Proving The Rumors Right

[Kako]

(Haruka-kun Only Onegai! ^.^ )

A girl with long black hair sits on the floor of a room which was just as black as her own hair. The room was deathly quiet. Nothing could be heard. Not even the girl`s own breathing as she sat with her eyes closed, as if in a meditative state. Suddenly the quiet of the room was pierced by the faint sound of hissing that resembled a snake. Said snake slithered calmly across the floor toward the girl. The girl simply held out a hand toward the snake, not even bothering to open her eyes or break from her concentration. The snake slithered up the girl`s hand to disappear up the long sleeve of the loose white shirt that she wore, held to her waist by a large purple belt like bow.

While outside the girl in the room it was extremely calm and back to being as quiet as humanly possible it was very different inside the girl`s own mind. Suddenly in the girl`s mind flashed images and voices, everything the snake she had sent out had seen and heard was being transferred into her own mind. Once the long series of recently made memories was finished the girl made the first facial expression she had made since she started this meditation. A smirk made it`s way on her face.

"Hmph.....So....they`ve gotten a replacement for him? What an interesting boy....Sai. He`s rather good at playing people for a fool. His friends, Orochimaru-sama, and then himself. Very entertaining. But I have to say the most interesting thing was Naru-chan. Four tails and thats the result of the Kyuubi`s power? I`d love to see what would be caused if he went the full nine tails. He could probley have enough power to destroy all of the land of fire if he tried. Oh.....and Sakura-chan looks to actually be useful now. How fun...I wish I could have been there. Hm....If this is how those two have grown I can`t help but wonder how he`s changed" she commented on the images the snake provided with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Suddenly the darkness of the room was interrupted by a small ray of light caused by the door being opened and someone walking in. "It`s not wise to talk to yourself. People will think you`ve gone crazy" came a voice obviously from a boy. "Who says I was talking to myself? I sensed you waiting outside the door. Anyone ever told you it`s rude to spy on people?" she replied curtly. "Hmph....I`ve heard it before" there was a small silence between the two before the girl moved to stand up with her eyes still closed as if through all this she was still meditating on something. "Can I ask something?" the girl questioned with her back to the boy. "Hai...." "Can I go visit Konoha?" ".......I wouldn`t advise it Kako-chan". There was another quiet moment before the girl let out a small laugh. "You never let me have any fun Sasuke-kun" she stated simply before turning to look at the black haired boy and finally opening her eyes to reveal two green orbs with what appeared to have three small snakes around the black pupil.

"Hmph...." the boy just smirked "Those eyes still scare me alittle" "Gomen....."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura let out a frustrated sigh as she closed the door to the hokage`s office. Tsunade was in another one of her bad moods but she was use to these types of moments with her sensei. Her sensei was extremely kind to her at times but other times she thought the woman was going to murder her. But that was over so now she made her way down the stairs of the hokage tower, going to go meet Naruto and Sai at Ichiraku`s in order to inform them that Tsunade was going to give them a small break from missions for a few days. She assumed two reasons for this. First of all Naruto was still a tad hurt from turning into the four tailed Kyuubi on their last mission so she probley wanted to give the blonde fox vessel a break. Another might have been that she was waiting for a certain red haired ninja to return from a recent mission. She had heard Tsunade mutter something to Shizune about having the man go with Naruto, herself, and Sai on their next mission. She shrugged off the thought as she made her way out the door, deciding that it wasn`t anything worth worrying about or anything.

Besides she already had one thing that was kinda bothering her no matter how hard she tried to get the thought out of her mind. Suddenly though, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her name being called by her blonde haired friend Yamanaka Ino. "Hey Sakura-chan! Whats up?" the blonde said happily and walked up beside the pink haired kunoichi. "Oh hey Ino-chan. Not much really. I`m just going to meet Sai and Naruto-kun" "Oh ok!" there was an awkward silence between the two friends but finally Sakura broke it. "Something wrong Ino-chan?" "Well.....it`s just....me and some of the others have been wondering something but since....you know....you weren`t able to bring Sasuke-kun back we figured you weren`t able to bring.....well....her back either. Right?" Ino asked and Sakura smiled sadly and looked at the ground as she walked. "You mean Kako-chan right?" "Well yeah...I heard about what happened with Sasuke-kun but nothing about Kako-chan" "Thats because...she wasn`t there. We looked in practically every room in Orochimaru`s lair but she wasn`t anywhere. I`ve actually been kinda worried about it actually" Sakura explained and Ino nodded her head. "Well...don`t worry. I`m sure she`s fine" the girl said and gave an assuring smile. Sakura smiled back also, happy that her friend was trying to make her feel better. But the truth was she was actually really worried about Kako. What if Orochimaru had used her as a test subject or something? Or what if she was killed? All these possibilities came to mind and it didn`t help her worry less.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her friend make an 'Oh!' sound and she looked toward her. "I forgot! I was gonna go talk to Tsunade-sama about something! See ya Sakura-chan!" the blonde said and turned to run off. "Be careful! She`s in a bad mood!" she called after Ino and wasn`t really sure if the girl heard her or not. She shrugged and turned the corner and soon saw Ichiraku and her teammates. She smiled and raised her hand to wave at them. "Naruto-kun! Sai!"

[Haruka]

A man with black and red hair was surrounded by shinobi, only earning a small chuckle from him. They weren't even what you would consider shinobi...they were too weak. Haruka let out an irritated sigh and closed his eyes as they readied another attack towards him, which he easily dodged. He wasn't in a very good mood after hearing about what had happened to a certain someone. That, and who it was between. He growled slightly and opened his eyes; black thunderbolts corrupting his pupils. Only screams were heard for a few moments before all the shinobi lay in a unconscious/dead heap. Haruka canceled his newly advanced bloodline and looked around, letting out a sigh. "I let things....get carried away, I presume....oh well, stopping them was in my mission, and I did stop them." He commented shortly, then vanished from his spot in a flash of lightning.

~`~`~`~`~`~`~

The blonde-haired Kyuubi vessel sat in his bed for a few moments, just gazing towards his hands, thinking about what had happened between him and Orochimaru, and even then after what had happened between him and....Sasuke. He was still...too weak. He couldn't even get close to Sasuke, he was simply tossed away. Why wasn't he strong enough...? Would he ever be strong enough? His thoughts soon carried on to what had happened just before that. Wait....what exactly did happen, anyways? He remembered staring Orochimaru down, then his whole world went blank...to Sakura trying to heal him afterwards, and being told that...He injured Sakura. 'Orochimaru didn't hurt Sakura...it was you. As long as you continue to rely on the Kyuubi's power, you will only injure your friends and comrades. Listen, Naruto. It isn't your power....' Naruto's hands clenched tightly, and his head jolted up when he heard a knock on his window.

The window was soon opened, followed by a somewhat pale boy with short black hair. "Naruto-kun? What are you doing still in your room?" He asked. Naruto sighed slightly as he stood up. "I was just leaving..." "Ah...would you like to walk with me?" "Eh..." Naruto started with a blink. "..." ..." "We're getting Ichiraku!" Naruto called out as he jumped out of bed and jumped out the window. Sai blinked slightly and followed after him, missing the wince that Naruto had made after landing.

They decided to walk to Ichiraku, however, as Sai had some questions for Naruto...mainly miscellaneous ones about 'friendship' and 'pet names'. Naruto replied to the best of his ability, but he found the whole thing...awkward. That was pretty much needless to say though, wasn't it? As the duo was about to walk into Ichiraku, they heard a familiar voice and looked towards it. Naruto smiled slightly and waved. "Hey, Sakura-chan!" "Hello, Sakura-san."

There was a chilled silence at first, before a male appeared behind Sakura with a chuckle escaping his lips. "Ah, so this is the new guy that's supposed to be a....replacement?" He whispered to Sakura's ear. Naruto blinked slightly. That man looked familiar....He had longer hair, and now wore all black, with just a little yellow, but that was definitely...Haruka? Sai just blinked, confused.

[Kako]

Sakura blinked when she suddenly heard someone behind her and turned to look at the boy. She immediately recognized him as Haruka and smiled up at him. "Konnichiwa Haruka-kun! I didn`t think you`d be back so soon from your mission" she commented. Haruka had grown so much from when they were younger. She remembered the first time she saw him after his training and she almost didn`t recognize him but of coarse after she saw the way he acted it was very easy to tell it was Haruka.

She noticed the confused look on Sai`s face and remembered that Haruka and Sai hadn`t met. "Sai this is Haruka-kun. He`s a a friend of mine and Naruto-kun`s and....um yeah!" she said, catching herself when she almost had also said Kako. She hadn`t had to introduce Haruka to anyone in awhile and she was always use to including Kako in the introduction since she was the one who actually met Haruka before herself. She then turned her attention back to Haruka. "And Haruka-kun this is our new friend and teammate Sai."

After she finished with the introductions she made her way to take a seat in Ichiraku with her teammates and soon remembered what she originally had to tell Naruto and Sai. "Oh! By the way Tsunade-sama said our next mission won`t be for a few days so we should take this time to rest and relax" she stated and then looked over at Haruka as she leaned back against the ramen bar. "So Haruka-san how was the mission? You didn`t get hurt did you?"

(Sorry about the short response. I couldn`t think of anything ^.^; )

[Haruka]

Haruka chuckled softly towards the Cherry Blossom and gave his shoulders a light shrug in response to what she had said. "Eh, the mission was easy enough. Those shinobi honestly had no clue what they were up against." Came the Elemental nin's reply to her. He then stepped in front of Sakura and gave her a side-glance. She had changed since she was younger. She had gotten a little bit taller and grown a bit in some areas, but she still retained the same facial features as she had when she was younger. He then looked over towards Naruto. He had matured quite a bit as well. he had really gotten taller and showed true signs of growth...

Haruka then listened as Sakura decided to introduce Sai to him, and he nodded towards Sai. "Ah, wait, so this is the boy that was in the ANBU side-branch thing..? Ah, very interesting." He said with a chuckle, then vanished from his spot. He soon appeared behind Sai and slashed a kunai down towards him. Sai quickly drew his sword and turned into a stance, blocking the kunai. Haruka laughed slightly and put the kunai away. "Ah, he shows promise. That was the...correct way to block the attack." Sai smiled and put the sword away.

Haruka then looked towards Sakura as she asked if he had gotten hurt on the mission. Haruka simply scoffed. "Me, get hurt by a couple of weaklings trying to pass themselves off as shinobi? Honestly, Sakura, you don't know me at all!" He said with a 'hurt' smile, though it was obviously fake. Naruto simply blinked, confused by everything that was going on. Haruka looked towards Naruto and suddenly frowned. "Ah, Right, there was a reason I rushed that mission, but before I talk to you three, I have to...report to Tsunade." He looked towards Sakura and pulled out a bag, tossing it to her. "There's some ryo. It contains quite a lot, so help yourselves to ramen and relax. I'll be back shortly...I have things to discuss." He then vanished from his spot, lightning emitting from where he had been.

[Kako]

Sakura had already taken it upon herself to order herself some ramen while Haruka talked about how his mission went. She figured he would most likely have no trouble seeing as how strong Haruka has become. She suddenly heard a kunai and a sword clash and looked over to see Haruka and Sai looking like they were about to fight but was relieved when Haruka seemed to just be testing the painter. She smiled lightly at his comment about how Sai blocked and then just like that the random attack thing was over.

She couldn`t help but let out a small giggle at Haruka`s attempt to look insulted at her asking if he was hurt. She figured he wasn`t but what kind of medical ninja would she be if she didn`t ask her friends if they were injured or not after a mission.

His parting words confused the pink haired kunoichi slightly but she figured it must be important in some way for Haruka to have rushed a mission. She placed the bag of ryo on the counter and turned in her seat so she faced the front of the bar. That bothersome thought wouldn`t remove itself from her head and she wondered if Naruto was wondering the same thing since he was also Kako`s friend. Though she figured the blonde dobe might be more worried about Sasuke after what happened their last meeting but she still wondered. "Hey Naruto-kun.....something`s been bugging me since the end of our last mission. Do you kinda wonder where Kako-chan might be? You know since she wasn`t at Orochimaru`s lair with Sasuke-kun. I dunno it`s just a question thats been bothering me" she asked and glanced toward Naruto. She figured Sai would wonder who Kako was but she really wanted to know what Naruto thought right now so she would have to tell Sai about Kako after Naruto`s response.

[Haruka]

Naruto watched the bag of ryo fly towards Sakura and shrugged his shoulders as he decided to go into the Ramen stand and sit down at one of the barstools, next to Sakura. Sai decided to follow suit, although he decided to sit next to the blonde-haired dobe. The chef looked at Naruto and smiled towards him. "Ah, back from your mission, are you? So Naruto, will it be the usual?" The kind man asked the jinchuuriki. Naruto blinked slightly and looked up towards the chef and smiled softly towards him, before saying, as a response, "Hai...Barbecue Miso Pork ramen, 'ttebayo!" He said with a slight grin. The chef then looked over towards Sai. "So, how about him?" He asked. Sai blinked slightly and shrugged his shoulders. "I'll have what Naruto-kun is having.." He said as a response. The chef nodded. "Alright! Two orders of Miso Pork Ramen, coming up!" He called out happily. Naruto nodded and laughed slightly. "Arigatou!" He said happily as well. Sai looked towards Naruto and smiled lightly. He could somewhat tell that Naruto was just putting on a front right now, but people who were extremely close to Naruto might not be able too. Something was on his mind.

Naruto then blinked slightly as he was addressed by Sakura, and he looked towards her, wondering what she could be asking of him. As she brought up the situation about Kako, Naruto looked down for a moment, then looked over towards her with a soft sigh. "I don't know where she could be...she might have been training..ne?" He murmured, then looked away. The chef then placed a bowl of steaming ramen in front of him. Naruto picked up chopsticks. "Itadakimasu." He stated softly and took a slurp of his ramen.

~`~`~`~`~`~

Haruka appeared in front of the Hokage, not seeing a need to knock on the door. He looked her straight in the eyes. "I'm finished with my mission, and I have some things to...discuss with you." He stated shortly.

[Kako]

Tsunade blinked when Haruka suddenly appeared in front of her. The Godaim Hokage finished writing something on a piece of paper before putting her full attention on Haruka. "Hai....what is it Haruka-kun?" she asked

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura shrugged at Naruto response. "Yah I guess...." she stated simply as she watched the chef`s daughter soon bring out her`s and Sai`s orders and place the ramen in front of them. Sakura smiled at the girl "Arigato" she stated before picking up her chopsticks. "Itadakimasu" she said and ate some ramen.

After swallowing it she glanced over at Naruto. She had kind of noticed he had been acting alittle strange but it was hard to tell with Naruto. She figured he would be upset anyway after what happened with Sasuke but she had also hoped that his will to bring Sasuke back would overcome that. She thought it would be best to ask. Even if he just tells her he`s fine in order for her not to worry at least he would know she was worried about him. "Are you ok Naruto-kun?"

[Haruka]

Haruka simply shrugged his shoulders towards her. "Hn. First of all, I'm finished with my mission. The group of shinobi have been taken down." He commented. He then looked away fro a few moments before looking back towards her. "Secondly...Why exactly did you send Naruto out so he could fight Orochimaru..? He could have been killed!" He started off the latter statement calmly, but with the last statement he yelled so that the whole tower could most likely hear him. "I have faith in him, but there is no way he can take on Orochimaru. And even worse, his demon gets let out?! Yamato-san won't always be there to stop Naruto, you know!"

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

Sai picked up his chopsticks as well after staring at the ramen for a few moments and sighed slightly. "Itadakimasu." He murmured, then slurped up some of the ramen. He smiled slightly and slurped up some more. He had never had any ramen before, but he found it to be quite...delicious.

Naruto looked over towards Sakura as she asked him if he was ok, and he laughed slightly, rubbing the back of his head. "Eh, I'm fine, Sakura-chan. Nothing to worry about, ne?" He asked with a smile, then looked back towards his ramen and slurped more of it up.

[Kako]

Tsunade sighed at the red head`s annoying response and she had half a mind to punch him into the land of snow but she held back her temper the best she could. She had already gone through practically the same thing with Kakashi and Jiraya. How all these people were finding out about what happened to Naruto she would never know. "The original mission was to infiltrate an Akatsuki spy. Even for such a simple mission though I took as many precautions as possible. I sent Yamamoto-san with them not only to replace Kakashi-san while he was resting from a previous mission but also cause I knew he could control the Kyuubi if the time called for it. If I had known that the mission would escalate to what it did I never would have sent Naruto-kun on such a mission" she explained before leaning back in her chair. "But I have to say in my own personal opinion I`m glad the mission worked out the way it did. That mission effected not only Naruto-kun but also Sakura-chan and Sai-kun. While what happened was troublesome it was all for the better. Atleast Naruto-kun now sees how destructive the Kyuubi really can be and I hope this will cause him to work harder to learn how to control. He also got to see Sasuke-kun and while he was unable to bring him back I think Naruto-kun is more determined now than ever to bring him back. Sakura-chan is also now just as determined and she is also trying to become stronger to help her team. And before they set off on that mission Sai was practically hated by both of them but now he is considered to be a friend. Yell all you want Haruka-kun. It won`t undo what has been done" she stated simply and picked up a stack of papers and began to read some.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura sighed when she received the reply she was expecting but shrugged it off and continued eating her ramen.

[Haruka]

"Do you think it's just that simple to control a freaking demon?!!" He yelled out, electricity emitting from his body. "Of course you wouldn't understand...you don't have a demon, unlike us. If you keep sending Naruto out to fights that will escalate his anger to such a state, eventually all 9 tails will come out of his body, and the Kyuubi will finally be free, and Naruto....will die." Haruka muttered, narrowing his eyes towards Tsunade. "Fine, send him out on any mission you want, but make well sure that he is protected efficiently. Yes, Yamato can stop the Kyuubi rampage because of the necklace you gave Naruto, but...you need to send shinobi out that can adapt to Naruto's fighting style, and..." Haruka shut his mouth for a moment, letting out a sigh. He noticed that he was rambling on, but he was a little...overprotective of Naruto. Naruto was a fellow jinchuuriki, like he was, and Naruto had grown on him, like a very close friend, even like a brother. Naruto may not see him like that, especially how Haruka acted around him, but it was very true. Haruka shook his head slightly and reached into his pouch, pulling out a scroll. He then walked over towards Tsunade, setting it on the table. "Tsunade-sama, I would like to be recognize as a Leaf Shinobi for a little bit. To keep in touch better with the village. Mostly because I know that the Akatsuki are making their move after waiting three years, and jinchuuriki have fallen prey to their hands. May I?" He asked her.

[Kako]

Tsunade sighed as Haruka started to ramble on and on and she just nodded her head in response. She understood that Haruka was worried about Naruto but what he was saying wasn`t anything she hadn`t already heard or thought about herself. When she noticed him take out a scroll and ask to be recognized as a leaf shinobi she blinked and took hold of the scroll as she began to read it. Truthfully she had already planned to asked Haruka to go on the next few missions with Naruto, Sakura, and Sai anyway but she figured after hearing about the Akatsuki and worrying about Naruto he would probley want to help anyway. She rolled up the scroll and placed it on her desk along with all her other paper work. "I have no trouble with you doing so Haruka-kun. In fact I would like you to go on the missions with team Kakashi till I say other words" she replied before picking up her pen and writing something down on a random piece of paper. "Now is there anything else you`d like to discuss or would you like to Yell some more Haruka-kun?" she asked with a slight annoyed tone in her voice.

[Haruka]

The elemental shinobi watched in silence as the Godaime began to read the scroll that he had given to her. Truth be told, he was going to silently follow Team Kakashi on their next missions anyways, given the severity of the missions they had been going on lately. Now, however, he would have to get used to Sai's fighting style. He didn't know hardly any of Sai's attacks, but coming from a separate ANBU core, he must have some strength to him. There was something he didn't like about him, though...He just reminded him too much of the traitorous Uchiha avenger, but he had his own history with Sasuke. He was snapped out of his thoughts as she talked about him going on missions with Team Kakashi from now on, which brought a chuckle up. Yamato would have sensed him eventually, anyways. He then listened to Tsunade's next comments about him having something else to say, and he simply shrugged his shoulders lightly towards her. "Ah, two more things..." He murmured, walking out for a moment before coming back in with a very large stack of papers. He set them on her desk. "All these need your stamp of approval, along with your signature. And one more thing..." He leaned forward, then flicked her hard on the forehead, vanishing from his spot but letting out one last thing, "...have fun."

[Kako]

Sakura let out a bored sigh as she waited for Haruka with the others. Having already finished her ramen she simply sat and read a book lady Tsunade had given her about some medical ninjutsu. Her attention on the book was soon distracted by a loud crash sound that came from the hokage tower. She looked toward it and it looked like Tsunade had thrown her desk through a wall. She blinked and sighed as she went back to her book. "Haruka-kun must have pushed Tsunade-sama to her limit" she thought out loud and turned a page of her book. She was use to this from her sensei and in times like these it was best to just ignore her sensei`s anger and leave her alone.

[Haruka]

Haruka arrived by Sakura and the others just in time to see Tsunade throw a desk out her wall. He let out a slight laugh and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess Tsunade doesn't like her forehead flicked...oh well." He murmured and sat down with the others. Naruto and Sai had long since finished their ramen in waiting for Haruka to get back. "So...what did Tsunade-baa-chan say, Haruka?" Naruto asked with a blinked of his sapphire optics. Haruka looked towards Naruto and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I'm to stay in the Leaf Village as a Konoha Shinobi, and I am to attend Team Kakashi on missions unless she says otherwise." Haruka stated shortly. Naruto blinked slightly. "So we have five people now..?" "Ah, that reminds me...have you guys spoken to Kakashi since you got back? I'm sure he might want to know what happened..."

[Kako]

When Haruka arrived Sakura abruptly closed her book and payed attention to Haruka. She sighed when he mentioned about Tsunade not liking having her forehead flicked. "Hm....I think Yamamoto-san said he would take care of telling Kakashi-sensei about our last mission" she explained and soon remembered that Haruka mentioned that he wanted to talk about something with them earlier. " Anyway Haruka-kun what is it you wanted to talk to us about?" she asked curiously.