Well. This one is shorter than the last one. sighs Kinda makes me mad, but I cant be mad. Its mah birthday!! 20 today. Holy shit. I feel so old. :(

Anyway! On with the story!

Disclaimer: Um. Yeah. No. Sorry.

"What the fuck do you mean by you sent her to Orochimaru?!" He yelled. He had never disrespected the woman before him in his life. Had his uncle heard him, he'd probably have ended up disowned, beaten. His uncle would have used the mark on his forehead against him hard enough that he might have died. But his uncle wasn't here.

His white eyes flashed as he glared at his Hokage, who just watched him. He was angry. No. He was pissed.

She should have been angry at him. She should have stripped his ninja status from him temporally for his behavior. But she couldn't. She understood where his anger was coming from. He had every right to be mad. She had sent his team mate off on a suicide mission without informing him or the rest of the team.

She took a sigh before she spoke. "That's exactly what I mean. I sent her to Orochimaru. She's on a mission to bring back Sasuke. It's the only thing I could think of." She said.

The Hyuuga in front of her threw his hands up in the air. "The only thing you could think of!" He said, exasperated. He had never been so angry, so worried. So. Un-Neji-like. He turned away from the Hokage to look at his remaining team mates, and the other two men in the room.

Shikamaru was leaning up against the wall, his foot propped up on it, behind him. A cigarette was hanging from his lips as he kept an icy glare on the Hokage. He had been able to keep his words under wraps so far. But he was fuming inside. She had let Sakura go off on an S-Class mission. ALONE. To find the Uchiha. It was unacceptable.

Kiba was sitting in a chair at the desk, across from the Hokage. His eyes had gone wild with anger, narrowed, dangerous. Akamaru was sitting beside him on the floor, growling. Both unhappy that their pink haired medic friend had been put in danger.

Tsunade turned to the last two men standing in the room with them. She had called them in, because they had once been Sakura's team mates as well. She had expected Naruto to act out, get angry and trash the room. Not Neji. Instead, Naruto had just stared at her in disbelief, asking her why. She hadn't had time to answer because of Neji's outburst.

Kakashi was propped up in the window, his eyes focused on the ceiling. He had already stopped by Suna and delivered the message to Gaara and had quickly made his way back to Konoha. He had arrived not too long before Tsunade had gathered them all up for a meeting.

"So you gave the scroll to Gaara, correct, Kakashi?" She asked.

The jonin nodded.

"And he understands the situation?" Another nod.

"Did she say goodbye?" Tsunade whispered?

Kakashi looked at her though narrowed eyes. "She spun around and slammed her knee, full of chakra mind you, into my face, Tsunade. No, she did not say goodbye." He spat out.

It was all Kiba could do to not throw the empty chair, which was sitting beside him, at the grey haired ANBU captain.

"Good!" he yelled. "It's your damn fault she's so hateful and broken!" He was out of his seat, Akamaru standing beside him, now growling at Kakashi.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi snarled, as he moved away from the window.

Shikamaru slipped off the wall and stood in front of Kakashi, blocking him from Kiba. "You abandoned her. You left an emotionally unstable Kunoichi alone to fend for herself. After Sasuke left, all you worried about was Naruto. Even when Sasuke was here, it was either him or Naruto that you focused on training. She wanted to get stronger and you ignored her, Kakashi." Shikamaru stated, venom dripping from his voice.

Neji had calmed down slightly, at least, enough to jump into the conversation without trying to kill Kakashi. "She asked you time and time again to train her. To help her. And you always turned her down for Naruto. Then when her jonin exam came up, you requested Tusnade give you a mission for that week." Then he turned back to Tsunade. "And you gave it to him! You knew it was the Jonin exam and you still let him take a mission, knowing he was trying to avoid Sakura!"

Tsunade looked down. "Sakura is like a daughter to me, you have no right to say that." She whispered hotly.

"She is my team mate. I have every right, Tsunade." Neji shot back. His fists were gripped at his side, his knuckles turning white. His eyes held anger as he let them slid over to Naruto, who had yet to say anything. "And you." He started. Naruto looked up. "You were supposed to be her best friend. Her brother. And you couldn't stop training for two hours a day, for one week to watch her in her exams."

Shikamaru interrupted. "You were too busy trying to get strong enough to go after Sasuke and bring him back. But look at what's happened now. You're not the one Tsunade sent to get him back. She is. Orochimaru has no use for you, when he has endless uses for Sakura." he said. "Instead of thinking about your power to overcome Sasuke, you should have been thinking about the best way to get to Orochimaru, the best way to get him to let one of us close enough to him that you'd even have a chance of getting Sasuke back. Maybe if you had, you would have figured it out." He finished.

Naruto swallowed before turning to Tsunade. Neji and Shikamaru were right. He should have thought it through instead of only thinking of himself and what he wanted. He had never felt so humiliated in his life.

"How long will she be there?" he questioned.

Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba all rolled their eyes. Kiba muttering under his breath. "You're a fucking baka, Naruto."

Tsunade ignored the three in front of her and turned to answer Naruto's question. "Sakura will stay in sound until she is either able to bring Sasuke back, or…" she trailed off.

Neji new what the next part was going to be. And it scared him. He wasn't stupid. Naruto, however, seemingly was.

"Or what Baa-chan?" He asked, his eyes full of hope.

"Or until she is killed." The Hokage whispered.

Naruto's eyes widened as he let himself sink to the floor. Sakura could be killed. He might never see her again. He might never be able to tell her that he was sorry. That he had missed her. Pain shot though his chest as tears ran down his face. "Why would you send her on this mission, baa-chan? Why? Sakura can't die trying to bring teme back. She can't. It's not fair." He cried. "It's not her job to bring him back, its mine!"

"It's never fair Naruto." Shikamaru said, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned against Tsunade's desk. He turned his head enough to glare at the somber Hokage. "However, it is a bullshit mission, Tsunade. And you know that. And don't you dare tell me that she requested it."

Tsunade shook her head. "No. I told her it was required. She actually put up quite a fit with me. That's probably why she took it out on Kakashi." Her eyes were glistening with tears as she looked up at the Nara boy.

"No. She took her own Kakashi-anger out on Kakashi." Neji stated, watching as the silver haired man tensed. "She's wanted to beat him senseless for about two years now. And she can, you know." He said, turning his body to face Kakashi. "Beat you senseless that is. She's strong." Turning back to Naruto. "She'll get though the mission, Naruto. She'll bring the Uchiha back. If anyone can do it, she can. However, I don't see Uchiha coming back very healthy." A smirk crossed his face at the mental image of Sasuke beaten and bruised, bleeding, broken bones, Sakura dragging him though Konoha, up the Hokage tower and dropping him at Tsunade's feet. He saw Shikamaru and Kiba smile as well.

Shikamaru sighed. "Sasuke's strong too. And if she still harbors feelings for,--" He was cut off.

"She's over him, Nara. She's done. She gave up on him several years ago. It's why she became so strong. Now she only wants to bring him back for Konoha, and Naruto. Not for herself. You of all people should know that. Being her captain and all." Neji whispered the last parts, his eyes soft and focused on the floor.

Tsunade watched Neji's face. He was hurt. He was worried. As if he almost didn't believe his own words. She had heard the part towards Shikamaru, however she didn't understand it.

"I called the five of you on here so that you know to be on watch for any sign of her return, and any whispers of her while on missions. Only you five know that this is a mission for her. Everyone else believes that she had been captured. And it will stay that way." She leaned forward, placing her forehead in her hands. "Today's the day she should be hitting Sound. She's been gone for four days, Kakashi returned faster than I thought." She whispered. As if she was only talking to herself.

"You will set faux missions of ANBU to look for her, correct? Otherwise it will eventually be figured out." Neji stated, his face again emotionless.

Tsunade nodded. "Hai. I'll be sending out Kakashi's team first. I told her to leave evidence of her capture. But I'm sure if she doesn't, Orochimaru will. He does like to brag about his findings."

Neji's eyes narrowed. He was thoroughly displeased with his Hokage at the moment. "If the Uchiha hurts her, Tsunade, I. Will. Kill. Him." He bit through the last four words.

His words made her look up at him, and she understood. Neji. Hyuuga Neji, was in love with Sakura. She gave him a small smile. "If Sasuke hurts her, Neji, I will personally over see your team's punishment for him."

The Hyuuga prodigy nodded before turning away and heading for the door, only stopping to make sure that Shikamaru and Kiba were going to follow. He quickly slid the door open and vanished to the other side, his two remaining team mates behind him.

As soon as the door closed, Tsunade turned to Kakashi. "Assemble the rest of your team and come back. Remember, they are to know nothing of her mission." She said, her Hokage attitude sliding back into place.

Kakashi nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto on the other hand just sat there, watching his Hokage.

"Do you think she'll come back?" he asked.

Tsunade looked up at the boy. A hurt expression was plastered onto his face. All hope gone from it. "Yes, I think she will. However, I don't believe she'll come back unscathed." She said.

Naruto nodded. No one could come back from Orochimaru unscathed. It was just impossible. How was anyone supposed to come from that without some kind of mental trauma? He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"She'll come back, Naruto. You just have to believe in her." Tsunade whispered.

Again he nodded. He vowed that he'd do anything in his power to help her when she came back. If she came back.

"She has to come back, Tsunade." He whispered.

Tsunade caught the pain in his voice.

"She has to."

Um. I might end up coming back and making it longer. Cuz...yeah. sighs If anyone has ideas, throw them at me. I don't mind. And I'll give you credit as well. :D

OH! And Hyuuga, on u or two? Wiki has one, everything else has two...so.. yeeh.