The blond guy walked through the gates with a wide smile, his sky-blue eyes scanning the village before him with a pleased glow.
First of all! Tsunade-oba-san!- He shouted cheerfully before starting to run towards the hokage mansion.
Tsunade-sama! Bet who's back?- Shouted a happy Shizune bursting in the hokage's office.
Before the older woman could give an answer an orange thing jumped through the window right on top of her desk.
Naruto!- Screamed the godaime slightly annoyed, but she forgot her rage as soon as she saw the bright smile he had on.- Oh… Welcome back.
It's soooooo good to be back! Now I can use the amazing powers that I got in the missions and then I'll become the hokage in no time! Come on oba-chan, give me a A-rank mission!- Shouted the cheerful guy that was still standing in her desk.
I'm giving you no mission until I test your new abilities, thus you just came back, you should enjoy the village for a while, you must be missing your frien…
Before the Godaime could finish her sentence four Anbu black ops popped up in the office, surely returning from a mission and ready to report to Tsunade. For an instant the four of them just stared to the scene before them, and suddenly three tossed away their masks and smiled towards Naruto.
Kakashi-sensei! Neji! Shikamaru!- Shouted the blonde jumping from the desk to his friends side.
Yo! Naruto!- Greeted Kakashi with a blink-eyed smile.
Long time no see… Naruto…- Said Neji nodding to him.
Hey Naruto! You really took a long time I was starting to think you wasn't getting back…- Said Shikamaru.
You're crazy? I had to come back! I need to bring Sasuke back! And become Hokage!- Said the blond with a even wider grin.
The fourth Anbu stepped forwards, right in front of the godaime.
So? How was the mission?- Asked Tsunade.
It was successful, no casualties, we brought back all the information we found there.- Informed the ANBU giving some scrolls to the hokage.
Naruto eyed the other shinnobi with wide eyes, it was obviously a girl, a girl with very nice curves actually, the blond couldn't help but blush looking at her big sized breasts, it was difficult not to notice them. But what amazed him was that she was obviously the team's captain, and that means she was a stronger shinnobi than Kakashi, Neji and Shikamaru, and he really couldn't think of no one that good, but still her voice seemed very familiar to him…
After finishing her report the ANBU girl turned to Naruto, the boy gulped looking to the cat like mask she was wearing. Slowly she took off the mask and loosed her hair, revealing beautiful green eyes and pink locks that went to her hips.
Welcome back Naruto!- Sakura gave him a small smile. Not one like those he was used to see in her face when they were younger, this was more mature and a lot more sad, but it made her look even more beautiful.
He just stared at her in awe, his mouth agape, unable to say anything.
Oi! Naruto! Snap out of it!- Smirked Shikamaru giving him a pat on the back.
The blond blinked, and his smile came back to his mouth.
Sakura-chan! You're an ANBU now! You're even a captain! It's so cool Sakura-chan.- Shouted the guy.
You must have pretty good news too… Let's eat something and gather the whole gang to hear about you journey.- Said Kakashi.
Oz! Let's to Ichiraku! I want Ramen!
Before someone could stop him the random boy just jumped through the window. Chuckling, the other four followed him, leaving an amused Hokage behind.
--
Ah! Sakura-chan is amazing! I can't believe you really beat Kakashi-sensei! You're his captain now! Truly amazing, but I bet you can't beat me! Hehe!- Said Naruto, while he prepared to eat his third bow of ramen.
Ehhh. What a cocky attitude! You better not to pick up a fight with Sakura, she's the top elite ninja from Konoha now, you'd become jelly!- Smirked Kiba, that was approaching the group along with his teammates.
Yo! Kiba! Shino! Hinata!- Greeted a full mouthed Naruto.
Welcome back Naruto-kun.- Said a blushing Hinata.
It's a long time Naruto…- Greeted Shino, with his quiet voice.
Come on! Tell us more about your journey! I'm sure it was filled with youth!- Said Lee doing his nice guy pose.
Stop this stupid thing Lee!- Spat an annoyed Tenten giving him a tap on the head.
Everyone burst laughing at this. Naruto felt really happy to be around his old friends, but he didn't fail to notice that they all have changed a bit, but were still the same guys as before, except for Sakura, that girl didn't resembled her old self at all. She looked like a real adult now, and acted as a totally different person, always quiet, never smiled, completely apart from everyone else, and all of his friends acted respectfully and almost cautiously towards her… Even Ino had stopped to call her forehead girl, and minded her mouth as much as she could while talking to her… It surely wasn't as it was like when they were younger, and he was starting to miss the old Sakura.
Sakura looked at the sky, "it's almost the time… I'm not sure if I should go but, that woman may have something really important to show me…" she thought gazing at the hokage's faces mountain.
Flashback
Sakura were sitting at the hokage's mountain and staring at the sky, it was a full moon night, and the whole village were silent, it felt really good to be there alone, just admiring the nature, she would be off in a mission as soon as the dawn came, and wouldn't have any moment to be alone until she got back, and the thing Sakura loved most were her solitude, she enjoyed to be only with herself.
An old woman came walking towards her, the pink-haired kunnoichi noticed her coming but didn't acknowledged her presence, she wasn't in the mood for small talk.
Oh… Another one who loves the moon… Some years ago, another person used to sit there to watch the moon, he had black eyes when he did that.- Said the old woman as if talking to her self.- He had beautiful eyes.
Sakura wasn't sure if the old woman was talking to her or not, but she looked at the elder the same way. She was surprised by the speed that the woman moved, but in no time the old lady was kneeling right before her grabbing her chin and looking intently at her eyes.
You have beautiful eyes too… Eyes that can see a lot of things… I think you'd see it… Yes… You can see more than he can… Even when his eyes are red…- Said the woman, still to no one in special.
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, the person this woman were talking about were a Uchiha for sure, black eyes that can turn red…
Who are you talking about? What I can see?- She asked, her voice emotionless.
Oh… And you have a beautiful voice too… You're really a beautiful woman, yes… I think I should show you, you're just like him… You're the right person…
Right person for what?- Asked a still unemotional Sakura.
To know the truth… At this same hour, four days from here, come to the ANBU library, I have something to show you… Something that he wanted no one to know, but I think you're the right person…- Said the old woman, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, letting a very puzzled Sakura behind.
End of the Flashback
Sakura looked up at the sky wondering if she should go… The woman seemed to be crazy, but it was true that she made a reference to an Uchiha… Maybe she had something important to say, something that could help to bring Sasuke back… Making up her mind the pink haired kunnoichi stood up, blue eyes looked up at her in a questioning way.
I'm sorry Naruto… I have some unfinished business to tend to… See you later.- She said in a blank voice, and disappeared in a blur of Sakura blossoms.
She appeared inside the ANBU headquarters, right in front of a heavy wooden door that led to the top secret archive, were all the ANBU missions reports were stored in. Very few people could go in there, but Sakura was one of those people, as the Godaime pupil and the top elite ninja she had complete access to the archives, but she doubted that the old woman could enter that room…
She opened the heavy doors and stepped inside the room closing the doors behind her. To the kunnoichi surprise the old lady was already there, her brown eyes wondering aimlessly towards the scrolls that filled the shelves all around the walls going on and on forming a labyrinth like library.
You came… I knew you'd came… Come child, I'll show you now.- Said the old woman not looking at the younger one.
The old woman started to walk through a long corridor, Sakura followed her silently, she really wanted to ask why the hell that woman wanted to show something to her, of all the people, and who's the uchiha guy she kept talking about the first time they've met. But she decided to keep quiet, whatever that woman wanted to show she would see in the right moment, she had learned to be patient with her ANBU train.
Suddenly the woman stopped, right in front an empty shelf, Sakura sighed, it seemed like the woman really hadn't anything to show her. But the old lady just started to make strange hand seals, and with a purple chakra glowing in her right hand she touched the empty shelf with her tip fingers. Sakura couldn't help but gasp, when a door opened right before her eyes revealing a small room also filled with scrolls.
What's that room?- Asked Sakura in a tiny voice, she never heard of a hidden room in the ANBU archive… And she was pretty sure Tsunade hasn't either.
Here's where they keep all the story that never happened. All the real story.- Answered the woman quietly.- Go on, what you must see is there inside.
What is it?- Asked Sakura.
You have good eyes. You'll know when you see it, and if you don't it's because you shouldn't see.- Said the woman with a wicked smile before disappear in a blur of smoke.
The pink haired kunnoichi entered the mysterious room. Her green eyes wondered from scroll to scroll, nothing catching her attention, until she saw a symbol that made her gasp. The sharingan symbol. With shaking hands she got the black scroll with the sharingan mark in red.
She sat on the ground and opened the scroll. It was the uchiha clan story, all of the story. The story that was said to be lost…
It started with Uchiha Madara story… The foundation of Konoha, the eternal war between the uchiha clan and the Senju clan (the first hokage clan), the last battle between Madara and the first, and the peace treaty between the two clans after Madara got killed. And then the decline of the Uchiha clan, the constant suspicion of the elders…
And finally the kyuubi attack, most of the village, including the Third thought it was a natural disaster, but the ancients had another idea, it was true that the Uchiha desired the Kokage's chair a long time ago… And the Uchiha chakra was the only one that could control those demons, the black ops were designed to watch the Uchiha clan, to discover if it was true, and what they were planning next.
Sakura gasped at what she readied next…
The spy that Danzo designed was Uchiha Itachi, he had to spy his own clan at the village's orders, and he did, he was loyal to Konoha…
Itachi learned that the kyuubi had been summoned by the Uchiha leader… By his own father…
His father told him about a new plan to overdo Konoha and asked him to become their spy on the village, Itachi informed the village about it, the Third wanted to talk with the Uchiha leader, make the peace, but the elders disagreed, and Danzou gave Itachi the most unfair mission ever…
Tears started to fall down Sakura's cheeks…
Itachi was ordered to kill his entire clan, to eliminate all the Uchiha and leave the village as a nuke-nin, he was a sacrifice… Konoha gave to it's best shinnobi a mission that would cost him his family, friends and his own life…
And he fulfilled it, he got rid of all of his emotions, and accomplished the mission he was given, he killed all of his clan as he was ordered, and left the village, just like he was told to… There were only one thing he couldn't accomplish, one order he couldn't fulfill…
Sasuke…
The only thing Itachi couldn't do was kill his young brother…
Sakura sobbed, she wasn't sure to why she cried, if for the awful fate of the Uchiha clan, or if for the horrible task Itachi had to fulfill, or for Sasuke that had thrown his life away to accomplish a revenge against someone that was really protecting him… Maybe she cried for all of it… But most of all, she cried for shame, shame of Konoha…
She never thought she'd ever feel that bad for being a kunnoichi from Konoha, she never thought she would hate so much been a shinnobi… No matter how much of tools they were, what Konoha had done to Itachi and his life wasn't fair…
She inhaled deeply, wiped her tears and got to her feet, grasping tightly the black scroll, she was sure that Tsunade didn't know about that story, and wasn't sure about what the godaime would do when she learned about it, but Sakura was sure that she had to do something about it…
It wasn't right that a Konoha's shinnobi stayed away of his own village as a criminal when he had done nothing but his duty, and that Sasuke stayed seeking for a meaningless revenge without know the truth… She wasn't sure about what she could actually do, but she'd do whatever it takes to fix all this mess, she would hate Konoha forever otherwise…
--
Tsunade looked up in surprise when her pupil burst in her office with a pained face, and tear marks along her cheeks, the last time she had saw the pink-haired kunnoichi like that were some years ago when she asked to learn medical ninjutsu.
Sakura…- Started the blond with a worried face.
Read it Tsunade!- Said Sakura harshly giving the godaime a black scroll with the sharingan symbol in red.
What's that?- Asked a puzzled Tsunade.
The Uchiha's clan story… The true story, the story that the elders hided from everyone, ant that'd disappear if I haven't find this…
Where did you find it?
In a secret room at the Anbu's archive… An old woman showed it to me… Read it Tsunade-sama…- Sakura's voice were solemn, but she had turned back to her emotionless self.
The godaime sighed, those old hags only give her trouble… She wondered how much about her own village story they had hidden from her… And if she would ever find out if it wasn't for Sakura.
The pink-haired kunnoichi waited while the hokage readied the scroll. Tsunade's face was sad and confused when she looked up at her pupil again…
If this is true…- Started the godaime.
It is true…- Granted Sakura, she didn't knew why but she knew that every single word in that scroll were true.
Konoha made an awful mistake… I… I wouldn't be a hokage if I don't try to fix it…Uchiha Itachi did everything in Konoha's orders, and as such… He is our shinnobi.- The blond stood up, walked toward the window and looked at the village.- I don't know what to do…
Bring him back… Send him an ANBU squad and offer apologies, ask him to come back, nothing can undo what had been done but… You can offer him some kind of compensation… I don't know… But it's just not right leave it as it is now.- Said Sakura.
Yes… You're right, but there's the Akatsuki…- Alleged Tsunade.
The two women stayed silent for a long moment, it was true that now Itachi was the Akatsuki leader… And that this organization had committed criminal actions, and also they have been searching for the kyuubi…
Maybe I can offer them alliance… I doubt that Itachi would agree to come back as a Konoha shinnobi after all this, but maybe he will accept to turn Akatsuki into a legal organization… Their security and action range would increase greatly with the fire country support, and also they would gain the status of legal shinnobi… The only thing they'd had to do is give up on the kyuubi…- Said a thoughtful hokage.
It's risky, but Konoha own this sacrifice to the Uchiha's…- Stated Sakura.
The godaime turned around and eyed her pupil.
It's decided then… The elders won't like it, but I won't get back on my decision… The best thing to do is to send someone to search for Itachi right now, I'd talked to the ancients by the time he get here, if he agree with the treaty… But, I can trust in only one person to do it, Sakura, you will be going… It will be a S-rank mission, and you'll have to go alone… I don't want to put your life in risk, and the decision is yours…
I know all the risks Shishou… And I have decided already, I'll take this mission…- Said Sakura with an unemotional voice and her blank expression.
Tsunade smiled, Sakura had turned into a very capable shinnobi, the best, the must trustful, and was the best medic she had ever seen… Far better than herself… She was very proud of her pupil…
Fine… I'll write down the treaty, Itachi won't believe only in your word, if he'll believe in us at all…- The godaime sited at her desk and started to write, while Sakura waited patiently.
After some time, the hokage raised her head again giving a scroll to the waiting kunnoichi.
You should leave immediately, no one must know to where you're going… There are some secure information that a shark man had been lurking around the stone country… It's most likely Hoshigake Kisame, Itachi's partner, you should start there…- Hazel eyes looked deeply into the green ones.- Be careful Sakura…
The pink haired kunnoichi simply nodded, and disappeared in a blur of Sakura blossoms. She popped up in her apartment to gather her weapons, her ANBU uniform and mask. The dawn was near when a cat-masked ANBU left the leaf village.
--
Oi! Tsunade-oba-chan! Where's Sakura? I've been looking for her during the whole day!- Shouted an annoyed Naruto that just jumped inside the hokage's office.
Tsunade barely heard the boy, she had passed the entire day thinking about all the things she learned the night before, and worrying about the meeting she'd have with the elders at the sunset…
Hush Naruto! I'm busy! Sakura's on a mission, she won't be back for a while…- Spat the godaime.
What? You've sent her in a mission alone? What if she get hurt or…
She's a shinnobi! A very good one! Stop your mumbling! She'll be fine, and you'll get a mission soon, now get out!- Shouted an angry Tsunade, making a shooing move with her hands.
The boy ran out saying something about train with Lee, and the Hokage got back to her thoughts.
--
Sakura rushed through the forest towards the east border of the country where she'd get at the Stone country, she hadn't stopped during the whole day, and moved in a absurd speed, but wasn't tired, she was ready to travel during the rest of the afternoon and the whole night until she reach a big village in the stone country, where she was sure she'd get some information about any Akatsuki activities in the zone.
Her mind traveled between the two still living Uchihas, she had never thought that she'd be in a journey to find Itachi instead of Sasuke… It was true that she had moved away from her old crush on him, but Sasuke was still a part of team seven, a very important piece of her life, and she wanted him to come back…
And now that she searched for his brother she had the full conscience that he'd probably hate Konoha when he heard about the treaty with the Akatsuki, and even when he learned the truth about his past, if he ever learned, he'd still hate his brother and hate even more Konoha… He'd end up as a complete enemy, and…
Sakura frowned just to think of it… Maybe that'll be a time when she had to fight Sasuke for real… If she fulfilled this mission, she could end up killing one of her best friends in order to fix a Konoha's mistake… And yet, as much as she neared the stone country, much she felt it was the right thing to do, even if it turn Sasuke against them, she had to do it if she wanted to be proud of her village again… And maybe… maybe Sasuke would understand, maybe he'd give up on his revenge once he learned the truth…
Sakura knew it would most likely never happen, but she wished that everything could get back to normality, that the both uchiha brothers could come back and have a normal life, that Konoha repair at least a small part of the pain it had caused to both of them… And if it wasn't possible…
Well, the one who were truly harmed by Konoha, the one who was loyal to the very end was Itachi, Sasuke, had been spared, he suffered, but he should had been killed by the elders wishes, and even if he had received indulgence from the village, he had turn against them… Sakura knew it was sad, but she knew that there would be no mercy to him, he had freely left the village, and as it was, he was the true traitor…
But there was still hope… Naruto… He would never give up on Sasuke… Maybe she and Naruto could bring him back… Maybe…
The pink haired kunnoichi crossed the border, and become more alert, the stone village wasn't an ally from Konoha, she'd have to fight any of their shinnobi if she get caught… And the last thing she needed was to drain attention to her presence there with a fight. The night have already come, and it was easy to move on the shadows, as silent as a panther during a hunt… Her speed increased, there were a great distance until the village she wanted to go, and she wanted to get there before the dawn.