Chapter 6

A Date to Never Forget

"Watch your step, navigating through these woods can be pretty tricky," the silver haired man beckoned to the girl who was a few paces ahead of him. They had been leaping through trees for a while now, a welcome change of pace as they had been afoot for quite a while before happening on the forest that separated the Village from the rest of the world.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei," the pink haired girl responded to her master, effectively slowing down her current pace and allowing herself to draw level with her master, who she had unwittingly gotten ahead of. She had been too caught up in her thoughts earlier to pay attention to her surroundings, something she berated herself for inwardly.

According to the position of the sun above them, it had been nearly six hours ever since they had set off from the village in the wee hours of the morning. The sun's rays beat down on the earth as it spread its shine all over the earth, but luckily enough for them; they were able to escape the worst of it by reveling in the shade cast by the canopy they were currently under. All around them, there was an eerie silence in the forest aside from the side of the rustle of leaves and the tweaking of branches as they leaped from one tree to another, and the occasional sound of birds chirping overhead.

"It's rare seeing you in a hurry like this. You want to find Sasuke that quickly?" Kakashi asked Sakura. The Sharingan wielder of course, had his reservations about this entire matter, from the moment it was sprung up on him, but he figured that they had a better chance of finding Sasuke as a two man cell, a smaller unit compared to how they did things in the past in larger groups. Initially he was compelled to ask why Sakura had chosen to have him tag along, but it wasn't exactly in a negative light, as he had felt that the village had grown awfully monotonous ever since the events of Pain's invasion. However, seeing how silent Sakura had been ever since they had set off from the village gates, he felt that it was a question better left unasked, and that the matter seemed to hold more value for Sakura than it did for him.

"Yeah, well, the sooner I meet him and clear things up, the sooner we can get back to the village and to….."

"Naruto?" Kakashi completed the sentence for her, to which she proceeded to nod brusquely.

"Sorry for making you tag along with me on this, Sensei," She said after her previous gesture, catching the older man by surprise. Ever since they had set out on this venture, he had taken note that Sakura had been quiet the entire time, something which was odd even for her. Even if she wasn't exactly as boisterous and talkative as her blonde haired teammate, she would still maintain a cheerful façade the entire mission and chip in a conversation or two on her part. This time, however, she had retained a completely grim expression the entire team, and it planted seeds of doubt in Kakashi's heart, as much as he tried to reassure himself that everything was alright.

"No worries," he said, smiling at her from under his mask as he closed his one visible eye in happiness the way he always did when he was happy," You're a part of Team Kakashi, so helping you out is what we should do as teammates, right?" He added on, feeling glad that Sakura had not changed at all. She was still the same girl that he had taken under his wing and that he had grow watch from a fledgling to the girl she was today.

Sakura looked to her teacher for a while, before focusing her vision back to the path ahead of her, and allowing herself to smile a little, feeling more reassured in her decision to confide in him about this mission. A memory prodded at her in that moment, of the time when they were kids and Team Seven had just been formed, the three members gathered atop the roof of the school building. She remembered how she had narrated her dream to her teacher with glee, and with a small feeling of shame, the person who she had said she hated as well. How things had come from far since then.

Pondering on it now, perhaps this had been the right thing to do all along. This provided a chance for her to show her teacher just how far she had come on her own as a shinobi, plus she would be able to finally realize what she had always wanted in her life perhaps had not been the right thing after all.

Before she had set on this journey, she had already come to the realization that there was no way she was going to tell Naruto of this decision, even if she was not going to have him tag along with her by any means. She was 200% sure that if Naruto caught wind of this through any means, he was definitely going to blow a fuse. And it wouldn't be the usual comedic bursts that came from him whenever she did something silly before him, it would be genuine anger. Thinking on it, she had never actually quite seen Naruto angry, which under normal circumstances would have been cause for curiosity from her inner, girly part, but at the moment she didn't have the luxury to mull over such things. She needed to get this out of the way first before proceeding with anything else.

In the back of her mind, however, she knew that there was the slight chance that Naruto was going to find out later on….but by that time; she hoped that she would be back in the village, safe and sound in order to tell him herself. Perhaps that would be the perfect beginning to the relationship that she wished to have with him. It was kind of funny, the more she thought of what waited for her back at the village, the more she felt inspired to spurn her feet more and resolve things on her end as soon as humanly possible. It would be quite disastrous if he found out through…other means….

Sakura shook her head to dissipate the stray negative thoughts that threatened to engulf her otherwise, clearing her mind effectively and in time to catch wind of what her teacher was telling her at that moment.

"What about you? Are you sure about this? Sasuke isn't exactly the same person that was on our team, you and Naruto assented to that when you happened upon him in Orochimaru's lair. He might not hesitate to kill you, or both of us for that matter," Kakashi explained to Sakura, feeling more confident to express the doubts he had been harboring in himself for a while now regarding the entire issue. His mind was still reeling with shock he had received when he had received news that Sasuke had killed Itachi. He had never expected any of his students to actually go through with the act of killing someone in cold murder, as he deemed that it was still too early for them to delve that deep into the shinobi world. It would obviously do little to wane Sakura's resolve, but it was worth a shot in order to find out what she thought regarding the matter.

Sakura sounded surprisingly calm when she opened her mouth to respond next, causing the remainder of Kakashi's complaints to die down. "Of course I know we are putting ourselves in danger, but Naruto, he's always put his life on the line for me. Ever since he made that promise to me, no, even before that, he's always been fighting for me. I want to be the kind of girl that can do the same for him. If I can't do at least that much, then, I'm not worthy to stand by his side."

There was a moment of silence after this response by the pink haired girl, and as soon as the last of it had escaped her palate, she realized that she was also surprised at herself a little. Kakashi looked at her for a moment, his one visible eye widened slightly in surprise, but before long his facial expression relaxed and there was a satisfied look on his face. There were no more qualms he had about what they were going to do. Normally, Kakashi would be resolute about her not doing something that dangerous, but it seemed that even without his watchful eye on her, she had grown a lot in more ways than just one. He was impressed by her resolve, and it made him want to root for her even more than he was.

"I see, well, hopefully everything will go well and we'll go home without a scratch, as fit as we are right now," he said in a conclusive tone, as he adjusted his hitai-ate on his forehead.

"Anything come from Pakkun and the others?" The Medic asks her Sensei, finally glad that they are on the same wavelength and can now focus whole heartedly on what lies ahead of them. Earlier on, before they had come upon this forested area; Kakashi had dispatched his ninja hounds to sniff out the area in hopes of catching any hint of Sasuke or his scent. It was more than likely not going to produce any results, but better safe than sorry in such circumstances, Kakashi thought to himself.

From what they had learned of Sasuke on their previous search for him, he was constantly on the move with the team that he seemed to have formed as soon as he had killed Orochimaru. Reminiscing on this, Kakashi gulped a little as he thought to himself that in a worst case scenario, they would have to overturn every rock in the Five Great Nations in order to find Sasuke.

He shook his head. "Nothing so far," he finally replied after checking for the chakra signatures of each of his summons. Summoning them had indeed enabled him to cover more ground, as they were quite a distance away from Sakura's and Kakashi's current position. But unfortunately there were still no positive results to show on their end. "It seems like we need to proceed further in. Wait-"he cut himself in mid sentence, stopping abruptly on top of the next branch that he placed his foot on.

Unconsciously, Sakura followed her master's cue, also stopping herself on the branch of the next tree that she landed on, but that did not prevent the doubt that was fostering in her heart to linger. "What's wrong?" She asked the silver haired man, at the same time looking around her for any sign of enemies or traps that they may have unknowingly triggered.

The Sharingan wielder placed a hand in front of her in a gesture to silence her. The two stood in silence for a moment, nothing around them except a faint sound of the chirping of birds at the tree tops around them. Kakashi arched his head slightly forward, trying to pick up any sounds or look for anything that lay in the murky darkness ahead of them. The sun's rays had seemed to be dwindling in the forest the deeper in they went, something that Sakura had not been privy to until that moment.

Without a further word to Sakura, Kakashi took to the ground beneath them, taking his position behind one of the rocks there, which luckily enough was large enough to hide both him and Sakura. A puzzled expression on her face, Sakura did as she had done earlier, taking her place beside her teacher on the rocks, the doubts in her heart growing more and lingering more than she had wished them to.

Once settled in beside her teacher and making sure that she was out of the view of anyone who might have shown up from the opposite direction, she posed a question to him, currently in the middle of peering from the edge of the rock. "What's wrong all of a sudden?"

Turning back to look at her from the corner of his eye, Kakashi placed a finger on his mouth, and before Sakura was about to protest at being told to keep quiet for the second time without any explanation, the older man pointed upwards in the sky above them. For a moment, nothing was in front of them, causing Sakura to contemplate her earlier decision. Then, it happened.

In an instant, a figure emerged from the darkness ahead of them, causing Sakura's heart to nearly leap into her mouth. Her initial thought was that it was an enemy, but once the figure had stopped dangerously close to a branch that was near them, her eyes finally adjusted to the form of the person. That dark hair that became progressively spiky as it moved backwards, there was no mistaking it.

Uchiha Sasuke was the man that had appeared.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened in shock, and for a moment he thought that he had been caught up in one wild dream. The pain that resulted when he pitched his knee, however, told him that all that was happening was real. But if that was the case then, why was Sasuke there?

It was too much of a coincidence. One moment they were out here looking for the Uchiha, and the next he had appeared here in front of them without as much as a struggle on their side. However, it would not take long for Kakashi to realize that things were not exactly as they seemed.

As if answering the plethora of questions that were currently whirling around in his mind, his eyes vision traversed the rest of his student's body. When he realized what garb Sasuke was currently in, Kakashi's heart nearly stopped. There was no way he would mistake that black cloak that had the red cloud pattern on it. He had seen that cloak too many times in the past in his encounter with people from that group.

Beside him, Sakura voiced the shock that was still nesting in his mind, prompting Kakashi to immediately place his hand over her mouth in order to silence her "The Akat-!" She didn't need to say it out loud for him to realize it; the truth was evident right in front of their eyes.

For whatever reason, Sasuke was part of the Akatsuki.

As if this wasn't enough, something else happened that added to the current state of shock muddled with despair that Sakura and Kakashi were currently in. Moments later after Sasuke had emerged; three figures appeared from the darkness that he had emerged from himself, two of them taking their places beside him and the third one positioning them behind the dark haired male. The three were also draped in the Akatsuki garb similar to Sasuke, and all of a sudden things seemed to piece themselves together to Kakashi.

The white haired boy who was standing on Sasuke's right side spoke up," How long till we get to Konoha, Sasuke? I'm getting kind of tired here." He proceeded to reach inside his cloaks, pulling out a bottle of water and drinking from it a little before returning it into his cloak.

A flash of realization hit him at that moment, and his earlier momentary fears that he had shoved to the back of his mind came back in full force this time. It all made sense now, considering that both of their teams seemed to be heading in opposite directions. Sasuke and his team were headed towards the Hidden Leaf Village.

The orange haired man who was on Sasuke's left spoke up next, responding to the white haired man's earlier query. He seemed to emanate a natural calmness about him that for a moment Kakashi thought he did not fit at all with the group he was in. "According to the birds and animals, we should be able to make it to the village by evening."

Sasuke made no response to that, simply keeping his gaze arched forward and seemingly appearing ready to leave at a moment's notice.

The current state of events had left Kakashi in quite the dilemma. What were they supposed to do now? Stop Sasuke right there and then and have Sakura talk to him like she had initially set out to do…or…

Unfortunately for him, soon enough, it proved that they weren't going to be given much of a choice in the question.

The only female in the group, a red haired bespectacled girl who was the one at the rear, who had stayed oddly silent the whole time ever since the quartet had appeared, suddenly turned her head in the direction where Kakashi and Sakura were situated. The gesture caught Kakashi completely by surprise, but he still managed to whisk his head backwards in time and rest his head on the surface of the rock he was hiding behind with the pink haired medic. He hoped against all odds that he had managed to escape the girl's notice.

"You over there, get out!"

Alas, it was all for naught.

"What are you babbling about, Karin?" Suigetsu asked the red haired girl, peering over from the back of his shoulder. He had just gotten himself rejuvenated and was about to set off with Sasuke once more when her voice had disrupted the group's concentration.

Surprisingly, however, Sasuke scowled a little, before turning to look at Karin and offering her all his attention. In all the time he had spent with Karin, he had learned that he ought to take her seriously at all costs. "Karin, is someone tailing us?"

"No, it doesn't seem like it, the chakra signals just popped up right now. Two of them," Karin reiterated to Sasuke, before breaking her gaze and refocusing back in the general direction where Kakashi and Sakura were.

Kakashi sighed a little in exasperation before musing to himself in a tone laced with defeat," And after masking our chakra presences that well." Whoever that girl was, Sasuke had landed himself one hell of a Sensory Ninja. He adjusted his hitai-ate, an idea coming to him for a moment of whether to use his Sharingan, but he soon decided against it as it was too much of a risk.

It did not take him too long to realize that there was no one in the space beside him, a realization that made a chill run down his spine.

"Oh crap-"It was already too late.

"Sasuke-kun, I came here to talk to you."

Sakura's words just then hit harder than they should have. Well, so much for sitting down and coming up with a plan, things seemed to be out there now.

The pink haired girl was standing a few paces away from where she had been hiding out with Kakashi before, directly below where Sasuke and his team were and in plain sight of everyone in the vicinity. There was a resolute look in her eyes as she looked up at the quartet above her, more specifically at the dark haired Uchiha himself.

If there was ever a hint of surprise in Sasuke's glare at this impromptu reunion with his female teammate, then he never showed it. One of his hands was rested on his waist, and he had that smug tone when he responded to the pink haired girl," Sakura, huh? The fact that you're here means that Naruto is nearby as well, right?"

"Close enough, but unfortunately, Naruto didn't come with us today. It's just us," Kakashi responded, emerging from his earlier hiding place and making his presence known to everyone there. He had a surprisingly relaxed demeanor, owing to the way his hands were in his pockets. Their short lived ruse was already up, so there would be no merit in doing anything else here rather than the direct approach.

Sasuke still seemed unimpressed. "Kakashi, huh? Hmm, well this is quite the surprise," Sasuke mused, closing his eyes momentarily and a smirk appearing on his face.

"Who're they, Sasuke? Your friends?" Suigetsu asked, crouched low next to Sasuke and his attention also shifted to the newcomers that had just graced them with their presence. There was a curious look on his face as he stared down at Sakura and Kakashi, his hands folded and resting on his knees.

"It seems like it. They're from Konoha," Jugo chimed in, his attention constantly shifting between the duo from Konoha and his own teammates. He seemed as if he wasn't particularly interested in the musings of the two, his mind currently racing with more important thoughts.

Realizing that she would not get a better chance to get Sasuke's attention like what she currently had, Sakura decided to pursue her motive. "Can I have your attention for a few moments in private?" She asked the dark haired man in a confident tone.

"No."

The answer came almost immediately, and in a tone as icy as the glare that Sasuke was shooting at Kakashi and Sakura at that moment.

The pink haired girl was taken aback, but she had to remind herself that this was how Sasuke was even in the village, and if she gave up here then things would be all for naught. She would have ended up coming there for nothing. Before she could open her mouth to protest anymore, however, Sasuke cut across her sentence.

"I don't have to listen to anything that you, or much less Konoha has to say," he continued, his tone growing icier with each word that escaped his palate.

That sentence just then caught Kakashi's attention hook, line and sinker. "Konoha? What does Konoha have to do with anything?" He bobbed his head to the side in puzzlement, something in his gut feeling telling him that something really nasty was about to happen.

"You don't need to know that. I'll give you three seconds to get out of my sight," the Uchiha continued, disregarding anything that Sakura or Kakashi had to say to him effectively, and a grim expression making its way onto his face.

"Oi, Sasuke, don't be too hasty. There must be another way we can use them-"Suigetsu said, in an obvious attempt to try and calm down the man, but his explanation fell on deaf ears.

3.

"Sasuke, what's this about? You're acting stranger than usual," Kakashi said, finding it impossible to shake the odd feeling that had settled in his gut from earlier when Sasuke had dismissed them haphazardly. Then again, he had to remind himself that he had not seen his protégé in nearly three years, but even then the boy should not have changed that much, right? Contrary to what he thought at the moment, however, there seemed to be a dark aura pulsating from Sasuke at that moment, and it seemed to grow with each passing second.

2.

"Sasuke-kun, please, I need this," Sakura said, in a last ditch effort to get the dark haired man's attention. She was not about to throw in the towel, even if things did not seem to be on her side at the moment.

1.

"Time's up."

That was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

There was the momentary sound of chirping birds, and Kakashi had the sense to leap towards the pink haired Medic, who he knew was in immediate danger. Sasuke, on the other hand, was all but gone from the tree he had been standing on initially, leaving a whirl of leaves in his wake, adding on to Kakashi's earlier fearful feeling. He had a strong feeling where the Uchiha was about to appear next. He could only hope that he could make it in time.

"Wait."

The air seemed to go still with this deep resounding voice.

Before Kakashi and Sakura, the area in front of them warped in a shocking but eerily familiar manner and a familiar figure appeared where there had been moments before, nothing.

The masked man stretched out his hand beside him, and shortly afterwards, Sasuke appeared, the hand in which he had charged his Chidori technique currently in Tobi's grasp.

Sakura fell limply to the ground, and Kakashi heaved a sigh of relief. For the moment, it seemed as if they were safe, although as they soon recognized the man before them as the masked man who had given them trouble in the past when they first encountered him, it could easily mean that the situation would move from the frying pan and into the fire at the drop of a hat. Then again, it didn't seem as if escape was much of an option at the moment.

"Madara…." Sasuke muttered, while glaring daggers at the man from the corner of his eye. His Sharingan was already activated. "Why did you stop me?" He asked him in an irritated tone.

"Now, now, don't be hasty, Sasuke. They came here looking for you. After all they went through it would be a waste just disposing of them, right?" Tobi said in a calm manner, trying to make the younger Uchiha see the logic in his point of view.

"There's no point in keeping them alive either,"Sasuke shot back almost immediately. He dissipated the technique in his right hand, and Tobi released him from his grip consequentially.

"Not entirely," Tobi responded, before persisting," Think of it this way, you're heading to the Hidden Leaf Village. Ploughing through hordes of shinobi to get to your target might prove to be counterproductive in the long run, but on the other hand, using hostages might actually be simpler and it will help you to achieve your objective easier."

The Masked man stopped talking then, allowing his words to sink into Sasuke. The younger Uchiha remained silent for a few seconds, but to Kakashi and Sakura it seemed like a whole eternity before he finally made up his mind.

"That…does sound like something worth trying out," Sasuke said, arching his slowly to look at his two teammates.

A grim smile slowly etched its way onto his visage.

The day seemed to go by in a flash ever since Naruto had consented to going out with Ino on a date in the morning.

He was not sure where it had all started.

For what had been probably the first time in his life, he genuinely had a nice time without ramen being involved.

The entire day had seemed to be a bustle of activity, which was quite surprising, considering it wasn't even the festive season of the village yet.

In the morning, they had taken a walk through some flower gardens that Ino seemed to have picked out before. The first time Ino had told Naruto that she had wanted him to help pick out some flowers for the shop, Naruto had cringed. This had earned him a stern look from the blonde woman, a look that literally had him quaking in his boots and had him unwillingly agree to her whims.

He had even put some flowers in her hair at her insistence, but as soon as he was done, he thought that she looked really pretty.

In the afternoon, they had gone to have lunch at the barbecue stand where Ino told him that she always had meals with her teammates once they had returned from huge missions. At first, Naruto had been baffled as to why she would choose somewhere like that, when there was the all great Ichiraku Ramen, and since from the little he knew of girls they didn't like eating meat a lot since it increased their body weight. Chouji was a fine example of this, even if he wasn't a girl.

Surprising him, however, Ino admitted to secretly loving the barbecue served at that place, and the reason that she did not want to admit it to Chouji and Shikamaru was that she deemed it would be too embarrassing, plus it wouldn't be a girly thing to do. As soon as she had revealed this secret to Naruto, however, she had immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment, before telling him that if she ever told another living soul…well then something would happen to him that would make the readers cringe in their seats.

So it was with that little secret in mind that they spent the rest of the afternoon dining and drinking and making merry of each other's company. Of course, at first Naruto had been extremely uncomfortable as the threat from Ino was still ringing in his ears, but soon enough, he managed to steady his nerves enough to actually have a good time. It even escalated to the point where occasionally, Naruto would make a jape or a witty remark that would solicit at best a chuckle, and at worst rib-cracking laughter from the girl that would draw the eyes of all the people in the barbecue shop at that moment on them. Initially the notion had made Naruto uncomfortable, but soon enough, he grew well desensitized about it and he even joined Ino in her sporadic bursts of laughter.

After they were done with the barbecue stand, Naruto could have sworn that he had spent more on the bill total than his saving allowed him to, but luckily for him that day Ino seemed to be in quite the generous mood. Something in his gut told him that she had probably shoe horned her dad into giving her the money she needed for that day, but he decided not to pander over it any longer as it was quite a scary thought. Still, the realization that Ino had paid his part made him feel a little guilty, but he shrugged the feeling away, knowing Ino would never let him hear the end of it if she caught onto his slight feeling of guilt.

But what took the cake for him that day was definitely the evening. They had chosen to go to the park where Naruto hung out as a kid with Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba. It was nothing extraordinary, really, but perhaps that was what had made it more special all the same. Seated on the swings that were still there, he and Ino simply talked and chatted about the most random of things. It had churned up more laughs and giggles from the blonde girl than it did the man, as she found herself revealing some of the most embarrassing secrets of her youth, such as her rivalry with Sakura over Sasuke's affections.

Before Naruto had known it, the sun was already disappearing over the horizon, casting a dim shadow over the village that signaled the herald of the evening. That meant that it was time to go.

"I had a lot of fun today. Thanks, Ino," Naruto remarked to the girl, the two of them now walking towards Naruto's house. He was really glad that he had decided to take her on her offer, and a small part of him wished that more chances like this availed themselves in the future.

The sudden gesture had flustered Ino more than she had expected, and she found her cheeks growing red beside herself. She quickly brought up her hands to cover her cheeks and hoped that Naruto would not take note. They were currently standing at the foot of the staircase that led up to Naruto's house.

Naruto seemed oddly gleeful that evening, and Ino had a funny feeling why. She actually felt a little bad that things weren't going to go as well as he had probably envisioned them, but even then, she was prepared to stick by her best friend through thick and thin.

"Now then, time to go see Sakura-chan!" Naruto added on, and the ear to ear smile on his face just then seemed as if it was about to leak out and infect the people around them.

The red that had inadvertently stain her cheeks from Naruto's earlier remark ebbed away from this statement and a feeling of guilt nearly washed over her, but it all came to a halt when she saw the bright smile Naruto had on his face just then.

It almost made her want to mirror the action in kind, but she needed to do something else at the moment. The blonde man turned his back to Ino and trudged cheerfully a few steps away from her and in the opposite direction, when she called out to him.

"Naruto…." She said weakly, a little hesitatingly as a small part of her wished that the man did not hear her just then. Unfortunately for her, Naruto heard her loud and clear, stopping in his tracks and turning back to look at her.

"Ino?" He asked, and there was a curious expression on his face.

Great, now what was she supposed to say?

For a moment, her mind ran blank, and she simply stood there dumbfounded. A thought occurred to her at that moment and she contemplated sending him back on his way, dismissing her earlier call. Still, the feeling that had lingered in her for a while all this time kicked in, reminding her that she had a responsibility in what was about to transpire.

"Let me come with you," she said, immediately grabbing for the first words that popped up in her mind.

Naruto folded his hands across his chest, closing his eyes in thought and tilting his head to the side. Ino feared that he was going to deny her request in favor of enjoying a little privacy with Sakura as he had something important to tell her.

Luckily, it seemed that wasn't going to be the case.

"Sure, I don't see why not. But when I'm talking to her, could you wait outside for me?"

That was more than she needed.

Nodding silently, she took his place by his side, and together they set off for the pink haired girl's abode.

A/N: Originally this chapter was supposed to be longer than this with a few more details than what has happened here, but I figured that what's left can easily be squeezed into the next chapter. I hope this chapter turned out okay though; it definitely carried just the right amount of details that I wanted to portray in it, and in the right manner I wanted them.

So as always, make sure to read, review and enjoy. Lots of love!