Chapter 1:

- The Enemy of my Enemy

The stars were the clearest she'd seen in a very long time. That was the first thing that Haruno Sakura thought of as she blearily opened her eyes. She could see the large treetops swaying in the night breeze and she welcomed the wind against her cold, clammy skin.

The second thing she thought of, was that it was unnaturally silent. She didn't hear her boisterous village in the distance, because she had fallen asleep after exhausting herself during training, right –?

Sakura shot up into a sitting position. She immediately regretted it because a shooting agony ripped up her left side. Not able to stifle the sound of her harsh cry, her glowing hand came to rest over the blood gushing through her bare stomach.

She took her appearance into account. Her ANBU uniform was tattered. Her silver chest-plate was missing and the thin, tight long sleeve underneath was ripped at one sleeve and was shredded where her critical wound was located.

Sakura slammed her head back against the soft earth, growling through her clenched teeth as her breath labored with exertion. The pain in her stomach only seemed to intensify as she healed herself. Glancing briefly down to assess the damage, she furrowed her eyebrows at the black seal marks she saw scribed into her skin.

Confused and blinking with astonishment, Sakura tried to recall what she had last been doing. She had been assigned a mission, right? Naruto had told her that it was a critical assignment. She couldn't recall his exact words, but she undoubtedly recollected his commanding tone that sent her back straight and a chill down her spine. Naruto only used that voice when he wanted to come across the dire of a situation. It worked irrevocably every time.

What was this mission?

Splayed across the ground in an exhausted heap, she observed the stars above her for a while. Sakura didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, what had made her that way, and what was imprinted into her skin. She could feel the chakra running through the seal, working its ability, but the perplexity of the situation was – it felt like Naruto's. His chakra was potent and pure, it told her not to worry about it.

But how could he provoke such a fatal wound to her, if it was his? Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto was her brother in everything except shared blood. His crooked smile, the heavy arm he'd sling over her shoulder, the mutual haunted memories of the war – everything screamed at her that something terribly wrong had happened.

But the seal on her felt so right.

She'd let him put it on her – that was the only explanation.

Breathing out a lungful of air, Sakura was on her feet in a flash. She stretched out her sore limbs and rolled her stiff shoulders. She signaled some chakra into an invisible seal on her wrist and with a puff of smoke, some essential materials were placed on the ground before her.

She swiftly changed into a new dark gray long-sleeve shirt, but not before wrapping the seal with some bandages and tugging the shirt gently over her still-tender injury. She wasn't certain why it would not heal, but Sakura would place concern over it later.

"I heard the cry from over here . . ."

As her entire body went rigid and Sakura's eyes darkened, she whipped her head toward the source of the voice. The items on the ground disappeared just as a trio of shinobi broke through the tree line. But, fortunately for them and for her, she was not where she'd just been previously standing.

Sakura judged them from her perch several meters above them. She could not detect any headband signifying their loyalty. The two male and the lone female seemed to be adorned in a more . . . traditional sense. But as the tallest male scowled and turned on his heel to analyze his surroundings – she froze.

The back of his shirt . . . the Uchiha insignia was printed proudly on his shirt.

Her mind was searching for possible answers when she felt the flicker of chakra just in time. She edged to the side just as she felt the boot pass directly by her head. Sakura caught the leg a second time, which was a mistake for her opponent.

Number One Rule while Dueling with Sakura: Don't let her get a hold.

Channeling her chakra, with a twitch of her fingers the man's fibula was fractured and the gastrocnemius muscles of the legs were torn within her grip. She ignored his roar of pain as she used his momentum to swing his body around and hurl him back toward his stunned teammates.

They caught him as he clenched his jaw and sweated with the convulsing muscles in his leg.

"Who are you?" the tall, analyzing teammate peered at her. They all had Uchiha features, she noted dully. The strange familiarity sent a pang of yearning through her. "These are not your lands and you are trespassing."

Sakura dropped down to their level, holding up her hands civilly. "Whose lands am I on?" she asked innocently, needing to quench her curiosity.

The boy glared at her quizzically. "Who do you think? You're within Uchiha borders."

The only physically reaction she gained was a blink of her eyes. Sakura swallowed and suddenly wished she knew where her ANBU mask was located. The wind she'd welcomed before suddenly felt like it was cutting into the pale skin of her face. She could feel their imploring gazes boring holes into her form. She abruptly welcomed anonymity.

"I'm just traveling through," she told them, slowly. She needed more answers, but she felt as if asking anymore questions was going to do her more harm than good.

"Yeah?" the man she injured sneered at her. "An innocent, bleeding traveler?"

Sakura glanced down at her shirt and saw speckles of blood beginning to seep through the material in blotches. She scowled at her luck and her eyes were hooded as she saw the trio beginning to shift their feet into fighting stances. She knew then that she'd either must fight them, or attempt to gain distance.

But luck was not on her side at all.

Before she could even shift backwards, agony rippled through the seal on her side. A guttural shout tore from her lips as she reached down to curl her fingers desperately into her shirt. It was so intense that she didn't even see the tall male run at her until the flames of his jutsu singed a few strands of hair as she finally shoved herself back.

She didn't comprehend what was causing so much pain.

Swinging her heel up and wide, she threw her foot on the ground and was satisfied when the earth exploded beneath her power. She was given a ten second window as she bolted into the trees and masked her chakra as low as possible.

She pretty much ran blindly, without acknowledging her own steps, for a solid five minutes before she fell to the forest floor and pressed her back against the rough bark of a tree. Sakura yanked up her shirt and pried the red and pink bandage off her.

What she saw shocked her . . . and she was terrified.

The small hand-sized seal was now wrapped around her midsection like snakes, it was moving restlessly, circulating. Sakura breathed sharply, blinking with astonishment. Blood leaked from the seal in droplets, but the seal and ink remained intact.

She already knew it was too late when she shoved her head up in warning. She saw a flash of the crimson sharingan before her world bled into a consuming darkness.