Thank-you to everyone that reviewed! I see that I did leave a big cliff hanger, lol! Well, I bet you-re all wondering how Oro returned, so here it goes! Oh I seemed to have noticed that my writing has decreased…which sucks, so I'm trying to write more and more into each chapter.


Chapter 8: Journey to Sound


Itachi, Sasuke and Sakura were utterly stunned. In their minds, they kept thinking about how could Orochimaru return. They thought he was dead but they actually thought wrong. Orochimaru was alive and 3 times as stronger than before!

Sakura began to weep again, while Sasuke patted her back. He was actually very furious but not as much as Itachi. Itachi was a whole different story. His wife and son were taken from him just minutes ago and he didn't even notice it. And he's suppose to be the Anbu head…

Itachi punched the wall that said the bloodied, and haunting words. "Damn him…DAMN HIM TO HELL!" He shouted. Itachi's knuckle was slightly red. Sasuke and Sakura looked at Itachi.

"Punching the wall won't do anything." Sasuke spoke softly. Itachi faced his younder brother and glared at him. "Well what am I suppose to do!" Itachi yelled once more. Sakura wiped her tears away and spoke softly.

"Itachi, Sasuke-kun, we have to go to Tsunade-sama. I think she knows something about this." Sasuke nodded while Itachi tried to regain his composure.

Once they all calmed down from the sudden incident, Itachi, Sasuke, and Sakura left the house and headed towards the hokage tower. The walk was silent, for no one knew what to say. Sakura hung her head a little low, while the Uchiha brothers held stotic faces.

After they reached the hokage tower, Itachi banged on the door. Without permission, he entered Tsunade's office.

Tsunade was currently sitting behind her desk, and looking over mission reports. Itachi banged his hand on her desk causing the hokage to stare up at him. He had an angry expression on his face.

"What's the matter Uchiha?" Tsunade asked. She saw that Sasuke and Sakura were quietly behind Itachi. Sakura seemed to have red puffy eyes while Sasuke held a sad expression now.

Tsunade felt as if something was missing. She only saw three out of five members in her office. Sensing that Serina and Akito were not here, she looked at Itachi.

"Hokage-sama, my wife and son were taken abducted right from my house," Tsunade widened her eyes and cupped her own face saying in her head, 'Oh no, oh no.' "Can you guess who took them?" Itachi asked her.

"…" Tsunade stayed silent. "It was that fucking snake-bastard!" Itachi yelled as he slammed his fist again on her desk. Tsunade remained quiet and then Sakura decided to speak.

"Shishou, how, how could Orochimaru be back? I thought that Serina and Sasuke killed him!" Sasuke and Itachi waited quietly for an answer from Tsunade. She finally spoke.

"I'm sorry for keeping this a sercret from you guys, but Orochimaru has been alive since after Itachi and Serina's wedding." Tsunade hung her head low a bit but then brought it back up to see three very confused yet shocked faces.

"But, if you knew, why didn't you tell us!" Sasuke said a sudden.

"Because, if you guys were to know that Orochimaru were still alive, I knew that you would go after him within a heartbeat. Plus I didn't want any stress right now on you guys!"

"Damn right we would have gone after him but I wouldn't care about the stress!" Itachi yelled.

"Anyway, I sent a few Anbu members to try an annihilate him, but some died and some came back fatally injured. It seems that he is three times stronger than before. I chose not to send more, and I chose not to send you guys until you all became stronger!" Tsunade spoke with a hint a sadness in her strong voice.

"Weren't we strong enough before?" Sasuke asked. "Baka-Sasuke! Remember was Shishou said about Orochimaru being 3 times stronger now?" Sakura answered. Sasuke nodded and shrugged off the insult.

"You see, in the past year, I developed unique techniques for each of you when you face Orochimaru. Sasuke, you will get the Devil's Sword no jutsu." Tsunade tossed him a scroll that showed a few hand seals. Sasuke caught the scroll and started to read the seals.

"The Devil's Sword, is a raging red sword that you can use against anything. You need a lot of chakra to handle the sword and it requires a lot of concentration for the sword to work. It's useful against Orochimaru's sword as well." Sasuke nodded and looked once more at the scroll.

"Itachi, you already possess the Mangekyou Sharingan and you are the head of the Anbu, but I invented a jutsu for you as well. Empty Darkness no jutsu! It requires the assistance of the mangekyou, which you have. Empty darkness steals the soul right out of a person's body. Also useful for using against Orochimaru." Tsunade tossed him a scroll as well and Itachi thanked her.

"Sakura, your jutsu is Cherry Blossoms of Death! It allows you to summon cherry blossoms anywhere at anytime, but the catch is, each cherry blossom explodes as soon as it touches something." Tsunade tossed her a scroll as well.

"Thank-you Shishou. I guess with these new jutsu's that means we are going after Orochimaru, right?" Sakura asked. Tsunade nodded. Just as they were about to leave, Tsunade asked Sakura something.

"Sakura, I never thought that Serina would get captured along with the baby, so I did invent a jutsu for her. Seeing as she's not here, would you be willing to take her jutsu?" Sakura beamed with happiness and nodded.

"Good. This jutsu is called Dance of the Angels. It works with your bloodline and is the most powerful out of the other jutsus invented. I would not want to spoil a surprise for you guys, so Sakura, I suggest you take the last blow on that snake-bastard!" Tsunade pumped a fist in the air as Itachi, Sasuke, and Sakura prepared for their new mission.

"Sakura, Sasuke, Itachi. You three will go on an S-ranked mission to the sound village where we believe Orochimaru is hiding at. You mission is to retrieve Serina Uchiha and Akito Uchiha, plus the assassination of Orochimaru and his comrades. Complete the mission and I expect all of you to return back within a month!" Tsunade ordered.

"Yes Ma'am!" The three saluted. "Well what are you still standing around here for? Go on and start you mission!" Sasuke, Sakura, and Itachi had smiled very little but left the hokage's office.

"Oh crap…Did I do the right thing of sending two jounins and an Anbu on an S-ranked mission?" Tsunade thought about it for a while and then spoke to herself again.

"I did do the right thing. Those three will make it back alive and well, with Serina and Akito, I hope…" She reassured herself.


Sasuke, Sakura, and Itachi

The trio were currently back at home, packing up their equipment for the mission. Itachi had been quiet ever since they left Tsunade's office. Sakura and Sasuke looked at him with sad eyes but then continued to pack their back packs.

Sakura decided to change her red clothes and wear black. She wore a black sleeveless shirt that zipped up, with black baggy capri pants. She changed in her own room!

Sasuke wore his black Uchiha clan shirt with long black jeans.

Itachi wore an outfit similar to Sasuke's. Thay all wore black ninja sandals. The black outfits would help to investigate during the night.

"Are we ready?" Itachi asked. Sasuke nodded but Sakura shook her head. Both boys looked at her.

"We are missing one thing." She held up the Konoha headband. Sasuke and Itachi nodded and grabbed their headbands as well. Sakura, Sasuke, and Itachi tied their headbands to their foreheads.

"When we go to the Hidden Sound Village, they'll know that it was Konoha Ninjas who kicked their sorry asses!" Sakura pumped her fist in that air. Sasuke chuckled at her antics and Itachi smiled small, but quickly put back on his stotic face.

After a few minutes more, they immediately left the house and headed to Konoha's west gate. As they reached the gate, they looked back at Konoha once more. They turned back and started to head out of the village.

"To the Sound Village we go!" Sakura said. Both boys stayed quiet. If Serina was here, then she would have had a great conversation with her sister, but Serina wasn't here, so Sakura had no one to really talk to.

Sakura looked at her engagement ring and smiled. She gently touched the pink gem and looked over to Sasuke. He was looking forward and being quiet as usual, but when she looked over to Itachi, he looked sad and angry. She could not read his expression, so she just turned her head back towards the dirt road and walked on.

Sasuke heard a russel come from a bush so out of instinct, he threw a shikuren at it.

"Please, don't hurt me!" A figure stepped out of the bush and Sakura and Itachi got out a shikuren as well. As the figure stepped closer into the light, they realized that it was Kabuto! Itachi charged at him.

"You bastard! Where is my family!" Itachi yelled as he ran to Kabuto.

"Itachi-san, please don't hurt me! I'm not on Orochimaru's side anymore!" Kabuto got down on his knees and pleaded. Sakura widened her eyes and ran full speed ahead of Itachi. She stood in front of Kabuto. Sasuke ran after Itachi and pulled his arms back. Itachi stopped his running and glared at Sakura.

"Sakura! What are you doing! This man helped kidnap my wife and child! Why are you protecting him?" Itachi yelled. Sasuke wanted some answers as well.

"Itachi! He is telling the truth! Kabuto is not with Orochimaru anymore!" Sakura defended.

"How can you be so sure?" Her fiancée asked.

"Easy Sasuke-kun, I activated my Cresent Moon and I read Kabuto's mind." Sakura stated. "Oh my god! I read Kabuto mind, which means, I have fully activated my bloodline!" Sakura was overjoyed but then stopped.

"Fine, so you read his mind, doesn't mean I trust that coward yet." Itachi said.

Kabuto finally got up off the ground and spoke. "Itachi-san, I do not wish to work with Orochimaru anymore. He used me for my medical skills and then abandoned me. I wish to seek revenge on him and I am willing to tell you guys useful information about him." Sakura, Sasuke, and Itachi agreed to Kabuto and they continued to travel towards the hidden Sound Village.

"Kabuto-san, why are you helping us?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I've been pushed around Orochimaru too much and I think that it's about time somebody showed him was it felt like to be pushed around." Kbuto answered.

"Good choice, because if you are lying, prepare to face the wrath of the Uchiha Brothers." Sasuke threatened. Kabuto grew very scared of Sasuke but camled down when Sakura told him too.

Nightfall hit the sky and so the four decided to set up their tents and rest. The problem was though, that there were only two tents and four people.

"I'll sleep with Sakura-san!" Kabuto said. Sasuke grew very angry and bonked Kabuto on his head.

"Like hell will you sleep next to my fiancée. You can go and sleep in Itachi's tent." Sasuke said. Sakura stayed quiet.

"Fine. Is that alright Itachi-san?" Kabuto asked.

"Do what you want, but if you touch me when I'm sleeping, I will not hesitate to hurt you." Itachi informed. Kabuto backed away a little from Itachi and nodded.

Sasuke made a fire and Sakura started to cook some food. All four sat around the fire as Salura passed around the cooked fish. With Sasuke's though, she put a slice of tomato for him. After they ate the food quietly, Kabuto decided to tell them some information about Orochimaru.

"Okay guys, what do you need to know about Orochimaru?" he asked.

"Why did he take Serina and Akito?" Itachi asked.

"Oh, well, Orochimaru wanted to hold hostages of your loved ones until you came and looked for them." Kabuto answered.

"So the snake-bastard was expecting us all along eh." Itachi said. He stayed quiet afterwards.

"Who's next?" Kabuto asked.

"I just have one question for you Kabuto-san. How did Orochimaru come back to life?" Sakura asked. Sasuke and Itachi's ear perked up.

"Before Sasuke-san did the final blow to Orochimaru, Orochimaru replaced himself with someone else. The person was disguised as him with the help of henge no jutsu. Orochimaru left the battle as I recovered him. His henge no jutsu worked perfectly, but as soon as I finished healing him, he left me." Kabuto said with anger in his voice.

Sasuke, Sakura and Itachi were just as mad as Kabuto.

"That bastard." Sasuke said. Itachi got up and went inside his tent to sleep. He said a small goodnight to the others.

"We should head on out to bed. Good night Kabuto-san." Sakura said. Kabuto went into the tent with Itachi. They slept as far away as possible from each other.

Sasuke and Sakura remained by the fire. A blanket was near them so Sasuke wrapped it around Sakura and himself.

"Thanks." She said to him. Sasuke nodded.

After another few minutes of silence, Sakura leaned her head on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke's arm was wrapped around her waist.

"Sasuke-kun, what if that was me instead of Serina who got kidnapped, what would you have done?" Sakura asked him quietly. They were watching the flames of the fire.

"I would have been just like Itachi. Concerned, angry, sad, because I just lost the love of my life. But I would not stop searching for you until I found you safe in my arms." Sasuke replied. Sakura looked up at Sasuke and he looked down at her. She leaned in a gave a soft kiss on his lips. Sasuke kissed her back lightly. After a minute they broke apart and Sakura once again leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too Sasuke, thank-you." Sakura said. Sasuke smiled and gently rested his head on hers and instead of sleeping in their tent, they slept right in front of the fire.


Woo! Done with this chapter! Hope it made sense! I added some SasuSaku fluff at the end. Review if you have time please! Thanks! I love you all! My loyal reviewers, lol! Wow, I think that this was one of my faster updates!