Chapter 4: To ask is to know.

"She'll need a weeks rest before she'll be ready for action. The poison did a good number on her internal organs. It had started for her brain, but we managed to stop it."

"Why didn't the man kill her when he had the chance?" Naruto asked Tsunade and everyone in the room, as he glanced down at Sakura, as she lay unconscious on the hospital bed.

Tsunade shook her head. "Won't know till she wakes up. She put up a good fight."

Sasuke nodded. "They weren't easy to beat. Every time we got an advantage, they'd throw another leap at us. But the guy Sakura was up against seemed almost like he knew her. It caught me off guard when she got caught."

Naruto nodded.

Sasuke looked over at Sakura, and thought back to the very moment he noticed the color of her eyes. He was very confused as to why her eyes where of that color, when they should've been green. After debating about this issue in his mind for a few minutes, he decided to rejoin the conversation.

"Once she wakes up, she may seem confused and disoriented."

"Who's disoriented? Tsunade- shishou."

Everyone turned and looked at the surprisingly awake Sakura. "Sakura, your awake. Do you remember what happened?"

Sakura slowly sat up and made herself comfortable. "The last thing in remember, was fighting the ninja that attacked us. The man I was fighting had injected a needle into my neck, as I passed out, I noticed a tattoo on his wrist. It was a green Scorpion. Do you know what that symbol was?"

Tsunade put her hand up to her mouth in thought. "I've heard about such a tattoo, how ever, I need sometime to research it more. I'll get back to you as soon as I know something. As for your condition, you are better, you may feel some lingering effects from the poison. Other then that, I want to keep you here over night to observe in case of these lingering effects."

"Hai," Sakura then turned to her teammates, "what happened to the ninja after I passed out?"

Naruto stepped closer to the foot of the bed, "the ninja fled." Surprised, Sakura turned her head to Sasuke, only to see his nod. "Fled? What do you mean fled?" Naruto shrugged and finished, "don't know, once you passed out, and Gage, Koza, and Kaiden, came to help, they all left. Almost as if they were finished with us.."

Sakura looked down at her hands. 'They aren't finished with us yet.. If he was that man would have killed us before leaving. But he didn't.' "They aren't done with us yet." she stated out loud.

Tsunade looked at her apprentice, and asked. "What do you mean?"

"As we were meeting the informant, he told us that the Akatsuki were on the move, something about a sacred scroll that is hidden somewhere in Konoha. The said person, could not accompany us here, as it would jeopardize his position with in the Akatsuki. He'd just finished telling us the info, when we felt the ninja's. we gave him the chance to leave before the ninja showed up. They wanted to know what he'd told us. I told him we were planning a party."

Sakura took a breath before finishing the rest. "The man I was fighting wanted to know why it was that I looked so much like a woman he'd killed. It was like he had so much pleasure in torturing me.. However, that's the reason he's not done with us. I believe because Gage, Koza, and Kaiden were coming, he'd run out of time. So he fled. For now.."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Tsunade thought all about what she'd just told them. "The question is, who is this woman the man killed?" "Sasuke, Naruto, lets let Sakura rest. she has healed faster then i had anticipated and should be ready for missions tomorrow. You've got a day off. Go home and rest. Sakura there's someone here to see you."

Sasuke and Naruto followed Tsunade's orders and left the room, as they entered the hallway, they were surprised to see Jake Haruno and his team, plus his cousin Kero and his teammates.

Jake put his arm out in front of Sasuke and Naruto, "how is she?" Sasuke understood the concern on Jake's face and answered "she's awake. She remembers everything. Tsunade says she's staying the night for observation, she seems normal to me." Jake nodded then let the boys through.

He turned and nodded to Kero, then entered the room..

Sakura turned her gaze from the window, to the door when it opened. Tsunade looked up from the chart, then turned it back, once seeing Jake.

"Hey kiddo, how you feeling?" Sakura smiled and said. "Better. Close the door."

Jake turned and closed the door with a confused look upon his face. He briefly turned his eyes to Tsunade, only to see the same confusion. He moved across the room and sat in the chair beside the bed.

Sakura then looked back out the window. "I know who the man was." Jake and Tsunade both looked at Sakura stunned. "What...what do you mean you know the man?" Sakura turned her eyes to meet her teacher's "do you remember the story of the Haruno catastrophe?" at Tsunade's nod, she continued. "Well when I was two, and Jake was ten, a group of ninjas attacked our clan, and just killed random people. Ninja or no. these ninja were the very same ones who attacked us today. The one I was fighting was the man who killed our Uncle, and Kero's father."

******

The next day, Sakura was released from the hospital, and she was wandering the streets. She knew she had to do some grocery shopping for her and her brother, but she wasn't in any hurry to. "Sakura," she turned to who called her name, and smiled at Sasuke. "Hey Sasuke. Hows it going?" Sasuke shrugged, then asked "can we go somewhere and talk?" Sakura curious and confused nodded and followed as Sasuke led the way to the training grounds they frequently use. Once their she was surprised to see Naruto also there.

Naruto noticed his two teammates. "Hey Sasuke. That was quick. I didn't think you'd find her this fast." Sasuke smirked. "It's cause I'm better then you dobe." Naruto playfully stuck out his tongue at Sasuke, only to have it caught by Sakura. "Sticking out your tongue is a very bad Idea Naruto. Next time I cut it off." Naruto nodded and pulled his tongue back into his mouth.

"So why were you guys looking for me anyway?" she looked between the two people most important to her. Sasuke began without any hesitation. "Why is it that when you were fighting that man your eyes turned blue?" Surprised, Sakura stated also with out hesitation. "Its my families bloodline limit. I only discovered it when you both were outside the village. Tsunade didn't know much about it, just what the records said, and I learned to control it."

amazed Naruto asked. "What does it do?" Sakura looked at both her teammates. "It examines jutsu's and lets me know the flaws and weaknesses to each and every type of jutsu. Including any Bloodline limit. Most times, I work with lightfoot when I activate it."

"So if you have this jutsu, how come you didn't use it in the fight with these ninja's?"

"Cause I don't want to depend on my bloodline limit. I only use it if necessarily is needed. I tried to use it, but it was too late to do anything in that fight. I can only do so much, but I won't depend on this." she activated her bloodline, and pointed to her eyes.

"Why are you so willing to confide in us about this?"

"Jeez, what a stupid question, you guys are my teammates. Together we depend on each other to not die. We depend on each other for help, and support. If I didn't tell you guys about this, I would be a lousy teammate."

Naruto nodded and got smacked for agreeing to her statement.

Sasuke smirked at the treatment Naruto always received from Sakura for being an idiot.

"Ow! What was that for, Sakura- chan? I agreed with you?"

Sakura nodded and replied. "That's the point. You weren't supposed to agree with me. That's why you're hurting. Idiot."

before Naruto could start an argument, about why he agreed, she continued "anymore questions about my bloodline limit?"

"Who all knows about your families bloodline limit?"

Sasuke asked. She smiled and replied "you two, Gage, Koza, Kaiden, Jake and kero obviously. And Tsunade, and Kakashi. It is too dangerous for me and mine to allow anyone else to know."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, but Naruto couldn't comprehend why it was that no one else should know. "Why is it dangerous?"

"Jeez dobe, sometimes I think you don't have a brain in that head of yours."

"Don't call me dobe teme."

"I'll put it in dummy terms, you should understand. If everyone knows about my bloodline limit, I could become a target for kidnapping, and have my bloodline used for bad. And it could even be used against home. I don't want that and I know you don't either."

Naruto nodded and finally understood.

"Sakura-sama, Sasuke- Sama, and Naruto- sama, Tsunade requests your presence at once."

the three turned to the anbu kneeling in front of them, and Sakura acknowledged.

"Thank you Dextera."

The anbu nodded and disappeared.

"Let's go." together all three transported to Tsunade's office.

*****

They appeared outside Tsunade's office, and Naruto, for once in his life, knocked lightly on the door ans waited till he'd got a response from with in. Sakura couldn't believe what happened, and looked to Sasuke, only to see the same look upon his face. They both shrugged and followed Naruto.

Inside the room, Dextera was standing in front of Tsunade's desk patiently awaiting their arrival. "Your all just in time. Now I can give you the details of the mission. Your headed to the village in Earth country. Their leader is injured and needs an experienced medic. They were on their way back from peace talks with rain, when they came under attack. Attackers at this point are unknown. However the peace talks were a success. Your mission is to go to Rock village, heal their leader and find out who attacked them. You leave in 30 minutes."

She was about to dismiss them, when she remembered the last few details. "Oh, Dextera is to accompany you to make sure entrance into Rock goes according to the agreement. And this mission is top secret. No one is to know of the details or the whereabouts. So be sure to keep everything to yourselves, no matter how excited you are about your mission."

She paused then finished "got it Naruto? No one is to know except you.... if I hear that anyone else knows, you'll be cleaning the jails toilets, for a month... understood."

Everyone looked over to see the disgusted look on his face as he remembered the last toilet cleaning experience he'd had to do.. And nodded. Sasuke and Sakura suppressed their laughter..

"Dismissed."

Sakura burst out laughing once the door was closed behind the group.. "I forgot all about that.. What was it that you did again to get that punishment?"

Naruto folded his arms together in front of his chest and pouted, "I tripped and fell on her Sake stash. The one that Shizune had no clue about till I tripped on it."

Sasuke smirked and they heard a bit of a snort from him as he laughed. "Smooth.. Real smooth."

Sakura was bent over laughing so hard she was having trouble breathing.

Dextera had a smile on his face and was greatly enjoying being beside these three. They were absolutely hilarious together. No wonder they were made as the strongest team amongst the rookie nine. I guess friendship really does bring out the best in people. He'd heard Shizune and Tsunade talking before he'd knocked on the door earlier, and they were discussing naming these three the next legendary Sannin. He felt honoured to be in their presence and be able to travel with them. It certainly wouldn't be dull..

*****

Half an hour later, Sakura walked through the city towards the village gates. She'd taken a detour to say good bye to Ino. All she'd told Ino was she was leaving on a mission, and that she wasn't sure when she'd be back. Plus she's bought a cherry tree seed, she often did this before missions lately.

She felt that the seed brought her good luck for her missions. Most times she's succeeded in her missions, but the days she forgot to buy the seeds missions didn't always go as planned. So, she always tried to buy them. Once the mission was over, she would plant the seed in special areas. Or in areas that she felt could use some color and beauty. Since she buys them a lot, Ino's parents decided to give her a discount on the seeds, which she was great full for.

She made it to the village gates just as everyone else arrived. "Well shall we get going? It will take three hours to reach the rock Village. And I'm sure their leader is in a lot of pain.." everyone nodded and off they went into the trees and began their journey to rock...

*****

An hour later, they decided to stop for a quick break. They decided it would be safer to stay in the trees, so Sakura sat on a branch and leaned her back against the tree.

Sasuke moved close to where Sakura was sitting and sat facing the direction they were planning on heading, his feet hanging off the side. He was off In his own world when a sandwich appeared under his nose, and he inhaled the delectable smell of Turkey.

The smell entered his nostrils and tickled his tastebuds, causing his mouth to water, and seriously tempting him to open his mouth and have his tongue dangle and the possibility of saliva dripping into a puddle on his own lap..

He managed to control his mouth though, cause the thought of having a puddle in his lap wasn't all that appealing, considering he'd have to clean it up, as well as deal with the laughter from Sakura and Naruto. He took the sandwich great fully and thanked Sakura who'd passed him the sandwich. Sakura looked over at her teammates, and wondered what exactly happened in the rock country, in order for them to be put on this mission. Naruto was leaning against a tree opposite the one Her and Sasuke were occupying, with a steamy bowl of Ramen. How he'd heated up the noodles without anyone noticing was beyond her. Dextera was standing and leaning against the same tree as Naruto, looking back and forth amongst the three of them, trying to figure out just what exactly kept this team together.

Sakura finished her sandwich, and stashed the wrappings in her bag and stood. "Ok Naruto, before you even start your 13th bowl, we have to move on." Naruto scowled and put away the bowl he'd just been about to open, but missed the snicker from Dextera as he witnessed the scene. Sasuke put the wrappings from his turkey sandwich, in his bag and stood up ready to go. They waited for Naruto to put the rest in his bag, and then they finally took off 5 minutes later.

Why Naruto had taken EVERYTHING out of his bag, stumped them all.

*****

They reached the land of rock, three hours later. They slowly walked up to the gates, but something made Sakura stop where she was. Sasuke also felt the strange feeling and also stopped. Naruto continued talking to himself, for everyone had stopped listening long ago, till he noticed his friends stopped. "Hey, what are you guys doing? Why are you stopping, we're here?"

Sakura and Sasuke held out their arms, showing they meant no harm, Dextera followed, but Naruto was still confused. He soon found out when rock ninja's jumped to the ground surrounding them. Sakura slowly spoke to Dextera. "Ok, Dextera, I believe it's your turn is it not?"

Dextera nodded and turned to the closes ninja to him. "Who's in charge of this group?"

A rock nin stepped forward. "That would be me, who's asking?"

Dextera slowly bowed and answered "My names Dextera, these are my companions, we mean no harm. We've come from Konoha on orders from our Hokage to aid in a private matter. This scroll explains the details."

Dextera passed the scroll to the ninja, and watched as he opened and read the details. He closed the scroll and nodded, "ok, you will follow us, we will take you to our leader."

They followed the one who'd taken charge. As they walked Sasuke overheard a few nins talking about the only female in the group, Sakura. Most of the things they were saying were beginning to annoy him. He was ready to do something about it, till a hand rested on his arm, he looked over to its owner, and noticed the smile and wink Sakura sent his way. He snickered for the nins talking didn't have a clue what was happening. Sakura stopped and pretended to kick a rock from her shoe, causing the ground to split living a crevice the size of Tsuande's pig companion, Tonton, from the tip of her shoe to the heels of the nins feet.

The action startled the nins, and the group stopped moving, Sakura shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "sorry, there was a rock in my shoe, and you'd be wise to watch what your nins say in the presence of the Sannin Tsunade's Apprentice."

The nins moved away from the crevice, and closed their mouths. The group continued moving.

They approached the villages gates, and were let into the village without any problems.

As they were lead through the village, Sakura noticed they weren't heading in the direction of the Tsuchikage, and decided to ask. "I believe your mission was to escort us to your leader, so why is it we aren't heading to see the Tsuchikage?"

The man leading, continued walking as he answered. "It's true the Tsuchikage, is this village's leader, but that isn't the leader that was injured. The injured party is a secret in this village. He's the one who supplies the Tsuchikage with valuable information. Our leader is also one who gets sent on peace keeping missions to other countries. As such, most are successful like this one, but others aren't so. No one in the village but a select few know about our leader. Not even the highest ranking ninja's know.. That's why this mission is top secret."

Sakura nodded in understanding and followed the man once again. "What are his injuries?" the man shook his head, "I'm not certain, I was given the mission to escort you by his first in command. Only they know the extent of his injuries."

Sakura nodded.

Up ahead they spotted a not so fortified compound, or so it appeared at first glance. But to the trained eye, and if you were really looking, you'd notice the men discreetly hidden and others out in plain sight. Sasuke moved slightly closer to Sakura and looked at her, and confirmed she witnessed the same thing.

Naruto of course was as clueless as could be. He was in the middle of a chat with one of the rock ninja's about Ramen, and the thing that surprised Sakura and Sasuke the most, was how enthusiastic the other nin was about the topic.

Sakura leaned over to Sasuke and muttered, "great, another Ramen lover like Naruto..."

"Did you want me for something Sakura- Chan?"

Naruto asked walking backwards after hearing his name being said, in which Sasuke smirked and SAkura replied "nope, nothing.."

Naruto went to turn and walk normal, only to trip over nothing, and stumble a few feet, before regaining his balance and walking normally again.

Sasuke and Sakura snickered again, then put there attention back to the wall they were approaching.

*****

They were lead inside the wall and lead to the main building children and families were running around everywhere laughing. It was an amazing sight to see. It was kinda the same as most of the families in Konoha. Sakura looked over to Sasuke and was surprised to a little warmth and laugher in his eyes as he watched the families as they ran around laughing and just plain being a family. Sakura still felt the hurt every time she see's other families having fun. Their wasn't many of her clan left. There are maybe 10 families that make up the Haruno clans, but still better then no one.

The Guards stopped outside the largest building in the whole compound. Most of the guards remained outside, while three followed the group inside. Sakura was lead to a room. The room was lit with an abundance of candles.

The man's bed was against the back wall. Many treasures were placed on every surface. Sakura moved cautiously across the room towards the bed and the man in it. A man's voice from her right, stopped her, and she turned to the figure who came silently out of the shadows. "You... a mere girl, was sent to heal my father? And she even has body guards, typical. Can't even fight for herself. But yet your sent to heal. What is konoha thinking?"

Sakura studied the man carefully. He was tall, much taller then herself. He had rather large muscles and he didn't look like a person who'd normally be someone , that would be rude to others. His silver hair was pulled back into a tight braid. His green eyes were studying her in anger and disbelief,

Sakura noticed out of the corner of her eye, that Sasuke was about to say something to the man, but caught Sakura's look and forgot what he'd been about to say. He realized that if he'd opened his mouth, then the man might have thought his suspicions were true.

Sakura looked back to the man. "Konoha is thinking of your best interests. Believe what you will about me, but I'm not weak. Naruto and Sasuke aren't my bodyguards, they are my teammates." she could see the surprise in his eyes and continued. "Dextera, over there is an anbu sent along with us to make sure we get here according to yours and Tsunade-sensei's plan."

Again she recognized surprise. "You are lady Tsunade's apprentice? You have my deepest apologizes. I'm a little worried about my father. He's survived worse, but we've never had to ask got help from our allies before. Our medics have never seen these types of injuries."

"May I" Sakura asked gesturing to the man's father.

"Of course, by all means. Please do whatever you can to help him. Any resources you need, just ask."

The man hurried from the room, and Sasuke scuffed "what a change. You should've let me hit em."

Sakura smiled " then he'd be convinced I'm weak and can't speak or protect myself. Wouldn't want that now would we?"

Sasuke shook his head and turned away.

"Forgive my son. He never knew his mother and I'm all he has left." the voice came from the bed, Sakura moved closer and examined him as she answered.

"It's ok. I deal with it all the time." The man shook his head. "Because of his up bringing, he hasn't learned the proper respect for just any women. He believes all women should be strong and ideal, not weak and fragile. But all women are strong and ideal in their own way and still appear weak and fragile. That's what I'm trying to teach him. And that these women are most precious. I wish he could learn to see it. It would be a pleasure to watch him get married and have children. But he's too set on females's being weak."

Sakura replied while healing him, "well maybe one of these weak and fragile women will actually catch his eye and prove just how strong one who looks weak and fragile is actually strong and ideal. He did in me. But I'm a kunochi. I'm trained to be strong and ideal. These markings on your arm, are they from who attacked you?"

The man nodded. "A man placed his hand there and said a few words. A cering pain moved up my arm from that spot. After I collapsed, the man fled. One had a similar design on his own arm."

Sakura motioned Sasuke over and showed him the mark. "And you've no idea who did this?"

The man shook his head and replied. "No. It was too quick and I didn't recognize the symbol on their headbands. It was unlike any I'd seen before." Sakura nodded. "Well I know this mark very well."

She turned to Sasuke and finished "this is the mark the man who'd attacked us had. The green scorpion."

*****

once Sakura healed the leader and explained what to take for pain and such, she left the room and joined her teammates in the front room. The leader's - who'd introduced himself as Baton, son was waiting to escort them out and into the guards care for their journey home.

"Thank-you for what you've done for my father. I don't know what I'd have done with out him around. He keeps telling me I need a female companion. But I want someone strong and ideal. Not weak and fragile."

SWAK!

He felt the pain first, then realized he was looking to the side. He realized he'd been slapped. He looked around and noticed Sakura with her hand up in the air to the left of her face. And anger in her eyes. He was confused till she spoke.

"You really are as stupid as your father thinks. He wants you to consider all females, wether they appear weak or not. Cause deep down inside everyone is strong. They just need the chance to show it. How can someone show you if you are blind and ignorant of everyone around you? "

Sasuke looked down at his feet as he remembered he'd once thought the same way.

"You should remember how you thought I was weak, just by my appearance. Looks can be deceiving. If you constantly think that way, your going to miss finding that one person who loves you for who you are, while your looking for something that's in everyone. and for all you know that person stands beside you the entire time, wondering when you'll get a clue."

With that said, she turned to her teammates and said, "let's go home. Tsunade will want to know about the situation."

So together they left the rock village and headed home. Unknown to the group, a man watched them leave the village, smiled and went his separate way and inform his boss of the news.

*****

The man arrived back at his village and entered the villa belonging to his boss. He went through the building till he found the room he was looking for and entered. He didn't pause to see the occupants of the room, just headed straight over to his boss. The only thing that stood out about the man's boss, was the green scorpion mark on his arm.

"Boss, your were right, she did survive."

"Perfect. Continue to keep an eye on them."

"Yea sir."

'This is going just the way I want it too. Excellent!' an evil laugh permitted the room......