CHAPTER 37

"Team Kakashi." Danzo's deep voice echoed in his huge underground office. "I've summoned you because you've been assigned a mission."

Sakura nodded along with her team as she hoped that whatever mission they were getting would allow them to get out of the village. It had been almost 3 months since they rescued Gaara and she hadn't gotten the chance to leave and get something done regarding the Akatsuki.

"You are to escort a group of people from one particular destination to another." Danzo explained. "The details are inside the mission scroll, which will be handed to Hatake as the team leader. There is one thing that I want to make clear. You are not to engage in any kind of exchange of conversation with them. Your only task is to make sure that they get to their destination unharmed, as requested. Nothing more, nothing less. Is that clear?"

"Hai." All the shinobi answered together.

"Hatake." Danzo called and Kakashi stepped forward, his posture firm as expected. The Fifth motioned to the scroll on his desk, which Kakashi politely retrieved and then stepped back. "This is a B-ranked mission. I don't think I need to explain where the difficulties lay. You are to leave immediately and come back as soon as it's complete."

"Hai!"

"Dismissed." The older man waved them away and the three stepped out of the office together.

Sakura allowed her shoulders to relax as soon as they were in the hallway. She honestly didn't know how Sasuke managed to keep his cool around Danzo, because not even Kakashi seemed to be able to completely pull that off. She knew that Danzo was Sasuke's teacher, but she honestly couldn't imagine herself ever acting that nonchalant in front of that man. Then again, Sasuke was not the kind of person to act submissively and he was pretty daring too. In fact, taking into account that this was Sasuke, it was a wonder that he didn't act rudely towards Danzo. He had never shown much respect towards authorities before; not Hiruzen, not Tsunade, not even Orochimaru.

They got to the gates in half an hour and they sat down in a circle inside a small office that was at the guarding post. Kakashi unrolled the scroll and looked at the intel silently as Sasuke and Sakura waited for him. Five minutes later, he had taken a look at everything with his sharingan – in order to remember every detail – and rerolled the scroll.

"This doesn't seem particularly difficult." He explained. "It's a group of twenty people – nine women and eleven men – who need to get them from a small village to a ship. That ship will take them to their destination afterwards. As soon as they're inside the ship, the mission will be complete and we will start traveling back. According to the files, there might be an attempt to escape from them, so I think we can assume that they're either criminals or prisoners. Given the amount of people and the rank of the mission, I think they're merely civilian thugs. An uprising might happen at some point, so it's wise to keep a strong façade and keep your distance from them."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, no words were needed from his part. As soon as Kakashi was done in putting the scroll away, they all took their previously packed travelling bags and left the village. Sakura had nodded quietly at Kakashi's words too, but a part of her was reluctant. She knew that prisoners were difficult to handle, but she couldn't refrain from feeling bad about the approach that they were supposed to take.

Sasuke had been a criminal once too and, even though he hadn't really killed innocent civilians or stolen from anyone, he had been regarded as an international S-class criminal. He had made wrong choices, but she couldn't imagine him as a heartless evil person. He had just been alone, hurt, and mislead. What about the people they were about to escort? Sakura knew that they needed to get to their destination and she needed to do as she was told, but she didn't feel comfortable with treating them like… scum.

Maybe Sasuke was right. She was too soft for their profession.

They ran from tree to tree for over twelve hours, only stopping to eat twice and taking a couple short breaks from their fast pace. They finally decided to stop overnight at a regular clearing in the forest. Sakura noticed with disdain that the night was particularly cold, and inwardly cursed her bad tolerance to it. Then again, that kind of weather was to be expected since they were nearing the Land of Snow. She and Kakashi decided to set up camp and Sasuke announced he would gather some firewood. When Sasuke was well out of hearing range, Kakashi walked closer to Sakura.

"You know this is the first shot we've had in months." His voice was almost a whisper, but Sakura heard him nonetheless.

"I know." She nodded. "I have a feeling that Itachi will try to contact me during this mission."

"I hope so. What are we going to do about Sasuke?"

"We will have to find a way to when the time comes. It all depends on the situation."

Kakashi looked at her for another moment, a frown on his face. He didn't like risking so much around Sasuke, because things could get out of hand and he wasn't sure that they would be able to control the situation properly. But there was nothing to be done, because Sasuke was an inherently suspicious and cautious person and would notice if they tried to shake him off for too long. Kakashi finally sighed and nodded, knowing that they didn't have much of a choice.

Sasuke soon arrived and quickly lit up a fire. They sat around it and put out a portion of food to heat up. Sasuke looked at Kakashi briefly before looking back at the fire and speaking up.

"So, the Land of Snow?"

"Yeah." Kakashi nodded, steam coming out as he spoke due to the coldness of the night. "The village is just at the border, so we won't have to travel in the cold weather for long. We will pick up the prisoners there and take them to the port, which is only a half a day away."

"I hope we don't have any trouble. I don't like hurting civilians." Sakura frowned.

"They're prisoners, Sakura." Sasuke noted.

"I know." She sighed. "It just seems like something shinobi shouldn't do. Our duty should be to protect our village from other shinobi threats. Not… escorting civilian prisoners."

"I understand what you mean." Kakashi nodded. "That should be the duty of the local police, but apparently, they are unable to handle this particular situation for some reason. So they decided to hire Konoha shinobi for the job."

"Sakura, you also have to remember that shinobi don't only protect their homes. They also complete missions in order to make an income for their village, and those missions might not always have to do with protecting their nation."

"I know." Sakura sighed and decided to drop the subject. She had known what she was signing up for when she decided to become a shinobi. Or at least she thought she did.

She would've expected the villages to invest time in fighting the Akatsuki – which would've helped her find Obito – instead of some petty missions for clients. Also, the fact that she was doing a mission that had nothing to do with that organization, would make it harder to find an excuse for Itachi's presence if Sasuke were to find out about him.

After finishing their dinner, Kakashi announced that he would be taking the first watch. Sakura and Sasuke entered the tent, which was for only two people since one of them was always expected to keep watch. Sakura quietly entered her sleeping bag and looked around a bit apprehensively, noting that they would be forced to sleep next to each other. She had never shared a tent with Sasuke in this time-line since they'd never traveled to such a cold country before. Sakura looked up and noticed that Sasuke was looking into her eyes with a blank face. She felt a blush creep into her face at the thought that he had figured out what she was thinking. The next second, Sasuke smirked a bit.

"What?" Sakura asked, flustered.

"Why are you blushing?" his question was only meant to unsettle her further. His eyes glinted mischievously and the smirk remained on his lips.

"I just felt warmer here, that's all." Sakura frowned, trying to keep her reactions at bay. She didn't want Sasuke to know the effect he had on her. At least not yet.

"Warmer?" he chuckled. "In this weather?"

"Well. Yes. I'm not a freezing old lady, unlike you." Sakura huffed.

"Oh, of course."

"Tch." Sakura averted her eyes.

"Hey." Sasuke's suddenly soft voice startled her and she looked back at him. A small smile – a honest smile – appeared on his face and his eyes locked with hers. "I won't do anything. You should know that by now."

"I know." Sakura smiled.She didn't know if she was supposed to be grateful for his respect of her privacy or disappointed because of his lack of interest.

"Good. Now, sleep."

Sasuke turned around so that she was facing his back and dropped down to the floor. Sakura sighed, knowing that she also needed to get to sleep soon and laid down next to him. The coldness of the night contrasted heavily with the warmth that radiated from Sasuke's body. Sakura wanted to relish that feeling, but after travelling at such a fast pace she felt the heaviness on her eyelids. Not five minutes later, she was sleeping like a rock.

However, sleeping in the cold was never a good thing. And so, Sakura woke up not one hour later with numbed fingers and toes. It was so cold, that the skin she couldn't completely cover with her sleeping bag hurt as if she was being stuck by tiny needles. Sakura forced her stiff body to move and even groaned at the effort. The sleepiness was still heavy on her eyes, but she needed to take care of that goddamn cold in order to keep on sleeping. She groggily got to a sitting position and started rubbing her hands on her arms and feet. One minute later, she was just as cold as before.

"Damn." She quietly cursed.

"What wrong?" Sasuke's slightly raspy voice spoke up and she jumped in surprise.

"It's just… too cold. I feel like-"

"An old lady."

"-an ice cube." Sakura finished and raised an eyebrow at his remark.

Sasuke clearly hadn't forgotten her previous comment on him being an old lady. He made a small noise that sounded like a chuckle and then started opening his sleeping bag silently. Sakura watched him with curiosity, wondering what he was doing, until he started opening her own.

"What?"

"Would you rather be cold?" he asked without meeting her eyes, as he was preoccupied with the zipper on her sleeping bag.

Sakura didn't say anything and instead looked away from him. A deep blush covered her cheeks and she felt like she was going to shout out in glee. She had dreamed of such a thing for so long. She had always wanted some kind of close contact with Sasuke, but she had honestly never expected that to happened. She couldn't believe he was attempting to-

"Sakura."

"Oh." Sakura quickly laid back down beside him and felt his arms wrap around her.

-Cuddle.

One of his arms passed under her neck and bent in order to cover her upper chest and shoulder. His other arm went over her side and arm, hugging her closer to him. He had pulled both sleeping bags closer together and rearranged them so that they acted as one.

Sakura felt her sleepiness leave her at once when she felt Sasuke's breath on the back of her neck. It sent shivers down her spine and made her stomach flutter in anticipation. Sasuke's body was almost pressed against her own and her mind couldn't help but intently focus on it. They were so close that she could faintly smell his scent; like firewood, steel, and his own indescribable aroma.

Sakura would've been a bit afraid of doing such a thing, but seeing as she was truly cold and Sasuke had taken the first step towards physical contact, she snuggled closer to him until the back of her body was pressed against his front. Sasuke tensed for a moment at her movement and she feared that he was going to pull away, but instead he hugged her even closer. His face almost buried into her neck and Sakura had to forcefully keep the tingling feelings at bay.

Her hand moved coincidentally softy brushing his own, and it felt only barely warmer than hers. It was only then that Sakura noticed Sasuke was cold too – not as cold as she was but still too cold to sleep. She chuckled softly and covered his exposed hand with the sleeping bag.

"Who would've known?" She smiled. "You're just as much of an old lady."

"Not as bad as you though." He answered into the back of her neck. The action sent shivers down her spine and she unconsciously trembled. It was barely noticeable and Sakura prayed that he wouldn't notice or assume it was the cold. She wasn't going to let him wonder about that though.

"Well we better get some sleep now."

"Hn."

If he noticed anything, he didn't voice it. Sakura was partly glad that he wasn't saying anything. But at the same time she wanted to know what he was thinking or to look at his face. Despite that, she didn't turn around, because she had the suspicion that her cheeks were still flushed. After a couple of minutes, the anxiousness left Sakura and she allowed herself to relax next to Sasuke.

Sakura was woken up several hours later by Sasuke, who was looking quite tired and cold after his mid shift – she couldn't help but think that it was always the worst one. She sat up trying not to wake Kakashi and went outside, immediately noticing the sharp cold that contrasted with the temperature inside the tent. Sakura shivered at the feeling of the cold against her skin and then took seat next to the barely burning coals of the previous fire. On second thought, maybe sleeping in two shifts wasn't as bad a staying up through the coldest hours of the night.

However bad the cold was, Sakura's spirit couldn't be put down. The fact that Sasuke had hugged her close while sleeping – snuggled with her – of his own accord was something she'd never thought would happen. First of all, it had given her hope that Sasuke's feelings were indeed not platonic. Sasuke would've never done such a thing to someone he just considered a friend – at least according to her. The thought of it made her smile in glee like a thirteen year old girl. Secondly, lying next to Sasuke – hugging or not – had helped her have a really restful sleep.

For months, Sakura had had a bit of a hard time falling asleep. Her troubles would constantly replay in her head. Every night she would think about what she was doing while working for Kabuto. His twisted smile played in her mind even though she had barely seen him ever since their encounter a couple months ago. Every night she would see the faces of the children she was healing from the diseases they had gotten from being in that damned hospital in the first place. Every night she felt that she was even guiltier than Kabuto, given that she knew and felt how wrong it all was. Sometimes she would feel like walking out of her house and spilling everything, only to finally cry herself to sleep. Her nights were usually accompanied by a constant feeling of numb anxiety.

However, she hadn't thought about any of it that night. She'd sleep peacefully instead. She hadn't woken up so refreshed in a long time, despite having only slept for six hours. Now she didn't only feel more recovered from her constant lack of a good night's sleep, but she also felt less stressed about everything that she had to do.

In all honestly, Sakura hoped that the mission would never end and that she would get to have that kind of contact with Sasuke every day. She knew that, sadly, it would come to an end all too soon.

-x-

Team Kakashi arrived in the small village in the afternoon of the next day. It was truly small – 2,000 inhabitants at most – and it seemed like a peaceful place. The main income of the village was, apparently, small scale agriculture. Sakura wondered for a moment why such a small town would deliver so many criminals at one time; 20 of them was equivalent to 1% of their population.

Sakura noticed that everyone in the village was looking at them with apprehension and fear from inside their homes. Sakura wanted to tell them that shinobi – Konoha shinobi – were not there to hurt them. That they weren't just mercenaries sent to destroy their lives. But she remembered the woman that she'd met during her past life, who had held deep distrust of shinobi. She hadn't been able to change her mind within days of time spent together, so she most probably wouldn't be able to do that with only a couple of sentences now.

The three of them walked into the central square – which looked almost like a backyard due to its tiny size – and found the people they were looking for. The twenty criminals were lined up and handcuffed on one side of the square, while on the other side were six civilians dressed in quite fancy clothes. It seemed to her that they were the leaders of the village, which appeared to be right because Kakashi approached one of them immediately.

"Ah. You're right on time." The man spoke loudly.

"Yes. We take our jobs very seriously." Kakashi nodded once.

"Good. I can trust you'll complete the task without a doubt then." He nodded and motioned to the handcuffed people. "This is the group that you are to escort to the port."

"All right." Kakashi nodded once again.

"I would've invited you to stay the night, but they have to be there tomorrow morning."

"We understand. It's not an issue." The silver haired jonin spoke clearly. "Is there a particularly difficult case we need to look out for? Or something that we should be wary of?"

"Not particularly." the apparent leader shrugged. "They behave properly, I believe."

"That's good to hear. We'll be setting out immediately then."

Sakura followed her team closely as they took a quick glance at the group. She couldn't help but notice that the supposed "criminals" looked… scrawny. They didn't seem like a threat at all. But then again, many criminals didn't need to be physically capable to commit crimes.

They immediately began their journey towards the port. Kakashi walked at the front, given that he had a better understanding of the terrain due to his experience. Sakura walked in the middle of the group, since she had more rough strength and knowledge on people's pressure points which could easily paralyze even a grown man. Sasuke walked at the back, since his sharingan didn't consume a lot of chakra quickly and he could watch the group more thoroughly.

They travelled slowly, since the civilian group they were escorting needed to take breaks every now and then. During one of those breaks, Sakura decided to approach a middle-aged man that seemed more tired than the rest and her medic eye immediately noticed that he was suffering from a disease. She knew they were criminals and her team was only supposed to deliver them safely to the port, but she couldn't shake her medic instincts. She stopped in front of his sitting form and kneeled down to face him. The man didn't meet her eyes and instead looked at the ground in a submissive way. Sakura felt uncomfortable with that, since it made her feel like she was the criminal and he was the victim. She decided to simply voice her thoughts.

"You're sick."

"Yeah…" he spoke quietly.

"I'm a medic. I can take a look." She announced and he shrugged. Sakura took it as a signal of him not minding and she used her chakra to check his systems. After a couple seconds she frowned. "As I feared given the tone of your skin and eyes, you have a liver disease. It's pretty advanced by now and it's ruining the health of all of your other organs and body functions."

"That's good to hear." The man forced a smile, but his expression seemed to not really care at all about his state of health. He had even seemed genuinely glad that his overall health was bad.

Sakura wondered why he would disregard such a serious condition. He didn't seem to be the kind of criminal who would get a death sentence or a lifetime sentence in prison. Why would he give up on life so soon? Sakura imagined that he was affected by the fact that he was being imprisoned and was feeling too depressed to care at the moment.

"I can heal you." She offered.

"Tch. There's no use." His eyes darkened as he said that. Sakura was about to ask why he would say such a thing, when Kakashi approached them.

"If you're sick while travelling it will hinder the movement of the whole group." He said in a commanding tone. Kakashi was serious and strict when it came to missions, despite his intrinsic aloof attitude. "She will heal you."

Sakura looked at Kakashi, who shared a glance with her. She promptly understood that he was quietly telling her not to engage in conversation as they had been instructed. Given how regular the group of civilians looked, Sakura imagined that they had committed blackmail or fraud. That would mean that their weapons were not strength, but manipulation and extortion. It made sense that they had been told not to talk to the group of prisoners.

She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded at the jonin and immediately put her glowing hands on the man's lower abdomen. It took her five minutes to reverse most of the damage, but she couldn't completely heal him. After all, healing such a disease needed many sessions so that the body could do its part to heal too. Despite that, she did enough so that the man would get many years of health until his state reversed back to what it was at the moment. As soon as they got the group to the port, Sakura would make sure to tell the captain about that issue so that he notified the prison.

"There you go." She told him and attempted a smile.

The man looked at her with a frown, as if he didn't understand why she was making such an effort. Sakura wanted to ask – she really had a hard time following instructions that forced her emotions to shut down – but she didn't want Kakashi to reprimand her again. After all, those people would be going to prison no matter what she did. They probably deserved that too. She stood up, dusted her thick ninja pants and walked back to the group as they resumed their journey.

Four hours after departing from the small village, sunset started to near and they set up camp. However this time around, team seven wouldn't be allowed to sleep inside a tent because they needed to be ready for any attempts of escape. Therefore they needed to keep the fire going all night long to fight off the cold, not just for their own sakes but also for the prisoners. Each of the prisoners had been carrying a small bag that contained water for their travel, some bread to last the journey and a blanket. As the group of prisoners quietly took out their stuff, Kakashi turned to look at the rest of his team.

"Sakura, I'm putting you in charge of gathering enough firewood to last the night." Kakashi announced. His eye met her own and she immediately understood that he was giving her a chance to meet with Itachi.

"No pro-"

"I don't agree with this." Sasuke interjected with a frown. "You know what happened last time."

"We were on a mission that involved the Akatsuki at the time." Kakashi explained, at the same time keeping close watch of the group. "This time there is no reason to fear such an encounter."

"I still don't understand why you would put her at risk." Sasuke kept his expression unwavering.

"Why shouldn't she go? She's as strong as any of us." The silverette answered.

"Sakura is our medic. She should be kept away from risk."

"She's also the one with the most strength. She will be more capable of bringing the firewood we need quickly, which will shorten the time there's only two of us keeping watch."

"I still think it's not a wise decision. I could go find the firewood. Or you could. Sakura would be useful here if something happens."

"There is a bigger chance that something will happen with only two of us, Sasuke." Kakashi said, now with an edge on his voice. He was losing his patience. "Don't you think it'll be safer is she goes out to find firewood?"

"You're wrong. If-"

"Sasuke." Kakashi's voice was steel hard. He noticed how the group of prisoners was staring at their argument quietly. He was not going to lose control of the situation in front of them. He was also not going to miss the chance of allowing Sakura to talk with Itachi. "I was appointed as leader of the mission. The decision is final."

Sasuke clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth. He was never one to allow anyone to shut him up like that. He didn't understand Kakashi's stubbornness in sending Sakura out alone, even if for a short while. It was common sense that the medic nin was always to be kept safe. It also made him worry. What if something happened to her while she was away? He was honestly more concerned of rogues than of the handful of scrawny civilians they were escorting. In the end, he knew he couldn't defy the authority of his superior during a mission, especially when he was making the team look divided in front of the group of prisoners.

"All right." He still showed his disagreement in the tone of his voice and the way his eyes narrowed at Kakashi. He turned to look at Sakura and frowned.

"I'll be fine, Sasuke." She reassured him, slightly touched by his worry. "I'll be back before you know it."

"You better." His voice wasn't threatening, instead had a hint of worry in it. If Sakura didn't do as she said, he would feel compelled to leave Kakashi alone to look after the group and go find Sakura on his own.

Sakura nodded at both her teammates and turned around. She walked into the woods quickly, trying to steady her heartbeat. She wasn't as afraid to meet with Itachi this time around – if he showed up – because she was aware that he was on her side. What worried her was the fact the she needed to get back to her team soon before Sasuke decided she'd taken too long and went to find her. If he saw her and Itachi together once again, he wouldn't let it slide as he had the last time. He would get suspicious and he wouldn't let her walk away without a proper answer.

Sakura walked into the forest for five minutes as she gathered firewood as she was expected to. However, as she did, her senses were on high alert and she was thoroughly allowing her sharpened instincts to survey her surroundings. She was just starting to worry that Itachi wouldn't show up when she noticed the faintest shift in the atmosphere. Her heart jumped as she checked for a third presence nearby. She only turned around and spoke when she was sure they were alone.

"Itachi."

"Sakura." The older Uchiha greeted her.

"Help me gather some firewood as we speak. I can't take too long; Sasuke came along." Itachi nodded once and then walked next to her as they gathered the required wood. "I've been really worried… I haven't been able to leave Konoha until now. Is there any news on the Akatsuki?"

"Yes. There is good and bad news."

"Ok… bad news first."

"I spent a couple months trying to find Zestu. When I finally found him he was alone, so I assumed it was the best opportunity I would get. However… there was something I didn't expect. Zetsu is too strong. Actually, I don't even think he's human."

"What?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"None of my attacks or genjutsu harmed him. I used my last resort to escape… at least I managed to analyze him for a while. He's almost like a bijuu." When Sakura paled, he lifted his hand. "Not as strong as one, but definitely stronger than any other Akatsuki member – maybe only Tobi is at his level. But I'm comparing him to a bijuu because, when I fought him, his levels of chakra proved to be incredibly high. Just imagine the Kyuubi's chakra inside him. So, it's quite a task to kill him."

"That's… weird. I've never heard of something like that."

"I didn't see any signs of that in your memories." Itachi pointed out.

"There wasn't. I just… the Juubi went out of control and then everything went to hell. I don't know if Zetsu survivied… I also didn't see him around the battle."

"Well, we know he has an inter-dimensional ability. He must've gotten out of there as soon as he realized what was going to happen."

"Probably." Sakura bit her lip as she picked up more firewood. "So… we're stuck now."

"With Zetsu, yes we are. I can't be the one to confront him anymore, because as soon as he senses me he will teleport somewhere else." Itachi closed his eyes in a calm way. "However, I decided to hinder the Akatsuki in a different way. I had to stop to recover for a month after meeting with him, but I then started looking for other Akatsuki members."

"Have you managed to kill any yet?" Sakura felt a spark of hope in her.

"Yes. I just defeated one; Hidan. I can't risk fighting two members at once, because the risk would be too big. I have to wait until they're on their own and that happens only seldom."

"Of course, you have to be careful." Sakura agreed with his decision. "But… Zetsu worries me. If he's as strong as you say… what is he planning? Why isn't he running the Akatsuki? Why is he working from the shadows? The worst is that we can't defeat him."

"Well… there is a chance. As I told you, the only one who might be able to kill him is Obito. We need to have him on our side in order to have a chance."

"But I don't think that's enough… how can you kill someone with that much chakra?"

"That's the other part." Itachi explained. "You are a poison expert, aren't you?"

"Wait, I see where you're going." Sakura stopped walking for a second and held her chin in thought. "I have already developed a poison that affects the circulation of chakra in the body. But I don't think that it's strong enough to stop such a great amount of chakra. Maybe… if I tried to refine it… and if I use medical chakra in addition to that. Maybe we could stop him. "

"That's good to hear. I'll leave that in your hands, is that all right?" Itachi smiled and Sakura nodded. He immediately looked ahead and started picking firewood once again. "How has everything been in Konoha?"

"Oh. Bad." Sakura sighed. Itachi turned his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow as she picked another branch up. "It's been… hard. Kabuto managed to come back in time too, and he's head medic of the hospital now. And my direct boss. Yay."

"That sounds complicated. Do you know what he's planning?" Itachi asked.

"I have an idea, but I can't be sure because most rooms are on lockdown and I can't risk him finding out that I'm disobeying him." Sakura sighed. "When I confronted him about the horrible things he was doing in a secret lab inside the hospital –what he was making me do – he threatened to inform Danzo of my time travel. Of Sasuke's crimes in his past life."

"Has Kabuto threatened your life in any way, Sakura?" Itachi looked at her dead serious.

"Not really. He just wants me to comply and do my work. For now."

"I'm sorry about what you're going through." Itachi closed his eyes softly. "What do you think he's planning?"

"I believe he's trying to find a way to intervene with human genes. Though I still don't know what exactly he's trying to achieve."

"That sounds dangerous. We can't let Kabuto do such a thing and become even more powerful." Itachi frowned. "Let me tell you what. While you're inside Konoha, try to find a way to deal with Danzo and Kabuto without much risk. Also, try to develop the chakra poison we talked about. Whenever you have a chance of leaving Konoha, I'll try to contact you if possible. On the other hand, I'll try to deal with the Akatsuki for now and I'll contact you as soon as Obito is reachable."

"Sounds good. I'll talk to Kakashi about this."

Itachi nodded now and then handed the firewood he'd gathered to Sakura. "You should go back now. It's been too long and Sasuke should be wondering why you aren't back yet."

"I know." She agreed. "I hope to see you soon. Take care."

Sakura locked eyes with Itachi for one last second and immediately headed back to camp at a quite fast pace. As she neared it, she felt her heartbeat slow down as she'd been afraid that someone would see her with Itachi – more specifically Sasuke. Now that they had parted ways, she felt some of the stress finally leave her. As soon as she walked into the clearing, Sasuke walked towards her with a slight frown.

"Why did you take so long?" he questioned.

"I was gathering firewood…" Sakura said simply with a smile.

"I know that. But why did you bring so much?" it was only then that Sakura looked down at the amount she'd brought back. Given that she and Itachi had been constantly gathering sticks, she now had more firewood than originally needed.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure. We don't want to run out of firewood in the middle of the night, do we? One of us would have to leave camp and wake another one of us as well."

"Maybe." Sasuke spoke with a slow and low voice. He was slightly upset about the fact the she'd taken longer than she'd told him, but he knew that he couldn't make a fuss about it either. He then turned around and walked back to where everyone else was sitting.

Sakura sighed in surrender and then her eyes roamed around the camp, immediately finding Kakashi. He locked questioning eyes with her and she immediately nodded – her face dead serious. Kakashi seemed to get that she'd met Itachi, because he nodded back at her before going back to his previous task with a criminal.

After making sure everybody in the group had properly had their dinner, they settled the group of prisoners in around the fire. The shinobi who was keeping watch would be sitting on one edge of the group as to have a good view of everything that was going one. The other two would be sleeping on opposite sides forming a triangle with the one on watch, to make sure to have the whole place covered in case something happened.

Sakura was the first to keep watch that night. She quietly sat down and rubbed her hands as she pondered about what Itachi had said. The fact that he had met with her did put her at ease. Knowing that such a strong person was an active ally was truly helpful for her nerves. Knowing that he was managing well in handling the Akatsuki also helped. Sakura knew that he was strong enough to beat most Akatsuki members on a one-on-one fight, so she chances were that he would actually manage to diminish their forces.

However, knowing that Zetsu was so much stronger made her feel worried. It felt… wrong. She had never expected a stronger member to appear. She had always assumed that Pain was the strongest, and then maybe Obito. But now… what was the true face of Akatsuki? She was truly disconcerted. On the other hand, she was quite sure about her skills when it came to poisons and chakra. She was, after all, the best medic of this time – since Tsunade had died – and had also studied from Chiyo, who had been the best poison expert alive. If there was someone who could actually find a way to block such a great amount of chakra from freely flowing within the body, it was her and she had a couple ideas.

Still, Sakura knew that it was not the time to dwell on such matters. She was in the middle of a mission and couldn't afford to let her guard down. As hours passed, she wondered why no one was trying to escape. She continuously passed her chakra around the place and sensed everybody's presence, so she was sure they were asleep. Sure, they must've been tired from the hours of journey during that day. But that didn't seem like a good enough reason for them to simply sleep through their one chance. They also mostly didn't seem physically ill, so it was weird. They also seemed… docile. She had subconsciously noticed that as they travelled during the day. Which was weird. Even the weakest criminals wouldn't waste a chance to get their way.

At that moment, a shift in the atmosphere alerted her that someone to her right had woken up. She immediately saw that a woman had woken up with a start and gotten to a sitting position. Sakura locked eyes with her and straightened up a bit, as to let the woman know that she was aware of her movements. The woman had a scared expression – probably from a nightmare – and took a couple seconds to realize that Sakura was looking at her. When she did, she quickly looked at the floor and then laid back down. Sakura knew that the woman took a long time to fall back asleep – because she could hear the rhythm of her breathing from where she was sitting – but she didn't once say anything or move again.

It was almost like she was… scared. And ironically, it made Sakura feel, yet again, as if she was the real criminal.

A/N: I had to split this chapter in half, because it was going to turn out to be longer than 10k.

So, I decided to post the first half of the mission now.

There's some fluff in here. It's kinda sweet how Sasuke has opened up to her, right?

What do you think about the mission? Any thoughts?

What about her talk with Itachi?

As always, I'd love to hear what you think about this one!

Thank you all so much for the support! It really means a lot when I read your reviews, even when it's only 'good job'. It's really the best a fiction author can get.

I also want to thank my beta reader MonochromeAce for revising the chapter in less than a day! She's even going to start checking the first couple chapters of the story, which were posted without a second reading.