Sasuke jogged across the rooftops to avoid being slowed by the pace of the citizens mulling about their mundane routines. He wanted to escape the village today. He wanted to run as fast as he could; to feel the sweat fall off his face and the burn in his lungs. He wanted to have a goal or target to occupy his mind. He wanted to so desperately be free from all the people he couldn't bring himself to face anymore. All the faces he saw everyday but knew that they were but shells of themselves thoughtlessly living 'peaceful' lives. As luck would have it, he saw the flash of pink and couldn't keep himself from looking down at her. He faltered momentarily when he saw his brother with her, drinking tea. What he saw, though, was not her sad eyes which were obviously avoiding looking at Itachi or Itachi's sidelong glance up at his spying younger brother.

What he saw were tear filled emerald eyes and a bloody wound. He saw hope fading from her as the moon turned red as her blood. Sasuke grimaced at the thoughts and turned away from the woman he could hardly look at anymore. Guilt slowly pressing down on his heart as he continued on his way. He hoped today he would get an assassination mission.

Itachi knew the girl across from him had been too deep in her thoughts to see the subject of her turmoil gazing at her from afar. Itachi couldn't decipher the emotions in his younger brother's eyes as he looked down at her. He knew that they were not emotions of extreme happiness though.

"Sakura." He said to break her from her thoughts. She glanced up at him hesitantly. "I am truly grateful that you have the feelings you do for my brother. However, I don't want you to waste the best years of your life waiting for him. He is foolish to not be the one chasing after you. You're young, smart and beautiful. No one will blame you if you look for happiness for yourself." Itachi looked straight into her eyes as he spoke the words that he knew would cause a fiery blush to creep up her face.

"I-" He held a hand up to stop her .

"Just think about it. There are many eligible men who fancy you. I have a meeting with my father about some police force matters that I need to be on my way to. I'll see you soon, Sakura - chan." Itachi dismissed himself from the table and walked over to the waitress to pay for their tea. He would never let Sakura pay for herself and she gave up the battle long ago. As he was exiting the restaurant, the waitress bowed after him profusely. He probably gave her a bill too large and told her to keep the change.

Sakura sipped at the rest of her tea and thought about Itachi's parting words. "Eligible men, huh? Like who?" An image of Rock Lee striking his signature pose made its way into her mind. A soft smile and giggle graced her lips at the idea. "Looks like you'll be single for a while, huh Sakura?" She sighed to herself. "Oh, it's almost time for training." She pushed out of her seat and made her way to the bridge they always met at for training.

"Look, Sasuke, I don't know what to tell you. We're in peacetime now. There's no missions except for helping people in their gardens or stores. Even the bandits on the paths between the towns and countries have become quiet. No one even requires ninja escorts anymore. We might soon have to limit the number of kids going into the ninja academy. We just don't have any jobs for ninja these days. Besides, Team 7 has a training session today, don't they? Go to that." Tsuande rubbed at her temples. Everyday Sasuke burst into her office demanding a mission and always turned down the only ones she had, which were all low ranking.

"Tsunade-"

"That is Hokage-sama to you, Sasuke!" Tsunade bellowed. She sighed and looked at the furious boy. "You're dismissed." He glared at her before slamming the doors to her office as he exited. "We need to get him some mental help. Oh, Sakura, what do you see in that boy..." She took a swig of her sake and tried to recreate Sasuke's glare at her pile of paperwork. Maybe she could scare it away.

As Sakura neared the bridge, she could hear Naruto yelling something incoherent. As she got closer, she saw he was pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself. His hand was on his chin and he appeared to be deep in thought.

"Naruto?"

"Ahh! Sakura-chan!" He looked at her with tear-filled eyes. He ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her. "You can't ask the bastard out! Don't do it Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto. I'm not going-" He kept shaking her and screaming. "Naruto!"

"Sakura-chan, you can't!" He wailed with snot and tears rolling down his face.

"NARUTO! I'm not going to ask Sasuke-kun out!" She yelled. He stopped shaking her and gave her a dumbfounded look that she could only sigh at. His face was gross looking with all the tears and snot.

"What?" He said. She pushed his hands off her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

"I said, I'm not asking him out Naruto." She looked down in slight defeat.

"But Ino said..."

"Ugh! Stupid Ino-pig! I'm going to pummel her. She was trying to convince me to ask him on a date. But I'm not going to." Naruto's frown grew into a big grin.

"Really? That's great!" He beamed and turned to start mumbling to himself about how he could ask her on a date. His ramblings eventually turned into something about marriage and she diligently did what she could to ignore him. She leaned over the side of the bridge and gazed at her reflection. She hadn't even gotten rejected but she already looked sad. She watched the fish swim around and laid her head down over her arms.

What good is peace when you can't even enjoy it? She mentally slapped herself for thinking that way. There were many people who would probably be dead by now if there wasn't peace across the lands. There would be wives, husbands, children, and friends who would be left behind and heartbroken. What she wouldn't do for a good mission...

"Bastard, you actually showed up! I was beginning to think you were too scared to face me." Naruto grinned confidently at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't find Naruto's comment worthy of a reply so he sat down and leaned back against a tree next to the bridge. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. He would keep as much distance between himself and them as he could. Even if it was fake, they deserved peace and happiness. He wouldn't ruin it for them but he would find a way out one day. To his dismay, Naruto was not happy to be ignored and stomped over to where Sasuke was. Right as Naruto was about to open his mouth, Kakashi poofed onto the bridge.

Kakashi clapped his hands together, "We have a mission today." He said with a big smile. Well, what looked like a big smile through his mask.

"Ugh! The only missions these days are bo-ring! I want an action packed battle where I get to kick some butt! Right, Sasuke?!" Naruto whined. Sasuke didn't acknowledge Naruto's outburst but opened an uniterested eye to look at Kakahi.

"Well, Naruto. We're a bit short on those at the moment. But for this one, we do get to travel." With that statement, Sakura perked up and looked at her teacher for the first time since his arrival. "We'll be heading to the land of Lightning." At that, Sasuke's ears perked up. The land of lightning is where we fought Madara...maybe I can find a clue how to escape this world there...