Chapter seven I do not own Naruto

*Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.

Ok everyone, sorry about the long-ness of my absence

Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.*

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After departing from her friends, Sakura walked back to her new house. She walked as slowly as she could since she was not at all anxious to go see Itachi. I guess I'll have to tell him to prepare for the mission, she thought. With an out ward sigh, Sakura continued her walk to the Uchiha house.

It was so nice to talk to Kakashi-sensei and Naruto. With this whole thing going on, it was nice to know that they would be by her side. Still though, I wonder how this mission is gonna go!

―――

Itachi was busy unpacking. While the house had gotten cleaned, that didn't mean that his stuff was there. After the death of his family, all the clothes and belongings had been packed up and set aside in their respective rooms. Today it was his job to move all of his parent's old things out and bring his and Sakura's stuff in. I had better get rid of all the clothes since we both have our own, he thought. I don't think Sakura would want to keep any of my mom's old clothes, and I won't need any of Sasuke's baby clothes. He thought with a small smile.

After he had finished, the room was filled with only things that belonged to the new couple. Moving the last of the boxes into another room to be dealt with another day, Itachi realized how late it was. So, he thought, she's still not back yet. Humph, she must have been really angry this morning to not come back by now. Well, she made breakfast; I guess I better make dinner.

He made his way to the kitchen intending to make a simple dinner when he was stopped in his tracks. Sakura was sitting at the table eating a huge bowl of take-out ramen. Itachi frowned for two reasons, first he wanted to make dinner as a way to repay for the morning, and second, because she had come back and eaten without telling him. Still frowning, he walked around the table to face her.

"There's more on the counter." She said between mouthfuls. Itachi glanced to the counter were he saw his food for a second before he turned on her.

"How come you didn't tell me you were going to bring food back? Or that you were back for that matter?" he said in a quiet, yet annoyed voice.

Sakura's expression changed to surprise in mid-bite, which left her with food in hand and a noodle hanging slightly out of her mouth. Swallowing the noodle, and putting down her bowl.

"Excuse me?"

What is the matter with me? He thought. I'm getting upset over this? He composed himself and replied,

"Nothing. I was just going to prepare dinner and was surprised that you were," he stopped short of the word 'home'. That's right, this isn't her home. Her home had been in the apartment she had visited earlier today. To her, this must be just some place she has to live.

"I was just surprised that you were back." He finished, lamely.

Sakura eyed him for a moment. "Oh. Well, if you feel that strongly, you can just make breakfast and dinner tomorrow." She said, a little wary.

"Fine."

Sakura got up to wash her bowl as Itachi sat down to eat. "So, we have a mission tomorrow night. We'll meet at ten." He merely looked at her. "You know, get a package, and bring it back. Pretty routine."

"Okay."

OOOooKkkaaayyy, she thought. This guy's weird. He shows up super chatty, and then all of a sudden doesn't talk. Time to try out those relationship skills Ino is always telling me about. Sakura sat back down at the table as Itachi continued to eat.

"So, all the stuff is moved out of my apartment."

"That's good."

"Umm, what did you do today?"

"Nothing. Just some cleaning…"

"Oh, okay." Sakura could see that he had used up all of his talking tokens in that short time so she turned her concentration to preparing for the mission. I guess we'll get nowhere fast, she thought wryly.

―――

After another awkward night's sleep, the couple got up and spent an uneventful day in separate rooms of the house. The two ate a hasty, yet tasty, meal in silence around 8:30 and began to pack for the upcoming mission.

Sakura prepared her pack with all the necessary medical and attack supplies she needed to support her team in an emergency and left all her things by the door. It was now 9:15, if they didn't leave now they might have to face the humiliation of arriving after Kakashi. That's not something I want on my record, she thought. Honestly, people might start saying that I'm becoming like him!

"Are you ready yet?!" She yelled from the doorway. Next thing, Itachi walks around the corner wearing, what looks to be, his old ANBU outfit. Sakura can't help but stare as he saunters toward her with his white ANBU vest over his high collared shirt. On his arms he wore guards that ran from his wrist to past his elbow that could easily be used for protection, as well as attack.

"A little over dressed, aren't you?" Sakura snickered.

"Hm. Let's go."

―――

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Great, you're here!" Naruto yelled as he ran toward her.

"Hi Naruto, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi walked up beside Naruto.

"Hello Sakura, Itachi." Itachi nodded his head and Kakashi elbowed Naruto in the ribs.

"Oww, *sigh* hi… Itachi."

"Well, now that we're all here let's get started." Kakashi took a slow breath. "We'll be leaving the village to head to a city on the southern border. We'll only have about 8 hours to do this, so we'll need to get to the city in 3 hours. That will leave approximately 1 hour to retrieve the package for the Hokage and 4 hours to get back. Any questions?"

Naruto looked slightly confused. "Yeah, why do we need to take that long on the way back? It couldn't be because SOME of us have been out of the game for a while, has it?" He threw his gaze toward Itachi, but he seemed unfazed.

Sakura slapped her hand to her face in frustration. "Naruto, we don't know how big the thing is, or how much it's gonna slow us down."

"Oh."

Kakashi sighed. Couldn't they refrain from fighting until we leave the village? "Well, if we're all clear…let's go."

―――

Running along the tree line toward the southern border of the land of fire, Team Kakashi shot toward their destination. Naruto, of course, was in the lead, unwilling to be anything other than ahead of Itachi; Kakashi followed from behind leaving Itachi and Sakura in the middle.

Damn Itachi, Naruto thought. I know this is his fault! "Oi, Kakashi-sensei! I can see the town up ahead!"

Kakashi moved into the lead. "Okay everyone. We're looking for a man named Rainer. The Hokage said he has a huge scar across his face. He's her friend so he's safe to approach and she said that Sakura will be able to find him."

Hearing this Sakura was slightly confused and almost crashed into a tree. "She said what?"

"She emphasized that they have similar interests, whatever that means."

Naruto and Sakura exchanged a look and Sakura snickered before talking. "Alright everyone, we'll be checking all the bars, restaurants, and gambling houses in town."

Laughing Naruto said, "Yeah, when me and the Ero-senin were looking for Granny Tsunade, we found her in a bar."

Chuckling, the ninjas arrived in the village and began their search.

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After searching at several questionable establishments, Team Kakashi entered a bar that their target was rumored to visit every night. Walking between the tables the group casually glanced over the occupants of the bar. They didn't want to make a scene or cause a panic as to why four armed ninjas were searching for someone.

Itachi stopped walking and pointed to the corner or the bar where a man with a scar running down the side of his face sat next to a brown package that stood to the middle of the table and was half as wide.

"Well, that's not bad to carry" Kakashi sighed. "It looks kind of heavy, though."

Sakura ignored him and strode over to the man. "Hello, are you Rainer?"

The man looked up at her. He was clearly drunk as the next second he was hugging Sakura and saying, "Tsunade, you didn't have to come all the way out here yourself!"

"Um, I'm not Tsunade" Sakura breathed. "I'm her student. Please put me down!"

The man released her and looked at Sakura closely. "Oh yeah, I guess you're not her. Sorry!" The man smiled.

While Sakura understood, and Kakashi was surprised, yet amused, Naruto was outraged.

"EEHHH?! How could you mistake Sakura-chan for Granny Tsunade?? Sakura-chan is much prettier and-!"

"Naruto, that's enough. I can handle things without you 'defending my honor' or whatever you want to call it." She turned back to Rainer. "Um, we're here to pick up the package. Is that it?" She pointed to the brown object.

He looked to the package she was pointing at. He chuckled. "This? No that's some food I'm taking home. No, yours is in the back 'cause it was really heavy."

Kakashi's head dropped. "Great."

―――

Finally the team was able to head off back toward the village. Kakashi, of course, was carrying the large package: which, in itself, wasn't all that big but was heavy. The team fell back into position and was looking forward to finishing the mission. Naruto looked back from the front.

"Hey, when we get back let's go out for breakfast!"

Since everyone was more hungry than tired, this sounded like a good plan.

"And then we'll have to continue training for whatever mission comes next!" he said, but ever since the word breakfast, no one was listening. They were too busy thinking of what they were going to eat. Well, everyone except for Itachi. Using his time to focus on more than the next meal, the ex-ANBU was sensing his surroundings for any trace of pursuit. This focus paid off as 3/4 of the way to the village, time was running out and Itachi sensed the chakra of at least 6 oncoming ninja. Evidently, Kakashi sensed them as well as he turned his head toward the direction of their pursuers.

"We're being followed." Itachi stated.

Kakashi started slowing down. "Seems like 5 or 6 of them. Though, they don't seem to have very much chakra. I think you guys could take'em."

Naruto, who had not slowed down, turned back to talk with the others. "What do you mean 'us'?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Well, I am carrying this incredibly heavy box…and I want to see what you guys can do together. Just remember, we don't have a lot of time."

"Kakashi-sensei, that is not fair." Sakura said. She sighed. "Let's get this over with. Itachi? Naruto? Any plans?"

Naruto came up with nothing, as usual, but Itachi thought for a second. "OK, we'll set up an ambush right here and catch them off guard. We'll need to capture them, not render them unconscious, so that way we'll be able to see why they're after this thing" he said pointing at the large box strapped to Kakashi's back.

Naruto suddenly jumped up. "Alright everyone, let's go!"

Sakura knocked him on the back of the head. "Naruto, it wasn't you plan, don't try to take charge!" Naruto laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

"But Sakura-chan! I just wanted to get everyone moving! We only have about an hour and a half to get back."

"Uhuh, sure!"

―――

Concealed among the trees, Team Kakashi waited for the ninja to fall into place. There was a bristling in the coming from the direction of Rainer's village as 2 3-man squads of cloud village ninjas stepped into a clearing; right into the their trap.

Sakura whispered into her mini-mic, "OK everyone, they're looking to see which direction we went in. We'll attack on three."

Naruto jumped up from his hiding place, "Forget that, I'm heading in." He brought his hands together to form the hand seal to focus his chakra. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He yelled alerting the enemy below as his clones appeared.

Kakashi sighed, "Naruto you idiot. You don't need to show off."

Naruto leaped onto the enemy and tried to corner them or pin them to the ground. After a few minutes, Naruto was all out of clones and was about to be corned by the foreign ninja. Nonetheless, Naruto stood his ground and shouted at the enclosing cloud shinobi. "Why are you after us?" he yelled.

One of them laughed, "Why would we tell you?" As Naruto was about to get beaten to a pulp, Kakashi signaled to Sakura.

"This is taking too long. Finish them off please?"

Sakura smiled at him, "Sure, why not?" Sakura gathered up all the chakra she could into her right fist and yelled, "Naruto, you better move!" Naruto jumped back into the trees, but as the other shinobi were looking up, Sakura had already jumped. She slammed her fist into the ground before the 6 ninja and forced all off her chakra out. The sheer force of the chakra blew a hole in the ground that shook the forest and knocked her opponents unconscious. Exactly what we were not supposed to do, but we were running out of time! She thought.

When the dust had finally cleared, Kakashi and Itachi were already finished binding them. Itachi stared at his wife as she walked toward them.

"Sorry, I know you wanted them awake, but it's their own fault that they didn't move in time!" She said defensively as she wiped dirt off her clothes. "I'm sure you can wake one up though."

I can't believe she had this much power, Itachi thought as he looked around. She completely destroyed this place. There isn't an untouched piece of ground in sight! And here I thought her only power was her wit! Not like she needs to work on that either.

"Um, yeah" Itachi said quietly. "I'll wake one up."

He walked over to the smallest looking one in the group. Generally speaking, they were usually only the brains and more susceptible to questioning. He grabbed him and shook the ninja awake.

"Huh, what-?"

"We have you cornered." He said pulling the man up by his short. "Why were you after us?"

"Um, well… We wanted…" He trailed off.

"YES?"

"The box, we wanted the box!" He said in a squeaky voice.

At least this one's answering my questions, He thought. That way I don't have to use any jutsu. He's scared of us. Itachi looked toward Kakashi. "You got any questions?"

"Actually, I do." Kakashi turned to the man. "Why did you want the box? Do you even know what's in there?"

"Um, no, but we heard it was for the Hokage, so we figured it must be worth something."

So, Kakashi thought, they weren't on a mission, the just wanted to score some points by taking this thing from us. "Well, it's your lucky day."

"Why?" He asked nervously, and then he cheered up. "Are you gonna give us the box?"

"Ha-ha, no. We're gonna let you live." Kakashi signaled to Itachi, who swiftly knocked him out.

Naruto, once again, looked confused. "Why are we gonna let them go?"

"Because they have no information, no reason to want this thing, and they don't really present a threat to us. Plus we need to get back But don't worry Naruto, someone will find them when they come to see how Sakura demolished this place." He turned to go, "Come on let's go."

―――

The team arrived at the village shortly after with no incident. They went to deliver the box to the Hokage and give her their report.

The Hokage began laughing when she heard what happened. "So, someone wanted this thing?" she said pointing to her package. "And Naruto got his butt kicked?"

"Granny Tsunade that is NOT what happened! I was out numbered!"

"How could YOU be out numbered? You use you Kage Bunshin!"

Sakura stepped forward with a mocking smile at Naruto. "Tsunade-sama, what is in the box?"

At this the Hokage got excited, "Ohh, I'll show you! I've waited for it for a while." She undid the box and stepped aside with a 'Ta-da' and revealed what looked to be a table top version of a slot machine. "Isn't it cool?"

"Aggghh! Tsunade-sama! That's what you sent us to get!"

Tsunade looked hurt. "No that's not all! This is from the Daimyo of the next country! We did an important mission and this was a present for helping them. This slot machine represents the ongoing friendship of our two countries, which is essential to the success of the village! Plus, it's a piggy bank!"

Kakashi sighed. She just wanted her new toy!

"Granny Tsunade, you just can't use us for little things like that!" said Naruto pouting. "I'm leaving!" the blonde ninja said indignantly as he turned on his heel and left.

Sakura gave an inward sigh before saying, "Tsunade-sama, if Shizune sees that she'll take it away. You better hide it. I'm going home." And with that, Sakura and Itachi began the walk home. As the door was closing, Sakura heard the Hokage gasp and ask Kakashi, "You don't think she'd do that, do you?"

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Woo. Well, here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait! But I'm finally getting back into the swing of things! C u guys next chapter!