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Chapter One When Team Seven was Still Team Seven.

Sakura was running through the town. “Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Where are you Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun, Naruto!”

Almost as soon as she had finished a blonde and orange blur ran out a nearby house and hugged her. “Sakura-chan!”

The pink haired girl gave a small smile to Naruto. She moved her gaze to the house he had just come from and met a black, blank stare. She blinked before smiling and pulling away from Naruto, who pouted slightly. “Sasuke-kun!”

The said boy twitched slightly and turned around. He was not in the mood to deal with her right now. He started to walk away and heard her following him. He sighed and speed up. Sakura also quickened he pace.

Sasuke turned right and tripped over a piece of loose gravel. He cursed at the ground as he pushed himself up only to be pushed down again by Sakura. “Good Morning, Sasuke-kun!”

“Oww! Sakura! Get off me, that hurts!” Sasuke tried to pry the girl off him but that wasn’t working. He turned his head and saw Naruto. “Get her offa me! I’ll buy you ramen for a year if you do.” pleading expression evident.

Naurto’s eyes began to light up but Sakura quickly countered. “Two years if you don’t! I’ll buy you ramen for two years!” she offered. This was like an auction for Naruto's assistance.

“I’ll give you anything you want!” Sasuke pleaded.

“I’ll kiss you!” Sakura declared quickly. At this Naruto smirked and backed off.

"Sorry Sasuke." Sakura giggled and hugged the defeated Uchiha tighter.

After a few minutes Sasuke was starting to give up hope that anyone would come and rescue him from the strawberry-haired girl. Suddenly a blonde head peeked in. Blue pupilsless eyes widened at the two. “Sasuke-kun! Sakura! Get off of him, NOW!” Ino ran over and kicked Sakura hard in the side,

"Ow!" The pain in her ribs forced her to unwillingly let go of him. Ino pulled Sasuke up and glared at the girl on the ground, clutching he stomach.

Sakura watched, wide-eyed as Ino smirked at her before pulling Sasuke to the other side of the room.

"You owe me one now, Sasuke-kun." she said, manipulation pure in her scarlet voice, before planting a small kiss on Sasuke's pale face, which was now red with embarrassment. A few tears made their way down Sakura's face before she pushed herself up and ran out of the room, not seeing either of the boys' worried looks, or Ino's sudden satisfaction.

Sakura tripped over a crack in a sidewalk, but quickly pushed herself up and kept running again. A few blocks away she fell to the ground, she pulled herself up slightly and slumped down against a wall, sobs raking her body vigorously.

Footsteps reached her earshot and the sound of the ground moving slightly told her someone was now sitting next to her. She felt two tan, orange-covered arms wrap around her and pull her close. “’ey Sakura-chan. What’s wrong?” he asked, obviously concerned for his teammate.

She looked up and met soft blue eyes. Pastel green eyes shimmering with tears, she managed to stutter

“I-I thought that since…since I was in the same group as him…we could be friends and he would learn to like me but…” a sob choked her words.

Naruto frowned and hugged her again. “Come on. Sasuke’s just a jerk. I’ll make him say sorry to you!"

He stood up and pulled her with him. He drug her back to the house and flung the door open, causing it to slam against a wall. He pulled her to the room that Sasuke and Ino were in and threw open the door. “Sasuke-Teme!” He stormed over, leaving Sakura over by the door.

Sasuke looked up from where he was sitting. “What do you want dobe?” Ino, sensing trouble of a fight, left two minute previous of Naruto's entrance.

“Tell Sakura-chan you’re sorry right now! And stop being so mean to her!” When she heard her name Sakura looked up and started to slowly walk forward. Sasuke looked up at her.

"I, don't have to apologize to anyone." his words hit Sakura like an arrow through the heart.

"Knock it off! I'll ******** hit you if I have to!" He burst out in rage. "Sakura doesn't deserve this from a low-life like you!"

Sakura gave him a small, watery smile, as an attempt to avoid a brawl. “I’m sorry Sasuke…I won’t do it anymore if you don’t want me to, okay? Friends?” She held out her hand to the boy on the floor hopefully.

Sasuke looked around reluctantly, but he took it. “Okay then. Friends.” He gave her a small smile back. A single, rare, smile.

Naruto grinned, happy that this was over. “We really need to get that Ino off of our backs.” he declared, his teammates nodded, Sasuke’s eyes wide, Naruto continued. “I have an idea. You guys have heard that Shikamaru likes Ino, right?" his friends slowly nodded. "Well, I’ve heard that with his hair down he rivals Sasuke in looks!” Sasuke gave Naruto a disblieving look. But Sakura didn't doubt Naruto for a second.

Sakura jumped up, remembering something she had forgotten a while back. “Oh right! I was looking for you to begin with, because I met this guy who lost his sword to some guys that sounded like they were from the Village Hidden in the Mist. So maybe if we could get...Ino’s team to help, we can kill two birds with one stone! What do you say?”

Sasuke nodded. “If it’s ok with Kakashi-Sensei and Ino’s team, then it should be alright. Does anyone know where Kakashi-sensei is?”

“He’s with Iruka-sensei. I saw them talking when I was looking for you two. So if we can find Iruka-sensei then we’ll find Kakashi-sensei.”

“I have a few ideas of where Iruka-sensei is! Come on!” Naruto pulled them out and started towards his favorite place.

When the group reached the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, they looked in and around, but their sensei was nowhere to be found. Sakura grinned a little and poked Naruto when she saw the three people who were, though. She walked in, “Hey Shikamaru, Ino-pig, and Chouji. We’re trying to find Kakashi-sensei, have you seen him?” They shook their heads no and Sakura was about to leave when she thought of something else. “Hey guys, we need another team to help us with a mission and we were wondering if you guys would help us. How 'bout it Shikamaru?” She asked, voice small.

Ino glared at Sakura. “Why are you asking him? I’m the leader.” she hissed lowly.

“No you aren’t. And if it’s ok with Asuma-sensei then we’ll be glad to help you." he stood, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Come on Ino, Chouji.” Shikamaru started to walk out, followed by his teammates.

Sakura stopped Ino. “Hey Ino-Pig! Why don’t you pay for your friends, ne?”

Ino tunred to glare at said pink-haired girl. The two boys had stopped and looked back. "Uh-oh."

“They aren’t my friends. Just my teammates.” She scoffed. Shikamaru glared at her before pulling out his wallet and paying for the food Choji had eaten. "What a drag..."

“Shikamaru, you shouldn’t always pay for your girlfrie--OWWW! What did you do that for?” Sakura rubbed the side of her face, the impression of a leather wallet impinted on it, while glaring at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru walked over to her, picked up his wallet and left. Ino glared at Sakura one last time before following her teammates. Sakura sighed and walked out, still rubbing her face. She looked at her own teammates and sighed. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, “What did you do now?”

“Shikamaru got mad at me for calling Ino his girlfriend…oww. And they don’t know where Kakashi-sensei is.”

Naruto grinned. “I have a way of getting Iruka-sensei to come to us. Come on!” Naruto pulled the two to the fountain and jumped on top of it. “IRUKA-SENSEI!” he shouted, no meekness hinted in his loud voice.

Moments later the brown haired man was running towards Naruto. “Naruto! Are you okay? What’s wrong? Why did you call for me?” He sidestepped Kakashi and the other man stopped next to Iruka.

Naruto grinned. “I’m okay Iruka-sensei but Sakura-chan needed to talk to Kakashi-sensei.”

Sakura started talking right after that. “Sensei, I met a man who lost his sword to a group of mist nin and I was wondering if we got help from another group, like Shikamaru’s, if we could go get it back?”

“No. Or don’t you remember the last mist nin we met?” Kakashi looked at them from his one uncovered eye. Sakura sighed and pouted. “That’s not going to work. You three may have gotten stronger but not strong enough. Let someone older and stronger take care of it.”

Kakashi grabbed Iruka and pulled him away, ending the conversation. So the three headed back to the house. When they got there Sakura paused and said that she had better go and tell the man, Muteki, that they couldn’t go get his sword. She dashed off.

Naruto had already gone inside while Sasuke watched their teammate run off. He stayed outside a few more minutes before walking inside. He walked into the room where Naruto was and saw he was looking depressed. “What’s wrong, Naruto?”

The blond looked up and sighed. “I’m really happy for Iruka-sensei and all but…now I don’t have anyone to love…or get love from.”

Sasuke sat down behind Naruto and put his arms around the other boy. “That’s not true. I can still love you. I still do love you.”

Naruto looked up sharply and was kissed on the lips. Sasuke pushed him down and he began to move his hands to Naruto's pant-line when suddenly the door opened. A man a few years older then them walked in.

“Muteki did not need to see that.” The boys jumped apart and looked at the man.

“Who are you?” The black haired boy asked, looking him over.

“Muteki. And Muteki was sent by the pink haired girl to tell you that she has gone to get Muteki’s sword back.”

When Sasuke heard this he jumped up and ran out the door. The two inside watched as he ran down the street. When they couldn’t see him anymore Naruto looked once again to the man to spoke in the mysterious third-person. “What did you say?”

“The pink haired girl went alone to get Muteki’s sword.” he repeated.

Naruto blinked before jumping up and following in Sasuke’s footsteps, running to save his friend. "Sakura-Chan!"

XXX

Sakura jumped and started to whisper to herself again. “Oh come on, Sakura. It’s not like you need those boys to do everything. You aren’t that weak, are you? NO! That’s what I thought.”

Sakura stopped when she saw a man a head of her on the bridge. The man slowly turned to face her. “Hello there, young lady.” He smiled at her.

“H-Hello.” Sakura smiled back at him, a bit uneasily.

“What, may I ask, is a lady such as yourself, doing out here alone in such times?”

“I’m on a mission. And I can take care of myself. I’m a ninja, see?” She pointed to her headband. “And I could ask you the same. What are you doing out alone?”

The man laughed. “I am on my way home. And I am alone because I am also a ninja.” He held open his cloak to show a headband though Sakura couldn’t see from where.

Suddenly a voice cut through he air. “Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, where are you? Sakura-chan!” Sakura quickly started to walk across the bridge, not looking back. The voice called out again, this time closer. “Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan wait!”

Sakura’s pace quickened but Naruto was still able to catch up with her. “Sakura-chan! What were you thinking coming out here alone? You could have gotten hurt. You are ok, right? Nothing happened, right?”

Sakura pulled away from him. “I’m fine! I’m not some weak little girl that needs protecting all the time! I can take care of myself!”

Naruto looked at her. “What? Sakura…I never said you couldn’t take care of yourself but…What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…”

Neither of them had been watching the other man who had been watching from behind Sakura the whole time, a small smirk falling on his face. He walked closer to Sakura before slipping his sword around her neck and pulling her to him, making it so she couldn’t get away.

Sakura screamed and was pulling against the sword, trying to pull away, fear in her eyes. Naruto was glaring at the man. “What the hell? Who are you and what do you want? Let Sakura-chan go! NOW!”

The man just smirked again. “You can call me Satsugai. And since I know who you two are I feel no need to introduce each other and waste time. What do I want? I guess for now I’m just going to have fun with you two.” He then looked down at the girl trying to get away from him and laughed. “Do you want to know what your teammates do when you’re not around? They kiss each other. Even knowing how much it would hurt you if you found out.”

Sakura froze and looked at Naruto, eyes wide. “I-is that true Naruto?” The blond looked up and his eyes told her what she needed to know. Her eyes quickly filled up with tears and she looked away sharply.

“But Sakura-chan I still love you too!”

Sakura looked up again, tears rolling down her face. She was glaring at him. “I HATE YOU! I hate you.” She sunk to the ground and Satsugai let her. He grinned at them before disappearing.

Naruto ran over to her and put his arms around her. She pushed him and stood up. She started running back towards the village and ran into Sasuke. He grabbed her arm. “Sakura, what’s wrong?

Sakura tried to pull away but Sasuke wouldn’t let her. “Let me go! Let me go now! I hate you! Both of you! I never want to see you again!” When Sasuke heard these words his eyes widened and he let go of her arm, allowing her to dash off into the forest.

XXX

Sakura couldn’t remember how long she had been running but her legs hurt and she was lost. She had stopped crying, only because she couldn’t see through the tears and had kept falling. Now that she had time to think she knew she had over reacted a lot and when she found her way back she would have to tell them she was sorry and she hadn’t meant it. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too mad at her.

She looked around her trying to remember which way she had come from but she couldn’t. Oh she really was lost! She sighed and stood up; she had to try to find her way back.

She started walking, thinking about what had happened and thinking about how she had made it worse for her friends. She really was no good sometimes. This was one of them. She looked up and saw there were people in front of her. She gasped when she saw who it was and tried to find a place to hide before they saw her but it was too late.

Orochimaru walked over to the girl. “Well, well, what do we have here?”

END CHAPTER 1

(This story is written by SalimaLiAkiyama, Yureidoru, and FallenSeraphim.)((Those are our fanfic names in the order of our gaia names.))

omg i love it i cant wait 4 the next chapter

Hey! I helped...-pouts-

((OMG! I'm so sorry about taking forever to update! Here you all go!))


Chapter 3 – Retsu Hana and Nai Sukai

The pink-haired girl sighed and finished putting her hair into a bun in the back of her head. She looked at the black haired man sitting in front of her. “Itachi-sensei, are we doing anything today?”

“Yes. We are going to Kohona today.” Sakura’s eyes lit up. Now she could show off how strong she had become. “We just have to wait for Orochimaru to get here.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Why do we always have to work with him? He takes forever to get here.”

The door opened. “Well you don’t have to wait anymore. I am here now.” The snake-like-man said from the doorway. Behind him stood his ever-faithful b***h, Kabuto.

Sakura nodded and looked down, catching sight of another pair of feet. “Who’s the new guy?” she asked as Orochimaru and Kabuto sat down.

“Has it really been so long that you’ve forgotten me, Sakura?”

Sakura’s head snapped up. When she saw who it was, her eyes went wide but quickly narrowed. “Hello Sasuke didn’t expect you.” She looked over to Itachi. “I’m not working with him.” She muttered to her teacher.

Itachi just laughed, knowing that his brother showing up had taken out half the fun of going back to the girl’s home. “You can still surprise Naruto.”

Sakura sighed but nodded. She looked over to the boy sitting across from her. Sasuke’s hair had grown out a little. He was wearing a black shirt much like his old one but tighter and without the fan on the back. His leaf headband had been replaced with a sound one that hung around his neck. The girl blinked when she saw that the boy had a second headband tied around his waist. It was her’s. She couldn’t believe he still had after five years. After she had left them like she had.

She looked around to see the men had all left and it was just her and her old teammate. She stood up and walked behind him. “So Sasuke. You went to Orochimaru I see. What happened to you and Naruto after I left that made you do this?” she asked, dragging red painted nails across his neck.

Sasuke pushed her hand away. “Our team fell apart after you left. At first Naruto wouldn’t stop looking for you but after awhile Kakashi said that you were most likely dead. Naruto locked himself away for a bit then when he came out he started over training himself, saying that you weren’t dead and he would find you and save you. Guess he was right. After a while I just left and went to Orochimaru.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow but quickly dropped it. “Come on, Itachi-sensei will tell us what we’re going to do.”

Sasuke scoffed quietly, " Yes, your master awaits. He will probably end up killing you when all of this is over." he mumbled before walking to the door, " I hope you have not become a pawn for something as pathetic as 'love', Sakura." With that, he left the room.

Itachi was standing next to Orochimaru going over their plan, " Okay, the Akatsuki will surround and annihilate the outer village and slowly work our way in. The Sound ninjas will be in the town causing a distraction so we can get in undetected. That's what I have worked out."

Orochimaru smirked, " Leave it to you to think up something that will leave no survivors." He reached over and caressed Itachi's cheek, " I guess that's why I lust for you so much."

Itachi chuckled darkly, " Shall we get a move on? I would like to leave at sunset and infiltrate before dark."

Sakura walked into the room where Orochimaru and Itachi were, " Itachi-sensei, I-" She broke off when she saw the two men. She didn't want to interrupt. Right when she was about to leave, Orochimaru leaned forward and kissed Itachi. Sakura covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. She realized then that she did love her teacher. The girl quickly moved out and then loudly knocked on the door. “Itachi-sensei, I was wondering what the plan was.” She mumbled.

“Hold on, I’ll be right there.” Itachi said quickly.

There was movement in the room and Itachi opened the door, “Come in. Oh, wait. Bring Sasuke here so he can here the plan as well.”

“Fine.” Sakura muttered grumpily before walking away. She looked around and found Sasuke in front of a window.

The moonlight shone down on his sorrowful face and made his hair shimmer slightly. His skin looked almost ghastly white. He looked like a porcelain doll, sad, but beautiful. “Sasuke, Itachi-sensei wants to go over the plan with us.” Sakura said, snapping them both out their silent reverie. ‘He’s still so beautiful. He looks even more like Itachi-sensei.’ Sakura thought.

“Hmm? Oh, okay.” Sasuke turned to face Sakura, “Where is he?”

Sakura looked at Sasuke and noticed that Sasuke was being very protective of his right arm. “What happened to your arm?”

“Nothing.” Sasuke pulled his long black arm warmers tight, “Let’s get going.”

Sakura and Sasuke went back to Itachi’s room and learned of the plan. Soon the two groups were on their way to Kohona.

XxXxXxXxX

Sakura stood next to Itachi and Kisame, waiting for the signal from the sound ninja so they could start attacking. Soon a bright red flare could be seen and the faint sounds of people yelling from the middle could be heard. The Akatsuki spread themselves out and started their quieter attack on the rest of the town.

Sakura quickly killed those that remembered her. She didn’t care how close they had been, because she had been taught not to care. When she was done with her area she went to Itachi and saw a little girl crying. She was on her knees and begging the man to let her go.

“Please, don’t kill me! Please.”

Sakura glared at the girl. “He won’t,” With a small flick of her wrist the girl lay dead at their feet. “I will.”

Sakura looked at her teacher and got a small nod of approval before they walked towards the center of the village. When they got there they saw that Sasuke, Orochimaru and Kabuto were the only ones left of the sound ninja who had come. Kisame was standing on the other side along with the rest of the Akatsuki. Sakura walked over to Sasuke and watched the few Kohona nin there look at her with wide eyes. “So Sasuke, any sign of our friend. I would have expected him to have been here by now.”

“Well sorry to keep you waiting…Sakura, Sasuke.” The two turned around and saw that the blue eyes they were use to were now glaring at them and the usually smiling boy was frowning down at them from one of the roofs.

Naruto stood up from where he had landed and looked down at his ex-teammates. He quickly glanced around to see how many of the others were in place. When he saw they were all ready he gave a quick nod before jumping down. “So you both came back. And together at that. Too bad you aren’t welcome here.”

Sakura knew something was up and kept looking to her sides while Naruto was talking. Seconds after he had finished talking she ducked, pulling Sasuke down. “Hello, Lee-san.” She said to the green-clad 18-year-old standing in front of her and Sasuke, right where Naruto had been moments before.

She let go of Sasuke and moved to the side so she had the wall of a house behind her and she could see her sides. “Well since your little whatever is up, why don’t you all come out, nee? And no tricks. I’ve learned how to counter them.” ‘most of them’

She looked up above her and smirked. “Ino, where’s your boyfriend?”

“Right in front of you.” Shikamaru’s voice made the pink-haired girl snap her head back down and she was about to take the few steps she would need to be out of the reach of any shadows but Shikamaru had already used the shadow possession jutsu.

Sakura’s eyes widened, ‘This is NOT good! I got better so Shikamaru must have gotten better as well!’ She tried to think and think fast, but it all seemed clouded.

Shikamaru dashed to the side with a speed that no one would expect from Shikamaru. He moved to an empty area and threw himself at air. Sakura was right by a wall, therefore slamming into it.

A crack was heard and Sakura bit back a scream. She wanted to cradle her now broken arm, but she still couldn’t control herself. Shikamaru’s loose movements didn’t help her arm.

“What’s the matter?” Shikamaru said darkly, “Does it hurt you little brat?” he spat. He ran in the other direction, causing Sakura to slam into a fountain and fall into it. He broke contact for merely a second.

Sakura carefully pulled herself out of the fountain only to feel that strange feeling she got when her shadow was no longer her own. She glared at Shikamaru, “You low b*****d!”

“Not low, intelligent.” Shikamaru reached down and made a couple of mock movements. He made Sakura pull out a kunai, “What luck. My pouch is on the opposite side to yours. Now I don’t even have to bleed.” He whipped his arm in a motion to his stomach and the kunai went right through Sakura’s flesh, tissue and some muscle. The girl winced and bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. At the corner of her eye she could see Itachi watching both Sasuke and her. I have to try to be stronger…for Itachi-sensei.

Sasuke quickly glanced at Sakura when he heard her muffled scream and rolled his eyes. She had known about all the rookies from before she had left and she still fell for their trap. Idiot.

“Why did you come back, Sasuke? You’re not welcome here anymore. Neither is Sakura. And you both know it.” Naruto stared at the other teen, the person he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since he had left.

Sasuke didn’t even bother looking at the now white clad figure who had spoken to him as he watched Sakura fall to the ground, holding her arm and stomach at the same time. “I came back to see you, Naruto. And because my master wanted me to.” He watched as Kabuto ran over to sakura and healed her, asking if she was ok.

Sakura just brushed off Kabuto and walked over to the other two. “Since it seems none of us are happy to see each other why don’t we have a fight? Where we first met as a team?” Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other then to Sakura. “To the death of course.” They nodded. “Tomorrow at noon. Bye.” With that she disappeared, Sasuke following right after. Lee and Hinata gave Naruto a worried look but he just walked off.

wow. i liked the first chapter the best, but they are all amazing