Well, here's chapter two! I'm currently editing and rewriting a lot of chapter three, but it should be posted in the next few days. :) I'm so excited about the response this has gotten, as well as the views. Seriously, i'm having so much fun writing this. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And i'm slowly coming to terms with that... I also don't own the Of Monsters and Men lyrics i've used. :d

So make all your last demands for I will forsake you
And I'll meet your eyes for the very first time, for the very last
So love me mother, and love me father, and love my sister as well
So love me mother, and love me father, and love my brother as well

As much as I complained, and hated my role in life, I knew I was privileged. After-all, I was trained as a medic-nin, I was Tsunades apprentice. I was smart, and from a wealthy clan. My place in life was set out before me before I could even walk. I would never have to struggle, and I would always have the best of the best. I had a high place in female society, made only higher by my occupation. As much as my father drove me insane with his pushing, deep down I knew he was only doing it to secure my future. He would find a wealthy man for me to marry, who would provide me with the same life I had grown accustomed to, if not better.

Maybe I was an ungrateful daughter, but I couldn't be what my father wanted me to be. I wanted more, and with the invasion of Stone, I got exactly what I wanted.

To pretend to be a male, impersonate a shinobi, was a crime. It was dangerous, and to be caught would bring immense shame over my whole family. But, to stand by and let my injured father fight in a battle he was sure to lose… I couldn't do it. I wanted to fight in his place, I wanted to fight for my village, I wanted to protect all the people I loved.

So I did, and I wasn't alone. I came to Tsunade with the idea. Which Tenten overheard and immediadetly wanted in on. Tsunade was supportive, she even helped Tenten and I get into the training camps. But, while it was a comfort to know that we were both doing the same thing, we were very, very much alone.

Tenten was assigned to a training camp across the country from me, and it was a long, long time before I saw her again, covered in blood, in the heat of battle.

"Chichi-ue, I'm home!" Sakura called out as she walked into the front foyer.

"We're in the dining room Sakura-chan." She heard Masami's quiet voice call out to her.

Sakura walked through the lavishly decorated front hall. Earth tones filled the room, with the rich mahogany floor shining underneath the pristine oriental rugs. She kept her footsteps light, meek, opposite of her strong and confident persona.

As she entered the room, she saw her father and stepmother kneeling at opposite ends of the large cherry wood table. Masami looked up at her as she knelt at the table, while her father continued scowling at the cup of tea he held in his hands.

"I expected you home earlier today Sakura, you missed your tea lesson with Masami." He spoke quietly.

"I apologise Chichi-ue. I had work at the hospital, then a meeting with Tsunade-shishou. After that, I went to the square."

His eyebrows rose as quick as his scowl did.

"And why were you in the square today, Sakura?"

Sakura bowed her head as she reached into her sleeve to retrieve the scroll.

"I went there to retrieve our family's draft scroll father." She replied quietly.

"That was wholly unnecessary Sakura. Also, it was completely inappropriate. You are a woman; it is not your place to be involved in those sorts of affairs."

Sakura began to scowl at her father. "And why not? You are my father, and I am a Haruno. Until you have a son, I am your heir."

"Silence!" Satoshi said firmly. He was never one to yell, but the tone of his voice was equal to that of a scream. It only made to rile Sakura up more.

"You are a female Sakura! Do you not understand that you cannot act this way? You need to stay out of the affairs of men and you most surely need to stay out of my affairs. Neither the draft, nor the contents of that scroll are of any concern to you. This whole war is of no concern to you. The only thing you need to concern yourself with is your work in the hospital, and your lessons with Masami so that we can hopefully marry you off to a somewhat decent man."

The words stung Sakura more than her father could fully realise, but by the way Masami made eye contact with her, Sakura knew at that moment the woman understood.

"Is the well-being of my father not my concern?" She questioned quietly.

But, before her father could answer her remark Masami's smooth voice cut into the conversation.

"I think," She started calmly. "What Sakura-chan is trying to say, is that she is concerned over what you will do Satoshi. She was only trying to help you."

Her father had the gall to shrug. "I will do as I have always done Masami. I will answer the call to war. I will fight for my village. It is my duty, retired or not, I am a shinobi of leaf."

"You would fight injured?!" Sakura cried out. "You can't even walk properly, not without your cane! How do you expect to fight?"

Her father slammed his hands on the table at that point, this time raising his voice to her for the first time that she could ever remember.

"Will you ever learn respect child?! You will never become an honored wife. You're too willful, too outspoken, too disrespectful! None of those are qualities befitting a woman; none of those are qualities that any man wants in a wife! I regret the day I ever let that Tsunade take you as an apprentice. All she did was encourage the same bad-qualities that left her all alone as well."

"How dare you! How dare you speak of Tsunade-same that way! She is brilliant, and a far better person than most of the men in this village. You will die father! Don't you understand that?!"

"Then I will die as all shinobi wish to die. Fighting for the village they love. I am finished with this conversation Sakura. Leave me."

Tears filled her eyes as she stood and rushed out of the room. The colorful paintings on the wall rushed by her in a blur of colors as she ran through the lavishly decorated hallways, and out the back doors into the gardens.

She felt weak, worthless, and angry.

How dare her father! She had so much more to offer then just the typical housewife! She had chakra control better than ninety-five percent of all the current shinobi. Her medical ninjutsu was only bested by her own shishou, and her knowledge by the same and Shizune. Not only that, but she was easily chuunin rank, and with more training and field experience she knew she could easily gain the skills equal to jounin.

"If only kunoichi hadn't been disbanded." She thought bitterly. "If only I were a man. Then I could fight for my father, so that he wouldn't die. Then he could help raise my little brother or sister. Then I could help…"

"But what if you could?" her inner thoughts whispered. "Why not fight? You have enough skills to go to one of those training camps... You could easily trick them all into believing you ARE a boy. A distant cousin perhaps…"

Sakura's eyes grew wide at those thoughts. But, how? How could she get the proper paperwork? Tsunade. Sakura gasped as her stomach began to clench painfully. She knew, she absolutely knew that not only would Tsunade support her, but she would help her get the necessary paperwork in order to go.

She had three days. Only three days.

Sakura knew she couldn't waste time, so she stood to immediately set off to Tsunade's office.

After three steps though, she heard the crunching of footsteps behind her.

"Sakura." She heard her father's voice echo quietly.

"Yes Chichi-ue?" she said quietly while turning to face him.

"Come, Sakura," he said while motioning to the old stone bench under her mother's favourite cherry tree. "I'd like to speak with you."

Sakura immediately walked to the bench and sat next to her father, who took her hand in his own.

"Sakura," he began while gazing at the koi pond in front of them. "I apologise for the way I acted in there. I sometimes forget that you are still so young, you may resemble a woman, but you are still only nineteen. I blame your behavior on myself."

"No father, my behavior is my own. I apologise. I was out of place."

He squeezed her hand as a wry smile formed on his face.

"The koi swims in circles year in and year out, until it begins its journey up the dragon river. It goes against the stream, against hundreds of other koi, until it reaches dragon's gate. It is said that the brave, strong koi leaps from the water it transforms into a beautiful dragon."

Sakura smiled at her father as nostalgic thoughts of her childhood began to fill her mind.

"You used to tell me that story when I was little, after Mama died."

He let out a small laugh and squeezed her hand again.

"I probably shouldn't have. I feel as if it is my fault that you act the way you do Sakura. I filled your head with stories like this, and stories of battles, when I instead should have hired a caretaker for you. You were so young, so impressionable. I thought that it was a phase. Instead of indulging in your fantasies of being a shinobi, I should have instead focused on the fact that you were just a girl, not a son. I have done wrong by you. And I apologise Sakura."

"Papa… I loved my childhood. You gave me hope there was more to this life…"

He let go of her hand and raised his own to stop her sentence.

"That's just it Sakura. There isn't more to life, at least not anymore. Not for you. In a different time, I would have proudly raised you to be a kunoichi. You're so much like my mother Sakura. You could have…" he trailed off before shaking his head and continuing again. "But it isn't Sakura. And, it's time you came to realise that. I wrote to your aunt, your mothers sister, a few weeks ago. Before all this war stuff came to light. She agreed to let you stay with her for a few months in Sand. But, seeing as our country is now at war, she has agreed to let you stay in Wind until the war is over."

Sakura went completely rigid.

"But… father... My work is here! I couldn't possibly go to Sand..."

"You can, and you will. You could easily work at the hospital there, and, from what I hear, the medical field in Suna leaves much to be desired. It would be beneficial to them, and to you. Ikari-san has agreed to take you under her wing, and help you grow into the beautiful woman I know you can be Sakura. She also will introduce you to the Clans in Suna. This is a clean slate for you Sakura. None of these clans know of your problems here. My goal in this is for your future Sakura. Either way, by the time you come back you will either be engaged to a nice man from Suna, or ready to be accepted by one of the Konoha clans."

Tears filled her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What about Masami? You would leave her here all alone while I am in Suna, and you are out fighting in the war?"

"Masami will have the maids, she won't be alone." He answered calmly.

"When would I leave?" Sakura asked, feigning resignation.

"The twenty-fourth. At dawn. The same day I will be departing for battle." He answered, the far-away look entering his eyes once more.

"I don't expect you to understand what I am doing for you right now Sakura. I only ask that you accept it. You will appreciate this one day."

And then Satoshi stood, and limped away from her to leave her to her thoughts.

Little did he know that they were of anything but acceptance.

"Sakura! What on earth are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be at dinner with your family?" Tsunade said while pinning her gold eyes on her young apprentice.

Sakura bowed to her shishou while taking in the two other occupants in the room.

"I have something urgent I need to speak to you about shishou. Hello Shizune-nee, Tenten-chan."

Shizune smiled at Sakura, while Tenten waved and stood off to the side respectfully.

"Well, what is it Sakura?" Tsunade said while clasping her hands together and leaning her chin on them.

Sakura could feel all her courage leaving her as she stood in front of her Shishou.

"Shishou, it's about this war. I've come up with this idea, and I'll admit… it's crazy… suicide really… but wholly necessary. With my father being injured and Masami-san being pregnant…" She rambled.

"Sakura, get to the point." Tsunade cut in bluntly, while eyeing her expectantly.

"Yeesh… shes not one to ease the nerves." Sakura's inner thoughts echoed. Internally, Sakura nodded in agreement.

Stomping down her fears, Sakura lifted her chin defiantly. She noticed the gleam of recognition in Tsunade's eyes, she could even see the wheels of realization turning.

"Tsunade-sama, I wish to fight in the war." She said in a strong voice. She heard Shizune's gasp, and the clang of a weapon falling out of Tenten's hands. Encouraged by the smirk that was growing on Tsunade's face she continued.

"I ask for your assistance in the necessary paperwork in order to disguise myself as a male, and enter one of the training camps."

A smirk grew on Tsunade's face as something Sakura recognized as pride flashed in her eyes. She began to open her mouth and speak before a strangled voice cut her off.

"Are you insane Sakura?!" Shizune cried out. "You will surely get yourself killed!"

"Not if I'm not discovered. The only way that will happen is if I fall in war, and if that happens then it wouldn't really matter anyways."

Shizune stared at Sakura bug eyed while Tenten stood in the corner studying her quietly.

Tsunade's smirk grew bigger. "And how do you expect to cover your disappearance to the elders, not to mention your family?" She asked.

"My father plans to send me to Suna in five days time. He will realise where I've gone come morning when he finds his hitai-ate missing. He'll be smart enough to keep his mouth shut about where I really am, most likely using the cover story that I left on the carriage to Suna. The Elder's wouldn't check into it, and my kaa-sans imouto wouldn't say any differently."

"Hmm." Tsunade said with a smirk. "You seem to have thought this through, and you have a likely cover. The problem is Sakura, do you think you can really do this?"

Sakura could feel her jaw involuntarily clench. "You know I can Shishou! No one will ever know the difference. I fight the way you taught me!" she said passionately.

"I can easily disguise myself, pink hair is a common trait among my clan. Chakra control is also common. I can say I'm from the east side of fire, that I trained under a traveling medic-nin in basic medical ninjutsu. I can claim the rest of my knowledge from my clan."

"You know there's no way possible to hold a henge that long?" Tsunade asked Sakura. Smirk still present on her face.

"Of course. I'll cut my hair. I know how to wear bindings, and the standard konoha uniform is baggy enough I'll just look scrawny." She replied to her shishou.

Shizune groaned at Sakura. "But your hair… It's so beautiful…"

"It's the only way Shizune-nee… I can't allow my father to go straight to his death. Plus, I was born for this! I know I can do this!"

Tsunade stood and circled her desk before coming to stand in front of Sakura.

"I know you can do this as well." She said with a genuine smile. "Women like us, we weren't born to be housewives. We were made to be shinobi, we were born fighting."

A thoughtful look crossed her face before she began to pace around the room.

"We'll have to come up with a convincing back story. I'll also need to get you the proper forgeries. Birth certificates, schooling records, vaccinations, as well as a list of abilities. You cannot use your strength to its full potential either. It would give you away too easily. Same for your medical ninjutsu's, keep it to a minimum."

Tsunade kept mumbling to herself as she made a mental checklist of everything that needed to be done.

That is until Tentens voice cut into the room.

"Send me as well! Please Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade paused mid-step and looked at Tenten startled.

"Tenten, are you sure, it would make it riskier to send both of you-"

"I don't care, that is, as long as Sakura doesn't." she added the end a bit sheepishly while giving Sakura a small grin.

Sakura smiled at Tenten and the other girls smile grew.

"I think it's a great idea, that way I wouldn't be alone in this."

"You girls know that the likelihood of you two going to the same training camp is only about thirty percent right?"

"I know." Tenten answered. "But I want to help as well, I want to fight for my country. You and I both know I don't have any talents besides making weapons. Most guys don't look for that skill when looking for a wife. I'm a failure as a medic-nin, I'm a terror in domestic situations, and all my immediate family is dead. I was made to fight, please Tsunade-sama." She bowed down in front of Tsunade before adding. "I beg of you."

Tsunade looked at the two girls in front of her before clapping her hands one time and smiling genuinely at them.

"I'll do everything in my power to help, but only if you two promise me you'll kick some Iwa ass and come back here in one piece!"

Shizune stood next to Tsunade with a worried, but proud smile.

"Konoha doesn't know what they're missing out on, but they are about to gain some amazing shinobi."

"Sakura, Tenten, you'll have to leave a few hours before sunrise on the twenty-fourth in order to make it to the training camps on time. You two will have to wait until then to cut your hair. Tenten" she said while looking at the girl, "I'll help you come up with a back story, and give you a hitai-ate to take with you. Sakura, you are going to have to link yourself to a distant relative that no one should know any personal details on. You bring your father's Hitai-ate and say he gave it to you to take to war. Shizune and I will get all the necessary paperwork and turn it in to the Hokage. When the camp assignments are posted, you two will know exactly where to go when you leave."

"But, how are you going to get this all done?" Sakura asked her Shishou.

"Tch. Don't worry Sakura, I have my ways." She said with a smug tone.

The four women stayed in the office for hours after that, planning exactly how they were going to go about this dangerous mission they'd given themselves. All of them knew their lives were on the line if they were ever discovered, but that thought couldn't have deterred them in the slightest.

This was their duty to their county, whether it was denied to them or not.

Bam! There you have it! I hope you enjoyed, and if you have any advice on how i could improve, or you see any mistakes or inconsistencies please don't hesitate you let me know! just remember, nothing motivates a person to post another chapter as much as words of encouragement ;)

Until next time!

-Laurie