Land of the Dark, Land of the Pure (For Sasuke's-Sharingan)

[Scorpion's Apprentice]

"I don't get it Sakura-chan, what's so special about this thing anyway? It's just another mission." Naruto asked, placing both of his hands behind his head in their position of usual relaxation.

Sakura rolled her eyes toward the ceiling of the building in irritation. "I told you Naruto, Kakashi-sensei isn't coming with us this time! I don't-"

Naruto's eyes shot open and he skidded to a halt, nearly tripping over his feet. "Whaaaaat?! Kakashi-sensei isn't going with us on the mission?! You mean baa-san is sending us alone?! What kind of mission is this, some sort of super-easy mission?! I didn't become a ninja just for kiddie missions! I'm going to be the future Hoka-"

Naruto never got to finish his ritualistic histrionics as Sakura suddenly reached up with her fist and bonked him on the head so severely that the blond was knocked to the ground, cutting off his words. It was just as well, as several people who were passing by were beginning to stare. This was quite surprising, considering that Naruto spouted off like this at least three times a day and most of the community had grown used to his loud ranting.

"Will you give it a break and be quiet for a few seconds?!" Sakura shouted. "We're in the Hokage's mansion for crying out loud!"

Naruto rolled onto his back and whined as he rubbed his throbbing head. "Aw, but Sakuraaaaa-!"

Turning to her other, more stoic teammate who bore an expression that could best be described as a slightly more menacing version of the thousand-yard stare, Sakura put on a much sweeter expression and said, "I'm sure you know better than that, right Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke said nothing. It was doubtful that he even acknowledged her presence, given the ever-so-subtle way he shifted his body around and began to walk (or stalk, take your pick) down the hallway toward the elevator which would lead them up to Tsunade. An amateur would have called for them to follow, or at least motioned with their fingers for Naruto and Sakura to follow, but Sasuke knew exactly what to do and merely continued on his way as cool as a slab of ice, freshly imported from the Land of Water. All that was missing was some music and a sunset for him to walk into.

On Sakura, the effect was lost as she merely hurried to catch up to him. On Naruto, however...

"SASUKE-TEME, YOU JERK, YOU THINK YOU'RE SO HOT, I'LL SHOW YOU!!" Naruto shouted as he leapt to his feet and sprinted after the two of them, just barely making it into the elevator as it began to close.

****

As Team Seven (sans Kakashi) entered Tsunade's office, they found that there was not much out of place. Tsunade was sitting at her desk, a stack of unstamped papers littering her desk the way ramen bowls littered sometimes littered the counter at Ichiraku Ramen when Naruto became particularly hungry. To the right side stood the always dutiful Shizune, looking somewhere between cheerful and anxious, and given her employer, one had to wonder why she didn't have bags under her eyes. Naruto could attest to his first hand.

Of course, not everything was in place. There was only one real difference in the room, but oh, what a difference it was! None of Team Seven had ever seen anything like this before.

Standing on the left side of the room, far away from Tsundade's desk, was a man in his late twenties, dressed in the usual attire of a Konoha ninja. He was tall, around the same height as Kakashi, on the lean side, and very wiry. Underneath his shirt, they could see the small muscles in his arms. Strapped across his waist were the usual refinements (canteen, tool pouch, and smoke bombs). Nothing really stood out about him in the sense of his dress.

Perhaps what stood out about this man was his facial appearance. He had long, smooth blond hair that was tied back in an inverted braid, coming down close to the center of his back. His bangs dripped down over the front of his forehead in a neat arc, the center curving down into a widow's peak. Even more, this peculiar hair was a real, honest golden blond, as opposed to Naruto's corn colored hair or Ino's cream-yellow.

The iris of his eyes, even more interestingly, were a shade of aqua, definitely not the norm in Konoha, much like Naruto's cyan eyes.

His face was lean and solidly built with a nose that was, perhaps, slightly larger than one would expect to see, but definitely not so large that somebody would point it out.

All three of them, their eyes focused on this mysterious man, walked forward toward Tsunade, bowing when they came within appropriate distance.

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama." Sakura greeted.

"Hey, baa-san." Naruto greeted.

Naruto thrust out his finger at Tsunade before any of them could speak. "Alright, baa-san, what's the deal? You think you can just-"

Tsunade cut him off as abruptly as Sakura had. "Shut it, kid. I'm in no mood today. This is far bigger than you think. What I'm sending you on is going to be dangerous, and to be brutally honest, the chances of you coming back alive are pretty damn slim. If you're going to get mouthy with me on this, then think again, so just shut up and listen."

Well that had certainly been unexpected; so unexpected that Naruto closed his mouth and stared at Tsunade in shocked silence, more out of the fact that she had been so curt with him than the supposed danger level of their new mission. Sakura was staring at Tsunade as if she were a goddess.

Tsunada leaned forward in her seat and folded her hands, looking at the three genin with an expression of grim focus. "You three listen and listen good. The three of you are being sent outside of Konoha for this mission. In fact, you're going outside of the Land of Fire for this; far beyond. Where you're going is technically classified, but it's gotten to a point where we can no longer completely keep what's been happening a secret. I'm sending the three of you to the far western regions to deal with a threat that has reached our territories."

"Say what?" Naruto asked, looking confused. "So what's this have to do with not having Kakashi-sensei with us?"

"If I may speak, Hokage-sama," said a male voice, "I believe I can explain that."

The blond-haired man who had hitherto been holding his tongue stepped toward them, his braid mildly swishing as he walked toward them. Although his expression was not exactly a battle-hardened one like Sasuke's, he seemed to carry with him an air of grace and refinement that demanded respect.

"My name is Claudio Hachisai." he said, bowing to the three of them. "I'm going to be your substitute sensei for the duration of this mission."

Sakura looked dumbfounded.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Naruto merely turned to Tsunade and exclaimed, "Why does he have to be with us?! What's wrong with Kakashi-sensei?! This is crazy!"

Choosing to ignore Naruto's outburst, Tsunade merely said, "As soon as the fourth genin arrives, I will explain all of that."

"WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER GENIN?!!"

[Sasukes-Sharingan]

The horridly annoying sound of Kira's alarm clock began to echo throughout the small apartment she had found herself calling 'home'. It was your typical one room apartment with a small kitchen and bathroom adorning it. It wasn't the best of living spaces, but it served it's purpose of giving Kira a roof over her head.

"Ugh, damn it. . ." Kira's muffled voice mumbled from under the covers as she reached for her alarm clock and hit the snooze button, she let out a yawn before sitting up and stretching. Her eyes quickly flickered to the clock and she instantly let out a sigh, damn it. It was well past the time she was supposed to be at the Hokage's office and it seemed as if she had pressed the 'snooze' button one too many times. Quickly, she jumped out of bed and proceeded to getting ready for the day ahead of her.

Kira was the type of girl that basically liked to blend in with the background and tend to herself, not really wishing to be involved with too many people. In her eyes, that was the way to be a shinobi. With too many interactions and bonds to people, there was too much room for heartbreak. Shinobi were all taught to kill, it was the wars between countries and nobles as well as others that they were to fight. This meant, death plagued their lives on a regular basis and Kira had witnessed countless tears over loved ones. Though, even she had fallen victim to the human weakness (or strength in other's points of views.) of loving two others. However, she had the lurid flaw of wanting to seem invincible and fearless; this caused her to mask this fact.

Within twenty minutes of none-stop rushing about, Kira had finished getting ready "I'm going to be in deep shit by both the Hokage and Claudio-sensei due to how late I am, ah well." The olive skinned girl shook her head before rushing out of her home, making way toward the Hokage's tower. She weaved between and around the people that were making way toward their own destinations, receiving many scoldings from them and glares. Though, she simply ignored each one of them and continued on. After a few minutes, she entered the Hokage's tower and rushed in; heading up to Tsunade's office.

"Sorry about my lateness, my alarm clock had failed to go off-" Her excuse was cut off by herself as she noticed three other gennins in the room, quickly she whipped her head to Claudio. She didn't speak a word, but her expression pretty much screamed; "What the fuck is going on!?"

"What's going on?" Kira finally asked, turning toward Tsunade. She already predicted the answer and that answer made her blood boil. If what she conjectured was to be true, she'd go absolutely insane. There was no way she was going to allow the Uchiha-brat, knuckle-headed blond kid, and the pink haired little prissy girl to accompany her and Claudio on whatever mission Tsunade had in store for the

Sasuke's eyes averted over to the girl that had barged in and let out a small scoff before looking away, this was just perfect. Why the hell did they need a five man squad anyway? The safe number was four, not five, just four. Besides that, another girl; like they really needed one of those corrupt beings that are constantly being bothered by materialistic things.

"Hn, Tsunade," Sasuke began as he crossed his arms over his chest "Why exactly do we need two others? More specifically; why do we need them?" He questioned, his voice showing no indication of any disrespect, but it was clear that Sasuke was displeased.

Kira's eyes focused on the raven-haired boy and she narrowed her eyes a bit at his attitude and obvious dislike of having to be on the same team as Claudio and herself. She wasn't all that happy about it either. I mean, she'd heard of all the other girl's pathetically swoon over the Uchiha as if he was a God; it was sickening. In her eyes, this brat was nothing more then a pretty boy.

[Scorpion's Apprentice]

Claudio was actually willing to let Kira go without scolding her for her tardiness today, but he gave a small sigh at her impertinence as she entered Tsunade's office and immediately began to give a hurried, tired explanation. She was in the presence of Tsunade, Konoha's Hokage, and she should have known to show the proper respect first by bowing to the village leader before explaining to her sensei why she was late.

Naruto and Sakura's attention, which had previously been focused on Claudio's obviously foreign appearance, was suddenly riveted to this new girl whom they had never seen before. By no means had they even seen here on any of the previous ninja squads. That meant she was either a brand new genin or she was with this Claudio man.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, leaning his head forward and raising an eyebrow. "Are you the new genin baa-san told us about?"

Sakura nudged him in the back with her elbow. "Naruto, that's kind of rude!" she scolded.

Naruto turned around to face her with a look of disappointment on his face. "Well Sakura, don't you think this is strange? We're getting some strange mission, then we get a new sensei that we've never met, then we get some brand new girl that we've never met? Something stinks!"

Claudio covered his mouth with his mouth and gave a slight chuckle. Tsunade had told him that Team Seven would be a handful for him, but he certainly hadn't been expecting them to be a flat out comedy troupe. Vaguely, he wondered if they would be as colorful as his own squad of ninja. Just the fact that Kira was being brought with him on this... well, c'est la vie.

"Leave that to me." he explained. "It's not my place to explain the mission itself, but I can assure you that my assistance and hers will be of use to all of you. We-"

"Whatever!" Naruto exclaimed. "Who do you think you are, anyway?! And who is she, anyway?!"

Without missing a beat, Claudio returned, "Well, if you'll give her a chance to introduce herself, and just listen to what Hokage-sama has to say instead of running your mouth so much, maybe you'll learn, won't you?"

Naruto didn't have anything to say to that.

[Sasukes-Sharingan]

Kira watched them and rolled her eyes at his antics, she was really getting a bad first impression with these impudent brats. Especially that Naruto kid. . .

"Loser. ." Sasuke commented on Naruto's outbursts, he really was nothing, but a child. Couldn't for once he just control himself and shut the hell up before he embarrassed his team? Did he even know how to hold his tongue?

Glancing to Sasuke as he called Naruto a loser, she began to speak "I'm Kira and I'd rather you keep down your voice and stop throwing a childish tantrum, princox. Your discontent with us accompanying- no, you guys accompanying US on this mission is easily seen and as a shinobi; you shouldn't be too hasty in showing emotions or feelings to others you just met. Even if we are going to be on the same team. ." She announced, trying her best to not throw a childish tantrum about this whole thing too. It was what she wanted to do, but she couldn't allow herself to be presented in such a way.

"Tsk," Sasuke shook his head at the two and then turned his attention back to Tsunade, he wasn't up to listening to those two losers any longer. For now, all the Uchiha wanted to know is what exactly was going on "So, what is this mission about Tsunade and why is it that we need them?" Sasuke inquired, his eyes darting to Kira and Claudio as he asked this.

This whole ordeal was starting to show itself as nothing more then a huge hindrance and bother to the genins, their outrage either being verbalized or being portrayed by their mannerisms and or tones of voice.

It wasn't fair nor did it seem to be a good decision on Tsunade's part. Claudio and Kira had not been exposed to team seven and likewise, Team seven had never ever been exposed to them. This could put the whole mission in jeopardy because of how alien they were to each other and it seemed as if they had already shown a dislike for one another.

"Claudio-sensei, this isn't a good idea. Having these impetuous people join us on a mission, God save us if it's a long term one.." She muttered him, being careful to be quiet enough to where they couldn't hear her. She really just didn't want this, she would much rather it just be Claudio and herself instead of another three. It was frustrating, just the thought of having to travel with them. . .

'What could the mission possibly be? It must be something of great importance if we have to involve another two to the team.' Sasuke thought to himself, pondering on what possibilities of the mission they'd receive.

As Tsunade had mentioned earlier, it had something pertaining with the problem of the western regions slowly creeping up into Fire Country. However, Tsunade had also stated that this was extremely dangerous and there was a slim chance on them returning. They were just genins and Tsunade honestly couldn't mean that. It was then that Sasuke concluded that it was best not to question her motives for this, he was actually pretty excited that they were getting such an important mission. This gave him the oppritunity to test his own powers.

[Scorpion's Apprentice]

Well, it was good to know that the three of them (or the four of them, in this case) had spirit. This was going to prove to be a very interesting period of time for him, assuming they didn't tear each other apart. One of them was loud, the other was quiet and rather narcissistic, the third was intelligent, but a bit too concerned with non-shinobi matters, and Kira... well, he knew plenty about her. She was, after all, a member of his squad.

Claudio knew that this wasn't going to be a complete test of patience, though. He had been given a rundown of the missions and accomplishments Team Seven achieved, and it was astounding to say the least. Maybe their ability to work together was not exactly the best, but they had vastly improved over time, and now look at them. They had settled down somewhat, were performing at a higher rate, and now... this.

"So, what is this mission about Tsunade and why is it that we need them?" Sasuke asked, eyes darting toward Kira and him with a look that screamed contempt.

Then again, some things never changed.

"Claudio-sensei, this isn't a good idea. Having these impetuous people join us on a mission, God save us if it's a long term one..." Kira muttered to him, doing her best to keep her voice down. Evidently, she was not too fond of the idea either.

"Like it or not, it's been ordered by Hokage-sama." Claudio whispered back, looking directly at the girl. "Besides, it might not be so bad. Just give it some time."

He had known right from the get-go that Kira would not have enjoyed the prospect of this whatsoever. Working with genin-anybody, in fact-like this was exactly the kind of thing that perturbed her to no great extent, and the fact that she was always somewhat irascible did not help. Thank God he was a patient man when it came to this sort of thing.

As the two of them briefly exchanged words, Tsunade began to answer Sasuke's question.

"As you know, there are five nations making up our world: Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, and Lightning, ours being Fire. However, there are many other nations, far beyond our own in other areas of the world. I won't bother going off on some lecture, so I'll just say that the nations that make up our land make up the eastern quadrant."

Naruto's eyes widened nearly to the size of dinner plates. "WHAAAAAAT?! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT THERE'S NINJA ALL OVER THE WORLD AND WE'RE ONLY PART OF IT OR SOMETHING?! WHY DIDN'T I EVER HEAR ABOUT THIS?!"

"Didn't you ever pay attention when we were at the academy, Naruto?" Sakura thought, closing her eyes in silent frustration. "Although... come to think of it, we never did learn much about the outer nations."

"In a word, brat, yes." Tsunade said. "All of the nations throughout the entire world work together not just for the sake of their ninja, but for a variety of reasons. You don't need to know them, since they aren't relevant, but at the moment, a portion of the western nations has requested for ninja to come to their aid. You are all going there."

"But what for?" Sakura asked. "Why are we being sent all the way there?"

Tsunade leaned back in here chair, eyes still set on them. "We don't know how, but many bodies have been turning up in the country known as the Land of Steel. The victims have been completely at random: men, women, children, elderly, that sort of thing. Even stranger, every victim has a large letter X carved into their chest and across their face, clearly indicating a taunt to authority. We don't know when it started, and they won't tell us."

"Then at some point whoever was going after these innocents began targeting ANBU members and medical nin. Normally, cases like this would not be any concern of ours, but we got involved after two of our own jounin turned up dead. Just like in the previous cases, their faces and chests all had a large letter X carved into their chests faces. This could have easily brought about a war, but we weren't going to lose one of our top contributors, and vice versa. We combed all over Konoha and the Fire Nation until we found the culprit. Once again, it doesn't matter how and why, but simply that we found him. We managed to squeeze some information out of him, but it seems he was just a small one in this whole thing. He swallowed cyanide before we could get anything else."

"So now," Tsunade said, again leaning toward them, her expression more grave than ever, "I'm sending you all out on a mission to the Land of Steel to find out who or what is killing these people and stop it. It's a definite shot in the dark, but it's about all we've got. If this keeps up, a war really could break out. Maybe I should be sending higher ranked shinobi to deal with this, but sending in ANBU for this would cause some controversy over there. The most logical choice would be sending genin to keep the public quiet as well as to succeed in tracking down whoever is doing this."

"That still doesn't answer why we need these two with us!" Naruto exclaimed, jerking his thumb at the two newcomers. "What's wrong with-"

Tsunade whipped her hand up as a warning that he should not continue. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I called in Claudio here because as intelligent as Kakashi Hatake is, he hasn't been on a mission outside of the east as Claudio has. Things are much different over there then they are over here. When you go into something you're not familiar with, you bring a study guide."

"Well, the guy's from here, isn't he?" Naruto retorted, hands on his hips like a stuck up arrogant teenage girl.

"And you're louder than usual, aren't you?" Tsunade mentally grumbled.

"So what difference could it make?"

Sakura's fist promptly rocketed into Naruto's head again. "Please excuse him." she sighed, bowing apologetically.