A/N: Next chapter! Wootage!

When Naruto and Sasuke noticed that the petite girl with black hair that was walking through the crowd, crying, was Sakura, well... needless to say, they were surprised. Not as surprised as when they noticed that it was Orochimaru carting her around, holding her hand as though she were a five-year-old child. That, and the fact that Sakura wasn't fighting against him both had the two of them dumbfounded.

"Should we... confront them?" Naruto asked in a hushed voice, glad to see that neither Sakura nor Orochimaru had noticed their presence yet.

"No, Itachi has to be around here somewhere."

Naruto chose to ignore that. All of this was to get Sakura back, not to kill Itachi and he would be damned if he let Sasuke's unquenchable need for vengeance get in the way of his mission. "I'm going after them," he told Sasuke, knowing full-well that his tone of voice displayed his feelings about Sasuke mentioning the elder Uchiha on such a mission, "With or without you. Choose."

Sasuke sighed, pushing his bangs out of his face, "I didn't mean... that I was going after Itachi instead of Sakura, I'm saying that he may come after us."

"Like I care," the blond growled, leaving their safe corner and approaching the departing Sakura and Orochimaru. He sped up and was half aware that Sasuke was following on his heels, but paid no attention. He was in shinobi mode and his eyes were on his target. His senses were tuned to his surroundings, but his attention was on Sakura.

He would get her back.

"Sakura-chan," he called and stopped his approach when both she and Orochimaru halted. He glared at the pale snake man when he turned to fix impatient eyes on him and Naruto turned pleading eyes to Sakura. "Come back to Konoha, okay?"

"I thought I couldn't go back to Konoha," she spat bitterly and Naruto could see the hatred and hurt and need for comfort in her eyes. It broke his heart. What had Itachi done to her? "I didn't complete the mission and so I can't be considered a Konoha kunoichi."

"But you did," Naruto corrected, "That letter you sent... I didn't get to see it, but I heard that it had all the information we needed. The mission was completed and now you can come home."

Sakura looked away sadly and told him, "Konoha isn't my home anymore. I'm... not going back."

But Naruto didn't give in. He only straightened his back, balled his hands into fists and said with more confidence than he ever had, "Then I won't go back until I convince you to come back."

Orochimaru let out a sigh of weary irritation and grumbled, "Oh, what a bother. Listen; can't you two go play somewhere else? I've gone to a lot of trouble for this girl and your presence is rather bothersome at the moment.

The glares Naruto and Sasuke sent the much older man would have made a lesser man cower in fear, but, knowing that Orochimaru wasn't a lesser man, it wasn't at all unexpected when he sighed again, let go of Sakura's hand, gave her an affectionate pat on the head and then turned to the two Konoha shinobi. The smile that had been on his face not long before was now nowhere to be found. "I suggest you two run along before somebody gets hurt. I'm trying very hard to gain Sakura's trust and violence is not going to help me attain it."

Naruto scoffed. "I don't care. We're not leaving until we have Sakura-chan!"

"Where's Itachi?" Sasuke wondered aloud, looking around with narrowed eyes.

"Seriously, Sasuke?" the blond asked with exasperation, "Can't Sakura-chan be more important than your stupid brother right now?"

"No, I mean, where is he? If he wants her, too, shouldn't he be helping? Or does he intend to stay hidden in the shadows and ambush us like a coward?"

Naruto shook his head with a sigh. When had he become the sane one while Sasuke turned into the knucklehead?

"You..."

Naruto and Sasuke both turned to see Sakura in front of a very amused Orochimaru, her hands balled into fists, her jaw clenched and a look filled with so much hatred Naruto wondered if this was the same girl he'd grown up with. Where was that lively, happy girl he'd always adored? Once again he found himself wondering what Itachi had done to make her like this.

"You..." she repeated, narrowing her cold, hateful eyes on a suddenly bemused Sasuke, "Why are you here? This is all because of you! He wanted you! He used me to get to you! And you were looking for him all this time... well, I guess you got what you wanted. Are you happy?!"

Sasuke blinked in surprise. "I... I don't... I don't understand."

"Just... go," she whispered, looking away, "Just looking at you makes me so... so angry. You look like him!" She buried her face in her hands, but whether it was to hide the tears or to keep from seeing Sasuke, Naruto wasn't sure.

"Sakura-chan, I don't know what Itachi did to you or where he is, but I can understand why you're angry. But please, you have to know that allying yourself with Orochimaru is the worst mistake you could possibly make. You and I fought so hard to get Sasuke back from him because he's bad, so how could you let yourself go away with him?"

"You want to know why?" she asked, her voice a whisper, "Because not a single person has told me the goddamn truth except for Orochimaru! I'm in this situation now because of that!"

"But I told you to run away back in Ame!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You never told me what to run from! How was I supposed to believe anybody if they refused to tell me what it was I was supposed to be avoiding?! Tsunade sent me out there, not telling me the real reason why, you told me to run, not telling me the reason why! The only person who has ever spoken the truth was Orochimaru and today he proved it! Do you know how bad that is?!"

The blond averted his eyes guiltily, but still stood his ground. It was clear that he wouldn't leave without Sakura.

Orochimaru sighed again, looking around at all the gawking villagers. "Bugger," he grumbled under his breath and turned toward Sakura. Before she had a chance to see what he was doing, he had already pinched the pressure point in her shoulder and caught her before she crumpled to the ground. "Sorry, boys," he chuckled, turning toward Naruto and Sasuke, "But I'm afraid time is of the essence and I have many plans for Sakura. We'll see each other again soon, though." With that said, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"He's getting away!" Naruto exclaimed, spinning around to give chase, "Come on, Sasuke, time to go to Sound!"

"Hold it," Sasuke commanded, grabbing the blond's wrist before he could pursue. "Let him go."

"What?! No way! I'm not stopping until I have her back!"

"We aren't stopping, but Orochimaru's stronger than both of us combined. We need help."

"We can't count on Konoha," Naruto argued impatiently, "And, even if we could, we don't have time to get Baa-chan to assemble a squad."

"I never said anything about Konoha."

"Then what are you saying?"

Sasuke sighed, a martyred expression on his face. "We need Itachi's help."

A/N: Well, it looks like Naruto gets some free ramen, ne?