Note: an idea I recently polished. Will be short, with 200-500 word updates and fast-paced. Will contain small scenes each time, the rest is up to your imagination. Cheerps!

Word-count: ~14K

Chapters: 50

If only things were easy...

That's what he thought to himself, when they told him one of his students had gone missing. He asked which one, and they told him it was the girl. Of course, it couldn't be the strong one or the resilient one. No, it had to be the weak one - he hadn't trained her to be a frontline combatant… even less, to resist torture.

A small part of him hoped that the peace would last long enough to take it easy, but she paid for his mistake. Perhaps there was guilt lying underneath… but he wanted to keep her safe. A good ninja doesn't make the same mistake twice.

He blamed himself, of course, but his students thought otherwise when he told them. Apparently, the excuse of "she's sick" didn't work - the fox boy snuck into her house to make sure she was alright, after the third day, and he only found her parents crying. It was strange, for the blond. He had seen many other orphans, but never grown adults openly mourning the loss of their child.

The boy and his teammate declared a truce to work together, until they managed to finally get a response from their team leader. She had been kidnapped. No one was exactly sure why. Sakura Haruno had merely disappeared, and the reason wasn't known. The two kids looked at each other, sharing an understanding glance. They knew something he didn't, but they seemed even more determined now.

It was strangely heartwarming - the fanboy and the aloof prodigy, who usually bickered amongst themselves, teamed up once more to try and convince their sensei to rescue her.

He said no. And his tone was particularly harsh when he enunciated "Itachi".