Sacrifice

Summary: When Naruto and Sasuke came back they didn't expect a heroic parade but a warm welcome from Sakura. So you can just imagine how they'd feel when they came through the gates beaten and tired but there was no Sakura to greet them. Why?

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto

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First Chapter: Leaving

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Sakura stood in front of a wooden door.

It was the only one in a really long hallway so it had to be an important room. In fact, it was the fifth Hokage's room, Lady Tsunade.

So why would Sakura, apprentice of Tsunade, Jounin med-nin, just standing in front of the door with her hands quivering and her thoughts scattered like a pack of dogs that just got out of a room after days of deprivation of food, water and chew toy?

She could just faintly hear the shuffling of the papers and the occasional sigh along with the sound of something being gulped down.

'Sake... that's Tsunade-Shishou for you...'

Sakura continued contemplating what to say and what to do and let out an undignified yelp when the door suddenly opened revealing Shizune, Tsunade's other apprentice with Ton-Ton the pig in her hands.

Shizune's anxious face disappeared as a look of surprise replaced it when she saw Sakura jump away and land on her butt with her back against the wall.

Sakura blinked before opening her moth, "Shizune-chan, I…" she trailed, hoping that her next move would help her understand what she's trying to say.

Shizune looked worried and held out a hand for Sakura. Sakura gratefully took it then looked seriously at Shizune.

'That expression…that burning passion in her eyes…no, it can't be…she won't…she can't!'

Shizune unconsciously dropped Ton-Ton, who just scurried back into the room, and her face paled, "S-Sakura-chan, don't tell me you're…you're…"

"I'm sorry Shizune-chan; I've made up my mind…"

Sakura didn't even give her a glance as she brushed passed Shizune.

She was dead serious; Shizune didn't get a smile or a hug from Sakura reassuring her. Her mind was set and she knew perfectly well that nothing could ever change her mind.

"Sakura, I trust you've made your decision." Tsunade's feminine but strong voice could be heard from where Shizune was standing, she never moved an inch from where she was stood, right in the way of the opened door.

Shizune shook her head slightly, "No…" she whispered quietly. It was pretty obvious which of the older women took this matter personally and which one of them took it professionally.

"Hai, Tsunade-Shishou. I've come to a decision."

Shizune couldn't take it anymore; she swiftly turned around to voice her protests until she caught sight of Tsunade's face.

Her once piercing eyes turned venerable and sad, her shoulders were slumped and any fool could tell, even with one quick glance, that she was in utter turmoil.

Everything seemed to have stopped altogether, uncomfortable silence hung in the air and it seemed to be suffocating Tsunade. She felt that she stopped breathing after seeing her young apprentice's eyes.

They were burning with so much intensity and passion that she was scared, because this wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to see from her.

She shouldn't have that blank expression on her face, her posture shouldn't be so damn sturdy and determined and her eyes shouldn't look so…unfamiliar.

The suffocating silence also affected Shizune who was paler than she should be with her eyes diluted into small specks in her eye sockets.

Complete and utter silence continued to strangle Shizune and Tsunade for a couple more minutes…that was until Sakura broke it.

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"I'll leave Konoha…and never come back."

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Shizune and Tsunade wished so much and willed so hard for the previous silence to come back as they heard Sakura's footsteps grow quieter as she walked out of the office, out of Konoha and out of their lives.

-x-

Sakura continued to walk away from the gates of her home village Konoha without looking back. She imagined how everybody would react to her departure.

She felt guilty and selfish for leaving.

She knew that a lot of people are probably hurt and sad because of her selfishness, but she couldn't think about this.

Her selfish mind chose to think selfish thoughts instead of thinking about her loved ones that she left back in the village.

They would…no, will understand…eventually

Her heart ached when a sudden image of her friends crying came into her head; she shook the image out of her mind as she thought of her future instead of the past.

The past may be written in stone but the future is limitless...

With this thought in her head she wondered what she would do when she arrives in the Earth country where her wish was going to become a reality.

My selfish wish…

Her face crumpled into a sad expression, she thought about Konoha again.

But before doubtful thoughts could invade her mind she thought about how she felt when the two most important news were kept a secret from her.

.:Flashback:.

She had just finished early from her shift at the hospital and decided to pay her teacher of 6 years a visit. She thought maybe Tsunade would be in a good mood so she could successfully beg her to teach her more powerful jutsus.

When she neared the Hokage tower she masked her chakra so she wouldn't be noticed. She figured that her mentor would probably be grumbling about the mountain of paper work she had to do so she thought of surprising her as well as testing her abilities. If the Hokage couldn't sense her then no one could.

A smirked played itself on her face as she neared the Hokage's office. She as about to reach for the door but the two other chakra signatures in the room and the mention of a certain person's name made her stop.

"…Uchiha Sasuke should be swiftly apprehended, he's too much of threat already. If he gets any stronger and joins our enemies then it'll be the end of Konoha. Naruto tells us that if there's enough strong shinobi then there will be a good chance of subduing him."

Sakura leaned her ear right next to the door, her eyes slightly widened when she heard Naruto's name being said.

'So Naruto found Sasuke huh…but it's been months since he's been given this solo mission, I would've thought that once he sees Sasuke, they'd battle it out and Naruto would end up dragging Sasuke's sorry behind back to Konoha…what happened I wonder…'

"…Don't tell Sakura what you're doing, she'll try to come along and get killed in the process. Her emotions are still too tender; we can't let her get near the Uchiha again.

If she fights him out of pure rage and hatred she'll get beaten up and probably jeopardize the mission."

Sakura's thoughts stopped running in her mind, shocked by Tsunade's declaration of her weakness.

Sakura's knees began to wobble but she quickly steadied them. Her eyes changed from shocked to angry but she was smart enough to keep her chakra hidden.

She had worked so hard and for so long to become strong and be recognized and yet her own mentor was saying she was weak. Sakura knows fully well that she'd probably be no match for the Uchiha but she'd still be able to put up a good fight.

Her thoughts wandered to when she met Sasuke again at Orochimaru's hideout. He'd gotten stronger, that was obvious, and she charged with all her might at him. But she had to be saved by Yamato, and she remembered that she got knocked out that one time at the bridge when they were to intercept Kabuto.

She was indeed weak, dead baggage and a burden to her team mates.

She looked down at the floor as she recollected many more memories where she had to be the damsel in distress who had to be saved.

'I couldn't even stop Sasuke from leaving…'

"…-Sakura could probably get stronger. Why won't you tell her?" a person that held pride and confusion in their voice said, Sakura guessed the voice to belong to Hyuuga Neji.

Sakura's ears perked up, what else had her mentor failed to tell her?

"She can't go. She's not ready yet."

"But she had been Jounin for the past three weeks already, I've seen her fight. She's more than ready to do this." Another voice spoke up.

Something clicked in Sakura's head and she became furious, her mentor was blatantly underestimating her and would not let her get stronger. On top of that, the retrieval team involved Neji and Shikamaru.

Hinata was a total wreck when her boyfriend left; she had to take away Ten-Ten's and Ino's too.

"Who's side are you two on anyways?! She would have to leave the village for Kami knows how long, there's a chance that she might not come back at all!"

For a long time Sakura heard nothing, she figured that Neji and Shikamaru thought of how things would be if she were to go away and never come back, after all her best friends were their girlfriends…but she knew they'd still stick up for her.

All her friends knew how much she wanted to get powerful so that she could at least catch up to Sasuke and Naruto. Neji and Shikamaru understood this and what they said proved their loyalty to her.

"But she has the right to know." Neji firmly said.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, we understand that your bond with her has strengthen over the years of being her mentor, but please view this in Sakura's perspective. You of all people should realize how much she'd want to receive a chance at getting stronger. You out of everybody know Sakura's determination and hard work to peruse this goal. She has every right and more to know that a chance that would probably only come by once in a lifetime is being offered up to her. She deserves to know." Shikamaru reasoned.

Sakura could just kiss Neji and Shikamaru right now but their girlfriends would probably pound her into dust, so she settled with just thanking them in her mind.

"I figured you two would be on her side…"

Sakura pressed her ear closer to the door, eagerly awaiting her mentor's response.

"Hokage-sama, will you let her go or not?" Neji asked.

"Yes, I will…" she finally said, but instead of jumping for joy Sakura was frozen in the spot.

She had been trained by this woman for many years and so they've come to know each other very well. So they'd be able to tell if something was askew even if only a very small indication told them this.

Something in her voice made Sakura scared, she calculated that Tsunade had something up her sleeve and she was scared to know because it'll probably affect her drastically.

"In fact, I'll do better than that. I'll give her a choice. She either goes to the earth country or…

She could go and help retrieve Uchiha Sasuke…"

Before either men could respond to what she said the door burst open to reveal Sakura in all her glory. She was flushed with anger as she quickly paced up to stand in front of Tsunade's desk.

"How do you expect me to choose!" she cried, tears of anger and frustration threatening to come out.

Even though Neji and Shikamaru were beyond shocked to find out that Sakura had heard their conversation, Tsunade only had a blank look on her face as she stared at Sakura.

"I don't, that's why I said that. Sakura, you would probably be a lot of help if you went on this retrieval mission. It'll higher up the chances of capturing the Uchiha, whereas the other choice…would be risky." Tsunade said in a calm voice.

Sakura glared at her teacher, she obviously wanted her to choose the latter if she was stating so many benefits for that choice. And Sakura had to admit…it was working.

"I'll elaborate in detail. We had an offer for you to be sent to the earth country's hidden village in the rocks. A scroll sent me word that you've helped a man of very high status save his wife, he says that you have untapped potential. He's also the brother of the Tsuchikage, he was also hoping for your station there to be …permanent."

Sakura was feeling a mixture of emotion, she felt doubtful yet happy. Worried yet determined to go.

She racked her brain for the man that supposedly asked for her.

Her eyes widened in realization as she remembered him. She was quite old but she could tell that he as quite fit and able for his age.

Sakura's team stopped at Iwagakure to rest, that's when she encountered a family that needed a doctor since their youngest caught a rare disease.

Sakura was just walking down the streets when the mother bumped into her on her way to get a doctor, Sakura asked her what's wrong and told her that she was a doctor herself that could probably help.

Sakura was familiar with the disease since it became an epidemic back in Konoha a few months back, so she was able to quickly cure the child and informed the hospital of a future outbreak of the disease since it was very contagious.

The very same day, a man came to her after hearing her talk to the nurses, he approached her about curing his wife of the same illness and to hurry because his wife was extremely weak in state beforehand. Sakura obliged and went back to Konoha the same day.

The man that she had helped was probably the same man that was asking for her.

Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion, "But I don't understand, what could I do in Iwagakure that I can't do here in Konoha?" she asked.

Tsunade looked at her pupil seriously, "Sakura, they're offering you to become part of their special squadron called HellFire. It's a powerful organization founded by a clan in Iwagakure. It demands for your utmost loyalty and dedication. The man that's asking for you was the head leader of HellFire.

By becoming a member they expect you to practically give up your life for the sake of the organization. It's a very strong organization but I've heard that the members are killing machines that does whatever the Tsuchikage commands. You'll be the first in Konoha to be offered a place Sakura, but in exchange for your life here."

Sakura couldn't speak, if Tsunade was trying to scare Sakura then it was working, she was having second thoughts about the placement offer.

"I'll…think about it…" she whispered quietly that Neji and Shikamaru couldn't hear, Tsunade heard though and as Sakura disappeared from sight, her heart clenched.

She did her best to scare her apprentice but she didn't need much imagination as what she said was true.

When she saw Sakura's fear stricken face after having heard what the HellFire lifestyle offered she was pretty sure that she would steer clear of opting for this choice, but she knew deep down that there was still a chance that Sakura would choose this and leave Konoha for good.

.:End of Flashback:.

She concluded that she was making the right decision. After all, she was weak but she was determined to change that.

She began to run until only a blur could be seen of her; she decided to leave her past thoughts and feelings of Konoha and prepare herself for her awaited future.

She was, after all, going to work with the dangerous Shinobis and Kunoichis of HellFire.

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