A/N: Another chapter for everyone! This one is longer than the last as promised. Enjoy! Also, I changed the rating of the fic to M for this chapter, just to be safe!

Chapter 7: The Long Road Home

Emiko's POV

The chakra signatures of three unknown shinobi appeared in my network. Judging from their chakra signatures, they seemed to be from the Village Hidden in the Grass. "Three shinobi are approaching at high speed from the southeast, about one mile away now. One water style user, two that are primarily earth style users. They seem to be from the Hidden Grass. Likely not our enemies, but be on your guard." The two other ANBU on my team nod and Nara replies "Thanks Wolf." Our small party continues down the road, and I am getting more concerned by the moment. The unknown shinobi seem to be moving faster now and coming towards us at an alarming rate. "Keep your guard up, they are approaching." I say and the ANBU on my squad, Cat and Lizard get into position in order to better protect Lord Hokage. I wasn't expecting the ambush that came next. The three shinobi came out of the trees at lightning speed. Their forehead protectors show them to be rogue ninja from the Hidden Grass Village. Pulling out a Kunai, I barely dodge the fleet of shuriken and senbon that came with them. "Nara, take Hokage-Sama and keep heading to the village. Cat, Lizard and I will meet you when we are done here." I look back to find Kakashi's mouth open as if he is about to object, but Nara is already dragging him down the road. I vaguely here Nara say something like "I know it bothers you to leave them, they're the three best ANBU we have, they'll be fine. You're not abandoning them Kakashi-sensei, as Hokage you must not engage in battle unless absolutely necessary." And they disappear around the corner. "Ah. So you think it's your precious Hokage we want. Not yet, though I believe our comrades will be back for him at some point. Right now, the three of you are our prey." One of the men says and charges at me. I block his punch easily and shift my weight to my other leg and manage to land a roundhouse kick to his stomach. He flies backwards but lands on his feet. "Your taijutsu skills aren't bad, let's test your ninjutsu skills." The ninja begins weaving hand signs and I begin to knead chakra in my eyes. The world comes to life before me. Buzzing with nature chakra. I reach out with my Kankaku, feeling for the enemy. A water style jutsu. So he was the one I sensed before. Earth style will work best then. I begin weaving the signs. "Earth style: Great mud wall." I spew and the wall forms in front of me. "Lizard!" I hear Cat shout and turn to the sound. There is Lizard pulling a Kunai from her arm. She immediately begins to bandage the wound, while pouring a bit of healing chakra into it. As our only medic, Lizard is hard to target as her movements are generally very precise. "I'm fine." She shouts back. I release the wall to find the shinobi I am fighting breathing heavily, but still standing. Damn, these guys are persistent. "The boss told us that Leaf ANBU would be hard to catch." Leaf ANBU? That's suspicious. "What business does your boss have with us?" I ask. The rogue ninja gives me a sickly smile and says "He's looking for his little sister." The sentence sends a shiver down my spine. "And what does that have to do with the Hidden Leaf Village or the ANBU for that matter?" I reply by sending shuriken towards him, hoping he won't notice my Shadow Shuriken Jutsu. "I'm afraid that information is classified." the man replies preparing himself for my next attack. "LIZARD!" I hear Cat scream and I rush to the noise. Lizard is lying on the ground, breath raged. "Poison. I didn't notice it before because it was so thin. That Kunai from before it was poisoned. I can't neutralize a poison like this, not when we don't have any back up. It's okay. Keep fighting, find out what they want." I know this can't be the end. Lizard slumped against a tree. Cat sighed and turned to me "Wolf, we have to end this." I can tell even through his mask, that Cat was worried for Lizard. "I know." I turned back to find that the ninja Lizard had been fighting and was preparing to attack. Cat and I have a plan, but these ninja are more talented than we expected. The ex-Grass ninja threw the senbon and as planned dispersed Cat's shadow clone, I saw the opening and went for it, sending a chakra infused kunai at the man. In only a second the other man I was fighting before jumped in front of his comrade, and my kunai hit him in the chest. A chest hit, that will be fatal. With the battle's odds now more even, I take advantage of the man's apparent shock and send a wave of fire jutsu toward him. He manages to dodge the plums of fire and I jump out of the way of the shuriken he sends back. One just scrapes my cheek, leaving a small cut. "Agghhh. You're going down with me!" I hear Cat's voice say and turn to face the situation. Cat's holding a wound at his side, blood dripping from his hand. His other hand makes hand signs for an Earth Style jutsu that will bury the both of them in a flood of rocks. "No! Cat it's not worth it!" I cry and try to run to him but my own opponent has a trap of Kunai to block my path. "It's okay Wolf. I will have died a death fitting of a shinobi." He replies and I can see the rocks begin to fall from the cliff above. Instantly both Cat and the ex-Grass nin he was battling disappear under the flood of rocks. There is no time to grieve, I must finish my own battle. I turned back to find that I let myself get too distracted and I couldn't dodge the flood of senbon hurling at me. I feel the sting as most of them hit, none reaching any vital spots. "Now that it's just the two of us, who are you working for and what do they want with the Leaf?" I ask weaving signs for a water style jutsu. "Since you've given us a good fight, I will tell you what our comrades died for. Our boss is a man called Taketori-Sama. He is a rogue ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. At 16 he killed his whole clan except for his younger sister, Emiko Taketori. Now, Taketori-Sama wants to take over the Village Hidden in the Grass, as that is the rightful home of the Taketori clan. However, there is just one problem. Taketori-sama was the illegitimate child of the last clan head, so he has no claim to the Grass. But his younger sister does. He needs her to rule the Hidden Grass for him and help him take back the original home of their clan." Ah. So he is still alive. I thought by now he would have given up on me. I release the water style jutsu and take the opening it provides to pin the man to the ground. "I see. And what makes him so sure that Emiko Taketori is even alive?" I reply, hoping that Kikuro doesn't know that I am alive. "Nothing. Our mission was to capture a Leaf Ninja in order to obtain that information." Oh so that's their aim. Just when I least expect it a flood of senbon rain down on both of us and I look up to see a clone of my opponent disappear in a cloud of smoke. Damn, they likely have the same poison as the Kunai that took down Lizard. "None of my senbon have hit your vital points however that hardly matters, as the poison will kill you in a matter of hours anyways." He replies with a grin forming on his face. Both of us are still pinned to the earth, I begin to weave chakra in my eyes. The world comes to life with nature chakra swimming around me. I channel nature chakra into my hands and place them on the man's chest. I feel the chakra enter his system and begin to make his physical chakra go crazy. His face begins to turn a bright shade of yellow and he screams silently, my nature chakra slowly turning his body to stone. His face darkening into the grey stone is the last thing I see before the world goes black.

Shikamaru's POV

Kakashi-sensei and I reached the A-un gate of the village at dusk, only several hours after leaving our comrades to deal with the rogue ninja we encountered near the border. "Perhaps we should send backup to Wolf's squad." Kakashi says, clearly deep in thought. I have to give the man credit, he does care for the shinobi of the village a lot, even if it's such a drag. "I am sure they are fine. Even if they finished the battle rather quickly, and are moving at full speed, it will still be a few hours before they return. Plus, if someone is injured, their journey may take longer. If they aren't back by dawn, we can send a squad." I reply. Sometimes Kakashi-sensei over analyzes things. He has a tendency to think the worst. "Very well then. I suppose I have to start drafting a proposal for a international ninja training program anyways, so that the other nations can send their approval." We reach the familiar red building and I can't shake the nagging feeling that today is going to end up being such a drag.

Sasuke's POV

Don't abandon her when it matters most. The words from Naruto's last letter echo in my mind as I get closer to the border of the Land of Fire. My feelings towards Sakura have grown, but I am still not ready to face the reality of them. The reality that could be, because of the risk. The risk of losing my family again. My thoughts of her are interrupted by a strange mass of boulders in the clearing ahead. I activate my sharingan and put up my guard immediately, these boulders are from a jutsu. I entered the clearing to find that a battle occurred there. Leaf ANBU. I automatically head to the body of the one slumped against a tree, no vital signs. I head toward the body of an ANBU with dozens of senbon poking out. As my hand touches the ninja's neck I feel a rush of chakra and a weak pulse. The woman is still alive! I have to get her to the village for medical attention if she is going to survive. I heave her body onto my back and stabilize it with my hand. Judging by the woman's condition there isn't time to walk, so creating a portal is the only way. The portal puts me out about a mile from the village. It's dusk now and the run to the village will be easier from here. I can feel the chakra coursing through my body and the wind in my hair as I run at full speed towards the village. I don't even bother checking in with the border guards or those at the gates of the village. The hospital is in the middle of town and when I arrive, I can't find the familiar pink hair. A nurse comes to me eyes wide "Get Sakura Haruno now!." I say more harshly than I mean. The woman nods and runs off down the hall.

Sakura's POV

"Haruno-san! There's a man in the lobby who ran here with an ANBU that is in need of emergency assistance! He requested you specifically." Great, Naruto probably got too reckless on one of his ANBU missions again. He really should be more careful, he's grown now for Kami's sake. "Naru-What?" I say as I enter the hospital lobby to find Sasuke with an unconscious ANBU on his back. "Sakura. She needs immediate attention." He says and the look on his face tells me it's serious. I rush to his side and motion for some nurses to bring a stretcher. I can already tell the woman's wounds from the senbon are serious but not fatal, and that something else is going on. The nurses bring the stretcher and we rush to an exam room, Sasuke trailing behind. "It's as I thought, the senbon were poisoned. We must extract the poison immediately! It also looks as though her chakra is extremely depleted, I'll have to take a look to make sure her chakra network isn't damaged." The nurses nod and begin removing all of the senbon from the woman's body. "Sasuke-kun. Go and tell Kakashi-sensei about this, he may know her identity. We can catch up later. Oh, and welcome home." While I yearn to embrace him after the year that he's been away, the life of my patient is more important.