Spring of Faith

Chapter One: Don't talk to Strangers

It was a box.

A black wooden box with the bodies of two dragons carved on its edges, sitting on her desk, waiting to be opened.

The box should have been given to her the day she made Hokage. It was kept hidden by old council members, and it was only after the council had been reshuffled that some of the new members had found out what the former members had been hiding.

It was left behind for whoever becomes the Godaime, from the Sandaime.

Tsunade took a deep breath as she proceeded to open the box. It made a squeaking noise as she lift the wooden lid open. Soon, she found herself looking at two neatly rolled scrolls.

Tsunade picked one up and began to unfold it slowly. Her eyes darted side-to-side, reading the letter quickly before her eyes widened.

Uchiha Itachi took orders from the… council?

She then screamed on the top of her lungs, "SHIZUNE!"

Before her assistant even entered the room, she barked her orders, "Get me Sakura, NOW!"

***

"Ouch," the brown haired jounin cried.

"You have got to be kidding me," cursed the twenty-one-year-old, pink-haired medic.

She wasn't scheduled for any important sessions or surgeries for the day. Consequently, she got stuck helping the new medics administer monthly mass 'immunizations' to the male ninja population.

"Why it does hurt when you jam that thing to my ass like that, pet?" he winked.

"Genma, clearly you have had far worse injuries, and you are just complaining to ruin my reputation!"

The shots need to be administered three times, and for all those three times, Genma managed to shout out something different each time, causing the new medics to look their way.

"Your reputation is way too clean, pet; it's not good for the balance."

"Right," she replied while slapping a band-aid on his behind, "because what I really want people to know is that I'm an incompetent, sloppy and rough medic by day and a whore by night. Thanks, Genma."

Genma jumped from the bed. "Aww…everyone knows that my pretty Sakura-chan plays nice. Although with just one sight of my ass can really change your world," he winked. "That's what they say before coming back to my bed the next day."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "Just get out of here before I tear a new hole in your ass."

"Gone," he said, picking up his senbon before he sent her his signature wink.

'Men…' she muttered under her breath.

Sakura really had a particular dislike of men like Genma—not personally, but rather from a general female point of view.

Ever since her idiotic childhood crush on the Uchiha avenger, Sakura never really thought she could have a serious relationship with a guy. She tried going out with a jounin once, but it didn't work out. She was too busy and, honestly, she wasn't ready.

She never thought she could really give her whole heart, body and soul to someone else anymore. Not after what Sasuke did to her.

She remembered him saying, "Thank you" before he left. Which was nice, but she also remembered his cold dark stare the last time she'd met him at Orochimaru's lair. Not to mention his intent and desire to kill her and Naruto.

Sakura could never have believed that the Sasuke whom she was willing to give her heart, body and soul to, her whole package…had turned into a monster. She'd always thought that people change, albeit not as drastically as Sasuke, but she would never risk that again.

She would never risk getting hurt like that again.

Her resolve wasn't a secret. Almost everyone in Konoha knew that even though she was sweet, nice and all, there would always be a side of her that remained closed and untouchable.

Yet it did not keep half of the male population in the village from going after her.

Perhaps that's what made her so 'enticing.' Everyone could see her, yet no one could get their hands on her.

She was no longer that little girl who'd cried during the Chuunin exam and cared about her hair above everything else. She was strong, intelligent and exceptionally attractive.

Tossing her pink hair aside, she shouted out, "Next!"

Some giddy-looking, unknown chuunin made his way to her. "I'm next, Haruno-san, I'm next."

"Well, hi there. I thought Ayako-san gave you the shot already," Sakura said politely.

"Well..um..I'm going on this mission next week, and I think it's best that I stay extra fit. Maybe even a double dose of this can do just that."

"Hmm," Sakura smirked wickedly. "A double dose of this can result in unwanted side-effect."

The chuunin shifted uncomfortably in his place. "Oh. Like how?"

"Like turning your penis blue."

And before Sakura even got the chance to add warts to her overly elaborative lie, the Chuunin had darted off away.

"Sassy, Sakura," said a voice behind her.

"Ah, Shizune-senpai," Sakura turned and gave a nod to her senior, "I was just playing around."

"I see you are busy here; let me take over. Tsunade needs you. It's urgent."

"You bet."

'It must be urgent if she is willing to take my place and stick needles up annoying shinobi asses,' she thought as she headed to the Hokage tower.

***

"Shishou, what is it? Shizune said it's urgent. It's not Naruto, is it? I told him to never use that forbi-"

"No, Sakura," she silenced her student.

"This is about Uchiha…?"

"Shishou, I told you I'd do any mission in any rank but nothing to do with…"

"Itachi. This is about Uchiha Itachi, not that stubborn and dimwitted brother of his," the Fifth scoffed.

"Oh?"

"Well, it has something to do with Sasuke but is mainly about Itachi."

Sakura furrowed her brows. "What is it? Why do you need me so urgently?"

"It seems that after the recent changes in the council, some critical information had just resurfaced. Had they not kept that information hidden, we would be able to deal with this problem in a much simpler and safer way."

Sakura nodded, signaling for her shishou to continue.

"The third Hokage had left me behind a valuable piece of information regarding the Uchiha clan. What I'm about to tell you now, you must keep to yourself, Sakura."

"Of course, what is it?"

"It seems that Uchiha Itachi had killed his entire family under the orders given by the council, much to Sandaime's disapproval."

"WHAT? THE COUNCIL? WHA-"

"Let me finish. Uchiha Itachi was obviously unable to complete his mission, as he left his younger brother physically unscathed. According to Sandaime, Itachi loved the village more than he loved his family. He was disappointed when he found out that his family was planning to stage a coup against the Hokage."

"What? Did the Hokage knew about this at the time?"

"Yes, but he believed that there are ways other than violence to stop this. The council, however, outnumbered him and pressured Itachi to kill his entire clan. But what is more important is what Itachi is planning to do."

"Is he going to kill the old council members?"

"No, Sakura, he is planning on killing himself."

"WHAT? How?"

"By letting Sasuke kill him"

"Shishou, as confused as I am now, I'm still not sure that we should interfere in their familial affairs."

"Sakura, listen to me. Itachi is planning to let Sasuke kill him, so that Sasuke can gain the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sandaime also predicted that Sasuke might have fallen under the tutelage of a certain dark figure."

"How does he know all this, Shishou?"

"It was obvious, Sakura, that Sandaime is protecting Sasuke in the absence of Itachi. With the Sandaime gone, leaving Sasuke's in an unstable condition, it is just a given that he will follow a darker path. Sandaime predicted that whatever Itachi planned on doing to Sasuke, his goal is to draw out all the 'dark' influences in him. He plans to have an all out battle."

"But, Shishou, these can be done through medical ninjutsu."

"That, Itachi does not know. Medical ninjutsu was not always as advanced as they are now, Sakura. I'm sure that both Itachi and Sandaime did not know about this."

Tsunade paused, and the look in her face had changed into one of anger. "What is more important is that Itachi had been a spy for Konoha in the Akatsuki. He has been waiting for someone to contact him ever since Sandaime died. That was why he came into the village after the Chuunin exam. Had this stupid goddamn box been given to me earlier, we wouldn't be running out of time!"

Sakura looked at her teacher, puzzled. "Running out of time?"

"Yes, Itachi is sick. Sandaime was never sure what Itachi had; he only knew that Itachi's years were numbered. This year is probably his last, Sakura. His time is running out, and he must have been waiting for a contact. But we left him there to rot and die."

"Oh my god…His eyesight, shishou. I remembered the last time I saw him…it's deteriorating"

"Could be some sort of brain tumor. The point is, Sakura, that he was only what…seventeen, eighteen when he murdered his own clan. It was a cruel, cruel thing to do, but he was young and naïve. He matured too early—that's the thing with people being a jounin at such an early age. They get 'brainwashed' so easily and take too long to realize that it was a big mistake. I'm not going to let one of my shinobi plan a suicide mission, especially when there are other options!"

Sakura felt angry and confused. Too much information in such a short time, she thought.

She hated it when the line between right and wrong was blurry. Nothing is so much as black or white anymore these days.

She sighed. "What do you want me to do, Shishou?"

"I want you to get in touch with Uchiha Itachi. Tell him, Sakura… tell him that we have and can do all that he is planning to do without having to sacrifice any of the last remaining Uchihas in the world."

"How, Shishou? How do I get in touch with him?"

"According to the letter, his sort of rendezvous point with the Sandaime was a teahouse in the border of Fire and River Country."

"I'll find him, Shishou. What about the others? Is it a solo mission?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"I will quickly try to dispatch Naruto, Kakashi and Sai from their mission and tell them to meet you at the border of Fire country. I want you to heal Uchiha Itachi as much as you can and convince him to not engage in any kind of battle with his younger brother. After that, I want you to also convince him to come back to Konoha."

"I understand."

"Here" Tsunade gave Sakura two small scrolls, "These are copies of the scroll that Sandaime put in the box that was given to me. The first scroll is his letter; the second one contains instructions to a complicated procedure of acquiring the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sandaime did some thorough research, but it is still incomplete."

"Shishou, I might be able to work on something. This area…this is my specialty."

Tsunade nodded. "Off you go, then; leave at dawn tomorrow."

"Hai!" Sakura bowed, and just before she closed the door behind her, she shouted out, "Just don't drink too much while I'm gone, Shishou!"

'You'll do well, Sakura'…

***

Dressed like a civilian, Sakura shifted her hidden pack into place as she stepped outside Konoha. She thanked God that it was a good morning. No rain or thunderstorms to start out the day.

The first thing she did was loosen the tie of her forehead protector. No one, especially anyone in River Country, should find out that she was a Leaf Ninja. She'd looked at herself twice this morning to make sure of it. The short and loose green yukata she was wearing provide her enough disguise as a civilian and enough room for her to hide her small pack and weapons. Her high, brown, leather gladiator-like sandals also completed her casual look while still remaining comfortable enough to walk and fight in.

As she walked on the footpath of the Fire country, she thought about what she should say and do to Itachi. She wasn't very antsy about the former, but she was definitely nervous about what she should do.

She had no idea what kind of illness Itachi had. Scanning her brain over their previous encounters, Sakura seemed to remember Kakashi making a remark about his eyesight.

Or was he talking about the Sharingan? Or maybe Itachi was losing his eyesight and Kakashi knew about it, too, because it also happened to him?

Sakura shook her head. She remembered her first days of being Tsunade's apprentice and recalled one of her Shishou's first bits of advice.

"Never, Sakura, make prior judgments and speculations on a case before you see and handle it firsthand. There are so many things you need to consider in the medical shinobi world. Age, fitness, chakra, present condition, bloodline limit. It's endless, so never let your brain frame a situation before you see it firsthand," her wise Shishou had once said.

Still, she thought, I just hope my medical background is enough to help him.

After five years of general and combat medical training, Tsunade had told the pink-haired medic that she should choose a further 'specialty.' Seeing the 'why' look on her apprentice's face, Tsunade had explained that even medic-nin would never be able to grasp all sections of medical knowledge.

She knew that Shizune-senpai was the expert in internal medicine, especially cardiology and pulmonology. She remembered Shizune had once said her medical skills had helped her numerous times in combat, where she would occasionally send her chakra to tap on the enemy's body to make their heart stop.

Nifty, Sakura had thought then.

She'd also remembered that Ayako-san was well on her way to being an excellent dermatologist, and that Hinata-chan had showed interest in being a pediatrician. Sakura had also known that Konoha had at least a dozen general surgeons and a few plastic and cardiothoracic surgeons.

And so back then, when her heart was still yearning for that stupid Uchiha, she'd chosen a specialty which she thought might be useful for him one day. Plus, no one in Konoha does this yet… which would make me special, she'd thought then.

Haruno Sakura then studied everything there was to know on the brain, eye and nervous systems. Her best friend, Ino, had once said, "That's impossible, forehead! Don't be too ambitious! You're just going to kill yourself!"

She hadn't. She had become an expert in everything there is to know about the brain, eye and nervous system in both normal and bloodline trait ninjas.

Of course, it all came with a price. During those four years, Sakura officially had no social life, no love life (let alone sex life), and almost no mission life. While people often complimented her on her slim figure, Sakura often took it as an insult. "There's no secret diet!" she had insisted upon Ino's annoying questioning. "It isn't something that I intend to happen," she said, looking down at her chest area. "It's all the studying, Pig!"

The only time she spent outside the hospital walls was spent either for Kakashi's or Tsunade's rigorous training. Ino and Naruto visited her often.

"Even nuns have more fun than you, forehead," Ino once commented, "but I still don't understand how you get to have so many guys swooning over you. It's not like you get out of this place a lot."

Sakura had smiled evilly. "Ino, this is a hospital in a shinobi village. There is only one thing that all shinobi have in common: injuries."

Ino's eyes had widened. "You mean…"

"Pig, took you a long time to figure it out, huh? Hospital here is equal to a mall or a bar in civilian villages."

Yamanaka Ino started her general medical training the next day.

Sakura sighed at the memory. She'd hoped that all those years of tears, frustration, and a great lack of sleep would finally paid off. Sure, she had helped shinobi and Konoha civillians needing her area of expertise, but there had not been a single case yet where she could say that she had sacrificed those four years for a reason.

She had, however, been going out more often and eating properly in the last few days. She had hated that skin-and-bones look she'd had for a few years, and she had decided fix that. With more proper meals and vitamins combined with just the right training, she was beginning to like her figure more, especially that chest area she so used to hate.

And finally, like a breath of fresh air, she was back on a mission. The sun slowly rising along with every step she took, the smell of fresh dew and crisp green grass, she enjoyed every single thing. So immersed was Sakura in her thoughts and surroundings, that she failed to realize she was walking in the wrong direction.

'Crap!' she cursed inwardly.

The footpath she was on led to the other end of Fire Country, towards the Great Naruto Bridge. She should have gone the opposite way to reach River Country. She cursed and cursed and cursed, knowing that she had walked for almost three hours in the wrong direction and would be spending twice the amount of the wasted time to get to her location.

To make sure she didn't screw up again, she took out a map from a hidden pocket inside the sleeves of her green yukata. Scrutinizing the map carefully, she traced a faster way to get to the border of Fire and River Country.

She tucked the map back in and was about to move when she heard a loud thump from outside the pathway, on her left.

Her eyes narrowed and her senses kicked into full battle mode.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Walking stealthily off the footpath, she couldn't see anyone. She could, however, sense a drastic drop of chakra from that area. 'Someone must be injured…', she speculated. She was still in Fire country, maybe she should just look at it, just in case it was a Leaf ninja.

'Not…' she thought.

At her foot, by a tree, was a weird looking ninja, staring straight at her, not moving an inch. 'Paralyzed', she examined inwardly. He had blue hair and the weirdest teeth she had ever seen.

'Blue hair and sharp tooth…not your common do-gooders ninja. Maybe he's up to no good. Maybe I should just let him die…' she thought. She shrugged that thought off as her kunoichi side wore off and her medic side kicked in. She looked at his dilated eyes and his rash-covered skin. 'Poisoned. Must be something he ate…'

She looked at his hands and saw that he was still holding a couple of berries. She brought the berries to her nose and took a small bite. Her mouth felt tingly. Small doses shouldn't be lethal, but…

"How many of these did you eat?!?!?!" she asked him, expecting no reply from the paralyzed guy.

The pink-haired medic rolled her sleeves. "I don't know who you are or what you are doing in this area, but I'm going to help you, so you better not harm me after I extract this goddamn poison from your body," she snapped.

The man made no sound or movement.

Sakura began pouring her chakra in and tying it around the each drop of the poison. "You just did a stupid thing, you know. A stupid thing that could have cost you your life. The berries you ate are belladonnas. Majorly poisonous," she said.

It seemed like Sakura's encounter with him was timely, as the poison had not spread very far. It wasn't a hard task for Sakura to do now. 'It was when I was fifteen,' she thought, remembering the time she'd extracted the poison from Kankuro.

When she saw a slight smirk adorning the guy's face, she stopped her extraction and decided to leave a non-lethal amount of poison in his body. Non-lethal, but the guy might be slightly unbalanced in the next 48 hours.

"A handful," he suddenly said.

"What?"

"Your question, before. I ate a handful of those."

"Not a wise thing to do," she said while she helped him sit up.

"Thanks, huh," he smiled.

"No problem. I should get going…"

"Wait… haven't even got your name yet. Looking way too pretty to be a ninja, but that's mad skills you've got there, Pinky," he praised.

"Thanks, what about you? Why are you in Fire Country?"

"I'm Suigetsu. Just crossing the big land… I'm heading over River Country to meet with my mates," he said, stretching his arms above his head.

Sakura's eyes lit, not sure how she felt about that information. There was no point in keeping her destination a secret as he was obviously going to be on the same route with her. Plus, he looked young and harmless. The harmless part was due to the fact that she had left a non-lethal dose of poison in his system.

"You haven't answered my question there, Pinky. What's your name, or do you prefer me calling you Pinky all the time?"

She hated being called Pinky. It was as if she was being categorized as being both girly and bimbotic. It was better than giving him her real identity, though. She had no option.

Sakura smiled ineptly. "I don't mind, people call me that all the time," she lied, "and yeah, I'm heading somewhere near River country, as well."

He stood up. "Great, huh! We can be travel companions. Boy, hate traveling alone!" he exclaimed. "So, you a ninja?"

Sakura sighed. This was when her elaborative lies were most useful.

So as soon as they started walking, Sakura started her chain of lies. "Not a ninja per say, but I do learn the art of healing in my small village on the north-west side of Fire country," she lied confidently.

"Konohagakure?"

"No, no, I'm from the Ember Village, Moesashigakure" Sakura quickly made up a village name.

"Ahhh….I see," he leered, before leaning dangerously to his left and falling on his side.

"Careful! I'm not an expert in extracting poison," Sakura lied, "there must still be some left in your body, making you quite lopsided."

"Damn berries. I was there, picking up this charm," he said, dangling a little jade seahorse in front of her eyes. "For my sword."

"And where exactly is your sword?"

"My mates have it. Charm is pretty important—bastards put it in tricky places," he snickered, "nothing Suigetsu can't handle. But can't bring my sword."

Sakura was curious about what sort of sword this weird Suigetsu guy had, but she didn't want to press further. "So, where did you found the belladonnas? It isn't native to Fire or any country around Fire, you know."

"Grew around the place I found the charm. Bastards wanted robbers dead, I guess."

"Huh…," Sakura replied.

The two chatted along the way, with Sakura growing fonder of Suigetsu. He was quite a chatty person, reminding her of her best friend Naruto. Suigetsu talked mostly about food and animals.

He, surprisingly despite his slightly dubious appearance, showed a genuine care towards animals, occasionally letting birds alight on his fingers and picking up stray squirrels to gently rub them.

After a while, Sakura got curious about his 'mates.' He never mentioned them thoroughly; she thought that maybe he wanted to keep it as a secret.

"So, these mates of yours…kind enough to guard your sword while you go on a little quest, don't you think? Childhood friends?"

"Nah, just a couple people gathering up. Outta needs, I guess."

"Right. What's in it for you?"

"Just some action, and to meet pretty healers like you, Pinky," he winked. The gesture made him lose balance and he fell on his right knee.

"Careful there. So what's in it for them?" Sakura slowly pressed. It was quite worrying, an unknown band of ninja looking for some action with one team member looking quite capable even in the paralyzed state, roaming around Fire country. Sakura definitely needed the info to pass on to her mentor. Background check and all.

"One of my mates, this guy, quite the scare, I think. He's all brooding with revenge," Suigetsu said casually. Sakura raised her eyebrows 'Revenge? How familiar…Meh, couldn't be,' she shrugged.

"Me and two others are just helping. I'm in for the action, this girl is in for Mr. Broody," he scoffed.

"Bloody annoying," he spat.

"Ah, I know a similar Mr. Broody, always have girls chasing over him," Sakura said, a hint of nostalgia in her voice.

"You one of the girls, Pinky?"

"Was. I was twelve and stupid. Incredibly stupid," Sakura replied.

"What happen to your Mr. Broody?"

"Oh, he got crazy," Sakura motioned with her hand, "major psycho crazy. Good thing I grew out of that stupid crush. I can now just look back and laugh."

"Wow, lucky. It's for the better, Pinky. I can tell you that," he said pointedly.

"Yeah? It happened to you, unrequited love?"

"Not so much love," he scoffed, "more like a little bit of crush and a lot of lust."

He went quiet and continued the journey in a comfortable silence. After sharing a loaf of bread Sakura had in her pack and a few rests, Sakura realized that they were getting closer to the River Country. 'Probably best if I split up now,' she considered.

Before she could even open her mouth, Suigetsu beat her to it. "Oh look, there's my mates!" he said, pointing at two incredibly suspicious looking ninjas by the side of a small spring, a red haired woman with glasses and a giant burly looking guy. The guy was kneeling down by something.

"No," Suigetsu mouthed and ran towards his companions.

Sakura narrowed her eyes to look at a big sword perched on the side of a rock. Her eyes widened with realization as her mind traveled back in time to figure out who it used to belong. 'Zabuza…'

"Oi, Pinky! Can you give us a hand?!" Suigetsu shouted from a far. He and his two other companions were crowding over something…or someone.

Sakura hesitated a bit, figuring that this band of ninja was probably up to nothing good if they had stolen a sword from someone's grave. But refusing to help and run would raise more suspicion. More troublesome, too, so Sakura slowly walked towards them.

"Who's this?" spat the red-haired kunoichi, arms on her hips.

"She's a healer, bitch! Shut up and be fucking nice," Suigetsu snapped.

The red-haired kunoichi moved aside, allowing Sakura to get access to the person lying on the…

'Sasuke.'

There was no 'I knew that hair' or 'I recognized that sword' or 'Ah..that face.' There was no speculation for Sakura. It was immediate and instant. It was like Sasuke's face had been eternally etched in all corners of Sakura's mind, no matter how hard she'd tried to forget about the damn bastard.

Her throat went dry instantly as her foot stay rooted to the ground. She didn't know what to do or how to act.

The last time she'd met Sasuke, she was so sure that he was going to slice her to smithereens. And so, if Sasuke ever woke up from whatever had put him in his vegetable state he was currently in, there was the possibility of Sakura having to fight Sasuke and his three companions.

Great. 'Incredibly stupid, next time really… don't talk to strangers,' she cursed herself.

After a quick yet thorough internal debate, Sakura decided to do what she would definitely regret later. She figured if she could heal a stranger like Suigetsu ('mistake number one,' said her inner self), morally she should be able to heal a former teammate ('Who went rogue! Mistake number two!')

"Yo, Pinky!" Suigetsu waved his hands in front of her face.

Start this on a new line. Sakura took a deep breath. "I'm here." She briskly walked closer and knelt down next to Sasuke's head. "Give me some time and space."

***

Sasuke was engulfed in darkness. He couldn't really recall what had brought him here, but he could feel the traces of what he'd done though the pain in his eyes. It felt hot, dry, and drained.

Sasuke wasn't sure if he was really out, or if he was only dreaming, because suddenly he felt an all too familiar chakra coming through the sides of his head.

The chakra was soothing and relaxing. He could feel it covering and almost massaging the tired nerves and muscles around his eyes. The chakra softly gave life back to his tired eyes. It moved around his head smoothly, taking care not to hurt other parts in his head. It was definitely unlike Kabuto's healing chakra which sharply poked around the insides of his body. This chakra was so tender and… loving.

The chakra then slowly moved to the back of his head. It calmed him and slowly uncurled him from this uncomfortable knot on his head. For once, he wanted to lean in and give in to a healing chakra. This one was just too familiar, comfortable and safe.

And then slowly, the chakra retreated. Sasuke quickly opened his eyes and found three pairs of curious eyes staring at him.

He quickly sat up, ignoring the tingling rush of blood to his brain. Resting his right hand on his knee, he proceeded to ask them, "Where is she?"

The trio looked at each other back and forth, murmuring incoherent words, not knowing how to answer.

Uchiha Sasuke was not happy with the lack of answer he was given by his companions. He demanded a reply.

"I said, where IS SHE?"

***

Until next time :)