Chapter Eight

The sun was high in the sky over the hidden leaf village. Fall was beginning to snip at the air, signaling summer was almost to its end. The sky was clear and bright with the suns rays. Leaves on the trees started to glow with colors of yellow and reds.

The villagers of the leaf were dressed in sweaters and scarfs to gather warmth, due to the weather change. Everyone in the village was getting ready to celebrate the chunin exams.

This was the second test of the year.

The village leaf's Hokage or leader, Tsunade had decided to not reach out to other villages to allow them to join in. With the new rogue group known as the Reapers on the rise she didn't feel it was safe enough to allow heavy traffic that the exams brought. This decision brought a lot of negative attitude from since the leaf village was going to lose a lot of business from the tourists.

Tsunade was sitting in her office, leaning back in in her chair. She had her hand on her head and she was bored. It was only a few hours away until the last part of the chunin exams took place. She had nothing to do but wait until then. The exams were being held in the large arena.

Tsunade sighed and opened the bottom drawer of her desk. She picked up a picture frame and smiled weakly at the snapshot of Sakura Haruno. Her once student, it had five month since it was discovered Sakura was alive, and commander of the waterfall village.

Tsunade did regret banishing Sakura out of the village, Tsunade leaned back in her chair. She prayed team seven could find her five years ago but instead the only thing they discovered was her bloody headband. Tsunade truly believed Sakura was killed that day, and ever since then she had been drowning in guilt. But, as the waterfall village rose to power and rumors about their commander with pink hair drifted around, Tsunade had hope that it somehow coukd be her student. Tsunade had been correct, but by the time she found Sakura five years later, Sakura had written off the leaf village and no longer called it home.

After the mission to the river village, Sakura never returned with Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi. Team Seven was in a depressed state when they returned home. After following weeks Tsunade noticed the same trait in all the members inside team seven. Naruto was not himself, he did not laugh, nor smile. Kakashi became more distance, more secluded from everyone else. Sasuke reverted to his colluded state. At the time, Tsunade just thought that they were saddened by the loss of Sakura again and in time they would bounce back because unlike last time, they knew Sakura wasn't dead.

Tsunade did not know how wrong she was.

Tsunade stood up and looked out the large window behind her desk. It was true, when Sakura returned to the leaf village, she was not the same pink haired, green eyed girl that the leaf village knew and loved. She was composed of so many different traits. At first, Tsunade did not recognize Sakura.

Her once short controlled hair had grown out long in a wild beautiful display of untrainable loose curls. The once soft green eyes had grown hard and sharp. Her light facial features twisted serious. Sakura grew up, and because of what she did Tsunade missed large chunks of Sakura's life, and for that she will never forgive herself.

Tsunade's phone started to ring, she turned and looked at her cell phone, the chunin exams were about to begin. She looked at the clock, the hours she had to play with melted in between her fingers. She sighed, wondering where the hours went. But she knew, how could she not? Tsunade spent countless hours reliving all the joyful moments she had with her beloved student. But every memory ended in the same stale picture. The Sakura Tsunade did not know would always flash into her mind making the old memories useless and she could no longer find comfort because the daughter she had come to love no longer existed. This fact was a hard reality check that Tsunade could yet not come to terms with. Tsunade answered the phone with an annoyed sigh, she didn't have time to chat on the phone!

Naruto picked up his orange jacket and slid it on as he ran out of his apartment. After losing Sakura for the second time, he finally realized how much he took her for granted, how poorly he treated her. He loved her; he loved the short haired, soft green-eyed girl that he grew up with, but he realized that the girl he loved for years no longer walked this earth. He could only find her walking inside his faded memories. Naruto sighed he did not know how to feel, he only knew one thing...his heart was held down by guilt and regret.

Naruto glanced at his reflection in the mirror, how times had changed. He may not know her anymore, but he still loved Sakura. He missed her, he took the second chance he had to get his old friend back and he blew it and that is something Naruto is having a hard time bouncing back from. Naruto sighed, as he looked at his phone one last time before leaving. Naruto collided with a hard surface as he walked into the hall.

"Sorry Sasuke." Naruto muttered, seeing his raven-haired friend.

"It's fine. Are you heading to the exams?"

"Yeah. Tsunade wants extra patrol, since the entire village will be in one place at once."

"Yeah, I am on it too." The two men walked outside together. The day Sakura walked back into their life, team seven had moved aside and tried to force Sakura to fit back inside their puzzle, but now that she was gone, they had a huge hole inside their world again. Team seven was still trying to recover from their world collapsing.

"Have you talked to Kakashi yet?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"No. He was supposed to be back this morning, but I didn't hear him come in. I know he is on patrol today though, so he should be here."

Kakashi was rarely around in the past months. Kakashi barely wrote or called or even texted the members of team seven. This worried Naruto and Sasuke, but they had no place to call him out on these strange actions, for they too had changed in their own ways.

Naruto looked up at the flow of people walking to the arena. He rolled his eyes, not wanting to be near other people, which was unlike him. He tapped Sasuke on the shoulder and Sasuke nodded at Naruto, understanding the demanding urge to move away from the villagers. Naruto and Sasuke jumped onto the roof of the arena. Just below their feet people gathered on their seats, ready and waiting for a show. Naruto and Sasuke looked over as other ninja collected on the roof as well. They were the extra patrol. Naruto looked over behind him at the familiar chakra.

"Hey stranger." Naruto said as the silver haired man walked over to stand beside them.

"Hello." Kakashi greeted his former students.

"Where have you been?" Sasuke asked.

"On a mission."

"Well duh." Naruto muttered, looking forward as the exams started. "Ugh, this is going to be so boring!" Naruto groaned as he rubbed his burning eyes.

"No sleep Naruto?" Kakashi asked staring blankly at his once favorite book.

"Eh." Was all Naruto could respond. The old Kakashi would give out a long lecture of how important sleep was, but this Kakashi did not say a word.

"So!" Naruto said, breaking the silence. "How is your girlfriend Kakashi?" Naruto said with a large smile.

"She is not my girlfriend." Kakashi sighed annoyed, he had been hooking up with a woman who would sneak out in the early hours. Naruto caught a few glimpses of her here and there.

"Suuure she isn't!" Naruto laughed. Naruto turned to the fight and laughed, seeing the trainee trip over his own foot. Behind team seven Iruka jumped onto the arena.

"Kakashi." He called, causing the three men to turn around.

"Iruka-Sensei?" Naruto muttered to himself.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke wondered.

"Lady Tsunade has requested you three in her office immediately." Iruka said,

"Huh?" Naruto asked, his hands behind his head. "Shouldn't she be-" Naruto turned to see Tsunade was not inside the Hokage box like she should be.

"What's going on?" Kakashi questioned.

"I don't know, but from what I could gather a lot of villages are pissed." Iruka answered.

"From what?" Sasuke wondered," Not being allowed in our exams-"

"No." Iruka said, "The other villages understood and agreed it wasn't smart to travel between villages right now with how many sightings there had been of the Reapers."

"I see." Kakashi said, "Your here to replace us?"

"Yes."

"Alright, thanks Iruka." Kakashi said, moving to jump off the arena. Naruto and Sasuke followed as the entire run to the Hokage tower all team seven could rack their brain about was what they could have possibly done to piss people off?

They were rushed right into Tsunade's office, where they saw she was on the phone with multiple people in a conference call. They were all yelling at each other, Naruto turned to Kakashi confused.

"I will call you back!" Tsunade yelled hanging up the line. She snapped her amber eyes onto the three before her. "I need you three to be completely honest with me."

"O-Oh ok?" Naruto answered.

"What is going on?" Kakashi asked as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Have any of you had contact with Sakura?" Tsunade was straight forward to the point.

"Huh?" Naruto said not expecting her name to pop up. "Sakura? No, I haven't." Naruto turned to the others, he was going to be so mad if they had been talking to her and never told him. Team seven was finding it hard to know Sakura was alive but inside a different village.

"No." Sasuke answered. "I haven't talked to her since we last seen her at the Waterfall Village."

"Is she alright?" Kakashi asked, Tsunade narrowed her eyes onto him.

"Kakashi."

"I haven't spoken to her." Kakashi clarified.

"So, your telling your me you three spend weeks with her traveling and didn't get close enough to her to get her phone number?" Tsunade shook her head.

"Granny what is going on?" Naruto looked at Sasuke who looked just as clueless.

"The other villages are furious that is what's going on!"

"What for?"

"Because we have just been informed that Sakura had declared war against the Mist Village."

"Wh-What?" Naruto gasped.

"War?" Kakashi breathed out, Sakura's burning green orbs filled his mind.

"She led an army to the Mist Village weeks ago, and she burnt it to the ground." Tsunade's voice was grim. Kakashi and the others were shocked,

"W-What?" Naruto shook his head, "That can't be right!"

"It is." Tsunade said, sitting in her hair. "Onoki from the Stone Village traveled there himself after not hearing from them and saw the ashes of what was once the Mist Village. He then went to the Waterfall Village and demanded Sakura turn herself in so she could answer for her crimes."

"Wh..." This was too much for Naruto to comprehend!

"Sakura told Onoki that if he wanted her in handcuffs, he would have to force her into them."

"Well that sounds like her..." Naruto muttered, Sasuke nodded agreeing.

"What does this all have to do with us?" Kakashi wondered.

"Because..." Tsunade's stomach felt sick. "Onoki is gathering villages together to lead an strike against the Waterfall Village."

"What!?" Sasuke and Naruto yelled together. Kakashi just stared at Tsunade. He was brought back to the forest where he stood with that pink haired beauty. He closed his eye for a moment and thought back through the kiss they shared. He would not be a part of a strike against Sakura.

"And what did you say to this?" Kakashi questioned feeling tense.

"I told him he was insane!" Tsunade gushed, "So has every other village he has talked too. The Waterfall Village didn't give notice about going after the Mist which is why they are all pissed. But to go against Sakura is..."

"Suicide." Sasuke finished for Tsunade.

"Basically yes, that is what many people said-" Tsunade was about to explain until a large chakra presence exploded inside the leaf village. It wrapped around Naruto choking him as he struggled to breath.

"What the-" Kakashi turned, seeing it was coming from the arena. Team seven and Tsunade all bolted towards the strange force. They got into the arena in time to see a ball of wind forming in the middle of the battlefield. Team seven and Tsunade jumped down, weapons out as they waited for whatever fresh hell was about to crack open.

The wind roared and screamed and scratched at the ninjas around it, forcing team seven and the others to take steps back from the force. In a heartbeat the wind exploded and died, leaving a peaceful fragility over the arena. Naruto opened his eyes and his kunai dropped out if his hands. His heart clenched; waves of shock and excitement rolled over his body in a confusing mixture, his mouth along with everyone else's dropped open.

Standing in the circle where the chakra was collecting stood three people, all wearing the same uniform. One man was on his knee, the other man was standing, his eyes closed looking down, and then there was her. Her face was hard, her eyes closed for just a moment. She wore the uniform from the last time they seen her, the black material that wrapped around her body hugging her perfectly. The laces of thicker darker fabric wrapping around her body. Her black boots, the body armor she had on her chest and arms. The weapons bag on her leg it all came together to spit out a terrifyingly perfect fuck off look.

Sakura opened her eyes to reveal those bright blaring eyes. Naruto took in her image; it had been months since he seen her. But no one could ignore the blood or the proof of blade marks on her outfit. Her blade she held was still dripping blood. The two men beside Sakura were in the same shape as she was. Sakura Haruno looked right through Naruto, she looked around for half a second, until her eyes landed on Tsunade.

"Hokage." She called out; power laced through each letter causing the people around her to shiver. Tsunade, along with everyone else was star struck.

"Sakura?" She said drinking in her image, Tsunade had so many questions! Before any more words could be exchanged, in a huff of smoke five other Waterfall Village teams consisting of four appeared. Tsunade looked around, then back to Sakura.

"You need to evacuate your village." Sakura stated with a stone face.

"W-What?" Tsunade looked into Sakura's eyes, searching for the person she loved, she found no traces of her.

"I didn't stutter." Sakura spat, she looked around at the people who leaned on her, then back to Tsunade. " You need to put everyone in the tunnels under this village. Now."

"How do you know about the tunnels?" Tsunade asked, Tsunade did not build the tunnels that were under the leaf village until after Sakura was gone.

"You made a pact with the Waterfall Village." One of the men spoke up, his name was Carver Bryson. Carver was a tall man, built to fight. He had jet black hair that fell into his eyes that matched his hair. He turned looking at the hokage with the same sharpen ice over stare that Sakura held. "We protect our own." He said glaring, "We do not have much time." He explained, Tsunade blushed at how calm and cool he appeared to be.

"Who is coming?" Kakashi asked, stepping beside Tsunade not fazed by Carver's appearance.

"We do not know what they are." The third man Raiden Peyton stood holding his injured arm. Raiden held blond hair in the same style as his comrade. "We know they are not human." He said with a glare at Kakashi. Sakura moved her eyes to look at her comrades. Gathering chakra Sakura had it flow out of her body and wrap around her comrades, healing them. Tsunade's mouth dropped open, not even she could do that. How could Sakura? Sakura turned to Tsunade out of patients.

"Tsunade." Sakura spoke up. "My soldiers will not make a move without your permission. Make up your mind now, or everyone in your village will die." Tsunade looked at the pink haired woman standing in front of her. She may not know who Sakura was anymore, but she knew one thing about her, she was no liar and she did protect her own. If she was here, then something must be coming, Tsunade then nodded. Sakura moved without a second wasted.

"Teams four, five, and six round up the villagers, get them into the tunnels now!" She called out; the two teams vanished without a heartbeat in between Sakura's words. "Seven and ten, get ready." Sakura stated glaring at them, she walked over towards one boy he was walking past Hinata and he dropped a kunai. She walked over and grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. "Nothing gets through." She demanded.

"Yes Commander!"

"I better see your dead body before I see anything get through, understand!?"

"Yes Commander." Team Ten started to disperse but before he could run away, Sakura called his name out.

"Talon!" He stopped and looked into her death glare.

"If anything gets through and you are still alive." Her voice was ice, "I will kill you myself."

"Yes Commander."

"Why are you still here?" Sakura spat. After he vanished, she turned back to Tsunade.

"Get your ninja into the tunnels as well."

"What?" Tsunade asked shocked.

"You heard me."

"Sakura, you have five teams here to de-"

"Five is all I need." Sakura said her eyes were like knives, cutting every person she looked at.

"We will stay!" Naruto said raising his hand, the rest of team seven agreed, so did Teams ten, eight, team guy and two others that Sakura did not care enough to remember where they belonged. Tsunade even said she was not retreating, the ANBU even collecting around them.

"Villagers are in the tunnels." One of Sakura's soldiers called through their earpiece.

"Get to the village walls and be ready." Sakura ordered.

"Protect the leaf villagers, that is why we are here." Carver said through the line.

"Don't die." Raiden joked, Sakura just shook her head.

"What?" Raiden laughed, "I thought it was funny." He muttered looking around. Naruto tilted his head, he knew them. Where did he know them from?

"You are from the picture." He said out loud, not thinking. The two guys looked over at Naruto.

"What?" Raiden asked who was crouching down, resting his legs.

"You're from Sakura's picture!" Naruto knew that was where he seen them!

"Sakura-" Carver turned his head, "-do you have pictures of us?" He teased. "Are they naughty?"

"No-No! They weren't anything like that!" Naruto blushed. "It was a picture of like nine people...so maybe I am wrong and you're not-"

"Oh yeah." Raiden thought for a moment, knowing the picture Naruto was talking about. "You're talking about our team picture."

"Huh?" Carver tilted his head. "You still have that thing?" Carver called to Sakura who was ignoring them; a cold feeling wrapped around her spin. She looked up into the distant. Something felt off.

"You were her team." Naruto recalled.

"Bingo." Raiden flashed a smirk. "You're looking at the remaining members of The Nine."

"Her team?" TenTen muttered, looking at Neji who shrugged having no idea what was going on. Raiden reached up stretching his sore arms,

"Man, I hope this wave isn't bad like the others."

"Others?" Guy asked.

"What?" Carver asked with a laugh, "Did you really think you guys were the only village we have been to today?"

"Who else has been attacked?" Iruka asked.

"Three others, you guys are number four."

Sakura and Raiden jumped apart quickly, moving out of the way of the thing that was ordered to kill them. The creatures arm got stuck in the dirt. There stood a human figure, but it was far from human. Sakura was not even sure if it was alive. Its body was all black, its arms were sharpened into swords. It did not hold a face, just a mouth which held sharp teeth, designed to rip someone's throat out. Its chest and front face were white. And each of these things never slowed down, never stopped moving and each held its own intense chakra supply. They were hard to kill, once you killed it, they explode. They were almost mimic of the clones Sakura created years ago.

"They are here!" Carver called through the line, warning the other soldiers. Sakura wasted no time; she blocked the creatures attack. It was just as fast as she was but Sakura was smarter. She jumped behind it and stabbed in through its chest. A thick black substance leaked out of it. Sakura covered it with a dome as it exploded. The three members of the nine jumped onto the roof of the arena. Once the two men looked up and saw the thin black line growing quickly from the distance, they nodded back at her, knowing the attack has started. Sakura and the other two released a strong wave of chakra, attracting most of the creatures towards them. They seemed to be drawn to high amounts of chakra.

"Oh, this is gonna be fun!" Raiden laughed getting pumped up, Sakura rolled her eyes. She and the nine created quick hand signals, Kakashi could not read what they had done. Around each leaf villager a red dome covered them, protecting them from what was about to come.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled hitting the dome with his fists. The leaf shinobi were ignored, Sakura gripped her sword leaping forward off the arena wall.

A large black wave which was made up of thousands of these unknown creatures crashed through the leaf village. The leaf village ninja watched in horror has hundreds of those creatures poured into the arena like a black infected waterfall. Sakura and the remaining members of the nine with a hand full of waterfall soldiers were the only things that could possibly stop them. They had to be the wall that those creatures could not climb.

----

Naruto was looking around through the red dome he was trapped in. Those creatures banged and scratched and tried to force themselves into the dome. His mouth hung open. What were these things? Naruto didn't know much time had passed but it felt like hours and no one from the waterfall village had appeared. The domes were still up so that must mean Sakura was alive right? Naruto could not believe that she was fighting these things. He just looked around in awe.

Sasuke glared at the creatures that were just a foot away. He was confused and annoyed, as his eyes glowed red he could not read their movements. He could not understand why. It was as if these creatures did not know what their next move would be until the second they made it. How was this possible?

Tsunade was watching the creatures, she noticed they had no pattern, no direction. What were these things? She noticed the flood of creatures was starting to thin out, inside of seeing nothing but black, little spots of space would appear now and then, signaling that the number of creatures were going down. Kakashi and the others looked up as the sky clouded over and thunder rolled over the land. Kakashi looked at the creatures all around him. If the members from the nine failed, everyone inside these domes are as good as dead.

Rain poured down from the dark sky, her pink hair grew damp from the sticky water. She looked around along with the other members from the waterfall village, waiting for the whip lash, waiting for the extra creatures who fell behind, they waited for anything, for everything that could be thrown their way. They all stood around the gate looking out, waiting.

"It looks clear." Carver muttered cautiously not wanting to jinx himself like he had done inside the river village, right when these words left his mouth a new wave of creatures appeared.

"You have been wrong before." Raiden reminded.

"No, I think we are in the clear." Sakura said turning towards them. It was dark now, the Waterfall soldiers were hungry and tired.

"We better let those ninja out of those domes or they are going to be pissed." Carver said looking at the pink haired woman who was glaring off into the distance.

"Or we could shake them like a snow globe." Raiden grinned lighting pushing Sakura's shoulder.

"Sakura?" Carver questioned seeing her gazing into the distance.

"Hm?" She asked looking over at her teammates.

"You ok?"

"Yeah."

"What is on your mind?" Raiden smiled.

"You know what."

"Yeah..." Raiden sighed. "Why the hell attack these villages?"

"I understand the Sand and River Villages, I could even accept the Lighting Village but the Leaf?" Carver said turning around to view the village behind him. "They have nothing of value."

"Yeah..." Raiden sighed.

"Who created them?" Sakura added.

"Oh yeah..."

"Someone who has a lot of juice to burn." Carver said

"Is this why the Reapers have been quiet?" Raiden asked standing. So many questions and no answers makes Sakura an agitated commander.

"You are right, we should probably let the leaf shinobi out." Sakura agreed.

"I wonder how many of those things can be created in a setting?" Raiden thought out loud as he followed Sakura through the leaf village. "It has to take time with how much chakra those things had. What if another wave hits?"

"I don't know." Sakura had a headache, and her team wasn't helping with it.

"We barely can handle those things." Carver yawned. "I don't think the leaf shinobi can really stand a chance." Sakura didn't respond, she just led them to the arena where a majority of the leaf ninja were stuck.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled banging on the dome, his voice muffled. Naruto was excited to see Sakura; it had been months since he had any contact with her and then she reappears blowing into the leaf village.

Naruto's heart was beating so fast as he watched Sakura speak but he couldn't hear her. The leaf ninja inside the red domes all had their eyes glued on Commander Haruno, so many questions swirled around her making them so intrigued by her presence. As Sakura released the domes, shattering them around the leaf shinobi each person was met with a flood of water drenching them from the pouring sky.

"What were those things!?" Tsunade asked jogging towards Sakura.

"We do not know yet." Sakura answered.

"What?!" Tsunade yelled, "What am I supposed to tell the villagers when I let them out!?" Tsunade asked herself pulling her hands to her head freaking out internally.

"You are going to tell your citizens that everything is under control, that the creatures are gone, that everything is going to be ok." Sakura told Tsunade, her voice was confidant and so stable. They were words people could lean on for support, which was what Tsunade did. She nodded agreeing with Sakura, Tsunade then turned to the leaf ninja.

"Not a word to anyone, not even your loved ones until we figure this out!" Every ninja in the arena nodded at their new order. Kakashi watched as Sakura vanished from the area, Kakashi's eye widened as he took a step forward wishing to go after her. Carver spoke up explaining that at each village they had been to, Sakura left behind a handful of people to watch over the village in case more creatures appeared.

"Are you going to be the ones to stay here?" Naruto asked, hope blooming throughout his body. Carver sighed feeling annoyed.

"Yeah." He dragged,

"Wait, really?!" Tsunade perked up.

"In the morning our remaining teams at the Waterfall Village will set out to our other allied villages to stand by in case those things come back, we don't have any more manpower to spare to give to your village. You guys were the last to get hit, so you're stuck with us." Carver shrugged.

"I see..." Tsunade locked eyes with Kakashi, Sakura was going to be around here for a bit. She was so excited! "I want answers!" Tsunade demanded, poking Carver's chest with her finger. Carver just chuckled at Tsunade's face.

"I figured, how about we get some place dry first eh?"

"Where did Sakura go?" Naruto wondered, pouting because she wasn't near.

"Checking on the other teams." Raiden yawned, getting rainwater in his mouth causing him to scrunch his face and spit it out.

"How about you two head over to Sakura's apartment?" Tsunade asked. Carver and Raiden glanced at each other.

"She...uh...she has an apartment here?"

"Well, it isn't really hers. I lent it to her while she was here last time and it is still empty so you guys can use it again if you like?" Tsunade blushed laughing nervously at the two handsome men.

"That...sounds...great?" Raiden didn't know how to feel, he just knew he was cold and hungry.

"How about we meet up in your office in an hour?" Carver talked to Tsunade, "Gives us a chance to change and go meet over with Sakura and see what she is doing."

"Sounds good." Tsunade smiled, she watched Carver and Raiden turn and leave the arena. Guy and Kakashi walked over to stand beside Tsunade as they watched the two strangers vanish.

"Are we trusting them?" Guy wondered.

"Not by a long shot." Tsunade narrowed her eyes in the direction Carver and Raiden had left to go find Sakura. Tsunade excused the leaf shinobi as she, team seven, Guy and Iruka made their way to the Hokage tower, there Kurenai and Shizune were waiting for them.

"You agreed to what?" Sakura sighed as she looked away from the hotel door closing.

"A meeting." Carver repeated, Sakura had set up her waterfall soldiers in hotels for the night. They were tired from the constant battles and in need to rest as did Sakura. She was not in the mood to deal with the leaf ninja, "They want answers-"

"And I want to sleep." Sakura snapped, turning to look at Carver. "Why did you agree to this?" The rain had let up, but it remained sprinkling.

"I thought this is what you would have wanted?" Carver felt confused as he watched Sakura walk away, the three walked in silence as they made their way to the Hokage tower. Sakura walked to the conference room they were pointed to and instantly all conversation died, and all eyes were on her. She groaned internally, moving to sit down in the closest chair. The two chairs beside her were empty as Raiden plopped down beside her Carver took the lead.

"Hold on!" Tsunade who sat at the end of the table stood, "First things first-"

"Er..." Carver glanced at Sakura who was leaning back in her chair, feet up on the empty seat beside her as she was on her phone. Sakura shrugged offering zero help. "...Ok?" Carver turned to Tsunade.

"Is it true?" Tsunade's voice darkened.

"Is what true?" Carver needed more than just that. "A lot of things are true." Carver said pinching the bridge of his nose, he now understood why Sakura did not want to do this.

"Sakura did you...did you attack the Mist Village?" Tsunade's voice was tight as she begged Sakura with her eyes to tell her no, to even lie!

"Yes." Sakura said not looking up from her phone. Tsunade gasped as the leaf shinobi in the room looked around at each other, not knowing how to feel about this information.

"You-You..." Tsunade shook her head. "You mean they left you no choice right?"

"Hm, no." Sakura answered but never looked up. "I took them by surprise, they didn't really stand a chance." Heavy silence floated around the room; Sakura didn't question it because she enjoyed it.

"You attacked-"

"What the hell Sakura!?" Naruto flew to his feet, refusing to believe what he just heard. "You disappear when we got to the Waterfall Village, you did not come home with us. You didn't even tell us you weren't coming we had to find out right before we left! Do you have any idea how much that hurt!?" Naruto yelled, pouring his heart out in front of everyone inside the room.

"Mhm." Sakura hummed in response, Naruto felt his blood start to boil.

"Will you get off that damn phone!?" Naruto snapped. Sakura glanced over and saw a flushed Naruto. She sighed, pulling her legs off the chair rising to her feet.

"This meeting is over." Sakura announced.

"What?" Naruto breathed, feeling hurt by Sakura's coldness. "N-No it's not! You owe us an explanation-" Sakura spun on her heel to face the room.

"I don't owe you a Goddamn thing." Sakura spat. "You're not the one coming to the rescue, I am. I didn't sign up for this meeting and I would not have approved it-"

"Why!?" Naruto cut in, shaking his head. He didn't understand why she was so standoffish!

"Because I just had to defend four fucking villages from being turned into dust!" Sakura glared into Naruto. "I am a little tired, instead of thinking about yourselves why don't you look at them-" Sakura pointed to Carver and Raiden. "-Thank these strangers for risking their lives to protect you and realized they must be pretty damn tired."

"Sakura...I..." Naruto looked towards the table, feeling guilty.

"And as for the Mist Village, why the hell is that even being brought up?" Sakura demanded.

"Eh?!" Tsunade gasped. "What do you mean why is it being brought up?! You burnt an entire village to the ground! Did you think that-"

"What?" Sakura shook her head. "The Mist Village is fine."

"Huh?" Tsunade scratched her head.

"I mean-" Raiden stretched back in his seat. "-we did burn a village to the ground, but it wasn't the Mist Village."

"I...I am so very confused." Tsunade lowered to her seat.

"Let me guess..." Carver said looking at Sakura, "The Stone Village called you up?"

"Uh, yes?" Tsunade answered, "This morning." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"The reason-" Sakura started, "-I wasn't able to see you off Team Seven is because that was the day I found out that Neil of the Mist was murdered by his brother, you remember that charming man Jago, yes?"

"He killed his own brother?" Sauske asked.

"Yes." Sakura answered, "Sound familiar?" Sasuke was taken back by Sakura's comment who moved past it and looked back at the group. "Jago has been in bed with the Reapers for some time, he killed his brother about a year ago and hid it from the Mist Village. Jago then used the Mist Village as a base camp for the Reapers, who had been tormenting the towns people, I noticed the same masks Jago used to try and invade the Waterfall Village and well...when you put it all together, it was an invitation inviting me."

"We didn't burn the Mist Village to the ground." Carver added on, "We freed them from the Reapers control. They have most of our soldier's inside their village which is why we are so short on staff right now."

"Then why would Onoki-"

"Because he is a moron." Sakura cut in. "And I have reasons to believe he is being played by the Reapers himself, but he is too much of an idiot to notice. When I tried to confront him, he called me a murder and demanded I turn myself over to his village." Sakura rolled her eyes. "And I know he is trying to gather up enough people to organize an attack on the Waterfall Village." Sakura looked into Tsunade's eyes. "He tell you that too?" Kakashi looked at Tsunade,

"Yes." Tsunade cleared her throat. "But I said the Leaf Village would have no part in it."

"Hm." Sakura looked back at the two men behind her. "Well since you are caught up-"

"How are we caught up?" Kurenai spoke up, leaning to the left onto Kakashi's arm.

"I don't think we can break it down anymore for you..." Raiden spun in his chair staring up at the wall. "The Reapers are the bad guys; we are the good guys. We saved your village; we are very tired and want to go to bed. Meeting over!" Raiden bounced up. Sakura was studying Kakashi and his reaction to Kurenai, their kiss in the forest months ago which echoed around her head a lot much to her annoyance.

"Yes." Carver said but looked back into Tsunade's amber eyes. "Don't take our casual demeanor lightly Hokage." He said. "If there is ever one thing you need to know it is that the Reapers love to kill, it is their sick little thrill that they get off on. If you believe you are winning, and you have the upper hand then you are about to die because that is how they play. For the safety of your village and your shinobi learn from our mistakes and take our advice."

"I understand." Tsunade nodded, "We will not take this information lightly like the last time Sakura was here." Kakashi smirked, seeing an annoyed expression blossom on her face as she recalled her time training the leaf shinobi.

"You believe there will be another hit on us?" Guy asked, this was one of the rare times he was serious and not offing off.

"We don't know." Carver sighed, "It is possible, which is why we are going to stay around here for a week or two."

"Will the second attack be as bad as this one tonight?" Kurenai questioned.

"We don't know what it takes to make those creatures. We can't be sure."

"Is there anything you do know?" Asuma grunted, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Well..." Carver looked over to Sakura and then to Raiden. "...we do know that whatever may get sent this way, we will protect you all."

"Why?" Kurenai sat up in her chair after Kakashi had moved away, causing question to float inside Kurenai's mind. "Why go through all of this for us?"

"Because you're our ally-" Carver shrugged. "-and we protect our own." Kurenai blushed quickly looking anywhere except Carver.

"Ok bye!" Tsunade looked up and did a double take, seeing Sakura was already gone, Raiden was following her, and Carver was moving to leave the room.

"B-But-"

"Relax." Carver looked over his shoulder as his eyes glowed with a trace of mischief, almost like Sakura's did. "You'll see us in the morning." Carver smirked walking out of the conference room, leaving the leaf village alone with their circling thoughts.

----

The sun rose over the leaf village and began to fall in the sky when Sakura decided to awake for the day. She yawned rubbing her face as she sat in the bed inside the same apartment Tsunade allowed her to use. Sakura opened her eyes, seeing Carver beside her who was still asleep. She pulled herself out of bed and into the living room where Raiden was snoring on the couch. She ignored her phone on the coffee table as she moved to the kitchen. There was not much inside the apartment since it has been empty for a few months but thank the Lord there was coffee!

Sakura leaned against the sink half asleep waiting for the coffee to brew. Sadly, there was no cream or sugar, so she was going to have to basically drink hot bean juice. Sakura didn't care, whatever worked so she didn't end up killing someone. The coffee pot was halfway done as she stared at it, willing it to go faster when a knock on her door sounded. Sakura stared at the door, she looked back at the pot then to the door.

"Sakura!" Naruto's voice had Sakura moving towards the bedroom. Nope, she was not dealing with him this early. "We have food!" Naruto yelled through the door stopping Sakura in her tracks. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of eating something other than protein bars as she glared at the door for a long second. She huffed walking over to the wooden door allowing herself to be bribed. Fucking team seven stood outside her door, Naruto had bags in his hand looking at the door next to her as Sasuke yelled something from his apartment. Kakashi's heart almost stopped seeing Sakura open the door, after all these months of staring at this door longing for her to randomly walk out of it...here she was. "Oh!" Naruto noticed the door was open with a very tired looking Haruno staring at him as she leaned against the door frame. "She is awake!" Naruto called, "Hi Sakura!"

"Your very loud." Sakura groaned, walking back into the apartment but leaving the front door open. Sasuke quickly ran out of his apartment and into Sakura's, closing the front door as everyone made their way inside. He looked around seeing bags thrown on the floor and a snoring Raiden drooling on the couch, he almost reminded Sasuke of Naruto.

"We brought you some stuff we thought you might need." Naruto blushed, walking into the kitchen with Sakura, who went back to leaning against the sink waiting for the coffee pot. Sakura felt sore, like she had just run a marathon. Sakura turned, seeing Naruto had been talking this entire time but she didn't catch what he had been saying. "Here." Naruto smiled, holding French vanilla creamer out for Sakura to take. "It's still your favorite right?"

"Yeah..." Sakura's brain wasn't awake yet.

"Oh! Also, we got you shampoo and stuff like that. We didn't know if you were going to need it or not."

"Why?" Sakura asked slowly pulling a light blue coffee mug out of the cabinet.

"Hinata helped me pick it out for you."

"Oh, did she now?" Sakura glanced over, seeing Naruto smile.

"Yeah! She is nice. She says hi!" Naruto babbled, Kakashi leaned against the small island which had three stools placed at them. He watched Sakura and realized something wasn't quite right with her.

"What the fuck?" Carver's sleepy voice had Naruto and Sasuke turning around. Naruto's mouth dropped open, seeing Carver wearing baggy pajama bottoms which rose a little too low for Naruto's comfort and Carver did not have a shirt on sporting off his fit body. "Why is like a zoo so early in here?" Carver looked around.

"It's like one in the afternoon." Sasuke said, walking up and taking a seat on one of the bar stools. Sasuke studied Carver, he seemed so relaxed being half naked in a room full of strangers.

Sasuke looked over, his eyes widened finally noticing Sakura's outfit choice. She had a simple tank top and shorts on, but her tank top hugged every curve perfectly and her long legs were exposed. Sasuke did not remember Sakura having such a large bust before she was banished. He was having a hard time not looking directly at Sakura's chest.

Sakura has always had on baggy shirts or her uniform which hid this lovely surprise from Sasuke who shifted on the bar stool, feeling his pants tightening. Sakura made herself a cup of coffee as Carver talked to team seven, questioning the reason they were here.

"You just brought us stuff?" Carver asked feeling skeptical as Sakura handed him a hot mug of coffee.

"Yes." Naruto repeated.

"Why?" Carver asked slowly, watching Naruto's odd behavior.

"Because well..." Naruto blushing, rubbing the back of his neck. "What you said last night Sakura really stuck with me..."

"I said something last night?" Sakura asked, turning to Naruto who has always been so over dramatic, looking like he just had an arrow shot through him.

"You said that stuff!" Naruto pointed at Sakura,

"I say a lot of stuff." Sakura placed the coffee mug down not recalling what Naruto was talking about.

"About how we should be more grateful and... stuff." Naruto muttered looking away blushing as he began to feel hot.

"Mm." Sakura hummed a response. Kakashi was casually watching Carver interact with Sakura. The two of them looked so comfortable...was there something between the two of them?

"So why are you still here?" Carver wondered, sipping his coffee.

"H-Huh!?" Naruto gearing up.

"I heard Tsunade talking about a training course?" Kakashi changed the subject, gazing down at Sakura taking the opportunity to gaze at her body.

"Not me." Sakura said, gesturing to Carver. "That's their thing."

"Oh?" Kakashi looked at Carver who shrugged.

"Might as well do something while we are stuck here, and what else is there to do but whip you guys into shape?" Carver winked, smirking at Kakashi.

"Eh!?" Naruto was getting overly excited. "Do-Don't do that!"

"Hm? Do what?" Carver wondered.

"Wink-"

"Why?" Carver asked, placing a hand on the wall next to Naruto's head. "You don't want me winking at other people?"

"I-I-I don't want you winking at anyone!"

"Only you?" Carver teased.

"NO!" Naruto was beat red.

"Carver." Sakura called, "You're going to break him."

"I'll be gentle." Carver responded causing Sakura to roll her eyes, that isn't how she meant it.

"Go put a shirt on!" Naruto yelled, backing away from Carver.

"Hm? Why should I?"

"Because it is rude to be so indecent in front of people!" Naruto used his logic.

"We are all men here-"

"Not Sakura!" Naruto pointed who calmly sipped her mug.

"This isn't anything she hasn't seen before." Carver smirked at how red Naruto was turning.

"Wh-What!?" Naruto steamed. Kakashi looked over at Sakura, waiting for her to clarify what Carver had meant by his comment.

"Don't kill each other." Sakura said walking past them.

"Sakura?! Where are you going!?" Naruto called, not wanting to be left out here with Carver without her supervision.

"I'm taking a shower." Sakura said moving into the bedroom where the bathroom was, a terrible place for a bathroom.

"Do you want me to join you?" Carver called, loving the way team seven reacted when it came to Sakura. "We can save water, again." Sakura stopped in the door frame and shot an annoyed glare at Carver who laughed, raising his hands "Alright, space I get it." Sakura turned and moved to the bathroom.