Rated 'M' for a reason

Saviour
By: Rise of the Blossom

Chapter 1 – First Encounter

"Did you pack the ointment, Sakura?"

Sighing, said girl looked over her shoulder with annoyance, just barely holding back a harsh retort. Quite recently her mother had been on her case about a lot of things, most of them involving her chosen profession of being a kunoichi. They disagreed very strongly on that. Sakura wanted to be a powerful, independent kunoichi, whilst her mother wanted her to be a civilian, to live a safe yet very boring life. Who would want that, though? Definitely not herself. And, silently, Sakura promised her future children (should she ever have the privilege of having them) that she would never try to force them into anything they didn't want to do, or be.

"Yes, Mother."

"Good, because we don't want you getting any infections out on your mission." The blonde sighed, looking over her daughter's bedroom. "This mission–"

"Is going to be beneficial for the village."

"That may be, but Hatake Kakashi will not be joining you."

That was true and just the reminder had Sakura's heart palpitating with fear, had her stomach curling with unease. However, she and her team needed to learn how to be independent. They couldn't do that with Kakashi always protecting them and watching their backs. Sure, it was his job to do that and he never really thought much about it when doing it, but still. They needed to do this. It would help them grow.

Finally finished putting her supplies into her pack, Sakura slipped it over her shoulders and tugged on the straps, satisfied with how it felt. Not too heavy, yet not too light. "We're not travelling all that far – I doubt we're even leaving Fire–"

"That's not the point," Mebuki finally snapped, her worry obvious. "You're barely even thirteen years old, Sakura."

Being thirteen years old meant nothing to shinobi. At just thirteen years old, her teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, had already made his first kill. He'd already done so much for their village. Naruto was the same, although he'd never killed anyone. She was the same. Sasuke wouldn't allow them to. It was like something instinctual would snap in him and before they had the chance to do anything, he'd be there and finishing their enemy off. It never annoyed Sakura, though. He was protecting them from the horrors, despite it being a little pointless doing so, given their profession.

"This is no life for a child."

Ignoring her, Sakura walked out of her bedroom and towards the front door, only pausing to slip on her sandals. It was superficial and vain of her, but she loved her outfit. Pretty stupid considering there was always a chance of it being destroyed, however, it couldn't be helped. The red qipao dress made Sakura appear curvier than she actually was, and she absolutely adored how the slits went all the way up to her hips, though she kept her modesty with the dark shorts beneath the dress. It made her feel beautiful.

"Sakura–"

"I've already told you, Mom," Sakura snapped, finally having enough of her constant nagging. "I want to be a kunoichi."

Something saddened in her mother's eyes, her features dropping with hurt and disappointment. It agonised Sakura seeing that look, but she kept up her front. Years of clashing with Ino had taught her how to. Pretending to hate (or in her mother's case, be annoyed with) somebody when you actually didn't, she meant.

"Just…" The blonde woman closed her eyes with exhaustion, sighing as she did so. "Please be safe."

The hard expression cracked, her heart feeling as though it was being lashed at and without a second thought, even though she was now halfway out the door, Sakura closed the distance between them and hugged her mother tightly. "Don't worry so much," she told Mebuki as cheerfully as possible, pulling away and gently kissing her mother's cheek. "I'll be fine."

Shinobi rule number four: a shinobi must always put the mission first.

No matter what the cost.

Running a hand through her hair, Sakura sighed.

It was much longer than it used to be, reaching the middle of her back now. In all honesty, it was a pain during missions and training and continuously got in the way, but… She couldn't cut it again. Not when… Sakura bit her lip, glancing at the figure walking in front of her. Well, Sasuke liked girls with long hair, didn't he? Maybe she could simply put it up during missions and training? Oh no. She couldn't do that! Ino would pounce on her within seconds, even if they weren't in the same freaking country! Sakura could hear the accusation of copying the blonde already.

"It's weird without Kakashi-sensei here," Naruto mumbled, folding his arms behind his head.

In response, Sasuke smirked and closed his eyes arrogantly, saying, "Don't tell me you're scared already, Dobe."

Great. Another argument was about to commence and unfortunately for her, Kakashi was not around to break them up. Sure, Sakura had no trouble making Naruto back off (something she secretly loved). Sasuke, on the other hand…

She grimaced.

"Oi!" Naruto practically roared, quickly turning to glare at the Uchiha viciously. "I'm not scared of anything, you bastard!"

"Funny," he scoffed. "Because I could have sworn you almost lost your bladder during our last mission, whilst we were on a perimeter run."

Sakura couldn't help but giggle at that one, recalling the incident.

Naruto's cheeks burned. "And what about you, huh? What about that time when we were on watch and you screamed like a little girl when–"

"Shut up, idiot," Sasuke growled, the back of his neck burning with embarrassment and humiliation.

However, instead of being intrigued, or yelling at Naruto for attempting to humiliate Sasuke, Sakura instead tensed as the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end, as a strange feeling began to curl within her gut.

Gut instinct.

She swallowed hard, recalling the words her sensei had once said:

"Never ignore your gut instinct. Doing so could get you killed."

Pretty blunt, but at the same time, it got the message through to children.

"Guys…"

They were too busy arguing, though.

"It was just a little bug," the blond laughed boisterously, clutching at his stomach and pointing at Sasuke. "You screamed like a girl over a bug."

"You almost wet yourself because of a rabbit."

Fear immobilised her, making Sakura stare after her teammates with wide eyes. Something bad was going to happen. She could feel it. She could feel it. Eyes on her. An evil, disgusting chakra lurking behind the dark trees. It was still the very early hours of the morning and the forest wasn't fully lit yet. It would take another hour before that happened. The only reason why it was so dark was because Sasuke had wanted them to set out early and since he was the captain of their team for the mission, they could not argue.

A tremble shook her body. There wasn't only one chakra. There were several and all of them were strong. It reminded Sakura of the time during the chunin exams. Of Sabaku no Gaara's chakra. Nowhere near as powerful, but it was just as dark and intimidating. It was difficult to even breathe due to the killing intent.

"G-Guys…"

"Yeah, well–"

"Guys!"

The scream abruptly ended their argument, had them tensing as they finally picked up on the killing intent. It was second nature how Sasuke reached for the thigh holster wrapped around the black shorts attached to his jumpsuit, quickly whipping out a kunai, while Naruto did the same but with shuriken.

So much for a simple delivery mission. But then again, when had a mission taken by Team Seven ever been simple?

The two boys quickly moved nearer to Sakura, Sasuke sending her a hard look that had her snapping back to herself, had her grabbing her own kunai so she wasn't entirely defenceless.

Around them, the forest was shifting, looking slightly different to what it had only moments before. "Genjutsu," Sakura murmured to her teammates and in unison, they each released the genjutsu, narrowing their eyes as a team from an unknown village appeared before them. "Can you tell where they're from, Sasuke-kun?"

His eyes bled to red and black, narrowing. "No."

"Oi, what do you want?" Naruto demanded, shifting ever so slightly when those opposite them did.

They didn't appear to be much, but Team Seven had already learned that appearances could be deceiving. All four of them were wearing dark clothing, all had their faces mostly covered. Sakura could tell that one of them had stunningly blue, exotically slanted eyes, but the rest were all too dark to distinguish what colour they actually were. It was also difficult to tell if they were female or male.

"The scroll."

Male. Sasuke's eyes narrowed further. "Why do you want it?"

Another one, the one with blue eyes, spoke. "That is none of your concern. Hand it over."

Female. "It's our mission to deliver the scroll," Sakura retorted calmly, trying her best to actually remain that way. Calm. "If we hand it over, we'll fail our mission."

"If you don't hand it over, you'll all die."

The third voice was the harshest of them all, deep and rough and angry. Also male. It honestly terrified Sakura and made her very small control over her fear, slip.

Naruto growled lowly. "Like hell! We'll kick your ass–"

"Is that so?" the female practically purred, running two of her fingers along the handle of the katana that was in her hands. When none of them said a word, she continued in that same tone. "I wouldn't even risk it, if I were you. That scroll is of no importance to your team – definitely isn't something to lose your lives over."

"Then why do you want it so badly?" Sasuke ordered and as he did, he tightened his hold on his kunai. "If it's so unimportant, then why–"

"I said it's not important to you," she replied. "I didn't say that it was unimportant to us. If we have to kill you to retrieve the scroll, then so be it. I was merely suggesting that we… compromise."

It felt like the chunin exams all over again. Not for the first time, Sakura swallowed hard. It hadn't been all too long since the chunin exams and she still had awful nightmares because of them. However… "We can't hand over the scroll."

Naruto nodded quickly in agreement. "It's our job to protect it."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously, the tomoe in his sharingan swirling.

The enemy sighed, her blue eyes closing with an emotion they couldn't understand. Probably because there wasn't any specific emotion in her eyes. It was merely a pain to her, having to battle for the scroll. "Very well. Boys!"

With that, the three by her side lunged.

Her back collided with a tree as Sasuke shoved her out of the way and took on two of them at once, growling angrily at the fact they had gone straight for Sakura. It wasn't surprising, because she was the one with the scroll, although had made no sign or indication that she had it. They were each carrying a scroll, though the ones he and Naruto had were fakes. Instead of holding the information that the other village wanted, they were instead laced with the same jutsu used during the chunin exams. The one that sent the person who opened it, to sleep.

An idea struck her and if the look that Sasuke shot her meant anything, he was thinking the same thing as her.

"Okay, okay!" Sasuke snapped, feigning a look of anger and defeat. "Just… Just don't hurt her."

The woman's blue eyes narrowed. "Hand over the scroll and we'll let you all live."

It occurred to the three of them at that moment that their enemy didn't seem all that much older than themselves. The thought made Sakura feel sick. Considering how they weren't wearing forehead protectors, then they probably didn't belong to a village. Rogue–nin. That was a life she'd absolutely loathe to live. Always on the run. Always having to look over her shoulder. It seemed so lonely.

"Fine," he muttered, slowly reaching into his pouch with exaggerated movements, so they wouldn't be startled by anything too fast or unexpected. "Here."

He tossed it towards the woman, but she didn't catch it, instead allowing it to fall to the ground in front of her. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in response.

"Baiu. Open it."

The man in front of her, the one with the darkest eyes of them all, nodded once and turned his back to Team Seven. He was easily the tallest and most muscular, towering over his comrades. It had Sakura shifting against the tree uneasily until Naruto moved closer to her, holding a protective stance.

That was something she'd always had mixed feelings about: being protected by her boys. While feeling extremely grateful that they would put their lives on the line to save hers, it also made Sakura feel absolutely useless. There was no use in denying that she was weak. Intelligence-wise, she was powerful and surpassed her two teammates. Genjutsu-wise, she was adequate, though definitely no expert. Taijutsu was the same. Ninjutsu… Ninjutsu was currently what she was worst at. But how was Sakura supposed to learn when they were always protecting her? Then again, how was she supposed to survive without them?

Those thoughts weren't given any more time to continue as the beast of a man, Baiu, released the seal on the scroll and opened it quickly.

And the second the jutsu was activated, everything around them burst into action.

Blue Eyes (as Sakura had dubbed her), leapt away from the scroll, covering her mouth and nose with her hand before vaulting off a tree and nosediving straight into Sasuke, knocking them both to the ground. It made Sakura's eyes go wide. That was not usually how shinobi fought. Even Sasuke was startled, taking several hits as he tried to recover. It was like she was part animal, part wild.

The two others turned to Naruto, glaring viciously at him before they began attacking with shuriken.

Sakura tightened her grip on her kunai, falling into a defensive stance. However, just as she was about to help Naruto, he yelled at her, "Stay back, Sakura-chan! I've got this."

Her eyes snapped to Sasuke, who was now thankfully back on his feet with his hands flying through familiar seals.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

The air around them heated up dramatically and Sakura could feel her skin blistering and the ends of her hair being singed as the giant fireball whizzed by her and straight for the woman. A small piece of her mind was whispering thanks to her mother for forcing her to take the ointment. They were surely going to need it after this.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

Water countered the fire, gushing from Blue Eyes with incredible force and colliding with Sasuke's jutsu. There was a loud hissing sound, reminding Sakura of when she poured cold water onto a sizzling hot frying pan, before a mist filled the clearing, an effect from the two jutsu colliding.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!"

She couldn't see a thing. All Sakura was capable of doing was listening as the battle played out. She didn't know whether or not they were losing, whether her boys were kicking ass. However, the sound that suddenly came from Naruto had her believing that no. No they were not winning.

And then, his body was slamming into hers, solidifying that thought.

All air was beaten viciously out of Sakura as she was crushed between the tree and the force of Naruto being thrown at her. It wasn't too long until another body was colliding with them both and when Sakura's head smashed against the tree, all thoughts became jumbled. It was hard to think, hard to breathe.

But then something happened that had her fighting desperately for consciousness, even though her two boys were long lost to the darkness of unconsciousness.

Somebody dropped in front of them, his arrival making the mist disperse until seeing was possible again. She couldn't see the person's face, because their back was to her, but the way he held himself (she was guessing he was a guy) and the way he was so calm, brought forth two different feelings within herself. Fear and safety. With the way her mind was scrambled at that moment in time, however, Sakura couldn't decide which feeling was greater.

Squinting, Sakura tried hard to focus on everything that was happening, but the person moved far too quickly for her to even try to keep track of, even when she was at full health. All she could make out was that one moment, they were all standing, staring each other down, and then the next, three bodies were hitting the floor and unlike their unconscious comrade, they were all lifeless and bleeding out. The figure kept his back to her.

"You…"

Finally, the person turned around, but unfortunately for her, their face was covered by not only the high neck of their cloak, but also a hat of some sort.

"W-Who…" Sakura coughed violently, her vision dimming. "Who… are you?"

Red eyes gleamed back at her, but despite instinct telling her she should be, Sakura could not fear the figure who had just saved her life, saved her teammates' lives.

"You will be safe now," his voice was low, yet smooth. "I have contacted your Hokage."

Her head was swimming, making Sakura's eyebrows knit together as she squinted at the figure, trying desperately to get some information about him. She had to thank them somehow. How could she do that without a name, or at least a face? Determinedly and shakily, Sakura tried her best to stand, but her legs gave out on her and she collapsed onto the ground between her fallen teammates, on her front. Too much pain. Her body was practically useless right now.

Seeing the figure backing away made her try again, but yet again, it was a failed attempt. "W-Wait! At least… tell me your name?"

The person glanced over their shoulder, a single red eye regarding her features for a moment, before they disappeared from view, leaving her alone with her unconscious teammates. All Sakura could do was wait for back up.

She didn't even know his name.