Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor to I gain any money for writing any of the stories that have these characters in them.

A/N: Sorry, if it takes a little on this chapter, I've been delegated to distraction via the show Supernatural. Right now I'm watching the one where they have the first Supernatural Con, so just basically the first episode after my fav where they are playing in shows left and right because of the trickster Gabriel. Thanks everyone:

Melyway: Yup, got to enjoy those.

Tsuokoblue: It's fine; we all have those times where we don't realize everywhere is not the same. I've basically been living off of anime for more than ten years so when I see honest mistakes like this I don't tend to be rude and just let them know it is a mistake. To err is human, not counting even computers make mistakes.

Inuyasha16451: You will see a lot more updates on this one than you did in the prelude story. Just remember that I am human and can get sick so if I do don't flip on me like so many others. "Why is it taking so long?" Yeah, that does get a little on the annoying side.

Chapter Seven

As they continued down the pathway, Naruto keeps on glaring at her from the corner of her eyes. "What is it?" Sai asked.

'I guess they are a little alike, the voice too,' Naruto thought as she observes him.

"Please stop staring at me, don't make me hit you," he tells her and her face explodes into anger again.

"Every damn thing you say just pisses me off more!" She growls out as she holds up her clenched fist, imagining it pounding into the teen. 'Like I thought, he's nothing like Sasuke!'

"I don't have any malice towards you," he tells her.

"Liar!" She shouts while pointing at him.

"I'm just trying to put on that kind of attitude," he says.

"Aha! You do have malice!" She growls out, "Why the hell are you here?! All you do is piss people off!"

"Hey, hey! Don't say something like that right in front of your captain, Naruto," Yamato says while looking back and forth between the two. "Teamwork and cooperation are the most important things in a team. I thought Kakashi-san had already taught you that. Someone like you in a team with the great Kakashi-san, what is it with you?"

"It's because he's not a member of team Kakashi!" Naruto shouts, pointing at the teen again. "The other member of Team Kakashi is…Sasuke!" As she says this, Sakura looks at the girl as she shows how much she cares about Sasuke on her face. "This guy is…just taking Sasuke's place, someone chosen to fill the gap. I'll never consider someone like him as a team member!" When she says this, Sai's lips turned up on the corners.

"Well, I'm glad you think of me that way, I wouldn't want to be likened to…the weak shit-for-brains Orochimaru's clone who only cared about power and ran off to Orochimaru, betraying Konoha," the black haired teen said as his face is now completely emotionless.

"You bastard," she says as her eyes narrow and her fists clench while she takes a step forward to only be stopped by Sakura raising her hand to stop her.

"Truly, the most important thing is teamwork," Sakura tells the black haired teen, while Naruto wonders what she is doing. "Sai, Naruto…since she doesn't know you all that well…she just said too much. I'm sorry, please forgive Naruto."

"Sa…Sakura-chan," Naruto said as she looks at the girl with a frown on her brow.

"Mmm, I'm glad at least one of you is reasonable," Yamato says as he looks down while sighing.

"Think nothing of it," Sai tells Sakura.

"Well, that's good," Sakura smiles, right before she smashes her fist into the boys face. He slides along the ground a good distance away from the other three. The only one who is really shocked is Yamato. "On the other hand, me, you don't have to forgive. I will protect the father of Naruto's kids, even if it is against a member of my own team. They do not deserve anyone saying that their father is like that. I also don't want Naruto to have to kill you because of your own stupidity."

"You fooled me completely, that fake laugh before," he said as he wipes off the blood and smiles at her.

"Since you don't seem to know anything about Sasuke-kun, don't talk about things you have no idea of!" Naruto calmly listens to her, watching their altercation. "If you bad-mouth Sasuke one more time, I won't hold back."

"Hehe, gotcha, I won't say anything in front of you, but that you can use a fake smile like that, I'll remember that." Sai says.

"You've just been hit, why're you acting so cheerful?!" Naruto asks him.

"A smile's the best way to get out of trouble, even if it's fake. Amazingly, it fools everyone. I read that in a book before," he tells the blond. "It doesn't look like it works here though."

"Shichuutou no Jutsu!" Yamato creates a cage out of wood, right behind him. "If you guys won't stop arguing, I'll have to toss you in a cage. I said we don't have time before we go to the Tenchi Bridge, but there's five days." Naruto shrinks back as she thought of being just like Kyuubi inside of that cage, while Sai doesn't even make a reaction.

'That…that's…the first Hokage's secret Jutsu,' Sakura thought as her eyes widened. 'Mokuton Ninjutsu! What could Yamato…What kind of person is this?"

"As the mediator here, here's my proposition. You can spend a day or so in the cage to work out your differences, or we can go to a hotel that has hot springs. What'll it be? You guys don't really know me well either," he tells the three and holds a really creepy expression on his face as he looks at them. "I like being nice and friendly, but I don't have any problems with ruling by fear either.

~3~

Naruto is resting, enjoying the hot springs, she sighs as she sits right next to Sakura who is leaning her head back against a rock. "You know, I hope there aren't any boys over there peeping into the ladies bath." As she says this, quite a few girls start panicking and speaking at once until Naruto grins and holds her hand up.

"I know how it is, wondering if you are being peeped on in the baths, I trained alongside with a pervy sage that loves peeping in even if I'm in there. I found out from him after I beat his ass one time that I'm not the only one who done that to him. He was peeping in on Tsunade when she was in the baths and regretted it afterwards, when she almost killed him. Breaking six ribs and both arms, so if you are anything like your master that means that I don't have to worry about being peeped on." Naruto says loud enough for even the guys in the male side to hear. All of the women on their side now hold huge grins on their faces as the males make sure to distance themselves from the barrier wall separating both baths.

~3~

Naruto walked a little slowly when she noticed that Sai was at the river side with Sakura, "To be more precise, even if I try to give them titles, I just can't do it." He tells the girl and she gives him a confused stare. "They don't put me in mind of anything. I don't…feel anything." Sakura's eyes widened.

"I guess that's why you're always talking so insensitively!" Naruto says with a distrusting glare. "We're about to go! Yamato-Taichou told me to come and get you."

"Ok," Sakura says as she turns and stretches while Naruto walks over to see the picture that Sai was working on.

"Hmph! That picture's nothing special!" She says, denying his artistic ability.

"That's about right. Just like your penis," he replies back with another fake smile making her grunt at him.

"I'm not kidding at all when I say I really can't stand you!" She points at him again. "If you've got something you wanna say to me, quit the fake smile and tell me to my face! If it's a fight you're after, I'm game!"

"That's not it at all, I really don't think anything of you," he tells her over his shoulder. "Please go ahead, I'll be right there when I'm done cleaning."

"I'll give you a hand," Sakura said as she bent down to pick up a book, noticing the picture on the front of it. "This…isn't printed, did you draw this too?" She asks as she holds it out to him.

"Yeah," he says taking it from her.

"Ahhhh, a picture book?" She asks, as Naruto grunts out, irritated that she's even having a conversation with Sai. "Hey, could you show it to me while we're on the way?"

"I can't do that, because it's incomplete, and I don't give it to other people, because it's my brothers." The teen says as they never even really notice that Yamato is closer than they think, listening in to their conversation. As they continued onto their mission, Naruto kept on shooting him a look every so often, really wondering what the deal is with him.

~3~

"Here's just fine," Yamato says as he creates them a giant sized house in the middle of the woods for them to sleep in for the night. "We'll camp here for the night."

"I wouldn't really call this camping," Sakura said as she stares up at the size of the house.

"Everyone, come here for a bit, and Sakura, there's something I'd like you to tell me," Yamato tells them.

"What is it?" She asks.

"It's about Sasori of the Akatsuki, I got Sasori's file from the Sand as a starter, but tell me about his behavior, characteristics and habits. Because you're the only one who's ever seen Sasori," he tells her.

"Why're you asking that?" Naruto wonders, as she slowly unzips her jacket, showing the black tank top beneath it, straining against her breasts.

"The Akatsuki spy in Orochimaru's ranks will come to the Tenchi Bridge expecting Sasori. He might see through it right away, but its best to transform into Sasori to approach him," Yamato explains.

"Being a spy brings its fair share of risks, so he will most likely be on his guard," Sai states.

"Just in case this is a trap set by Akatsuki, I will go ahead alone first. You will all be on standby waiting for my instructions," Yamato says.

"Given that there was an Akatsuki spy in the Sand, Yuura and that he said it when he was about to die, I really don't think he was lying," Sakura says.

"Still, that spy, he must be extremely skillful," Sai said.

"Let's do it," Naruto said as her brow furrows.

"Right, now for the real problem, I've already told you the concrete plans for the mission up ahead. Our objective is purely capture; under no circumstances must the target be killed, even if it results in battle. If they are killed, we will have lost a valuable information source. This mission is more difficult than simply defeating the enemy. Given that it's a target mission, I'll be the first to go in, and you will all act as backup. The strategy is simple; first, I will restrain the target. Second, if I fail to restrain them and a battle situation arises, you will all prepare to fight. I'll signal you in that case, and if we reach a situation as in part two, then we must fight via the buddy system. When one person moves, the other will look after them. The principle of the system is mutual support. Now, I'll decide on the buddies," he says as he looks at them. "First, Naruto and Sai. Second, Sakura and myself."

"But," Sakura objects.

"Sakura, you are our only medical Ninja. So that you are not injured yourself, I will be with you," he tells her and the other two stare at each other.

"Hiya," Sai said as he realizes that she has big breasts.

"Yamato-taichou! Why the hell am I with…?" Naruto stops what she was going to say as she points at the teen.

"Pardon?" Yamato asks with a scary look on his face. "Keeping all that in mind, this isn't exactly normal, but tomorrow, we'll spend a day on a simulation for team playing. I know nothing about all of you other than what's in your files. I'd like to know about things like your fighting methods, battle skills, and array of Jutsu, and through getting to know each other, smoothen up your teamwork. You might think I'm being serious, but that's how I do things, so put your all in it."

~3~

The next day they found themselves training, Naruto and Sai charge at Yamato, trading hits and kicks. "Give it more than that!" He says and watches as Sai holds his hand out to Naruto, who forms her Rasengan in the palm of Sai's hand, making Yamato's eyes widen. He forms wood around Sai, making Naruto's clone turn back to normal as Naruto flips over her clone. She knocks Yamato down while Sai creates a binding snake.

"You're not getting away!" She shouts while grabbing the front of his shirt, holding him up a little bit. Sai sends the snake and it wraps around both of them. "What, why both of us?!" She suddenly notices that Yamato used a Kawarimi so now she's just holding a wooden dummy. "Hurry, get this off me!"

'Over there?' Sai wonders, turning away from her.

"Hey! Sai! Get this off me!" Naruto growls out.

~3~

Sai finally captures Yamato and unties the man's hands. "Excellent capture, Sai, the simulation ends here," he tells the teen as Naruto approaches the group; she grabs Sai by the front of his shirt and glares at him.

"What is it?" Sai asked.

"Do you know what the word 'companion' means?" She asked as she bares her teeth at him. He pulls out a scroll and writes the word companion on it, showing everyone.

"Of course I know what about it?" He asked and Naruto grits her teeth, irked that he doesn't understand what she means.

"Hey, hold on, Naruto," Sakura said, trying to calm the girls temper down.

"Please don't lay the blame on others for your own minimal amount of ability," he tells her with a straight face. "Had you not fallen for the Captain's obvious provocation, I would have been able to stay hidden without being exposed. You went and had your clone transform into me, then made it obvious by using your own Jutsu. It's not pleasant to fight while looking after someone who can't even keep herself in check. I just worked with the success of the mission in mind," Naruto shoves him away from her, letting him go before she pounds on his face.

"I will never consider you a companion or a member of Team Kakashi," she tells him as she turns her back to him.

"This really was pointless, wasn't it?" Yamato asked as he puts his hand to his head, wondering how he could get these two to get along.

"What would Sasuke have done in that situation? Fought while looking after you? As a companion and a member of Team Kakashi?" Sai asked with a fake smile on his face making Naruto glare over her shoulder at him.

'No, Naruto can't hold out much longer!' Sakura clenches her fist in front of his chest.

"The one who betrayed the village and injured you, you still refer to him as a friend?" Sai asks, and she turns a little to look at him over her shoulder.

"If it's to save that friend, that is also a father of my kids, I'll do anything. Even work with you," she says and stares him down.

'Naruto,' Sakura looks at her with a concerned face.

"Why does she still care about Sasuke that much?" Sai asked Sakura as Naruto walks further away.

"Naruto is in love with Sasuke, that's why. Do you have someone you love, even if it's not in a romantic way? Don't you understand that feeling?" Sakura asked him and he lies.

"No, not at all," he tells her with a small smile appearing on his lips. "Remember what we were saying about picture titles? I have none of what you'd call 'emotions'."

"You say you don't feel anything…you say you don't have emotions, what do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Just what I said," Sai tells her and she turns to look at Naruto, who places her hand on a tree, digging her nails into the tree.

"In that case, if you have a brother, can't you imagine what it's like when he's not there?" She asks.

"Hmm, yeah, sort of, since my brother's already dead," he says with a smile.

"Then you really should…" Before Sakura could finish, Sai interrupts her.

"Hmm, should I have used that kind of expression?" He asked and Sakura watched Naruto pick up her back pack.

"Is there something you want to say?" She asked Sai.

"Not really, I just didn't know what kind of expression to put on when my brother died," he tells her.

'This guy…' Sakura thought as her brows narrowed.

"Enough talking for now, were about to go, so go get your stuff," Yamato tells them and Sai sighs, about to turn and grab his stuff.

"Sai, to be honest, I would have sent you flying just there. I told you that if you badmouthed Sasuke once more, I wouldn't hold back," she says with a glare turned on him. "But I didn't do that because of what Naruto just said that to save Sasuke, she'd even work with someone like you who bad-mouths him. No matter who you are, to save Sasuke, I won't hurt you."

"Sakura, you're very…" He pauses and closes his eyes. "Yeah, you're very gentle with Naruto, aren't you? I don't understand feelings like those; it was in a book I read…"

"Come on, let's get going. If we're not there by noon tomorrow, this'll all be for nothing!" Naruto tells the others.

~3~

"Here we are," Yamato says as they approach the entrance to Tenchi Bridge, they hunkered down to wait behind some boulders until they saw an approaching figure in a cloak.

"Yamato-taichou, good luck," Sakura tells him as she watches his slower approach than the figure in a cloak.

'That's…' Yamato stops himself as he notices who the person was.

"It has been six years," Kabuto says, moving his cloak to the side, showing his face even more.

'Yakushi Kabuto,' Yamato thinks as he is disguised as the puppeteer. "Were you followed?" He gruffly asks the young man.

"No, it is safe," he says with uncertainty.

"How are you?" Yamato asks him.

"When your Jutsu was lifted, and I remembered who I really was, I felt somewhat disoriented, I am still somewhat heavy-headed," he says.

"Him again!" Naruto grits out quietly.

"No way, Kabuto was the Akatsuki spy all along," Sakura says with a surprised filled voice.

"I have some questions for you," Yamato said.

"I have little time, so please make it brief. It was a great risk to slip away from Orochimaru to come here," Kabuto tells him.

"Tell me about the location of your base and about Uchiha Sasuke," he says with a gruff tone.

"We have many bases, to keep from being discovered, we change bases on a weekly basis. There are, of course, bases in countries besides the Sound. Orochimaru's spies enter those countries and guide us, but we have various movement methods, which can sometimes be cumbersome. Our current base is hidden on a small island in a lake to the North. We will move from there in three days. Sasuke Uchiha is also there," Kabuto finishes.

"The wind's really strong; I can't pick up anything they're saying!" Naruto complains as she is now starting to get impatient.

"Idiot! That's why we're able to go so close! Our sound and scent are carried away by the wind, so they don't know we're here," Sakura tells her as Kabuto gets startled by something and throws a Kunai at some bushes. A rabbit sticks its head out and then bounces off.

"What…just a wild rabbit…" He said as he stares at the bushes. In the darkness where the rabbit disappeared shows Orochimaru with his snake wrapped around him, the head down on the ground eating the rabbit. The man grins wickedly, while watching the two on the bridge. "By the way, about that one task you asked of me, Lord Sasori."

'Not good, I still needed to get a few more things out of him, but if I continue this conversation any longer I'll blow my own cover,' Yamato thought.

"Even after his transmigration, Orochimaru cast a Jutsu on the cellular specimen of the leftover corpse in order to protect it, I was unable to perform any data analysis of that specimen," Kabuto said.

"I see," Yamato says making Kabuto stare at the man silently.

"Just what is he doing?!" Naruto practically shrieks. "Why doesn't he just go ahead with the capture already!?"

"This is Kabuto we're talking about here, if he were to get away, and then things would end here. Taking things almost too carefully here is just what the captain needs to be doing," Sakura tells her.

"Still, if he takes things more carefully than he needs to and ends up arousing suspicion, then he'll lose his chance to capture the target," Sai said and they all continued watching.

"On that note, please give me the item we talked about, I can't continue to stay here much longer. If it's found out that I'm meeting with you here like this, I'll be killed," Kabuto says while holding his hand out.

"Very well," Yamato says, 'End of the line, it's either now or never!' He thought as he draws a Kunai out of his sleeve, just as Orochimaru appears, really closely behind Kabuto.

"Your conversation seems quite amusing; you wouldn't mind if I joined in, would you?" Orochimaru asked as he looks at the young male.

'He was followed!' Yamato thought as his eyes widened as Orochimaru makes his snake wrap around Kabuto, but the man jumps free, leaving his cloak behind.

"Orochimaru!" Naruto gasps out.

'So that's him,' Sai thought as he looked as closely to the other male.

"I almost wasn't able to step back in time but thanks to you taking out your Kunai, Lord Sasori, I was," Kabuto tells the male.

'I suppose I've at least escaped detection for now, still, now that Orochimaru's here, what should I do?' Yamato thought as he stares at the man.

"That cloak of yours, it brings back memories, Sasori," he said.

"So you followed Kabuto here then?" Yamato grits out.

"What now, I just wanted to give you some thanks. That lovely boy there you sent me, I was able to make quite good use of him," Orochimaru said with his voice sounding like he was having fun. "In order for me to develop a new Jutsu, I needed to conduct experiments on well over a hundred live human subjects. Thanks to that boy's medical Ninjutsu, I was able to use the same test subject any number of times. I have quite a hard time coming across enough test subjects, after all."

"What do we do now!?" Naruto asks.

"All we can do is wait for the captains' signal," Sakura said.

'In all likelihood, me taking on Orochimaru by myself is out of the question, but if I call in the others, then Kabuto will know my identity, and capturing him will prove difficult. Even if I try to work with Kabuto and subdue Orochimaru, my fighting style will make it clear in an instant that I'm not Sasori,' Yamato thought as he continued to observe them. 'Either way, I'm left with the choice of defeating him or just retreating, but just one or the other…' Suddenly, Kabuto covers his hand with Chakra, making it into a scalpel and slices through Yamato's disguise, shocking the man. Staring at him, Kabuto's lips are covered in a smile as Yamato retreats with a wound to the arm. 'Did he figure me out? No, just what's going on!?' Yamato wonders as he holds a hand over the slice in his arm. Orochimaru uses a Jutsu that sends about ten snakes after him, making them wrap around the man. As a snake bites him in the neck, he uses a body replacement Jutsu and puts a piece of wood shaped like him in his spot. Kabuto hisses out in disappointment when he saw the man land on the other side of the bridge.

"This is a substitution Jutsu used with a wood technique," Orochimaru observes, "You couldn't be…"

"Lord Orochimaru, is that the real Sasori?" He asks the man as he wouldn't take his eyes off of him, the thud of the wood sounds behind them.

"No, it is not…Kabuto, are you telling me that you, one of Sasori's own subordinates, don't even know his real face?" He asks the young man with a smile on his face.

"Well, he was a gloomy individual after all, always hiding in that puppet of his," he says.

"What are you talking about!?" Yamato wonders as he is looking at both men. "Kabuto, you're supposed to be an 'Akatsuki' spy. You should have been under the effects of Sasori's Jutsu all the while."

"Ah yes, that Jutsu…Lord Orochimaru freed me from it quite some time ago," he says with a smile on his face, while Orochimaru crosses his arms.

"I wasn't expecting you to change sides, acting as though you were still under the effects of Sasori's Jutsu. I suppose this means you fell prey to Orochimaru's Jutsu then," Yamato says as he furrows his brows.

"No, not exactly, all I fell prey to was Lord Orochimaru's magnificent way of thinking," he says as he spreads his arms wide. "I chose this path myself, but tell me, who are you anyway? We came here with the intention of killing Sasori, so this is quite the mishap."

"Kabuto, I'll tell you about this little boy here afterwards, but first things first, why don't you call out those three little mice hiding in the brush?" Orochimaru says, looking at the man, who is now more familiar to him.

'So he's seen through everything already,' Yamato thought as he makes the sign for the rest of the team to come out. The three zip out of the bushes and lands right in front of him as to protect him.

"You again," Kabuto said as he looks the blond girl over, appreciating the changes that happened from the years that passed.

"Kuku, I've seen that face multiple number of times, since the Kyuubi girl is here too. Let's play with them a little bit then," Orochimaru said as he narrows his eyes in glee, staring at Naruto's face that is showing her Kyuubi to everyone. "I'll give you the pleasure of telling you which has gotten stronger, you or Sasuke."