A Ninja's Guide to Surviving a Shinobi War
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own anything in the contents of this story. Please don't republish this story without asking permission. That is all.

Summary:
Slightly AU –It has been three years since the flames of war engulfed Konoha and the rest of the world, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands. When Naruto unexpectedly returns, though, he brings with him the key to Konoha's victory: a suicide mission deep behind enemy lines. A squad of Shinobi will leave on a quest to end the war, but none of them will return home the same, if at all.

Chapter Three: The Ones We Lost

Neji and Sakura had parted ways once their scheduled sparring session was completed for the night. He had invited her to join him and Tenten for a late dinner, but Sakura had respectfully declined, claiming that she had some paperwork to finish up at the hospital where she was interning as a healer before she retired for the evening. She was lying of course, but as much as she appreciated Neji's kind gesture, she had no need for his pity and no desire to be a burden on one of the rare dates that the two could enjoy while temporarily stationed in Konoha.

Sakura suspected Tenten made Neji invite her because she felt sorry for her. After all, there was no man in Sakura's life and there hadn't been one in over three years.

Not that there hadn't been offers. Sakura had been approached several times over the last few years, but the prospect of dating again didn't appeal to her. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the last time she had suitors vying for her affection, one of them had tried to kill her and the other...

Sakura winced as she limped down the road leading back to her parent's home. The sparring session with Neji had left her bloody and bruised, and she knew her physical therapist would be furious to find out that she had been training again.

Sakura hated being cooped up indoors, though; sitting around complacently while the world moved on without her. Even though the punches and kicks could potentially undo years of intense healing from her near death experience, they made her feel more alive than she had ever since that fateful night at the winter dance.

The path she had selected to walk home on wasn't the most direct, as it went around the village and through the forest, but it passed through an area that Sakura enjoyed stopping by for a few moments when she had the chance.

A large marble structure had been constructed amidst the trees long before Sakura was born. It was called the memorial stone, a polished, granite monument that bore the name of every Shinobi that had fallen in the service of Konoha.

When Sakura had first seen the memorial stone as a student at Konoha High, only half of the it had been filled by the names of those who had made the ultimate sacrifice while defending the village. Now, though, nearly the entire front was covered and new names were being added daily as the list of causalities came in. It wouldn't be long until a new monument had to be built.

Sakura stopped in front of the memorial stone and looked up at it, her eyes scanning the list of slain Shinobi. On previous visits, she had been dismayed to find that she recognized far too many of the new names that were being added.

For instance, Naruto's old school friend, Kyo, had perished while defending one of Konoha's many border villages. Shortly after he had arrived to help evacuate civilians, the village had been leveled by a deadly artillery strike, killing Kyo and over 3,000 villagers who hadn't made it out in time.

Another name Sakura recognized was Asuka, the fiery haired archer. She had died when a helicopter she had been riding in was shot down by a missile while on a routine patrol. She never stood a chance –the recovery team hadn't even been able to find her body for identification.

The tragic news of their friends' death had hit Sakura's class hard, especially Kiba who had dated Asuka briefly

Sakura's fingers traced over the names carved into the stone, silently whispering each one aloud as her hand moved back and forth across the monument. Near the bottom of it, though, Sakura paused when she noticed a new name had been added since her last visit a few weeks ago.

Uzumaki Naruto.

It wasn't the first time she had seen her friend's name appear on the tablet. Every six months or so, a rumor would come in that Naruto's body had been recovered in some distant land. However, shortly after his name was added to the memorial stone, a new report would claim that the blond haired Shinobi hiding on the opposite side of the world.

The most recent report by Konoha's spy network, which had been issued earlier that week, said that Naruto had been killed when Frost Country fell to the enemy. Sakura knew better than to trust it, though, especially since their spies had proven to be unreliable so many times before.

It was entirely possible that Naruto was dead; that he had been killed by injury, illness or one of the countless other dangers that resided beyond the walls of Konoha. She had no reason to believe otherwise aside from the feeling in her gut that told her he was safe. Deep down inside, Sakura knew that Naruto was still alive out there somewhere.

Sakura enjoyed thinking about Naruto as little as she did about Sasuke. It wasn't that she reserved for him the same kind of hatred she had for Sasuke, but every time she found the perpetually smiling, goofy Shinobi from her childhood entering her thoughts, an intense sadness would overwhelm her. Thinking of Naruto rekindled fond memories and feelings that Sakura would always treasure, but it also reopened wounds that time had yet to heal.

She wanted to forget about what happened three years ago and move on with life, but it was easier said than done, especially when the scars she bore from Sasuke's attack were a constant reminder of a perfect life of happy innocence that had been viciously stolen from her.

Sakura looked up into the night sky, her eyes counting each star as they flickered majestically against the dark backdrop. She hoped that somewhere out there Naruto was enjoying the same sight she was, counting the same stars and thinking of her also. More than anything, though, she prayed he was still alive.

As Hyuga Hinata stared wearily at her date while he continued to yap on and on about the latest, expensive trinket that his father had lavished upon him, all she could think about was how utterly bored she was. She struggled to resist rolling her eyes and stifled the urge to yawn, and instead nodded her head, feigning interest in whatever her rich suitor was trying to impress her with.

It had been this way all night. From the moment that she had arrived at one of Konoha's most opulent and luxurious restaurants for her arranged date, Hinata had had to summon all the calming techniques from her Shinobi training to avoid going insane.

"That's fascinating," Hinata said, hoping her date, a wealthy merchant's son named Kazumuru Taro, wouldn't realize her voiced conveyed the absolute opposite. He didn't, of course and continued chattering about some new sports car that he had recently purchased using his family's enormous wealth.

If there was one thing nobles enjoyed more than their wealth it was flaunting it in front of others. Hinata, however, had absolutely no interest in how large Taro's bank account was or how many islands his family owned. She knew her family was wealthy, but unlike Taro and so many of the other noble families that Hinata's father fraternized with, she refused to allow money to define who she was.

Hinata toyed with her wine and tried to forget about how miserable she was.

Maybe all dates were as boring as this one, she thought glumly.

Hinata didn't have a wealth of dating experience to compare it to. In fact, the last date she had gone on had been with Naruto, and that one ended with their instructor forcibly hauling him out of a ramen shop and dragging him down the street back to the hospital. It might not have been ideal, but it definitely had been far more exciting than her night so far...

"So what do you think?" Taro asked suddenly.

"What's that?" Hinata asked. If she had been even slightly interested in Taro, she might have actually been embarrassed that she had been caught not paying attention.

It wasn't that Taro was a bad person. He was polite, good looking and had even pulled out Hinata's chair for her, but he was just so bland in comparison to all the other boy's Hinata had ever known. While her other guys friends, like Naruto, Kiba, Shikimaru and Neji, were out risking their lives for the safety of Konoha, Taro was being groomed to inherit his family's oil and fishing empire.

Taro smiled, evidently still oblivious to how uninterested Hinata was, and said, "What do you think about getting married at the end of summer?"

"What?" Hinata exclaimed far louder than she had anticipated. A few heads turned to see what the ruckus was about, and Hinata waited a few mortifying seconds before leaning over the table and hissing, "What the hell are you talking about? Married? To you?"

Taro's smile faded. "Well, yes, Hinata," he said stiffly. "This dinner was to become acquainted in preparation for our arranged marriage. Surely you knew what your father..."

"Surely I didn't!" Hinata snapped. She wasn't sure if she should be more angry or confused that her father had dared to give away her hand in marriage without so much as consulting her, so she settled for a mixture of both that, fortunately, seemed to intimidate Taro.

"I-I'm sorry," stuttered Taro. "I thought you would have known."

"N-no, it's not your fault," Hinata replied softly. She almost felt bad for poor Taro. He might be pompous, elitist windbag, but it wasn't his fault that she was being blindsided by this horrific news. "Let me use the washroom for a moment, and then we can discuss this like adults."

"Please do," replied Taro with a nervous laugh, visibly relieved that Hinata no longer looked like she was ready to tear his head off. "Yes, I'm sure we can work out any confusion like two grown-ups."

Hinata quickly excused herself and practically fled to the women's restroom. She slammed the door shut, locked it and exhaled deeply. Her hands were trembling and she suddenly felt the urge to start crying, if only out of anger and frustration.

She supposed it wasn't all that surprising that her father would try to spring this on her without any warning. Maybe he thought that she would be so shocked by the news that she would just go along with his plan to marry her off to one of the wealthiest men in Konoha without too much of an argument. He had never taken her opinion into consideration whenever he made a life choice for her –why would marriage be any different?

For a fleeting moment, Hinata considered turning around, walking back outside and discussing her future with Taro. It was like he said: they were grown-ups. Surely they could work out their differences like the civilized mature adults that their parents were expecting them to be. If Hinata did that, she could marry Taro, have children and live an incredibly luxurious, normal life devoid of killer ninjas or boyfriends possessed by nightmarish demons.

But then Hinata noticed the bathroom had an open window leading into an alley behind the restaurant.

"Forget that," Hinata muttered as she climbed up on a sink and then slithered her lithe form through the small opening. One of these days she would act like an adult and address all of her problems like one, but tonight was definitely not that night.

Author's Notes:

Apologies for the delay! The next chapters will come much quicker! Promise!