Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter, just updating you so you know that I am officially onto chapter 105 so I have a nice little backlog of 30 or so chapters to rely on if I do need to take a break from writing so that's really good. As always I love your reviews.
For those who've been asking, I don't know if I'll do a chapter from Itachi's point of view but there are some chapters coming up in the near future in which he has a big role and further on he'll show up more often but I can't say more than that because spoilers.
Anyway this chapter is a lot lighter so to speak, a little break from the angst y'know?
Unsurprisingly Naruto was called into Tsunade's office two days after the emotional revelation, and at the end of the meeting, during which Naruto had to explain exactly what had happened, Tsunade had ordered her not to tell anyone outside of those who already knew-which included her teammates plus Karin as they'd been sat upstairs but they'd still heard snatches of it.
Of course none of them had asked any questions-they'd figured out enough that they didn't need to and all three of them knew that it was clearly a sensitive subject.
Things had settled somewhat in the days that had passed since then, if anything the truth about their teammate hadn't caused any issues between Kakashi and Rin, instead they'd become closer than ever- a fact which a week in Tsunade decided to take advantage off, assigning the two of them to some top secret mission-Naruto had pouted when she'd heard that, asking repeatedly to be told more.
Instead Tsunade had assigned her a new mission, an A-rank mission which involved taking a scroll to Suna to discuss how they would move forward within their alliance in the future.
Naruto had cheered up rather a lot when she'd been told Sasuke and Sakura were also being assigned to the mission to assist her.
She'd been ordered to hand it over to whoever was currently in charge, likely the council as they'd be discussing who should be appointed as their new Kage-it was sure to be one of the Sand siblings-likely Gaara since he was the most powerful of the three of them, but the arrangements would take a few months at least.
They met at the gates of the village, Sasuke raising an eyebrow when he spotted her, "So that's what Tsunade-sama meant when she said I'd know who was leading the mission when I got to the gates." he looked amused, shoving his hands into his pockets, "And let me guess-"
"Team Seven at it again." Sakura arrived at a sprint, skidding to a halt when she reached her teammates, "Minus Kakashi-sensei of course."
"Our first A-rank."
"I mean, we've been on an S-rank before-"
"Yeah but that didn't start as an S-rank." Sasuke pointed out after Sakura spoke up, "That started as a C-rank."
"Well we'll smash this mission." Naruto declared brightly, "They're sending in the best team-"
"Only because you and I are friends with the Sand Siblings." Sakura pointed out logically.
"Exactly." Naruto grinned, "And Sasuke-kun will be there to stop you and I from getting sidetracked with them and getting thrown out of Suna-"
"Oh Kami no." Sasuke groaned, "Can I go back and say I don't want this mission?"
"Nope." Naruto said in a singsong voice, catching his arm when he jokingly went to walk away, "You're stuck with us Sasuke-kun."
"I hate my life." Sasuke rolled his eyes as Naruto slung an arm over his shoulder and Sakura moved to his other side and did the same thing, the trio moving towards the gates together.
Naruto almost laughed when Izumo and Koetsu both straightened up as they spotted the trio approaching, the latter's eyes wide as he watched them. "Ah, you're off on a mission N-U-Nohara-sama?"
"Yes, and it's Nohara."
"But your coa-"
"I go by the name of my adoptive mom." Naruto shrugged "People are still struggling with actually processing the truth with all the rumours going around but it's simple. My birth parents were Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina and my mother Nohara Rin adopted me."
"Right, right of course." that was Izumo, "We heard you made Jounin."
"Yeah, double promotion-"
"She totally deserved it." Sakura crowed proudly as Sasuke snorted.
"Some people actually got the chance to compete."
"You'll get there next time." Sakura patted his shoulder, "You won't be a Genin forever."
"You three are all on the same mission?" Izumo's voice was curious."
"Yep." Naruto moved to the guard station and passed the mission slip over and he nodded, "Right, See you in a week or two then Nohara-sama."
"You don't need to call me Sama you know-"
"Just let them." Sakura laughed, grabbing Naruto's arm and dragging Sasuke with her, "We'll see you when we get back!" she gave a jaunty little wave, and together the trio passed through the gates of Konoha.
"So." Sasuke glanced at his teammates, "Want to run for a bit?"
"Oh kami yes." Naruto grinned and took off, ignoring her friends protests from behind her, which included Sakura yelling.
"I'm gonna kick your ass Nohara!"
Of course Naruto, ever the mature and responsible Jounin called back. "Eat my dust Haruno!"
They tired of the racing after a few hours and slowed to a halt-mostly because Sakura managed to jump Naruto when the blonde paused to look back and see where here teammates were.
They ended up in a pile, Sasuke taking advantage and leaping on top of the two girls, smirking as he did.
"Should we take a break?" Naruto managed to drag herself out from under the pile of her friends."
"Well the journey to Suna should take like three days so we'll need a few breaks." Sakura said after a moment of thought.
"Unless I Hiras-"
"You are not Hirashining us there." Sasuke said quickly, "I assume you have tags on the Sand Siblings."
"Yeah-"
"Do they know?"
"Gaara knows about his." that was Sakura, "Temari and Kankuro don't know what the tags actually are, Gaara just ordered them to let Naruto draw on them-"
"We don't want to give any Suna Nin heart attacks by showing up around the three most important people in the village." Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Pretty sure that we'd be attacked for doing that."
"Wow, is that Sasuke being the logical one?"
"Hey that's my job." Sakura mock glared at Sasuke who simply rolled his eyes in response, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No Hirashin-"
"Ugh, boring." Naruto rolled her eyes, "But fine, half an hour break with some food then we start again, no more racing for today."
"Sounds like a plan." Sasuke nodded, "Where will we stop for the night?"
"I believe there's a little village near the outskirts of Fire country." Sakura said, "It'll be a good distance away for now but we'll make it there before nightfall."
"How many maps did you look out plotting the path?"
"More than either of you."
"That's because you're a genius Sakura-chan." Naruto declared brightly, "So, you have our path all mapped out for us then?"
"I figured I should try and be helpful, I didn't know who I was being placed with and it's my first mission as a Chunin."
"You're doing awesome." Naruto grinned. "Isn't she."
"Yeah yeah." Sasuke looked amused, "You're doing just great. Never mind the poor Genin on his first A-rank-"
"Oh c'mon we both know you should be a Chunin." Naruto rolled her eyes fondly, "Now, food."
"I packed some food myself-"
"So did I." Sasuke said added quickly, and Sakura snickered.
"I guess neither of us have gotten over the Forest of Death and the fact that all you'd packed was instant Ramen."
"Instant Ramen is delicious and nutritious-"
"Tch, you have a problem dumbass." Sasuke was smirking as he spoke.
"He's really not wrong." Sakura twitched, "Tell me you didn't do the same today."
"Well would you look at the time-"
"You did didn't you?" Sakura's voice was accusing, "Let me look-"
"No-" Naruto scrambled to her feet and took off as Sakura started chasing her, laughing as Sakura screech furiously.
"You didn't know your teammates would bring their own food and all you brought was stupid instant ramen!"
"It's the food of the gods!" Naruto screamed back as Sakura tackled her.
"It's cheap trash!"
"And you two were promoted before me." Sasuke muttered, shaking his head as he watched the two girl scrap, "You're both children-"
"Excuse me." Sakura popped her head up, glaring in Sasuke's direction. "Naruto-chan is the baby of the team yeah but I'm older than you and I'm higher ranking-"
"Hey I'm not the baby I'm a Jounin-"
"You're younger than us both." Sakura declared, "I don't care if you're higher ranking you're totally the baby of team seven."
"You know you suck, right?" Naruto pouted as she pushed herself up, "So, shall we eat?"
"I'll gather some wood and start a fire." Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You'll want boiled water for your ramen and I've got some food to cook."
It didn't take long for Sasuke to gather the wood and start the fire, and soon enough the trio were relaxing and eating and chattering happily before they packed up, put out the fire and continued onwards, stopping again in the evening when they reached a small village near the edge of the border, where they paid for two rooms for the night, and the routine was pretty much the same for the next two days as they passed the borders into the land of Wind, and it didn't take much time at all for them to reach the gates of Suna.
Once they reached the gates Naruto produced the mission slip from the Hokage and they approached.
Sasuke snickered when the two guards-one woman with long sandy blond hair and one man with black hair, did a double take when they saw Naruto's cloak, and then she heard one of them whisper.
"The Yondaime-"
"Wait her face-whisker marks just like-"
"Is it her? The one..."
"It has to be-"
Naruto flushed and resisted the urge to laugh at their reactions to her presence. Clearly they'd heard of her.
"Does that mean the pink haired one is-"
"Oh wow-"
"Ah hem." Sakura coughed politely, raising a single eyebrow, and the guards started, exchanging somewhat panicked looks.
"State your purpose here Konoha-nin."
"We come with a message from the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade-sama." Naruto said as smoothly as she could. "We were ordered to give it to whoever is currently leading Suna." she stepped up to the guard station, holding out the paper.
The man read it and nodded to himself, showing it to the woman, who nodded too.
"It seems that everything's in order." she said quickly, pressing a button that caused the gates to swing open. "Welcome to Suna."
"Thank you." Naruto gave a sunny grin, grabbing Sakura's arm-and trying to grab Sasuke's, though he managed to almost dance away from her grip, following them through the gates and into the village, looking around curiously as they walked.
It was so different from Konoha that it was unreal. Of course they'd noticed the land around them changing as they traveled to Suna, from lush grass and trees to a dry warm desert.
It was less colorful but beautiful in its own way, the buildings made of sand colored stone, they were more rounded than the buildings back in Konoha.
"It's so hot here." Sakura piped up, "Way too hot for my tastes, I prefer it back home, my skin's gonna burn."
"So's mine."
"Maybe we could get some wraps to cover your faces." Naruto suggested, spotting one or two civilians walking by wearing them.
"You're lucky." Sakura declared, "Your skin's more tanned I bet you don't burn nearly so easily as Sasuke-kun and I."
"Let's just figure out where we have to go and get inside." Sasuke pulled a face, "It's way to hot here."
"C'mon then, my guess is that it's the biggest building that's at the centre of the village."
"That does seem like a good guess." Sakura nodded, "What do you wanna bet we'll be met halfway there by a bunch of shinobi."
"Yeah well, they're scared shitless of you two." Sasuke shook his head, "I dunno why-"
"Because Sakura was brutal and worked together with Gaara-kun during the failed invasion-"
"And because Naruto is probably one of Gaara's favourite people and someone capable of winning Gaara's friendship and fixing his seal has to be terrifying." Sakura added.
"We're impressive, let's face it."
"That you are." the familiar voice came from up ahead and Naruto beamed at the blonde haired woman stood a short distance in front of them.
"Temari-san!"
"Naruto-san." Temari grinned as she rushed forward, "The gate guards sent word of your arrival right away." she hugged Naruto tightly, "It's good to see you awake again, and you Sakura-chan."
"It's good to see you too Temari-san." Sakura gave a wide grin when Temari release Naruto and moved to the pink haired girl, and they hugged as well before Temari turned to Sasuke and gave a small nod.
"Uchiha-san. So you have a scroll?"
"Yeah we do." Naruto gave a wide grin, "We were told to take it to whoever is in charge."
"Right." Temari nodded, "C'mon then. Gaara's in a meeting with the Council right now."
"Perfect." Naruto grinned, "It'll be good to see Gaara-kun again." and together they moved through the streets of Suna, people stopping to watch as their old Kazekage's daughter herself escorted the three Konoha shinobi through her village.
