Chapter 1

The Wandering Youth

Ten Years Later…

A loud storm raged, thunder roared and lightning danced in the sky, as the rain was coming down like a broken showerhead. It was one hell of a storm, one that the residents of Kohoha hadn't seen in quite some time. In a cozy home resided a beautiful young woman. Her name is Sakura Haruno and she is the apprentice of the legendary Tsunade, the fifth Hokage. She was trying to sleep soundly, but unfortunately, two things kept her from sleep, may have been the storm outside but it was more of a recurring nightmare that filled her mind.

It was a terrifying dream, one that has festered in her mind for quite some time. It was a nightmare involving a giant black firebird. Its evil eyes gazed at the pink-haired kunoichi. She tried to run at the giant bird, but her feet were stuck. He had to observe 2 shadowy individuals do battle with the creature, one looked to be her teammate.

The blonde knuckleheaded ninja of Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki. But the other was someone she never met, he had spiky pink hair, a color like hers. She saw both of them do battle, but both of them would fall. She would jolt awake before the bird would deal them a final blow.

Sweat was pouring down her face, Sakura was panting like crazy. She got up from her bed and ran some cold water and splashed it on her face. She was currently home alone, her parents were out of town for a few weeks.

But she enjoyed the quiet since she was always at odds with her mother. But she feels so alone these days, she wishes she had someone. While her heart towards Sasuke has somewhat never wavered, her feelings towards the knucklehead have slowly started to get stronger. After the innocent on the bridge where Naruto turned into some 4 tailed creature. Her heart broke for her teammate. And hearing Yamato Sensei somewhat knocking some sense into her, she stood in front of that mirror looking.

"Look at you Haruno, you look like such a mess." She chuckled, rubbing her tired emerald eyes. "I have to be focused, I'm set to go on a mission with Naruto and Ino. So I have to be ready." She saw that it was around 4 am. She would try to get some more sleep, but it was hard with that dream infecting her mind. It would be another daunting day.

There would be a knocking at her door, Sakura got up and sluggishly made her way to the door. As she opened the door, Naruto and Ino greeted her.

"Morning Sakura-Chan… Hey, are you alright?" Naruto asked, showing great concern for her.

"Yeah…" Sakura said, yawning like crazy.

"Well come on you two, we have to gather those flowers for my father's shop." Ino shouted at the two of them.

Sakura entered her home and after 10 minutes, she got ready and would join her two friends. They would depart the village and head to a beautiful flower field where the most beautiful flowers grew. Sakura kept yawning and rubbing her eyes, Naruto had noticed Sakura, hasn't really been herself since the attack of Orochimaru on that bridge a few weeks ago. It's like something has been troubling her.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Ino asked, with a concerned tone.

"I'm fine guys, just need some tea and I should be fine." She said before she would garner some sort of second wind and they would continue the trek. Naruto and Ino both looked at each other with some concern.

"I'm worried about her," Ino whispered. "I really hope she's alright?"

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Naruto said, sharing her concern.

They soon arrived at the flower field, and Sakura saw the endless fields of beautiful flowers. It was astounding to her. Ino set her bag down and gave Sakura and Naruto some specialty scissors to snip flowers.

"Alright guys, I want you to gather 10 different-looking flowers for my shop. And for the love of god Naruto, don't screw this up. I remember the last time I asked you to help me out with this."

"I said I was sorry about that," Naruto said, making Sakura chuckle a bit.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino soon got started. Naruto was actually doing a decent job. Cutting it at the right point this time, the last time that he helped Ino like she said, he cut them at a point where it was gonna be hard for her to sell. So it wasted inventory for her. But Sakura was doing not as well, as focused as she could be when it came to helping Ino, the lack of sleep affected the pink-haired Kunoichi. Ino saw this and had to take it upon herself to figure out what was up with her best friend.

"Hey Naruto, do you think you can handle this? Sakura and I have to talk for a moment." She asked Naruto knew what she was gonna do.

"Go ahead, I can make up the slack with a few Shadow Clones." He said, giving her a thumbs up.

Ino grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her hand and both girls made their way towards a river and the two girls sat down.

"Sakura, is everything alright? You seem different since you came home from your recent mission." Ino asked, looking into Sakura's emerald eyes. "Is it because you saw Sasuke?"

"Not really, it's not that Ino." Sakura said, with a sorrowful tone. "If you must know, my feelings for him are not what they use to be."

"Really, you don't love him anymore?" Ino asked.

"Not at the level I did, I want him back, but for Naruto's sake."

"You love Naruto then?" Ino asked.

Sakura blushed a bit, but she didn't want to cross that bridge yet.

"I'll sort that out when the time comes Ino." She responded, letting out a cute yawn.

"Then what, why are you so tired and exhausted?"

Sakura would then tell her about the dreams that have been a constant in her life. She would tell Ino that they have been a problem for her since she was 5 years old. They started out once in a blue moon, but lately, they became more of a problem. It's not until recently that the dreams have been chronic that it would terrify her to no end. How Naruto would die in a horrifying way as well as this other young man in her dream. Ino started to see her tremble a bit and Ino launched herself and held Sakura to calm her down.

"It's alright Sakura, I'm right here for you." She calmed her down a bit. Suddenly Naruto would appear behind the two girls.

"Hey Ino, I got the flowers for you." He said, setting the basket down next to her.

Ino motioned Naruto to come sit with them, he followed suit and the three of them would sit there, Sakura would then tell Naruto the story she just told Ino. Naruto admired Sakura not just for her beauty but for how strong she could be at times.

While Sasuke always made her into a sobbing mess sometimes, she could be strong and powerful. And that's why he loved her. He wanted to be of more help to the girl he loved, but he couldn't enter her dreams and fight this nightmare, he wanted to show her support and this area probably would be a great place for her to take a cat nap. After she finished her story, he patted his lap.

"What are you doing Naruto?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sakura-Chan, I think it would be helpful to you if you took a nap. With me and Ino here, we'll keep you safe. Also, you need your strength and energy back just in case." He said Sakura would have said no in the past, but she realized that he wasn't wrong on the last bit. Naruto took off his coat and made it like a pillow. He placed it on his lap and she laid her head down.

"Alright Naruto, I'll agree to this. Just don't try anything!" She said, holding her fist up at him.

"Don't worry Sakura-Chan, I just want you to get some rest." He said, patting his hands on his coat. She would lay her head on his lap. It only took a few moments before she was out like a light. Naruto watched her sleep and he saw the most beautiful content smile on her face as she slept soundly. A type of smile that said, that she felt safe at this moment.

"Alright Naruto, keep her safe. I'll go fetch a few more flowers. By the way, great job on the flowers." Ino said, complimenting the blonde ninja.

"Thanks, Ino I'll gladly help you out anytime." He whispered, not to awaken the slumbering princess.

As Naruto slowly started to fall asleep as well, he would hear her talking in her sleep. He thought that she would say Sasuke's name in her sleep, but to his surprise, it was a different name, a name that would catch him off guard… "Naruto!" she would say, with that same contentful smile. He would catch some zzz's as well.

A mysterious figure walked through the forest, a bag slung over his shoulder, a straw hat on his head, covering his raggy pink hair, a sword on his side, a brown tattered cloak, a black tanktop with blue skin tight undershirt, with brown tight pants, and red boots with a blue stripe. His journey has led to this location as he continued his search for some sort of sign of that damn bird. He would sit down and rummage through his bag, in hopes that he had some sort of sustenance like food or water. But to no avail. His stomach was growling so loud that it would scare away some of the woodland creatures around them.

"I'm so hungry, it's been a solid 4 days since I had something to eat." He said, his stomach getting angrier. Every time he would press it to calm it, it would get more angry. So he looked around for something. But he just couldn't find anything in these forests. He continued to walk until he saw a stream.

"Where there's a stream, there's fish, and where there's fish there's I don't know, but I bet it's tasty."

He would break off a branch and tie a string to it. He then took a long piece of metal and curved it to a hook shape and tied it to the string. He then would try to dig for an earthworm. It took a bit, but he fashioned a good-looking fishing pole and would throw it into the water. It took a bit, but he soon felt the tug of the fishing line. He used the last bit of his strength to pull the stick and sure enough, there was a decent fish on the other line. After setting a small fire and cooking the fish, he would use his sword to descale the fish and then it was ready to eat.

"LUNCHTIME!" He said, opening his mouth and bringing it down to bite his tongue. "YEOW!" He screamed in agony. He jumped around in pain and saw that the fish he was about to eat was missing.

"WHERE THHAA HTTELL ISSTHH ITTTHHH?" He said his tongue in a huge amount of pain. He then saw a cat eating it. "HEY CATH, BRING ME BACK MY FITH!" The cat would hiss at him and bolt off with the fish in its mouth. He tried to go fishing again, but the string would break.

"AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!" He would scream out in anger. The young man would walk a bit more before his hunger slowly started to drain the last of his chakra. His tongue was bandaged but he could talk normally. "Well this is it, I lived a decent life right, guarding that dumb stone only for me to fail at that." He said, lying down grabbing a flower, and holding it like he was in a coffin. "Maybe if the gods give me a chance to reincarnate, maybe I can turn into a tree or something like that." He then closed his eyes, until he heard the sound like an angel.

"What's that noise?" He said, following the sound. It sounded like an angel was singing a beautiful lullaby. He continued to follow the sound. His eyes caught the sight of a beautiful blonde-haired girl picking flowers, it was Ino finishing up gathering flowers. "Her voice, her beauty, I think I'm in heaven. He said, before falling to the ground. "Nope… I'm just dead!"

Ino heard the thud and turned around to see the mysterious young man on the ground. She ran over to him and turned him around.

"Oh my god, are you alright? Say something, speak to me." She asked, channeling some chakra into her hand and slowly starting to heal him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Food please, me so hungry!" He said, with a sluggish tone.

Ino dug through her carrying case and found some beef jerky that Choji gave her. She then grabbed a decent amount.

"I'm sorry, but this is the most I can give you at the moment." She said, feeding it to him. It may not have been enough to fill his gut. But it was enough to sustain him until he could get to the next town.

"Thank you my dear, I am forever in your debt." He said, flashing her a smile.

"No problem, it's sort of my job to help any hurt ninja." She said, blushing as she rubbed the back of her neck.

He dusted himself off, and he got up. He saw the leaf village headband on her, and since he was heading towards Kohaha he would ask her something.

"Hey, I was curious if you were a leaf village kunoichi?"

"That is correct? Why do you want to know?"

"I am actually heading towards that direction if you wouldn't mind if you're heading back. If I could come with you?"

She was a bit hesitant about a request like that. I mean he may be cute, but she couldn't trust him like she trusted Sasuke at one point.

"Umm sorry If I sound rude or harsh, but we just met and I don't really know you that well." She said, not to sound offensive.

"Hey no problem, I 100 percent agree with your skepticism about me. Alright, I'll just head out then." He said, bowing to her. "I once again thank you for helping me get a bit of food in my stomach." He then headed out.

Ino would then check up on her friends, when she came to find both Naruto and Sakura sound asleep, Sakura in a sleepy state moved her body next to Naruto's sleepy form and cuddled with him. Ino had a smile on her face, as she nudged Naruto, not wanting to wake her best friend.

"Are you ready to go back guys?" She asked, smiling at Naruto. Naruto was about to awaken Sakura, but she was sound asleep. So he picked up the pink-haired Kunoichi and carried her bridal style. Both Ino and Naruto started back on their way home, Ino noticed someone on the ground. It was the young man who she gave some of the jerky.

"Oh no, I thought that it would have been enough to sustain you til you got to the village." She said, with a worried tone.

"I see the light, grandma is that you." He said, in a delusional state. "No, it's just the light."

Naruto set Sakura gently down with his jacket once again as a pillow. Both Ino and Naruto would check on the traveler.

"Hey, are you alright?" Naruto asked, waving his hand trying to get him to snap out of it.

"He needs food, Once we get to Konoha we could get him some BBQ?" Ino suggests, with the traveler snapping out of this death glaze.

"That sounds like a plan." The traveler said, giving them a thumbs up. Into would help him back on his feet again. But she would place an arm of his over her shoulder. "Is that better?" She asks him, smiling at him. He gave her a tired smile.

As soon as Naruto and Ino came back, Sakura was slowly starting to awaken. She would sit up and rub her eyes. That was the best sleep she had in a few weeks.

"Morning guys, where are we?" She asked, shaking the sand from her eyes.

"We started to walk home, I didn't want to wake you so I carried you," Naruto said, blushing a bit. Sakura's eyes shifted towards the man that Ino was helping walk.

"Hey guys, who is this, and why are you carrying him?"

"All in due time." The traveler said as they made their way back to the village.