Sakura stepped into the office and started cataloging missions for Tsunade-sama's review. Ever since she had become Lady Tsunade's apprentice, she had learned not only a vast number of techniques, but also what it really took to run Konoah. In her desire to save Sasuke, she had poured herself over every medical journal she could find in an attempt to find a way to save him, but she had yet to find a cure. Thankfully, they did have him stabilized, however, she was aware that it was a temporary solution at best. They were going to have to find a way to cure him soon.

For now, he was being kept in a medical coma, but every now and then they would find a new treatment and they would wake him from it. In these rare moments of consciousness, Sasuke would always ask Sakura to do things for him. He would ask her to carry out his dreams so that his goals would still be completed and his life would hold meaning; he would ask her to get revenge for his clan. It always hurt her to hear him ask these questions. It was like he was giving up on life, and she hated that. So, stubbornly, each time she would refuse. She would always tell him that she would find a way to cure him so that he could avenge his clan himself.

Sakura sighed and tried to shake herself from her thoughts in an attempt to focus them, but apparently she wasn't going to be getting any work done today. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Sasuke hadn't be so horribly injured back then. Perhaps they may have even gone on a date by now; maybe they would have even shared a kiss or two. If only Orochimaru hadn't tried to give Sasuke the cursed seal.

Honestly, if anyone deserved to die because of what they had done to Sasuke, it was him. The cold hearted bastard had disguised himself during their chunin exams so that he could get close enough to Sasuke to bite him and plant the cursed seal onto his body. Orochimaru wanted Sasuke's body because of his ability to use the Sharingan, but Orochimaru had always assumed that Sasuke's body was strong enough to survive; he had never taken into account that giving him the cursed seal would kill him.

Sakura slammed her fist down on her desk; she would definitely love to be the one who stole the life from that sadistic creep! She could think of many different jutsu that she would love to use on him. Her thoughts were interrupted by Lady Tsunade's very loud entrance into the office. Whenever Tsunade was upset, she would get like this; it made Sakura wonder what was weighing so heavily upon her sensei's mind. Tsunade-sama opened the drawer on the right side of her desk and pulled out a bottle of sake. That definitely signified that something was wrong; Lady Tsunade generally waited until much later in the afternoon before she would start drinking.

"Lady Tsunade, what has happened?" Sakura waited patiently for Tsunade-sama to turn her gaze to her. "Akatsuki members have been spotted heading in the direction of Konoah. From all reports, they have six of the Jinchuuriki. If they are coming to Konoah, there can be only one reason." Unfortunately, Sakura didn't need her to finish explaining it to her. She had been aware for some time now what the truth concerning Naruto was. Tsunade slammed her sake cup down on her desk. "We need a plan; bring Shikamaru here, we need to discuss strategy." Sakura bowed before leaving to find Shikamaru. "At once, Tsunade-sama."

Shikamaru was, as always, playing shogi with Asuma-sensei. "Shikamaru, Tsunade-sama has requested your presence immediately." The spiky-haired shinobi glanced in her direction before standing with a sigh. "How troublesome." They immediately set off for Tsunade-sama's office. When they got there, Sakura was mildly surprised to find the council members already in attendance. Tsunade-sama really didn't get along with the council, so it was a little odd for her to be seeking their advice on any situation. This, more than anything else, made Sakura realize how bad the situation was, and how worried Tsunade must be over the upcoming conflict.

The next few hours were spent contemplating what should be done about the approaching members of Akatsuki. Their timing was better than they could have hoped for considering that Naruto was absent from the village at this time. He had been sent out on a mission with Kakashi-sensei, Choji, and Hinata. There would be no risk of Naruto being captured, however it didn't mean that the Akatsuki threat would go away, so they had decided to try to use this opportunity to Konoah's advantage. After all, if they were lucky, they would be able to fend off this attack, but that only meant a delay before the next attempt. Eventually, they would come back again, and possibly with more members. Akatsuki had to be dealt with, and with as few casualties as possible.

"Tsunade-sama, Neji has confirmed the identities of the two Akatsuki members to be that of Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha." It may have been her imagination, but the council members almost looked relieved after the messenger had delivered the information. Personally, it made her even more tense. Itachi, the one person that Sasuke hated more than anyone else in the world. She had no doubt that if Sasuke was awake that he would try to kill him. Who was to say that by now he wouldn't have had a chance of defeating him?

It seemed like it was going to take forever for the council to agree to one of Shikamaru's plans. Every time he would throw out a course of action, they would give a new piece of information and reveal why that plan wouldn't work. The council seemed dead-set upon there being only one option, and Shikamaru didn't like it at all. "Sending someone to infiltrate Akatsuki is foolish!" Shikamaru was obviously frustrated by their lack of understanding; such outbursts rarely came out of Shikamaru, since they were too troublesome. "We only have a few people whose abilities could match that of one of the Akatsuki and we would need to provide a valid reason for them to be able to even attempt to be approached by them! This person would have to commit heinous crimes, and Akatsuki may never even contact them even after they had been committed! If we are trying to minimize the casualties, then this isn't an option!"

Everyone had bee silent after that. It was always hard to argue with Shikamaru's reasoning because he was always right. For a moment, nobody spoke, but when Sakura looked up again Tsunade was staring at her intently. "Then what about if we sent someone with less skill, but with a more believable motivation? Someone who wanted to gain powerful allies no matter who they were?" The council members seemed to both smile and nod their approval before Tsunade continued. "Shikamaru, if someone approached Akatsuki with a proposition to kill Orochimaru, would they take it?" Shikamaru scratched his chin, deep in thought, before answering. "That person would have to have a known reason for hating Orochimaru. It couldn't be just anyone; the person would have to have a personal grudge against him. It also couldn't be just anyone. This person would have to be someone that could improve Akatsuki's chances of killing him, but this person couldn't be someone that they would be threatened by. Your best chances would be to find someone who has more defensive ability than offensive; and that person would have to be smart enough to play the part convincingly." Everyone took a second to digest this information, but Shikamaru wasn't finished. "I still don't think it would be enough. There would be no reason for them to want to aid this person."

Again, the room was silent. "Unless, of course, we were able to provide a reason." Tsunade was looking at her again, and for some reason it was making her extremely uncomfortable. "Shikamaru, what are the odds that we would be able to separate Kisame and Itachi during this confrontation?" Shikamaru thought about it for a minute or so. "It would be troublesome, but we could do it." Once Shikamaru said that something was possible, there was no doubting that it could work. "Now, what are the odds of capturing one of them if they were separated?" For this, Shikamaru sat and closed his eyes in a position Sakura had seen him use many times before when he was working out a difficult problem. Apparently, he was going through different scenarios in his head. After only a few minutes, it appeared that he was finished. "It would have to be Kisame. It will take the combined efforts of Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka to pull it off. Guy-sensei and many others would be required to make Itachi retreat. It might be possible, if we could further control the conditions of the attack and have other precautions seen to beforehand." Tsunade immediately called for a messenger to gather the people Shikamaru had mentioned. "Tsunade-sama, all of this will be irrelevant without someone to play the main part of the mission."

If Tsunade heard Shikamaru, it didn't show. It took a moment before she turned around, and this time there was no mistaking that she was looking at her with very intent eyes. "Sakura, you have heard what the mission entails, can you handle it?" She hated being right. She was afraid that Tsunade had been watching her this whole time, and obviously she had been correct in her assessment. "What makes you think I can pull it off?" She needed to know how successful this could be before she allowed herself to get thrown into this mess. "Akatsuki knows that you were on a team with Sasuke. The last confrontation with Akatsuki also would have given them a glimpse of your loyalty to him. Your powers would be beneficial to their cause because you would be able to heal whatever injuries they might sustain. Your skills are more defensive than offensive, and while you are a powerful kunoichi, in a one on one fight Akatsuki would not fear you. You fit the role perfectly." Sakura took a deep breath and looked to Shikamaru, "Do you think I could pull this off?" He stood and sighed. "There are so many things that could go wrong after you approached them that would make this mission dangerous for you, but I do believe that based on what Tsunade has said that you have the best chance to approach them and infiltrate their group." For once, she almost wished that he had just smiled at her and said yes instead of giving her the absolute truth. "Alright Tsunade-sama, I'll get ready."

The first thing she did was pack. She couldn't take too much with her because it had to look like she thought about this plan on her own and at the last minute. She grabbed the essentials, but she couldn't help but bring along her stuffed bear. Maybe it was childish, but she'd had it ever since she was little and she still slept with it occasionally when she was upset or stressed. It would help her to feel less alone and remind her of home; so she threw it in the pack that she always used for her missions and threw in a book or two for good measure before turning out the lights and heading towards the hospital.

That lead her to the second thing she had to do before leaving; she needed to visit Sasuke. She thought back to all of the times that she'd sat by his side talking or reading to him; all the times she'd found some new technique that had a chance to cure him; and most importantly, all the times that she'd told him that she couldn't do what he'd asked of her. She grabbed his hand and bent forward to place a kiss on his forehead. "Don't worry Sasuke...I swear I'll avenge you." She could have sworn that before she left that Sasuke had squeezed her hand back.