Road to Sasuke

CHAPTER 2

"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.