3: The Mission
An overworked, exhausted Sakura stepped out of her mother’s one bedroom apartment building and headed over to her own apartment, on the other side of the village. She really needed to think about finding a place a little closer to her mother in case of an emergency. She had just gotten down with a healing session that she had been giving her mother since she arrived, though nothing seemed to be happening.
It was so hard for Sakura not to give up hope. It would be so simple, but being the optimist that she was, she would not let herself give up. She had to stay strong, if not for herself, than at least for her mother. If her mother saw her give up, than so would she, and Sakura wasn’t about to have that on her conscience.
Stepping onto the deserted streets of Konoha, she felt a slight breeze run through her hair as she hurried along her way. She hated the night. Sasuke had left her unconscious, to die, in the middle of the night. Sakura was effected greatly by that, however silly it was. She was a kunochi, so she shouldn’t be afraid, but she was. It was one of her many weaknesses, as so many of the villains had reminded her of.
That was another reason she had moved to the Sand Village. There, no one knew how weak she was, and she had a chance to be trained by the best. Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were great teachers and helped her tremendously. None of her enemies had called her weak again.
Sakura felt that her weakness was what had pushed Sasuke away as a kid. Was he embarrassed by how unskilled she was, though the smartest Shinobi in all of Konoha. Did her brains not matter at all to him? Was it only strength that mattered? Why couldn’t he find a happy medium?
What was she thinking about him for? She was looking for a nice, relaxing, quiet time at home, and she wasn’t about to let her mood, or her night, be spoiled with thoughts of that jerk. No, she was done pining over a lost cause. He may think he’s changed. But, no one really does change, not that dramatically anyway.
Upon arrival at the apartment, Sakura found a note written in neat handwriting taped to her door. It read:
Sakura,
Please meet at the Hokage’s office straight away tomorrow morning at 5:00 sharp. Bring your weapons.
Shizune
Sighing, she looked at the clock which read 1:00 A.M. and wondered what the Hokage wanted. Sakura unlocked her door and threw her purse on the table next to the door and walked into the bathroom to prepare her bubble bath. Sure, she’d be tired in the morning, but she was used to the late hours. She was going to relax if it was the last thing she did.
Sasuke sat on his bed staring at the old picture of Squad 7. He remembered the day of the photograph clearly. He remembered that neither he nor Naruto wanted to be in the picture with each other, and Sakura only wanted to be in the picture because he himself was in the photo.
How naive he had been when he was a kid to have passed up on Sakura. She would have been perfect for him, he saw that now. She wasn’t one of those crazed fan girls. She looked out for him, she was genuinely nice to him, not that fake nice all the other girls did to try and make him like them. She would have risked her life if it meant saving him. She cared for him as a friend and as a little crush.
Why did he have to push her away? It was the greatest mistake of his whole life. On his travels, he had met many women, and tried to form relationships, but he soon realized that there was only one woman for him, and her name was Sakura Haruno. How the wheels of fate continued to turn against him. Losing his family had been hard enough, and now he couldn’t even be with the woman he loved?
A knock on the door brought him back to reality, and he went to answer it. Standing on the doorway stood Shizune, Lady Tsunade’s assistant. It had started to rain, if only to mirror his mood. She was drenched to the bone, and Sasuke invited her into his home.
“I can’t stay long, I just have a message to deliver. Tomorrow morning at five, you are to report to the Hokage’s office. There is an important mission in which your assistance is crucial,” she told him before stepping back out into the rain and disappearing into the night.
The night. How he hated the night. The night reminded him of the time he had left Sakura unconscious on a park bench. He had felt he needed power, if not to avenge his fallen family, than at least to be strong enough to protect her. That night, he had started to feel something for her, but was too afraid to acknowledge it and had knocked her out so he could escape.
Sighing, he headed back up into his room. Would she ever find it in her caring, nurturing heart to forgive him? The Lord only knew he didn’t deserve it. If the roles were reversed, he knew he wouldn’t forgive him.
Plopping down on his bed, defeated, he banged his head against his pillow in frustration. What was he going to do? The next morning, Sakura arrived at the Hokage’s office fifteen minutes earlier than expected. She had learned that being early was crucial for success, at least that’s what her boss at work had told her. Stepping into the office, Tsunade motioned for her to take a seat.
“The other’s will be here shortly,” Tsunade told her without looking up from the mountains of paperwork that seemed to clutter the desk and floor surrounding her. She was signing some of the papers.
Shizune stood at the Lady Hokage’s side. “Sorry about not talking to you in person, but I couldn’t find you anywhere, and I had other errands to make, so I wrote you the note,” she explained sheepishly.
Sakura nodded with understanding. “No big deal. I’m here and that’s all that matters.” Sakura watched Tsunade clear a stack of papers from the desk. “So, may I ask what this is all about?”
“Well, we were going to wait for the others to show, but I see no harm in telling you now,” Tsunade said as she took out a manila folder. Looking it over, she continued, “You are being sent on a mission in which your goal is to retrieve a pendent. The pendent gives the wearer immense amounts if chakra. It intensifies the skills by ten fold. It would be extremely bad if it is kept in enemy hands. That pendent has the ability to wipe out all of the nations, and we can not afford for this to happen. So, your mission is to bring it back.”
Sakura nodded in understanding. “May I ask whom I am being sent out with?”
Tsunade and Shizune exchanged glances before the Hokage answered, “Naruto and Sasuke.”
Sakura narrowed her eyes. “You’re sending me out with that… that… that jerk? You know how I feel about him! Isn’t there someone else to send with them? Lee? Neji? Kiba? Shikamaru? A higher up even? What about Kakashi? Why do I have to be the one to go?”
Tsunade narrowed her own eyes and sent a murderous glare Sakura’s way. “All of others are currently on other missions. Lee’s, Kiba’s, and Ino’s team are all out on assignments. Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenei are all over in a neighboring villages trying to do some negotiations. We wanted you because of medical background. I taught you Sakura, I know what you are capable of,” Tsunade explained, anger dripping from every word.
Sakura looked away. She knew the Hokage was right, but that didn’t make her feel any better. Finding the floor more interesting than the Hokage’s face, Sakura kept her head down in shame. It was very disrespectful to talk back to any and all higher ups, and Sakura felt bad for showing weakness. “I’m sorry, Lady Hokage. You’re right. Besides, Shinobi should get used to working with others, no matter how much they do not agree with them.”
Tsunade’s face softened. “Look, Sakura, I understand how you must feel, but I didn’t do this to be mean. The team really does need you.”
Sakura nodded, “I understand that, it’s just that when I came back, I didn’t want to be put on missions from here again. I came solely for my mother, and with me gone her condition could get worse.”
“If your mother shows signs of worsening, we will send someone to come and get you and take your place. Maybe by then some of our Shinobi will be back, but I can’t foresee your mother worsening,” Tsunade assured her.
Sakura nodded again, not knowing what else to do. “Thank you, Lady Tsunade.”
A knock on the door stopped the conversation, and Shizune let Naruto and Sasuke into the room. Sakura wouldn’t meet Sasuke’s gaze, and she stood next to Naruto, all of them waiting for their assignment.
“Okay, here’s the deal. Two men and a woman have stolen a pendent from the Village hidden in the Clouds. This pendent increases chakra flow ten fold. Needless to say, if it were to fall into the hands of our enemies, the villages would be wiped out. So, it is your mission to track and bring back the pendent. Now, here are the ninja who stole it,” Tsunade handed us pictures of the Shinobi.
One man was terribly fierce looking with a scar running down both sides of his face. His eyes were narrowed and full of evil, and he was bald. He was big and bulky, with no amount of fat, pure muscle. The picture said his name was Gonzo.
The other guy, named Bo, was a little more timid. He had a patch over one eye while the other eye was wide and psychotic looking. He had his hair buzzed cut and had a goatee going for him. He was lanky with toned muscles.
The woman, Shauna, had a scar running over her left eye, which her blonde bangs tried to cover up. She wore her hair up in a ponytail with her bangs pushed to the side of the scar to hide it. She also had a mole on her upper right cheek. She was the image of pure evil, Sakura got that much out of her.
“These three are known murderers. Each are wanted criminals from many different villages. Once they put the pendent on, they must wait forty eight hours before the pendent will take effect. The pendent was stolen last night at around midnight, so you still have forty three hours to find them, more than enough time. These guys aren’t the smartest Shinobi in the village and we caught them on camera talking about where they were headed. They are heading to the a group of outlaws called the Vibe in the Village Hidden in the Moon. It is only a few hours away if you don’t run into much interference. So, you have plenty of time, but I’d like you to hurry anyway,” Tsunade explained.
The three of them nodded and headed out the door to start their mission. Sakura just wanted to get this done so she could get back and be with her mother. The three of them headed out the gates and into the early darkness of the morning. Neither saying a word, just running together in sync.
This reminded Sakura of the good old days when they had been a team. When they all worked together to complete their missions, no matter how trivial they seemed. Like, catching that stupid cat that kept running away from its owner, or walking dogs, or pulling weeds. Those was the dumbest assignments ever.
She wouldn’t have to talk to Sasuke on this mission, and she wouldn’t even acknowledge that he was even there, give him a taste of his own medicine and see how he liked it. Sasuke ran alongside Naruto since Sakura wouldn’t let him near her. She was pretty upset with him, and he would do anything to make it up to her, but she never gave him the chance. Maybe this mission would be the perfect time to talk to her because they would be alone for almost three days for sure; it seemed like the perfect chance. It was like God was sending a sign. The three of them, all out of breath from sprinting for so long, arrived in the Moon village around noon completely out of breath. It was a big village, twenty Leaf Villages combined. They wanted to just collapse. This was going to be harder than they thought. They would have search the village for the gang.
“I say we should split up and meet back here in an hour to see what we have come up with,” Sakura told them before heading out on her own and disappeared into the crowd of people milling about. Sasuke and Naruto headed off into the Village on their own.
Sakura had no idea where to start. Gangs usually coincided with slums, so she decided to check out the dirtiest part of the village. Not sure how to find it, she wandered around aimlessly, asking a few people where the slums were. After about ten minutes of going no where, she found it.
It was like walking down a poor village in Africa, the ones you see in documentaries. The people lived in little shacks, cardboard boxes, and tents. Nothing fancy or big. The people walking around were all dirty and frail looking.
It angered Sakura to see people like this suffering when people not even blocks away were swimming in comfort. She stopped to talk to some of the women to ask about the Vibe. They pointed at a bar, which was a block away. It was probably the only brick building.
As Sakura walked through the dirty streets, children ran around smiling and laughing. It touched her heart. Here were these people who had almost nothing, and yet they still could laugh and smile. She was glad that they had found happiness, and wished that she herself could also find that eternal bliss that time after time eluded her.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to the bar and stepped inside. Men crowded the inside. There was hardly any room to move. Tables and chairs were scattered about. Sakura squeezed through the crowd and took a seat at the bar. She ordered herself something to drink and looked out over the men. None were Gonzo, Shauna, or Bo. She was a little disappointed, but decided to try and get some information out of the men, maybe they knew something.
Sakura stood up and walked up to a guy who was sitting in the back in a booth. She had caught him stealing glances her way since she had entered, and decided to try her luck with him. She took a seat next to him and tried to appear like a dimwitted, drunken, sexy woman.
Up close, the man was uglier than she had thought, and she was scared that she wasn’t going to be able to pull it off. He had too small of eyes for his head, a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken more than once. He had nicks and scars along his face.
She reached up and trailed her finger along his cheek. “I saw you eyeing me from afar,” she said, her voice husky.
He closed his eyes and allowed her to caress him. Sakura just wanted to gag. “You are one of the prettiest little ladies I have ever seen,” the smell of alcohol was strong on him. He then opened his eyes and glared at her. “But, do you honestly think I’m stupid? You’re a ninja here to gather information.”
The headband in her hair! Ugh, how could she have made such a rookie mistake? Sakura was mentally kicking herself while the guy signaled to his buddies. Suddenly, four guys came and stood behind her, grabbing at her, trying to pull her out of the booth. Once she was standing, one lifted her over his shoulders like she was nothing more than a rag doll and headed to the back room, with his buddies in tow.
What were they going to do to her? Rape her? Sakura wasn’t a weak little baby, she could handle this. She started squirming, but one of the guys following punched her in the face, she knew she was going to have a black eye in the morning, if she lived that long.
The guy holding her threw her on a table, shrugged out of his jacket, and took off his shirt. Oh God, were they going to rape her? She hadn’t even told Naruto or Sasuke where she was going to be; they weren’t coming to her rescue, not this time. Sasuke had decided to try the rich district and see what they knew. The rich were supposed to know everything about anything. They had friends everywhere. Stepping up to a man dressed nicely in a suit and tie, Sasuke asked him, “I’m here on some business. Do you happen to know anything about the Vibe?”
The man paled and shook his head, stuttering, “N-no…I-I can’t h-help you.” He looked around like something would pounce on him from anywhere.
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you, but if that’s what it takes to get the information I need, I will,” Sasuke threatened.
“Fine, I-I’ll talk. But, not here. Come into my house. You didn’t hear this from me.” Sasuke followed the man thankful to be getting a lead. Naruto wandered around the town going from shop to shop asking about the Vibe. Everyone was too scared to say anything, but Naruto knew they knew something about it. Was the Vibe threatening the people if they gave them away?
Naruto headed back to the meeting place, he had nothing and he was hoping the others had stopped early as well. There was still a good twenty minutes, but no one was going to talk. They needed to regroup and figure out another plan.
