A/N: Don't feel like writing too much here. I don't have much of an excuse for not updating in a while, except college, but you guys would probably roll your eyes at that right?:)

I hope you'll enjoy it.

Thoughts: Eeeeeeeeek!!

Dialogue: "Kishi admitted that,"

Normal: Sakura hearts Sasuke!!!

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ANBU

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By: twinzees

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Chapter Ten

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After jerking awake thanks to my internal alarm clock, I slowly sat up and let out a groggy moan due to the slight ache from my sore muscles. Sending a small amount of chakra through my system, I healed the bleeding tissues before rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Glancing out of my window, I realized it was mid-morning and, not wanting to waste any more time, I rolled up my mat, took a quick shower, and got dressed. After strapping on my weapons and medical supplies, I locked the sliding door and headed down the stairs to exit through the lobby. I wanted to go exploring through the village not only to find a good place to eat but also to figure out the time and place of the exams.

Once my heel made contact with the dusty road, I unconsciously pulled my hood lower and observed the lively street. Considering what I've traveled through in the wee hours of this morning, I thought Oto wouldn't have a lot of civilians living here. Surprisingly, after spotting men, women, and children of all ages strolling around, I almost felt as if I were back in Konoha. Of course, not all these people could be living here because I'm sure a good handful of them were participants in today's exam. But this type of environment with humans surrounding me was more comforting than what I had seen in the town earlier.

As I walked down the wide street, I looked around and saw various amounts of restaurants, shops, bars, and even stands with merchants selling items ranging from food to accessories.

It may not be the best…but at least it's bearable.

Something bright, however, caught my eye and made me pause from my journey down the busy road. Walking near the object that caught my curiosity, I found out that it was a bright colored poster nailed into the building. After reading its contents, I found out that it was announcing the time and place the ANBU exams will be held and where its participants should meet.

Well that was easy…now it's time to grab some grub!

Knowing that I had to be at the West Gate in a couple of hours, I knew I had to have something decent in case the exams lasted several days with me out in the wilderness. So I made a beeline for the best-looking food place I've seen on my adventure down the street: Snakey's.

Yeah, I know. It's a retarded name given Sound's reputation of a village filled with badass shinobi. But when I passed by it earlier, the smell of those pancakes was so appetizing it almost made me drown in my saliva.

After seating myself in one of the chairs in the corner and looking through the menu, a waitress came by to pick up my order. When she left, I was about to take off my cloak but decided against it. I didn't know where Sasuke or any of the others were, so in case they did decide to show up I wanted to play it safe and keep it on. Besides, I told myself after glancing around at the other customers, I'm not the only one wearing one.

As I waited for my breakfast, I took the time to study the neat little restaurant. Although the décor wasn't fit to be a perfect five stars. The place seemed adequate enough to be a family-oriented eatery, if you didn't count the small bar that resided on the other side. Snakey'salso wasn't very big, but it was roomy enough to fit in plenty of tables and chairs with enough space in-between them to make the diners feel comfortable.

Taking several sips out of my glass of iced water, I noticed that the place seemed to be quite popular. Almost three-fourths of the chairs were filled with both civilian and shinobi customers. And the food on several of the tables looked absolutely scrumptious. Even the-…

The sound of glass shattering resounded throughout the interior of the building.

My rambling thoughts ceased when my eyes, along with everyone else's, landed on the two figures that just froze near the entrance.

"Oops."

"Damn it, Suigetsu, now look what you've done! I told you to leave that fucking thing outside!"

"And let someone steal it?! Are you nuts, woman?!"

What are they doing here?!

Putting down my water, I hastily jerked my hood even lower and glimpsed through the opening.

Suigetsu, who seemed to have knocked over an inexpensive-looking vase with his massive sword, attached the blade, which had rested over his shoulder, vertically to the strap on his back. As I observed him, I noticed that almost everything about him hasn't changed much. Of course, his face was more mature than what I've remembered and he gained a little muscle mass. But other than that, his unique white-colored hair was chopped in his usual shoulder-length style, and his violet orbs still held that childish gleam as he smiled toothily at his female companion.

Karin, on the other hand, had changed more than Suigetsu. Although her fiery red hair still had that funky style with one side spiky and the other straight, it was a lot shorter; I'd say a little past her chin. Like Suigetsu, her face had also matured along with her body. The only thing that stayed the same was her eyes: two scarlet spheres framed by black-rimmed glasses.

Right now, I just hoped my chakra pattern has changed so much that she doesn't recognize it.

"Sorry about that miss," Suigetsu flirted as he grinned at the female worker cleaning up the broken pieces, "When I'm about to leave, I can pay you back, full amount."

Karin rolled her eyes and muttered something inscrutable before she snagged Suigetsu by the collar and dragged him further into the restaurant. As they walked in my direction, I pretended to look the other way, but I glanced back up as they passed me to catch the symbol embedded into their forehead protectors.

The Oto symbol.

As they sat down in the table next to mine, I couldn't help but wonder why they would rejoin Sound of all places. I knew they weren't totally happy living in Konohagakure, but when they asked for permission to leave the village two years ago, I figured they would at least go to Mist…Otogakure, I was told by my husband, had too many painful memories for them.

I guess we were both wrong.

"Here's your order." My waitress stated politely as she placed the food on the table.

When she left, I started to slowly consume my breakfast. I chewed slowly so that my sharp ears could pick up what Sasuke's two ex-teammates were conversing about. It wasn't easy because I had to block out all the other nonsense chattering the other people in Snakey'swere making, which resumed when Karin and Suigetsu had sat down.

"Shouldn't he be here by now?" uttered an irritated Karin as she crossed her legs.

"I don't know," shrugged Suigetsu as he picked his teeth with a toothpick, "he's the one who contacted you. You tell me."

"…Do you think it's wise to talk about this here?"

"Uhhh…yeah?"

"In a public area?!"

"Will you relax?"

"I am relaxed!"

"Well enough with the twenty questions already!"

As the two shinobi kept bickering, a third person, a man I guessed whose face was shadowed under the hood of his tan cloak, waltzed through the entrance of the building and headed straight toward their table.

"Sorry I'm late," murmured the stranger as he sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs. "Otokage-sama wanted me to scout the grounds before sending me here."

"No worries," Suigetsu answered before he ordered three pitchers of water, "Now let's get down to business. What were his orders?"

I had to strain my ears to listen to what the outsider said next because his voice just barely got above a whisper.

"Lord Otokage wants you two to help the others find the target…You both should know who it is."

"He wants us to kill her already?" Suigetsu smirked.

"Of course not, dumbass!" Karin piped in heatedly, "He wants us to capture her, right?"

The hooded man didn't answer, but from what I could make out in the corner of my eye, he nodded at her statement.

"Why does he want to do it now?" Suigetsu questioned, "Her husband is here too, you know. What if he finds out his wife is missing and goes haywire on Oto?"

"He won't." assured the mysterious stranger, "Not when she is in our clutches. Otokage-sama said it was the best way to control the Kyuubi."

Oh no!

I thought to myself as tremors of shock ran through me.

They're going to capture Hinata!

After digging through my pocket for cash to pay for both my meal and tip, I casually placed it on the middle of the table and left the restaurant, not looking back as I quickly walked back to my hotel.

I've got to warn the others!

I wasted no time as I packed all the weapons I could find and shoved some extra food into my pack. Once I double checked the room for any scattered items, I headed out once again to the streets. This time, however, I traveled in the opposite direction from where I left this morning. I figured with the ANBU exams starting in less than an hour, I would meet some Konoha ninjas along the way or at least at the West Gate. I really didn't want to confront any of them now. But because one of my closest friends was in danger, it was imperative that I warned someone.

When I arrived at the gate, a good number of shinobi from other villages were already standing in line to register. After taking one glance around and not spotting a single Leaf nin, I decided to get in one of the lines.

Once at the front, I handed the man the envelope Sai had given me. As soon as he finished reading it, the male peered up at me as a smirk broke through his thin lips.

"Uchiha Sakura, eh? Never would have thought I'd see a good-lookin' lass like you here, in Oto, without your husband."

I didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"Just because I'm married," I replied with a bitter smile, "doesn't mean I always have to be hooked to his side. And, for your information, I can defend myself very well without him."

"Well, if you think that way, sweetheart." The asshole chuckled, "then you're in for a surprise on what you're about to face during this exam….Next!"

After sending the guy the coldest glare I could muster, I sharply pivoted on my heel and stormed in the opposite direction from where he was sitting.

Who does he think he is?! I should just go back and put him in his place!

Unfortunately, while I was internally fuming, I wasn't entirely paying attention to where I was going and my shoulder bumped harshly with someone else's. I paused in my rampaging and twisted my head around to apologize but what I saw next made me swallow the words.

I watched in utter horror as I caught sight of the back of Uchiha Sasuke, who seemed to be knocked off-balance from the collision.

Holy hell!!

Not wanting my husband to drag me away from the exams (because I knew he was capably well of doing so), I quickly jerked my head around and took off right before I sensed Sasuke's eyes glare fiercely at my form. And of course, in my panic to get away, I once again bumped shoulders with another poor soul.

"Hey lady!" shouted a voice that I recognized as Kiba's as I kept retreating toward the outskirts of the crowd, "Watch where you're going!"

After several minutes of hanging out behind a group of unknown Sand jounin, I finally had the guts to peek at the group of Konoha ANBU standing near the line of Leaf shinobi. Although their faces were hidden behind masks, I could make out whom most of them were.

"Quite the troublemaker, aren't you?" a familiar voice teased behind me.

"Kakashi," I stated as I kept my eyes glued to my husband and the others, "I need to tell you something."

My ex-sensei listened patiently as I told him the information I learned from Suigetsu, Karin, and the stranger this morning.

"—so from what I heard," I explained as I watched a fox-masked ANBU slap his hand hard on Sasuke's back before wrapping his arm around his neck, "it sounds like they're going to use Hinata as a tool to not only control Naruto--"

"--but also to force him into attacking Konoha," the silver-haired nin finished.

Kakashi and I stood in silence as I watched my husband punch Naruto in the gut. As his best friend sunk to the ground in pain, Sasuke and a couple other ANBU walked toward the West Gate before their figures vanished into the shadows of the forest.

"What the-…where are they going?" I questioned as my ex-sensei moved to stand beside me.

"Sound doesn't have a lot of ANBU. So the Otokage requested for other ANBU shinobi from the neighboring villages to help out in the exams. Sasuke and some others were picked to be proctors…" Kakashi paused in his explanation before he muttered sarcastically, "…though their definition of "proctor" is a lot different from ours…Well Sakura, I need to tell the others about this."

Before he could leave, I grabbed hold of his hand. "What about Suigetsu and Karin?"

"Those two never swore loyalty to the Hokage. To me, they're no better than the other Sound ninja. If you see them, you must take them down, Sakura."

After a firm nod, I released Kakashi's hand. "I'll also do my best to protect Hinata."

The sharingan-user granted me a small smile before making his way to the other Konoha nins.

"I know you will."

To be continued…

A/N: Guess what?!.....IIIII'mmmmm bbbbaccckkkk!!!! Did you miss me?

Well, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. But I can promise you that I'll be working on it. I've already got the whole plot stuck in my head but I need to type it out (which can take a while).

REVIEW PLEASE!