Chapter 7: Trouble Among the Ranks

Sasune's P.O.V.

"Ugh. I don't know what to wear!" I groaned as I continued my rampage through my closet full of clothes. "Naruto is going to be here any minute and I can't fucking find anything to wear!"

"Why don't you just drape the table cloth over yourself? I think Naruto would say it's a big improvement for you." Itachi snickered from my doorway.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped.

"Just stopping by to watch my favorite t.v. show. Sasune's Rampage. Tonight's episode: Getting ready for her LAST date with Naruto Uzumaki. Will she make him run away in fright, like the rest of the boys she comes across? Or will he not show up at all?" Itachi laughed as he held his sides.

"MOM~!" I yelled.

"Alright Itachi. That's enough. At least she has someone to scare off." My Mother replied as she pulled my Oniisan by his ear.

"Ouch, Mom. Not so hard." Itachi groaned.

"MOM!" I screamed before covering my redden face with my hands.

"What? It was a compliment." My Mother replied.

"Everyone out! I still have to pick out an outfit for my date tonight." I announced as my Mom shut the door to my bedroom.

I sighed heavily as I sat back down on my bed. Five days ago, when Naruto and I were sitting under the Sakura tree together, Naruto asked me out on a date. He wanted to celebrate our one month anniversary.

"I can't believe that it's been a month already."

Once we told everyone, they were all thrilled, except for Orochimaru. He actually looked more furious than the mad I was expecting. Whenever I would catch him looking at me, he would laugh it off and turn away, but I would still catch his original expression. It was an expression someone plotting revenge would wear. I found it best to try and create as much between us as possible without him noticing. But knowing him, he probably did.

I let little memories of Naruto and I run through my head before finally choosing the perfect outfit to wear. Within a few minutes I was dressed in a black halter top and wrist length shorts with white open-toed wedges that tied around my legs and ended just below my knees, a white belt was tied around my waist, and to top the whole outfit off, I had a white ribbon hold my ponytail in place. Right when I was about to apply lip gloss, the doorbell had rung.

"That must be Naruto. He always was one to be on time."

I sprayed some of my favorite perfume on when my Mother called to me. "Sasune! Your friend Orochimaru is here for you!"

"Orochimaru? What's he doing here?" I shivered from the intense chill that ran down my spine. "Why am I getting this weird feeling?"

…

…

…

Naruto's P.O.V.

"Perfect." I said to myself as I ran my fingers through my wild blond locks. "I look smokin." I had to straighten my black tie a little before walking out the door with a rose in my hand.

I wore an orange collared, button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows, a black tie, slacks, and dress shoes. I wanted to make sure that I looked nice for our one month celebration date. I know that it's early, but I could feel that Sasune and I were born to be together. Yes, I know it's cheesy, but sometimes those are the only words you can use to describe this kind of feeling.

I drove to the Uchiha Manor, knocked on the door, and threw on my best smile before the door opened to revile a surprised Mikoto Uchiha. "Good evening Mrs. Uchiha. Can you please tell your beautiful daughter that her date for the night has arrived?" The confused look she wore confused me. "What's wrong?"

"Uh Naruto. Sasune's not here." She responded.

"What? Then where is she?" I asked.

"Your friend Orochimaru came by earlier and picked her up. He said that you asked him to pick her up for you because you were going to be late."

I stood there and took in everything that she just told me before slightly clenching my teeth. "Damn you Orochimaru. You've gone too far." Looking into my girlfriend's Mother's eyes, I could see that she was worried, but I quickly threw a fake smile back on to reassure her. "I'm sorry Mrs. U. I was in the middle of handling some important business when I called him and to my chagrin I must've forgotten that I asked him." I nervously laughed, making it sound like I was embarrassed about my mistake. Suddenly my phone started to ring. "Thank God." "This is him now. I'll see you later Mrs. U." I laughed again.

"You too Naruto. Oh and tell your friend that I said he looked nice. I think he learned a lot from you, Naruto. He was a perfect gentleman." She giggled before shutting the door.

When I returned to my car, I answered my phone quickly. "Naruto! We have a problem." Neji's voice echoed through the phone.

"I know. Orochimaru kidnapped Sasune." I replied in a frustrated tone.

"How did you know?"

"I just left from Sasune's house. Her Mother told me when she answered the door." I replied.

"Wish you would've told me earlier. Could've saved me sometime." He grumbled.

"Where are they?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

"At the old abandon warehouse where we defeated that rival gang last year." Neji replied with the sound of him typing away at his laptop's keyboard.

"I'll be on my way. Call everyone and update them. I'll call TenTen and Shikamaru." I said while waiting for the light to turn green.

Neji didn't say anything for the longest time. The only sound between us was our breathing and the sound of fingers pushing keys. I was about to hang up, but stopped when Neji finally said something. "Are you going to tell her?"

I thought about it for a few minutes before finally answer. "Now's as good as any time to tell her. I mean she's going to see anyhow. I just hope she takes it well. I don't wanna lose her." I sighed as I pulled into my garage.

"Well think of it this way… If she leaves you then that meant that she wasn't the right one for you." Neji said.

"I know… … I just hope that she is 'the one'." I sighed again before running a hand over my face. "I'll talk to you later."

"Wait. Do you need some back up? You know how Orochimaru fights." Neji asked with concern laced in his voice.

"No. This is something I need to handle alone. Make sure you tell them that too." I commanded before hanging up.

I waited for a minute before calling Shikamaru and asked him to inspect my bike before I called TenTen and asked her to bring over Kyuubi, my sniper rifle. "Hold on Sasune. I'm on my way."

…

…

…

Normal P.O.V.

"You won't get away with this." Sasune said as she stared at the sickly paled figure in front of her. She was currently trying to figure out a way to escape the chair that she was tied to. She turned her head to look at her surroundings and quickly realized that she was in an abandon warehouse. "Why am I here anyway?" Sasune grumbled while trying to get some type of feeling to return back into her limbs.

"I just wanted to keep you all to myself; you know, since I can't have you willingly." He replied as he got up and walked over to the trapped girl. "You should've accepted my feelings instead of turning them down so easily. And to make things worse, when you started dating that blond idiot, you started to distance yourself from me. That wasn't very nice." Orochimaru hissed as he got closer to the raven's face.

"Orochimaru. First of all, I started to distance myself from you because you were, oh how do I put this gently? Um… YOU WERE CREEPING ME THE FUCK OUT! And secondly, I only turned down your feelings because I'm in love with Naruto." Sasune replied.

After hearing her response, Orochimaru backed away, pulled out a gun, and started to wave it around. Sasune was beyond scared. One, because she was afraid that the gun might go off and hit her. Two, because the person holding said gun is crazy and deranged. A horrible combination for any and everyone in this kind of situation.

"Naruto! Naruto! Naruto! All anyone ever fuckin cares about is Naruto! What about me? Huh? Does anyone care about Orochimaru? What's so fuckin special about Naruto? Why is he so important? Why~" Orochimaru didn't get the chance to finish his rant before he fell to the ground after a bullet passed through his head.

"Because I'm the boss… That's why." A black figure growled as it jumped down from one of the windows.

Sasune wanted to be scared, but when she saw a much hotter Naruto, she was thrilled. "Naruto?"

"Hey Sasune. Sorry I'm late." Naruto smiled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. Naruto's new outfit was all black and consisted of a white beater, a headband (Same headband from Shippuuden), army boots, sniper rifle, and wrist high gloves. His usual piercing blue eyes changed to fiery red orbs. And around his neck his usual jeweled necklace hung.

"I'll ask why you're dressed for war and carrying a gun around later. Now… COULD YOU PLEASE UNTIE ME?" Sasune screamed at her blond boyfriend.

"Ok. Ok. I'm coming." Naruto said as he did as he was told. "Hey Sasune. Were you unconscious when Orochimaru brought you in here?"

"No. I was awake the whole time." She responded as she rubbed her now free wrists.

"Ok, so that means that you know where the nearest exit is, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. It's right there." Sasune said as she pointed in the direction of the door.

"Good. It's not that far away. Can you walk?" Naruto asked as he stood up.

Sasune nodded before she tried to stand only to have her fall into Naruto's arms a moment later. "Sorry, but the feeling in my legs isn't there right now." The raven beauty apologized.

"I guess I'll just have to carry you." Naruto said as he held onto his girlfriend tighter.

Before they could make their escape, Naruto pulled a grenade out.

"Uh Naruto… Is that a grenade?"

Used his teeth to remove the cork.

"Did you just take that thing off?"

Chucked it to the back of the warehouse.

"Did you just throw that grenade?"

And in one swift movement, Naruto lifted Sasune into his arms and took off toward the exit. He ran as fast as he could out of the building. By time the building exploded, Naruto and Sasune were taking shelter behind his motorcycle.

"Whoa. That was a close one, huh?" The blind nervously laughed.

"DID YOU JUST BLOW UP THT FUCKIN BUILDING?" Sasune yelled as she watched the flames on and inside the destroyed building. Her fists were clenched as she glared at her 'boyfriend'. "Naruto Uzumaki! I DEMAND an explanation right now!" The angry raven demanded.

"You're right. You deserve an explanation for everything. You won't believe me, but…" Naruto took a deep breath as he leaned back against his metal machine. "Sasune, I along with the rest of our friends are…"

…

…

…

"Wait a minute. Pause. Stop at the red light. Do not pass 'Go'. Do not pass two-hundred dollars. Run that back. Let me get this straight… You and ALL of our friends… are spies…?" Sasune choked out as she messaged her temples.

"Yep. That's, actually, how I, eventually, met most of my friends." Naruto replied.

"Uh huh. Now please explain to me again as to how you guys are all here and not on some type of secret mission half way across the country?" Sasune asked.

"It's because we all had a burn noticed placed on all of us. Our chief had decided to dump us here until she got it erased. That was about four years ago." Naruto re-explained.

"And~ how long have you guys been doing this 'spy' thing?"

"Well most of us started when we were seven, like me. But others actually started since they were around four to six years old." Naruto confessed.

"Isn't that, oh I don't know, against the law?" The shocked girl said.

"Well it's not like we were objecting to any of it. We actually enjoyed ourselves. You know, except for the part of killing people."

"Ok. Ok. One more question. Why did you have to blow up the warehouse and Orochimaru's body?"

"Because it's in the handbook. Whenever an agent is eliminated it's up to one of us to erase all traces of that agent's existence. If we don't then any rival agency can find the body or their records and will have the ability to extract information from that agent's corpse or records. It's one of the biggest rules every agent must follow… And plus he had it coming." Naruto explained as he turned toward the still burning building.

"Why?" Sasune asked.

"Because. For one, he messed with my bike that night of our first date and two… A couple of years back, we noticed that Orochimaru had been acting even weirder lately, so our commander made it clear to kill Orochimaru if anythingbad happens. Take tonight for example."

"But he just wanted to keep me all to himself. I don't think that that was enough reason to kill him." Sasune said in a confused voice.

"Well for one, he was waving a gun around, causing you to be in danger, and two… It turns out that he was actually a double agent. And the people in my organization don't like traitors. To tell the truth, I was shocked to find out this kind of information about Orochimaru. Hell we all were. He became one of my best friends before I was even asked to join L.E.A.F. We were as thick as thieves. He would be the first person I'd call to help out with a mission that had more thinking involved than brute strength. That was one of the reasons as to why I didn't believe it when we received the information. It wasn't until you came around that I started to believe everything. Sorry that Orochimaru and I got you mix up in our complications." Naruto apologized as he looked Sasune in the eye.

Sasune didn't say anything for the longest time. Her gaze was pointed to the floor and away from Naruto, who was still sitting against his motorcycle. The tension from the silence was strong and thick, so Naruto decided to stand up, dust himself off, and straddle the bike. "Hop on. I'll take you home." He said to the confused raven.

"… I wanna be mad. I want to hit you. I want to yell at you. I want to be happy that you're alive. I wanna hold you in my arms and never let go. There are a lot of things I want, but there is only one emotion that's screaming at me right now. I had put my trust in you. All I wanted from you is to be faithful and to never lie to me. You said you understood. You promised me. And yet, you still lied in my face. Countless times." Sasune said through clenched fists and angry tears.

"What was I supposed to do Sasune? This was one lie I had to continue. You were in enough danger as it is. Did you want me to put you in even more danger by telling you valuable information? Huh? Did you really think that I was going to come to you and say: "Oh Sasune by the way… all of our friends and I are secret agents. I hope that you like having a boyfriend who's constantly lying to you and living a double-life. Oh and by the way, I may have to kill one of our friends because he's a double agent." Did you really expect me to say to you?" Naruto yelled.

"Orochimaru told me almost everything! And he's not even my boyfriend!" Sasune rebutted.

"Orochimaru was someone who didn't care about integrity! If he did then he wouldn't have told you anything! That's what a true agent is! And besides. Have you ever thought that maybe I didn't tell you anything because I wanted to protect you? Huh? Have you ever thought that maybe I wanted to protect you because I love you? I don't wanna see the one I love hurt or dead! I'm sorry I care so much about you, Sasune!" Naruto yelled at the stunned girl.

His eyes were full of honesty and love. Sasune's heart beat increased tenfold as she took in his words. Quickly realizing what he said, Naruto turned away from his girlfriend. Sasune, with the same stunned expression on her face, moved closer, used her small hands to turn Naruto's face back toward hers, and stared into his captivating ocean blue eyes.

"Do you really mean that? Everything you said just now. You wanted to protect me because you love me?" She asked in a small voice.

"Of course. I would do anything for you Sasune. If I didn't, I wouldn't have come and rescued you. I love you too much to allow anything to harm you. That's why I was so determined and scared when I found out that Orochimaru kidnapped you. I killed one of my best friends, not just because I was following orders, but also to protect you. That's another reason why I didn't want you tell you. I was afraid that you'd leave me if you knew. I don't think I would've handled it too well if you just up and left me, Sasune." Naruto confessed to his girlfriend.

Sasune gave a small smile before leaning in to kiss Naruto's lips. The kiss was gentle, but passionate all the same. Sasune's fingers entangled themselves in wild blond locks while Naruto's strong arms encircled Sasune's slender waist and pulled her against his twisted body. When they pulled apart, they stayed in that same position. Feeling comfortable, Sasune leaned in and rested her chin on her boyfriend's crown.

"I love you too, Naruto. I'm sorry I was so angry earlier. I guess I was just terrified about what you said. The whole time you talked, the scenario of me attending your funeral kept popping into my head. I don't wanna lose you either, Naruto. To be honest, I didn't want to be saved by you. I thought Orochimaru might hurt or kill you. I think I'd be lost without you. Please don't go anywhere Naruto. Please." Sasune cried into gold spikes.

Naruto hugged his love closer to his body with a small smile playing on his lips. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

The air was still silent, but at least it was comfortable. They didn't know how long they stayed like that before Naruto's phone had started to ring. Tearing one of his arms from Sasune's waist, Naruto fished out his phone to see that Sakura was calling him.

"Yo."

"NARUTO UZUMAKI! YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE THE LEADER AND THE TOUGHEST GUY I KNOW, BUT THAT DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TAKE ON OROCHIMARU ALONE!" His pink hair friend screamed in his ear, causing both Naruto and Sasune to lightly laugh.

"I'm sorry Sakura. But don't worry. Everything is alright now. Sasune is safe and Orochimaru is dead. No need to tear my head off." Naruto responded.

"I guess I can forgive you just this once…" Sakura sighed. "So… was it true? Was Orochimaru really a double agent?"

"Yeah… Yeah he was." Naruto sighed. His smiled disappeared as he buried his face into Sasune's torso.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I know how close you two were… Are you alright?" Sakura asked with concern laced in her words.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Naruto responded while tightening his grip on Sasune. "Hey Sakura. Can you please tell everyone to meet me at my house in twenty minutes?"

"We're already here. So hurry up and get your ass over here already." Sakura said with a light giggle.

"Alright." Naruto said before hanging up.

"So what do we do now?" Sasune asked.

"Well first, we're going to have Tsunade, Sakura, and Ino examine us before I take you home. Wouldn't want your family too worry or question us because you came back looking like you were in a dirt fight. No offense, but your Father looks like he wants to kill me slowly. And, if it's all the same to you, I like my life a little bit." Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, you're right." And with that, Sasune hopped on the back of Naruto's motorcycle, put a helmet on, and held on tight as they zoomed out of sight. Leaving the still burning grave of Orochimaru behind.