Sakura

Six months had past since I had returned home from Lady Blue's fortress. Since my outburst with Lady Tsunade she had let Kakashi and I be more involved with matters coming from around Hell's Gate. She reported to us what was happening in the area and any word she received of Naruto.

Kakashi and I had returned from a mission together. It wasn't often we were together on a mission these days so it was a rare treat to work with my sensei again. Together we made our way at a relaxed pace to the Hokage buildings to hear of any new reports from Hell's Gate.
Last time Tsuande had read to us a letter that Lady Blue had sent all the leaders of the Hidden Villages, as Lady blue did every month to inform the village leaders of Hell's Gate's status and if anything had been happening with their ninja. But the last letter didn't show much promise of good news.

To Tsunade of the Leaf Village,

I write to you again to keep you informed of Hell's Gate's current status and that of the contractors in the area and of course of the well being of your village's ninja.

Little activity has been seen from Hell's Gate as usual and it so far poses no threat to the surrounding village, but I believe our scientists are getting closer to understanding its effects on the surrounding population and that of the contractors.
As for the contractors, we have noticed a slight increase in the occurrence of new contractors appearing surrounding Hell's Gate, but nothing too difficult for my ranks to handle.

Lady Blue's letter then went on to report each individual contractor that had been captured since her last letter, along with their code name, real name, abilities and their payment that they had to pay each time they used their ability. It was only after learning this bit of information that my attackers' scars made sense. Each time they had used their abilities the contractors had to inflict harm on themselves. This wasn't the payment for all contractors but from Lady Blue's reports self harm was a common form of payment for contractors.

But Lady Blue's last letter hadn't mentioned Naruto at all and the letter before that one barley mentioned him at all compared to earlier letters which told us of his new team member and his achievements and health.

As Kakashi and I found our way to meet Tsunade in her office we found her looking out the windows to the village below.
"Good," she said as she heard us enter and close the door behind us, "I have been waiting for you both. I have received a letter from Lady Blue" We both stood and remained silent, waiting for her to report the letter to us. "There is trouble brewing at Hell's Gate. Lady Blue reports contractors acting together in teams, targeting her ninja . They appear to be getting ready for something big and Lady Blue is preparing for a war" she stopped to sigh before continuing.

"And any mention of Naruto and our other ninja from our village?" asked Kakashi calmly

"Yes, but not much detail has been given. One of Lady Blue's teams consisting of our ninja was ambushed by a group of contractors and killed. I have their death records here and their bodies will be coming home soon. As of Naruto there is no mention of him in this letter at all, but at least he isn't marked as dead" Tsunade turned away from the window to look at us.
"Sakura"

"Yes Lady Tsunade?" I asked standing straighter

"A job offer for you has come up" my body went loose from surprise at her words as she continued, "with the possibility of an upcoming war around Hell's Gate Lady Blue is requesting at least one top medical ninja from each village to aid her ninja if a war does break out. You will be required to teach other ninja to do basic first aid so they can support their teams. I nominated you to be the medical ninja from our village as you are one of my top students and have been there before. I am sure you have both noticed this odd silence of Naruto from Lady Blue. He has not been reported dead or missing, but I'm sure we all share the same concern here. So Sakura, if you are to take up this offer to work for Lady Blue I will be giving you a mission to find Naruto so we can at least know that our jinchuriki is safe and if he isn't you are to return home with him at once"

"Yes m'am" I replied

"Good" commented Tsunade "unfortunately Kakashi I cannot send you with Sakura"
Kakashi gave a nod in understanding
"In that case I will send word back to Lady Blue at once"

Two days later Tsunade briefed me again on the importance of bringing back Naruto to the village if he was injured or any thing other than working for Lady Blue. Due to the secrecy of Hell's Gate and the contractors I would have to do this mission along if it was necessary. Kakashi was the only other person in the village that knew about it all, but he could not come with me as he wasn't a medical ninja.

I was waiting by the gate to the village where I was told to wait to meet an escort back to Lady Blue's fortress. The sun was rising and it looked like it would be a clear day. I was already packed and waiting. I assumed Eric would be the one to escort me as he had done before and I was actually excited to see the happy man again, but instead I was approached by a tall man wearing Lady Blue's black uniform. He wore the same hooded cloak as the rest of Naruto's team did. It wasn't till the man stood before me that he pulled back his black hood and pulled off his animal mask (a hawk). He had dark tired looking eyes, black hair that hung just above his eyes. He gave me a bright smile and held out a hand to me. I shook it and smiled back.

"You must be Sakura," he started "I've heard a lot about you from Eric. He's right you really are pretty" I tried not to blush "My name is Lee"

"Lee?" I tried out the name, having heard it somewhere (other then Rock Lee) "Oh Lee, Nar – Second's new team member" I beamed up at him. He was a tall, slender man. As we started to travel I learnt that he was a happy man like Eric but not as boisterous or as loud.

"So how are you connected to our team?" he asked out of the blue as we walked. I didn't exactly understand what he meant. Did he know I was close to Naruto? How close was he to Naruto?

"Oh," I started after a moment of thinking (I tried to make it look like I was trying to remember) "I was attacked by a contractor in my village and Second and his team saved me"

"Wow" replied Lee looking amazed "So contractors made it that far from Hell's Gate huh"
"How much do you know about contractors?" he asked

"Enough" I replied and thankfully he left it at that

"Have you seen Second's face?" I asked curiously. I wanted to know how much of the truth I had to hide around Lee.

"Not yet" replied Lee positively, "But I'm sure it won't be long now till I'm trusted with such knowledge" he beamed at me. It was clear he enjoyed his job. "Second's really nice. I may not have seen his face yet, but he still laughs and jokes with us on the job when we have a break, but other than that I don't see him much. I'm usually with Eric most of the time. Even Eric says that Second had been spending less time with us" He shrugged at the sky and put his hands in his cloak pockets as we walked.

"Had?" I asked, a moment of panic running through me.

"Yeah. I haven't seen him at all for the last three weeks and now Eric is being all serious too. Something's up, but they won't tell me anything" he sighed and looked up at the sky. Perhaps Naruto was just away being busy with this potential war.

"Maybe he's just busy with this threat of war" I commented. Lee faced me as he walked, turning his body to walk backwards.

"You think so? A war?"

"You didn't know?" He shook his head and continued to walk backward watching me, waiting for me to continue. "That's what Lady Blue said in the letter. That's why I'm going there. She wanted medical ninja in case a war does start"

"Do you really think a war would start between the contractors and Lady Blue?" he asked

"I don't know" I replied. I didn't know enough about Lady Blue or the contractors to even take a guess at that. Lee, still walking backwards with his hands in his pockets, mulled it over in his head (I could see it in his expression). It was silent for the moment other than out footsteps and the sound of birds in the trees. Lee hit a rock, let out a cry of surprise and fell backward onto the gravel path we were still following away from the village. I couldn't help but to snicker at his expression while he sat shocked on the gravel.