Chapter 4: It's Oh So Quiet

-X-

After a few days, Uchiha Shisui found himself back in top condition. Sakura had mended and set his leg quite well, allowing him to go back to his team and accomplish that mission his cousin had told him about. They came back unscathed thanks to Itachi's well-thought out strategies, but they made a stop in the hospital nonetheless in order to get clearance from the Head Medic for the Hokage to assign them another mission soon.

Unfortunately for them, as Shisui murmured to his cousin and sometimes best friend, Sakura wasn't around when they were there. It took a polite question from the older Uchiha to get an answer from the treating medic, which told them that Haruno-sama was away on a special mission.

Shisui had lifted a brow in surprise when he heard that honorific attached to Sakura's surname. At his side, Itachi had had the same reaction, although he didn't show it. Sensing a shift on his cousin's mood, Shisui wisely didn't comment on his curiosity.

To his obliviousness, Itachi's mind was already in the works.

-X-

Sakura was running towards the red bridge, munching the onigiri as she dashed through the bustling market. It was training day, and she was late.

"Damn!" she growled in frustration. If only she hadn't paid attention to Ino and went to bed early! But no, she just had to be convinced by the blonde to go to Tenten's house and have an impromptu sleep over party with all their kunoichi friends.

To be true, they had a good time talking and catching up. Hinata seemed livelier since Naruto had started to pay attention to her, just as Ino bragged about her new relationship with Chouji and Tenten seemed to glow under the happiness brought by her youthful significant other.

But then they asked the pink-haired medic about Sasuke and everything blew up. She had relayed their friends with his last blow off, so it was understandable that Ino and Tenten got furious at the younger Uchiha. She managed to calm them down enough to tell them what she had decided after Naruto's and Kakashi's reassurance.

"I am a Leaf kunoichi," she reminded them and herself. I won't hold back anymore.

The truth was that she was rather eager to show him what he was missing... but she stopped when an image of another member of the Uchiha family pushed over Sasuke's in her mind.

Sakura growled again, cleaning her mouth with a napkin that found its way into a trashcan as she leapt over it in her running towards her team.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted her enthusiastically. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Naruto! Good morning, Sasuke!" she exclaimed as she stopped, panting lightly. "Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

"Still not here," the blond grumbled, but his face lit like a sun when Sakura offered him an onigiri. "Thanks, Sakura-chan! How did you know I hadn't had breakfast yet?"

"Just a hunch," she replied with a smile. "I brought another one for you, Sasuke."

He merely crossed his arms. "I already ate," he deadpanned, but his eyes detailed how she shrugged and sat next to Naruto, sinking her teeth into said rice ball. The young Uchiha frowned inwardly at her sudden change of addressing him, but said nothing.

"Maa, Sakura-chan, that was delicious!" Naruto praised her as his tongue fished the loose rice grains on his face. "Can I have the bastard's too?"

"Sorry, I'm eating it," she said dryly. "And the other one is for Kakashi-sensei, so don't touch it."

"But I'm still hungry!" the blond whined. Sakura sighed, exasperated and divided the onigiri, stuffing half of it on Naruto's mouth.

"Here, now shut up for a while!"

The sunny head bobbed as he chewed enthusiastically. She finished her half and cleaned herself, letting out a contented sigh.

"I really hope we can get a mission soon, I'm getting bored," she commented, eliciting curious stares from both of her teammates. It was a change even Naruto noticed, because he knew how much she enjoyed working at the hospital.

"Really?" he asked. "I thought you had some training to do with Tsunade-baachan."

"We've already completed this month's quota," she sighed. "And I want to shatter something other than the training grounds. Maybe a missing-nin's face," she added with a playful smirk.

"Who are you and what did you do with Sakura?" a voice said lightly. Kakashi waved his hands in his customary greeting. "Yo! So you've been busy these days, Sakura?"

"Not as much as you, tardy pervert," she shot back with a smile and giving him the wrapped onigiri. "Here, you can eat it while we read the scroll."

"Actually, there's no training scroll today," Kakashi said as he unfolded the treat that she had given him. "We've been called on an A-rank mission."

Three pairs of eyes stared hard at the seasoned Jounin. "Come on, old man, spill already!" Naruto yelled.

"Oh? Ah, yeah. We're going to the Hokage now."

He suddenly found himself alone in the bridge, for his teammates had disappeared, dashing towards the Hokage Tower at top speed.

Naruto and Sasuke climbed up the stairs running, only to see a flash of pink entering the Hokage's office. They stopped momentarily. How she had got there so quickly if they were ahead of her?

-X-

Inside the office, Sakura was greeted with the sight of four men standing next to the Hokage; two of them were quite familiar to her by now.

"Sakura," Tsunade welcomed her. "Naruto, Sasuke... Kakashi," she added, watching the Copy Nin entering the office through the window with a silent wave. "Jounin Team Seven, meet the Alpha ANBU Team. Their real names, if you know them, are forbidden to repeat until further notice."

Sakura gaped openly at the sight of Uchiha Itachi standing next to Tsunade, Shisui next to him. To the Hokage's other side, two dark-haired men stood, one with an obvious fake smile and the other with a relaxed façade.

"Sakura, seal the room."

The pink-haired medic blinked and nodded her head at her shishou's command, setting herself into what she was told. A flare of her chakra was on her hands, which were pressed to the wall and floor simultaneously. This caused several lines of green chakra to intertwine with each other, knitting a web that covered the walls, ceiling and floor.

"Good," Tsunade approved with a hint of pride. "I can't see any gaps, you mastered it."

"It was all thanks to you, shishou," Sakura smiled, a bit embarrassed to be praised in front of an ANBU Team.

"Whoa," Naruto said, observing the net that covered the entire office. "That's a neat technique, Sakura-chan!"

"Hokage-sama, are you sure we can't be overheard?" one of the dark-haired ANBU asked.

"I'm positive, Yamato," she responded easily with a wicked smirk. "Not all medical ninjutsu are for healing, as you can see. And unfortunately for the Sharingan users, only a person with perfect chakra control can master it."

Shisui dipped his head in order to control his silent mirth when he saw the hidden scowl on his youngest cousin's face.

"Tsunade-sama, it would be best if we concentrate with the task at hand," Itachi cut in smoothly. The busty Hokage lifted a brow but nodded.

"Team Seven, you went on a mission for Ieyasu-sama, remember?" she asked, and the four Jounins nodded. "Ieyasu is our Daimyo and the main economical supporter for Konoha. In return for his kindness, we need to provide him with the best shinobi in our village. Those who are in this room right now."

Sakura blushed, something that wasn't missed by four pairs of eyes.

"Well, it's true, Sakura. You are the only medic-nin in Konoha who have enough guts to take on any mission or training I place upon you. As for the rest, Sasuke was the first of his class and Naruto... well, it's Naruto."

"Oi!"

"However!" Tsunade boomed over a few male chuckles and Naruto's indignant protest. "The Alpha Team had been requested to accompany you in this mission. Ieyasu-sama had requested Team Seven to guard him. It seems that he had been received a number of threats, but the last one was the one that really scared him."

Tsunade's hands unrolled the scroll she had in front of her. "He sent me the letter."

As all of the shinobi gathered together around her desk, Sakura read aloud.

"'It is of your best interests if you cut the budget to Konohagakure no Sato. They can stand on their own. Keep in mind that we have you well guarded...' I don't get it, Shishou... why is he paying attention to such a childish threat?"

"Because this was pinned to Ieyasu-sama's firstborn son's body," she said lowly, taking in the surprised faces in front of her. "Someone entered the Fire Daimyo's palace and killed his Heir, leaving this behind."

"That's... sick," Naruto whispered with a disgusted face. Sakura nodded her agreement, as well as Shisui and Yamato.

"Sakura, I want you to perform an autopsy on the son's body as soon as you get there. Kakashi and Itachi will work with the Daimyo. Try to find out who's behind this--"

"I can tell you already, Tsunade-sama," said the Copy Ninja, tracing a finger on the scroll's parchment. "This is a rare material. It can be under the rain and whatever is written on it will not disappear."

"You gave me one of these for my birthday last year," Sakura piped in, looking at her team leader. "You said it was from Amegakure."

"Exactly, the Rain Village," Kakashi nodded with a happy eye crease. "I forgot you had such a good memory, Sakura-chan, what else did I tell you?"

Sakura furrowed her brows, recalling that birthday gathering celebrated on Naruto's apartment. "You said that only fire could destroy it... and this kind of scroll was really good for keeping familiars and summoning animals."

"And...?"

"We recreated the Nin Dog Pack Summoning on my scroll because yours was full of signatures," Sakura completed with a smug smile, reaching into her hip pouch and pulling her scroll and unrolling it open next to the other.

"It is the same kind of material," Shisui said, with his Sharingan alight. "Sakura-san's scroll is way more conserved though. This other one seems to be handled carelessly."

"And there's blood on its creases," Itachi added smoothly.

"Surely it is the Heir's," Sasuke butted in tersely, but it was clear that he merely wanted to add his two cents to the brainstorming session.

"We won't know until Sakura runs the proper tests on it," Tsunade nodded with a frown. "The child was killed with a large weapon, or so that's what Ieyasu-sama said on his dispatch. We don't know if it was a katana or another kind of sword. I want you to find that out. Yamato, you and Naruto will work on the witnesses and interviewing all the servants in the castle. Sai and Sasuke will check the perimeter for security breaches. You leave in two hours, pack a cloak because you'll be heading to the northern Fire."

"Hai!" all the gathered shinobi saluted, before turning to exit her office as all the ANBU slid their masks back on their faces, but not before she could see Shisui offering her a little smile, which she returned before going to the wall and moved her fingers over the chakra net, making the jutsu dispel itself.

"Sakura," Tsunade called. "Stay for a moment. Itachi, you too, please."

She nodded obediently, closing the door and standing next to the Uchiha Heir. He exuded confidence and aloofness, which made her scowl inwardly, remembering how full of himself he had been on that occasion in his house.

"Sakura, Itachi knows how to reach me if the case arises, but I want you to learn the communication jutsu from him. We aren't sure what are we facing, so I want you to relay all the information from the autopsy as soon as possible. Maybe two heads can think better than just one, and the two of you are my most intelligent and reliable shinobi."

The pink-haired medic blushed at the impromptu compliment, but soon she realized that she had to work side by side with the most arrogant, antagonizing man in the whole village. Her lips turned downwards in an open frown.

"Perhaps I can report to Kakashi-sensei and he can get back to you, shishou," she said politely, hoping for her mentor to catch the underlying plea. "He's the most adequate to process all the clues that surely we would find, and he could work on a theory along with Uchiha-san here."

Tsunade's lips pursed reproachfully, but her amber eyes glinted with hidden laughter. "I'm aware of Kakashi's intelligence as well, Sakura, but I need your input as a medic, not his. As for Itachi, as an ANBU Captain has plenty of knowledge about criminal and psychological profiles as well as a copy of the Bingo Book. I'm sure you both will come up with some answers as soon as you get to the Daimyo Estate. Now, shoo."

Being promptly praised and told off as well, Sakura found no reason to stay. Bowing slightly to her master, she opened the door and walked out, her senses aware acutely of the silent presence that walked behind her, closing the door noiselessly behind them.

"Sakura-chan!" called a male voice, making her release the breath she was holding unconsciously.

"Naruto, I thought you were packing," she greeted the black and orange ball that landed next to her.

"I was waiting for you," he said with a jovial smile. "What did Tsunade-baachan want now?"

"She wanted me to throttle you to make you stop being to nosy," she shot back with a mock glare. "And she wanted me to have a nice little girly chat with me, wanna know the details?"

The disgusted look on Naruto's face almost made her lose her act. "Hell no, I don't want to know anything about baachan's love life, ew."

Sakura snorted, throwing a covert glance at her back. Itachi had already disappeared, to her relief and inner chagrin when she remembered that she had to go on a mission with him.

"Come on, Naruto," she said, faking cheerfulness. "We need to pack. And we won't pack more than ten bags of instant ramen!"

"But, but—Sakura-chan!" the blond Jounin whined as she dragged him out of the Hokage Tower.

-X-

When they reached the village's gates, only Sasuke was already there.

"Oi, teme!" Naruto saluted, punching him on the arm none-too-lightly. "Why you didn't tell us that your brother was ANBU?"

"Because that's none of your business, dobe," he grunted, pushing him back with his shoulder.

Sakura tch-ed absentmindedly, earning the attention of both of her teammates.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called her, breaking her out of her reverie. She focused her eyes on both males, which were engaged into a double arm-lock.

"You surely look idiotic, or maybe a little less than straight," she said with a lift of her brow. "And that would explain some things regarding the both of you."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and wiggled away from him with a horrified look. "Sakura-chan! I'm going to have nightmares because of what you said!"

"Are you now?" she deadpanned with a little smirk. "Are you sure?"

"Gah!"

Sasuke looked disgusted as well but he said nothing, preferring to narrow his eyes at the female that was currently laughing silently at them. She was behaving quite strangely lately, to his opinion. More snarky than usual... and she hadn't attempted to shower him with all the attention she was accustomed to do.

He dismissed it as the behavior she showed when she was on her time of the month, but the way that she didn't pay attention to him was kind of nonplussing for him.

Now, watching her flapping out her dark green cloak and slipping it on as she kept teasing Naruto, he asked himself what the hell had gotten into her.

"Come on, Naruto, you taught Konohamaru that stupid jutsu," she was saying as Naruto started to hit his head on the painted wood of the enormous gate. "Don't tell me that you haven't thought that maybe if I used it I could change into a male?"

"EW, Sakura-chan, please!" he whined. "You're way too pretty to henge into a man!"

"And I agree with him," a somewhat off voice sounded next to them, startling the blond and his pink-haired companion and four shadows loomed over them. "Yo, Sasuke-chan, you should stop scowling like that or you'll get all wrinkly."

They looked up, discovering the Alpha ANBU Team perched on the gates.

"And here I thought you would be more inconspicuous," Sasuke growled. Two muted chuckles made him turn, noting that Sakura and Naruto were laughing behind their hands. "Tch."

As the Alpha Team landed noiselessly in front of Team Seven, Sakura noticed that all of them had their sandy-colored cloaks pulled on their heads, covering every physical trait that might have identify them as the men that she saw at the Hokage's.

"It would be a pleasure to work with Team Seven," offered the masked man next to the one she knew was Shisui. His voice led him as the male that Tsunade had called Yamato. "For now, our Captain wants you to address us as the animals we sport on our masks."

"Excellent idea, Weasel-san," Kakashi said by the way of a greeting, poofing next to Naruto. "Eagle-san, Hawk-san, Tiger-san."

Sakura noticed straightaway that Shisui nodded when Kakashi pronounced his totem animal, the hawk, while the other shinobi did the same at the eagle name. So that left the lean, pale boy she had seen in her mentor's office, Sai, as the tiger.

The pink-haired medic's eyes slipped to the last member of the ANBU Team, the weasel. The white porcelain mask was directed directly at her, as if the Uchiha behind it was staring right back at her.

Not knowing what to do, she felt a dull warmth on her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she piped in the conversation, trying to overcome her flustered state.

"Naruto, put your cloak on, I'm sure we will depart soon."

"And without delay," Itachi's steely but polite voice seeped through his mask. "We need to reach the Fire Temple before nightfall."

"So, children, are you ready?" Kakashi asked good-naturedly, trying to soften the ANBU's cold command. Sakura lifted a brow at her former sensei before slipping her head in her cloak's hood.

"Good and set, Ero-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, copying Sakura's movements.

With a nod to Itachi, Kakashi jumped to the first tree branch, followed closely by his team, while the ANBU vanished from the gates with a whisper.

-X-

They had caught a little bit of drizzle while leaping from branch to branch, the ANBU team hot on their heels.

"Sakura-chan, are you sure you don't want to get a shelter or something?" Naruto asked, shaking his head from side to side to get rid of the water that clogged his hair.

"I'm not made of sugar, Naruto. I can take a little bit of rain," she said with a sigh. "Besides, the Fire Temple is not that far, we can camp there and continue tomorrow."

"I'm sure that's the plan, Sakura," added Kakashi, bouncing next to her. "Aren't you tired?"

The emerald glare sent to his way was enough of an answer.

"No, Kakashi-sensei, I'm not tired."

"You have less stamina than the three of us," Sasuke observed abruptly. "If you exhaust your reserves we aren't going to make it to the Temple if we have to carry you."

"Why, thank you for your deep observation, Sasuke," she shot back. "I'll have to keep that in mind that when I'll perform a healing on you guys."

Landing in a wide branch, she sent a minute pulse of enough chakra that the next one to land on it –her Uchiha teammate– broke it in splinters with his weight, nearly sending him plummeting straight to the forest ground.

"Sakura!" Kakashi exclaimed, surprised of such display of non-concern for Sasuke from her.

"Want to catch me?" she said lightly, focusing on her fleeing jumping way and her chakra gathering in her legs and feet. "Let's play, boys. If I get first to the Fire Temple you're going to apologize for being a bunch of morons, get that?"

And with that, she took off like a green-clad flash.

"How the hell--"

"Come on, Naruto!" Sasuke said, gaining speed. "Are you going to let her get away with that?"

Kakashi sighed deeply behind them. Sakura's little stunt proved that she was even more competitive than the two young males under his command. He was sure that it was Tsunade's doing, but he didn't say anything to avoid a direct confrontation.

But lifting his head to the 'road', he had to notice that the medic was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn perfect chakra control," he grumbled, hearing a faint male snicker over him.

-X-

Sakura landed on the ground in front of the Fire Temple's gates with a soft hush. Smiling in triumph, she turned her head and noticed that it was a cloaked figure already there, standing next to the gates as if he had been waiting for a while for them.

The masked face came up and she frowned. A weasel.

"Where is the rest of your team?" he asked coolly.

"Sniffing for my conditioner," she replied sarcastically as she turned around and watched how Naruto landed on his bottom while Sasuke landed with a thud on the ground, both panting slightly from the race. "Boys."

"Maa, Sakura," Kakashi scolded behind her, startling her for a moment. "What were you trying to prove, that bunnies run faster than squirrels?"

"No, my point was about panthers and wolves, Kakashi-sensei," she shot back with a smirk. He let out a chuckle as the other three ANBU Ops flickered in front of their Captain.

"The monk said that they're under a state of emergency, Taichou," Yamato's voice floated to them. "One of the Fire Twelve Shinobi Guardsmen had been killed."

"I figured as much," Itachi answered curtly. "How bad are the damages?"

"Ninety-five percent of the Temple is in ruins, Captain," a new muffled male voice responded. Team Seven understood that the owner of the voice was the pale young man in the Alpha's Team.

"What can we do to help?" asked Naruto, worried when he saw a trail of blood from the unhinged gate.

"Be on your guard," ordered Itachi. "We don't know if the premises are clear. Tiger."

"Hai," the cloaked operative nodded, pulling out a scroll and a brush. Several rats and birds sprang out to life from the parchment, spreading quickly in all directions.

"Team Seven will pair up with the ANBU partners that the Hokage had devised for our mission. Hawk, protect our medic," the Uchiha leader added, leaping onto the big gate followed closely by Kakashi.

"Naruto, keep your big mouth shut," growled Sasuke before taking off with Sai. Grumbling in annoyance, the blond ninja followed by the eagle masked male, Yamato.

"What do you know about the Shinobi Guardsmen, Sakura-san?" asked Shisui softly, walking next to her and standing back to back, their senses alert.

"Not much," she murmured with a frown. "I know that almost all of them live in Konoha, I didn't know that there was a monk among the members of the Daimyo's Guards."

"Very good, Sakura-san," the elder Uchiha said lightly. "This particular man was to be retired by the end of the year, but apparently someone wasn't too agreeable with this."

She was about to ask how did he knew that when a black inked cat shot out of the Temple's remnants, making her jump slightly.

"Come on, the coast is clear," he whispered, skipping towards the door, the pink-haired medic in tow.

The Temple was obliterated beyond recognition.

The Hawk Operative and the cloaked petite medic-nin walked in carefully, surveying the damage and avoiding carefully the debris and boulders that lay scattered around the site.

"Kami-sama..." Sakura murmured under her breath.

"Sakura-chan!" they heard Naruto's voice to their right. "There's a survivor here!"

A poof was heard next, leaving the elder Uchiha behind the mask lifting his brow, stunned. How did she teleport away? That jutsu was ANBU level...

"Don't move him, Naruto," she ordered as soon as she arrived with a poof. "I'll take it from here."

Kneeling next to the bloodied monk, she slipped the hood of the cloak back in order to free her face. Emerald eyes surveyed the patient carefully as she pulled her gloves off. The monk opened his eyes and breathed lightly.

"Leaf--" he choked. "I need--"

"Souryo-sama, let me heal you," she said softly. "I'm from Leaf."

The man breathed again, relieved, and slipped into unconsciousness. The rest of the teams gathered around the monk while she worked.

"Kakashi-sensei, I sense a disruption of chakra near the monk's main artery," Sakura spoke suddenly, without taking her eyes off her patient. "Can you please take a look?"

"It seems like the after-effects of a jutsu," he answered readily. "Can you break the disruption?"

"Yes, but something doesn't let me reach it," she responded, making her hands glow more intensely with green medical chakra. "It's like if something blocks my chakra."

"There's another disruption on the first one that acts as a barrier."

Sakura snapped her eyes open, looking up at the ANBU that had said that. Uchiha Itachi looked down at her, watching how her orbs narrowed in analytical deliberation.

"...I can sense it now," she said absently, averting her eyes again to her patient. "It's like two whirlpools gyrating in different directions..."

Her hands flared with both of her chakras, one green and one blue. Slipping a string of hand seals, she slammed her palms together and brought them next on the monk's chest, pouring the mixed energy into his body.

"In order to break the barriers I'll have to attack it and heal it at the same time," she murmured to herself. "This one was hidden because it was placed in a little tenketsu point... I'm no Hyuuga, but I know that this specific point is quite important to distribute the chakra on the main pathways of the body... so I'll have to do it the hard way."

Lifting the hand with light blue chakra, she directed one finger over the man's heart.

"Don't you dare die on me, Souryo-sama," she added, pressing her finger and surrounding it with her other hand, glowing green. She felt Naruto kneeling next to her and a little smile curved on her lips.

"Gambatte, Sakura-chan," he said in a whisper. She nodded gratefully, glad that he had understood the gravity of the situation.

"There!" she opened her eyes again in surprise. "The first disruption was so tiny it got confused with the big one... and the other one is a piece of cake."

The monk opened his eyes again, breathing more freely. "Thank you..."

"No need to thank me, Souryo-sama," she smiled, brushing his forehead and part of his bald head. "You'll be just fine, I promise."

"Who did all this, Souryo-sama?" asked Kakashi, crouching next to the monk. "Do you remember something?"

"Yes," he responded weakly. "Two men in black cloaks with red clouds came and slayed Chiriku-sama... they said they were members of the Akatsuki."

-XxX-

AN: Just messing with the manga timeline here, people. The events are going to be twisted up but with the same conclusion. Keep in mind that the mission to Suna didn't happen just yet, but the events regarding Hidan and Kakuzu did. Also, the Isonade (the three-tailed bijuu) was captured as well by the Akatsuki before the events relayed in this chapter. Regarding the Shukaku, let's say that the organization hadn't made a move on Gaara just yet.

Also, the Souryo is a monk, heheh.

Thanks for reading!