Title: Finding My Way, Again

Summary: Team 7 missed a vital member for six years, but Naruto never thought he'd say that missing member was Sakura. Six years, and now she's back. Bringing with her the news of a war that supposedly never ended. How can he trust her again? But how can he ignore what she said? And why the hell did she leave in the first place? Rated M for possible violence, language, and sex in later chapters.

A/N: I'm not super up to date with Naruto, so I'll go ahead and consider this AU. I do not own Naruto, obviously. This is also a Sakura-centric fic, there will be no character bashing in this. However, there may be some surprising villans. Any possible pairings are undetermined at this time.

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"Sakura Haruno, you have been absent for six years. In this time, you have become known by every shinobi village as an extremely skilled killer and bounty hunter. You left without a note, without permission of your hokage. You evaded every chance to come home when tracking teams were sent to bring you back, even going so far as to injure several of your past comrades."

"You have failed to make contact in the years that you have been missing. You were trained under the Godaime Hokage herself and used this knowledge to kill several ninjas from other villages and, by all means, they want your head and I'm not sure why I shouldn't give you to them." The current hokage breathed in deeply through his nose, attempting to calm himself. He wouldn't willingly give Sakura up to Iwa of course, but it helped solidify the case he had against her.

"Now, tell me, why in the hell should I let you come back after all of these years?"

Naruto watched her carefully, as he knew his ANBU were watching him. He had been hokage for five years now but that didn't mean the council trusted him. His ANBU were loyal, handpicked by him, but they were still ordered by the council to ensure he was fair in all decisions as leader of Konoha.

He took in the sight of her. She was so...striking? Was that even the word he was looking for? Maybe not, he had never had a way with words. Her pink tresses had grown to her waist, longer than he could ever remember them being. Her skin had tanned, which took a while because he knew for a fact she burned pretty easy.

The clothing she wore was black, which was probably strategic in nature rather than for aesthetics. She wore a pair of simple black leggings, black sandals, white wrappings over her ankles and hands. Her chest was briefly covered by a black cotton tee, with mesh covering her stomach. He could see a bit of ink there, but he couldn't make out what exactly it was from this point of view.

But her eyes, they were what was really striking. He remembered the determination, the fire that lit behind her eyes when she was angered. Now they were empty, cold, almost lifeless but he felt like he knew her better than that, she was probably hiding her emotions. But then, he hadn't really known her in years now had he?

Sakura put her hands on her hips, scratching the back of her neck. "Look, I'm just going to be frank with you. I'm not sure if I want to be reinstated as a Ninja of the Leaf, but I came back because you need me."

Naruto quirked a blonde eyebrow, "Ha, really? And why would you think that?" He was intrigued, he'd give her that. But he was hurt somewhere deep down in a place where he didn't let his mind go very often. 'So she hasn't really come back.'

"Because I have valuable information and you'll need all the help you can get. That war? It's not over. They wanted you to believe it was but, it was a front. There's been whispering and unease in the minor villages on the outskirts of the countries. I've been hearing them for months...but I can't say they're one hundred percent valid." Oh yes, she knew that he needed her not only for the information but as for her skills. Part of her probably wanted to come back a little bit...just a little. But she left for a reason. Not that she didn't sneak into Leaf every once in a while, check in on things, make sure everyone was still alive and kickin'.

"Then why the hell are you even telling me Sakura? You can't even prove these so called rumors are true! Everyone spreads rumors of the war coming back once it's over. People are just scared." He exclaimed, exasperated. His eyes narrowed, he just couldn't believe this. No, he wouldn't believe this! Madara? Pein? Akatsuki? They were all gone. He'd killed Madara with his bare hands. Well...Sasuke helped too, but whatever. The point was, there was no one left on the opposing side after the war. And this? This was just a big fucking waste of his time. All she wanted to do was come here and fuck his shit up again.

'Just like Naruto', Sakura scowled. Ever the optimist, believing shit can't go wrong. "You don't think I'd be here if I didn't believe there was some truth in those whispers do you? Honestly? And yeah, I can't prove that they are one hundred percent true. But..."

Honestly, he wished she WOULD have come back for a different reason. Maybe a 'Oh Naruto, I came back because I miss Team 7!' Or a - 'Naruto, I love you!', Maybe even a 'I just miss home!' But no, it wasn't any of those. She even pretty much admitted that she didnt want to be here!

"Then where is the proof Sakura? Huh? Because I don't see it!" He interrupted.

"The proof is in the whispers! It's been going on for months. Every lead I've traced down has come to a dead-end - now why would that be? People are still dying out there!" She slammed her hand down on the desk. She could practically feel the ANBU in the room tense, getting ready to protect their Hokage at a moment's notice. "These people are dying in excruciating and vile ways yet every lead I've found, every possible thing I've managed to track, has come up empty? Something is going on here and they've managed to get away from me every single time!" She breathed in and out a few times, in through the mouth, out through the nose. She needed to calm down a bit.

"Look, maybe I was a bit wrong in saying that there was 'proof'. But the proof is in the fact that there isn't any. I've been chasing these leads for months and I've realized that I can't do this alone. I came back because..." She closed her eyes, "because I need Shikamaru's help." She wasn't going to say it was Naruto's help she needed, but in truth, she did need him..if only just a little bit.

Of course, some other guy. His heart had been beating so fast, like maybe, just maybe she'd say something akin to what he wanted to hear. But he couldn't let her get to him. SHE was the one that left. SHE was the one that decided not to come back for all these damn years. SHE was the one that abandoned him this time. And he would not let her see his pain. So he would suck it up, like the Rokudaime Hokage that he was, like the man that he had thought himself to be.

Naruto motioned lazily for her to continue, trying to seem almost as disinterested as he could. She was already making him exhausted. The ANBU behind him were still very wary of the pinkette in the room. She finally leaned off the desk and paced to the back of the office, the opposite of Naruto. Sakura placed her fingers on her chin thoughtfully, before turning to face him.

"I know I'm smart, but I can't figure it out. But I think - I think if Shikamaru could take a look at the pieces, at the notes I've taken. He might be able to help me figure this out. If this is true, if there is really someone out there that is trying to continue the war that we thought ended years ago, someone out there trying to disrupt the peace that the Shinobi Nations seem to have finally gained, then we need to end this as soon as possible."

"And you think that this should be enough reason for me to let you back into the village? Hell, Sakura, you could be tricking me for all I know! I don't even fucking know you anymore!"

Well that was a little sudden. He looked angry now. He had cussed before in the office at her, yeah, but he still had a calm look on his face. Her face softened a bit, "Naruto, I would neve-"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't feed me that shit. You said you'd never leave too, look where that ended up." He gave a bitter laugh, "Never say never right?"

"Look, I didn't come for you t-"

"I don't care why the hell you came back Sakura. You left. That's it. You left without saying goodbye and now you waltz up in here with some half-assed idea that the war may be coming back, trying to pull strings with your 'good ole buddy' Naruto to get you in to see Shikamaru. What do you have a thing for the Nara clan now?"

Wow, low blow. She could understand his anger, just a little bit. Hell, it's what she figured he'd burst out with as soon as she walked in the door. She didn't expect him to calmly talk to her in the beginning now he was being a real chatty cathy (bitchy cathy maybe?). But hey, guess it shows that people can change. Did he really need to imply that she was a slut though? Seriously?

"It's not a half assed idea and I don't want to bang Shikamaru! Look, if you just give me a few hours with him, just let me open up a discussion with him. If he sees there could be any possible validity to the statement, then let me stay and discuss it with him. If he doesn't see it, then I'll gladly leave."

Naruto paused. There was honestly no reason he shouldn't, or couldn't, let her speak to Shikamaru for a few hours. Well, aside from the fact that he was royally pissed off at her and pretty much just wanted to kick her the hell out of his office. But that wouldn't be too diplomatic, now would it. When she added the word gladly at the end, it only served to piss him off even more. He didn't even know what he did for her to leave the damn village in the first place!

He didn't want to be cruel to her, but he didn't want to let her walk in her, demand something, give it to her, and Sakura think of him as a push over. He had a village to think about and he couldn't pretend like he could predict her every move.

He knew just what he was going to do.
And she wasn't going to like it.
Which would make it that much sweeter.

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A/N: Meh, I know it's a little short. But it's the first chapter, I'll try to get longer chapters in here for you guys. Let me know what you think! (I swear, I haven't wrote anything in forever!) Just forewarning, this has been in my head for a while and I just wanted to get it down. I don't have any big 'plans' for this story but hell, if it gets anywhere passed a sixth chapter, then we might have ourselves a story I might finish. I kinda just took this idea and ran with it, so I hope you guys will like it enough to run with it, with me.