Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 2

"Hey, big assignment today. Listen up!" Zetsu announced. "We're going to kidnap someone."

The Akatsuki went into an uproar at the challenge. "Finally! Something interesting! Took him long enough, hmm?" Deidara joined in, clearly in a good mood. But not Sasuke. For him, it was just another problematic situation to add to his list of problematic situations.

After a while, someone finally thought to ask, "Who is it?"

"Well," Zetsu started, "I originally planned to kidnap Kakashi the millionaire himself," At this, more cheers arose, "but with all the guards around him, it will be too much of a trouble, and may well give them a chance to finally capture us. So, we will hold his precious nephew Naruto instead." He finished. The cheers has now turned into jeers of disappointment and anger.

Zetsu looked around at the Akatsuki members present. "Tch. Pain, Sasori, come with me. The rest of you, stay here and make yourselves busy."

There was clear confusion and more anger amongst the crowds.

"Why do you three get to do it and not us?" one shouted.

"Yeah! Weren't we all going to do this together?" said another.

"I am clearly better suited for this assignment. Take me!"

And the protests went on.

Zetsu raised a hand for silence. "Stealth is the key to this operation if we want to abduct the boy without being noticed for quite some while. This period of time before they realised that he is missing is a crucial time period for us to ready ourselves. The rest of you here either talk too much," he glared at Deidara, "or will kill our hostage before he even gets here. There are also some among our ranks who are too inexperience for this high-ranked assignment." Sasuke knew that he was talking about him. He would have usually argued about he was much more skilful compared to some other of the hot-headed members, but this time, he let it slide. He didn't want to get too caught up in this anyway.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Naruto, happy birthday to you!"

"Come on, hurry up Naruto, blow out the candles!"

"Wait, wait, wait. I need to think of a wish first!" the said boy (man?) protested.

"Don't tell me you are going to waste a wish on an unlimited supply of ramen?" Kakashi raised a brow, briefly glancing up from his book of porn, before giggling in an un-manly-like manner at something in the book.

"Of course not! I am not that stupid!"

"Um, actually, you might be." Sakura answered.

"Eh? You are taking Kakashi-jii-san's side on this, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura huffed, "I am not taking anyone's side. I am just stating a fact. You are quite stupid."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined, "Couldn't you at least be nice to your precious cousin on his birthday?"

Glancing at the puppy dog eyes on Naruto's eyes, Sakura caved. She sighed, "Fine, fine… You are not that stupid. Now can you blow the candles?"

Naruto placed his palms together and closed his eyes for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath and blowing all the candles clean out.

"So, what did you wish for, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shook his head, "Not telling, otherwise it won't come true!"

"I bet he wished to take over your company someday." Sakura muttered.

"Eh? How did you know, Sakura-chan?"

"Ah, would you look at the time. It's getting late. I think it is time for me to go."

"Already, Kakashi-jii-san? It's still early!"

"I have an early morning meeting tomorrow that I absolutely can't miss. Sorry, Naruto."

Naruto pouted, "Eh, well, if you need to, then you need to go."

Kakashi's lone eye crinkled as he smiled, "Thanks for understanding, Naruto. You really are my favourite nephew. And Sakura, of course, is my favourite niece. Will you be going yet, Sakura?"

"Nah, I have a day off tomorrow. I will stay for a little while longer."

"Well then, bye you two." And he left.

Sasori saw a shadowed figure leaving the house. All was silent.

"I think they left," he reported.

"Good. That means that the brat is now home alone. Remember to stick to the plan. Let's move in now."

Stealthily, the trio managed to pick the lock and get in from the back door without much hassle. They then split up to look for Naruto. Zetsu came across the kitchen and stopped when he saw a figure moving out of the corner of his eye. He waited until the figure had turned their back to face him before advancing with a body-sized sack in hand. He skilfully threw it over the person's head.

Got you, brat.

A muffled scream rang out throughout the house.

Thank you for reading. Please leave a review.