Chapter 1

Before:

"You heard 'bout this one article in the Konohagakure Times?" said a rather homely looking man to Teuchi at the Ichiraku, as he served the man a bowl of hot Pork and Ramen. "It says here on page three that recent scientific studies show that it's impossible for a man and a woman to stay just friends."

"Is that so, Nishi?" Teuchi replied. "Sounds silly to me, my daughter has plenty of male friends."

"That's because Ayame is still single, Teuchi," he said with a mischievous wink and a grin, "And my boy, Koro, is one of those friends. Soooo…"

"Never gonna happen," Teuchi denied flatly, "Right, Ayame?"

He turned over to his daughter, who chopped the ingredients at an extra fast pace. She stayed silent, but the blush that reached her ears said it all.

"Didn't Koro have an interview at your shop today, Teuchi?" Nishi said, his grin widening.

"Yes, and I'm still in the middle of them, Nishi. Just because you used to work here doesn't guarantee him a job, he has to get it with his own initiative and skill-"

"I-I hired him," Ayame suddenly interrupted.

Teuchi stared at her, eyes bigger than boiled eggs. "What?"

"So the article was right after all!" Nishi laughed. "You two are such an item!"

Ayame waved him away, face redder than a beat, "Stop, we're just friends!"

"Sure you are!" Nishi laughed.

Sakura sat at the end seat of the Ichiraku, slouched onto the counter with a small glass of sake in her left hand, quietly listening to the laughs and banter between the three, who like everyone else, seemed to be enjoying the night as much as everyone else. Fireworks crackled high into the crisp night air over the Leaf Village like paint against a starry pallet. Naruto danced around with the head of a golden dragon, heading the parade of ninja's holding sparklers and streamers down the street. The civilians stood at the side, waving or dancing in place, as every humble abode and alley became filled with the festivity of the first annual Narutofest.

Naruto tossed the head of the golden dragon back towards another shinobi in the parade and dashed towards the Ichiraku.

"One bowl of Beef Miso, old man!" he ordered cheerfully.

"Way ahead of you, Naruto-kun!" he said, sliding the bowl of hot noodles and beef down the counter towards him. The moment it reached his left hand, he picked it up, chopsticks in mouth and bowl to chin, made one long, loud, uninterrupted slurping sound and set the bowl back down completely empty.

"Ah, thanks old man! That really hit the spot!"

Teuchi and Ayame stared at the empty bowl with one eyebrow raised.

"I think you broke your last record by a whole minute," said a stunned Ayame.

"There was a whole boiled egg in that…" said a dazed Teuchi. He lightly nudged Ayame's arm with his forehand. "See, there's a man you should marry. He has future hokage written all over him, Kakashi-dono even said so."

"Dad, stop!" Ayame whined, even more flustered than before.

Naruto laughed. "Ayame-chan was always cute… but sorry. I'm taken." He smiled while scratching the back of his head nervously.

Sakura took another, large swig of her sake and no one paid any attention to her. Here we go again… she thought.

"What? How could this be?" Teuchi said, "Who's the lucky girl?"

Naruto held back his joyous laughing as much as he could to stay subtle, shushing them and motioning to keep their voices down. Ayame, Teuchi and Nishi leaned in closer to hear what Naruto wanted to whisper to them.

"Don't tell anyone, but…"

You're proposing to Hinata.

"I'm gonna propose to Hinata!"

Teuchi and the rest all made surprised faces and clapped for him. "What a lucky girl! To date the hero of the war!"

"Don't celebrate it yet," said Naruto, "I dunno if she'll say yes or no… I'm a little nervous, actually."

So nervous you're telling everyone in Konoha.

"Of course she'll say yes!" Nishi cheered, "Who wouldn't say yes to the hero of the war?"

"Thanks old man Nishi," Naruto replied. Then he turned his head and, as if she were the one to just now come along, he noticed Sakura slouching at the end of the counter right next to him.

"Whoa! Sakura-chan! Did you just shunshin no jutsu your way over here or something?"

"I've been here, Naruto."

"O-Oh. Sorry."

"You're fine," she said, taking another sip of sake. "I never got to say congratulations, by the way."

"T-That's okay, Sakura-chan. Like I said, I haven't even done it yet, there's nothing to celebrate."

"Yeah. Let me know when you finally do. I'd love to see it."

Naruto stood there and stared at her blankly for a couple moments. Then he crossed his arms and scowled. "Let me treat you to a festivity game. The shuriken toss! It's really hard, but I can beat it now, I've won the big prize like, ten times!"

"No thanks, Naruto," said Sakura, "I'm good here."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed, "This is no way to spend an evening on a fun night!"

"Naruto, I—"

"There's Takoyaki in the stall right across the street here, too! You gotta try it out, it's the best I've ever tasted!"

"Naruto, please, I just want to—"

"And the best fireworks are yet to come! The big one is gonna be in the shape of Kurama! Can you believe that? You gotta come and—"

"Naruto!" Sakura snapped. She wasn't even aware of the look on her face, but it was clearly enough to actually kill the joyous look on him. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I just… I'm fine here, okay?"

He looked at her with sorrowful eyes, and then pulled away.

"Okay," he muttered, "Sorry." He left money on the table next to the empty bowl of Miso and Teuchi took it.

"Well, I should get going," Nishi announced, putting away his newspaper, clearly trying to avoid an awkward situation.

Sakura let of the glass of sake for the first time that night and massaged her hand. Her fingers ran across a beautiful diamond ring on her left hand that she fiddled with sadly.

"Still not back yet, huh?" said Teuchi, washing a glass.

"He will be. He said he will." And with that she gripped the glass again with her ring hand. "Another sake please. And leave the bottle."

After:

"Sakura, please, take care of her."

In front of her he held a child. It didn't seem right. It didn't feel right. It wasn't even hers. But against her better judgment, she took it. A well of sorrow filled her chest, gripped her throat and threatened to spill from her eyes.

"H-How can you… how can you ask me to do this?" Sakura asked, taking the child. She looked upon its bare face, its features resembling no one she knew except him.

"I know this isn't fair… and I swear, I'm so sorry, but… please. I know you can do this."

He bent down on one knee in front of her, holding a beautiful diamond ring. The rest of the world's glow dimmed in comparison.

"I will be yours if you do. Take it."

One arm holding the child, the other reaching for the ring, she took it, and he stood up, smiling.

"Thank you," he said. And the door slammed shut.

Suddenly, the ring from her hand morphed into a long chain and shackles that wrapped itself around her arms to her shoulder. The child she held had disappeared. All the walls around her, gone. She stood in a shallow pool of blood up to her ankles. The cry of her child echoed from all directions.

"Salada?!" she cried, "Salada! Where are you?!" She yanked the chains as hard as she could, and it took all her might, but she finally broke free of them.

As she looked at her hands, tribal markings spread across them. Her knuckles were soaked in blood, running down her wrists and over all the tattoo's that spread across it.

"Wha… what?"

She looked down, past her arms and to the pool of blood on the floor. There, sitting in the blood, lied a leaf village headband with a slash across it.

She tried her hardest to scream, but nothing came out.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sakura screamed, arching her back in bed. Her skin stung from the shock of the dream that woke her up so violently. Her grip on the edge of the bed nearly tore the threading apart.

She fell back onto the bed, breathing heavily. Sweat trickled down her skin and onto the pillow. Another bad dream. If this kept happening, everyone was going to notice the circles under her eyes and start badgering her about her health. Another drip to the drug store, she supposed.

The door creaked open. Salada peeked through the crack at her.

"Mom?" she called.

Sakura lied still, face towards the spinning ceiling fan. "What."

"I can't go to sleep. Can you make me some tea?"

Sakura exhaled, her body fatigued by her dream, but she got out of bed with no objection.

She walked out into the living room of the two bedroom apartment and into the kitchen. Her eyes half closed, she opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a jug, filling up a tea pot. Then she heated it up on her coil stove until it whistled for her to get it.

She poured it for Salada who replied with an "arigato," and brought it to the table, while Sakura pulled out a jug for herself and poured it into a cup. It tasted like water.

"Ew, mom! This is your sake! What the hell!"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, the alarm outside rang through the streets.

"Shit," she muttered, eyes wide open. "Salada, you stay here, mommy's got a job to take care of."

She rushed into her bedroom and swiped up her equipment before dashing out the door at high speed, with just enough time for Salada to shout at her, "What about my tea, dammit?!"

Bursting through the front door of the apartment complex and rushing down the streets, she knew that living in the new rural area of the Leaf was a bad idea, being constantly on watch for the prison escapees that were contained 'just' on the other side of the city. If she had stayed in the village she wouldn't have had to deal with this so often.

And she knew exactly who it was, too. The same one that did it to her every time.

"I swear I'm gonna kill you this time, Karin, you raging fucking thundercunt!"

Her unmistakable red hair poked the corner of an alley coming from the new high-security prison established to be 'inescapable.' No so much lately.

Sakura hopped, skipped and jumped over fences and off the sides of large buildings trying to catch up to her. She was thinking of escaping north this time. Not a wise move. Every border of the city would normally be crawling with security checks and the like, and Karin wasn't known to be the most silent of nin, let alone escape artists. Suddenly, two figures appeared next to Karin and caught Sakura off guard.

"Dumb bitch, you didn't even know you were being followed?" said one.

"Wha-? Suigetsu? You're supposed to guard my right, idiot! I can take care of what's behind me!"

"Like you took care of her the last three times, right?"

"Don't worry about it," said the other, who pulling back his cloak's hood revealed him to be Jugo. "I'll keep her occupied, so you get as far ahead as you need to."

That's cute, Sakura thought, They think they can get away this time.

"I'll give you one warning," Sakura shouted at them, "I really don't want to make a mess of the city fighting you guys."

Suigetsu smiled. "That's your problem." He pulled the giant Seversword from his back, swung it and destroyed the front end of a passing car. "This entire city is your weakness."

The car flipped in the air from the force and threatened to crash back down violently enough to kill the screaming woman inside. Sakura effortlessly dashed right under the point of contact and caught the car, gently placing it down on the ground.

Suigetsu, however, decided that it was an excellent weakness to exploit. While her back was turned, he dashed behind her and swung the Seversword down to slice her in half, but a dark glint in the corner of her eye told Suigetsu at the last millisecond, that was a big mistake.

Sakura barely shifted one foot, leaving a millimeter of space between her and the blade as she dodged it, and as he crashed down on her she thrust a kunai up into his abdomen. Just as she suspected, he liquefied it to reduce the damage—but she was already a step ahead. And that step allowed her enough room to pull back and roundhouse kick the Seversword into Suigetsu and send him flying—until his abdomen, where she had placed the kunai with an explosive tag wrapped around it, exploded.

Once again, he shape shifted his nearly immortal body from a liquid mess back into his physical state, picking the blade back up, but hesitant to attack again.

Next in line to attack, however, was Jugo. Not quite as tactical, but definitely not as easy either. All he ever did was shift into his curse mode, where he bulldozes his way towards her with incoherent rage, just as he was doing now.

Sakura took stance in front of him, ready to bump fists. Without warning, he flash-stepped in front of her. She turned around, and just as she thought, there he was above her, a fist just an inch from her face. Before she could do anything to dodge, however, he already disappeared from in front of her again.

A loud crash resounded back onto the road. Naruto had rushed Jugo with a rasengan before he could hit Sakura, grabbed him and tossed him midair into the pavement, creating a crater.

"See what you did?!" he shouted at Jugo, "That's coming out of the park budget I had planned for this fall! It was going to be the perfect place to eat ramen! And because of you idiots—" as he fell towards Jugo, he did so with both feet forward for a crushing stomp, "—Now I have to wait!"

Naruto created further damage to the surroundings by pile driving his feet into Jugo and deepening the crater. Jugo, while gasping for breath, did not lapse in rage for even a moment. Grabbing Naruto's legs, he flipped him forward to escape his weight and turned himself over to take the advantage of the higher ground. Naruto, however, did not flinch.

"Don't make me kill you, Jugo," he said calmly, a dangerous look in his eyes. Strangely enough, it caused Jugo to hesitate for a split second, long enough for a shadow-clone to flash step above him and drive a rasengan into his side.

Jugo collapsed onto the cement, struggling to get back up. Naruto landed on his toes, along with twenty other clones flash-stepping behind him, and then disappearing again. It seemed like he was everywhere, clones flash-stepping to one spot and then to the next. Before Jugo could discern which ones were closest, it was already too late, and he got launched in the air with the famous Naruto Uzumaki Combo, and dropped with the fourth attack.

Jugo hit the cement like a cannon ball at the ground. Finally, he laid very still, the natural chakra that morphed his body regressing. Naruto shot a glance Suigetsu's way, and he clicked his tongue before dashing off.

Karin looked around anxiously for a way to escape, but she knew all too well that there was no escape when you were trapped in the gaze of the Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Karin," Naruto called, "What are you doing out of your cell? Again?"

Karin sweated bullets attempting to laugh it off. "I-I just wanted to say hi to the guys, you know. They came to visit and were like… hey, Karin… let's go outside! You're the hokage's cousin, he won't mind at all! Right, Naruto? That's… totally cool… right?"

Naruto remained unamused. He motioned forwards with two fingers for ANBU operatives to appear from the shadows, and six of them flash-stepped behind Karin, binding her arms. Ten more appeared next to Naruto to bind Jugo, even though he was unconscious.

"This is ridiculous!" Karin protested, "We're blood! How can you treat me like this and let HIM roam around free?! You hypocrite! What kind of shitty hokage are you?!"

The ANBU finally bound her mouth, but even through the binds she continued to curse Naruto as she and Jugo were taken back to the prison.

Sakura walked up to Naruto's side. "Don't listen to her, you have reasons for everything you do."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, with a smile, "But I don't need reassurance to put that annoying bitch behind bars. I mean, geez."

"Well then I should get to thanking you for having my back there. I did not want to go back home to my kid with a bruised face."

Naruto laughed. "That punch was a mile away from landing. Even if I did nothing I'm sure you would have handled it nicely."

"Oh? Then why did you decide to help me?"

"I just wanted to take out a little frustration on them. Himawari woke up crying when the alarm went off."

"Oooo, bad luck."

"No one ruins my baby girl's sleeping face."

The two of them talked while walking back to their respective homes together. Sakura seemed to easily temper him with her mere presence, his smile easily stretching from ear to ear while they talked. He had the biggest grins she'd ever seen, it was ridiculous. And somehow charming.

"Hokage-sama! Hokage-Sama, it's an emergency!"

A group of Jounin rushed over to the two, waving the arms about wildly at Naruto. At the head of the group was Konohamaru.

"Hokage-Sama!" he repeated, "Quickly! You have to come! Kiba's finally come back… but… his whole group is missing… and so is half of his face."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Looks like we're getting no sleep tonight, Sakura-chan."