A sunny summer day shone brightly over Konoha. The most recent batch of genin has just graduated and are waiting for their Sensei's to pick them up. The rookie 9 were no longer rookies and now known, respectively, amongst their peers as unique individuals who have their own set of skills. Skills that could cause serious damage to an enemy but vast enough to be able to protect the village from all that face it.

It's been three years since team 7 left the village and since anyone had heard from them. All except Sakura Haruno, that is, who returned a year and a half ago - just as she'd promised.

The rest of the rookie 9 celebrated all night when they heard the pinkette had returned. They'd asked her help on their training whilst she, herself, had been promoted to Jounin and continued her training with the Fifth Hokage.

Sakura learned many jutsu's, techniques, and copious amounts of knowledge on different subjects whilst she was out of the village and training with an Earth Sage who turned out to be a kind, soft-spoken woman, who has never taken on a student as they never shared her dream of peace - Until Sakura, that is.

Training to become a sage was the hardest training the pinkette had ever received. Instead of meditating as the toads do, experimenting and forcefully acquiring it, or passing the trials and being bitten by the white snake sage, the self-proclaimed, Defender of Nations Sage had Sakura go through a serious of physical trials in order to truly understand the works of nature.

Focusing on the sage chakra, Sakura was forced to endure days of living underground in the soil. She had literally dug her own grave and crawled in before moving the earth over her again.

It took a long time and even now, Sakura still trains to get better. Her sage mode could last for a while thanks to her storage of chakra but her muscles always ached intensely afterward. It felt like she was opening the gates of the chakra pathways.

"Oi!" Sakura turns to Ino, Shikamaru and Choji rushing after her. Well, Ino was. Shikamaru walked at a lazy pace with Choji.

"Ohayo" Sakura smiled as she met them halfway.

"Ne, Sakura. What are you up to today? We could use some tips on our formation" Ino suggested with a smirk.

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes "You and I both know you don't need any more help on that. What do you really want?" The pinkette got straight to the point causing Ino to scowl.

"Why you nosy-"

"Reports have come back that someone from team 7 will be returning soon. She wanted to keep you busy until then" Shikamaru sighed as he revealed his teammate's true intention.

Ino slowly turned around with a murderous glare pointed at Shikamaru, who seemed unfazed.

Sakura shook her head as she took in the information.

'It's finally time.' Sakura smiled softly. She could only hope that their Sensei was included in that return. Over the years, no news of what happened had reached them nor had it reached the village.

It was like he had simply disappeared from existence.

"Ne, are you listening billboard brow?" Ino pulled her from her thoughts.

Growing an irk mark, Sakura gave her a light glare "Who can listen to that loud mouth of yours all the time? I've got to go" With that, the Jounin gave a quick wave to the boys and teleported away.

"EH!?" She could hear Ino screech all the way from the Hokage's office.

Sakura shook her head with a smile before climbing the steps of the Hokage building, ready to begin her training for the day.

Walking up to the door and knocking, Sakura was too lost in her thoughts to notice the door open a moment later.

"Ahem" She heard Lady Tsunade clear her throat.

With a sheepish smile, Sakura looked up only to find someone she wasn't expecting to see first.

"Ohayo, Sakura" Sasuke Uchiha stared down at her. He had grown taller than her and changed his appearance that included more greys and blacks instead of the usual blue he had worn in the past.

"Sasuke" Sakura muttered, wide eyed.

"It's good to see you" The raven-haired male gave her a small smirk.

Sakura grinned before grabbing onto him and pulling him down to her level; into a tight embrace.

"Baka! You don't send any mail?!" The Pinkette pulled away with a harsh glare on her features.

"Hn" Was his only response which Sakura could only take as a sign that he'd explain later.

"Sorry to break up the reunion but get out." Tsunade ordered causing her young student to deadpan at her blunt behavior.

"I have paperwork to do" She muttered with a flash of desperation fluttering through her eyes.

Sakura shook her head but smiled and grabbed onto Sasuke's arm before teleporting them both outside the Kage building.

Sasuke took a moment to look at the village streets before glancing down at his teammate.

"How are you?" He uncharacteristically questioned softly.

Sakura sweetly smiled back, unrestrained in her feelings for him now that they were older.

"Good, better now that you're back." She said.

Sasuke quickly looked away as his cheeks warmed up ever so slightly.

"Now we just need Naruto and Kashi-sensei to come too and Team Kakashi will be complete again." Sakura grinned with a sparkle in her eyes as she looked beyond in a vision of determination.

Sasuke shook his head at her behavior. It was expected. She was happy for his return and for the soon arrival of the rest of the team.

"Hn. Let's get some barbeque before Naruto gets here." Sasuke suggested as he began walking, Sakura following shortly after.

She chuckled uneasily "I suppose we'll have to get used to the taste of ramen again"

"Hn" The two sweatdropped at the thought of their teammate never eating anything else.

The duo came upon Konoha's famous Barbeque restaurant 'Yakiniku Q'.

"Table for two?" A petite woman appeared in front of them with a sickly sweet smile.

"Yes please" Sakura replied with a smile while Sasuke scoped the place for any familiar faces. Luckily for him, there were none.

"Please follow me" The lady asked before walking off.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke who gestured for her to go first.

The two eventually made it to their seats and ordered their own favourites before falling into a comfortable moment of silence.

"So, will you tell me now?" Sakura questioned with narrowed eyes.

"Tell you what?" Sasuke questioned back.

Sakura sighed and looked to the side to see their waitress moving along the side, clearly trying to eavesdrop.

The Pinkette took a pebble from a nearby plant pot and, in a flash, threw it into a mug of water.

The object crashed loudly, scaring the waitress and causing her boss to come out and scold her for the incident.

Sakura pursed her lips with a mild feeling of guilt but at least she wasn't eavesdropping anymore.

Turning back to Sasuke, she noticed the amused look in his eyes.

"What?" She 'innocently' questioned, only receiving a shake of the head from her Uchiha teammate.

"You want to know why I haven't kept in contact?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Sakura raised her brows in surprise at his effort to instigate a conversation.

"Yes... I thought-"

"I couldn't. I was meant to be in the land of lighting but being with Itachi meant being with the Akatsuki as well. They would've become suspicious if I sent anything to the village"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock "The Akatsuki?"

"You've heard of them right?" The Uchiha questioned with a serious expression.

"Hai. They came after the Nine-Tails" Sakura furrowed her brows.

"He's not the only one they've been going after." Sasuke said.

"I see. This is serious. You should tell the Hokage" Sakura leaned back, ready to move.

"No. Itachi and I came up with a plan but it cannot involve the Hokage. It's because of the leadership of this village that my clan is gone and my brother is a rogue" Sasuke muttered, a dark tone in his voice.

Sakura slowly sat back down and stared at her teammate for a long moment.

"Sasuke-"

"Why do you call me that?" He interrupted what she was going to say.

"What do you mean?" She answered with a question.

Sasuke sent her a famous Uchiha glare to which she rolled her eyes at.

"I don't know, I guess I wasn't sure how you'd feel coming back to a village we all vowed to change. I didn't know how you'd feel coming back to us when you were with Itachi." Sakura explained in a low whisper, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"You give too much thought. I have the same views as I did three years ago." Was all the raven-haired male said as their food arrived.

Sakura pursed her lips in frustration at his lack of words but understood his meaning.

She sighed and gave him a small smile before the two dug into their food.

As the two finished up, they paid their bill and begun to leave "By the way, I made Jounin a while back. Not that it's anything amazing but thought I should let you know" Sakura sheepishly smiled.

Sasuke revealed the first genuine smile he's given since he'd been back "So have I. To as well. The Hokage informed me before you came in. Congratulations on your promotion" The Uchiha said, ever the formal type.

Sakura simply hummed in response, happy and surprised that they'd all made it to Jounin but sad that it wasn't celebrated.

"Well, Ke, I hope you're ready for some sparring." Sakura grinned devilishly as she hit her fist to her palm whilst the duo walked out of the restaurant.

Sasuke smirked and was about to reply when an Anbu member landed in their way.

"I apologize for the disturbance but you've been summoned by the Hokage. Please report to the Kage tower immediately." Was all he said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke and Sakura immediately set out toward the tower without so much as glancing at one another.

"Lady Tsunade!" Sakura called out as soon as she saw her sensei and two other unknown shinobi on the Hokage tower's rooftop.

"Sasuke, I know you just got back but I've got a mission for team Kakashi" Tsunade immediately stated, her robe flowing with the gentle breeze.

"What is it?" Sasuke questioned. He eyed the two behind her with suspicion.

"The Kazekage has sent an emergency request for aid. Apparently, the Akatsuki are en route to the sand village and plan on capturing the beast inside of him." Tsunade explained by the information only brought up more questions.

"Him? The Kazekage? Do you mean Gaara has become Kazekage?" Sakura questioned in a deadly serious tone.

With a nod from Tsunade, Sasuke spoke up "How did you come by this information?"

"It's actually thanks to Jiraiya and Naruto that we received word. They overheard a conversation between spies of the Akatsuki that revealed the members' path which lead right to the sand village. With previous intel, we are aware that the Akatsuki's goal is retrieving all tailed beasts for unknown reasons. I'm sure he'll be meeting you somewhere along the way." Tsunade continued to explain.

"No wonder he's late" Sakura muttered to Sasuke.

"Hn" was his only response before he turned back to the Hokage "We will leave immediately".

The two moved to leave but Tsunade held up a hand "Not so fast. I want to introduce you to someone"

The two teammates glanced at one another with suspicion in their eyes before following Tsunade's outstretching hand toward the two shinobi standing behind her.

Sasuke and Sakura had never seen them before which only raised more suspicion.

"We don't have time-"

"You will" Tsunade interrupted Sakura with a slight glare.

After a moment of tense silence, Tsunade cleared her throat "This is Captain Yamato of the Anbu and this is Sai of the Root"

As soon as the word 'root' left her lips, both members of Team Kakashi tensed up. Luckily, this goes unnoticed by their company.

Tsunade hesitated for a moment before announcing in a strong voice "They're your new teammates".

The Hokage expected more of a reaction from Kakashi's students but she wasn't too surprised when none came. They were trained to be the best after all, even when the odds weren't in their favor.

"Unfortunately, we don't have time for you to acquaint yourselves. Yamato will be the Captain of this mission. You're dismissed" The Hokage ordered before leaving.

The four glanced at each other before Yamato stepped forward "Let's move out" he ordered before the four of them disappeared in a flash.