-Set at the beginning of Shippuden, the Elders send Sakura off as a hunter-nin, wishing for her death as a way to weaken Tsunade's political powers. Sakura agrees to prove them wrong, but what she didn't know was that Orochimaru's involved! Oh, god… Just what did she get herself into?

Yay, another chapter! Hee-hee! I'm thinking you guys might like it or maybe not. But either way, thank you for those who reviewed and blah, blah, blah. Please enjoy!

Episode Four

~Her First Kill, Her First Time on the Job, Her Bad Day~

This was not a good place to be out at night, all alone. Unfortunately for the young girl currently walking through the tradesmen's district, it was the middle of the night—and she was very much alone.

She walked with the slightly mincing step of a noble and carried a delicate folded-up fan. Jeweled rings encrusted her fingers. Her soft indoor tabi slippers were unsuited to running or fighting.

The man in black was glad. Fighting he could handle. But when they ran, that was just annoying. He glanced down at his young prey, checking to make sure that he had identified the target correctly. Yes, there it was: the distinct form of the Wind Daimyo's symbol. This was the Wind Daimyo's girl.

The girl seemed blithely oblivious to the fine gold thread on her clothes and the effect it would likely have on the residents of such an area.

This job is going to be easier than I imagined, the man in black thought.

He leaped, almost casually, to the next rooftop. He landed without a sound and ran, his lithe body crouching low to avoid detection. The next rooftop was too far to reach in one bound, but he simply somersaulted to the ground, rolled, then jumped nimbly to grab the overhanging eave. He let himself hand there for a split second, enjoying the feel of gravity pulling at his body, then flipped onto the tiles.

A cat that had been sleeping there stood up in an exaggerated arch of irritation and was about to hiss when the ninja raised a blowpipe to his lips. He cat collapsed softly and rolled down the sloping roof. Before it could fall of the edge and hit the ground below, the ninja stretched languorously and pinned it corpse to the bark tile with a dagger. For some reason, he could hear the slight barking of a young dog, but he ignored it.

The ninja moved from rooftop to rooftop until he was in front of the girl. He waited for the right moment, his entire body perfectly still. When the girl passed below him, he jumped, absorbing the impact of the ground with a smooth bend of the legs that turned almost instantly into a vicious kick to the girl's face.

The girl staggered back, and the ninja grinned, pressing his advantage with a flurry of kicks before reaching for his short-sword.

As the ninja's hand moved to his belt, he lowered his eyes for a fraction of a second, and it was then that something smash into his face, crushing his nose and sending a tsunami of pain and nausea through his body. Through blurred vision, he saw the girl pull back her hand and realized the fan was not a fan at all—it was a heavy metal bar disguised as an everyday object, a classic ninja trick.

But how…?

The girl struck again with the bar, and the ninja easily blocked, feeling a new surge of confidence as he finally managed to free his sword and swing it in a n upward arc, calculated to shatter the jaw and cut the arteries in the neck and—

The girl somehow turned out of the sword's path, bringing the fan-turned-club down on the ninja's wrist. The man felt his wrist shatter and the sword drop to the ground just as a fistful of sharp jewels destroyed his left eye.

Not rings but a knuckle-duster.

His legs gave way, and he sank to the ground. But it wasn't over. It was never over. He would heal, in time. Not his eye of course, but the rest…

Then the girl stood over him and drew a kunai from her kimono, the blade so sharp it shimmered as if surrounded by heat. She whirled it around her fingers expertly, strands of her rosette hair danced in the wind.

And then the Oto-nin knew that it was over.

"Tell Orochimaru that if he continues to send me assassins, I will continue to send him corpses," she said. "Let him set his whole arsenal of ninja against me, and I will kill his army. And tell him if he wants to kill me then he better send the Uchiha next time, not some weakling of an ordinary ninja. That boy owes me a death." And a damn good explanation…

The ninja looked up at her, faint hope in his one working eye. "You're allowing me to live?"

". . . Ah… My mistake."

The ninja tried to smile.

Then she struck, hard and true, at his heart. "I'll just have to tell Orochimaru myself." The rosette-haired kunoichi looked down at the corpse of the first man she had ever killed by herself. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Yes, this was not a good place to be out at night, all alone. Especially if you were a ninja.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

As the woman waited for her supposed "date," she couldn't help but overhear some of the conversations going on around her.

"Did you hear? Someone's going around killing people! Leaving their heads five feet away from the body!"

"Nah, it's just a rumor!"

"How do you know? I know someone who's actually seen the body of a dead victim!"

"No way! You're joking!"

"No, you see, I heard that it was a rouge-nin from Kiri that's the serial killer… He preys on lonely women out at night and, when he finds them, he—"

The woman chuckled at the couple's words. Looks like she had just found her next target… She took a sip of champagne out of her glass as her "date" pulled up the chair across from her.

"You're late…" she said.

"Heheh, sorry about that! I was just—"

"I don't need to hear your excuses, Jiraiya." the lady retorted, leaving off the honorific. "I'm already used to Kakashi-sensei being late during my time on Team 7… I don't need some kind of cruel reminder."

"Geez, you've turned colder than Tsunade, Saku—"

"For as long as I'm in this disguise, my name's Yori," she snapped.

"Right, I forgot that you need to hide your identity now." Jiraiya chuckled. "Black hair suits you, you know? You look like a cabaret singer in that little black dress of yours, too."

"So I've been told…" She took another sip from her glass.

And as she did that, Jiraiya's eyes couldn't help but stray to the dog on her lap. "I didn't know they allowed dogs in here."

"I bribed them. Kiki likes steak, you know."

"Ah…"

"Please tell me you didn't call me here just to check up on me. I hardly doubt that you would waste this much money just to see if I was okay."

"Well, I heard that you've already taken care of someone from the Bingo Book and that you're on the trail of another," the old man said. "I wanted to congratulate my pupil's teammate for a job well done so far."

"Please, carrying out such a job is barely worth squandering congratulations over…" She took out a kiseru[1] and started smoking.

"Wow, that's taking your disguise a little too far, isn't it?"

"Oh, don't get your balls in a knot. It's just a herbal remedy I made," the kunoichi explained. "I caught a cold, but I couldn't risk taking homemade medicine in public. Plus, one of my targets is known for hitting the gambling slots here, and gambling women here seem to prefer to smoke while playing. I'm just trying to blend in, Old Man."

"Yeesh, a bit cold much?"

She smiled apologetically. "Sorry," she said, "But killing people does do that to you…" She let out an exasperated sigh, fiddling with her glass cup. "How long…? How long did it take you?" she asked.

"How long to what?"

"How long did it take you to get used to killing people?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "I know that these people in the Bingo Book are criminals, but still they're . . . they're people… I can't just—"

"Sakura—"

She glared at him.

"Sorry," he gave her a rueful smile. "I mean, Yori, only demons get used to shedding blood," he explained. "It's normal to feel what you feel right now. Nothing about it gets easier."

"Gee, thanks for telling me that." Sakura fought off an urge to roll her eyes. She was disgusted by how rude she was acting. Since when did she lose her manners? Was it that first victim or the second? She seemed to have lost track.

"Jiraiya…"

"Yes?"

"Ever since I left the village, there was an Oto-nin that kept following me…"

Jiraiya's eyes widened.

"I've already taken care of him, and then there was this Oto-nin who was trying to kill the daughter of the Wind Daimyo. I took care of him, too, but lately . . ."

"You think the Oto-nin are keeping an eye on you for some reason?"

"Well, it's not like Orochimaru doesn't keep tabs on Konoha. If a hunter-nin was to emerge from there then that proves a little troublesome for him especially if that hunter-nin is his old teammate's student, the teammate he was afraid of."

"But it's classified information," Jiraiya argued. "Where would he—" And then he realized something. "You think the Elders might have something to do with this?"

"I've been at this for a week and a half already," Sakura said. "That's more time than the Elders had even expected. They want me dead, and I don't think they'd just sit by idly. If the time should call on it, they will take matters into their own hands."

"Don't worry, I'll look into it."

"Thanks…" Sakura actually smiled, the first time since she left Konoha.

"So . . . you want to order?" Jiraiya asked, taking out a menu. "My treat."

"Thanks but"—she stood from her seat, dusting off her dress; Kiki jumped to the floor—"no thanks. I've got a serial killer to catch."

"But—"

"Daijōbu," she said. "I'll get something to eat later. I'll see you in a week. Oh, and I've given the waiter a few thousand already. You can keep the change." And then, quicker than Jiraiya could stop her, Sakura had already put on her coat and walked out of the restaurant—a killing aura surrounded her.

Meanwhile, at the table by the corner, two Oto-ninja watched the scene with interest.

"Report back to Orochimaru-sama," one of them said. "It looks like we've found the hunter-nin from Konoha."

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

As Sakura walked out into the streets, the only thing she heard were the clicking of her own high-heeled shoes. She was very much alone—well, except for Kiki who was resting in her purse. It was a very cold night. The moon wasn't out either. But nevertheless, our kunoichi kept walking through the empty streets.

She sighed. For some reason, she missed both Naruto's and Ino's big mouths, she missed Shikamaru's constant complaining and Choji's constant eating, she missed Lee's company, she missed Tenten's and Neji's constant nagging, she missed Hinata's constant worrying, she missed Kiba's and Shino's encouragements, she missed Tsunade's and Shizune's motherly views of things, and she even missed Kakashi's constant reading of his perverted books.

She missed another person, but she forced herself not to think of him. After all, she had given Oto the message that, if they wanted to kill her, they had to send their best to get her—and she knew who those people were. However, out of those three, she'd rather meet Kabuto than those other two including her ex-teammate.

She sighed again . . . and quickly spun around and kicked her assailant. Looks like she found the serial killer and, looking at his face, she was unable to match it with one of the ninja from the Bingo Book. It was just some crazy man. What a waste of time.

She pulled back her fist, but the ninja charged at her quickly—a large knife in his hand. Kiki's warning barks saved her just in time.

Damn it! Sakura quickly jumped back, but her assailant kept attacking, lunging forward with that bloodied knife. She felt something solid behind her. Realizing she was trapped in a corner, Sakura closed her eyes.

"Hey-o!"

She opened them. "Ji-Jiraiya!"

"Hee-hee!" Jiraiya waved to her, standing on top of the girl's attacker. "Now if I let you get killed, Tsunade's going kill me! I'm too young to be brutally murdered by Konoha's Godaime! You should've been more careful! And to think, you're Konoha's first hunter-nin who killed an A-ranked missing-nin! And yet you can't handle a simple serial killer?"

"Sorry, I know I messed up big-time."

Kiki barked in agreement.

"But why are you here?" Sakura asked the Sanin. "You're supposed to be having dinner."

"Well, yes, but there's a reason why I called you half a week early for our weekly check-up." Jiraiya explained. "We've got info on five S-ranked ninja from the Bingo Book. I was debating on whether or not to tell you. The information was from the Elder's most trusted ANBU."

"You think it's a trap?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not really sure, but Tsunade is sending Yuugao and Anko to assist you."

". . . Why all females?" Though she thought it was nice that she would have an all-kunoichi team, Sakura knew very well that a team of one kunoichi and two male shinobi was the team arrangements for any mission.

"Those five S-ranked ninja own an underground bar," Jiraiya explained. "Women only."

"Oh…" Now it all clicked together. "So . . . when do I leave?"

"About now. Your mission is to catch the five's attention and kill them using any means necessary or you can lead them out of the place and bring them to me where I'll personally take care of them."

"Hm… What do you think, Kiki?" she asked her puppy. "Do you think I should kill them or should I let the old man here do it?"

"Arf!"

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Upon entering the bar, the strong scent of alcohol filled the kunoichi's nose. Disgusting, she thought. She hated the smell of beer and wine mixed with the scent of cigarette smoke. It smelled horrible. She couldn't wait to get out of this stupid bar.

"Patience, Haruno-san… This will only take a short while." Yuugo said.

Sakura restrained myself from saying anything else as she knocked on the steel doors that separated the higher-classed alcoholics from the lower classed.

On the other side of the doors, the guard peeked out to see who it was, using the door viewer. As soon as he unlocked the door, both Yuugo and Anko kicked the doors opened, knocking the guard to the floor. Anko quickly dispatched of him. (A/N: And, by that, I mean that Anko knocked him unconscious since he wasn't one of the five targets they were after.)

Out of the corner of Yuugo's eye, she spotted a witness: the bar tender. She knocked the glass cups of wine off of the table and knocked him out too. He fell flat on the floor, almost as if he were dead like a fly.

Sakura watched with somewhat amusement and somewhat guilt until the manager touched her on the shoulder, pleading with her to stop her two fellow kunoichi. She gave him no thought, and Anko pushed him out of her way. The two kunoichi returned to Sakura's side as she walked straight into the main room of the bar.

Being a bit younger than most of the women there, Sakura quickly caught the attention of her targets . . . and everyone else there. Oh, boy… In the words of her comrade, this was so going to be troublesome…

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

A week had passed since that mission, and Sakura was not feeling any better. Though Jiraiya had been the one to finish those five off, she couldn't help but feel the weight of murder on her shoulders. It was a horrible feeling…

Kiki barked.

"I know, Kiki, I know…" she said, her eyes shifting behind her. "We're being followed…" It would seem she had to kill again.

Of all times, she just had to lose her way now, trying to get back to the Fire Country from a different route. Now, she was stuck in some small, shady town. She hadn't even met a single person yet. To top it all, it was raining! She was starting to think the place was a ghost town when she had caught a quick glance at some Oto-nin following her again.

Let's see if I can shake them… Sakura quickened her pace and made quick lefts and rights, but Kiki kept barking. The Oto-nin was hot on her trail. It would seem she really did need to kill again. She was about to take out a kunai when Kiki started barking non-stop.

Sakura quickly jumped out of the way.

Boom!

The Oto-nin was sending bombs at her? They must be impatient, she thought. She quickly glanced around at her surroundings. It would seem that there was more than one.

"There's Konoha's hunter-nin!" she heard a female voice say. "Attack her with everything you've got! Don't stop until she's dead!"

She saw a red-headed girl with glasses. Sakura almost laughed. What the Hell has she done with her hair? But she had more important matters to deal with.

A group of Oto-nin was charging right at her. She sighed. Really, do they not know who I trained under? But she allowed them to have a five-second moment of amusement. She counted the seconds in her head.

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

"One!" And she punched the ground, splitting the floor right in half. She was sucked into the crater, and the Oto-nin ended up bumping into each other.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Sakura heard the leader say. "She's underground! Get her now! We don't need Orochimaru-sama to get involved!"

From this, Sakura could tell that the woman was a tracker-nin. And a very loud one, at that… She heard feet scuffling above her. Again, she counted the seconds.

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

Kiki started barking then. Sakura quickly turned around and was met with a barrage of snakes. "Shimatta!" She quickly jumped out of the ground but at the expense of having one of the snakes take her wig.

"I knew you looked familiar, Madame Hunter-nin…" the voice hissed. "So it turns out that little Haruno Sakura has taken on a more active role in the ninja role… As expected… Your mentor did travel a lot in her youth…"

"Orochimaru…" Sakura could hardly believe her eyes. Really! She so did not want to meet up with him of all psycho people!

"I don't know what you heard, but I'm on vacation!" she quickly lied. "I don't know what you're talking about with all this hunter-nin crap!"

"On vacation, you say? Well, now, maybe sending Karin after you wasn't such a good idea for a warm welcoming, after all…" the Sanin chuckled. "Luckily, I brought reinforcements."

Kiki barked again, but Sakura knew the drill already. Not wanting to waste any time looking back at who was attacking her, she quickly jumped out of the way. She later found out her attacker was Kabuto.

"I was being sarcastic when I said to send your whole damn army against me!" she lied again. Oh, what did I get myself into?

"Ha! And I suppose you just accidently stumbled onto our hideout, too!" Kabuto mocked her.

"Well, actually—wait, this is Oto?" Sakura asked, completely confused. She had just gotten lost on the way! What were her chances of stumbling onto that God forsaken village?

"You can stop it with your innocence," Karin snapped. "We know you're here to kill Sasuke-kun!"

"What? But I really did just came upon this place on accident! And what do you mean kill Sasuke? He's not even here!"

"Sakura…"

She heard that familiar voice just a few feet behind her. How come everything I say just comes back to bite me? And so, she yelled, "OH, COME ON! THIS IS SO NOT MY DAY!" And being angry, Sakura stomped her foot, "accidently" causing another earthquake in which she used it as a distraction and ran.

She ran into a nearby forest and, instead of going zig-zag, she ran straight forward. She remembered Sasuke's quick pace from when they were genin. She knew she would not be able to outrun him even if she tried. Plus, with that tracker-nin, she couldn't really hide anywhere. It would be useless for her to even try to evade them.

Kiki barked again, bringing the kunoichi out of her thoughts.

"Shimatta!" Sakura quickly turned, and the lightning jutsu hit a tree, lighting it on fire. He almost got me… His aim has gotten better… His jutsu is too dangerous… Knowing she had to put some distance in between them, Sakura jumped up into the trees. She couldn't hear him, and yet she knew he was coming. He moved so swiftly, so silently, and with such devastating precision.

It was about then that she heard it—the softest, slightest sound of the rustle of leaves moving in the wind close behind her. When her heart leapt violently in her chest as her stomach concurrently plummeted, her reaction surprised her. Why was she so scared? She was stronger now… Why—

Oh, that's right. It was because she was dealing with her ex-teammate who had tried to kill her other teammate. It all came back to her now.

Don't think about that, she told herself. You've gotten stronger… You can handle him… Just be grateful it's just him and not Orochimaru!

She let out a yelp when she heard his chidori hit a tree oh-so very close to her. She pushed her feet off another branch and onto the next tree, going as fast as she could. If she wasn't pushing fifty miles then she really didn't know how fast she was going.

Swiftly, she dove to a lower branch and focused her chakra flow into her left leg. She kicked back hard against the branch as she leapt from it and, with an awful creaking splintering sound, the large bulk of wood was snapped from the main body of the tree and, she hoped, straight into the pursuing Sasuke's path. She didn't look back, she didn't want to. She knew his sharingan was probably activated. If not before then now.

Kiki started barking again, and so Sakura sent back two more branches at him. Hopefully, one of them hits his head and knocks him out. As the storm picked up, Sakura continued to dive into lower ground. Though there was less wind blowing against her, she had to be careful with every step. She didn't want to risk slipping and sliding. She kept running straight and, when a tree blocked her path, she punched it. It fell and she jumped onto the fallen tree, using it as some kind of skateboard in the mud.

She looked up and jumped, grabbing the branches above her. His sudden appearance startled her, and she stumbled to a clumsy stop, barely managing to keep from falling off the branch entirely.

How did he…? When did he…? She couldn't keep the surprise off of her face. She merely stood, frozen to the spot like a mouse before a hawk. She had no idea what to do. Her mind raced, but no ideas came to her. Kiki kept barking.

He grabbed her arm. She struggled against his hold. Damn it! She was Tsunade's pupil, for God's sake. If she hadn't been almost completely out of chakra, she would've socked him in the face. But since that wasn't a choice, she started screaming.

"Let—me—GO!" She knew, for one thing, her lungs could get her out of almost any situation. "Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go!" And in this, they startled the Uchiha. But in another way, it left her completely breathless.

Seeing no way out, she went back to the simplest of female defense. She raised her hand and Slap! She quickly ran again. Before, she had been scared. Now, she was just terrified. She had just slapped the guy who was chasing her in the face! That was bound to sign her death sentence. She ran. She ran because she was afraid, because she knew she was in trouble, and because she didn't want to spend another minute with him.

Shimatta = shit

[1] = a Japanese smoking pipe traditionally used for smoking a very fine, shredded tobacco. Yuko from xxxHolic is noted for using one.

Yay! My chapter is finished! Me myself, I liked the bar scene and the chase. I think I outdid myself there, but I didn't come up with those ideas.

The scene where Yuugo and Anko are helping Sakura with those five S-ranked criminals was inspired by Ayumi Hamasaki's music video for her song My Name's WOMEN. I wanted to incorporate that music video a bit more into my story, but then I thought it'd only take a space and time, and I know all of you want Sasuke to appear sometime soon, so I cut it out. If you guys check out the music video on YouTube then you'd know how I wanted Sakura to catch those criminals' attention.

Also, peoples, during the chase scene, I based it on AngeLhearteD's The Hunt. AngeLhearteD was kind enough to let me use bits and pieces of their fanfic and use it in this chapter. I want to take this time to thank him/her.

Oh, and the beginning scene is from the prologue of Nick Lake's Blood Ninja.

Thank you and please review!