"...what are you thinking about?" - Sakura walked to Naruto, who gazed at the stars while they were camping and then sat next to him.

"We're gonna finally see Sasuke...but what if he doesn't want to return to Konoha?" - Naruto

"This isn't like you...wouldn't you say something like: "I'll get him to return no matter what! Even if I have to drag him to Konoha myself!"?" - Sakura

"...I know...but I don't know if I'm strong enough for that...I trained with pervy sage for 3 years, but I'm still..." - Naruto

"You know...we both have become splendid Shinobis...we even were acknowledged by Kakashi-sensei...but the same goes for Eiji. It's obvious that he didn't just sit around and trained as well - and Sasuke probably too...it would be naive to assume otherwise..." - Sakura

"...so what are we supposed to do?" - Naruto

"But we have something which those two don't have...it's comrades who trust each other. If you are not strong enough to drag Sasuke yourself back, then I'll help! If we two are not enough, then Lord Jiraiya will help!" - Sakura

"...you are right. Hup!" - with that, Naruto suddenly jumped up and with a smile said: "Thanks, Sakura! Let's take Sasuke back and kick the asses of Orochimaru and Akatsuki!"

Meanwhile, at the same camp, the Anbu were completely silent. This wasn't because they were Anbu: Anbu are people as well, and overtime when they went on many different missions together, they could get friendly with each other. Furthermore, who doesn't like to have a friendly chatter to pass time? Instead, it was because most of them were ex-roots...

"Sigh..."- Yamato looked at the Anbu member and hoped he would find someone he knows, who isn't an ex-root to converse with, but his hopes were shattered.

'Damn...I wish Kakashi was here with us...hm? It's the ex-root who often draws in his book and uses those drawing jutsus...I already worked with him a couple of times recently...it looks like some of those ex-roots actually have some sort of personality...' - Yamato was bored so he went to Sai.

"Jo! Looks like we are on the same mission again." - Yamato

"Yes." - Sai said that and continued to draw.

"..." - Yamato didn't expect the conversation to end this fast.

"Cough...you are an ex-root member, right? Even though there are some differences and we might misunderstand each other sometimes, we are still Konoha comrades, so I'll be relying on you." - Yamato

"Yes." - Sai

A vein appeared on Yamato's forehead and he smiled dangerously under his mask: 'Those damn ex-roots! Having some sort of personality my ass!' - with that he went back to his sitting spot and sulked for the rest of the night.

"Why is the meeting place a bridge? Couldn't you come up with something better?" - Ukon complained to Eiji, who were both inspecting the meeting place a day before meeting with Orochimaru.

Sasuke wasn't there, since he thought of it as a waste of time, so he stayed in the hotel nearby.

"Well, I choose it for good reasons, so trust me." - Eiji picked his nose while looking at the Samurai Bridge where Danzo and Sasuke fought at the original timeline.

"Aha, and they are?" - Ukon wasn't convinced.

"It isn't as cold here as the rest of the Land of Iron and I always wanted to see that famous bridge."

"..." - Ukon wanted to kill Eiji at this moment.

"Anyway...let's head back."

"Huh? Already? But we didn't look if Orochimaru placed traps or something around here..." - Ukon

"Nah...that scummy snake bastard is definitely planning a trap, so it would be a waste of time. And small traps won't bother us anyway..." - Eiji

"Then...why the hell did we even come here?!" - Ukon

"Well...you'll see tomorrow." - Eiji

"You are always seeing shit like that...but as long I get my revenge I don't care...though, your plan seems bulletproof to me, so I really don't get it and still think this was a complete time-waste." - Ukon

"It's always better to have a backup plan." - Eiji said that smilingly, while a small fresh breeze suddenly blew at him.