Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: A/U. Replies at end…because they're erm..lengthy? I really hope this wasn't awful…:S

She went absolutely still, and stayed that way for a total of three seconds before whipping around to face the Hokage, with a look of pure incredulity etched on her face. Her eyes were a container for a myriad of emotions, the most overwhelming of which, Tsunade noted, was fear and anger. A tense silence commenced in the Hokage's office, broken first by Sakura.

"What?" The slight shift in the tone of her voice as the young Kunoichi posed the simple question and exclamation was not lost on the Hokage. Sakura was unnerved - and mentally Tsunade wondered if she had made a bad decision in terms of assigning her former student this mission.

Yet, really, there was no other choice. Because, like she had mentioned, there was no one else to take the job; everyone else that had been sent against him had all ended up dead or missing, and of all the remaining ninjas, Sakura was most probably one of the only ones who could engage in a fight with Sasuke and emerge alive, whether she won or not.

There were two reasons to this. The first was simple: after all, she had been his teammate and friend, at one point in their lives, she and Naruto, with Kakashi as their sensei. If there was anyone who knew him better than perhaps himself, it was definitely one of those three.

She wished with all her might that she could have sent either the blond or the silver-haired jounin, but the former of the two was on a mission of his own, and the latter of the two...was simply not expendable. That did not mean that Sakura was expendable…but because of who she was, a Shinobi Hunter, her talents were needed more outside of Konoha than they were inside. As much as Tsunade hated to admit, losing Sakura would be less of a blow to the fire country than it would be if Kakashi were to perish.

It was the truth, nothing but the harsh truth; but it was war, and in war, anything went.

But she did have faith in Sakura's abilities, and that was the second reason why she chose to send Sakura. After all, the Hunter-nin had nearly surpassed her teachings, and thereby nearly surpassed her, the Fifth Hokage herself - which was by no means an easy feat. On top of that, Sakura had yet to fail even one of her missions. No matter how tough it was, or how long it took, or how many injuries she might have sustained, she would always return with her given assignment completed.

And that was why she had to send Sakura on this mission.

Pity ran its course through Tsunade briefly. Sakura, she mentally whispered. I'm sorry that you have to do this

"I don't need to repeat myself." This was brusquely said. "You heard me fine the first time."

"WHY!" Came the heated shout, and before she could blink, Tsunade found Sakura looming over her, fists clenched, eyes smouldering as fury replaced the bit of fear that had only previously been present.

"Don't," Tsunade said calmly, dangerously. "crowd me."

Eyes locked; one pair green, one pair brown. The strain in the room grew oppressive, thick, as neither was willing to break the silent contest of wills. The silence stretched as neither spoke a word. Frustration beset emerald orbs. Coolness permeated auburn pools. And through it all, the tension mounted, until it seemed as if a full-scale battle was on the verge of erupting between the two.

But Sakura jerked her head to the side, breaking eye contact first and relieving some of the room's unseen pressure. She stayed that way, head firmly facing her side as if she had been slapped.

"Why?" She repeated, her voice more controlled. "You know my feelings on this subject. Why the hell are you assigning me - this?"

"I've already told you. There's no other person who can take this job."

"There's Naruto…?" A pleading note entered her voice. Her eyes remained stubbornly averted. Tsunade sighed inwardly.

"He left early this morning with a few others on a reconnoitre mission." She finally said. "And don't even ask about Kakashi," She added, and Sakura's lips compressed into a thin line. "Because you're not getting out of this mission."

"You did this deliberately," She spat bitterly. Tsunade clamped down on her rising anger. She should have anticipated the blame falling on her. "You - you - "

"This has nothing to do with your feelings." The Godaime snapped. "This is purely politics. We will lose this war if your Sasuke-kun is on the enemy's side. Orochimaru wanted him right from the beginning, and now that he's had him for the last several years, who knows how strong the Uchiha has become?" She fell silent. "For all that we know…his body could have already been taken over by Orochimaru - "

"It hasn't." Sakura retorted, her head snapping around to face Tsunade, who arched an eyebrow

"How do you know this?"

Her one-time student looked away again silently, her jaw clenched.

The Godaime gritted her teeth. Sakura was hiding something. But she didn't have time, for she had one – troublesome – person to see after the Kunoichi. "Never mind. I highly doubt I'd get anything out of you. Regardless, it's all the more reason for you to eliminate him now, before he is taken over."

Silence once more. Sakura's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"There…isn't a way I can not do this?" She finally whispered. Subconsciously, Tsunade realized that this was the most display of emotion she had ever shown in a very, very long time…especially considering that she was under the influence of quite a lot of Sake. Oh, she knew the younger girl drank. Sakura was very much like the sannin herself.

"No." She said shortly. "I'm not asking you to do this because I feel like it. I'm not even asking you to do this. I'm telling you to do it…for Konoha." There was a brief pause. "No matter what, remember the twenty-fifth Shinobi Saying."

An involuntary gasp escaped Sakura, one filled with an indeterminable amount of pain, even as she flinched visibly. Tsunade frowned, and made move to say something further, but was stopped as the other brought her head up sharply. Her face was now a blank slate, wiped clean of the emotions that had only just been scribbled all over her visage.

"Hai." She said coldly, before turning on her heel and leaving without a further word.

Yet those three words burned in her mind, even as she prepared herself physically and mentally for the mission. Three words. Three simple words. Three words that held immense symbolism for her.

---

Shinobi Saying twenty-five.

It was a saying she never ever forgot, out of the hundred some sayings that a genin was expected to learn. It was a saying she had followed almost religiously from the moment she became a Shinobi Hunter. It was a saying she had once told a client of theirs during Team Seven's very first A-rank mission.

It was a saying that applied disgustingly well in the current situation.

Shinobi Saying twenty-five.

His jaw had gone slack in what she could only guess was shock. His eyes, those dark, beautiful obsidian eyes of his, held something akin to disbelief and utter surprise. In one quick glance, she took in his entire appearance, and realized that he hadn't changed all that much. He had grown much taller, towering over her by at least a head, still retaining that slender look of his that his never-ending gaggle of fangirls dreamt about running their hands over. He even looked the same, except that his boyish look was gone. Instead, replacing that childish beauty was a more striking, and subsequently more breathtaking, mature face.

"Sakura?" The confusion-laced voice that came from him was slightly deeper, bass-like, and had she not been under the effects of the Sake - she had consumed another few bottles before she left for good measure - she would have lost the battle right there and then.

"Remember the twenty-fifth Shinobi Saying."

Tsunade's words rose unbidden once more, and she mentally cursed for becoming distracted from her mission. What the hell was she doing, standing there and observing him? He was distracted, caught off-guard. Now was her chance.

So she acted, drawing her kunai and lunging. He stumbled backwards, those dark eyes of his widening further before they narrowed. He dived to the side, rolling and rising with shuriken in both his hands. A quick flick of his wrists, and it was her turn to move.

'A Shinobi must keep his emotions on the inside, no matter what the situation…'

However, instead of tumbling to the side, she leapt into the air, her hands flashing through a set of seals. His eyes narrowed in recognition, and immediately she felt the build up of chakra coming from her enemy.

"Katon!" She sucked in a deep breath. "Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

Chakra bubbled rapidly from her chest upwards to her mouth, and fire exploded from her mouth as she expelled forcefully in his direction, coalescing into a huge fireball which sped unerringly to where he stood. The fiery ball blazed into the ground and splashed the surrounding trees - for she had attacked him in the forest - with flames, turning the surrounding landscape into an instant blazing conflagration. She landed soundlessly on a tree branch higher in the treetops, watching the inferno below.

"You knew you had no chance of nailing me with that jutsu," His voice coolly sounded from behind her. A smile ghosted across her lips. The chakra build-up she had felt was from him pooling his chakra at his feet, and using it to leap to safety a split second before the fireball engulfed him. The same thing he had done against one Haku way back during their days as team seven.

'…you must make the mission top priority…'

"Of course." She replied with equal calm, simultaneously spinning and kicking out with her foot, but he blocked with his lower arm. Immediately, she lashed out with her fist, and he dodged, releasing her leg and jumping backwards. But he did not retaliate, merely watching her with hooded lids .

"You've changed." He said simply, his voice dangerously neutral. She did not reply, instead drawing another kunai. His eyes flashed dangerously as she twirled her weapon around her finger a few times, before snapping it in her palm and flinging it at him. He made move to deflect it, and was completely unprepared when it exploded just before it hit him. He coughed, faltering backwards…right into her kunai.

Her kunai!

Dark eyes widened. Green eyes narrowed.

"You…how?" He turned his head to meet her eyes. They were cold, so cold, and completely devoid of any emotion. Blood slid down his lower torso as she shoved the kunai deeper. Her eyes remained eerily empty through it all. No emotions. No feelings. No tears.

'…and you must possess a heart that never shows tears.'

"Why?" He finally said, his voice a whisper. She broke eye contact, bowing her head and resting it onto his back. She permitted herself a bitter smile.

"Because I hate you," She answered, and slid her kunai up without further hesitation.

Her enemy jerked once, gurgling as the kunai fatally carved its way up to his heart, then with one final shuddering breath, fell still…

…then became a gooey, muddy substance, melting over her hands and melding with the tree branch below them both.

"Really, Sakura?" The drawl came right beside her ear, and involuntarily she shivered, the hairs on the nape of her neck rising in reaction to the sensation of his warm breath against her skin, instantly betraying to the world what her true feelings for him were.

Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what just happened. A clone…she had only killed his clone.

And he - the real Sasuke - was right behind her.

---

Liked it? Want me to continue? You know the drill...please review! No flames!

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-cringes- Sorry this took so long in coming...couldn't really figure out how to start it off. I think I must have rewrote it like, ten thousand times, and I'm still not satisfied with it...--; Damned writer's block. Plus there was the Animethon and OMFG IT WAS SO COOL AND I - heh, yeah, I won't rant. It was my first, and I went crazy there. Then I got Kakashi's gloves, and that made me even happier. XD. But anyways, lol, thanks once more to all you reviewers, I'm really, really, REALLY glad you guys like this fic, even if only somewhat: Kiria Kare, Aemkea, raikujin, SakuraSasuke29, kasumi, grilledjellyfish, Reven-chan, psychicbunny, It.q.ryu. Shinobi Darkbeak, blackyuki, yin vs yang, daydreamer53221, Snotty Chim-Chim, Byakugan13, RunRAMENRun, Mimiru-Chan, fallendreamer, Kist, Only Secret, LadyMist, Arounai, twigy, lolly pop3, BlackFeatherz29, InuyashaObsessed101, Ori, Uchiha Kumiko, iluvanime493, GUEST-WITH-CAPSLOCK, K-chan, Higurete Michi Toushi, nekozuki10, pureblood01, Zionne, Silver Kitsune6291, rayearth-luvr.

Um...a few replies now (no particular order)...and I SUCK at these...-gulps-

Higurete Michi Toushi: Why hello. XD. Yeah, uh, complete change is right. Lol. Thanks, and you flatter me, you liar. :D.

iluvanime493: -stares- I actually never realized that. Damn. You'd probably write this story better than I could, lol.

Uchiha Kumiko: Thankee! Lengthwise? Hmm...honestly, I don't know. There's going to be quite a few chapters, I think...and depending on a bunch of stuff, I might throw in a sequel, if it's possible or whatnot. Actually, I was also thinking of another story taking place at the same time, except centering more around Naruto...but we'll see. XD.

GUEST-WITH-CAPSLOCK: I can't! Not yet. :) It's nowhere near being finished, like I told Uchiha Kumiko...so do keep reading!

BlackFeatherz29: Haha, thanks. Same here on being a die-hard SasuSaku fan -high fives- and I'm glad you like it!

psychicbunny: It seems like you wouldn't mind if Sakura hurt Sasuke really, really badly...lol.

Mimiru-Chan: ...YOU...FLAMED...-cries- Naw, I don't think you're a maniac. But thanks! I do think that you, like psychicbunny, wouldn't mind seeing Sasuke get beaten up. It boggles my mind as to why you both want him, uh, severely hurt...:S

Byakugan13: You flatter me as well...-blushes- but thanks! Um...hmm. Lengthwise? Like I said to Uchiha Kumiko, I have no idea...but there'll be quite a bit. It won't end quite yet...I'm just getting into it. XD.

LadyMist: Thank you! I actually disliked that chapter quite a bit; I dunno why. But if you liked it, I'm glad!

OnlySecret: I UPDATED! No flaming. It'll destroy my confidence and then I probably couldn't write again (I know I'm pathetic that way, shh). And I'll never update...THEN WHERE WILL YOU BE? . Haha...but seriously, arigato. :)

fallendreamer: -taken aback- I, uh, hope the updating was okay? -whimpers- Aha, thanks. I don't think it's that great...but if you do, thanks. :D. I'm really trying to improve my writing.

K-chan: DAMMIT...I guess you're right. But thanks though.

Silver Kitsune6291: Hey there, thanks. :) But I should probably get a beta reader or someone like that…because goodness knows, I probably would benefit from one.

rayearth-luvr: Not really, lol…but thank you...:D

Finally, to everyone else unmentioned, THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN! See you all!