"Ohayo" Kakashi called as he entered Ichiraku's Ramen to see his chuunin sitting together in content silence.

"Hn" "You're late" "What?" The three said at the same time causing the Jounin to sweatdrop.

"What are you three doing? Shouldn't you be training?" Kakashi questioned as he took a seat and ordered a bowl of Miso Ramen.

"We just finished" Naruto said with a smirk "We've been practicing some new jutsu's, Sensei. Just a few more sessions and we'll have mastered them" Naruto grinned.

"Dobe, we won't have mastered them. That takes years. We'll just know it better"Sasuke quipped causing the blonde to roll his eyes at the Uchiha.

Sakura shook her head before looking back at Kakashi "Where were you, Kashi-Sensei?" 

Kakashi smiled at the three "I was speaking with the Hokage"

"About what?" Naruto questioned as he went in to slurp on his ramen.

"About you three leaving the village" Kakashi said.

They paused before Sakura spoke up "You sold us out, Sensei?" She asked, unsure.

Kakashi chuckled as the three looked as though he'd just killed their childhood pets in front of them.

"No, no. Nothing like that" The Jounin waved off their concern.

"What did you talk about then?" Naruto questioned as he finished his fourth bowl.

"Well, the Hokage has agreed to let you three leave the village for three years to train but then you have to come back" Kakashi announced with a smirk.

"E-Even me?" Sasuke stuttered, shocked that he wouldn't have to leave the village forcefully. He would be allowed to come back once the years were up and live peacefully. 

"Hai, even you." Kakashi eyed the Uchiha carefully, wondering if he'd found the village a burden.

"That's great! that gives us plenty of time to become stronger" Naruto grinned before going back to focus on the ramen.

Kakashi raised a brow at the blonde before turning back to Sasuke "You'll have to head to the land of lightning. There's an old friend of mine that'd be willing to train you" The Jounin said as he glanced down at the hot bowl of miso soup that was placed in front of him.

"Hn."

"You're free to track down Itachi after a year and a half's training" Kakashi continued.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he glanced at the shop owners and relaxed when they were having a mindless conversation amongst themselves.

"Why can't I just go straight to him? He'll be able to train me better" Sasuke grunted.

"No, he won't" Kakashi sighed, gaining a glare from the young Uchiha "He doesn't have the lighting element and therefore, can only get you so far. You need to learn what you can before you reunite with him. He'll help you progress but there's not much new he can teach you apart from the Sharingan" The Jounin explained before eating his miso ramen as the three focused on their food for a moment.

Sasuke sighed as he pushed his bowl away "You're right. I'll go to the land of lighting."

Kakashi nodded "Good. Naruto, you'll be going with Jiraya and Sakura, you'll be going to find that sage you were talking about but after a year and a half - you need to come back to the village and train under Tsunade"

"Hai" Sakura smiled.

Naruto simply nodded as his mouth was full of ramen.

"Ohayo!"

Team 7 turned their heads to find Asuma's team standing behind them with friendly smiles.

Grinning, Naruto spun around on his chair "Hey, what are you guys doing?" 

Shikamaru smirked "Just got back from training. I see the great chuunin team of the leaf doesn't train as often as everyone thinks, eh?" The Nara playfully mocked causing the blonde jinjuuriki to grow an irk mark.

"Heh! How about I show you the results of hard training" He smirked.

Shikamaru sighed "What a drag. Always looking to start a fight" 

Naruto rolled his eyes before turning back to his food.

Ino looked to Sasuke with a hesitant but dreamy smile "Hi, Sasuke-Kun" She greeted.

Sasuke nodded but otherwise said nothing.

Sakura had to keep herself from rolling her eyes but instead focused on Choji, who seemed a little left out. 

"Choji, can I have some chips?" She questioned with a kind smile.

Choji hesitated mid munch before smiling brightly and pushing his bag toward her "Sure!"

"Thanks" Sakura smiled as she grabbed a chip.

"It's a good thing you guys showed up." Kakashi spoke up, drawing the attention to him.

Team 10 looked at the Jounin in confusion before Kakashi motioned for his charges to share their news.

Sasuke sighed, not wanting to create a deal out of it whilst Naruto smirked, feeling excited. Sakura smiled, feeling excited but also not wanting to create a big deal out of it.

"We're disbanding the team for a bit and leaving the village to train" The pinkette announced casually.

"EH?!" Asuma's team proclaimed with shock.

"What do you mean? Sasuke-kun, you're leaving?" Ino immediately questioned the young Uchiha who simply nodded again.

"I see" Shikamaru muttered in thought. 

Choji munched on another chip "Why can't you train in the village?" 

Naruto shook his head, dismissing the idea "A shinobi needs experience as much as possible in order to be an effective shinobi. The village shelters its shinobi too much. We won't be able to reach our goals on training alone. We need experience." The blonde explained as he paid for his meal and stood up.

"That's what missions are for" Ino grumbled.

Naruto, once again, shook his head "Even missions don't expose shinobi enough to the reality of the world. There are too many rules shinobi fight on, too many restrictions." 

"What are you saying, Naruto?" Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Naruto sighed "Just mindless mutters." He said before grinning "We'll sure miss you guys but when we get back, I fully expect a sparring match" The blonde said, eyeing each member of team 10.

The team smirked, their pride filling their outlook on themselves "Heh, sure! it'd be beneficial to us to become known as the team that defeated Konoha's golden team" Shikamaru sarcastically said but also meant each word.

Naruto nodded with a smirk "I look forward to it." He turned to his team "Let's go." 

His team nodded before paying for their meals and following Kakashi away to the training grounds once again.

Team 10 watched them go, wondering when they'd see them again. Shikamaru had to now deal with a crying Ino as she realized she hadn't said a proper goodbye and hadn't revealed her feelings for the Uchiha.

The Nara sighed "What a drag."

___

Sasuke had decided to continue training whilst his team went to bring back Ichiraku's ramen as their last meal in the village. They were planning on leaving early in the morning before the sun would come up.

Sasuke paused in his training and took a deep breath "What do you want?" He questioned aloud as he simply stared up at the sky until the individuals who were watching him came down.

Sasuke shifted his eyes to the four that jumped down from the forest and had a feeling they belonged to Orochimaru.

The Uchiha 'tsk' ed. Not having the time to deal with these guys.

"Eh, you've got a pretty keen eye. Our chakras were completed masked" A woman with red air stepped forward with a sinister smirk.

Sasuke had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. It was their chakra that he'd sensed. They were terrible at hiding it.

"We're here to take you to Orochimaru" The one with a high ponytail smirked.

Sasuke remained silent as they seemed to expect him to come with them immediately.

"Not much of a talker huh? Anyway, let's go" The woman said with a raised eyebrow.

"I have no interest in Orochimaru" Sasuke finally stated with a bored expression.

The four were taken aback as their sources informed them that he was planning on leaving the village which could only mean one thing in their eyes.

"You don't want more power to defeat your brother? Itachi, was it?" The one with the ponytail mockingly questioned.

Sasuke grit his teeth but otherwise didn't react. "Why would you think I'd want to go to Orochimaru? Why come now?" The Uchiha questioned, using his skills in counter-intelligence to gain something from their little visit.

A man with, what looked like, two heads stepped forward with a bored look "We heard you were planning to leave the village"  

Sasuke nodded in understanding.

'So, there's a spy working for Orochimaru in Konoha.' Sasuke thought to himself.

"So? Will you come?" The lady with red hair questioned, her impatience starting to show. The others seemed wary of her but still stood tall next to her.

Sasuke thought about his chances of taking them on all at once. He'd manage but didn't much like the possible injuries he'd sustain. It could set him back a day or two and they were leaving tonight.

Though he didn't need to keep worrying as he felt his team's chakra subtly making its way around to cover the four sound nin.

"No." Sasuke finalized. 

"Too bad, kid. You're coming whether you like it or not" The larger of the four stated as he stepped forward and punched his palm. 

Sasuke sighed, hoping his team wouldn't blame him for the setback later.

Wordlessly, Sasuke dashed forward with incredible speed that the larger individual stepped back in fear. He only managed to get a half a foot back before Sasuke appeared next to him.

The two made eye contact before the Uchiha performed hand signs and attacked the nin with his famous fireball jutsu. The scorching flame came out much larger than what they used to be. 

He had managed to catch the larger sound nin in it but the others jumped away before they were burned as well.

As the smoke cleared, Sasuke took out a kunai and walked through the smoke toward the larger individual. 

His skin was burned away to make way for red blotches of flesh. He shakingly lifted his head to stare at Sasuke in fear. The Uchiha didn't hesitate to throw the kunai at the nin's forehead.

Effectively dealing with one of the four, the Uchiha turned to the others and waited for them to attack. They were more than happy to oblige as they shouted for their teammate, emotions rushing through their veins like an angry storm about to blow away a small village.

That's all the Uchiha were in their eyes. A small, insignificant, being that was being favored by their master.

Sasuke sensed his team watching but there was no need for them to interfere just yet. Instead, he could imagine Naruto sitting on the tree branch and eating his ramen with a smirk.

Sasuke sighed, he was starting to get hungry as well.

"You're done punk!" The ponytailed sound nin yelled as he tried the same trick Sasuke had just used by appearing next to him in a flash.

Sasuke, once again, made eye contact before stopping the nin's fist from connecting with his face. It was harder this time and Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he felt their chakra increase.

'Just what are they?' Sasuke thought as the force behind the sound nin carried through even though the Uchiha had caught his fist.

Sasuke flew back and tried to stabilize himself by catching his feet on the ground. Still sliding across the ground, the redhead suddenly appeared behind the Uchiha and kicked him forward with a sinister grin.

Sasuke flew against a tree and quickly got back up as two rejoined the one with two heads. He gave them a harsh glare as he noticed their curse marks spreading across their bodies. 

'So, that's what the curse mark is capable of. Impressive' Sasuke thought as he dodged an arrow from the redhead. 

The Uchiha wasted no time and quickly put the two-headed nin and the ponytail nin in a genjutsu that should be difficult enough to hold them for a few mins but that was all Sasuke needed.

The redheaded kunoichi noticed immediately and tried to reach out to her teammates to break them from the genjutsu but was stopped with a grunt as Sasuke appeared behind her, pulled her flute out of her hands and slashed at her back.

Jumping back, Sasuke nearly got caught by her elonged nails. 

He almost breathed out in relief as he broke the flute only to have the redhead smirk. Narrowing his eyes, the Uchiha tsk' ed as she pulled out another flute.

He felt himself become dazed and snapped his eye open with surprise. 

'She's actually trying to cast genjutsu on an Uchiha' Sasuke thought, a little amused.

Seeing the frustrated look on her face, he assumed he was right about the genjutsu.

"Enough, I'll finish this now" She muttered before biting her finger to summon something.

Before should, Sasuke once again appeared by her but with his Chidori activated. The woman stared at Sasuke's hand in shock before Sasuke thrust his hand through her chest.

Dropping her body to the ground, Sasuke dropped the genjutsu on her teammates. He waited for them to get over the shock of being caught in genjutsu and seeing their teammate dead on the floor.

With vicious glares, their skin turned dark as the curse mark completely covered them.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, curiosity in his eyes as he wondered what he'd look like if the curse mark were to take over his body.

"Let's go, brother!" The two-headed nin yelled. Sasuke raised a brow, wondering how they were related but then realized it was the ponytail nin he was talking to as another body began to come out of the two-headed nin's body.

Before the two could fully separate, Sasuke signaled his team and a moment later, Naruto jumped from the trees and pushed his hand forward with the Rasengan glowing brightly.

He took down the two-headed shinobi before Sakura came up from the ground pulled the ponytail shinobi under.

Neither had time to react as the two-headed nin looked down at his chest to see a large hole. He dropped to his knees and opened his mouth but no words came out. Eventually, he simply dropped dead.

The other struggled against the earth but Sasuke was quick to take out a katana from a storage scroll and cut his throat open.

A moment passed as the team stared down at the four, making sure they were dead. Kakashi jumped down with a bag of ramen in each hand and a serious expression on his features.

"Well, that was interesting." The Jounin said as eyed his charges and the enemy nin "We'll have to report this before we leave the village tonight" He muttered.

The trio caught each other's eyes and upon seeing the confusion in the eyes of the other, they turned to their sensei "We?"

Kakashi stiffened, noticing the slip up as well. He had yet to tell them.