Author's Note: Hey guys this is my first Naruto fic so I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, if I did... well that would be bad... so we wont even go there :)

Chapter One

Only You

It was a warm sunny day but Sakura was in a different world. She was sitting on a bench in the lower district of Konoha lazily watching Yamato rebuild the village building by building. Naruto was being confined to the village by a mandate enacted at the summit of the Kages, and Kakashi was trapped in the administration building. Sai was assigned to act as Naurto's body guard, and neither boy seemed to be very happy about the arrangement. Sakura was the only member of team seven that was free to move around, but she had decided that this was unwanted freedom.

She felt bad for sitting around while the rest of the village worked hard to return Konoha to it's former splendor, but she had been told not to get involved with the efforts. It was her job to care for Tsunade since Shizune had been reassigned to the front lines, but old women in comas really cause too many problems. All Sakura needed to do was leave her phone on at night and check her Shishou's charts in the evening. Her days had been reduced to sitting at home with nothing to do but ponder latest confrontation with Sasuke. She was upset with her inability to effect the Uchiha and his reckless spiral into the dark side. It was a depressing topic for Sakura, to say the least, and her chronic gloominess was amplified by a bad case of cabin fever. As hard as she tried Sakura could not hide her unhappiness, her friend could tell she was upset and they were doing everything in their power to make her feel better, but their efforts only made things worse. She hated being dependent on them and chastised herself for relying on their charity.

Yamato stopped building and joined Sakura on the bench. she wordlessly handed him a water bottle and went back to her lonely thoughts.

"Sakura," Yamato piped up after watching her for a second, "I know you've heard this a thousand times, but its not your fault. No one expects you to shoulder this responsibility all by yourself."

Sakura shook her head, bowing to stare intently at her knees, "No, I should have kept him from leaving," she sniffed before continuing, "that night when Sasuke left I should have stopped him. Had Naruto ,or even Kakashi, been there maybe Sasuke would have listened to them. Maybe they would have done something to stop him, but I fell for his trick and let him put me to sleep with that damn Sharingan!"

Sakura was really trying hard to keep her tears from spilling. She had never told anyone about her rin in with Sasuke on that night so long ago. She had been too ashamed to tell Naruto; she was afraid he would think she was weak or stupid, and nothing could have been worse than having Naruto, of all people, call her stupid. She hadn't told Kakashi because she assumed he already knew. He had carried her home after discovering her on the bench where Sasuke left her.

Yamato had listened patiently, when she finished he handed her a tissue and placed a gentle, comforting hand on her back.

"Sakura you tried, you have to give yourself credit for trying. You can't just put yourself down because you think Kakashi or Naruto might have succeeded. You'll never know if they could have done any better or not, they weren't there, but you were. And you tired. It's on Sasuke's ball field now, if he had wanted to listen to anyone, you would have been as good as anyone, if not better, but his ears were closed to everyone. Sakura, it was out of your control and I am really truly sorry for that.

Sakura couldn't respond, she just sat on the bench shaking as Yamato tried desperately to comfort her.

"Sakura, you haven't been yourself, I know its hard to see someone you care about sink into the darkness."

Sakura nodded, she was grateful to her caption for his caring words and kind gesture, and didn't want to make him feel like he was doing something wrong.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you from you work." Sakura looked up, she had managed to hold her tears in, but they were welled up in her eyes giving them a glassy look. Yamato noticed this and had to fight the urge to hug his younger team mate.

"No Sakura, you didn't trouble me at all," he gave her a sincere smile, "why don't you go see if Kakashi needs some help. That poor man may be a shinobi genius, but he is clueless when it comes to running a village. You spent so much time around Tsunade you might be a big help to him. That sorry fool won't request an assistant , perhaps you could offer," Yamato gave Sakura's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "maybe it will give you something to take you mind off it."

Yamato had smartly substituted "it" for "sasuke" knowing the very mention of the missing nin's name would abolish all the work he had done trying to make Sakura feel better. In honor of his efforts Sakura forced a small smile and gave a quick nod.

"Thats a girl" Yamato stood up, finished his water bottle and rolled up his sleeves, "well, its back to work. Perhaps I'll get to your mom's house today. That way she won't have an excuse to stay at your place."

Sakura couldn't help but smile at this idea, "Now do you see why I moved out the day I turned sixteen?"

Yamato nodded, "That woman is a monster who hates ninja with a burning passion."

Sakura gave a little giggle that was stifled by tears hanging in the back of her throat. The only sound that actually made it out of her mouth was a sort of snort followed by a high pitched hiccup.

Yeah, sorry about that, I wanted to do something nice for the team by having dinner at my place, but my mom kinda screwed that over," Sakura's cheeks colored at the embarrassing memory of dinner at her apartment. It was still a sourly fresh memory, and her mother's caustic words were clear in her mind.

"For shinobi you boys have good manners," she had said and then continued before Sakura was able to stop her, "Well you guys may be well mannered, but I never wanted my Sakura to because a barbaric killer." Sakura's mother's gaze had practically burned a hole though kakashi's forehead protector. Sakura's mom had always blamed Kakashi for Sakura becoming a shinobi. The own woman had been convinced her daughter would have given up if not for her laid back Sensei. Sakura had shot her poor old teacher an apologetic look before pushing her mother out of the room muttering, "Mom!, that is now way to treat the hokage, let alone that man that has made ma a successful ninja!"

Yamato, Kakashi, Sai and Naruto had stood around the dinning room table, awkwardly listening to the shouting match that had ensued. Kakashi and Yamato had winced when they heard Sakura's mother scream, "Your father supported you but I never did. I always believed you would be better off marrying into a rich family that could provide for you! Kunoichi never amount to anything but a bunch of hors! I mean look at that Tsunade woman, all she ever did for the for the village was spur on men's fantasies with those watermelon breasts of hers! What good was she from Konoha?"

At this point Mrs. Haruno paused to breathe, Said had to move faster than lighting to restrain Naruto from running into the kitchen. Kakashi and Yamato had exchanged a look and thats when Sakura very calmly, though not very collectedly said to her mother,

"Mother, we are all entitled to our beliefs, but Tsunade-Shissou is a great woman and my friends are standing out side that paper door. I will not allow you to say such things about my friends in my house." With that she had emerged and just looked at the faces in front of her.

"Hey, don't worry about her," Yamato smiled sheepishly, breaking her flashback. Sakura just stared at him, "your mom just wants to make sure you're happy."

"Right, well I guess I'll see ya later," she said after a short silence.

"See you later Sakura, cheer up, ok?"

"Yeah" she said quietly as she turned around and made her way to the administration building.

Kakashi was sitting behind a big red desk wearing the ceremonial robes that Sakura hadn't seen since the third hokage ruled the village. Tsunade had worn them once for the Chunin exams, but even then the robes had been different, more lady like. Perhaps there were a different set of attire rules for Hokages of the male gender. It was weird for Sakura to see him in these robes, and she absently wondered where he kept all his hair under that visor. Maybe he had actually combed his hair for once.

The man in question looked up from a particularly dull looking stack of paperwork as Sakura walked further into the familiar room. Kakashi's face lit up at the sight of her. Well it didn't really light up, but it lifted in a way that conveyed relief and joy. Over the years Sakura had learned that the slight upturn of his uncovered eye was Kakashi's equivalent of jumping for joy.

"Sakura, what brings you to my not so humble new abode?" he asked.

"No offense Kakashi-Sensei but this place doesn't suit you." Sakura walked over to a large bookshelf that contained Tsunade's collection of medical encyclopedias. They hadn't been moved yet. Sakura took a closer look at the office. More than half of Tsunade's things were still haphazardly strewn around the room. The rest was packed in boxes waiting to be assigned a destination, but nobody really knew where to put the stuff since no one knew how long Tsunade would be out for.

A sad smile graced Sakura's lips when her gaze stopped on the poster of male reproductive anatomy on which Tsunade had drawn a circle around and slashed a line thought it. Next to this poster was a picture of Jarayah with the very same symbol over his face and a warning in large print, "Never under any circumstances allow this man near you!" It was too bad that the warning held no real value anymore. Poor Jarayah was a pervert no more, and that thought alone depressed Kakashi. Who had mourned Jirayah's death as the end of Icha Icha.

Kakashi had sensed Sakura's darkening mood and decided to cut in before her thoughts could take her too far.

" I know it's different, but I'm confident she'll come back and when she does I'l be happy to give her back this hat." Kakashi took of the hat. Sakura's previous question about his hair had been answered, and to her great disappointment his hair remained stubbornly shafted to one side. She had always been curious about his hair, finding out how long it was, was almost as big a mystery as his face.

Sakura shook her head, "I doubt it," she crossed the room and picked up a small flask of hot pink draught, "The diamond on her forehead is the key to her eternal youth technique. If it ever disappeared she would not only become old, but her chances of death would multiply tenfold."

Kakashi took the flask out of her hand and put it back in the box, "don't worry so much. Tsunade is a strong woman, she pull though."

Sakura hoped her Sensei was right.

"Anyway, why did you come to visit me?" he asked, "not that I don't enjoy your company. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something urgent."

"Oh!" Sakura said taken aback, she hadn't thought Kakashi would think about those sorts of things, "Yamato Taichou suggested that I come and see if I could help you out some."

Kakashi's uncovered eye lifted to the sky, "I thought you'd never ask."

"Well if you wanted my help you should have just asked."

Kakashi put a hand behind his head and smiled shyly, "I would have but you've been so down lately, I thought maybe you needed some time to yourself..."

Sakura gave her Sensei a big smile, "You know me better than that, sensei. Just admit you were too stubborn to ask for help, because you know that 'alone time' only makes things worse for me."

"Ok, ok, you got me. How on earth did you learn to read me so easily?" he asked pleasantly.

"It's not that hard Kakashi-Sensei, I may not fully understand you, but I know you well enough to tell when you're lying."

"Perhaps I need to change that... but I must defend myself, I can lye very well when I want to, not even you would know that I was lying."

Sakura laughed, "Sure sensei, I think what you'd like."

"I will thank you." The two just stood in the office staring at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"In any case, could you explain disintermediation? While your at it you might as well explain unemployment, taxes, price ceilings, price floors, factions, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

Sakura sighed but a smile was plastered on her lips.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you even know what Hokage means?"

Kakashi stared at her blankly, "Uh...no..."

Sakura face palmed, "Sensei, you're hopeless." Sakura sat down in one of the small, but comfortable arm chairs in front of Kakashi's desk. He followed suit taking his place in the tall intimidating red chair opposite of her. He replaced his hat and posed in a very thoughtful way; his fingers laced together his chin resting on top of them, his eyes intent on Sakura.

"Well Sakura-sensei, teach me everything you know about politicks. I'm listening."

Sakura smiled and got down to business. Every once in a while she would get up and cross the room to a chalk board that had been Tsunade's. There she would draw a graph and instruct Kakashi to watch her with the Sharingan. Hours passed in this fashion, and though Kakashi's comprehension of political topics was abysmal Sakura didn't mind taking extra time to explain a few of the harder subjects. She was just happy to have something to do, other than think about Sasuke.

The two had been at their lessons for close to three hours when Kakashi held up his hand to stop. Sakura quit talking and stared at him inquisitively.

"My life is about to start sucking really bad..."

Sakura blinked at him and gaped. Kakashi snapped to his senses quickly noticing the onset of a Sakura tantrum.

"No it's not you!" he amended. The door opened without warning and two elderly people walked in. Sakura knew instantly why Kakashi had suddenly adopted and air of extreme melancholic. Sakura was aquatinted with the couple who had barged in so rudely, but she couldn't say her experiences with these people were pleasant. She had actually seen them quite often while under Tsunade's tutelage. Mostly they yelled a lot, and when they weren't yelling they were making impossible demands or suggesting ludicrous decrees. They were the council elders, and they were not happy to have the son of White-Fang-Hatake running the village. In fact they would have sooner given their own lives to resurrect Danzou than elect Kakashi as Konoha's rokudame. Luckily such matters were not in the hands of these two pompous idiots.

Sakura had turned toward the door and bowed politely, she then turned back to Kakashi and gave him an apologetic look. He returned her expression with one of fake interest.

"Council-men, how may I help you?"

The woman's face looked as if she had tasted something sour, "We have gained some very important information on a matter of national security."

Kakashi looked at the elders expectantly; urging them to continue. The elders stared back at Kakashi and shifted their burning gazes onto Sakura.

"It is a matter I don't feel safe discussing in front of her." the council woman continued. Her voice was sharp and unkindly, conveying the fact that she despised all things related to Sasuke and the Kyuubi. Unfortunately for Sakura she was involved with both matters and so had been a target for the council elder's distaste for quite some time. For a moment a surge of raged boiled though Sakura, but with a mysterious spurt of will power and a good bit of effort she was able to suppress her inner shouting.

Kakashi opened his mouth to defend his newly selected assistant, but Sakura cut him off before he could begin.

"Of course, I was just leaving. I am needed in the Hospital anyway." She smiled at Kakashi; assuring him that she would return later. She bowed to the elders, "good evening," then turned back to Kakashi, "Hokage-sama."

Calling Kakashi "Hokage-sama" didn't feel right. It was a title she had reserved for the Third. Tsunade had been Shissou, Kakashi is sensei, and Naruto would always be Naruto, even when he became Hokage. Sakura shut the door behind her, leaving Kakashi to feel vulnerable to the penetrating glares of the people standing before him.

"You dismissed my assistant," Kakashi pouted, attempting to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"You don't have an assistant." The councilwoman reminded him.

"I'm hiring Sakura as soon as we finish here."

The councilman frowned, "That may be your best decision yet, but..."

Kakashi cut him off, "but what? She spent over two years as Tsunade;s apprentice, but what? She is one of the most intelligent Kunoichi in Konoha, she has a sharp and analytical mind, but she is friends with Naruto and you hate everything even remotely related to the Kyuubi!" Kakashi had actually gotten mad. the councilman listened patiently while his counter part rolled her eyes.

When Kakashi had finished the councilman began again, "No, it's not that, we're fine with you hiring her as an assistant, is just you may need to wait."

Kakashi fell silent.

"The matter of National security concerns Sasuke."

Kakashi's eyes widened, "My apologies, please continue."

The councilman nodded and the councilwoman proceeded without acknowledging that Kakashi had even spoken.

"We have reason to believe that he is in league with the Akatsuki, and may be targeting Konoha."

Kakashi gave a thoughtful nod while his mind wondered back to his recent encounter with the fiery young Uchiha.

He had stood there and watched, almost frozen to his spot as Sakura had desperately tried to end her former partner's life. Kakashi could remember thinking that it was his job to do what his students were attempting to, but he couldn't move he was horror stuck by the scene that was playing out in front of his all seeing eye. He knew that Sakura was strong and had she attempted that maneuver on anyone else she would have achieved her goal, but Sasuke was Stronger. Kakashi had watched, terrified that he had come too late as Naruto jumped in and saved her. He could recall the terrible threats that Sasuke made. All of which had been controlled by hatred. The flashback caused a shiver to run up his back.

"Now that you know the truth about Itatchi, I am sure you will understand our apprehension on this matter," the council woman continued, "we are afraid that Sasuke had decided to turn on Konoha completely."

Kakashi sighed and nodded. He didn't like where this was going.

"We cannot turn a blind eye any longer Kakashi, we understand that you may not agree with us on this, but surely you recognize that Sasuke is, indeed, a threat that must be taken care of." The councilman concluded the point, but Kakashi got the feeling they weren't finished yet.

"We are going to leave it up to you. You are free to teal with this however you want to , but it must be taken care of quickly. The other Kages, aside from Gara, are worried that Sasuke may start another war."

Kakashi nodded again, "I will assign a team to hunt him down."

"I don't think it will be that easy. As you know first hand, Sasuke's only match in strength is Naruto and his only match in wit is Shikamaru. However, neither one is available."

"I understand that, and I realize that the team I select will have to be carefully planned. What I don't see is how this is going to prevent me from hiring Sakura."

"Were getting to that." The councilwoman shot at Kakashi impatiently.

"Itatchi left us with some very important information about Sasuke," the councilman clarified, "he explained that Sasuke had always favored on person, and had kept it a secret because she wasn't a part of the Uchiha clan."

Kakashi drew a blank at this piece of information. Sasuke had liked someone in Konoha? The boy who was a relative brick wall to all his fan girls, most of whom had grown into very attractive young women, had actually liked someone in Konoha?

"That cant be true Itatchi musth have been talking about the wrong little brother."

"Sasuke was Itatchi's only brother." the councilwoman said, sounding a little annoyed.

"It was a joke," Kakashi deadpanned, "but I should have known you wouldn't catch that.... anyway go on."

"Yes... right," the councilman proceeded, "Itatchi updated us again shortly before he died to inform us that Sasuke still fancies this girl. Lucky for us she is a very capable Kunoichi."

"Noooo," Kakashi whispered as the puzzle pieces clicked together, "That girl is Sakura, isn't it?"

Kakashi had to admit his first pick had not been Sakura. Even if she was the most capable young kunoichi in all of Konoha, she couldn't possibly have been the object of Sasuke's fancy. At first and image of Hinata had popped into his head. Although when he got to thinking about it, it made sense. Sasuke had been hard on Sakura, but he had always been there to protect her. More than once he had jumped in front of her to block a Kunai she had missed, or risk his life to safe her from falling off a cliff. Kakashi had seen him falter that day on the hospital roof when Sakura had ran between him and Naruto. Kakashi had noticed it with his Sharingan and written it off as in-experience with the Rikiri, but now that he reanalyzed the situation he must have been worried about hurting Sakura. With all this new evidence the councilman's words became more believable. It explained why Sasuke had slowed down the other day when he figured out that Sakura was his attacker. It explained why he had let Naruto stop him from killing her when Kakashi knew he would have been fast enough to finish the execution. It explained why Sakura had been able to attack Sasuke Uchiha multiple times and live to tell the tale.

"So I assume you want me to put Sakura on this assignment?" he asked.

"Precisely," the councilman confirmed.

Kakashi drew in a long breath, releasing it in a short huff. He removed his visor and ran his hand though his hair; leaning back in his chair. His hands fell back to his side as he tilted his head to the sky and closed his eyes.

"We understand that, as her teacher, you may have some reservations about sending her on this mission alone - "

"ALONE!" kakashi roared sitting up in alarm, "you never said said anything about sending her alone!"

"What had you assumed?"

"I was assuming I would send and Anbu assassination unit and tag Sakura on to help lure Sasuke out."

"Kakashi, hadn't we already decided it would be more complicated than that?"

"I thought you were going to leave the tactical decisions up to me."

"In the end you make all the final decisions, Kakashi, we're just here to advise you, and you obviously need it," the councilwoman interjected. She had been silent for a while, but now her caustic words once again entered the conversation.

"What the council woman means" the councilman jumped in to once again smooth over his partner's flub up, "is that it might be best to send Sakura alone so shie could infiltrate."

Kakashi frowned, it was a good point, but he didn't like the idea of sending Sakura out on her own. She was still only sixteen-years-old. Besides infiltrating the Akatsuki would involve betraying Konoha, even if it was only for a disguise. Kakashi could see this mission having some long term effects that might destroy some of Sakura's relationships for good. Especially when they concerned team seven. Kakashi didn't hate the heart to ask her to do something so drastic.

"We will give you twenty-four hours to consider it. We'll be back tomorrow for your answer. Ask Sakura tonight and if she agrees we'll allow you to brief her tomorrow evening."

Kakashi just nodded and waited for his advisors to excuse themselves.

Sakura hesitantly covered the distance between the administration building and the hospital. she was always anxious to see what tsunade's state was. She never stopped worrying that her condition would become critical. Sakura walked though the automatic sliding doors that opened into the main entrance. She was greeted by the nurses behind the front desk. She by passed the crowed in the Emergency unit and made her way into the back hallways of the restricted access zone. She was continuously seeing people who stopped to say hello, causing her progression though the hospital to slow down. When she finally made it up to the coma ward twenty minuets had already passed since she had left Kakashi's office.

Sakura pushed open the door to Tsunade's room. Pale blue curtains covered the fourth floor windows. Flowers from friends and concerned villages littered every space that wasn't occupied by medical equipment. The blooms were replenished daily and Sakura found that she was greeted by a different floral sent every day. Tsunade was peaceful, as she had been that morning. Sakura read her pulse chart and checked the pink clipboard that hung at the foot of the bed. She sighed off and marked the time, noting that the nurses had emptied the bed pan and changed the IV drip.

Sakura glanced at her watch and decided to wait a while longer before heading back to the administration building. She entertained herself by arranging the flowers. She finished and pulled a chair between two large pots that had been set on the floor. She leaned foreword resting her elbows on her knees and propping her head up on her hands. For a while she just watched the resting woman. She surveyed the little changes in Tsunade's appearance. Her once youthful face now had small wrinkles in the corners of her eyes. Her blond hair seemed duller and her very large and noticeable breasts sagged to a very unnoticeable degree. Perhaps the latter change could be attributed to the unflattering hospital robe.

Sakura sighed. Her thought drifting off to her time spent studying under Tsunade. She closed her eyes and tried to recall particular memories of her Shissou. She thought about all the things she learned, being extra careful to remember the details about coma cases. It was a futile effort. Sakura had spent hours with Shuzune locked away with every medical book in Tsunade's library, but none of the methods they learned had helped. Sakura eventually suggested that they might have been looking in the wrong books. She thought that the books Tsunade had used to develop her jutsu may have been more help. Shizune had agreed and the two women had set out in search of said volume. It took the girls three days just to get an idea of what they were looking for.

When they finally discovered the title of the the mythical book they despairingly discovered that it had gone up in flames when Oorachimaru torched that section of the restricted library. the record keeper brightened their spirits when he told them there was another copy, but crushed their hopes promptly when he revealed its location. Since the summit of the kages ending in disaster, thanks to the one-and-only Danzou of Anbu Root, it probably wouldn't blow over well with Kirigakure to waltz in and request a highly classified book. So the two girls gave up hope.

Sakura sighed and pushed her bangs back with her Hitiate. Kakashi had tried to supply the girl with all the time he could, but finally he ran out of time to lend them and was forced to reassign Shizune. Sakura glanced at the clock again, only fifteen minutes had passed.

"Oh Shissou, won't you please wake up? she pleaded out loud, "Poor Kakashi is Hokage now and that man doesn't know friend from foe unless they are holding some sort of weapon."

Tsunade remained completely unresponsive.

"Perhaps you don't want to hear about those sorts of things."

Sakura let the room fall silent once again. She just looked at her master's peaceful face.

"Kakashi id driving his Anbu guards mad," Sakura started again, for some reason she thought that telling Tsunade about her friend might bring her back to Earth, "he pulls some top rank tricks on them and escapes for a while. Yamato is talking about leaving Anbu. He says he wants to become a sensei... Naruto is stronger than ever, but the summit of Kages won't allow him to leave the village... Sai is... well you know. Absorbed in those silly psychology books. His nicknames for people have been getting more and more absurd with each day. He smiled last week and for the first time I think he actually knew what he was feeling. Shizune has been assigned to do other things, I believe she is on the front lines. So it's just me. My mom is staying at my place and I've been doing as much as I can to help rebuild the village..."

"Oh! I almost forgot, well you probably already know this, but Naruto's dad was the 4th Hokage... I had kind of figured as much... I mean they look alike...." Sakura trailed off, "why isn't his last name Namikaze? Who is is mother?"

Tsunade didn't answer.

"Right... well I guess I had better get going. Kakashi needs me to finish teaching him about politics."

Sakura stood up and left, closing the door behind her then made her way back to the administration building. She found Kakashi where she had left him. The Council Elders were gone.

"Why hello again," Kakashi said as she walked into the office. His voice was not enthusiastic at all and he had a scowl on his face.

"What's wrong?"

Kakashi looked up at her, his uncovered eye narrowed into a sad smile.

"We're going to have to continue these lessons later, I have another mission I need you to do..."

I hope you liked it!!! So if it was good, bad, or ugly let me know, but please no flames. No one thinks your cool when you flame an author.... I am however, open to constructive critisism and compliments!!!

PS. I know the grammar is a bit messy, I was anxious to get this posted, so in the next few days I'll comb it the best I can, but gramar is not my strong suit!

~ Kottako