Chapter 1

"Sakura-chan!! Let's eat at Ichiraku today!!" shouted a full grown Naruto.

"I don't know. I'm too tired," replied a pink hair kunoichi. "It's kinda tiring to be an Anbu black-opp and a medic ninja,"

"Yes. I agree with Naruto. Even though it's really exhausting after our mission, we should take a break, ugly," said Sai.

"One more time I hear you say that, you'll be in the hospital and I'm not going to be the one who's going to heal you," said Sakura threateningly.

"If you say so, ugly,"

"Oh, you're sooooo gonna get it," she approached Sai but Naruto hold her back. "Sakura-chan, let's just go eat ramen, okay?" he asked.

"Fine but I'll eat quickly because I'm going to meet with Tsunade for a while to report about the mission," They walked to Ichiraku and Naruto ordered 10 bowls of ramen while Sai and Sakura just ordered a bowl of beef ramen. Suddenly, Sakura felt a pang of pain in her chest. She clutched on her shirt.

'Damn, it's getting worst,' she thought. She sometimes gives out a little yelp in pain. Naruto was too busy inhaling the scent of his ramen before eating it but Sai noticed.

"Are you okay ugly?" he asked. He hoped that the insult will cheer her up. Sakura looked at him and smiled.

"Nothing," she replied. Sai fake smiled back and nodded. He looked back at his ramen and said "you're wearing a fake smile aren't you Sakura?" he asked. Sakura looked at him weirdly.

'He's not insulting me?' she asked herself. "Are you going to meet with Tsunade to check on your injury?" he continued.

'What the hell does he know?' she thought. "Whatever," she replied. 'The secret shall not reveal. Remember that Sakura. That's the rule of your life,' she warned herself.

She ate her ramen quickly as possible to avoid Sai's questions and left without saying a word as she felt more pain in her guts.

Sakura knocked on the Hokage's door and entered as soon as she heard "enter,"

"Ah, Sakura. What do you want to see me for?" asked Tsunade. 'Good. She's not sleeping,' she thought.

"I wanted to report on the completion of our mission… and also I wanted you to give me permission to leave Konoha for a while," she said with a straight forward face.

"(Sigh) Sakura, you haven't told me why you're leaving Konoha for the past week. What's going on?" asked Tsunade. Sakura immediately found the ground much more interesting than the conversation.

"I'm sorry, but it's personal," she said. 'The secret shall not reveal,' she kept on repeating that quote in her mind.

"(Sigh) Okay. But, please, answer me this question. Does it involve with others? Namely, Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked. Now, Sakura looked towards the Hokage.

'Why does she have to bring up his name?'

"No, it doesn't involve any people," sounding annoyed.

"Even though you've surpassed me, I still treat you as my apprentice so I trust you, but if you continue this 'leaving Konoha for a while' crap without any reason, it's either I send Anbu or someone to spy on you or I will not give you any more permission, understood?" she said with a stern face.

"Yes Lady Tsunade," Sakura answered as she bowed in respect and walked out from the Hokage's room.

"Sakura, meet me later after you return just to make sure you're alright!" Tsunade shouted.

"Hai!" Sakura answered back.

"Is it okay to let her leave like that?" asked Shizune to Tsunade.

"I trust her so maybe the next time she ask permission to leave Konoha, I'll send someone,"

Sakura walked towards the gate with her backpack. She still has the pain in her chest. 'I have to hurry,' she thought.

"Hey ugly. Where are you going?" asked a voice behind the trees. Sakura swift her head to the side, only to find Sai leaning against a tree.

"Why do you care?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, I don't really care but shouldn't you tell Naruto? Do you know how much ruckus he will make if you're gone?"

"I don't have time for this. If he was going to search for me, he'll ask Tsunade. She knows where I'm going. Besides, I won't be long," with that, she walked through the gates and disappeared.

'I know she's hiding something,' he thought.

At night, Sakura returned to Konoha with a relief of pain. She felt much better after leaving. Sakura remembered that she needs to see the Hokage so she went towards the Hokage tower without hesitations. She knocked on the door and entered but not only Tsunade and Shizune were in there, but there's also Sai and Naruto

"Ah, Sakura. Glad you came back. We were just talking about you," said Tsunade.

"About what?" she asked as she looked at Naruto and Sai.

"Well, I heard that you left Konoha lately so we were discussing about that," said Naruto.

"Thank you for your concerns but I'm fine," she smiled.

"Okay and since you're all here, maybe I'll break the news then," said Tsunade. She stood up and cleared her throat. Naruto and Sai stood up from their chairs and Sakura went in the middle.

"This is a mission. This involves a person. I received some news about a person returning to Konoha after his mission. I think he got into a bloody battle and he managed to kill his target and his trainer so we all know how bloody it is so Sakura, you shall heal his injuries. Naruto, you will let him stay at your house and Sai will help you too,"

"Yes Tsunade-sama," Sai and Sakura answered.

"EH?! WHY DO I HAVE TO SHARE MY HOUSE WITH A RANDOM GUY?!" asked/shouted Naruto. Tsunade ignored him.

"Anyways… Your mission is to lead this person's a good life. He's on the way here,"

"Yes Tsunade-sama," Naruto still complaints why he has to share his house with the person.

"Um... do you have any prescriptions of the person we will be taking care?" asked Sakura.

"And this person is actually Sakura's and Naruto's former teammate," Sakura and Naruto dropped their jaws.

'This person is not who I think it is,' thought the three. Then, there's a knock on the door.

"Enter," the door behind them opened. Their eyes widened.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" shouted Naruto.

"No. Way," said Sai.

"Sasuke?" asked Sakura. The person revealed a bloody, grown Sasuke. He was breathing heavily at the door. Sasuke smirked at their reaction.

"I've killed… my brother…" and passed out.

Sasuke fainted but a warm flow of chakra woke him up. He was on a hospital bed and he saw Sakura healing him.

"Sakura?" he asked. Sakura stopped her healing chakra.

"You're alright?" she asked. Sasuke sat up and scanned his own body. All of the injuries were healed.

"How did you do that?" he asked as he looked directly at her.

"Wow, you DID miss a lot. I'm a medic ninja now. I was an apprentice of Tsunade-shissou before and now I'm the head of Konoha Hospital," she said as she washed her hands at the sink.

"So... I heard that you killed your brother and Orochimaru," she said, starting up a conversation.

"Hn,"

"You're pathetic," said Sakura out of the sudden. Sasuke shot up and looked at Sakura. She was still washing her hands with soap. 'Did she just say something? I mean, it sounds like Sakura but in a more deep voice,' he thought.

"Why am I pathetic?" he asked. Sakura turned around to look at him... surprisingly. 'Damn it. I said it out loud!' she thought.

"Nothing. It's just that, you could've stayed here to achieve a lot of power here in Konoha than from Orochimaru to kill your brother," Sasuke scoffed.

"What are you talking about? If I hadn't follow Orochimaru, I wouldn't have killed my brother. Besides, if I stayed in Konoha, where would I get a lot of power?" he asked.

"Wow, you talk a lot," she said. "Hn," He looked at Sakura as she examined Sasuke's hospital file. "Seems like you've gotten stronger too. You used to be weak," he said. Sakura sighed in annoyance.

"Yeah. Since I was trained by Tsunade-shissou, I've gotten a lot stronger. Before, Naruto got Jiraiya and Kakashi-sensei taught you chidori and I got nothing so it's only fair that I was getting stronger when I got Tsunade-shissou," she explained.

"Still, there are a lot of hidden powers in Konoha that you wouldn't even imagine," she said as she passed Sasuke towards the door. 'That voice again,'

"I'll let Naruto and Sai come in to discuss about your home stay in Naruto's house. I need to finish my paper work. You can leave tomorrow," she said as she slide the door open and walked out. After a few minutes, Naruto and Sai came in.

"Teme!!! Good to have you back!! If you're fully healed, you can train with me!!!" he said happily.

'Good, at least Naruto's like his old self,' he thought. What really gives him the creeps is Sai. He just... stands there and smiled. He sometimes discussed about their mission then left the room. Naruto told him what Sasuke had missed. He wasn't listening to Naruto but only one word that caught his attention.

"—and Sakura became quite stronger. Now, she usually trains with Neji and Sai and it seems that Sakura can beat the guys without a sweat. I was kinda afraid when she asked me to train with her—" Naruto's sentence had been cut off by Sasuke.

"What?! She can beat that Hyuuga?!" he asked. Naruto sweat dropped. Then, he regained his composure and looked directly at the black-haired ninja with seriousness in his eyes.

"Seriously, she's a lot stronger. See it for yourself tomorrow. I'll take you to the training grounds,"