Senko: Hello everyone! First of all, I just wanted to say that I was really considering the first idea over the second one but then I thought that it might be harder to write how Itachi falls for Sakura. In the second idea, though, Itachi would be stuck alone with Sakura and I thought it would be easier that way. Also, the story didn't start really laidback and humorous so I thought I'd use the second idea to get some comedy. From the comedy I'd build up some drama and end all dramatic. Yep.
Responses to Reviews
Heartless Ghost: There will be NO ItaIno parts. However, I cannot guarantee you that there will be no SasuIno because, well, I dunno….I don't support SasuIno, though! o.O;; But, uh, yeah.
Iccena: Thanks so much for you advice!
lilmisssushi: REALLY? You think so? Cause I really feel that I'm gonna write the second one as a separate story but I'm not sure since that kinda plot is rather cliché and all.
neon kun: It's just great to know you're alive! Thanks for reviewing! ;D
ninjaxbunny: I've read Alice 19th and Ceres before! Yu Watase is sooo talented! I've also read a volume of Imadoki! Hm, maybe I should make Sasuke drink one? Hehe
Hao's Anjul: Sorry! I'll try harder to make things clearer, ok? I already sent you a message clarifying everything. If you need it clearer, just tell me, k?
Thanks to sillymail, Blonde Hurricane, animemistress419, lilmisssushi, neon kun, crazy, Trini, Miakoda13, ninjaxbunny, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob..., and pen'n'paper for suporting for the first idea. THE FIRST IDEA HAS WON!
Thanks to starwishes and Iccena for selecting the second story. I'm really thinking about writing the second one because I want there to be more ItaSaku ficcies lol so yep.
Thanks to winterflower, BOWLFY, EnV, and KatsunoCZ for reviewing!
Disclaimer: Me no own.
Chapter 5
"WHAT! NO!"
The deafening scream of a certain blonde boy echoed throughout the room, throughout the tower, and caused the poor birds to immediately fly away.
"This can't be!" Naruto whined.
"Yes, it can be," Tsunade countered. "You all have missions."
"But why! I would love to go on a mission, Tsunade-baachan, but this is too much! I'm going to be missing the Spring Festival and spring celebration week! And since I won the bet, you said you'd throw a Ramen Festival and now I won't even be able to go to my own Ramen Festival!"
Tsunade glowered. "I. Don't. Care. You are going on the mission, PERIOD!"
Both Naruto and Kiba sulked. It was obvious that everyone else, well almost everyone since we know that the two Uchiha brothers prefer missions over festivities, was annoyed.
Tsunade sighed. "I'm sorry, everyone, but since Orochimaru harmed Konoha again last month, we have to work harder so that the other countries won't think that we are weak. Missions are piling up and we've lost even more of our shinobi due to Orochimaru's attack. Anyway, there are two missions. Shino, Chouji, Neji, TenTen, Lee and Shisui ( A/N: Itachi's best friend, remember? He killed him to get the Mangekyou Sharingan) will be on one mission. Shisui isn't here yet, but he'll be here soon. The second mission is Itachi, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Kiba.
Those on the first mission, you are to guard a wealthy lord of the eastern section of the Leaf Country. Apparently, some assassinators are planning to kill him or something. The leader of this group will be Neji. Those on the second mission, I purposely put more shinobi on this mission because this mission is more difficult. Rumor has it that some missing-nins who belong to a group called Akatsuki is lurking around the Sand Country and may be planning an attack on the Kazekage, Gaara. Since Gaara-san lost many of his shinobi in Orochimaru's last attack on us, I am sending some of the most powerful shinobi to help Gaara-san. The leader of this group will be Itachi."
"Godaime-sama, do I really have to go on the second mission? It sounds so troublesome. Plus, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto are some of the strongest shinobi you have. I'm not needed on that mission," Shikamaru stated.
"Sorry, Shikamaru, you're not getting out of this mission. Neji is capable of being the strategist, spy, and fighter of the first mission, so you are not needed there. Sakura is intelligent like you but she is needed as the medical-nin; she has no time to be thinking up plans while healing. Itachi, too, is intelligent but this mission will surely fail without teamwork."
"Urg, fine," Shikamaru muttered.
"First team, you are excused. Second team, I need you to stay here while I go over some things you need to know about this mission."
Upon this, the first team left the room. The second team remained in silence, awaiting Tsunade's informations.
Tsunade cleared her throat. "Alright, the first team's mission is an A-class mission. You guys, however, are on an S-class mission."
"WHAT! ARE YOU SERIOUS, BAA-CHAN!" Naruto screamed in joy. "I'm going on an S-class mission!"
"Yes," Tsunade continued. "This mission is dangerous. To tell the truth, I think that Itachi himself will be able to take on the members of Akatsuki. However, your mission is not just to kill the members – you are also to insure that nothing will happen to Gaara-san. I doubt that Itachi will be able to handle that much."
"Uhm, Tsunade-sama, do you have any information about the members that we might encounter?" Sakura asked.
"Not that much since. I know that one of the members is from the Mist Country and uses this weapon he calls the Samehara –"
It must be Hoshikage Kisame.
"I can take him on! The Mist Country is weak!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Naruto!" Sakura scolded. "Kisame is not to be taken lightly!"
Tsunade's eye widened slightly. "Sakura, how did you know that his name is Kisame?"
"W-What?"
"Only I know of his name. The only Akatsuki member that known to Konohagakure is Kisame, and the only person in Konohagakure who heard about Kisame is me. I barely received information about Kisame this morning. No report in the past has mentioned anything about encountering Kisame, so how do you know his name?"
Sakura was speechless. How was she to answer the question? "Uhm, I, uh…"
"I told her about Kisame," Itachi answered. "I met Kisame on my last mission but I guess I forgot to include it in my report."
"I see," Tsunade replied. "Next time don't forget to include everything, got that?"
"Yes, Godaime-sama," Itachi answered.
Sakura stared in complete disbelief at what had just happened. Had the Uchiha Itachi just helped her? But how did he know that she needed help?
"Continuing on," Tsunade continued," his name is Hoshigake Kisame. He should be easily identified. The information I got states that his skin color is blue and that he, like every Akatsuki member, should be wearing a black cloak with red clouds. Like Sakura said, he and no Akatsuki member are to be taken lightly. They are powerful and merciless. You guys are to abandon your forehead protectors while you are in the Sand and you are to act like a regular civilian and identify the Akatsuki members. You have two weeks. During those two weeks, you are to protect Gaara-san if any Akatsuki member attacks. If they don't attack and you see them in the Sand, you are to get rid of them. Everyone got that?"
"Yes, Godaime-sama," everyone said synchronized.
"You don't need nail polish or make-up or hair accessories, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled impatiently as he paced around Sakura's house, waiting for her to finish packing up.
"Well, Tsunade-sama said to act like a regular civilian!" Sakura argued back from inside her room. After five more minutes, which seemed like an hour to Naruto, Sakura finally appeared from her room with all her necessities in a bag.
"Finally! Let's go!"
"Are we there yet?" Naruto asked.
"No, Naruto, we have about six more hours of traveling," Sakura answered.
Two minutes later.
"Are we there yet?" Naruto asked again.
"Uhm…n-no, N-Naruto-kun. We'll be there in a-about six more hours," Hinata answered.
A minute later.
"Man, my feet are beat. Are we there yet?" Naruto asked again.
"NO," Ino answered. "We have five hours and fifty-seven more minutes of traveling."
Thirty seconds later.
"ARE WE THERE YET?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke glared. "Say that one more time and I can guarantee you won't be able to say that EVER AGAIN."
"Whatever, teme," Naruto asked. "When are we gonna get there?"
Itachi turned and glowered at Naruto.
"…yessir, I won't ask again………." Naruto said, putting his head down to avoid Itachi's glare.
After a long six hour travel, the eight ninjas finally arrived at the Sand Country
"Good evening," Gaara greeted the eight ninjas that had just arrived at his house.
"Yo, Gaara! Watsup!" Naruto grinned.
"Hello to you too, Naruto. All of you will be staying here in my house. Unfortunately, my house has only four rooms left since the other three are for me, Temari, and Kankuro; I did not know that the Godaime would send eight of you. You will all have to share rooms. I apologize for this inconvenience," Gaara said. "Dinner will be served in an hour."
"SASUKE-KUN! Let's share a room!" Ino exclaimed, hugging him from behind.
"Sorry, I'm sharing a room with the dobe," Sasuke said, wriggling out from Ino's embrace.
"EH? We are? Ewww, no way, Sasuke-teme. I wanna share a room with Sakura-chan!" Naruto said.
"Uhm, b-but Naruto-kun…Sakura-chan is, uhm, engaged. D-Don't you think it'd make more sense if, uhm, if Itachi-san and S-Sakura-chan shared a room?" Hinata pointed out.
"Oh, I don't mind if I'm not in a room with Itachi-kun," Sakura smiled. "Don't you think all three of us girls should share a room instead?"
"The bed is too small to fit all three of you," Gaara said.
"Kiba, wanna share a room?" Shikamaru asked.
"Sure."
"Keep the dog away from me when I'm asleep, though. Since it was raised by you, we never know if the dog might accidentally have an accident on me during the middle of the night."
"WHAT! What do you mean by that statement!"
"But Sasuke-kun!" Ino whined.
"The dobe and I are sharing a room. Period," Sasuke said.
"I-Ino-chan…it's alright. Let's share a room," Hinata suggested.
"Okay then, Hinata-chan!" Ino beamed.
And then only Sakura and Itachi were left.
"So," Sakura began, "I guess we have a share a room."
"Hn," Itachi replied.
An hour quickly passed by and the eight ninjas were now seated at the dinner table, along with three other people.
"Wow, Temari! This is really good!" Sakura complimented.
Temari laughed mildly. "Thank you."
"Temari, you are so going to make some guy the luckiest guy in the world!" Ino exclaimed as she continued eating.
Temari blushed.
"So Kazekage, what are our plans?" Shikamaru asked.
"Please call me Gaara," Gaara said. "I think that I am capable of defending myself, so tomorrow I'd like for you to disguise yourself as a regular resident and try to find these Akatsuki members."
"Do you know how many are here?" Sasuke asked.
"So far all I know is the one named Kisame is here."
"Alright then," Shikamaru said. "So, I guess tomorrow we'll split up and hang around the city. Kiba and I will be one team. Ino and Hinata will be the other, Naruto and Sasuke will be one, and Sakura and Itachi will be the last one."
"Why can't I go with Ino and Hinata?" Sakura asked.
"That's unexpected. I would expect you to want to spend time with your fiancée."
"Uhm…well, you know how guys are. I'd prefer to hang out with my girlfriends and go shopping or something."
"Sorry, I'm gonna need you to stay with Itachi. Ino and Hinata are capable of defending themselves if they get into any type of trouble."
"But Itachi-kun can defend himself too."
"That's a different story. See, it'd be less suspicious if you were with Itachi. People would simply think that you two are just a harmless couple who are in love. They would think that Ino and Hinata are just two friends who are spending some quality friend time."
"…fine."
Everything seemed to be going wrong today for Sakura. First, she was so happy to be attending the Spring Festival, but then she couldn't since she had to go on a damn mission. As if it wasn't bad enough, she had to go on the same mission as Itachi. Then Itachi had to help her out of some trouble. Next, she had to share a room with Itachi. Now, she has to spend time with him!
"You can take the bed," he said.
"Really? You're not taking the bed?" Sakura asked for clarification.
"No. It is only polite to allow a female to take the bed. I know you probably don't feel comfortable sharing a bed with me yet."
Wow, who knew that Itachi could be such a gentleman? Sakura made note to herself to congratulate Mikoto on what a fine job she did raising her son. Itachi had fixed an area on the floor next to the bed for him to sleep on. Sakura smiled as she looked down on his sleeping figure. For someone who could be an S-class criminal, Itachi was very nice. First walking her home, then helping her out of a troubling situation, and now giving her the bed. She turned off the lamp.
"Night, Itachi-kun," she said, before closing her eyes to sleep.
"What a cute couple you two are!" The middle-aged woman smiled admiringly at Sakura and Itachi. Sakura had her right hand locked around Itachi's left hand as they walked down the street. They had taken into consideration what Shikamaru had said and were pretending to be a couple. Well, they kind of are a couple, right? They're engaged, but they just don't love each other romantically. So far, about a dozen people have commented on them. Many middle-aged women had complimented how cute they looked. Tons of girls had drooled after Itachi and cursed at Sakura and tons of boys had drooled over Sakura and cursed at Itachi.
Ino and Hinata on the other hand had many boys looking at their direction. Ino was very good-looking and Hinata was just plain adorable and cute.
Naruto and Sasuke had many girls looking their way, and so did Kiba and Shikamaru. So maybe Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto didn't receive that many looks – well, at least not many compared to Sasuke. Itachi and Sasuke probably had the most girls looking at them. Practically every girl they passed stopped and stared at them!
Days passed by and no one had had any luck in finding out about Kisame. One day, though, luck was blessed on Sakura and Itachi.
"Itachi-kun, look, it's him." Sakura tugged on his arm and pointed down the street. Itachi looked ahead; it was Kisame. He was walking down the road. "What should we do?'
"Bump into him and start talking to him. I'll show up when the time is correct," Itachi said, separating himself from Sakura.
Complying to Itachi's order, Sakura stepped inside a random shop and awaited for Kisame. As soon as Kisame was nearing, Sakura pretended to run out of the shop and accidentally bump into Kisame. Since Kisame was obviously taller and bigger than her, Sakura fell down.
"Oww…" she muttered, and then quickly got up. "I'm so sorry, sir! Please forgive me!"
"You little wench…" he grumbled. He curled his fingers to form a fist and stroke at her.
Sakura was unsure of what to do, where was Itachi? Was Sakura supposed to dodge the punch, or duck, or fight back? Sakura squint her eyes. Kisame's punch never reached her. Sakura opened her eyes to see Itachi's back in front of her; with a single arm, Itachi was able to stop Kisame's punch.
"I-Itachi-kun," Sakura murmured.
A moment of silence followed as Itachi and Kisame continually glared at one another. Finally, Itachi broke the silence.
"I apologize for my fiancee's actions," he said.
"You are strong," Kisame stated. "Why do you have such a weak fiancée?"
"She specializes in medical jutsu."
"I see. No wonder. What is your name?"
"Uchiha Itachi."
"Uchiha? Ah! That explains your strength."
"Why don't we get acquainted over lunch?"
"Why not?" Kisame grinned widely, slightly creeping out Sakura.
The three entered a restaurant and ordered noodles.
Meanwhile, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke were walking together.
"Man, this sucks! We still didn't find anything!" Naruto complained.
"Be patient, Naruto. Mission's aren't easy," Shikamaru said. "It's almost lunchtime, let's go eat."
And then they entered a restaurant.
"So, what is your name, sir?" Sakura asked, smiling.
"Hoshigake Kisame," he answered. "Hey, Itachi-sama, what is your fiancee's name?"
"Haruno Sakura," Itachi answered.
"Haruno Sakura? I've heard that name somewhere before…" Kisame said, drifting off into his own thoughts. "Wait a minute, did you train under the Hokage of the Leaf?"
"Y-Yes…" Sakura answered. "I trained under her."
"This is amazing. Not only do I meet the Uchiha Itachi, rumored to be more powerful than the Orochimaru, but I also meet the most powerful female ninja's apprentice, who is rumored to have skills rivaling her teacher."
"No, Kisame-san, my skills are no where near that of Tsunade-sama's."
"Hn, how cute, Itachi-sama. Your fiancée is very modest."
Sakura put on a smile while eating her noodles. The door opened, and then the rest of her teammates entered the restaurant. As they neared and then passed by to take a table behind the three Sakura purposely spoke a little louder, enough for her teammates to hear.
"So, Kisame-san, what brings you to the Sand?"
"I'm on a mission. How about the two of you, what are you doing in the Sand?"
"We are also on a mission," Itachi answered.
"I see. Well, I should get going. It was nice talking to you, Itachi-sama, Sakura-san," Kisame said, getting up from his chair. "I hope we can talk again some time in the future."
"Have a nice day, Kisame-san!" Sakura beamed.
The rest of the team waited a few minutes after Kisame's departure to join with Itachi and Sakura.
"That's him, right? RIGHT? That was him, Kisame, right?" Naruto asked quickly.
"Yes, dobe, that was him," Sasuke said.
"Idiot," Kiba said. "That was so him."
"Itachi-kun, why couldn't we have just killed him?" Sakura asked.
"It's best to be acquainted with him. We might even find additional information on Akatsuki," Itachi answered.
"Oh."
"Alright, so now we know how he looks like. Since Itachi and Sakura are already acquainted with Kisame, the rest of us will back off and focus more on Gaara. We will stay from a distance and observe him, though. Itachi and Sakura, you two will be in charge of trying to get information out of him."
Senko: Okay everyone, how's that? Oh yeah, Hao'sAnjul's review has made me aware of the possibility of you guys not understanding what's going on. I'm going to clarify the previous chapter just in case, ok? So, in the previous chapter we find out that Itachi knows that he was engaged to Sakura. After Sakura writes the sentence in the book, she falls asleep next to a cherry blossom tree. Thus she goes into this world. On that same day, at dusk, Itachi passes by and he is curious to see what she wrote. So, he opens the book and he is then absorbed into the book too. This means that so far the two characters who know what is going on are Sakura and Itachi. However, Sakura doesn't know that Itachi also knows what is going on. Itachi, on the other hand, knows that Sakura knows what is going on (and this is why earlier in this chapter he helped her out when Tsunade questioned why she knew Kisame).