DARK SECRETS

Chapter 1

Truth part one

A/N: Okay so this is my first fan fiction that will be taking place a year after the war, it will be canon slightly AU. And this is my first fanfic so I need criticism, English is not my language so bare with me when there is a bit of grammar problems on wards.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own naruto or its characters, just my oc's. ENJOY.

WAR

PEACE

Words that a world needs. What is war? Is it a philosophy created by men long time ago that pits two or more great forces against each other, so that they can battle it out to see who would be victorious and who is the strongest?

Or is it an excuse for people who want nothing but mass destruction, power to rule the world and leave a path of pain and suffering to those who refuse to abide to them.?

Or maybe this is when people fight for what they believe in, for what they dream that it maybe a reality.

Or is war just nothing more than just the opposite of peace?

Questions that humanity has asked and the only answer that can be given is, ' you'll have to experience it to know what is it really is'

The good thing about war is that when it all ends, one can start afresh a new life, new environment, all past sins, problems left behind as you are moving not backwards but forward in the future and beyond. All of this is what the five great nations have, a new future after what had been the fight for humanity, the fight for what was right. They have a strong bond because of the war, they are starting afresh, leaving those sins behind, thanking those who lost their lives for the peace they now had.

Things had changed since war, people have became happier, have became more active, no longer living in fear of the coming of the war, because peace was among them.

It was a great day of many ,everything was peaceful , not completely cause in a world were humans have the ability to use the nature elements, its natural that one may feel caged if nit able to use his ability to the fullest but since peace arrived they moved to more dangerous ways to use it for.

It was 8 pm In konoha, sound of people both busy or not but mostly travelers to specify as it had become the main attraction place for them as everyone, not just konoha benefited from this but all the great five nations too.

It seems that the streets had became more lively now that the war finished, people talking, bars with music as the night went on, store owners talking to their customers with such joy that it would seem like they were forced to be joyful. Somewhere in the middle of the market, Naruto ran through the busy streets of konoha, still begin pursued by the the fan girls, he was from a long two month mission with shikamaru and just arrived at 7 at the main gates expecting to find sakura or konohamaru but was greeted with crazy obsessed young teen fan girls. He shoved people out of the way as he ran shouting a sorry to those he did that to, he had enough of this as he had been trying to tell them nicely that he needed personal space but they seemed not to get the message and he decided to ditch them. He jumped onto the rooftops knowing that they were probably civilians and hopped from roof to roof without a sense of direction just wanting to get away from them for now. As he reached a distance he looked behind to check if he was still begin chased lucky for him they were no were in sight, he dropped onto the ground and started to head in the direction of his favorite ramen shop as he realized that it was close by but halted as soon as he saw the person that he almost hit, SAKURA .He sighed at least he lost them but even if he didn't sakura could take care of it.

"Naruto you're back and you seem really frustrated, what, shikamaru's laziness finally getting to you?" she asked with one brow lifted "no, yes I mean I don't know, am just tired and my fans just wont leave me alone but I think I lost them" sakura nodded understanding the blonds problem, she can remember the last time a bunch of guys surrounded her asking for her number, a date, one really brave young man even asked if she could lay him but she just had to push her annoyance aside and reject all of their advances. "hey I'll be heading over to ichiraku ramen right after I head over to the place, want to follow?" she asked him, his frustrated look changed to a genuinely smile and a bit of confusion as he nodded agreeing to her offer, she liked when her friend smiled like that, it kind of helped to relieve some of her stress.

Before they could even taken a step the fan girls crowded around them surrounding them ,asking all sorts of questions ,"ah they back and just when I thought I got rid of them" groaned naruto. sakura seemed to see the discomfort in the blond and decided to take care of them," HEY QUITE" it was suddenly quite, sakura paused while looking around to see their scared faces but continued still shouting, "CANT YOU SEE YOUR DISTURBING US,NOW IF I SEE YOU AGAIN WHILE IM WITH HIM YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME,IS THAT CLEAR "they nodded at her word them ran in different directions. A sigh came out of naruto's mouth as he wiped a sweat from his forehead, "thanks sakura thought they weren't going to leave me along", she nodded at him and stared walking with naruto following her seconds later," well isn't this what you wanted heh " she laugh lightly remembering how the blond would exclaim how he wanted to be hokage so that everyone acknowledged him," yea it is but this is the tenth time that's happened ,today sakura .its really tiring but still a fraction of what I want".

It was silent for a few minutes as they continued walking and not the one that would be weird but the stress relieving one ,it was funny how no matter how much they tried they failed to make it an awkward silence (in the past) ,guess that's what it means to be very good friends .Naruto looked around trying to figure were sakura was taking them, but realized it the moment he saw the sign telling them of their memorial mentally cursed himself not remembering that she reminded him right before he left that today was her father's didn't really know what happened to her father but from what he heard from ino is that he died in the two year period that naruto was felt sad for his friend, having to lose a parent is hard and he should know because he lost two of looked at sakura sadly as he saw her knee down to the grave and cry her heart out.

It felt, weird, 'why does this world hurt us that even after a war were still begin hurt with our past' he thought but shoved them to back of his mind as he decided to comfort stood besides her that sight of her crying silently as she set a bunch of flowers he never noticed hurting him, he wanted to comfort her but didn't know how to, 'it hurts to see you cry sakura, just tell what will make those tears go and I'll do it, believe it' trying to find a way of making those tears stop."ah sakura are you okay?" ,"NO IM NOT OK JU….JUS….JUST GO AND LEAVE ALONE FOR A WHILE BAKA I DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE ME LIKE THIS. AS THE WEAK PERSON I AM " she snapped. Naruto clearly saw that hurt in her eyes, 'sakura you're so strong, you have had a life full of pain, suffering but that didn't stop you as you were and still are strong, but I see that today you want to let it out, the pain and suffering and I'll be there to help you let it out' he smiled not taken back by her out burst.

He sighed,"sakura I know it hurts but,even though I don't know your dad that much,im sure this is not what he would want you to do ,he would want his daughter to be pride of him continue sakura you might think your in all this pain along but your not, I feel your pain that you try to hold in everyday,for as long as I can remember,sakura your not along im with you to suffer all your pain with you" he had a small smiled on his face as he looked at her waiting for any sign of response and she did respond "before he died he said that I shouldn't mourn his death but take care of mom,he said that no matter how much along I feel,he will always be with me" naruto was taken aback by those word but quickly regained composure.

Sakura turned then looked at naruto the tears long gone "since when are you mature naruto" wiping the tears away from her face,"ha im soo matured" he pouted then turned his head smiled at him,'he changed,this is not the naruto that knew as a kid' her thoughs were cut short as she heard a growling noise that didn't come from looked at naruto who had turned around looked at her while smiling sheepishly,"heh im starving,wanna go get something to eat at iruka's" she noded at him in agreeance,even thogh they have eaten from that place like a thousand times, it started to feel like home to them.

Naruto and sakura walked chatting here and there,as they eventually reached the sat down aready ordering two bowls,she smiled at him then ordered her's,sakura wasn't hungry at the time by the fact that she hand not even touched her food yet, because she kept on thinking of her father's death,'why didn't I save you,I was weak and didn't do anything, I failed to fulfill my promise and for that im truly sorry',sakura kept on blaming her self for her father's death even though it wasn't her fault. They ate in silence as naruto ordered is he's fifth bowl while she was half way through her first one, when someone called from outside,they both turned to look who it was only to find that it was team 10 together with temera in exception of choji,"hey guys,how are you haven't seen you all in a while" sakura said while putting the fakest smile she has ever put. It was true ,it seemed that since the war everyone has begin busy with paper work and helping those who lost a perious one to them during the war.,"well yeah of course forehead,you know the reason,but hey its life right" ino paused as she saw her friend space out, it might have been for only a second but ino saw through sakura fake facade she knew exactly what her friend was going through as she had lost her father too,"did you go and see him" sakura looked her friend blankly while nodding trying not to let the emotions spill again..

naruto saw this and decided to change the subject," so shikamaru you seem busy these days why's that?", "nothing naruto just busy aren't we these days?" shikamaru said lazily as he looked at naruto who was pointing his head at noticed the two were looking at her and blushed lightly at the blonds accusation but shrugged it off,"what are you trying to say naruto?"

He smiled at them then turned his attention to sakura and ino trying to avoid the question that required answers. He noticed that his former teammate seemed to have changed in a sense that she looked slightly happy now ,'wander what ino said to her?' he thought as he smiled at her change of emotion.

His thoughts were cut short when shikamaru spoke ",it was nice meeting you guys but duty calls as usual and this troublesome woman needs somewhere to sleep" he said pointing at temera,with the latter and ino nodding to what the nara had said." Yea his right foerehead I have to tend to the shop but hey if your free you can drop by and hangout cause kami knows you need it" ,"thanks pig maybe if im not that busy" ino nodded at that and without further saying left with shikamaru and temera following behind her.

Naruto turned to look at sakura and was about to say something but was cut off when they suddenly heard something puff behind them. They both turned to looked at the person and quickly realized that it was an anbu seeing as he had a mask that covered nothing but is face.

It was silent for a few seconds till the the anbu spoke,"haruno sakura and uzumaki naruto" they both nodded at the mention of their names,his voice was raspy,calm and held on emotion.

"you are requested by the hokage immediately" he waited for them to ingest what he had said,naruto was about to ask why they were requested but the anbu disappeared with a puff of smoke without saying a thing,leaving a confused sakura and an irritated naruto

"I didn't even ask why we were requested" he huffed in annoyance while folding his looked at sakura while frowning,"hope this is an actual request cause im tired of him callng me to find his pervy books" sakura frowned lightly at what the blond had said "his never asked me to do that","maybe cause he knows better than to ask someone that hates perverts and that can beat you to an inch of your life"sakura shrugged and stood while grinning at the blond who held the same expression "hurry lets go and oh your paying" naruto's expression fell as a drop of sweat fell his forehead while scratching his head sheepishly, "pa…pa..paying" he stuttered as sakura nodded,"for the meal" she nodded again "both our meals" ,"yep" naruto swallowed as he saw his teammate walk out of ichiraku.

He turned to the counter and looked in his pouch, with a frozen expression then went out to sakura whose back was turned to him and she seemed to be in thought" heh sakura" he called and was rewarded with her looking at him, " great your done,lets hurry I feel like this something very important" "about that i….don't have any money no me"

Ayame was busy cooking when she heard a 'sharano' coming from outside but shrugged as she continued to work

Kakashi was in the hokage office signing the last of his strainous paperwork and was glad when he was done, he looked at the clock and it was 9 pm, he let a sigh escape his mouth and decided that this was one of rare moments that he craved for were he could just sit and read his icha icha novels, he was about to start reading when he heard the door open then closed quietly.

He pocketed his book and looked the person that hand interrupted his reading but sighed realizing exactly who it was, with that signaling the hidden anbu to leave

"thought you weren't supposed to come till 10 " "and I thought that you stopped reading that perverted book, but guess we don't get what we all want now do we" kakashi didn't respond but showed the person to an empty sit,which the person toke and continued talking," hope you made your decision cause the other kages are waiting", "and they continue waiting im not sure if we should.." "Kakashi this is what should be done it is what will keep the village safe" "safe from what? a village that we have little information on….that information is not enough for us to act upon" "it is and the more we wait the more danger is sure to come"

" I still don't think that a village,small village for that matter has the power to destroy the great 5 villages" "it has the power especially with a man like hibiki on their side it makes the matter worse" "even so I didn't think that attacking a village that hasn't shown any signs of attacking,especially after the war is good" "better safe than sorry kakashi" "ok what if I say yes and we go with the plan what happens?" " we send our most strong anbu to attack the village and leave nothing to their disposal…" "including children" he cut the person off,"including children" kakashi clenched his fist and had a frown splattered all over his face "why?they don't deserve this,they are children dam it,they deserve a life of peace not destruction" "they might be children but they will have to grow and what will happen if they learn that we killed their entire village" kakashi was silent still clenching his fists that seemed to turn white.

"They'll come for us, kill us and innocent villagers and you don't want that now do you" kakashi was silent,he had enough of this conversation.

'what type of a world do we live in were even after peace, we still at war' he thought .the person seemed to sense this and decided to leave but stopped at the door ,turning their head slightly just to show their side of their face that held a frown," think about it…. but know that even if you refuse to this the other kages will go ahead with the plan" with that being said left,leaving a conflicted hokage alone to his thoughts,'if I say yes they will kill innocent people','that's if they even are innocent people,but even if they aren't,the children will have to suffer for the villages mistakes', 'if I say no they will still be killed and I cannot do anything about that' it was in possible to stop them at least the kazekage is with him but the rest find it logical to go with the plan, with all this thinking and deciding he felt like he would go insane. He let those thought drift to the back of his has he heard the door open again but this time stood two of his former students.

He looked at them worried but covered it with his usual eye smile ,then looked at naruto who was whining like a baby who was scratching a spot on his head ,but kakashi shrugged knowing exactly what happened ,looking at sakura ,"let me guess, naruto failed to pay the bill again " "darn right he did, I had to the money I planed for groceries ,….baka" she huffed angrily,kakashi looked at the two students that shared a small argument,as he thought,'at least their people that still keep me sane'.

He coughed getting their attention putting a serious expression ,that could be told by his eyes that his students knew well enough ,"ok…I have a mission for you" he paused as they nodded for his to continue "it's an A ranked that deals with the transferring of scrolls very dangerous scrolls" sakura looked at naruto then kakashi "well why don't you send the another shinobi with sakura,I mean I want a mission but that sounds like a job for another ninja, I just got back from a mission and I'll need at least a week worth of rest to go on another mission" naruto interrupted kakashi clearly asking a question that he needed to answer.

Kakashi sighed as he continued," yea am aware of that but it seems that the best of them are busy while the rest are preparing for the five great villages festival that is to be held here, which means that I have to send our shinobi's that were on the field and I think you are the best candidate for this mission" he stopped as in to let the information sink.

"this mission is the retrieve of the scrolls from iwagakura ninja's, who also are to exchange the scrolls with you. this will be a three man squad not only because the mission will be done soon but it has come to my concern that a group of rogue ninja are attacking unsuspecting ninja's …but that's another mission, you will meet up with the iwagakure counterpart, at a half way point in a small village just beyond the village of rice at your selected meeting place but you will be staying specifically at a hotel called wtrtr, the journey to rice won't take more than two days to arrive depending on the speed that you decide to use but I'll prefer your fast for the exchanging of the scrolls and I think that the take of this mission has to be as quite as possible not attract the wrong attention"

he looked at them before standing and handing them the information folder "is that all kakashi-sensei?" sakura asked ,looking in the folder for further information, kakashi remembered the last thing he had to tell them "oh right the third person on your team is…-" "-…sasuke" sakura interrupted a pinch of hope in her as the last uchiha had been gone about three weeks ago without even sending them a letter.

Kakashi was about to say who the other teammate but was silenced when naruto interrupted him," is it sai or maybe shikamaru, or or maybe its hinata" .he sighed as he lifted his left hand motioning for them to be silent before he continued," its none of thee above, it's aimi a shinobi that joined the village about a year ago and is proficient in her skill set,which will be at great advantage if your attacked which is unlikely to happen..the mission is to start tomorrow at dawn were you'll meet aimi at the main gates she cant be here for the debriefing, so prepare what's needed and be careful, for three shinobi's have already died at the hands of rogue ninja's, they are found especially in the land of wind…..but as I said, that's a mission for another shinobi. That will be all "

"hai" the two teammates said in unison and left he hokage as another team entered waiting for them to be given a mission, he sighed as he remembered the days when he lazily read his book and relaxed but that was of past and this is of future.

The day had come faster than expected as the sky was illuminated with rays of red and hints of blue, as the birds chirped reminding everyone, that were still sleeping that it was morning and relieving the night shift guards of their duties. the sound of people chatting was slowly filling the atmosphere and soon the market would be crowed with was 6:04 a.m at the main gate,to which approached a girl,with silver hair, fair skin and grey colored eyes with pupils that are encircled by at a dark green cirlce that seemed to looked into someone's soul an tell you exactly what you are thinking of .she wore a white short jacket that barely reached her waist, beneath it was a light pink shirt that had a opening by the chest which showed her assets clearly, which was accompanied by a silver bracelet, which merged greatly with a skirt that reached just above her kneels, with bandages around her thigh were her pouch laid and bright tights leg warmers that closed the remaining skin that started from her kneels to her feet were she wore sandals .she was calm and seemed to be in slight thought as she breathed in a deep breath of fresh air that seemed to calm her even more, as if she was meditating, as she stood there motionless.

Kotesu was reading a book when he noticed the girl standing at the gate and quickly realized who she was, "hey izumi, isn't that the girl you like?" izumi who was drinking tea looked at kotesu then at the said girl, he blushed as he recognized her " I don't like her, I just like talking and hanging out with her" "what ever….aren't you going to give her some company huh?" kotesu raised an eye brow as his friend would always leave him to chat with her, at first it pissed him off but he slowly started to get used to it. "I was going to, just need to prepare some tea for her, do you think she'll like that?" kotesu shrugged as he continued reading his book

He walked slowly to her, his feet feeling heavy by the minute and sweat starting to develop as he got nervous, but pushed it aside as he reached besides her, a small smile on his face, " ..hello" he stuttered, but it worked as the girl turned her full attention to him smiling warmly, a smile that was inviting and friendly. "oh hi" she smiled again but this time brighter than the first, as she closed her eyes for a moment but opened them to meet his. " I brought you some tea…..my friend over their..-" pointing at kotetsu who saw this and briefly waved at them "..-is saying hi" he paused for a second as she toke the tea and toke a sip but continued "I sa..saw you standing here al..alone and thought that maybe I cold give you company since it seems your waiting for someone and it would be rude for me to leave you standing here alone" 'darn it ,keep it together, your stuttering like a flipping maniac' he cursed himself inwardly

"thanks but you don't have to if you want cause im just waiting for my teammates to come ,which should be any minute now" looking at her watch that was concealed in her pouch. her voice sounded angelic and soft that even a small shriek and the worlds hardest glass would break.

"oh I think…" before he could finish his sentence he was cut off by a famine voice greeting him that he knew .he frowned slightly as he turned to the latter clarly angry at how this conversation,if there was any to begin with ended fast, "oh hey sakura-Chan" he said flatly ,the pinked haired shinobi seemed to sense something was wrong, "oh im I disturbing you guys" "no, no you aren't he just decided to give me company that's all" she quickly answered looking at sakura while holding her warm smile.

Sakura returned the smile as she stood next to her, "you must be the other teammate that kakashi-sensei was talking about, hi I'm sakura haruno?" she greeted while extending her arm which she gladly toke." I'm aimi hideyoshi" "nice to meet you aimi, so I take it that you already know the details about the mission but if you don't then I can tell you" "no I do but thank you for the offer sakura-sama" she politely said as she smiled lightly at sakura, "sakura is just fine" she nodded at that and continued with her 'mediation'.

The sun had had almost fully risen and the air was filling with chatter that would keep the village hidden in the leaf alive. it was 6:30 a.m and the two shinobi's were relentlessly waiting for their last teammate that seemed to be late. sakura who had decided to sit and check her inventory had long become irritated the blonds lateness, complaining every few minutes .she was about to complaint about the umpteenth time about the blonds lateness when an orange figure was seen running as fast as he could with a back pack slouched on his one shoulder and a small smile clearly on his face.

He landed a few from aimi and sakura panting lightly as he approached them ,"sorry…, I had to get extra ramen packets, didn't know that it would take that long" he smiled as he looked at the new recruite to team 7, 'heh this must be the new teammate that kakashi-sensei talked about, she's beautiful I'll tell you that' he thought as he approached aimi, "hi I'm naru…" "naruto uzumaki, I know who you are your kind of famous" she cut him off as she smiled a smile that seemed intoxicating, he blushed "right".

"Ok since we're all here guess she should start so that she cover time better" sakura said already hearding to the forest with the two following behind ,"yeah, right,…but I'm the leader of this mission so…..my order goes" naruto said while smiling sheepishly, with the two women rolling their eyes at him ."yeah,….no thats not happening naruto" sakura said as she started leaping from tree to tree leaving aimi, "ok but if things turn out horribly wrong then I'm In charge" he huffed which lead to aimi to giggle. "it was nice meeting you izumo, guess I'll see you next time" aimi said to izumo while waving at him as she stared leaping from tree to tree.

Izumo's frown faded as it was replaced by a huge smile "she remembers MY NAME, SHE REMEBERS MY NAME" he shouted at the top of his voice ,"WAIT DID SHE SAY SHE'LL SEE ME NEXT TIME OR SHE'LL KILL ME NEXT TIME?" his voice faded as they leaped from tree to tree farer from the village.

A/N: that was chapter one guys, what do you think huh it has just been some thing that I had on my mind. Thanks for reading please review, favorite and follow.

Till next time.

D.A.X