Chapter Fifty

The joint shinobi funeral of Aburame Shino, Akimichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino was finished and Neji was helping Sasuke fill in the three large graves where their team mates had been buried. Naruto, thinking back to what Shikamaru had told them a few hours before, turned on the grieving Nara man and looked at him suspiciously. Sure, he had just lost his team mates, both of them, but that wouldn't have any impact on his intelligence. Would it?

"North?" Naruto asked, looking sceptically at the strategist of their team, since north was the direction they had travelled from.

"Yes. Apparently, the place we're looking for has a cloaking jutsu on it to stop all unwanted visitors." Shikamaru elaborated. The blonde was then content that Shikamaru was still in his right state of mind and fully able to continue to lead the mission. Hinata smiled while Tenten, along with her green-loving fiancé, were jumping for joy at the prospect of seeing Haruno Sakura and her siblings again. Naruto took a breath to command the team onwards.

"Then let's go-"

"-Back to Konoha." A voice cut in. the team looked behind them and saw the silver hair and blue mask of Hatake Kakashi, the man who had just told them to go back home.

"Eh?! Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Tsunade-sama told me to retrieve this team while other Jounins go out and find any other ninja away on missions. The war is coming and we need to have everyone back home, whether their mission is completed or not." Kakashi stated. "Where're Aburame, Akimichi and Yamanaka?"

A long silence erupted from the words of the older ninja and Kakashi knew he had just hit a soft spot. He was about to change the topic, but Hyuuga Neji answered his question with a single, mournful words dripping with hate for…what exactly?

"Dead." Neji stated as he finished filling the final grave. "Akatsuki killed them a few hours ago." Many of the remaining ninja were looking up, down, left, right, anywhere other than at Kakashi, who had cleared his throat and was currently rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous habit.

"Well, we should go. I'll inform the families when we get back to the village and you guys report to Tsunade-sama." Kakashi proposed calmly, keeping a level head about his change of events.

"NO! NOT UNTIL WE FIND SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled in defiance. No matter how much the others of the team agreed with his outburst, they had to obey Tsunade's orders. This meant that Sasuke had to knock out Naruto and carry him back to Konoha. He did so and they all left.

At the temple

Hasha woke up in a white room, filled with the intoxicatingly sterile scent of antiseptics and anaesthetic. He shifted and sat up, slightly surprised when he felt no pain in his left or right sides, just a mild itchy, stinging sensation where there should have been blinding pain. Peeling back the clean bandages that covered his wounds, he noticed that the places where the kunai had hit were nothing more than raw, slightly itchy skin and a pale scar.

"Hasha-san!"

A pain erupted in his head as he remembered the small Haruno girl, Terrane, screaming his name while he fell to the ground. He also recalled her hand glowing a bright white, contrasting greatly to his darkening vision, and placing her lit appendage against the wound gently. So, it was Terrane who had healed him. No wonder there was still a scar. When Sakura healed it was perfect, leaving no mark and no feelings of pain; Terrane, on the other hand, was just a beginner with great talent in the medical field.

Still, the small eight-year-old had done well for her age. Most konoichi couldn't heal with chakra at all, let alone before their graduation or at least their twelfth birthday. Healing was no easy job. Terrane must have been training for months with already perfect chakra to be able to pull off a stunt like that. Hana, his sister, was terrible with chakra and planned to remain a civilian and let Hasha be the ninja. That alone separated Hana and Terrane by miles. She was the only person he remembered from his past, the life he had before he met Sakura and was adopted into the temple. Seeing his younger sister by one year younger died during a war, not much else was needed for him to forever hate all forms of conflict, yet he continued to cause too much of it himself.

"H-Hi, Hasha-san." Greeted a small, female voice from the door. The blonde then looked over to see Terrane, pink faced and shuffling, by the door leading into his room in the infirmary, which is where he knew himself to be now. Hasha grinned at her and motioned for the brunette to enter the room and approach his bed. She did so and smiled at him.

"So…you healed me?" Hasha asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence between him and the younger, eight-year-old girl.

"W-Well, Sakura-onee-chama h-helped me, b-but I d-did heal y-you m-mostly and…s-stuff." She replied, pressing her fingers together cutely while her face grew from light pink to cherry red.

"Thanks." Hasha said with a smile. Terrane smiled back and looked out of the window.

"Oh no! I have to go and meet Sosei-onii-chama in the training grounds, he promised to show me how to make my shuriken invisible." Terrane admitted with great excitement at the prospect of invisible weapons lacing her tone.

"Invisible? Shouldn't you learn how to throw visible ones first?" Hasha questioned in confusion. Terrane giggled at him and turned to leave. Just before she walked round the door frame and out of sight, she turned to face the onyx-eyed fifteen-year-old with her innocent, blue orbs, still smiling happily.

"Sakura-onee-chama and Sosei-onii-chama told me that I'm already a master with normal weaponry, just like Tenten-nee-chan." Terrane stated with a knowing glint in her big eyes. She left. Blonde hair blew in the wind coming from his window as onyx eyes stared out into space, mindlessly wondering who Tenten was.

With Sakura

Pink hair flew in front of calculating emerald eyes as Sakura scanned the area around the temple for people she knew. Of course, it wasn't the Akatsuki or the other people in the temple she was looking for. No, Haruno Sakura was scanning the woods, where she had felt many different, but familiar, chakra patterns only moments ago, which were gradually getting further away.

She sighed as the chakras went out of sensing distance and let her gaze drift around the sights from the temple wall. It truly was a beautiful sight to lay eyes on. You could see the healthy, sun-bathed leaves at the tops of the tallest trees, with lighter green leaves on the smaller ones. A large, but not massive, waterfall could be seen to her left, the perfect location for diving or practising water-based jutsu. Her head rolled on her shoulders as she turned to look at the temple.

Dark yellow, almost gold-looking stones were making up the walls of the holy place, with a red tiled roof overhead. Many carvings and paintings were drawn, or caved, expertly on the walls. She noticed one of the newer ones, which she and Hasha had done together when he had first been brought here, and then one of the older ones, which she had done during her first visit to the temple. He eyes settled on a small carving done by her mother and uncle as children and a small, sad sigh escaped her parted lips.

"May I join you?" Asked a deep voice in front of her. Sakura had been so zoned-out that she didn't even notice Itachi approach her, or stand directly in front of her either. It would have made her laugh, if she didn't realise that it could have been an enemy shinobi or worse, her brother on a hunt for answers regarding who she had fallen in love with.

"Sure, I could use the company." Sakura confessed to her trusted friend, whom she cared about deeper than friendship, but would never tell anyone that. Itachi walked to her side and leant against the low wall surrounding the balcony of the temple entrance. He stole a glance at Sakura, who was once again looking off into space, and let his crimson bloodline limit swirl into the onyx colour his clan was well known to have and looked away.

Seeing as he was Itachi, Uchiha Itachi at that, Sakura doubted that he would ever willingly start a conversation, let alone take part in one, so she wracked her brain for things to talk about with him. Shuriken, kunai and senbon needles were always an option, but then she would seem desperate for conversation. Maybe they could discuss new jutsu? No, not only would it bore Itachi, but it would bore Sakura too, and she was meant to be the one talking about it.

"Um…what are you and the others doing here?" Sakura asked, mentally hitting herself, and inner Sakura, for asking such a stupid question. Of course, mini-Saku-chan wanted to hit her too, so she took over the inner Sakura bashing while outer Sakura paid attention to Itachi.

"We came to find you." He answered simply. It didn't appear as if her 'oh so great' conversation starter was a success, and it truly wasn't. Who starts a conversation with their crush, possible love, with 'what are you doing here?'

"I…thanks." The pinkette said to him, not being able to come up with anything else.

"For what?" Itachi questioned.

"For coming to find me. I guess you guys really do care about me after all, even after I left you." She replied, a small smile gracing her angelically devilish features.

"Of course we care about you. After you left for Konoha, all Deidara and Kisame could talk about was how guilty they felt. Even Sasori was depressed, never coming out of his room for training, meals or missions from leader-sama. In fact, the main reason we were allowed to release Karene, Ryiko, Tyiko and Terrane was because we refused to work for Akatsuki while holding them captive." Itachi explained monotonously as always. Sakura just stared at him, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. "What?"

"That has to be…the longest sentence you've ever said." Sakura told him in a dizzy state of awe. She slowly let a grin slip onto her face and began to contemplate something.

"I'm not sure I like that look." Itachi confessed emotionlessly, but on the inside he was slightly worried over what was going on in the konoichi's mind to make her grin like a cat that had just caught a mouse and was ready to toy with it for a while.

"What about you?" She asked slyly.

"Hn?" Itachi wondered.

"How did you feel when I left?" Sakura questioned, slightly more seriously this time around. Itachi though about his answer for a moment and sighed.

"I have no use for emotions, therefore I did not 'feel' anything when you left for Konoha." The pride of the old Uchiha clan claimed falsely, lying though his teeth to the woman before him. However, due to his many years of flawless lying and his cold demeanour, Sakura couldn't tell that his words were untrue. Sure, she had suspected that he didn't feel the same way about her that she about him, but she at least expected him to like her as a friend.

"…Oh…I see." Sakura drawled sadly. Her eyes became downcast as she began to turn and walked away.

Itachi observed her as she re-entered the temple with a sad expression on her beautiful face. She wasn't really sad, was she? No, Itachi shook his head, it must have been his imagination.

"Congratulations, baka." Called a man from the stairs leading up to the temple. Itachi looked at him and realised it to be Sakura's older brother, Haruno Sosei.

"Hn." Itachi replied emotionlessly. Sosei growled and ran up the steps to face the Uchiha clan murderer. Sosei was taller than him, much to his dismay, but didn't intimidate him in the slightest. If one angry older brother could make him so much as flinch, Itachi would be ashamed to call himself an S-class criminal.

"She loved you when you were kids in Konoha, but then she started to like your brother more and even wrote that she; 'loves him more than her very own life'. What I just saw was her giving you a second chance, and you blew it, Uchiha." Sosei lectured him. "I mean, I've read her diary and all she wrote about in the first few pages of when she was six up until she was fourteen was all about you! Then she wrote about your brother and how much she loves him, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here, baka. The point is, I know you like her too, but you're too stupid to do anything about it, Sasuke."

"What did you call me?" Itachi questioned the man in front of him, completely ignoring the fact that not only had this man been reading his sister's diary, but he had also said that Sakura was in love with him before they even met. Sosei looked confused.

"…Sasuke, your name. Why?"

"I'm not Sasuke." Itachi replied.

"Of course you are! You have the onyx eyes and the dark hair. The only other mention of a man with dark hair in her diary is your brother, Itachi, but he had red eyes. I haven't read her dream journal, so I don't know about who's mentioned in there."

"I'm Itachi, I just turned off my Sharingan." Itachi informed him. Sosei seemed to be running this statement over in his mind a few times before realisation set on his features.

"So, can you not tell Sakura that I read her diary and told you how she feels about you?" Sosei asked guiltily. Itachi nodded, causing the Haruno to breathe a sigh of relief, and the red-head began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Itachi asked him, feeling that Sosei was trustworthy enough to talk to him.

"I'm training Terrane, I have to go. Bye!" He yelled as he jumped down two steps at a time and ran around to the back of the temple, where the training grounds were located. Itachi felt a stab of guilt at the mention of the youngest Haruno, since he did actually think of her as…a little sister f sorts.

"You can come out now, Kisame." Itachi stated smoothly, since he didn't feel like waiting until the shark-man makes himself known to the world.

"Awww, you let everyone else talk to get your attention. Why didn't you let me do that too?" Kisame whined like a child. Itachi smirked and walked passed the childish criminal. "Itachi, I need to talk to you." The swordsman said in a more serious tone.

"Hn?"

"Its about Saku-chan. I don't want her getting hurt and I know that you're going to see her now. If…if you two get together, promise me that you'll look after her. Seeing Saku-chan hurt isn't one of the things I'd like to do any time soon, whether her pain is emotional or physical." Kisame confessed to the dark killer. Itachi began to walk away, but Kisame stopped him. "Promise me Itachi, now." He demanded.

"Hn." Itachi said. Seeing the desperate look on his partner's face he sighed. "I promise." He concluded, walking away. If he looked back, he would have seen the smile on Kisame's face at the two words. Itachi always kept his promises and never forgets them either.

Konoha

"They…what?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"The Akatsuki betrayed us and killed three of our ninja. We did, however, manage to bring down one of them ourselves." Neji reported professionally.

"Who did you kill?" The Hokage questioned the seven remaining members of the Konoha twelve in her office.

"The one named Kakuzu." Sasuke informed her blankly.

"Who did we lose?" Tsunade wondered, slightly hesitant to let them answer.

"Aburame Shino." Hinata stated with a choked sob.

"Yamanaka Ino." Shikamaru said in the same way, but holding back his emotions better than Hinata had.

"Is that all?" Tsunade asked hopefully. Perhaps Choji was just out to eat, grieving over his girlfriend and that was the reason he wasn't present at this meeting.

"Akimichi Choji." Naruto finished, crushing the hopes of the large-breasted woman at the desk. Tsunade sighed and emptied the sake cup in front of her, pouring more into the glass and soon emptying that one as well.

"Very well. Did you complete a shinobi funeral for them?" The Godaime asked.

"Hai." Everyone chorused.

"Their names shall be added to the memorial. We cannot waste any more time, the war is approaching fast. Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama?" Hinata answered softly.

"Return home and rest. When you have fully gathered your energy, report to the hospital to help with the healing there. We need all the help we can get and I don't want to be the one to send a pregnant woman into battle."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." The shy Hyuuga woman said as she 'Poofed' out of the office and back home to greet her husband.

"Hyuuga Neji."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"You are going to be the next Hyuuga clan leader after your uncle, Hinata's father, correct?"

"Hai."

"I want you to go back to the district and round up all of the capable fighters from the Hyuuga clan under my authority. If they can't fight, have them heal or injured ninja, if they can't heal, have them sharpening weapons or preparing scrolls. I don't want anyone under the age of twelve to have a part in this war, so leave them with someone who can look after them. Go."

"Hai." Neji bowed and left in the same way his cousin did previously.

"Nara Shikamaru."

"Hai."

"I want you to go to the Konoha prison and help Ibiki with working out a battle plan or course of action. Go!"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shikamaru Poofed out too.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"…Hai."

"Go to the academy and help Iruka train the students. If the time comes when we need the aid of the final year graduates, I want them fully trained and able to take care of themselves. Go!"

"Hai." Sasuke left.

"Rock Lee, Tenten."

"Hai." The two said simultaneously.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but your wedding isn't as important as the well-being of this village. I'm sorry. I want Lee to run to Suna give them this scroll, and then come back with the one Gaara with give you. Tenten, you go to the weapon shops all over the village and help with the weapons inventory and assist the blacksmiths with making new weapons. Go!"

"Hai!" Lee took the scroll from Tsunade and left, Tenten bowing and following after him. Neither held any grudges that their wedding had been postponed, since it was for the good of the village.

"What about me Tsunade-baa-sama?!" Naruto complained. Tsunade cast him a weary glance and got up from her desk.

"Naruto…I'm getting old." She informed him obviously.

"Duh! You're old enough to be my grandma's grandma!" The kitsune yelled disrespectfully.

"Let me finish, brat! I'm getting too old to fight after this last battle and I need to train a new Hokage. That's your job Naruto."

"To…find a new Hokage?"

"NO BAKA! I want you to become the sixth Hokage after me!" Tsunade yelled at the stupid ninja. Naruto paused for a moment before he burst in an assortment of yelling, jumping around and thanking the Hokage over and over again. His dream was coming true!

With Gaara

"Kazekage-sama, the war will begin in three days." An advisor told the red-haired man in the Kazekage's chair. Gaara closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, the others around the table holding their breaths in fear of the village leader. Even after years of calm, most people still feared Gaara, his siblings and the Konoha twelve not included.

"Temari, Kankuro." Gaara called. The aforementioned two stepped out of the shadows in the room and stood on either side of his chair.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama?" They both asked in respect for their younger brother, pride filling their voices.

"Any word from our allies?" He asked.

"We have received word from lightening and stone that they are ready and know where to meet before the battle." Temari answered stiffly, knowing that her brother was only interested in word from Konoha about the retrieval of Sakura.

"What about Konoha?" Gaara questioned, just as his sister knew he would.

"The runner from the village hidden in the leaves has not yet arrived, but we are confident that he or she is on their way now." Kankuro told him to save his sister the task of doing so. Temari sent him a grateful look, but Kankuro seemed just a worried about the cherry blossom girl as his brother. Then again, it wasn't as if Temari didn't feel worry over her 'little sister' as well.

"Very well." Gaara said, sounding disappointed. "Meeting adjourned; you may go about your daily tasks as per usual." He concluded. The council members rose from their seats, bowed to their Kazekage and left quietly though the door to the left of the room.

"Kazekage-sama!" A Chunin yelled as he ran into the room, bowing to the Kazekage hastily.

"What is it?" Gaara snapped coldly.

"A runner from Konoha has arrived and he is currently waiting in your office to see you." The messenger informed him, cowering for his insignificant life as he did so. Without another word or a passing glance, the three sand siblings left the building and headed for the Kazekage tower.

When they arrived, the three were greeted with respectful bows and a walking green stick named Rock Lee. Lee grinned and struck his 'good-guy' pose as he handed Gaara the scroll. As the insomniac scanned the message, his eyes hardened and he felt a burning sensation as something exploded in his chest.

"Gaara?" Temari asked warily. Gaara's head snapped up and he grabbed some paper and a pen. He scribbled down a few words onto the paper and rolled it up, handing it to Lee. Once the green beast had it in his grip, he bowed to the Kazekage and ran back to Konoha as fast as he could, he had taken off his weights to get there and back.

"What did the scroll say?" Kankuro asked. Gaara scoffed and dropped the scroll on the ground as he walked off. Temari picked up and read it, Kankuro reading the words over her shoulder as she did so.

Kazekage,

My team was unable to apprehend Haruno Sakura and was betrayed by the Akatsuki on their journey, resulting in the death of three of my finest shinobi, Yamanaka Ino, Aburame Shino and Akimichi Choji. However, they were able to kill Kakuzu, the Akatsuki member with parts of his body stitched all over the place.

I called them back, so Haruno Sakura is still out there somewhere. My village has begun to prepare for the battle and will meet you, lightening and stone at the great divide, west of Suna.

Yours respectively,

Tsunade, Hokage of the leaf.

Temari sighed as she re-read the letter and turned to console Kankuro, who was obviously upset that Sakura was still out there. However, she was met only with a determined face and a brave look.

"I need to train for the war." Kankuro stated as he left. Temari stared after him in sadness. She too left to train, think of how her boyfriend was taking the death of his team mates and friends.

With Terrane and Sosei

Terrane had manage to get the jutsu for creating an illusion around her shuriken to make them invisible, but was still struggling to keep the illusion up while hitting her target accurately. She had, so far, managed to begin hitting the ring just outside of the bulls-eye, but promised herself that she wouldn't stop until she could hit dead in the centre.

"Terrane, come over here!" Sosei called to her. The brunette nodded and walked over to her brother. She stood by his side and looked up at him, only to see him smiling and holding three shuriken in his hand. Suddenly, the shuriken became kunai, then shuriken again and finally senbon needles. Terrane just watched in awe as an arrangement of her favourite projectiles morphed into one-an-other.

"How?" The young girl asked in amazement as the projectiles extended and began o take on the form of a katana, a Chigiriki and even a pair of Kama.

"It's a jutsu Sakura invented called 'Buki hensen, Kage no jutsu', or weapon change, shadow technique. It's called a ghost technique because you can transform one kunai into three hundred senbon needles or vice versa, kinda like a shadow can grow or shrink. I was never fond of weapons back then, so I never really used it. However, seeing as you love weaponry so much, I thought I'd teach it to you." He informed her. "Sakura told me that I could, since she never got the chance."

"C-Can it become…Neko-te?" She asked shyly. Sosei chuckled as he used the jutsu again the Manriki Gusari he was holding changed into the strong iron fingernails that were fastened into leather bands fitted on the fingers, and resembled claws. What Terrane like most about them was that this particular weapon was also dipped in poisons before use, or just used to slash at the enemy in a cat-like manner.

"Here, this is how it works…"

With Sakura

The pinkette had just finished a round of training with her many clones and was panting lightly. Sakura had not only held up and re-done a clone jutsu for three hours, but she had also made her clones attack her with an assortment of weaponry, ranging from the small and discrete Kakute, a poison-dipped ring, to an Ono, a four foot long battle axe with a giant steel blade.

All she used were her two Shobo, small weapons that were used for striking pressure points within the body, the neck was the best place to strike. It was a ring fitted on the middle finger and had a piece of sharp wood attached to it. It was a weapon to rein act the Hyuuga style of fighting without some of the grace of finesse.

"Sakura." Called a deep voice for the second time that day. This time, however, Sakura was quick on her feet and started a sparring match by using her 'Buki hensen, Kage no jutsu' to change her Shobo into an Ono and swinging it in a 360 degree circle, aiming for Itachi's head. The latter dodged and pulled out a set of nunchakus, aiming a hit at her stomach.

Sakura retaliated by transforming her heavy Ono into a tanto, a small knife made to cut an opponent, throw, pry open doors etc. It wasn't, however, as good as a kunai in battle, it was better for other things like digging small holes and ditches. Itachi charged forward, swinging his nunchakus with ease, and hit Sakura in the side, while she cut his arm and sliced a small cut on his cheek. The Uchiha sighed and rushed forward, putting away his nunchakus as he ran, and pinned Sakura to the wall of the temple. They were outside, and he had pinned her to an outer wall on the west side of the holy place.

"Can I talk to you now?" Itachi asked in slight amusement as he squeezed her wrist, causing her to drop her tanto on the floor. Sakura shrugged.

"Sure, I guess." She answered. Itachi sighed.

"Earlier, when I said that I didn't feel anything when you left, I was lying though my teeth." He confessed. "The truth is…um…this I kind of hard to say, so just bare with me…" All Sakura could do was stare at him. Not only was the Uchiha Itachi stuttering, but he was showing emotion and nervousness!

"Um…Itachi?" Sakura called quietly, getting slightly worried about him.

"No. I can't find the right words." He admitted. Sakura looked at him with confusion moulded into her emerald eyes.

"What do you me-" Sakura was cut off when she felt two rough lips press against her own. Her eyes widened and she froze, unable to push him off or respond. Itachi, at first, believed this to be a sign of rejection and mentally planned to kill her brother for telling him that she loved him, but then he felt Sakura kiss him back.

Itachi opened his mouth and let his tongue slide across her bottom lip, asking for entrance, and Sakura complied by parting her lips far enough for him to slip inside. After a few more second, they broke apart for air and Sakura just stared at him, still panting from training and now from lack of breath. Itachi saw her look and smirked.

"I told you that I couldn't find the right words." He commented as he walked away, leaving the stunned konoichi behind to trace her lips and smile gently to herself.

"Sakura?" Called a voice. The pinkette froze and turned to see…