Let me introduce myself, I am gnarlyakatsuki and I used to write fan fictions, I became so involved in becoming an adult (school and work) I forgot that I used to enjoy writing so much, so yes, this is my comeback. Hope you all enjoy and thank you so much for reading.
-gnarlyakatsuki

It was a sunny hot day in Konaha, Sakura was tending to some needs for Hokage Tsunade. Sakura is very proud to have been able to become a student of Tsunade's, to learn the works of such a powerful female individual. She's come so far, she was placed as the ANBU captain last year and has lead the team to such success. But she wasn't happy, though she has proven her strength and her loyalty to the Hokage, she has yet to set Sakura out on challenging missions. She knows she's ready but it will take a little more pushing and convincing….

She finished up all of the errands and headed back to the Hokage's office.

Sakura knocked on the big double doors, "Tsunade-sama?" She pushed the door open as she heard a muffled, "Enter."

"Tsunade-sama, I must speak with you about something." Sakura hesitated. "I think I'm ready!" She said with a frown and a tight right fist.

"And what is it exactly are we speaking of?" Her Shishou questioned.

"I know you've seen my strength, you know how much I can do, I think… I think I'm ready for an S-class mission." She stated.

"Sakura, yes I do trust you with all my being, but do you think now is a good time? You've got to perfect some more work before I can feel comfortable letting you go on such dangerous missions."

"But what if I don't go alone? I can bring some comrades alon-" Sakura began but was soon cut off.

"No, Sakura." Tsunade left it at that.

Sakura knew better than to question her any longer, this was a one sided conversation now. She began to think to herself…

"I've got to work harder, I've got to truly prove to her that I'm certainly ready for this!"

She ran right to the training grounds where she spends so much of her time at lately. As she was in her own little world, Hyuuga Neji walks up without her noticing, he watched as she was going to town on some trees that never did anything wrong to her. He chuckled a bit remembering the young Sakura who was too shy to even speak to anyone and now she's transformed into such a strong individual it amazed him.

"Need a little sparring partner?" Neji finally breaks the silence.

Startled a bit Sakura turns to him, gives him a closed eye smile and hummed, "Mhmm!"

The two trained the night away, practicing on each other for some time until the moon rose high, both out of breath decided to call it a night and bid their goodbyes. As Sakura walked home in the humid night weather, she couldn't help but to think to herself, what more will it take for her to be able to go on the missions she feels she's ready for. What was holding Tsunade back so much? Did she not trust Sakura? Does she not think Sakura is strong enough? The thought of her Homage questioning her strength made Sakura's heart drop. She must prove that she's ready, she's tired of being babied, its been like that all her life, well no more… She will prove it and she will prove it soon. She reaches her door and quickly gets inside. Running a hot shower really quick and then hopped in bed, hopefully tomorrow brings much more….

The next day

"Sakura! Come my dear, come come!" Tsunade waves her student over with enthusiasm.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?"

"I've done some thinking last night, I do believe that I underestimate you so that being said, you have what you wish for… an S-class mission."

Sakura's eyes widened as she ran up to her Shishou to give her the biggest hug. "Do you mean it Hokage-sama? Do you really?"

"Yes, don't get too excited. Sakura I warn you, just because I trust you to give you a S-class mission doesn't mean I don't think theres room to fuck up, you need to be careful, stay within the group and get it done as soon as possible. These missions are seriously dangerous and this being your first one, you need to be alert and aware at all times, do you understand me?" Tsunade continued to explain, "This is your scroll, you will need to deliver this to the Daimyo of Land of the Earth, now this may sound simple but it's not quite that… you will need to steer clear of any rogue ninjas, if encountered you must quickly and swiftly take care of it, I need you all back here in 9 days, do you understand me?"

Sakura took everything in, and grabbed the scroll, "Hai, Shishou!" She quickly ran back to her apartment and began to pack, she was so excited and nervous she didn't even think about who her team was going to be for this mission, Tsunade failed to mention it to her, but this was no time to be thinking of that, surely she wouldn't team Sakura up with a bunch of dobes, this is an S-class mission, she should know better than to doubt Tsunade. Sakura quickly got into bed super eager to start her first S-class mission.

Mission Day

Sakura stood at the gates of Konaha waiting for her team to arrive, it was another hot day, the sun was slowly rising and it's almost time to set out, so where the hell are the others? Her thoughts were shortly interrupted by swift movements to her right. As she turned around there were 4 ANBU ninjas standing side by side, she recognized one of them, her dear friend Yamanaka Sai. She gave a small smile towards him, gripped the scroll in the hand and set out to fulfill this mission, followed by the four men.

They've all been traveling swiftly for a few hours when Sakura decided it was time for a little rest stop, they walked into a small town nearby to look for some food, they settled on a sushi bar, quickly eating then getting back on their feet. At this rate they have no time to waste at all, 9 days seems like plenty of time but trust and believe in the ninja world, thats very little time to get a mission done, especially an S-class one. There wasn't any action so far at all, they all seemed to be moving at a quick pace, this doesn't seem like an S-class mission but Sakura knew better than to judge something too quickly, the last thing she could do is lose focus.

"Come on, guys! We're at a good pace, in a few days by this time we should be back if my predictions are correct." Sai encouraged the team through their silence.

Clearly Sai had spoken too soon, almost instantly afterwards they all felt a couple foreign presences, they sensed some chakra trying to be masked but clearly not working, they all came to a complete halt and got into a fighting stance, "Show yourself now, it'll be much easier on you." Sakura yelled into the slightly empty woods.

Two rogue ninjas appeared out of the woods with the widest smirks plastered on their faces, "Heh, hey look, the little blossom looking chick has some balls." Chuckled one of the ninjas.

"You two have no idea what you're doing, it'd be best to walk away or we will exceed force to see that you do so." Sai spoke so monotone-like, as he stepped forward.

"Sai wait," Sakura cut in, "Remember what Hokage-sama said, we cannot waste time on things that do not involve our mission, she said we need to take care of things like this 'quickly and swiftly'" She quoted Tsunade as she turned back to the two. In one quick motion the two ninja's bodies fell limp and hit the floor with a slight thud. "Let's go." Sakura stated as she began her normal pace as before.

Sai chuckled and thought to himself, 'What a little bad ass that chick is.' As the four of them picked up their place to catch up with Sakura.

It's been 2 days of traveling and it seems like they've been at this forever, they're no where near Konaha anymore but they were also no where near their destination, they've had a couple encounters with other ninjas which they took care of without breaking a sweat. As they all were about to agree to take another rest stop for the night a kunai came charging at one of the ANBU's head, easily dodged they all turned in the direction of this failure of an attack, no chakra was detected, Sai and Sakura looked at each other frowning. They hear leaves rustling… someones coming towards them. They all stood still but very aware and ready, whoever this is they were clearly very powerful to be able to mask their chakra enough for even Sakura to not notice, they stood waiting as the crinkling of the leaves got closer and closer. Out of the dark woods Sakura saw bright red sharp pupils, her heart dropped. She thought, 'Sasuke-kun…'

Oh but was she ever so wrong, in a swift second she was standing face to face with the eldest Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi. She let out a small gasp under her breath and jump flipped back, landing on her feet she bent down and threw a punch towards the floor, splitting the earth into two under Itachi, the dirt caused smoke to appear, as it slowly perished she noticed that Itachi was gone. She heard a piercing scream as she turned to the sound she saw one of the seven swordsman ninja of the mist, Hoshigaki Kisame, she stood in awe as she watched the blood fall all over him, he had the biggest grin on his face, her teammates blood slowly slipping into Kisame's mouth, he stared into her eyes as he licked his lips clean of the blood and charged towards her.. Is this happening? She's in combat with two Akatsuki members, her breathing starting to intensify as Sai screamed her name, running towards her and grabbing her out of the way, Kisames blade collided with the ground where Sakura was once standing. "Sakura, get it together, stay focused I need you to aid Akihiro I'll cover your back." Sai said as Sakura stood up, gave him a firm head nod and ran to her fallen comrade.

Akihiro was seriously injured, there was a giant gash down his back from where Kisames powerful sword came down on him, Sakura focused her chakra into her hands as it glowed green and she started healing his giant wound. She turned around for an instant to see if Sai and the other two are okay, they were in steady combat with Kisame, its crazy how strong he is, Kisame is taking three ANBU ninja's on by himself. BY HIMSELF….? Sakura whipped her head from left to right quickly and repeatedly, her heart started to race, as she's still healing Akihiro she feels a gust of wing blowing her hair up, in no time she feels powerful hands dig into her roots and yank her head back, she let out a small scream. The scroll the was once in Sakura's pouch was yanked out by whoever had her hair, she heard them open the scroll a couple seconds go by then she hears…

"What a powerful mission for such a small weak little girl." Itachi's voice sent shivers down her spine, she tensed up and held her breath. "Kisame, I think we got what we want, lets go." "Ahhhhh Itachi, I was just starting to have fun," Kisame spoke as he laughed at the ninjas failed attempts to hit him. "Can't we stay a little longer? I'm so amused."

"No, we are leaving."

In a swift moment Itachi and Kisame disappeared into thin air, taking Sakura and the scroll with them. How far they've come, without the scroll they cannot finish their mission, Sakura was no where to be found and they had a very injured comrade, their best guess right now is to return to Konaha and inform the Hokage so she can set up a proper search team and take care of Akihiro's injuries. The three ninja searched for Sakura for about half an hour before they decided to turn around, Sakura had healed Akihiro's injury just enough for the bleeding to stop, but he will get a serious infection if they don't get him taken cared of as soon as possible.

Sai gave out a breath of defeat and thought, "We will find you stupid Akatsuki's and we will save Sakura." And with that, the four set back to Konaha without a scroll and an incomplete mission.

Akatsuki hideout

Sakura awoke in a dark cold room, her back hurt from being thrown on the hard wooden floor, she noticed she was tied up with some chakra ropes, she looked frantically around looking for any source of light, all she saw was a pair of red piercing eyes staring at her from the corner.

"Finally awake Haruno Sakura?" Itachi's icy voice broke the dark eery silence.

To be continued...