The Truth From The Lie
Chapter 1: The Return and The News
In this last 6 years a lot of things changed in Konoha Village since team 7 left her, a few to train, others to work, but the thing that will never change, no matter what happens is:
-"Hokage-sama stop drinking and fill the reports." – orders Shizune worried about her mentor seeing that she was a little drunk because of the day is was, the day when important things happened a few years back. Since she was drunk the Hokage didn't fill or do nothing of what she was supposed to do, worrying Shizune.
-"Shizune stop pestering me because I will ask Sakura to do it later, you know that she does it better than me." – said the Hokage drunk.
Listening to this, Shizune stops completely assimilating what the Hokage just said. When the words start to make sense, because of the pain everyone feel when Sakura's name is pronounced, she starts to let the tears fall, the same tears that she had been holding since that morning when she had woken up.
After realizing her mistake, the Hokage also stops, and with her amber eyes that couldn't hide their pain for the loss of her student that was like the daughter she never had, observes:
-"This isn't the same without her, Konoha isn't the same without her, without her smiles, her eyes, her pink hair, even if in the last year she wasn't happy, she will always be Konoha's Cherry Blossom, but you and everyone else know that she would like and would want that all of us continue with our lives, don't you think Shizune?" – asks the Hokage with a voice that held sorrow, receiving only a nod from the questioned person.
Having been answered, the Hokage with a voice filled with false happiness and with a sigh says:
-"Give me the damn reports, lets sign this so that the Counsel don't say that I have been doing a bas work."
-"Tsunade-sama, you know what day is today, don't you?" – asks Shizune afraid, because of the reaction that the Hokage could have at this especial and particularly subject, because it was Taboo to every person in the Konoha and Sand Villages.
-"Of course I know, how could I ever forget." – answered the Hokage with a sigh at the end, looking at the window were it could be see the rain that fell without stopping. – "It even looks like the Sky also knows what day is today and the reason why it is feared for these places. He even is able to do what no one is because all of our tears have already been wasted, but not him, he shows is tears through the rain, because in these last 5 years that in these day it rains." – she says with another sigh. – "Everything is a bit ironic, isn't it? The day he left is the same day she died. Don't you think?" – asks the Hokage letting another tear fall and run through her face not doing anything to clean her.
-"It's Love, Tsunade-sama." – answered Shizune. – "There is nothing that…" – finished Shizune until she was interrupted by a chunin that all wet said:
-"Hokage-sama, 3 figures are approaching the main gate." – say Konohamaru.
-"Who?" – asks the Hokage surprised while she was thinking of who would be nut enough to walk in the street with this rain.
-"That's the awesome part Hokage-sama." – answer Konohamaru with a smirk while the Hokage glared at him.
-"Stop beating around the bush and answer one and for all Konohamaru, because if you don't I will put you and you team doing D rank missions for the rest of your life." – threatens the Hokage with a scary face.
-"Fine, fine. Be calm, I tell. The persons are Jiraya-sama, Naruto-nii-san and Kakashi-sempai." – finally answered Konohamaru with a smile, that quickly disappeared being replaced with a pained expression, saying with a sad voice. – "How ironic, they come back in the same day that Sakura-nee-chan died and Sasuke Uchiha left."
-"Yes, it is really ironic Konohamaru." – agrees the Hokage. –"You can go home. Surely that they are coming here once they arrived, you are dismissed Konohamaru." – says the Hokage.
-"Thanks Hokage-sama." – answered Konohamaru, and without another word he leaves the office.
-"It is really destiny, isn't it Hokage-sama, it's always in this day that important events on team 7 happen?" – asks Shizune. – "How do you think that they are going to react when they know?"
-"I don't know, but one thing is for sure, happy they are not going to be." – answered the Hokage. – "And unfortunately I'm the one who is going to give them the news. Naruto is going to freak out and I'm afraid of his reaction, especially when he knows what was her mission." – finishes the Hokage.
After 5 minutes in total silence looking to the window, while one was thinking about the past and the other was thinking in how to give the news about Sakura. Quickly, it can be heard footsteps on the passage, one pair starts running and in a quick motion the door is open, and through her a blond boy with blue eyes follow by to others more old walk through her.
-"The Great Naruto Uzumaki is Back Baa-chan!" – screams Naruto, with a voice that transmitted the happiness that he was feeling for coming back home. Naruto was different, with his 18 years-old, is figure changed, being more tall and muscled because of the trainings that he must been through, his hair was still the same, but his clothes changed, wearing now a black pair of pants with a mesh t-shirt also the same color, and on top a orange jacket with black parts. But is clothing wasn't his biggest change that could be seen, no, it was his eyes. This one's looked like they seem more mature and moderated with what he must seen in this few years.
The persons that didn't changed in these 5 and half years were Jiraya and Kakashi.
-"Welcome back Naruto, Kakashi and Jiraya." – receive the Hokage with a small smile in her face trying to delay the news. Seeing through her lie, the 3 mans understood that something was happening but decided not to insist in the subject. Well, all except one.
-"What's the matter Baa-can?" – asks Naruto concerned with her since he never saw her so worried and for the fact that she didn't yell or hitting him for the fact he used his nickname.
-"It's nothing, later I will tell. Now, how was your training Naruto?" – asks the Hokage trying to run away from the subject.
-"It was awesome! I learned a lot of new things. And with this new strength I'm going to bring Teme back, and the two of us along with Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan are going to make part of team 7 again, just like I promised her, and the I'm becoming the next Hokage, believe it. I'm going to finish the promise of a life time that I made to Sakura-chan." – explains Naruto. With is happiness he doesn't notice the sorrow that flooded the Hokage's eyes when he said Sakura's name, but the other two did, making them worried, especially Kakashi.
-"Well done Naruto I'm happy for you." – says the Hokage with sincerity in every word pronounced. – "And you Kakashi, how are going the missions in ANBU?" – asks.
-"They are good even if they more difficult each time now that Danzo is in the lead of everything, what looks like is that Yamato and his student, the protected, like everyone calls her are the ones that managed to put him in is right place, and make things more easy." – explains putting out is favorite book, "Icha Icha Paradise", because he thought that the Hokage wasn't going to make more questions to him.
-"Yes, I already heard others ANBU's saying the same thing." – says the Hokage. – "But who is the protected of Danzo?" – asks with curiosity.
-"No one, besides Danzo, Yamato and her, knows. It a complete mystery about her identity, but I have heard stories about her and all of them have the same thing in common. She is one of the best of all Fire of Country, if the best one." – says Kakashi seeing the surprised faces of the persons who were in front of him, since they never heard Kakashi talk so much and especially to praise someone he didn't even know.
-"But how come no one knows who she is Kakashi-sensei?" – asks Naruto with is voice betraying the curiosity he was feeling.
-"Easy, she never takes her mask of, her hair is hidden and she always is hidden in the shadow. And we only know that she is a woman because Yamato is always joking that Danzo wants to jump on her pants. It's because of this that we knew that she was a 'she', nothing more. Even Yamato closes himself in cards every time we ask him who she is. No one makes a clue about who she is. But it must be someone very important and strong to have a lot mystery around her." – explains Kakashi.
After everything is said everyone starts thinking about who could be that konuichi. Until, to lighten the mood, Jiraya makes a question that do exactly the opposite.
-"So, how are things going on in here? Changed anything in the last 5 and half years? Because me and Naruto were always in the forest, only going to the city to get supplies and Kakashi already said that he was busy with missions, so we don't know what happened in this years."
-"Not a lot, I mean, I have news to tell you guys." – says the Hokage looking to the men faces with fear, with these ones a confusion face is one of the things that could describe their faces.
-"Does it have something to do with Teme, Baa-chan?" – asks Naruto impatient to know the answer.
-"No, but…" – starts to answer the Hokage until she is interrupted by Naruto talking.
-"If it doesn't, then it can wait because we have news about him. Close to Sound Country, it can be heard that Orochimaru could enter Teme's body, that means that he had to wait 3 more years to try again, which means that we still have one more year to bring him back home." – says Naruto. – "Now, here is Sakura-chan for me to give her the good news?" – asks Naruto confused, because he thought that she would come welcoming them back, unless no one told her that they were back. – "You didn't send someone to call her Baa-chan? I thought that you asked Konohamaru to do it, since I saw him leaving the Tower." – explains Naruto.
-"Yes, it's about her that I want to talk with you." – says the Hokage with a sigh, standing up from her chair, because she knew that she couldn't run away from the subject anymore and walking to the office door. – "Do you mind following me?" – pleads the Hokage to the 3 man and to Shizune receiving nods from everyone.
The Hokage goes out of her office followed by the others starting to tell:
-"As you know, and if you don't know you should know, that Sakura, a week after the treason of the Uchiha, asked to be my pupil." – says the Hokage receiving nods that told that until now they already knew. They leave the building and now walk through the desert streets because of the rain that fell without stopping, going to the team 7 training camps where they had the bells test. – "After a year she surpassed me being known one of the best medic-nins of all Fire of Country, surpassing-me."
-"Uau, Sakura-chan must be really strong now." – says Naruto with shock written all over his face because of the news, but happy because she found out something that she liked to do and that she was good at, because she didn't have the hands to kill, but yes to save.
-"Yes, Sakura stayed very strong, but she wasn't the same anymore." – continues the Hokage. Her, seeing the confusion in the faces of the 3 man because of her last statement, she explains it better. – "She only trained and worked at the Hospital, nothing else. She didn't sleep and barely ate. She put everyone away from her, until that after a while they quit to try to call her to go out. I threatened a lot of times that I stopped to train her and that I would take her shifts at the Hospital, even making it, but it didn't do nothing since she spent that time training to. She backed away from everyone and everything, looking like a porcelain doll without live."
-"Poor Sakura-chan, why did she do it?" – asks Naruto confused.
-"Because she felt weak, comparing to you guys she felt that she was nothing. She was the burden of team 7, deciding to change. But her only pain wasn't only related to it, you Naruto and Kakashi left right after the Uchiha kid left and after a month her parents disappeared without leaving a trace." – explains Shizune when they were almost reaching the training camps.
-"But she knew that I left to train and Kakashi-sensei because it was his obligation has a Village Shinobi." – defends himself and his sensei Naruto.
-"No one says the opposite Naruto." – explains the Hokage. – "She knew and accepted it, defending you guys when someone said something bad about you guys leaving that time, but that doesn't mean that it stopped hurting." – explains the Hokage. – "So 5 years ago, she received an solo S rank mission and she accepted." – says the Hokage.
Hearing that, Naruto stops the Hokage saying:
-"Sakura-chan received an S rank mission when she was 13 years old?" – asked Naruto surprised.
-"Yes." – answered Shizune, then explained. – "She was one of the best in the Village besides her age she had the capacity for that."
-"Like Shizune said, she had capacity, and her mission was spy a bar, in the border with Sound, because we knew that Kabuto went there a lot of times with some Sound shinobis and then we could take every information possible about Orochimaru, and of course, the Uchiha. The mission was to take one week to complete, since it was needed to watch the bar before entering and she needed to be careful. After a week I received the report saying that the mission was a success." – says the Hokage stopping right in front of the memorial.
-"So Sakura-chan completed one S rank mission before me. Uau, she must be really strong, I'm really anxious to fight against her now. But why are we here, Baa-chan?" – asks Naruto confused. While that, Kakashi and Jiraya are starting to understand what's happening, being the first hoping that it wasn't what he was thinking because he didn't know if he would be able to pass everything again.
-"Naruto I said that the mission was completed, not that Sakura came back." – says the Hokage letting her tears to mix with the rain that was still falling.
-"What do you mean by that Tsunade-sama?" – asks Naruto serious because he was afraid of the answer. While that the Hokage steps aside and points to a name carved in the memorial and said:
-"Naruto I'm sorry, but Haruno Sakura died 5 years ago in this same day." – says the Hokage with a voice full of sorrow, hurt and pain, while being embraced by Jiraya, while Kakashi embraced Shizune that also cried while he let silent tears fall from his visible eye.
Listening the Hokage and reading the name "H. Sakura" carved in the memorial, Naruto feels something breaking inside of him. His dream it's over, team 7 is over and there was nothing to do about it. He left to train and bring back one of his teammates and he forgot the one he had.
Suddenly he falls on his knees and in his head he sees the face of the 12 year-old Sakura laughing and with a smile that only she could give. He listens to someone calling out for him but already to lost, it whit that image in his head and the laughter in is ears that he let the darkness consume himself, hoping that when he wakes up, everything he heard was just a nightmare.