A/N: ...I'M SO SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME MY DEARS!! I really am sorry! I didn't update in Florida, I didn't start writing until like a couple of days ago...I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry!! But on the upside this is a rather long chapter and it has ation! I hope that helps to make up for that. The shonen-ai is pretty low but I will try to make up for that later. I just could not get this chapter out. Tsubasa is getting into my head...It really has a hold over me.

The Story So Far: The only way for the team to make it out of country alive is to face the ANBU that have been sent to take them back to the Council...but now it's not just the three kids of team seven. They've got another life to worry about...

Warnings: ...Violence...(unpredictable I know...you know with it being a fighting chapter and all...), swearing (not much if I'm remembering correctly) and very light shonen-ai (Dur-her! I'll bet you didn't see that one coming!)

Chapter 23

Sakura reassessed their situation, looking at it from every angle and perspective. If there had been any other way she surly would have seen it, and used it. But that was just it.

There was no other way.

Sasuke and Naruto were inside Mio's tent telling her to keep quiet and hold onto Pakkun until they came to get her. Sakura could imagine the two boys hugging Mio tightly, trying to squeeze out every second they could with their daughter. She knew that they loved her deeply and didn't want to leave her to fight a couple of ANBU. Sakura could relate. Even though she'd just met the girl it was like Mio was her own child. Sakura knew that she would do anything in the world in order to keep Mio safe, and that's why her, Naruto and Sasuke had to fight these Rain nins.

Sakura pulled herself from her imagined scene inside the patchwork tent of shirts and other articles of clothing. She tasted blood in her mouth. It came from the bitten and tortured nail beds she'd been working on since she climbed up into the tree she occupied. Sakura wrapped her thumb in the hem of her shirt to stop the bleeding. If Sasuke and Naruto didn't come soon she'd have no nails or skin left on her fingers.

She bounced her foot in the open air to try to work out some of her anxiety. While her teammates were saying their 'I love yous' to Mio she had to keep her chakra sensing range expanded so that their surprise attack didn't backfire on them. Sakura brushed her fingers against the rough brown bark of the tree branch she sat on.

"Remember Mio," Sasuke started with a short breath. "Don't come out of the tent until we come to get you."

Sakura saw Naruto start to back out of the tent with Sasuke not too far behind him. Naruto pinned the flap of the tent closed with a few of the safety pins they found in Sakura's pouch. From inside the tent the two heard a gruff voice call out to them as Sasuke began to form a few seals.

"Just wait a second," Pakkun ordered as he stuck his paw out from between two pieces of clothing that weren't sealed up yet.

"What?" Sasuke asked a little curious as to what the dog would want.

"I still have to summon the dogs you guys wanted."

Both Naruto and Sasuke felt like smacking themselves. In all the hasty, impromptu preparations for the battle, they had forgotten about their talk with Pakkun about summoning other dogs for help with protecting Mio.

"Oh," Naruto laughed nervously at their forgetfulness. "Right."

Pakkun slid the navy blue bandana off of his head and the two boys watched on in amazement as the knot came undone as if it were made of smoke. On the underside of the fabric was a complicated circle of ancient writings. They curved this way and that, turning to form a spiral in the middle. There were a few blank spots that looked like they would frame the pads of Pakkun's right paw if he placed it on his bandana.

The small dog held his paw out to Naruto, "Can you cut one of the pads?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied pulling a sharp kunai that had a finer tip than the typical weapon.

He made a small incision on the middle pad, careful to not cut anything more than the pad.

The dog placed his paw on the fabric in one swift motion which produced a thick plume of smoke shortly there after. Sasuke and Naruto had already become accustomed to the smoke since both were masters to summoned beasts so it didn't bother them in the slightest like it had when they first started out.

Two hounds appeared from the thinning smoke. One had an eye patch covering his right eye and three brown spots that mingled with the coarse jet black coat her boasted. The second dog was a medium build, light gray dog with a triangle of ear missing on the left side. There were darker gray stripes running down his front legs and he seemed to be much younger than the black dog next to him, if his smile was any indication that is. The darker dog grunted slightly in his sturdy old age.

"Pakkun!" the lighter one called out happily. "Long time no see!"

"Nao, Akame, this is Naruto," Pakkun indicated to the blond next to him. "And this is Sasuke." He'd never been one for small talk, but that was all but an ingrained character trait when you were hand raised by Kakashi.

Before Pakkun could go any further the grizzly dog intervened, "And?"

He obviously had no patience for silly things like introductions.

"And they need us to help protect their daughter while they fight," his tone carried to the older dog in a superior way.

What was even more obvious than Akame's distaste for frivolities was that Pakkun ranked higher than him, despite the fact that Akame was much older than him.

Akame bowed his head to his higher-up, "I understand."

Nao bowed his head as well, "I'd be happy to help!"

Nao was young and seemed to take on the world. Sasuke couldn't help but be reminded of Naruto as he watched Nao nearly quiver in anticipation.

"Thank you for doing this for us," Sasuke thanked as he gave each of them a respectful bow of his head. He saw that Naruto was just gawking at the scene and forced him to bow his head as well.

"No problem," the youngest dog piped up excitedly.

"Yeah," Akame muttered while looking oddly at Sasuke and Naruto.

He could smell fear rolling off of the in languid waves. It wasn't fear for their own lives, but fear for the life of their daughter. There was something else lingering in there, something that was expected of almost every ninja, excitement for the fight.

The experienced dog shrugged it off of his thoughts and focused on the instructions that Pakkun was giving them.

"What did we learn as a team in Konoha?" Sakura whispered from her hiding place among the heavily blossomed foliage of the forest.

"Trust," Sasuke replied as his body hardened into a perfect hiding stance, able to see without being seen.

"Teamwork," Naruto added with a smile that his teammates could hear in his voice.

"And friendship," the kunoichi finished off as they heard the rustle of dehydrated underbrush.

"Let's kick their asses," Naruto suggested huskily as the three dropped down on the unpredictable ANBU men.

Dearest Tsunade,

I would be honored to repay my debt that way…

Tsunade wiggled the letter in the air with a pleasant smirk played tastefully on her lips. If things would go her way, this one time, then she would be able to rule over Konoha with no issues from the council for years to come.

"Shikamaru," she spoke with no hint of foreign (nor domestic) sake on her breath and manner. "I need you to help me."

The chunin/ANBU teen steeled his nerves. At this point he was will to do anything.

"I've already got Sasuke and Naruto a safe house in Kirigakure," she got a distant look in her eyes. "But I need you to help me make sure that they will be able to come back here."

The uninvited thought of blackmail entered Shikamaru's strategic mind and judging by the wicked grin on the Hokage's face it was a thought that already made a nice home in her head.

"Since Kakashi will be busy keeping tabs on his team you were my next candidate for this mission," she had an absolutely evil glint shimmering in her eyes. It beckoned Satan himself into the room. "I want you to help me blackmail the entire Council…"

Shikamaru considered this for a moment. In reality he had a lot to lose but much more to gain (skills and respect included). Not to mention his inner obligation to Sasuke since he had been one of the leaders that brought him home and would do anything for the blond idiot that inspired the mission. Naruto needed Sasuke for one illogical reason or another and above all his friendship with those two meant almost as much to him as Ino and Chouji did.

"I'm listening," he replied leaning forward to better hear the insane woman who sat across from him in the silent dark.

Initially Sakura had only sensed three men, much to her surprise all it took was a shock of chakra from the bird-faced man and three more cam, knives' ablazin'. The three teens didn't have much of a choice; they'd have to kill these men in order to get out of this alive. The only thing that gave them the upper hand this time was that the men were aiming to capture, not kill.

After wrestling the teenagers off of their backs the ANBU tried to bind them for the capture but Sakura bought them time with a flashing bomb. Her plan was to divide the men, even the new ones. She had altered the plan to accommodate for those ones.

Sakura ran along the thick branches of the tree overhead, her shoes clomping against the wood to ensure that the ANBU heard her and predicted where she might go. Down on the ground she saw Naruto running away from the ANBU to draw a few away from Sasuke, who was battling one in a place a few metes off from where the two teams collided.

The girl dropped down into a dark and dank clearing praying to God that she'd attracted at least two men into her trap. When the sound of the air being disturbed by too-fast ninjas Sakura thought, Hell yeah!

She turned on her heel and faced the men that ran after her. Now with her course changed Sakura was running right at them, her fists powered up as well as armed with sharp kunai. Sakura managed to sink her left kunai into an ANBU with deadly accuracy. All that was left was one more.

Sakura turned to face him. She saw his eyes through the small holes in the mask. He was just as determined as her, even if he wasn't fighting for the same reasons. In a moment of stillness Sakura questioned whether or not this was really the only way out. And it was this moment that almost got her bound up by the man.

She swore under her breath and spun out of his grip, flipping him over in the process. He got up to his feet gracefully and faster than she expected. Sakura artfully executed a kick to his chest when he started forming hand seals.

Poof!

A log.

The girl quickly began to survey the area, looking for any subtleties that might tip her off on his whereabouts. A leaf floated down to her and she looked up into the high reaching canopies. Her eyes caught sight of a blur right next to her.

Sakura let out a yell as she aimed her fist at the blur's predicted path. Her fist hit solid flesh and bone. The ANBU stumbled around the clearing as Sakura charged at him, her fist full of chakra. In the back of her mind she thought about how seemingly easy it was to fight just one on one with the ANBU. She had imagined a much bigger battle ahead of herself but then again most ANBU don't just walk out in the open when they're hunting their target.

Automatically her arms blocked the arm that meant to hit her, she'd been thinking about so much that she hadn't noticed her body working off of instinct to defend herself from this man. But she'd apparently been doing a good job considering she hadn't been hit yet.

The ANBU made a quick grab for her hands as she snapped out of her stupor. Capturing her wrists he grappled her down to the ground. Sakura's initial reaction was to squirm to break his grip but she knew that doing that would only wear her out and he would win.

The kunoichi took a deep breath in as her back collided with the rocky ground. Before she could think she saw him flip out a pair of chakra-infused handcuffs to restrain her. Sakura took a deep breath and wrapped her ankles around his neck and slammed his body into the ground with enough force to send rocks flying.

She quickly retracted her legs from beneath his bent form. He reached for her foot but she evaded it by jumping out of the way. Quickly Sakura pulled out a double pronged kunai that she bought years ago, and bent down to finish the job in one clean stab to the man's chest. She found it surprising that the blades had sunk into the ANBU armor so easily but she had paid top dollar for the weapon. Now she was more than grateful that she'd spent a small fortune on this one commodity.

Sakura pulled her kunai out of the ANBU's chest and took a deep breath. Yes, it was all happening. The ANBU, the running, the killing. It was all very real. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine it a different way but then realized that this was all needed in order for her boys to be happy. And that was enough for her.

She looked around her. There was nothing but trees and patches of almost-visible grass. Mentally she expanded her chakra sensing range to see where Sasuke and Naruto where. Once she targeted both of their general locations her legs moved faster and faster to ensure that they were safe and sound.

When she reached the approximate area where Sasuke was she saw that he was already up in the trees looking for Naruto, his only ANBU's body face down and in a broken state. Sakura saw the beginnings of the cursed seal's tattoo receding beneath Sasuke's torn clothing. Even at his level of progress the seal still made a cameo against his pale flesh.

There was no need for words, for there was nothing to say. Right now they had to make sure that Naruto was safe. No doubt with the training under his belt he made quick work of his ANBU. But still, for the sake of assuaging their own personal fears the two friends pushed forward to find the blond.

They stopped in the branches above Naruto. He was leaning against a thick tree holding his healing arm. The gashes, of course, disappeared before any damage could be done to it but the whisker marks on his face were thick with power and were pretty much the only indication that Naruto had used up some of his Kyuubi chakra. Sasuke and Sakura dropped down cautiously after a moment of hesitation.

"Hey guys," Naruto greeted as he looked over their injuries. He whistled and smiled his toothy smile at them, "Looks like the ANBU got you guys pretty bad."

Sasuke looked down at his body. His shirt was torn and bloody, the blood a mixture of his own and the ANBU he had fought. His pants had grass stains and worn out patches where it looked like mere threads were holding it together and blood decorated the fabric as well. Through the holes in his clothing bruises and cuts could be seen.

Sakura already knew that she was damaged. The only thing she was worried about was letting Mio see their state. Her chakra levels were pretty low since she had to use so much in his punches and kicks against the ANBU, so healing herself and Sasuke was out of the question.

The girl laughed at Naruto's observation, "Yeah but not as bad as they could have."

Naruto nodded in agreement and walked over to his companions. Sasuke felt himself smile as Naruto got closer. He was happy that they had made it out of this. It was a hard fight but it was worth it if Naruto and Mio and Sasuke could make it to Kiri without anymore issues. Though he doubted that an issue-free journey was ahead of them.

"Well we better dispose of the bodies properly unless we want the Council's ANBU to track us that easily," Sakura suggested as she clapped her hands together softly to get her boys' attention. "Then we'll wash up in the stream."

The two nodded and they all headed over to the closest ANBU to figure out how they were going to go about getting rid of the bodies.

The musty smell of old books swirled around in Shikamaru's head, making him dizzy with its scent. He grumbled about how horrible it smelled but continued to look through files and files of Konoha's citizens.

"How hard is it to find records on the Council for God's sake!" he whispered angrily as he slammed another drawer of the filing cabinet closed. "I mean they're the friggin' Council!"

He slid the silver button over to unlock the drawer below that one he just closed. So far his two-day search for blackmail material had ended up with absolutely nothing. He originally had been looking at their current records but realized that they were probably more careful than to get caught now a days doing something dirty so he opted for searching for their childhood records.

It was common knowledge that everyone in Konoha had a record, whether or not they went to the ninja academy. The founder had been meticulous and wanted everything written down 'just in case'.

"Taxes…?" the chunin read aloud questioningly. He briefly flipped through the finances that the Council had put together for the village.

His eyes stopped on some suspicious numbers under the name of 'Watakaza, Kisa' who had drawn them up. He put his finger against chin and rested his flashlight there. Who was that…? Hokage-sama had given him a list of the names of the Council members. 'Kisa' did not sound familiar in the least…

He placed that page to the side and committed its location to memory.

Perhaps there was something here that Shikamaru could use against them…

"We only have a few more miles until we reach the ocean," Pakkun told the group.

They probably could have figured that out on their own though. The smell of sea water was the most dominate scent in the air. It eased the three teenagers into peace and only served to wind up Mio. Since she was born and lived in that nameless village in the Wind country all this time she had never seen the ocean before. The closer they got to the water the more she squirmed against Sakura's back.

"Are we almost there?!" Mio asked excitedly bouncing around to get a better look at the landscape they were in.

The trees were thinning out into sparse groups here and there. Instead of hard rocks and tough soil on the ground there was softer dirt that sometimes had sections of white sand from the travelers of this area. Mio could feel the sea breeze on her face and could hear the waves crashing onto the shore repeatedly.

It was too much for her over joyous mind. Sakura had a hard time trying to keep her still. A few times Sasuke had to take over carrying her and asserting some of that fatherly authority over her.

Then the second they saw the docking point Mio all but lost her mind.

"It's the beach!!" Mio screeched in Sakura's ear. "Oh my God it's a beach!!"

Sakura glared over at Naruto, "Thanks for teaching her that word Naruto…thanks a lot."

Naruto snickered to himself as the team came to a slowing pace as the dirt road dissolved into clean white sand. Sakura gave up the battle and let the squirming ball of restless energy down to inspect the sand. Mio squealed happily as she grabbed handfuls of sand. Naruto smiled down at her and then looked up at Sasuke and Sakura. The small girl got up and started to run ahead of the group.

Sasuke almost started to run after her to keep her from getting to far in front of them but Naruto grabbed his wrist and Pakkun chased after her instead. The ex-avenger stayed next to Naruto's side, happily assured of his daughter's safety, and kept their hands joined.

"Maybe we should rest in this area for half a day to recharge the batteries?" Sakura suggested as she stretched out her tense arms. "It'll do us all some good."

The group thought about it for a second and made a note to run this by Pakkun later but for now, they'd just enjoy the cool sun above them.

Naruto stopped and brought Sasuke's lips centimeters away from his, "You're…" He let go of Sasuke's hand, "It!" Then he started to run away screaming in the direction Mio was running.

Sasuke was stupefied for a second before he glanced over at Sakura, who was still walking beside him. He swiped at her but missed when she bent awkwardly to evade him. The kunoichi ran away as well screaming. Sasuke chased after her while laughing happily.

Yeah. They'd ask later. It was better to just take a break from all of this serious business. They were all only kids after all and deserved to laugh and play tag on the beach every once and a while.

End of Threatening Scenes

A/N: So how was that? I know that I'm downplaying the ANBU's strength and I wish I could say that that bit was important...but it's not. I just don't have the capacity to fully understand the ANBU's full power so I put them at a level that I could understand. I hope that this fight scene was better than the first one I wrote in this story. I really do. You know the whole bit about wanting things to improve as the story progesses so I don't have to explain that to you.

Gosh I hope that no one's lost interest in this story...-taps face nervously- I also hope that this makes up for the wait...

Preview of Next Chapter: 'My name is Aoi and I will be providing you with housing and protection,' the man spoke softly but sternly, two good qualitites in a ruler but Sasuke couldn't help but feel that their circumstances were making him speak this way and that usually this man was probably a very cold leader. 'Excuse me,' Naruto spoke up tiredly. 'But why are you doing this?'...'