-In the Hospital-

Sasuke was knocked out by all those girls stampeding all over him. So, now, he was in the hospital, injured but not that quite. They had not allowed anyone to go into his room, except for Team Kakashi.

He looked around, and next to him was a white flower. He looked the other side, and saw Sakura. She looked as if she were about to cry.

"What?" Sasuke asked her crossly.

"I was just wondering…if it would ever be the same three man team again…" Sakura murmured, looking outside at the lazily drifting clouds.

There was silence.

"EAT THE OTHER WHITE MEAT!" yelled Chicken as she popped into the room with Chouji's barbeque chip bag, which was then followed by Chouji waving his arms around.

Sakura winced.

Sasuke blinked.

Naruto came into the room, rummaging through his backpack filled with ramen.

He came up with the tiny leaf headband that Sasuke had left during his fight with Naruto.

"Here." He held it out to Sasuke, and Sasuke held it.

Hey.

Naruto smiled.

Who said they couldn't be best friends forever?

I DID! BWHAHAHAHAHA! Not.

-Tsunade's Announcement-

All the genin, chunin, and jounin that had participated in the mission before was summoned to the Hokage's office. That's approximately sixteen people, not including the girls who had failed at getting back to 'Texas'. Tsunade had no idea why, but she decided that she would try it again, this time withAkatsuki…AHEM!

Here is how she explained it…

All the ninja filled into the tiny jam packed room, as Tsunade waited impatiently for all of them to get settled down.

Mug, Chicken, and Kiki were busy listening to Kankuro's NEW iPod (that they recently stole while he was buying it), while the rest of the people in the room payed attention to what Tsunade said.

"All of you will be sent on a mission to destroy Akatsuki." said Tsunade gruffly, "And stop them from stealing any more biju. Those three girls are going with you on this mission as well-"

If you want to be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,

Make it last forever, friendship never ends!

If you want to be my lover, you got give what you have,

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is, baby, I-

"AHEM!" coughed Tsunade rather loudly. "You three girls will be going on that mission as well, and Sasuke, you must guard them!"

Sasuke protested, "Why me?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "It's your punishment for being with Orochimaru."

Just then, Kiki looked up and turned off the iPod Nano, much to the complaints of the other girls.

She squinted her eyes at Tsunade, and asked, "Do I know you?"

Tsunade put her hand to her forehead and groaned.

-Now back to the story-

Anyhow, everyone was going, including Sasuke, who would probably try to kill Itachi during the time when everyone was sleeping, so the girls were sent to keep watch on him…and he was supposed to guard them….all while listening to Kankuro's iPod Nano.

So they all set off, with the girls screaming as usual.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"SHUT UP!"

You're probably wondering how they knew where Akatsuki's members were.

Well, Ero-Sennin, a big pervert that all girls hated, was peeping in somewhere far from Konohagakure when he noticed a black and red flowery coat.

Ooh, he thought. Here's my chance to meet some cute lady!

As he followed the cloak, it stopped, he stopped, and his eyes widened.

Those were the Akatsuki members!

He had realized this and flew/hopped his way back to Konoha to report this to the Godaime (Fifth Hokage, better known as Tsunade)

Tsunade gave a map to each of the ninjas, so if one of them got lost, they could still locate the Akatsuki.

So, again, back to the story.

The girls, once again, were pestering EVERYONE. They poked Shino's hair, made fun of Kiba's pet dog, screamed in Sasuke's face for being a iPod crusher, and would not stop bothering anyone.

The girls were also in the LEAST helpful.

Mug said cheerfully, "I'll go get the firewood!" She brought back a gigantic tree trunk. (Who knows how she did that!)

Chicken, after Mug left, begged, "Ooh, can I cook the food?" Unfortunately, she burnt every provision that everyone had.

Kiki wanted to set up camp. "Please, please, may I?" She then ripped apart every tent, which she insisted was an accident.

In the morning, everyone was tired, except for the girls, who did their stupid yodels of:

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Shut up!"

That day, as they were edging closer and closer to the Akatsuki's hiding spot,

Sakura whispered to Sasuke,

"Those girls are getting on my nerves!"

Sasuke looked as if he didn't care one bit.

As he did before he left Konoha.

Sakura felt a little better.

-When they reach the Akatsuki Hiding place-

They were all standing in front of a gigantic boulder blocking what was supposedly the entrance to a cave.

"Do any of you guys know what the battle plan is?" Naruto whispered.

Chicken's hand shot into the air. "Ooh! Me! I know!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Hn?"

"To…EAT THE OTHER WHITE MEAT!" screamed Chicken as loud as she possibly could.

Shikamaru covered Chicken's mouth. "

"Hush. No," Shikamaru said.

"First, we make sure nobody is watching us."

Shikamaru gestured to Hinata and Neji.

They nodded gravely, Hinata a little less so.

"Byakugan!"

They could see nothing dangerous.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Then, we charge headfirst in, crashing through the boulder."

He looked at Sakura and Chouji.

"YAAHH!" yelled Kiki. She crashed headfirst into the gigantic boulder and knocked herself out.

"Great." Shino said dryly. "Now we have an unconscious burden on our hands."

"No, we don't." Shikamaru said simply. "Let the other girls take care of her. Sasuke, you stay outside."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Why me?"

Shikamaru looked irritated.

"That's because Hokage-sama told the girls to watch over you."

"Darn."

"Shannaro!" yelled Sakura, as she punched the boulder into two clean pieces.

Chouji whined. "Aw, come on, Sakura, I didn't get to use my Ninpou-don Seishou!"

Sakura cracked her knuckles. It was now her inner sakura in control. "Is there a problem with me doing that?"

Chouji freaked out.

"Right…"Shikamaru said. "Then…each team fights one Akatsuki member…"