Shikamaru walked with his head down as he approached the front gate of the village of Konoha. When he looked up he was surprised to see that Naruto was already there. "Hey."

"Hey." Naruto replied. He didn't sound as excited as he should be, but he sounded ready for the adventure. "You ready for the mission?" Shikamaru looked at him, then around the area. "No. It's too troublesome to even think of doing it."

"I know what you mean." Naruto looked far out into the distance. Then he sighed.

"Sakura didn't take the news too well either, I see."

"Well, there was some crying. She cried. She overheard a conversation me and Tsunade had."

"Oh. So she knows the whole deal, huh?"

"Yeah. She was pissed. Really pissed. Then she cried some more."

"You know how she feels about that bastard."

"She's more scared of what he's capable of. No doubt that he's grown a lot stronger than the last time we faced him."

"She has every right to be angry, I suppose. Probably feels betrayed."

"I told her about our chances of coming home. She didn't want to hear it. Then she begged to come along."

"How'd that go?"

"It was hard. This is hard. All I can think about now is getting back to her."

"I know what you mean."

"Ino?"

"Yeah."

"I left Hinata crying in her sleep." Naruto and Shikamaru looked up to see Kiba walking towards them. Shino, Lee, and Neji came from the other direction. They all looked like they haven't slept all night. They can all sense the fear within each other. "Where are the others?" Lee looked around, looking a little confused.

"Tsunade and I decided it be best if they stayed around the perimeter of the village. Making sure everyone stays safe, and not to alarm anyone of what's going on."

There was an awkward silence that fell in the group. Everyone was looking at each other, then they started walking out into the forest without looking back.

Just then Kiba stopped, and when the group noticed, they stopped as well, looking at him. "You know what?" Kiba smiled. "I know one thing. This mission could cause a war between the villages. Not a small, minute war, but one like no one has seen in years. This is going to be a Survival-of-the-Fittest mission. If we lose, there's going to be a ton of elite ninjas raiding this town. Yeah, I know the chances of us coming home aren't looking good right now, but I do know one thing. I'd be damned if I let that Uchiha bastard intimidate me and ruin our chances to get back home to the ones we love."

"The love for our family, friends, and this village is greater than any hate and power Sasuke and Orochimaru has." Shino spoke with confidence.

"I don't know about you, but I'm coming home. A ninja isn't supposed to wear their emotions on their sleeve. We have a job to do." Kiba finished his statement with his fist in the air.

The group fell silent, as if letting that speech sink in. They're completely right.

"Yeah! Let's go kick some ass and drag that Sasuke-bastard back here!" Naruto took off running in the direction of the woods and everyone followed after him. They had a long way to go to reach their destination.

===Later that morning===

Ino woke up to the sound of hard knocking on her bedroom door. "Coming. I'm coming." She quickly got up and put some clothes on. She glanced in the mirror and fixed her hair. When she opened the door, she wasn't surprised to see her friends, Sakura and Hinata standing in the doorway. They both looked like they have been crying all night. Without a word, Ino pulled them both into a hug.

Naruto and the rest of the group stopped sometime after noon to have lunch and to rest. They had traveled a good distance; they deserved to sit down for a few minutes. Shikamaru took the time to lie down in the soft grass. He put his arms behind his head and looked up to the sky. The clouds looked nice today. A cool breeze washed through his face as he closed his eyes. Ino. I'm coming home to you no matter what.

"We need a plan before we go any further into the woods." The grouped all looked onto Shikamaru. He just sighed and mumbled his infamous words, "This is so troublesome."

=======

"He told me the chances of coming back weren't so great." Hinata kept crying into her hands.

"Yeah, Naruto told me that too."

"Well, Shikamaru failed to tell me about the Sasuke part. He should've told me!"

"He couldn't tell you. No one was supposed to know. I just happen to overhear that conversation." Sakura now looked angry. "I'm getting something to drink." She walked out of the room.

Hinata was still crying. "Hinata. He'll come back. They all will. Neji, Naruto, Shikamaru, Lee, and of course Kiba. You'll see. They're all coming back."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because. We know them. And they came back the last night. Some hurt, but they still came back alive." Ino was trying really hard to reassure her friend and roommate. Inside, even she was feeling skeptical. She wanted to believe her own words, but her same bad feeling was keeping her from it. "All we can do now is wait and when they get back, never let them go."

Sakura came back in with a tray with three large glasses of orange juice and sandwiches. When Sakura gets mad, she has to keep herself busy. She was trying hard to keep herself from throwing the tray across the room and screaming. In the end, she knew that would accomplish nothing. "You know what? We can't sit here and feel sad and sorry for ourselves. We have to get our minds off them for a while. All we can do now is pray that they get back soon and safely. Let's go do something."

With that, Hinata and Ino looked at each other. This was probably the best idea they heard so far. They got up and got dressed. In fifteen minutes they walked out the door, not knowing where they going to go, they just walked.

That's odd. Ino thought to herself. Chouji usually meets me in the morning. But then again, he probably didn't know that Shikamaru left either. But he would've told him, wouldn't he?

=======

Shikamaru couldn't help but have a feeling of nostalgia as they walked through the forest. They were in the exact formation as they were on their first mission together, but this time it was without Chouji, and Kiba and Shino were added to the group. The dangers were greater this time. The four ninjas they have faced in the past were tough. Tough enough to put three ninjas in the hospital. Whatever dangers they would encounter would be a lot tougher.

And as luck would have it, a group of Sound ninjas appeared in front of the group.