CHAPTER EIGHT: STRATEGY

There were hushed whispers among the Nins. Kakashi waited for the room to quiet down before clearing his throat and said, "I know this sounds like a suicide mission. But we have determined that this is the best time to take Sasuke down because he is at his weakest now."

The Nins looked at each other warily but none spoke. Kakashi could not blame them for feeling this way. After all, Uchiha Sasuke had a very bad reputation. He sighed as he took out a scroll of paper and laid it on the wooden table in the center of the room. Everyone peered at it.

Kakashi nodded, his expression stern. "Yes, this is our strategy."

Sakura was staring out listlessly at the window when someone knocked on the door to her room. She glanced over her shoulders as the knob turned and Naruto stepped into the room. He wore a faint smile but already Sakura could tell he carried bad news.

"What is it?" she asked, meeting his blue eyes directly.

"Shino's bugs returned yesterday." Naruto mumbled, stepping into the room and sitting down beside her at the window. "They had Shikamaru come up with a strategy."

Her gaze returned to the window. From where she was seated, she could see the beautiful bloom of flowers and children playing down at the streets. "So it has begun." She muttered.

Naruto nodded, tentatively placing a hand over her shoulder, as if in comfort. "This time, we'll get him for sure."

She turned away from the window and faced her old friend. "Are you going?"

He nodded. Silence hung in the air between them like the curse that now marked her body. "I have to go. It's the only way." He finally said, as his gaze fell to the ground.

The girl paused for a moment, then without a word, hugged her friend suddenly. It was a strong hug, despite the fact that she was still under medical surveillance by the hospital. Naruto almost choked, but Sakura did not let go. And for the longest time, they stayed like this.

Shikamaru let out a yawn, which eventually turned into a scowl when he realized who was the last Nin that was supposed to be reporting. "Seriously, you of all people should be…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Naruto gasped breathlessly as he skidded to a stop in front of the group. "I kinda got held up at the hospital."

The team leader sighed. "Well, whatever. Now that you're here, we can begin."

"Excuse me?" A small voice whispered. Everyone turned around to see Hyuuga Hinata waving at them with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?" Shikamaru shook his head, staring at his papers and back at the girl again. "I'm pretty sure you're not on the list."

"Uhm…" The petite girl muttered, "I'm just here to give this to Naruto-kun." And she pressed something into the palm of the blond Nin before running off.

"Seriously? Can we not have any more delays, please?" Shikamaru sighed. He hated being called to be a team leader. But how could he turn down Kakashi's request?

At the back of the group, someone cleared his throat. "Just tell us what to do."

Shikamaru sighed again. This would be the fifth time he had gone through the strategy. He decided he would go through it all over again.

"The team is made up of six individuals, split up into two groups of three. They would be aptly named the Black Team and the White Team. The Black Team is Offensive and the White is Defensive. The objective of this mission is to acquire Uchiha Sasuke. His current location is a cave that was once an old hideout of the late Orochimaru. There are two other highly dangerous Akatsuki members with him.

The White Team will move and secure the perimeter. There are three points of interest near the cave hide-out. Each member will be over-seeing their point. Objective of White Team is to ensure clearance for Black Team to move in.

The Black Team has two ways of entering the cave. One is by direct front entry, which will be guarded by one Akatsuki member. The other option is by an underwater passage that will take you into the depths of the cave. The Black Team will assign two members to the underwater passage and one member will secure front entry. For this mission, it is priority that all members remained undetected for as long as possible.

The leaders of both teams have been assigned. You have your mission objective. Good luck."