Sasuke didn't realize he'd dozed off until he woke to the sound of a loud crash. He looked around and found Sakura lying in his lap.

"Sakura!" He tapped her shoulder and she slowly began to wake, "wake up!"

"Sasuke?" She quickly got up, looking around, "the moon... It's late... What's going on?"

They both crouched down behind a patch of bushes and peeked over towards the laboratory. Sure enough, there were men standing outside.

"I'm sensing about six guys." Sakura murmured, "should we fight them?"

"Let's wait to see what they do," Sasuke instructed, and she nodded.

"Idiot!" One of the men yelled in a whisper, "are you insane? We're supposed to stay quiet and now look what you've done! Pick that up!"

"I-I'm sorry!"

"You worthless cattle... Master must've really been scraping the bottom of the barrel to find men like you..."

"Hey!"

The door to the laboratory opened and Hansuke stepped out, "what do you guys want?"

"We're just here for the chakra, no biggie! Now you're gonna hand 'em over and be good!"

Before any of the other men could react, as if at the speed of light, Sasuke and Sakura ran forward and fought the men, tying their hands behind their backs.

"Wh-what the--"

"Oh please." Sakura chuckled, "these guys really aren't the guys we were expecting."

"Oh yeah?!" another of the group growled and pulled out a syringe, "bet you weren't expecting this either, then!"

Sakura gasped when the guy she was near proceeded to bring the syringe down on her leg. Before she could get out of the way, Sasuke's hand was on her leg with the syringe in the back of his hand, shielding the needle from stabbing her.

"S-Sa...!"

"You idiots think you could hurt my partner that easily?" Sasuke's voice was dark as he pulled the syringe out of his hand with his mouth and punched the man responsible.

They scanned the rest of the group for any strays but were all accounted for.

"Thank you, again." Hansuke brushed off his coat as Sasuke spit the syringe out onto the ground, "I'm sorry you had to--"

Before he could continue, Sakura gasped and fell to her knees.

"Daliah?" Sasuke turned to her, "you okay? What happened?"

He knelt next to her and saw a similar syringe in her shoulder blade. He gritted his teeth and glanced over at the men. He carefully set his hand on the syringe, pulled it out, looked at it, and threw it aside before setting his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you okay?"

"Y-yeah... Sorry, that just felt... A little weird..."

"Me too." Sasuke looked down at his hand before standing up, helping her up onto her feet, "we need to find the leader of this gang and shut his operation down. Now." He scanned the group of bandits and walked up to one.

"Tell me." Sasuke began, "who's your leader?"

"Pff. I ain't saying nothing, you monster." The bandit spat in Sasuke's face.

"Hm. Thought so." Sasuke leaned in closer to the man's face, "then I guess I'm going to have to force it out of you."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Once he did, he heard Hansuke's gasp behind him. He stared deep into the bandit's eyes and weaved his way into his memory.

"We're looking for...... chakra.... Strongest experiment... Leaving it to you..... Don't fail..."

He saw the men standing before their leader, then he saw the vials and containers of chakra around them. Then he saw the chakra laboratory.

The face of the leader... Show me his face... Sasuke felt beads of sweat fall from his forehead as he desperately tried to find what he was looking for.

"You're Sasuke Uchiha!"

Sakura looked at Hansuke as Sasuke slowly stood up, "ah..."

"It's true." Sasuke turned to look at the scientist, "sorry we didn't tell you until now."

"Oh, don't worry about it! It's just an honor to be in the presence of two legendary Shinobi! That's right! Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha! Of the Hidden Leaf Village!"

Sakura crossed her arms and sighed, "okay, well.... Anything, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked at her, gave her an unreadable look, and she nodded.

She turned to look at Hansuke shortly before walking up to the laboratory entrance just nearby, "the leader's in here, isn't he?"

"Wh-what?!" Hansuke turned around, "w-wait a sec! The leader of the gang?!"

"Come on out." Sasuke yelled, "we know you're in there."

The three stood watching carefully as a man slowly walked out from the entrance of the laboratory, a bag full of chakra slung around his shoulder, chuckling.

"Well, well, well... Leave it to the legendary Uchiha to figure out my plans. Nonetheless, track me down so easily." The young man, probably in his early twenties, smirked, "what an honor."

"That's him." Sasuke murmured, "he's the one."

"H-how do you know?!" Hansuke murmured in horror, "how did he get in so easily?! Where's Shin-Tae?!"

"I took care of him." The man shrugged, "no problem. How nice to have such a convenient source of product in the middle of nowhere like this! Makes my business run so much smoother!"

"Well, that's too bad for you." Sakura cracked her knuckles, "your business ends here."

"Heh." The man smiled, "I'd like to see you try."

_____________________

"Jaxon Yoon. Rogue ninja of the Hidden Cloud..." Sakura muttered as she read through the mission report Naruto gave her. She looked at the picture on the page then down at the man they so easily defeated and tied up in less than 10 minutes, "so this really is him..."

"This was way too easy." Sasuke rubbed his forehead, "to think I spent weeks looking for this guy..."

Jaxon only sat still, his eyes closed and mouth shut.

Sakura glanced over at the bag of chakra nearby then at Hansuke, who just walked out of the laboratory, "Shin-tae?"

"He's fine." Hansuke nodded, "I found him passed out on the ground of the lab, but his pulse is stable and he's breathing. It's all good." He looked at Jaxon and chuckled lightly, "so that's it, huh? The trade's... Over?"

"Hopefully." Sasuke sighed, "if bringing down their leader was the right thing to do."

"We'll wait a couple of weeks and see where the trade goes." Sakura nodded then smiled, "thank you for all your help."

"Oh, please, if there's anything I can do to thank you!"

Sakura set her hands on her hips and looked at Sasuke, "well, there might be a little something you could do for us..."

Later that morning, Hansuke finished corking a small vial barely the size of the tip of his finger. In it glowed green and purple chakra. He attached a string to it, making a necklace, "and here you go! This really didn't take too much time or effort, so this really is the least I could do!"

Sakura smiled at the gift as she held the small vial in the palm of her hand, "it's beautiful! Thank you so much!"

"Anytime! If there's anything more I can do for you, please let me know!"

"We'll be taking off." Sasuke set his hand on Sakura's shoulder, "Sarada."

"Yeah, you're right." She smiled, "take care!"

"Yup!" Hansuke waved as Sasuke and Sakura left the laboratory, shutting the door behind them. Shin-tae stepped into the room and joined him, a small device in his hand, "Shin! Is it done?"

"It is." Shin-tae showed him the screen of the device as he pressed a button, "we have about a few days."

"Excellent!" Hansuke grinned excitedly as he looked down at the same two syringes he'd picked up from where Sasuke threw them outside the lab, "I can't believe this is actually happening! Our experiment... Our dreams! They'll all be coming to fruition!" 

______________________

The next morning, Iruka Umino stood by the sink, drying the dishes from that morning's breakfast.

"I'm coming, just give me a second!" Iruka called as he wiped the plate he held, "ah, Sarada, could you please go get the door for me? Lord Seventh said he was coming to visit the other day, so that might be him." 

"Alright." Sarada set her dishes in the sink and walked to the door. She opened it, "hi, Lord Se... Ah!" 

Iruka set down his dishtowel and ran to the door, "Sarada, you okay? Ah..." He stopped when he saw Sarada standing at the door, her arms wrapped around Sasuke Uchiha. He grinned, "well, if it isn't Sasuke! Back from your mission so soon!" 

"Yeah." Sasuke smiled as he wrapped his arm around Sarada, "Sakura's already home, she told me to come here to get you." 

"She did?" Sarada smiled to herself, "Thanks, Papa... Ah, let me get my things!" 

As Sarada ran off, Iruka walked up to Sasuke, who stood at the doorway, "everything go alright?" 

"Yeah." Sasuke hid his bandaged hand in his cloak, "thanks for watching Sarada. It really means a lot. I hope she's helping around the house at least?" 

"More than what I could ever want." Iruka smiled, "she's a really good kid. She was raised well." 

Sasuke smiled a genuine smile, "I only have Sakura to thank for that..." 

Iruka chuckled, "well, you're her father. You played a part in her upbringing too, believe it or not." 

"You think?" 

"Oh, I know it. She's amazed by Naruto, but she also has a place in her heart reserved for you."

"Papa, I'm ready to go!" Sarada ran up with her bag in hand, "thank you, Uncle Iruka!" 

"Of course! Anytime!" Iruka patted her head as he turned to Sasuke, "take care." 

"Same to you." Sasuke nodded with a smile as he set his hand on Sarada's head, "here, let me carry that for you." 

"Really?" Sarada beamed, "o-okay! Thank you!" 

Sasuke took her bag and the two were off. Iruka smiled as he watched them leave his apartment and walk home.