Chapter 9

The look of confusion was printed on everyone's faces; even on the two ice cubes (Neji and Sasuke). They were all clearly shock at the sight in front of them, which consisted of Two Hyuugas, a missing-nin and three others.

Naruto spotted the missing-nin, a few paces away and charged at him throwing a punch but Sasuke was alert even due to his shock and dodged the incoming attack. He spoke up and his voice, slicing the air like a knife, "Naruto…"

Turning back to his old 'team-mate' he tried staring him down but once again, Sasuke prevailed. Over the years, Sasuke hated the fact that Naruto was becoming stronger; he seeked out for Orochimaru only to find that the snake lord couldn't provide enough power to make him satisfied. With that conclusion, Sasuke had eliminated the lord, sending him to his grave. Yet this had become unknown, many still thought Orochimaru was still out there and feared every minute of their life.

Standing further back was his other 'team-mate', one that he found annoying back in their genin years. She acknowledged his presence by saying in a menacing tone, one that he had never heard of, "Uchiha Sasuke."

Neji eyed each of the people he saw and his two cousins on either side, Hinata was with a group of three and Hanabi seemed to have been with the Uchiha. They hadn't even reached the sand yet but in front of them now, were the two people he was looking for. Hanabi looked out of danger and was staring intensely at the members of Team 7.

"Lee, you and Kiba go over to Hanabi and keep her away from danger, if Uchiha, Uzumaki and Haruno start fighting," Neji ordered to two of his team.

"Okay," the two said in unison and left for the younger Hyuuga.

He turned his attention to the three around Hinata and the feel of their chakra wasn't welcoming. Hinata looks pale and their chakra feels strong.

"Their chakra level seems dangerous, no wonder Hinata looks frightened," Tenten whispered into his ear, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Hn"

The three had seemingly circled around Hinata, either it was to protect her or prevent her from escaping but he wasn't sure, which. Hinata had been so surprised at the sight of all her Konoha friends that she wanted to go up to them but she was stopped by one of the three. She had missed them terribly even if it had been about a week and her heart jump with joy, especially seeing Naruto. Rika, Yoshiru and Shiruko surrounded her as if preventing her from escaping; they circled her leaving her trapped in between, disabling her sight as to what was happening.

Noticing this movement, both Neji and Tenten stepped forward trying to stare them down. By the looks of their actions just then it seems like they're not protecting her but preventing her from getting away, the two thought. Silence filled the air and the only sounds were the ones from the match between Team 7.

Sasuke turned to face his two 'team-mates', they had changed, especially Sakura. She no longer seemed like the girl that was always girly and fighting over useless stuff. No, she had improved and changed a lot over these five years. Her eyes no longer showed happiness but coldness and her facial expression remained the same, not cracking any emotion. She's like me when I was a genin, I never showed emotions. It's just the same way I was like. She has changed too much; it's like knowing a block of ice. NO! I have to focus on killing Itachi, the past is the past. I need to forget about it, Sasuke thought.

Naruto interrupted his thoughts yelling words at him, "Sasuke-teme! I will never forgive you for what you have done!"

The missing-nin turned and faced the blonde and asked confusingly although it didn't show, "I have done nothing, what is your problem?"

The fox boy just clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white and from his anger, he once again charged, flinging two kunais at him. Sakura followed by attempting to connect a foot on the Uchiha's back. But it was useless; his sharingan was activated making all taijutsu useless against him. The two retreated back, giving each other a small nod, they attacked again. Sakura performed some hand seals and charka appeared around her hands, taking shape of a shape razor like object. (A/N: Okay, I'm just making these up, let's just say that Sakura had learned a lot more skills, Tsunade probably taught her but I'm not going into too much detail about that. It's the one Kabuto used against Tsunade back in episode...I can't remember. But hopefully you get the point.)

She hoped that it could stop Sasuke for a short time, enough to have Naruto attack with his rasengan. It was funny, she didn't seem worried at all, there she was now, trying to use any move to kill the person she once loved. But that was over or was it? She tried attacking his arms but he dodged them by a mere millimetre. Though it never came in contact, there were still effect; some of his muscles were cut even if the kunoichi's hands didn't touch. She continued to strike at him, never even pausing, yet she just continued trying and Sasuke being a prodigy, dodged most of them, some had lightly grazed him but he could endure the pain.

But he was more shocked about Sakura, had improved this much. He never expected the pink haired girl to grow so much. He had to focus so much on dodging her hands that it didn't give him a chance to attack.

Sakura continued, adding kicks and punches along with her attacks. She had managed to hit Sasuke; lightly on a couple of spots but it didn't seem to be able to slow the Uchiha down. Suddenly two kunais shot at them but it was unsure for whom. The two sensed it coming and dodged it but failed to notice explosive tags were wrapped around it. The explosion sent both Sasuke and Sakura flying backwards; the pink haired girl slammed roughly into a tree whereas Sasuke quickly tried to regain his footing.

Damn! I can't attack. Sakura-chan is getting in the way and I'll start making thing worst, Naruto thought. He leapt rapidly to Sakura and along the way saw, Neji and Tenten, starting a fight against three unknowns.

Rika just looked back at the two Konoha ninjas and noticed there was another Hyuuga. She started whispering to the others so that Hinata couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Hey look, if we can get that Hyuuga and that Hyuuga weakling over there, then we can be back on the top," she whispered to the other two.

"The one next to the girl looks really dangerous to fight, his chakra feels strong and one of us couldn't possibly defeat him," Shiruko replied softly.

"They want to fight," Yoshiru spoke up.

"What about the one we have?" Shiruko asked giving a nod to Hinata who in return gave a confused look.

"You take her away, find another place and we'll try to catch up with you but knock her out first," Rika replied before doing some hand seals.

Hinata saw Rika's hands moving making hand seals but it wasn't long before she started to feel strange and blacked out, within a few seconds.

Shiruko grabbed the limp body and turned to leave, but a couple of shuriken landed right at his feet. Looking up, he saw a angry glare from the Hyuuga and a girl holding some more weapons in her hand.

"Don't think you can get away that easy," she called to him and sent some more shurikens at him.

But they were deflected by Rika who called out, "Go! We'll hold them off for a while."

Tenten wanted to follow and was about to but Yoshiru stopped her, "Do you really think we'll let you go like that?"

The bun haired kunoichi leapt back to Neji who was giving their opponent a glare that could have sent them to their graves.

"Fight for now, but later I'll make a distraction so you can go after Hinata," Neji said to her.

"Okay,"

Seeing that the opponent wasn't going to make any moves, they decide to attack first with Tenten aiming weapons at the two. While they were dodging them, Neji tried sneaking from behind to use his Gentle Fist but when he did, the body turned into a puff of smoke leaving him attacking thin air.

Kage Bushin, they aren't real bodies. It's a trap to make us fight these, lowering our chakra, he thought.

"Tenten!" he called out but he saw she had already stopped with a small bunch of weapons imbedded in the ground. She just looked up and nodded.

Activating his byakugan, he surveyed the area around them trying to look for the two. He saw a mere glimpse of two moving objects far away, but disappeared soon from his sight. They move fast, it's only been a couple of seconds and they're already out of my sight even with the byakugan. He motioned for Tenten to follow him and the two headed further into the forest in search of the two.

The explosion from the fight between Team 7 had also knocked back Hanabi, Kiba and Lee but luckily suffering from minor injuries; whereas Sakura slammed into a tree which would have hurt twice as much. Lee wanted so much her so much but was pulled back by Kiba.

"Our job is to prevent Hanabi from coming to any danger, not to protect the one you love. Sakura is strong; she won't go down, that easily."

"But Sakura-san will need my help," he complained.

Kiba sighed but refused to let hold of the green beast and with the help of Akamaru, they prevented him from running off. He turned to see, Naruto and Sakura heading deeper into the forest but separating after a few seconds. He saw Sasuke follow but his eyes quickly turned away when he felt a tug flowing through his arms.

With one last tug, Lee freed himself from Kiba's grip and ran off, after Sakura. He wanted to follow but his order was to protect Hanabi and it will stay that way. Looking over at the young Hyuuga he noticed that her attention was focused in another direction.

"I'm following Neji-nisan," she announced before running off, in the direction Tenten and Neji had went.

Such an arrogant child; taking off like that. But orders are orders, Kiba thought then following with Akamaru behind. Light only had a minimal supply left, as the sun was setting. Moving through the forest at night was dangerous, let along, a fight. Better catch up.

Sakura had headed left whereas Naruto turned the other way, she was sure Sasuke would follow the blonde since he would put up more of a fight. But to be on the safe side, she continued into the forest even as darkness was surrounding her. It was a total shock for her to see Sasuke again, but with her new personality, she didn't show it. Back in their genin years, her love for Sasuke hadn't been anything more than a mere crush.

But that changed, she felt that her love for Sasuke was real, not just a stupid crush. Yet during these five years, she told herself to forget about him. She did, but only on the surface of her heart; deep down she knew that she still loved him and it can only be him, that can change her back to the way she was. Many people had tried to help her through this ice barrier but no one had been able to break it. No one, except for the one she loved most.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she sensed a strong chakra coming rapidly after her. Quickening her pace she hoped on losing her follower but that failed. Not sooner was she pushed roughly into the dirt by a punch from the enemy. Getting to her feet quickly, she looked up finding herself staring into onyx coloured eyes.

"Sa…su…ke?" she muttered under her breath.

"Sakura," he addressed the pink haired kunoichi, "You've changed."

Sakura remained silent for a while before looking at Sasuke, straight in the eye, "Sasuke, you haven't changed at all, still out for revenge as I can see."

"You are wrong and correct, I have changed but I still need to kill Itachi," he replied in a tone that was half mocking.

"That is no change, you're still the cold hearted person, I knew five years ago. You're exactly the same, someone who doesn't need love in their life," she told him.

"That is where I said I'm correct, you really have changed no more smile and weakness showing. You truly are someone stronger."

"Why are you here, shouldn't you be fighting Naruto instead of talking to boring and annoying me?" she asked him sounding bored about their conversation.

"I've fought Naruto before and I know he is strong, but I have never fought a match with you. I want to see how much you have changed," he replied, while doing a couple of hand seal before a big fireball came her way.

But she easily dodged I, after all her training, such a simple thing cannot defeat her. "It is my duty as a Konoha ninja to protect the Village. I don't know what you're planning but I will definitely bring you down even if it means, risking my life. Uchiha Sasuke, you're an S-ranked missing-nin of Konoha and bringing you down is my duty even if this isn't my set mission.'

Sasuke just smirked, "We'll see about that."

Sakura charged forward, taking out some shuriken and aiming it for him, but he easily dodged them. She anticipated that he would do that and threw a punch at him which sent him flying backwards. Not only had she learnt medic skills from Tsunade but also some of her super strength.

After getting on his feet, Sasuke's had shot up to his chest where Sakura had attacked.

Such strong power, he thought. But you're no the only one who has improved. His hands started performing another set of seals and a red glow started forming around his hands. (A/N: Remember, I'm only making these things up.) He lunged forward in order to attack Sakura.

Sakura had never seen this before; it was something she wasn't familiar with and she didn't want to find out what it could do. Sasuke speed suddenly went up a fold and it made it even more difficult to dodge. She hadn't been paying much attention to her footing because the next thing she knew, she had stumbled leaving a few sends off guard. Those few seconds were enough for Sasuke to hit her multiple times. She tried movie away but shock came to her when she could that she couldn't move her body. It was like as if her body was frozen; it prevented her hands from doing any hand seals and it sealed up anyway for her to use her strength.

A few meters away, Sasuke was once again performing a set of seals which turned out to be for 'chidori'. With her, unable to move, there was no way to escape so she closed her eyes awaiting the impact and pain. But to her surprise, there was none. Opening her eyes, she found that Sasuke had stopped the attack a reason, unknown to her.

"Why?" she asked him.

"I don't want to kill you," was his reply.

"Then why freeze my body!" she asked angrily.

"For you to listen as to what I have to say, I don't want another one of those punches connecting to my body."

Silence filled the air, the darkness had fully surrounded the area that made things difficult to see. Sakura could only work out the outline of his body.

"Well?" she asked him, starting to get impatient.

"Have you forgotten about love?"

This shocked her, she never expected this question and it was even more confusing to answer. She once knew about love but now days, those meanings seemed to have vanished. She never even thought much about it ever since Sasuke had left the village and never again had she wanted to show these feelings. Suddenly she felt a feeling she couldn't describe. Her blood was boiling but there was another feeling to it.

"Love? Why are you asking me, it should be directed at you! You were the one who said that love showed weakness. It is you that has made me like this. I won't allow myself to show weakness to you. All these years have past, back then, I really did like you more than a friend, but that was the past. Now, I've realised that back then I was just plain stupid. Why should I continue trying hen the person I love just ignored me! Do you have any idea how much pain I feel!" Sakura yelled at him, taking out all the anger.

"Sorry," these words came from his mouth and Sakura was taken aback, "I promise that won't ever happen again. You're not alone anymore, and you will never be again."

"Why are you telling me all this?" the kunoichi asked.

"I'm sorry for all the pain I've inflicted on you but at that time, things were different. It was only a couple of months ago when I found out an answer to my problems. Sakura…I truly love you and I wish one thing, is for you to return like you were before. You are one of my reasons for why I have chosen to return to Konoha. I want to see the smile on you face again and everything like you were before you went into this cold state. For I love you with all my heart."

"You…love…me?" Sakura whispered and slowly tears started rolling down her face.

Sasuke performed some seals and released her body from the cold. Sakura's body went limp all of a sudden and if Sasuke hadn't caught her, she would've fallen onto the floor. He hugged her body to his and moving his face closer, he bent down and slowly gave her a small but passionate kiss.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, but they returned to normal when Sasuke gave her a small smile. In return she gave him a smile but this time, one that was real.

"I still love you Sasuke-kun, after all these years," She whispered to him before falling asleep due to the exhaustion.

Hopefully I have bee a help to her, I really do love her but I never realised how much. I wish for her to return to normal and back into the happiness of life, he thought. He too, fell asleep, resting his head on Sakura's shoulder.

A/N: Another chapter done! Hopefully you like it. Please review.