Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto: Shippuuden, it is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

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Naruto jumped from tree branch to tree branch with his two sensei, calculating strategies in his mind as he did so.

'Alright.. We should be fine so long as the rain ninja dont feel like fighting ninja from another village.. From what I've heard though, the mountains in that country always have snow on them.. Would make for a good cover.'

Kakashi then speeds up a bit in order to be next to Naruto, he looks over at the blonde "Naruto.."

The blonde glances over at Kakashi "Yeah?"

The mask wearing ninja gives him a look of concern "Are you sure you want to do this? If something goes wrong, we're not coming back from this mission."

Naruto gives his sensei a smirk "Dont worry about it."

He then looks forward "I know this'll work..."

Yamato then catches upto them both "Hopefully we wont run into any of the remaining Akatsuki members on the way."

His eyes sharpen slightly "The rain country (no official name) borders the country where the Akatsuki are most active, we'll have to be extremely cautious, even when we're going to be on the other side of the rain country."

Naruto nods to this "Hai."

With that, they pick up speed, heading toward the next country.

Madara stands in a dimly lit cave along with Kisame, Zetsu, and finally the newest member, Sasuke, along with the rest of 'Taka'.

The man gives a sharp look at them all, sighing lowly "It seems as though Pein has failed... As he is now dead, and Konan has defected."

Kisame gives his traditional smirk "Hn, not like we need them to accomplish our goals."

Zetsu then turns to Kisame "Remember, Pein was the one who was able to track down every Jinchuuriki, and he was able to create holograms for the members who couldnt reach the hideout for every gathering. So it is indeed a heavy loss."

Sasuke glared at them all in annoyance "It doesnt matter in the long run, we know where all the remaining jinchuuriki are.."

Madara nods to Sasuke "Yes.. Because of this, I want you to hunt down the nine tails Jinchuuriki, Sasuke.."

The masked man then chuckles slightly "Making it personal only drives you to victory even more.. And as I recall, you hate Naruto, right?"

Sasuke's eyes widened, then a large and wicked smirk appeared on his features "Oh it'll be my pleasure..."

Madara sighed at this "Dont fail me again, you're lucky I'm giving you a second chance after your failure to capture the Hachibi."

The rest of Taka look at eachother in hesitation. Then Karin laughs slightly "Oh come on Madara-san, dont you think sending in Sasuke-kun will be a little over kill?"

She then gives a cocky grin. "I mean, he was able to incapacitate that Naruto person the last time they encountered eachother."

Kisame blinks at this, then nods "Yeah she's right, last time I saw that brat, I was able to suck up all his chakra in one sweep of my Samehada."

They all then hear Madara chuckle, as if mocking their ignorance "You obviously havent heard who defeated Pein in the first place."

Kisame raised an eyebrow to this "Wasnt it their Hokage?"

Madara folds his arms "It was Naruto who killed Pein, and for most of the fight he didnt tap into his Kyuubi chakra once."

All of their eyes widen, then Madara sighs "Although he did almost release the nine tails, which cost Pein his life, as he used too much of his chakra trying to contain the boy."

Sasuke looks down as he clenched his fist, laughing all the while "So, Naruto thinks hes surpassed me in strength, huh?"

His sharingan activates to match the sick grin on his face "Well, he can think again.."

Naruto felt a cold chill go down his spine, feeling as though someone who was talking about him.. And he didnt like it.

He then looks around "Alright, we should be entering the rain country soon."

Kakashi nodded to this "Everyone keep your gaurd up, our country may be nuetral with this one, but it doesnt mean they'll be to keen to see some unwelcomed visitors."

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw movement up ahead "Get down..!" They all jump off the trees and into bushes for cover

They look up to see Cloud ninja speeding over head, and their eyes only widen as they see the Raikage speed right past them along with the cloud ninja.

Naruto looks over at his sensei in confusion "What're cloud ninja and the Raikage doing here?"

Kakashi pondered at this "I'm not sure.. Although, it didnt seem like they were going to be in this country for long.. They must be headed somewhere else."

Yamato then jumps up onto one of the tree branches "Let's keep going, we're losing day light."

Both ninja nod as they jump up onto tree branches, and keep going.

It had been 2 days since Naruto and company left for Iwagakure, and Sakura had been working herself to the bone.

She spent the entire first day since Naruto left healing every person she could, until she was sapped of chakra and eventually passed out.

Now, shes over looking Tsunade's condition while she's under the coma. The pink haired girl sighs lowly, bags slowly forming under her eyes.

'You gotta slow down, working yourself to death isnt going to make this situation any better.'

'I got to do something to keep my mind off of the fact that Naruto is heading to face the Tsuchikage...'

She blinks as she feels Shizune pat her shoulder "You need to take a break, Sakura."

Sakura looks at her 'sister' in shock "B..But.."

Shizune gives the girl a reassuring smile "Naruto is going to be fine.. Dont worry."

Sakura's face goes red as she looks to the side "W..What makes you think that's what I'm worried about..?"

The older woman can only smile more at the younger kunoichi's reaction "Because I know you, Sakura."

As all of this is going on, Sai watches the two women talk from outside of the tent. He had been pondering deeply on everything that had been going on between his two team mates.

He then began walking away, his thoughts processing even more "Hmm.. I know that they dont like me very much.. But.."

His eyes grow serious, showing more emotion than ever before "It doesnt mean that I cant help them in any way.. But first, I need to find out whats going on between them."

He then looks around "Guess that means I need to go see the people who know them the most." With that, he takes off.

As he's traveling across the ruined village, he quickly spots two ninja, who he believed knew those two better than anyone.

He then makes a bee line towards them. Landing right next to them "Ohayou Gozaimasu, Shikamaru-san, Ino-chan."

Shikamaru looked over in surprise at the pale boy infront of him "Hmm? Sai? What're you doing here?"

Ino gives a small yet tired smile "Oh, Ohayou Sai."

Sai just looks at them both, wondering how he was going to say this "Y..You've both known Naruto-kun, and Sakura for a long time, right?"

Both Ino, and Shikamaru look at eachother in confusionn, then look back at Sai with a nod.

Sai looks down for a moment, then looks back at them "What're their feelings for eachother..!"

The two members of team 10 stare at Sai in surprise, then look at eachother, as if trying to mentally communicate with eachother, then they look back. Ino was the first one to speak "W-Why're you asking a question like that, Sai? Last I checked you really didnt care much for others, including Naruto and Sakura."

Sai looks to the side, slight guilt forming on his features "When I saw Naruto risking everything to protect us... That showed me that I need to start relying on others.. Caring about others. And that starts with my teammates."

Shikamaru folds his arms at what Sai says "Wow, then again, Naruto was always one who was capable of changing others."

Ino then looked back at Sai "As for your question, Sai.. Its not exactly our place to say.."

Sai looked a bit upset by this answer, then shook his head "You know better than I do that Sakura and Naruto would never answer me."

Shikamaru rubs the back of his head, sighing lowly "Troublesome.. But he is right, those two are stubborn to the core."

Ino shook her head "Alright alright." One of her eyebrows raises slightly, showing slight concern for the two they're talking about. "Look, the relationship of Naruto and Sakura has always been a shaky one. Even before Naruto left."

Sai blinked at this in confusion "How so?"

Ino looked to the side "Because Sakura at that time had her eyes out for Sasuke, she would treat Naruto badly. Mainly because she thought that Naruto was just getting in her way, but as time progressed, that became less so."

Her expression then saddened slightly "When Naruto was presumed dead, Sakura couldnt feel anything but remorse for how badly she had treated Naruto, and the promise she had locked Naruto into."

She then looked back at him "When Naruto came back, the relationship between them was fractured, and it was up to Sakura to make up for everything she had done to Naruto in the past. It was also up to Naruto to forgive her for everything. As time went on though.."

The blonde then looked down "Sakura fell in love with Naruto."

Shikamaru's eyes widened greatly at this "Eh? Are you serious?"

Ino looked over at the bewildered man next to her, and nodded "Hai."

Sai looked at them, surprised by this, but not to much, as he had never experienced the kind of love that Sakura felt for Naruto. He then looked at the two. "I see.."

Shikamaru then sighed again as he looked at Sai "As for how Naruto feels about Sakura.. I can't say, mainly because he always seemed unsure. At one point it looked as if he hated her, then at another point it seemed like he liked her.. So I have no clue."

The pale skinned boy looked away "I see.. Thank you both, I've learned a lot." He then began to walk away.

They both look at him in surprise, he then hears Ino yell a-"You're welcome!"

Sai then looks forward "One more person I need to talk to.. He should know how Naruto feels. As he did talk to him alone the other day."

Kiba sighed as he was sitting under a tree, letting Akamaru run around, getting his daily exercise.

The dog like boy looked up at the clouds, thinking about what Naruto had said to him a few days back "So, I should just be a man and show Hinata that there are other guys like me out there..?"

He then sighed as he rubbed his temples "How exactly am I about to do that?.."

"Oh, there you are."

This made Kiba jump slightly as he saw Sai walking upto him "H-Huh? You're Sai, Naruto's teammate to replace Sasuke, right?"

The jet black haired boy nods to this "Hai."

Kiba then stood up, reaching the height of Sai "Alright, you need something?"

Sai looks over at the large dog running over to Kiba, then looks back to said boy. "Hai.. I have a question. What are Naruto's feelings for Sakura?"

The fang baring ninja raises an eyebrow to this "Ehh? Why would you care about something like that? Besides, its none of my business."

Sai can only sigh slightly "I know.. But, they're my teammates, and I want to help them in any way I can."

Kiba blinks at this, and sees nothing but determination in Sai's eyes, he then smiles "You really want to help those you call friends, good. I can respect someone like that."

He then crosses his arms behind his head as he looks up "I dunno what to tell ya, man. Naruto doesnt talk to me much, hell, the other day was the first time he had talked to me in months."

Sai's eyes widen, then looks down, realizing he had no one left to ask without having to wait for Kakashi to get back with Naruto and Yamato.

"Although.."

The pale skinned boy's ears perked at this as he looked at Kiba, giving him his full attention.

Kiba rubbed his chin as he thought back "He did say something about liking someone.. I believe he said 'I understand what its like to love someone you've known for almost your entire life, and for her to love someone else.' or something like that."

The canine-like ninja ponders about it a bit more "Now that I think about it, that does sound like he was talking about Sakura." He then looks at Sai "But, why should it matt-"

"Arigatou, Kiba-san."

Said boy raises an eyebrow "Huh?"

Sai then gives an actual smile "I just found out everything I needed to know."

Naruto sneezed as they walked slowly through the mountains, grumbling softly "God dammit, I hope I'm not catching a cold.. Worst time to get sick."

Yamato gave the boy an annoyed look "Then why did you have us go through the mountains?"

Naruto looked over at his tired and cold senseis "Because, its so that when we reach the earth country, the Iwagakure is only a day away."

Kakashi then looks at Yamato "It may be cold, but its like Naruto says, this is the quickest route, the sooner we get out of the mountains, the better."

The blonde haired boy then smirks "Then lets pick up the pace, shall we?" With that, he picks up in speed, with his two teachers following him.

Kakashi looks over at Naruto "So what exactly do you plan on saying to the Tsuchikage? He's not exactly a man who will listen to a teenager!"

Naruto looks over at his mask wearing sensei with a smile "I'll explain to him the hardships of living as a Jinchuuriki, and how starting a war isnt the way to settle life long grudges!"

The blonde then looks forward, a serious look building on his face "If he wants to take out his pent up aggression for my old man, then he can do it by fighing me one on one!"

He didnt see it, but he knew that his two sensei had looks of utter shock on their faces. Only Yamato was the first to speak up "A-Are you crazy, Naruto? This is a kage we're talking about here!"

Kakashi sighs "Usually I'm not one to question your ideas, Naruto.. But Yamato is right, fighting the Tsuchikage is suicide. Not only does he have the ability to fly, he also has the technique called Jinton: Genkai Hakuri no Jutsu."

The gray haired Jounin's eyes sharpened "It's his Kekkei tota.. An advanced form of Kekkei Genkai. With this technqie, he can trap you in a barrier of any size, the moment you're trapped, explosions will set off inside the barrier and will pulverize you until nothing is left but dust."

Naruto stared at his sensei in shock, then chuckles as he looks forward again "Hey.. The challenge just makes it more interesting."

Kakashi's eyes widen at his former student, then smiles slightly as he sighs "You're always full of surprises, Naruto."

In Konoha, Sakura sighs lowly as she walks back into the tent, she had taken a short nap, then looked at Shizune "I'm rested.. I'll take over."

Shizune looked at the young girl in surprise, then sighed, giving in to the kunoichi's request "Alright."

Sakura began looking after Tsunade, replacing the towel on her forehead with new ones, making sure her heart rate is stable, the works.

Her mind began to wander after awhile, constantly straying towards Naruto. She then shook her head "D-Dammit.. Can't get distracted."

"Sakura."

Said girl blinked as she saw Sai step into the tent, causing an eyebrow to raise on the girl's forehead. "Sai? What're you doing here?"

His eyes sharpen slightly "I need to talk to you.."

Sakura nodded slowly as she looked at Shizune "Could you..?"

The older woman smiled slightly "Of course."

With that, Sakura stepped out of the tent with Sai, looking at him in slight impatience "What is it?"

He knew that her temper would be much shorter now that she's dealing with exhaustion, but he had to tell her now "Why're you so concerned about Naruto-kun?"

This made the girl blink in surprise "Eh?"

Sai folded his arms "From what I was told by Ino-chan, you were never a huge fan of Naruto-kun. To the point where you treated him badly when you two were younger."

This made the girl's eyes widen in shock "I..Ino told you this?" Her fists began to tremble.

The pale skinned boy nodded "Hai, because I asked her. It's funny how you pretend to show that you care about him. That you hate Sasuke now."

This caused Sakura to slowly clench her teeth as her fists began to tighten. Her patience wearing thin.

Sai looked to the side, showing nothing but empty emotion on his face "If you truly cared about Naruto-kun, you wouldnt be driving him to bring back a guy who tried to kill him, and you several times now."

A vein buldged on Sakura's forehead as a red chakra began to slowly build around her.

Sai's eyes widened for a moment but quickly went back to normal.

'Stick to the plan.. If I just tell her now it wont do anything but confuse her.'

The pale skinned boy glared at her "As far as I'm concerned, you're no different than you were 3 years ago!"

Sakura threw her fist back "SHUT UP!" Sai closed his eyes, expecting to get hit. But nothing came.

He slowly opened his eyes to see that Sakura had stopped inches away from his face, causing his eyes to widen. He then heard sniffling.

He looked at her to see that tears were slowly running down her face "Do you think I dont know any of this..?"

Her hand drops as she looks down, tears running down her face "I've been trying to make up for everything I've done to him for so long.. In the end though.. You're right.. I'm no better than before!"

She then falls to her knees "I could've told him I dont like Sasuke anymore, but I didnt.. I could've told him that I want to be there for him.. But I didnt..!" She then begins to tremble "I could've.. Told him that I love him.."

She looks up at Sai, tears running down her face at a fast rate as her eyes were widened greatly "BUT I DIDNT! BECAUSE I'M AN ABSOLUTE BITCH!"

Shizune opened the tent curtain, alarmed from what was going on, before she could do anything though, she saw Sai, giving her a look that said to wait.

Sakura buried her face into her hands as she cried more, she then heard Sai sigh.

"I'm glad you said that."

Sakura blinked at this, but didnt look at him.

Sai then gave her a smile "Now that I know how you truly feel about him.. I can definitely say this.."

He then looks up, folding his arms "From everything that I've found out, I know without a doubt that Naruto is in love with you, Sakura."

Sakura's eyes widened slightly, but she didnt move, she stayed silent for a minute, before finally saying "H..How do you know that..."

Sai looked down at the girl "I figured you would say that.. I talked to Kiba earlier.. During his conversation with Naruto the other day, Naruto had said 'I understand what its like to love someone you've known for almost your entire life, and for her to love someone else."

He then smiles slightly "This is Naruto we're talking about.. Who else would he be talking about in this context."

Sakura's eyes widened even more as she looked up at the pale skinned boy.

Sai then looks to the side "He may still think that you like Sasuke-kun, but there is no doubt in my mind that he still loves you, Sakura.

Sakura felt her jaw quiver, as she looked down "He..."

She bit her lower lip as a small smile crept onto her face, tears still running from her eyes.

"He loves me..?"

HOLY FUCK SHE FOUND OUT! GAAASP! Bout fucking time..

So yeah, Sakura now knows that Naruto is in love with her.. PLOT!

OH before I forget, like I said at the top please go check out my profile update, and if you could, take the poll. Its for something that, if given enough yes votes, wont get started until after I finish Lonely fox.. Cause something tells me it'll be a long one.

PEACE!