Chapter 1

Re-introductions

"As time passes, all things are bound to change. That is the way of the universe."- Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage

The Hidden Leaf Village was filled with laughter and joy. The villagers were still enjoying themselves after the party Lady Tsunade, their Fifth Hokage, held. The children were playing ninja, wanting to join the academy one day. Some of the students were even joining the kids, giving them some tips. A few elderly men decided to just sit outside and relax in the sun, feeling its warmth. None would ever believe the village was ever attacked.

But not everyone was this happy. A certain 19-year-old girl was resting in the hot spring on her last day off. She was wondering about someone. Where was he? Was he alright? These questions were running through her head. She moved her pink hair out of her eyes. Maybe she was having too much relaxation.

"Oh, hi, Sakura!" a familiar voice greeted her. "Long time no see!"

Sakura turned around to see the person who addressed her. It was a familiar girl with long, platinum-blonde hair and pupil-less blue eyes. "Ino? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? Like, can't a girl have some R&R time?" Ino asked.

"That's not what I meant…" the pink-hair tried to make herself clear, when Ino started laughing.

"I'm just joking, Sakura. I just got back from the mission and thought I'll come here." The Yamanaka girl said. Sakura giggled.

"So that's it, huh?" Sakura thought loudly, jumping onto her friend. "Why you little…!" two were having a friendly fight. The people outside decided to ignore that.

Later

Sakura was on her way to the Hokage Tower. She decided to talk with Tsunade. She wanted to know about her possible assignment beforehand. She looked around, watching the families laughing and eating. She smiled. This was a happy view. Then a cat ran her path. Before she knew it, a team followed… or rather ran into her. The four people fell into a pile.

"What the heck?" Sakura screeched. Then she took a look at the group who fell into her. It was a bunch of genin. "What are you doing, genin?"

"I'm sorry about this, Sakura." Someone apologized. When Haruno looked up she noticed three familiar faces.

The first person to show up was Rock Lee. Dressed in the same fashion as always- green spandex tights, orange leg warmers, a chunin vest and orange wrist warmers, which were likely the same as those on his legs- with weights.

The person behind him was Neji Hyuga. The man wore a brown robe with the Hyuga crest on the back over a black dogi shirt with the sleeves loosely hanging. In addition he wore black ninja sandals. His long hair was tied in a braid. He also wore a necklace.

The last person to appear was Tenten, who still dressed in a Chinese fashion. She wore a Red-and-black, short sleeved blouse and red pants. She also sported four scrolls on her.

"Lee, Neji, Tenten? Don't tell me these kids are your team." Sakura asked.

"They're not really our team." Lee explained. "Their sensei is simply out on a mission, so we were asked to look after them for a few days." The thick eye-browed guy explained.

"And we just tagged along to make sure Lee doesn't get them to do something crazy again." Tenten said. "You do remember the last time, don't you?"

Sakura paled, seeing toilet seats again.

"Y-yeah… please don't remind me of that." She asked.

"But it wasn't all that bad. Everyone had their food prepared." Lee said, getting himself hit by his female team-mate.

"And we all ended up with diarrhea for two days!" she shouted.

"The problem is Guy-sensei thought Lee could use some more experience with the younger comrades." Neji got back to the topic. "And you…?"

"I'm heading to see Lady Tsunade. I thought I might get to know what the next assignment might be." Sakura explained.

"Then you're getting ahead of yourself, Sakura." A bored voice told her. She knew only one person who could talk like that.

"What are you suggesting, Shikamaru?" She asked the man with a head like a pineapple.

"I'm just saying. If there were any news about any of them, we would've heard about it."

"Well, maybe I like to think the news will be fresh, you skeptical moron." She barked.

"It's nice to be optimistic, Sakura." Choji, who was accompanying Shikamaru, commented. "But sometimes you have to accept the fact that you can't always hear the good news.

Sakura's head dropped. They may be right. But she needed to hope. There was always hope. She looked at the Hokage Monument, at the carving of the Fifth. Lady Tsunade didn't give up herself. So she won't as well.

The Hokage Tower

Sakura was slowly approaching the door to the hokage's office. She had some fun with her friends, but she really wanted to know about the assignments. She got closer to the door and heard someone talking with the Hokage.

"In short: we now know about the bandits in that area. Is that right?" Tsunade asked. Sakura decided to take a peek.

"That would be right, ma'am." A woman in a tan trench coat replied. And judging by the purple hair in a spiky pony-tail, it had to be Anko Mitarashi. Sakura knew that if she was here, than she had something from the Torture & Interrogation Department, where she started working under the tutelage of Ibiki Morino.

That actually fitted the crazy, hyperactive girl.

"Lady Tsunade! I'll gladly take the mission of taking them down." The man next to Anko said. The guy wore a black leather coat and a black bandana covering his hair. "I need some exercise."

"Very well, Ryu." Tsunade agreed. "Still, you will not go on the mission alone. I'll assign you at least two more people to your team."

"*sigh* Very well. Just please do get me Raido. The guy seems off lately." Ryu said.

"Report in at 0700 hours. Dismiss." She commanded. As the two were leaving… "And you may enter, Sakura."

Sakura freaked out for a moment. Since when did Tsunade know she was there? She entered with a red face into the office, while Ryu and Anko left.

"So what brings you here, Sakura?" the Fifth Hokage asked.

"Well, I was wondering if I could know about the assignment." The pink haired girl answered.

"It's nothing great, unfortunately. Just delivering a scroll." Tsunade said.

"Well if that's all, than it can't be all that bad." She said loudly with a smile. Although 'Is that it? Are you kidding me or something? What a Lame mission!' Her inner persona commented.

"Glad to hear it. The scroll must be delivered to the Hidden Sand Village. So I suggest you take a good rest. Kakashi will be waiting for you at the north gate at 0800 hours."

"So I'd better get there at 11 in the morning." Sakura murmured.

"Don't worry. I'll make him get his ass there in time." Tsunade said with a dark smile. "You're dismissed."

Sakura bowed and left. She wondered how things in the Hidden Sand were.

Hidden Sand Village

Dust and smoke was everywhere. The people were screaming, panicking. The ninja were searching for casualties, seeing to the wounded. The entrance to the village was in rubble. That and mined. It was hell now. Far in the distance, two cloaked men with a huge bird at their side were looking at the scene.

"You're making me wait again, Deidara." The shorter of the two said with a harsh, impatient voice. The man with long blonde hair tied in a pony tail looked at him.

"Well, I refuse to leave just yet, Sasori, hn." Deidara replied. "I want to enjoy the view just for a few more seconds, hn."

"You know that this blockade in the canyon won't hold them back forever. If they're at it right now, then by dawn they might just remove the rubble."

Deidara looking to at the moon. "Yeah, maybe. But then we'll be long gone. I lost my right arm, but hey, mission accomplished, hn." He looked at the bird, which was a huge clay figurine. A human hand was hanging out of its beak. "The jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Raccoon-dog has been captured. So my art is epic once more." He reached out his hand into the sky, opening the mouth in the palm. That mouth showed several small teeth as well as a thick though short tongue, licking his palm.

"Quit calling your short-lived explosions art and move it. You're making the leader wait." Sasori, who was already some distance away, ordered.

"Hey, wait a minute, Sasori! Hold up!" The blonde chased after him.

Hidden Leaf Village, Sakura's house

The pink hair was sleeping soundly. Her room slightly illuminated by the first rays of light. She rolled over to the other side. She started giggling, drooling. Then she started murmuring. "No, Sasuke. You can't strip me here. People are watching."

"Then take it elsewhere." A voice recommended.

"We'll do just that…" she paused. Then she woke up with a scream, foaming. Kakashi was sitting behind the window. "Kakashi-sensei? How long were you sitting there?" She asked covering herself, despite she was in her pajamas.

"Just got here to hear about your romantic fantasies." The silver haired man answered, making the girl get whole red. "Jokes aside. Get dressed and get to Lady Tsunade's office. We've got an emergency." He instructed her with a serious voice.

Sakura knew well enough by now that if Kakashi ever acted serious it WAS an emergency situation.

Hokage Tower

"WHAT? The Kazekage got kidnapped?" Sakura screeched.

"Unfortunately that is the massage from the Sand Village." Tsunade confirmed with a concerned look. "So I'm sending you and Kakashi to investigate and help the village in any way possible. Hidodama will be on your team for this one."

"Wait a minute. Why one of the enforcers?"

"Because these Akatsuki are no joke, girly." The female member of the Enforcers entered. The woman was wearing a kusari under a white top, black wrist warmers with fingerless gloves, and black trousers. The one thing that Sakura couldn't understand about this brown haired woman was the fact she was walking barefoot. She didn't understand her taijutsu style required that. The woman fixed her shoulder long hair, which were getting in her eye. "These guys consist of S-rank rogue ninja. Each of them is considered so dangerous that even our unit needs to take caution. And that's the least you'd expect from people who hunt people like Lord Gaara… and Naruto."

The minute Hidodama mentioned Naruto's name, it perked her interest. "What do you mean?"

"You know already that Naruto has the Nine-tailed Fox sealed inside of him." Kakashi started to explain. "Gaara has the One-Tailed Raccoon-dog sealed inside. So the Akatsuki are after them."

"There is another thing." The enforcer added. "Since it's them, we'd better consider Itachi Uchiha's appearance."

"You're right. We'd better consider that possibility." Kakashi agreed. Sakura was confused. She didn't know this Itachi person. She always thought Sasuke was the last Uchiha alive.

"You'd better get going now." Tsunade suggested. "And since Temari left the village yesterday morning, You might wanna pick her up and tell her the news."

"Yes ma'am." The team responded and moved out.

Elsewhere

The group of bounty hunters was still cheering after the other day's success. They finally caught their hands on the big catch. Now all they needed to do is cross the border and they'd get the money in the first town they come across. Two men who were pulling the wagon didn't complain about their work just because they thought about the payment they would receive. Soon they came across a small house by the road, with a sole guardsman watching them. He fixed his armor and apparently called for the rest. In a matter seconds, there were five more men on the road. The gorilla-like man stopped his gang and approached the one who looked like in-charge.

"State your business." The commander demanded.

"We're transporting a bandit, sir." The boss said, pointing at the wagon. The commander raised his eye brow and walked over to check it out.

"Just who are you transporting, exactly?"

"You recall the incident in the capital of Tea Country, right?"

"You mean when the whole district got destroyed along with the mafia ruling there? Yeah, I recall. The damage was so great the man, while believed to be a hero by civilians, is a wanted criminal for endangering that priestess, um… What was her name? Shion?"

"Whatever. That's the guy."

"Then we'll just need to get the formalities and you can pass."

The two authority figures entered the house. While they were attending to the paperwork, their underlings where sharing gossips.

"And then she said: That's no jutsu. That's my fart." Two men started laughing.

"Then this healer with his apprentice healed the old man and moved on, smiling as always to the…"

"… added some pepper to her soup. The mother-in-law had what she deserved. Of course he…"

"And did hear the latest news? They say the kazekage got kidnapped." One of the guards said. Now that caught the runaway's attention.

"You serious? That can't be." One of the man's captures refused to believe it.

"It's true. Really."

"But who could've done that?"

"Some guys, you know… the ones everyone's been whispering about. The ninja in particular. The guys in black cloaks with…"

"The red cloud on it?"

"Yeah, them."

The man were about to continue, when the wagon suddenly shook. They wouldn't mind it normally. But this time it was more intense. Soon everyone gathered were wondering what's going on in there. Did the guy go insane? Apparently so since one of the men guarding him flew out through the wagon's wall. The other flew out through the roof. The runaway jumped out of the wagon and engaged them men in a fight.

Five men tried to dog pile him, but the guy was seeing it coming and roundhouse kicked them away. Two guardsmen charged with their swords drawn. They thought they had the upper hand. No one would dare to fight an armed and armored opponent.

They were wrong. The man moved with blinding speed and caught them by their throats, throwing them high into the air. He turned around to see two guys running at him. One had his ninja pouch and a kunai holder, while the other had a crystal necklace on. The man elbowed them both, swiftly taking away what his saw in their possession.

"These are mine, scum." He told them, lazily pushing them down.

The guard commander and the boss walked out of the house, congratulating each other. They were about to tell their men to stop fighting with each other, when facts hit their eyes. Everyone was beaten up. The runaway looked at them. The two looked at each other, then at him. They attacked. The guardsman-in-charge got punched in the face and send flying at the bear-man, who barely dodged him. He made a few hand signs.

"Earth Style: Avalanche!" He called. A huge wave of earth launched at his bounty. He smiled, until he felt a kunai on his throat.

"I wouldn't think about it if I were you." The man advised. The gorilla-bear-guy, obviously, didn't listen. He tried to hit the runaway, but missed. Then he suddenly fell unconscious. The runaway clapped his hand after a well done job. "Warned you. Although I failed to learn that. I still do." He said. Then he turned to find the last guardsman standing. The man could tell that this guard must've been a rookie, who still hasn't seen action like this before. He walked over to him.

"You… when did the Hidden Sand got attacked?" he asked. The man's deep voice seemed threatening. The guardsman was sweating in fear. Never before has he seen such power. He never even thought anyone could be this strong. Was this guy a ninja? Are ninja really this strong? He thought it was just an exaggeration. He wanted to pull out his sword as tears started running from his eyes. "Don't do this." He warned the rookie. "I have no intention of hurting you. Don't get yourself into something way above you." He advised.

"I… I… The attack is rumored to have taken place two days ago." The guardsman said.

The runaway nodded. "Which way to the Wind Country?"

"Go east from here." The rookie pointed. "The huge, red field is the border. I believe the Hidden Sand… will be the… lone rock on the horizon, north-east from the field." He added.

The guy leaped away in the given direction. He just hoped he would make it in time.

To be continued…

A/N: Another chapter ready. Let me know what you think. See you.