J A D E

Chapter Forty - One

"Ne?!" Naruto shouts loudly as soon as he hears the news. He looks at the Hokage with wide eyes. "Sakura is in ANBU?" He asks again, hardly believing that his sister joined ANBU without him. Naruto never doubted her, knowing that she was the most capable out of three, but he believed that they could bring Sasuke and then join it together.

"Yes, she joined it two years ago." Tsunade sighs, rubbing her temples. She is worried about Sakura's team, that is two days late. They have not heard from any of them during this period of time. She does not want to alert others, especially Ibiki, Anko, or even Kakashi.

"When will she be back?" Naruto asks tiredly. " I miss her, believe it!" He shouts loudly, irritating Hokage even more. All eyes shift to her, curious. Kakashi is standing next to Naruto and Ibiki, his new book tightly in his hands.

"She will come back, any-" Tsunade's words freeze up on her lips as swirl of Cherry Blossoms appear in her office, revealing blood-caked Kunoichi, Shisui with tattered up clothes and Sai with bruises and hostage in his hands.

"We are sorry, Tsunade-sama." Sakura's voice is passive, tired. "We had minor complications during the mission." Only then she looks up, her eyes clashing with Naruto's. "N-Naruto?"

***

"N-Naruto?" I whisper the name as I stare at my brother. I smile at him and hug him tightly, forgetting about the fact that I am coated with several layers of blood. "I am sorry." I mumble as soon as I take a step back. Naruto looks at me dumbfounded. Not knowing what to say.

"What happened?" Tsunade asks concerned. "And whose blood is it, Sakura?" She adds the question.

"We ran into some rogue nins during our time back home." Shisui starts instead of me. I think he wants to leave gory details out, so Naruto won't vomit in here. "They were twenty of them, all Jonin or higher." His voice is serious, cold, calm. "Only one survived for interrogation." He motions at the still horrified guy, that Sai is holding. "Though, I think he has shock after what he has witnessed." Shisui adds uneasily.

"And what did he witness?" Ibiki asks amused. His eyes travel to me, clicking his tongue. "Sakura?"

"Well..." I take off my mask and grin awkwardly. "I might have pierced his leader's heart with my hand after throwing my water vortex and earth dragon at him." I add in a whisper, which is still clearly heard by everyone in the room.

"So, the blood is his?" Tsunade raises her eyebrow as I chuckle nervously once again. I take a step back as if hiding behind Shisui and Sai.

"Mostly." I chuckle once again. Tsunade sighs, rubbing her temples.

"Sakura..." She shakes her head, forgetting about others in her office. "How many times do we have to go over it? Stop killing people so... awfully." She sighs once again.

"I am sorry, Tsunade-sama." I bow my head at her and grin. She only shakes her head.

"While you are here..." Tsunade starts and looks over at Kakashi. "I have an announcement to make." I raise my eyebrows. "Naruto and Kakashi had small training before you arrived." I nod and smile. "Though, Kakashi will be going on his Solo ANBU mission soon." I nod again. Naruto looks at us confused. "And as I have promised Naruto, we will have Sasuke retrieval mission." Both, mine and Naruto's eyes light up. "You will be leaving in two days." She chuckles as I look at my brother. "You two will be joined by Sai." Sai steps forward, nodding his head at Naruto.

"Hello, Dickless. Ugly has told me a lot about you." Sai creepily smiles at Naruto.

"Who do you call dickless?" Naruto shouts loudly, agitated. I laugh and hit both of them in the head.

"Be quiet, Bakas." I growl and look back at Tsunade-sama, who looks at us amused. My eyes travel to Kakashi and Ibiki, who are eyeing the prisoner.

"And Yamato." Yamato appears out of nowhere. But instead of his ANBU attire, he is wearing normal Jonin clothes. I raise my eyebrows at him, but he just shrugs.

"Ne, Tsunade-baa-chan..." Naruto looks at Tsunade with shame in her eyes. Shisui smirks, already realizing what Naruto might be asking from Tsunade. "Can I... Can I join ANBU, too?" He asks in a low voice. Ibiki sighs behind us.

"We will talk about it after you pass your ANBU exams." Tsunade smirks. "You can take them tomorrow, supervised by Hatake Kakashi." Kakashi and Naruto, both nod. I smirk at my blonde brother and turn around.

"I am heading home." I call out before opening door. "These clothes reek of blood." Without waiting for their response, I disappear.

***

"A lot has changed, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto murmurs as he walks side-by-side with his old sensei. After Sakura has disappeared, Ibiki and Sai went in T&I building to take care of the prisoner, while Shisui had to report back in Uchiha household.

"Yeah." Kakashi nods, not knowing what else to tell his student.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto trails off, smiling. "I never thought that she was the one behind the feared names like Deadly Blossom and Pink Beast of Konoha." Naruto laughs at the stupid names, his sister has been given. "Sasuke-teme has left..."Naruto sighs. "The three of us dreamt of being accepted in ANBU at the same time."

"Sakura told me about it." Kakashi smiles. "That you would be Fox, she would be Rabbit and Sasuke would be Cat." Naruto nods, smiling at the memory in his head. "Tell me, Naruto." He looks up at his sensei. "Why do you want to join ANBU?"

"Well..." He sighs. "First of all, I want to join because the three of us promised that to one another." He starts in raspy voice. "I also want to join, because... I want to defend my village and precious people in it." Naruto elaborates calmly. "I want to be strong and know what really happens in the real world, before becoming Hokage." Kakashi nods, taking in his response.

He already knew about his powers, what was left to find out was his true intentions and dreams, before he was entitled for ANBU.

"Ne, Naruto..." Kakashi starts once again, smiling down at blonde. "What is your dream?"

"I want to become Hokage." Naruto answers immediately. "I want to be acknowledged by people." He continues talking, dreamy look in his eyes. "And... I want to have family, live close to Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme and just... be happy." Naruto sighs.

Kakashi does not say anything as they continue their walk in silence.