Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed, subscribed, or favorite'd chapter one! I can't believe the response I got! Thank you! I also want to thank everyone who messaged me about trying to get a new chapter out. I chose a very bad time to start a fanfic considering I'm at a hectic time in my life getting ready to leave for college, dealing with family issues, and starting a new fulltime job, but I really appreciate all of you that have been so patient with me. Without further waiting, here is chapter two – enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto . . . yet . . .

~ Chapter 2: Run ~

After she finished talking with Tsunade, Sakura headed straight to her apartment. It was only two o'clock in the afternoon, so she had plenty of time to get her supplies packed.

As she jumped from rooftop to rooftop, she started to make a mental list of everything she would need. Medical supplies, kunai, shuriken, soldier pills . . . The list went on, containing everything from the standard weapon pouches to stocking up on dried foods for the trek through the cold terrain of Kumogakure. Although Kumogakure seemed pretty close, the capital was positioned surprising far north, and the weather would be a stark difference from the moderate September days Konoha had right now.

In her apartment, Sakura made a physical list, checking things off that were in the apartment or that could be easily restocked. She smiled as the list was almost completely crossed off; Sakura kept most of her supply stocks within various closets and cabinets in her apartment. But, she soon frowned when she looked at the very last item on the list that was the only item unchecked:clothes. Sakura groaned, realizing that the clothes she had on were the last of her clean clothes; she needed to do laundry.

She scoured the apartment, picking up every piece of clothing, cringing at some pieces whose smell had festered and fermented since she had discarded them on the floor. She really only needed a few changes of clothes that she could reuse on the mission, but she might as well wash everything else if she was going to make a trip to the laundromat. She loaded all the dirty laundry into a drawstring bag, hauled it over her shoulder, and set off for the laundromat before it closed.

The laundromat was fairly close to Sakura's apartment, but then again, everything was pretty close to her apartment. Sakura had been very strategic in her selection of an apartment so that her life would be as convenient as humanly possible. However, if she truly wanted to make her life more convenient, she probably would have used that extra cash from her last paycheck to buy a washer and drier set to have installed in her apartment instead of constantly going to the laundromat; there is nothing more embarrassing than folding your lacy underwear and bras in front of your comrades. Sakura had suffered many times through the rounds of whistles and hoots.

Sakura cringed as a particular memory as she entered the laundromat. Swinging the glass doors opened, Sakura tentatively scanned the washers and driers that lined the walls. She was usually pretty good about being the only one in there when she did her laundry, but today she saw a drier spinning clothes and a basket filled with carefully folded shirts and pants. Sakura looked closer at the white-walled room, checking for signs of the clothes' owner. For now, it seemed she was alone.

Taking advantage of the owner's apparent disappearance, she quickly loaded the first batch of clothes into the washer, measuring detergent and turning the dials for the proper water temperature and spin cycle. She sat on the counter next to the washer and waited for the thirty-minute cycle to end. As time passed, Sakura gradually relaxed, realizing that if the owner hadn't showed up by now, he probably wouldn't at all.

But, of course, the world hates Sakura when she's off-duty.

The bell on the door trilled, and Sakura whipped her head in its direction, only to see Uchiha Itachi standing in the doorway. They stared at one another for a moment, and from his look, it seemed he was just as displeased to have company here. Sakura was the first to look away, jumping off the counter when the washer's timer rang. Seeing that she had returned working, Itachi walked towards the drier his clothes were in, which happened to be across from Sakura.

With their backs to each other, they both worked in silence. Itachi took out the warm pile of clothes and placed them on the counter, replacing their spot in the drier with a new load of soaking clothes. Sakura was equally as silent as she put her wet clothes aside and reloaded the washer. As time passed, however, her wet clothes piled up on the counter, and Sakura realized she would have to move them to a drier if she wanted to leave in a timely fashion.

Taking an armful of wet clothes, she carried them to the drier next to Itachi's. His eyes shifted to her in question, and she rolled her eyes. It wasn't like she wanted to work next to the expressionless Uchiha, but Sakura knew from experience that there were only three driers that actually worked in this place – the laundromat owner hadn't replaced a single machine in years – and it just so happens that Itachi was using one, and the other two were on either side of him. She could feel his eyes still staring at her in question. Her shoulders sagged with a frustrated sigh.

"The driers next to you are the only ones that actually work," she said, returning his glare.

"Hn," he responded, pausing for a moment before returning to his folding. As Sakura sat and watched her clothes dry, she let her eyes wander to watch the Uchiha heir, but realized that was a mistake because she had to stifle a giggle. The Uchiha looked like a misplaced housewife as he folded the clothes, smoothing wrinkles with experienced ease. All he needs is an apron,she thought, coughing lightly to try and hide her chuckles. Itachi stopped his work to look at the pink-haired medic.

"Do you find something humorous, Haruno-san?" Itachi's glare bore into Sakura, but it only made her cough harder, making her choke now.

She bit her lip and managed to calm herself, despite the images fluttering in her mind of Itachi wearing an apron while he cooked for his spouse. "I'm sorry – I, uh, was thinking of . . . something," Sakura said, her smile reflecting in her voice. He continued to stare at her, and his eyebrow minutely drifted upward.

Realizing Itachi wasn't going to stop staring without an answer, she nodded to his clothes. "I would have never expected you to be so good at folding clothes, Uchiha-san."

Itachi looked away from her to look at his work, and then turned to look at her massive pile of clothes. "Yes, well, I never thought it was possible for one to possess so much clothing," He said, turning back to look at her, "Your wardrobe is a bit frivolous, Haruno-san."

She laughed, surprised that Itachi made such a comment. But, she still felt the need to defend herself; she didn't want someone like Uchiha Itachi to think that she was some materialistic woman. She had no doubt that title would follow her on any mission she had with the man.

"I'm not materialistic. I'm busy. Surely, you of all people should understand the time demands of our occupation. But, I have a mission, so I'm cleaning my entire apartment to get ready for when I leave," she explained, still smiling.

"A long assignment?" he asked, and she nodded her head. She knew she couldn't disclose information about her mission, but telling him how long it would be couldn't hurt. She planned on telling Sasuke anyway, so the information was bound to reach Itachi eventually.

"I never like to come home to a dirty apartment; it makes me feel stressed when I should be relaxing after a mission," she sighed. Sakura hated it when she would come home exhausted and chakra depleted from a mission only to realize she had a long day of cleaning ahead of her because her food was rancid, she had no clean clothes, and the floors were inexplicably sticky.

Itachi didn't speak after that, so Sakura didn't either. They both finished their laundry in silence; the only sounds were the hum from the machines and the creaking of the tables they worked on.

When she finished her laundry, she piled it back into the drawstring bag she had brought with her and left to finish preparing for her mission. She still had to go buy dried fruits and nuts to pack in case food was scarce up north. And then there was the rest of the cleaning she had to do, and the packing, and the notes she would have to send her team so they knew she was gone. Then she could leave. Better get to work, she thought.

After a few hours of scrubbing and packing, her apartment was spotless and she was ready to leave. It was about ten-thirty at night, and Sakura was happy with her time management; she could actually leave early for Kumo. As she headed for the door, she placed three envelopes on the kitchen counter. She slung her backpack over her head, adjusting the single-strapped bag so it was positioned correctly and wouldn't hurt her chest during the long hours of travel. She had made concentrated batches of all her medical creams and solutions so they would take up less space, and Sakura was able to fit all her medical supplies into one pack which was strapped to her hip.

She wore a pair of tight black pants, with the legs tucked into her sleek lace-up boots. On top, Sakura wore a fitted long sleeve shirt and a light grey ANBU vest, which she had "borrowed" from the ANBU headquarters months ago to replace her annoying, bulky jonin vest that mysteriously vanished. Sakura didn't usually plan out every single detail of her outfit, but in this case, even her undergarments were planned. Although she preferred bras, she had put on chest bandages for easier movement and had replaced her lacy bikini-cut panties for some boy-shorts. Sakura huffed when she had to put away her feminine garments; she may be a top kunoichi, but wearing the flashy undergarments made her feel more like a woman when she was cracking sternums and elbow-deep in blood.

She took her time to walk to Konoha's eastern gate, savoring her time in the village before she would be indefinitely living in the forests until she reached Kumo. She passed by Sai and Kakashi's apartments, both of which live by the eastern gate, but she didn't bother saying goodbye; the notes she sent to her boys were enough. Besides, she was sure she'd be home soon.

Soon after Sakura left the laundromat, Itachi finished his own work. The whole time he was repeatedly cursing his mother for demanding he do his laundry immediately. Women were so insufferable.

As he finished folding the last few shirts, there was something Sakura said that suddenly made him pause; he saw irregularities. She had said she was going on a long mission, but Itachi knew for a fact that the Hokage wasn't assigning missions to anyone after the wave of failed ANBU assignments earlier this week. Even genin and chunin were stuck here until Tsunade felt confident enough to send even the weakest of shinobi outside the safety of Konoha's sealed walls. So what mission could Sakura possibly have been sent on? Itachi considered only for a moment that she was lying, but his ever-present sharingan halted his suspicions.

Itachi walked through the archway of the Uchiha compound, passing through the streets which had been cleared hours ago as his fellow clansmen retreated inside to settle for the night. He scoffed. The night was no time to settle, nor was anytime for that matter. It mystified the prodigy how the prestigious Uchiha clan was so lax and unguarded most of the time. Itachi barely respected his clan's power recently, considering their legendary strength a thing of the past when he saw his uncles stumble through the same arches, drunk with a woman on each arm.

He finally made it to his house within the compound, arriving apparently in the middle of dinner. His brow furrowed for a fraction of a second, realizing he hadn't missed dinner as he had planned. Slightly annoyed, he walked into their modest dining room and looked upon the three members of his family. His father and Sasuke didn't look up, but his mother immediately met his gaze and grinned. "Welcome home, Itachi!" Mikoto crooned, "After you clean-up, please join us for dinner."

Itachi followed his mother's orders, washing his hands and face before seating himself at the low table. He sat cross-legged with a stiff posture similar to his father's and waited for his mother to serve him before eating. The four ate in silence before Itachi finally spoke.

"Sasuke," Itachi said, "I spoke with your teammate, Haruno-san, today." At the mention of Sakura, Sasuke's chopsticks flinched, dropping a piece of salted fish. Sasuke recovered the food and grunted at his brother. Mikoto, on the other hand, was very interested in the topic.

"That's lovely! How is Sakura-san?" Mikoto said, smiling. Itachi was aware that Mikoto had become fond of Sakura, and he didn't doubt that his mother wished she had a daughter in addition to her two boys. He knew Mikoto longed for a child she was actually allowed to dote over without being scolded by the elders, but she had no daughters to fulfill this dream. When Mikoto heard Sakura was part of Sasuke's team, she latched onto the opportunity to be a mother again.

Itachi spared his mother a small smile, "From what I could ascertain, she is well. However, I believe Sasuke could better inform you, Okaa-san." When Itachi gestured to his brother, Sasuke glared at him. Itachi was well aware that Sasuke was too kind to deprive their mother of this one indulgence.

Clearing his throat, Sasuke fumbled with the napkin in his lap before talking. He turned to Mikoto. "Sakura is quite well. I recently received a letter from Sakura informing me that she would be on extended leave for a mission." Sasuke paused for a moment to observe Mikoto's expression, gauging whether the information he gave was enough. Mikoto's face was bright; she had taken in each detail with fervor, and it was clear that she wanted to hear more.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Itachi used his mother's curiosity to inquire about what Sakura had said earlier. "Did Haruno-san mention what this mission happened to be?" Itachi said, sounding deceivingly casual about his question. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"No, she did not." Sasuke raised his chopsticks to take another bit of salted fish, signifying his refusal to talk any more on the matter. You're still a horrible liar, Itachi internally smirked. He wasn't deterred; this just meant Itachi would have to sift through his little brother's belongings later.

"How is her relationship with the Hokage?" Fugaku said. Sasuke frowned at his father's inquiry. Itachi had seen Sasuke destroy training grounds to vent after times when their father spoke like this. Although Itachi wasn't offended by the slant to Sakura like Sasuke was, Itachi was angered as well, but he wasn't one to scream it to the world as Sasuke often did. For different reasons, it bothered them both that Fugaku only made the effort to know someone's name if they could further the clan's political or physical power.

Noticing that Sasuke's jaw was tensed, Itachi spoke for him. "Haruno-san is highly regarded by Tsunade-sama; many consider her the Hokage's sole confidante," Itachi said, void of emotion. Sasuke excused himself from the table, his feet pounding against the matted floors as he escaped the confines of the dining room. What Itachi said wasn't a defense for his brother's teammate – not at all. He merely spoke the truth. It was public knowledge that if you desired to have any connection to Tsunade, political or not, it was essential to befriend Haruno Sakura.

This was why Itachi was so curious about what mission the medic had been sent on. Itachi had checked the mission boards this morning and there had been a very clear notification posted on the mission board stating that all missions were postponed until further notice. He found it interesting that the Hokage's right hand was apparently excluded from this notice. Even more so, she was sent on a solo mission during politically tense times.

Itachi pondered the peculiarities of the pink's sudden assignment while he walked to Sasuke's room. Stopping outside the door, Itachi searched for his brother's chakra signature. He smirked, of course. Sasuke was out on Uchiha training grounds, excessively destroying the forest. Satisfied that Sasuke wasn't going to return anytime soon, Itachi slide the door open and stepped inside his brother's room.

It had taken Itachi all of five seconds to find Sakura's letter, which he had found in Sasuke's sock drawer. He really needed better hiding spots; Sasuke had been hiding things in that drawer since he was in the academy and hid his first kunai there that Itachi had given him as a birthday present.

Itachi took the letter and slipped it in his pocket. He walked back to his room where he took out the letter and smoothed out the wrinkles on his desk.

Sasuke-kun,

I know this a bit short notice, but by the time you get this, I will have left Konoha on a mission. I'm sorry for asking you about that information at Ichiraku last night – I was a bit desperate for answers. I found out about the current situation, and Tsunade has asked me to help. I know I can't include details regarding my mission here, but I wanted to let you know that I am safe for now. I have asked Tsunade to keep you and the rest of Team 7 informed of my condition so you all don't worry, or at least so Naruto doesn't bother Tsunade too much. I can't say when I will be back, but I will miss you while I'm gone.

Until then,

Sakura

By "current situation", Itachi assumed she meant the conflict Konoha was in with Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa. He inferred that since Tsunade had asked for her help, and since there was no official record the mission she was supposedly on, this was a personal favor to the Hokage. But, then he stopped. Something was off about the letter. Itachi stared at the letter for a moment. It wasn't the letter that had made him stop – no, that wasn't what confused him.

As his sharingan unconsciously strengthened its focus, the pinwheels in his eyes scoped at the shadows of chakra that were left on the letter. At first, Itachi assumed that it was Sakura that had left a lip-shaped chakra stain on the letter. But, his sharingan told him that the lip's owners were, in fact, Sasuke's. Itachi suddenly felt the need to look away from the letter.

Actually, the more Itachi's eyes saw how drenched the letter was in Sasuke's chakra, the more he found himself removing all physical contact with it. Since when was Sasuke so emotionally forward to feel inclined to kiss a letter . . . Itachi grimaced.

As interesting – and strangely disturbing – as Sasuke's love life was, impending war trumped romantic interests. Itachi put the letter back into Sasuke's sock drawer, and returned to his room to rest. He had a lot of information gathering in store for tomorrow.

Chakra pulsed through her legs as Sakura jumped from tree to tree, trying to cut the three-day trip to Kumo down to two. The faster she got there, the better; Sakura had a feeling that this sort of situation that worsened as time went on.

After she left Konoha around eleven at night, Sakura had been practically sprinting. To get to Kumo, you had to travel through Konoha for a day, pass through Yugakure and Shimogakure for another day, and then travel inland for a final, third day until you reached Kumo. As of right now, Sakura was impressed by her progress; she was the morning of her second day, and she roughly halfway through Shimogakure.

As Sakura had progressed farther north, she added layers on top of what she had on now; she had expected the north to be colder in September, but she was surprised by just how much lower the temperatures were. As she crossed the Shimogakure border, she couldn't regulate her body temperature with just chakra anymore. She wrapped a cloak around her shoulders and sighed as she was wrapped in warmth and shielded from the unforgiving wind.

It was the early hours of the morning, and this was Sakura's favorite time to travel. Unlike the night, the silence of the forest was calming, not ominous. Even though she was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, Sakura was comforted by the fact that this was the time of day when almost every creature was asleep. Those that were nocturnal were had just fallen asleep, and those who walked in the day hadn't awoken just yet.

It was quiet. So different from home, Sakura thought, smiling at how her mood couldn't even be beat by the throbbing in her legs. She loved the bustle of her friends, the hospital, and life as a kunoichi, but even the most extroverted people need some quiet. She pushed her leg down as it connected with a tree limb.

The peace of the forests helped Sakura get through the long hours of travel. She tried to focus more on the beauty of the forest – something she didn't see very often from her hours at the hospital – and tried not to think about how she wished she was traveling with the rest of Team 7. She tried not the think about how she missed Naruto's contagious optimism, or how she missed berating Kakashi for his perverted books, or how she missed Sasuke's quiet confidence, or how she missed Sai's social awkwardness. . . She sighed. Sakura wasn't very good at the whole not-thinking-about-home thing . . .

With her reverie slipping, Sakura could finally feel the fibers in her muscles stiffen and cramp. She pushed forward, promising her legs she would take a break at the next clearing.

Sakura's patience was worth it because after about twenty minutes of pushing her limbs past their limits, she happened across a clearing conveniently by a stream. She felt better knowing that she had managed to find a clean water source, something especially rare in cold climates.

She landed in the center of the clearing, staying in a crouch while she stretched her chakra out. Except for a few bugs and forest critters, Sakura was entirely alone. She set her packs down by a rock and proceeded to ease her stiff muscles. She stretched her back, feeling each vertebrae pop as they spread out. She devoted the next ten minutes to stretching her legs, and oh boy, did she need it. When she bent forward to simply touch her toes, her legs yelled at her. Sakura worked through the protests of her legs and managed to relieve most of the tension.

She sat on the rock, drawing medical chakra to her hands, massaging her legs with the chakra-covered hands, increasing blood flow to reduce lactic acid build up and prevent soreness later on. The taut muscle fibers relaxed and her capillaries opened with her chakra's coercion. Her legs felt hot as blood rushed through her legs.

Pulling her bag to her, Sakura began to rummage through its contents, looking for the soldier pills she stocked up on before leaving. Finding the small container, she popped one of the grey pills in her mouth, cringing at the bitter taste of the pill as she swallowed it. But, within moments, her chakra climbed to its normal level, and she was ready to start up again.

Before she left the clearing, Sakura remembered that she had wanted to take advantage of the stream about twenty meters away to refill her water supply. She walked through the forest brush, pushing branches out of her face so she wouldn't get swatted in the face.

"Kami, I'm sick of all this traveling," a man sighed, followed by a grunt from another person. Sakura froze. Voices? Sakura's mind frantically ran through her earlier check at the clearing. She had sensed some insects and the occasional rabbit, but she hadn't sensed humans anywhere. Even now, she couldn't feel any sort of chakra signature. How did I miss them in my scan? Sakura thought, simultaneously hoping they were civilians, and they missed her scan because of their low chakra levels.

Sakura carefully placed each step on the forest floor, making sure not to step on any twigs as she closed in on the stream to see the voices' owners. She crouched and lowered her body as close to the ground as possible so the brush could cover her. The stream was within a few meters, and Sakura saw two men crouching on the river's edge, refilling their water bottles. From the weapon pouches strapped to their legs and the grey flak jackets, Sakura nixed her hopes of encountering simple civilians or even merchants.

Without revealing her own chakra signature, Sakura leaked a miniscule amount in order to perform a simple concealment jutsu. With the few drops of chakra and a hand sign, Sakura's image faded, and she blended into the greens and browns of the forest. She crept closer so she could hear them better.

"Shouldn't we have run into her by now?" the man on the right said, turning to his partner. Sakura thought for a moment that they meant her, but they couldn't have. She was on an unofficial mission, therefore there wasn't any documentation of her location, and Tsunade was the only one who verbally knew where she was. Even in her letters to Team 7, she never once mentioned her destination. There was no way these two men could know where she was headed and follow her.

The left man sighed. "Yeah, we definitely should have. The damn bitch must be running faster than we calculated." Just as the man finished talking, a short series of whistles came from the forest, and the two men immediately stood up, running to the direction of the whistles.

Sakura couldn't pinpoint the origin of the whistle, so she followed the two shinobi. But, when they ran in the direction she came from, she suddenly didn't feel it was such a crazy idea that they were talking about her.

Switching to higher grounds to get a better view, she put her back against a tree trunk and leaned out a few inches to get a visual. She was concealed with a jutsu, but the added caution couldn't hurt.

Three men were standing in the clearing she had landed in earlier. One of the men was holding her pack, which he then tipped over, spilling the contents on the grass. The same man turned around, spinning to look around the clearing. "You won't last very long out here without supplies, will you, little girl?" he laughed, "Come on out! We know you're there!" Sakura didn't respond, but the man looked at his teammates and flickered his eyes in her direction. Shit!

She ran.

Sakura mind rushed. Forcing her legs to move faster, she powered her legs with tons of chakra. They already detected her, so there was no point in hiding her chakra or keeping up her camouflage jutsu at this point. The bag was a lost cause, so Sakura left it in the clearing as she ran north, still attempting to cover some ground to Kumogakure while escaping the three shinobi.

Sakura may be incredibly strong and intelligent, but as far as speed went, she was only slightly above average for a jonin. She wasn't proud of it, especially considering how many strengths she had compared to this one weakness, but it was times like these that she wished she trained more with Lee; his daily routine of one thousand laps around Konoha was nothing to mess with.

Still confused about why she couldn't sense their chakra still, she looked behind her for visual confirmation. Sure enough, the three shinobi were only twenty meters behind her and quickly closing that gap. Their faces were definitely not friendly, and they had weapons in each hand, no doubt to be aimed at her.

Sakura knew it was only a matter of time before they closed the gap and starting attacking her. She gave up on powering her legs via chakra – it was wasting energy she would need if she had to fight – and redirected it towards her feet and hands. On the next branch, she planted her feet down, coming to an abrupt halt.

The three men ran past, but realized their mistake too late; Sakura was now running behind them. She drew three shuriken in her right hand and aimed them at each shinobi. Two of them were deflected, but the third one was too fast and lodged itself in the neck of one man. The shuriken had slide in between the vertebrae in the neck and had severed the spinal cord. She threw a kunai at the same spot, jamming the shuriken all the way through the man's neck, partially severing it from his body. One down.

The other two that had deflected her shuriken had split, seeking cover. She jumped to higher branches, trying to spot them without sensing their chakra. She couldn't find one of the remaining shinobi via chakra or sight, but the other had gotten lazy with their hiding spot.

From her higher branch, she could see one of them half hidden behind a trunk, fumbling with a bottle. Soldier pills, Sakura identified as she saw the man slip a grey ball past his lips. She didn't want to eliminate the lazy one – he'd be good for questioning once she got rid of his teammate.

She released a measured amount of medical chakra to her hands and performed a series of hand seals. With the last seal, she slammed her hands down onto the branch she was crouched on. Channeling her chakra through the branches, she directed the stream through the trunk, into the ground, and up the roots of the tree the shinobi was on. If her sight was correct, the man was leaning on the trunk – an observation that was necessary for this jutsu to work. The chakra seeped from the trunk of his tree into the base of his neck. Sakura smiled.

She wrapped the stream of chakra around his spinal cord. The stream traveled up the spinal cord, through is brain stem, and stopped at his motor cortex. There, the chakra constricted the site, depriving it of oxygen and therefore paralyzing the man. From her branch, she could see the man convulsing, but he eventually stopped moving. She released her chakra. He was alive – barely – but he wouldn't be a problem for questioning later.

Now that the man was immobilized, Sakura focused her attention on locating the third and last shinobi. Before Sakura could stand from her crouch, the man attacked her, the swish of leaves the only warning of his arrival.

He came at her with a ninjato sword which Sakura blocked with a kunai. She held the kunai with her right arm while her left one reached for another one from her pouch. The shinobi backed up only to slash the ninjato at her again, but this time her kunai couldn't handle the weight of the blow, and they were flung from her hands. Resorting to taijutsu, she swung her chakra-laden fist at the man, aiming for vital areas. In an attempt to dodge one of her hits, hit grip loosened on the ninjato, and Sakura quickly swatted the sword away, satisfied when she heard it hit the ground. But, the loss of his weapon didn't deter his attacks. Assuming a similar taijutsu stance, he began attacking again.

She had to give the shinobi some credit; he was very skilled in taijutsu. Every time she whipped her hand towards the man, her attack was easily parried. But, she defended his attacks just as well. Attack after attack, the two remained in a stalemate. Their hands were locked together as they pushed against each other, trying to force the other back. Sakura planted her feet in the ground and forced as much chakra as she could to her arms. She cried out as her muscle fibers were overloaded with chakra, the muscle fibers shocked from the sudden flood of power.

She bit her lip and ignored the pain, not letting the chakra go to waste after all this work. She unplanted her right foot to try and get a better angle, but the man quickly took advantage of her decreased leverage and pushed her down a few inches. Trying to get some sort of momentum, she swung her leg back as far as she could in this hold and kicked the ground. A large fissure opened between them, and the two of them were thrown apart from the burst. Accustomed to this, Sakura was the first to recover her footing and attack again. Luckily for her, sudden fissures weren't something the shinobi was used to, and he held his head with one hand and steadied himself against a tree with the other. She ran towards the man, and before he could respond, she pulled both arms behind his back, bending them upward to strain the joints. Finally getting a chance to reach into her weapon pouch, she pressed a kunai to his neck.

The man stilled as his eyes tentatively looked at the blade from the corner of his eye. A few drops of blood ran down his neck.

Realizing she couldn't let go of the man, she gave up on question the paralyzed one she left behind; this one would do just as well. The man grunted and smirked, but before he could say anything, Sakura pressed the blade harder into his neck. "One of your teammates is dead, but the other is just paralyzed. If you answer my questions and cease all attacks against me, I will let you go and heal your remaining teammate. Do we have a deal?" She narrowed her eyes at the man. "What's in it for me?" The man said.

"I believe your life is an adequate incentive, don't you think?" Sakura returned. The shinobi's gaze met hers and stared at her for a long moment. Sakura didn't blink as the man assessed her words.

The man's posture relaxed. "Get the damn kunai off my neck," he grunted. Sakura's eyebrow quirked up. "I can't talk to you with that damn this cutting me."

"I have your word that you will comply? We have a deal?" Sakura asked, lessening the pressure of the blade, but not removing it yet.

"Yeah, we have a deal," the man nodded. Before releasing her kunai, Sakura reached down and removed his weapons pouch and backpack. She back up from the man, still holding her kunai up in a defensive stance.

"If you have any weapons on you, now would be the time to remove them. I will kill you and your partner if I see a weapon on your person," Sakura ordered. From personal experience, she knew that a large part of personal weapons for a shinobi are hidden within their clothing, and she wasn't stupid enough to talk with the man with things still hanging around in his pockets. The man smirked and slowly began removing kunai, shuriken, scrolls, exploding tags, senbon, and other weapons within the folds of his clothing.

The man held his hands out and turned in a circle slowly. "Happy?" he asked, his voice thick with sarcasm. Sakura gave the man one last look and nodded. The man sat down at the base of the tree, and Sakura lowered herself to a kneeling position.

"Who are you – where are you from?" Sakura asked.

"I don't really see why my name is important, but its Yaku, and I'm from Kumogakure," he said, sighing.

"Alright, Yaku, tell me why are you suddenly so compliant to answer questions when minutes ago you and your team were trying to kill me," Sakura said, but her brow furrowed as the man started to laugh, "I don't see what's so funny."

Yaku shook his head. "We had no such orders to kill you – Konoha shinobi, yes, but there are a few that have been listed as exceptions. You, my dear, are one of the lucky exceptions." He explained. I'm an exception? Sakura thought. She had no idea why the Raikage would make her an exception to his kill-on-sight order.

"Was that Killer Bee's doing?" She asked, then realized she hadn't meant to ask that.

Yaku laughed. "Look, I'm just a tracker – I only know so much. They sent me out because last night we got information about a certain pink-haired medic making her way through the northern countries. A few towns reported seeing a pink-haired girl, so we pin-pointed your location and followed you from there. We had no intent on engaging you until found us." He paused for a moment to look at her. "Our mission was to get you to Kumo – alive. That's really all I know, so can you please release my one living teammate?" He asked her.

It was then that Sakura how exhausted he was. She considered his words. It seemed like he was telling the truth; there were no changes in his vitals and his body language showed absolutely no signs of deceit. But, it mystified her that the Raikage was keeping his shinobi so poorly informed and sent them on missions blindly looking for people. But, her gut told her that Yaku was telling the truth about the Raikage wanting her alive.

"What would happen if I didn't go to Kumogakure?" She asked.

Yaku gave her an odd expression "For starters, you'd be an idiot. Even if I didn't bring you to Kumogakure, the Raikage has hundred of teams looking for you; one of them is bound to bring you there." Damn. Sakura had no idea there was an all out hunt for her.

"Wait, how did you know where I was going? Only the Hokage knows that," she wondered out loud.

The man frowned. "We had no idea where you were going, just that you left Konoha." Sakura didn't know how they knew, but she doubted this guy had the answers; all he knew was his mission, and nothing more.

Knowing that this team probably wouldn't be the first she would encounter on the rest of her trip to Kumogakure, she realized that her best bet was to use Yaku and his teammate to get into the country. They would have fulfilled their mission, and she would be alive and in Kumogakure if his words held true.

"Here's what's going to happen: We are going to pretend that you captured me. Your dead teammate was an unfortunate loss in apprehending me, however, you and your remaining teammate survived with minimal damage. You get to fulfill your mission, and I get my entry into Kumogakure without further harm. Deal?" Sakura proposed.

Yaku smirked. "Deal."

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully, I will be getting more time to work on this as my college prep list get closer to completion. I would really appreciate any reviews! Thanks for reading!