A/N: Hi everyone! This is my very first fanfiction, so please forgive me if my writing is not super polished – I'm still working on it! This is a story about my personal favorite Naruto couple – Naruto and Sakura. It's gonna be a wild ride, so buckle up!

Tags: Romance/Drama

Rated: Mature (because of inappropriate language, gore and possibly some lemon)

I would like to address all the fandom shipping drama; I don't care who you ship, and I don't hate you for liking ships that I personally don't. The Naruto community has been so toxic ever since the canon was announced and I just want to change a small part of it, if possible. Please understand everyone has different opinions, so don't fight and hate on each other because of it. We all know NaruHina is canon, so more power to those who got what they wanted out of the series (even though the rest of us see it differently). If someone is being a persistent jerk to you because of your shipping, either ignore them or report them and don't spread any more hate in this community, that's all I ask.

As of last year, another user has been helping me so much with this story and has also become my BETA. Shout out to Logan Locke for always being there to help and advise me!

I hope you enjoy this story as I put all my heart and passion into it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (if I did, I'd make sure it had the proper ending it deserved).

Meant to Be

Story by Ivy Arts

Chapter 1

It was winter. A slow ending of one cold winter. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was buried in snow.

Naruto never favored this time of the year as he wasn't a fan of the cold. About a month passed since he had first arrived at the Leaf, saved Gaara and met Orochimaru at the Tenchi bridge. He was now on a mission break as Lady Tsunade ordered.

March was ending, but it was snowing regardless. The weather was stalling everyone and was part of the reason why he was currently on a break. From the way it seemed, it wasn't going to change by the end of the week.

What was worse, the Land of Fire was known for its hot summers and relatively warm winters compared to other places. Snow would usually appear in the northern areas, but storms like these were uncommon in the village, so nobody was ever prepared for weather cold as this.

He was on a break, but the rest of his friends had it busy. Assignments were stacking up while even the simplest of missions took days to complete. The last time he saw any of his friends was about two weeks ago when he ran into Shikamaru and Choji in a grocery store. Ever since then, he barely saw anyone around.

Well...

Except for that one time he went to the hospital when he caught a bad cold.

It just so happened that someone very special to him was on her shift when he came in for a checkup. A gentle smile stretched his lips as he remembered seeing her that day.

Haruno Sakura - his teammate and best friend, who was one of the most talented medical ninja in Konoha. She was on her way to becoming the leading medic of the hospital and she was truly admired for her abilities. He himself was very proud of her and could confirm that she was indeed good at what she was doing.

Anyone could see they were good friends, but some individuals knew about the blond's true feelings. Some would call it a crush, but some knew it was more than just that.

Even after three years apart from his home, his feelings for her hadn't changed. If anything, they were only stronger now.

„Sakura..." He muttered in thought. Three years had passed quickly, and he was surprised their friendship stayed the same. He knew time would change some of the people he knew, but it was different with her. She seemed like the same old Sakura, but somehow more mature. Could it be that they were just growing up?

The blond got up from his bed and walked over to his window. He leaned on the windowsill and looked outside, watching the wind blow throughout the snowy streets of the village.

„Damn it, I hate this..." He muttered, looking past the buildings. He wouldn't want to be outside in the storm, but he'd like to have at least something to do.

There was sudden knocking on the door and Naruto's thoughts were quickly cut off. He looked up to his apartment doorway. Someone must have gone out of their way to get to him, otherwise they surely wouldn't be walking in the cold snow all the way here. The knocking repeated once again as he went for the door.

„Yeah, I'm coming!" Naruto yelled as the knocking continued. When he finally opened the door, he was greeted with a familiar face of a specific silver-haired jonin.

„Hey." The other person greeted.

„Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?"

„A simple 'hello' would be nice once in a while." He said, his expression blank.

„Yeah, whatever." The blond muttered, looking to his side, then back up at him. „So, what's up?"

„Lady Hokage sent me to inform you about your next mission, it's urgent." He said in his usual tone.

„What?" He looked up, surprised. „Not that I'm complaining or anything, but isn't our team on a mission break? She told us-"

„She told us to take a break and wait for further orders." Kakashi said simply. The blond crossed his arms, leaned on the door frame and looked out the street.

„It's weird that it came out of the blue is all..." He sighed. „Anyway, wanna come in? It's freezing out here." He offered and Kakashi nodded. They both entered his apartment and Naruto closed the door behind them.

„It's... clean in here." Kakashi said as he looked around the rather tidy room. „What happened?"

„I didn't have much to do, so I decided to kill some time." The blond explained as he walked over to his small dining table. „You can sit down if you want to." He pointed to the chair next to the table as he passed it, heading for the kitchen.

„Want something to drink?"

Kakashi looked in his direction, waving his hand. „I'm good."

„Suit yourself." In the next moment, he came back from the kitchen while drinking a glass of water.

The sensei sat down. „I'm gonna get straight to the point. You and Sakura are going on a B-rank mission to The Sound Village."

As soon as he heard these news, Naruto gagged and almost choked on the water he was drinking.

„What?!" His voice cracking, he looked at his sensei in disbelief.

Kakashi raised his brow and stared with amusement at his former student, who was coughing up water.

The blond then cleared his throat, setting his glass aside. „Shouldn't there be at least four team members on a mission like this? Is really a genin like me and a chunin going to be enough?" He asked as his sensei looked out the window.

„Your ranks don't really matter all that much in this case. Most shinobi are getting load up with missions because everyone was slacking off last week, so there are very few available shinobi at this point."

„What about you and the other teams?"

„I'm also going on a high ranked mission soon, and other teams have already been assigned to other tasks." The silver haired sensei explained. „As of the situation at hand, you and Sakura are the only suitable ninja for this mission."

Naruto sat back. „Alright then. So, what's our objective?"

„There is a three-man group in the Sound village, from what information we've gathered, we suspect they're on a hunt for forbidden ninjutsu." He said. „They extract ninjutsu from other shinobi by performing some kind of a ritual-like jutsu. Their way of doing things is quite disturbing; their methods consist of mental and physical torture, threatening, rape and even murder. The thing is; they aren't interested in common shinobi techniques, but rather more advanced ones, which presents a great threat. They also target only those with precise chakra control. Some shinobi have already lost their ability to summon chakra because of these incidents."

„That's awful..." Naruto muttered, horror and disgust evident in his expression. „And messed up." He added.

Kakashi nodded, taking a pause. „And your mission is to gather as much intel about them as you can. While it is important to put an end to them, I advise you not to take them on directly. Judging by their skills, we suspect they might be out of both your and Sakura's league."

„Okay, so all we have to do is spy on them?" The blond asked.

„Well... in a way." He said.

Naruto raised a brow in question.

Kakashi sighed. „Well, there is another reason why you have a woman going with you."

„Huh?"

The silver-haired jonin rubbed his temple. „Well..." He stopped for a second. „To be blunt, Sakura's job is to gather intel and manipulate them through a form of seduction. Unfortunately, it's proved to be the easiest and least suspicious way to confront these men."

There was complete silence as the blond stared at him. A moment passed until he widened his eyes and shock came upon his face.

„What?!" He slammed his hands on the table as he got up. „Seduce them?!"

„Calm down, Naruto." Kakashi said.

„But-!"

„It's not that kind of seduction." He quickly corrected himself, looking straight at him. „As a woman, she's simply going to have more advantage over them. Certainly more than a man would." Naruto sat back in his chair, his face still obviously tense. „But," Kakashi added. „there's a catch."

„We've proven that most of our info about them has come from just this method. As they like drinking and gambling, they could easily be found in any kind of a bar. It's very risky in her case since they might recognize her. She's a known medical ninja and Lady Tsunade's apprentice. To top it off, she has incredible chakra control." He explained. „Remember what I said about precise chakra control?"

„Shit."

„You get the point." Kakashi said. „It's risky, but it's urgent. Tsunade would have chosen somebody else had anyone been free and qualified enough for the job, but that's not the case. That's why she decided you'd assist her on this mission. She knows she can count on you to keep Sakura safe."

He couldn't believe this.

„Did Sakura agree to this?"

„As far as I know."

„What if something goes wrong? What if I can't protect her from three high class shinobi? Did anyone even consider that?" Naruto's voice rose with each question.

„Naruto, anything could happen on a mission like this." The jonin said. „But Lady Tsunade wouldn't have assigned you to this mission if she wasn't entirely sure you could do it." He reassured him.

The blond hesitated for a moment before sighing. „I... I'll do my best, but I just don't want Sakura to suffer if I end up failing."

„You won't fail." The jonin smiled reassuringly behind his mask.

The blond took a deep breath. „Well, let's hope anyway."

„That's the spirit." Kakashi nodded in approval and reached for his pocket. He took out a small picture. „This is the only photographic evidence we have of them. Find them and by providing us with more direct intel, you will increase the chance of us putting an end to them sooner."

„Understood." Naruto nodded quietly and took the photo. No matter how much Kakashi tried to convince him, he was still going to be worried as hell. „When are we leaving?"

„Sunset, in front of the main gate. That's when the storm is supposed to stop, at least. You should start packing now as you're probably going to be away for a few days."

„A few days?" The blond lifted a brow at him. „Why would it take so long?"

„Right." Kakashi scratched his jaw. „You'll be traveling on the main road since the whole forest is covered in snow, meaning no shortcuts. You two don't know the area as well as other, more experienced shinobi, so you have a good chance of getting lost."

He groaned. „Great. It'll take an entire day to get there."

The silver haired jonin got up. „You'll be fine. Besides, it'll give you enough time to catch up. You haven't spent much time together since you came back, have you?"

Naruto shrugged and looked away, getting a bit uncomfortable after being asked the question. They really haven't spent enough time together.

Kakashi stood for a moment longer, gazing at his former student in thought. He sighed before taking his leave.

„Just be careful. Don't let yourselves get captured by any means, who knows what might happen to the two of you if you do." He muttered. „Well... Good luck."

He was gone in the next moment.

Naruto was still as a rock. „So much for the final reassuring..." Frustration built up inside him and he let out a groan.

„Just what in the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Continued in chapter 2...

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Try to imagine this fanfic as the real Naruto story, except this mission is what's going to change the turn of events. I plan for this story to have a lot of content, so you can have something to look forward to.

I want to apologize in advance and say that I take a lot of time to write and edit, so the uploads are gonna be slow and sparse. The reason; I'm going to college and I'm not exaggerating when I say I almost have no time during the week to write. That's just the way things are. Don't worry though, I don't plan on ever abandoning this story either!

Anyway, thank you for reading! Feedback and reviews are always welcome.