Okay guys, finally back. Enjoy the most recent installation.

The day finally arrived for Sasuke to abandon his village. As he walked down Konoha's main stretch towards the gate, he focused on every building, burning the images into his memory. As he drew near the gate a single figure stood near a bench at the side of the road. The pink immediately marked her as the female member of his team.

"Sasuke, where are you going?" she asked. Sasuke stared at her for a moment, trying to decide what to do about her.

"This village has nothing left for me. Get out of my way." as he said those words he cringed inwardly at the look on Sakura's face.

"But, the team was starting to go so well! And I was, you were..." she trailed off in tears. Sasuke had to steel himself to say the next words that had to be said.

"Did you think that I would seriously date a nobody like you? I went out with you to shut you up, nothing more. An Uchiha must marry a woman of stature. Not some simple girl from a no name family." His voice never changed pitch, and he did his best to instill the sense of arrogance that he had once shown into his words. It was harder for him than it had ever been, the words themselves sounded hollow in his own ears, and they caused his gut to wrench with every syllable. To Sakura however, the words were a death sentence. All she could do was stand and sob as Sasuke brushed past her, making his way through the gate, and into the forest beyond.

/

Naruto glanced at the clock on his wall before running his hands through his shaggy blonde hair. For a moment he thought about cutting it, but then decided not to. His haircuts usually ended up looking horrible. Glancing out the window, he noted that it was already dark. Sasuke would be leaving right about now. He frowned as he thought about having to hunt down the boy he had come to consider his brother. He thought for a moment about the date he had promised Ino. He had made it knowing fully that he would have to cancel it due to this. The knowledge that it was duty coming before pleasure didn't help ease the pain of having to let her down. He had become quite attached to her over the last several months after the chunnin exams, and hated having to let her down. He also wondered about Sakura, and how she would take Sasuke's 'betrayal'. Whatever happened, he knew that all hell was about to break loose.

/

A knock on the Hokage's door alerted her to Sasuke's departure. Immediately she called for the pre-alerted retrieval team. Within five minutes, Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba and Chouji stood before her. Tsunade placed the privacy jutsu's before she turned to the five ninja.

"Sasuke has made his break. It's time for the second half of the mission. The five of you are to effect a retrieval attempt. Remember, Sasuke's mission is to infiltrate Orochimaru's organization and learn how to control the curse mark, sending information to us as he is able. Do not, I repeat, do not allow his mission to be compromised. That means make a serious effort to capture him, but stop short of a genuine capture. If possible, eliminate or capture some of Orochimaru's minions. We may be able to use some of them as information sources. Now go." the team saluted before racing off towards the gate. Tsunade sat down at her desk, pulling out a bottle of sake.

"Good luck Sasuke, I wish you the very best." she whispered.

/

As the team gathered at the gate Naruto glanced over at Shikamaru, the leader for the team this mission. The chunnin noticed his gaze and nodded slowly. The two boys slowly looked around at their teammates, meeting their gazes one by one, till everyone had made eye contact with everyone. Shikamaru let out a deep sigh.

"Everyone knows their job. We've all gone over this. Kiba and Akamaru at the fore, me just behind, Naruto behind me, then Chouji, then Neji. Be careful, no heroics." everyone nodded swiftly and prepared to take off.

"Naruto!" the blonde turned his head slightly towards his approaching teammate. "Please, you have to bring Sasuke back!" she said.

"I'll do what I can Sakura. But I can't promise anything this time." Sakura seemed to recoil. Naruto had never been unsure about anything, but now, he seemed almost hesitant to leave.

"Naruto?" she whispered. The blonde didn't turn any farther, but it seemed to her that he flinched.

"We'll get him back." he whispered. "We'll get him back." he faced towards the woods, and was about to nod to Kiba to lead off, when another cry stopped him cold.

"Hey, Naruto! Shikamaru gave a loud sigh.

"Troublesome blondes." he muttered. Naruto smirked and turned around to look at Ino, who was running up. She skidded to a stop right in front of him, reached out and grabbed his collar. "When you get back we are going on a date you hear me?" Naruto raised an eyebrow before reaching up and removing Ino's hand from his collar.

"Alright fine. You'll get your date." Ino grinned and stepped back. "Kiba, let's get out of here before any more of Konoha's kunoichi decide to pester me." Kiba shook his head.

"Of all the luck." he snorted before jumping away into the forest. As the rest of the team followed, Sakura turned and walked back into the village. Ino watched her for a moment before turning back to where the retrieval team had already disappeared.

"Good luck Naruto." she whispered, then turned and ran for home.

/

The team moved rapidly through the forest, but finally stopped to rest.

"You know we're running the risk of detection stopping like this." a large heavyset man grunted.

"So? That tub is heavy, and unless you want to carry it Kidoumaru, I think that this rest is needed." the six armed man who had spoken shook his head.

"I'm just saying that they've probably discovered his disappearance by now. They'll have sent out a retrieval team as soon as they can."

"Can you two keep the noise down. It's irritating." the pair looked over at the only woman in the group. She hadn't said a word since leaving Konoha, so both men had almost forgotten she was there.

"Tayuya, so you are here. I almost feared we'd left you back in Konoha." It was a man with a second head on the back of his neck that had spoken. Tayuya, a woman with fiery red hair, scowled at the two headed man.

"Shut up Sakon. I've been running next to you this whole time. If you haven't seen then you're blind." Sakon lunged forward, only to be stopped by the large man.

"Enough, we need to move soon, or Konoha might find us." turning to Tayuya, he raised an eyebrow at her, stating his question perfectly. Tayuya just shook her head at Jiroubo before standing and starting to walk away. As she reached the edge of the clearing, a kunai flashed in front of her face. The group was suddenly on high alert, and looked frantically from tree to tree.

"We're here for the Uchiha, leave him to us and you can go. Try to resist and we'll cut you down." the voice was strange, as though spoken through a tube and over great distance. Jiroubo slapped his palm on his thigh.

"Orochimaru-sama would kill us if we returned empty-handed. You'll have to fight." with that a large Konoha genin jumped down, a super-sized hand nearly flattening Tayuya. Kidoumaru snatched up the tub that held the Uchiha.

"Jiroubo! Hold them off!" he yelled as he leaped out of the clearing, Sakon and Tayuya not far behind. Growling angrily, Jiroubo attempted to hit the younger ninja, only to be met strength for strength. The two struggled back and forth for a moment before parting and glaring at each other.

"Chouji, we'll go on ahead. Catch up to us when you can!" a chunnin with dark hair pullled up in a high ponytail yelled out. Chouji gave a nod in response, knowing that Shikamaru saw him.

"Now, it's my turn."

Next chapter: The battles for Sasuke.