(A/N):Ok people! I'm back, and with the little time I have, I want to give a special thanks to all of you readers who actually reviewed. It means a lot to me to here what my fans think, so I can make a better story for you all, and so that I can continue to rake in my dolla bills!...Just kidding!

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Ahem, now that this is done with, I want to get on with the show...err, story. Hope you like how I did it, considering that I had so few poll answers to work with! I was giving you a chance to shape the story ppl!

Ch. 24 First Encounter

"Kakashi-sensei!"

This...shouldn't have happened. He was just there, right? What kind of monster...does such a thing? The answer came in the form of a chuckle from the black clad pair in front of them,"Heh, one down...5 to go."

Five? Wait, that wasn't right...

A glance around revealed that there was indeed only five people present to fight; Sasuke stood at the ready at the front, Shino was as stoic as ever off to the right, a brief look behind showed Sakura and Tazuna as still as a pair of statues...though a closer inspection showed the pinkette already on guard with her hand on her sword's hilt. Just where in the hell was everybody else? Were they killed as well? No, no way. With two jounin and a special chunin backing them up? That's impossible!

But, what other thoughts could one have when there was nobody else present to help them?

"Kiba! Focus, we have an enemy incoming!"

Snapping eyes forward, true enough there were the two..murderers from before, charging headfirst into the group. Shock quickly gave way to rage, and from there it morphed into bloodlust. 'Kill my comrades, will they? Then, I'll rip them limb from fucking limb!'

A feral growl lurched from his throat as he drew a kunai and hurled it, hoping to will his wrath forward to hit a vital point. It missed as the shinobi ducked under it, but he paid for it, as Sasuke's foot connected with his chin. A hiss brought his attention to Shino, who had launched a duo of kunai and shuriken, both of which impacted with the chain in between the two assailants. It caught, and further extended the razor sharp metal until it halted in the base of a tree.

"Ikinasai, Kiba."

Charging forward, the Inuzuka snarled viciously as he pulled out a pill and slung it towards his partner. The pup caught it mid-flight, and in a burst of chakra turned into another Kiba; wordlessly, the duo began to spin, in synch and catapult into the two ninja who were being occupied by Sasuke. "Gatsuga!"

The raven-haired youth, crouching on the gauntlets of the enemy, smirked as he mule kicked them in the face and leapt out of the way of the coming attack. Though, so did the two nin, as they detached their chain to evade. This however proved to be a mistake, as a set of basketball-sized fireballs almost hit them as they moved. Evading the jutsu, they landed off-balance, but that was all that was needed before their worlds suddenly went black..

"Well, this is a surprise. You all did really well, I'm proud of you."

"N-nani? I thought you were dead?"

There before them, holding their opponents in a headlock, was the once-dead Kakashi. The man eye-smiled at them before speaking,"Me? No, I just wanted to check something before, and I wouldn't have seen it if I was busy fighting them. Though, I'm curious, what was the rest of you alls' reasons for leaving them?"

As one, the rest of those 'missing' appeared from their hiding spots as Naruto spoke up,"I saw no reason to fight two shinobi that Sakura could've beat in her sleep. Besides, the guys dealt with them pretty easily."

Kurenai fading into view from thin air spoke right after saying,"My reasoning was the same as Kakashi's, though this was a test for my own genin just as much as his. I must say, I'm impressed that you all handled yourselves so well on your first real mission. However, Tazuna-san, we are going to have words later." The steel in her tone sent a shiver down the males' backs as it gave no room for lenience, and promised quite a bit of pain.

Hinata and Mei walked out from opposite sides of the forest, giving basically the same reason as the blonde before them had, and again giving accolades to the genin squad. All the while, the squad basked in their limelight for what they were worth. This ended though, when Kiba walked up to the one-eyed scarecrow, and decked him clean across the jaw. Breathing heavy, he responded,"Don't. Ever. Do that. Again." The gang was stunned by the bestial boy's actions, but to add onto that Kakashi merely nodded and said,"I won't, but right now we need to handle that wound, otherwise you're going to die from being poisoned."

Looking down at his side, the Inuzuka cursed,"Kuso. That's what this was? It must've been laced on the chain they were using. How are we gonna do this?"

Kakashi merely shrugged,"I believe Kurenai can handle this a bit better than I can, I've got to have a little chat with our two friends here for a moment, but don't worry..I'll be back as soon as I'm finished." With that, he vanished from the group, with the enemy shinobi in tow. All eyes turned to Kurenai as the woman coughed to draw attention,"Well, first things first, Kiba you have to take your shirt off so I can properly remove the poison and dress the wound. Naruto, Mei, and Hinata I need you all to make a perimeter until Kakashi comes back...and even then be on guard, with shinobi out here we can't be sure if it'll really be him or another attempted strike. Shino, Sasuke, and Sakura continue to safeguard Tazuna, and err on the side of caution."

As everyone began to perform their respective actions, Naruto called for a halt as he looked down the road behind them,"Hinata, Mei. Where's Sasuke?"

Both girls flanked him almost immediately as Mei spoke,"He's just up and dissappeared, and for the record, I vote to beat Sasuke to an inch of his life...and hang him by his balls from the nose of the 3rd hokage." When both turned to look at her she replied,"What? The little snot has always caused problems for you two, I figured you might enjoy a bit of payback."

Shaking her head, Hinata interjected,"Hmm, no, it'd be easier if we tied him up bukkake style and then gagged him...he'd be less likely to move or use jutsu to escape."

"Even if, that would be a great idea, I'm not trying to cause waves anytime soon...yet. I have enough problems of my own as it is," sighed the blonde as he too shook his head. "I'll go get the prick, you guys let Kurenai know what's going on."

That said, he leaped into the treeline and vanished from sight as Mei turned towards the red-eyed jounin. "Kurenai-sensei, we have a problem."

Sasuke shot through the forest canopy in a blur of speed, his mind focused on one thing,'Where did Kakashi go with those two nin?'

So lost was he in his own thoughts, that he failed to notice the shadow advancing upon his back until it was too late.

Kakashi returned to his group in a puff of smoke and a small wave,"Yo!" However, he was slightly confused at absence of reply, but in scanning his surroundings he noticed something...something very, very wrong.

"Guys, where are Naruto and Sasuke?"

Kurenai walked up to the masked jounin with a sense of apprehension as she answered,"Naruto-san is out looking for Sasuke. He's searching with his clones and will be back shortly."

"Che. What happened?"

Mei spoke then,"We don't know, one second Kurenai's giving orders, and the next thing we know Sasuke was up a moving in the direction we thought you had gone. Maybe he was following you, or rather, trying to."

A sigh emanated from the silver-haired ninja as he pulled a scroll from his vest, bit his thumb, and smeared a thin line onto it after unraveling the scroll. A pop and small explosion later found the group faced with a package of sorts, but he didn't stop there as he flipped through handsigns once more before slamming his hands on the ground with a call of his technique.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu."

A pack of dogs encompassed the scarecrow as he informed them of what he needed, and as soon as he finished he gave them the package for a few seconds, and then they were off. Before anyone could ask for an explanation, Kurenai said,"What you just saw, was a shinobi summoning. It is a very ancient and powerful technique that not a lot of ninja are capable of using."

Kiba, holding his side a bit, voiced his question. "Why not? I didn't see anything so special about what he did."

"The reason is because it requires a contract between shinobi and summoned creature, and even if one gained a contract, you then have to have the chakra necessary to power the jutsu. It calls your summon to you from an alternate dimension, and the stronger the summon, the higher the jutsu's chakra requirement. Most average ninja just don't have it their reserves to use such a costly technique, but it is that aspect that speaks for the strength and skill of the shinobi."

Rubbing his head, Kiba grunted,"So, what, it's supposed to make you a better ninja? If that's the case, I'm gonna stick to what I know, right Akamaru?" A yip was his answer as the puppy came to stand at his master's (Or pet's, depending on who you ask) feet.

Mei's laughter brought the attention to her as she held herself and bent over, and with a small irritated growl, Kiba probed. "Oi, what's so funny?"

"Uhah, it's that...you say that, and it's pretty much how Naru, me, and Hinata ended up as strong as we are! Ahahaha!"

Wide-eyed stares followed that statement as everyone continue to watch Mei in her laughing fit. Though, the silence was soon broken by a yell of pure anger,"Baka! Why would you go off telling how it is we gained our strength?"

The switch happened immediately. Mei had stopped laughing, and was directly in Hinata's face, with her voice quiet as the grave. "Simple. Because in order for them to to get anywhere near mine, they are going to have to take it, and no one is going to lay a finger on it as long as I breathe. What about you Hinata? I know for a fact that Naruto shares my sentiments."

A slight stutter came from the girl before her rebuttle,"H-how came you even claim that? You don't know Naruto! You just came here and now your trying to speak as though you've been around him his entire life, in which case, I have!"

A short chuckle came from the mahogany-haired kunoichi as she nodded,"So that's what this was about. You staking your claim...Well, pardon me then Hime, but you're gonna have a lot more competition to deal with as time goes on. Naru-kun is quite cute after all."

Another stuttering fit hit before she could reply,"T-t-that's not it! I wasn't st-t-taking a claim, I was merely saying that-"

"Now, now Hime-chan. No need to get all worked up, if you want him, you're gonna have to fight for him is all I'm saying."

The girl was flustered a near neon red before she screamed at the other girl,"U-urusai! Baka no Mei!"

Kurenai, having enough, curtly yelled,"Girls! Cut it out. I will not have you two fighting like academy fangirls here when we're on a mission, I expect better of you than that."

Twin calls of,"Hai!" rang as they settled into positions near the jounin's sides. She turned to the old bridge builder, and could see the man's nervousness increasing as time went on, and with a frustrated breath got up and walked over.

"Tazuna-san. We need to have that talk now."

The man jumped slightly at being called, yet his ire never left as he saw who it was that called him. With a swig from his flask, the elder gathered his composure enough to speak in his usual tone,"Yeah, so what's on your mind?"

Without missing a beat, the woman retorted,"Why have you been lying to us? This mission is above the average C-rank by quite a bit with the involvement of shinobi, and it's too much for a genin team to handle normally on their own."

Tazuna was stunned, he'd been figured out. Shoulders slumped, the man began to tell his real story as he went back into how Gato drained all Wave resources and that the C-rank pay was all that he could afford. He would've continued into a guilt trip had it not been for Sakura's intervention,"Ya know, for a rude old man, that's pretty admirable... I'm sure Naruto-sensei will agree, and if that's the case, you'll still have your protection. Once the guys get back with Sasuke, we'll have to be moving on, since we kinda have a limited window to get to my family's medical transport. Good luck with your bridge though."

He sighed and took another gulp of his sake,"I'm getting to old for this..."

Darkness, that is what Sasuke's eyes were met with when they first opened. No matter where he looked, it was the same empty blackness that pervaded his vision. "Ah! He's awake!"

"Good. Take the hood off."

Almost immediately, shadow turned into blinding brightness as his vision was restored. It stung his eyes, forcing them closed, where was he?

"Well, tell us your name."

"Who are you guys? Where am I?"

Adjusting to the light, he slowly allowed himself to look around, he was still in the forest apparently. It turns out that they were merely in a break in the treeline and it was full of even grass, open space, and sunlight as it was right over them. Bringing his head up, he met face to face with a tuft of reddish-gold hair, and following that was a snow white porcelain mask in the form of a fox, and inside its eye slits were a pair of blazing emerald eyes. Sasuke was a bit taken back by the fierceness of her gaze, even if she wasn't being hostile towards him, he shivered a bit at the thought of her actually getting upset though."Tell. Us. Your. Name."

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Well, Uchiha-san. We are representatives for the Mishima Corporation, it is our duty to deal with...certain targets of interest, and in this instance we need your assistance."

Scoffing, the Uchiha responded,"So basically, your glorified assassins. What do you want from me?"

He flinched ever so slightly at the blade that appeared at his throat, when he heard a voice in his ear,"I wouldn't speak so lightly if I were you...boy. Regardless of pleasantries, we are still killers, and I for one have no qualms with ending a stuck-up gaki like you."

Swallowing a dry gulp of air, the young genin merely "Hn'd". Once the blade was removed, the other person present decided to speak,"You are going to tell what you know of one Mibu Sakura. She is a kunoichi of Konoha, is she not?"

Mibu? There was no such clan in Konoha, nor was there any in the academy. Sakura? Wait, they don't mean that Sakura?

"There's no such person as Mibu Sakura, but the only one I really know is Haruno Sakura, my old classmate. What do you want her for?"

The two were silent for a moment before the voice from before replied,"That is classified. We are here to send a message, no more nor less. Kuni, knock him out, we've got enemy inbound."

Before the raven-haired teen could utter a sound, he was forced from the world of consciousness once more.

Ch. End

(A/N): So, how ya like the story so far? Was this chapter alright? Leave reviews please! If not, I won't be able to pay Amaterasu-sama... She's scary when you owe her homage, REALLY scary.