lowered his head and covered it with his arms. But Sakura stood there without moving and spoke in the same tone.

"No thanks, sensei can we start our training now?"

Kakashi relied on his usual happy mood to try and steer the gloomy situation back to something pleasant.

"Sure Sakura, lets head off to the training grounds everyone."

Team 7 starting moving to the training fields but Sakura was uncharacteristically slow. Kakashi motioned Naruto and Sai to go on ahead. He walked next to Sakura and asked her how she was doing.

"Sakura you're usually not like this, whats going on?"

She looked the other way and picked up her pace.

"Nothing, I just...didn't get enough sleep thats all."

Kakashi knew that Sakura wasn't that depressed just from not getting enough sleep but he decided it was best to just let her deal with it herself. She had become detached over the last few years, the loss of Sasuke hit her harder than even Naruto. Kakashi would often observe Sakura and watch her cry herself to sleep some nights. He was really worried about her, but she seemed to be fine when she was training or on a mission, he decided that he would just let her get over Sasuke eventually. He just didn't realize that it would take this long, and that it would still bother her from time to time.

When the team met up at the training grounds Kakashi gathered them around him. He addressed the situation with Sasuke, of course the entire team was shocked to hear that he had come back to the village. Sakura put on a good act, she acted just as excited as Naruto. They both spit out questions at Kakashi.

"What did he say? Is he finally coming back to the village? Who were those people that talked about him? Where is he now? How long till he comes back?"

Kakashi was a little overwhelmed by the barrage of questions and he raised his hands up.

"Calm down calm down. He said he had one thing left to do and I get the feeling it has something to do with Konoha. But our orders for now are to remain on alert for any trouble around the village, and remember Akatsuki is still out to get the Kyubii from Naruto. We have a lot on our plates but lets try to get through it one thing at a time okay?" Kakashi's voice was refreshing, even Sakura perked up a little.

"So lets start by continuing yesterdays training."

All of team 7 responded invigorated.

"Yes sir!"