Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Prologue

Blossoms That Long To Bloom

-9 Years Ago-

From the beginning of their patrol, Genma's squad had felt unusually on edge, more so than normal. Something was causing the hair on their arms to stand on end, pumping adrenaline through their veins at an alarming rate. As the Konoha ANBU made their way through the trees, that stillness weighed heavily on their minds, a sense of foreboding overwhelmed them. The atmosphere was nearly suffocating as they continued to investigate, trying to pinpoint what could be causing such a disturbance in the seemingly peaceful evening.

What is it? The forest is never this quiet, Genma thought to himself as he instinctively reached for a senbon from his pack, rolling the thin needle between his fingers.

Sending his two teammates with sensory abilities further in to the forest, Genma mentally promised to not leave one stone left unturned. He would be damned if he let an enemy slip through their defenses and in to the village.

Remaining on high alert, the rest of the team continued their normal route around the village and found nothing out of the ordinary, which only increased his suspicions. Genma hoped the other two squad members had had better luck.

I guess it wouldn't be that lucky if we were under attack, he mused.

One of his men materialized silently on a branch to his right. Genma paused briefly so the message could be relayed.

"We didn't come across anything, Taichou."

The brown-haired male let out a frustrated sigh. Then what could it be?

With the conclusion of their shift, Genma's squad returned to the village. They would report to headquarters and the next ANBU team would be dispatched to continue nightly patrols.

At that opportune moment, a figure stealthily crept out from behind a tree, having witnessed the change of guards. So as not to be detected, he stopped quite a ways from the village gates, taking care to mask his presence thoroughly. Scanning the area for any lingering ANBU and locating none, he crouched down and placed the child he had carried during the journey to Konoha onto the soft earth. Releasing the concealment genjutsu, he observed her reaction to their new surroundings.

Her eyes were empty, devoid of emotion as she gazed up at the man. "Where are we?" The child questioned him, as she was still unsure of his intentions.

The girl had latched to him rather quickly after he had convinced her that he meant no harm. As starved for affection as the girl was, he was not surprised at how little persuading she needed to agree to leave with him.

He could gauge from her restless movements that she was now starting to doubt his actions, possibly regretting her rash decision to follow him so willingly. For all she knew, he was working under her 'master' and this was just another training exercise. This assumption, however, was untrue.

He placed her weapons pouch in her hands, deciding to ignore the girl's question. It would not matter either way if he answered her.

Motioning for her to sit, he began a series of complex hand seals. The speed and precision he demonstrated was unlike anything the girl had witnessed before. Her master did not move with the grace and confidence that this man did.

She could see the amount of chakra he had summoned, could feel the physical manifestation of it dance along her skin.

Finally, he finished the sequence and placed his palm on her forehead. She was blinded by a harsh light and then darkness began to envelop her, each of her senses promptly began shutting down, one by one.

Before she fell into unconsciousness, the man's low but, powerful voice reached her ears like a soft caress.

"Protect the ones you hold dear. Become strong..."

And with a flash of brilliant crimson, the child slipped from the world.

"Hokage-sama, we found her about 10 kilometers from the gate. Her identity is unknown and there's nothing on her person to indicate where she's from or how she got so close to the village without alerting any of the patrols. She only carried a few kunai and a blank scroll."

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, turned to look at the petite girl sleeping on the hospital bed, her face ashen and gaunt.

Three days had passed since she had been discovered. Even after the extensive healing session and constant treatment, she stubbornly refused to wake. The medic-nin over her case was unable to explain the girl's coma-like state.

"Strange for such a young child to have any kind of weapons. I can tell that she's already developed her chakra reserves."

Hatake Kakashi, ANBU Captain of Squad 4, nodded in agreement. "I felt that too. Her chakra levels rival that of a genin. Based on the medical report, it looks like she went through some brutal beatings recently, although, it was undetermined if it was training or not. They found several areas of bruising, minor fractures and new wounds that were passably bandaged."

"What has this child gone through?" Hiruzen breathed the question, contemplating what actions to take next.

It was obvious she had been trained from an early age to become a shinobi. Was this girl a spy, an intruder sent from one of their enemies? What was her purpose and if she indeed was from an enemy nation, why would they send a child?

Hiruzen went through each scenario, trying to uncover the motive. Well, if there was any motive at all.

Shinobi and civilian files had been searched diligently, attempting to locate her identity. First, it was thought that she originated from a shinobi family, due to her noticeable amounts of chakra. When a match had not been found for any documented clan, civilian families were then gone through as well. The researchers came up empty-handed—concluding that she was not from Konoha or the Land of Fire. So where had she come from? And what had inflicted such injuries?

Who had inflicted the injuries?

The Hokage's musings were interrupted when, suddenly, the child stirred on the bed. Her eyes fluttered open and focused on the white ceiling.

Panic struck her and she struggled to rise from her position, her mind screaming that being in such a defenseless state could be costly. Someone placed a hand on her back—a person she did not recognize—which only added to her growing anxiety. She gripped their wrist with amazing speed, her body on autopilot.

"Who are you?" she whispered coldly, her green eyes narrowing.

Retracting his hand when she released him, the Sandaime stepped closer to her. "Do you know where you are?" he asked gently.

The girl was silent. No, she did not know where she was. Nothing was making sense. She had no memory of how she got there or who she was. What is going on? Her inner voice screamed in fear.

Thinking harder, she tried to grasp on to anything, something to bring her comfort or to help her understand. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she slowly retreated in to her mind.

Kakashi shot the Hokage a look of bewilderment, one laced with suspicion. Hiruzen answered with a calm expression, letting the ANBU know to keep his position by the door and to not speak.

"Do you know who you are? What's your name?" the older man pressed.

Sakura snapped out of her trance and looked at the Hokage, her eyes wide.

"Become strong..."

"My…name?" confusion replaced the deadly tone in her voice.

The Hokage nodded, encouraging the quiet girl, "Yes, dear. Do you remember?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Haru…My name…is Haruno. Haruno Sakura."

A/N: WOOOOOOOO! Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction ever! Generally, I will be updating about once a week. I won't have a set day that I'll add a new chapter but it should roughly be around Sundays-Mondays. Please favorite/follow and review! This is so strange, having people other than my best friends read this ^-^

Keep in mind that this is the prologue to the actual story, it's not a true chapter. It just gives a little bit of background that will be discussed later in the story. This is pretty short but the regular chapters will be much longer than this.

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! Thank you for reading the prologue for Desiderium!

-Shiromikki