Sakura shuddered as another gust of icy wind howled through the canyon. She could feel the cold seep deep into her body. Despite the warnings she had forgone her heavy winter gear and opted for her usual uniform so she wouldn't be encumbered by the heavy material. Sakura bitterly regretted that decision now as the temperature was steadily dropping. The first few days had been rather easy as she marched north with her escort. There had been fun and games, and good hot food every night. Then once they had arrived at the great Northern Wall she had parted ways with her new friends. It was as though a switch had been flipped and an eerie silence and depression had fallen over them. They refused to pass into the Land of Ice. Another days journey brought her to the safe house of her target and the beginning of her return trip.

That was more then a week ago, at least she thought it was, and there was still no sign of the Frozen River where she was to meet with her escort again. Sakura was doubtful they would even wait this long. She kept telling herself she would find the river over the next hill, around the next bend. "I must be going insane," She thought. There were no mountains, no curves, no bends, no river. Just when Sakura was resigning herself to another night out in the cold another gust of wind blew the smell of smoke to her. Cautiously Sakura moved towards the lights that had risen over the horizon. She found an old tree at the edge of a crater the camp stood in. The wind was fierce here and it was all she could do to stop from flying away. From the top of the tree she could see frozen the frozen tundra all around and straight down into the camp. Slowly she began to inch forward along one of the trees highest branches in an effort to gain a better vantage point. Just then a popping noise started and then a snapping noise then a tremendous tearing as the tree split in two. Sakura's chakra failed to grip the trunk in the extreme cold and she plummeted towards the ground.

"Good morning class!"

"Good morning Iruka-sensei!"

"I'd like you all to say hello to a new student of ours, Sakura Haruno."

"Hello Sakura."

"Squad 7, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Congratulations Sakura! You're a Chunin now. This means you'll be getting much more responsibilities from now on. You'll be taking your orders from Shikamaru for now."

"He led an enormously tough and cruel life. A life dominated by hate and revenge. It was only after killing the last of his clan did he come to realize the love his brother still and always had for him. Unfortunately this only served to cause him more pain and further twisted his mind against his village. However when the time came to make the final decision his heart remained straight and he gave all he had left to protect our village.

"Sakura Haruno, congratulations on your promotion. You are now a full member of Anbu. Serve your village well."

Sakura woke to smell of frying bacon and intense pain in her leg. Suddenly Sakura rolled out of the bed and snapped wide awake.

Where am I? The last thing I can remember from last night was the cold, and then the smoke... The smoke! I must have pulled myself into their camp... But who are they? I'm not chained up so either they don't know I'm a ninja or they don't care.

"Hey in there! I know you're up, so you best get dressed while I bring in your breakfast."

Dressed? Oh shit! I'm naked down to my underwear! Sakura jumped behind the bed and searched for her clothes. Bad move. Incredible pain seared through her leg and though she was a trained ninja she could barely suppress a scream. Sakura collapsed onto her bed and slipped into unconsciousness.

A/N: Hey all. This is my second Fanfic (My first and still ongoing being Sakura's Inheritance) and I already like this one more. I'll be updating this usually one OpenOffice page a week and sometimes 2. Any suggestions for story development is welcome as I don't even know the plot yet. Yeh I killed Sasuke but I'm sure he dies similarly in the manga. I don't care, he's a dick anyways.

I plan on having Sakura spend Christmas in Konoha with Naruto on Christmas day and I've planned a ahem party for new years

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