Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto.

It wasn't hard to find Naruto. Sakura had a map, but it wasn't to show her how to get to the target location. It was to tell her about all the villages on the way. Specifically, the villages with a natural hot spring. Young villages. Villages that were a natural target for someone like Jiraiya. Regularly, she stopped in one of the villages and asked about any festivals that had come in the past thirty days. Anything to judge how far ahead of her they were.

Before she'd left Konoha she'd made a decision between running over hiring a horse. As much as her feet hurt, they were quicker, made her a smaller target, and she didn't wear down as easily as a horse did. A horse, once trained, could run for a few days, if you gave it time to rest regularly. Otherwise, you would run them into the ground, and at that point, they would never get back up.

A person trained could run for the better part of a day.

It wasn't that difficult of a decision.

Eventually, she found them. It wasn't hard. There was a ramen shop filled with the giggling of young women. If she hadn't found Jiraiya and Naruto in here, something would be wrong.

She came into the noodle shop, and with a sigh set herself on the stool beside Naruto, waving the waiter over. "Miso, please," she requested, and then turned to Naruto, who had jumped a mile into the air as soon as he recognized her. She smiled. "Hello."

"S-Sakura! What are you doing here?"

"Ordering lunch," she accepted the bowl as it was placed before her. "Fast service here, isn't it."

"Y-Yeah."

"Actually, I'm on business from Tsunade. You're going to have to cut your training short," she took a sip, and then aimed a look his way. "Orochimaru's coming. He's preparing a strike on Konoha as we speak. I don't even know whether or not he's already there."

Naruto immediately stood up. "Then what are we waiting around here for?"

She caught his jacket before he went two feet. "I'm hungry."

"But Konoha!"

"Naruto. I've been on my feet for the past week. Longer. This is the first real meal I've had in twenty days. Besides," she turned back to her soup. "It's your job to convince Jiraiya to help."

He did it. Somehow, Naruto had miraculously convinced Jiraiya to leave his beautiful women who spent eighty-five percent of their days either nude or barely clothed, to join a war. She didn't how how he did it, but it was done. And she imagined that if she knew how he did it, she'd have nightmares for the rest of her life. There were some things this kunoichi just did not want to know.

Imitating Sasuke, she slanted the pair a sarcastic smile with a cocked brow. "Are you ready to leave yet?"

Naruto averted his eyes. "Now she's ready to go."

Sakura smiled, and turned to Jiraiya. "So how are we..."

He was already casting the summons. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

Sakura jumped a mile into the air at the sudden appearance of the giant frog, Gamabunta, who appeared with the customary "Eh?"

She covered her face in her hands. "I hate frogs," she mumbled quietly. And her feet really hurt.

She didn't pay much attention to Jiraiya and Naruto explaining the situation. That they could was good enough. It wasn't as though she needed any tips on how to convince giant frogs to lend aid--she summoned slugs, thank you. And Katsuyu was, for the most part, far more agreeable.

She was lucky that they didn't try to ask where she got her information. Though Sakura knew, somehow, that Naruto would be far more likely to believe her than anyone else, she didn't want to risk it. If Naruto doubted her, she knew that she would lose faith in everyone else.

"Don't let me fall," she instructed Naruto when the boarded Gamabunta.

"What are you..."

Sakura closed her eyes.

Maybe her ability to combat Mangakyou Sharingan had some practical uses after all.

She woke up instantly, less than a minute later, completely refreshed. They were already in Konoha.

"I'm impressed," she told Gamabunta conversationally as she slid off his neck. She smiled a little at how haggard Naruto looked. Apparently, he'd had some trouble doing what she asked.

She'd apologize later.

Maybe when there weren't giant snakes attacking the village.

"We need to find Tsunade," she told them, and watched as Naruto immediately ran toward danger. He... Sakura massaged her temples. "Why do I even bother?"

"Leave this to me," Jiraiya said. "Find Tsunade."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, sir."

The problem with that, she though as she ran away, was that she had no idea where to look. The hospital might be the best bet.

"Mushi Kabe no Jutsu."

"Gatsuga."

Shino. Kiba. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Shino! Kiba! Where's the Hokage?"

Kiba looked at her. "We haven't seen her. Do you know where Hinata is?"

Hinata's missing? "I just got back. I'll help you look for her!"

"No," Shino denied. "Find the Hokage. We'll hold these guys off."

Sakura nodded. "All right."

It seemed that Itachi really hadn't known that many Sound ninja. None of the faces she'd seen in his illusion were actually participating in the attack on Konoha. Still, he might have gotten lucky...Where was Tsunade in the illusion?

She gasped when she saw a kunai flying toward her, only to be deflected by another. "Sakura!"

"Ino."

"Pay attention, Forehead Girl. We can't always protect you, you know." Ino flipped her hair over her shoulder, giving her rival a cocky smirk.

They were right. She knew it. Her entire life, she'd been protected. Whenever she tried to protect someone, something always went wrong. But...she was a different person now, wasn't she? She was Tsunade's apprentice, and they said that Sakura's chakra control even exceeded hers. She was the one who'd spent five days with Akatsuki without dying. She'd gone through daily questioning and interrogation. Was she still the type of person who needed to be defended? Even now?

I should have gotten something for my feet before we left. This throbbing's killing me.

"That's okay, Ino-pig," she said, planting her feet. "I'll always protect you. Tsutenkyaku!" Someone had been prepared to strike Ino from behind, and received a well-placed kick in response, powerful enough to leave a crater.

Ino looked at the attacker, then Sakura, then the attacker again before sighing. "You and that monstrous strength."

Ino had reminded her of something, though she knew that her rival had no intention of doing so. Ino reminded her of flowers. And that reminded her where Tsunade was in the illusion. All she had to do was follow the cherry blossom trees.

She prayed that Itachi had gotten lucky. Because if he had, that meant that she'd hit the jackpot.

Note: This would have been up yesterday, but I hate writing fighting scenes. And I lost the link to the fighting scene workshop that I always go to when I have to write one.

You know what really sucks, though? I meant for this fic to be SasuSaku, but the more I write it, the more ItaSaku it turns out. It's in it more, mentioned more, and made a bigger impact on the plotline. I'm a bit worried that this is going to be eight chapters long instead of just seven.