Recap: I, MB timeskip, finally. The story begins in the Kazekage rescue arc where Itachi as an Akatsuki member is introduced.

Chapter 22: Cascade

The door to Kakashi's room shut behind them. After encountering an Akatsuki member on their latest mission to rescue Gaara, Kakashi used the very last resort of power he had which deemed him to another session of bed rest. "Hey Sakura..." Naruto said, staring at the faded grey tiles. "I-"

"-I already know what you're going to say, and I won't tell her anything."

"Oh...but y'know as well as I do it's just a trick, right?"

"Of course it is! Itachi..." Her hands tightly gripped the railing. "Itachi would never join the Akatsuki!"

"...yeah...!" He weakly added.

XxxxxXxxx

-elsewhere-

Kabuto Yakushi slipped on a cream colored cloak to mask his identity. "It's time we head to Tenchi bridge, we only have-"

"That won't be necessary, I'm sending in someone else to fill my place."

"Huh?!"

"I want to see...how compatible my curse mark is with him."

XxxxxXxxx

Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune all stood outside of Kakashi's room on the balcony. Her light pink hair shifted slightly as she finished speaking. "...And we have six days from now to reach Tenchi bridge."

"..." Sakura's words floated in Tsunade's mind for a bit. "It might just be the Akatsuki using Orochimaru's name as bait to ambush us."

"Then we fight if it's a trap!"

"Yes, but Kakashi will be unable to command for over a week, and there are only six available days to reach the bridge. The only solution is to...assemble a new team."

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune piped up. "If that's the case, then why not just deploy a different cell entirely. Even if Sakura comes, I feel as though Naruto should be removed during this mission completely."

"...Like you Shizune, Sakura is one of the few shinobi I trust implicitly, but this mission must involve the remaining members of Team Kakashi."

"Just to prove whether or not Jiraiya's words are true? Don't you think my cell can handle that task?"

"To be frank-no."

"What...?"

"Even if it's just a regular mission to you, to them, this mission is personal. Itachi isn't just another one of their colleagues, he's their friend and they're willing to risk everything for his safety...that's why their team is more compatible than yours."

"...I understand but Naruto-"

"What do you think Naruto would say about something like that?"

"I'd say we need some new teammates!"

Naruto was standing on top of the hospital roof, he'd been there for a while and through Tsunade's subliminal message, he leaped off the roof and headed towards the village. "See ya!"

'Oh, that boy...I didn't even get to finish.'

OoO

Sakura made her way out the hospital. 'So I'll have to go back behind the Hokage's office in a little while to meet up with our new team...you know...' It became almost a habit of hers almost to unconsciously think about Itachi whenever she was alone. 'We wouldn't need a new teammate if only...no...that's in the past now. This time...I'll bring you back...wherever you are.'

OoO

"Kisame...did Sasuke ever tell you his intentions for joining the Akatsuki?"

Kisame merely grinned. "It must be a special occasion, what makes you want to talk about your brother now of all times?"

"The thought dawned upon me."

"Now that you mention it, I do remember him telling me he struck a deal with a certain someone that they'd be able to reincarnate the world's strongest shinobi if he were to fulfill the Akatsuki's needs."

'Sounds like something Sasuke would do, but with that information...I wonder if he's really dead or not.'

OoO

Naruto wandered around the back alleys of Konoha, he was in a slump since all his attempts to recruit new members were unsuccessful. "Maybe if I ask one of the-no, no, that won't work!" He wondered out loud.

"H-ey, Naruto!"

"Mhm! Sakura?!" Naruto rotated his head to the left where Sakura and a group of strangers awaited by a pale-white, fenced building. He walked up to them. "Hey uh...wait..."

"It's you!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the pale toned boy next to Sakura.

He gave in one of the most plastic looking smiles Naruto had ever seen in his life. "Why-hello...again." He chirped.

"..." The other stranger spoke up, his voice was meek. "My name is...Yamato and...um...starting today...I'll be filling in for Kakashi-sensei."

"Naruto...you know this guy?" Sakura questioned.

"Yeah he-"

He spoke up. "Sorry about our earlier encounter, I was only curious to see how strong my future teammate might be, and whether or not I'd eventually have to come to the little boy's aid."

"WHAT?!" Naruto screeched.

Sakura held him back. "Calm down, Naruto! We have to work together from here on out, this isn't the place to fight, and you," She turned to the pale boy. "That wasn't very nice."

"Really? But I like ugly girls like you."

This time it was Yamato who had to hold Sakura down from being the crap out of him. "Hey, hey, don't start a fight already-like you just said!"

When Sakura pulled back, Yamato waited for everyone to somewhat calm down before beginning to speak. "...anyways...we'll be departing shortly, so might as well go ahead and introduce yourselves since we won't have time for chit-chat on the road."

"Naruto Uzumaki." He muttered.

"Sakura Haruno." She grumbled.

"And I'm Sai!"

"Alright then, I'll explain our mission; the four of us will head to Tenchi bridge and capture the Akatsuki spy who infiltrated Orochimaru's organization and then bring them back to Konoha. This is our best chance, if not only, to get intelligence on Orochimaru-and the likes of Itachi Uchiha,"

"Information we can later use to assassinate Orochiamru and...retrieve Itachi."

"...ok, as soon as everyone's packed, Konoha's gate will serve as the rendezvous point and then we'll deploy, clear?"

"Yessir."

XxxxxXxxx

"Well this is it, guys!"

A mixture of muffled mutters and groans came from Naruto and Sakura.

"...eh, Go Team Kakashi!" And they were off.

Several silent hours had passed by since they left Konoha, nothing but glares and stares replaced all forms of communication between the group. And for the longest time, Naruto was gawking at Sai. 'It's weird...the more I look at him the more he looks like Itachi...and he kind of sounds like 'em too.'

"How ironic," Sai said, breaking the silence. "He used to give me those same stares awhile back."

"...what the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto demanded.

"Itachi, I mean, back when he was still apart of the black ops, he used to give me these long, stupid stares. I used to just think he was brain-dead."

'Itachi used to work with this guy?!' "Hey! Don't talk about him like that!"

"-I don't see why you want to save him so much anyways, it's obvious he wanted to leave, especially from you guys."

"You know what?" His fingers pressed on his palms. "WE DON'T NEED SHIT LIKE YOU ON THIS TEAM SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST GET THE FUCK OUT!"

"NARUTO!" Yamato yelled. "That's enough! Sai is your teammates and even if you don't like each other, you still have to find a way to trust each other. Lose the attitude, I thought Kakashi-sensei taught you better..."

"NO! The fourth member of our team will ALWAYS be Itachi Uchiha! Itachi is light years beyond better than Sai will ever be and he'll never be our teammate!"

"That's fine." Sai decided to put his two-cents in all with a mocking smirk on his face. "Because Itachi of the Uchiha clan is nothing more than disgusting...scum."

"...how dare you..." Naruto muttered under his breath, before he could pummel Sai, Sakura held out her arm and blocked him.

"Even if our opinions differ and Naruto doesn't really know you all that well, that's no reason to judge him...I'm sorry," She finished up. "Please forgive Naruto."

"I said it's fine."

Sakura smiled. "Oh, that's good."

The smile quickly faded. "But..." Sakura pulled her arm back and whammed Sai in the cheek sending him falling backwards. "I don't care...if you forgive me!"

"-Sakura!"

Sai rubbed the blood off the corner of his mouth, he rested his arm on the pavement. "So that was a...fake smile."

"DON'T YOU EVER SPEAK OF ITACHI LIKE THAT! Keep on bad mouthing him...and I won't hold back."

He opened his mouth to say something but nothing could come out.

"That's what I thought."

"-clever use of the fake smile, I'll have to remember to use that." He managed to add.

Naruto's face scrunched up. "What're you even talking about?!"

"Never mind..." He said while starting to stand up . "It was just a small note."

'This isn't working at all!' "Four-pillar prison technique!"

Several large pillars sprouted from the ground behind Sai, Naruto, and Sakura. "What's going on?!" When they stopped growing, more, smaller pillars surrounded the four big ones and slowly but surely, encased together. It made, as the name implies, a prison.

Yamato slowly tapped on his silver face plates. "We only have five days at this point to get to Tenchi bridge," His finger now laid on the cage behind them. "Keep up all this fighting and I'll throw you all in the cage. Where I'll have you rethink teamwork."

'That's...wood style ninjutsu, but only the first hokage should know about that technique. How does Captain Yamato know about that...' It finally dawned onto Sakura this guy was more than what he appeared to be. 'Then, just who is he?'

Yamato continued. "But I'll give you guys two choices; spend the rest of the day crammed into the cage revisiting your teamwork skills or enjoy the night at a comfortable inn." His face darkened. "You don't know me either...although I do prefer using a kinder approach, I am not above using fear to control people."

Cozy inn it was.

XxxxxXxxx

That night, Sakura sat up on her bed, she couldn't sleep so she decided staring at the night sky would have to be a substitute. 'I still haven't forgotten how much you tried to make me happy...all I what is to return the favor, but...'

*knock-knock*

Her head rotated like an owl towards the door. 'It's probably Naruto.' "Come in."

The door creaked open and much to Sakura's disgust, Sai poked his head out. "May I come in?"

She begrudgingly nodded and the door swung open. Sai came inside and leaned against the wall. "Can't sleep, huh?"

"Oh don't start with that crap." She snapped. "Why're you here anyways?"

'She must still be sensitive from earlier.' "I didn't get a chance to mention it earlier, so I want to relay some information from Danzo."

'Danzo...' A vivid image of the old man she met in Tsunade's office before they departed popped into her head. "Go on."

"It's about Sasuke Uchiha, he's...dead."

"What?!"

"A black ops agent recently found Sasuke's decayed corpse next to the Nakano river, according to the autopsy report he's been dead for over...two years. Itachi's only goal was to kill Sasuke and now that he is dead, we have reason to believe that Itachi Uchiha is-"

"That's enough, Sai."

"Well, then," He smiled in response. "Goodnight."

OoO

Sakura woke up to the warm, soft touch of the sunlight, with a restless night gone by she felt extremely winded. As Sakura was dressing into her usual attire, she saw something out of the window that caught her eye. 'How long has he been up...?'

"Hey Sai!" Sakura chirped when she neared the dock above the spa's drain water. "...oh, I never figured you as the artistic type."

"Looks can be deceiving, can't they?"

"Heh, don't I know it," She bent down to his level. "For someone so...er...rough on the outside, you sure do seem to be a sensitive guy on the inside."

Sai noticed the corner of her lips curling up affectionately. "That fake smile of yours, let me guess, you're going to punch me again?"

"Only if you give me a reason...heh, I'm just messing with you, so about yesterday..." Her face grew grim. "Was-was he ever...happy...in the Anbu?"

"He was..." Sai etched a hard, black line into his ominous sketch. "...special."

"What do you mean?"

"There's was never really a word to describe him,"

"Well, did he ever...talk about us?"

"He did, especially about you, Sakura." A delicate shade of pink began painting Sakura's face. "-At the time I didn't know what type of emotion he displayed and even now I'm still confused, but at least I can somewhat firmly grasp the concept of what he felt..."

"Itachi he...truly did...hate you."

OoO

"Hey, guys! Captain Yamato says it's time to-" Naruto's foot stepped in something murky. "Wh-what's this?!" As he ran closer towards the docks, the black puddles got wider and deeper.

"Sakura?!"

Sakura was sitting down at the side of the dock staring off into the abyss, next to her Sai was lying down, out cold beside her. "What...happened?"

"Nothing, he'll be fine."

"...alright-oh, what's that in his hand?" Although knocked unconscious, a small picture book was firmly in his hold.

She sighed. "Why don't you ask him when he's awake."

'Yeesh, Sakura definitely didn't get any sleep if she's in such a pissy mood!' "Nah, I don't want see it anyways, it's nothing special!"

"Oh stop acting like a baby!"

"Wha-I-I'm not acting like a baby! If anything, that stupid Sai is!"

"Whatever, let's just go find Captain Yamato like you were saying."

Naruto took one last look at Sai as Sakura was walking away. "...yeah."

"Actually, that won't be necessary," Yamato appeared from behind one of the surrounding deciduous trees. "You two follow me...oh,"

"And Sakura, pick up...Sai."

"Yessir." Sakura hauled the pale boy onto her back then followed Naruto and Yamato out into the desolate forest.

'This spot should do,' Yamato made a sudden stop when they finally entered an empty area in the forest, he ushered everyone to stand back. "Wood style: four pillar house technique!"

Naruto and Sakura stared in awe at the giant, two-story house rising from the earth. Yamato smiled while he walked in. "When you're done picking your jaw up off the floor, come inside, we'll be camping in here for the night."

'Pretty sure this doesn't count as "camping".'

OoO

"...How long will it be until we reach Tenchi bridge?"

"Don't be so impatient, we'll get there in due time."

'Due time...' "If I can't get back to Konoha in the next following days, everything I've done up to this point will have been for absolutely nothing. Tell me how long it'll take."

"Well, you're sounding quite irritable about this whole situation, maybe instead of tagging along with me to 'exercise' your talents, you should've left straight from Orochimaru's lair. Learn to prioritize for once."

"Me following you wasn't on a whim, my presence is merely an experiment. Prioritizing wasn't an option, but killing you certainly is."

"I see, then we'll speed up the process."

OoO

"So anyways, here's the mission, first and foremost, our only goal is a live capture, the target must not be killed or heavily injured no matter what. Otherwise, we lose the only source of information. In return, this makes it an even more challenging mission than normal." Yamato explained.

Naruto could feel his throat tighten. 'There isn't any margin for error,' He felt his lower stomach. 'I need to stay under control at all cost!'

"Since this is a delicate mission, it'll have to go off without a hitch, so you three will act as back up while I'll go ahead and capture the target. If my disguise is somehow penetrated and the enemy finds out I am indeed not Sasori, then a battle will commence, only then will I allow you to fight, but only on my command-"

"-For this mission, we'll have to fight in pairs, every one of your actions will be backed up by your partner at all times, teamwork is the keyword. Naruto and Sai will be in squad one and Sakura, you're with me."

He could tell Sakura was objected to this.

"Since you're the team's only media nin, we can't afford to have you injured, that's why you have to be with me."

Much to Naruto's dismay, with the mention of 'partner' Sai's coal black eyes homed in on his bright blue ones. He happily fake smiled and mouthed the word partner.

"Gah! You gotta be kidding with me, Captain! There's no way we can work together!" Naruto yelled.

"Life isn't fair."

"What?!"

"...like I just told you, tomorrow will consist of the pair simulation training, everything I know about you three comes solely from your files and I need to witness first hand your battle style, skills, and whatever else. For instance, Naruto, according to Sai's profile, he more closely resembles Itachi's confuse-and-attack fighting style. That's why you two should be able to have good chemistry."

"I doubt it." Naruto huffed under his breath.

"It's clearly the only way I can transform this team into the cohesive fighting unit it needs to be. Just keep in mind, I'm not your previous sensei."

A/N: I've been trying profusely to keep up with updating weekly, unfortunately life sucks and for those who read The Death and The Steven, I probably won't update for a while, I'm having another writer's block:/