A/N: This one just came to mind last night as I was reading over my other fic Voice of Fate, which is on hiatus at the moment, since I have absolutely no time to write!

Hope you enjoy this one, and I'll try to get my butt in gear for VoF.

Beware.. it's a little bloody.. (well I don't think so, but then again I'm not at all squeamish)

This is more of a prologue than an actual chapter, but I just had to get it down and type it.

Chapter 1: Crimson Echo

Panting heavily, she staggered through the bloodied clearing; the screams of dying men echoed in her ears. Mustering the last shreds of her chakra, she pummeled the dry ground with her fist, sending dust and bodies flying through the air.

Fatigue overwhelmed her, yet she did not stop. The whizzing of a kunai flew past her ear, as another embedded itself in her arm. She had no time to dodge as the enemy nin in front of her aimed his last kunai at her head. The weapon hit its target, cracking the mask that hid her face: a hunter-nin.

She had already killed over twenty shinobi, losing count as the battle raged on. Reinforcements were too far away to reach her, and she was on her last vestiges of chakra as it was. But the numerous enemy nins had been annihilated as only a shinobi of her skill level could complete.

The last two shinobi charged, their own energy almost fully exstinguished. The hunter-nin sighed as her vision clouded and her legs buckled underneath her. Fishing blindly in her shuriken holster for her last remaining weapons, she pulled out two chakra scalpels. Waiting until the enemy was almost on top of her, she rose in one swift movement, pushing every ounce of chakra out to her hands. She slit the enemies' throats, and watched out of her dimming vision as they bled profusely on the ground in front of her.

Limping toward the blood-colored stream, she staggered once more as her legs gave out. She shuddered and coughed violently, expelling a generous amount of blood from her punctured lungs. Her eyes glazed over as she regarded her body silently; the many weapons protruding from her abdomen had pierced almost all of her internal organs, and her legs and arms were covered in long slash wounds.

The young woman smiled inwardly as she struggled to make a handsign; consciousness fast leaving her failing mind and body.

'I guess this is it ... I'm sorry ... Naruto ...'

Though this might just be the ending

Of the life I held so dear

But I wont run, there's no turning back from here

Stand my ground, I won't give in

No more denying, I got to face it

Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside

If I don't make it, someone else will stand my ground

"Stand My Ground" ~ Within Temptation

A tall, dark figure walked out of the blanket of woods in the heart of Fire Country, his black kimono belted loosely around his muscular waist with a thin red sash, displaying his sculpted chest. His black sandals made hardly a sound as he crossed the small clearing from the edge of the dense woods to a stream off to his right. Untying the red obi, he pulled the sword from his waist and shrugged off his kimono. Left only in his black nin pants and sandals, he approached the gurgling stream, staring down at his hard reflection. He could clearly see all the scars that adorned his strapping torso and the thin line of red that streaked his left cheek from a battle the previous day. His onyx eyes burned back at him with a cold, emotionless gaze. So much had happened in the years since he set foot on Fire soil, yet why did he feel the same?

"Hn."

'Still weak.' he thought to himself. Even after so long, what was once his old homeland still felt as if he had only been gone for a day. The Land of Fire was hotter than he remembered this time of year; the height of summer had always sticky and unpleasant.

'This stream was much wider when I was here before ... Must have been a drought.'

Shrugging inwardly, the man bent down to scoop some water into his battle-scarred hands, wincing as a sharp pain traveled through his bruised ribcage. Glancing up the stream, he went to take a sip of the cool liquid, and stopped abruptly. The metallic scent of blood washed over his nose as a thin trickle of the red liquid floated downstream.

Sighing in annoyance, the weary man put on his kimono and returned the sword to his side. Seeing blood was a daily occurrence for a ninja, especially a missing-nin, yet his curiosity was piqued. There was no evidence of a battle in the beautiful clearing he had entered, so it must have been coming from farther upriver.

Following the stream closely, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. The smell of blood was stronger here now, far stronger, and the river had been dyed a bright red. The hair rose on the back of his neck as he came upon a body that lay on the bank of the stream. His features were barely distinguishable from the large bruises and gashes that streaked his body. The ninja headband stood out on his blood-sodden forehead – Sound. What were Sound ninja doing here? The Sound village had decayed rapidly after Orochimaru's death, and that was close to 8 years ago.

Continuing up the stream, the man noticed far more carnage. Corpses were strewn about; some floating along waters edge while the banks were littered with discarded crimson weapons and more sanguinary remains. The landscape was mutilated as well, as if there was a landmine explosion. Large cracks rent the ground in all directions, and a crater of debris held another dozen mangled bodies. Trees were felled and splintered to smithereens, bloodstains tainting most of their shattered limbs.

The ninja's eyes widened in disbelief, as the destruction and bloodshed seemed endless. The small river was littered with so many corpses that the only water that flowed past the gory scene was distinctly red.

'Glad I wasn't thirsty.' he mused with grim satisfaction.

Walking to the edge of the destroyed clearing, the man stopped. There had been at least thirty corpses behind him, and probably others too beaten and butchered to count. The last one lay farther away from the rest, a shattered ANBU mask hiding her identity. The body was covered from head to toe in the coagulating red liquid that decorated the rest of the clearing, and the wounds from numerous kunai and shuriken protruding from her form gave the man an indication of the amount of suffering she had endured.

Something about her body made the ninja shiver involuntarily; she was different from all the other corpses. They were ninja of the Sound, if their Otogakure headbands and jonin vests were anything to go by. The masked ANBU shinobi was the only one that stood out from the rest.

'Surely she couldn't have beaten all these ninjas by herself?' the man wondered quietly. 'I knew Sound was still a bunch of weak idiots, but to be defeated by one girl?'

Kneeling at the fallen shinobi's side, he inspected the insignia on her left shoulder. The tattoo of the Konohagakure ANBU was unmistakable, even covered in blood. Curiosity overtook the stoic ninja then, and he gently peeled away the fractured remains of her mask.

A gasp escaped the shinobi's lips before he could stop himself. The face of the fallen ANBU was perfectly intact, the only blood came from a thin wound on her forehead, probably where the mask had been cracked. Her bloodstained hair draped loosely around her porcelain face – pink hair.

Sasuke Uchiha stood abruptly, the twisted look of shock and horror evident on his handsome face. The girl's once-magnificent emerald eyes stared back at him; reduced to a hollow and faded sage green.

A familiar name fell from his lips, echoing across the death-stilled clearing.

"... Sakura."

Is Sakura dead?!?! O.o wait for the next chappie to find out

REVIEW PLEASE!!!

I really want to know what you guys think. I'd like to continue this one, but I need feedback.