Sasuke stepped through the gate of the Hidden Sand Village and glanced around. I haven't been here in the longest time... Things have definitely changed. He spotted a building in the process of being built, and when he read the sign, he smirked. Sakura's therapy center made it all the way out here, too. She really is making a difference, isn't she?

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

He turned to look past the village Chunin standing watch at the gate, "Kankuro."

"Well, isn't this a coincidence." The puppet-user smiled, "Temari just left for the Leaf village. And you know, I feel like by the time she gets there, she'll never come back. If you know what I mean." He waved his ring finger in the air.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded in amusement. But he knew he didn't visit them to catch up, "I need to speak to Gaara."
"Oh, sure. He's back at the Kazekage's office." He tilted his head as he walked off, Sasuke following close behind, "so what brings you here?"

"I need to talk to him about a group that's been a potentially major threat to the leaf village and those I love." Sasuke glanced at the dirt road, then cleared his throat, "I need to know if Gaara knows anything about this particular group of people."

"I see." Kankuro held the door to the building open and let Sasuke pass, "well, he's upstairs. Go on up."

"Yeah." He made his way up the stairs, then knocked on the door to the Kazekage's office.

"Come in."

"Gaara." Sasuke stepped in, "do you have a second?"

"Ah, Sasuke. Long time no see." Gaara smiled, "what do you need?"

"I've been looking into a group calling themselves the Asekatsu. A group of rogues trying to bring the Akatsuki back. Ever heard of them?"

"'The Asekatsu'?" Gaara tapped his chin, "never."

What? Sasuke rubbed his forehead, "they're unidentifiable, which makes them dangerous. Especially since these ninja are high-ranking ninja. Their ages range all over the place. We encountered an Asekatsu that wasn't even a teen yet." Akane...

"This is pretty serious." Gaara sighed, "unfortunately, they haven't made any appearances around here, I've never even heard of them until now. Have you brought the issue to Lord Sixth?"

"I haven't. He has enough on his plate. I could bring this to Naruto, but he just got married. I don't think he needs the extra stress."

"You're right. If you'd like, I could send out some ANBU to look into the issue for you."

"Thanks. You see, the thing is." Sasuke stared at the floor. I don't normally ask for help, but if she's in danger, here... "rather than sending them out looking for unidentifiable shinboi which is next to impossible, there's someone I'd rather you have them look after."

"Who?"

"Sakura Haruno."

Gaara smiled, "oh?"

"Her safety lies in the balance, here. They could very well be after her more than myself. She and a comrade are headed to the Leaf Village right now. And I'd rather a village non-associated with them to help protect them, just for more security purposes."

"That's understandable." Gaara pulled out a scroll and pen, "alright. I'll send for Sand ANBU to look after her for you. What about you? Where will you be?"

"I'll continue traveling around, locating their movements and where they plan on attacking. Their hideout is in the Akatsuki's old hideout in the Village Hidden in the Valleys. We've encountered them in the Hidden Hot Water Village and the Land of Waves. We haven't picked up on any pattern yet."

"'We'?"

"Yeah. Sakura was with me for a time. Things got too dangerous, having her with me, so I sent her back to the village."

"Hm..." Gaara looked out the window, "you also said the Hidden Valleys Village?"

"Yeah."

He shut his eyes, "I'll send some ANBU to protect Sakura. Also, I'll send some ANBU out to the Hidden Grass Village. You should go to the Hidden Rain."

"Hidden Rain?" Sasuke pulled out his map and scanned it. Hold on...

"Yes."

Sasuke's eyes tracked each red 'x' he labeled on the map. He followed the trail of Asekatsu and understood, "this is bad. I need to get Sakura."

"Should I send a message out?"

"I'll go ahead and do that. Your help was definitely valuable, Gaara."

"Anytime." Gaara nodded, "I'll send out a message to Temari, since she's headed to the Leaf right now."

"Yeah, do that." Sasuke turned and headed out of Gaara's office. Damnit, how could I have missed it? And Sakura's headed that way already. If our assumptions are right, the Asekatsu are going to... Damnit! I need to go!

He started at a fast run out of the Hidden Sand and straight to the Land of Fire. Gaara's ANBU aren't going to be enough... I shouldn't have roped them into this in the first place. What the hell was I thinking?! I'm not going to the Hidden Rain. I need to get back to the Leaf.

They're going to ambush the Leaf. But... Who knows when? Those damn Asekatsu are so unpredictable.

___________________________________

Sakura rubbed her eyes and glanced around. As her blurred vision slowly returned to normal, she took in her surroundings. She recognized a dried-out campfire not too far from her. Okay... It's clearly morning, and... Then she recognized the familiar chakra signature sitting next to her, near the firewood. She charged up her chakra and made sure she was in good condition, then she jumped up and threw her fist at the boy's head.

"Ow! Sakura, what the—"

"Okay, Mr. Noiki or whoever the hell you are, you'd better start talking, before I snap your neck between my fingertips like a twig." Sakura pinned Aoba down into the dirt, one hand clenching his neck tight as the other, glowing with chakra, were aimed ready to stab his neck.

"Sakura, you're going to have to trust me. I was just trying to protect you!"

"Then why'd you have to knock me out, huh?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry about this."

"Worry about what, exactly?!"

"I had to talk those guys down. I didn't want you to know about it, not in that circumstance. At least we're out of harm's way for now, I could explain."

"Oh, you'd better start explaining while you could still talk." Sakura's voice was menacing as she didn't move from her position.

"Okay, okay. Can you please get off of me first? I promise not to hurt you."

"Why should I trust you?!" Sakura screamed, "you've lied to us all this time! You really are Asekatsu, aren't you?!"

"You can trust me because you've been asleep all day, and you're still alive, aren't you? Even after all this time, traveling with you and Sasuke, you're both still alive, right?"

She clenched her teeth. He has a point... "I swear, if you make any move on us, you're deader than dead."

"Understood."

Sakura got up and threw him to the side.

"Okay." Aoba cracked his neck and rubbed it, "I guess I'll start from the beginning."

"Fine."

"Let's see..." He tapped his chin, "when I was younger, I still clearly remember the Akatsuki's first formation. Not the evil organization you fought and helped to defeat, but the three originals. Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. You see, they helped to protect the Village Hidden in the Rain, where I grew up. They were an inspiration to everyone at the time, even while Hanzo was in power and war was raging. The Akatsuki sought out peace and wanted to end the war. They left me in awe. I remember hearing about the three Legendary Sannin of the Leaf, too, learning about them. They were all what inspired me to become the person I am today."

"You mean the liar you are today?" Sakura crossed her arms, "I kind of pity them..."

Aoba chuckled a little, "no, no. Let me finish. Anyways, I continued to live in the Village Hidden in the Rain, then I heard about the formation of a new Akatsuki. I was thrilled, then told myself I wanted to be a part of this new group. But when I heard about the horrible rogue shinobi it was made up of, I didn't want a part in it. I heard some of them were actually in the Hidden Rain Village. I was scared. Then word went around that one of the Akatsuki's members was defeated. By you, actually."

"You heard, huh?"

"Of course. News was everywhere." Aoba grinned, "I knew who you were the moment I saw you, remember? Also, word about your therapy centers is pretty popular, too. Anyways, I heard about Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, the three that surpassed their own teachers, who happened to be the Legendary Sannin that I looked up to. You reminded me of Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, actually. It was amazing how much nostalgia hit me back then, I was so excited." He laughed, "you three are amazing, and I never thought I'd actually get to meet you guys in person!"

"Heh. What an honor..."

"It really is." Aoba smiled, "anyways, I wanted to form my own group to promote peace and to protect the children of the village. That's the Asekatsu."

"Hold on.." Sakura stopped him, "you mean to say... You're the Asekatsu's leader."

"Well..." Aoba scratched the back of his neck, "I created the one-handed jutsu weaving technique."

She was shocked. Sakura only stared silently at the boy. She didn't know whether to be amazed, furious, or happy towards him.

"I know this seems like a lot to take in, but the Asekatsu and what it's become today, I was never a part of it. My buddies that joined me, they took it all the wrong way, and this group turned into the group that's been wanting to bring the Akatsuki's motives back. The Asekatsu's current and morbid leader is named Rin Takashi."

"I see..." Sakura pulled the edges of her gloves tighter over her fingers, "we need to go, then."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry I misunderstood you from the beginning. That was wrong on my part. Your intentions were really good, and now that I know what's really going on here, I need to help get your authority back. For the group's sake, for your sake, and for the safety of everyone else."

"I feel..." Aoba clenched his fists, "it's already too late. This technique has gotten so out of hand, everyone in the Asekatsu has been using it for evil. It would be impossible to gather them all into one place. I don't even know their motives anymore, or what they plan on doing next."

Damn... Sakura raked her hair back and groaned, "then what would our best option be?"

Aoba shut his eyes, "Sasuke ordered me to bring you back to the Leaf Village, so that's where I'm taking you."

"Sasuke!" Sakura turned to Aoba, "where is he? Do you know?"

"No, I don't. But I know he'll be fine." Aoba pursed his lips, "we just need to get you back as soon as we can."

Sakura looked out into the forest. Sasuke...

"So let's go. The sooner we get you back, the safer you'll be." Aoba picked up his pack and slid it onto his back.

"Okay." Sakura did the same and started walking, "which way?"

"The Leaf Village is just in that direction. If we head in this direction, we'll get there this afternoon."

"Good." Sakura took off at a fast run, "sooner we get there, the lower the chance of running into anymore Asekatsu idiots..."

"Exactly."

_______________________________________

It all makes sense now... The Hidden Sand has never heard of them. The villages we've been to were all infested with Asekatsu, no coincidence the villages we visited are surrounding the Leaf. Sasuke continued running fast towards the Leaf. Damn, I need to get there before Aoba and Sakura do. I hope Kakashi got the message... I sent it out earlier this morning. It's about noon, they should be deploying Jonin by now, to defend the village.

He glanced around when he suddenly sensed a handful of chakra signatures following him. He stopped on a tree branch, "alright. Come out, whoever you are. Don't be such a coward."

Sure enough, there were six shinobi standing around him, about ten feet away.

"Sasuke Uchiha, we're taking you in."

"Oh yeah? And why is that?"

"Don't complain, we don't intend to fight you." One of them pulled out a kunai, the rest followed his lead.

"You just know that if you challenged me to a fight, none of you would make it out alive." Sasuke smirked, but they all only chuckled darkly.

"You don't want to mess with us."

They all held up single hand signs.

I knew it... Asekatsu scum.

"Fire-style! Fire-ball jutsu!" They all called in unison, and they shot streams of fire at him.

"Damn." One of the ninja clenched his fists, "substitution juts—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Sasuke reappeared behind him and caught him in a genjutsu.

"Split!"

Just like that, they all scattered into different directions.

"Not so fast." Sasuke appeared in front of all of them, "the moment you all faced me, I've already caught you in my genjutsu. You're going nowhere."

It was true. By the time Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan, five of the six men were laying unconscious on the ground. He grabbed the one man that was trying to get away and glared at him, "tell me what you're after."

"Never."

"Fine." Sasuke activated his RInnegan and stared into the man's eyes.

"Th-that's..."

"You're going to have to get past me if you ever want to touch my wife." He left the man unconscious and threw him to the side. Just as I thought... They're after Sakura. These idiots wasted my time, now I'm more behind than I already was. He peered up at the sky, "I need to move. I swear, if I run into anymore Asekatsu..."

Luckily for him, he wasn't stopped any further following that fight. screw it. The longer I stand here cursing, the more in danger Sakura gets. Even if she is with Aoba, things happen. I can't risk losing her... Not now or ever. She's my wife. I knew since the moment I got down on one knee that this wouldn't be all fun in bed, as much as I wish it'd just be that easy. But we're Shinobi. I need to protect what's mine. I could never live with myself if she got hurt because I was careless. Sasuke clenched his fist tighter as the oh-so-familiar Leaf Village came into view.

Finally. You'd better be ready, Kakashi. Who knows how and when things will come crumbling down... We've both got our own possessions we need to protect. I'm counting on you, Naruto, and the others to protect the village. Sasuke pursed his lips as he swerved away from the village and made his way around in search of a certain Kunoichi.