It was five in the morning when Sakura woke up. She tried to get back to sleep, but found that impossible, so she got up and got ready for the day. By six, she was out the door and heading toward the Hokage's tower.
When she opened the door, she found Tsunade sitting at her desk, a bottle of sake in her hand.
"Shishou, you shouldn't be drinking this early in the morning. At least finish the paperwork before you get yourself drunk," Sakura said.
"I don't want to do the paperwork. Sakura, you do it," Tsunade replied.
"Wha- their YOUR responsibility! Not mine!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Too bad. I'm Hokage, so what I say goes," was Tsunade's reply.
Sakura sighed and grabbed a stack of papers to work on.
By the time she was done, it was well into the afternoon. Deciding to get something to eat, Sakura went to a restaurant and got herself something good to eat. Just when she finished and was leaving, a ninja came up to her and handed her a scroll.
Sakura looked at the scroll and headed toward the Hokage's tower. When she opened the door to Tsunade's office, she found that she was alone. Deciding to wait a few minutes, Sakura sat down in a corner.
Not too long after, Tsunade entered.
"Shishou," Sakura greeted.
"Sakura," Tsunade said. She walked to her chair and sat down.
"I want you to go to Stone and retrieve a scroll for me. It's very important," she said.
"Hai, but am I going alone this time?" Sakura asked.
Tsunade hesitated for a second before she nodded. "You will leave in the morning at eight."
"Hai," Sakura replied. While she walked back towards her apartment, she wondered why Tsunade hesitated. Shrugging it off, she decided to head toward Team 7's old training grounds instead of her apartment. When she got there, she started throwing shuriken and kunai at a dummy fifty feet away. It was far, but Sakura's aim had gotten much better. In fact, she had improved a whole lot. She was stronger than before. Sakura now had perfect aim, incredible speed, absolutely perfect chakra control, and her medic skills were known throughout the shinobi world. Some had claimed that she had surpassed the Hokage, but majority believed that it was just a pointless rumor. How wrong they were. Sakura had indeed surpassed Tsunade. She had also made ANBU Captain.
The village should have been proud to have a kunouchi like Sakura, but they judged her. All because of her past and who her teammate was.
It was very pointless of them to be scared. Sakura couldn't even remember the time she had spent with Itachi. The Third had erased her memories when Itachi had become a missing-nin.
"I wonder what this mission is going to be abo-" Sakura was brought out of her thoughts by a loud voice shouting her name.
She turned and saw Naruto running towards her.
"Naruto, something wrong?" she asked.
"No. Just come with me!" he said as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her away. They stopped at Ichiraku. There, Sakura saw all her friends there.
"What the? What's this all about?" she asked.
"Nothing really. Just wishing you good luck on your mission," Ino replied.
They were all smiling on the outside, but Sakura could sense that something was wrong. Deciding to ask them later, she joined her friends.
It was seven in the morning. Sakura decided to get ready for her mission. She walked over to her bedside table and grabbed a photo. It was of her parents. She missed them so much. They had died a year ago. They were on a mission when they were suddenly ambushed by sound shinobi.
Sakura decided to take the photo with her. When she got to the gates of Konoha, she saw her friends and her shishou there. Sakura thought that was really weird. They never came to see her off before. Shrugging it off, she walked up to her friends and said goodbye.
Walking away from her friends, Sakura headed toward Stone. It was a five day walk from Konoha. (an: not really sure if it is. If someone knows the real distance, please let me know)
By the fourth day, Sakura had already arrived in Stone. It seemed that she had gotten farther than she thought, but that didn't make her any happier. For the last two days, she had felt like someone was following her. Deciding to finish her mission before checking if it really was just a feeling, Sakura quickened her pace.
It wasn't long before she was at the designated area; a forest. Waiting for a few minutes, Sakura suddenly felt more then twenty chakra signatures surrounding her. She didn't have to wait long before they showed themselves.
"I am from Konoha. Sent by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. Give me the scroll," Sakura said.
"Hmm. So you're the kunouchi. You want the scroll? Hmm, I wonder why. You won't be able to bring it back," the leader of the group said with a sneer.
Sakura grew suspicious so she stayed on her guard. "What do you mean?" she asked while grabbing her katana.
The leader smirked and tossed her the scroll. "Open it and see for yourself. That's the scroll you were sent to get," he told her.
Sakura, catching the scroll and keeping her eye on the shinobi around her, opened the scroll to read it.
It read :
I am asking you a favor. I will be sending Haruno, Sakura on a fake mission. She has become powerful, but there is a problem. The kunouchi knows s-class criminal, Uchiha, Itachi. Eliminate her.
Fifth Hokage of konoha,
Tsunade.
After Sakura finished reading it, she dropped the scroll. She finally understood. Her friends, Tsunade hesitating, it was all meant to eliminate her.
"So you see, we're here to kill you," the leader said with a smirk.
Sakura looked at him and gripped her katana tighter. She was against more then twenty shinobi that were mostly chunnin and some jounin rank. It would be impossible to beat them all, but this was a Sakura that had surpassed Tsunade.
Taking a step back, she slammed her fisted hand into the ground, causing it to crumble. A few shinobi weren't able to get away fast enough, so they had been killed. Suddenly, two shinobi came at Sakura from each side.
Sakura make quick work of the first six. However, the last two seemed stronger.
She was too busy killing off the two to notice that a third shinobi had snuck behind her and a kunai was now imbedded in her arm.
It hurt like hell, but Sakura pulled it out anyway and flung it back to the shinobi behind her. He died instantly.
(an: forgive me. I absolutely suck at writing fight scenes)
It had been over half an hour and there were five shinobi left.
Sakura had a deep cut on her arm and another on her left leg. A katana had grazed her side, leaving behind a two inch long cut. Her other arm had an inch deep cut.
Deciding to end it as soon as possible, Sakura created two clones. Each held a katana in their hands. The first two attack four shinobi, leaving the last one to the real Sakura.
Sakura made some hand signs so fast, no one could see them, well almost no one. Before the shinobi could register what happened, a fireball came straight at him. Jumping out of the way, he landed a few feet away from Sakura, clutching his right arm. The fireball had been accompanied but two shuriken. The other had landed in the man's thigh.
Unable to stand any longer, the man fell to the ground. Sakura appeared right in front of him and slit his throat.
Before she had time to relax another came at her. Apparently, her clones had been defeated before the last one could be killed. Pity.
Making hand signs quickly, water soon poured out of her mouth and drowning the shinobi.
Walking away from the scene, Sakura soon arrived in another part of the forest. She slowly propped herself down on the ground, her back resting against a tree. Examining her injuries, she quickly healed them.
When she was done, she felt very exhausted. Her chakra was almost completely drained.
However, one thing kept going through her head: betrayal.
"How could Tsunade-shishou do this?! I don't even REMEMBER the Uchiha! How could I possibly have known him?! I wouldn't associate with s-class criminals!" Sakura thought. She was really confused. She had known the murderous Uchiha? When? How? She also couldn't believe she was to be assassinated because she had, somehow, known the Uchiha.
Just then, Sakura felt two incredibly strong chakra signatures not more that ten feet from her.
Quickly getting to her feet and leaning against the tree for support, Sakura took a kunai from her weapons pouch.
The two chakra signatures soon came closer. Sakura could now see the black cloak with red clouds. When she looked up, she saw Uchiha, Itachi. He was staring at her. She wondered what he could possibly want.
"Wait, if he's in front of me, then where's Kisame?" Sakura thought. She soon got her answer when she felt a sharp pain in her neck and her world went black.
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