A/n: Okay so I got finished with this one rather quickly. I hope that you guys enjoy this one because I really like the way Sakura and Kiba interact in this one [It's based off of how my sister and her boyfriend act towards each other. lol. We won't get into any implications until about the third or fourth chapter.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Warnings: Yaoi, Yuri, Hetero, cussing, Kiba-abuse...because Sakura's mad...T.T Poor Kiba...-sniffle-

The story so far: After meeting with Tsunade, Naruto finds out that she knows where Sasuke is. A team is assembled to bring the Uchiha back and take out the evil organization. Naruto finds that it is easier to deal with the mission this time because he knows that he will succeed. But will he? Only time will tell...[don't shoot me for that last part! -cowers-

Chapter 2

Naruto had no idea what to blame his bright and early rising on, the weather or his own volition. Whatever it was it sure knew that he needed all the positive energy he could get in order to face this mission and come out of it in once piece, no matter what the outcome of it was. After stretching the tired, groggy morning feeling out of his muscles Naruto headed for the kitchen. A good ninja never skipped breakfast, no sir. The refrigerator was not very giving this morning.

He cocked his head to the side maybe that would bring more to his barren appliance. No such luck. Naruto reached out for the milk carton, looked like it was going to be the usual, milk from the carton and ramen. Not that he minded of course. It was just that today was so different that he wanted to try something different.

After an uneventful breakfast Naruto went into his room to get his usual outfit on. While he was in there he packed for the mission as well. Clean clothes, of every variety, extra weapons, in case he lost some of his, and freeze-dried food to live off of. Naruto was smart enough to pack plenty of food, enough for a two-month mission, if it came down to that. He was not going to leave this mission empty handed.

Everything was packed, his plants were watered and he was locking the door as he silently dubbed this day the day Sasuke would come home. But how many of his days previous to this mission had been named he same thing? Too many to count. As soon as the lock clicked he smiled to himself, today was most definitely different.

Walking down the street was weird, he felt lighter, almost like he wasn't walking at all, but floating above everyone instead. This made the trip to Hokage Tower go by a lot faster. His blue eyes didn't look at the eyes that meant to seer hatred into his mood, they stayed to the sky, where he felt like was at. It seemed nothing could stop this ball of sunshine from shining through the storm. The Tower that he was headed to would have seemed intimidating to him on any other day, but today it was more welcoming than anything else.

"What's he so damn happy about?" Ino muttered rubbing her tired eyes as the blond walked into the view of the team.

Sakura looked over at Ino; it was obvious by the darkness under her eyes that she hadn't slept too well either. Shikamaru watched as Naruto propped himself up against a wall across from him. Kiba was curled up on the floor, catching the few minutes of sleep he would be able to get on this mission. Chouji was leaning on his hand, half awake and half asleep, he was too worried to sleep the whole night through. Lee was the only one in the group who looked like he had really slept at all. He clenched and unclenched his fists in a weird muscle exercise that he practiced in the middle of the group that stood, sat, laid or dozed outside of the Hokage's office.

"You know Naruto, we're all surprised that you didn't camp out in front of the Hokage's door last night," Kiba commented opening one eye to look up at the blond.

Naruto laughed a little but said nothing, and thus the room fell silent again. Because so few words were said between team mates they could hear, what sounded like an argument on the other side of the door. Words like Don't!, Shut up…, and worried were heard caught by each member. Everyone looked at each other when they heard a word or two; possibly they were hoping to piece together the conversation that was sounding through a solid oak door. But given the words they had to work with all they could come up with was that the Jounin in charge of them on this mission and the Hokage herself were arguing...How very observant.

Shikamaru thought about Kiba's comment, since it was obvious that he wasn't going to be able to make out what the two leaders were fighting about. Maybe Kiba was just teasing him about his obsession with Sasuke but Shikamaru couldn't help but feel like the statement extremely accurate. For a while he'd noticed that Naruto would be little bit less than possessed at the mention of Sasuke's name in passing. It didn't take a high IQ to see that the boy was lost without his team mate, but he appeared to be the only who thought about it. He knew this because no one else in the room looked concerned with the mission, just with sleep and maybe training.

Of course Naruto looked like he was thinking about the mission but to Shikamaru he looked more like he just fell out of a happy factory and stumbled upon some joy on his way out. Too sunshiny for Shikamaru but if it worked for Naruto then it didn't give him such a bad head ache.

Something hit the door with a loud thump and a dull, "Come in," to draw everyone out of their dazed minds. When the door was opened by Sakura Tsunade was fixing her hair and messing with robe to put it back in order. Kakashi on the other hand was dusting off the back cover of his book and flipping through the pages to find where he left off at. Icha Icha must have been what was thrown against the door, according Shikamaru and his brilliant deductions. Each team member filed into the eternally stuffy room stood in front of an antique wooden desk and awaited their mission details.

Tsunade scanned the team she composed, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Rock Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji and Kakashi…Dear Gods Uchiha better be ready for this…She thought drumming her fingers against manila envelopes.

"Here are your mission details," She began as she passed out a thick envelope to each person.

Almost like Christmas to a small child, each teen opened the packets at lightning speed. To them, if they opened them fast then they could absorb the information fast and then they could get this done and over with faster. Not one of the ninjas read the information faster than Naruto. His eyes scanning, eating and processing the information at rates he never thought imaginable. Greedily his eyes grabbed at every bit of information outlined on each page.

Despite the faint shake of his hands, Naruto continued to smile. Shikamaru put a weak hand on his shoulders, though empty in the department of reassurance it would have to do for now. Naruto read that line over and over…

We have evidence that Sasuke has formed a new team…

It felt like the ultimate betrayal. He had told Naruto, for what felt like a lifetime ago, that he didn't need a team, yet there he was. A newly formed team to help him kill Itachi…it was like fate was playing a cruel joke on the remaining team 7. It was so harsh and there it was, printed so obvious on the paper. The words were just that, just words that were oblivious to the tender wound that they just dug hooks into with those few words.

Sakura's hands shook as well, Naruto bit his lip, but they smiled through what would have been tears if there had been no one in the room but them. Naruto mulled the possibilities around in his head but the only one that made sense was that Sasuke was trying to hurt his old team. The traitor had known that Tsunade would have been able to find him (he knew it damn it). So he formed a new team to hurt who he left behind.

That was the only logic that Naruto could come up with. But he erased it from his mind as he turned his face to the group and offered another smile. It was like the news of his best friend's new team renewed his ever-growing obsession with bringing him home.

The only busty woman in the room nodded when Naruto turned to everyone, "Begin the mission as soon as possible. I believe that you all can bring home Sasuke."

They all nodded and smiled at Tsunade's supportive words, each person feeling more confident in the road that lay ahead of them.

Kakashi led the team out into the street that sat in front of Hokage Tower, they would be able to work out team formation and things of that nature in that area without worry. It was of course unanimously agreed that they would head out from where they stood. Kakashi and Shikamaru would have been lying if they said that last night their minds weren't consumed with strategy and formations for the team. The only thing was that neither brought it up, that would require admitting that they had gotten little sleep and Shikamaru was already wary about allowing the team to continue ahead knowing that no one had gotten the shut eye they needed for this mission. Lazily Shikamaru pulled one of his blank scrolls from a pouch on his vest and pulled a cheap pencil from a different one.

"Okay, so it's obvious that you are the leader of this team," he pointed to Kakashi with the eraser end of the pencil. "But I think I should be second in command."

Kakashi nodded, looking over a few of the details in his envelope as he listened intently, "So what sort of formation do you propose we go with?"

Shikamaru sighed, this was the difficult part, last time he'd had the byakugan to back him up, and with both Neji and Hinata away on missions he had no hope to put the prized eyes in his formation. "I think that we should be at the back, since it's our duty to bring everyone home safely and we don't have the byakugan to watch behind us," he noted quickly sketching out chibi versions of himself and Kakashi.

"Do you think Kiba should lead the group?" the jounin asked inclining his head to the dog nin who was re-reading over his packet as well. "His and Akamaru's noses could warn us of any enemies we could come across."

"That's what I was thinking," Shikamaru moved his pencil closer to the topmost part of the scroll to draw a little Kiba and Akamaru. "I think that Naruto should be with him though since he knows the most about Sasuke that is his specialty after all…" Shikamaru said sarcastically, earning himself a small chuckle from Kakashi.

"Yes, you're right, but he also is the only one here who can challenge Sasuke. So up front is the best for him," he agreed watching Shikamaru's hand lazily draw out Naruto's tiny form. "I think Sakura should come after that, should Naruto go into a craze, she's the only one who really knows how to bring him down."

"Okay then Chouji and Ino should be in a straight line in front of me, so we can effectively use the Ino-Shika-Chou formation," he suggested adding the other two to his paper. "Then we have Rock Lee…Do you think he can cover the area of two shinobi at once?"

Kakashi turned his eye up to the teenager, "Is Gai my eternal rival?" There was no sort of bitterness in his voice but it was obvious that it wasn't his choice to indulge in the bizarre rivalry that Gai demanded they maintained.

Shikamaru let out a 'tch' before drawing Rock Lee's representation and a few arrows to show the area he had to take care of. He shoved the low-grade pencil back into its pocket and took the scroll to the center of the group. It wasn't that difficult to get everyone's attention, the second he approached them they stopped reading, talking or dozing off. Good, because Shikamaru didn't want any unnecessary time taken away from them. He laid the paper down in front of everyone and began to orate the details of his chibi drawings.

All the talk of formation felt more like a formality to Naruto, the thoughts buzzing between his ears seemed way too loud today, louder than usual. He looked at the scroll, thankful that both Shikamaru and Kakashi understood the importance this mission held to him. He was at the front, with Kiba. Naruto couldn't help but feel that part of that was because he kept badgering and yelling at Shikamaru on their last run at this mission. But of course that was only a little part of it. Sakura behind him, good good, they also knew that there was a possibility that he would go kyuubi during this mission.

His eye brows furrowed, this formation seemed to be all made for him, but then he saw the Ino-Shika-Chou and knew that he was just coming up with theories of his own. What else could he do? He'd been going thorough the motions since yesterday, what else was he supposed to do? Nothing felt right, but it also seemed like everything was in the right place. That made no sense to Naruto, and he knew it wouldn't make sense to anyone else either.

Shikamaru rolled the scroll up, the snapping of the sturdy paper pulling Naruto from his thoughts. Everyone was nodding and before anyone knew what else to do they were running into the forest towards their intended direction.

Naruto was completely submerged in his thoughts. Even the steady sound of Kiba's feet hitting the trees next to him didn't snap him out of his racing mind. With ever kick off of the rough branches of Konoha Forest Naruto felt as if he could reach out and pull Sasuke out of thin air. Ever leap brought him closer to what could maintain the little bit of fragile sanity he had left, if the mission were a success of course. With the way things were going at that moment he was treading a thin line with his barely-there sanity.

It was such a thin line that if he were to trip he'd go over the line and fall face first into madness.

Everything will go fine, he thought placing his fingertips on the bark of one tree to steady himself as he pushed off of another tree.

Naruto bit his bottom lip, years of failures on missions such as this taking a back seat to his over-confident nature. But it was the fact that it was still there that made him uneasy and it was that sort of doubt that made his foot slip, not for the first time, when he didn't calculate his step just right. The sound of bark crunching for the third time in the span of ten minutes alarmed Kiba. His eyes were tore from the plain sight of trees ahead of him to the blond who was splintering trees too often for Kiba to be comfortable with.

"Hey Naruto," Kiba began with an unusual absence of banter passed between the two of them on normal terms.

"Yeah Kiba?" Naruto replied trying to cut the crap but continuing to bound through the trees as if his life depended on it.

Sensing this no nonsense attitude Kiba said what was on his mind, "You know that when we find Sasuke…" the dog nin paused for a second to collect his thoughts. After a second or two of practiced breaths Kiba continued, "You know he won't be the same."

Naruto scrutinized the auburn haired boy and felt the resounding "DUH!" rising in his chest. Luckily he managed to push that back and answer him with a sigh, "Yeah I know. You forget, this won't be the first time that I've seen him since he ran off with that creepy pedophile." The last two words were said with as much venom and bite that Naruto could muster as he dodged a thick branch that was in his path.

Kiba chuckled quietly to himself, the description was actually pretty accurate considering the photo that was enclosed in the envelope he put in a bulky backpack that was slung over both of his shoulders. He couldn't help but feel guilty about prodding at such a sensitive subject, kicking up the dust of old memories wasn't a good thing when you think of Sasuke and Naruto, but he needed something to fill the tense silence that had settled between the two so wonderfully. Before Kiba could say anything further on the subject however, like an apology of some sort, a sharp, high pitched whistle came from the back of the formation. Almost as if the sound had hit an auto-pilot button in Kiba, the boy halted in his tracks, the heels of his feet digging into the bark of the tree to stop any further momentum.

"We're going to rest here for the night," Kakashi motioned to the clearing below the team that stood in a rather deformed circle. "There's no way that we can get to the appointed meeting spot tonight, it's already nearly sundown." The Jounin finished explaining as he jumped down first to scan the area even more in depth with his Sharingan.

After he was done he gestured for every member to follow his example. As the various sizes and shapes of ninjas hit the hard dirt that would be their beds for the night Naruto looked at the group. He wanted so badly to just yell at everyone to continue moving, to fight the tired feeling in their muscles and let him get closer to bringing Sasuke home. It made too much sense in his mind to ignore, and just as he was about to open his mouth to shout at everyone a soft wind caressed his jaw line, encasing the skin in warmth and comfort. Naruto closed his tense mouth as it relaxed into the thin breeze that separated him and Sasuke from each other. The wind moved across his clothed chest and to his hands and face, if Naruto were the romantic type he would have believed that it was really a person calling out to him from the distance. But no thoughts entertained his mind…well maybe they did a little but not enough to mean anything, right?

As the wind danced over his tanned skin, feeling more like a loving hand than an invisible force of nature, Naruto whispered words of sentiment that would hopefully be carried to Sasuke. It made no sense to him why he was talking to the wind, but it felt like it could be the right thing to do to calm his anxious feet and shaking hands. And just as fast as the wind was there it was gone, leaving in place of its comfort a sense of calming serenity in Naruto instead.

"Hey! Stop day dreaming Naruto and unpack your crap!" Kiba called out as he pulled out the tarp for a light-weight tent from his bag.

"Chill out Kiba I'll get to when I get to it!" Naruto retorted walking over to the dog boy.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei already said that you and I were sharing a tent since he was the one to hand them out he said he gets to choose," Kiba said laying out the bottom of the tent before going about its normal construction.

"Great! You're probably gonna drool all over me in your sleep!" Naruto exclaimed faking disgust.

"Yeah right! You're the one who's gonna drool all over me!" Kiba said waggling an eyebrow. "I sleep without a shirt on…."

Naruto pushed him over, "You wish, and besides that, you've got Hinata…remember?" he said as the tent took a shape that was some semblance of what it should look like.

Kiba got that far away look in his eyes that always popped up when the mention of Hinata came up on missions that he was separated from her for, "Yeah I know…And I'm the luckiest guy in the whole damn world!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, the girl was cute that was undeniable but she just wasn't his type. Then again that wasn't saying much since Naruto wasn't sure what his own type was these days. Dating took a backseat to finding Sasuke in his head and for some reason that was more calming than getting a girl (or guy?) into bed after a lovely dinner or a hot make-out session in the rain.

"Team!" Shikamaru shouted, (who knew he was capable of such things?) to get the team's attention obviously. Once this objective was achieved Kakashi nodded an impressed thank you to Shikamaru who mouthed a lazy 'welcome'.

"Tomorrow we're going to meet up with the team from Suna," Kakashi said as his eyes roved over the group. "So we need to make this stay short," he looked over everyone to make sure that they were all listening still. "I suggest we get everything done with fast so that it will all be easier to deal with in the morning and we don't keep our help waiting for us."

Naruto listened as jobs were rattled off by Shikamaru, "Sakura, Naruto and Kiba you guys are in charge of getting fish for dinner. Chouji, Ino and Lee, you guys need to go and get firewood, the sun is setting." He let his eyes go to Kakashi, who was going to help him strategize tomorrow's moves so as to make their mission as quick and painless as possible. That much didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out.

The pink haired kunoichi let out an exasperated sigh, sincerely wishing she was the genius who got to sit and talk about the future while her team did all the running around. She stretched out her weary limbs as she prepared to sulk the whole way to the stream they set camp up a few miles away from. When her green eyes reopened she saw that Naruto was already a few yards ahead of her with Kiba tailing not to far behind. Sakura let out a breath and stomped angrily (who wants to be left behind huh?) to catch up to the two who started without her. A few pieces of earth came up and hit the back of Naruto's and Kiba's jackets.

Naruto simply brushed the soil off without another glance at it, years of dealing with Sakura's super strength, not to mention that temper, made him do things so automatically. Naruto could feel the lingering topic of conversation would be him, so the best way to avoid such a subject was to redirect it.

"Where's Akamaru?" he asked so randomly as he turned his face to meet the tattooed one of Kiba.

Kiba looked startled by this question but answered it none the less, "He'll come by tomorrow, I just have to activate the calling jutsu and he'll hear it."

The blond nodded, must have been a new thing they were working on. He so hoped that Kiba had all the kinks worked out in this jutsu, unlike the ever-so-helpful training jutsu he tried to use on Akamaru that just made the poor dog hear dog-whistles all day long.

Sakura threw a scowl to Kiba. Apparently that wasn't what they were supposed to talk about. Kiba gave her a look to tell her that she didn't need to worry, he's got this. Naruto wasn't so oblivious, he caught this barely concealed looks.

"So, Naruto, what are you going to do once we find Sasuke?" Kiba asked so very casually. It wasn't even like he was asking about a traitorous best friend who tore a team on the brink of legend apart. No, it sounded more like Kiba was merely in the aisle of the grocery store asking what brand of dog food worked the best to make Akamaru's coat the envy of all the dogs. Had the teen lost his very mind? Or was he just displaying his lack of subtly in its golden times?

Whatever the reason behind Kiba's asking in this particular way it made both Sakura and Naruto stop dead in their tracks and give him that look that made him feel like he should be trying to get to mist country by chewing a tunnel from where he stood.

"Who dropped you on your head when you were born?!" Sakura exclaimed hitting him over the head with ample force.

Kiba fell to the ground clutching the back of his skull, he could get through countless hours of torture but one thwap from Sakura had him on the ground in pain.

"What is wrong with you woman?!" He shouted staring daggers at the strong Kunoichi.

Sakura put her hands on her feminine hips, "I don't know, maybe you could try being less of an insensitive ass!" Naruto groaned, he recognized this tone…PMS… "Can't you see that Naruto is hurting?!" she finished pointing at Naruto as if he weren't there.

Kiba rebounded from his brush with death, "Don't you think he's tired of sensitivity?! Maybe he wants everyone to stop dancing around the subject and ask him straight out!!"

"You think you know what's best for him?!" Sakura retorted slightly offended by what was "implied" by Kiba.

Kiba threw his arms up in the air and looked at the surrounding trees, almost like he was looking for Sakura's reasoning, or possibly her sanity. "Where the hell did that come from?!" he screamed with one eyebrow drawn up in confusion.

Sakura drew back, her face and movements not lacking pms-induced attitude. As she was about to tell Kiba how idiotic he was, so idiotic that he couldn't figure out something so simple, Naruto intervened with a loud bellow.

"STOP IT!!" the boy yelled balling his fists up at his sides.

Kiba and Sakura stood, frozen in mid-arguments stances, and stared at him as if he'd said the most profound thing they'd ever heard. They had completely forgotten that he was there until he finally spoke up.

"Ever think to ask me about what I want?" Naruto asked them as they sobered up from the fight.

The previously arguing pair humbled their stances to show that they were ashamed about how they were arguing over something that they had no say in. It was really embarrassing for them to lose their tempers so fast over something like that. They were supposed to have control. They were ninjas for god's sake!

Naruto's fists were now shaking at his sides, "I don't know what I'll do when we see Sasuke. All I know is that I'm not going to come back to Konoha without him, the rest I haven't figured out yet." The blond took a deep breath of air from the surrounding night which really helped clear his head and calm his nervous mood. "We need to get the fish and get back to camp so that everyone can eat."

With everyone in agreement to this course of action the three of them headed back out to the stream. Luckily the rest of the walk and fishing process was uneventful with no mentions of how the mission would go, or how Naruto should be handled in a situation like this. Not too soon after everyone was done eating the fish caught by the, somewhat dysfunctional, team of three every team member agreed that it was time to turn in. They needed an early start and they wouldn't get that if they were all devoid of stamina and sleep. It wasn't hard for everyone to say they wanted to sleep but it was hard for them to get to sleep because of that small chance that they were unsuccessful on the mission.

If they were going to infiltrate the Akatsuki's headquarters they needed to be prepared otherwise their whole village could be up in smoke because of their failure. They just couldn't have that happening since they were the generation that was supposed to be the strongest yet, passing the years before them in leaps and bounds. No, they would accomplish their mission tomorrow, they had to. There was no saying that they might fail when the whole village was on the line.

"We'll get him back," Naruto muttered rolling over to get more comfortable on his patch of thin sleeping bag and hard ground.

End of Dazed Intentions

Preview of the next chapter: OMG The team meets up with Suna! Then its off to the Akatsuki to get Sasuke and take down an evil organization...Sounds like a full day to me...

"You're the fucking reason that Sasuke doesn't love me, aren't you?!" Karin tightened her grip to hear the bones crushing underneath her fingers.