I want to go back to kindergarten. Seriously. I miss the simpler times.

To all the people who reviewed- I LOVE YOU. Yes, every single one of you. You are all superstars. Thank you so much :)

Oh, and I'd forgotten about this completely-

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Seriously, I don't, as much as I'd like to. Maybe one day…

2/3/2015: Change, DONE.

Chapter 17- The Ancient Haruno

"Me…Mebuki?" he choked.

"Uh, no. I'm sorry. I'm not Mebuki," Sakura replied awkwardly. The man had just stepped out from a small guard box of sorts, that was just outside the huge gates, which had two lamps on each side.

'I wonder what it's like on the inside.'

"Oh. Forgive me, I mistook you for someone else," the man replied, disappointment clearly visible in his eyes.

'That happens a lot these days,' Sakura thought wryly. "That's alright." He smiled and his gaze shifted to her companions. 'Not really, it's just happened twice.'

Ryuu stepped forward with a pleasant smile on his face. "Hello, Kai. How come you're on guard duty tonight?"

Kai looked at Ryuu and grinned. "Hey, Ryuu-sama. Long time no see." Then, with a grimace, he said, "I volunteered. Long story, you don't want to know. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Does it have anything to do with a certain someone called Miyuki?" Ryuu said with a knowing smile, and chuckled at the blush on Kai's face. "We're here to visit the elders. This young lady here is Sakura. Haruno Sakura." Sakura and her teammates waited for the man to respond, and Naruto stepped up to stand next to her.

Kai stared at him for a few seconds before looking at Sakura, gesturing for her to step forward into the glow of the lamps. She did, and his eyes widened at once.

"It can't be-I-How?"Kai asked hoarsely. "My God, the resemblance…" Sakura winced at his pained tone.

Ryuu sighed and nodded. "I know. That's why I visited your library the last time I was here."

Kai scrambled backwards and ran to his guard box. Sakura craned her neck as she tried to see what he was doing, and observed as he made a few handseals and pressed his right hand onto a surface. A small door appeared in the middle of the gates.

'What the hell?' A glance at her teammates showed that they found it strange too. Kai chuckled at their expressions.

"Oh, the huge gates are just to intimidate people," he explained. They sweat-dropped and nodded. Sasuke looked a bit apprehensive as he followed his best friends (though he'd slit his own throat before saying the term best friends out loud) inside. It was dead-silent on the inside.n Kakashi snickered at his minions' suspicious expressions and smacked Naruto's head. He screamed girlishly and jumped into Sakura's arms, who just looked surprised. Sasuke rolled his eyes and grabbed Naruto by his hair, before peeling him of off of Sakura and dropping him on the ground. They looked around at the compound.

There was a long path leading to a big house in front of them, and they could easily see smaller ones behind it (though, they were comparatively bigger than the average houses) and it seemed as if they were built around something. They heard a strange noise and looked back to see the doors closing and Kai smiling at them.

'We could be killed right now, and no one would ever find us.'

'Shut it.'

"Well, this looks nice. Who knows Sakura, maybe your parents left you a lot of money. Then maybe you could support your poor old teacher too," Kakashi said, eyes twinkling in the dark. Sakura glared at him and lifted right hand menacingly, curling it into a tight fist.

"I don't know about that. The only old teacher I have is just old, not poor," Sakura snapped at him as she conveniently forgot that Tsunade, despite her appearance, was old as well. But it was true; Kakashi's father had left him a small fortune, and he himself had earned a lot of money over the years. He hardly went on shopping sprees, and the only thing he indulged in was the Icha Icha collection. But he was stingy as hell. Anyway, back to the Haruno compound.

"If you could just follow me," Kai said as he started walking towards the big house. "This is the main house. The elders of our clan reside here."

"Oh. Umm, who's Mebuki?" Sakura asked curiously as she walked beside him.

Kai faltered slightly but continued to walk. "She was a member of the Haruno clan. She died during a conflict that happened a few years back."

"The one between the sisters? Kiyoshi and Kimiko?" Sakura asked hesitatingly.

"Who told you about that?" Kai asked sharply. Ryuu cleared his throat as Sakura smiled sheepishly. Looking slightly relieved, Kai nodded. "That's fine. I was just worried that the information had gotten out somehow. Well, at least you know about that. We can skip over to the part about who you are."

Sakura nodded and they started climbing the few steps. Kai knocked on the door twice and waited for a response.

"Coming!" came a muffled response. An old-no, ancient looking lady opened the door and glared at them. She was wearing deep purple robes, and she had pure white hair. But her eyes were a startling shade of deep blue. Sakura, who was at the front, heard Naruto's "Oh my God, is she from the Dark Ages?" and wanted to smack him across the face. But the old lady gasped as she looked at Sakura, placing a hand over her heart.

"Oh my…"she rasped faintly. Sakura looked alarmed as the lady started swaying. She heard Sasuke saying something along the lines of "Now you've done it Dobe! You gave her a heart attack!"

"Ma'am? It's alright, I'm a medic. Here, let me help," Sakura grabbed her shoulders and tried to steady her, when Kai coughed loudly, and shook his head when she looked at him.

"Nothing's happening to her. She just likes drama a bit too much," he told them. Sakura looked back just in time to see the old lady straighten up and glare at Kai.

"Shut up, brat. Weren't you on guard duty tonight? And who are these people? We don't need sacrifices tonight, but maybe we could save them till tomorrow," she said, and chuckled wickedly when Naruto gulped and tried to hide behind Kakashi.

"Sensei, you don't have many years left, but I do!" Naruto cried as he pushed Kakashi towards the old lady. Even Sasuke looked slightly disturbed. Sakura read the old lady's expression correctly and laughed along with Kai. Ryuu smiled as well and said, "Lady Yui, you are as lively as ever."

"Ah, Ryuu. So you're the one who's brought them here. Well, come in then," the old lady, Lady Yui, led them in and gestured for them to take their footwear off.

"Now, anybody care to tell me where you found this stray Haruno? Or would you like to tell me yourself, girl? "

With Itachi, at his camp

"You will get all the details as soon as we reach the mansion. For now, you should get some rest," Misaki told Itachi before turning and walking over to her tent. Itachi did not respond as he continued to stare at the fire. 'Wow this woman is really annoying.'

He paused, and quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen from his bag. Maybe he could check on her? But he didn't know if she had reached her destination.

'It would take my summons a few hours to reach her, anyway.' Itachi nodded resolutely and took out a blank scroll and pen.

'Sakura…

I am not quite sure if you have reached but I was bored so I started writing this letter. You will not believe how annoying…'

Hey, you. How are you? Is everything alright?

Pleeeaaaase let me know what you thought? Review people. Reviews are my fuel. My cookies. My source of motivation.

I'm going to update as much as possible, because peoplez- COLLEGE IS GOING TO START. DAMN. I'M ALL GROWN-UP. HAA.

Anyway, review please. Hope you liked it! *grin*