The cold wind was blowing, making the leaves rustle over the muddied path on which four people were walking. Around them was a forest, trees surrounding them from every direction and it was almost too dark to look but that didn't make them to stop their mission, no, they didn't care about dark. The man who was leading the small group had his face hidden under a novel, not even a single member of the group was making any sort of noise.

"Hey Kakashi sensei, why don't we just take some rest and continue with our journey in the morning?" Naruto suggested to the oldest one of the group. Kakashi didn't say anything or look at the boy who had broken the long silence. He just ignored him as he had said nothing and continued on walking.

"Sensei?" Naruto spoke yet again; he was too tired to walk anymore. They had been walking since the sun had revealed its face in the morning and hadn't even stopped once, not even to eat.

"Hn?" was the only response that Naruto got. Getting irritated at being ignored, Naruto fastened his pace and started waking beside him. He grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it lightly. When the masked man looked down at him, he let go of his sleeve and asked "Can't we take some rest? I'm sleepy and tired."

Kakashi smiled down at the complaining boy and looked back at the other members of team 7. Sakura was just a few feet away from them while Sasuke was walking behind them all. He wasn't looking at anything in particular, although his eyes were uncaring as if he didn't care about his surrounding but Kakashi knew that the boy's five senses were working actively. He was walking slowly, with his hands in his pant's side pockets.

Kakashi cleared his throat and looked at the three of them closely; sure enough all were tired and exhausted, "So, want to take a break?"

Naruto started shouting yeah yeah while Sakura just nodded once. The third member of the team showed no response except that he looked at Kakashi for a second before averting his gaze.

With the decision made that they will rest in the forest for the night, the four members started unpacking their bags. Each one of them pulled out a sleeping bag and lied it down on the mudded ground.

It had taken them half an hour or so to find a safe spot to rest. Sakura and Naruto had helped Kakashi in gather some dried sticks for the night while Sasuke had just been standing there with his back leaned to a tree as he watched them work. The woods, Kakashi had said, were only gathered if the cold became unbearable. They didn't build a fire because they had to keep cautious of their enemies and by building it, they would only give away their position.

Team 7 had been assigned a secrete mission just after the fifth had been assigned as the hokage. It was to find out Orochimaru's hiding place because Tsunade was somewhat sure that he would come for Sasuke now that the third was dead and couldn't protect them.

Only team 7 and the hokage knew about the mission, not even her sectary had been given the privilege to know about that.

The three young members of his team lied down in their sleeping bags while he just sat down on it with his book opened in front of him.

"Aren't you going to get some sleep Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked looking at her teacher, concern was evident from her voice.

Kakashi looked at her and smiled, "Don't worry about me and just get some rest."

"Yeah Sakura-chan, we have to start early tomorrow." Naruto defended Kakashi's statement, "get some sleep."

"umm-hmm." Sakura nodded. All of a sudden she started feeling tired and yawned. From just beside her, she heard Naruto yawn too, "If you need anything, I'll be here." He assured her and yawned again. Before she knew it, he was snoring loudly. From Naruto's other side, she heard a groan and some shuffling sounds as Sasuke placed the pillow above his head to block out Naruto's snores. She sifted herself into a comfortable position and saw the back of Kakashi's figure that was bend a little showing that he was still reading his book.

"Just make sure to get some sleep." Sakura said before closing her eyes. She heard a faint reply from him, "Yes I will." And she drifted into the world of her dreams.

Sasuke was sure that Naruto and Sakura were now asleep. He closed his eyes wanting the sleep to come but it just wasn't. He opened his eyes again and looked at the starry sky. He tried to focus on something, something other than their mission but somehow he couldn't bring himself to. He remembered Tsunade's words when they were in her office.

"Kakashi, I think that Orochimaru is going to try and get the body of the child. We can't afford to lose any more time so I am sending you and your team to discover his hide out."

"If Orochimaru is looking for Sasuke, then why are you sending us?" Kakasi had asked the hokage.

"You all know that…" She looked down at the photo frame placed on her desk, "The third's death has come as shock for all of us and there are many brave and strong people in this village that cannot control their emotions." She paused and tore her gaze away from the frame, "Orochimaru will attack us any minute now so we have to be prepared, might as well attack him first." She studied their expressions before her eyes fell upon Kakashi again. "I wasn't able to find any team other than yours that's emotionally stable at the moment and I also know that you will protect your team even if it cost you your life." Everybody knew that about Kakashi, even though he never showed it but he cared about his team… about them. "and so I have nothing to worry but…"

Kakashi nodded in her direction, telling her to go on, "But you just have to find the place then send one of your dogs to me and I'll take over the rest, agreed?" She looked at each one of them, expecting some sort of response. When the team saw Kakashi nod, they knew that they will have to do just that.

Kakashi sighed and closed the book when he had finished reading it. He was feeling awfully tired now as he lied in his cozy sleeping bag. He closed his eyes and soon found himself drifting towards sleep.

Even though Kakashi was fast asleep but his senses were working perfectly. A small chuckle made him open his eyes alarmingly. He had just opened his eyes when someone shouted, "Now!" and he felt air began to suck away from his lungs. Everything began to spin and he started moving away from the trees. Everything began to disappear. Before all can fade away, Kakashi got a glimpse of Orochimaru's pale face. He tried to scream, to warn his team but no sound escaped his mouth and before he knew it, everything went black.

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"Well done Kabuto." The man standing next to the one wearing glasses encouraged just as Kakashi opened his eyes and saw him. Orochimaru was an expert in jutsus and told his assistant to draw a circle around the small group so the he would be able to teleport them to some other place, where they would never find the village. He watched as the group started to fade away, the only thing he realized was when it was too late. Sasuke's sleeping back was beginning to disappear with them. He looked at Kabuto dangerously, "Did you draw the circle around Sasuke-kun too?" his voice was extremely calm that it made the one wearing glasses shiver. After a few minutes, when Orochimaru thought that he wasn't going to reply, he nodded slowly.

"Why?" he took a step towards him, "How will I know be able to find that boy now?"

"I… I thought you told me to draw the circle around all of them." He started backing away from the scary, immortal man.

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A/N: I really hope you hope you guys liked the first chapter even though there is nothing in there to like! I'm not sure about this fic yet so you guys might let me know whether to continue it or not... thanks!