Chapter 9

By the way, everyone looks the same but Sakura. She has long hair that reaches up to her waist and usually has it braided except when she goes on missions, then she has it in a low bun. She also has bangs like she has in The Last movie. When on missions, she wears a black long sleeved shirt with a black corset top over it and leggings. She wears leather gloves and arm protectors. She has closed toed boots with 3 inch heels that go up to just under her knees. And, of course, she has her cloak and mask on that covers her completely. I have a picture that is similar to what Sakura is wearing if you want to see it. When in the village, she wears a red sleeveless qipao shirt tied back with a black obi around her waist. She wears a pink skirt with two slits on both sides that go down to a little over her knees and under she wears leggings. For her shoes she wears open toed black boots.

"Hey, aneki?"

Sakura jumped on her spot on the couch in living room and hid something small and rectangular behind her back, "Yeah?"

"What was that?" Naruto asked while tilting his head.

"What was what?" Sakura answered.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "The thing you just hid behind your back." He said slowly.

Knowing that Naruto wasn't going to let this go, Sakura sighed and took out the object she was hiding behind her back, "This is a type of communication we use in the military called a cell phone (FYI- It's a flip phone)."

Naruto was confused, "A cell phone?"

Sakura said as patted the empty space on the couch next to her, "Come here." Naruto sat down and looked at the screen of the phone while Sakura explained on how it functioned, "So instead of sending a note by bird, you send a message by type in the words you want to say and press 'send' when you are finished. It's called texting. You can also call someone through this and actually hear their voice. It can do some other things too, but texting and calling is what we usually use it for. Also it will need to be charged for it to work."

"That's so cool! Can I have one!?" Naruto said excitedly.

"No."

Naruto's smile fell, "But why not!?"

Sakura gave him a 'are you kidding me' look, "First, who are you going to talk to that isn't me, you can't talk to someone unless they also have a phone. Second, you'll probably lose it in a day and I can't afford some stranger finding it, it would cause a lot of trouble."

Naruto thought about it for a second before responding, "True, but what about if I'll need to call you somehow in an emergency?"

"Depends on what kind of emergency is it because if you're on a mission then you don't need me since you have teammates to help you."

"What if they get knocked out?"

"You have Kakashi, a jonin, in your team. He wouldn't be easy to knock out and it's not like you have dangerous missions at the moment. You should also have more faith in your teammates."

Naruto grinned, "And you should also have more faith in your younger brother who would do anything for you."

Sakura smiled, "Of course I have faith in you, that's why I'm not letting you have a phone 'yet'. I believe in your abilities enough to know that you can protect yourself and your teammates. That's why you don't need it to call me."

Naruto frowned and sighed in frustration, "Fine." He got up and started to walk towards the door, "I got to go on a mission aneki, I'll see you later!"

Sakura smiled and continued to text, "Alright, have fun. Try to be back before dinner."

"Ok!" Naruto yelled as he walked out the door, but stopped and popped his head back in, "Oh, and who have you been talking to."

Sakura's eyes widened and nervously said, "Oh… um… it's just my best friend who's been on a really long mission for… years."

Now it was Naruto's turn to give Sakura a 'are you kidding me' look, "Oh so you give your best friend one, but not your younger brother who could be in potential danger!? Unbelievable!" He said as he left the house.

Sakura rolled her eyes and continued texting.

After finally capturing the cat and returning it to the daimyo's wife, Team seven made their way to the Hokage's office.

"Now then…" The third Hokage said, "Your next mission is to babysit an elder's grandson-"

Before the Hokage could continue, Naruto shouted, "No! No thank you! I'm done with taking these missions! I want to do a more action packed one with fighting and stuff! Find us a better one!"

Sasuke couldn't help but agree with Nate on this one.

Sai stared blankly at Naruto while Kakashi sighed.

Iruka, who was standing next to the Hokage yelled, "You idiot! You are still just a genin! Everyone has to start from the bottom and work their way up!"

The Hokage sighed and explained, "Listen, every day the village receives numerous requests, from babysitting to assassination. Each request is written down and divided up into A, B, C, and D ranking based on difficulty. The village is also divided based on skill starting with me, then jonin, chunin, and genin. You three recently became genin therefore D- ranked missions are what you will be taking."

When he was done explaining he saw Naruto sitting down on the floor mumbling, "Now that I think about it, Sakura-chan sometimes mentions her best friend, but I've never even seen her and it's obvious that they usually meet somewhere."

The Hokage's eyebrow twitched, "Hey, listen when I am explaining things to you!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. The Hokage was amused by the gesture. "Geez, all you ever do is give lectures and I already know how missions work. I'm just tired of boring, stupid missions."

The Third sighed, 'With Sakura as his sister, of course he knows.' He locked his eyes with Naruto's, "Alright then."

"Huh?"

"If you want a harder mission, then I'll give it to you. This will be an escort mission to the Land of Waves."

"YES!" Naruto yelled as he threw his hands into the air, "Who are we going to escort!? A feudal lord!? A princess!?"

"Calm down, he is a bridge builder."

Naruto deadpanned, "A… bridge builder?" 'Well at least it's something.'

Just then door opened and in came a thirty year old man with a beer in hand.

"Ah, Tazuna. These will be your escorts for your journey."

Tazuna scoffed, "These brats are my escorts? Are you sure they're even ninjas. Especially the short one with the funny looking face."

Naruto looked at Sasuke then at Sai, "Hey! I am a ninja for your information."

"Alright, alright that's enough. You are to meet in front of the gates in an hour." The Hokage instructed.

Naruto slammed the door to his house shouting, "Sakura-chan!"

"Yes?" Sakura answered as she was putting on her boots she wears on missions.

"Wait, are you going somewhere?"

Sakura looked at Naruto and stood up to put on her cloak, "Yeah I'm going on a mission right now."

"Really!? Me too, but I'm going in about an hour."

"Wait, hold on. You're going on a mission outside the village?"

"I've been outside the village before remember aneki, you take me out sometimes. Even though it's an easy escort mission, I'm so excited. How about you Sakura-chan? What's your mission about? I bet its way cooler than mine-" Naruto's rambling was cut short when Sakura pulled him into a hug.

"I understand that i have taken you out before, but during those times i have always been by your side. Just be careful, ok."

"Uh…" Naruto locked eyes with Sakura, seeing the worry she had for him and grinned, "Hee hee. Of course I'll be careful aneki, you trained me remember and I'll be back before you know it."

Sakura pulled back and smiled, "I know you will, but I just can't help but worry. Anyways, I have to go now." She let go of Naruto, put on her mask and walked out of the house.

Sakura was jumping from tree to tree to the rendezvous point her best friend told her to meet at. As she traveled, she couldn't help to think about Naruto and Sasuke. She was confident that both could take care of themselves, but she couldn't get this bad feeling out of her mind that something was going to happen on their mission that could put them in danger. All she could do was hope that they will be ok and that Kakashi would always be there in case anything happened.

'I swear if something happens to either one of them, I'll strangle Kakashi until he turns blue.'

Sakura activated the eclipsed eyes and focused on finding a sign of life. Sakura smiled sadly when she felt a specific heartbeat on the edge of fairly small lake. The heartbeat was faster than normal. She could also tell that the person had trouble breathing.

Knowing that the person couldn't sense her chakra, Sakura hid behind a tree from where the person was. She slowly made her way behind the person and was about to lightly push the person, not enough to fall into the lake but enough to scare the person, until a voice stopped her.

"I know you are there Sakura, so do not dare try pushing me into the lake."

"Aww, how did you know I was there and for your information I wasn't going to push you into the lake. I was only going to push you enough to scare you into thinking you were going to fall into the lake, Itachi." Sakura countered.

Itachi scoffed and turned around to face her, "As if you could be able to scare me like that anymore. If you are going to try to scare me then you are going to need to come up with a new tactic."

Sakura took off her hood and mask, "Oh, I will Itachi. I will. So what's going on?"

"Madara is planning on projecting the infinite tsukuyomi on the moon, trapping the entire world in a dream to prevent humankind from destroying themselves in order to achieve peace. It will take many years of planning though."

Sakura frowned at the mention of Madara, but was quickly replaced to shock at the knowledge of his plan, "That's crazy! How is he going to achieve that anyways!?"

Itachi closed his eyes, "That is what I am most worried about. In order to achieve his goal, he will need all of the tailed beast to revive the Ten-tails. I am certain he will go after you last since you are the missing half that will be needed at the end."

Sakura's eyes widened "Naruto! Madara will be after him! What if he gets him while he's on a mission, oh my God he is on a mission right now, or- or when he is just walking back home from training with his team! It could happen at any moment! My back will be turned and he will just snatch him while I'm not looking!"

"That is true, but I highly doubt he will get through Naruto's crazy sister." Itachi said, hoping it would somewhat comfort her.

Sakura glared at him and crossed her arms, "Oh so you think I'm crazy?"

Itachi smirked, "Somewhat. Also we are not planning on capturing the jinchuriki anytime soon."

Sakura sighed and poked Itachi on his chest right above his heart, "So how are you feeling these days, anything I should know about?"

"No." Itachi said blankly.

Sakura placed her hand on his chest and closed her eyes listening to his heart and lungs. After a couple seconds she opened her eyes that were now completely black and told him, "Well considering that your heart is beating much faster than last time and that you are clearly having trouble breathing correctly, determined that your answer was a lie."

"Hn."

"Don't you 'hn' me. This is serious. Your blood vessels are inflamed and are narrower causing your heart to work harder in order to get the blood through." Sakura explained as she started to heal his entire body.

When she was done she deactivated her blood limit and gave him a bottle of pills, "Here these pills are stronger than the last and should work faster, take them every morning and evening after you eat."

"Hn… So how is Sasuke?"

Sakura smiled, "He finally graduated from the academy along with Naruto and both are now in the same team with their teacher being Kakashi. I can tell that Sasuke will be very strong in the future."

Itachi softly sighed and gave a small smile, "Sakura, thank you."

Sakura wrapped her arms around his waist, "Anything for you… Tachi-chan." Itachi gave off a small growl while Sakura giggled.

Sakura pulled away, "You should go before your partner starts to suspect something."

"Don't worry about him, I knocked him out while we were sparring and probably will not be waking up in about an hour."

"Can I braid your hair and then redo your nails cause I see the paint is started chipping off? Then I can show you some new moves that you can use so you don't have to use too much energy." Sakura said excitedly.

Itachi sighed, "Fine, as long as you buy me dango."

"Deal!"

Team 7 met with Tazuna at Konoha's gates and headed out. As they were walking, Naruto noticed a small puddle.

'That's weird, it hasn't been raining this week and even if it has it would have already dried up.'

Naruto then remembered what Sakura said, 'Be wary of the things that look out of place. For example you won't find a single rose growing in the middle of a scorching hot dessert now won't you. Doing just that could save your life out there.'

Kakashi noticed Naruto's suspicious gaze towards the puddle, 'So he's aware of this. Of course he would be.'

Suddenly chains came out of the puddle wrapped around Kakashi and tore him apart. There stood to men with claws on either side of where Kakashi was.

Everyone stood frozen, processing on what just occurred.

"One down." One of them said then both quickly moved behind Naruto, "Two down."

Catching everyone by surprise, Naruto then slammed an elbow to the face on the man to his right and kicked the other on the stomach, making one fall back while the other kneeled over. Naruto quickly turned towards them and threw a kunai at the chain causing it to break in half.

While Naruto broke the chain, the two men quickly recovered and started to charge at Tazuna with their claws ready to kill. Sasuke and Sai then stood in front to protect Tazuna. Just as the men closed in on them, Kakashi grabbed both by the neck and held them until they stopped struggling.

Naruto sighed in relief, 'He's ok, he used the substitution jutsu.'

"Sorry I was not able to help you faster Naruto, but you seemed to have handled the situation well enough." Kakashi glanced at the kunai that broke the chain in half, 'He already knows how to incorporate chakra into weapons. Interesting. If only he had showed his skills in the academy but with his situation, that would have caused the elders to draw their attention to him. Like Sakura said, "The last thing I want Naruto is to be treated as a weapon to the village like the elders are doing with me. I didn't want him to go through any of this as a child so I told Naruto to do badly in school while I thought him at his own pace. It was for his protection and if I didn't, who knows what the elders would do to him."' He turned towards Sasuke and Sai, "You two did well too and Tazuna, I will need to talk to you about this."