Just peachy! Rain always seemed to come down to ruin her plans. It was like some sort of curse that followed her around. Well rain wasn't going to stop her from completeing her mission! Where did she leave that rain coat of hers? It took Sakura another thirty minutes just to try and dig the thing out from her crammed closet. Good thing she woke up early this morning. Wait, what was the time? Emerald eyes moved over towards the small brass alarm clock that sat upon her night stand. It was 5:16 in the morning. Perfect! They didn't leave the village gates until 5:30, she had time to get to the gate without having to run.

Sakura quickly pulled up her connected hood as she exited out the front door of her house. Oh wait! She needed to lock the door. Where was that key?! Last time she had her key under the mat. Just as she was about to reach down she stopped. Naruto had found out where her key was awhile ago which caused frequent and unwanted visits from the blonde boy. The pot! That's where it was. Sakura's hand moved over towards the orange ceramic pot that held a dying tulip in it. As she lifted the pot a flash of silver was seen and she smiled to herself. 'Hopefully the idiot doesn't look under there, I'm running out of places to hide my key.' The small metal key was cold and wet to the touch as she picked it up. Maybe she should just get a key ring and carry it around with her. Too much trouble though. Sakura slid the small metal key into the lock on the door handle, but jumped as the sound of thunder crashed above her, causing her to drop the key. "Ugh..." Sakura groaned as she bent down and felt around for the key, finally grasping it and lifting herself back up to only have her heart skip a beat as a shadow illuminated from the flash of lightning. Instinct had her grab the first weapon that came to her hand and that was the small key she had in hand- some damage that would do. Quickly she whipped around to face whomever it was to only stare out at the empty street and the house across from her. 'The storms playing with your mind, Sakura.' Even if the storm was playing with her mind, she was still kind of scared. Who knew who could be out at this time of the morning.

After Sakura had finally gotten her door locked and readjusted her hood she had continued on her lonely walk towards the gates out of town. But now she was on her guard more than ever. There was just something off in the air. Her emerald hues were constantly moving back and forth in thought that someone was following her. Maybe if she picked up her pace and got to the gates...? Hopefully Naruto or Sai was there. At least then-

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

The loud voice popped up as if out of nowhere from behind her which made her flinch, scream, and punch the person behind her. A loud crunch of bones could be heard as her fist met the victim's nose causing a groan and yelp from the person.

"I swear! I'll kill you! Don't come near me! I've been trained by the best! I'll hit you so hard...Naruto?"

Sakura blinked as she stared down at the blonde. His hands were covering his nose which she was sure was pouring blood out. Served him right though! Just coming out of nowhere and screaming her name. It was dark out and it was raining and she was freaking out already.

"Why do you always punch me?"

Naruto's question came out in a slight mumble, but Sakrua could make it out. It did seem like she was constantly punching him. He always turned up in the worst of places around her though, wasn't her fault. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Sakrua bent down and helped Naruto get back up to his feet. Her hand glowed a light blue and she started to move it towards Naruto's damaged nose. His blue eyes widened and he quickly backed up.

"Woah! I didn't mean to piss you off that much! Just don't hit me again!"

"Heh, I'm not going to punch you again. Just come her so I can heal you."

Sakura giggled as she moved towards him and pulled his hood all the way off so she could get better access to his face. After a small fight with trying to take his hands away from his nose, Sakrua had finally healed his nose back to perfect, if not almost perfect health. She smiled at him as he grimaced and tried to wipe away the crimson stain that was stuck on his upper lip.

"I think you'll be fine."

"Yeah, but I think you need to kiss it to make it feel better."

Naruto smirked as he leaned in towards the pink haired girl, hoping to get lucky. Typical Naruto. Sakura glared at him as he closed his eyes and puckered his lips out. Raising her fist she was about to give him another blow to his already damaged nose before smiling to herself and then just flicking his nose. His eyes flashed open and a yelp was emitted from his lips as he quickly covered his nose wondering if she was going to hurt him anymore. Sakura giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Let's go, Naruto."

Said blonde just stared at her as she turned around and began to walk towards the gates. Well maybe he won't be getting lucky now, but maybe later? He smirked as he quickly followed behind her, his hands still covering his nose. Whatever gods above only know when she would hit him again.

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As the two members of team Kakashi came closer towards the gates they both noticed a dark silhouetted figure leaning agianst the post of the gates. Of course Sakura was on gaurd since she was still a little on edge this morning, but typical Naruto rushed in front of her and called out towards the person, or thing, who would know at this time of the morning.

"Oi! Your early Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura raised a brow as she squinted her eyes to try and get a better look at the figure. Naruto must have had super human eyesight because she couldn't see anything in the darkness and rain. But as they started to draw near to the figure Sakura calmed as it was indeed the silver haired nin leaning against the post of the gate with his orange book in hand. She huffed in mild annoyance as he kept his nose in his book at their approach. 'Typical sensei! Wonder what he would do if I burned that book?'

"Oh...Naruto, Sakura, your early."

"Says you! Your the one who's always late!"

Naruto pointed an accusing finger at their sensei. Sakura could tell that he was smirking under his mask by the way his eyes crinkled.

"No need to be so hostile."

Naruto and Kakashi seemed to get into a little argument about being late and on time while Sakura searched around the area for the other member of their team, Sai. Usually Sai was always on time, even before her or Naruto. Him not being here was sort of a surprise to her. Then again he might be sitting up in some tree somewhere drawing some crazy thing.

"Kakashi, where is Sai?"

The two males ceased their fight at the sound of Sakura's question. Naruto seemed to react by quickly looking about the area and turn towards Kakashi with a equally questioning look to Sakura's. Kakashi calmly closed his book and placed it back into the pack on his lower back.

"He won't be joining us on this mission, he had a special mission given to him by Danzou."

Well that summed it up. The whole team had known about Sai being in the ANBU, it just sort of surprised Sakura that he would even return to that bastard. There was just something about Danzou that Sakura didn't like. It always seemed like he was up to no good and he was constantly giving Tsunade head aches and turning her mood foul. Either way she wasn't going to go further into Sai's nonappearence on this mission, and both Kakashi and Naruto seemed like they too didn't want to get involved with it.

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After they all made sure they had enough weapons and other tools for the trip they headed out. The sun was just starting to peak above the horizon, but the rain never seemed to stop pouring down. It almost seemed like it had picked up in speed. Lovely! The trees were extremely wet from the rain so Sakura had to watch her step every time she landed and took off. Of course Naruto didn't seem to notice that he needed to take caution with the tree branches being wet, so he had fallen several times already, caking his rain cloak in a muddy color. Naruto's falls never seemed to douse Sakura's amusement as she heard him once more curse as he slipped and fell to the awaiting soggy ground. Sakura stopped in her tracks next to Kakashi as they both looked down at the blonde who picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"You know Naruto, a true ninja knows how to go against the elements."

Sakura giggled as she yelled down at Naruto who looked up with a sneer on his face and mouthed something Sakura was positive was a curse. Naruto dusted the last of his legs off and was about to jump back up onto the tree branch where Sakura and Kakashi were at when he noticed something on the ground. Kneeling down he examined the mark in the soggy grass. It was fresh. Looking around he noticed even more of the same marks on the ground. Not good!

"Sakura! Kakashi! Look-"

He was cut off as a kunai came whizzing past his face and buried itself into the nearest tree. On the end of the kunai there was a small paper that was sizzling away to nothing quickly. Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he ducked in just enough time as the paper bomb exploded, sending millions of pieces of bark in every direction. The aftershock shook the tree Kakashi and Sakura were occupying which caused them to have to jump down to where Naruto was still ducking down on the ground.

"Hurry! Grab the blonde one, yeah!"

The voice came from above and when Sakura looked up all she could see was the large underside of what looked like a bird. Over the side of it's neck looked like a flurry of blonde hair whipping around in the wind. Sakura sneered and was about to throw something at him when someone else jumped over the side. The person was decked out in a large black cloak with red clouds patterened on it, obviously Akatsuki, and the strangest part about him was his orange mask and wild black, spiky hair. This wasn't good.

"Hurry and get back to Konoha! I'll try and hold them off!"

Kakashi had already pulled down his mask and his Sharingan was blazing a crimson red as his hand flashed a blue color from his chidori. Now the blonde had jumped down and was next to the masked nin, an evil smirk plastered on his lips and his surprisingly bright blue eye flaring with amusement. Sakura needed to get out of her and fast. One Akatsuki member was one thing, but two against just them was another. Getting out of there and back to Konoha to get help was her only option.

"Naruto! Come on!"

Sakura ran over to the blonde boy as he was picking himself up off the ground. He seemed a little dazed from the blast, but he would be able to make it.

"I don't think so, yeah!"

The blonde spoke as he raised his hands to his mouth and mouthed something Sakura couldn't hear, and was unable to hear as another explosion went off. This one was larger than the other and it knocked her on her back along with Naruto. The sound of metal against metal was heard as Kakashi and the masked nin went at it. The blonde however stayed completely calm as he walked over toward the coughing nin's.

"Your coming with me, kyuubi."

He went to reach for Naruto who was having a coughing fit, but Sakura reached out and grabbed his wrist, snapping it with a single movement. The blonde Akatsuki member yelped and stumbled backwards, his broken wrist craddled to his chest. He sent a glare towards the panting kunoichi, but then smirked as he plunged his good hand into a light brown pouch at his side. What was he getting out? A kunai? With his broken wrist he wouldn't be able to take her on. She was sure to have the upper hand now, unless he brings out something else. Which of course he did. A medium sized clay figure was in the palm of his hand.

"Have fun!"

The blonde smirked as he was about to throw the figure down onto the ground in front of Sakura and Naruto, but was stopped as he heard a yelp and a thud from behind him. Turning his head over his shoulder he noticed his partner face first on the ground. His eye twiched as he stared at Kakashi who was now approching him quite quickly.

"Damn you, Tobi, yeah!"

With a flick of his wrist he let the figure drop in front of Sakura and Naruto who had just enough time to evade the blast. Now the blonde was engaged in a fight with Kakashi and his chidori. He kept trying to get a good distance away from the silver haired nin as he wasn't a close ranged fighter. Each time Kakashi tried to get near him, he would quickly evade his hit by jumping to a farther off branch while trying to work with what looked like a lump of clay. Instead of his calm look he had on his face before, he now looked flustered and under pressure.

"Naruto, we need to get back to Konoha and get help. I think Kakashi is on his last-"

Sakura stopped mid sentence as she heard a loud yell from where the blonde Akatsuki member was, the yell obviously the exuberant war cry from Naruto. A yelp was heard as a contact was made and a puff of smoke rose into the air. Shit, who was hit? Quickly Sakura leapt the the spot she was at and rushed over to the area to find Naruto holding the Akatsuki member by the collar of his bloody shirt. The male looked unconscious as Naruto flailed him back and forth yelling at him.

"That's right! Who do you think you are anyways?!"

"Naruto, that's enough. Set him down."

With a thud the Akatsuki's body fell to the ground as Naruto quickly released him. Sakura just frowned as she walked over to the body. It looked as if Naruto had given him a good blow to the head since a good amount of flesh was missing on the corner of his head and blood was dripping down his face quickly and staining his black shirt and cloak. But other than that he looked like he would live.

"The other one seemed to have gotten away. I went back to get the body, and it was gone."

Kakshi announced as he came into the clearing. It didn't really surprised Sakura that much that the other was gone, he must have gotten away when Kakashi was fighting the blonde. Some partner.

"Let's take his body and return back to Konoha. Maybe we can get some information out of him."

Sakura and Naruto both nodded as Kakashi moved forward and picked up the blonde's body, hauling him over his shoulder in an uncerimonial like way. Who would have known that her day would have started out like this. Crappy and rainy, with the surprise twist of an Akatsuki appearence.

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A/N: Sorry it took me awhile to update. December was hectic and I didn't have much time to get to this. Now it's a new year and I hope to keep to regular updates...hopefully

R&R please! 3