Another new chapter!

Ok has calmed down enough now to start writing again =D

Sorry for the delay, I had for the second time broken another charger but not only that I had little motivation writing this chapter.

I've also had a busy summer; I've been trying to balance out spending time with friends and writing stories. I can't spend all my time writing because that's how writers block and lack of idea's come into play.

I would also like it if you people would vote in my poll on my profile for what story I should start after I finish some of these stories.

I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks and Enjoy!

20/05/2011 - this chapter has been edited from this date, this out of all the chapters, has had the most editing done to it, its for the reason that ive had some new ideas i wanted to throw in and the way it was beforw was a bit rushed. So i advise re-reading the whole story again if you had previously read this story before this date.

Taemei

Never Existed

Chapter 4

9 jounin shinobi walked into Tsunade's office. What was once Teams 8, 10 and Gai had finally arrived.

"Tsunade-sama here are the requested teams." Shizune stated.

"Arigato."

The 9 ninja's walked into the room as Shizune held the door open for them, closing it when they were all inside. It was then they noticed that Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi were there.

Tsunade watched as they all entered her office and lined up in front of her desk. How grown up and mature they were now from the genin she once knew them as. All of these now almost adults uniquely talented in their own special ways. Slowly but surely each of them, even if none of them noticed, exceeding their predecessors. These were probably some of her best shinobi.

"You summoned us Hokage-sama?" The blonde hokage turned to look into a pair of pale lavender eyes; Neji was never one to beat around the bush, always straight to the point.

"Sasuke? Sakura-chan? Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here my youthful friends! Were you called for the emergency as well?" clad in his green jumpsuit, Lee seemed to have too much enthusiasm an emergency situation should have.

Neji turned and lightly glared at Lee for interrupting. Why did he have to ask such a stupid question? It was obvious what the answer was. The Hyuuga branch member had to wonder though, as did all of them in fact. Why on earth had Tsunade called the old genin teams into her office? None of them had been together with their old teams in years.

Tsunade coughed into her hand to gain everyone's attention. "Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, TenTen and Lee. Do you remember a blonde ninja who was on Team 7 called Naruto?"

She already knew what their answer was going to be, but it was her role as hokage to ask. All nine of them looked at the blonde woman with incrediable confusion.

"Hokage-sama, Team 7 has always only consisted of Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura; you know that the Sandaime only did that because he knew the team could cope without the usual third member, as there were an odd number of academy children that year. No one called Naruto has ever been on Team Seven." It was Neji who chose to speak what everyone thought.

What was up with Tsunade today? Had she drank too much alcohol again?

Sakura and Kakashi had closed their eyes as the painful truth was once again spoken out. How many more times did this have to be repeated? How many more times did they have to be reminded that one of the most important people in the world to them had been forgotten?

No one but a lazy genius noticed how the always reserved, ever seeming emotionless Sasuke ball his fists at his side. He raised a single eyebrow but said nothing about it. Choosing to observe for now rather than speak.

What was affecting the Uchiha so much? It couldn't be because of this Naruto person, could it?

"Sasuke show them."

Sasuke took a few moments to calm himself inside, before nodding.

Everyone watched as he reached into his pocket for something and handling it with extreme care, pulled out a stunning greenie-blue stone on a necklace.

Tsunade gazed sadly at the stone, "Look at that necklace and you'll understand."

The nine oblivious shinobi looked at and studied the necklace carefully as it glistened in the light.

Tsunade, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi watched as one by one thier eyes glazed over.

-::-::-

Outside the office window a figure was silently watching what was taking place inside.

It's nearly time…

But just as quick as it appeared it disappeared again.

… for the game to begin.

-::-::-

The minutes ticked by.

Slowly the nine shinobi's eyes unglazed as the locked up memories were free once again.

Sasuke put the necklace back in his pocket.

Hinata had collapsed to the floor with her had over her mouth, tears building up. Kiba was right by her side rubbing her back and trying to offer his girlfriend comfort.

No one moved or spoke. They had no idea what to say, what were they supposed to say. The person that had made the most impact on their lives and they all just suddenly forgot him. It wasn't possible, something was terribly wrong.

Shikamaru's eyes were wide along with everyone else's but he was the first to speak up. "Hokage-sama, w-what's going on?"

Tsunade face turned solemn. "Naruto no longer exists to anybody in this village; however I'm not entirely sure if it is just this village, or everyone who knew him."

"How?" Ino screeched, sure Naruto annoyed her but that didn't mean he wasn't her friend.

"Sasuke and Naruto had an argument after a mission. Some hurtful things were said and Sasuke in his rage wished Naruto never existed- "

Slap!

Sasuke face turned to the side with the force of the impact. Bringing his hand up to his now red and stinging cheek, he glared into pale lavender eyes.

"Hinata!" everyone shouted, eyes wide evident of the shy girls sudden out of character action.

"How could you!" the blue haired girl screamed tears streaming down her face. "How could you do that to him? After everything he has done for you! He would move mountains, fight thousands of shinobi, he would probably go so far as to die for you! And you go and repay him by saying that!"

All people present in the room remained silent, they couldn't argue against what Hinata had said, because it was true.

Everyone knew Hinata still had feelings for the blonde, she always would. Going out with Kiba didn't change a thing – don't get her wrong she loves Kiba with all her heart – but Naruto would always hold a special place inside her. He was after all her first love.

Sasuke's face was covered up by his bangs and his fists were clenched at his side. Didn't she realise he already knew that, he already felt bad, what more did she want from him?

He was only human and theirs only so much self control one has before they snap. Naruto had pushed that control to the limit, and like any normal person would, Sasuke had snapped. He knew it didn't change the fact that the words he said were nasty and spiteful, but they needed to cut him some slack. It's not like any of them hadn't said anything awful when someone pushed them. But it was just his luck that the effect of his words could change everything.

It was always his damn luck everything went bad around him.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The loud noise surrounded the quiet room. Everyone turned to face the source of the clapping.

A black cloaked figure stood leaning against the door post.

"You!" Tsunade shouted standing up from her chair. This must be the person Sasuke had spoken of earlier.

All 12 shinobi stood in front of the blonde sannin in defensive positions. How did they get in the office without at least one of them noticing? In fact how did they get into the village, without anyone at all noticing them?

"What a brilliant performance, full of such drama!" the figured chuckled obviously highly amused.

"Who are you?" TenTen demanded.

"Who I am, is of no concern to you." pushing off of the door frame, the figure looked at Sasuke. "I take it these are the people you have gathered up for the game."

Everyone turned to look at the raven haired Uchiha. What did this person mean by a game and what did Sasuke have to do with it?

Before they could ask any questions Tsunade slammed her hand down on her desk.

"Who the hell do you think you are!" she shouted. "I demand to know what you are trying to pull off making one of my shinobi gather up team members for a sick game just to get information! Where is Naruto?"

The accusations that everyone we're slowly coming up with diminished, so Sasuke had no choice but to gather everyone up.

"Now Lady Hokage there's no need to be rude."

Tsunade's fists were shaking, she was the one being rude? It was him who had entered her village without permission, him that had taken her blonde away. She was rude? No it was him that was rude. "Why you-"

Sakura placed her hand on the shaking woman's shoulder; she knew the poor woman was upset and angry. She had seen the way Tsunade looked at Naruto, and did everyone. A look full of adoration and love. Not the love of a lover, but that of a brother or son. "Calm down Tsunade-shishou, throwing abuse back and forward is going to get us nowhere."

Tsunade's shoulders relaxed slightly and she let herself control her upset and rage. Sakura was right, shouting and screaming at one another wouldn't get them any closer to finding Naruto. But she wanted answers. The boy she treasured most in this world, the boy she swore to protect and make his dreams come true was in danger.

The figured eyed the pinkette up slightly. "Ahh… Haruno Sakura, always the one to try to keep arguments to minimum. Especially when it was between Naruto and Sasuke."

"H-how do you…" the medic-nin stuttered.

"How do I what? Know your name?" he chuckled. "Naruto of course."

"WHAT?" everyone shouted.

"You're lying." It was the first time Sasuke had spoken since this person had turned up. Choosing to observe and analyse first. His eyes narrowed as he continued to speak. "Naruto's one of, if not the most loyal ninja to Konoha. He would never tell you anything, now where is he?"

"Why do you care Uchiha Sasuke?" the figure asked, well it was really more of a demand. "All you ever did was call him names and put him down. It was you who also wished he never existed. I simply made your wish come true."

Nobody was too surprised at the person knowing Sasuke's name, come on who in the shinobi world didn't know who he was – or had at least heard of the name?

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Well next time you should be careful on what you wish for." all people present in the room knew that if they could see the person's face he would be smirking.

Sasuke glared.

Who the hell did this guy think he was? But no matter how much Sasuke wanted to slice his throat and dissect his body they need the information he had about Naruto.

Naruto was first priority.

'I never thought the day would come when I would think that.' if they weren't in their current situation, Sasuke would most likely have laughed at his thought.

But they were in this situation, and now wasn't a time for jokes.

"Well, enough about all this." the figure's voice turned serious. "Let's get this game started."

Tsunade glared. "Now wait a-"

"My game, my information." the person's voice turned deadly low. "My rules."

The room became deadly silent, the truth of the words settling uncomfortably in their stomachs, what could they do or say to that? There wasn't really a choice, they could do nothing but listen and obey. It was frustrating being reduced to this. They needed the information this person had, and he wasn't going to just give up his information either. Playing along could also not get them their information, he could still refuse to tell, but what other choices did they have? This was the only lead they have.

"Everyone is to meet me at Team 7's old training ground in three days." The figure chuckled at the angry faces of Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke although the later hid it better than his other two team mates. He knew they knew he chose that place on purpose. Well he was going to have as much fun and rub it in their faces as much as he could.

And just like he appeared he was gone again.

"Dammit!" Tsunade shouted punching her desk. "Is this what we've been reduced to? Helpless obeying idiots!"

"Hey!" several voices shouted.

"Shut up!" the blonde woman directed at them. Slumping down in her chair, she sighed a heavy sigh. "We really have no choice do we?"

Shikamaru easily caught onto what Tsunade meant. "But it's obviously a trap."

"Don't you think I know that!" she snapped, realising that she was loosing her temper again, the blonde woman sighed again for the countless time that day. "What other choice do we have though, we need the information he has."

"We have no guarantee he actually has this information though hokage-sama. And even if he has, who's to say he will willingly give it if we do win." Shikamaru had gone through many possible outcomes in his head, these being the most probable ones. "Troublesome." He mumbled in afterthought.

The room was once again plunged into silence. Each one of them was slowly letting all this sudden information sink in, trying to think of ways they could help make this situation tip into their favour.

"I'm in." everyone turned to the person who spoke, last Uchiha heir was stood there with the confidence he always had. "Who's with me?"

Sasuke glanced about the room, looking at each one of them. He was certain all of them would join him. He didn't care if it was a trap; this was the only way to get Naruto back.

"Me." Sakura stepped forward, joining Sasuke at his side.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, all those years of teaching his students teamwork had paid off. "Me too."

Everyone else immediately voiced their agreement as well. Naruto would do the same for them and had helped them all in one way or another…

… And it was about time that they returned the favour.