Here is the new chapter. I apologize for the long wait and please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

"You're late, Orochimaru," a person had said from the darkness, woth only his eyes glowing red, revealing his Sharingan.

Sai had thought, "That's… Sasuke Uchiha."

Then Sasuke added, "You said you'd teach me a new technique this afternoon."

Kabuto muttered, "Again with the rude tone."

Then Orochimaru said, "Relax, I picked up a little present to make it up to you."

Then he gestured to Sai and added, "He's a Konoha shinobi, just like you. I thought you could reminisce about the good old days in the village."

Sasuke simply glared and then Sai introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Sai. You must be Sasuke Uchiha-"

"Shut up," Sasuke cut him off.

"Even if I force myself to smile, I guess I'm just easy to hate. Ino-san hated me when we first met too," Sai explained while smiling. Then he added, "But between the two of you, I think I may get along better with you."

Sasuke was silent and then as Sai looked into his eyes, he had a shocked look in his eyes as he sees images within a genjutsu causing him to fall over.

"Sasuke-kun!" Kabuto shouted at Sasuke to stop.

Sai wiped his face and questioned, "Sweat?"

"Even me, someone who is completely without emotion… Just by looking into his eyes, he had called upon images within my subconscious I couldn't even recognize?" Sai had thought in confusion.

"I'd leave Sasuke-kun alone if I were you; his temper is even worse than mine," Orochimaru warned.

Sasuke then said, "I've got nothing to say to this loser, train me now Orochimaru."

Sai interrupted, "Ino-san, has told me about you. She's been searching for clues about you throughout these past two and a half years."

It was silent for a few seconds before Sasuke replied, "Yeah, I remember her. Let's go, Orochimaru."

Sai then continued, "Ino-san truly thinks of you as a brother, Sakura-san told me that."

Sasuke only glared at him again and replied, "I only have one family member, my brother, and all I care about is killing him."

Then he turned and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the three alone.

"All right, I'll be going. Kabuto, make a Bingo Book out of these," Orochimaru asked while handing him the envelope Sai gave him.

"Okay," Kabuto replied as he took the envelope.

"I'll leave the rest to you," Orochimaru said, walking away from them.

Kabuto then opened up the envelope to look at its contents; what he found was surprising.

"These are… copies of the files on the Hokage-controlled ANBU," he said to himself as he looked through them.

Then he stopped on the file with Yamato's picture on it, and then said, "And they seem to be the real deal."

Outside the hideout, Yamato, Ino, and Sakura all caught up to Yamato's clone after they had taken a small break.

Yamato asked, "Is this the place?"

The clone answered, "Yes. The entrance is right in front of us, beneath those boulders."

Then Ino said, "Then right underneath those boulders, we'll find Sasuke."

Sakura added, "There is a strong chance."

Then Yamato said, "At the very least, there'll be some very important clues there."

"Well, let's go," Ino said but Yamato stopped her, "Wait a second."

Then he placed his hand on his clone's back and then the clone shrunk down into a small seed in his hand.

He held it out to Ino, "Swallow this first, Ino."

Then he added, "It's okay, there's nothing to worry about."

He held out his other hand with the same kind of seed towards Sakura and said, "Here's yours, Sakura. This way, I'll be able to find out where you two are if we get split up."

Both girls looked surprised and Sakura asked, "You can do that with this? What is it exactly?"

Yamato explained, "Basically, those seeds are transmitters used for tracking. They're a type of ninja tool that will only resonate with my chakra. They're the same thing I slipped in Sai's clothes and food."

Ino questioned, "His clothes and food?"

"So that's how you were able to track them here," Sakura said.

And then Ino asked, "Yamato-Taichou, when did you do that?"

He answered, "I had left the hot spring earlier than Sai. Now you understand why I used my own money to treat you to a luxurious meal and hot springs, right?"

Sakura smiled amusedly and said, "So it wasn't just an attempt to make us get along."

Yamato nodded and explained, "Tsunade-sama warned me to keep a close eye on Sai and I did. Anyway forget about that, hurry up and swallow them!"

So both Ino and Sakura swallowed the seeds and Yamato said, "All right! Let's go you two."

Both Kunoichi answered, "Yes sir!"

Then Yamato put his ear to the ground for a few seconds and then stood up saying, "I can berely sense any human presence. It's probably safe to assume there are only a few enemies in there. But don't let your guard down! We are up against Orochimaru and we'll have to think of Sai as an enemy now as well. We'll infiltrate with me going in first, then Sakura and finally Ino."

Ino asked, "How will we break in?"

Yamato answered, "We'll go by the book. Enter from underground using Earth element techniques. I'll start by making a shaft right around here. After we're down far enough, I'll carve out a tunnel and proceed slowly."

Ino and Sakura ageed and then Yamato weaved a few hand seals and hit the ground with his palm and created a hole.

"You both come down on my signal," Yamato instructed as he jumped in the hole. After his signal, both Ino and Sakura followed him.

Back in the hideout, Kabuto led Sai into a room and locked him in. While inside, Sai had opened two scrolls to unseal a small black book and he was reading through it until he stopped on one page until he heard the click of a lock turning. Startled, he hastily put his put his book and scrolls back in his bag and then he slowly turned to the door revealing Yamato.

All three of them got inside and Yamato said, "I thought you'd be here."

"Nothing less from one of the Hokage's personal ANBU, the corpse didn't fool you at all," Sai said.

Yamato asked, "Just what do you mean by that?"

Then Ino angrily shouted, "Why the hell did you turn on us, traitor?!"

Sai only replied, "You shouldn't be so noisy, or things will get even more difficult."

Ino hissed, "Bastard!"

"Ino," Sakura calmly said.

She went up to Sai and handed him his picture book asing, "This is yours, isn't it?"

Sai accepted the book back and replied "Thank you."

"Danzou's orders, right? He's plotting something involving Orochimaru, isn't he? And you were chosen to be their liaison. What are they up to?" Sakura asked.

Yamato then asked, "He wants to team up with Orochimaru to try a new 'Crush Konoha' plan, doesn't he?"

Sai then replied while putting on a fake smile, "No, he doesn't…"

"We all know that smile is fake and don't try to lie unless you want me to look in your mind. Because I will if I have to," Ino cut him off, threatening him calmly.

After a small silence, Sai answered, "Since you found out and I can't defeat you three by myself; my mission is a failure. Yes, he wants to destroy the current Konoha."

"What?" Ino asked in a sharp tone.

"I was to be taken in by Orochimaru with the understanding that I would help him conspire against Konoha. That is the true mission that was assigned to me," Sai explained.

"Do you even understand what you're saying?!" Ino asked in outrage.

"That's not all; I'm also to secretly send back information on Orochimaru to Danzou-sama. In other words, I'm also working as a spy," Sai explained further.

Yamato pointed a kunai to Sai and demanded, "Keep talking and don't leave one detail out."

Then Sakura asked, "So you're supposed to be part of an alliance with Orochimaru while spying on him behind his back?"

Sai nodded and calmly explained more, "The moment that Konoha is destroyed, Orochimaru will betray us. It's a preventative measure to make sure we keep the upper hand."

"I see," Yamato said in understanding.

"Danzou wants to make Konoha his you're supposed to ,ake it happen all by yourself?" Sakura asked.

Sai replied, "The information I write on my scrolls, takes on the form of small animals, that's how I can leak information without compromising my safety. It's because of that ability that I was chosen for this mission."

Sakura rebutted, "If Konoha is thrown into chaos, lots of people will die again! Do you really understand what it is you're trying to do?!"

Sai bluntly said, "Who cares? I'm just following orders. And also, 'Sai' was given as a name for me for this mission. I am no one. I am merely one of Danzou-sama's arms I do not exist; there is no point in saying anything to me."

Then Sakura looked down at the book in his hands and asked, "Bu then if that's true, why do you still treasure that picture book so much?"

Sai had a look of surprise and then he held the book up to his eyes to look at it.

Sakura added, "The two children on the covers are you and your brother, aren't they? Why is that book so precious to you? It's because that it is the only thing that proves you exist, that you don't want to let go of your image of yourself as a little brother. You haven't lost your emotions as much as you tend to claim; no shinobi can fully throw away their emotions. The fact that you accepted the book back and said 'thank you' proves it; you felt relief when I gave it back."

"How does carrying this book around prove that I exist?" Sai asked.

"The reason why you don't want to let go of that picture book… is because you don't want to let go of the bond you had with your older brother," Sakura answered.

"Bond?" Sai asked.

Yamato spoke up, "I apologize but we took a look at the contents of the book. Only the two center pages were incomplete. Sai, I know that you are from ANBU Root, and you had to go through special training to kill your emotions."

"Special training?" Ino asked in confusion.

Yamato explained, "Sai had been subjected to the training that Kirigakure had once used."

"The training that Kirigakure used? But that was Zabuza's training." Ino exclaimed as she recalled her first C-rank mission years before.

Yamato continued, "Going by the flow of the book, you take the weapons and armor of the foes you defeat, eventually leading to when you had to fight your brother. So in other words, you killed…"

"I did not!" Sai objected, cutting him off.

Then Sai explained, "This book was supposed to be a present for my brother, but when it was almost complete, he had… he had died of a disease."

After a brief pause, he continued, "And the two center pages were the ones I wanted to show him the most. But since he died, I can't remember what I wanted to draw on them."

After his explanation, they had bound him up and were preparing to to look for Sasuke. They were outside when Sai inputted, "You shouldn't waste your time."

All three had looked at him as he continued, "I met Sasuke… and he doesn't think much of you. Why do you try so hard? Why all of this effort for someone who doesn't think of you as a comrade or a friend; you weren't ordered to do this, so why?"

Ino at first didn't say anything but then she surprised him by smiling sadly.

Then she spoke, "Years ago, I had a huge crush on Sasuke and I had tried my hardest to get him to like me as well. But I was only fooling myself to think that he ever cared at all, that he'd stay home. I had made myself and him a promise that I'd be ready to bring him back and to fight him if I had to."

Sai was stunned and then he said, "But against Orochimaru, you wouldn't…"

"I don't care who I have to fight or how much Sasuke has changed, I will bring him back, because I know that deep down, there is still a light inside him and I'll do whatever it takes to keep it from going out," Ino interrupted with a determined look in her eyes.

Then suddenly, kunai were flung at them as Kabuto snuck on them and took Sai still bound, avoiding their attacks and it seemed to overwhelm him.

Then he turned to Sai and said, "You haven't betrayed us, so I'll trust you for now."

He used his chakra scalpel to break the wood that had Sai bound and he got up.

Then he commented to Ino and the others, "Also, just so you know you're all wasting your time trying to take Sasuke-kun back. I must say, I genuinely feel sorry for you people. People change; Sasuke-kun's not the same person that you used to know."

Ino glared angrily at Kabuto but then it suddenly turned to one of shock as she and the others watched as Sai subdued Kabuto by holding his arm back from behind.

Kabuto looked back at Sai and asked in confusion, "What is the meaning of this?"

Sai didn't say anything so Kabuto demanded, "Your mission was to be the liaison between Orochimaru-sama and Danzou…so why?"

Sai then replied, "You said that people change; that means I can too."

Kabuto glared and questioned, "What?"

Sai continued, "But there are also things that don't change. That bond… I want to see it for myself, Ino-san."

Soon they bound Kabuto in wood and Yamato left a wood clone to guard him. Then they went back into the hideout and then they had split up into two groups; the same groups as before. So Ino and Sai ran toward one corridor while Yamato and Sakura ran in the other direction. Both teams were searching every room swiftly yet frantically, opening each door, searching for any clue to where Sasuke could be. Ino was using her sensor perception but she couldn't get a clear chakra signature. So far they found nothing that could lead them to Sasuke. Sai suggested they rest so they wouldn't be exhausted and Ino reluctantly agreed. They both sat on the floor next to each other and they were immersed in complete silence. Then Sai brought his bag on his lap to open it.

He uttered, "You really remind me of him; my brother I mean."

He pulled his picture book out of his bag and brought it to his eyes and continued, "He was loud, can be a bit demanding but he means well. When I look at you, you really make me think of him."

Then he suddenly widened his eyes and was staring into space, like he was in a daze.

Confused, Ino asked, "Sai, what's wrong?"

He seemed to snap out of it and pulled a paint brush out of his bag and opened his book to the center pages, drawing on them.

He murmurs, "I remember…I remember!"

Ino looks at what he draws and smiles, saying, "That's…"

After he was finished, he held it open and on the center pages were his brother and him in ANBU outfits, holding hands and smiling.

"This is what I wanted to my brother, the picture of our dreams," Sai explained as he smiled.

Only Ino saw that Sai was smiling a geniuine smile and she smiled as well. Then they heard footsteps approaching and they turned to their right and saw Orochimaru standing there.

Then he asked, "Well Sai, who will you side with this time?"

Ino and Sai stood up, ready to fight but Ino said, "Sai, go find Sasuke, I'll hold him off."

Sai wanted to protest but Ino cut him off, "You try to find Sasuke, and I'll catch up to you later."

Sai nodded and replied, "Okay, I'll find Sasuke."

Then Sai took off to find Sasuke, Ino turned towards Orochimaru and he shouted, "Sen'ei Jashu!"

Ino dodged all of the snakes and kept trying to get a hit as she kept getting closer only she was stopped by a snake grabbing her ankle, and she was thrown to the ground. Then suddenly, a block of wood had been directed towards Orochimaru, breaking through the wall, causing Orochimaru to jump back. Yamato and Sakura came out to help her and they were holding him off.

With Sai, he went into the next corridor they haven't checked and pulled out a spare scroll, drawing small on it and whispered, "Ninpou, Chouju Giga."

The black mice came alive and they all searched the rooms until one mouse went into one room that seemed to be the room where Sasuke was.

Back with the others, Orochimaru sensed what Sai was doing.

He says, "I'll let you all live for now; my main concern is Sai."

Then he disappears in smoke and Ino turned to Yamato and Sakura.

Yamato asks, "Where's Sai?"

Ino answered, "I sent him off to find Sasuke, now we better get to him before Orochimaru does."

Sakura opened Sai's picture book that was on the ground and whispered, "This is…"

Ino smiled and explained, "Yeah, he remembered what he wanted to draw."

Then Yamato was looking through Sai's bag and pulled out a black book and looked through it, letting out a startled gasp.

Ino and Sakura turned to Yamato and Ino asked, "What's wrong?"

"Look at this, this was in Sai's bag," Yamato showed them the book.

Sakura asked, "What's that?"

"This is a bingo book; something that usually assassins carry," Yamat answered.

"Why would Sai have something like this and what are these X's for?" Sakura asked in confusion.

Yamato explained, "These X's shows which ninjas he has already taken out and they are mostly missing nin. And look at this…" Then he turned a page and it showed Sasuke's picture on it.

Shocked, Ino asked, "Why is Sasuke's picture in this bingo book?"

Grimly, Yamato explained, "Sai's secret mission wasn't to be a liaison at all; he was sent to assassinate Sasuke."

"No, that can't be! He just said that he'd help save Sasuke and he actually smiled a sincere smile…" Ino objected.

Sakura interrupted, "But what if it was an elaborate façade to trick you, Ino?"

Ino looked down at the floor as Yamato said, "Spies and assassins use all different tactics to gain a person's trust. It was probably second nature to Sai to trick all of us."

Suddenly, Yamato turned his head towards to where Sai had run off, "I felt Sai's chakra spike; we'd better get to him first." Yamato said.

Ino nodded and then they followed Yamato, running to get to Sai, when they started to feel the earth shake with the sound of an explosion. It was in the direction where Sai was; so they ran faster to see what happened. Soon they saw light at the end of a corridor and they saw Sai staring up.

Then before either of them could stop her, Sakura ran towards Sai until she reached the outside and grabbed onto Sai's collar of his shirt.

She angrily lashed out, "What are you playing at?! How many times are you going to stab us in the …"

"Sakura, huh?" a voice interrupted.

Sakura stopped abruptly and slowly turned her head towards where she heard the voice. From where she was, Ino could tell what made her friend so rigid. She watched her as her lips forming the name, "Sasuke-kun?" Then Ino after Sakura and came outside and looked up as well.

Ino whispered, "Sasuke…"

Sasuke was standing on a ledge outside of the crater he created apparently, staring down at them with an emotionless blank expression. He wore an open long-sleeved white shirt, dark blue pants with a blue cloth held with a purple rope belt where a sword resides behind his back.

"Ino…" Sasuke said in acknowledgement.

He continued, "I assume that Kakashi and Naruto are with you?"

Yamato came out as well and explained, "I'm not Kakashi-san; I'm here in his place to be in charge of Team Kakashi and we're her to take you back to Konoha."

"Team Kakashi, huh?" Sasuke murmured.

Sai took out his tantō and pointed it towards Sasuke. "Sai, I knew it! You're…" Sakura yelled.

"So Sakura is standing in place of Naruto and that guy is supposed to be my replacement. He said something about keeping the 'bonds' I had with my former teammates," Sasuke commented.

Confused, Sakura asked, "Sai… why? Wasn't your mission…?"

"It is true that my true mission was to kill Sauke-kun, but I don't care about my orders anymore. I wish to do things of my own free will. I don't know much about bonds but as I watch Ino-san trying to keep that bond from being severed, I feel I can learn from it," Sai exclaimed.

He paused for a second and then said to Sasuke, "I don't know what makes a bond, but Sasuke-kun, you should know."

Sasuke replied, "Oh, I know. That's why I severed them."

Ino and Sakura looked shocked while Yamato and Sai looked grim.

Sasuke continued to explain, "I have a different type of bond; a bond of hatred towards my older brother."

Ino grit her teeth as she murmured, "Why?"

Sasuke watched as Ino shook and he thought, "She has changed a little bit."

Then Ino shouted, "If you feel that you have severed those bonds; why didn't you just kill Naruto that day? Surely, that could have severed that bond much faster."

Sasuke answered, "That's true; it could have been a faster way to cut it. It wasn't that I couldn't kill him that day; I only let him live on a whim."

Ino then said, "Don't you know the severity of staying with Orochimaru? He only wants you as a host body. Do you really want that?"

Sasuke then thought, "She still doesn't understand."

Then after a pause, he replies, "Fulfilling my revenge to kill my brother; is all that matters to me. If I have to give up my body to be stronger, then so be it."

Ino frowned at his decision when suddenly Sasuke came up close to her before she could blink.

Ino thought in alarm, "He's gotten faster!"

Sasuke had his hand on her shoulder and he murmured, "By the way, if Naruto is not here, then where is he?"

Ino looed forward instead of at him and she replied, "Naruto said that if he were to face you at all, he'd be better prepared. He's taking the Chūnin Exam right now and he's training."

Sasuke had, for a second, smirked and commented, "For once, I have to agree that he's not ready to face me. Just like your not, Ino. Since he's not here, I'll kill you on a whim instead."

He unsheathed his sword as he was talking and then was about to strike until Sai stepped in to block him. Then Ino used the opportunity to try to attack him and Yamato prepared a jutsu to subdue him.

But before they could attack, Sasuke shouted, "Chidori Nagashi!"

Then an electrical current had spread from Sasuke's body and stunned both Sai and Ino, sending them to the ground twitching. After the electric current died down, Sakura built up chakra in her fist and ran forward to try to stop him herself. But Yamato saw that Sasuke would counterattack and stepped in to stop him instead. Only Sasuke pierced his shoulder with his sword and ran electric currents through it to numb him.

But then while Sasuke was focused on Yamato, Ino whispered, "Shitenshin no Jutsu!"

In his mindscape, she had made a grave mistake trying to control Sasuke.

"Don't you think I would remember how your technique works, Ino?" Sasuke's voice echoed around her.

It was overwhelming her and she held her head trying toforce his voice out. But then he cast a genjutsu, making her watch memories that she'd rather not relive, until ultimately, Sasuke drove her out of his body by force.

Breathing heavily, Ino watched as Sasuke glared at her and then Yamato pushed the sword out with wood, pushing him backwards.

Then Yamato rapidly formed hand seals and yelled, "Mokuton, Mokujōheki!"

Wood had sprung up from the ground and formed a dome around Sasuke but he easily escaped through the top of the dome and landed back on the ledge.

"I've had enough all of you," Sasuke said.

He placed his sword in the ground, quickly formed hand seals and lifted his hand but before he could finish, Orochimaru suddenly appeared and grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"You're not using that technique, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru told him.

Then Kabuto had come and added, "We need them alive to get rid of the Akatsuki for us. It would be easier for your revenge, wouldn't it?"

Sasuke then slowly lowered his hand and wordlessly placed his sword back in its sheath. Then as he stared down at them, the three of them disappeared with their bodies flickering away like flames, until finally they were gone.

"I couldn't' stop him on my own; I'm not strong enough," Ino thought in despair, as she hid her face in her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Then Sakura spoke up, "Crying… Crying won't solve anything, Ino. We will train harder and next time, we won't fail."

Ino listens to Sakura even though she can tell she is crying as well. Ino took a minute to compose herself, while wiping her tears away.

"You're right and I'm not about to give up that easily!" Ino said determinedly.

Yamato smiled and then said to them, "Well then, let's all go home everyone."

All three of them nodded and then started their trek back to Konoha.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Sorry it's so long, by the way. Also, what do you think of me adding an extra chapter of how Naruto's Chunin Exam went or should I just continue with the story? Tell me your thoughts if you wish and feel free to leave a review.