"What?" Was all that came out of Naruto's mouth, which was agape in surprise.

Kakashi laughed nervously, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. He glanced towards Sasuke and Sakura to help them, but neither one was paying attention. Instead, Sakura was sitting down on the chair next to the couch, her eyes staring at the front door and her designer boots swinging back and forth. Sasuke was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed and his face unreadable. Like usual.

"That explains… A lot, actually," Naruto said after a moment of thinking. He also looked towards the two teenagers, who finally snapped their attention back at the other three.

Jiraiya just laughed. "I knew you were special, Kakashi just never elaborated why, and he wouldn't let me tell you. If I knew you were strong, I could have used your talents to pick up sexy –"

"That's enough," Kakashi interjected, cutting Jiraiya off harshly. "There's a serious matter going on in this city right now. I have been notified that the Akatsuki are here, and to make matters worse, apparently Orochimaru is here, too. The only thing we know is that Orochimaru may or may not be trying to kill Sasuke."

"Hn." Sasuke leaned away from the wall, turning away from them, his eyes still closed. He didn't want to discuss the matter.

"We need to go to the headquarters of the ANBU Black Ops. Luckily, it's only an hour away."

"Only an hour!" Naruto yelled, disbelief tainting his voice. Sakura nodded furiously in agreement.

"What if something happens during that one hour?" Sakura questioned, jabbing her finger at Kakashi. "It's dangerous, and you shouldn't put us in that kind of a situation! Sasuke got shot the other day!"

"He did?" Naruto screamed again. The blonde jumped up, making a quick sprint to Sasuke. He eyed the other boy, but couldn't see any sign of an injury on him. He proceeded to check under Sasuke's shirt.

"Get off me!" Sasuke hissed, smacking Naruto's hand away from his shirt. "She meant almost got shot."

"Y-yeah," confirmed Sakura, whose face had gone crimson in embarrassment over her mistake. She was thankful –and slightly curious—that Sasuke had chosen to cover for her.

"Well, anyway…" Kakashi began, choosing to ignore the suspicious rising in his mind. "If we leave now, we'll be there in time for lunch, and they have fabulous sushi."

"Ramen?"

"No, Naruto."

The ride to the Headquarters was none other than complete awkward.

Kakashi decided to drive, and according to him, the driver chose the music. The whole ride up there the teens had to suffer through Metal, and both Sakura and Naruto had accused him of not even liking the genre, but just wanting to torture them. Kakashi denied it every time with a suspicious gleam in his eyes.

Sasuke had the shotgun, which left Sakura to have to listen to Naruto's constant blabber. Mostly which consisted of the many different types of Ramen, and some girl named 'Hinata.' He only shut up when Sasuke turned around with a murderous glare on his face and told Naruto to "Shut the fuck before I shove you out of this damn car."

He earned a giggle from Sakura, but ignored it. So, when the four of them finally reach the Headquarters, Sakura was annoyed, Naruto was pouting, Sasuke was pissed off, and Kakashi seemed abnormally gleeful.

The tension between the three teenagers only seemed to raise Kakashi's mood.

"That was a fantastic ride, the view was spectacular. Wouldn't you agree, Sasuke? Sakura?" Kakashi said, nearly bouncing on his feet.

"Hn."

"No."

"Aren't you ganna ask me?"

"Not at all," Kakashi replied as he led the three into the Headquarters.

There was a lot of card swiping, and some finger print only access rooms, which made Sakura nervous as to what she had just walked into. The walls were all white concrete, and the floors were titled with white. The ceiling was, of course, white. The unusual thing about it, though, were the doors. They were all steel, and they all required some kind of card or code, or fingerprint to open.

Kakashi opened a double-steel door, and when it opened both Naruto and Sakura raised an eyebrow.

The room was fabulous. A chandelier that looked like it belonged in some extravagant ballroom was hanging from the tall ceiling, the floor was carpeted and there was a red oak desk in the center of the room. Behind that desk was a lady with blonde hair and an obnoxiously big chest.

Sakura insecurely glanced down at her own chest, and sighed in defeat. She noticed that Naruto was inappropriately staring, and Sasuke seemed completely unaffected. Then again, Sakura guessed that his face was always emotionless and hard to read. The only emotion she's seen him in was anger. And that was mostly always directed towards Naruto.

"Ah, these must be the three kids you mentioned," The lady said, taking a sip of what Sakura thought to be sake. More eyebrow raising.

"Yes, indeed. Very talented young children, too," Kakashi replied, and then took a step to the side so the three of them were in viewing of the lady.

"I'm Tsunade, president of the ANBU Black Ops. I'm only going to explain this once, so you better keep your ears open. We work to protect special kids like you from not so special kids like the Akatsuki. We offer training, safety, and money under one condition: You have to work for us."

"Work for you?" Naruto asked rather loudly, not even trying to hide is disapproval.

"Yes," Tsunade answered sharply. "Which includes several different fields. While in training, you can either work at discovering the undiscovered, saving the ones who are being targeted by the Akatsuki, and then hunting down the Akatsuki. And then after training you can work as an instructor."

"And you want us to help you… For money?" Sakura repeated, biting her lower lip. She wasn't so sure about that.

"Of course, some people make this their career. The more years you work, the larger your payment will be. If all three of you agree, you'll be trained by Kakashi and Jiraiya, and also work at the three fields I mentioned before."

"I'm in!" Naruto yelled, jumping up in excitement. "This. Is. AWESOME!"

"What happens to the people the Akatsuki target…?" Sakura knew that her question was absurd, and that she already knew the answer, but she couldn't help but ask. She needed confirmation before she agreed to anything that might endanger her.

"They're killed, of course," Tsunade said simply, confirming Sakura's fears.

She sighed. "Lady Tsunade… Is there anyway I can work temporary for now. I have to give this some time. You can't expect me to make a decision so big in such little time. I have school, my friends, my mom…"

"I understand, and I expected it. Therefore, I won't make any of you sign the contract until you're absolutely sure, but I'll still expect you to help us out in return for your training."

"I can agree to that," Sakura said, and then turned her head towards the other two boys.

"I've already agreed!" Naruto shouted at her, grinning from ear to ear. Sasuke just shrugged.

"Then it's settled!" Lady Tsunade yelled, jumping out of her seat and slamming her hands on the desk. "From this point on, the three of you are temporarily employed to the ANBU Black Ops!"

"Exellent," Sakura heard Kakashi whisper, and when she looked over, his eyes seemed to give away the smile hidden under his mask.

The three had decided to eat lunch before they went back to the house. Thanks to Kakashi, the group ended up eating at a Sushi Bar. Unfortunately for Naruto, they didn't serve ramen. The meal was quiet, and Sakura imagined the rest of them were thinking about the same thing she was: Their brand new job.

Sakura analyzed the seriousness of the situation in her mind. They were going after killers, and it was highly dangerous. Sakura knew that one of them could possibly get hurt – or worse, die. However, other peoples' lives were at stake, and knowing that her efforts could potentially save someone, well, it settled things right there.

"Christmas is in five days," Sakura stated, turning to attention towards Kakashi. "I imagine I won't be home for Christmas?"

"We need you here right now, Sakura. We need all three of you here, safely under Jiraiya's care and mine. It's dangerous for you to go home," Kakashi explained, earning a glance from Naruto.

"But, I'm already at home," He replied, confusion clouding his eyes. Sakura heard Sasuke give a frustrated sigh.

"Obviously," He snapped.

Sasuke's outburst seemed to make everyone go silent. And even the car ride home was eerily quiet. Naruto hadn't taken his eyes off the back of Kakashi's seat the whole way, and Sakura hoped that he was feeling all right. She was going to say something, but they had already made it to the house.

For the two hours they had been back, Sasuke just napped down in the basement, where the other guest room was. At first he was wary of napping, he didn't want his Sharingan to activate and then have everyone wondering why his eyes were bleeding. Eventually, however, exhaustion overcame him.

When he woke up, he felt like he could barely breathe. He needed to get out of the unfamiliar place he was in; he was starting to feel trapped.

As he made his way up the stairs, and he faintly hear voices coming from the living room. His assumption was proven right as he saw Sakura on Naruto playing Scrabble on the coffee table.

"No, Naruto, secks is not a word," He heard Sakura say in an irritated tone.

He was glad they didn't seem to notice him as he left the house, the cold air chilling him to the bone almost instantly. He gritted his teeth and ignored it, not wanting to deal with anyone at the moment.

He found a shopping center about ten blocks away, and hurried himself into a bookstore to escape the cold. He was shivering violently, and he sat down next to the fireplace, letting it defrost him.

"You know, you shouldn't wear such light clothes in winter," A voice said, and Sasuke snapped his eyes up to look at a strange man.

The main screamed creepy, with his yellow eyes and long ratty hair. He was wearing rather light clothes himself, only having on a black jacket and dark jeans. Sasuke figured he was probably fifty years old.

The man sat down, and seemed to almost be studying Sasuke, his yellow eyes trailing up and down his body, resting on Sasuke's own eyes.

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded, and the man laughed.

"Just like your brother, dear Sasuke. So forward."

Suddenly it hit him. "Orochimaru."

Orochimaru clapped. "Very good, Sasuke." The way he said his name almost made him sound similar to a snake. Sasuke shivered.

"The ANBU Black Ops are weak, and they produce weak prey," Orochimaru suddenly said, in a voice that was laced with utter hate.

"And what?" Sasuke asked, leaning back in the brown leather recliner. "Let me guess, you want me to leave them and come to you?"

"Of course not!" Orochimaru hissed – literally. "Don't you see what valuable information I could get if I had someone in the inside?"

"And you think I would agree to this?"

"Not without a little persuading." Orochimaru grinned.

"Not interested."

"I think you're interested. I mean, you have been trying to find your brother for ten years now, have you not? What if I told you I could help you out? What if I said I could give you enough power for you to finally kill your brother?"

Sasuke stared at Orochimaru for the longest time, neither of them breaking the gaze. Orochimaru seemed almost to pleased with himself for Sasuke's liking, but he knew where Itachi was. He had offered power to kill Itachi.

"How can I trust you? Why would you want to help me?" Sasuke questioned.

"Ah, I'm always interested in way to destroy the Akatsuki."

Sasuke went ridged. So, Itachi's joined with the Akatsuki…? Sasuke thought bitterly, and then looked up at Orochimaru. "What power could you give me, exactly?"

"Patient, my dear Sasuke. First, I need to know that you can be my double agent. I need to know I can trust you won't betray me."

"I wouldn't betray anyone who could help me finish off my brother," Sasuke replied through gritted teeth.

"I'll give you your power soon, Sasuke. Very, very soon."

And, tah-dah, chapter 8 is up. As of now, I have a pretty good idea where the story is going to go, and I'm also 50 - 50 about there being a sequel. I probably won't know about a sequel until we near the end - which we're no where close to. I'd imagine this will be about 28 - 35 chapters long. Give or take a few.

The title is also French for 'A Betrayal.' A betrayal sounded too boring, so I decided to turn into French. French isn't boring. (:

Reviews make me uber happy, and constructive criticism makes me even happier. So, please leave a review?

EDITED: I put the page breaks in, which I forgot to do earlier... Mah bad. ):