AN: I seemed to forget to mention the parings that will sprout up in this fic. Though I'm still debating which ones to do, I can assure you that, eventually, I will have paring.
x-X-x
Chapter 2: A New Mission
Tsunade looked at the eight heads on the table and shivered. She could tell who some where from their forehead protectors, "Akatsuki."
"It appears so Hokage-sama. This note came with them," said the chuunin handing Tsunade the note.
'Dear Tsunade, I have decided in my travels to give each of the Sennin a gift, yours, if you cannot tell, is the downfall of Akatsuki. Do not think I did this alone, I have several allies, and trickery goes along way as well. Fare thee well.'
Tsunade looked back at the heads. "One's missing, but I know it isn't him that did this, it's not his handwriting," she said.
"How do you know one's missing?" asked an ANBU member.
"Jiraiya, he said there were nine members. Plus, our friend isn't here," said Tsunade with a smirk.
"Itachi," said the chuunin.
x-X-x
Roken and Sasuke were standing outside the Hidden Sound Village, Itachi's body over Sasuke's shoulder, and six other ninja around them.
"So, you never said your village," said Sasuke.
Roken chuckled again, "I come from the Village Hidden in the Grave. And whenever I think about it I laugh, I'm a presumed dead ninja from the Grave village."
"You said you had gifts for the others, what are they?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, for Jiraiya I killed his rival, Orochimaru. For Naruto, he no longer has Akatsuki after him, and Sakura, she has the prospect of you returning, though I don't plan on forcing you to go back there," said Roken.
"What do we do now?" asked one of the other ninjas, a male.
"Well, you could come with me, join my Alliance, or go out on your own," said Roken.
"What it the goal of you Alliance?" asked the ninja.
"Right now, we are very content with gathering blood samples from all of the bloodline limits," said Roken.
"Is that how that man had three?" asked Sasuke.
"Yes, but we don't want the limits in ourselves, they all conflict with each other, you don't live long with more than one bloodline limit," said Roken.
"Well, I'm not going with you, but if you stay out of my way, I wont stop you either," said Sasuke walking away, two of the others followed him, the other four went with Roken.
x-X-x
Naruto woke up to a loud banging on his door. He got out of bed and was about to answer when it banged again, he waited until the assault on the door ended, he didn't want to be hit in the head like last time. When the banging ended the door swung open.
"Waisit?" asked Naruto rubbing his eyes in the light.
"Hokage-sama wants to see you immediately," said the messenger ninja.
"What time is it?" Naruto asked.
"Nearly noon," said the ninja.
Naruto's eyes shot open, "NOON! I missed out on the morning training!" he yelled before slamming the door and running back into his apartment to get dressed.
Ten minutes later he bolted from his apartment and ran off to Tsunade's office.
"Sorry I'm late granny, I got here as soon as I could," yelled Naruto as he entered the office.
A vain bulged on Tsunade's head but she ignored it, "Naruto, you're here for two reasons. The first, is to let you know that someone has sent us the heads of Akatsuki,"
"WHAT?" yelled Naruto.
"SHUT UP!" Tsunade yelled back rising from her chair. She sat back down, "yes, eight of the nine members' heads, Itachi is the one whom may still be alive. You are among the first I am telling, so you no longer need to worry about them. The second reason you are here is because I have a mission for you."
"Really?" Naruto's eyes lit up, "what kind of mission?"
"I'll inform you when the rest of the team arrives," said Tsunade.
On cue Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi walked in.
"Good, you're all here. Team Kakashi, I want you to go to all the locations we know Akatsuki used as hideouts to see if anything remains of them," said Tsunade.
"But you just said we got their heads," said Naruto.
"What? When did we get the heads of Akatsuki?" asked Kakashi and Sai together, Sakura just starred at Naruto.
"We received eight of their heads late yesterday, Itachi is still out there though, which is why I'm sending you, Jiraiya has written down all the locations he knew of, see if Itachi is trying to bring them back," said Tsunade handing Kakashi the paper.
"How many places are there?" asked Sakura.
"Three, but four counting the cave we found Gaara in," said Kakashi.
"I doubt there'll be anything there, I trashed it pretty well in that fight," said Sakura.
"We still have to look," said Kakashi, "anything else Hokage?"
"No, nothing, dismissed," Tsunade said.
The four bowed to her and walked out.
x-X-x
An hour later the four ninja were standing at the gates of Konoha making sure they had everything before leaving.
"Everyone set?" Kakashi asked.
The three nodded in response and they set off.
"Sakura, what's wrong?" Naruto asked about a day into their mission.
"Nothing, why do you ask?" said Sakura.
"You barely spoke since we heard about Akatsuki, something has to be wrong," said Naruto.
"I guess you know me pretty well," said Sakura.
Naruto grinned and nodded, then his face went strait again, "Is it about Sasuke?" he asked.
"Yeah, our times up for the three years, Jiraiya said that Akatsuki was a target of Orochimaru's too, but would he send Tsunade the heads, and if he had taken over Sasuke, would Sasuke have enough control to keep his brothers body and not send it off?" she asked.
"He didn't take Sasuke, and for all we know, Itachi killed the other members. That's why we have to check it out," said Naruto.
Sakura nodded and was about t say something when Kakashi stopped.
"This is it, the first place on the list," he said pointing to a cave that lead deep into the earth.
"Sai and Sakura stay here and keep watch, Naruto and I will check it out," said Kakashi. The three nodded and separated to do their tasks.
Kakashi and Naruto entered the cave and stated descending into its depths. The deeper and deeper they got the more and more side chambers they found all empty or abandoned. There was no sign that anything was used for a period of years.
"We still need to check everything, we have to be sure," said Kakashi as they left another empty room.
Naruto nodded in agreement when they heard the echo of a scream. "Sakura?"
"I don't know, it was defiantly a woman, but I can't tell from here," said Kakashi.
"I'll go check, if it's nothing, I'll come back, if not, I'll help out," said Naruto.
"No, Sakura and Sai can take care of themselves, we need to… Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as Naruto ran for the surface.
"Damnit. Always rushing in without thinking," said Kakashi before turning back and continuing down into the cave.
x-X-x
When Naruto exited the cave he knew it was Sakura who screamed. She was sitting down, leaning against a tree with a deep gash down her leg. She was healing it, but it was going slowly.
On the path was Sai, Kunai in hand and breathing heavily. Across from him were their attackers. A man and woman, both in the black clothes that Kakashi wore under his jacket. The man had blue eyes and short black hair, the woman green eyes and long blond hair. The man was holding a katana, the woman was unarmed.
Naruto didn't move, none of the four had noticed him yet, he still had the element of surprise, and he had the feeling Sai could handle them.
Sai and the man ran at each other, both blocking all of the others attacks. Neither Sakura nor Naruto could see them at their speed, but when blood hit the floor the two separated.
The man had a cut across his right forearm; Sai had a deep gash in his side. Before Sakura could say anything Sai ran at him again, the man following in suit. The sound of steel on steel ringing out was uncomfortably loud in the silent air.
More blood flew and the two fell back again, just long enough for Naruto to see the new wounds, then they jumped back at each other. The man had no new cuts, and Sai had a new one across his chest, and one down his left arm.
'If they break apart again and Sai hasn't evened the fight, then I'll help' thought Naruto taking out a kunai and looking at Sakura, 'her leg isn't healed yet? Could this thing with Sasuke worry her that much? Oh, right, or course it does, she loves him," Naruto thought with a sigh.
The two broke apart again but this time Sai didn't land so gracefully, he hit the ground hard on his back, and started rolling; stopping on his back, but Naruto still saw the deep cut in his back.
"Ah, it seems he's done for, do you think I can hit his head from here Fraya?" asked the man taking aim with his katana.
"No, not a lethal hit, you're always off by a few inches," Fraya replied.
The man smiled and threw the katana but halfway to Sai it was hit by a kunai and fell to the ground. Sakura was getting to her feet, the cut to her leg gone, and Naruto was crouching down next to Sai.
"Naruto? When did you get here?" Sakura asked, but Naruto was too far to hear.
"More to kill, how wonderful," said the man as he threw several kunai at Naruto and Sai, "one should prove vital."
Naruto turned around to look at the attack but didn't move his expression was caught between shock and anger. Sakura saw this and ran, "Naruto!"
An instant later Sakura was there, standing between Naruto and the oncoming kunai, arms extended to the sides, and eyes shut tight, bracing for the impact.
"Sakura!" was the last thing she heard before the kunai struck.
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AN: don't you just love a good cliffhanger? I don't either, but I couldn't resist, don't worry, I make up for it in the next chapter.