Rescue Me~

Forgot to say I don't own Naruto XD

Thank you to those who reviewed. I really love to read them. Please do so again = )

"If you don't create change, change will create you" - Unknown

"I can't go on this mission Baa-chan."

Tsunade looked up from her seated position, knowing very well that the babbling energetic blond had a valid point. He would be needed in Suna the entire week, and couldn't possible go on this mission without canceling, and that idea would not fare well with the council.

"I know that fact Naruto.", she plainly stated.

Naruto opened his mouth to protest against her about letting him cancel though he did look forward to seeing Gaara when a thought registered in his brain.

"Sasuke…could go.", he chimed in a low voice.

Tsunade stood quickly from her seat, the wrath of her anger apparent on her flawless face.

"NO!!", most would have feared the fifth Hokage like this, but Naruto however stood his ground.

"No, Naruto we can't trust a valuable mission like this on Sasuke, I-I understand he is your best friend and that hasn't changed the way you feel after he left, but I cannot let him carry out a mission this…"

Naruto however had heard enough, "Sending him on petty missions and having him babysit near the village isn't going to make him open up anymore. He has proven we can trust him, and frankly you know he could do it."

Naruto felt the fury of her wrath grow, and they went at it back and forth until Tsunade agreed to let Sasuke go on the mission, entrusting whatever happened on Naruto's shoulders.

"If he messes up, it will be YOUR head Uzumaki, Naruto."

He flashed her bright smile, and Tsunade shook her head tiredly as she settled into her chair.

Tsunade brought her hand to her forehead and applied slight pressure to her temple; she had yet to officially restate Sasuke back into Konoha. It had been over for 3 years and he had not given them any trouble, and she out of all believed everyone deserved a second chance to fix their signed the orders and instructed an ANBU to deliver them immediately; she only hoped that Naruto was not wrong about his gut so it was set, Sasuke would lead the three man group on this urgent mission.

IT however would alter the lives of team seven forever.

End Flashback

Sakura stood outside the familiar gates once again, she paused a moment even as the cold wind and lack of sunlight raised a shiver up her spine. She wondered from time to time what would have happened if Sasuke did not die. She also wondered if she would live in this routine until it killed her, sometimes she wished she was strong enough to let go, but she found each time she tried she failed miserably.

She yanked open the gate door, only this time she saw something she hadn't expected. Naruto stood near the entrance and no other shinobi was in sight. She froze when Naruto noticed the gate had opened. Naruto was extremely surprised to see Sakura so early; he had only arrived a couple minutes before she had entered.

"Na-Naruto?", she questioned as she thought her mind was playing tricks on her.

Naruto squinted his eyes a tad to get a better look at her but they were just too far apart for him to see any changes. Sakura stood with one hand firmly holding the cold gate handle and the other grasped over her heart. She released the gate quickly and it snapped shut loudly behind her.

"Gee Sakura-chan are you trying to wake the dead?", he hollered out to her.

. She made great strides to reach Naruto quickly and before another word could leave his mouth she engulfed him in a light hug.

"Baka…Naruto.", she muffled out

Naruto returned the kind gesture, he couldn't remember when it was the last time he had seen her let alone taken her into a hug like this. When the two broke apart they began to look each other over curious about what the time apart had done to one eyes trailed over Sakura's which looked bleak and hopeless her smile was small and her bright pink hair was far too dull, this was not how he remembered Sakura as children. She looked like a ghost of what she used to be.

Sakura however was quite impressed by Naruto, she thought he had grown tall before but now he towered over her, his bright blond hair electric to the eyes and his smile spawned from ear to ear. But his eyes, his eyes were so many different shades of blue she thought she was make believing them. And from what she could feel his body had filled as well possessing just the right amount of muscle.

"Naruto, you look amazing.", she stated taking a step back to take it all in.

He smiled at her compliment, but averted commenting on Sakura."What are you doing here? Last I heard you were on a mission?", he questioned

Sakura not wanting Naruto to know the extremely difficultly she was facing of Sasuke's passing averted the question with one of her own, "What are YOU doing here, I noticed you stopped by quite recently…did you get into so much trouble that they had to suspend you for a while?"

Naruto noticed she had avoided answering him but answered her question anyhow, "Oh no I had a very important task appointed to me that required I visit…here today. But you aren't all wrong about me getting into trouble."

She allowed a mild smile to form at her lips, she really had missed Naruto. He always seemed to either make her mad or happy and that was far better than feeling sad.

"Well…I should get going. I have a lot of research to conduct today."

"You aren't at the hospital anymore?", his voice smooth.

"No, I have been spending some time doing independent work. You know how it is Naruto sometimes you just need a change."

He nodded in agreement, "I'm glad you are so open about change Sakura-chan."

"I hope it isn't too long before we see each other again take care of yourself.", she stated motioning toward him once again. She was ready to give him another hug when he placed a scroll into her hands instead. It was neatly tied with a stamp of the leaf present on both ends.

"What's this?", she asked confused.

"Your change.", Naruto answered promptly answered.

Sakura becoming a tad annoyed about being confused opened the scroll and scanned it over thoroughly. It took her several minutes as she re-read it again and again. She could only forgo to her regular duties when Naruto deemed fit.

"The Hokage would like for me to train you under our new Jounin procedures as you haven't been able to attend any of the briefings. It is about a two month process, but if things go smoothly I'm sure we will be done much faster than that. You know keeping our shinobi up to date on important matters is very prudent."

Sakura looked between the scroll and Naruto, she didn't know if this was a joke or if Tsunade-sama was actually serious.

"Naruto…this is a joke right?"

"Sorry Sakura-chan you're stuck with me."

Sakura contemplated for a moment going against the Hokage's word which would be treason, going against a Hokage like Tsunade would be murderous. And as she wrapped the scroll and followed behind Naruto she thought for a brief moment maybe this was the change she needed maybe this was going to be a blessing in disguise.

'Blessing in Disguise my ass…', she thought bitterly as she increased her pace to match the vigorous Gai-sensei.

"Oh Sakura the youth of the leaf village will live on…after we jog another 75 miles around the village.", Gai sensei threw up his famous thumbs up to Naruto who sat leisurely against a tree. Sakura threw him quite a dirty look as she increased her pace to keep up.

"How…is this helping …me!", she screamed through her burning lungs as she passed Naruto by.

"Like Gai-Sensei said, Building the youth…no living with the….Leaf of the…oh it is good for you Sakura-chan.", he whined.

Naruto couldn't help but muffle a laugh, even though this was probably killing her Sakura was extremely stubborn, she refused to give up and that was something that Naruto was glad did not change within her. After the exhilarant jog, she even had some of her sarcasm.

"Is…that all.", she huffed as she bent down to catch her breath.

Gai sensei's face became a tad confused as Naruto thanked him for his assistance.

After letting Sakura rest a bit he took a seat next to her in the grass. She was looking at the training fields and he briefly wondered what she thinking.

Sakura hadn't been training as much as she should have, it shouldn't have taken her this long to recoup but as she looked out over the fields so much history was behind it. She remembered when Naruto and Sasuke would train together each trying to outdo the other and Sakura sitting in the grass cheering Sasuke on. She had forgotten there were so many memories of him still alive in the village. But she shook her head angrily wasn't the point to let go of those memories and not dwell in the past. Naruto's voice broke her thoughts

"You ready?", he questioned

"Ready, for what." ,she asked a bit worried.

Naruto stood and dusted himself off, "To spar."

The statement allowed Sakura to stand quickly on her own, "We….are going to spar, now?"

"Yes, unless you don't want to", he added coolly knowing Sakura too well

"Of course I'm ready.", though she wasn't sure if she convinced Naruto. S

She was a little afraid she hadn't been training lately and going against the container of the Kybuui wasn't going to be easy. But she was a Jounin and she wasn't going to back down from a challenge.

Naruto smirked as he removed his sweater, reveling the muscles that Sakura had felt earlier, already causing her to become off guard. He was in the air within a second. As Sakura raised her eyes she could already see him completing his first hand sign.

'What speed', she thought as she remembered Kakashi-sensei showing the same during a battle with a powerful enemy.

A powerful amount of wind brushed passed her as she avoided a massive wind chakra attack; it was going to take far more than a little wind to knock her out. She concentrated a great amount of chakra into her hands as Naruto and her dueled hand to hand.

"Come on Sakura-chan I know you have more than that..", Naruto teasing stated his voice echoing with the hint of childishness.

This only increased the amount that Sakura wanted to land a hit. She just needed to land one clean punch and the Hokage herself would have to be healing him. She pushed forward and when she found and opening she pulled a kunai from her pouch and had Naruto pined against a giant oak tree.

"I got you now ba-"

But in a flash Sakura felt her body pressed against the smooth bark of the tree and both hands held firmly behind her back. She was utterly confused for a moment as she knew she had cornered Naruto, she was more than positive that it had not been a Kage Bushin.

"How….did you do that…" ,she asked dazed.

He flashed in front of her allowing her to stand straight again it was here she realized he had learned his father's famed jutsu. One that Naruto had tried to master as long as he came to know that the 4th Hokage was his father. She felt a wave of happiness wash over her as she threw her arms around her former teammate.

"Naruto I'm so proud of you…I know how long you have wanted to learn that jutsu. You're father would be so proud of you."

Naruto took it to heart he had trained for several months among the mountains in solitude just so he could focus the right amount of chakra needed to perform the impressive jutsu.

"I guess it wasn't fair…"

Sakura punched him lightly on the shoulder, "Hardly…"

They began to walk in silence back to the village, "Well if you sign this scroll I'll be out of your hair and you can get back to training."

Naruto let out a confused laugh, "Oh no Sakura this is just the beginning."

Sakura ceased walking, "So…Tsunade-sama is serious?"

"Quite.", Naruto answered sternly

She looked around confused, as if someone was going to jump out and scream just kidding. But it became extremely apparent that it was no laughing matter.

"So what do you have planned tomorrow? More cruel training sessions with Gai-sensei", she quietly inquired, not fully wanting to know the answer.

He let a foxy grin rise to his face.

"Is that a suggestion?", he smiled lazily at her

She shook her head feverishly at him indicating she would not enjoy another training session like that.

He merely placed his hands behind his head before closing his eyes. They walked down the dirt path in peace until he cracked an eye open to look at her, who was still awaiting his answer.

He sighed as the sun began to dip behind the horizon.

"Be ready early…we're going on a trip."

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AN: Thanks for reading!