Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto!

Author's notes: About time I update this thing! I mean, I know that it's been months. But I've become another victim of what you guys call… no. Not the writer's block, but the Gundam Maniac Disease. Ever since I started watching endless waltz and gundam seed, I became addicted with the two fics. Well… that still doesn't change the fact that I like NARUTO. NARUTO is still and would still be my too favorite anime!

Warning: OOC-ness ahead!

Note: People, I believe that it's high time I become nice to Sakura in this fic. I just figured out after scanning through my character profiles that she's not all that bad. For Sakura haters, I'm still with you. Though she won't get bashed always starting now.

Chapter 14:

Chirp… chirp…

A kunai whooshed past a window and hit a bird head on as it fell down on the ground lifelessly. The blonde akatsuki then stood up from bed and stretched up before taking his cloak and wore his mask on.

He then took all of his weapon supplies before going out of the hotel room. He took a glance at the clock by the counter. It read five o'clock. He nodded. 'Good. The other members and I still have the final meeting about this secondary so called mission. I better go before I become late. If I was, Yuumei's gonna kill me.' Naruto thought, chuckling to himself.

He exited the hotel as he dashed towards the forest with insane speed. He then stopped as he reached the clearing in where the group had talked before. He was about to lean on a tree when a kunai suddenly appeared, zooming towards him.

He evaded, as expected. He sighed. "Yomi-kun, if that was another ambush attempt, the you got another thing coming." He said, turning towards the direction of another tree. The tree suddenly got surrounded by a thick lump of mist before forming into a shape of a human, disappearing to leave the Orochimaru lookalike in its place.

"Hey Yomi, where are Yuumei-chan, Rae-san, and Narue-san?" He asked.

As if in a cue, a kunai suddenly appeared, grazing his throat. Whisps of red hair was seen from where he stood. "If you dare call me 'Yuumei-chan' one more time I really am going to kill you." A voice said coldly.

Naruto chuckled. "Yuumei, I know that you wouldn't kill me. Moreover, I know that you can't." He said. The kunai then disappeared as he turned around, seeing the red haired akatsuki girl leaning on the tree branch with a kunai at hand.

"Naruto-kun, Narue-san wouldn't be able to come to our meeting." Another voice said, entering the scene.

"Why is that, Rae-san?" The blonde asked, turning around to face the elder red head.

Rae sighed. "He said that all of the jounins of every participating team must attend a so called meeting. Of course, he must attend." She said.

Naruto nodded as he fiddled with a kunai, twirling it in his finger. "Yes. You're right. And besides, it would be too suspicious if Narue-san wouldn't attend. Even though this village seemed relaxed about the whole exam, they are still focused. They aren't letting their guard down… yet." He said.

The blonde heard a 'hn' as he turned toward the direction of the mist-nin who had his eyes closed. "And what if they find out about us then?" He asked.

Naruto smiled. "Did I just hear a complete sentence from you, Yomi?" He asked jokingly before his lips turned into a sick smile. "I doubt they would find out. If they did, well…" His eyes suddenly got the reddish shade as he threw the kunai, hitting a brown moth that had just flown by.

"… we'll just wing it and be done with everything."

Yuumei chuckled darkly. "Finish the mission even without the signal and exterminate everything in sight, yes?"

Yomi walked forward and smiled like an innocent little boy. "Which means…"

Rae nodded. "…kill them."

With that, the foursome disappeared in a flash.

Red Bridge

Naruto reached the red bridge at exactly six in the morning. Morning mist was still present by that time. He smiled as he saw the figured of none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke turned around to face him and nodded at him in acknowledge to his presence. The blonde akatsuki gave him a grin in return as he walked towards him and leaned onto the bridge's railing beside him. "Ei, Uchiha…"

"Sasuke."

Naruto's blue eyes widened in confusion. "Huh?"

Sasuke closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them and gave the blonde a hint of the smallest of smiles. "I want you to call me Sasuke." He stated.

"Huh?" Inwardly, dark Naruto was dancing around with a sick smile on his face. "What do you mean, Uchiha? Why do you want me to call you Sasuke?" He asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes before looking at a nearby tree. "We're… friends… aren't we?" He said, his voice no louder than a whisper. However, the blonde akatsuki's heightened senses heard him. He smiled as he placed a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder.

"Of course we are, Sasuke. And from now on, I want the two of us to remain in a first name basis, for we are, as you have said, friends. Ne?" He stated, giving the usually stoic Uchiha a smile… a real smile this time.

Sasuke nodded once again before a prissy voice rang all around the place one again.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Just then, the pink haired pest with the name of Haruno Sakura came in existence, beaming in delight as she quickly latched herself firmly onto the Uchiha's arm. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" She chirped.

Sasuke glared at her before he shook her off her arm in a rather rough way. The girl would have felt the hard ground on her back if it wasn't for the two arms that caught her before she reached the ground. Sakura shook herself off her current trance as she stared at the eyes of her 'savior'.

Her green eyes then met the concerned eyes of the blue eyes blonde in whom she despise so much. "Hey… are you alright, Haruno-san?" The blonde asked as he helped her stand up. After all, if he already got Sasuke's trust, it's time to take the girl's.

"I-I'm fine… Uyoma-san. Thank you…" She murmured.

Naruto smiled at her slightly before giving the Uchiha a slightly scolding look. "Sasuke, come on. She just held your arm."

"Hn. More like 'latched herself on my arm'." He replied back.

Naruto frowned. "Oh come on! Take a break, Sasuke! Haruno-san is still our teammate. Though sometimes a burden," He said, giving Sakura a sorry look. "She still has her strong points. So don't go treating her like trash."

Sasuke stared at the blonde. "You got guts to tell me that when you have treated her like trash yourself." He said.

"Well that was before. I didn't know her capabilities until now." His blue eyes met the gaze of the Uchiha's black ones. He sighed. "Fine. I misjudged her before. Happy?"

Sasuke grunted in response before closing his eyes. Naruto sighed as he made his way to a nearby tree before leaning on its bark. The pink haired girl somewhat felt regret for despising her blonde teammate. She quietly made her way towards the Uzumaki before chirping in.

"A-ano… Uyoma-san?"

Naruto opened his eyes. "What is it, Haruno-san?" He asked before smiling his mask had somewhat loosen its grip on his face.

Sakura took the opportunity as she quickly pulled the mask down to see their mysterious teammate's face. Naruto automatically performed a genjutsu to hide the whisker marks on his face. It was all reflex for him by that time.

Sakura gasped as she saw him face before blushing. 'He's cute…' She thought.

Naruto sighed. 'Not again… This is one of the top reasons besides hiding my whisker scars on why I wear this stupid mask whenever I'm in a huge crowd. My past experience with girls wasn't a very pleasing one.' He thought.

/Heh. You were lucky that the Yuumei-girl was there to back you up against the species that you humans call 'girls'./ Kyuubi said. Naruto felt him snickering.

:Shut up, kyuubi. I don't want to remember it.:

He heard the Kyuubi chuckle before he shut the link off. He returned back to the outside world to smile at the girl who was blushing. "Haruno-san? Are you alright?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh!" Sakura shrieked as she took a step back. "I'm sorry for staring." She said.

"What was it that you need then?"

"Umm… I… I just want to say… I'm sorry for acting the way I was towards you before, Uyoma-san. It was only now that I figured that you were cu(te)… uhh… nice…" She stammered.

The blonde resisted the urge to sweatdrop. He shook his head and forced out a smile. "It's alright Haruno-san. No harm done. And please just call me Naiki." He said. He was slightly shocked when the girl held his hand.

"Then call me Sakura as well. If you want me to call you 'Naiki', then you better call me 'Sakura'. In that way, we are fair." She said.

Naruto smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Sakura smiled back. "Then it's settled."

Naruto then smiled once again before putting up his mask once again. "For a starting friendship, do me a favor. Please don't pull my mask down again." He said.

"Why? You look cute without the mask, you know?"

"Ehehe… well… I just really feel awkward without my mask around. It has always been a part of my body ever since I started as a shinobi." He said.

Sakura nodded. "Alright then, Naiki. I won't do that again." She said before turning back towards Sasuke. She went towards him and pulled his arms towards the blonde. She then stood between the two boys as she held both of their arms tight.

"It's almost time. Let's go you two, Sasuke-kun, Naiki-kun." She said.

"Alright, Sakura."

"Hn."

Academy

"Hmm… Kakashi-sensei said that the room that we are suppose to go to is room 302." The blonde stated. "I suppose that you two know what floor are we suppose to go to, ne?" He said.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. Room 302 is at the third floor." He said. "Let's go."

The trio then walked up the stairs as they saw a commotion going on so they decided to check it out. When the finally saw what was happening, a boy with a bowl shaped hair and thick eyebrows fall down on the floor. He was wearing a green suit as well.

"Please let us pass." A girl said as she too got thrown down the floor. She had two buns on top of her head and she was wearing a pink sleeveless blouse.

"Heh!" One of the two 'guards' sneered. "Such wimps like you shouldn't be joining the chuunin exams. I'm telling you this. The shinobis who failed the exam had injuries that had never healed. Some of them were even so depressed that they decided to quit being a ninja."

"You're so cruel…"

"Cruel? Me? I'm saying this for your own good so you all better quit."

Sasuke sighed as he decided to join the commotion. Naruto shook his head. Uchihas will always be Uchihas.

"I suggest that the two of you better stop wasting our time. We're going to the third floor." Sasuke said. Most of the people began to murmur at one another.

"Sakura," Sasuke started once again. "I know that you're the first one who noticed this. You and your genjutsu now-how is one of the highest here." He said.

Sakura smiled at the silent form of encouragement. "Yeah! He's right! We are going to the third floor and this is the second. So I suggest that you two drop the genjutsu and leave all of us be."

With that said, the genjutsu was released and the sign turned back to the number 202.

The 'guard' smirked. "Seeing through the genjutsu is not the only thing that you guys should know." With that, the 'guard' attacked.

Sasuke was about to kick him as Naruto sighed and disappeared, suddenly reappearing between Sasuke and… the bowl head cut boy with thick eyebrows. 'Hmm… this boy's fast…' He thought.

'He managed to keep up with my speed?' The thick eyebrowed guy thought.

Naruto and the other boy both let go of the two opposing ninjas at the same time. Naruto faced Sasuke with a slight frown on his face. "We aren't here to show off, Sasuke. Come on. We've done enough here. Let's go to the third floor now." He stated, though mentally scanning every participant on the room.

No one was really that much of a challenge except one when he felt someone staring at him. He turned around to meet white eyes… the white eyes of a Hyuuga.

"Is there something that you need?" The blonde asked.

"Tell me your names." The Hyuuga said.

"Hn. It's rude to ask for someone's name when you haven't introduced yourself first." Sasuke said.

The Hyuuga glared at the two team seven members before the thick eyebrowed boy chirped in. "Hi! My name is Rock Lee." He then blushed as he looked at Sakura.

"Sakura, let's go now." Naruto said.

"Sakura-san, eh?" Lee stated as he walked near Sakura and gave her a thumbs up. "Want to be my partner? I'll protect you with my life!" He declared.

Sakura's face was like this: 'o'

"No… you're lame…"

At that, Sakura then held the blonde and Sasuke's arms once again. "Come on, Sasuke-kun, Naiki-kun!" She said as she pulled the two at the same time.

The trio walked together for a while when they were stopped by a familiar voice. They looked up to see Rock Lee who was challenging Sasuke for a match. He was about to watch the coming mini-match when he suddenly felt a charka like his.

"Hey guys, I'll go on ahead. I need to check up on something… fast." He said.

Sakura nodded as she shrieked as she saw the flying kisses coming towards her. Naruto laughed slightly as she evaded each and every kiss before leaving the two. He knew that they could manage anyway.

As he turned around in another corner, he leaned on the wall and closed his eyes. "You can come out now. I know that you're there." He stated simply as he opened his eyes, glowing with a hunger for a fight.

Just then, a swirl of sand appeared before him as the red haired sand-nin with a huge gourd with the name of Gaara appeared. The blonde stood up straight and smiled. "Hey Gaara. It's been some time since we last talked. The last talk that we got with Temari-san and Kankuro-san was short."

Naruto smiled as Gaara nodded. Just then, the blonde placed his hands on his hips and grinned. "Are you having fun with those three?" He asked, obviously indicating the other Akatsuki members in Konoha.

Gaara raised his eyebrows (well… I meant the space above his eyes that were meant for the eyebrows). "I can stand them." He stated. Naruto got this 'I mean, what do you think about them' look. "Hn. The Yuumei-girl can easily get angry and is mostly cold all the time. The older red haired girl is... normal. The mist-kid is silent, in which I like. And Narue-san is a bit too... feminine for a male shinobi. They better not get on my nerves." He mumbled.

Naruto chuckled at this. "More like you should watch yourself to not get on their nerves. With youma or not, though they don't have a youma, they are still Akatsuki members who can even be stronger than you. I hope that you don't mind me telling you this, Gaara, but it's true." He said.

"What are you implying, Naruto?"

"Shh…" Naruto said as he placed a finger in front of his lips. "It's 'Naiki' here in Konoha. The walls have ears." He said.

Gaara nodded. "Fine then, Naiki. What are you implying?" He asked once again.

"I am implying that I suggest that you do your best not to make them angry. Heck… especially not Narue-san. He's as strong as Itachi-san." The blonde mumbled. Gaara had this 'who the heck is Itachi' look. Naruto waved his arm.

"You don't know him, Gaara. Forget about it. And moreover…" He stopped as his voice grew serious and his eyes became narrowed in seriousness. "…never mention his name while we are in Konoha… especially when there are leaf-nins around."

Gaara nodded after that. Naruto then smiled brightly again.

Geez… talk about split personalities.

"Sasuke-kun!" A voice screamed.

Naruto first stared at the direction of the voice before giving Gaara an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Gaara, but I have to go now. I can't allow my teammates to become suspicious. I'll see you later on, okay?"

With that said, the blonde started to walk away from the red head. Gaara shook his head before disappearing with another swirl of sand.

"Oi! Sakura, Sasuke, are you done yet?" Naruto asked as he stared at the scene before him as his eyes widened, pretending to be shocked.

Sasuke was in the air with the thick eyebrowed guy under him. The blonde inwardly smirked. 'Kage buyou (sp?) eh?' He thought as he continued to watch the match. 'Narue-san told me about this before…' He thought.

Narue was the one who taught him a bit about taijutsu when he was young and that was one of the blonde's favorite moves that he learned from the feminine man. On the outside, the blonde was shocked, but on the inside, he was calm.

He already knew the outcome of this match. He had known at the time when he and the thick eyebrowed guy stopped the almost mini-fight of Sasuke and the 'guard' that the thick eyebrowed guy got speed. He had figured, that perhaps that the guy was a taijutsu specialist, and it turned out that he was right.

His red chakra was inwardly itching for a fight, but he fought against it. He knew that if he allowed the red chakra to fight, he might loose control over it again and then kill everything in his path. Of course, he is currently at a mission, and since he hasn't been given the signal yet, then that means that he must not use it unless absolutely necessary.

And besides, he wanted to save his chakra for his possible fight with the snake.

Naruto smiled as he noticed that the Uchiha had his sharingan activated. 'Use the sharingan, Sasuke. That way, you may have lost the match, but you have gained something valuable.' He thought.

The match suddenly grew somewhat intense as the other boy started undoing the bandaged wrapped on his arms. The blonde somewhat stiffened at the sudden action. He somewhat felt that something drastic will happen if this continues on. 'And if this continues on, I would have to interfere.' He thought.

Just as the thick eyebrowed guy made his move, a sudden 'poof' was heard as another thick eyebrowed guy appeared on top of a toad. Team seven's eyebrows twitched as the two thick eyebrowed guys started their 'sensei and student scenes'.

"Come on Sasuke, Sakura. We'll be late." Naruto said as he walked on ahead with Sakura and Sasuke behind him. He felt the older thick eyebrowed guy's eyes behind his back, but he ignored it… for now.

At the door of the real room 302, Kakashi greeted the trio and wished them luck. The three then nodded as they entered the examination room in where the start of the chuunin exam awaits.

The blonde scanned the whole room to find a huge lot of shinobis from different countries. Hidden in the crowd at the very corner of the room, the blonde saw the other three members.

-Ei, Naruto.- A feminine voice called.

The blonde akatsuki would have jumped in surprise if it weren't for his self-control. He half glared at the red head that he formerly had a crush on. –What is it, Yuumei? I swear… I really need to get used to that telepathic jutsu of yours. Teach me that whenever you have the time, okay?-

-Sigh… ask Narue-san. He was the one who taught me this. Yomi and Rae also know this technique.-

-Hello, Naruto-san.- This time, it was Yomi's voice who appeared on his head. Naruto inwardly sighed.

-Yomi, don't just pop your voice out of the blue. At least give a warning.-

-Sorry, Naruto-san.-

-Naruto.- Another voice in whom the blonde recognized as Rae's voice called. –It would seem that we would be working once again for the second time, ne?-

Naruto nodded. –Yeah. But this time, we're on different teams. Tell me one thing. How can the three of you enter the exam if the three of you are from different countries? From which country are you disguising yourselves as now?- The blonde asked.

This time, it was Yuumei who answered for him. –We are supposed to be shinobi's from Hidden Mist since our group knows a couple of handy water jutsus. We are what you can call as a secret representative.- She answered.

Naruto nodded, as he fully understood what she meant. –So you mean that you killed the team that was suppose to be joining.-

The three shrugged. –What do you expect? We killed whatever we found. And the Mist team was the unfortunate one.-

The blonde akatsuki sighed. –Whatever.-

After saying that, the four suddenly grew serious. They nodded at each other, as no words were needed to tell them the sub-mission at hand. Each akatsuki member knew that with the snake around, there is a possibility of the snake being a nuisance. Actually, the akatsuki team didn't really care on who the coming-to-be-victim is. But since the coming to be victim is their only possible connection to the snake, they have no choice but to protect that person… whoever that person is.

The only problem was they didn't know who the person that they need to protect is.

Naruto just didn't know that the coming-to-be-victim that he needed to protect was closer to him that he expects.

Author's notes: Maa, maa, I'm so sorry for this so long late update! I already stated my reasons above and I admit that I am at fault. However, school work had also taken its toll on the past weeks and we are all being bombard by the plays that we need to perform. Heck… we even have "Beauty and the Beast" for tomorrow.

Oh well… honestly, I can't wait to start Naru-chan and Orochimaru's fight. Though I admit that I am still lacking a few ideas, I already have a scene at hand. I just don't know when my next update would be though.

Well anyway, if I offend someone in any way then I am sorry.

As always… please review!