"Manyū Sakura, I'm afraid we'll have to ask you to come with us."
Sakura's worst fears had come to pass. After leaping across half the village, two masked ANBU operatives had flickered in front of her, blocking her path forward. Somehow, they'd seen through her plan, and she was doubtlessly in very serious trouble…
"But I didn't even do anything yet!" Sakura protested. "This isn't fair!"
The ANBU members looked at each other, but their masks made it impossible for Sakura to determine what they were thinking.
"Planning on doing something illegal?" the first asked, with a quizzical tilt of the head.
"I think I saw her knock a roof tile loose a few houses back," the second added. "Reckon we should issue her a citation for that?"
With all the ryō she'd paid in fines over the years for racing across civilian rooftops outside an emergency, Sakura could probably have bought enough explosive tags to launch a manhole cover into orbit. Not that she believed in consumable ninja tools enough to buy any in the first place, though.
"Well, it is an emergency summons, so I suppose we can overlook it," said the first. "You're expected in the Hokage's office immediately, and sorry for interrupting your date, by the way."
"What date?" came Naruto's voice from behind her.
"Oh good, that saves us some time," said the second ANBU operative. "Uzumaki Naruto, you're expected in the Hokage's office as well. Your teammates are already there."
Sakura looked Naruto up and down. It was well past noon, and he was still in his pyjamas. What on earth was he doing here, this far from his apartment, looking like he'd only just got out of bed?
"But today's our last day off," Naruto grumbled, turning to Sakura and Karin as the two ANBU vanished in twin puffs of white smoke. "…what are you doing in Sakura-chan's arms, ya know?"
"For your information," Karin said smugly, "onee-sama and I are very much in love, so bugger off, will youuuuuu!?"
Karin's voice trailed off into a long shriek of surprise as Sakura suddenly let her go, dropping her straight onto her backside. Sakura felt her cheeks flush red with embarrassment. For some reason she couldn't comprehend, she didn't want Naruto to get the wrong idea.
"We probably shouldn't keep Lady Tsunade waiting," Sakura said briskly. "Er— sorry about that, Karin. We'll have to postpone, I suppose…"
"No problem," Karin said, glaring at Naruto resentfully as she massaged her aching butt.
…
Just as the two ANBU had said, Sasuke and Kakashi were already waiting when Naruto and Sakura stepped into the Hokage's office— and, for some reason, Jiraiya also was there, sitting on Tsunade's desk.
As for Tsunade, she stood with her back to them, gazing out of her office's wide windows at the village below, her ample bosom resting on folded arms. Sakura found herself fleetingly wondering whether the Lady Hokage ever pressed her bare chest against the cool glass at night, as if daring the villagers below to look up and see her in all her glory.
If she ever became Hokage, Sakura thought to herself, that was the first thing she'd do—
"You're late! What took you so long!?"
Tsunade's sharp voice jolted Sakura out of her delusions.
"Long time no see, Naruto!" said Jiraiya humorously, waving at him.
Sakura tried to catch Sasuke's eye, wondering if he was thinking the same thing she was. Not her idle speculation about Tsunade's possible exhibitionism, of course, but whether Obito's cryptic warning was weighing on his mind as well. Judging by his dark gaze, he seemed far too lost in thought to notice the frantic eyebrow waggles she was sending his way, though.
"What's this about?" Naruto said plaintively. "This is our last day off, ya know?"
"We've got good news and bad news," Jiraiya sighed. "Took a bit of wetwork, but we finally managed to get some usable intel on two Akatsuki members. After Iwa's forces captured the Box of Paradise in Takigakure, their Jinchūriki Rōshi chased the routed Cloud‑nin too far and got himself taken down by the Akatsuki— though, on the bright side, their fight drew our spies' attention, and we managed to put a tail on them."
"Ten ANBU operatives gave their lives for this information," Tsunade said quietly, turning to face them. "We can't let their sacrifice be in vain, so I'm assigning our best team to eliminate Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame."
Naruto glanced around the room in confusion. Best team? Where were they? There was no one else there but the six of them.
"She's talking about us, Naruto, we're the best team," Sakura said helpfully. "Besides, we're the ones who've encountered those two the most, so we're the ones best suited for the job."
By virtue of her presence alone, Sakura raised Team 7 to S‑rank status. Only two human True Sages existed on the entire continent— excluding mutants and curse mark users— and both of them were standing in the same room. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto were hardly slouches either, though Sasuke was a touch weaker than in the original timeline.
"Eh?" Naruto blurted out. "There's like, no way, ya know?"
"I suppose the Hidden Leaf could cobble together a four‑man cell stronger than ours if we gathered the four best Jōnin, but among the active teams, ours is easily the strongest," Kakashi mused. "You should be proud, Naruto, all of you. You've come a long way since the Third Hokage first dropped you needy brats into my lap."
Though he was only a Genin, Naruto had managed to recreate Sakura's S‑rank Rasenchakram, naming his version the Rasenshuriken, which was hardly an achievement within reach of just anyone. The gruelling training he'd endured to master the technique would have been impossible without the Nine‑Tails' chakra, but even so, it took someone extraordinary to serve as the host of the strongest Tailed Beast to begin with.
"Hehe," Naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "I guess I really did work hard, ya know?"
His nose seemed to elongate like Pinocchio's from the praise.
"Enough self‑congratulating, I've no intention of wasting another moment before killing that man," Sasuke growled, a murderous gleam in his eye. "Where is he?"
Sasuke's killing intent put a damper on Naruto's parade.
"The Uchiha clan's hideout," Tsunade said at last. "Their old haunt from their Warring States Era days. That's where you'll find Itachi and Kisame."
"You're leaving immediately," Jiraiya added. "They're staying put for now, but there's no telling how long that'll last."
Naruto hiccoughed in surprise. "You're not coming, Pervy Sage?"
Jiraiya hopped down from Tsunade's desk and ruffled Naruto's untidy hair.
"I've got bigger fish to fry, so I won't be joining you this time," he said with a laugh. "But don't worry, you've got this. Believe in yourself and in your comrades, and you'll find there's not much you can't do."
Naruto winced as the old man gave his hair a rough tousle, and though he looked outwardly annoyed, Sakura knew he didn't really mind. She watched them with a faintly mournful expression, knowing that unless she or Tenten intervened, this might well be the last time Naruto ever saw his master.
Around this time, Sanzu Amado was lying low somewhere in Amegakure, keeping watch on Pain for his master. He would be the one to lay claim to Jiraiya's lifeless body before it sank to the bottom of the sea…
"So, just us four, then?" Sakura sniffled. "We're not capturing them?"
Snatch‑and‑grab missions ranked a tier above assassinations. Usually, a single four‑man cell wasn't enough to slip into enemy territory and exfiltrate with a resisting target in tow. The more people you had, the better your chances, but at the same time, adding more people increased the odds of getting detected ahead of time and the target fleeing.
"Look, I know you hate killing, Sakura, but the Akatsuki are too dangerous," Tsunade said softly, mistaking Sakura's sorrow for apprehension. "You can't afford to take them lightly. A live capture's too risky, and from what we've seen before, I doubt they'd be eager to talk even if you managed to bring them in alive to the Torture and Interrogation Force."