Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, blah blah blah...
Chapter One: The Hunter-Nin
A lone girl stands perched precariously on a tree limb in a crouching position. She is small, unusually thin, well toned and straight backed. Dressed in the black form fitting uniform of her rank, she is a silhouette against the last dying embers of the sunset. All save for a mask that covers her face completely, a mask with the benign expression of some sort of small, peaceful creature. The girl seems like she is part of the forest surroundings, merely a shadow that is momentarily still.
Suddenly the girl's face points westward, towards the sinking sun. In a flash of pink hair, she has disappeared, off to hunt her prey. She tracks him quickly, quietly, jumping through the trees. But she can smell fear in the air, and she knows that he knows that he is being followed. Just as the man comes into her sight, he twists in the air, making a futile attempt with taijitsu to overcome his stalker. But she is stronger and faster. She counters all of his weak attempts to strike her, herself managing to land many blows on the nin's body, hearing bones splinter beneath the skin under the chakra-enforced hits.
She finally stands over the subdued shinobi, as he gasps for each breath on the ground, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. She stares coldly into the fear-filled eyes below the Konoha forehead protector, slashed horizontally through the the small swirled symbol. The ANBU crouches down beside the dying body, a long pink braid slung over her right shoulder, the tips barely reaching the body, tainting them with his blood. She draws chakra into her hand, and as the final killing blow tears through the chest of her prey, she lets out a small sigh.
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The 5th Hokage sighed wearily as she leaned her head down onto her fists on her desk. The desk was scattered with papers and folders, all reports from Konoha's shinobi on recent missions. The youthful-looking busty woman glowered at all the papers she still had to go through, wondering where Shizune was and why she wasn't in here helping with all the paperwork. However, there was a more pressing, breathing matter to attend to across her desk. Tsunade glanced up at the Hunter-nin who stood before her, freshly back from a mission, still in her ANBU uniform.
The ANBU stood In a relaxed, yet alert pose, her mask still covering her face. Tsunade glared at her for a moment and then said, "Haruno, could you please remove that mask?"
The woman complied immediately, sliding the mask up to rest on top of her head. A pair of large, green intelligent eyes stared back at the Hokage. Tsunade walked around her desk to stand in front of the woman. She ran a finger down the long scar that ran horizontally underneath the kunoichi's right eye.
"Sakura, I wish you would've let me heal that…there would be no scar to remind you."
The ANBU merely shrugged, indifference in her cold eyes. The Hokage sighed and returned to her position around the desk to address the business at hand. Her eyes held a touch of anger in them, but mainly sympathy for the pink haired ninja in front of her. She glanced at the tip of Sakura's braid, the pale pink darkened by blood.
"You are excellent at what you do Sakura. You are unsurpassed in Genjutsu, a formidable enemy in taijutsu and Ninjutsu and you are also a quite accomplished med-nin. However, is it too much to ask that every once in a while you attempt to bring in the specified missing-nin alive? Some may hold valuable information."
Sakura continued to stare across the desk, her eyes cold and uncaring.
"I would bring them in alive, if they would be intelligent enough to not try and kill me."
Tsunade shook her head ruefully, remembering the girl from 8 years ago, when she had first asked to be trained by her. She had been insignificant at the time, overshadowed by the other members of her cell, feeling useless. She had also been loving and caring, always cheerful and laughing. The kunoichi in front of her held not a shadow of that former self. The Kunoichi in front of her was an expert killer, a genius shinobi, a great asset to Konoha, and she never smiled.
"You may go. Report back in 3 days. And I mean 3 days. You need to take a break. You've had 6 missions in a row." Tsunade commanded from behind a stack of papers.
"I'm fine. I don't need a break."
"I say you do, so you do. Now Go."
The ANBU bowed once, and in a blur of black and pink, was gone from the office.
Tsunade sat down stiffly at her desk and picked up the top piece of paper from the tallest stack
"Genin Mission Report: Weeding garden for…." Tsunade gave another loud annoyed sigh.
"Shizune!"