Hey there! Sorry for the super slow update. My whole computer crashed so I had to wait for it to get fixed before I had a chance to do anything. Oh yes, and I'm about ¾ of the way done the next chapter for "Konoha Adventures", but at the moment, I'm really into this story instead! I already have the whole plot planned out and I can't wait to get to the good parts! Here's chapter 6:

Chapter 6: What?! Another Mission?!

At their lunch break, Sasuke still didn't speak. His three team-mates sat on a picnic blanket to enjoy the food that Naruto had recently stolen (and it took a lot of pursuing to share it), but Sasuke didn't want to sit anywhere near them.

It all made perfect sense at the moment. All of those stupid "what if's" Naruto had thought up were all making sense to Sasuke. If somehow Tsunade had been forced to give them this mission, Oroachimaru's goal was quite clear: it was he, Sasuke, who Oroachimaru was after. Not only was Sasuke scared for his life, but at the pit of his stomach, he could feel a knot tightening… he would never admit this, but he was afraid for the lives of his comrades.

Naruto had put up a pretty good fight every time Oroachimaru would show up, but Oroachimaru was still way out of his league. And if Naruto couldn't do it, and if Sasuke crippled before Oroachimaru in their last encounter, than Sakura could never ever match Oroachimaru's strength. Even Kakashi would be forced to fight to his full extent.

"Hey Sasuke! Where are you?" Sakura called from somewhere behind a large tree.

"Oh chicken-butt! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

BONK!

"OW! Gee, I didn't mean anything against you Sakura! Why are you so-,"

BONK!

"Urg, I didn't even-,"

BONK!

Naruto and Sakura soon appeared around the corner of the tree; Naruto supporting giant lumps on his head. Sakura's expression was very cold (and frightening), but her eyes lit up when they met those of her raven-haired team-mate. "Sasuke I-," Sakura began, but to her surprise, Naruto cut her off.

"Sakura… um, if you don't mind," he said, slightly unsurely, "I would like to talk to Sasuke." He was obviously trying his absolute hardest to sound polite.

"So?"

"Er… you know. A man-to-man talk," Naruto said, trying not to anger Sakura any more than he had. When Sakura was still unmoving, Naruto glanced at Sasuke for help, but Sasuke made no motion to do so. Naruto sighed. "I would like to speak to Sasuke alone."

Sakura seemed a little surprised. It was very rare for Naruto to want to talk to his arch-rival so desperately. "I…," Sakura said, rather stupidly, glancing from Naruto to Sasuke. Something was going on. "Fine. Whatever," Sakura said, turning on the ball of her foot. She clearly hated being left out of conversations, so before leaving, she hastily added another lump to Naruto's head.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked with boredom purposely etched in with his tone.

"About the whole 'pinkie' thing…," Naruto said in an under-tone, Sasuke giving him a curt nod, "um …if the real Mission does turn out being one of Oroachimaru's schemes …then-,"

"You want to put it aside, so we can focus on the real Mission?"

"No, I want to try to solve it before the real Mission!" Naruto said with a Gai-like pose (oh boy…).

"Before?! What, do you already have something in mind?" Sasuke asked, slightly surprised (and impressed) by Naruto's determination.

"Nope! I decided to leave all of the thinking to you!" Sasuke frowned at this. "And don't forget that this time, you have to do most of the work, because last time, I was the one who washed her hair and took all of the blame and before that, it was Kakashi-sen-,"

"OK! I get it! It's my turn!" Sasuke shouted, but Naruto clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh! She'll hear you!" Naruto said, before Sasuke pried his hand off.

"Alright then. I've got to come up with a plan, huh?" Sasuke asked, lost in thought. "Well, the last plan had never actually been completed, had it?"

"So do you want to try to drench her again?" Naruto asked.

"Definitely not," Sasuke dead-panned. "But maybe …if somehow we could … I've got it! We'll dress up as enemy ninja, cut off a few strands of her hair and then we'll work with that!"

"What?!" Naruto said as quietly as he could. "You mean attack her?!"

Sasuke shook his head while standing. "No, not attack her… just sort of cause a distraction. Actually, if I go in alone, she probably won't even see me…," he said, staring off into the distance with a smug grin.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Sasuke! I mean, what if she thinks that Oroachimaru is behind it? She'll be scared to death! Why can't we just cut her hair normally?" Naruto asked (and some-what pleaded).

"She would be angry if she knew it was us. She doesn't like having her hair cut," Sasuke said, remembering the second stage of the Chunin Exams when Sakura was forced to cut her own hair. "So we'll have to make sure that we only take a couple of strands. Besides, as I said, she probably won't even see me."

"Hey! I'm not letting you go in alone! I want to be a part of this too! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, extending his fist into the air.

"Fine. But don't get in my way," Sasuke said, finality in his tone at last.

The two young boys walked back to the clearing where Sakura was now sitting against a tree, pouting. They tried to creep past her, but she caught them immediately. "Where do you two think you're going?" Sakura asked with a snarl.

"A walk," Naruto said as casually as he could. "Just the two of us." Sakura scowled, but she still didn't protest when they ran off into the forest. She didn't know what she preferred: Naruto and Sasuke continually fighting, or excluding her. Little did any of them realize Kakashi's initial plan was working…

It wasn't long before they reached the dirt path again. "Why did we run all the way back out here?" Naruto asked, absent-mindedly staring off into the distance.

"Well, we need something to wear don't we? Oh look! A couple of farmers!"

Naruto reluctantly followed Sasuke to their victims.

Sakura closed her eyes and let the gentle breeze tug at her pink strands of hair. She was still leaning against a tree, her other three team-mates no where in sight. She knew that Kakashi was sitting just around the corner with his orange book, but Sasuke and Naruto were …walking?

She sighed, but jerked her head up suddenly when she heard a twig snap a few metres ahead of her. She stood up immediately, her hand reaching for her hip where her weapon pouch was. The cracking and rustling grew louder. She had a feeling that there was more than one person; she could faintly sense various chakra-types. Through the twig-snapping, she could hear muffled voices: "Pink! I can see it! It's got to be her! Quickly think up a battle-formation and we'll attack!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she backed even further into the tree trunk. She took out a kunai-knife and held in front of her. "Ok!" she heard a voice say. "On the count of three! One-two-," but the mystery person was silenced and instead of a "three", all that could be heard was a swish and a thud.

Sakura shuddered at the thought of what it must look like behind those bushes. Her knife had obviously made contact with a human, because she had been able to distinguish the sound of a body landing on the ground. This was the part she hated about being a ninja.

She reached for her weapons pouch again, but she was too late. One of her fallen enemy's comrades had come bursting out of the bushes, wearing blue overalls and a straw hat… But Sakura did not have a chance to see any more, because something unusually hard had made contact with the side of her head.

Her lack of consciousness prevented her from witnessing whatever happened next.

"Hurry up, idiot!" Sasuke said, now wearing blue overalls (picture that!) and a straw hat. Naruto stumbled, tripping over the legs of his own overalls (which were about 10 times too large for him).

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Naruto said, holding up the legs. "Where was Sakura again?"

"We were just there, numb-skull! Remember? In the clearing!" Sasuke said, picking up speed. "And try not to talk anymore or else she'll hear us!"

"I know that smarty-pants!"

"Shhh!"

They ran a little further, but were stopped when something grabbed the back of both of their shirts. "What the-?" Sasuke said, as he felt himself being lifted off of his feet.

"What have you done with her?"

"Huh?" Naruto said, his ears perking up at the sound of this familiar voice. "Kakashi-sensei! It's us!"

"Naruto? Sasuke? Why are you wearing those?" Kakashi asked, dropping them onto the forest floor.

"We were going to pretend to attack her," Naruto said, "and then cut off a few strands of her hair and see if any hair dye came out."

"Not attack her," Sasuke corrected angrily. "And what did you mean by 'What have you done with her?'"

Kakashi didn't answer immediately. "Come with me," he said, before bounding off, Sasuke and Naruto on his tail. They recognized this as the clearing Sakura had been sitting in.

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto said immediately, spinning around.

"I'm not sure," Kakashi replied. "But I found something else that was most perplexing." They followed Kakashi over to a bush on the other side of the clearing. At its base, there was an arm that was lying in a pool freshly-spilled blood; the body in which it was connected to was hidden.

"Don't tell me that she… Is that-?" Sasuke began, his eyes widening. He was unable to finish.

"No. This isn't her. It was quite strange, but this person was a farmer- or at least, he was dressed as a farmer. From this, I am getting the impression that Sakura killed him… but her current whereabouts are unclear," Kakashi said, glancing down at the arm again.

"She killed him?" Sasuke said with surprise. He found it difficult to picture someone as gentle as Sakura actually going so far as to take someone's life. "Then she must have been being attacked. Right?"

"Then why is she missing?" Naruto asked, glancing around hopefully, as if Sakura would suddenly appear. "Do you think that this guy had team-mates who were hidden from view and attacked her once she dropped her guard?"

Kakashi nodded. "I'm assuming that they dragged her off to their head-quarters. And seeing as the Rice Village is the closest military base within miles from here, that's where they took her."

"But why Sakura?" Naruto asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"I …don't know," Kakashi said, picking up their bags. "But we'd better get moving. We officially have another mission, and it is now our top priority. Let's go," he said, slinging his and Sakura's bag over his shoulder.

Sasuke peered over his shoulder hopefully. What was this all about? Were they really after Sakura or were they trying to lure them in?

OPERATION 3: FAILED! (No duh!)

Wow! The story turned from serious, to super-serious! Now we're sort of entering a new section to this story; finally solving the real mission! It may seem that the three boys have their hands full with the pink-haired mission, the scroll and saving Sakura, but little do they know, they're all tied together! I'm going to update another chapter right now!