A/N:

Woooho, So my school got two days off, yesterday was because of the abnormally large pollution in the air (that is still going strong) and today because of CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to everyone that celebrates this wonderful holiday, I don't but I have a lot of friends that do. So yeah guys Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year if I don't update next week.

Oh my God, you guys! Thank you a lot for all of the reviews, the follows and the favorites. They keep me pumped up!

I don't own Naruto.

Recap:

He could see the sparkle in her eyes. Interest.

"Of who, Hokage-sama?"

"Legends, Sakura-chan."

There was a moment of silence. Her parents glanced at each other, then to their child staring at her feet. Her eyes were covered by her bangs as she stood rooted in place.

Before the Hiruzen could say anything to crush the tense atmosphere the girl slowly rose her chin and her eyes bore into his. The fire burning even stronger.

"Then I'll have to make sure I don't fail you, Hokage-sama."

He could see them all inside her, but he felt saddened. She wanted to be the best, the strongest shinobi, but at what cost? He hadn't asked her anything yet, choosing to wait for the right time, she was still young, there is time. He wanted to know what drove her to it. Where did the determination come from.

For now, he would wait.

It was the middle of her second year at the Shinobi Academy, and Sakura was as determined as ever. She was currently at the library taking notes on herbs. Her mother and father both agreed that it was the time for her to start her training in the arts of healing. To be the best she needed to have all the skills she could benefit from.

'Hmm, who knew there was so much to Chamomile.' Her hand flew across the paper writing short but well made notes so that she could review on them later. Flipping the page she scanned the next one quickly before a cough caught her attention. Her eyes rose from her book and settled on a male around 20-23 years. He had brown hair to his chin that was covered with his forehead protector like a bandanna. He was dressed in a standard Jonin uniform.

When he turned towards her she saw he had his bangs styled to fall in between his eyes and when he focused his black eyes on hers she saw the dark bags bellow them.

'Is he sick? Does he have trouble sleeping?' Her eyes roved over his form not noticing any discomfort. 'Not that he would willingly show it, he's a jonin, he's trained to hide it.'

Seeing his pointed look at the seat across from her she gestured with her hand that it was available to him. He approached it with no noise and settled with ease in to the plush chair. Dropping a few scrolls on the table and picking one out of the pile he opened it and started to read, dismissing her with the action.

Observing him for a few moments more she also turned back to her own material.

Hayate was sure they were there for almost an hour and a half and the girl had already went over 10 books. He came to the library with the intention of checking out the new scrolls brought in that contained some info on kenjutsu. He was a master in kenjutsu and he liked to polish it while also adding some new tricks to his arsenal once in a while.

His eyes went over the book spines reading the different titles that were all connected to herbs. He wondered who she was and how he had not noticed the pink hair earlier. He could swear that he this was the first time he saw someone carrying that hair color.

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest. He knew she knew he was observing her. Try as she might to hide it but he saw her neck and jaw twitching, her eyes squinting ever so slightly, wanting to observe him too.

After a few minutes of silence and careful observation on his side, her sigh broke the atmosphere. Here eyes caught him of guard. He could see the annoyance swimming at the edges but what took his breath away was the flames dancing in her eyes. With a blink of his eyes the flame disappeared but he could see the determination clear as day.

The one thing Hayate lived for was to protect the Village and it's citizens. He always respected people who thought the same as him and carried the Will of Fire proudly. The smile stretching on his lips seemed alien to him. 'When was the last time I smiled?' The thought didn't stop the smile forming.

The girl rose one pink eyebrow at him before placing her hand in between them. "My name is Haruno Sakura, shinobi-san."

Grasping her tiny hand in his large one he could already feel the scars from training marring the skin. "Hayate Gekko, Haruno-san, it is a pleasure."

Meeting the ninja in the library, Gekko-san, was an unexpected development but not an unwelcome one. He was a special jonin, a master at kenjutsu. He gave her some tips on kenjutsu that she immediately imprinted on paper for future reference when she starts to train in that area. He agreed that she was still young and that her form should grow a little more before she started on it.

He had written in her notes a few titles of books that could be found in their library once she starts and she thanked him with sincerity that gave him a little shock. He could see she starved for information and everything someone gave her, that was useful in continuing her path, was greatly appreciated.

She also copied some of her notes for him on herbs that could sooth his cough and help him with his sleeping disorder.

They said their goodbyes a little after six in the evening and went their separate ways.

She took the path towards her home and speed to her room to drop of her things and change her clothes in to a dark blue long sleeved shirt and dark green shorts. Combing her hair and allowing her grinning father to place a cherry blossom shaped hair pin on the top of her head to hold her bangs, she threw a glance at herself in the mirror and followed her parents outside.

Both Ino and Sakura groaned hearing their fathers laugh. They were currently in Ino's bedroom catching up and checking out the new fashion trends. Every time their families would make dinner plans at each others place, once a week and every week it was eather Sakura's or Ino's house, their fathers started behaving like some old men with a horrible sense of humor no one understood beside themselves.

Sakura slapped her forehead hearing her fathers laugh abruptly being changed in to choking noises. 'Laughing with his mouth full? Momma's gonna kill him.' As soon as her thought was finished she heard a loud bang that suspiciously sounded like a pan hitting someone over the head. She rolled her eyes in unison with Ino and both girls went back to surfing the magazine.

"I can't believe you came to my place in that! You still have so much to learn."

"Oh come on Ino, what's wrong with my outfit now?"

"Dark blue shirt and dark green shorts? And both plain! Like, eeew~."

"What?! What's wrong with my color combo? And there is nothing wrong with plain. Besides these are the colors of the standard Konoha shinobi uniforms."

"I know! They're gross! I'm never wearing that uniform. So unflattering."

"Well you can always stop at genin, Piggy. No one's forcing you."

The sassy remark Sakura was expecting never came. Instead, silence followed as Ino sat up from her belly pose and looked down at her hands.

"Ino?"

"Hey Sakura-chan, what do you think about being a ninja?"

The question was something she didn't expect, but she answered nonetheless. "I think it is the greatest honor any Konoha citizen could have."

"I don't want a text book answer, I want your real opinion Sakura."

This time it took her longer to answer. She could see her friend was doubting herself.

"I think, to me, it is something that can help me greatly in finishing my goal."

Ino's nose scrunched up as she shook her head from side to side, confused.

"Your goal is to be stronger than everyone else, so of coarse you would need to be a ninja to that, but that wasn't what I asked you Sakura-chan. I need to know why someone should be a ninja."

She could see that Ino was actually trying to find a good reason for being a ninja. Something must have happened to shake her belief.

"Ino-chan, I admit that my goal was only to be the strongest in the beginning, but now.. It hasn't changed but I found why it would benefit to be the strongest."

Ino leaned over towards Sakura and anxiously waited for her to continue.

"If I were the strongest then I could help protect the people I care about and their home. People like my okaa-san, otou-san, your mom and dad, you..other people I'll bond with. I'll be the strongest so I will be able to preserve those bonds and make many more. I'll be the strongest to protect the Village we all call home and make sure we all grow old together and make as many happy memories as we can so that one day we can sit and not worry about...anything!"

Ino could only watch her friend in awe while she talked about her dream. She never knew how strongly she felt about it. It gave her a sense od peace knowing that her best friend, that was like a sister to her, would be so strong. Most importantly it made her realize that Sakura was growing up faster than all her peers, both in mind and body. It saddened her greatly, realizing what her fathers words meant. He stressed the importance of enjoying your childhood before you're shipped of on missions.

Her eyes watered as she flung herself at her sister, wrapping her hands around her neck and hiding her face in her hair.

Poor Sakura didn't know what happened and hugged her as she cried.

"Don't worry Ino-chan! I'll always be here! I'll protect you from everyone so you don't need to cry! Ino!"

The panicked voice only made the blond haired youth cry harder. She knew Sakura was confused by her reaction and her words didn't make her feel any better.

"Arigatou, Sakura-chan!"

It was the moment Ino and Sakura switched positions. Ino was no longer her idol but Sakura was definitely hers.

The group of parents in the living room heard all. Mebuki and Kizashi were both looking at the plush, lavender colored carpet and Inoichi was staring at his wife.

Inoichi understood what had happened to Ino. He had talked to her today about the real truth of being a ninja and the dark sides of it. He knew she was a little shaken but what Sakura had said shocked him greatly. The girl his daughter had brought home almost 2 years ago was nothing like the girl standing strongly behind her words in Ino's bedroom.

He rubbed his neck awkwardly trying to somehow brake the solemn atmosphere that had fallen over them but both his friend stood with apologetic smiles and he realized how much hurt they were carrying. Standing up with them he placed a hand on one of their shoulders and nodded at them, showing he understood. They both smiled brokenly and his heart skipped a beat wondering how he would've felt if his baby girl started this path.

"I think Sakura-chan should sleep over at our place tonight. It seems both girls need each other tonight."

Kizashi nodded at him before they walked to the door separating, this time, with no hugs but only a murmur of words.

Closing the door Inoichi glanced at his wife signaling he would deliver the news.

Waking up the next morning, Sakura found herself tightly wrapped in her friends embrace. She untangled their bodies easily and stood up to do her usual morning routine. She slept over at Ino's quiet often so she had spare clothes and a toothbrush.

Finishing she woke Ino up and dragged her to the bathroom to get ready. Once they were both dressed they went downstairs to eat breakfast with the blonds mother and father chatting happily.

Sakura would never forget last night, or Ino's tears. That was the firs time she had seen her cry and she promised to herself that she would try her best not to see it again.

The next time she had seen Itachi it was at the market with his younger brother at the tomato stand. Watching him from the distance she could see the stress lines marked his cheeks deeper than ever before. She could see in his eyes that he was tired, both physically and mentally. A large burden weighting him down.

She approached them and he fixed his attention to her while smiling softly. As soon as Sasuke noticed his brother wasn't commenting on his story his eyes went up to his face and than in search of what had captured his interest. When he noticed it was his pink haired seatmate his hand gripped his big brothers with more force and Itachi took note of it.

Sakura greeted them both accordingly and received a scoff from Sasuke and a nod from Itachi.

"How are you Itachi-san? I haven't seen you in a long time."

"Ah, Haruno-san, I'm as good as I can be. Ah, I have been quiet busy with missions."

"That is good to hear. I guess being in ANBU isn't all that dandy?"

"You'd be surprised, Haruno-san."

Seeing the slight tensing of the skin around his eyes, Sakura knew it was not dandy, not dandy at all, more like hell. Her eyes wandered over to Sasuke who was seething in anger and glaring at her.

"How are you Sasuke-san? I see you must have been practicing." True enough, his mouth and the area around it had slight reddening on it, burns, and his fingers were wrapped in bandages.

He suddenly felt weary small at her observations. What was it with this girl? Why does she always make him feel so insignificant.

"I meant no offence, Sasuke-san. I think it is very praiseworthy that you are taking the life of a ninja seriously." The comment made him blush and he shuffled his feet in the dirt while murmuring a soft 'thank you'.

What the hell? Why was he shy all of a sudden. Try as he might the comment made him feel warm inside and his cheeks heated up.

Itachi chuckled at his brothers antics and faced the girl again, finding her already staring at him. She mouthed to him to seek her out when he was free before she said her farewell and turned around.

He would do just that, she seemed a lot more mature than she was the last time he'd seen her. And she also reminded him of himself, a little too much. She seemed like a prodigy so he also wondered how no one had spotted her yet.

What Sakura hated the most was lying. So when she met Naruto in the park, alone and bruised, on her way back home from the library she did not appreciate when he answered her question of 'What happened to you?' with a 'I feel from the swing?' like it was a question and looking everywhere besides her.

She asked him once more, giving a closer look at his wounds and realizing there were also scratch marks littered here and there, her mind processed that they were wounds made by a human. Someone had beaten him.

The anger that came roaring from deep inside of her made her grab naruto by the shirt and pull him up from the swing to his feet so that she could stare at him in the eyes.

"Who did this to you?" The growl coming from her mouth made Naruto flinch back and cower from her.

Realizing she was scaring him and seeing his eyes water like Ino's had a few nights ago made her grab his arms and move them before hugging him.

"Naruto I just want to know who did this to you. I won't hurt you I promise."

He stood frozen for a few moments and when she started to loosen her hug his hands wrapped themselves around her body and held tightly at the material covering her back.

"Why?" The raspy and shaky voice that reached her ear made her hug him tighter.

"Because you are my classmate Naruto-san, and a citizen of the Village I am born to protect! And no one deserves this, Naruto! So tell me who did this to you and why?"

"I don't know!" The cry from his mouth made her freeze. He cried on her shoulder and she held him running her hand through his hair just like her momma and papa did to her before.

"I don't know, Sakura-chan! Everyone hates me and almost everyone is scared of me! I don't know why! I never did anything horrible!" The devastated boy cried as hard as he could.

"I'm not a monster, Sakura-chan! I'm not!"

"I know Naruto, don't worry."

It was almost half an hour later after he stopped crying and his eyes were puffy and red. She took him by his hand after hearing a growl from his tummy and dragged him towards her house. As she dragged him she could see his wounds were almost healed.

"W-where are we going Sakura-chan?"

"To my house."

The abrupt stop almost made her shoulder pop out of it's socket. She turned around to see her classmates fearful eyes locked on hers.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Sakura-chan."

"Nonsense, don't make me drag you by your ears, we need to clean off that dirt and blood of you anyway."

Her mother greeted them at the door but her eyes were zeroed on Naruto's small form shielded by her own body.

"Okaa-san, I brought a friend from my class home."

"O-ohayo, Sakura-chan's mom." The wobble of his lip made Sakura shift behind him and push him inside her house.

"Come on, Naruto, we can't stand here all day."

Her mother's gaze was cold and she only nodded at him before moving towards the kitchen. As she led Naruto inside, after they took off their shoes, she could hear her mother talking to her father and when they almost entered the living room she heard her momma whisper 'Monster'. She knew Naruto had also heard as she felt the grip on her hand slacken and his shoulders slump.

Feeling the anger bubbling inside her she pulled Naruto with her to the kitchen, startling both adults as the door slammed in to the wall with the force she kicked it open.

Pushing Naruto in front of her she pointed at him. "He is not a monster! He is my classmate and a boy my age who just likes pranking people for some sort attention. I didn't know pranksters were so horrible!"

Her parents looked at each other before looking at their daughter before hearing sniffles coming from the boy. Sakura pulled her classmate close to her knowing that he needed it.

"Arigatou, Sakura-chan!" He squeaked out barely before crumbling apart in the kitchen of the Haruno family.

Sakura glared at her parents telling them they were awful for making him cry. The glare their daughter projected on to them stung but the cries of the small boy in her arms tugged at their heart strings.

Mebuki's motherly instincts kicked up in to gear realizing how much the boy was hurting before she approached them. The distrustful glare of her daughter made her steps falter but she continued finding determination. 'I'll prove to my Sakura-chan that she should never doubt me!'

Crouching behind Naruto and placing a hand on her shoulder drew out a reaction no one expected. He screamed 'No!' and slapped her hand before trying to run outside but in his haste he tripped over his own feet falling to the ground and curling in on himself.

'Did he think I was gonna hurt him? I would never!' Seeing the small form on the ground her heart bled. 'Oh, I'm a horrible person.' She came closer to him and scooped him up in her arms not allowing him to escape once he started to struggle but only holding him closer and rocking him back and forth.

"You okay?"

Naruto nodded at his pink haired friend snuggled in a green blanket on the couch next to him. He clenched the identical one wrapped around his shoulders and stared at the hot chocolate in a yellow cup steaming on the table in front of them.

After his outburst he fell asleep in the older woman's arms only to wake up around nine o'clock in the evening with Sakura-chan shaking him awake with a pile of food in a large plate in front of him.

After eating and taking a bath they both sat in the living room with warm drinks in front of them. Her parents came in the next moment carrying a tray filled to the brim with snacks.

They all sat in silence for a while before Kizashi turned towards Naruto. Not being used to the attention of adults, well not normal one, he shrunk in to his blanket.

The man with dark, almost purple, pink hair styled to resemble a cherry blossom sighed and leaned closer to Naruto.

"We are sorry Naruto-kun. We hope you can forgive us and we promise that this will never repeat again."

"Of course I'll forgive you ojii-san! Don't worry!" The loud answer made Kizashi and Mebuki slightly cringe but they both smiled at the young boy.

"Ne, Naruto-kun, how about you sleep over tonight? It's too late for you to go home alone."

"I-I'd l-like that very m-much! T-thank you!"

I sure got busy with this chapter. I wanted Sakura to meet new people and I wanted to seal the bond between her and Ino, also to begin Sakura's and Naruto's bond. I mean Naruto already finds her as a friend but she still needs more time to see how truly wonderful Naruto is.

Anyways to answering the reviews:

rainingblood666:

Yes, I will be keeping her med-nin background. I've always felt drawn to characters that had healing abilities, idk why. With a goal as big as hers in mind she will most definitely be a bad ass chick! Yeayyyaa! I'd like to thank you for your review and I do hope you'll like how she turns out in the end!

Ketsurui15:

Waah! Thank you! Every review makes me really happy. I'm glad you find this story a good read. Thank you for you review!

bookmaniac849:

Thank you, darling! It's always a pleasure to hear from you. Ah I think so too, that this is my most promising one. I do hope I'm not fooling myself hahah. I'm glad you like it, darling. I'll try and update as soon as I can. Thank you for the review and I truly hope you'll see this story till the end and that I won't disappoint.

Oh she'll show them, you can count on that! Thank you for the review!

silverwolfighter00:

Well, this is the update you've been waiting for! I hope I did good. I'm glad you like my story, it makes me really proud of it! Hope you enjoy reading it till the end!

I apologize for any grammatical errors that I have made, if there are any, but still.

Don't forget to review!

Till next time guys!