Author's note: Another chapter here. For those of you who didn't like the previous arc, here comes something different. Also some characters many of my readers have been asking about finally appear. And third good news - this chapter has an illustration. Look it up on my DeviantArt profile. If you've read my previous Author's notes, you should know the link is in my author's profile page. Now read and (hopefully) enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But I'm trying to save enough money to buy it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke growled and tightened his grip as the captive struggled to get free. It earned him four gashes on his forearm, but he refused to let go. He was struggling against his most dangerous opponent so far. He had to suppress a groan. He had been a shinobi for months and this was the strongest enemy he had encountered: a cat. A stupid house pet of the Daimyo's wife.

When the war had broken out, he had expected to face many strong opponents to measure his skills against and grow into more strength, but so far it wasn't happening. They had taken a C-rank mission before, an escort to a merchant caravan, but there had been absolutely no fighting. Not even a single bandit had tried to rob them. And the countryside was supposed to be littered with highwaymen and nukenin during wartime. But they had seen neither hair nor hide of either. Sakura thought it was because they were scared of the famous Uchiha, but she was alone in her opinion.

The most dangerous thing that had happened was when the wheel of one of the carts broke while fording a river and the wagon tumbled into the water. The merchant had tried to weasel out of paying for the mission by claiming that they hadn't protected his wares from destruction by being thoroughly soaked in muddy water, but Kakashi had explained to him in no uncertain terms that their mission was to protect him from attacks and they were in no way responsible for the damage caused by his shoddy maintenance on his wagons. Sasuke had to admit that the way Kakashi-sensei had the merchant squirming was really impressive. Unfortunately that didn't help him to become stronger and Sasuke needed that the most. He was ten already. Itachi had been a chuunin at that age. And he? Still a genin stuck on D-rank so-called missions.

The last Uchiha in Konoha was brought out of his musings by another of Tora's attempts to escape.

"Stop it," he growled at the stupid animal, but the monster cat paid him no heed and struggled harder.

"Squeeze it a bit harder and you'll kill it," Nohara Shinta, his annoying teammate, commented. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to fail a D-rank."

"Don't be rude to Sasuke-kun!" Haruno Sakura, his other annoying teammate, snapped. Sometimes he wondered which one of them was worse.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!" Shinta mocked. "Is that all you can say?" Sasuke was wondering the same thing.

"Don't be rude," Sakura barked at Shinta.

"Speak for yourself," Shinta shot back. Sasuke suppressed a sigh. His teammates were at it again. He did his best to ignore them. They were almost at the Mission Office now and once they arrived there, he could finally get rid of his furiously scratching burden. He had to apply all of his self-control not to race to the door as soon as it came into view. He was an Uchiha, so he had to behave in a dignified manner no matter what. But even he couldn't suppress the sigh of relief when they finally walked through the door and handed the monster cat to the Daimyo's wife who immediately began cooing over her precious Tora-chan. Sasuke would have felt pity for the animal if all his scratches weren't stinging. This way he only thought that Tora got what it deserved.

"Sasuke-kun!" The fangirlish squeal wasn't anything unusual, but this time it came in a different voice. Sasuke was tempted to look, but he knew better than to do something so stupid. Fangirls mustn't be encouraged, no matter what. They'd take even a simple eye contact as a declaration of undying love. And if he wasn't mistaken, this voice belonged to the second worst fangirl right after Sakura.

"What are you doing here, Ino-pig?" the pink-haired kunoichi scowled.

"We're just leaving on a mission," the Yamanaka girl announced. "We got a C-rank. Now I get the chance to show how much better ninja than you I am and then Sasuke-kun will be all mine." Sasuke didn't even bother to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, no matter how undignified it looked.

"Hands off Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched.

"Like he'd ever notice you, Billboard-Brow," Ino scoffed. Sakura looked ready to pounce.

"Hope you won't meet any enemies there," Shinta said. "Your teammate makes a nice big target."

"Did you just call me fat?" Chouji growled between bites of barbecue-flavored chips.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered under his breath. Sasuke agreed with him wholeheartedly. Why, oh why was he stuck on the team with the worst fangirl ever and the dumb dead-last? Sakura was good only at looking girly and squealing and Shinta's only functional weapon was his sharp tongue. Both of them were completely useless in anything requiring actual ninja skills. How did they ever graduate was beyond him. And as if his teammates weren't bad enough, there was his sensei. Sasuke knew that Kakashi was a very strong ninja, but he wasn't a very good teacher. He concentrated mostly on making the three genin work together as a team and didn't teach them any powerful jutsu. Didn't he know Sasuke needed the strength to defeat That Man? Or didn't he care? Considering that his head was constantly buried in the orange book, the silver-haired jounin probably cared only about his porn.

"Stop it," the voice of Asuma-sensei interjected. "We have to be at the gate in an hour. The more time you waste here, the less time you have to pack."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered once again and then Team 10 left.

"I want a real mission too." Sasuke didn't realize he had said it aloud until he felt the eyes of everybody on him.

"Now, Sasuke kun..." Iruka-sensei, who was sitting at the mission desk began, but he was interrupted.

"I want a real mission too," Sakura said. "I can't let Ino-pig show me up."

"Yeah. I have to show that I'm a better ninja than the fatass," Shinta joined. Iruka glared at the trio disapprovingly, but before he could scold them, Kakashi spoke without raising his eyes from his book.

"I officially request a C-rank mission for Team 7." Iruka looked at him dubiously. "They're more than ready for it."

"It's dangerous. Especially in these times," Iruka insisted.

"They were on a C-rank before," Kakashi pointed out. "They'll do fine."

"They are still just children," the scarred chuunin protested.

"They are my soldiers now," the one-eyed jounin stated. His three genin felt their chests swell with pride at the words. "And C-ranks aren't that dangerous."

Iruka frowned. While it was true that the standard escort or courier C-rank mission was usually just a quiet trip where the most trouble came from an obnoxious client, the problem was that all such missions had been already handed out for today, the last of them taken by Team 10. What remained wasn't something rookie genin should do. But Hatake-san had officially requested a C-rank and the jounin outranked him, so there was nothing the chuunin could do. So with a heavy sigh he picked one mission scroll that looked like the least dangerous.

"This is the request from Aomori Village. A small bandit group has made camp not far from them and has been bothering them ever since. They request we get rid of the bandits."

"Good," Sasuke said. Finally a mission where fighting was certain. Some no-name bandits wouldn't be much of a challenge, but it was way better than cats. He couldn't wait to get into his first real battle and slay his first real opponent.

Sakura looked a bit fearful, but she had requested a C-rank, so she wasn't going to back off now. And Sasuke was happy with their mission, so she was happy for him too. "We're going to show them, shannaro!" Inner Sakura cheered. "We're going to do it," the pink-haired girl said with conviction.

"We're going to rock," Shinta smirked. He was already imagining how he defeated more bandits than the stuck-up Uchiha and earned well-deserved praise and awe of his teammates.

"We'll take it," Kakashi said simply, his eyes still glued to his book. Iruka handed him the scroll. Kakashi read it quickly. "Well, genin, get packed, we're leaving in an hour."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fire Country Forest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The messenger ran through the treetops. She had been on the road since the morning and it was almost evening now. She was tired and the setting sun was shining into her eyes, making her squint constantly. She wanted to take a break, but the message she was carrying was marked as urgent. She should deliver it as fast as possible. And besides, her destination wasn't far. Soon she'll arrive at the base, hand the scroll to the commander and then she can eat some warm food and sleep in a soft bed with a blanket and a pillow, at least until he sent her off with another message. If she stopped now, she could eat only field rations and rest on the cold, hard ground, don't forget wet after yesterday's rain, and she'd have to be constantly on alert for possible enemies. There shouldn't be many in this region, but during wartime one could never be sure enough.

Speaking of being on alert, maybe she should check whether she was really as alone in the forest as she believed. She took a short breather and surveyed her surroundings. Sight: the play of light and shadows on the tree leaves made it very hard to see anything clearly. But she didn't see anything that suggested enemy presence. Hearing: the leaves were rustling in the wind, the birds were chirping, the flies were buzzing, maybe a bit too loud for the evening hour. Smell: rotting leaves, some forest flowers, was that blood? She wasn't sure, she wasn't an Inuzuka, so her nose was nothing special. But during her ninja career she had learned to recognize the smell of death. And this was definitely it, though it was so faint she couldn't be sure she wasn't imagining it. But if there truly was a corpse lying around, it would explain why the flies were so loud.

So what should she do? She had an important scroll to deliver, but so far she had been making good time, so she could afford a bit of delay. But no more than half an hour. And if there really was a dead body, the base commander would want to know about it. And the carcass should be close if she could smell it. She judged the most probable direction and headed that way.

She found it in just six minutes. The body had been covered in dry leaves hastily, but the wind had uncovered it partially. It was a man in Konoha uniform, with shoulder-length dark hair and a bandanna on his head. She remembered seeing him around the village several times. She couldn't recall his name of the top of her head, but she thought he was a jounin. And if her memory was serving her well, the last time she saw him there was a genin team tagging behind him. She frowned. If he was a jounin sensei, where were his students?

She searched around for a while. Finding the next body didn't take long. It was a boy of about ten years of age with a Leaf hitai-ate and his head covered in bandages. She vaguely recalled a genin wearing this strange fashion. This was definitely one of the man's students. Another student lay next to the first one. He was a rather unremarkable boy in a green jacket with short dark hair. The only noticeable feature on him were his goggles. She couldn't honestly remember whether she had seen him before or not. But try as she might, she couldn't find the third one. And the sun had set and darkness was falling, so her chances of finding the third genin were getting slim.

She decided to call it a day. She still had an urgent report to deliver. And once she did that, she'd report her find and let the base commander deal with this problem. She could already tell that her meager abilities wouldn't be enough to deal with it. She wouldn't stand a chance against whoever had killed a jounin, being just a chuunin herself.

She shot the three bodies one last glance and jumped to the trees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Aomori village~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The journey to Aomori village was uneventful. The worst thing that happened to them was when a downpour began suddenly and Sakura complained that it ruined her hairdo. Kakashi had to put away his inseparable book lest it would be ruined by the rain. Shinta grumbled that he was wet and cold. Sasuke was wet and cold too, but he didn't complain and not just because complaining was beneath the Uchiha. He was happy that he was on his first real mission (their first C-rank didn't count). He was excited for the battles ahead. It distracted him completely from being wet and cold. Well, maybe not completely, but it gave him the strength to ignore it.

The rain had stopped and the sun shone brightly, drying them before they arrived at their destination. Being dry and warm raised everybody's spirits, so the genin were chattering merrily. Well, at least Sakura and Shinta were. And even Sasuke couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed at them because the Aomori village finally appeared before them. He quickened his step. He couldn't wait to finally test his strength against a real opponent.

From a distance Aomori looked peaceful, even beautiful, like so many settlements in this area. As its houses were illuminated in the late afternoon rain, their roofs still clean and shiny after the rain had washed them, it was easy to imagine that this was one of the fabled secret valleys where people lived in peace, keeping ancient knowledge nobody outside was allowed to know. Or at least a luxurious holiday resort even the Daimyo would like to visit. But once they got closer the illusion shattered. It soon became obvious that not all was well in Aomori. The paint on many houses was flaking and there were some holes in the facades that looked like they were caused by weapons. The people were wary, many of them dressed in rags and a lot of them eyeing the ninja with suspicion. There even was a ruin of a burnt down house.

"Shouldn't they be happy to see us?" Sakura asked. "We're here to save them."

"They distrust all armed strangers," Kakashi answered. For once he wasn't reading his orange book. "That's quite common, especially during wartime."

"B-but we're from Konoha!" the girl protested. "They should know we're friends!"

The jounin sighted. Should he explain to her that wearing a Leaf headband wasn't a guarantee that a shinobi was friendly? Should he tell her about what some Konoha ninja did? It would shatter her world, and he wanted to protect his students. But allowing them to remain ignorant was dangerous.

"War makes people do things they otherwise wouldn't," he spoke. There was no need to go into details right now; there would be enough time for that once they didn't have a mission to worry about. "And the fact that somebody wears the same hitai-ate as you doesn't mean he's on the same side. Have you never heard of nukenin?"

"Uh," Sakura nodded, looking thoughtful and a bit scared. She didn't say anything more.

Soon they reached the village square. There they noticed one house that was bigger than the others and built in a more luxurious style.

"That must be the mayor's house," Shinta observed.

"Everybody can see that," Sakura barked, annoyed that she missed a chance to show off in front of Sasuke. The object of her affection merely glared.

But when they walked up to it and asked for the mayor, they were told he lives in a much less grand house on the other side of the square. This luxurious residence belonged to a rich merchant.

"See how stupid you are," Sakura smirked victoriously in Shinta's direction.

"You thought it was the mayor's house too," the boy reminded her.

"Stop arguing, you're making a bad impression," Kakashi scolded them. It sounded hypocritical considering that his face was once again firmly planted in his favorite orange book.

The mayor turned out to be a middle-aged man, with balding salt-and-pepper hair and a growing belly. When he saw Team 7, he squinted at them from behind his thick-rimmed glasses.

"What's this?" he scoffed. "I asked for shinobi, not a bunch of schoolchildren." If glares could kill, he'd be dead on the spot.

"We are shinobi," Sakura was the first one to speak.

"Good ones," Shinta added. Sasuke just glared. Responding to some civilian's taunt was beneath the dignity of an Uchiha. But he was already planning how to get him back for that.

The mayor seemed skeptical, but he realized that this bunch of children and a one-eyed man was the best he was going to get, especially for the money he was willing to pay.

"Alright," he sighed. "This is what we know: The bandits usually attack from northeast and leave the same way. We think that their camp is in the valley over that ridge. Or maybe the one behind it, though that would mean they walk a very long distance before and after each raid. And now go, kill them and bring back all their loot and captives. And if you get killed in the process, don't expect us to pay for it." If looks could kill, Sasuke's glare would have incinerated him on the spot. (Well, Uchiha looks can kill, but because Sasuke hadn't achieved the Magenkyou Sharingan yet, this option wasn't available to him.)

"Like we'd get killed by some bandits," Shinta scoffed. Sakura nodded in agreement, though usually she opposed everything her loudmouth teammate said.

"We won't fail, so you better have the money ready," Kakashi spoke, a hint of threat in his voice. The mayor just grumbled. Team 7 filed out of the house.

"Such a pleasant fellow," Sakura commented sarcastically. "Are all clients like this?" The mayor was even worse that the merchant.

"No, but quite a lot of them is," the silver-haired jounin based his answer on long-term experience. "Fortunately you don't have to deal with them much, unless you're stuck on a bodyguard mission." The three genin contemplated it for a while. "Now let's go, we have a few hours of daylight left, so we might locate the camp before evening."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Konoha's Base~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a slow day at the base. The rainy season had begun a week earlier and the frequency of attacks of Iwa ninja had died down. Konoha's attacks slowed as well. It was like that every year during wartime. Nobody really wanted to fight in the cold, damp weather. There was still the possibility of surprise attacks so nobody could afford to let their guard down, but generally the armies enjoyed almost two months break from the fighting.

Team Tenzo was enjoying their time off, spending it mostly cooped up inside the buildings. They hadn't been here for long, only a couple of weeks, but they had already seen a lot of fighting. Naruto was doing his best to pretend that it didn't bother him, but he knew he was failing because of the looks his teammates were giving him. He just pretended harder. He tried to lose himself in his training, because when he had to concentrate on spinning dense Wind chakra, he couldn't think about mutilated bodies, but it was only a temporary fix. Once he stopped the memories returned. Then he could only plaster a fake smile on his face and claim that he was alright, fending off his teammates' concerned questions. He knew he couldn't go on like this for long, but he had no idea what else could he do. Telling his teammates what was really bothering him was out of the question, as far as he was concerned. And so he struggled with the nightmares and waited for something to happen. His wishes might have come true when Team Tenzo was summoned to the commander's office.

"We've received disturbing news," the commander began without preamble once the team walked into his office. Naruto with a sense of cold dread in his stomach waited to hear just what had gone wrong this time and how much blood would be spilled because of it. His two teammates seemed calm as they listened attentively. He envied them being able to do so. "A genin team with their jounin-sensei have been killed near here. One of the genin is missing." He paused for a moment, letting the information sink in. Naruto kept his face calm as he imagined mangled corpses of children. He really didn't want to see more of them, but it looked like he would have to. "Your mission is to investigate and if possible deal with the culprit. Here is the information we have about it." He handed them a scroll. Tenzo unrolled it. Inside were the coordinates to where the bodies lay and what little info the base had on the victims.

"Why us?" Hotaru muttered under her breath, looking through the window as it began raining again. It wasn't meant for anyone's ears, but the base commander heard it.

"Your team has a reputation for solving unexpected problems," he said.

"Yes, call us Team Troublemaker," Naruto said, trying to keep a cheerful grin on his face. He probably wasn't fooling his teammates, but he had to try.

"Didn't you want to say Troubleshooter?" Hana questioned.

"It doesn't matter," Tenzo interjected before the team could start bickering.

"With Naruto around there's no difference," Hotaru said.

"Hey!" the boy protested dutifully. Inside he was agreeing with the statement. Trouble really followed him wherever he went. He could just pray that this time it won't be too bad and that his team would get out of it alright, preferably with the missing genin as well.

The commander dismissed them and they filed out of his office. "You know the orders, so get your packs. We're leaving in ten minutes," Tenzo announced. The two girls took off towards their room. Naruto was stopped by Tenzo's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" the jounin asked. Naruto glared at him. Just what did he think the answer was?

"I'm well enough to take the mission," he replied.

"Are you sure? We can..."

"We can't," Naruto interrupted. "We have an order." And he was determined to fulfill it. Not just because of the missing genin. He needed something to do. Otherwise the memories would come again.

Tenzo studied him for a while. He had a good idea what was going through his student's mind. He had been in Anbu for years, so being plagued by nightmares even while awake was something he had plenty of experience with. There really wasn't much to do about it other than endure. He just wished Naruto was older when he got to this state. Will he be able to get over it or will it break him? There was no way to know. He could just offer his support and hope for the best. And grab his backpack, because the time they were supposed to depart was almost upon them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mountain valley~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The forest path was thin, but easy to follow. The mayor's information turned out to be true; the bandits really came from the valley to the northeast of Aomori village. That was quickly confirmed by Pakkun who was now running in front of the team, nose close to the ground, following the faint trail the raiders had left behind. They made no effort to conceal it, so it was easy work. 'Really, don't they worry about being attacked?' was a though that crossed the mind of each of the members of Team 7. All of them decided that it meant that the bandits were really stupid. This was going to be an easy mission.

It was almost evening and the sun had already disappeared behind the mountain peaks when they finally came upon the bandit camp. Even in the fading light they could see it clearly. It wasn't what Sakura had imagined. The tents and shacks built from anything that could be found or stolen in the mountains weren't that far off from her idea. What was completely off was their amount. If this was meant for a small bandit group, she didn't want to know what a big one was like. There was at least fifteen huts and if each of them housed four people, some of them even more... she regretted she had been so good at maths at the Academy. She'd be much happier if she didn't know how badly they were outnumbered.

"They aren't ninja," Sasuke stated. He sounded completely calm. 'Yes, they aren't ninja,' Sakura realized with a start. It didn't really matter how many was there, neither of them could touch a trained shinobi, even if said shinobi was a genin who would be still at the Academy if it wasn't for the war, the rational part of her mind added. "We can do it!" Inner Sakura's boast drowned out the voice of reason. "We're going to show Sasuke-kun how good we are! Shannaro!"

"They won't know what hit them," Shinta smirked, a hint of bloodlust in his voice.

"Don't be so hasty, children," Pakkun chastised them, which made Sasuke bristle. "We know nothing about their abilities."

"They're just some bandits," the Uchiha scoffed. He couldn't wait to show off just how much stronger he was than them. He was glad that there was so many of them - it wouldn't be a challenge otherwise.

"Pakkun is right," Kakashi interjected just when Sasuke was about to get up and charge the camp on his own. "The fact that there's more of them than we were told means our intel was incorrect. Who knows what else we don't know? There can always be a nukenin on two with a band like this."

Sakura gasped. She really didn't want to fight a nukenin. She wasn't sure she'd survive it. But maybe Sasuke would save her...

"Good," the object of her fantasy interrupted her daydream. "At least it won't be boring." He liked this mission more and more. If he could kill his first real shinobi opponent today, he'd get a step closer to being able to defeat Itachi.

"We can handle them," Shinta added. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"We can do it!" Inner Sakura screamed, but it failed to restore Sakura's confidence. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

"We are going to gather more information, of course," the jounin answered. "The big boulders over there should provide us enough cover to get closer to them. They didn't even post any guards, so it should be easy."

"They really are asking to be killed," Shinta smirked. Sasuke just wondered whether the bandits' carelessness was a good or a bad thing. On one hand it meant easier completion of their mission, on the other it mean he couldn't test his abilities against a really strong opponent. He wished he could fight a worthy enemy soon.

Suddenly Pakkun sniffed the air. "Behind us!" he barked a warning. Kakashi whirled around. There stood a huge man wearing something that probably used to be an Iwa uniform a long time ago, wielding a spiked iron club almost as tall as him. The moment he realized he had been spotted he produced an impressive amount of Killing Intent. It didn't faze Kakashi, but his genin were a completely different matter. Sakura shrieked and sprinted off. Shinta didn't follow her example only because he tripped. Sasuke stood frozen, staring at the enemy. Kakashi sighed. It looked like this fight was up to him. But what did he expect? He was accompanied by a bunch of green genin who had never been in a real fight before. Though he thought he had trained them better than that. And they were ten already. When he had been their age, he had been already a seasoned chuunin. Kids these days just weren't what they used to be.

The nukenin moved forward and swung his club. He was fast for his size, but Kakashi was faster. He ducked around the swing and stepped closer to the enemy. A kunai was already in his hand, poised to strike at his throat. The nukenin blocked it with a metal arm bracer. Kakashi kicked him in the knee. The nukenin stumbled. Kakashi pressed his attack. His kunai stabbed him in the elbow, forcing him to drop the club. He prepared to finish off the man, but then a sudden movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. At first he thought it was another enemy, so he moved to defend, but then he recognized Sasuke. The young Uchiha had finally snapped out of his stupor and decided to join the battle.

Kunai in his hand, Sasuke was charging at the kneeling nukenin. His speed was impressive for a ten-year-old genin, but nowhere near the enemy ninja. The nukenin held a kunai in his healthy left hand and prepared to plunge it deep into the Uchiha's stomach. Kakashi had no intentions of allowing it. He knocked his charging student aside, grabbed the nukenin's wrist and twisted and then cut his throat with his kunai. The nukenin slumped to the ground dead.

Sasuke sprung to his feet and glared. "Fight me!" he challenged the corpse. Predictably, it didn't answer.

"He's dead, Sasuke," Kakashi pointed out.

"He was supposed to fight me!" the Uchiha pouted. "I have to measure my strength!"

"He was far above you, I can tell you that much," the jounin spoke.

"I could have handled him. I'm an Uchiha," Sasuke grumbled.

"You're a fresh genin and he was a chuunin," Kakashi pointed out. "He would have eviscerated you before you could blink."

"If I just had the Sharingan," Sasuke sighed wistfully.

"You don't have it yet, so chose your battles wisely," the jounin-sensei advised.

"How am I supposed to activate it if you don't let me fight?" the Uchiha pouted.

"You can't activate it if you're dead," Kakashi shot back. Sasuke had to grudgingly admit that his teacher was right.

"I can't become stronger if I don't fight," the boy pouted.

"Lucky you, there's enough bandits for everyone," the Copy Ninja replied. Sasuke looked ready to take off and attack the camp right then. Kakashi grabbed his arm.

"Don't be so hasty, there was one nukenin among them, there might be more." Sasuke perked up. He really wanted to fight a worthy opponent. "We need to scout the camp first to make sure you children won't have to fight any." Sasuke pouted. "So you three will..." Kakashi began and trailed off. There was something very wrong with this scene and he just realized what it was. "Where is Sakura?"

And that's it for today.

Next time: What happened to Sakura? And Team Trouble... sorry, Team Tenzo investigates.