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Title: Lost memories

Pairing: Sasuke Uchiha / Ino Yamanaka

Summary: She vanished on a special undercover mission and he was sent to recover her.

Genre: Romance

Rated: M

Writer's Notes:

In this story, ANBU Root was the highest outfit in the Konoha militia. It preceded the normal ANBU and mobilized solely by the Hokage alone.

Sasuke Uchiha here do not follow the canon Sasuke Uchiha. He had living family members and no massacres of any kind.

Characters were written with the story line in mind. Some changes were needed and made.

Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: Characters and places were only borrowed from their respective proprietor. Plot and storyline were mine for my enjoyment. No monetary transaction involved. (I wish! I'd be rich if that was the case.)

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Chapter 1

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Sasuke Uchiha rarely went looking for trouble but somehow, someway it always manages to find him. Maybe it was that handsome face, the mouth-watering physique or his influential family name that depending on someone might be a blessing or a curse. Whatever it was, the youngest Uchiha was not known to back down from a challenge – personal or professional.

Never.

He was out on one of the training grounds looking at three wet-behind-the-ears chuunin who were glaring daggers at him.

Oh, well, Sasuke mused, their funeral. He knew that if either or both the Hokage caught wind of this and/or the ANBU Root commander they would surely tan his hide. A seasoned ANBU operative versus the still green chuunins fighting over a random woman? Oh yeah, definitely maximum salary deduction plus give or take a week or two of suspension, a lot of talking to by his superiors and maybe his father – the works.

On more than a dozen or two occasions he had been told that he was bad. So what? He was a former ANBU captain and now an ANBU Root captain.

Oh yeah. He was bad. And he had proudly earned that right to be fair and square. He worked his ass off to get that privilege. Sacrificed a lot, too. He had paid the price and he was just reaping the benefits.

ANBU Root was not in the slightest the same as the ANBU faction. Root was the best of the best; the cream of the crop; the ones sent whenever other factions fail; the last resort. You get it.

The recruitment was different from the norm because you do not apply to be Root you get assigned.

So, why was he, a member of the super elite force, in the middle of the regular training area getting ready for a brawl? Simple. On his very, very, very, rare days off he normally would just be recuperating and waiting for yet another mission but he has been free for about a month and a half and he was getting bored. Most of his very few friends were out on a mission or pulling shifts at the hospital. The need to do anything other than train sent him to this very situation.

He had been out to grab a drink but three chuunins decided to challenge him because the girl they had been ogling, for who knows how long, was gawking at him the moment he sat behind the bar counter and the trouble he had been unconsciously avoiding had eventually found him.

As if that was his fault!

The biggest and the beefiest of the three stepped forward. He seems to be the leader of the group. As if he cares!

"Okay old man. Let's do this mano y mano just to even out the odds," he said smugly. "You and I go first then the winner can take the next and so on."

Okay. So he had turned the big three five chapter in his life and that might be considered old for the shinobi world but that certainly did not make him old by any stretch of the imagination. He just merely matures not olden. He can still pull stunts that rookies cannot do.

He grunted his response and surveyed his opponents. He did not live to be at this age because he was negligent. No, sir. If anything, Sasuke Uchiha was a keen observer – a battle trained keen observer.

He raised one striking eyebrow to their appearances. They looked like a model for ninja garments he saw once on his former flame's many magazines. How they passed the Chuunin Regulatory Exam was beyond him. If he was that concerned, he would have words with the exam commissioner but he had none. He heard them brag to that pathetic girl about their exam and how they managed to stay alive. Scratch that. He has now half a mind to file a complaint to the examiners for letting them pass. They would surely not last a day in the real world if they do not change their pitiful ways.

"Hn. It makes no difference to me. BOYS," he said the last word mockingly.

Rage filled the threesome's faces. "We're not afraid to hit an old man and we're going to enjoy beating the shit out of you." The leader declared.

He grunted and sighed for the nth time. The fight hadn't even started yet and he was bored out of his mind. This was even boring than staring at his ceiling.

Before the chunky guy could make his first move an ANBU man arrived at the scene halting everyone. Sasuke noticed who it was immediately but decided to keep his mouth shut. After all, they weren't wearing those masks to be identified personally. They wore those masks because they do the questionable clandestine jobs normal shinobis do not even fathom. Besides, he was not known to be Mister Congeniality.

"Tower. Now." ANBU guy barked.

"We have an unfinished business with him," the leader of the group protested. "He's going nowhere until we're through with him."

"No. You're done here, GENIN," ANBU man spat elegantly.

"CHUUNIN." Third guy corrected.

"We passed the exams," the second guy insisted.

"No, you did not," the masked man said emotionlessly like what he was about to say was beyond his duties. "Seto, Akihiro and Oda, you three failed the Chuunin Selection Examinations. You are to report to the Hokage tower first thing tomorrow morning and you, Uchiha, you're needed at the tower yesterday. I'm not repeating it for the third time."

The three stooges' eyes went comically wide. First, they were found out and second, the man they challenged was an Uchiha – a member of one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. They bickered amongst themselves and Sasuke was willing to bet his entire inheritance that if Naruto were here, he would laugh his ass off.

He smirked then shunshined out of the training field. Whatever made the Hyuuga's panties twist must be urgent. He hoped this was a mission briefing. It had been a long while since he had one of those. About damn time, he was getting antsy and judging by the former event he was really, really, bored to even think about beating the snot out of those genins.

He raised his eyebrow for the second time when he saw the sober Tsunade. In this time of night? His blood was tingling with anticipation. Whatever this mission was, it was dangerous and deadly. A sober and calm Tsunade was never a good sign.

"Two minutes tops and you couldn't even give me that?" He said by way of greeting.

"I'd run a betting pool on that, Brat, but this is urgent. We've received reports that Ino Yamanaka codename Boar's mission was compromised."

Sasuke waited for the older blond's speech to end. His blood ran cold the moment that name was uttered. This mission does not feel right.

"She was undercover for the last three months. Her reports were consistently up to date until last month when it all completely went dead silent. It was a deep covert operation and radio silence was unavoidable but someone anonymously sent us a tip that Yamanaka was compromised. Unfortunately, the tipster did not elaborate. I have already sent several ANBU to confirm."

The pregnant pause made Sasuke's heart race. Tsunade's amber colored eyes were solely focused on him.

"She apparently lost her memories and she now thinks she is one of them," the older woman stated grimly.

"What?" Did he just hear that correctly? Ino turned? Impossible! She's the most loyal person he knows by far.

"Intelligence reported that she has completely lost her memories and that she firmly believes that she's part of a group of missing nins and that what they were doing were doing the world a great favor by eradicating all hidden villages. They had managed to cripple the Land of the Moon and eliminated the Bean Jam's military defenses. Her last official report was about the Land of the Keys but she had been spotted last night at the River Country."

"What had been done to help her?" he demanded.

"So far, we had steadily sent a stream of people she was close with, even the occasional acquaintances hoping to trigger something. Neither face nor catch phrase had helped. I even went but nothing happened." Tsunade's face bore her hurt for not being recognized by one of her students.

"What about her parents?" He honestly did not want to hear her answer. Her face already says it all.

"Inoichi was currently on another mission and pulling him out and sending him in might compromise them both more. Her mother, on the other hand, had tried but she went home in vain. What we concretely know is that Ino is safe, somewhat, but there are far too many people getting killed by this group. We must think of the bigger picture first. Worst case, Ino is just one life compared to the community of people we can save." The Hokage looked exhausted. He can see the toll this had done to her.

"Why me? How sure are you that she'll remember me when the closest persons to her failed including you, her esteemed leader?" He had a sinking feeling that this question will bite him in the ass big time.

Tsunade smiled for the first time that meeting. "Are you really asking me that, Sasuke?"

"That maybe true but that was ten years ago." He said defensively.

"You dumb boy, you were the only relationship she ever had. You two may have broken up but that does not erase the fact that you almost tied the knot. You even lived together at some point in your relationship. That must account for something and I am not going to bet on that." Tsunade was known as the world's worst better and a gambling addict. Her gambling debts had debts but that doesn't change the fact that she was a good leader, medic and tactician.

Sasuke smirked on the betting jab the Hokage made. Tsunade betting on someone was a bad omen. It makes her a great betting challenger but not a morale booster.

"So, I'm guessing this is not my usual mission then. Who and what am I?" He mentally readied himself. He may have wished for a mission but not like this one. This had compromise written all over it and Tsunade was backing him on the corner with this one. Flinging his past association to the subject was a low but effective blow. They may be a decade over but he still cares about her.

The light mood became tense again when she planted her elbows to her desk and placed her chin on her clasped hands. "You're gonna love this," she said mysteriously before continuing. "We staged chaos using your name the moment we knew everything's not triggering her. You are going to join their merry little group and worm your way into their plans and we will go on from there. They must be stopped all at cause or the world will be in danger."

One thing clicked on Sasuke's mind. "Is this the reason I was benched for a month?"

"It was a necessary move," the Hokage deflected and continued her briefing.

Sasuke's mind was reeling with all the information. First he had to confront a memory-deficient-mission-compromised former fiancée then he was turning rogue to save the said fiancée without knowing if this was foolproof and saving the world on the side. Great!

"It pains me to say this but if Ino is deemed unsalvageable you will have to end her. I'm sorry Sasuke."

The Hokage's last words were hunting him all throughout until his deployment. Konoha basically wanted him to show up in his former lover's life and literally put her life in his hands. The first time they will be in each others personal radius and he was going to be evaluating if she can live to see another day or not.

In the innermost depth of his cold dead heart he still feels something for her. What that something was, was not important right now. That was one can of worms he does not want opened unless he's ready which was never. He doesn't want to be the one to deliver the killing blow that would end his former lover's life. He was sure that would ruin him for eternity even if that was the greater good for all mankind.

For the second time in his life, he was torn between his sworn duties and his heart's desire.

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This is dedicated for my readers and reviewers! Thanks for reading!