Shinri "Truth"

A/N: Welcome to my first fanfic. This story is Sakura centric, and I try to stay true to her character throughout the story. The story starts during the timeskip, while Naruto is off training. It's canon until that point, and starts to deviate from there. Sections of italics are thoughts or memories. Italics can also be emphasis on single words. Feedback of all stripes is welcome. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Habits

Truth - Agreement with a standard or original.

"Thank you."

Then darkness. And nightmares. His retreating back, his voice at her ear. Her unspoken fears, tempered by sheer lonely terror. It was the cold that woke her first. Unyielding stone pressed against her side and head. Voices.

"… you'll catch a cold…"

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura yelled as she bolted upright. Her senses returned, and she realized she had been dreaming. Her comfortable bed sheets were in a tangled mess, and her night shirt and hair clung to her sweat moistened skin. She hadn't had that dream in years, but that memory was haunting her again, and for no apparent reason. Memories from two years ago came flooding in, along with unwelcome feelings of embarrassment, anger, and sadness.

She had cried first. It seemed like she had cried for days. She even cried in front of the team that had been assembled to retrieve him. She had meant to be strong, but Naruto's strength and his conviction had caused her to break down in spite of herself. Her cheeks flushed at the memory of the expressions the others had given her. They showed sympathy, but also judgment. Weak. She was being weak again. Shinobi don't cry, especially not over something like that. Then she watched their backs, she watched Naruto's back, just as she had always done, as they left to save their friend. As they left her behind, again.

Then she had been angry. She was angry at herself for still being so weak, despite all of her efforts since the Forest of Death, she was still a burden, still being left behind. She was angry at Naruto for returning empty handed. She was angry at him again when he left her behind, again, to train with the Sannin Jiraiya. She was angry at Orochimaru for taking Sasuke from her. But she was angry at Sasuke himself, for leaving of his own free will to pursue some petty revenge. Her anger had gotten the better of her a few days after Naruto had left her, and she threw a temper tantrum in her room when she thought she was alone. The book she had thrown, a silly romance novel, slammed into her over filled shelves, sending the entire precarious structure crashing down. The force of the impact knocked some of the floorboard slats loose, and the noise shook the house. Her mother, who had just walked through the front door, came running upstairs to find out if the roof had collapsed. Instead, she found a too embarrassed to be angry Sakura gaping at the horrible mess. "Clean it up!" and "I knew it wasn't good for a girl to have so many books!" were some of her mother's comments.

Finally, she was resolute. Naruto's words of encouragement played on a record in her mind for days after he left. "I'm going to get stronger! I'm going to bring that bastard back! You'll see! Just you wait Sakura-chan! Just you wait!" She smiled then. She always smiled, even if it was fake. Pretty smiles, the kind you can't tell hide sorrow unless you are looking for it. "Just you wait… just …wait. Wait." Always waiting, always watching from the sidelines. Not anymore. Never again. She was going to work, train, do what it took to make sure that when Naruto returned, when they went to retrieve Sasuke, she would be standing beside him. And when Sasuke returned, and they were a team again, she would be strong enough, determined enough, to stand along side them, to hold the line with them. "Sorry, Naruto-kun. No more waiting." She had asked the Godaime Hokage, the Sannin Tsunade to train her. To Sakura's surprise, Tsunade had accepted her as an apprentice. Sakura had been overjoyed, but mostly, she was resolute.

That was two years ago. She had been training for two years, and had achieved the rank of Chuunin without Naruto or Sasuke. She was rising in skill and starting to gain the respect of more experienced medics, including Tsunade. She had too much work to do, too much training to worry about to think about anything else, especially not unhappy memories from what felt like the distant past. She was resolute now, and not about to be distracted by thoughts over which she had no control.

She hopped out of her bed with vigor, determined to face the day's tasks with her usual energetic cheerfulness. Her weight hitting the wood floor made the loose floorboards bounce, but she paid them no heed as she scurried off to the bathroom, her agenda running through her mind.

"First, to the hospital to do the morning rounds," she informed her reflection, "Then meeting with Shishou, then lunch with the girls."

She smiled at the prospect of meeting with her friends for their habitual gossip over tea. Ino had always been more socially inclined than Sakura, and had convinced her and a pair of their female peers to become allies in the daily struggle as kunoichi. Really, Ino just liked to gossip. But it was a welcome reprieve from the antiseptic smell of the hospital, so Sakura attended happily.

"Then training with Shishou, until night fall," Sakura grumbled past her toothbrush.

"Then collapse into the bed, and do it all over again tomorrow," Sakura sighed as she straightened her clothes and ran her fingers through her pink hair. Satisfied by her humble but clean appearance, she headed out of her bedroom, grabbing her pack on the way out.

"Off to work, mom! See you tonight!" she called as she skipped through the house.

"Bye hun!" her mother replied automatically from the kitchen.

Konoha's streets were already bustling, even as the sun was just peeking over the horizon. On the way to the hospital, Sakura stopped at a favorite vendor for breakfast, since she rarely had time to make something at home. The friendly matronly lady handed Sakura her food with the same over done smile she had every morning. Sakura smiled back. It was a habit.

Konoha's hospital, like its streets, was already busy when Sakura arrived. She collected her clipboard, donned her uniform, and began her rounds. As the Hokage's apprentice, she was expected to take some of the more serious cases. The patients often could not be treated with traditional means alone, which meant that Sakura needed to perform medical jutsu, which meant she would be drained of chakra by the time she was expected to train with Tsunade. It was a typical day of civilian injuries, and there were no cases which Sakura was unable to handle. At the end of her shift, she did one last visit to all of her patients to give them a warm smile and a final check. It was a habit. On her way out of the hospital she hung up her dirty uniform, and her clipboard. There would be a new uniform and clipboard waiting for her the next day.

Just as the clear morning had indicated, the weather had turned out to be nice and sunny. It was afternoon, and the streets were filled with citizens and Shinobi alike, all with places to go, most with smiles on their faces. Sakura too wore a smile, which she brightened with friendliness each time she passed another person. It was a habit. When she reached the Hokage's office, she was called in immediately, since her Shishou was always expecting her.

Sakura entered the office, and immediately noticed a difference. Two ANBU stood to one side of the Hokage's desk, and Tsunade herself had an obscene amount of paper strewn across her desk, which would have not been out of the ordinary, except that most of it had 'classified' stamped across it in bold red letters.

"Have a seat Sakura-chan," Tsunade requested. Now that was odd. Sakura normally spouted off her report, got some verbal feedback/advice/abuse and then left. No sitting required. But Sakura did as she was told.

"An urgent mission has been sent in," Sakura nodded silently in understanding as the Hokage continued to explain the situation.

"A village along the northern border has sent word that they were attacked viciously two days ago. The survivors are in need of medical attention, and have requested aid. The Daimyo has decided to answer the request, however it was brought to our attention that this mission could be more dangerous than a simple relief mission."

Tsunade paused and shuffled through some of the papers on her desk until she found what she was looking for, "The survivors claim that they caught a glimpse of who caused the destruction. They all describe the same details; black cloaks and red clouds."

"Akatsuki?" Sakura interrupted as she leaned forward in her chair, trying to catch a glimpse of what the paper held.

"Yes," Tsunade confirmed, "And they may still be in the area since the reason for the attack has not yet been determined. For that reason, this is a classified A-rank mission. I'm sending mostly ANBU, and two Jounin. However, I am also sending you."

"Me!?" Sakura leapt up from her chair, "But I'm just a Chuunin! I'm still training, aren't there better Shinobi you should send?"

Sakura was flattered that Tsunade had so much confidence in her, but she was more flabbergasted than anything. Chuunin don't do A-rank missions, especially not classified ones involving a possible conflict with S-class missing-nin.

Tsunade remained collected but took on a less formal tone as she motioned for her apprentice to retake her seat. Sakura complied but remained on edge. She was nervous.

Tsunade made eye contact, "It is true, there are medic-nin who rank more highly than you as Shinobi, but there is no one who surpasses you in your medical abilities. You may be a Chuunin Shinobi, but you are an A-class medic-nin."

Sakura's jaw dropped. Never had she heard such encouraging or positive words from her Shisou, but they were genuine, and Sakura began to inwardly cheer.

"Even if they had given me the option of going myself, because they asked for the best medic-nin we had, I still would have sent you," Tsunade passed Sakura the mission brief and folded her hands, "Dismissed."

The two ANBU, no doubt two of Sakura's temporary future teammates, faded in an instant, and Sakura, still dumbfounded, slowly stood up and walked out of the office.

Sakura scanned the mission brief as she walked towards the café where Ino and the others were no doubt waiting for her. The brief was just that, brief. Six ANBU, two Jounin, and one medic-nin. Departure, tomorrow morning at 4 am. Travel time, three days. Administer aid, deliver supplies, leave. In all, including travel time and assuming that the ANBU are only along as a precaution, the mission would take just over a week. Something to break the routine.

Sakura folded the paper and stored it away safely in her pack as she entered the café. Just as she expected, Ino, Hinata and Tenten were already sitting at their usual table and chatting away. Well, Ino was chatting away.

The little group of kunoichi had become closer in the past year, but other than these meetings, largely kept to themselves still. Sakura considered Ino a close friend, as close as Naruto, but Hinata and Tenten were still more of acquaintances, though Ino's gregarious and nosy personality was beginning to get the other girls to open up a little more. Sakura found that she rather liked their company, especially Tenten, and wished they had more time in their lives to just get to know each other.

"Hey," Sakura greeted and pulled up a seat across from Ino, "Sorry I'm late, just got a new mission from Shisou. I'll be gone tomorrow, but should be back in a week or so."

"It's OK, forehead," Ino chided, "We just started without you."

"What's new on the grapevine today, oh great gossip pig," Sakura shot back at Ino playfully. Ino leaned forward, as if telling a secret to the three of them. And it began.

A right tirade of mud, scandals and sex came flowing forth from the blonde's mouth. Hinata listened attentively and respectfully, Tenten sipped her tea nonchalantly, and Sakura raised an eyebrow incredulously. Half of the things she said were utter crap, Sakura knew that, but it was still fun, even if just a little annoying.

Ino stopped, which signaled that the others were expected to follow suit in a similar fashion, which, if Ino had been paying attention to any of their past meetings would know, never happened. Hinata shrugged shyly, Sakura shook her head uninterestedly, but to everyone's surprise, Tenten leaned forward slyly. Everyone else out of shock or curiosity, mimicked her movement and the four girls huddled around the small table expectantly.

Tenten began, "The other day…" three urging nods, "I caught a glimpse of…" three slightly frantic nods, "a particular blonde beauty…" two vigorous nods and one hesitant one, "flirting with a particular" "STOP RIGHT THERE"

Ino stood straight upright, bright red. Her outburst had clearly identified her as the blonde in the story, but her interruption kept the object of her affections a mystery to Hinata and Sakura. Tenten sat back slowly in her chair, crossed her arms, and grinned smugly. She was clearly satisfied, and said no more. Sakura just laughed inwardly at how Ino's little gossip party had been turned against her. Tenten had just earned a smidgen more respect from the pink haired medic.

The rest of the lunch passed by in uneventful silence, and the four girls waved their goodbyes as they parted at the door. Ino's face had by then only faded to the color of Sakura's hair.

Because of the urgency of the mission, Tsunade had given Sakura the rest of the day off to prepare and rest. The travel would be fast and grueling, and Sakura needed to eat and sleep well to build up enough stamina to run for three days straight, heal everyone, and then run back.

When Sakura returned home earlier than usual, her mother, as expected, was nowhere to be found. She was no doubt out running errands or visiting the extended family, who willingly provided for their welfare after her father had died.

The Haruno were a family of civilians, merchants and farmers by trade, and as far as Sakura knew, she was the first Shinobi in the family. It had been made clear to her in the past that not everyone approved, but her mother's nagging encouragement had kept Sakura in school long enough to realize that she rather enjoyed being a Shinobi. Her mother's family was also civilian, but they were a mystery to her, since her mother never talked about them. Her mother was the only one who survived the most recent war in Konoha's history, so Sakura had assumed from a young age that the memory was just too painful.

The same war that claimed her mother's entire family, had also claimed her father when Sakura was just an infant. She and her peers were too young to remember anything, but the scars were written all over the village, on its buildings and the faces of its citizens. To make matters worse, the demon fox had attacked the same year the war had ended, further exacerbating the death toll.

The house Sakura and her mother lived in now, according to the Haruno family elders, actually belonged to her mother's family, since the Haruno have no record of owning the property themselves. Sakura assumed that it must have been owned by her grandmother or grandfather, but never asked. Sakura sometimes wondered what kinds of ghosts and memories the walls of her home held, but realizing that they belonged to her mother, she never pried.

After eating her fill in the kitchen, Sakura trudged upstairs to begin packing for the mission. Clothes, weapons, medical supplies. All neatly and efficiently packed to take up the least amount of space but still be easy to access in an instant. The kind of stuff they taught you at the academy. Silly little things, but the kinds of little things that separated honest Shinobi from grimy criminal Shinobi in Sakura's mind. She couldn't imagine Orochimaru or someone in Akatsuki neatly folding clothes, or keeping their kunai clean and shiny. They were dirty, bloody, people who hung out in caves and murdered children.

"Like those innocent villagers," Sakura frowned as she spoke out loud to the neat supplies she had placed by the door. She wondered how many survived, and what condition the village was in if they needed help so urgently. But they only sent one medic-nin. Sure, Sakura was good, according to her Shisou, the best, but there must not be many survivors if they still only needed one.

"Monsters," she grimaced at the venom in her own words. But they deserved it. Part of her, the angry bitchy part, secretly hoped she would encounter whoever attacked those innocent people, so she could punch the living daylights out of them. But the rational part of her knew that an S-class criminal would just dodge her punch, and then she would be left to pray that the ANBU on her team would come and save her.

Sakura sighed inwardly and surveyed herself in the mirror. Weak. Still too weak. Getting better, she allowed herself, but still not there yet.

A/N: I know, not much happened yet, it picks up, I promise! I love Ino, I really do, she seems like she'd be a gossip-pig, ne? I made up the stuff about Sakura's family, but the war was mentioned in the manga, so I'm using it to my advantage.