The fact that I finally finished one chapter is just surprise enough. I want to thank everyone who patiently waited.

Also those who read A PLACE TO STAY and THANK YOU

:)

Just that people are even reading more stories just brings a smile to my face.

Without further blabbing that i am doing, I present,

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND I

Chapter 1

Shikaku sat across from the current Hokage who had a file open on her desk. Shikaku as well had a file but wasn't even attempting to read what it said it was more a skim, rather than a full out read.

Honestly Shikaku didn't even want to be in this office right now. He hated desk work, it was the most boring thing anyone could possibly ever do. That was pretty much the main reason he never even thought about accepting the title of Hokage if he was offered, and his name came up every now and again because of his IQ, too much damn desk work.

Actually too much work period.

The file he was skimming was in fact written very poorly and he could barely even make out what it said. He made a mental note to complain about that later.

"Do you have a team in mind?" Tsunade asked him. He was supposed to be thinkning up a team? He wasn't aware that's what he was supposed to be doing.

What really happened was that he was asked to come see the Hokage, he walked in, and when she gestured him to sit, he did so, and then she forced a file into his hand without a word, and so he began to skim.

"Sorry?" he replied.

"This is your mission, you're the one that pulled together this intelligence team."

"And you're asking if I had a team in mind to infiltrate?"

"That would be correct." Tsunade said closing the file and laying on her desk. Her desk was filled with piles of them. He was surprised she could find place for the current file she was reading.

"Well, I've decided that I will be going myself, sorry, but you're ninja are rather, how do I put it nicely, not up to par with the amount of intelligence needed." Shikaku said placing the file on her desk. "For example I had not even a guess about what the shinobi even wrote in that file it was a complete mess. They should learn how to write before they are sent out into the field." Shikaku scoffed. "Honestly, and you have these people as trained shinobi, I'm surprised they can even eat and breathe on their own."

"You're the one that selected them." Tsunade shot back

"You're the one that handed me the files of all qualified intelligence division shinobi."

"Fine, it's my fault they have terrible writing abilities."

"As long as you admit it." Shikaku said with a victory grin. He figured he complained enough about the mysterious font of writing and tossed the mental note into his mental garbage bin "So myself, and... Genma, I want him, he has excellent skills and I think he has excellent penmanship."

"Very well," Tsunade said and scribbled Shikaku's and Genma's names onto a piece of paper. "Anyone else?"

"Yes, Raido, he gets along with Genma very well, teamwork will be a necessity in this mission and along with the fact they get along so well, they are on par with each other and could probably bring down a platoon of men by themselves." Tsunade scribbled his name down as well. "And finally to complete my team, I need a medic, someone who isn't going to slow us down either, so Sakura."

"Sakura?" Tsunade looked up from her paper and questioned Shikaku's decision which might have been the first time that actually happened.

"Of course, she was trained by you, excellent medic skills of course, can take down someone without a sweat, she took down an Akatuski member, I think that's reason enough, and she won't slow us down, she's perfect for it."

"She's a chunin."

"And Naruto's a genin, do you really think that rank determines a person's strength in this village anymore?" Shikaku joked.

"….very well…." Tsunade wrote down the name Sakura Haruno on the piece of paper as well. Tsunade wasn't happy with the choice it wasn't that Sakura wasn't qualified, she was with flying colors, she just wasn't sure if she could emotionally handle it. "Is that it?"

"I believe so." Shikaku said.

"I'll make a file you four, leave tomorrow morning, I'll get each team member in for a brief rundown on the situation. I'll leave the rest to you." Shikaku nodded and then exited after Tsunade's final words.

In the small diner, there were four young shinobi all sitting at a table. Naruto Uzumaki, a loud blonde haired boy that had the large ambition of being Hokage, Shikamaru Nara, the second smartest shinobi in the village, the first being his father, but was defiantly the laziest shinobi. Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru's best friend and had a rather large appetite. He seemed to be the only one eating at the table. And finally Sakura Haruno, a girl with pink hair and green eyes. She was the one yelling at the boys to quiet down. The four had just returned from a mission and were starving.

"Oi! Leave some for us Choji!" Shikamaru said to him rather annoyed.

"Ms. Waitress can we have some more meat?!" Naruto yelled with a wide grin. Choji chewed loudly and spoke words no one understood because of the food in his mouth.

"Will you three quiet down and act civilized!" Sakura said, irritated by their behavior, between Choji chewing with his mouth open, Naruto yelling at the top of his lungs and laughing obnoxiously, in her ear for that matter, and Shikamaru complaining and repeating the phrase, "What a drag."

Her head was going to explode.

"Haruno Sakura." Said a voice from the side of the table. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over.

"Yes?" Sakura said to the ANBU that had confronted the table. It was rather strange being approached this way in a public place.

Sakura stared at the ANBU waited for him to say something else. She knew ANBU approached ninja to tell them important information, gather them for the Hokage, but most of the time it was for the protection, of the shinobi, the ANBU spoke to. The information or the reason the Hokage needed that shinobi was classified. Typically on a need-to-know basis. It was something she picked up on when she worked with Tsunade herself.

"You are needed by the Hokage, for a mission. She wishes to see you now." The ANBU said and then left the diner by a transportation jutsu.

He wasn't far from her position though, she knew that he would be watching making sure nothing suspicious would come about. It was a good method, if a shinobi was approached by an ANBU at random an enemy attacker could think that the specific shinobi was valuable, they could come out from anywhere and kill that shinobi for the information or take their place for the meeting with the Hokage, however what they don't know is that the ANBU is always watching and would kill that person faster than the shinobi would even realize that they were being followed, something Shikaku came up with years ago, a couple years before Minato Namikaze became the fourth Hokage.

Sakura rose up from the table and waved to the others and left the restaurant with the idea of heading to Tsunade's, the Hokage building. When she went to leave she realized that it was actually pouring out, heavily. She just shrugged and accepted the fact that she was going to get drenched.

She entered the Hokage building and walked up to Tsunade's office, passing Genma on the way, she gave him a wave and a small smile and he gave one back.

She knocked on Tsunade's door and when she heard her yell "Enter!" she opened the door and walking into the Hokage's office. "Oh, good Sakura, you're here."

"You wanted to see me?" Sakura said, and she closed the door behind her.

"Yes, I have a mission for you." Tsunade said rooting through the many files on her desk.

"Really? I just got back."

"You were requested for this mission by the captain in charge himself." She said pulling out a file.

"Oh." Tsunade handed Sakura the file and on the front of the file was a large stamp that read, CLASSIFIED

"This mission is an infiltration and conformation of a hideout found, it is believed to be Orochimaru's." Tsunade began to say. Sakura was skimming over the notes left by one the shinobi who went to retrieve information on this hideout she was about to be sent on a mission to infiltrate. When Tsunade said the name Orochimaru, Sakura remained stolid pretending that the name didn't phase her. "You'll be going with Genma, Raido, and your team captain will be Shikaku. You four will penetrate the hideout, discover if it is in fact Orochimaru's, estimate the amount of people they have, find out if Uchiha Sasuke is still alive and try and find out Orochimaru's other intentions and plans for the future."

"Seems like a lot." Sakura said. She pretended like the name Sasuke didn't have an effect on her either. She was emotionless to the human eye.

"If you haven't guessed already this is an A-rank mission. Shikaku chose you three specifically." Tsunade said and Sakura nodded at what her Hokage had said.

She looked through the file some more and read small notes that were attacted to the file. The notes read why team members were chosen the possibility of success and fail and notes about known enemies, such as Kabuto, Sasuke and the king himself, Orochimaru. "You'll be leaving tomorrow, meet Shikaku at the front of the village." Sakura nodded again and then handed back the file.

"Tsunade, I just don't understand, why wasn't Shizune given this mission, instead of me?" Shizune was more qualified than Sakura, she was a jonin and had been on a whole lot more A-ranked missions than her.

"Like I said Sakura, I wasn't the one who chose you, Shikaku was, you'd have to ask him." Tsunade said and then smiled. "I'll see you when you get back." Sakura smiled and then left the office of the Hokage.

It was still raining when Sakura left the Hokage building. She walked home in the rain without a care that she was getting drenched from the water that fell from the sky. On her walk she saw Naruto in the park that was a few blocks from her house. He sat on the bench being rained on. She wasn't quite sure why he was there in the first place. She should stop by and say hello, ask what was bothering him, or maybe brighten up his mood, but maybe it was better to leave him alone. Continuing her walk she saw Shikamaru running home to get cover from the rain. And in Ino's flower shop it was Ino and her mother cleaning up for the night.

It seemed everyone was carrying on with their lives except her and Naruto, still searching and fighting everyday for their teammate. The very teammate she was bound to run into during this mission.

She finally arrived home and unlocked the door and turned on the lights. Her parents were on a mission in another country and she wouldn't be seeing them for quite awhile. Just in case the mission went horribly wrong she took piece a paper and wrote a message saying she was going a mission, it was highly classified, and that she loved both of them.

She went and packed upstairs in a small bag, things that were essentials. A canteen, solider pills, medical bandages, other medical materials she may need, and an extra set of kunais.

She went into the bathroom next and took a hot shower, changed into pajamas, white pants with pink polka dots and a regular white tank top. She laid out the clothes she would wear tomorrow, and her bag right next to it set her alarm, ate something quick to fulfill her hunger since she was interrupted at dinner with the others, by the ANBU who came.

She finally laid down and fell asleep.

Morning came quickly and Sakura woke up to the screaming of her alarm. She quickly got up brushed her hair, changed, tied her forehead protector on the top of her head, she grabbed her bag took an apple out of the fridge, she took a big bite of it before exiting her house and locking it behind her. She walked through the village and made her way to the gates to meet up with her team to adventure out on this mission.

"How are you this fine morning?" Genma said when Sakura came into his view.

"Fantastic." Sakura responded.

Sakura went on a few missions with Genma and she just learned to expect he was like Kakashi, except on time, but he continuously made comments about how she was pretty, and compliment her on her strengths. However like Kakashi he was the guy that was never left unnoticed and be underestimated in their intelligence, he would shake everything off and remain calm at all times, and always outsmart his opponent in some way and go down with a fight. He almost always told her how she could be better.

He said that he would love to teach me a thing or two about transportation jutsu, and one day I took him up on that offer. She spent a month learning the Flying Thunder God Technique, which by the way was the technique that the fourth Hokage used that gave him the nickname "The Yellow Flash", and fully mastered it by the second month.

She had only worked with Raido on one or two missions. He was nice and the missions she was on with him he was with Genma the whole time, those two were pretty much connected by the hip. Raido seemed to always be around when you needed him.

However, Shikaku was the mystery of it all. The only time Sakura had really ever spoken to Shikaku was when she would hang out with Shikamaru when they were younger. Sure, she saw him around the village and sometimes in the Hokage building, when she was working with Tsunade and he decided to drop by because he was bored and then end up just making everything complicated for Tsunade and Sakura to do their work. His smarts were far more complimented than Shikamaru's and his IQ was apparently a hell of a lot higher. So when he recruited Sakura no one asked questions. Or when he did something that no one understood the reason why people just turned their cheeks and accepted it.

"Now that we're all here," Shikaku said "Let's go, there's no time to waste." He said with a grin and then the four of us exited the village when it was still dark out.

After they had left the village they kept going and didn't stop once. Sakura had been on A-ranked missions before so she knew what to expect and knew how to be calm. But she couldn't help but be a little stiff on the subject on going on a mission and possibly be seeing Sasuke. It's been so long since she saw him and she wondered if he really did change. She couldn't help but fear that the most that he was so completely blind by that ambition of his that he would actually try and kill the people that cared about him and he wouldn't even care about them in the slightest.

It brought back the memory of the day he left when she begged him to stay, to be with her and they could be happy. But unfortunately reality stepped in and stomped on that dream and hope of hers. There was something though that he said that she knew was right and was just the cold hard truth that she finally opened up her eyes to, that they were two completely different people.

She couldn't imagine leaving the village, leaving her friends behind to fulfill a goal. And then subject herself to the snake that is Orochimaru. For that one, single ambition. She often wondered if he wanted to go to Orochimaru at all, that all he wanted was the power that Orochimaru could supply him with.

Sasuke was a different person from Sakura, sure Sakura could try and imagine what Sasuke was going through if she thought long and hard about it, but the feeling she got was probably not the same at all.

The one thing though that kept her thinking after he left was when he thanked her, she often stayed up at night replaying that scene in her head, thinking about if she did something different that he would be here right now and he would be happy without the power Orochimaru had given him. She also asked herself every now and again when she was having a bad day and would be hanging around with Naruto, Ino, or Shikamaru and Choji, or even Tenten, did Sasuke have friends? Did he have fun and laugh there like all of them there at the village would? And if he came back would he be completely anti-social not speak to anyone if he didn't have social interaction while he was with Orochimaru.

She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact of how lonely it must be there in a hideout in the middle of nowhere most likely.

She kept running with the other three and she seemed to begin to start getting in a type of bad mood so she shook her head and tried to get the thought Sasuke out of her head. She couldn't be in a damper mood she had to be the happy Sakura, that everyone saw her to be.

"We'll rest here for the night." Shikaku said and he dropped down into a small area in the forest they ran in. He set down he small backpack he brought and dug out his canteen. Genma did the same but instead of standing he sort of ungracefully plopped himself on the ground and rested up against a tree. Raido sort of did the same but didn't just plop on the ground like Genma, he sat on the ground Indian style and started eating a type of crumb cake. Sakura just stood there not really sure what she was going to do or even if she was going to sit down.

"I'll go find fire wood and start a fire for the night, then go get some fish to cook." Genma said getting up while using the tree that was behind him for his support. He put another senbon in his mouth, which he took out to take a drink, and left the small opening, to find firewood. Raido continued to snack on his cake and she still just stood there not sitting down on the ground at all.

There was nothing she wanted more than to lay down in a soft warm and cushy bed. And shower. Oh she could just imagine how nice it would be to get a shower. It'd be heavenly to wash off all the sweat and dirt in scolding hot water that would melt he muscles and unwind the knots that are in her back.

Sakura finally sat down on the ground and pulled off her forehead protecter. She scratched the parts that were covered up by it for such a time and it felt wonderful. Genma had come back and started making the fire and sitting for couple seconds before he went off to try and catch some fish at the nearby stream. Raido followed him to the stream saying he'd help him catch the fish too. And so Shikaku and Sakura were left together in the forest.

"Nara-san…." Sakura was going to say more but then Shikaku stopped her.

"Call me Shikaku." He said. Sakura nodded and then began again.

"Shikaku, why did you chose me for this mission?" Sakura asked. "I mean, there were more qualified people than me for this mission."

"Well, Sakura, you see for one, you're a medic-nin, second you were trained by Tsunade herself and have her inhuman strength, and most of all you know Sasuke personally and I would imagine have a score to settle with Orochimaru, that kind of drive would help out a lot."

"So I was chosen because I know Sasuke better than the three of you?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, and no." Shikaku said. "At first I considered Naruto, because he's strong and he would be more determined that anything. But he can't do medical ninjutsu, and I really didn't want another team member on the squad because this is meant to be done with a small team so were unnoticed. And so your name came up. And the more I thought about it seemed like the right choice." Shikaku said taking a breath. "Killing two birds with one stone." he said with grin.

"I see."

"Do you have a score to settle with Orochimaru?" Shikaku asked.

"Not really. I mean, he is Orochimaru and he's, in my opinion the worst man on the planet, so I would have the same determination to complete this mission like anyone else, it was Sasuke who came to him on his own choice, Sasuke wasn't forced."

"More like persuaded." Shikaku commented. "Plus, after what happened years ago when you didn't come with my son and the others to rescue Sasuke. I thought this would also make up for it."

"I didn't go last time because I was useless and not valuable in the slightest."

"Don't think that." Shikaku said. "The others came back almost near death."

"Yeah and if I went I would have came back in a body bag rather than near death."

"You put yourself so low on the totem pole Sakura, you made the right choice though, asking Tsunade for help." Shikaku said with a sigh. "Now you are needed for almost everything a ninja does." Shikaku said with a grin. "And you're strong too."

"Thanks, but compared to Naruto…" Sakura said.

"Naruto will always be strong, and he'll always be ahead of others, that's just who he is." Shikaku said.

They was the last words that were said between the two and then Genma and Raido came back with a total of eight fish. Two for each of them. They hadn't eaten since five that morning and they were all starving. Shikaku cooked the fish over the fire while the others waited. Sakura took the time to sort through her bag to make sure everything was still there and there were no bugs crawling around in her bag. She wouldn't be too happy if while she was running and she felt a bug crawling up my neck.

When the fish were done cooking the four ate down the fish faster than they ever ate before, and they talked about the mission plans and spoke about what they would be doing if they'd be home right now.

After they ate they laid down on the cold hard ground and slept till four in the morning and then they rose up again, packed up and left. They ate apples on the run and continued for hours and hours until they reached a small town near the border of The Land of Fire.

They sat and ate in a small diner that had a rather large crowd and the fact that they were ninja was drawing attention. When they walked in the crowds of people turned around to take a glimpse at them. Some were drinking coffee, eating and then others sat at the bar stools covered in dirt and sweat from working. On the way in Sakura had noticed many farms, not the large ones, but the really small ones that only grew one crop and had a few animals.

They sat down at a table in the corner and all ordered glasses of water. Genma had ordered pumpkin broth and Yakiniku(a), Shikaku ordered Donburi(b), Raido got Sukiyaki and Sakura got a rice balls with umeboshi(c).

They ate and relaxed for a little until headed out again. Once they crossed the border they decided they would stop now, get up early tomorrow and would get there by noon.

The ritual like the other night played again they ate fish, talked, slept on the ground.

They got up early and then left and were scheduled to arrive at the hideout around noon. They didn't stop until we all started sensing large chakra over in a large area in the woods. Around many tall trees. They stopped right then and there to conceal their chakra even more and Sakura had to take a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath.

Sasuke could be there.

Sakura started to think about what would she would do if she did in fact see Sasuke. She wasn't that girl anymore than screamed and cried because she wanted something or one that would beg for something for her own selfish reasons.

So what would she do?

Ask his to come back because everyone missed him?

The village needed him?

His power and skills aren't being used for good with Orochimaru?

He's wasting his time there?

All those answers he could easily fire back with a retort of his own about his brother, power, and the death of his family the things that were the center of Sasuke's world. And nothing else mattered. That was another difference between him and her she thought too much about other people rather than herself, and all that he thought about was himself and his revenge.

They stood in the tops of trees for a bit moving every now and then closer to the hideout. Genma was on the north side, Raido on the south, Sakura on the west, and Shikaku on the east. They used radios to communicate with each other.

"So far on my side I see two."

"Two over here as well."

"I got a full view of four."

"Seven, and it looks like two are the big guys on campus."

"A total of fifteen."

"What should we do?"

"Raido, take out the two on your side."

….

"Taken down."

"I took mine down as well, so we're down to eleven. Sakura take out the four."

"Got it." Sakura sent kunai into all four of them at once. And they all went down to the ground.

"And then they were seven." Genma said.

"All of us go to Genma."

The three moved over to Genma and once they met up Shikaku took a look at the seven, and two guys that looked strong.

"We should take out the five before the other two so the five don't get in the way." Shikaku said. "Raido, Sakura get down there and take out the five, quickly, then myself and Genma will take out the other two, you two will help when you take out the five, it shouldn't be hard."

It seemed all too easy.

Thanks for reading :) Hope you're excited for the next chapter, I'm going to make this a weekly thing. Chapters will be up every Friday. Between work and everything it's just easier if I do this. Thanks :)

And PLEASE REVIEW, I love your opinions!