A/N: Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Nartuo series…unfortunately :..(

Italics like this mean its thoughts in a characters head

Men of War

Ch. 4 Deserving

Sakura quietly stared at her ceiling; she was supposed to be sleeping. She rolled over on her bed and laid on her side; she sent the letter to Sasuke a couple days ago, she wondered if he got it yet. She tapped her fingers under her comforter; she wondered if she was being too forward. Sakura had become very comfortable with herself over the years but she had always lacked confidence when it came to guys. Her eyes darkened recalling the reason; she quickly shook her head trying to push the memory away. She gripped the sheets, took steady breaths, and tried to direct her mind on Sasuke again. It was hard to judge when the letter would reach him when she didn't know where he was but she knew it'd be a while till she got a reply. She gave a small sigh; she just really wanted to get to know him. They got along during quick interactions and phone calls but she didn't really know anything about him or what made him who he is. TenTen said he was practically emotionless but Sakura didn't get that impression from him; he certainly didn't seem like the hyperactive character Naruto was described to be…but he didn't seem emotionless. Sakura rolled over again and stared out her window; though no matter who he was she hoped he was safe. She gave a tired sigh knowing she had to work in the morning and closed her eyes trying to get some sleep.

_Iwagakure_

Sasuke gave a sigh as he sat against the ground and wiped some sweat off his face; it felt like the rocky, desert just kept getting hotter. He watched as Naruto tried not to chug a bottle of water; the team was starting to get dehydrated. Sasuke glanced to watch his brother give out orders; it was the first time Itachi had been in charge of his platoon during the war. Sasuke was mildly surprised when he first found out but he knew they'd be in good care under his brother; he missed being in charge giving him full access to the phone though. Sasuke caught a wet washcloth Kiba tossed him and quickly started wiping the sand off his face and hands; they really were at a disadvantage in that terrain. It was still early morning, almost 8am their time, and they were gearing up to take down a supposed weapon supply shop of the enemy's. There had been mild air surveillance since the war started and a lot of Iwagakure soldiers had been seen going in and out but always in small numbers. Whatever it was the enemy seemed to be relying on it so they needed to take it down, they just hoped that not much risk would come of the mission. If the building was weapon supply there was a possibility they could be walking into heavy fire. Somehow the thought didn't break Sasuke's calm composure but worrying thoughts were twisting through his mind. Iwagakure wasn't an underprivileged country; they had almost as much military weapons and forces as Konohagakure. Sasuke hated the idea but he was pretty sure it was going to be a long war. He gave a small sigh; he really hoped his friends and family wouldn't get caught up in a bloodbath.

Sasuke glanced up as they were whistled to start moving again; they needed to get to one more base before they could go after the possible weapon supply building. Sasuke quickly stood up and got into formation with his men and they began moving. They had about thirty men currently with them and two trucks; there weren't much important medical supplies but a lot of water and food. The soldiers carried plenty of ammo refills on them and there were two radio phones to connect to headquarters. One of the trucks had a detector for planes and other vehicles so they hoped to face no enemy surprises on their way to the base. Naruto glanced around as he held his gun firmly in his hands; he looked over to Sasuke, "I can't wait to get to base!"

Sasuke kept his eyes on the terrain, "Hoping for another letter from Hinata?"

Naruto gave a cheesy grin, "Yeah…if she writes one hopefully it'll be there before we leave."

Sasuke glanced over his men's actions, "Don't worry, she'll write."

Naruto's smile widened, "Maybe you should write Sakura-chan? I could ask Hinata-chan to get her address from her."

Sasuke paused a moment, "Does Hinata even know her? I don't think Sakura would offer out her address to a stranger."

Naruto kept smiling, "Of course! She checks on Neji a lot right? Then Hinata would have to know her, come on Teme! Make a move!"

Sasuke tried not to shift uncomfortably as he remained silent for a moment; Sasuke had never made a move on a woman before, "What makes you think she'll want to write me. She's a busy woman."

Naruto shook his head, "You're just making excuses Teme. I know you're just worried since you've never gone after anyone before."

Sasuke kept a stern face, "I have much more important things to worry about."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "You didn't deny it. Come on Teme I'm sure she'll appreciate the effort. You're in some crazy war but still care enough to take the time to write to her, girls love stuff like that."

Sasuke tensed his jaw; he still couldn't believe he was forward enough to even ask her out for coffee. Sasuke could take on the most dangerous situations with no fear but the idea of making a move to further a relationship made fear creep into his mind. Should he even be trying to go after Sakura? He was a soldier off at war and what kind of woman wanted to deal with that? Even the people that loved a soldier enough to deal with burdens of the job were faced with so many problems. To top it off they were at war now; did he really want to put Sakura through being attached to a man at war? Sasuke's eyes swirled with apprehension, "It's probably best I don't."

Naruto sighed and his face fell a little, "You deserve to have somebody to go back to just like the rest of us Sasuke."

Sasuke kept his face emotionless, "Let's just focus on getting back to base, that's an order."

Naruto watched as Sasuke walked a little faster to be a few steps in front of him. He gave a deep frown; he wanted to hit Sasuke. Sasuke always put his military life before his happiness and Naruto hated it. Sasuke used to think the only happiness that mattered was approval from his family but Naruto knew Sasuke was starting to believe otherwise. Sasuke still tried to force himself to think that way but Naruto saw the way Sasuke looked at Sakura at the military base before they left for war; it was really hard to see but Sasuke seemed happy. It was just a shred of joy deep in his eyes but it was something Naruto hardly ever saw in him. He wasn't sure what else was going on in Sasuke's head but he wasn't going to stop trying to convince him he deserved to go after Sakura.

_Konohagakure_

Hinata hummed as she walked through the halls of the hospital bringing up some better food for Neji; her eyes widened a little as she saw a certain shade of pink in the corner of her eyes. She quickly turned before the woman headed down a different hall, "Sakura!"

Sakura quickly stopped and turned around; she saw Hinata and gave a smile, "Hinata, you visiting Neji again?"

Hinata smiled as she walked closer to her, "Yeah I thought I'd give him some nicer food. I-I never got to say thank you for you're encouragement the other day; it made me very happy."

Sakura hugged her clipboard to her chest and gave a sweet smile, "You're very welcome, did you finally get a letter?"

Hinata's grin grew and pink dusted over her cheeks, "Y-Yes, that day actually. It looks like Neji-niisan was right."

Sakura's heart swelled overjoyed that Hinata got some returned feelings, "That's great, I'm very happy for you. You seem like a wonderful woman for somebody to be worthy of."

Hinata's joy grew at the compliment, "T-thank you…um…w-what do you usually do after work?"

Sakura tilted her head thinking about it and gave a small laugh, "Depends on my shift, regular work day I need to make dinner right after. After that is usually stuff like paying bills, reading up on medical material, watching the news…nothing too interesting."

Hinata watched as Sakura laughed off her lack of social life, "Well…TenTen and I were going to have dinner with a couple friends tomorrow…would you like to come?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows a little, "Um, yeah…sure that sounds great."

Hinata smiled back at Sakura's smile, "Great! Um , here's my number. I-I'll give you more details later."

Sakura smiled still feeling a little surprised as Hinata handed her one of her business cards, "Thanks, I look forward to it."

Sakura waved bye as Hinata went off to see Neji. She paused a moment before going back to her work; she could be making friends. She gave a small smile; she was friendly with a good bit of hospital staff but they didn't really hang out much outside of work. She had a best friend through medical school named Ami but they had a big falling out and Sakura decided to focus on her studies so she wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt again. It seemed that her connection to Sasuke was even making her friends.

_the next day_

Sasuke rolled his shoulders and stretched as they finally got to base; he was really looking forward to a good night's sleep before they headed out towards the possible weapon supply building tomorrow. Naruto quickly jogged past him and waved his hand, "Going to the mail room!"

Sasuke watched as Naruto charged inside with an incredible amount of enthusiasm as always. Sasuke slowly followed into the building trying to ignore the idea of letters and go see what family was in the temporary base. He saw his cousin Shisui and made brief conversation until he heard Naruto screaming his name down the halls. Sasuke gave a big sigh before stepping out the hall and looking in Naruto's direction, "Stop calling me by name here it'll get you in trouble."

Naruto held up a couple letters as he ran the rest of the way to Sasuke, "There's letters!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Yes Hinata wrote I go-"

Naruto cut him off, "You got a letter! Sakura-chan wrote you a letter!"

Sasuke stood stunned momentarily; he watched as Naruto held out the letter to him. He slowly took and looked over Sakura's handwriting. It really is her… He clenched his jaw and felt a sudden strong urge to read it. Naruto gave a big grin sensing Sasuke's reaction, "I gotta go read Hinata-chan's so I'll see you later!"

Sasuke watched as Naruto ran off to find a quiet reading spot. Sasuke glanced back down at his letter and gripped it in his hands. He quickly made his way to where he was sleeping that night and grabbed writing utensils on the way. Once he sat on his bed he paused in opening the letter; he didn't know what to think. He slowly opened the envelope and read the letter inside.

Hi Sasuke,

You probably weren't expecting this were you? I kind of wasn't either but watching Hinata get excited over her letter made me want to write you one. I know you can't call whenever you want and I can't call you but I wanted to see how you were. I hope you're sleeping better. You'll be happy to know Neji is really well; he's on a perfect way to recovery. The city is doing really well too rebuilding and making everyone feel as safe as they can. One of the places that got destroyed though is my favorite coffee shop so whenever you come home we'll have to go to yours. I want to say I hope you come back soon but I don't want it to be because you're injured. By the time you come back I should have my doctor license though! I hope Naruto is keeping you good company over there; I've heard a lot about him from Hinata and Neji. I got to meet your friend TenTen too she was really nice. I hope everything's going okay over there and you're not too stressed out; whatever's going on over there I know you're strong enough to handle it. I put a picture in the envelope to help keep your mood up, I hope it works. I hope you're safe and sound.

Sakura

Sasuke looked in the envelope again and found the picture; his heart softened a little at it. The picture was a beautiful view of the city being rebuilt and there were people everywhere with smiles full of hope and still happy after the destruction. She was reminding him what he was fighting for and that everyone was working hard back home and happy to do it. Everyone at home wanted to give as much effort as they could to make the city beautiful again for when the soldiers returned. Sasuke flipped the photo over to find more writing from Sakura. You can do it! –Sakura

Sasuke stared longingly at for a moment; she really was a wonderful woman. His expression tightened as he though about her sitting around back in Konohagakure waiting on him. A solemn look came through his eyes as he thought about someone like him not deserving enough to keep a woman like that waiting around at home. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned his head down; he really didn't want to let her go though. From what he could tell he wanted a woman like her, he did want someone to go home to, just the idea of being with her opened his mind to a type of happiness he used to think was unnecessary, but now he longed for it. Sasuke sat still for a few minutes contemplating over the decision but soon picked up a piece of paper and started writing.

_outside_

Naruto was all giddy as he sat at a mildly quiet space outside and was leaned against a few crates of food. He gave a big smile at Hinata's letter.

Dear Naruto-kun,

We all miss you a lot and are happy to hear you're doing well. I remember that visit really well too; it's my favorite conversation with you growing up. It was never a bother to talk to you; every time I came to visit Neji it's what I hoped to do. Thank you for thinking so highly of me you have no idea how much it means to me. You've always impressed me and Neji won't say it but you've impressed him too. You're a very wonderful person and are very noble putting your life at risk; anybody would be impressed by you. Honestly your words gave me the first step of encouragement to break off my engagement. What you said to me at the base before you went to war, it started to stir hope in me over something I didn't think was possible. I didn't think it was possible you even paid that much attention to me. I think you deserve whoever you want too; anybody would be lucky to have you.

I hope you can come home soon too as long as you're safe and sound; I can't wait to see you and for you to be in the safety of your home. I would love to spend time with you when you come back. I'd love to more than anything. Not much has happened, the city is starting to become beautiful again. I think I'm starting to become friends with Sakura though, she comes to check on Neji everyday. Sasuke-kun mentioned her right? She seems like she'd be good for him. Neji and TenTen say hello to everybody.

Hinata

Naruto's grin spread all across his face and he quickly hopped up. He quickly kissed the letter from Hinata and ran inside to write back to her. He was on cloud nine; he couldn't describe how happy he was even in the midst of war. Naruto was naturally a very happy person but now he was on a whole other level; he just hoped Sasuke was willing to let the same happiness grow in his heart.

_Konohagakure_

Sakura took a deep breath as she smoothed out the clothes she changed into for dinner; she didn't want to be wearing scrubs after all. She was wearing a beaded dark green tank top, blue jeans, and grey flats; Sakura wasn't very girly anymore but she wanted to dress nice for the dinner. She made her way up to the restaurant and starting looking for Hinata; she smiled when caught sight of the lavender eyed young woman. Hinata saw her and waved as Sakura walked over and observed the group. Hinata had a simple navy dress on that went to her knee with black flats and TenTen was in a burgundy button up shirt, dark jeans, and brown boots. There were two blondes that Sakura didn't know; the lighter blonde with her hair up had on a short black dress, a blue jacket, and red heels. The darker blonde who was the tallest had on shiny purple top, black skirt and black sandals; Sakura gave a smile at them. Hinata did introductions and the one named Ino did a quick look over Sakura. "Looks like we have another pretty lady to add to the group."

Sakura smiled with mild surprise at the compliment, "Oh, thank you all look very nice as well."

Temari gave a small laugh, "You don't need to be formal with us; we already get that from Hinata's Hyugga trained behavior."

Hinata took no offence at the comment and they all gave a small laugh. Sakura gave a big smile, "You got it."

TenTen gave them a cheesy grin and started leading them all in, "Perfect, now let's eat!"

_an hour later_

Sakura tried not to choke on her wine as TenTen cracked another joke and they all burst out laughing. It didn't take long for them to start getting along and the couple glasses of wine helped loosen her up too. She already heard many amusing stories they had about each other and they were starting to move onto the guys they knew. Ino quickly swallowed a bite of her food and got a big grin on her face, "Oh do you remember the pictures Shino took of all the guys when they got drunk on Naruto's 20th birthday?!"

Sakura watched as they all cracked up and Ino leaned towards her to fill her in. "Naruto was trying to sing karaoke but he was using the bar tender's head as a mic!"

Sakura gave a big giggle as she envisioned the man she had been told about so much; she turned to Hinata, "You know how to pick them."

Hinata blushed a little but didn't stop from laughing, "He certainly is an interesting character; his energy always spreads to everyone around him."

Temari felt her stomach hurt from all the laughing, "And of course Shikamaru was sleeping in the corner, Kiba was hitting on a bunch of girls, Neji was trying to control Lee, and Sasuke was trying to talk military strategies to Chouji even though he wasn't paying any attention."

Sakura giggled trying to picture a drunk Sasuke; she had so much to learn about him, "How did all of you guys meet each other?"

TenTen smiled, "Well I went to the military academy growing up and I met Hinata though Neji and Ino went to school with Hinata. Then I work with military weapons and Temari works with all the military air vehicles so we started working together."

Sakura turned to Ino, "So what do you do?"

Ino gave a proud smile, "I manipulate and grow plants that can be useful in the medical field."

Sakura's smile widened, "Really, that's so cool. I've seen what that kind of stuff can do in the hospital."

Ino felt her heart swell with a little bit of pride over the compliment; she stared as Sakura s little longer taking in her characteristics, "You know Sakura you're so pretty and you have such pretty hair, you should let it out of that bun."

Sakura instinctively put a hand on the back of her neck, "I don't know, I kind of always wear it like this because of work and I don't want to take the time to mess with it."

Ino leaned her face into one of her hands, "But it's one of your most unique features, you should show it. It'll catch guys real quick."

Sakura blushed a little. Temari rolled her eyes at Ino, "Ino thinks she's a love guru."

Ino didn't let the comment affect her smile, "But I am and come on Sakura hasn't a guy ever complimented you on your hair?"

Sakura froze momentarily feeling some bad memories creep up; she took a bite of her food trying not to let her mood falter. She shoved a smile back on her face, "Not really"

Ino stood from her chair and made her way over to Sakura, "Well…"

Ino stood behind Sakura and carefully pulled her hair out of the bun; everyone watched as Sakura's long hair tumbled over her shoulders, "I think if you leave it down it's bound to get you some compliments."

Hinata's eyes widened a little not expecting Sakura's hair to be so long, "W-Wow your hair's so pretty Sakura, you should leave it down more often."

TenTen gave an amused smirk, "Oh yeah, I think Sasuke will love it."

Temari and Ino gave a surprised gasp as pink dusted over Sakura's cheeks. Ino focused all her attention on Sakura, "No way! You're dating Sasuke-kun!?"

Sakura fiddled with a strand of hair, "We're not dating…we just talk."

Temari clasped her hands together, "Damn! I never thought Sasuke would ever take interest in a girl. You go Sakura!"

Sakura blushed harder as the girls continued to pursue information about her and Sasuke. She was going to get some serious grilling about whatever was between her and Sasuke but at least she was starting to feel like the people she was getting grilled by were her friends.

_three days later_

Sasuke kept his posture firm as they made their way through the rocky terrain. They would be at the possible weapon supply building soon and they were carrying fifty men with them. It was the middle of the night and the cold winds really set the mood of battle; it was eerily quiet besides the sounds of footsteps and slow moving trucks. It was probably the highest risk mission Sasuke's team had been given since the war started and Sasuke knew if there were weapon supplies there was a good chance he'd be losing men. He frowned at the idea and tightened his grip on his gun; he was going to do whatever it took to keep his men safe. Sasuke glanced up at the moonlight; he knew there were medical helicopters ready to fly out if needed but they were still a good distance away. He clenched his jaw as the leader of the mission gave a signal; his brother was in charge of the mission. The signal meant they were in firing range of the building. Sasuke took a slow breath as they awaited the command to charge; it felt like slow motion.

Once the signal was given they ran. They ran towards the building as fast as they could and as quiet as they could. Two Iwagakure soldier guards sounded an alarm and shots were soon fired. Sasuke focused as he quickly shot the guards from a distance and other Iwagakure soldiers began to emerge; Sasuke cursed, there were a lot. Sasuke's heart tightened as his men were forced to hide behind large boulders as shots were fired at them; the amount of enemy made him pretty sure there was weapon supply inside. Sasuke did a quick lean to the side to see where the visible enemies were. He quickly hid back behind the boulder as a bullet bounced off it. He took a quick breath as he leaned to the other side and took a few shots; he took two men down. Sasuke cursed as he heard one of his comrades' scream in pain from being shot in the arm. He glanced at his brother who was barking out quick orders to a few soldiers; he needed to make sure his brother didn't get hurt. Sasuke quickly jumped out and rolled over to behind another boulder; a few of his men did the same. Sasuke leaned out and took a few more shots; another down. He watched as Naruto shot a sniper gun and took a few more down. They needed to take down the enemy before they got whatever weapons were inside.

Sasuke threw a smoke bomb and switched to the heat sensor setting on his night goggles. Once the smoke bomb went off he quickly stood and started taking down more enemy as his comrades moved closer. Over half of them from outside were down but several of their own men had been shot. Sasuke and Naruto ran forward trying their best to cover each other; Sasuke's ears rung as he heard a machine gun start to go off. He quickly shoved and hid with Naruto behind a boulder; they breathed hard as the bullets put cracks in the boulder. Sasuke tried not to breath in the dust of the rock and did his best to keep his focus over painful screams of his comrades. Sasuke carefully waited until he caught the sound of the machine gun running out of ammo; he quickly leaned over and shot the man down. Him and Naruto moved forward again taking a few more men down; Sasuke started to feel their side winning but his heart quickly dropped. A grenade quickly fell in front of Naruto and him as they got close to the building.

_Konohagakure_

Sakura stretched as she walked to her mailbox, early morning, on her day off. She gave a tried yawn unable to sleep in from habit of getting up early. She sorted through letters as she walked up the stairs to her apartment; her eyes widened at a letter from Sasuke. She quickly ran to her living room and opened it.

_Iwagakure_

Sasuke eyes snapped wide in horror, he had seconds. In instinctive protection over Naruto, who was just a few feet behind him, Sasuke ran forward and reached for the grenade.

_Konohagakure_

Sakura quickly read through the letter with excitement but her smile slowly faltered as she read on.

Dear Sakura,

_Iwagakure_

Sasuke picked it up the grenade and threw it as fast as he could to the point he felt his shoulder pop. Just a couple seconds after Sasuke threw it the grenade hit the building and exploded.

_Konohagakure_

Thank you for your letter and the picture; it really made me learn about your kindness. But it's because you're so kind that I ask you don't write me anymore.

_Iwagakure_

The force sent Sasuke tumbling back and several pieces of debris and bricks to smack into him. Sasuke felt his bones crack as he roughly rolled across the hard ground; his vision blurred as he looked up at the burning building and could hear more explosions going off inside.

_Konohagakure_

This war is going to be long and I don't want to keep you waiting and putting your life on hold for me. Just carry on like we didn't meet and continue your life; you have great things waiting for you. I wish you the best.

Sasuke

_Iwagakure_

Sasuke mildly heard screams from Naruto, meaning he was okay; Sasuke gave a small cough as he felt warm blood began to drip down his face. His breathing became shallow as he saw fire spit out from the building and towards him; his vision blurred further into a familiar shade of pink and he blacked out.

_author's notes_

So big cliffhanger there, what do you guys think? I hope there was enough SasuSaku build up and action for your tastes. I hope you caught the character development for Sakura I'm doing with the memories she's avoiding; you'll learn about it later. Still trying to keep the relationship growth natural and currently I don't think I'll really get into Ino and Temari pairings. If I do Ino will get the opposite choice of Love Conquers All. I really hoped you guys enjoyed and please review! I respond!