AN: Whelp, how long has it been?! What kind of hole did I crawl out of just now? Wait, what?! I'm alive? Haha. Yeah. Never thought I'd go back to writing Naruto fanfic. In fact, I'll be honest here: I never finished reading the manga (dropped out somewhere around the point with the bee-guy jinchuuriki? I'm in the process of rereading Shippuuden from the beginning but it'll take a while xD).

Howevah! I've had so much trouble getting my writing spark back lately, that I became nostalgic and re-read my previous stories. Plot-wise it's not too bad, but dare I say, my mastery of the english language has gotten mucho better over time. POAL was downright cringe-worthy. BOAL was awkward at best (and that ending? Ugh! I R disappoint). WMITTN, albeit clumsy, remains my favorite of them all. But now I want to do even better! So uhm, I guess we'll see where this goes?

This is not a sequel to anything I wrote previously (despite the likeness of the title). However, I reserve the right to recycle Ike/Han/Izzy/Yuhi (although hopefully I can avoid Gary Stu-ing Ike this time around, lol)

Alright, I've bored you all enough. On with the Prologue!

Usual disclaimer applies. Naruto ain't mine and I don't mind :) Oh, and most chapter titles will most likely be borrowed from the band Digital Summer. They rawk!

Chapter 1: Counting the Hours

She watched the retreating form of Konohamaru slowly pad his way out of her office, his shoulders slumped and his head forward even further than they had been when he had walked in. She repressed the shaky sigh of despair that wanted to escape her lips so badly as long as she could, and hoped he was out of earshot before she released it. The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel even worse about the news he was carrying.

It wasn't his fault.

"Hokage-sama. I… We. The dam is near-dry. There hasn't been enough rain to keep up with the demand. We… At this rate we'll need to move within the next month."

It was grim news, but she had been expecting it. They would have to move sooner or later, anyway. Else Akatsuki would find them and annihilate what was left of the Leaf shinobi for good. And she couldn't allow that.

She shot a glance out the dirty glass pane that served as her window to the village she was now responsible for. Small huts and tents with a stretch of farmland to the side. It wasn't much, but it was the best they could do with their limited resources.

Her hand idly traveled the length of her pink hair as another sigh, one she did not hold back, escaped her lips. The frown that distorted her features was deep set, causing small wrinkles to form at the side of her eyes. She always found it ironic how her teacher had had jutsu that allowed to look young forever, and yet she had inherited the destiny of aging much, much faster than she should've been.

"Three years to the day…" She remembered because today would have been Kakashi's birthday. Her hand moved over to her mouth as she suppressed a sob. Try as she might, she couldn't change the past. All she could do was move forward with what she was given. the lone tear that left the corner of her eye dripped from her chin unchecked.

Her eyes fell to the picture frame that sat on her desk. A worn, slightly charred remain of her childhood: that first picture of Team 7. She missed them all. Naruto more than the others. Probably because there was this gut feeling of hers that told her he was alive, out there, somewhere. That Akatsuki hadn't managed to put their dirty hands on him and the nine-tailed fox yet. And that remained their biggest hope in ever claiming back their rightful place among the world.

"Sakura-chan?" A deep male voice interrupted her reminiscing and made her jump ever so slightly. She didn't have to look up to know who it was. For one, Kiba's smell was one of a kind. And there weren't many people left that called her by her first name. The closest to familiar she would get was Haruno-sama. Most of the time they used her formal title. One that she still had a hard time believing was hers.

"How's Akamaru doing?" She asked without letting her eyes leave the picture frame. Her voice was raspy and tired, but it held genuine concern. Kiba tried his best to smile and ease her worries, his arm reaching back to scratch at the back of his neck. She could have sworn she heard his dusty cheeks crack under the effort.

"He's good, running around like a wild wolf again. I should be good to resume scouting duties within the week." He waited a few appropriate seconds after his answer before he unceremoniously sat himself on the corner of Sakura's desk.

She nodded, letting a loose strand of hair fall in front of her eyes. She finally looked up at him, mostly to shake it away from her view, but also because seeing him did ease her worries a bit. He had managed to stay relatively carefree, and it seemed almost effortless for him to go around spreading a little bit of joy in these difficult times. She was thankful he had managed to slip out of the invader's grasp at the last minute and joined them here.

He'd tried to convince everyone he had been lucky. It was a bittersweet luck to escape one terrible faith only to be stuck running for his life for the rest of his existence.

Sometimes she wished she would have died. Stayed back there. Or at least tried to save Ino…

Sakura shook her head and smoothed the front of her crimson red shirt. The problem with Kiba was that he always allowed her to drift off into memory land. No matter how pressing the matter was. He was almost too polite, in that regard.

"That's not why you're here, is it?"

He shot her a wolfy grin, which she attempted to mirror, if only for the fact that it did ease her mind for a while to smile. "Nope, but I'm always touched you find it in you to care about such trivial matters." He shifted his body around a bit to better face his friend. Sakura rose a pink eyebrow at him, urging him to state his business. He winced ever so slightly before he spoke. "There's a bit of a ruckus coming from the east end. Some folks have been running in saying Akatsuki's reached the farm lands. Everyone's safe, but I think we should go check it out. Just in case. It's probably nothing, as usual. But hey…" He jumped off his perch and shook his head almost dog-like, his wild, untamed hair flew around his head with the motion. "Figured you could use some fresh air."

Sakura furrowed her brows. False alarms were common, true. And she seldom needed to check them out personally. If Kiba was here requesting her presence, no matter how disguised the suggestion was, it must have been serious enough. With a deep breath of resolve, she rose from her chair and stretched out before giving him an appreciative nod.

They walked out of the office in silence. Sakura didn't bother telling her aide, a kid that was even younger than Konohamaru and hadn't even had a chance to learn the way of the ninja properly, what this was about. Intrinsically, whenever Sakura walked out of her office in the middle of the day, everyone knew it wasn't good news.

Hinata and Shino were waiting for them right outside the small building, hands in their pockets and badly masked grim looks on their faces. She gave them an acknowledging nod which they returned solemnly. "Haruno-san," Shino began, before she rose her hand to stop him.

"I know." She nodded again to herself. "For some reason I just knew this was bound to happen today. Where? How many?"

Hinata was the one that spoke up. Her voice had gained some strength throughout the years. She held herself square, confident. Tough times had merely made her tougher. Naruto would be proud. Sakura found herself thinking as she listened in to the report. "One. It's that man-eating plant guy. But there's something odd with his chakra. It's… disrupted. He's right by the corn field."

Sakura rose an eyebrow. "He hasn't attacked anything or anyone yet?"

Shino shook his head in the negative. Sakura's mouth shaped itself into a thoughtful pout. "Then it's gotta be a scout. Which means they know where we are. Let's stop him before he sees someone and decides to eat them."

The four young ninjas nodded in unison before disappearing in a cloud of dust. The clearing in which they found the member of Akatsuki was mostly dried out from the lack of water, and it was easy to distinguish the black and red cloak through the battered stalks. The person in the shape of Zetsu seemed lost in thought, but a slight tremor in his hands betrayed what was really going on. Sakura's eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

That feeling…

They had witnessed countless Akatsuki doubles - people disguised as members, typically serving as decoys. It never was a good sign when one was just standing there. But worse even, was when there was a definite lack of doubt as to whom the original body belonged to. Sakura's breathing became labored. She tried to remain as calm as she could as she motioned to the team she led that this was a capture mission.

There were a few blinks of confusion from all of them. Despite the unusual orders, Hinata and then her two male teammates nodded their understanding. No one would question orders from the Hokage. That was both a blessing and a curse to Sakura. She may live to regret her decision. Or they may all die. But she had to try.

She performed a few hand signs and hoped Hinata caught on to what she was going to do. They had successfully combined her Genjutsu and the byakugan's abilities to force a possession to end without killing the original owner of the body in the process. It hadn't been very useful, for the man had been brain dead by that point anyway. But I have to try…

Kiba came out of his hiding spot howling as he finished his transformation into a giant wolf. The diversion was cast. Shino's bugs circled the area, acting as a barrier to make sure no one was getting in or out. Sakura closed her eyes in concentration. She couldn't afford to miss. The last few signs came together quickly and she homed herself in close to the Zetsu doppelganger, just as he seemed to regain full control of the body he was possessing in time to avoid Kiba's fangs making a direct lunge at his head. Her hand connected with the back of his head and she immediately ran out of dodge while Kiba took a well placed kick to his stomach and flew back.

A few seconds of silence followed, Zetsu's face twisting with the initial confusion and then the realization of what was happening to him. They didn't have much time. Sakura nodded to Hinata who made her moved and immediately began working the combination of chakra pores that would force Zetsu's chakra out of the body.

Kiba was on standby, ready to jump in at any moment. They all held their breaths as they waited to see if the maneuver had succeeded. They wouldn't get a chance to try again. The next hit that would come would have to be fatal.

Sakura was pleading with Kiba from the corner of her eye to do it for her if it came to that. He squared his jaw in understanding. She couldn't do it. And he knew why. The smell was very faint, but he knew it well. He hoped with all his might that he wouldn't have to do it, too.

A loud twhack echoed through the fields when Ino's limp body fell on an old broken wheelbarrow. Just like that, the fight was over as quickly as it had started.

It took a few moments for Sakura's body to allow her to move. While she had known this was her long lost friend and rival from the very beginning, actually seeing her made it all too real. Frozen in time and space, the mix of hope and sadness churned in her stomach to the point where she even threw up a little in her mouth. Then the tears unchained down her face. She was still the first to run over to Ino and kneel down next to her, immediately busying herself with checking the girl's vitals.

"You're alive. Ino. We got you. You're safe now." She cried as she spoke the words out, not giving a care in the world if the others saw her like this. They were the closest to family she had left here.

Ino's eyes struggled open for all of a split second, a spark of recognition flashing by, a fleeting moment, before the light went dull and her eyes closed again. It was enough for Sakura to clutch at the blonde's mangled hair as if her life depended on it and break down entirely.

The other three nins stood at a respectable distance as they witnessed the scene, worried frowns shadowing their eyes.

Sakura's fist clenched so hard around Ino's hair her knuckles turned white. They were going to pay. The whole lot of them. And she would save Ino. No matter what.

Before she could even speak the orders that were to follow, Kiba stepped forward and beat her to it. "I'll start the evacuation protocol."

Shino followed suit. "I'll scout the area to make sure there are no more threats for now."

Only Hinata remained. And she hated what she had to do. "We have to take her in and examine her. Make sure no tracking devices or..."

Sakura cut her off, her head bowing in submission. "I know..." she said, softly.