Chapter 1
A sharp, piercing whistle cut through the air ahead, signaling that her sensei had ordered a halt.
Sakura quickly came to a stop on a sturdy tree branch, her chest heaving as she let her trembling, overworked leg muscles savor a brief, much-needed reprieve. Her stamina was remarkable, but even the strongest shinobi could not escape the inevitable fatigue that came from multiple days of travel.
Two days of tracking. Two days of no sleep. Sakura would say her sensei was trying to kill them all if she did not know better.
She swiped the back of her hand across her brow, smearing a streak of dampness away before the stinging salt could seep into her eyes. The heat was oppressive, the air heavy with a thick, smoky tang that clung to her skin and chafed her throat.
A glance to her left revealed that her blonde teammate was faring no better than she was. If anything, his wheezing outpaced her own ragged breaths.
Her brows furrowed at the sound. Despite the demon fox’s accelerated healing, Naruto’s lungs were still clearly struggling to recover from his latest injury. One that he refused to let her heal.
A pale hand reached around her back to hand over a water canteen.
“Thanks, Sai,” Naruto rasped.
A younger version of herself might have thought it was ungentlemanly for Sai not to have extended the canteen to her first. But trivial things such as manners and codes for social conduct between the sexes had long become irrelevant. Her teammates had come to think of her as an equal, not just a frail woman who needed looking after. Whoever needed the water the most, would get it first.
Sakura was next handed the canteen, and she took a deep drink, letting the warm water soothe her sore throat. Her eyes caught the flash of silver in the tree up ahead and saw long legs moving idly back and forth on the branch.
Impatient bastard, Sakura thought.
Kakashi must be getting antsy for him to be moving so unnecessarily.
Sakura wiped the back of her mouth and passed the water to Sai before leaping forward, jumping from branch to branch. She came to a crouch next to her sensei, who now stood with his back resting against the tree trunk, adopting an air of nonchalance. She smirked knowingly at him, staring directly into his set of mismatched yes. One eye was clenched shut, a thick scar slashing through it, while the other remained open and keenly alert. Sakura was not at all convinced by his indifferent demeanor when she had just spotted him practically pacing around.
“Eager to get going, are we?” Sakura asked, knowing full well that he despised these rescue missions more than anyone else. She loved any chance to get under than man's skin.
“What can I say? I miss my favorite student,” Kakashi replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
Sakura’s jaw tightened. She scoffed, the sound bitter in her throat. It was a joke in poor taste. One, because it was no secret that Kakashi had always favored his former student and had offered him extra training and attention that the rest of Team Seven had sorely lacked. But even more than that, it stung because of what had happened since. The boy who had once been their teammate was no longer the same. The man they were chasing was nothing but a shell of his former self.
Sasuke Uchiha might as well be dead.
Sakura felt a wave of anger bubble up in her chest, more intense than the usual amount she felt towards the man. It was not just Kakashi’s words. It was everything. The exhaustion. The frustration. The years of chasing someone who had long since left them behind.
“It must kill you that even after all that favoritism, he still chose Orochimaru over you.”
The words escaped her lips before she could catch them. She prided herself on keeping things civil during missions, knowing full well how fragile team unity could be. But now they hung in the air, irretrievable.
Kakashi’s expression shifted in an instant, the top half of his face hardening into something cold and calculating. The older she got, she saw less of the seemingly carefree man she once thought she knew. Perhaps it had all been a facade meant to comfort his younger students, to keep them from seeing the weight he carried. Now that they were all Jonins, Kakashi no longer bothered with the reassuring persona he once had put on. Once she had seen the real him, he had stopped pretending. Now, all that remained before her was a sharp, cynical leader who demanded respect.
She could feel the irritation practically radiating off of him. Kakashi did not seem to be taking her words very lightly.
Sakura could see his mask shift slightly, his mouth curling into something that could have been a sneer or perhaps a twisted smile. “If I recall correctly,” Kakashi said, his voice icy, “I’m not the one who begged him to stay.” A deliberate pause. The kind that made her skin crawl, like a wolf stalking its prey. “And if the witness report is to be believed, I’m fairly certain you even offered to defect with him.”
Sakura felt a sharp pang of embarrassment coil in her stomach. "I'm not that foolish girl anymore," she declared, her words clipped. “I hate him.”
Kakashi straightened from where he leaned against the tree, his movements unhurried as he sauntered toward her, hands casually tucked into his pockets. He halted mere inches away. Sakura had always prided herself on being tall, but standing before her sensei, she could not help but feel diminutive.
Despite the disparity, Sakura tilted her chin upward and silently dared him to refute her claim.
Kakashi leaned in ever so slightly, his voice a velvet whisper that sent a shiver down her spine. “There’s a fine line between hate and want,” he murmured. “If he stood before you now, not as an enemy, but as a man, would you be able to resist?”
Sakura’s breath hitched, her composure faltering at his words. Her eyes widened at his question, and he seemed to drink it all in.
“Of course, I would,” Sakura gasped.
“You can find safety in your denial, but there are few pleasures in this world greater than conquering someone you have long desired.”
Sakura did not even have a chance to comprehend her sensei’s words before Naruto and Sai appeared, landing on nearby branches. Their arrival was a welcome interruption. At least now, Sakura was spared the embarrassment of trying to sputter out a clever response she did not have. It was clear Kakashi had intended to unsettle her, a subtle retaliation for her sharp words and it had worked all too well.
Not wasting another moment, Kakashi gave a brief nod to his team, and in an instant, the four shinobi were streaking through the trees at breakneck speed. It was almost startling how quickly her sensei could go from trying to humiliate her to being the reliable leader they all looked to. Sakura shook her head slightly, refocusing her mind on the task at hand.
One of Konoha’s operatives within the land of water had sent a messenger hawk to the Hokage confirming that the only slightly less infamous Uchiha brother had been spotted attacking a caravan of rich nobles. The report was enough to send Team Seven hauling ass to the borders of Kirigakure in hopes that they could finally end this.
Sakura wanted to believe this lead was genuine, that this mission would finally enable them to capture Sasuke. But hope was a fragile thing, especially after years of chasing the ghost of their former teammate. They had been following reports like this for years and Sakura was disinclined to believe this time would be any different.
They had been scouring the area for days now, talking to locals and searching for clues as to where Sasuke could have slipped off to. Being in enemy lands had its risks. Hence, why they could not afford to rest longer than a handful of minutes and why Naruto had gotten his ribs kicked in just this morning.
Sakura’s team had always prided themselves on their skill, honed through years of hard work. Injuries, while never entirely avoidable, were rare. Their training and experience kept them a step ahead of danger.
But Naruto had faltered, a flicker of doubt had overcome him in the heat of battle. It was something Sakura had rarely seen happen in recent years.
It had been a child.
A girl no older than eight or nine had stood before him, her eyes as cold and unyielding as stone. A shinobi of the hidden village of the mist if the marked forehead bandana and kunai in her hand could be trusted. Naruto had hesitated before attacking and it had cost him.
The girl had provided an adequate distraction for her teammate to flicker in and land a kick to Naruto’s chest, breaking his ribs and puncturing one of his lungs. It was the kind of blow that could have killed a lesser man.
No one spoke of what had transpired. Sakura could not even bring herself to lecture Naruto about his lapse in judgment. He despised harming innocents, though Sakura suspected that the child had had her innocence ripped away long ago. People had to grow up quickly on the battlefield.
The mission pressed on, despite Naruto’s injuries. There was one final village along the border they needed to investigate, and then they could finally return to Konoha.
The team moved with purpose, steadily approaching what appeared to be the edge of the forest. The dense trees began to thin, revealing sweeping hills that rolled out beneath a sky that appeared full of smog. The air was even thicker with the taste of fire. Kakashi leaped to the ground, signaling his team to follow. Without a word, he came to a sudden stop, his fist rising into the air in a silent, urgent command to halt.
Beyond her sensei, Sakura spotted a village in the near distance. Or, rather, what remained of it. The entire settlement had been reduced to ash, every building leveled by fire. The destruction looked recent as the ruins still exhaled thin plumes of smoke, curling ominously into the sky.
A charred reminder of what had once been.
Sakura heard Kakashi inhale deeply, using his infamous Hatake scenting ability to gather additional intel on the situation ahead of them.
“Charred corpses,” Kakashi muttered, his voice low. “I’ve been smelling it for a while now.”
“Same here,” Naruto added. Though his nose was not as sharp as Kakashi’s, Sakura knew he possessed his own enhanced sense of smell, courtesy of the tailed beast.
Suddenly the direction of the wind changed. Sakura’s hair blew back with the force of it and the smell that she had previously been unable to detect hit her full force. The sickening stench of burnt flesh almost choked her in its intensity.
Kakashi soundlessly pressed forward.
Without a word, the rest of the team shifted into their practiced formation. Naruto veered off to the left, using the natural cover of the terrain to stay hidden, while Sai took to the right, blending seamlessly with the shadows. Sakura followed Kakashi, slightly behind and to the side, her steps light and measured. Each of them moved with quiet precision.
The atmosphere was tense, every rustling leaf and distant bird call heightening their awareness. They kept their senses sharp, scanning for traps or enemy scouts since they were deep in enemy territory.
Kakashi body flickered away, disappearing somewhere amid the burnt destruction.
Sakura moved through the gaps between what used to be buildings. It was difficult to determine what their former purpose had been. Her eyes caught on what appeared to be the remains of a family, their corpses seeming to be holding on to one another.
She swallowed and moved on.
The further she got into the village, the more remains she discovered.
A sharp whistle to her left snapped Sakura into motion, her body responding instinctively to the signal. One of her teammates had found something.
She moved swiftly through the charred landscape, ready for anything. Sakura was the first to reach Kakashi, who stood still and focused before a haphazard pile of half-burnt wooden beams.
Near the base of the collapsed wreckage, something stirred. A charred arm twitched weakly; the movement so slight it could have been missed. Then, a faint, agonized groan reached her ears.
A survivor!
Without hesitation, Sakura moved to one end of the debris while Kakashi took the other. Together, they began to carefully lift and shift the heavy beams, mindful of the fragile life trapped beneath. The wood was unstable, threatening to collapse further with every movement, but they worked in sync, precise and deliberate.
Moments later, Naruto and Sai arrived. Without needing instruction, they joined in, their combined strength making the task quicker. Piece by piece, the wreckage was removed, the trapped man slowly coming into view. His body was covered in burns, but against all odds, he was alive.
Sakura knelt beside the man, pressing her hands against his soot-streaked face. Closing her eyes, she channeled chakra into his body, assessing the many injuries the man so clearly possessed. The third-degree burns and the heavy internal bleeding were not even the worst of it. His legs were mangled beyond recognition, the bones shattered under the immense weight that had pinned him.
But something else caught her attention, something unexpected. Beneath the layers of pain and injury, she detected a vibrant, active chakra network. Her brows furrowed. Civilians did not have chakra networks like this.
Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. “He’s a shinobi.”
She lifted her gaze to Kakashi, searching his face for direction. His visible eye narrowed slightly, unreadable but tense.
“Heal him,” he said after a pause. “But just enough to keep him alive.”
It made sense. They needed answers, but not a fully recovered enemy.
“Keep a kunai to his neck,” she addressed to no one in particular.
Once more, chakra began flowing from Sakura’s hands, seeping into every pore of the enemy at her feet. She worked methodically, controlling the healing with precise restraint, just enough to stabilize him.
Beside her, Naruto held his knife steady, the blade’s edge pressed firmly against the man’s neck.
Sakura felt it immediately, the subtle shift in the man’s body as consciousness returned. Though his breathing quickened, he remained utterly still, the tension in his muscles betraying his awareness of the blade at his throat.
She slowly lifted her hands away from the man, nodding at Kakashi to begin his interrogation.
“Talk.”
The single word cut through the tense air like a blade. It was not a request. It was a command, from a man whose patience had worn out.
“If you don’t,” Kakashi added, his voice low, “then I’ll make you.”
Still, the shinobi remained motionless, feigning unconsciousness.
She knew her sensei well enough to know that he would not tolerate this game for long.
Without warning, Kakashi moved. The flash of his kunai was faster than the eye could track, the blade plunging deep into the man’s thigh with ruthless precision.
The enemy’s body betrayed him instantly. His jaw tightened, and a guttural grunt escaped his lips despite his best efforts to suppress it. Naruto held the knife firmly against the man's throat, leaving him no room to even flinch from the pain.
Realizing the ruse was up, the shinobi’s eyes snapped open, glaring at Kakashi with a mixture of agony and defiance.
“What happened here?” Naruto asked, his voice carefully controlled. But Sakura could see the storm of emotions in his wide, anxious eyes.
The man coughed violently, his chest heaving as he tried to expel the smoke and ash from his lungs. His breaths came ragged, each one scraping through his throat like gravel grinding against stone.
Kakashi didn’t wait for him to gather himself. With a growl, he pressed the kunai deeper into the man’s thigh.
“Start talking.”
The cold steel bit further into his flesh, and the shinobi’s composure cracked just enough for the truth to start spilling out.
The man’s voice was raw. “I was… I was out scouting when I heard the screaming start.”
He paused as if reliving the memory.
The man gritted his teeth, forcing each word out. “I was alone,” he began hoarsely, pausing to swallow hard, “but I came anyway. It was dark, but the fires lit up everything.”
His gaze took in the smoldering remains around them. “The whole village was burning. I saw people trying to escape, but he was there waiting for them. Anyone who made it out of the fire... he was there to finish them himself.”
Who?” Sakura’s voice was barely more than a whisper, her breath catching as she forced herself to ask. She needed to hear it. She needed to know.
The man’s bloodshot eyes flicked to Kakashi, his expression twisting with hatred. “He wielded a sword of lightning. Much like the stories say you do, Kakashi of the Sharingan.”
Kakashi’s face revealed nothing.
The shinobi’s gaze burned with fury as he continued, his voice breaking. “I tried to save a family, and the roof collapsed on me. I could hear him laughing. Laughing as he slaughtered women and children.”
Sakura’s stomach twisted. Images of tiny bodies scattered among the ash, their forms fragile and hauntingly still, filled her mind. She had forced herself to look past them, to focus on the mission, but now they refused to be ignored.
Just how far Sasuke had fallen? she bitterly thought.
“I’ve seen the bingo books,” the man said, his voice cutting through the oppressive silence. “I know about the latest stray Uchiha dog your Hokage has been trying to put down all these years. Sasuke, is it?”
The name hung in the air like a curse.
The shinobi sneered through his pain. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to keep him off an ANBU kill order this long, but it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over for him. The Mizukage will have his head.”
The gravity of his words sank in, and the implications hit Sakura like a wave. Konoha had let Sasuke run wild for years now and now hundreds of foreign civilians had been executed. The other Kages were sure to now get involved and blame Tsunade for incompetence. Shinobi wars had been started for less. The situation had spiraled far beyond their control.
They were only a few kilometers from the borders of the Hidden Mist, and scouts could be arriving at any moment. Her team was exhausted and not fit to take on fresh bodies.
As if reading her thoughts, she felt Kakashi’s body tense beside her.
“Sakura.”
She knew what he wanted her to do. In one swift motion, she sent a burst of chakra into the man’s temples, rendering him unconscious in an instant.
The moment the enemy was neutralized, all four of them swiftly formed the hand signs for the Body Flicker Jutsu. They all appeared to vanish, moving at almost supernatural speed toward the cover of the tree line.
They had their intel. Now they needed to get back to Konoha to report to the Hokage.
They darted through the trees, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the devastation that lay behind them. Sakura remained in formation, keeping pace behind Naruto.
It had started small. Tiny drops of liquid hitting her face. She thought she was imagining it at first, but the droplets grew heavier and more frequent. It dawned upon Sakura that they were not falling from the sky.
Naruto was crying. His tears streamed so freely that the rushing wind caught them, carrying the remnants of his sorrow back to her.
Sakura knew Naruto better than anyone else. She knew he had been holding on to some sliver of hope that Sasuke could come home, and things could go back to the way they used to be.
But no hope remained after this.
They had stumbled upon Sasuke’s exploits before. Leveled whore houses, slaughtered teams of shinobi, greedy men and women disposed of, terrorized civilians...the list was lengthy. But he had never done anything like this. Until now, Sasuke had never targeted an unarmed village. The bodies they discovered before had never belonged to children... or infants.
This had not been a test of strength. It had been slaughter, pure and senseless, driven by nothing but the desire to kill.
A searing ache flared at the back of Sakura's eyes, and her heart twisted painfully in her chest. She fought to keep her emotions tightly in check, struggling to maintain control.
I will make him pay. For everything.