"Sasuke, good. Just the Jonin I was looking for." Orochimaru welcomed Sasuke as he walked through the door.

Jonin?! I'm a Jonin?! Sasuke swallowed hard. He looked from Orochimaru to Kabuto, who stood next to his desk as his adviser.

"We have leads on the Akatsuki." Kabuto explained.

"The Akatsuki! Don't you see?! They're in the village!" Sasuke gestured towards the village outside the window, "why isn't anyone doing anything about it?!"

Orochimaru and Kabuto stared at Sasuke as if he had just sprouted three more heads.

"We know for a fact... They're not here. We haven't seen any sign of them lately." Kabuto adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose as he walked up to Sasuke, "As the strongest Jonin-level ninja in the village, Lord Orochimaru is sending you out to infiltrate their hideout." He held out a book, "here is all the information on all the members. Study this. You'll be heading out in an hour."

"Sorry to bother you with this so early in the morning." Orochimaru added, "ah. We've also been tracking Tsunade as well, in case you wanted to know."

So... Tsunade's a rogue ninja? "Hn. I'll head out." Sasuke said briefly then left, "I need to get the hell out of here... This is messed up... Wherever I am, this isn't the village."

Sasuke sighed as he ran to the entrance of the village. Once he got there, he stopped in his tracks and his gaze lowered onto the book he got from Kabuto. He sighed, sat on the same stone bench he remembers leaving Sakura, then opened to the first page. As soon as he laid eyes on the picture, he went pale. Scribbled over the picture was the name: SHIKAMARU NARA.

"'Shikamaru Nara... The Shadow Devil'?" He flipped through the pages. Ino, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Sai, they were all in there, "no... Wait, then..."

Sasuke felt his hand tremble as he slowly turned Sai's page to reveal the back cover of the book. That's when he noticed the torn fringes inside the book as if a page had been torn out, "where's..."

"Wait! Come back! I only wanted a hug!"

"Go away. You're annoying." 

Sasuke looked up then sighed in relief when he saw a couple of familiar faces, "Suigetsu! Karin! Thank goodness you're both here."

"Oh. Hey." Karin looked Sasuke over but kept walking, groping at Suigetsu's arm.

"Hm? Oh, Sasuke!" Suigetsu greeted his fellow teammate, "did you need something?"

"Something weird is going on here..." Sasuke looked around as if to make sure no one was listening.

"Yeah. I'd say... Karin wouldn't leave me alone. Quit flirting with me, Karin!" Suigetsu shouted loudly into Karin's ear.

"What?! Am not!" Karin blushed madly and adjusted her glasses.

"Hmph." Suigetsu looked away, "you're so annoying, you know that? Sasuke, why can't we just ditch this one?"

Sasuke stared at him, then at Karin, who wouldn't even meet his gaze, "wait... Does she..."

"What are you talking about? She's been obsessed with me forever." Suigetsu rolled his eyes as he tried to get Karin off of his arm.

"What are you talking about?! Th-that's not true!" Karin stuttered, then glared at Sasuke, "like it's any of your business! Get lost, Uchiha!"

Sasuke was completely speechless. Everything around him had changed, and he just couldn't take it. He shook his head, "yeah. Sorry. I gotta go anyway. Go tell Itachi about this whole mission I need to go on..." Sasuke replied as he ran back into the village, then vanished.

"Huh. Wonder what's up with him." Suigetsu muttered.

Karin stared, then removed her glasses, "Oh, Suigetsu! We're finally alone!"

_____________

Sasuke continued walking until he reached his house. The same empty house he hadn't been to in what felt like ages. He walked through the gates, down the walkway, and up to the front door. He didn't know what to do. If Itachi was in there, he was worried he'd lose control of himself and his emotions. But if the rest of the clan was alive, did that mean Itachi never did anything? He shoved the question and the doubt out of his mind and slid the door open.

"Itachi?" Sasuke called as he walked through, looking in all directions. Everything seemed the same way he remembered as a kid. He kept walking until he saw a picture frame on the wall.

This is... Wait... Sasuke felt his heart beating faster, I-if Itachi's here... And the clan's still alive... Then... Sasuke ran as fast as he could through the halls and into the kitchen. He was thrilled until his gaze landed on Itachi, Hidan, and Deidara sitting at the kitchen table, "What the hell are you two doing in here?!"

"Oh hey, Kid. Itachi, it's your brother." Hidan pointed at Sasuke as the three turned to look at him.

"Hey, Sasuke. Dinner's almost ready." Itachi said.

"Heh. Didn't know you could cook, Itachi. Hm!" Deidara chuckled as he chugged his can of pop and tossed it into the trash bin.

"Hey there, Handsome."

A warm voice said from behind Sasuke, then arms wrapped tightly around him. He was ready to punch whoever-this-was in the face but stopped as soon as he recognized the feeling. His heart stopped as he turned around to face the Uchiha he wished he could see once more all his life, and now here she was, arms wrapped around him.

"M-mother..." It took all his willpower... And Chakra, even... To keep from crying.

"Are you okay? You're shaking." Mikoto felt his forehead and held his trembling hands, "are you sick?"

Deidara, Hidan, and Itachi stared in confusion at Sasuke as he didn't respond. He couldn't.

"You must be hungry. Itachi's almost done. Oh, and your father wanted me to remind you to meet him for training after dinner. You forgot yesterday, so..."

"Training?" Sasuke stared at her as if she had just punched him. Since when did Father care about training with me? 

"You seem to be forgetful lately, Sasuke. You sure you're okay?" Itachi chuckled as he set down a pot of curry on the table, "Hidan, Deidara. You could stay over if you want."

"Hell yeah!" Hidan smirked as he and Deidara grabbed their bowls.

"I... I'm going to have to skip dinner. A mission."

"Of course, lil' old Sasuke Uchiha has a mission. We always knew you were better than Itachi. Hm." Deidara chuckled as he served himself, Hidan laughed, Itachi just smirked and shook his head, "you were always your dad's favorite."

Sasuke stared at them then shook his head, "yeah. I have to go."

"Okay. Be safe!"

Sasuke turned to his mom, smiled, and nodded, "okay."

He was still smiling even when he got to the gates. He reviewed the file Kabuto gave him, "Hidden Sound Village." Sasuke nodded in understanding and headed out of the village.

"Sasuke!"

He stopped and turned to see Suigetsu and Karin, this time, with Juugo who was busy trying to get a bird off of his shoulder.

"Tell this creature to leave me alone!" Jugo yelled as he tried to get the bird away, but more just kept coming, "I hate these winged rats!"

Sasuke stared at him, then turned to Suigetsu, "what is it?"

"You're going to fight the Akatsuki, aren't you? All by yourself?"

"I can handle this." Sasuke claimed. All he needed was to find Naruto and get this whole situation cleared up. The only problem was that he had no idea where Naruto was. He wasn't at the village and the only thing he could do was play along with Orochimaru and Kabuto and act normal, going out on missions, as weird as it felt.

"Well, whether you like it or not, we don't want to see you dead. So we're going with you. And if you don't like that, then we'll catch up to you eventually." Suigetsu shrugged.

Sasuke looked them up and down, then nodded, "no time to waste. Let's get going."

They all nodded in response then headed out following close behind Sasuke to the Hidden Sound Village.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, "Naruto... Wherever you are... We'll find you..."