Darkness Falls

A/N- Heh, hey guys!

I just got my first flame when I posted the prologue and I have only one thing to say to that person. This is a free country and I can post whatever the hell I want! So if you don't like this, then why did you even bother to review it?

Ahem, anyway...to BloodyOracle, thank you for the review. I'm glad that you enjoied this, so if just for you, I will continue to post this story.

Disclaimer- Naruto isn't mine, but I wouldn't mind borrowing Gaara and Itatchi for a while, please?

Whelp, onto the fic, enjoy!

'Thoughts'

Chapter 1: Selections

Naruto let out a loud yawn as blue eyes scanned the office for what seemed to be the millionth time that hour.

He had been summoned by Tsunade and had been told it was urgent, being Naruto he had rushed over there only to find that Tsunade was in meetings at the moment and wouldn't be back for at least an hour, maybe more.

So here he was, bored out of his mind.

Around him were several familiar faces and all of which were there for the same reason as himself, 'damn Tsunade, what's the old hag thinking?'

Naruto would admit, it had been surprising to say the least when Shizune had shoved him into Tsunade's office to wait only to find himself surrounded by seven other's.

Sitting over by the window were Shino and Neji, while over by Tsunade's bookshelves were Lee and Shikamaru. Parked on the floor just next to the door were Kiba and his ever faithful Akamaru. But last but not least, were Sasuke and Gaara who were both currently leaning against the walls on either side of the room while glaring daggers at one another.

Tried of standing around doing nothing while watching his friends continue their staring contest, Naruto shook his head and stomped over to Tsunade's desk. He was prepared to fall back into her chair, but just as he was about to a voice filled the room.

"Don't even try it Blondie," immediately all eyes turned towards the source of that voice.

Tsunade was standing in the doorway with a smirk on her lips, behind her Naruto expected to see Shizune but to his surprise there was a cloaked figure instead, 'a female by the look of things.'

Seeing that she had everyone's attention, Tsunade walked inside and waited until the cloaked woman followed her. As softly as she could, Tsunade shut the door and leaned back against it, her arms crossed over her chest as she collected her thoughts.

"Alright boys, I know you're all curious as to why I summoned you all here. So let's get down to business." Pushing off the door, Tsunade strode across her office to her desk and shoed Naruto away from her seat.

Sitting down, Tsunade motioned to the woman at her side and in answer to the unspoken command, the woman pulled back the hood of her cloak and let her long silver hair fall over one shoulder.

All of the guys stared in surprise at this woman as the same thought ran through their minds, 'she's beautiful.'

At least, they were thinking along those lines until Akamaru did something no one, not even Kiba expected.

With a low growl, Akamaru leapt out of Kiba's lap and snarled at the woman, he bared his fangs in warning. Something about this woman didn't sit right with him and he was determined to get to the bottom of it. Well, at least he was until the woman bore equally sharp fangs back at him.

Chuckling in amusement, Tsunade placed her hand on the woman's shoulder, "Sai, we have more important things to discuss, so make it quick."

With a smirk, Sai knelt low so that she was level with Akamaru, snapping her jaws as a low growl came from her throat, Sai smiled when Akamaru trembled and sank to the floor at her feet exposing his belly in utter submission.

This occurrence seemed to snap Kiba out of his daze, getting to his feet he made his way across the room slowly, he came to a kneeling stop next to Akamaru's still shaking form.

"Akamaru…what's wrong? What happened?" When Akamaru only continued to tremble, Kiba glared at Sai. "What did you do to him?!"

Dusting off her legs, Sai stood. Turning her eyes upon the young man before her, Sai just smiled, "I told him to refrain from any acts of violence while in my presence, I am here in peace and I intend it to remain that way."

Rolling her eyes Tsunade shot a glare directly at Kiba, silently telling him to back off or else. Swallowing in fear, Kiba quickly scooped Akamaru up into his arms and sprinted back towards the door, he then sat as close to it as he could.

Pleased with his reaction Tsunade let her eyes meet those of all gathered in the room, "Now, I asked you all here because I have a mission for you eight. One that in it's own right is for the sake of our village as well as Sai's, all I ask is that you consider what Sai is about to tell you seriously before you make your choice."

Seeing the understanding in everyone's eyes, Tsunade turned to Sai, "Their all yours Sai."

Nodding her head, Sai turned and locked her eyes with each of the young men before her, "I am from a village called the village of Darkness and I was sent to gather eight strong ninja's to come to my village. You would be staying there for a year, while in my village you would live as you normally would."

"Each of you would be assigned a partner and while in the village, this partner will be your companion in all things. Just so you know, you would be the only men in our village, if this bothers you then I would suggest not accepting this mission."

Making sure that they had all heard her clearly, Sai shifted as she prepared herself for the next step, "As a last note, I will tell you all whatever you wish to know, you have but to ask. But first…"

Sai reached into her cloak and pulled out a small velvet bag, holding it in her palm, Sai pulled the drawstring, opening the bag. "I want to know if you all are willing to do this mission…only then will I disclose everything. It is not that I do not trust you, in fact it is the opposite."

Glancing over at Tsunade, Sai flashed her a slight smirk before turning to face the guys again, "From what Tsunade has told me about you all, I think that you are all good men and that is why I hope that you will accept this mission. But that choice is yours alone."

Having said her piece, Sai leaned back against Tsunade's desk, setting the velvet bag down next to her as both women watched the eight before them in silence.

Scratching his neck, Naruto let his eyes meet those of the other's as he slowly came to a decision, turning towards Tsunade and Sai, Naruto crossed his arms behind his head as he flashed them one of his goofy smiles.

Tsunade nearly started to cry at seeing that smile, it was a great relief to see that at least one of them had finally made up his mind.

His smiled turned into a smirk as he saw the relief in Tsunade's eyes, "count me in…I'll go. Besides, it sounds like you ladies need some men around anyway, I mean, what if someone tried to attack…but I do have one question though," as Naruto trailed off, Sai snorted lightly as she pulled one of the objects from the bag and enclosed it in her fist.

Making her way around Tsunade, Sai walked right up to Naruto and seeing the surprise flood his blue eyes, Sai just let her smile deepen as she reached out a hand and touched his cheek.

"You want to know if we have ramen there or not, correct?"

Dumbfounded, Naruto just nodded his head as he gave Sai a confused look, seeing this Sai shook her head lightly as she opened her hand and unclasped the chain of the pendant. "Your just like my daughter-in-law, she loves ramen, if she could that's all she would ever eat…so…I think I have the perfect match for you."

Lifting the pendant, Sai reclasped it around Naruto's neck before taking a step back and giving Naruto a serious look, "the pendant I have just given you is called hotaru, it reflects the spirit inside one's self. Tsunade has told me all about you Naruto, even your very sad beginnings and I understand. Maybe more than you can ever know."

Letting out a sigh, Sai placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze, "thank you Naruto, my village and I are grateful that you will help us, now…what about the rest of you?"

As a stunned Naruto continued to just stare at her, Sai scanned the room and raised an eyebrow in question.

Pushing off from where he was leaning against the wall, Gaara made his way across the room to stand directly before Sai, his cold green eyes sending her an emotionless glare.

Sai met his glare with one of her own and to Gaara's great surprise, he was unable to hold that glare for very long, glancing at Naruto and seeing that the blonde idiot was turning over the pendant he had been given Gaara turned back to Sai.

"I accept…" Rolling her eyes, Sai dug through the bag and drug out another pendant, all the while giving Gaara an amused look. Lifting the pendant, she quickly placed it about his neck before, taking a step back, "okay, the pendant I have given you is called yoru hateshinai, which I think matches your personality perfectly."

Turning away from Gaara, Sai smiled softly when she saw that Lee had steadily approached and was now giving her a high handed salute. "I would like to join as well Mam', besides, it is my duty to protect those in danger."

Snickering slightly at Lee's words, Sai nodded her head and pulled out another pendant, soon it was about Lee's neck and Sai had a hand placed upon his shoulder.

"Your pendant is called Taifu and from what I have heard of your exploits, I believe the very word itself is meant just for you. I am glad that you will help us," removing her hand, Sai looked at the others and found that four of them were raising their hands as they locked their eyes with her.

Feeling her smile deepen at this, Sai approached the first of the four, Shikamaru.

As she reached him he merely gave her a look and Sai could clearly see his answer within his brown eyes, lifting out another pendant Sai quickly fastened it around quiet boy's neck, "from what Tsunade told me, you are a special case Shikamaru and so I give you the pendant named Chie."

Nodding his head, Shikamaru walked past Sai and over to where Lee, Naruto and Gaara now stood.

Smiling at that, Sai turned to face the second person that had their hand raised, Neji.

The Hyuuga was currently giving her a cold look, one that Sai merely shrugged off as she pulled out the next pendant, her eyes meeting his. "Are you wishing to join as well or not?"

Neji narrowed his eyes more but still gave a slight and rather stiff nod of his head, nodding her head in return Sai fastened the pendant about Neji's neck, "your pendants name is Gou and I suggest that you loosen up Hyuuga, or you won't last even a minute in my village."

Over the next four minutes, Sai approached the other two who had their hands raised and when they gave their approval she gave them both pendants. The two of them were Kiba and Shino, their pendants were named Sasayaki Yasei and Mori.

That only left the most stubborn ninja in the entire leaf village, the original grouch himself, Sasuke Uchiha.

He was still leaning against the wall in the same position and currently had every eye in the room glued to his stationary form, interestingly enough though, he was desperately trying to ignore them all and was doing a very bad job of it.

Finally, after what seemed forever, he snapped and shoved hard off the wall. Stomping over to where Sai stood with the last pendant in her hand, he gave her a glare that would make his brother proud before reaching for the pendant, only to have Sai disappear completely before she reappeared behind him.

Sai couldn't help but smirk at the others from behind the Uchiha, he was a interesting one alright and Sai knew that as long as these particular eight were in her village, no one would have to suffer from boredom.

"So...you wish to join as well Uchiha or are you just curious as to why you are the only one who does not have a pendant yet?" Sai had tilted her head to where she was speaking into the young man's ear and she nearly broke out laughing when he whirled about, a kunai slicing through the air that her face had occupied just seconds before.

Sasuke only narrowed his eyes more before replacing his kunai in it's holster and holding his hand out, as if that was all that was needed to answer her question. Rolling her eyes, Sai swatted the brunette's hand away and before he even had a chance to react, she had snapped the clasp shut on the last pendant and stepped back.

Blinking in confusion and surprise, Sasuke looked down to find that Sai had indeed placed a pendant about his neck, his anger boiled as he silently tried to figure out how she did that while he barely paid any attention to her next words.

"And you Uchiha, your pendants name is Tamashii Aoi and frankly, just as I said with Naruto. I have the perfect match for you and frankly, the two of you should get along well." Seeing that Sasuke was apparently in his own world, Sai let out a sigh as she turned from him and walked back over to Tsunade's desk, taking a seat upon the floor at it's side.

Tsunade flashed her a conspiritial smile before giving each of the young men before her a solid and serious look, "now since that has been taken care of, you each may ask Sai whatever you wish, but make it quick because you all will be setting out for her village at first light tomorrow morning. So you'll each need your rest for the long journey."

As soon as those words left her mouth, Tsunade felt a strange sense of contentedness flood through her, 'well...at least I know they are all in good hands now, good luck boys...especially you Naruto...'

A/N- I know this chapter is really long and the others more than likely won't be like this one...but I was on a roll and one thing just lead to another. Besides, in order to understand what is going to happen next, I had to have all this in this chapter...

But anyway, I suppose that you all would like to know just what each of the pendant names mean and so...I've decided to include a little dictionary of these terms below...enjoy!

First is Naruto...he was an interesting one to pick a name for...but I was inspired by a lovely short, black haired, red eyed, forbidden child with this one...

Hotaru- Firefly...go figure...

Next is Gaara, I just had to have him next...after all, he never liked to be left out of things much...anyway...

Yoru Hateshinai- Neverending Night, something that fits him because of his insomniac problem and also the fact that it pretty much defines his attitude...

Third was Lee, who we all know would say yes to practically anything, it was really easy picking his out...

Taifu- Typhoon, I got this term from his leaf hurricane attack that he likes to use so much...

Fourth was Shikamaru and we all know that he's a genius in disguise, so why wouldn't Sai?

Chie- Wisdom, and believe you me, he'll be needing it...

Fifth of course was Neji, his was hard and finally it was my 'kasan that gave me this one...

Gou- Heavy Rain, he just seems like the type of person who likes dreary weather...so I thought it worked...

Number six was Kiba and his was way too easy to pick, after all, he is a wild one...

Sasayaki Yasei- Wild Whisper, he does talk to animals...so it works...

Seven was Shino and don't ask me why, but when I think of bugs I automaticaly thought this next term...

Mori- Forest, see? Where else would bugs live but in a forest...

And lastly, lucky number eight, Sasuke. His wasn't too hard or too easy, all I really had to do was re-watch the ep with his bro killing everyone and it hit me...

Tamashii Aoi- Blue Soul, for when you are alone and only think of revenge, who wouldn't have a darkness about and within them?

Well...there you have it...

I hope this helped and if you guys have any questions, just pm me or write it in your review and I'll do my best to answer it...

Until next time...

Ja Ne!