To Die A Hero

Chapter 02: Blood

Disclaimer: I own many things, but Naruto is not one of them.


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When she wakes up, she chooses to lie with her eyes closed, basking in the simplicity of awakening to the quiet peace of sunlight filtering through sheer curtains and the soft hum of the air conditioner. She spends quite some time like this, just resting in silence, before forcing herself to open her eyes and sit up. Her pink hair tumbles in curls and waves around her, a mass of tangles and knots that she'll need to comb out. She looks around, because even when waking up, a kunoichi is alert. She probes the area with her chakra and finds that the streets outside are quite crowded. The sunshine is bright, which means she's overslept. Not that she's on duty. But she usually prefers to wake up early, both to stay on schedule for early morning missions and to just relish the joy she finds in waking up just as the world around her does. But she was too tired for that today, apparently.

Yawning, she stretches, then begins to slide out of her bed, reaching to pull the covers away from her body so she can swing her feet onto the hardwood floors.

She freezes.

Her wrist is green.

She examines it more closely, and finds that it is specifically the scratch marks from the woman yesterday that have swollen into angry bulges. She frowns and runs her other palm along it, pushing chakra to her fingertips. She could have sworn she had healed these wounds yesterday... This only makes her scowl darker as she seals the punctures once more. Hopefully this time they'll stay sealed. But she'll be sure to mention it to her sensei, just in case.

She runs a hand through her messy pink locks, sighs, and gets up. She heads to the kitchen and makes scrambled eggs for herself. She goes about her daily morning motions, and soon, she's groomed and prepared for another day. She ties on her hitai-ate for the finishing touch, fluffs her pink hair behind it, and grabs her apartment keys off her countertop, sliding them into her weapons holster after locking the door behind her. Then she roof-hops to the Hokage's office, intent on receiving her mission for the day.

Even when she isn't officially "on duty," a kunoichi of her high caliber (Still not high enough, though, a voice whispers in the back of her head) always has duties to attend to in order to help keep her village running smoothly. Usually, this means she works shifts at the hospital, or runs errands for the Hokage or other high-ranking shinobi.

Sakura understands that, because of what's happened, she probably won't be sent on a mission any time soon, which means these remedial, but nonetheless essential, tasks will be hers to oversee for the next few days, possibly weeks. It all depends on what Tsunade says, if her shishou can figure out what's been done to her.

As soon as she walks in, Tsunade stands up sharply from her desk, dropping her pen on top of the paper she'd probably meant to sign.

"Close the door," she tells Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi responds immediately, twirling and shutting the door behind her. She pushes her hybrid chakra into the doorknob and sends it to the rims of the door, to trap sound so no one can overhear them. Even as she sends out a pulse of chakra to probe her surroundings, she senses Tsunade's own chakra searching the area for potential eavesdroppers as well.

Sakura knows this is not a good thing. If Tsunade finds it serious enough to not want anyone to hear what she has to say, her news is probably not good. And highly secret. And probably dangerous.

But she's a kunoichi, and so she steels herself for whatever her sensei is going to tell her.

The blonde woman runs a hand through her hair. It's a habit Sakura's picked up from her. Sighing, the Hokage sits down, signaling with a hand flourish for Sakura to take the seat in front of her. Sakura does, sitting on the edge of her seat, back ramrod straight, eyes focused and attentively trained on her shishou, who sighs and pushes her stacks of papers to the side.

"I did some research," Tsunade says finally.

Sakura knows this means that she spent countless hours last night pouring over scrolls and old documents, as well as assigning ANBU to do the same, hoping to glean something worthwhile from them.

She sees where this is going.

"You didn't find anything," she says. Tsunade nods.

"Nothing. Not in our archives, at least." She gestured with her hand. "I've sent a team to scour through Suna's files, but I doubt they'll find anything more than we have." She shook her head. "I've never heard of such a thing, not where the chakra binds to your own."

"Aa." Last night's events float through Sakura's mind, vision after vision of the battle, of the blood, of the bright moon against the night sky.

"She wasn't a ninja." Tsunade brings Sakura out of her reverie. "Her physique was impressive, but not up to shinobi standards, even those of a smaller village." Tsunade laces her fingers together, props her elbows on her desk, and rests her chin on her hands. The gesture reminds Sakura of Sasuke, but she does her best to ignore it. "And that being said, there was no indication that she came from a Hidden Village at all. We didn't find a single thing on her that gave any indication of who she was."

There is a pause in the conversation, before Sakura speaks.

"But you found something on her."

Tsunade closes her eyes, her brow creased slightly.

"We found something," she reiterates Sakura's words. "A map. There are directions scrolled in the corner of it."

Sakura looks straight into her shishou's eyes unwaveringly.

"Send me."

"No." The response is cutting, powerful and immediate. Tsunade shakes her head. "I'm not going to send you in alone like that. Not to a place we know very little about." Sakura opens her mouth to object, but Tsunade silences her with a stern look and continues speaking. "It's in the forest borders of Sound."

Sakura hears her breath hitch. So does Tsunade, who frowns, but says nothing about it.

Sound. Sasuke might be in Sound. He probably isn't, but even so, if she went to Sound, it would be impossibly easy to dig up details about Sasuke's whereabouts.

"She was looking for something. We don't know what. In addition, we don't know if she was working alone, or if she was one of many who intended on finding that something. We don't know where that something is, or if there's a trap involved. We don't know how many enemies she made, and if they have directions similar or identical to the ones she had. We don't know if they've already found what she'd been looking for"

If Sakura goes, she might still be able to break away and find Sasuke.

"No, you're not going alone."

This time Sakura picks up on Tsunade's hint. She recoils inwardly.

No.

NO.

"Your team has been assigned to search the area on the woman's map. Find what you can. You'll report back here tomorrow for the official mission details, but that's the gist of it."

Damn it.

She can't leave Naruto and Kakashi and Sai. Not like Sasuke left her, left their team.

She can't abandon a team. Not wholly assembled, not flesh-and-bone, not real people, right beside her. She was able to do it last night because they hadn't been there with her, but now...

She wonders if maybe Tsunade did wonder why Sakura was out yesterday night, if she'd somehow figured it out. It isn't a coincidence that her shishou is sending her on the mission, after all, with her own squad. Missions close to enemy territory require stealth, and the fewer members, the less likely detection is. Less is more.

But a kunoichi always obeys her Kage; even more than that, Sakura won't go against her sensei's direct orders. She respects her too much. It's Tsunade's training that brought Sakura from the sniveling, hidebound little girl she'd been three years ago to the highly skilled, deadly kunoichi she is now. She's learned how to punch, how to kick, how to fight, really fight, from this busty old blonde woman in front of her, and it means more than the world to her that Tsunade found something in her that was worth honing. Tsunade's word hits too close to home for Sakura to disagree with it.

So if Tsunade orders her to go on a team mission, she will go along with it.

"And now," said the Hokage, "Let's see exactly what you mean by fused chakras."

Sakura summons her own chakra mingled with the dead woman's to her palms.

And immediately, angry green swells on her wrist.

Startled, Sakura stops. Tsunade's somehow directly beside her now – how did she not notice that? she wonders to herself – and, lightning-quick, reaches out and grabs Sakura's hand. She turns it over, mumbles to herself.

"Do that again, Sakura," she commands, and Sakura does as she's ordered to, because a shinobi must always fulfill the mission.

Of course, she knows that the mission isn't as crucial as keeping one's teammates safe, as protecting the precious in your life, but she knows full well that mission success is still important.

Green flickers to life on her fingertips, but the swelling doesn't increase a second time. She sees Tsunade summon her own blue chakra to her fingers, running them along the scratch marks.

Sakura knows she's analyzing the tissue, and the potential causes of the swelling, and is coming up with the same thing Sakura did when she observed it this morning.

It's caused by the new chakra inside her.

Not that that really explains why it's swollen, just that it's the reason behind it. Most likely, Sakura figures it's her body's natural reaction to the chakra invading her system, like the body attacks viral infections. This means the swelling should go away within a couple of days if she leaves it alone, but since she'd healed it earlier, it didn't quite make sense. The wound hadn't existed after this morning; she'd eradicated it, healed it so completely that her skin around her wrist was smoother than the rest of her callused, worn body. But here it was again, after she'd brought her chakra to her fingers, summoned it into the physical realm. She had no clue why, though.

And apparently, neither did her Shishou.

Tsunade bit her lip and healed the wounds.

"Again."

So Sakura repeats the motion of gathering chakra at her fingertips. Green flares up like an angry bruise around her wrist, and again, Tsunade prods it with her blue chakra, sifting through the intertwined chi of Sakura and something foreign, but warm.

Multiple trials later, Tsunade is scowling when she finally allows her blue energy to dissipate into the air around her. It disintegrates with a soft hiss, melting like steam into its surroundings.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she says to Sakura's questioning gaze. She sighs and presses her palm lightly against her forehead, no doubt to alleviate the pain of the hangover she's probably dealing with right now. "Hopefully it should stop within a number of days." Tsunade moves to her desk and collapses on her chair, almost defeatedly. "You depart in a few hours. Meet with the rest of your squad before then to discuss the finer details. Kakashi will be leading you."

That, at least, brings a smile to Sakura's lips. She's been going on so many missions with Yamato-sensei lately, and she has nothing against him. But he's not Kakashi. He's not the enigma that avoided punctuality like a plague when she was a genin. Yamato never pets her head like Kakashi did (and still does), doesn't fluff her pink hair like one would a cat's. Kakashi-sensei knows who she was when she was younger, but he knows to treat her as she wishes to be treated, respects her more, in a way. Yamato can only base his advice to her off of who he's known since meeting her; Kakashi's advice spans her childhood and maturity.

"That's great."

Her sensei nods briefly, her mind clearly on another topic, before turning her eyes on Sakura.

"Be careful," she tells her pupil.

Sakura nods and bows, smile still gracing her lips, and it's not forced.

"I will," she says in reply. "Thank you."

Tsunade grunts in response, an unlady-like sound that brings Sakura upright again with a growing smirk. Tsunade notices it and rolls her eyes, waving her hand.

"Oh, get out of here," she says. Sakura giggles and turns around.

"And come back safe!" Her Shishou yells this right before Sakura closes the door.

And then, under a soft breath that she hopes her sensei can't hear, Sakura whispers, "Someday. I promise."

She turns, determined, and walks outside the Hokage's building. The sunlight is brilliant, shines in all its sunny glory down on her face, nearly blinding her in golden-white warmth, and her resolve is strong.

I promise.


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"Oi! Sakura!"

Naruto beckons her from a short distance away, arms waving obnoxiously at her as she approaches. Her backpack (a different one than last nights, which is still caked in crusted blood – she makes a mental note to wash it the moment she gets back) is secure, straps tight around either arm, weapons and scrolls and other supplies and clothes within it. She smiles to acknowledge her blonde friend.

It always takes her by surprise, to see him and have to look up at him. It's something she hasn't gotten used to since his return to Konoha: his height, the way he looms over her when she'd previously done so to him when they were younger. The change in perspective is what really takes her for a loop. She's never before had to acknowledge him as someone higher up than she, in more ways than one, and it's something she hasn't been able to get over. That's not to say it's a bad thing. It's done wonders for his looks, and makes him seem more mature, more powerful. He is more powerful. But he's definitely still the little idiot of years ago, only with an adult's frame now.

Still, her green eyes can't help but glance down at her own lanky limbs and judge. Too small, too scrawny, not strong enough, not good enough. What was it Naruto had told her? She's exactly the same. He's grown so much, but she hasn't. Never mind the shorter hair, the added muscle mass, the fact that her body has been through so much. She's still not there yet. She needs to grow. Needs to be able to look Naruto into the eye on the same level, no standing on tip-toe.

She needs to become stronger.

She's startled by the warm, foreign chakra. As her emotions reach a pique, the chakra floods her chakra vessels, invades every pore of her body, and she's engulfed in a calming warmth, like an embrace. A warm embrace.

Interesting. So it ebbs and flows based upon her emotional state.

This is good to know. Now she knows not to let her emotions get in the way on this mission, especially since it's dangerous. Sakura isn't stupid. The chakra can potentially help her – after all, she hasn't tested it out yet very much, but it works just fine when it comes to healing with her now-mingled chakra – but it could also potentially harm her. For instance, the green glob of ugly that's welling at her wrist again. Sighing, she reaches into her holster, grabs her gloves, and pulls them on to hide the swelling wounds.

Then she gives Naruto the biggest, most care-free smile she can.

"Hey!" she says back to him as she comes to a stop about a meter from him. Sai is here already; naturally, Kakashi is going to be the last one to the party. Not that she minds. The only one who was probably here on time was Sai; she and Naruto know to come no earlier than an hour late for something Kakashi-related. After ages of trial-and-error, she's got it down to an art.

"You look tired."

Her green eyes meet Naruto's concerned blue. She waves her gloved right hand dismissively.

"It's nothing," she lies. "Just up late talking to Ino."

Naruto makes a face.

"Why would you stay up talking?" he questions. "That doesn't make sense!"

Sakura rolls her eyes.

"Women are social creatures. They like to talk." Sai offers a valid point.

"Thank you, Sai," Sakura says, giving him a congratulatory smile. She knows he needs the encouragement. Positive reinforcement is good for children, and as socially-awkward as Sai is, he needs all he can get. Especially when he says something that doesn't grate on her. That deserves brownie points.

"In the books I've read-" Oh, dear, Sakura knows this is going to end with someone trying to hurt the artist; so much for positive reinforcement "- I've learned that women are nonsensical creatures that give in to their whims and fancies. Like talking late into the night."

Sakura takes a deep breath, exhales, and glares at the boy. He stares back blankly, and then gives a fake grin.

"Dont. Say. Anything. Else." Her words are laced with the threat of a pummeling. It's the one thing that cows all the men she works with: threats. Of a beating. From Tsunade's pupil.

It doesn't mean she always intends to punch them, but all the same, it gets them to obey her.

And while Sai keeps his facade of happiness up, he obliges, and doesn't speak again. He knows better.

"Sooo..." Quick to hop to another subject before heavy silence falls, Naruto drawls, "Do you think you know what we'll find?"

Sakura blinks. She realizes her teammates have probably been briefed on most of her story (minus the added chakra, which only Kakashi will know of) and are probably curious as to her thoughts. She doesn't know, though.

"My mind's been on other things, truthfully," she admits. "I haven't given it much thought."

She hasn't given it any thought. Not much besides a road that may lead to Sound. She doesn't know if her teammates are aware of the proximity of Sound to their specified mission location, but since Naruto hasn't mentioned Sasuke, she figures Tsunade most likely considers that to be classified information.

But then why did she mention it to Sakura? She inwardly frowns at this realization. It's troubling. Why would Tsunade keep it a secret from Naruto but not her?

Of course, the answer presents itself pretty quickly: Naruto would immediately divert their mission to go and attempt to rescue the Uchiha. But Sakura won't. This is why her shishou told her but not her blonde friend. It's simple. Someone has to know, but Naruto is too rash, and Sai doesn't know the importance of keeping a secret, especially one that would mean so much to his blonde friend.

But Sakura has put her love aside before. She tried to stop Sasuke once, and after that, she did not pursue him. To Tsunade, this is equivalent to putting her duty to the village over her emotions, and thus commendable. If someone needs to know on the team, it has to be someone who will only reveal it if complications arise, or if they are attacked by Sound ninja.

Sakura, of course, knows that she never put her village before her emotions. Not once has she ever done so, not completely. Kakashi has engrained it into them to place their teammates above the mission, and indirectly, this encourages placing personal relationships and feelings above all else. She stayed behind, but she burdened Naruto with her emotions. To this day, Naruto will actively search for Sasuke if the opportunity will arise, tossing aside whatever else he's been presented with, because of her selfishness. She can't burden Naruto again with that.

She'll find Sasuke, but on her own. Some other time. As long as she's with her team, she won't abandon them, because she firmly believes in what Kakashi has taught them. But, she also knows that in the end, no matter how hard she tries, she can never measure up – she'll never be a real kunoichi capable of placing her emotions away, tucking thm into the recesses of herself. In the end, she's a girl motivated by passion, and she'll do anything to bring Sasuke back. Without burdening Naruto or Sai or Kakashi. Once this mission is over, she'll leave quietly in the dead of night, like she did before, and hopefully, she won't encounter another woman who'll imbue her with invasive chakra.

"Oh." Naruto's words bring her sharply out of her thoughts. "Well, I hope we find a castle!" His blue eyes are alight with excitement. "And treasure and stuff! And then, we can fight off evil knights and save the kingdom!"

"Naruto, if a civilization were there, they'd be on the map," Sakura points out gently. "If we find a castle, it'll probably be an abandoned one."

His eyes widen comically. "Then we could search the ruins! That would be so fun!"

She has to smile. He's still so pure, so innocent despite the bloody, harsh shinobi world they reside in, and it's so admirable of him to see the world in such a childish, polarized way: enemies and heroes, glowing castles and ancient ruins. The world isn't like that, but he doesnt need to know this. It would somehow change him, if he truly saw that. She thinks so, anyway. She loves Naruto's simplicity. As long as Naruto is Naruto, she knows that all is right with the world, no matter what she's been through.

"Maybe, Naruto," she replies. "Maybe."

"Maybe what?"

Responding on instinct, the three friends turn as one, hair trailing behind them, to find their masked mentor staring at them. His small backpack is hanging from one shoulder, and his mask, as always, completely covers his left eye. His right is twinkling with a bit of amusement.

"Naruto is under the impression that we're headed towards some ruins." Sakura's the first to respond.

Kakashi's eyebrow raises.

"Perhaps," he says ambiguously, leaving Naruto's imagination to run rampant. "Everyone ready to go?"

The three teammates affirm this together with a unison "Hai." Kakashi nods approvingly, and turns around, looking back at them over his shoulder.

"Good." He raises his right hand slowly, and snaps his fingers, pointing in the direction of the village gates. "Let's go."

And they head out, walking together towards the location marked on the woman's map.


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A/N: Yay, an update! :D Thank you for your patience and support! School's a roller coaster for me right now... I'm just trying to juggle all my Pre-AP and AP classes so I can graduate, but alas, seioritis has struck hard. Don't worry, though, because that means I'm just writing more often than I should be! XD So it's not a bad thing for you guys, I guess. :P I really love this story, though. It's odd; I usually write for Hinata, but the really awesome stories for me are Sakura ones. I don't know why.

Anyways, I'm so glad you took the time to read this. Review, fave, and/or watch. Thanks!