The Prequel of Rokudaime

Chapter One

The signs

Silence,

There was no sound save for the soft patter of raindrops hitting the leaves. Further ahead the rainfall had thickened and fell at a much heavier pace. Already the shinobi, running silently through the tree tops, could feel the two powerful chakra just ahead.

The shinobi had hoped to not meet up with any rouge shinobi or missing-nin, especially since they were alone and outnumbered. Their two teammates had split up and traveled to another path, unfortunately for the shinobi, they took a gambled and ended up in the wrong path to get home. "Damn, by their power I won't be able to avoid then without getting into some sort of confrontation and possibly getting killed." The shinobi said through their mask and quickly took another path to avoid the two potential enemy shinobi.

The shinobi clad in a dark hooded cloak and a mask made from porcelain, designed and decorated in the image of a tiger, expertly hidden within the leaves of the tree. From within the mask, the shinobi scanned the area for any signs of the two missing-nins. Their chakra signatures was here, but their forms weren't. The blood that stained the shinobi's cloak from their earlier missions that morning was washing away due to the rainfall.

'Where are they?'

The shinobi thought when suddenly a breeze came from behind the Leaf Anbu, followed by a katana striking through their back and erupting through their front. A puff of white smoke appeared and the form was replaced by a log. The Akatsuki member frowned and quickly sliced the log in half as he pulled out his weapon. Crimson eyes quickly darted to the left where they soon landed onto the fleeting form of the intruder and from their attire they were from Konoha.

He had managed to get away from his katana with a simple substitution jutsu. The Anbu was fast, but Uchiha Itachi was always faster.

The Leaf Anbu quickly fled through the tree tops, weary of the Uchiha's partner as they headed to the direction of Fire Country. With speed the shinobi quickly pumped chakra into their legs, causing them to go faster in hopes of losing their pursuers.

The larger of the two crushed every branch their foot made contact with, causing the trees to collapse in his wake. "Come now, Konoha brat, let's play!" The Mist nin drawled out with a crazed grin as he pulled out his large sword, which he called Samehada. The white wrappings that encased it were shred into tiny pieces as sharp like teeth appeared along both sides of the blade of the great sword. Pieces of the wrappings fell to the floor along with the fallen trees, forgotten.

The burst of chakra that was emitted from behind the Leaf shinobi sent tremors through their body. "No, doubt that blood thirsty bastard took out his sword." The Leaf Anbu muttered to them self as they pushed more chakra into their legs, increasing their speed ten folds more.

"I'm almost there, just a few-" A loud explosion from behind send the Anbu Black Op hurtling forward, leading them to crash into a tree face first. The sound of cracking was heard as fragments of the porcelain mask began to fall, revealing soft ivory skin. 'Shit, my mask!' The shinobi thought quickly, but had no time to dwell on it when a rain of kunai and shuriken headed straight towards them.

With speed the Leaf Anbu dodged them with great flexibility and grace that only a woman can possess. This caused the Uchiha to narrow his eyes and guess that this was indeed a woman they were fighting. He turned to his partner and watched as the blue Akatsuki member grinned crazily with his sword held forward.

It will be a waste of time to fight a woman when they had a mission to complete. Leader-sama will not be please if it was delayed for a mere woman.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you Konoha brat. I hope you said your farewells to your wife and kids." Kisame said ignorantly, missing the undignified scoff that came from the Leaf Anbu. Itachi watched as the Leaf Anbu stood their ground while Kisame charged towards her. His eyes caught sight of the gathering of chakra to the Anbu's right fist.

'Let's see what you are capable of kunoichi.' The Uchiha thought silently to himself not knowing what to expect. Kisame smirked before letting out a battle cry with his arms raised above his head, ready to strike Samehada down on the little Anbu.

"Who said I was a man you idiot!"

The Anbu yelled as she punched the missing nin right in the gut and sent him flying backwards, crashing through several trees.

The wind caused by the force of the punch blew the Uchiha's dark onyx hair around fiercely in all directions. Crimson eyes glistened with spark interest as he watched the kunoichi still in her stance with her right arm outstretched and her hand still glowing with raw chakra.

It slowly died out and as it did the mask she wore began to shatter into fragments and fall to the ground. The first thing he saw was the color pink and an image of a girl that had traveled with the Kyuubi in the past came to mind. The kunoichi's eyes were closed, but as soon as the last fragment of her mask fell had she opened her eyes.

They were Emerald.

It was an intriguing coloring for a kunoichi.

"Look, I didn't come here to fight." He heard the kunoichi yell out with harden eyes that avoided his gaze wisely, but he could see the fire that burned within them. The kunoichi was pissed and a look of sorrow flashed within her eyes before hardening again as she spoke, "My missions are completed with as of this morning, so there is no reason to fight. We can go our separate ways and avoid wasting time." She finished stonily and waited for the Uchiha to reply.

Itachi stared at her.

She was right there was no use in fighting and besides there was a very important mission he and Kisame were to complete. There were four Jinchuriki left to collect and fighting will be a waste of time and chakra as well as unnecessary injuries that will delay their mission. With that he turned his gaze onto Kisame's form. The Uchiha could already presume that a massive bruise would paint his partner's abdomen in a sickly purple and yellow color. He was amazed at such strength coming from a single kunoichi. Her control over chakra was suburb and quiet impressive.

He could guess that this woman was the Godaime's apprentice.

'That's if he replies, Sakura.'

There was silence for several seconds and Sakura took it as a sign to leave while she still had the chance before shark man woke up a little too soon. Without a second thought Sakura turned and disappeared from the area, leaving Itachi to deal with his unconscious partner. That punch she threw will only keep him down for a couple minutes, giving her sometime to fight the Uchiha, but that wouldn't be necessary for the Uchiha had let her go. Instead she took the time to flee.

As she ran the medic's body began to shake uncontrollably. That punch took up half of her reserved chakra, leaving enough for her to return back home. She knew Kisame was strong, especially with that sword of his. If that sword had touch her she would have been in deep trouble. Her rosette colored hair was now soaked and wet, changing into the color of a light shaded red.

Fear racked through her body suddenly as she left the border of Rain and into Fire. She had been extremely lucky that the Uchiha had let her go. He had looked so much like Sasuke that it made her heart swell with deep sorrow. Looking at Itachi made her remember her failures of bringing Sasuke back home all those years ago.

Now he was a wandering, missing nin with a purpose to kill the very same man she had just encountered not too long ago. He no longer trained under Orochimaru since he had killed the Snake sannin a long time ago.

The warmth from the sun cast down on her as she ran through the open fields and into the forest where Konoha was hidden. "Almost there, almost there..." Sakura muttered to herself when she entered into the heart of the forest. Her hair fluttered behind her rapidly, the short locks whipping occasionally into her face, especially the front tendrils, which were longer than the rest of her hair.

Once she saw the front gates of her beloved village she smoothly placed on her hood to conceal her face, seeing as how her mask had been shattered by Kisame when she had crashed into that tree. She needed to hide her identity and the hood was her only option until she asked her Shishou for a new one.

Tsunade was going to ring her neck. That mask had been her fifth one and she knew that it will be coming out of her pay to replace the one that shattered.

The Chunnin on guard duty sensed an oncoming chakra signature and a grin quickly dominated their cute boyish face. "Sakura-chan, you're back!" Konohamaru exclaimed excitedly as the medic leaped onto the gate where the young brunette was stationed. "Hey, Konohamaru," the medic replied with a small smile and tired eyes. The brunette frowned when he saw her smile, knowing he wasn't supposed to see her face while she was on duty.

"What happened to your mask?" He asked with a raised brow, before a mischievous look quickly took over. "You shattered it again didn't you, how did it happen this time? Wait let me guess did you run into a tree?" He asked amused while letting out a laugh, missing the way Sakura lightly blush.

Sakura gave him a sharp look before snapping at him, "That is classified information, Konohamaru." She told him evenly, causing the Chunnin to scowl at her. "Aw, come on Sakura-chan I won't tell, promise." Konohamaru vowed almost pleadingly that made Sakura eye the fifteen year old closely in suspicion.

"I don't know. I have to regroup with my squad, maybe some other time, bye Konohamaru." The medic bid before disappearing and leaving Konohamaru alone, pouting miserably. He quickly ran to the balcony and propelled his voice in the direction he knew she had taken. "FINE BE THAT WAY!" He yelled out with a sour expression.

"Umm, Konohamaru who are you yelling at?" A fellow Chunnin asked from beside the brunette. Konohamaru folded his arms across his chest and tried to put up an air of indifference. "N-nothing, I was just talking to Naruto-niisan." He lied smoothly while glancing at the blonde kunoichi that was on guard duty with him. A warm blush made its way onto his cheeks when he saw her smiling at him, knowingly.

"Sure you were, Konohamaru. I heard a woman's voice." The blonde told him, her voice becoming not so sweet. She narrowed her pupil less blue eyes at him, causing Konohamaru to tremble slightly in fear as she approached him. "No, wait, Ayame!" The brunette exclaimed, feeling Ayame's temper rising by the second.

Ayame was face to face with Konohamaru when the kunoichi's expression softens. "You know I hate when you lie to me Konohamaru." She told him with sad eyes, making Konohamaru's brow twitched in guilt. The reason why he had told her that it was Naruto was because he knew how jealous she got whenever he talked to other women.

"Okay, I was talking to...Sakura-chan." He admitted finally and suddenly Ayame's body stiffen. "Sakura-san," she muttered in question and Konohamaru nodded in confirmation. Her head was turned to the side, making it difficult for him to see her expression. She didn't talk for awhile which made the brunette worry. "Ayame..." He murmured softly in concern.

In response she walked away, going back to her station and leaving Konohamaru alone. "Ayame, where are you going?" He asked slightly panicked, but he received no response.

"Ughhh, why does having a girlfriend have to be so damn difficult!"

He asked himself frustrated when he soon remembered that he was dating a Yamanaka.

"She's late, maybe something happened to her on her way here." Kin suggested with deep concern to his smooth voice. The Anbu beside him shook his head and glared at his teammate through his Crow mask. "She better be on her way here or else we will have to go back and search for her ass." Kiyoshi grunted out, irritated with his Captain's tardiness, but the Deer mask Anbu besides him knew it was just a front to hide his concern for their pink haired leader as well.

Both Anbu Black Ops were standing on the roof of a building next to the Hokage Tower. This is where they met whenever they had or completed a mission. It began as a sort of habit throughout the past few months to meet at the roof of the abandoned building near the Tower and it became an unofficial meeting spot.

The only one missing was their Captain.

Kin looked over to the gates and a wave of worry filled his body. "I think we should go back and search for her. I knew we shouldn't have split up, especially at the border of Rain Country. That's where the base for the Akatsuki is said to be located at." Kin told Kiyoshi whose arms immediately unfolded themselves.

"Shit! Let's go." He cursed under his breath sharply and as both Anbu Black Ops were about to leave to search for their beloved Captain they saw the figure of a mask less Anbu approaching them.

"Hey boys," Sakura had greeted with a small smirk on her lips. She had noticed they were about to leave and raised a brow at them in questioning. She knew what they were about to do just moments before her arrival. "Don't tell me you were going to search for me." She told them slightly agitated and Kiyoshi, the most observant of the three, noticed she was without her mask, again.

"Where's your mask, Captain." He asked with mocked bitterness towards her title. He was still sour that Sakura was Captain of the Anbu team and not him. Sakura rolled her eyes at him while Kin listened. "I ran into some trouble, I took a gamble on which path to take and ran into the Akatsuki. Obviously I lose that one." She told them, making both her male teammates stiffen at the sudden news.

"Akatsuki, How many of them were there and how the hell did you manage to escape?" Kin asked the medic with slight panic in his voice.

"I only came across two of them and I had even managed to talk some sense into Uchiha Itachi to let me go without a fight."

Sakura announced with a victorious smirk on her lips. She soon folded her arms across her chest and stared at her speechless teammates.

Hokage's Office

"WHAT!"

The tremor that shook the village of Konoha was due to Tsunade's fist connecting to the wall besides her. The two out of the three Anbu in Squad Six took several steps backwards to avoid their Hokage's sudden rage, leaving their Captain to fend on her own. Outwardly, Sakura appeared calm and collective before her Shishou, but in actuality she was trembling in fear on the inside. Even inner Sakura had bailed out on her and hid.

'I don't believe she is this angry. Something must be bothering her.' Sakura thought strangely as she waited for her Shishou to cease her angry lecture about the importance of a team sticking together. "Sakura, why do you think you have two other members on your Squad?" Tsunade yelled in questioning outrage, her face turning red from anger as she threw herself back into her chair.

The busty blonde let out a long sigh as she rubbed her aching temples with her fingertips. "You could have been captured, killed or even worse off Sakura." Tsunade told her in a strain voice that made Sakura's emerald eyes fill with concern. 'Something is definitely wrong with her.' Sakura thought silently to herself as she continued to observe her Shishou.

Her usual sun kissed tan skin was pale and there were small visible wrinkles along her eyes and around her mouth. Tsunade's eyes, she noted, were dull and not their usual lustrous amber color. They didn't even shine with luster like they were known for. That wasn't the only thing she saw different about her Shishou. She was also visibly exhausted and there were even a few strands of grey hair in her usually blonde filled hair.

"I forbid you from ever doing that again..." Tsunade began while picking up her head to glare at the two Anbu behind her favorite apprentice. "...and as for you two..." She started with narrowed amber eyes, "...never separate in Rain Country ever again." She ordered out in hard, steel like voice that made both Anbu quickly comply. "Hai, Godaime." They said in union.

"Good, now get out of here." She said in a stern tone. Sakura bowed in respect to her Shishou before leaving and when she reached the door she glanced at Tsunade with worry eyes from over her shoulder. "Is there something wrong, Shishou?" Sakura asked warily, causing Tsunade to shake her head. "Nothing is wrong." She said, but her expression told her otherwise. "Are you sure, because I could-" Tsunade's voice quickly and sharply cut through her sentence. "Shouldn't you be resting at home Sakura?" Tsunade asked her twenty year old apprentice with little patience.

Sakura winced before nodding her head and muttering a quick goodbye. She closed the door and stared at it for awhile in thought. Something was up with Tsunade that she didn't want her to know. The only other person that would know what was wrong with her Shishou would be Shizune. 'I'll have to find her tomorrow and talk with her.' Sakura thought. "Damn, I forgot to tell her about my mask." She cursed lightly as she headed out the building where she found Kin and Kiyoshi waiting for her.

She smiled when she saw them and couldn't help, but remember how team seven used to be all those years ago. Kin definitely reminded her of Naruto, he was the only one who worried the most in the team and was the most expressive. Kiyoshi, on the other hand, reminded her of Sasuke, but at the same time he was different from her ex-teammate. Kiyoshi was the silent, caring guy who always contradicted himself, which was always entertaining for Sakura because she would always call him out on it.

"Aw, you guys waited for me how sweet." Sakura said in an overly sweet voice that made Kiyoshi shift uncomfortably. "Well, it was Kin's stupid idea to wait for your ass." He said with a grunt, causing Kin and Sakura to smirk inwardly. "You could have gone home you know I didn't force you to wait with me." Kin pointed out, which made Kiyoshi glare at him from within his mask.

"Whatever, now that you're here I'm going to go home. Later." In a blur Kiyoshi disappeared, leaving Sakura and Kin alone. "He's such a softy on the inside." Sakura commented lightly that made Kin snicker.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the training field Sakura-chan, goodnight." He said softly before disappearing as well, leaving Sakura to be the only member of Anbu Squad Six to be left in front of the Hokage Tower.

A yawn escaped Sakura's lips as she covered her mouth with her hand politely. "Guess I'll be going home too." She muttered and she too disappeared to her apartment.

Sakura's Apartment

The medic entered into her apartment through her balcony and easily closed it once she was safely inside. She discarded her cloak and tossed it onto her white couch and proceeded to take off her armor. First to come off was the metal arm protectors, then her chest piece followed by her shin protectors and soon her black boots. She placed them away in their holding places and proceeded to take off her black, finger-less gloves that had a metal plate on the top of each one with the Leaf symbol engraved upon it.

She went to her room and took off the dark sleeveless turtleneck shirt and spandex pants, wearing only the bandages that concealed her breasts and lower regions. She grabbed her towel and entered the bathroom where she turned on the shower and discarded her wrappings. She enter the shower and sighed when the warm water hits her blood covered skin. The blood wasn't hers. It belonged to her targets from her latest missions.

She washed her body and hair of the dried blood and rain of today and just allowed the water to cleanse and wash down her lithe and supple body. Once she was done she wrapped the towel around her form and walked to her room, where a cool breeze blew making her shiver slightly. "I thought I closed that when I left." Sakura told herself as she went to close it, as soon as her hand touched the window sill, a pale hand grabbed her.

Sakura gasped in surprise and quickly went to strike the intruder when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she glared at them. "You're not supposed to be here." She seethed out as she quickly turned off the lights to her room in order to hide the fact that an engaged man was in her bedroom late at night.

"I could not help myself, I had to see you." His voice whispered out gently, making Sakura's body shiver in delight at his words towards her. She felt herself melt against him when he simply hugged her in a loving embrace. His scent reached her senses and a longing settled within her stomach. She didn't realize how much she missed him since the announcement two weeks ago, by then she had been out of the village in a mission. Ino had been the one to tell since she knew the bride to be well.

Not being able to hold him like this in the future scared her.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled into his neck. "You might get caught here with me." Sakura muttered to him softly, "They'll find you missing from the compound and search for you." She added, which only made him hug her tightly. "They won't, Uncle believes I'm reporting to Tsunade for a mission briefing in the morning." He explained to her as Sakura pulled back to look at him.

Her eyes shone with sadness when she saw the betroth necklace hanging from his neck with the symbol of his finance's clan engraved in it. She turned her head away from him. She backed up and wrapped her arms around herself as she gazed at the floor. "You should leave. I don't want to cause any problems between you and-." She was cut off when his warm tantalizing lips came down over her own, successfully stopping her from speaking.

Her eyes widen to only close as she responded back with equal passion.

'Neji,'

A/N: This is going to be a little experiment of mines. This is my first Sakura and Neji story and I wonder how I will do with this one. ;)

This is just the prequel for the story Rokudaime to see wither or not you guys like it. I hope you enjoy the prequel and leave reviews if you find it interesting! ;)

Read & Review!

Lady Manami