AN: Yo, what's up everybody? This chapter is going to be a little more mission oriented, and therefore will deal with more action then romance. I hope you don't mind. Anyways here we go.

(End of last Chapter)

"Set right eh. How about this… you brake up with Sakura and let me have her. Then I promise I'll stay" said Naruto in a sarcastic tone, though in his mind he didn't know how much of that proposition was a joke. When he heard no response he stood up and put some money on the table before saying "that's what I thought Sasuke. I don't have anything real to stay here for. Anyways I have to go to Tsunade. She told me I had to do some missions while I was here to avoid suspicion and all. I think she is putting us on a mission together. Me, you and… Sakura".

With that he got up and left Ichiraku's.

Sasuke just sat there thinking 'how does Tsunade expect us to do a mission so quickly after Naruto came. Seeing as Sakura AND me are going to BOTH be on it, that would mean it has to at least be A-rank. If she is letting Naruto come along as well, that means it's probably S-rank. This might turn out to be unpleasant'.

Sasuke sighed as he got up and slapped his half of the bill on the table and walked out after Naruto.

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Sakura was already in Tusnade's office as Naruto and Sasuke entered. When they walked through the door Sakura was surprised to see them together as though they had put their quarrel behind them. She also felt very nervous. Here was Naruto, whom she had sworn her love to, and Sasuke, who believed that he and Sakura were dating. In fact they were, but ever since Naruto had gotten back Sakura had looked at her and Sasuke's relationship as nothing more then a very close friendship. To bad Sasuke still wanted it to be more. These were things Sakura would have to worry about later. Now it was time to listen to mission details.

"So…", Naruto broke the silence, "what do we got to do?"

"You three have to travel to the village hidden in steel and retrieve a highly guarded data component" explained Tsunade as she sat at her desk.

"What kind of data is on it?" inquired Sasuke, so that he could understand more about the kind of security that would surround it. See different kinds of information was protected in different ways. Some things were protected by ninja, others by rumor and word of mouth. Different sorts of jutsu protected some of the more advanced things.

Just before Tsunade could answer Naruto cut in with a questioned that had been plaguing his mind. "Tsunade did you just say the village hidden in the steel?"

"Correct" answered Tsunade with a nod.

"That place has been destroyed for 18 years. Some of my comrades used to live in that village, well were at least born there," stated Naruto as he corrected himself.

"For an Azura I thought you would know more then that Naruto" spoke Tsunade. "A city has been built two years ago over the ruins of the old village. It is now called Meterokagure."

"Oh", mouthed Naruto, "I've been there before, I never knew it was the same area that the village hidden in steel once resided. No wonder Vegito-san, Raiden-san and Kiara-san looked so hurt when walked through those streets"

"Naruto, y-you've already been there? That area is so dangerous, the only people from Konoha that have traveled there have been Kakashi and Jiraiya" stammered Tsunade. "Since you already know the area, that means you are of great service to us on this mission. You can make the retrieval much less risky"

"Of course I can. All the scumbags of that once-great city fear the symbol on my cloak. I probably know where this item is located as well, if you tell me the building it is held in". Muttered Naruto, obviously disgusted with this particular city.

"Tsunade, if this is a retrieval mission, why are we getting an S-RANK quota on our reports? Aren't retrieval missions usually ranked A-RANK max?" pondered Sakura.

"That fact is true. But the rank in this case has been lifted to S because Akatsuki have appeared more often in Meterokagure then any other city", answered Tsunade. "In fact that's why I am sending you three, seeing as you are capable if you work together".

Naruto then burst out, "Tsunade, take Sakura and Sasuke off of this mission! They aren't ready for the likes of Akatsuki-"

"AND WHAT, YOU WANT TO GO ALONE!? I WON'T LET YOU GET HURT NARUTO" interrupted Sakura as she yelled.

At the sight of Sakura's outburst Sasuke couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in his heart. "Naruto, Sakura fought and killed Sasori, with help granted, but she knows full well the capabilities of these Ninja".

"That was Akatsuki when we were 15 Sasuke!" protested Naruto. "It's been two and a half years since then, Akatsuki is on par with Azura. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"

"Naruto…" whispered Sakura, "p-please let us help. Sasuke and me have trained very hard. We aren't weak! Sasuke has the Mangekyou Sharingan, and I have learned how to use two elements when it comes to ninjutsu. Also remember that monstrous strength of mine?" chuckled Sakura softly.

"This isn't a laughing matter Sakura, if anything were to happen to you-" Naruto stopped. He had let is slip. He was so worried about Sakura that he had allowed himself to slip and show her that there were still some very powerful feelings under his new persona.

'Naruto' thought Sakura as her heart swelled with joy. 'There's still something there! I know it! I can see it in your eyes!'.

Sasuke too looked from Naruto to Sakura, his heart dropping faster and faster. Yet he didn't say anything, he stayed strong. He then spoke again "you never did say what was on that data component Hokage-sama".

"Ah sorry Sasuke. That component contains economic files on all of the hidden villages. Not just the currency trades or the stocks. It contains the number of ninja's each village has and what their skills are. How much these ninjas contribute to their countries economic growth. It is all information that must be destroyed," said Tsunade. "It is being held in the Central Network Tower" she finished.

"That place isn't guarded by ninja's Tsunade. It is a seal-locked building. Nothing but defensive seals everywhere" stated Naruto.

"That'll be easy for you then, no Naruto?" asked Sasuke as thought they had just figured out the solution to each of their problems.

This time it was Sakura that spoke "actually Sasuke, Naruto couldn't use the Hiraishin in there. It's seal-locked; all of these seals placed in there are used to negate chakra from your body. If Naruto were to transform his body into energy, like he does when he uses Hiraishin, he'd be consumed and destroyed".

"So its like a chakra vacuum in there? Forget about retrieving the component, how are we supposed to last in there without getting the energy drained out of our body?" asked a confused Sasuke.

"That's where I come in", replied Naruto, almost as if on queue.

"Oh yes, you have Kyuubi's chakra to help you. It has an infinite source of chakra", replied Sakura as though she had answered the question correctly like she used to back in the days of the academy.

"Nope. Those seals have been manipulated to detect irregular chakra, such as the Kyuubi's" said Naruto. "I'll be using my own chakra, since the Kyuubi's has been mixing with mine during the days of my childhood. My overall capacity is much larger then yours or Sasuke's. It will probably take me four hours to find that component, and I reckon I can last a good five hours… max though. "

"Naruto that's too dangerous" both Sakura and Sasuke said.

"Plus" added Sasuke, "what if your body starts to react to the loss of chakra and subconsciously decides to activate the Kyuubi's? Four hours in a chakra vacuum is intense, I could probably only last a good 8 minutes".

"Yeah Naruto, if your demon chakra goes off we'll be caught and trapped" continued Sakura.

"I've already thought of that and have an answer to that problem. Sasuke, you remember how you were able to cut Kyuubi's chakra off with your Sharingan when I tried to get you back from Orochimaru a couple of years ago?" questioned Naruto.

"Yes", replied Sasuke, with a slight shutter from those memories.

"You can do again so that Kyuubi's chakra can't activate" clarified Naruto.

"Yeah, but back then you and the Kyuubi weren't in sink with each other. Now you've unlocked Kyuubi's full potential and I don't think I can restrict that kind of power. Its like it's at a whole other level" finished Sasuke.

"So just use a whole other level of Sharingan. The increase in power from normal Sharingan to Mangekyou Sharingan should cancel that problem out" responded Naruto.

"But then your Kyuubi's chakra might be sealed away permanently" countered Sasuke.

"Easy there buddy" said Naruto sarcastically, "you're Sharingan may have increased the magnitude of its abilities, but the magnitude of its increase in ability comes nowhere near the magnitude of ability increase my second chakra has unlocked… if anything my second charka will eat through your Sharingan's mental seal after five hours. Therefore it will just be a time limit for me during which I can't use Kyuubi. Trust me if after five hours of being in that tower we still haven't got the component, then the mission might as well be a failed one".

"True" said Sasuke. "Ok let's do it".

"Tsukuyomi!" yelled Sasuke as he dived into Naruto's mind. There he saw the hallways, which divided Naruto's thoughts. He came to a giant cage.

"ITS YOU AGAIN UCHIHA, BE QUICK. I CANNOT TOLERATE THE PRESENCE OF YOUR INSOLENT SOUL!"growled the agitated Kyuubi, for he was aware of what was happening. He still hated Naruto, but ever since Naruto had overpowered Kyuubi in his mind (therefore unlocking his full potential) he had stopped talking to the shinobi. Both were happy with the new arrangement.

Sasuke said nothing as he focused a new layer of chakra on the seal that was already made by the Yondaime. It was shaped similar to the curse seal he had when he was under Orochimaru.

As Sasuke came back to the real world he just thought of something. "Naruto you baka, why did you make me do it now. We still haven't gone to Meterokagure!".

"We'll be there in a second anyways," said Naruto as he held out his arms for both Sakura and Sasuke to hold on to. Both knew what would happen next.

Something the hit Sakura, "but Naruto, you haven't placed any seals in Meterokagure, how are we going to-"

"I'll explain that later Sakura" responded Naruto.

Just before everything in sight turned into a flash of yellow, Tsunade's voice spoke "be careful!"

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The three Nins appeared on top of a large building. The city was very awkward and full of large, weird buildings. These buildings had unordinary piping designs in them. (If you have read the Manga and are up to date. Remember the statue the Akatsuki leader was sitting on when he told Kakuzu and Hidan to retreat from Shikamaru after they had killed Asuma. Meterokagure is THAT city, the one with all the pipes and tall buildings).

"OH SHOOT, BE RIGHT BACK!" exclaimed Naruto as he flashed out.

Sakura and Sasuke were in shock, Naruto had just DITCHED THEM in the worst city possible. They waited three full minutes in utter shock. Naruto then flashed back.

"I forgot my Azura cloak" he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

Sasuke and Sakura had the big white, comical, anime eyes a character gets when they can't believe what they just saw.

"NARUTO!!" yelled Sakura as she smoked him on the nose. Though she giggled a little at her thoughts 'the old Naruto is coming back, the Naruto that I love'.

They had found the Central Network Tower. Sasuke proceeded to trans-dimensionally remove a piece of the wall so that Naruto could enter the building. It was currently 10pm. The perfect time to rob the place. This was because all the mercenaries and scum came out at this time of night. So if people would try to identify the thief, there would be thousands of possible candidates.

Sakura and Sasuke stood watch as Naruto proceeded to enter the building. Inside there were seal markings all over the floors, ceiling and walls of the corridor (picture the seals that were used when Neji was healed after his battle with the spider guy from the Sound 5). These seals gave off a dim blue glow and Naruto could feel his chakra starting to drain. There were no people guarding the rooms. There wasn't a need. No one except a Jinchuuriki could survive in there and how often do you see a Jinchuuriki? There were cameras, but the Azura hoodie solved that problem quite easily. The building had 11 floors with 20 computers on each floor. Naruto proceeded to wipe all the hidden village data on each computer. When he got to the final floor, he found the data component and crushed it. It had taken exactly four hours, just as Naruto had predicted. Naruto couldn't use any jutsu in the building because it would indicate a spike in the chakra measures the building calculated. That meant Naruto had to climb all those stairs while simultaneously loosing chakra at the same time. He was very tired by the end of the night. He had used the Hiraishin long distance; he had spent 4 hours worth of chakra, and climbed 11 floors. He couldn't use Kyuubi to regain his strength. Naruto was very exhausted.

When he got out to meet Sasuke and Sakura he could barley stand. They started heading home again. Naruto said he wanted to conserve some energy so he didn't faint. That's why he didn't use the Hiraishin.

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The trio walked along as they talked about the details of the mission. They were heading to the outskirts of the city where the forests began. They would have to wait 50 more minutes till Naruto's Kyuubi chakra kicked in. As they reached the outskirts, they noticed that it was vary desolate. There were no people present among the scattered alleyways that ended right before the clearing that was the entrance of the forest.

All of a sudden a dark laugh was heard among the shadows of the alleys.

"Kukukuku" laughed Kakuzu as he stepped out of the alley's shadows. "Brat you think I've forgotten what you did to me when you were younger? You with that Fuuton Rasengan".

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were caught in a bad predicament. They were at the edge of the city, where the buildings ended and the forest started. Naruto had a fraction of his chakra left, while Sasuke too was tired from using his Mangekyou twice in one day. All they had was Sakura who had a full bill of chakra.

Sasuke then asked Hidan (who was still in the alley behind Kakuzu), "How did you escape the Nara clan's forest?"

"Easy", replied Hidan, "Zetsu was able to find me, and Kakuzu pieced me together with his chakra strings. I'm dying to get my revenge on that twerp who blew up my body, but you will do fine for now"

"Sasuke, set up a barrier and divide them up!" ordered Naruto, taking command of the situation.

As Kakuzu was already out of the alley Sasuke threw two kunai with seals on them. These kunai each embedded themselves on both of the walls that formed the alley. A purple barrier then appeared which separated Kakuzu who has stepped out of the alley, and Hidan who remained trapped in the alley.

"Sakura, can you handle Kakuzu for small while?" asked Naruto as his breathing became hard.

Sakura just nodded as she had a stern look on her face.

"Sasuke, help Sakura", Sasuke nodded as well.

Naruto then transported himself into the barrier with Hidan in it.

"What a brilliant strategist you are you stupid SHIT. You barley have enough chakra to stand, let alone fight. You can only use one big attack, and you have no attack strong enough to defeat me in one hit. Your Fuuton Rasengan didn't finish Kakuzu off, what the FUCK makes you think it's going to work on ME? You can't kill me with a stab wound or a ripped torso, YOU CAN'T WIN!" taunted Hidan.

"You'll see" was all Naruto said. 'Vasto-san, time to use that technique' thought Naruto.

He then proceeded to create a Fuuton Rasengan in his left hand. Next he pulled out a katana from his cloak. The katana was long and completely black, except of the edge of the blade, which was silver. The sword had a small guard, but it wasn't visible from further then two feet away.

"What, you're going to hit me, and then try to stab me after you've used all your chakra? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!" yelled Hidan as he charged for Naruto.

"You are weak, your Akatsuki's one-trick-pony, and I will finish you off once and for all" retorted Naruto.

With the Fuuton Rasengan complete in one hand, Naruto took his sword and started to push chakra in it. He then removed his hand from the Fuuton Rasengan, and it floated in the air just in front of him, still retaining its shape. Naruto lifted his chakra-enhanced-sword above his head with one hand and brought it down through the Rasengan, cutting it in half. What happened next was insane. As he slashed through the Rasengan, all the chakra exploded out like a wave engulfing the entire alley in bright chakra, and completely destroying Hidan.

"AAARRRGGHHHHH!" was Hidan's last word as his body was completely dissolved from explosive nature of Naruto's sword jutsu.

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Meanwhile on the other side of the barrier Sakura and Sasuke where staring down Kakuzu. One of Kakuzu's masks quickly ripped out of his shoulders and fired a great lighting shot at the two shinobi. Neither could dodge. Sasuke was forced to open a rift with his Mangekyou to transfer the energy to another dimension. That was the third time he had used Sharingan today. This caused his body great strain.

Kakuzu then spoke, "Fools, still you resist. The Azura would have a hard time with me, and you think you stand a chance-"

Kakuzu was quickly forced to dodge a giant crack in the earth, which caused jagged rocks to sprout out at him. He looked up and Sakura breathing hard as her hands were still in a seal position.

"Taking advantage of my monologues eh you pink-haired bitch? That was a powerful justu, but you can never compare to me woman!" roared Kakuzu.

"Katon Zukokku!" yelled Sasuke while Kakuzu bickered on and on. A great blast of fire shot forward towards Kakuzu in a straight, concnetrated path. Kakuzu quicly countered with a water attack from one of his masks. The water took the shape of a vortex as it spun and canceled out the fire.

"Very powerful fire technique boy. But you are still lacking" said Kakuzu.

"I'll show you lacking, Amaterasu!" shouted Sasuke, as black flames shot out of his eyes towards the Akatsuki member.

Kakuzu mixed his fire mask and wind mask to make the great flame jutsu he had used against Kakashi years ago. To Kakuzu's surprise, the Black flames ripped right through the orange ones.

"OH SHIT!" yelled Kakuzu as he forced one of his masks to block the flames so that he could make his escape. As he dodged the flames (while sacrificing one mask) he was watching to make sure that he could fully out-manuver the the attack. As his attention was being misdirected Sakura forced a great amount of chakra into her fist a delivered a crushing part to Kakuzu's chest. This caused another mask to crack on the inside of his body.

"You two are starting to annoy me!" spoke Kakuzu, "your making me angry, and you wouldn't like me very much when im angry."

Just then Sasuke colapsed. He had used his Mangekyou four times that day. Sakura gasped as he fell to the floor.

"I have three hearts left, and that will be more then enough for you" said Kakuzu.

He then shot a ball of chakra at Sakura who was too concerned with the fallen Sasuke (cause he was her teammate) to fully dodge the attack. That's when she saw a flash of yellow flicker before her eyes. Naruto appeared and had used the last of his chakra to cancel Kakuzu's attack.

"S-Sakura-chan, run, just please leave NOW!" spoke Naruto with his remaining bits of energy.

"Naruto, I won't leave you," whispered Sakura as she proceeded to heal her teammate with all the chakra she had. Naruto had been in that building for four hours, and had used an upgraded version of the Hiraishin many times today (the reason he didn't use seals will be explained later). He had also used his sword jutsu to kill Hidan. He couldn't call on Kyuubi for at least another 35 minutes either. If Sakura didn't use her chakra right now, he would surely die. Sakura proceeded to pump almost all of her chakra into Naruto. All this did was make sure that Naruto would not die from chakra depletion. Naruto still couldn't move.

"Sakura-chan, you wasted your chakra on me. Now he'll kill all three of us. Why didn't you leave, why Sakura-chan", said Naruto with tears in his eyes.

"I'd throw my life away Naruto, just for five more minutes with you" said Sakura as she bent down and kissed Naruto on the forehead.

Naruto paused, then spoke, "Sakura-chan… it can't end here-"

"It can, and it WILL!" yelled Kakuzu. His three remaining masks then joined, and his black tentacles spread everywhere. He released a huge blast consisting of fire, wind, and lighting. The three elements swirled together as the headed for Naruto and Sakura (also Sasuke, but he was unconscious, and off to the side of them).

Sakura squeezed Naruto tightly as his head was rested against her in her lap. She closed her eyes waiting for death. Naruto to embraced Sakura with shut eyes.

The attack caused a huge explosion, followed by large amounts of dust and smoke everywhere. Kakuzu stared triumphantly as the smoked cleared away. However, when all the smoke was gone, there was shock and fear all over his face.

'Am I dead?' thought Sakura to herself. She then opened her eyes and looked down at Naruto who had the same confused look in his eyes. "B-but how?" she asked herself quietly.

Then she looked up. A cloak was flapping in the wind that blew the smoke away. The cloak bore the dragon symbol on the back as he stood between them and Kakuzu. His arms were crossed as though he was bored, and unimpressed by the powerful attack that he had just nullified. His stare was deadly as his crimson hair fluttered in the wind.

There stood Gaara, strong and powerful as he glared into the fear-filled eyes of Kakuzu.

"I will crush you" was all Gaara said as he still stood there with his arms still crossed over his chest. The brown/bronze lining of his cloak gleaming in the night sky. The second of the Azura had appeared...

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AN: CLIFFHANGER! Ayaaa! That was a long chapter. I hoped you liked it. I purposely put Naruto at a handicap so I could bring Gaara into this fic in a cool way. Next chapter Gaara will deal with Kakuzu and they will return to Konoha. More NaruSaku drama will follow. Till next chapter SAYANORA!