Chapter 23 New S-ranked mission

Naruto thought he could do this, it surely could not be hard to explain to somebody about the secret he had kept to himself for over three years. The blond had another thing coming when he struggled at every twist and turn when explaining to Lee and Shikamaru about his situation with being the vessel of the Kyuubi. While he basically summed it up in one line on the bridge, actually breaking it down into detail was a lot harder than he could cope. The other problem was not falling apart under both the shadow user and miniature Gai's partly agape and shocked expressions. The occasional friendly nudge and pat on the back from Sakura was highly welcomed ease his nerves, and when he really was stumped, she offered to explain bits and pieces for him instead. Otherwise Sakura would remain quiet, and was at his side for the entire time.

The Nara already had worked out most of the details for himself before hand, theorising reasoning's as to how this was possible, it still didn't prepare him from hearing it from Naruto in person. Lee during the entire explanation had remained quiet, with the occasional agape and shocked expressions, but mostly held a neutral glance.

Once Naruto had finally finished his explanation, Shikamaru ran his hand through his hair and let out a long sigh to the information he was just given, "So troublesome...you really do not stop surprising me at all." He said blankly, although the smirk on his face was clear.

Naruto blinked several times in confusion, which prompted the shadow user to roll his eyes and continue in a scolding manner, "Do you really believe I would think the boy I occasionally did prank's with back in the academy is some kind of demon?? Naruto, the only thing that doesn't ever catch me off guard is your stupidity."

Naruto didn't seem to hear the insult but beamed with a wide smile, "Thank you Shikamaru!"

They all turned though when they heard sniffles coming from Lee. "Naruto-kun...I thought of you as a friend and a type of rival at first....but now...." Naruto waited in anticipation for Lee to continue, but gasped in surprise when Lee exploded.

"I SEE YOU ARE TRYING TO STEAL MY TITLE OF THE GENIUS OF HARDWORK NARUTO-KUN! You without a doubt will be my eternal rival for the rest of my life and afterlife! I demand a rematch Naruto-kun! Kyuubi powers and gates allowed, let us fight in the solid spirit of our youth!" he screamed, as the tears were running down the crazed Lee's face.

Shikamaru sweat dropped, 'A simple 'Naruto you are an amazing friend' would have sufficed...and how is he stealing your title, idiot.'

Sakura smiled at the result while Naruto was beaming with happiness, but replaced it with a challenging stare. "YOSHA! Fuzzy Brows you are going down, I accept your chall-"

"No you are not! I refuse to heal either of your wounds that you without a doubt will receive from your stupid stunt." Sakura said flatly, exchanging a glare between Naruto and Lee. All of the groups eyes widened in surprise to the sound of an amused chuckle coming from the room's window.

"I see the gaki has finally opened up a bit, bout time too." The proud voice of Jiraiya said, who was sitting on the window seal smugly.

"E-Ero-sennin?!"

"Ever heard of a door? They were invented for walking in and out of you know?" Shikamaru said sarcastically.

Lee simply bowed in respect.

"Ero-sennin..."

Jiraiya frowned at the name he hated the most, "Naruto! I told you not to-"

Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock, 'that wasn't an echo I just heard then...that sounded...feminine?!'

He then looked at Sakura in shock, "W-Why?!" he staggered.

Sakura didn't say anything at first but stood up from her chair with her fist tightly clenched, ".....Icha....Icha... tactics, hmm?" She hissed suggestively as she in a quick burst of speed charged straight towards the now paled Jiraiya. Shikamaru was not quick enough with his shadow to stop the rampaging Sakura from sending Jiraiya flying out the window he came from with a solid fist to the face.

"ERO-SENNIN YOU DISGUSTING PERVERT!" Sakura roared out the window at the now pouting Jiraiya who was still airborne.

'Why is it I have a gut feeling I'm the only one who received the wrath of that fist this entire time?!'

Once Jiraiya had recovered and returned from his...short flight, they got down to business and filled each other in on what they knew. Naruto and Sakura couldn't resist asking if their other team mate was with Orochimaru, when Jiraiya shook his head they nodded, although the disappointment was there.

"How troublesome indeed." They all turned their attention to the shadow user, silently asking him to elaborate.

Shikamaru did not disappoint, "My theory on this situation. This entire mission, the spies for this Akatsuki outpost, Orochimaru...was all a trap to get Naruto without Jiraiya-sama's presence."

The group went wide eyed, "But they were ANBU?" Sakura added.

Shikamaru nodded, while voicing what it implied, "The ANBU only respond the Hokage's orders do they not?"

Sakura mouth hung wide open at Shikamaru's statement, "What are you saying?! Tsunade-sama would never hurt Naruto!"

Shikamaru frowned and waved a hand, "Easy, I am just considering all possibilities."

Sakura still was not satisfied that he even thought of the possibility, "It is not a possibility, Tsunade-sama...she loves Naruto like a son...she is the last person in the world that would want to hurt Naruto!"

Shikamaru nodded his head, "I know, I know, relax...nobody here is accusing hokage-sama."

Sakura bit her lip but nodded, calming herself for jumping the gun, "If she is not behind this, which I am willing to swear my life on that she isn't...these ANBU are working outside Tsunade-sama's will."

"This definitely was not Tsunade's doing, you are right with what you said. These ANBU acted completely alone with this. But for them to somehow fool Orochimaru, hell, I don't even know where that creep hides out...they must be rogue ANBU that are not currently living in Konoha to know that information." Jiraiya announced.

Shikamaru by the time had sat in silence, with his seal formed as he tried to collate everything he knew about their attackers, and their appearances. Meanwhile, the group continued their theories, with Sakura suggesting the next.

"What about those masks? The fox masks? Was there a team of ANBU that wore them?"

Jiraiya groaned while scratching his head, "I seriously don't know, but I highly doubt they are wearing the fox masks because of that. Most ANBU's wear all sorts of animal masks as a means of identification...it's extremely rare for them all to be just different coloured foxes."

Sakura grunted in annoyance, "We are pretty much just guessing here."

"Were there any shinobi whose bodies were never found from the Kyuubi attack?" The shadow user finally spoke, opening his eyes to see his question had got everyone awestruck. Lee's eyebrow perked when it made sense to him.

"I see what you're thinking Shikamaru-kun. You believe that these rogue ANBU are survivors assumed dead from when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha 15 years ago from the assumption of the age of the scarred Hyuuga we fought."

Shikamaru nodded, once again astounded at Lee's display of intelligence.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, "You said one of ANBU you fought was a Hyuuga from the main house?"

Lee nodded, "I saw his forehead, there was no seal."

"The other guy said his name was Araiki." Jiraiya's scratched his temple while deep in concentration at the name.

"Hyuuga Araiki...there's no way he can be from the main house, the Hyuuga are very strict when it comes to what main house members can and can't do. Being a member of ANBU is one of them, as the risk of capture and discovering the secrets of the byakugan are too high."

"Other than the information about the other ones summon being called Wani, was there anything else?" Shikamaru asked Sakura, who shook her head in response. The group's eyes turned to Naruto, who was silent throughout the entire discussion, his arms crossed and his head looking down at his bed sheets.

"...So they are after me for revenge for the people that died during the Kyuubi's attack..."He said dryly still with his eyes averted.

"Naruto...." Sakura's voiced in concern, she was met by his soft smile and gaze, before he turned to his sensei.

"What do we do now, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya inwardly cringed at the name, but responded, "I will send a messenger toad back to Konoha and tell Tsunade what we have discovered, we will remain in Wave since we do not know if the ANBU patrols are in leagues with this group."

Jiraiya concluded, as Shikamaru agreed and added his own input, "It might be best to request reinforcements from people she trusts as well, even though we have a sannin with us, we really have no idea how many of these rogue ANBU we are dealing with."

Sensing Naruto's ears perk in alarm he quickly asked, "I assume there are other shinobi that know?"

"I'll make a note of that to Tsunade."

Araiki was furious. After they had returned to the hideout, Thomas had unceremoniously dumped him in a bath full of Wani's disgusting ink. While he was thankful for having all of his arguably fatal wounds healed, he still detested the act entirely. Once he had recovered and dried himself off, he was back in a fresh new outfit of his ANBU attire. Thomas walked into the cavern soon after, his arm was now returned, but wrapped in bandages, as the ink was still rebuilding the bone structure in the once missing arm.

"It appears that Wani will be fine, she took almost unimaginable amounts of damage, but the ink of her subordinates should allow her to make a full recovery in a matter of days." Thomas announced, in his usual neutral voice.

"Hmmph that still doesn't help us at the moment." Araiki grunted, in return Thomas felt an emotion he couldn't understand stir.

"It was your own fault to begin with when you ignored my warning and underestimated that boy. Do not hold a grudge on Wani for your incompetence to think rationally." Araiki glared hard at Thomas but didn't speak on the matter.

"Ronan will not be back for at least another day of travelling with his team. When he does come back, he will not be amused in the slightest that we have failed the mission that we have spent months organising."

"I wouldn't say it's a failure, yet." Said a mysterious voice at the stair well. Both Araiki and Thomas were up and at the ready in their stances, until Araiki's byakugan eyes widened.

"O-Orochimaru?!" He staggered, as the said sannin made himself visible with a large smirk on his face.

"Araiki. Good to see that you're doing so well still, how's your freedom from the Hyuuga curse going?" Araiki didn't say anything.

"...I see, so this is how you repay me for removing that curse, by trying to make me a fool?!" Orochimaru hissed.

Thomas spoke as if not affected by the surprise that Araiki had, "How did you find out about us? How did you know where to find us? Ronan's team was meant to have taken care of your spies, once they had reported to you the false claim."

"I believe I have something to do with that." Came another voice from the stair well, who soon revealed himself as Kabuto.

"Orochimaru-sama trusts nobody, even his own spies, with the exception of me. I was sent to monitor his spies' activities, and I must say, this Ronan you speak of appears to be very persuasive." Kabuto concluded with a dark smirk as he lifted his glasses closer to his eyes.

Orochimaru chuckled, "This wouldn't happen to be...Uchiha Ronan, the original captain of the ANBU that we all thought was dead in the Kyuubi's assault by chance now would it...How intriguing." Orochimaru laughed at the news, finding the situation very ideal, as he voiced it to another presence.

"It appears you may have somebody else still alive from your clan...Sasuke-kun."

"Hn" Came a dry response form a figure standing behind Orochimaru, his Sharingan eyes glowing in the darkness.

"I would be very interested to see what this ex captain knows."

Tsunade groaned, as she glared at the stacks of papers that no matter how hard she pushed herself, she would never get through them before the next wave would come. It was a battle she inwardly knew she would never win.

"Tsunade-sama." A voice called from her side.

Tsunade turned but when she saw nobody, looked down and saw a familiar looking toad. Tsunade grinned as the toad leapt onto her desk, "Good to see you again Kosuke, I trust Jiraiya has a message for me?" The toad nodded as it flung the scroll off its back and dropped the message on the table.

"Jiraiya-sama has told me he will need a confirmation message back on this one."

Tsunade nodded as she began unrolling the scroll, and recognized the scribbles and none other than Jiraiya's.

Tsunade,

We appear to have a serious problem in our hands. It seems that my information given from my spies was dirty. There was no Akatsuki outpost, there was however an Orochimaru that also had been tricked by false information. However this is not the real problem. It seems the mission in Wave was a setup.

It appears a group of rogue ANBU are after the life of Naruto, we have reason to believe they may be survivors from the Kyuubi attack 15 years ago, taking their revenge on Naruto. We have the confirmed identity on one of the members but we need some information researched on him. His name is Hyuuga Araiki.

I suggest you choose your people carefully with gathering this information, as we have no idea if there may be a leak in the ANBU ranks. In saying this we will not return to Konoha, as there may be a possibility of being ambushed by these ANBU. Finally I would like to request that somebody is sent as reinforcements to help us, since we again do not know how many of these ANBU there are.

Now finally some good news, Your apprentice appears to have sunk some confidence into the gaki...he has told the others here about the Kyuubi, even though Naruto was semi forced to due to their attack. I can't believe she already made more progress in four days than it took me two years though. Hehe, guess the gaki just needed to hear it from somebody his own age.

In saying that he is still a little jumpy about the whole tell tale thing, so I suggest you choose somebody from the older generation. Hopefully the gaki will learn to cope with this...though I am sure your apprentice will beat it into him if he doesn't.

Your apprentice certainly packs a punch by the way!

Getting back to the more serious matter at hand, please send a reply using Kosuke as soon as you can.

Thanks Tsunade, and be on the lookout, remember, don't trust anybody from ANBU.

Jiraiya.

Tsunade had to read the message twice after that to make sure she read it right. She slammed the message on the desk and shouted out to her other apprentice.

"Shizune!"

Shizune rushed into the room, sensing the unease in her long time friends voice, "Hai Tsunade-sama!"

"Get me Hatake Kakashi immediately! Go find him yourself, do NOT under any circumstances ask the ANBU for help in finding him!" Shizune had no idea what was happening but nodded and ran out of the room. Tsunade looked out her window and gritted her teeth.

'Just when I thought things were starting to look up, this happens...why can't things ever be easy for a change!?

Hatake Kakashi released a sigh, as he tried to continue reading his Icha Icha paradise. Usually Kakashi was more than capable of reading his book through distractions, but something about today seemed different. Kakashi glanced his head up from his book and suddenly it all made sense.

"Did you say something Gai?"

Gai responded by pulling on his shiny hair in frustration. Kakashi thought he heard something about being hip, but he already was back into his deep trance of reading his book.

He glanced up again though when he heard a voice that was worth paying attention to, "Kakashi-san."

Kakashi turned his head, ignoring the now crying Gai, and saw Shizune running towards him.

"What is it Shizune-san?" he enquired lazily.

"Tsunade-sama wishes to speak with you urgently in her office."

'That's strange...they usually send ANBU for delivering those messages.' Kakashi thought, but decided to keep it to himself.

"Very Well, please lead the way Shizune-san." Kakashi said as he closed his book and put it away in his pouch.

Kakashi walked into the Hokage office after knocking, he saw Tsunade sitting behind her desk drinking a bottle of sake.

"....You sent for me Hokage-sama?" Kakashi said, deciding it would be best to avoid asking why she was drinking sake in the middle of duty.

Tsunade placed the bottle next to her on the desk, and spoke surprisingly very sober, "Yes, you will be packing for an S-ranked mission at Wave. You will be grouping up with the team being lead by Shikamaru and assume the role as team leader, with Shikamaru as your tactician."

'Hmm, so I get to work with Shikamaru again...this will be interesting indeed.'

"Also on their team are Naruto, Sakura, and Lee."

This made Kakashi's only visible eye widen in interest, "Naruto and Sakura? I didn't know Naruto returned to the village ahead of schedule?" Tsunade sighed, knowing she had a very long story to tell, when she didn't have much time to waste. She began her explanation on the current mission they were on, and the discovery of Sakura's knowledge.

She cleared her throat, "She has been a bit emotional about it, pretty much what I would expect from her...but things seemed to be going fine, until I received this letter." Tsunade lifted the letter, gesturing Kakashi to read it.

As doing so he couldn't help but review what he was told, 'Sakura knew about the Kyuubi for over a year?! That explains why she was so quiet whenever I mentioned him around her. It's good to see she didn't misjudge Naruto. In fact, I am truly glad that Naruto finally has somebody his age level that knows and respects him for who he is.' Kakashi stifled his thoughts when he began reading the letter from what he recognised as Jiraiya's writing.

Kakashi's lone eye widened at points during the letter, when he was finished he met Tsunade's expecting gaze, "This indeed is extremely serious, if the people behind this really have been manipulating missions for their benefits, then nobody is safe."

Tsunade nodded sternly and added, "But it seems they are only interested in Naruto...does that name ring any bells from your time in ANBU Kakashi?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I made ANBU two years after the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, so unfortunately I don't know anything on this, Araiki."

Tsunade rubbed her temple in annoyance, "I was afraid of that...It means I have no choice but to ask Danzou for the records from the achieve he keeps stored in a secure place." Tsunade groaned, hating the thought of having to see that hideous old man.

Kakashi scratched the top of his gravity defying silver hair, "Umm...that might not be a good idea Hokage-sama...we cannot rule out that this is Danzou's doing either."

Tsunade's eyes widened, but didn't interfere Kakashi's thought, "If you recall right Hokage-sama, he was pushing very hard to essentially turn Naruto into a type of emotionless killing machine to bring fear to Konoha's enemies after the second shinobi war. I wouldn't put it past him of all people to be behind this matter at all, he is the sort of man that would rather destroy his 'weapon' than let his enemies get a hold of it. In Naruto's case...the Akatsuki."

Tsunade winced, she was almost willing to place a bet on it that Kakashi's theory was true, especially when it came to that mad man. She sighed and rested her head in her crossed arms with a loud grunt of frustration, "Damn it, we need that report!"

Kakashi smirked under his mask, "You know Hokage-sama...I could just steal it." Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she lifted her head from her hands.

Kakashi continued, "I used to handle those reports when I first entered ANBU, consider it the desk job for beginners. I know exactly where the reports are being kept."

Tsunade went agape at what she was just told by Kakashi, "...B-But if you get caught, you will be executed for accused treachery, and there is nothing I can do or say to stop that!"

Kakashi shrugged, "it's my job."

Tsunade's mouth almost hit the desk in shock, beginning to wonder how much sake she drank before he entered. "It's your job?!" She nearly shouted, quickly glancing to confirm she only had drunken one bottle.

Kakashi sighed and explained, "Naruto's life is on the line here, as his sensei it is my responsibility to watch over him and help him and..."

Kakashi's fist clenched in his pocket, "I haven't been the best sensei to him, or Sakura for that matter. I made a mistake my sensei never did, and played favourites. I wish to fix my mistake, and to me, this is the first step towards that."

Tsunade shook her head at his reasoning. "You shouldn't beat yourself up Kakashi, It was Sasuke's own decision to leave the village to feed his lust for power-"

Tsunade then looked at Kakashi square in his only visible eye, "-We all make mistakes, but it is never too late to fix them Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded, "I understand, Hokage-sama"

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, causing the chair to creak, "Again though Kakashi, I cannot force you to get those papers, but since it seems that no matter what I say, your mind is made up. Do you really believe you can get them without being caught?" Kakashi didn't say anything but turned and opened the door, then tilted his head back with his eye in its unnatural U shaped smile.

"I will be back with the report in...Ten minutes."

In no less than ten minutes Kakashi walked back in casually with a thick report being held in his left hand "Here it is." he beamed with his U shaped eye smile. Unfortunately for Tsunade she was drinking at the time and choked.

"W-W-What the hell?! Does he have the archive in this building or something?!" Tsunade staggered.

Kakashi chuckled, "I cannot tell you that unfortunately."

He placed the thick report on the desk and gasped in feigned innocence like a child, "But oh my, it appears that somebody left this report of all the MIA ANBU members lost in the Kyuubi attack out in the open."

Tsunade chuckled and played along, "Oh, that is disastrous indeed, we better take care of this matter then." She then went into her official Hokage mode, dropping the joke.

"I want you to study these with Jiraiya once you get into Wave, this information should help at least give some bearing on who you may be facing."

Kakashi nodded and picked up the report again, "I will leave immediately, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade nodded, "Good luck Kakashi!"

Kakashi decided to use a less discrete method and pulled the window seal open behind Tsunade's office and jumped out.

'I blame Jiraiya for this...'

Tsunade cursed as she closed the window and looked at Kosuke, whose presence was practically unnoticed until now, 'Time to let Jiraiya and the others know what is happening.'

It was surprisingly cold this morning in Wave, Naruto was already up and heading towards the lounge. As he strolled past the room Jiraiya had accommodated, he rolled his eyes when he met the familiar smell of sake.

'Typical Ero-sennin and his 'research', even in the most serious situation.' Naruto mused with an annoyed scowl. He then made a pass by the now uninhabited room. For Tazuna's family safety, they were moved back earlier yesterday home, since their safety was no longer in jeopardy.

Naruto made it down the stairs in time for his stomach on perfect cue to emit a roar in hunger.

"Good morning to you too, Naruto." said a chuckle as he entered.

"Hehehe, good morning Sakura-chan!" Naruto beamed as he patted his stomach in embarrassment. Sakura was in her full attire along with her shirt underneath for warmth. She also was wearing her traditional sandals since her weights were on her arms today. Sakura was casually reading her book while having a mug of something hot that Naruto couldn't recognise.

Naruto suddenly knew what he wanted for breakfast and attempted to be subtle on the situation, "Gee, I know exactly what highly nutritious and healthy meal I should have this mo-"

"Your ramen is already on the stove cooking...and how long did you practice saying that for, you baka?" She chuckled at Naruto's shocked expression and shrugged.

"I forced you to have that barbequed food the other evening with Shikamaru and Lee, I would assume your stomach couldn't handle any more new foods within a day, so I already got it ready for you this morning." Sakura giggled while Naruto pouted but chose to say nothing and entered the kitchen.

Oblivious to the two was Jiraiya from the stair well surprisingly sober, furiously writing down notes on his note pad, deep in concentration.

"Ero-sennin...if you value your life you will stop writing whatever the hell you are writing and get down here!" Came the cold voice of Sakura, which caused Jiraiya's eyes to widen.

'How the hell did she know I was here?! And she is still calling me that cursed name!'

"Ahaha, good morning." Jiraiya said feigning innocence which caused Sakura to roll her eyes.

'I knew I smelt a pervert.'

"You know Sakura, you do not really have to call me tha-" The killer intent sent his way in the glare he was receiving was enough to stop him from finishing that sentence.

"I don't have to call you what....-Sen-nin." She spelled out by the syllable, daring him to correct her.

"N-Never mind." Jiraiya stuttered out while inwardly Jiraiya was crying.

'Why does it always seem to be ending this way?!'

Naruto came back and sat down next to Sakura with his steaming bowl of ramen, "Morning Ero-sennin, have you received word from T-Tsunade-sama yet."

Jiraiya practically fell over in shock, 'WHAT THE HELL?! WHEN DID HE START CALLING TSUNADE-' He caught the approving smile from Sakura to Naruto and his eyes widened.

'This is her doing!? OHHHH!' and Jiraiya was already at his notes again like a bullet train.

"Ero-sennin!" Sakura hissed, causing Jiraiya to pale and stop.

"Sakura, it would be useful if you didn't kill Jiraiya-sama, since you know, we need him and all." Shikamaru said through a large yawn as he entered the lounge.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, ignoring Shikamaru's statement, "Where is Lee-san? He usually is up before even me."

Shikamaru shrugged, "Last I heard, he was shouting something about cutting back on his training these past few days, and said he was going for some run which involved a triple digit circuit of town."

Sakura paled and shook her head, "Yeah, that's Lee-san for you." as she casually returned to her book, while Shikamaru was weighing the pros and cons of walking to the kitchen and cooking breakfast or...just not doing anything. Sakura felt a vein come close to snapping when the loud slurping next to her was making her lose focus, which she gladly let known with an elbow to his gut.

"Baka eat slower!"

"Sm-shorry!" he said with a mouthful, while slowing his pace down to a more acceptable level, which she approved of and returned to her book.

'Holy cow!' Jiraiya thought agape, but resisted the urge to jot that down in his notes.

Jiraiya was now sitting down next to Naruto, when he turned his head to meet the goggle wearing toad Kosuke, "As I expected, your very fast indeed Kosuke. "

Said toad chuckled while removing his goggles, "It's my Job Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya took the scroll from Kosuke, as the toad then 'poofed' out of existence.

Jiraiya was reading the scroll now, but felt three sets of eyes on him, waiting in anticipation. Jiraiya smirked and lowered the scroll handing it to Shikamaru who was standing next to him.

"What does it say, Ero-sennin?" Sakura asked.

Jiraiya inwardly cried, but answered, "You will be pleased to know your old sensei is on his way to help us, and he has the information we need on every missing ANBU that night. He will be arriving around this afternoon it seems."

Shikamaru nodded after reading the scroll and casually placing it on the desk, "Well you might as well add three hours onto that expected arrival, so maybe before sun set he will come"

Both Sakura and Naruto almost fell out of their chairs in surprise, "H-How do you know Kakashi-sensei's habits?! And while I am at it, how do you know his excuses?!" Sakura staggered.

Shikamaru shrugged with a smirk, "What can I say, we worked together on a few S-ranked missions."

Jiraiya now joined in with the pair going agape, "Chuunin's are not assigned to S-ranked missions unless we are at war!?"

Shikamaru shrugged again, "Hokage-sama said something about 'you easily are at jounin level in intelligence, but you are too lazy to even be a chuunin' so in turn, Kakashi is the brawn and I am the brain. Although I must say, Kakashi puts up an extremely good fight in shogi, I even lose when he uses the Sharingan."

This caused all threes eyes to bulge, mentally noting Shikamaru refers to him as 'Kakashi' instead of 'Kakashi-sensei'.

Naruto spoke up this time ,"HE PLAYS SHOGI WITH THE SHARINGAN?!" he half shouted.

Shikamaru nodded, "Must say, certainly evens the playing field when he fools me into thinking he is doing another strategy with a Genjutsu. " Sakura finally recovered and her eyes narrowed now not buying what she was hearing as the truth in the slightest.

She knew her sensei, and there was no way he could be that incompetent, "Ok...there is no way you are that good at shogi Shikamaru, either that, or Kakashi-sensei really sucks."

Shikamaru perked an amused eyebrow, "Do I detect a challenge in that voice. Are you sure you can accept the change from doing 'the flying rasengan'?"

This got Jiraiya scratching his head, "Flying rasengan?! Somebody fill me in right now!" Shikamaru explained what happened during the spar, and then came what Naruto feared that very day.

Humiliation.

"Your main jutsu...defeated by a KICK?! The previous Hokage's would roll in their graves if their successor could be defeated by the foot of a girl, gaki!"

"Did you say something, Ero-sennin?" Sakura hissed.

"N-no! Of course I didn't, I would really love to see this flying rasengan some time." He nervously chucked.

Sakura dismissed the sannin with a huff, and then returned back to Shikamaru, "As for that match, you are on Shikamaru!"

Lee walked into the hotel after running 200 laps around the town, even he was disappointed in himself. He mentally noted he would attempt it again before the day was out. Lee walked into the lounge and was greeted by the others, but just as quickly dismissed. Lee then caught glimpse of the reason, it was a shogi board on the desk which Sakura and Shikamaru were using. It seemed that Naruto and Jiraiya were in deep fixation on the game.

"Lee-san, we got word back from Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-sensei is on his way to help us." Lee nodded in understanding while coming to the table, and then glanced at the shogi board.

"...Oh."

This got Naruto and Jiraiya's attention.

"Sakura-san...you are very skilled indeed! I mistook you at first for a person that would be a strong defensive type character, but you seem to know when to switch modes perfectly!" Lee praised the now slightly embarrassed and confused Sakura, who then quickly refocused her poker face on Shikamaru. Shikamaru was in deep thought, with his seal in hands, until his eyes shot opened and gave the same glare.

Shikamaru reached for his knight, and positioned it in-between Sakura's king and bishop, forking between the two.

"Check." Sakura didn't portray any emotions and thought deeply on her next course of action. Lee already was entrenched in the match and was sitting next to Naruto and whispered.

"Oh...Shikamaru-kun is using a sacrifice technique."

This had both spectators eyes set on him, waiting for his explanation, "Shikamaru-kun is placing his piece in harm's way to force Sakura-san to act in taking the piece. Since the king is in check, Sakura-san has to take the piece, block it, which is impossible on a knight, or finally move the king out of the way." A silent 'oh' was mouthed by the two as they resumed their silent observing.

'He wants me to take it...or does he?'

Sakura thought as she looked at all angles, 'I can take it with my pawn...but what does that leave open if I do?'

Sakura's eyes narrowed when she saw Shikamaru's bishop having a clear shot at force playing her into checkmate within two moves.

'...There is more to it than that...he knows I would see that and then move the king out of harm's way...'

Her eyes widened very slightly, 'He's after my bishop! He knows I was going to use it next to place him in check, with it being covered by my pawn...so he fell for my plan after all.'

Sakura returned her glare and moved her king diagonally backwards, allowing Shikamaru a clear shot at taking the bishop. Shikamaru muttered 'Troublesome' which had Sakura smirk in satisfaction.

'So now he sees my plan, heh.' Hers eyes slightly widened though when instead of taking the intended piece, he left it where it was and instead moved his own bishop into a forked choice between a pawn and the rook her king was positioned next to.

'He tricked me?! What is he up to then?'

Lee's eyes widened, "Oh, Shikamaru-kun is now switching to very aggressive play."

Both Naruto and Jiraiya just watched in anticipation on the next move while Naruto was thinking, '...How does this game work? It looks like it requires deep thought and planning.'

Shikamaru inwardly smirked, 'I'm actually playing very defensive in disguise, Lee.'

Sakura inwardly cursed, 'by moving his bishop there, he is now covering the opening I had on his king with my rook, checkmating him when he would be forced to take it with his pawn, then I would take it with my queen, which would be covered by my other bishop...he now has a backup piece which in the end would result in him losing a pawn and bishop...and I lose my queen and rook..Damn him!'

The final piece was moved, "Checkmate....Shikamaru!"

Sakura rubbed the sweat off her forehead. Their game had gone for 2 and a half hours and resulted with the advantage going backwards and forwards, but eventually Sakura won in combination with her rook, knight and king. Had she made one wrong move though, it would have resulted in her getting put in checkmate.

Shikamaru sighed heavily, "So this is what happens when pitted against the top kunoichi from the graduates...very impressive indeed." Shikamaru extended out his hand, which Sakura accepted and shook.

"Good game...until next time."

Something felt wrong to Sakura though. She had a game that was worth remembering, yet somehow, Her satisfaction never washed over her from the victory...something felt very illegitimate when their shaking hands pulled apart.

'Why do I feel like something is amiss?'

"HAWWW! Sakura-san blossoms in her vibrant display of youthful intellect!"

"That game was very tense..."

"....Did Sakura-chan win?"

Sakura chuckled, brushing off her bizarre feeling, "Hai, Naruto...to conclude Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei must either really suck, or he uses the same strategies, which I discovered can result in near instant death experiences against yourself."

Shikamaru snickered, "It's the later actually."