Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Slight AU warning.

Don't forget to review when you're finished reading!

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The Author Speaks: This is my first Naruto fanfiction, and I will say right off the bat I don't support character bashing/flaming of any kind. Also, I don't know much about the future of the Naruto series, only what I've read on Wikipedia, so it might not be accurate. Most of it is probably because I made it that way on purpose, like the fact that the characters are much older. Assume their outfits and hairstyles are the ones after the time skip unless told otherwise. Anyway, I hope you have a good read!

Unknown Deceit

Chapter 1 – In the Mass Confusion

For once in her life, Sakura Haruno did not bother to look in the mirror when she woke up that morning. Every day, she would rouse from her slumber and immediately cross her room into her personal washroom. This room was her favorite in her tiny apartment, although the choice seemed quite unique. The room was large, with walls painted a brilliant rose color, and cool white tiles with swirls of tangerine. Upon entering the room, a wall would be the greeting, preventing anyone from seeing the toilet, sink, mirror, and towel bar on the other side. However, with the turn of the head, the separate shower and bath could be easily seen. The bathtub was large, not wide but long as bathtubs are meant to be. Sakura would sit in it often, fully clothed, in order to think clearer. She considered it more comfortable than a cushioned chair. Her bathroom was the cleanest room in her apartment; every day, she would clean in thoroughly, which was actually a good way to do a sort of 'work-out' with her hands and arms. She would vacuum up every strand of pink hair, clean up every makeup spill, wash the mirror...everything.

Today however, she didn't have time to spend tidying herself up. She knew that her looks should be the least of her worries, but she was female, and she knew all self-respecting women, kunoichi or not, could not stand walking around with uncombed hair and watery eyes. To cure that for today, however, she rubbed her eyes with a tissue and ran a brush through her hair as she left her home, clothed in her usual outfit, locking the door behind her and hurrying down the hallway to the apartment complex's elevator.

She had to make sure she was at the hospital as early as possible. A large group of Jounin were coming back from a dangerous mission, and she had received note from Tsunade to be at the hospital, ready to heal the waves of ninja that were sure to arrive. Sakura had asked what the mission had consisted of. Tsunade had merely smiled and told her 'not to worry about it'. The pinkette usually didn't question her mentor, but it seemed slightly suspicious that such an important mission was kept top-secret. Sakura wondered faintly if Tsunade was the type to squash rumors of upcoming war in order to keep the public from worrying. She dismissed the thought and wandered down the street, heading off to the hospital.

XxXxXx

Sakura wasn't very good with deciphering the meaning of 'come in early'. Of course, if she had known what she was going to see when the time came, she wouldn't have even bothered leaving the hospital.

It was pandemonium. Countless ninja were packed into the hospital, whether being on a stretcher, under a white sheet, or against the wall, Sakura couldn't quite remember seeing so many injured ninja in her life. Nurses were dashing from one end of the hospital to the other, filing patients into rooms as quick as possible. Doctors were emerging from their offices and lounges, and medical-ninja were performing quick chakra checks before following the nurses. Sakura squeezed her way through the crowd, looking for Tsunade. One ninja she passed was refusing to get on a stretcher, arguing with the nurse that he can just follow her into the room; after all, it was his arm that was chopped off, not his leg. Her jade eyes fell upon a deceased ninja whose white sheet had fallen off amongst all the commotion. Half of his face was torn off, and his neck was half-severed from the rest of his body. She quickly looked away and continued through the hall. A few familiar faces here and there, some she could put names to, many she couldn't. At the end of a narrow hallway, she found Tsunade talking to a few uninjured persons donning ANBU uniforms. ANBU were involved in this mess as well? What has taken place? Sakura thought as she approached them.

Tsunade and the ANBU turned. A frown appeared on the Hokage's face. "Overslept?" she asked in a bitter tone. Today was not going well at all. Despite having all of her medical-ninja, doctors, nurses, and surgeons here, ready to work, she was severely understaffed. According to the ANBU captain she was speaking to, the mission had been a failure with a horrendous turnout. She was not in the mood for any late ninja.

Sakura winced at Tsunade's tone. "I'm sorry...I didn't understand I was going to have to work with something of this high a caliber," she stated truthfully.

Tsunade dismissed the ANBU, who left hurriedly. "I know that," she replied with a heavy sigh, "but I'm in a bad situation right now. Get out there and start looking for patients you know you can heal effectively." Sakura nodded. "Yes, Tsunade-sama." She proceeded down the hallway and back into the crowd. She scanned the room, and she spotted a man plopped down against a wall, breathing in short gasps and perspiring heavily. Poison, she thought. "Everyone who is poisoned, follow me!" Sakura yelled over the commotion. At least ten ninja stood up, using the wall for support, and made their way towards Sakura. She heard a familiar voice ring through the air. "Hey, this one's poisoned—but he isn't moving!"

She looked in the direction the voice came from. It was Neji Hyuuga. His arm was bleeding badly and was bent in a funny direction. The man sitting next to him had his head resting on the wall behind him; he was unmoving, sweat covering him. She could tell just by looking at him. She sighed. As much as she knew how disrespectful it was to leave a dead man where he was, exposed to the world, she had people who were still alive and were ready and able to be cured. "Don't touch him, Neji!" she shouted at the Byakugan master, who had reached out to shake the man. His fingers froze, inches from the man's arm.

Sakura wasn't sure if the poison was contagious, and she sure as hell didn't want the poison spreading around the whole hospital. "Nobody touch the ninja sitting next to Jounin Hyuuga-san!" The words were bitter-tasting in her mouth. Yes, nobody touch the ninja. He's dead and might kill you too. That is how it was. You could feel compassion if you wanted to, but it would be rushed from one screaming patient to another. She made her way to an empty examination room, picking up random lines from the indecipherable chatter around her.

"—Can't believe he actually believed the genjutsu..."

"—Yukari...w-w-was right n-next to me...she was b-b-blown t-t-to pieces, and I-I wasn't? H-How...is t-t-that p-possible..."

"—His sword drained all of my chakra, if you hadn't stepped in..."

Sakura could only imagine what those people had been through. She strained to keep herself from asking what had happened. She would find out later, eventually. She filed people into the room, sitting them down and placing her hand over wherever the poison holes were located, and her other hand not that much farther away. She concentrated her chakra on entering through the holes, making sure not to travel smoothly through the insides, finding the poison, and then guiding it out with her other hand, switching chakra control from one palm to the other, safely extracting the poison from the body. The poison would then deteriorate from the chakra surrounding it; Sakura made sure to bottle some for study later. She concluded that the poison wasn't contagious, as no one else was appearing to her, waiting for extraction. It was a silent process, which made it quicker.

Sakura touched the thigh of a young woman, and looked up into a familiar face. Tenten's lovely brown hair was surprisingly long when they weren't done up in baos. What the medic-nin was really paying attention to, however, was her blood-soaked shirt that once showed off a beautiful light pink, and her pants that had been shredded to nothing. Sakura noticed bruising in between the girl's thighs. Sakura's eyes widened lightly. Tenten's eyes welled up. "I-I know...it's not what it looks like...but h-he was just so interested...it makes no sense..." she said. Sakura smiled at her gently. "You're alright now," she said, performing the extraction. "You see?" Tenten looked at Sakura. "There were only nine of them...and then there were hundreds...thousands, perhaps..."

Sakura didn't understand. A confrontation that turned into a full-out siege, resulting in this? Tenten was the last poison patient. She led the shaking woman out of the room. As soon as they left the room, a rush of patients crowded in, all with missing fingers or other small appendages. She handed Tenten over to Neji. The dead man had been hauled off to god knows where. She collapsed, crying, in the spot next to him. Neji put his arms around her and brought her close. Sakura noticed a tear falling down his face as well.

All of a sudden, a horrible feeling jolted through her body. Where was Rock Lee? Surely he would be with his teammates, especially in a situation like this? She knew she couldn't look for him. She wanted to, very much so, but she couldn't. No matter how close someone was to your heart...in the world of a medical-ninja, the dying came first. Then, you could mourn.

XxXxXx

It felt like a scene that would happen at night. Yet, the morning sun was gleaming over Konoha, birds were flying to perch on the Hokage Monument Mountains, and Ichiraku Ramen was open and probably packed. Sakura could not believe that she had only been at the hospital for two hours. It felt like six. The hospital's huge crowd had thinned, they had either been sent home healthy, put in hospital beds for a few days, or died.

Sakura looked at her reflection in the bathroom's mirror. She chuckled to herself. It didn't matter if she was bald, or if chunks of her hair were falling out. If she was able to mend someone's arm, give someone a transplant, do anything to save them...the amount of hair she had didn't matter. It didn't matter to her right now. Yet, she knew she'd wake up the next morning and go into that bathroom of hers, and tidy herself up.

She headed out of the bathroom and went to report to Tsunade. Along the way, she saw Rock Lee, seemingly uninjured, sitting an open room next to Tenten as another medic-nin healed Neji's arm. Her heart lifted. He's okay. She climbed up the right staircase, passing by two male Jounin who were in deep conversation. She took note of an ANBU standing at the top of the stairs. She'd have to ask why they were involved as well. She was startled when the ANBU spoke to her. "You seem like you've been having the day of your life."

She recognized him immediately. "Hatake-san...er...Kakashi-senpai, whatever." Kakashi took off his ANBU mask and gazed down at her with droopy eyes. "Were you hurt?" Sakura asked. "No, I wasn't damaged at all. None of those bastards could ever catch up to me."

"Kakashi-senpai, what happened? Where did you go? Why was there so much...misery?" She noted the sad glance in his eyes. However, she had a feeling not even her former sensei would tell her what happened. Speaking of her sensei, her former teammates weren't anywhere in the hospital. In fact, she didn't see anyone from her class at all.

"Well, in times of crisis, the ANBU Black Ops are needed. Why do think I retook this job? For the mask?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura reached him, and passed by him. "Perhaps Tsunade-sama will give me a straight answer."

"Perhaps she will. Good day to you, Sakura-chan," he said in a cheerful voice.

Kakashi could go from serious to cheerful in some of the most inopportune moments. Of course, he was an excellent liar, so she was sure that his cheerfulness was merely an illusion.

What exactly was happening?

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Heh, this chapter might have been boring to you people craving for some romance. But, I promise it will get there! I need to set the foundation for the story, alright? Yes, Kakashi rejoined ANBU. I'm planning on having most of the 'nine rookie ninjas' be just Chuunin, although I might have a few be Jounin. Sakura is a Tokubetsu Jounin, aka Tokujo, which is in between a Chuunin and a Jounin. But yeah, I hoped you enjoyed this non-romantic floor plan for my fanfic, and yeah, that hug between Neji and Tenten was a romantic one. You'll notice lack of former sensei (sans Kakashi). That'll be explained later. As will this whole chapter, which probably left you as confused as Sakura. Review please!