Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sakura sighed wearily, looking into the distance where she knew Konohagakure no Sato lay. She had traveled very far to make it back to her home village. It was a shame that it was not really her home anymore. Breaking for a moment, she thought back on the events that lead her down this path.

—————

Sakura stood in front of her Hokage, her shishou, not willing to look up and meet her eyes. In the back of her mind, she knew it would come to this. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to fight the emotions swelling up in her. She was not willing to leave her life behind. She had dedicated her life to being the best kunoichi she could, for the sake of her friends, her family. Without them, who was she?

Tsunade turned away from Sakura to peer out the window of her office. She looked onto the monument and asked herself if her grandfather or father would approve of her choice.

"Sakura," Tsunade whispered, "I wish this wasn't the way it has to be. We have both lost our best friends and our teammates. We are in a stalemate. If we do nothing, we will surely die."

"I understand, Shishou" Sakura choked out.

Tsunade turned to her student, tears streaking her own face. Sakura looked so frail, her small frame shaking against the sobs that she was trying to fight back. This girl was like a daughter, the only person she had left. And she was sending her daughter to the unknown. Tsunade breathed deep, attempting to calm her frizzled nerves. She had to stay strong, for her village and for Sakura. Sacrifices had to be made. Every ninja knew their day would come. Yet Tsunade was still uncomfortable sending this young girl out to impending doom.

"Sakura, you will form a team comprising of Kakashi, and two chuunin of your choice. In three days time, you are to leave the village and report to Hitotoki Temple north-northeast of Oni no Kuni. It should take a week of vigorous travel to reach your destination."

"Hai."

"The monks will be waiting for you when you arrive. Follow their direction. Trust them as you trust me."

"Yes Shishou."

"I expect your decision of your comrades within the hour."

"Of course Shishou." Sakura spoke softly, turning away from Tsunade to leave. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, she fell to her knees and let the sobs overcome her. It was only a few moments before she was able to pick herself up off of the floor and head out of the building. It was a rule of shinobi to never show your emotions. She had been breaking that rule a lot lately. War could do that to a person.

—————

After walking out of the Hokage tower, Sakura found herself heading towards the infamous Copy Ninja's neighborhood. She supposed he knew everything by know. He was the Nanadaime Hokage after all. He had stepped down for the position of village protector once Tsunade had woken from her coma. Being Hokage was something Kakashi never wanted, and relinquished his title as soon as Tsunade was healthy enough.

Her heart ached at the idea that both her shishou and sensei were involved in planning this mission. She only wished Tsunade could travel with her to Hitotoki and be with her every step of the way, but Sakura knew there were more important things for the Hokage to do instead. Like dispose of the remaining Uchihas.

"Like that little brat Sasuke." Her inner self spat out. "It is too bad we won't be here to see him fall."

Sakura tried not to listen to her other half. She knew and understood that Sasuke was just sick. Very, very sick and confused. It wasn't necessarily his fault he turned out to be such an evil person. Then again, he had made all of his choices and would have to answer to them one day. Konoha had long ago stopped putting up with his shenanigans. There was only so far you could go before you couldn't turn back. That had happened sometime after the second attack on Konoha. The village was just starting to rebuild after Pein's attack when Uchiha Madara made his move, Sasuke in tow. That is when the Fourth Great Ninja War had begun.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized that she was at Kakashi's apartment complex. Kakashi had an annoying habit of sleeping with his chakra suppressed, so one never knew if he was home unless they climbed up to the third story window and snuck a quick look. This was something Sakura was not fond of, seeing as she more than once caught Kakashi in his underwear. Kakashi started to tease her about being a peeping tom; but his teasing stopped almost as soon as it begun when he realized that she could not only easily punch him through the nearest building, but she was more than willing to.

Disappointed that Kakashi wasn't home, Sakura jumped off the balcony and hit the floor below gracefully. She had an idea of where he could be, but she was hesitant to visit him there. She did not want to visit the memorial stone, she was tired of grieving. Pacing in front of Kakashi's building, she made her decision. She would just not look; she would keep her head down, face the other way. She miserably started her journey towards the memorial stone.

"Today just couldn't get any worse for us." Inner-Sakura mumbled, no longer angry.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sakura said out loud to herself.

The memorial stone was a short distance from Kakashi's home. Sakura knew now that Kakashi did this intentionally. A few months prior she had found out that her sensei spent most of his time at the memorial stone, silently grieving for his teammates and father. Soon after the revelation, she started to join him in his routine. Together, they silently mourned their fallen comrades.

As Sakura turned the corner towards the memorial, she could feel Kakashi's chakra. She wouldn't let herself look up, look him in the eye, or look at that damned stone. Instead, she silently inched towards Kakashi with her eyes glued to her toes. As his chakra got stronger and stronger, the sour feeling in her stomach grew. She wanted to cry again. She wanted to throw her hands down to the ground and destroy everything in sight. Instead, she allowed Kakashi to wrap himself around her shoulders in a deep embrace. She let herself fall to pieces in his arms.

"I've told you before Sakura, moping doesn't suite you." Kakashi whispered into her ear.

"Mind your own business, old man." Sakura mumbled from his vest in between sobs.

"What in the world did I ever do to deserve such a disrespectful student?" Kakashi asked, feigning offense.

"It probably has something to do with all that porn under your bed." Sakura deadpanned.

Kakashi stood there with his arms wrapped around the petite girl, hoping that in some way his physical contact was soothing to her. After a long while, she wiggled out of his grasp to look him in the eye. Tears trailed down her face silently as she met his gaze. Her eyes were blood stained and her cheeks a deep red. Sorrow was written all over her face. It broke his heart to see his teammate so defeated.

Kakashi leaned back enough so Sakura could see his masked face and said softly, "For what it's worth I am going to miss you."

Sakura burst into more tears as she threw herself back into Kakashi's arms, this time holding him tightly to her small frame. Kakashi ran his hand through her hair soothingly. He really was going to miss his student. He didn't know what he could do to make her feel better. His mind skimmed through all of the comforting things he could say, which weren't a lot. Hatake Kakashi was simply not a comforting guy.

"Sakura, you need to pull yourself together." He said softly, "You need to be strong for yourself, for your friends, family, for your village Sakura. Konoha is counting on you. You need to be the silent hero we all know you can be."

Sakura knew he was right, but all of this was overwhelming. She couldn't think straight, there was too much stuff flashing through her mind, all of them negative or bittersweet. She slowing gained control of her breathing, and was able to stop crying, but she refused to let go of Kakashi. She needed to hang on to him right now, as he was the only thing in between her and that damned stone.

It was mocking her, she was sure of it.

So she just stood there, her arms tightly wound around Kakashi's waist, her face buried in his vest. She tried her hardest to forget everything, but there was no way she could hide herself from reality. She slowly released her hold from Kakashi, but he refused to let go of her. Cupping her cheeks with his hands, he forced her to look him square in the eye.

"Don't look. I know you don't want to, and you don't have to. Just follow me."

Sakura dropped her eyes down to stare at her toes again, silently following Kakashi away from the stone. Although she didn't look back, and she never would, the etching in the stone was fixed in her memory. She shut her eyes tightly, trying not to remember the name freshly etched into the stone.

But she would never forget the day the Tsunade had ordered the engraver to Mark the stone with Uzumaki Naruto's name. She would never forget the crushing pain of Naruto's death.

Writing sad stories makes me sad :(

Please, if there is anything I can do to make this story better, just tell me! I would really enjoy some constructive criticism.