A/N

Disclaimer: I do not own nor did I create Naruto. This was created solely for entertainment purposes.

She woke to the image of a familiar hospital room. She had been volunteering here for the past month, training the medics on medical ninjutsu and basic poison treatment. As Sakura's senses began to come back to her, the scent of the room made her nose crinkle. After all this time, she still couldn't get used to the smell of sterile cleaning agents mixing with the stale and damp air of Kusagakure, the Hidden Grass Village.

"Sakura-san, how are you feeling?"

Sakura jumped slightly at the voice before realizing that it belonged to Tsumugi, one of her medical trainees. The woman couldn't have been more than three years older than Sakura and wore her dark hair in a tight braid that fell to the middle of her back. She was standing to Sakura's right, still holding the medical tools she was organizing into the cabinets lining the walls of the room.

"I've been better," Sakura replied with a light chuckle as the medic gave her a small, sympathetic smile. Sakura returned her smile and pushed herself up to a sitting position before asking,"By the way, how did I get here?"

"I'm not sure, but it's been almost two hours since," Tsumugi looked at the far wall in thought before returning to meet Sakura's gaze. "They said some man brought you in but things were so hectic no one caught his name or even how he looked. By the time you were treated, we couldn't find him anywhere."

Sasuke, Sakura remembered now. That's right. The attackers. The explosion. The details were finally coming back to her. Her eyes traveled across her body to find that her arm was healed of its burns. Moving slightly, she winced as a dull ache radiated from her right side–the source, a gauze-covered injury.

Seeing Sakura eye her wound, Tsumugi crinkled her brows apologetically. "Sorry, Sakura-san. We were able to treat your burns and stop the bleeding but our medical ninjutsu isn't advanced enough to completely heal you."

"That's alright," Sakura reassured. "Completely broken skin is difficult to repair. You all did a great job with the burn though; it looks good as new! Plus, nothing hurts!" To prove her point, she swung her previously injured arm in a circle with a grin.

"Really?" The brunette medic clasped her hand to her chest in excitement. "Thank you, Sakura-san!"

Sakura nodded, a wide smile still spread across her lips. As Tsumugi returned to her task of organizing medical tools, it finally occurred to Sakura to ask, "Wait, you said the man is gone?"

"Yes, he left as soon as we took you in." Tsumugi stopped her task again and turned towards the pink-haired woman sitting on the hospital bed.

"I see."

"I do hope he's okay though."

"What do you mean?" Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"I didn't look at him closely enough to see for myself, but I heard from the other medics that he also seemed injured when he carried you in. He refused medical treatment though."

"What?" Quickly, Sakura pushed herself off the bed and yanked open the door leading to the hospital hallway. Sasuke. Hurt, was all she could think.

"Wait, Sakura-san! We still need to change your dressings!" Tsumugi called after her.

"It's okay, I can do it myself! Thanks again!" Sakura didn't look back as she ran down the hallway and out the front entrance of the hospital. With no idea of where he could be, Sakura took off running towards the direction of where she last saw him: the forest right outside the village.

The earlier blast left an angry scar in the luscious green grass of the clearing, Sakura noted as she reached the area. Dried blood still splattered on the ground. She said a silent prayer that it was hers and not Sasuke's. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on sensing chakra signatures around her, but found none. Sighing in defeat, she lowered herself to the ground, pulled her legs to her chest, and rested her forehead on her knees. Ignoring the heavy feeling that began to form in her chest, she took several calming breaths. She knew there was no use in continuing to search for him. She knew that no matter how hard she looked, he was long gone.

Letting out another sigh, she raised her head to study the charred grass beside her. Judging by the size of the scorched greenery, Sakura estimated that the attackers had planted at least two paper bombs. She was lucky, she realized, that the bombs seem to have been set off further away from her than she originally thought. Any closer and she was sure she would have lost a limb.

Turning quickly, she eyes locked on a small, white object on the ground, caught between several blades of grass. It was a shred of paper, no bigger than the size of her thumb. This must be what was left over from the paper bombs, she thought to herself when she picked it up and inspected it. Frowning, she discovered something odd yet familiar about the remnants of the paper bomb.

The ninja weapons used by criminals were typically of lower quality, ones that they could easily steal from village shops. The blast itself was evidence that what Sasuke's attackers used were much more sophisticated. Paper bombs of such extensive destruction were difficult to come by as they were only issued to the highest ranked Jonin. Sakura herself had only recently been granted access to the classified weapons room in the Hokage's office. The people who were after Sasuke were no ordinary thugs, Sakura realized.

She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brows as she brought the tattered piece of a paper closer to her face for more careful inspection. What she saw caused her to gasp and clasp a hand over her mouth. It was blurry and faded, but she could make out the meaning of those markings anywhere. These paper bombs belonged to Konoha.

By the time Sakura gathered her thoughts and returned to the village hospital, the sun had already begun to cast a deep orange glow on her surroundings. The usually bustling marketplace was quiet as merchants prepared to close up shop, leaving behind a sort of eerie silence. As Sakura stepped into the hospital, she found Tsumugi standing with her elbows propped against the front desk. She was concentrating deeply on a clipboard held in her hand. In her other hand was a pen that she had pressed against her chin.

"Hey, Tsumugi," Sakura greeted.

"Sakura-san!" The brunette medic perked up at the sound of her medical trainer's voice. "Were you able to find the man?"

With a sad smile, Sakura shook her head.

"Ah, that's too bad. If it's any comfort, I'm sure he's okay. If the medical team thought he had any serious injuries, they wouldn't have let him leave," Tsumugi said as she gently squeezed the pink-haired medic's shoulder.

"Thanks," Sakura replied quietly, the same sad smile still painted across her lips.

With a nod, Tsumugi sauntered away, presumingly to check on the patient whose chart she had been focused on earlier.

As for Sakura, the chaos currently happening in her mind roughly contrasted her outward calm, dejected demeanor. Ever since her startling discovery that the paper bombs used to attack her and Sasuke were from Konoha, she had been unable to settle her thoughts. A million different explanations raced through her brain as she tried to weigh the reasons.

Perhaps it was stolen, she thought to herself. But no, it couldn't be. Upon closer inspection, she concluded that the shred belonged to a more advanced class of paper bombs, ones that the village didn't create until after the Fourth Shinobi World War. On the bomb's surface was a sticky residue belonging to a rare mineral that could only be mined in the Land of Stone. And prior to the formation of the Allied Shinobi Forces, Konoha's relationship with the nation was too strained for such trades.

The only way the paper bomb could have been stolen is if someone broke into the Hokage's office or if it was taken off the body of a dead Jonin, neither of which was possible. Konoha's sensory unit was more advanced than any other nation's thanks to the special abilities of the Yamanaka Clan. Sakura knew that with Ino Yamanaka leading the unit, it was impossible for anyone to slip into the village undetected, not to mention the Hokage's office where the weaponry was located. And in the past three years since the war, there were no reports of any shinobi deaths (other than natural causes, of course)–something Sakura was grateful for after the toll that the war took on Konoha's population.

This only left one probable explanation, Sakura pondered grimly. Someone from Konoha was after Sasuke. Someone had betrayed the village.