Here is the new chapter. I apologize for the long wait, I had other things to do and I didn't have the time. Anyway, thank you for being patient with me. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

After a brief moment of tactic planning and disagreement, they had settled for their group pairings. The next morning, Yamato called for a simulation, to be better prepared while on the mission for capturing the spy. Yamato had created a bridge to serve as the Tenchikyou Bridge. Ino was in position with Sai behind a rock while Yamato acted as the spy on the other side of the bridge. Unfortunately, the simulation didn't end well; Ino ended up tied up to a substitute. At the end of the simulation, Ino was a little more than annoyed; she was absolutely furious.

"You jerk, why did you leave me tied up?!" Ino shouted in anger.

Sai had caught the real Yamato and had him tied with his ink. "Kai," Sai said to release the ink binding Yamato's wrists.

Then Ino grabbed the collar of Sai's shirt and asked angrily, "You didn't answer me; why did you leave me tied up?"

Sai answered, "When Yamato-taichou had caught on that the ink clone that I sent in was a decoy, he had hid himself elsewhere before I could capture him."

Ino glared at him, "If you knew that was a fake, why did you leave me tied up?"

"The objective was to capture the spy; I couldn't have any distractions," Sai answered.

Ino kept her hard stare on him as she asked, "Have you ever heard of the word, 'friend'?"

Sai pulled out a scroll and a brush and was writing on it, causing Ino to grit her teeth.

"I said: Have you ever heard of the word, 'friend'?" Ino asked again.

Sai held up the scroll and answered, "Yes, I have. What about it?"

Ino simply gave him a dirty look and released him as she said, "With that attitude, you'll never make friends. And I won't accept you as a teammate or a comrade or anything."

Ino walked to where her bag was until Sai spoke again, "I wonder what Sasuke-kun would have done in this situation?" Ino stopped walking and stared back at him.

Sai continued, "Would he have fought while protecting you? After all, you consider him a friend, and a member of Team Kakashi, right?"

Ino stood there silently as Sakura thought, "This isn't good, there is no way Ino can hold back now."

After a slight pause, Sai added, "That is assuming you can still call someone who betrayed his village and hurt you and Naruto-kun a friend."

Ino grit her teeth, and clenched her fists as she looked back at him but then she faced forward and replied, "I'd do anything to save my friends; even team up with jerk like you." She walked to her pack by a tree and gathered everything up.

"Ino…" Sakura thought to herself.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Sai asked, "Why does she care about Sasuke-kun so much?"

Sakura sighed before she answered, "Well, she cares about Saskue-kun because when we were Genin, she really liked him. But she accepted that he'd never feel the same way about her. So now, she thinks of him as a brother."

She paused before adding, "You have a brother right? So you might be able to know how she feels."

"Actually, no, not at all. Remember when we were talking about giving titles to my drawings?" Sai asked.

But then he explained, "I have no emotions."

"What do you mean that you don't have emotions?" Sakura asked confusedly.

He answered, "It means exactly what it sounds like."

Then Sakura retorted, "But you can at least imagine what it'd be like if your brother suddenly disappeared, can't you?"

Sai only answered, "I suppose so, yes; my brother's already dead."

Sakura was surprised at his disregard for his brother and replied, "Then how can you…?"

Sai cut her off, "Maybe I should've tried to look like that?" He was watching Ino gathering her pack.

Sakura looked over at Ino and saw that she was wearing a sad expression on her face.

Sakura asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Sai explained, "Well, when my brother died, I wasn't sure what kind of expression I was supposed to make."

"Supposed to make?" Sakura said as she glared at him.

Yamato clapped his hands and said to them, "Let's end the conversation there. Gather up your things; we need to get moving."

Sai was about to gather his supplies until Sakura stopped him, "Sai, to be honest, I really want to beat the hell out of you right now. I warned you that I wouldn't hold back if you insulted Sasuke-kun again. The only reason I didn't do anything… was because Ino said she'd work with you, despite the way you keep insulting Sasuke-kun. So if you'll help save Sasuke-kun, then I can't hurt you, regardless of what type of person you are."

"Sakura-san, towards Ino-san you are… Yes, you are nice to her. I've read about that emotion before. But I have no clue what would make someone feel it," Sai replied.

Then Ino called out, "Everyone, let's go. All of this will be pointless if we don't make it to the bridge by noon tomorrow." So then, they went on their way until they set up for the night.

The next morning they were getting closer to the bridge so they set up with Yamato's disguise and they got into position. Yamato as Sasori started walking towards the bridge and also searching for any other shinobi for a possible trap. He stops at one end of the bridge and waits a few minutes until he sees a hooded figure at the other side of the bridge. Soon both Yamato and the spy walked towards each other, while a strong wind blew by them.

They both met at the middle of the bridge and then the spy held his hood and greeted, "It's good to see you again, Sasori-sama."

He turned his head to reveal himself as… Kabuto; Yamato, Ino, and Sakura were all shocked.

"It's been five years, hasn't it?" Kabuto asked.

"Kabuto Yakushi…" Yamato thought but then he asked out loud, "Were you followed?"

Kabuto looked behind him and then turned back to answer, "No, we're fine."

To continue the façade, he asked, "How are you holding up?"

"I still feel a bit shaken from the when your technique was released, and I remembered who I really was. My mind is a bit clouded as well." Kabuto explained.

From their positions, Ino asked, "Him, again?"

Sakura then inputted, "I never would have thought that Kabuto was an Akatsuki spy."

With the two on the bridge, Yamato said, "I have some questions for you."

"We don't have much time, so please be brief; I'm risking my life just by being here," Kabuto explained.

Yamato asked, "Tell me what you know about his hideouts, and about Sasuke Uchiha."

Kabuto answered, "There are multiple hideouts; he switches from one location to the next to keep his whereabouts hidden. Of course, he has them in many countries, not just Sound. Orochimaru's spies sneak in, set them up, and manage them in his absence. But, he makes use of many different methods to switch locations, so tracking him isn't easy."

Yamato asked, "Where is he now?"

"Currently, he's concealed himself on an island in a northern lake, and will move in three days. Sasuke Uchiha is there as well." Kabuto answered.

Just when Kabuto was going to ask a question himself, there was a rustling behind him in the forest. So he turned around and then he saw that it was only a rabbit. But within the trees from where Kabuto came from, Orochimaru approached them, getting closer and closer. Then when Yamato was about to capture Kabuto, Orochimaru appeared from behind him with a snake about to wrap around Kabuto. But then Kabuto moved out of the way and got in front of Yamato, facing Orochimaru.

"Sasori-sama, if you hadn't pulled out your kunai, I wouldn't have been able to dodge in time," Kabuto said.

"Thanks to that unbelievable coincidence, he had misunderstood what I had intended to do," Yamato thought.

Then Orochimaru told him, "Seeing that outfit, it reminds me of the old days, Sasori."

Yamato replied, "You followed Kabuto?"

"Don't sound so rude, I only wanted to thank you; this child that you sent me was truly a blessing," Orochimaru replied.

Then he continued, "When I developed new techniques, I used to go through over a hundred test subject for each one I created. But thanks to this boy's medical abilities, I was able to use the same subject over and over again. I had been running low on them recently you see."

Yamato was thinking things over for their plan and saw that Kabuto had enveloped his hand in chakra for his chakra scalpel. Kabuto lifted his hand in the air and then turned behind and slashed through Yamato's disguise; shocking Yamato and everyone else. Yamato jumped out of the way and held his arm that had been cut.

Then Orochimaru shouted, "Sen'ei Tajashu!"

Several snakes came at Yamato, trying to wrap him up, but all they caught was wooden replica of him.

"A wood element replacement…?" Orochimaru questioned. Then he smiled sinisterly and said, "Then you must be…"

With Ino, Sakura and Sai,

"Sakura, I have an idea and it's a little bit different than the plan we had… Will you and Sai hear me out?"

Sakura was a little hesitant but she nodded her head soon afterwards. Then after hearing the plan, Sakura reluctantly agreed as Sai was indifferent with the plan but went along with the new plan just before they saw Yamato's signal.

All three of them came out in front of Yamato as Kabuto commented, "Funny, a member of Sasuke-kun's team and yet Naruto-kun is not here?"

Orochimaru laughed sinisterly and called up his snakes again and soon, they were battling, trying to dodge Orohimaru's attacks until one struck Ino across her abdomen only for her to suddenly burst into ink. Orochimaru was a bit surprised until he felt a kunai across his throat, Kabuto being the one holding it.

Orochimaru was at first shocked but then looked back at the ink blot where "Ino" once stood and grinned.

"You're the girl controlling Kabuto's body aren't you?" Orochimaru asked "Kabuto".

Ino as Kabuto replied, "Don't try anything Orochimaru, not even you will want to lose a valuable medic like Kabuto. I have him under my control and I can make him come with us quietly."

Orochimaru chuckled and then said "Sending in an ink clone to look like you while your real body is in a safe area elsewhere to use your technique. I admit it was a clever plan…"

His smile grew wider as he added, "But, you didn't think I wouldn't know how the Mind Transfer technique works, did you?"

Then Orochimaru struck out at Ino while she was still in Kabuto's body and actually managed to cut Kabuto's arm with a slash of the kunai that he stole out of her hand. Before it got any worse, Ino released her technique and returned to her own body. Then she came out with everyone else, sporting the same cut on he own arm Then Yamato had suddenly shot wood from his arm to pierce through Orochimaru and then as he had been struck, Sakura ran at him and punched him through the bridge supports to the other side of the bridge, making it shake a bit. Then as Kabuto was still disoriented, she punched him hard in the stomach making him cough up blood.

Unknown to them, Sai had slipped away from the fight, using a bird that he drew to fly to where Orochimaru was. But Yamato did notice Sai's disappearance and sent a wood clone after him while he was watching and they only had Kabuto to deal with. Kabuto had taken some time healing himself fixing the damage that Sakura inflicted on him.

He says, "Well, this was fun but I'm afraid we have to cut it short. Since, you all came instead of Sasori it can only mean that he has died but he couldn't have told you himself unless you somehow forced it out of him."

Kabuto looked behind him to where Orochimaru had landed as he thought, "Orochimaru-sama's body can't take much more strain, and I have to get him back to the hideout."

He turned back towards the three of them and said, "Despite being enemies, we both have the same goals; we both want the Akatsuki gone. If you had killed one of them, then we'll let you live, on the condition that you kill more Akatsuki for us." Then with that, Kabuto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Ino grit her teeth in frustration until Yamato spoke up, "It may not be a total loss, I sent a wood clone after Sai, and it seems that Sai has other plans. My clone is watching them now."

Ino and Sakura listened to his explanation and Ino asked, "What were they talking about?"

Yamato answered, "He couldn't get close enough to hear anything, but he saw Sai hand over something to Orochimaru and Sai was unharmed. Now he is tracking them and we are going to follow him."

So after Ino and Yamato were healed, they crossed the bridge to the area where Sai was speaking with Orochimaru only to find Sai's scrolls and picture book on the ground. Sakura picked up the picture book and his scrolls as she said, "Sai's things are all over the place, he must have been really tense if he left this book behind too."

Sakura turned to Yamato and asked, "Are you sure he wasn't threatened?"

Yamato shook his head and replied, "No, it didn't seem that way, my clone had said that he looked entirely calm the whole time."

Then Ino asked, "Then why would Sai do this? He may be a total jerk but he wouldn't really betray us would he?"

"Actually, he would. Tsunade-sama had told me before we left to be wary of him, because he was Danzo's subordinate." Sakura explained.

Yamato added, "Not only that, if he had sent Sai to contact Orochimaru, then he might be planning a new 'Crush Konoha' plan just so that he can plummet the village into chaos and to try to overthrow Tsunade-sama and be Hokage himself."

Ino and Sakura had looks of shock on their faces as they remembered the plan that happened after their first Chūnin exam.

"This Danzo is really just trying to cause trouble for Tsunade-sama just to overthrow her?" Ino asked in disgust.

"It is a possibility and every minute we spend not catching up, we lose the trail to find Sai. Now, are we all ready to find more clues about Sai's real intentions?" Yamato asked them. Ino and Sakura nodded and then they took off to catch up to Yamato's clone.

With Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sai,

They had reached their hideout that was inside a large boulder and they had made the entryway open and all three went through it. They walked through a hallway, with candles along the walls, lighting the way. They all kept walking until they came into a large room with a statue of a large snake. There were candles in the eyes of the snake, making the snake's eyes seem to glow. In front of the statue, there was a person sitting, silently, as if he was waiting for someone.

Sai thought to himself, "That's…"

Then in the eerie silence, the person's eyes were open, revealing two Sharingan eyes in the shadows.

Then the person spoke, "You're late, Orochimaru."

That is it for this chapter, are you all glad that I finally put in Sasuke? Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave a review. I hope to have the next chapter out soon.