Wanted Member
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters, their sayings, their jutsus, the plot, or any of that.

Chapter Four: The Journey Begins

"Oh! I nearly forgot about this!" Sakura gaped as she grabbed a picture frame off her desk. She smiled as she looked over the picture she looked at every morning and every night. It was taken about two months ago.

It was her fourteenth birthday and her team had come over to celebrate, as had other people. She had other pictures from the party, like when Naruto and Sasuke had arm wrestled…Sasuke won. And then there was a contest to see who could eat the hot sauce and not have a drink the longest…Sasuke also won. Then there was a staring contest…Naruto lost.

There was a picture of all the girls, like herself, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten. There was a picture of Kiba and Naruto it looked getting into a fight. One was of a few of them dancing. You could see the hilarious faces of when the girls had insisted that some of the guys dance. Neji's and Sasuke's were priceless. And one with Lee and Gai hugging…Okay Naruto must've had the camera or something.

But this picture was special, because this one was taken after everybody left. Her squad had stayed after to wish her a happy birthday and she had insisted that they take a new group picture…

Flashback

"Come on guys, I think it would be good to have an updated group picture!" Sakura insisted to her group members.

"You bet Sakura-chan! I may not have beaten the Teme much tonight! But I can beat him at smiling!" Naruto laughed as he grabbed the camera and tried to set it up right.
"Hn."
"Here Naruto let me help you with that before you break it-."
"I got it Kakashi-Sensei!"
"Naruto be careful that's my camera!"
"'KAY I GOT IT! EVERYONE OVER HERE!" Naruto brutally announced as he pointed over towards some steps that led upstairs. He carried the remote that would start the countdown for the picture when Kakashi grabbed the remote. "I think I should hold onto this."
"Hmph!" Naruto walked over and sat down on the left side, from the way it looked on the camera. Sakura sat next to him and Sasuke sat next to her.. There was room in the back for Kakashi. Kakashi though was checking the scene on the camera.

Kakashi walked over and sat behind them, more on Sasuke and Sakura's side. "Naruto, sit next to Sasuke. The lighting would be better over there."

"My bad! I was never the scenic type really! Heh heh!"
"Okay ready on three. One, two," Kakashi started to count down as Naruto walked over there. Just when he was about to say three, Naruto sat, smiled and then put on a shocking face.

"YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUCHHHHHH!"
FLASH!

"Naruto!" Sakura looked angry at her blonde haired teammate.
Naruto jumped up and looked down, where a shuriken, spike side up lingered. "WHO?!"
"Hn." Sasuke showed a proud smirk. "Dobe. You still didn't beat me."
It was true. In the picture Kakashi smiled, Sakura was grinning ear to ear, and Sasuke was smirking. Naruto though, had tears in his eyes, and had both hands on the sides of the seat, and his legs going up, as if he was trying just to get the bottom part of his body off. And he definitely wasn't smiling. A shuriken to the butt, moving or not is still painful.

"THAT'S NO FAIR TEME!"
"Alright, alright let's get going. I have an early mission tomorrow guys. Naruto, look where you sit, Sasuke no more dirty tricks, and Sakura, how 'bout you get in-between these two so no more ruckus happens." Kakashi broke up the fighting as he had a tired expression on his face. "And everyone stand up to make sure no more shuriken are left on any seats."

"Alright, alright…"Naruto muttered angrily. As they rearranged and Sasuke now stood on the left side, Sakura in the middle, and Naruto on the other side, Naruto secretly got a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Let's try this again…" Kakashi said as he pressed the button. "Three…two…"
At that moment Naruto suddenly pushed his hand out, hit Sakura, and she fell backwards towards Sasuke. The Uchiha instinctly wrapped his arms around her waist, and her hands gripped his. Her eyes bolted toward the camera as she mentally heard the 'one' to the countdown go off in her head. She had a surprised look on her face, and her face blushed when she saw where she was.

Sasuke had taken a step back to balance them out. He looked like he had known what to do the second Naruto's hand had moved out of the corner of his eye, yet he still seemed a little shocked. His mouth was closed, but you could still see his teeth. His eyelids were higher than usual, and his eyes were focused on the girl that had just fallen her way into his arms. And the lightest tint of pink on his pale face was seen at the tops of his cheeks, captured the split second they came.

FLASH

This is what they looked like in the picture. Naruto was laughing his head off, and Kakashi was looking towards the two tiredly.

"NARUTO!" Sakura had whacked his at the back of the head.

Kakashi sighed. "Once more then."
The third came out picture perfect.

Naruto was smiling, and rubbing the back of his head (from what I wonder…). Kakashi had the perfect smile hidden under his mask, and had a slight wave of the hand. Sakura still stood in the middle and had a peace sign, while Sasuke stood with his hands on his pockets and had a small smirk on his face.

…

The next day Sakura gave a copy of each type of picture out to everyone…

Flashback

…Sakura had kept all three…but she liked the second one the best.

It seemed to show a little bit of everyone she knew…and she liked the memory of falling securely into Sasuke's arms. He didn't say a word after that happened…

Maybe one day it could happen more than on an accidentally pranked basis.

She stuffed the picture into her pack as she headed off to the gates of Konoha.

SXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXS

Sakura got there just in time.

Naruto, with his orange backpack held his hands behind his head in a bored manner glaring daggers into his rival.

His rival, stood with his purple pack, and kept his eyes closed in usual annoyance.

Naruto noticed Sakura in a heartbeat though. "Sakura-chan!!!" He yelled waving.

"Shhh Naruto it's the crack of dawn people will wake because of you."
"My bad!" He yelled, and then smacked his lips in realization.

She laughed a little and shook her head, then focused her attention to Sasuke. "Good morning Sasuke-kun!"
He replied with the usual grunted 'Aa'.

"Awww don't worry Sakura-chan that stick up his butt just went up a notch 'cause he had to wake at the crack of dawn." Naruto laughed.

Sakura smacked him a little over the head. "Be nice Naruto! You're not usually much of a morning person either!" She scolded while Naruto rubbed his head. "You're just really energetic because of the mission today! And not the usual, 'catch a whole lot of fish in the morning,' kind!"

"You're both too loud in the morning." Sasuke said aloud.

"Heh, I guess you're right Sasuke-kun." Sakura laughed to herself, as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

Naruto just ground his teeth a little and then his eyes lit up in recognition. "Hey Sakura-chan why were you late anyway? You're usually one of the first ones here!"

"Well, I sorta took a trip down memory lane." Sakura laughed. "I went looking through some old photos this morning."

Naruto was about to dig further with questions, except he felt a few presences appear behind him. When he whirled around he was surprised by who he saw. "KAKASHI-SENSEI?!"

'Naruto be quiet! Baka!" Sakura whispered as harshly as she could.

Kakashi, Tsunade, and Shizune were there at the gates. "Well I knew Kakashi would be late, so I decided to escort him." Tsunade answered.

"Well your escorting could use a little less waving of the fist." Kakashi said to himself.

"At least I let you visit the Memorial Stone before you left for a long mission." The Godaime whispered back to him.

"Can we just go now?!" Naruto said in a quieter voice, as not to be whopped in the head again and suffer from another concussion.

"Alright, calm down Naruto." The Hokage answered in a tired voice. At least she wasn't in her hangover mood.

"Here is your scroll." She handed over the rolled parchment with care to Kakashi. "And the map." She handed the other paper to Sakura. And the password is…" She leaned in to whisper. "Alliances ensure the future."

"I got it, but do you think Naruto does?"
"Gimmie a break Sakura! Not everyone's got your smarts!" Naruto whined.

"Alright well you all should head off!" Tsunade declared. "Safe journey!"
"WE WON'T LET YOU DOWN TSUNADE-BAACHAN!"

"Heh." Tsunade smiled to herself. "That kid…"
"Tsunade-sama, do you think they'll be alright?" Shizune asked as she squeezed Tonton.
"Oink oink?"

"We can only hope…" Tsunade looked at their retreating figures. "We can only hope."

SXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXS

Team Seven walked through the endless woods, with Naruto going on and on and on and on about who knows what. Sakura was half listening as she enjoyed the cool shadows from the trees that could get her away from the burning sun. Kakashi just kept on reading his book, which you'd think he'd have memorized at this point. And Sasuke was just being Sasuke, with his hands in his pockets, and his eyes on the trail.

Nothing out of the ordinary except for the figures jumping through the trees.

"So what's the plan?" Saiya asked the leader of their scouting group.

"We wait until there aren't any ninja around for miles, and then we have a little chat with the lot of them." Belriese told her comrades as they kept a steady watch. "Remember the plan, act like were at least Chunin. Use mediocre attacks. The only one who won't notice will probably be the blonde idiot."

"But our main focus is the girl right?" Saiya asked her.
"Hai! She is the weakest point out of any of them. The Uchiha will be too proud, and the Demon kid will think he can handle anything."

"So what if she does deny the offer?" Saiya asked running a hand through her hair in slight frustration.
"…We find a reason to make her." Chidane stated as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

SXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXSSXS

"I think right here is a good place to setup camp."

Kakashi stopped where he was and placed the book in his back pocket, where it will remain until needed later.

"Okay, Naruto you get the tents setup. Sakura you go get wood for the fire. Sasuke get some fish to cook on that fire. And I'll go refill the canteens." The silver haired Jonin announced.

Once everyone got their task and Naruto stopped complaining, they all went their separate ways. Unfortunately though, the three shinobi in the trees couldn't have asked for a better opening. "Let's go!" The leader whispered as they parted.

SORRY FOR THE LATRE UPDATE!!! MY INTERNET HAS BEEN DOWN FOR FOUR FLIPPIN DAYS! –dies- PLEASE READ/REVIEW!!!