A/N: I took the advice of Exclair and I became familiar with Itachi's death in addition to when he was reanimated! I will stick with my story of Sakura finding his body about a day after his "death," but instead she will have found him on the verge of death. For the sake of the story, only a medic would have been able to tell he was still alive. Torikai and .Magnolias, thank you both very much! Everyone else, I have read all your reviews, they each make me very happy! Please enjoy this chapter!

Quick, Sakura, think! She thought frantically. Her eyes remained glued on Sasuke's, this was not happening this early into the mission.

"The specifics are confidential, I'm afraid I can't share, even with you two. I can tell you that this patient has been a top priority for quite some time. Tsunade and I are both very eager to see their progress through, after the life they've had, this is the least that can be done for them," she responded, hoping she had managed to keep even his gender a secret. Additionally, she hadn't lied! Technically speaking, at least. Everything she said was the truth, just not the entire truth.

Sasuke only studied her, he trusted what she had said but her hesitation after his question made his curiosity peak for a moment. If what she had said was all there was to it, why would she need to think of her answer? Granted, he supposed she was trying to keep it all under wraps.

"What about your chakra? Is this person linked to it?" Sasuke questioned.

"Hai, for now, their chakra is building. It's the last component to heal in the body in their case. Unfortunately, the most needy, too. I hadn't expected that, but now I will be more aware of their needs," she narrowed her eyes, "This will not affect my ability to complete this mission, captain."

Naruto glanced between the two, both of whom still had their eyes locked on one another. The kyuubi host noted that Sasuke didn't seem to like being call "captain" instead of "Sasuke-kun."

It amazes me how blind you are to what has been in front of you for years, Uchiha, Naruto thought.

He raised an eyebrow, "How much longer do you intend to hold her, Sasuke?"

Sakura realized their position: Sasuke was still cradling her bridal style while he was crouched down on a branch. Naruto had already stood and was looking down at them with his hands on his hips and his head cranked to the side.

She blushed, throwing a hand up to Naruto, "Well, help me up then, baka!"

He grabbed her hand and heaved her up to her feet, "Alright, now can we stop soon? I'm starving!" His stomach roared as evidence that he wasn't lying.

Sasuke stood up and Sakura giggled, grateful that Naruto's newfound issue would hopefully draw the attention away from what had just happened.

"I've up here before on a mission, there's a village about two miles north. It's not much, but there's a ramen stand, I think," Sakura said as she pondered if it was the right mission she was thinking of.

"Really? I don't remember us ever coming this was on a mission," Naruto replied.

She smiled softly but almost sadly, "Neither of you were here, Naruto," she exclaimed, "let's go." With that, she jumped up to the next branch and onward.

Both of the men just felt their heart crush. It was different for each, but no less painful for either. They exchanged looks, understanding the guilt the opposite felt. They had left her with no other option but to be strong. Where those two had left willingly for themselves, she was left alone.

"We failed," was all Naruto mustered before he followed after Sakura.

Sasuke watched their backs get smaller and smaller then he, too, followed suit.

Sakura mentally cursed herself, she knew she had made at least Naruto feel bad. It wasn't her intention, it had just come out. Ugh, dammit.

Naruto caught up to her, she looked over at him and could see he was troubled.

"Naruto, I," she started but then he spoke, "Sakura, I never apologized for leaving you like that. I suppose I had never thought about what you went through and I've never asked. Which is selfish of me, I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened as they both continued forward and she found it hard to swallow. She never wanted to be the cause of the look he had on his face now.

"Naruto, you… neither of you," knowing that Sasuke was on the other side of her, "have anything to apologize for," Naruto looked at her sharply to disagree but she closed her eyes and retaliated his attempt, "I mean it. That's that. We all followed our paths and look, we're together again! So, let's just focused on food so we can get back to the issue at hand."

Naruto smiled, he knew she was being honest but he also knew she was hiding something. Any time the past was brought up, she seemed so sad, it was very questionable to him. Before he could think about it any further he could see the small town up ahead. Then he smelled it: ramen.

Shortly after that, they were seated a ramen stand devouring huge bowls of soup. They were entertaining themselves with brief conversation when Sakura realized she was missing her bracelet. It would appear insignificant to most, it was a simple jade bracelet, nothing meant to catch anyone's attention. However, Ino had given it to her about two years ago as a sign of their friendship, which was very significant to Sakura after their history.

A comment behind her caught her ears as she was looking at ground, "Do you think it's real?" She looked in the direction of the voice, it was a tall man, handsome for sure, who had picked up her bracelet and was discussing it was another man.

"I'll be right back," Sakura said to her teammates.

They watched her walk across the street to a stand where some men were. The man holding her bracelet towered over her, she thought he was maybe Sasuke's height, but then again, this stranger may even have a few inches on him. He had hair similar to the second Hokage's, slicked back but spikey at the ends; it was dark brown, it reminded her of Neji's. His eyes, though, were breathtaking: crystal blue. He was also quite muscular; his shirt didn't have sleeves on it so she could see several small scars on his arms. His pants were bagging but the ends were stuffed into leg high shoes. He looked down at her and she neared, at first his expression was stoic but then it softened which caused Sakura to blush.

"Excuse me, but that bracelet is real and it's very much mine," she said politely, "Would you return it?"

Naruto sat facing the scene, but instead of leaving his ramen on the bar behind him he placed it in his lap and continued to stuff his face.

Sasuke wasn't completely turned around; his legs were facing Naruto's side. However, he could see her through his peripheral vision. Sasuke was acutely aware of the situation whereas Naruto seemed to be watching in amusement, surely waiting for the man to say no to which Sakura would send him into next week.

The man surveyed Sakura's face and smiled kindly, "I've noticed that there is something inscribed on the bracelet, if you can tell me where on the bracelet the inscription is and what it says, I'll be happy to return it to the rightful owner."

"The inside, it reads, 'There, that's better'," Sakura replied looking into his eyes and holding her hand out for it to be returned.

The smirked a little, "Alright, here you go, little miss." Placing it into her hand, she nodded in thanks and went to turn around when he grabbed her hand.

"Might I know your name in thanks?" He asked.

She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes, something the man found attractively dangerous. Sasuke flinched, his hand instinctively finding the hilt of his sword.

Get your filthy hands off her, Sasuke found himself thinking. His eyes narrowed threateningly.

Send him flying, Sakura-chan! Naruto chanted mentally.

"Riaaku Hiba," Sakura lied, "and yours?"

The man released her arm and placed both his hands behind him in a lock, leaning down to her ear, he whispered, "You shouldn't lie, kunoichi, you're not very good at it."

Before he could lean back up, she looked him dead in the eye and sultry spoke, "You're right," then she slithered an arm up his neck and placed her hand on the shoulder farthest from her, "I'm great at this though," right when he went to place a hand on her waist, she censored chakra into the tips of her fingers and shocked his nerves, sending the large man to his knees.

"Argh!" he grunted. His companions, who had been forgotten by Sakura, snickered in response from the stand.

She smiled proudly, "Thank you for returning my bracelet, stranger," she winked, "have a good day!"

Sakura practically skipped back to the ramen stand, Naruto belted out laughing but Sasuke's eyes looked between Sakura and the men. He didn't like this, something about it didn't feel right, not to mention he just plainly didn't like how bold the man had been with her.

Sliding the bracelet back onto her wrist, she slurped up the last bit of her ramen.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" Sakura inquired.

"Alright, back to work!" Naruto yelled, earning himself a smack on the head from Sakura.

Sasuke's eyes remained on the man; he was making his way to his feet when he locked gaze with Sasuke from across the way. He matched Sasuke's glare, then glanced at Sakura's back, and he smiled menacingly. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and activated his sharingan, grabbing the hilt of his sword; their staring match was interrupted by some bystanders walking in the street. When they passed, the men were no longer standing there and Sasuke couldn't sense them.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned.

Sasuke had failed to notice that his teammates had already stood and were waiting adjacent from him at the ramen stand.

"Hn," he responded, getting up and joining them, "let's continue."

The three shinobi started back to the forest and into the trees.

From afar on a rooftop, they had peering eyes.

"Don't you think that was overkill, Ichigo?" a silver haired man with red eyes asked of the stranger who had been dealing with Sakura.

"Kaname, now we know the black haired man is the surviving Uchiha and the kunoichi is strong in chakra control… and appetizing," Ichigo responded.

The third man finally spoke, "Let's begin."

"I don't like what happened back there," Sasuke suddenly said after about 30 minutes into their travelling.

"Why not, teme? She put him on his ass!" Naruto hyped making Sakura smirk in pride.

"That's why, that little act gave away an ability of our team to any shinobi that may have been there," he refuted.

"Oi, c'mon, Sasuke! No shinobi would be there in that deadbeat town," Naruto said.

"Except us," Sasuke stated.

That silenced Naruto and even made Sakura lose her bubbly attitude.

"You don't think, those guys," Naruto started.

"I do. I think they were shinobi but what bothers me is they didn't have any distinguishable featu…," Sasuke started when Sakura grabbed him chakra strings and swung him into a tree along with Naruto.

They both grunted as they hit the trunk.

"Sakura, what the hell?!" Naruto proclaimed.

But she was staring face to face with the man Ichigo who had come up from under them with a double edged sword. He was grinning dangerously at her.

"You're sharp, kunoichi," Ichigo said.

Sasuke and Naruto were about to jump to her when they noticed the other two had circled them.

Sasuke's eyes were locked on Sakura and Ichigo while Naruto was focused on the two arrivals.

"Congratulations, shinobi, you found us," Kaname said.

Sakura's eye widened, "You're…"

"That's right, just the people you were looking for," Ichigo said, "let's play nicely, I'd hate to damage that sexy body, kunoichi."

That was when Sasuke had had enough.

A/N: I'm really not satisfied with this chapter so I'll probably upload another one to add more sasusaku action by Monday. Have a nice weekend!