Chapter 3

"No! No no no no no!" Sasuke heard the girl exclaiming as a door slammed open and he saw her storming into the main portion if the cave where he had been leisurely throwing kunai at the ceiling.

"The point of a punishment is not for you to be happy with it; though, you should be glad that I didn't choose something more severe," Madara said enjoyment at some sick joke he had made evident in his voice.

"You know you couldn't have thought of something worse if you tried!"

"I'm afraid this is the price you must pay for your desertion-"

"It wasn't a desertion!" the girl exclaimed. "I told you, I didn't take the death well, and I needed time off before I returned or I would be a detriment to Akatsuki!"

"And I told you it was a good excuse, but I still don't entirely trust you again. Especially after your Kabuto mishap."

"But you trust me enough to seat me with your little pet?" She seemed to feel no remorse for the Kabuto "incident."

Sasuke stiffened. She had been referring to him as someone of pet status earlier... Madara wouldn't have...

Madara turned towards Sasuke and beckoned him over.

"Sasuke, allow me to introduce you to your new-"

"We've already met," the girl sneered.

"I meant properly."

"We've already met," the girl growled. Sasuke wouldn't have been surprised if she was actually a dog underneath that hood.

"That may be, but he's never been introduced to you."

Sasuke was squinting at the girl's hood. Was he supposed to care who she was?

Madara grabbed the girl's arm, ignoring her protests. "Sasuke, this is your new personal servant. She must do whatever you ask of her."

How was this a punishment? Because he had to put up with the girl's "charming" personality? "I don't want a servant."

"Well, you have one. You have disobeyed my orders, so now you have a servant," Madara countered. "And before you think you can go without seeing her or giving her orders, there are a few conditions."

He held up a single finger. "Condition number one: You are required to give her at least one command a day that she must," he squeezed the girl's arm sensing her defiant attitude, "obey unless it contradicts any orders I have given her. Second: she's not aloud to leave your room until you or I say so."

Sasuke was beginning to wonder how this was punishment to him. He could handle two seconds with her.

"Third: she cannot leave until you have given her one command. Fourth: any commands given to her after the first are optional and she doesn't have to obey them."

Sasuke began glaring at Madara. What was he playing at?

"And finally, the fifth command," Madara reached up to the girl's hood and pulled it down. "You cannot command her to injure or kill herself in anyway."

Sasuke hardly took in the fifth command. He was glaring at the girl's face. He knew that face very well and he finally understood why it was punishment for him as well. The face had matured and had slight differences, but it was her all the same.

The supposedly dead Sakura Haruno was in front of him and glaring defiantly in his direction.

The door burst open and a very frantic looking Hinata entered followed by a perplexed Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Kiba.

"Good, you're all here," Tsunade greeted.

"What's going on?" Kiba asked not missing a beat. Kakashi noted that he was always the first, other than Naruto, to start asking questions and take action.

"I've called you all here to form an assassination squad. Given all of your expertise you fit the bill for this mission," Tsunade began. "Kiba, with your's and Akamaru's noses you should be able to track the quarry quickly. Shikamaru, your logical brain and strategizing skills will be useful. Kakashi and Hinata-" Hinata seemed surprised that she was actually part of the squad. "- your ocular jutsus will come in handy. And Naruto, you know very well why you're here."

The five being addressed nodded. Kakashi glanced over at Naruto upon the mention of him and noticed his stance. His hands were balled up tightly and Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised if Naruto started drawing blood. His head was turned down towards the ground and his face was covered by his hair.

"I'll warn you now, there is emotional attachment to this mission." Kakashi's attention was pulled back to Tsunade. "If you think you will be unable to deal with having an emotional attachment to a mission I advise you to leave the room before I go any further," Tsunade eyed everyone in the room and when she was sure no one would be leaving she continued. "Your mission is the assassination of Madara Uchiha and, if you come into contact with him, Kabuto."

No one seemed to know how to react. They had seen it coming, but why now? And why would there be any sort of emotional attachment to this mission?

Kakashi watched as Tsunade took a deep breath and glancing quickly at Naruto before continuing before continuing. Kakashi glanced at Naruto as well; he seemed to be too quiet. "We're not just assassinating him to end the cold war. We have found evidence against him that he is responsible for the murder of Sakura Haruno."

Kakashi turned to look at Naruto's reaction. He stayed stoic and gave nothing away. Kakashi had been wondering why Naruto was so quiet - he was usually nothing but excitement when receiving a mission - and now he knew. Why had he been so blind as to not guess it was Madara responsible for Sakura's death before?

Hinata was worried about Naruto. He hadn't said a word this whole time. He had only stared blankly at the corner of Tsunade's desk. There was a look in his eyes as well that she had never seen before.

She didn't like it.

Tsunade's booming voice called everyone's attention back to her. "If you fail this mission I can assure you that the cold war will quickly become a real war. You leave tomorrow. Dismissed."

Kiba and Shikamaru nodded and left and Naruto followed soundlessly after them. Kakashi and Hinata seemed hesitant and both looked as though they wanted to say something.

"I'm guessing we're all thinking the same thing," Tsunade sighed as she sank into her chair and rubbed her fingers on her temple.

Kakashi nodded slowly while Hinata looked close to tears.

Kakashi was the first to voice their fears. "It's Naruto."

Tsunade nodded and Hinata wiped at her eyes.

"I-I've never seen him like this, Lady Tsunade. Before, when we first discovered who was responsible, he almost had one tail," Hinata sounded truly frightened. "He hasn't let that happen in years!"

Tsunade nodded.

"His eyes..." Kakashi murmured.

"You saw it, too?" Tsunade asked. Kakashi nodded gravely and let out a long sigh.

"They're just as they used to be when he was little. Naruto's eyes are beginning to look exactly like Sasuke's," Kakashi finally announced what they all had noticed.

"I'm sure you both understand why that is a big concern. I have half a mind to not let him go, but I know that would result in him being angrier," Tsunade said. "I'm relying on both of you to watch him on this mission and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Sasuke had immediately turned on his heel and began walking away. He refused to let Madara have his way with this.

"You have no choice, Sasuke," Madara announced lazily. "She has a seal on her arm."

Sasuke turned back around and saw a seal on her bicep. He looked up at her face and shot her a death glare. She responded with one full of just as much loathing.

Her hair was longer and pulled to the side in a messy pony-tail. she had bangs and a lot of layers that were falling messily out. Her hair contained a black streak and, right next to it, a green streak a darker shade than her eyes. The thought caused him to look at her eyes, they were surrounded with dark eye-liner causing them to pop in a strange way.

Most people would have called her eerily beautiful. Sasuke wasn't most people, though.

"Her seal has no affect on me," Sasuke scoffed and turned to leave.

"You'll find her seal affects you just as much as it does her," Madara called after Sasuke.

Sasuke slammed the door to his room. He wanted to leave and hit something or someone again, but that was just what Madara expected him to do. He wasn't going to play into Madara's hands and he certainly wasn't going to play his little game.

He heard a breeze and turned around only to find Sakura sitting cross-legged on his floor and looking ticked.

"Look, I know we both hate each other, and I know we both hate this situation, so just give me a minuscule command and then I can leave," Sakura said in a miffed tone. "We'll both be happy."

Sasuke didn't believe that she hated him or that she hated the situation, in fact, he was betting she was actually quite glad to be in it. The thought caused him to glare a hole through her head.

"Oh my. Your glare is so frightening. I'm terrified. Ah," Sakura droned out sarcastically while blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

Sasuke twitched and threw a kunai at her. The kunai fell harmlessly to the floor.

He was sure she hadn't moved to stop it.

"The seal prevents you from killing me just as much as it prevents me from killing you."

"Hn," Sasuke responded and turned to his bed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sakura roll her eyes.

"Just give me a command already," Sakura sighed.

"No," Sasuke said. He smirked at her obviously annoyed huff. How the tables had turned. If he wasn't allowed to kill her he might as well make her life as miserable as his was.

Sakura was lying with her back on the floor and he legs up on the door. She had a string attached to the end of a kunai and was continuously throwing it into the door and yanking it back out. Every time the kunai made contact with the wooden door it made a thunk noise. Sakura continued to lazily throw the kunai at the door hoping that the noise irritated the man sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room.

Thunk thunk thunk...

She fought the urge to yawn. She had been awake for twenty-four hours now, but she was not going to fall asleep in Sasuke's room.

Thunk thunk thunk...

It would not be a wise decision.

Thunk thunk thunk...

"Knock it off," she heard a voice hiss from the bed. She smiled to herself. Mission accomplished - he was ticked.

"I have to pas the time somehow. I'm not allowed to leave remember?" Sakura said lazily.

Thunk thunk thunk...

"Most people pass the time at night by sleeping," Sasuke growled.

"I'm not going to fall asleep in enemy territory," Sakura responded. "Just give me a command and I'll leave."

Thunk thunk thunk...

Thunk thunk thunk...

After a short pause Sasuke finally responded. "Fine, I command that you can't sleep until twenty-four hours from now. Now, get out of my sight."

Sakura stood up and smirked. "I'm a medic-nin, do you really think that I can't handle going twenty-four hours without sleep?" With that she left the room and strode down the hall. She let out a sigh. She had already been without sleep for a full twenty-four hours, she could handle a little more, right?

By the way. I do not own Naruto... And stuff...

This chapter is kind of meh... It's one of those necessary semi-filler things... Sigh...

The next one should be better :)