Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
Updated. This will probably be the most drastic change of chapter. :) Sorry everyone for switching but I did NOT like how the other storyline was heading. Too me a long time but so far I am happy with this one.
Sorry it's another short one. :)
Chapter 4:
It had been a week. Sakura had survived the night but she still had no hint of waking up soon. She was still in the emergency, visitors prohibited. Naruto had raised hell but Tsunade put her foot down. It made the walls of the hospital shake and Naruto shut up about seeing her. Now, he just popped into her office every day asking if she was okay and if there was any change.
Kakashi was standing in her office waiting for her to say something. Already downing two helpings of sake, she finally sighed and leaned back in her chair.
"What do you know of the mission that Sakura was on?"
Kakashi shifted slightly from where he stood. "Only from the slight briefing before we left to retrieve the scroll."
"No hints or rumors around ANBU?"
He shook his head. "No Hokage-sama."
She sighed again, this time in relief. "What I'm about to tell you is so confidential that if I hear even one peep of what I tell you out there in the village, that smug face of yours will be dead six feet under faster than Naurto downs a bowl of ramen, do you understand me?"
Kakashi didn't doubt it; he just nodded.
"Sakura was planning on leaving the village."
He waited.
"She planned on becoming a missing-nin. She couldn't handle life at the village anymore. Both Naruto and Sasuke had left for years. I think she wanted that experience and that was the only way she knew how."
Trying not to show his surprised, Kakashi asked, "So you gave her the option to take the extended ANBU mission? Hoping she would view that as enough?"
Tsunade shook her head. "Sakura left. No one was to know about her disappearance save for the hunter-nin that were chosen to hunt her down." She paused and took a swig of sake. "They caught her eventually, but she had taken down more than half the nin's I had sent after her. They brought her back here and I gave her an option. Die as a disgrace to the village or probably die on an elite S-class mission that would help the village and clear her name."
"She chose the mission."
Tsunade nodded. "The parameters were simple. Collect as much information as possible in seven years that housed some of the greatest threats to the village. Never once contacting the village or anyone in it. Just keeping the journal on her and at the seven years come back, give over the notes, and continue on living her life at the village."
"But something went wrong." It wasn't a question.
"Suna sent in one of their ninja; an inexperienced idiot of a ninja. They had him using birds to relay information."
Kakashi sighed. So it was a rookie mistake that happened. Sakura just happened to be there and they happened to take her down too.
"From the accounts of your team, she was the one who took down the whole complex."
"That would be my guess as well. Though, I've never seen enough chakra to create a two-mile crater. She has definitely gotten stronger."
"When I said elite, I meant it Kakashi. She has surpassed me, without a doubt. You too. Maybe even Naruto and Sasuke." Tsuande poured herself even more sake. Silence hung in the room, each to their own thoughts. Surprisingly it was Kakashi who broke the silence.
"What happened to Sakura, Hokage-sama?"
"Before or after the mission?"
Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Both."
She took another slip of sake. "Frankly, I noticed Sakura alienating some of her friends after she was promoted to jounin. I didn't think much of it. But each A-class or even S-class mission reports started to worry me. Almost questioning why loyalty to the village was worth the life of a ninja." Tsunade looked at him poignantly.
That train of thought Kakashi knew well. He had lost just about everyone in his life that he loved. His parents, his sensei, and his teammates all died around the same time and for what? Were their lives really worth the safety of the village? It had been a dark time in Kakashi's life. But he had found people he wanted to protect. Had she not made it to that point or did the insecurities about being the weakest member of their team meant that everyone could protect themselves? There had to be something more. Sakura wouldn't just throw her whole life away because she was feeling grumpy about Naruto and Sasuke. Something else must have happened. Something Tsunade didn't know about.
"As for after," Tsunade cut off his thinking by throwing him the copy of Icha Icha Paradise he took from Sakura. He only knew it was hers because the cover was bloodstained. "It's a novel, the information in there has already been copied. That has been the single most useful information packet we have received since I became Hokage. The notes and meticulous details, that information alone will save thousands of ninja's lives." She paused, her face becoming darker. "She also used it as a sort of diary."
Kakashi released the seal and it turned into a plain orange covered book, much thicker than the Icha Icha. He thumbed through the pages but Tsunade interrupted him.
"It's not a light read Kakakshi. It's a personal and the only reason I'm letting you read it is because I think you're the only one that can talk some sense into her. If she comes to, we don't know the Sakura we are going to be dealing with. But to do that, you need to know." She let a smirk onto her face. "Protect that like you protect those Icha Icha books of yours and we won't have a problem."
Kakashi nodded.
"Dismissed. Get out of here. And if you don't mind, don't use the door. I would like to drink in peace a little while longer."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.
She took her time pouring more sake and knocking back one before pouring herself another.
"If he can't help her, not once can." She mused. "I don't relish the thought of killing my own apprentice." Picking up the mission reports Kakashi's team had turned in, she took another sip of sake. "If I even can."
