AN: I don't own Naruto….Some info are based on the old/new Naruto manga chapters.
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Chapter 5 – Care to Dance?
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A brief look at what happening…
Sakura has been currently training under Tsunade, and gained her super strength. Sasuke learned the chidori. Naruto is still training his wind element. Both Neji and Hinata are close to understanding their bloodline's full potential from Kakashi.
"I would be most honored if you came to the celebration for our last win in the battle against those in grass." Orochimaru said as he sat down in his throne. The man he was talking to stood in front of him, wearing a long black cloak. His eyes blood red, as his face showed no emotion whatsoever. His sword hung loosely to his right side and his cloak concealed his other weapon on his left.
"Yes your highness." Itachi said as he turned around to leave. Making sure that the Akatsuki member left, Kabuto appeared from behind the long drapes that hung over the large windows.
"I see that went easily." Kabuto said as Orochimaru stood up.
"Yes indeed." Orochimaru said as he started to walk forward. "Are there any signs of the four children yet?" he asked as he glared at Kabuto.
"No." Kabuto said as his gaze lowered to the ground.
"Kabuto, now that all four of them are alive, this can cause problems that I don't want. You failed to kill them with that traitorous bastard, Kakashi, almost six months ago!" Orochimaru said, angered. Kabuto had a line of sweat on the side of his face. He felt his heart beat faster as the tension he felt between him and his lord grew. "For now, we will just have to put that on hold so we don't raise suspicions at the celebration in three days. I don't want those four to ruin my impression toward the other kings. Am I clear?"
"Yes your highness." Kabuto said as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled out side both their doors, "Wake up! There's going to be a meeting. Teme and the others are already there." the blond then ran out the door of the house. After a few seconds, both Hinata and Sakura yelled "What?!". The two quickly got ready and rushed out of the house at the same time.
"I see all the knights have arrived." Neji said as both Hinata and Sakura entered the knight's training building. "Ok everyone. We have a new mission. Orochimaru's having a celebration party in his castle in a couple of days. We can take this opportunity to get information."
"And kick his ass!" Naruto added.
"Shut it dobe." Sasuke said.
"Most of you will come with me, and the rest has to stay here and help protect the camp. First, I'll take volunteers. Once called upon step up so it's easier to see the ratio. Alright, anyone up for it?" Neji asked. He smirked when he found everyone raising their hand.
"I'll choose." Sasuke said as he stepped forward.
"Sakura." Sakura was a bit taken back as she went up and stood next to Naruto. "He chose me first?" She thought.
"Hinata-chan, and Sai!" Naruto said. Sasuke just let it pass as some of the knights laughed lightly.
"Tenten, Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, Shino, Ino, Choji." Sasuke said. "The rest of you, keep this place safe."
"Hai." The other knights said in unison.
After the other knight left, Neji and Sasuke told their team of their plan on infiltrating the castle.
"Ino, can you change everyone's appearance." Neji asked.
"Of course." She said.
"Shino, Kiba, Choji. You three will be the outside watch when we get in. You guys have to find a way to get us in and out. Shikamaru, you'll supervise all this." Sasuke said.
"How troublesome." Shikamaru said as he leaned against the wall.
"Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, Sai." You three have to lead us to Orochimaru's chamber, weapon's room, and the treasury." Naruto said.
"Got it!" Sakura said. Neji then turned to Kakashi who sat in the corner.
"I'll meet you there a little after. I need to take care of some things." Kakashi said.
"Just don't be too late, like for training." Naruto said.
"Now you all know the plans. I don't want Orochimaru to interfere with them." Itachi said.
"We got it, no sweat yeah." Deidara said.
"So what about the young royals. They're bound to be there." Sasori said.
"That goes for your younger brother too." A large man with blue skin said. He carried a huge sword on his back and he wore the same cloak as the other. His face was almost shark-like.
"Don't worry about that Kisame. My brother's a weak fool." Itachi said.
On the day of the celebration, Neji and the others rode their horses to the kingdom.
"Everyone ready?" Naruto asked. Everyone nodded.
"Let's go." Sasuke said as he got off his horse. The others mimicking his action.
Neji and the others made sure that their disguises were convincing before going in through the gates. When they reached the castle doors someone yelled "You bunch, hault." A guard said as Hinata walked past one guard. Naruto was about to panic, but kept his mouth shut.
"What is the matter, my good sir." Tenten asked with all the politeness she possessed. The guard smile and said, "You all have to wear a mask to enter." Sakura and the rest looked around to see that the people entering and leaving had small white masks that covered only the first half of their faces.
"Oh." Tenten said. The guard then handed Tenten ten masks as he let her and the other enter.
"No one said anything about masks." Lee said.
"Sorry, I didn't really look into that. I was too busy getting all the girl's dresses and the guy's clothes ready." Ino apologized.
"Great job." Sai said. Ino just smacked him against the head.
"Don't worry, and by the way, these dresses are gorgeous." Hinata commented.
"I guess, even I can agree to that." Sakura said. Hinata wore a long light tan colored gown, while Sakura had a dark red dress. Tenten wore a black dree while Ino had a lavander colored dress on.
"Well I'm glad you like it forehead girl." Ino said.
"I wish my hair wasn't dyed brown though." Sakura muttered.
"I just hope Choji and the other two don't get into any trouble." Shikamaru said as the group walked on, while putting on their masks.
"Oi Shino, did they get in yet?" Kiba asked as he and Akamaru sniffed the air.
"Yes." Shino answered after his bugs confirmed the information.
"I'm hungry." Choji said as he brought a small sac of dried potato slices.
"How the heck can you eat on a mission like this?" Kiba asked.
"How can you not eat when you're hungry?"
"We ate before we left."
"Well a guy can have a snack can't he?
"Why did I get stuck with these two?" Shino thought.
"It's going to look weird if ten people stand in a group not doing anything." Sai said.
"You're right. Get into pairs, and do whatever until I give the signal. Then we'll go find those rooms." Neji said.
"What's the signal?" Naruto asked. Everyone sweat dropped.
"When you see me stand in front of that window, you six go for it. The four of us will them keep the people in here occupied." Lee said. "I'll signal Shino from there."
"Alright then, everyone have it?" Shikamaru asked.
"Of course!" Ino said. "Sasuke-kun! Let's dance." Ino said as she grabbed his arms. Sasuke was caught off guard, but danced with her so not to raise suspicion.
"What a pig." Sakura mumbled as she just stood near Sai.
"Jealous are we?" Sai said.
"No." Sakura answered. "Besides, I was never good at dancing anyways."
"I know. You did always stepped on my feet when we had classes here."
"That's because I did it on purpose."
"You're a sad little person aren't you."
"Tenten, do you-" but Neji was cut off when Tenten hooked her arm with his and headed off into the crowd of people.
"Hey Sakura-chan! You want to dance?" Naruto asked. Sakura saw Hinata's sad expression from the corner of her eye. "Um, I rather sit this song out. Why don't you ask Hinata-chan?" Sakura suggested.
"Sure! May I have this dance." Naruto asked very gentleman like to Hinata while giving her his hand. Hinata bushed like crazy as she took his offer and stepped onto the old ballroom floor.
" I need to go get ready. Have fun in the meantime Sakura-san." Lee said as he gave her a thumbs up.
"Be careful." Sakura said.
"I need to go analyze the situation. Don't do anything troublesome." Shikamaru said.
"Don't worry you know me." Sai said. Shikamaru gave a doubtful look and then left.
"I'm going to go look around the room for a bit. I'm bored. You want to join me?" Sai asked.
"Nah, I ok here." Sakura said. Sai just shrugged and left, disappearing into the crowd of people.
Sakura just looked at the happy people all around her. It started to remind her of the old days when Hiashi was still alive, and had parties or gatherings like these. "I wish it was as peaceful as it was back then. Damn that Orochimaru…" Sakura thought as she let out a sigh.
"May I have this dance?" Someone said in a low voice. Breaking from her thoughts, Sakura looked up to see a man wearing a dark tuxedo. She couldn't see who it was because of his mask, but could tell that he somehow reminded her of someone. She was a little uncomfortable about the heavy gaze he had on her, but remembered about the mission at hand. He extended out his hand to her and she accepted it. The orchestra played a nice slow, easy rhythm, as Sakura and her new dance partner stepped onto the dance floor. After a minute or two, the stranger asked, "Why were you sitting down, when you dance so divinely?" Sakura blushed at the comment, but it quickly disappeared when she saw Neji glaring at the man.
Sasuke was getting annoyed from Ino's clinginess as decided to just look around. He looked to where their group used to be and found no one there. "Where's Sakura and the rest?" He thought. He later found Shikamaru talking to some people, Lee giving some timid looking guys a speech about god knows what, and Sai walking around like an idiot. He continued to survey the area until he saw Neji constantly glaring at a guy dancing with Sakura….wait what?!
"Who is that?" Sasuke said. Ino looked in the direction he was looking at.
"I never saw him before." Ino said. "But he's hot!" Ino thought.
"I've never seen you around here before." the guy said to Sakura. "Do you live around here?"
"I, uh, my family lived here a while ago, but we moved outside the kingdom." Sakura answered.
"I see." The guy said as his face neared hers. Sakura almost looked a little panicked, but didn't want to make a scene. Only inches away from her face he asked, "What's your name?"
Neji couldn't control his brotherly instincts as he saw the stranger's face near Sakura's. He stopped dancing with Tenten and walked quickly toward the two. He spotted Sai and told him to dance with Tenten. Sasuke stopped dancing and his sharingan activated when he saw the same thing.
"Sasuke-kun, what's wrong?" Ino asked, seeing his blood colored eyes. He didn't answer her until he saw Neji heading toward them. As his sharingan disappeared he muttered 'nothing' as he continued dancing with Ino, but kept Sakura within his sight.
"My name is, umm-" but Neji cut her off.
"We have to go eat now." Neji said as she pulled Sakura lightly away from the guy. "We should meet the others at the table." Neji said as he gave one last glare before leaving.
"It was nice dancing with you. By the way, my name is-" The stranger was cut of by Sasuke and Ino.
"Come on, we need to go. You can speak with him later." Sasuke said as he took Sakura's hand as pulled her away from the dance floor. When they got to the tables with Neji, Tenten, and Sai, they started to ask questions.
"What do you think you were doing?" Sasuke asked.
"What? I was just dancing with that-" Sakura began.
"You were about to tell him your name." Neji said with crossed arms.
"I was going to tell him a different one."
"Neji, Sasuke. You two are being way to-" Tenten began.
"We don't know who his is. For all we know, he could be a spy for Orochimaru." Sai said.
"Sai you too?" Sakura said.
"You guys are being way too over protective." Ino said. "She's defending me?" Sakura thought. "She's twenty-two. She's old enough not to have you guys saving her from the man world."
"Hmph." Sasuke said as he crossed his arms.
"Thanks." Sakura whispered to both Tenten and Ino.
Naruto then came up to the group with Hinata. "He you guys, Shikamaru said it's time." Naruto said as they looked at the window to see Lee right next to it.
"Alright let's go." Neji said. "Tenten, Ino. Go get Shikamaru and Lee. You four make sure things go smoothly on the inside. Tell if Kiba or the others see any trouble.
"Got it." The two said as they went of into the crowd of people.
"Sakura." Saskue said. "You and me are going to find Orochimaru's chamber.
"Naruto, you and Hinata go find the treasury. Me and Sai will looked for the weapon's storage room." Neji said. They all agreed and left in all three directions.
"Did you have fun Itachi." Sasori asked with a smirk. Itachi just walked right past him and sat across from him.
"She's pretty, yeah." Deidara said.
"She's one of the orphans." Itachi said.
"What? Why didn't you get rid of her?" Kisame asked.
"Here? Now?" was all Itachi said. Kisame took a few moments an then agreed to his partner's decision.
"You're damn slow, yeah." Deidara said.
"I know what they're planning, and if we do things accordingly it will help our plans." Itachi said.
"Sasuke, I'm sorry if I endangered our mission." Sakura apologized as they walked through the dark stone hallways, dimly lighted by dying torches.
"No…I think that…maybe we took it too-" But Sasuke stopped when they heard footsteps coming their way. They found the closest door and went inside. Sakura thanked god for it being unlocked. The footsteps passed them, Sakura froze when she heard one of them speak.
"All the kings and queens from the other countries are here Orochimaru-sama." Sakura heard Kabuto say.
"Good, it's about time that there should be only one ruler." Orochimaru said.
"So Itachi, when do we release the beast? Kisame asked.
"It's getting really pissed staying here, yeah." Deidara said as the large lizard burned thetree next to him.
"We'll release the dragon soon, after my brother finishes his job of getting the information and people we need out." Itachi answered.
AN: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..anyone has any suggestions they would like to share…?