A/N: Thank you, Rin and Tanya! I appreciate it and hope everyone enjoys this chapter! It took me quite some time! ~Tsu

Each respective shinobi nodded to the ANBU present in their room and thereafter the messenger left to allow the members of team seven to prepare for their meeting with the Hokage. Within 5 minutes, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were standing outside of Tsunade's office.

Glancing at one another, Naruto spoke first, "A mission no doubt. Finally! I was getting bored."

Sakura could hear the bit of excitement in his voice, but just like her, she could also feel the hidden anxiety. The last action they saw was the fourth ninja war, like that wasn't enough, it also confirmed their new titles as the second generation sannin. Having Lady Tsunade call all three of them made Sakura jittery with nerves. Why would she need all three of them? Sakura's thoughts immediately went to the worse possible scenarios.

Sasuke had been looking at Naruto when he spoke, but soon his attention was on Sakura. She was so short in comparison to the two of them, he had never quite noticed. He scoffed lightly when he remembered her brute strength. Size was definitely not a representation of her abilities. She hadn't noticed he was looking at her, which he was grateful. He had not, however, noticed that Naruto saw where Sasuke had decided to plant his eyes.

Just how long are you going to torture yourself and her, Sasuke-teme? Naruto thought. Sasuke felt the pull of someone's gaze. Sasuke looked at Naruto again and he wasn't surprised to find Naruto staring at him with a stoic expression, a rare look from the kyuubi host. Sasuke grimaced in return, confused as to why Naruto was looking at him like that.

Sakura didn't notice the brief moment between her teammates, she was too concerned with the issue at hand. So, she knocked on the door and the two men focused again on her and awaited the Hokage's response.

"Lady Tsunade?" Sakura questioned.

There was some rattling audible, no doubt the sound of sake bottles being thrown into a drawer. Sakura sighed and shook her head. She was sure the drinking had escalated as the end of Tsunade's term was quickly coming.

"You may enter," Tsunade spoke.

Sakura turned the door and entered first, followed by both men, who all stopped just short of Tsunade's desk. There was paperwork everywhere and a failed attempt at hiding the bottles behind a stack of mission files. Tsunade rubbed her eyes and looked at three shinobi in front of her who patiently waited for her to speak. She smiled softly beneath the hand over her lips.

Just a few years ago, Naruto would have busted in here whining to know the mission details. Look who's finally silent, Jiraiya. Sakura, too, I'm so proud. She's so petite and figured now, but to have a student surpass me! Ha. Tsunade closed her eyes in her prideful thoughts, The daughter I never had. But then there's you. She looked at Sasuke. To think you came back. Her eyes narrowed on him. He didn't react, it was nothing new. What will you choose in life now? Will you be happy when you see him alive? Or will you shun her again?

After a few moments of silent recollection, Tsunade pulled a few profiles of some ninja from a nearby pile. Sakura wasn't surprised she was able to locate what she needed in the chaos but Naruto was determined to never let it get that messy when he takes the seat as Hokage.

"Most would think that after such a catastrophe as the war, the world would fall into an era of peace. However, history has proven that is not the case," she flipped the profiles of the ninja open on her desk. "These men are rouge ninja. I don't feel comfortable discussing quite yet what it is that they've been doing, but for now, understand that they have been organizing in the same manner as the Akatsuki. Their names are unknown, however, one is a previous Sound nin and the other two were members of Sand. Abilities are phenomenal and the Sound associate is a practitioner in dark medical ninjutsu, which is why you've been appointed to this mission, Sakura. Along with the obvious reason: being my successor as a sannin."

"The ex-Sand nin are formidable in Earth, Fire and Lightening style jutsus. Unfortunately, that is all that we are aware of. It would appear they have some crap notion of tearing down their homelands from the inside, blah blah, typical shit. Like we all don't have enough to worry about right now!" She slammed her hand on her desk in frustration.

Naruto flinched, that poor desk. Again, something he would never do while a Hokage.

"Well what do you want us to do, Granny?" He asked.

Tsunade's eye twitched. Oh, how she hated when he said that word.

"What I want you to do, Naruto, is find these sorry bastards and 'disband' them, for lack of a more discrete term. The world does not need another Akatsuki while it's trying to heal. Team seven, you leave immediately, your heading is north to the mountains. We believe they are attempting to make a headquarters in the Shouzi Forest in the Rain country. They've already taken 20 lives that we know of, in spite of their so-called enemies. End them, now."

Naruto and Sakura nodded in response, while Sasuke just looked onward. Tsunade knew that he understood his mission. It did remind her, though…

"Sakura, I need to speak with you privately. Naruto, Sasuke, go to the gate and wait for Sakura. It won't take long," Tsunade demanded to which the two men left.

After she was sure they were out of ears' range, Tsunade felt comfortable speaking.

"How is he, Sakura?"

"Well, he's improving tremendously. I expect him to wake up any day now," Sakura answered.

"Uh-huh. And how are you? I've never experienced distance healing, Sakura, this is a foreign concept to me. I told you to be careful with it," Tsunade singled in on Sakura's bloodshot eyes. It was obvious to Tsunade that her student was tired.

She was pushing herself like crazy to heal him for Sasuke. It ate away at Tsunade to see her like this. Sakura was so immensely dedicated to the Uchiha boy, to someone who had tried to kill her. Tsunade understood though. Unlike everyone else, Sakura saw the boy she knew, she saw the man Sasuke should have been, and she had faith in him to become that man. Now, here she was fulfilling her duties as head medic of Leaf and healing a man stained in blood and lies from afar with a jutsu no one had ever managed to perfect, let alone actually succeed.

(A/N: I actually don't know much about Itachi's death. I didn't read that part, I know he touched Sasuke's forehead and it surprised Sasuke. I'm going to change it up: Sakura found Itachi's body while on a mission a day after his death and preserved him then brought him back to Leaf secretly, but with Tsunade's permission and under her private supervision.)

"I'll be fine, Tsunade-sama. It's coming along well!" Sakura smiled with her eyes closed, but Tsunade knew she was physically exhausted. Sakura was pushing herself to produce enough chakra for herself and for Itachi. She had created a long distance jutsu to connect herself with Itachi's body at all times. There had been some instances that it had affected Sakura, she felt the pain of his body healing, which was outside of anything Tsunade had ever dealt with. Sakura was on her own, she had become the teacher.

"I'll be able to keep the connection while on this mission, I'm sure. But his vitals have finally stabilized; even now I can feel his heartbeat. It's strong and becoming steadier. The only issue is his chakra. It's forming, but slowly in comparison to the rest of him. I'm not sure if I should expect slow progress or a sudden heap of production," she looked concerned at the thought.

"Keep me updated. It was a pain to get him unnoticed. The elders are aware he is here now," she sighed in annoyance, "that was a fiasco. Most any one of authority is also in the know. Kakashi is included in that private group. We have decided it will only become public news should he awaken," Tsunade said.

"I guarantee you he will be awake very soon," Sakura confidently replied.

"Then," Tsunade commented, "I recommend you tell Sasuke. He has a right to know before anyone. It might be something worth speaking about during this mission. If it won't distract you."

She wasn't expecting her to stay that. Sakura hadn't quite dived into the idea that Sasuke would need to know soon. She had been so focused on healing the village and Itachi that she forgot when Itachi did wake up, Sasuke would of course need to be told. Tsunade was right, though. He needed to know before his brother awoke. Sasuke would need time to process that his brother was actually alive and he wasn't as alone as he thought. She inhaled a gulp of air and heaved it out.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"You may go, now, Sakura. Good luck," she said.

Sakura bowed, jumped out the window and skipped across rooftops until she came to the gate where she found her team. Sasuke and was leaning up against the doorway, arms crossed under his poncho, eyes closed and a foot propped up against wood. Naruto was perpendicular to Sasuke, his arms behind his head and he was telling Hinata goodbye. Surprisingly, Hinata got up on her tippy toes and planted a quick peck on Naruto's lips. He was at first, taken aback, his eyes flew open and his body had remained in the same position. Even Sasuke looked through one eye and was impressed by the shy girl's boldness.

"Be safe, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered.

"Wha.. WHA?! Hinata-chan!" Naruto's face became beat red and he started smiling from ear to ear.

Hinata giggled and Sasuke just 'tch-ed' at his loudness. Hinata looked at Sasuke and told him to be safe as well and to watch out for Naruto. Sasuke nodded in replied and she smiled softly and headed off away from the gates back into the village.

Sasuke could sense Sakura's presence so he looked in the direction Hinata had headed. He found the two kunoichi speaking amongst themselves, no doubt saying well wishes and added girl stuff. He liked the Hyuuga, she wasn't afraid of him, or at least she wasn't obvious if she was. He was sure it was because he was Naruto's best friend and he had probably made Sasuke sound decent to Hinata in their private conversations. It appeared to Sasuke that Sakura was comfortable with the girl, she seemed at ease in their talk and she even hugged Hinata goodbye. He thought about it, Sakura seemed to associate with the Hyuuga and that Ino girl a lot, then there was also the brunette kunoichi from Rock Lee's and Neji's team. They seemed like decent people to be in her life. He was annoyed himself suddenly, since when did he think about who Sakura hung out with when she wasn't with him or Naruto or the hospital or Tsunade? …. When did he list her most popular surroundings either? He closed his eyes again.

"Are we ready?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura caught up to them at the gate and looked at him. This mission is going to be a nightmare. She thought.

"Yeah! I've been ready since yesterday!" Naruto proclaimed, pumping a fist in the air.

"Shut up, dobe. I'm the team leader. We'll head north until dusk, that should get us almost out of Fire," Sasuke said.

Naturally, Naruto disputed but Sasuke started walking into the forest and Sakura was in sync with Sasuke. A new location for her, he thought, though. She use to trail behind him and Naruto, this time, though, she was directly next to him. Something he could get use to. Naruto eventually caught, grumpy, but he was there. So with his arrival, they took to the trees.

About four hours went by in silence, but it was broken by Naruto's stomach.

"Oi! Teme! I'm hungry! Let's stop for lunch," Naruto moaned.

"We don't have time for that, dobe," Sasuke argued.

Sakura listened to Naruto complain and she watched Sasuke give him looks and nasty comments. It lightened her heart to see them so casual. Randomly, though, her chakra surged, and her seal enveloped her body. She could control it, gasping loudly she lost her footing on a branch and shut her eyes. Her chakra was out of control, so much that it the purple markings began glowing. It was Itachi, he was in desperate need of it. She knew he was getting ready to wake up but she hadn't expected his body's desire for energy.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, jumping down to catch her. However, he was too slow. He barely saw the flash of black when Sasuke whisked past him.

Sasuke caught Sakura bridal style and skidded into a tree branch with her in his arms. She was sweating and clenching her head. He knew she was trying to get her seal under control but it was fighting with her.

"Concentrate," he said as he brushed some hair out of her face.

She attempted to control her breathing and Naruto jumped down to them, a concerned expression crept onto his face.

"Sakura-chan, what's going on?" Naruto asked, something Sasuke was very interested in knowing.

"Patient," she gasped, "healing," she exhaled sharply, "it's my own jutsu," she gasped again. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, Itachi's mental grip on her chakra released and her seal resided back to her diamond on her forehead.

"What patient needs you to heal them like this, Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he held onto her.

She could only look into his eyes as she decided her next words.

A/N: Your reviews always motivate me! I LOVE reading them and knowing that someone is enjoying my story. ;) ~Tsu