Hi guys!

How's life? Alright so this is Chapter 1 of Sora no Shisō.

This story is the one I plan on finishing with at least seventy chapters. I already have ten chapters written so they will be posted one at a time.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer-You know, the usual. I don't own this.

Nothing could be heard besides the nightingale's sad and lifeless tune. Not even the shinobi's quick-paced shuffling. Even as the sun swam through the sky, painting its rays of warmth for the world to see, the shinobi never stopped. Finally after days of running, the shinobi finally caught a glimpse of dark black fumes filling the sky on the horizon. Shikōnosoragakure. The village hidden in the thoughts of the sky was on the verge of disappearance.

-A Week Ago-

Shizune quivered silently. She didn't know how to break such bad news to Tsunade. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the ebony door.

"Come in."

"Konnichiwa Tsunade-sama!"

"What do you want Shizune? I'm sort of busy right now."

"Heheheh...Not to be the breaker of bad news but..." Shizune laughed nervously. With all the complications of the 4th Great Ninja War, she hardly wanted to see how furious her mentor would be when she heard the news.

"Get on with it!" The impatient sannin ordered.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama! ...The village of Shikōnosoragakure is under severe attack by Madara and his conspirators. They pleaded to us for help."

"Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"We just received the news Tsunade-sama."

"You're wasting priceless time! Go send an available team of shinobi."

"Hai Tsunade-sama!"

Shizune had indeed sent the only team of shinobi available, team seven. Now, as Naruto, Sakura and Sai ran through the foggy forest, the fumes grew thicker. The trio immediately sped their pace up.

"We won't make it in time!"

"We'll have to."

"There's no point."

"There always is a point."

After that, the trio barely exchanged words, concentrating to keep their pace steady and agile. The fumes grew closer and the air grew thicker as they neared the village. Finally, arriving only a kilometre away, they stopped and set up camp, resting to have full energy for the next day.

The dream always begins the same way. I am standing in the middle of nowhere with an immense cherry blossom tree towering above me. The meadow is green, the weather perfect, not a cloud in sight. In the distance, I see a figure. He looks familiar, but I can't figure out who he is or what he wants. All he does is silently stare at me with his beautiful porcelain face, without as much as moving a muscle. Then, as if nothing ever happened, he turns around and starts walking away. I begin chasing after him but it seems as if even though he is only walking at a slow pace and I am running as fast as my legs will let me, the distance never shortens. In fact, it seems to lengthen. Suddenly, the landscape around me changes brusquely. I am now in the middle of a ring of scorching fire. On one side, the guy from the meadow is standing with a malevolent snake coiled around him, staring at me with his blood-red orbs. On the other, another person is standing with a golden fox beside him staring at me with his cerulean eyes. Somehow I know I must make a decision, but when I try to walk to one of them, I realize that I am frozen. My knees give away and I collapse onto the ground feeling useless. The man from the meadow sneers. He glares at me and somehow I know what he is thinking, useless. The man with cerulean blue eyes is slightly more sincere but I can feel the aura of disappointment dancing around him. Then it ends.

Sakura jolted up, panting heavily. She tried to shake of the cold sweat but it wouldn't leave her. She shivered slightly, looking around the camp to see if the others had woken up. The sun was at the smoky horizon, it ray battling to come through. She crawled over to Naruto and shook him away.

"Naruto...Naruto...Wake up!" She whispered, annoyed that he was still snoring.

"Sa-Sakura-chan...What are you doing? It's Saturday morning..."

Sakura sighed. She cracked her knuckles before punching his sweaty cheek, mentally slapping herself for touching his sweat. Naruto went flying into the ground, denting it drastically.

"That'll teach you to wake up the first time I nudge you next time."

"Sa-Sakura-chan..." Naruto frowned, rubbing his cheek. "What time is it anyways?"

"Ugh...It's five in the morning Naruto."

"WHAT?"

"I can't see why you're so surprised. Last time we woke up earlier."

"Okay fine, but then, why is HE still sleeping?" Naruto asked, pointing at Sai.

"HE will wake up as soon as I nudge him!"

"Oh really? He's not as innocent as you think!"

"Stop the pointless ranting Naruto! Watch and learn!" Sakura walked over to Sai's sleeping body. Silently kneeling, she nudged his shoulder, awaiting a response. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Sai looked at Sakura with his squinting eyes.

"Is it time to wake up already?"

"Yeah."

"Oh alright then. We should get going anyways."

As Sakura and Sai stood up, Naruto's jaw dropped, gaping at the pair.

"Are you serious you guys? You're just gonna wake up? That's crazy!" Their response however was a simple glare from Sakura and a careless smile from Sai.

When Naruto made no move to get up, Sakura finally decided to take action.

"Naruto," She said sourly with a forced smile plastered on her face, "We can do this the easy way," She cracked her knuckles once more, "or the hard way."

Silently, Naruto gulped his dry saliva and forced himself out from under his thin cover before rising to his feet, attempting not to anger the fierce kunoichi any further. With a satisfied sigh, Sakura turned towards the direction of the village. Mentally calculating, she concluded it would take them at least an hour before they would arrive at the smouldering village. As she glanced over her shoulder, she noted that Naruto and Sai were already picking up their blankets and that only hers was left on the hard ground. Looking at the village once more, she joined her teammates in cleaning up their little campsite.

"Clone at 3 o'clock." The headpiece warned him as Naruto swung around to deliver a hard and effective punch into the clone's belly. "How's everything up there Sakura-chan?"

"Fine. I don't see anymore enemies coming your way. I'll leave you for now and go help out Sai." The headpiece replied. True to her words, Sakura averted her attention to her other teammate Sai.

"How's everything down there?" Sai heard the headpiece ask. "Fine. There aren't many enemies in this section of the town."

"Alright. Naruto, Sai, I'm heading in to the main part of the city where citizens are held captive." Take a break, one of you, and keep aerial watch." The headpiece crackled into both headsets before tuning out.

Sakura took one last glance back at the two members before heading towards the main part of the city, where most of the surviving citizens were held captive. As she drew closer, she could hear the cries of children getting louder. Some parents screamed at what she guessed were the deaths of their children. Sakura shivered at the thought. She hated war itself and had hoped to never experience one in her lifetime. Knowing her luck, her wish would probably not come true and to prove her point, it didn't.

Silently landing with a light thud in a dark alleyway, she slowly edged towards the buildings the citizens were held in. A whimper from her right however halted her steps as she peered through the broken window and into the room. Nothing. Since she was positive of hearing something, she quietly entered the ruined house to investigate. In a sink cupboard she heard a rustling sound. Precipitating towards the object, she let her hand slide down to her kunai pouch. Quivering slightly, she forced her hand to make its way to the handle and pull it towards her. Surprised, she let out a small gasp. In the cupboard, two little girls were crouched together, fear in their eyes. Calming herself down, she whispered, "Its okay…I won't hurt you…I'm here to help…"

She immediately saw relief flow over the girls. They still kept their guard up, but had relaxed slightly. She leaned back against the wall and thought of her possibilities. She couldn't leave them here, yet where would she take them? No place was safe right now. As if to prove her point, a team of five clones ran past the house. Sakura ducked away just in time.

"Come with me…" She whispered finally. "I'll take you somewhere safer."

"N-No."

"…" Sakura sighed. "It's not safe here. You have to come."

"W-We can't go yet! M-Mommy is c-coming back soon and if w-we g-go, she won't know where to l-look!" The other girl whispered.

Sakura smiled sadly. The poor sisters, at least she assumed they were sisters, were awaiting their mother's return. Unfortunately for them, she probably wouldn't be coming back anytime soon if at all. "Well, how about we do this. I'll take you to a safer place and come back here to wait for your mommy. When she comes, I'll bring her to you, alright?" The girls looked at each other for a couple of seconds before nodding their heads at her. They quietly crawled out of the cupboard. Sakura gently took hold of their hands to help them stand up. While doing so, she analyzed them for any apparent wounds. Of course, she knew, that the war would leave many emotional scars, but that wasn't something she could fix right now. She noted that they both had scraped knees. She also paid some attention to their appearance. One had pale blonde, almost white hair held by two braids tied by crimson bows. She had pale green eyes which seemed almost white, kind of like Hinata's. The little girl was wearing a button-up green shirt and black shorts with black sandals. The other girl had ebony brown hair which was cut unevenly. Silently thinking to herself, Sakura wondered why. The girl had a blue dress with yellow leggings underneath. She was wearing black ballet flats with a few red sparkles. Her face, she also remarked mentally, was covered in sooth and she had a grazed cheek.

"Are you an n-ninja?" The girl with the blonde hair asked. Sakura smiled at her before replying, "Yeah I am, but don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'm here to help you."

She led the girls out through a back door and down a thin alleyway. Analyzing her surroundings, she came to a decision that travelling by rooftop would be faster.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay? I felt your chakra flare." The headpiece panicked into her ear.

"Naruto, I'm fine. I do need your help though."

"Where are you?"

"Umm I'm beside the alleyway behind a ruined house."

"Lots of help Sakura…"

She paused for a few moments searching for a street sign or landmark. "Beside the Airi Teashop."

"I'll be right there." The headpiece replied before tuning out. True to his word, Naruto arrived a few moments later. The two girls immediately cowered behind Sakura, fearfully clutching her legs as they looked at Naruto. Quietly taking their hands, Sakura slowly cooed in a soothing voice, "Relax you guys. He's Naruto, my friend. He isn't here to hurt you; he's here to help you."

Naruto just stood there gaping. "Naruto, I need you to take one of them on piggy back. The best and quickest way to get them to safety is to travel by rooftops." Sakura told him, leading the girl with blonde hair towards him. As he gently hoisted her up onto his back, Sakura couldn't help but smile. The reckless loud-mouth could be so gentle sometimes. Hoisting the brunette up onto her back, she motioned to Naruto to follow her before effortlessly leaping into the air and onto the rooftop of the Airi Teashop. While waiting for Naruto, she tried to memorize her surroundings as much as she could. The roads and alleys and shops looked very similar to Konoha's but had their own little charm to them. The plants around were shades of purple and pink and blue, and Sakura had to resist the urge to analyze them. If it wasn't for the war and the burning and ruined buildings, the village would resemble a dream-like fantasy to live in. Shaken out of her thoughts by Naruto's soft landing beside her, she began to leap from building to building towards their little base camp situated at the outskirts of the village. Thoughts began to swim through her head, leaving her to ponder as she subconsciously leapt towards safety. The village itself was very peculiar. It was hidden in the thoughts of the sky. When she first heard of this, she could not understand how this was possible. In reality, there was no actual meaning, but most believed that it had been named Shikōnosoragakure for poetic means. The sky was filled with stars and wishes made by millions of generations. Wishes were technically thoughts and so people concluded that Shikōnosoragakure was simply the village hidden in dreams and wishes, but to put this more poetically, the village hidden in the thoughts of the sky. So consumed by her thoughts, she almost failed to notice that Naruto had stopped and was now crouching behind a chimney. Sakura's ninja instinct snapped her out of her thoughts and she found her body naturally moving to crouch behind the chimney beside Naruto. She gave her teammate a quizzical look as to why they were hiding behind a chimney. Quietly, he nodded towards a band of four shinobi violently leading a group of scared villagers towards the main part of the city where they would be taken prisoner. Sakura frowned. She could feel that the villagers' blood flow was being disturbed by something. Before she knew what she was doing, Sakura let the little girl on her back down beside Naruto and leapt out of her hiding place, ambushing the surprised group. Swinging her fists one way then the other, she quickly knocked out the first two shinobi. Twisting her torso to gain enough power for a sufficient high-kick, she knocked the third guard out. During this affront however, the last shinobi managed to send out an emergency flare before being knocked out by her uppercut. Before anything could be said, she ushered the villagers to follow her as she took off running down the road, leaving Naruto and the two girls. Understanding her intentions, he picked up the other girl before continuing in the direction of their base camp, staying close to Sakura.

"Sai…Sai! Are you there? Sai! We need back-up! Where the hell are you? Sai!" He frantically shouted into the headpiece.

"Naruto…Calm down. What's wrong?"

"We just rescued a band of villagers, but one of the guards managed to send an emergency flare before we dealt with him. I need you to track the enemy's movements pronto!"

"I'm on it."

Naruto sighed a frantic sigh before averting his concentration towards the path before him. He could hear the quick-paced steps of the villagers as they ran, following Sakura. His stomach churned at the thought of them being attacked at such a vulnerable moment.

Forcing his chakra to his legs to add speed, he almost slipped off a wet roof ledge. Quickly regaining balance, he caught up to run in line with Sakura.

"Naruto! The enemy has deployed about four teams of shinobi. Most of them seem to have small chakra signatures, but there are three individually travelling shinobi with an amazing quantity of chakra, almost equivalent to yours."

"Did you hear that Sakura?" He hollered down at her.

"Yeah!" was her strained reply. He could see the worry plastered on her face, her brows furrowed together as she pondered about something unknown to him.

After a few more moments, he could feel her slow down until she finally came to a stop in front of their little base camp. She ushered the villagers in and told them to huddle in one of the corners while she called for immediate back-up. She readied one of the flares that she had brought in case. The flares she had were special. When sent into the sky, only a few shinobi new the meaning of it. It was strong enough to appear to Konoha and even if it didn't, it would still send a telepathic signal to the shinobi it was signalled to. Sakura had to admit that this was one amazing invention. Not wasting any time, she lit it before backing up. In a few seconds, a sharp whizzing sound was heard as the flare flew effortlessly into the sky where it exploded into a shower of crystalline embers. Sakura could only hope that Tsunade would send reinforcements that would arrive in time.

After analyzing one of the rescued citizens' bloods, Sakura had found a large amount of poison that had mixed in with their bloodstream. The poison wasn't deadly when still recent, but after a few days, it would inflict severe damage to the most important organs such as the heart or kidneys. The poison was irremovable without a special herb she had heard about that only grew on the edge of the snow country. The herb itself was very peculiar. It was black but its leaves were rimmed with a crimson vermillion that made it appear as if blood were dripping from the plant. Its malevolent look was only one thing. The plant would act as a cure when mixed with the poison Sakura analyzed, but if mixed with blood with none of that poison; it would act as a toxin of its own. It was impossible to get to the snow country now, since it was far away from their current destination. Sakura knew however, that Tsunade had a few of these plants stored up. If only it were possible to get the affected individuals to Tsunade, they would be cured. Unless back-up came though, that would be impossible. Sakura looked sadly at the people in front of her. The two girls had no poison in them but the others had. For now it didn't seem to be affecting them but she knew that it would only be a matter of time.

Naruto and Sai had left her to patrol the surrounding area. She had received word from Tsunade that as soon as a Team returned, she would send them. In the meantime, she had told them to hang in there. Sakura only hoped the teams would hurry up. Not having anything better to do, she silently walked over to the two girls.

"How are you doing?" she asked calmly.

"We're fine." The brunette replied.

"What's your name?" Sakura inquired.

"M-My name is Sumi and this is my sister, Chiri." The brunette replied once again.

"Sumi and Chiri huh? What nice names. My name is Sakura."

"Wh-What a nice name."

"Thanks." Sakura smiled warmly. "So…how old are you?"

"I'm eight years old. My sister is four." Sumi replied smiling. "Umm…I-Is it hard to be a ninja?"

"Well that depends. Yes, the training takes some time, but once you learn the basics, it isn't hard."

"I-I wanted to become a ninja…but my mommy said it would be too hard and dangerous. That and also the fact that my chakra had been sealed when I was young. No one knows why besides the village elders, but they were killed the moment the enemy laid eyes on them." Sumi said sadly, looking at a tree.

"Do you know who the enemy is?" Sakura asked, hoping to get some valuable information.

"…I saw him but I don't know who he is…He had black hair and penetrating red eyes. I remember that when the elders looked into them, they froze and fell to the ground, making it an easier job to kill them. The man didn't say anything. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds..."

Sakura immediately got some suspects.

"..He was wearing a mask…an orange mask…"

That immediately eliminated one of them. Unless…

"Was the person you saw the only one?"

"I only saw one person but I heard him talking to someone else over a headpiece or something."

That made sense since Sakura had heard Sai mention three great chakra signatures.

"There was also a man with a snake. His face was hooded but…he also had a black coat with clouds on it. Neither talked much so I can't really describe what they looked like." Sumi added.

While they were talking, Naruto and Sai had returned for a short break. Sakura left Chiri and Sumi for awhile to talk with Naruto and Sai.

"You guys…while you were gone I found a toxin, a very dangerous and fatal toxin in the civilians' bodies. If they had some, I am willing to bet that the other prisoners also have poison in them. If that is the case, they will all die from between now to a week. We can't just sit here knowing their just dying there one by one without anything being done to help them. I cannot heal the poison fully, but I have found a medicine that will prolong the period before the poison takes fatal effect. You guys…we can save all these people if I-"

"You want to infiltrate the enemy just like that? With no help? You know that they are strong? Yu can't do this alone!"

"Naruto…It is my duty, our duty!"

"…"

"I'm sorry Naruto…It's for the sake of our mission and for the sake of those people."

Naruto frowned. He wouldn't take this. His anger began to brew within him, but he forced it down. The last thing he needed to do is to hurt her. He sighed, clenching his fists. Naruto tried to see the reason in what she was saying. It made sense. This was their mission and he had to admit that he couldn't just stand by while innocent people got killed. "What exactly is your plan?" he asked quietly.

"I was thinking of disguising myself as a lower level ninja from Shikōnosoragakure and would let myself get captured. Something like that anyway. I would disguise myself as a citizen, but because we're dealing with skilled shinobi, most probably Akatsuki, I won't be able to mask my chakra from them. I would get 'captured' and would let myself be taken prisoner. Then I would socialize with the others and see if they have any poison in their bloodstreams."

"You can't go alone to Akatsuki! They'll kill you."

"Yes there is a chance but…"

"I'll agree with you but only if you include us there. When you're in the prison, we'll be monitoring your chakra. If anything happens, flare it and we'll be there."

Sakura smiled. Naruto had finally agreed. Sure, he would be there monitoring her but that would be fine. In fact, the only reason that wouldn't be okay would be because she wouldn't want him to get hurt. "Well then…I'm glad we agree." She said smiling.

Sakura only hoped that her smile wouldn't betray any of her emotions brewing inside her. In reality, she was scared. The thought of going in to infiltrate the Akatsuki send shivers down her spine. She knew it was her duty, but she didn't exactly want to die. Already beginning to plan her strategy, Sakura left Naruto and Sai, who had been awfully quiet. Now that she thought about it, why hadn't he contributed any of his ideas to their discussion? Forcing the thought to the back of her mind, Sakura began brewing a warm broth for the escapees they were hiding. She couldn't help but feel happy when Chiri and Sumi came over to help with the cooking, both looking at her curiously as she mixed in various ingredients.

As she mixed the broth, she subconsciously began to daydream of a world with no war, no hatred. No pain of losing someone loved. No heartbreak. A world of fantasy and impossible things. No revenge, no massacre. No murder. A world of love and happiness where tears were only tears of joy…A world…of peace.

So?

REVIEW PLEASE!

Stay tuned for Chapter 2!

-Mimianimelover15