I'm going to have a new Naruto story up soon. I'll have to see when I can get off my lazy ass to complete it - I'm already halfway done with the first chapter. If you're interested, be sure to check it out.

The True Not Important: Glad to know you liked that short battle!

Aurora-chan: Don't apologize, it makes me feel apologetic! Haha! Thanks for leaving a review after solving your Internet issues. I really appreciate it :)

Sorry: There is absolutely no relation at all. I just wanted to get away from canon a tad bit and decided to put that part in. Glad to see you're still sticking around :)

Thanks to The True Not Important, Charrmed, Aurora-chan, Sorry and tamu for the reviews!

Sasuke whistled. The girl beside him stared at him, and when he caught the stare and turned, she looked away.

The two reached the gates of Konoha. Sasuke looked up at his companion.

"Um..." He cleared his throat nervously. "Do you... uh... do you really have to leave?" He studied her reaction. "You know... the Hokage can always... make you a Genin of the L-Leaf. You just have to p-pass a few tests and y-you know..."

He cursed himself. He couldn't believe he was stuttering.

Kin couldn't hide a small smirk at his stuttering.

"No... my decision's already made," she sighed. "I'm going back to my home town in Iwagakure. Your Hokage has already granted me the permission to leave."

"But it's dangerous," Sasuke protested. "What if that creep Orochimaru finds you, and-"

"He has no more use for me," Kin replied darkly. "He simply wanted me as a sacrifice for the Reanimation technique. Now that his invasion has failed, he won't be spending his time looking for me anymore."

"R-Right."

Sasuke berated himself. He was a proud member of the Uchiha clan. An Uchiha doesn't stutter.

"So... I guess you can hand that over to me now." She smiled, gesturing towards her backpack in Sasuke's hands.

"Oh y-yeah. Your b-backpack."

God damn it! He mentally shrieked. No stuttering, he reminded himself again.

Sasuke handed the backpack over.

"So, I guess this is goodbye," Kin stepped forward. "Please give my regards and thanks to Mikoto-san."

"Mom? What about Dad?"

Kin grunted. "No thanks to him, he was a bit of a prick."

Sasuke chuckled.

The former Oto kunoichi turned to face him with a serious look.

"Well... anything else?"

Sasuke frowned as he felt himself blushing heavily at the thought of what he wanted to say next.

"Y-Yeah... um... you know... when you... uh... like..." He coughed, clearing his throat, then readjusted his speech. "The day before the finals. Yeah. I liked that day."

Kin smirked.

"I suppose you liked the kiss too."

"Y-Yeah," the Uchiha boy replied absentmindedly. Then his brain processed what she'd said, and he choked, on his own saliva.

"Well..." Kin placed her arms around his shoulders, and Sasuke felt his heart beating wildly. Then she leaned in, and they kissed.

Sasuke pulled away first, nervously running a hand through his air. That was awesome.

Her smirk not leaving her face, Kin left another kiss on Sasuke's cheek, and turned to walk towards the gates.

Stunned, Sasuke recovered just in time to see her about to walk through the gigantic gates of Konoha.

"Oi!" He yelled boldly. "That kiss... it binds you to me, you got it? So you better come back and visit sometime!" He placed his palm over his face at how lame he sounded, but his spirits were lifted as Kin gave him a reply. A simple one, no less, but he was happy to know she'd heard him.

"See ya!"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto grinned.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke broke into a broader grin than Naruto. His blonde teammate stared at him with a curious look. Sasuke seemed to be unusually happier than normal today.

"Sakura Haruno."

Sakura smiled, standing at attention.

"And lastly... Shikamaru Nara."

"This is so troublesome," the lazy Nara commented with a yawn.

Hiruzen smiled at the four shinobi.

"Congratulations. The four of you have officially been promoted from Genin to Chunin of the Leaf."

"Yesss!" Naruto cheered.

The Sandaime continued reading off his reports. "Firstly, Shikamaru." Said boy stared at the Hoakge. "You demonstrated flexibility and quick-thinking in your match with Temari Sabaku of the Sand."

"I did? What a drag."

"Your strategy, whipped up in barely a minute, was successful and you managed to push her into the choice of giving up or getting finished off by your jutsu. The daimyo and the Jonin judges were very impressed, and we feel that if you are given more time than just a minute, you could cook up the perfect battle strategy."

"I could? Maybe. Troublesome."

"Another plus point, is the fact that you refrained from finishing your opponent without giving her the choice to give up. Sometimes, as Chunin, you are sent on missions to capture enemies with important information. Finishing them off, or killing them, in this instance, will possibly cut off all access to the information we want."

Shikamaru nodded slowly.

"With that, I as the Hokage, appoint you, Shikamaru Nara, as one of the newest Chunin of the Leaf."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said with a small smile on his face.

"Next. Sakura Haruno." Hiruzen flipped a few pages in his report as Sakura looked at the village leader eagerly. "You displayed an impressive talent for Earth Style jutsu and the daimyo was particularly impressed with your amount of known ninjutsu."

Sakura smiled proudly.

"You, like Shikamaru, displayed smarts and planned out an accurate strategy for your opponent to be hit by one of her own weapons," the Sandaime continued. "You thus wowed the Jonin and daimyo judges with your victory."

Sakura's smile grew broader.

"With that, I as the Hokage, appoint you, Sakura Haruno, as one of the newest Chunin of the Leaf."

"Great job, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, punching the air with his fist.

"Next," Hiruzen spoke. "Sasuke Uchiha."

"Yes, sir," Sasuke could barely contain his excitement.

"Sasuke displayed speed and technique in his battle against Kankuro Sabaku of the Sand. The Jonin judges were particularly impressed with your ability to control and maximize the effectiveness of the Cursed Seal, considered as a power in the class of S-Rank. You were also able to take out your opponent with a powerful A-Rank technique, the Chidori."

Sasuke smiled.

"Lastly, your speed in battle is one of the best we've seen in a Genin so far. You managed to cut the puppeteer's chakra strings, rendering his battle style useless not once, but twice. The Substitution Jutsu you used at the end to dodge his attack, before finally impaling your Chidori on him from behind, impressed the judges with it's quickness."

Grinning, Sasuke adjusted his Konoha forehead protector.

"With that, I as the Hokage, appoint you, Sasuke Uchiha, as one of the newest Chunin of the Leaf."

Sasuke beamed with pride.

"Lastly." Hiruzen smiled at the boy who used to be the most unpopular in the village. He had come a long way. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Lay it on me, old man!" Naruto grinned.

"Despite his battle getting interrupted by the invasion, Naruto Uzumaki proved that he'd what it took to be promoted to Chunin." The Third read off his report. "You displayed your knowledge of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. With this, you were able to use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu, a kinjutsu and an A-Rank technique."

"Damn right!" Naruto cheered.

"Your mastery of kenjutsu also delighted and impressed the Jonin and daimyo. Infusing your swords with Wind chakra to slice through your opponent's sand techniques is also an art extremely difficult to master. No Genin has ever done this - congratulations on being the first."

Naruto nodded sheepishly. "It's all thanks to Itachi-sensei!"

"Lastly, your invention of the Wind Style: Razor Wind and the Sword Clone Jutsu gave us enough reasons to promote you. If you remained as Genin, you would be an extremely overpowered one." Hiruzen chuckled at this.

"How did you know I created them?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Probably because no one's ever heard of them before," Sasuke laughed, giving his teammate a light punch in the arm.

"Although you displayed little to no skill in strategy and planning, your brute strength and power was enough to convince us for a promotion."

"Yesss! Who cares about strategy! Power and strength is all you need!" Naruto shrieked into the air.

"You're so loud, Naruto. Troublesome..." Shikamaru shook his head.

"With that, I as the Hokage, appoint you, Naruto Uzumaki, as the newest Chunin of the Leaf!"

"Hm... the Sun has set."

The biggest one of the group spoke first. He seemed a little overweight.

"Don't state the obvious, Jirobo, you fat ass."

"Tayuya..." Jirobo was getting annoyed with his redheaded teammate. "A woman shouldn't talk like that."

"Fuck off."

Kidomaru chuckled, while Sakon sighed.

The four shinobi spotted the Oto symbol on their forehead protectors.

"Hey... you know about Kin? Kin Tsuchi?"

Tayuya turned to look at Kidomaru. "Yeah, that bitch. What about her?"

"I heard she got close to that Uchiha kid. Heh."

"Kin getting close to someone," Tayuya laughed. "That's funny as fuck. Who would be able to stand her?"

Jirobo smirked. "That's a question you should be asking yourself."

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Shhh. Tayuya. Jirobo. Kidomaru."

"Shhh! Shh! Shhh!" Tayuya mocked.

Sakon glared at her, sending a wave of killing intent, but Tayuya simply shot her teammate a smirk. "We aren't here to play. We are here for our target, to please Orochimaru-sama."

"To please?" Tayuya scoffed. "That sounds fucking wrong!"

Sakon rolled his eyes.

Then, they saw their target.

Immediately, the Sound Four made their move.

Sasuke Uchiha continued his stroll towards the Uchiha Compound. He tugged onto his new Chunin vest with a bright smile on his face, worn over his Uchiha shirt.

He'd made his clan proud. With that thought in his head, the young Uchiha grinned at himself.

The smile was wiped off his face as someone landed in front of him and gave him a kick in the face.

"Ow!" Sasuke was thrown to the ground. "What was that for?"

"You will come with us, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke looked up, his Sharingan activated.

"And who the hell are you?"

"We don't even have to talk to this bastard," Tayuya snorted, appearing behind Sasuke. "It's obvious he doesn't want to come. We'll just have to take him by force."

The newly-made Chunin turned around. She's fast!

Before he could fight, he felt a hand slamming into his neck.

Sasuke felt the world going black.

Yikes! Another chapter not more than 2,000 words, but the upcoming fight scenes will hopefully be more than 3,000.

In the next chapter, Sasuke is taken and the Sasuke Retrieval Team is formed.

But are they the same members? ;)

Stay tuned to find out.