Prologue II: Let's Go! The Hidden Leaf's Pink Kunoichi Makes Her Appearance!
"The Naruto Retrieval Mission was a failure," Shikamaru sighed, scratching the back of his neck. Choji and Neji were in critical condition, and Kiba, Akamaru, and Sasuke were to be confined in bed for a few days. "Lady Hokage, I don't deserve to be a chunin if the mission went so badly like this."
Tsunade, who stood before the squad captain with her hands on her hips, raised her eyebrow at him. "You're right, Shikamaru, the mission was a failure. Naruto got away, and now he's joined forces with the Akatsuki. But your team is still alive, and they were all genin. Thanks to you, we know more about this mysterious organization. You have a brilliant mind, and we need someone like you as a chunin. And hopefully in the near future as a jonin."
"She's right," a weak voice said from the open door next to them. Shikamaru and Tsunade turned to see Sasuke peering at them through the gap of the ajar hospital door. Dark circles formed under his eyes, and his head was bandaged up like a mummy.
The Hokage frowned at him, furrowing her brow. "Sasuke! Get back to bed! How are you going to be able to heal properly when you're not resting?"
The Uchiha boy opened his door wider, leaning on its frame for support. "I'm sorry, Lady Hokage," he said. "But I couldn't help overhearing your conversation." He turned his dark eyes onto Shikamaru. "I was the one who failed," he said. "I was the one who lost against Naruto. I let him escape."
"A little ironic, don't you think?" the boy replied with a smirk. "You were able to beat Naruto all those years at the academy. But this time…" When he realized his facetious remark was offensive, he shut his mouth. "What I mean is, none of us ever expected Naruto to get so strong."
"You're wrong," Sasuke sighed. "You never expected it. I, however, was on his team. I saw how much he was becoming stronger. I should've-"
"That's enough, Sasuke," Lady Hokage barked. Her voice was firm, but underneath it was a melancholy understanding.
"Excuse me?" a small voice said from behind Tsunade. "Sasuke Uchiha has a visitor." Shikamaru turned and saw Sakura standing near the wall, clutching a daffodil with both of her hands.
"Sakura…" Sasuke whispered, averting his eyes from her figure.
"Sasuke," she said, looking at him with wide eyes. "I know what happened. Obviously if you saved Naruto, he'd be here. But he isn't… And you're hurt." As she was talking, fat tears had streamed down her face. She burst through Tsunade and Shikamaru and crashed into Sasuke, crushing him and the flower in her embrace. "I should've gone with!"
Tsunade nudged the chunin and nodded her head in the opposite direction of Sasuke's room. "Let's give them time to talk. Kakashi needs to speak with you anyway."
"S-Sakura," he gasped, "that hurts."
The pink-haired girl peeled away from him, sniffing and wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry, Sasuke." She handed him the daffodil before clasping her hands behind her back. Staring at the ground now, she said, "Ever since your team left to rescue Naruto, the rest of us back home have been training like crazy. Especially Hinata. You don't know what it's like to be left behind because you're too weak."
Sasuke shook his head, taking the girl's shoulder with his good hand. "Sakura. I didn't want you with us on that mission because I wanted to protect you- just like when Neji didn't want Hinata joining us because he wanted to protect her. It was dangerous, and Lady Hokage only wanted the very best genin. She would've preferred chunin and jonin, if they weren't already on other missions protecting the Leaf in its vulnerable state right now. Before, we didn't really know who the Akatsuki were." He narrowed his eyes and looked out the window to his left. "But now, we do. And they're a force to be reckoned with."
"What did they want with Naruto?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "When my brother came searching for Naruto while he was searching for Lady Tsunade with Lord Jeraiya, he said something about capturing the Nine Tails."
"As in-?"
He nodded. "They want the demon sealed within Naruto. They must've struck a deal with him in order to coax him into coming to them. I know my presence and Jeraiya's power must've made it hard for them to capture him easily."
"Speaking of Lord Jeraiya," said Sakura. "I saw him before I came to visit you. He said he was going to stop by later and talk to you."
"Yeah," he replied. "He was Naruto's master. I would imagine he has some things to say to me."
"Sasuke, why couldn't Naruto see what he had? We were all his friends. We took the time and effort to try and bring him back-"
"It's the Kyuubi inside of him," said Sasuke. "Knowing he could be a valuable military power, Naruto doesn't know who to trust anymore. He doesn't know who to call his friends, because he can't differentiate between the people who genuinely like him or just want to use his power."
"But what about us? We didn't know about the Nine Tails."
He sighed. "Everyone made fun of him all throughout our time at the academy. Although we played with him at times, it was the words of our parents that got to him. Remember? You were told not to play with that boy. And me- I felt like I was too good for anyone, especially him. I called him a loser all the time. And I deeply regret that."
"But Hinata-" she hesitated.
Her name hung in the air between the two genin. Hinata was the one who reported Naruto's departure. She was the last one to see him before he left the village for good.
"What's going to happen now?" she asked, redirecting the topic.
"We're going to get him back. Naruto pulled me out of my darkness. Now I have to drag him out of his."
"You seem a lot different, Sasuke." Sakura smiled at him. "You were so cold before."
"Yeah, but now I have other things on my mind other than revenge against my brother. I have friends to protect. I draw my strength from you. Sakura, Team 7 will be whole again in no time. We will get Naruto back."
"Sasuke, I've never seen you so positive like this."
"I'm not being positive, I'm being realistic," he said. "Naruto has wanted to be Hokage since he learned how to talk. He's worked hard to achieve his dream. If I was able to let go of my hatred, he can let go of his. I know him. We all know him."
Sakura nodded, smiling at the dark-haired boy. "Sasuke, if you ended up like that, I don't know what I'd do. I-" she hesitated, her inner Sakura giggling furiously at the thought of revealing her true feelings to Sasuke.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He knew nearly every girl had a crush on him, but Sakura was definitely his biggest fan. He had to sheepishly admit to himself, though, that he was kind of okay with Sakura fan-girling over him.
"Get some rest now, Sasuke," she said, clearing her throat after furiously blushing. "Now that I'm studying medical ninjutsu under Lady Tsunade, I'm going to be a lot stricter with you and your habit of getting hurt!"
Sasuke smirked. "Somehow I saw this coming. You were always the one to take care of us on missions."
"Yeah," she laughed. "Remember when you and Naruto overworked each other during the chakra control training?"
He reluctantly smiled at this. "Yeah, you were the only who was able to master it out of our team," he grudgingly admitted.
"I need to go now," she said, after seeing to it that he climbed back into bed. "I need to work hard if I'm going to become a great medical ninja like Lady Tsunade!"
"Thank you, Sakura, for stopping by," he said.
She went to the door and turned around. "I'm so glad you are like this, Sasuke. Losing a team member like this is hard, and it's reassuring to know that you can sympathize with me."
"Work hard," he said, "and become powerful. I want to fight you next." He threw her a wicked grin, letting her know that he recognized her as a true shinobi for the first time.