A little late at night but here's the next chapter! Enjoy.

His side was bleeding and shoulder dislocated, but it didn't matter. He was a tool, and tools break, it was the way of nature. The letter for Danzo-sama had been delivered and the mission was successful, medical care could be completed after the debriefing. The shinobi traveled through the treetops, the covert nature of the mission preventing him from flying. His chakra was low enough he would have chosen to run anyways. He would rest for a couple of days before heading back out again, it was his duty to serve Danzo-sama and Konoha.

He was back in the Land of Fire on the outskirts of the village when a sharp stinging sensation trailed down his spine. Was he being attacked? Was he compromised? They wouldn't get anything out of him, the seal would kill him first. He stopped on a tree branch and scanned. He didn't see anything but heard an explosion to the east, close to headquarters. Who caused that? The stinging sensation flared again.

Ah he remembered.

It was someone vital to Danzo-sama that had to be saved. Traitors were trying to take the resource for themselves, he could not allow that to happen. The shinobi took off in the direction of the explosion while removing a scroll from his pack. From there he tracked the signs of the fight, running past and ending the traitor reconnecting his foot. He continued to move in the direction of the voices. When his eyes landed on the two figures, he felt another sting. Blinking his eyes rapidly he observed. The one pinned to the ground was the target, the other the traitor. Removing the brush from the center of the scroll the shinobi unwrapped it. With quick strokes he finished his drawing, made the sign and completed the jutsu.

A snake leapt from the page and slithered towards the two. As it went to attack the traitor the shinobi moved himself to the other side to flank. In the end it was unnecessary, the ink snake took care of her with a quick twist. He put away his materials and approached the prone shinobi.

There was only one thing that came to mind when he looked at her.

Pink.

Another sting.

No, not pink.

Ugly.

.

Sakura took in the strange shinobi standing before her. Like the two from earlier, he had a blank white mask on. Why would he save her? Wasn't he the enemy? But he killed the woman, must have killed the man too. Was this... was this an incident? Sakura tensed when he crouched in front of her, his bare toned stomach in her face.

She's seen better, every day in the mirror actually.

'Sakura...'

'Focusing.'

When he reached down to take the kunai out she held his wrist.

"Don't yank it out of my hand, just get me out of the ground."

The shinobi tilted his head forward in acknowledgement but didn't comment. Gingerly he grabbed her hand and the hilt of the kunai and slowly pulled. After Sakura was finally free she sat back, being careful of the shuriken still in her side. She studied her wound, that had to be checked before she moved.

"Be honored that your work with Danzo-sama has saved you today."

When she looked up the stranger was gone along with the dead body. She didn't have a chance to say thank you, and Danzo-sama? She had never worked with anyone named Danzo. Wasn't that some old guy on the council? This whole thing was an incident, those words just now proved it. Sakura turned her attention back to treating her wounds.

Luckily she still had her pack strapped to her, and inside she pulled out a mini first aid kit. Opening it up Sakura surveyed the contents, deciding to improve it when she got back. The number of supplies a pitiful amount compared to the wounds she had. She did her best to disinfect and tape her hands, being careful not to jostle the kunai lodged through it, she wouldn't pull that out, not until she made it to the hospital. No bones were showing in her lacerated hands, so they weren't too deep, she could deal with just taping it without stitches. Sakura turned her attention back to her side. The shuriken was embedded securely, but she wasn't sure if it only damaged the rib or hit an organ too. Cautiously she hovered a hand over it and hesitated.

Was she really going to do it?

She turned her head and short pink hair swayed into her vision, the earlier events hit her all over again.

Yes, she was going to try. Cowering never solved anything. She had improved on step one of the jutsu to the point her already excellent chakra control was refined even further, and it's not like she will be examining her whole body, just a small section of it. She could do it, she wasn't weak.

"Mystic Palm Jutsu."

Sakura's palm lit up in a green hue, and she hovered over the wound. It was what she hoped it would be, it had gotten stuck in a rib and had missed her organs, so in a way she got lucky.

It still hurt though.

Not as bad as the flare that erupted under her skin. Sakura swallowed a cry and let go of the jutsu using the euphoria of success to combat the pain. Of course things wouldn't go the way she planned, the Burning always had to ruin everything. Having it work on her would just be too good to be true. Sakura didn't have the chakra left to perform the C-rank genjutsu she knew, so she would just have to bear with the pain until her reserves grew, or she was able to get Kakashi-sensei to teach her another one.

Sakura bandaged the wound to keep the shuriken in place. It wouldn't feel good if it wobbled as she ran. She wrapped her hand in a similar manner, keeping the kunai straight so it wouldn't tilt. If she didn't move her hand she could pretend it was a bad flare up from the Burning. All in all Sakura could still function.

It would be the only time she would thank the Burning, she was used to being in pain.

Sakura stood to go to the hospital, but before she left she went closer to the spot the woman was killed. She bent over and picked up a chunk of her hair and put it in her pack. She would pin it to her wall as a reminder.

A reminder that she could have died, failed her brother, and forever be remembered as an embarrassment to the Haruno name. She clutched the metal on her chest.

Never again.

'Sha?'

'Na'rro.'

.

Sakura exited the hospital and flexed her hands. They felt a little stiff, but they were healed. No trace left of the fight she went through. She stretched her sides and felt no discomfort, which she was thankful for, she had training with Naruto and Uchiha tomorrow and with the Burning she needed to be in the best possible condition. She was fully healed with a bad haircut, but what was she going to do now? She couldn't go home, not looking the way she was. Even though she was wearing her red shinobi dress the blood stains could be seen and her hair was a mess. Her parents, though they meant well, tended to be overbearing and Sakura was not in the right frame of mind to deal with them. So no, not home, but where should she go?

Sakura regretted her decision the second after she knocked on the door. If she ran fast enough perhaps no one would see her, there might be a nice tree she could spend the night in right? Before Sakura could choose whether to stay or leave, the door opened.

Dammit.

She should have left.

"What are you doing here Haruno? And why are your clothes... oh my sage, what did you do to your hair? Sure you had a lot of dead ends but it wasn't that bad." Yamanaka looked at her in horror.

"I stumbled into an incident, it was unpleasant." Sakura fingered her asymmetrical haircut, smothering the feeling of self-loathing that threatened to rise.

"Hurry up and get in here! I can fix you right up." Yamanaka pulled Sakura into her house by the wrist and straight to her bedroom.

She forced Sakura down on her bed.

"Let me grab some scissors. So, all of this happened because of an incident?"

Sakura shifted in her spot, watching Yamanaka move about the room.

"Yes I think so. I was catching fish, please don't ask its unrelated, and I heard voices. There were two shinobi with blank masks talking and they found me, by smell for Sage's sake. I'm never using strawberry shampoo again."

"I have some scentless shampoo you can take home, I have a bunch of it." Yamanaka said, standing behind Sakura to trim her hair.

"Thanks. Anyways I don't think they were our Anbu, so I ran when they mentioned they were going to capture me, I evaded them for a bit but in the end the woman caught me."

Yamanaka tugged her hair in surprise and Sakura elbowed her in retaliation. She already got beat up once up today. She didn't need, of all people, Yamanaka to do it too.

"Sorry, but you got caught Haruno? How are you even here right now?"

"That's where the incident comes in, but get this. The shinobi that saved me had the same mask as my attackers. Before he came and killed them the woman was telling how 'Danzo-sama' could make use of me. Called me weak and cut my hair because I wasn't good enough."

"No!"

"Yes."

"If she wasn't already dead I would kill her, a woman's hair is precious, just look at mine." Yamanaka moved her head, letting her blonde ponytail sway from side to side, showing off her long locks to Sakura.

She still had a kunai, Sakura could cut it if she moved fast enough.

'Sakura.'

'I know, its just been a bad day.'

'Hn.'

'Careful, you are sounding like Uchiha.'

'Oh go back to your conversation.'

Sakura snickered.

"What's so funny Haruno? My hair is gorgeous!" Yamanaka fumed. Ignoring her Sakura continued.

"I think my rescuer and attackers had the same master. They both mentioned a 'Danzo-sama'. The weird part is that the shinobi who rescued me said it was due my 'involvement' with 'Danzo-sama' that I was saved,but the only Danzo I know is that old guy on the council, and I've never spoken to him before. It's like your Ami memory, whatever he was talking about never happened."

"Ew, that creepy old guy. Between you and me, my Father doesn't trust him. One of my cousins worked under him and he died, but my Father thinks Danzo killed him off on purpose. Nothing came of it because there was no evidence."

Sakura rubbed her chin, this 'Danzo' guy seemed suspicious, but could his behavior be related to the incidents, or are they just skeletons in the closet she stumbled upon? She wont know unless she dug deeper, but considering she was just impaled and humiliated that wouldn't be for a while.

"Check this out." Yamanaka dropped something in her lap.

Sakura picked it up, and nearly laughed at what she saw.

It was a weight.

"You were able to recreate it?"

"Yes, and I am never doing it again, ever. The eyebrows Haruno, the eyebrows!"

"Blinding right?"

"Never again." Sakura felt Yamanaka shudder.

Sakura processed the new information, that proved that whatever was happening in Konoha was not just towards her. But what did it all mean? It didn't seem like Yamanaka had the Burning, so is that separate from the incidents or is it related? She had more pieces to the puzzle but couldn't fit it together yet.

"Anyways Haruno your hair is done. I will lend you some of my clothes so go shower, you stink. "

Sakura grumbled, touching the ends of her hair.

"I wanna see you run for your life and come out smelling like sunshine and rainbows."

Yamanaka threw clothes at her.

"Just go, third door on the left."

Sakura left the room but paused in the hallway.

"Can I learn that copy jutsu when I get back?" Yamanaka contemplated Sakura's question.

"You did come find me... so yeah lets do it. I'll get things set up."

"Thanks." Sakura's replied softly before cleaning up.

When she returned to the bedroom Yamanaka kept her promise and taught Sakura the copy jutsu.

"I hate you."

What sweet, sweet words that graced her ears. Sakura hadn't heard anything that nice in a long time.

"I do, I really do. How did you learn it after seeing it once? It took me multiple tries to get it because the chakra control needed is insane!"

Sakura inspected her now black nails, and smiled.

"Ninety-ninth percentile." She blew on them.

The red hue to Yamanaka's face almost made her cackle. The blonde stood.

"That's it! From now on we are rivals! I won't let you beat me next time."

"Denied."

"You can't deny it, it's not allowed."

"I can and I will, I'm not letting my only ally be a rival. You're either on my side or you're not. I don't have time for something like that." Sakura spoke, and she was serious.

Yamanaka may see that things were off in Konoha now, but it's not invading her every day life like it was for Sakura. Yamanaka could ignore it, Sakura couldn't. It was hard enough to trust Yamanaka with what she had shared so far, she wouldn't let a rivalry ruin that.

"Geez, I was just joking Haruno. I'm with you all the way." Yamanaka sat back down and recapped the nail polish she was holding.

Sakura calmed down, mood lighter.

"Thank you, Yamanaka Ino." Sakura let her sincerity color her words.

"Hmph better, but call me Ino." Sakura raised an eyebrow.

That wasn't happening.

"Sure thing, Yamanaka."

"Hey!"

"What's wrong Yamanaka?"

"Alright, you need to go before I hit you, take this shampoo and get out of my house." Yamanaka handed Sakura her bag of dirty clothes and shampoo and pushed her out the door.

"Alright Yamanaka."

Sakura heard it slam and the girlish screech from behind the door, she grinned.

She was feeling better, just a bit.

.

Sakura crouched behind a tree chakra suppressed, listening to the static of her earpiece as she watched for the target.

"Sakura at point C, no visual on the target." She voiced softly.

"Sasuke at point B, no visual either."

"Naruto at point A, target moving towards Sakura-chan."

Perfect.

Sakura grabbed a scroll from her pack, unsealed it and threw the contents on a buried net a short distance away. She sat back and waited for the cute beast to arrive. She had it all planned out, the fish would be the bait and once he stepped on it she would cut the rope holding the counter weight, causing the net to rise into the air. If all went according to plan, they would have one trapped cat. It wasn't long before she heard the rustling, and once she saw those fluffy little paws next to the fish, she took her kunai and cut the rope. A loud yowl echoed through the forest as the team joined her.

Success.

"Sakura-chan you're amazing, the plan worked! What did you end up using to catch him?" Naruto praised as he danced below the netted cat.

Sakura stepped a few paces away, the Burning had been getting worse around him lately, though she wasn't sure why.

"A fish."

"A fish? You carry around fish Haruno?" Uchiha asked, a bland expression etched onto his face.

"I carry around lots of things Uchiha." She replied, moving to lower their target.

A week had passed since her almost kidnapping and Sakura's improvement in the Mystic Palm Jutsu grew exponentially. She didn't need to hoard the fish she caught anymore, though it felt like a waste to give a perfectly good practice fish to a cat, but it was cute despite its feral tendencies so Sakura would let it slide. At least step two of the Mystic Palm training had less fish explosions than step one, though that might be due to her practice more than anything else. All in all Sakura was happy, she didn't kill her fish when it was time for her to test on them, and her parents let her keep them.

That alone was a miracle.

Despite her recent success in medical ninjutsu, Sakura had not moved onto humans yet for step two. Higurashi-sensei may have cleared her the other day, but Sakura wanted to practice on fish a bit more, maybe heal some larger gashes. Small ones were quick and easy, but any cuts that one would normally have to stitch still gave her issues from time to time. One would be surprised how reviving a fish then healing its cuts would be more difficult than it sounds. She really wanted to practice on herself before anyone else, but the Burning was being a problem. Genjutsu practice was coming along, but she didn't have the chakra capacity to do both more than a couple of times. She could possibly try and make the genjutsu smaller, but getting the correct ratio to maintain the jutsu and the size was something she was still working on. Sakura was cut off from her musings when Kakashi-sensei joined the genin.

"Nice work team, lets turn this in and grab another one."

Sakura grabbed the target and followed her sensei. The team returned the cat to its owner before grabbing another mission. When she saw who was sitting behind the desk she was shocked. The Hokage? That's a surprise. In the time she had been an active shinobi not once did she see the Hokage handing out missions.

Suspicious.

Why was he here?

Sakura kept her guard up as she stood with her team before the Hokage. She listened patiently to the upcoming mission choices when Naruto's outburst flooded the room. She zoned him out as she pondered his strange behavior.

Where did that come from?

Sakura worked very hard to ensure professionalism in her teammates. Uchiha was a bit of a lost cause. It didn't matter what he did because the clients only treated him like glass, so he didn't see a reason to change and ignored her concerns. Naruto at least, had made great progress. He had learned to save the complaining for their walks back to Ichiraku and home, so this outburst was completely out of character for him. When Sakura heard the words 'C-rank' her attention turned back to the conversation.

C-rank? Already?

Sakura threaded a hand through her short hair, the memory still fresh in her mind. Sure enemy shinobi were not something found on C-ranks, but Sakura never got anything easy so she was sure something was bound to happen. She could handle it though, especially with Kakashi-sensei there, but it was not something to take lightly.

"It will be an escort mission to the Land of Waves." Sakura perked up. Her Father had been there a few times, nice place.

"Who are we escorting? A princess? A Daimyo? Who, who?"

Sakura covered her face in embarrassment, she needed to have a talk with Naruto after this.

"Don't be so hasty, I will introduce you. Could you please come in?" The Hokage called, staring at the door behind Team Seven.

In walked an old man with a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"This is Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Waves who you will be escorting."

Team Seven and the man studied each other before Tazuna spoke.

"My guards will be a bunch of brats? Are you really Shinobi? I expect you to guard me with your lives, can you really do it?"

Sakura bristled at the insult, she had at least ten different ways she could kill him in this moment, and he's doubting her? Sakura shoved all of her apprehension for the mission aside.

He wanted to be protected? Fine, Sakura would protect him.

Bring it on.

Wave is starting, will things work out for Sakura? Who knows... Thanks for reading!