Love all the reviews, favorites and alerts. Thanks as always to my faithful reviewers: Gravenimage, wind797, celious2, xNNIJABLADE45x, and Icekrem91. We've hit 50+ reviews ;D

I can't believe October is already over. Crazy, crazy month. Sorry for the delay, but Naruto and Sakura aren't the only ones with weddings going on. Thank goodness it wasn't mine.

If you're up to date on the Manga, seriously, some of Sakura's dialog sounded like my other story Sweet Emotion. Different ending, but we'll see...

usuratonkachi=closest translation is clumsy idiot

bibiri-cun=scardy cat

All Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto. The story is only about what could be if Sakura doesn't do something really stupid in the Manga.

ANBU Gaiden

Chapter 10

"Psht! Sakura-san. Sakura-san, wake-up," she heard a voice say from the end of her bed. Sakura had her head buried deeply into her pillow and groaned in response to the voice coming from the end of her bed. The pinkette didn't want to wake up this early after having only slept five hours after her shift last night, but she slowly forced her eyes to open. Resting upon her elbows, she looked through bleary eyes to find a small orange toad sitting between her feet. "Hi there," he croaked.

"Yaha!" she cried as she jumped into a sitting position practically launching the small toad onto the floor along with her blankets.

"Ohayo to you too," he croaked as he moved a safe distance away from her feet. "It's me, Gamakitchi. Naruto-kun asked me to wake you up. I can see why he likes you," Naruto's summoned toad said as he noticed Sakura in the tank top and pajama pants that she had been sleeping in.

Ignoring the little toad checking her out, she sat wide-eyed looking down at the small amphibian on her bed. "Wait, Gamakitchi? I thought you were a lot bigger," she asked, now completely alert after being startled awake.

"It's a jutsu to make me small for just such an occasion. Naruto needs you to meet him at the West gate as soon as possible. He wants me to tell you that Sasuke is coming and that he needs you to call everyone together," Gamakitchi said before relaying the rest of Naruto's instructions.

"Understood," Sakura answered, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Biting her thumb, she went through a series of hands signs before setting her right hand on her bed.

"Kutchiyose no Jutsu!" she cried as a cat sized slug appeared through the smoke.

"Katsuyu, I need you to go to everyone and let them know to meet us at the West gate. Also, inform Tsunade-sama and Kakashi what's going on," she said before filling in the little slug with the information that Gamakitchi had given to her.

"Understood," the little slug said as she split herself up into 12 smaller slugs and they disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Grabbing her ANBU gear, Sakura got dressed as quickly as she could. A small hole was still visible in the back of her uniform, but there was no time now to think about that small detail. Sasuke was coming and with any luck, she would be able to pay back that redhead of his for the cheap shot that had landed her in the hospital almost a month ago. Sakura grabbed her boots and ran to the patio. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon; dotting the clouds with hues of orange and red light. The West gate was still in the shadows as Sakura leapt over the rooftops with the grace of a cat; braiding her hair as she went.

Reaching the gate, she found Naruto, in full ANBU gear standing next to a masked Sai and Shikamaru in his Jounin attire. The blonde ANBU looked toward her and she could just barely catch a hint of yellow in the eyeholes of his mask. She slowed to a walk as she approached her teammate and fiancé.

"How long before he reaches the village?" she asked as soon as she stood next to him.

His muscles were tense in his shoulders and she watched his tattoo ripple as his muscles moved beneath it. His hands were in tight fists at his sides to keep them from trembling from the mixture of emotions he felt. He never even looked down at her as he gazed in the direction from which he felt the chakra approaching.

"We have about 15 minutes before he reaches the village. As soon as everyone is here, we meet him halfway. We'll make sure to get a safe distance from the detection barrier so that we won't risk someone setting it off and alerting the Hokage or the rest of the village as to what is going on. Shikamaru, is everyone aware of what to do?" he said addressing his friend.

"We are ready to go," the shadow master replied.

"Sakura, are you feeling up to this?" he said at last looking down at her, reaching out to cup her cheek with a hand slightly shaking from anticipation. He brushed her cheek with his thumb as he looked at her through his mask.

"Shannaro," she said smiling up at him. She pulled his hand away from her face, giving it a small, reassuring squeeze before putting her own mask on.

It was only moments before everyone else made an appearance; The Inuzukas with Akamaru, Choji, Ino, Shino, Lee, Neji, and Tenten.

"Man, you sure know how to ruin a honeymoon," mumbled a sleepy Kiba. Hinata couldn't hide a blush at what her husband's grumblings implied.

"You can thank Sasuke for that later," Sakura replied trying not to laugh at Hinata's apparent embarrassment.

"All right, let's move out," Naruto said giving the order and they all disappeared into the trees toward the oncoming threat.

Team Taka was leaping from tree to tree in the early morning light toward the village of Konoha. Sasuke had a scowl on his face as he glared at the Hokage monument just barely visible on the horizon. He was followed by a somber Karin and a loyal Jugo. He was planning on taking the village by surprise and he intended to take out the Hokage and the elders first, taking out any opposition on his was. He could sense someone coming and made a sudden stop raising a hand to signal to the others to pull up. In the trees before them, they could see three ANBU standing in plain sight.

"So, you knew I was coming. It seems you've gotten better at sensing chakra than I expected," he said with a smirk directed at the blonde ANBU in front of him.

"This is as far as you go, Sasuke!" he warned.

"Get out of my way, usuratonkachi!"

"Why? Are you afraid to fight me, bibiri-kun?" he taunted. He could see that his taunt had hit its mark as Sasuke's sharingan activated and a snarl formed on his lips.

Sasuke could see there was something about his former friend's chakra that was different, somehow, but he had no idea what it meant. Within seconds, he formed a chidori sword and charged toward the three ANBU at a furious pace. The two other ANBU scattered, but it did not matter because he was aiming at the tall blonde in the center. Naruto dodged it with ease and was behind him before Sasuke could even tell what was happening.

"You're letting your anger get the best of you," he taunted as he landed a knee to the Uchiha's ribs before disappearing from sight once again.

Sasuke spun around not knowing how this idiot was able to keep ahead of the sharingan. Apparently being in ANBU had taught his former teammate a thing or two. He looked up not a moment too soon as he could see Naruto coming directly at him from above. "Shadow clones?!" he seethed as he turned the chidori sword into a full body chidori. The figure above him blazed through a series of hand signs before letting out a strong gust of wind that dissipated the chidori; leaving a furious Sasuke to shield his eyes, losing sight of his opponent. Naruto's heal came down on the back of his head and leveled him to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"You'll have to thank Temari for teaching me that one," Naruto taunted again, this time from somewhere out of sight. He was being played and Sasuke wasn't about to let this dobe play with him like a cat with a mouse before it eats.

Sasuke took a moment to collect himself and scanned the area for any sign of chakra. He could see Karin take on the female ANBU to his left and Jugo had engaged the male to his right. Karin was barely keeping up with the woman he assumed was Sakura, judging by the hair color, but he was not about to get in between that cat-fight. Karin had brought it upon herself and he didn't have the urge to protect her when he had problems of his own.

'Over here, teme,' Naruto mentally hissed as he waited in the trees for Sasuke to find him. If this plan was going to work, he needed to separate Sasuke from the others. He flared his chakra just enough that he knew Sasuke would see it. He could see him through the branches that concealed him and he knew Sasuke had seen his signal as the man turned toward the direction he was hiding in. 'Good. Time for phase two.'

Naruto sprinted off in a direction somewhat away from the village to his appointed destination. Sasuke followed. To Naruto, the Uchiha almost seemed frantic though to anyone else his exterior had retained its cool composure.

Naruto found the clearing that he was looking for and spun around to a grinding halt. He could see the sun gaining altitude to his left as the Uchiha entered the clearing and faced him.

"I'm surprised you'd leave Sakura with Karin after last time," Sasuke said glaring at the man before him.

"She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. I trust her which is more than I can say for you," he said coolly.

Naruto pulled out his ninjato, which he had specially made with a chakra blade, and charged it with wind chakra. Sasuke responded and pulled out his katana. They charged at each other and the sound of their blades clashing echoed through the forest. They exchanged blow after blow until Naruto's wind enhanced blade cut through Sasuke's katana.

"Ah, did I do that?" Naruto taunted as Sasuke inspected his broken weapon.

Frustrated Sasuke glared at his former friend. "I'm done playing games with you. Bringing me out here away from everyone is a big mistake," he said as he activated the mangekyo sharingan instantly catching Naruto's gaze. "Now you're mine."

Small craters littered the battlefield as Sakura chased down the redhead before her. Karin couldn't see the sneer on her face as she coiled her arm back and prepared for another chakra filled punch aimed in her direction. "Those tricks won't work on me twice," Sakura said referring to the kunai in Karin's hand. She could see the tip of it discolored with poison.

"You managed to survive the first time, but that doesn't mean I couldn't do it again. No one kisses my Sasuke and lives," she seethed.

"Who said I even wanted to kiss that looser. He obviously feels nothing for you if he has no problem kissing other girls in your presence," Sakura retorted. "Don't think that I haven't come prepared."

Sakura charged at the woman again only to disappear from her sight in a blur. Karin could feel her chakra flicker and then disappear.

"What the…?" she said before lurching forward from a blow to her back.

"Don't ever underestimate one of Konoha's elite ANBU," she heard a voice say before she felt another blow to her jaw.

Karin was completely stunned as she tried to figure out where Sakura would strike next. "Chameleon jutsu? But how…?"

"How do I hide from your unique talents? Don't think I'm going to let you in on my little secret," Sakura said before going in for the final blow. Karin could feel the full impact in her abdomen before flying backwards and hitting her head on the ground behind her. "This one is for stabbing me in the back. SHANNARO!" she cried before bringing a knee down on her opponent causing her to pass out from the pain.

"Tsukiyomi," Naruto said, unmasked, as he faced Sasuke in a black and red world within the mind. "I see you are finally getting serious."

"I'm always serious," retorted the Uchiha.

"Good. I didn't want to do this if you were anything less than serious. The last time I was in one of these was against your brother. I must say his illusions were better than yours."

"Don't toy with me, Naruto," Sasuke warned as Naruto suddenly found himself held down by three large nails.

Naruto acted surprised for a split second before he appeared to be getting sick. Sasuke was perplexed as his former friend was suddenly coughing up what appeared like a large black crow. The crow split into a couple dozen smaller crows that began to circle Sasuke.

"How did you…?" Sasuke began as the crows started to combine and turn into a figure before him. "What's going on, dobe?"

"So we have finally come to this…" the figure began as it solidified into the shape of a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds.

"Itachi?!" Sasuke said taken aback.

"Hello little brother," the figure said as it was now the very image of his brother as he was right before their final battle.

"Itachi left me a present right before the two of you fought five years ago. I never really had an idea of what he did to me until I read over some of my father's old notes. He knew you wouldn't listen to him then so he borrowed me hoping that by the time we faced off you would be a little more receptive to what he had to say," Naruto said as he managed to step out of the nails that should have been holding him.

"Tenten, Ino, Lee, go check on Sakura and make sure she's OK. Kiba, you, Akamaru and Hinata help Sai. Choji go with them. Neji, Shino, follow me. Naruto should be in the clearing with Sasuke right about now. Let's go," Shikamaru said as his friends disappeared into the trees around him. He nodded to Neji and Shino and they took off to the appointed meeting place.

They found Naruto and Sasuke face to face, but no one moved a muscle.

"He's already started," Shikamaru said under his breath as he knelt down on the edge of the clearing. "Shino, mark Sasuke with one of your kikkaichu just in case. Neji, prepare to step in if Naruto is unable to break the genjutsu as planned. He's got three minutes maximum in there," he said. Neji ran around the edge of the clearing to stand just behind Naruto's position. Shikamaru made the hand sign of his signature move and his shadow started to elongate toward Sasuke. He nodded to both Shino and Neji as soon as he had Sasuke locked without his knowledge, as he was deep within his own illusion. Now they just had to wait for the right moment.

"Naruto, how did you...?" Sasuke looked surprised, as Naruto was now standing before him unaffected by the tsukiyomi.

"Sage mode," he said motioning to his eyes, "and a little help here from your brother's chakra. I don't know how it works really and there was no way to find out until actually being here. Now are you ready to talk or do we have to take this to a battle to the death again?"

"How can you be so eager to talk after all we've been through? Even after Karin stabbed Sakura?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking and Sakura and I came to an understanding recently. There is no way you would be going this far if you weren't seriously messed up in the head. What kind of lies did Madara feed you anyway?"

"Does it really matter? I've come to take care of Danzo once and for all and I'm taking you with him," Sasuke replied never straying from the only reason he gave himself for existence these days.

"Sasuke, Madara never told you the whole truth. True, the elders were involved in sending me to kill our family, but did you have any idea what I was going through at the time?" Itachi said calmly looking at his little brother.

"Who cares! You were obviously messed up considering what you did to our family," Sasuke shot back angrily.

"Danzo was indeed behind it all. He was the commander of ANBU when I was a member and he managed to take the knowledge I had of the Uchiha family and use it for his own purpose. He knew of my relationship with Shisui and took advantage of me. I never killed my best friend that night, but his death was what awoke the mangekyo. It was only later that I realized that Danzo wanted Shisui for his own purposes. Orochimaru told me himself that he implanted the sharingan into Danzo from Shisui as well as his right arm. Sasuke, Shisui's powers were able to control what other people thought. Danzo implanted the memory of me killing Shisui and had me wrapped in his twisted will. I met Madara in the forest about that same time and between the two of them, I did become a seriously messed up teenager. It wasn't until much later that I was able to realize what had really happened. Unfortunately that was about the same time Madara started to poison me and I never got the chance to tell you the truth."

Sasuke was shaking with rage at this point. "How can I trust anything that you say?! My entire life has been based on lies, why should I believe anything you say?!"

"Because he's right," Naruto calmly interjected.

"What do you know, dobe?!" Sasuke said obviously beginning to lose his cool. Naruto hadn't seen him this shaken since the Valley of the End.

"Tsunade has suspected for years that Danzo has been up to something. Even now there are those of us who are planning on standing up to Danzo, but it won't due to have you waltzing in there and messing up everything we've worked for," Naruto started to walk toward his friend before continuing. "Sasuke, there was never a day that went by that I didn't wonder where you were or what you were doing. I never gave up hoping that you would come home to us. Even after Danzo became Hokage, I never gave up hope even if it was no longer safe for you to return. Sasuke, believe me. I have only ever wanted to be your friend."

Naruto suddenly found himself up on a cross staring down at his obviously shaken friend; eyes blazing as he seemed hell bent on taking his rage out on someone.

"Sasuke, that's enough!" Itachi said as he caught Sasuke's gaze. Itachi locked him in his own tsukiyomi and images of Itachi's memories of his life before Akatsuki flashed before him. He saw everything Itachi had showed him before, but there were so many more memories; his parents, Sasuke as a small boy, memories of Shisui's death, secret meetings with the Uchiha clan, ANBU training and conditioning, Madara, the entire truth.

Sasuke broke down and let out years of hate, self-torture, and frustration.

"Now!" Shikamaru said signaling to Neji as he held Sasuke frozen with his shadow when the Uchiha suddenly seemed to come out of the jutsu. Neji jumped forward and pulsed chakra into Naruto's system and caught him before he slumped forward. Shino's kikkaichu surrounded Sasuke and he was hidden from view by a swarm of small beetles. They drained him of the last of his available chakra just in case Sasuke tried anything. "Uchiha Sasuke, consider yourself under arrest for abandoning your village eight years ago among other troublesome things," Shikamaru said to the figure before him.

Sakura had already tied up Karin nice and tight before helping Tenten lift her onto a stretcher to be taken back to the village. Karin was still unconscious but they were not going to take any chances with her especially after what happened last time. They could see a double spiral heading off in the distance toward a partially transformed Jugo who was struggling to free himself from a trio of inky black snakes.

"Baika no Justu!" Choji yelled as he used his family jutsu to become a giant of a man as he caught Jugo when he flew towards him from the impact of the twin tornados. Choji wrapped both hands around him and held him tight. Ino stepped forward and preformed her mind technique before slumping into Hinata's arms. Jugo went limp right before they saw Ino recover from her jutsu. It was all over. Tenten walked to where Choji was holding onto the unconscious Jugo and proceeded to restrain the man before they carried him to a stretcher reserved just for him.

Sakura looked up to see Neji, Shikamaru and Shino coming toward them through the trees. Neji and Shikamaru were supporting Naruto between them and a restrained and blindfolded Uchiha followed Shino.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried as she ran toward them. Neji and Shikamaru stopped so that she could inspect the man between them. "Is he OK?" she asked. Shikamaru shrugged as she ripped her glove from her hand. It began to glow green from her healing chakra and she ran it over his masked forehead. Sakura brought it down, disappointed that she was unable to wake him from the effects of Sasuke's jutsu. She had felt perfectly fit enough to fight, but her body wasn't recovered enough to perform the precise chakra control needed to counter the effects of a tsukiyomi.

"We'll need to get him to Tsunade-sama. I think he'll be fine but we still don't know what happened while he was in the tsukiyomi and Sasuke's not talking," Shikamaru said motioning to the Uchiha. "They were in the jutsu at least a minute after we arrived. I'm not sure exactly what the equivalent is, but if three seconds is equal to72 hours in the tsukiyomi…, I sure hope they got some things worked out in there."

The sun was now climbing high into the sky as everyone moved toward the West gate, arrestees in tow. Sakura remained next to Karin and Sai stayed with Jugo as they entered the village. There were whispers as they walked toward the hospital. No one had expected to wake up that morning and see the last of the Uchiha and his gang under arrest by members of ANBU and they were surprised to see a rather tall blonde ANBU member being carried between two young men on their way to the hospital.

Tsunade was waiting for them at the hospital. She walked up to Naruto who was still propped up between Neji and Shikamaru. Placing two fingers on his forehead, they began to glow green as she released the effect of Sasuke's jutsu. He blinked open his eyes and smiled up at her from behind his mask.

"We did it Baachan," he said as he tried to stand on his own two feet, still a little week from being locked in a tsukiyomi that long. "We brought him back and I didn't even have to break his legs."

He stood up to his full height still holding onto his friends as he shook his head a little. They related their battle to the former Hokage as she stood there taking in all the information.

"Well," she began, "You'd better take him to the Hokage. I'm sure he'll want to question him before taking him to the holding cells," she said with a wink that only the three men in front of her saw.

"Hai, Tsunade-baachan," Naruto replied. He nodded to Sakura and Sai who released their charges into the care of four other members of ANBU who escorted them to the more secure part of the hospital where prisoners of war were treated. Naruto took charge of Sasuke from Shino, letting the man know he would be fine without any help before the three ANBU members lead the Uchiha toward the Hokage's office for an early morning surprise.

End Chapter 10