Unspoken Truths

Summary: Every member of Team Seven seemed to have had a tragic past, all except one, or so they thought. No one had ever bothered to question the petal haired girl's past; they all assumed she lived a sheltered life. Her teammates thought her weak, but she was stronger than they had imagined.

Team Seven: it was said to be a team of great potential and promise. Kakashi Hatake, the infamous copy ninja, Sasuke Uchiha, one of the last Uchihas, Naruto Uzumaki, the demon fox jinchuuriki, and Sakura Haruno... the one with perfect chakra control. Compared to her teammates, Sakura seemed dull, without use. Her teammates were well known by almost everyone, even the simplest civilians knew of these powerful ninja.

The quartet had just come back from a C-rank mission from the Tea country, and was headed towards Naruto's favorite food stand, Ichiraku's. As they passed by the streets of Konoha, everyone seemed to gape in awe and respect.

Over the years, Naruto had gained acceptance from all the villagers. Those who used to look down upon him now smiled at his presence. The blonde had never really gotten over the treatment the villagers had inflict on him, but being the kind hearted boy he was, he found a way to forgive them. Team Seven had been the best thing to ever happen to him, it made up for the family that he never had. With them, he felt like he belonged. Naruto had come a long way in both strength and heart.

Kakashi-sensei had blossomed from the team as well. After the death of Obito and Rin, he became distant and untrusting. The man had lost faith in people... that was until he became the sensei of Team Seven. Kakashi had lost all the family he had since long ago, all that was left of them were their names and memories. He had nothing but the village and himself. But Team Seven had given him much more, it gave him warmth that a family would provide, he felt whole with them.

Sasuke had changed the most out of all of them. During his time in the academy, he had been cold, uncaring, fueled only by his ambition to kill his elder brother. Sasuke had been thoroughly annoyed at his placement in Team Seven.

In his mind, Sakura had been weak, a deadweight, Naruto, who was slightly better that Sakura, would only hold him back from his first priority, and Kakashi, the pervert, wouldn't teach him anything worth while. He had pitied himself for being placed in such a useless group.

After being so isolated from people, the young Uchiha became socially distant; however, somewhere along the way, he found himself opening up to the quirky team. Naruto slowly took the place of his best friend and brother at heart, Kakashi became the father he never had, and Sakura, well she became someone tolerable.

Don't get him wrong, Sakura had become someone close to him, just not as close as the others had become. He had visibly softened towards her, he protected her as much as he did towards the others, yet she hadn't become particularly important. She was his teammate, and that was it.

These three held themselves confidently yet relaxedly as they strode towards Ichikaku, yet they radiated a powerful aura; their female teammate paled in comparison.

"I was awesome! Did you see how I rammed that Rasengan into Takumaru-bastard's face!" boasted the ever hyper Naruto. The blonde pounded his fists into the air in emphasis, cheshire cat smile apparent on his face.

"Tch. That was nothing. My Chidori caused more damage than your Rasengan." Sasuke said indifferently, the corner of is mouth twitching upward in an almost smile. Sasuke had grown fond of the jinchuuriki container.

Challengingly, Naruto shoved his index finger in the Uchiha's chest. "Oh yeah, Sasuke-teme! Your chidori barely grazed the guy, let alone damage him!"

"Dobe!"Sasuke fired.

"Teme!"Naruto practically screamed.

"Dobe!"

"Teme!"

And so began their daily bickering. Sakura looked rather sheepish as she gently shoved both boys apart.

"Now, now guys. Stopbickering, everyone's staring at us." Sakura urged. However, her boys would have none of it. Naruto began whining to her , but promptly shut up as her fist came down on his head. Naruto sported a bruise the size of an apple for the next week.

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Sakura had an excellent day; She had just got back from a mission with her team. It has been months since they last reunited, with her boys training and all. When the Hokage called forth her team for an important mission. It was not exactly the type of bonding she had in mind, but she was just glad to be around them.

The time they spent apart hadn't been useless for Sakura. She had went to the library everyday in search of healing scrolls. She knew she had a talent for medicine after the mission in the Mist.

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Naruto and Sasuke once again put themselves in the hospital. Sakura sighed in annoyance. "Those two always got themselves in to trouble huh?"she thought bitterly, unconsciously, she clenched her fists.

They just got back from the Mist. Their mission was to retrieve and guard the Matarashi Scroll with their lives. That had been the goal and that was exactly what they had done, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi.

They fought the missing-nin. They defeated them. They protect her. Sakura's nails began to dig deep in her skin, a stinging sensation arose but she ruthlessly ignored it.

They had told her to stand in the sidelines, to "guard" the scroll while they did all the fighting. Sakura parted her lips to argue when Kakashi gave her a steely look. He didn't need to say anything, that look of his said it all. She froze. He was right. What could she do anyway? The look he gave her told her exactly what he thought of her. Kakashi thought Sakura was weak.

Unlike Naruto, she didn't have massive chakra reserves, nor did she have the sharingan like Sasuke or Kakashi. What could she do in the battle anyway? All she'd be was a distraction, a pathetic damsel in distress. She didn't argue any further, Sakura knew he was right. She was weak, she has always been weak!

She hadn't been doing anything at all; she just stood there like an ornament! Sakura saw her most important people bleed, she heard them cry in agony, and all she could do was cry and scream. She immediately calmed down after the battle ended. They had won and they were alive, that's all that mattered.

Sakura dropped the kunai grasped in her useless hands, and ran straight to her fallen comrades. Her body shook like a leaf as she spotted the damage. Naruto had a broken rib, a fractured leg, and three broken fingers. Sasuke had been slashed on the stomach and had been badly burned on his right arm. Kakashi was black and blue with bruises, right eye bleeding profusely due to his overuse of the sharingan. Yet she was not injured at all, she had nothing to show from the battle.

They had all been out cold and none of them were in a stable condition to travel home. It could take days before they recovered, and by then, infection might set in. They could die from their injuries and she couldn't do a thing to stop it. Sakura knew not how to fight nor did she know how to heal, but she'd be damned before she let her teammates die on her watch.

Sakura reached inside her kunai pouch, and pulled out a roll of bandages. She tied her petal colored hair into a ponytail, her emerald eyes sparked with stubborn determination.

Lightly, Sakura rolled Naruto on his back, wincing as he groaned unconsciously in pain. Using her kunai, she slashed through the remnant of his orange jacket before she wrapped the white bandages tightly around his torso all the while summoning chakra to her hands to numb the pain. Unlike a healer, Sakura might not have been able to mend Naruto's broken bones together, but she knew enough to know that broken ribs are nothing to joke about. If not handled properly, it could puncture a lung or an organ.

Sweat peppered her porcelain skin after she finished bandaging everyone. With her chakra efficiency, she was able to use only one-eighth of her chakra. Sakura knew that her medical knowledge was amateur at best, they wouldn't last a week if they didn't get proper healing soon.

Infection on their wounds had already begin to set in, their body racked and trembled in fever. Panic began to rise within her body and as quickly as it came, it was suppressed. A nervous breakdown would not help save them she warned herself, she had to think of a way to get them home.

Sakura knew from her observations that the Mist had poor medical staff and wouldn't be able to heal her teammates. The closest, and most suitable hospital was Konaha which was unconventionally miles apart from where she stood.

Then something clicked in her mind, of course! She could perform the teleporting jutsu! She had seen it enough times from Kakashi-sensei, she knew the hand-signs and the proper dosage of chakra needed.

However, she has never once performed it in her lifetime. Teleporting over long distance took a lot more chakra and since she had such a low reserve compared to her teammates, she couldn't afford for a practice run. If things went wrong, they would possibly perish but what choice did she have, if she didn't do something, they would die, and no way in hell she'd let that happen.

Sakura swiftly grabbed the Matarashi Scroll and carefully tucked it in her kunai pouch. As she walked back to the area her comrades lied, she quickly planned in her mind the traveling preparations.
To be able to transport all of the back to Konoha, they had to be connected with her person. Sakura decided that since Naruto and Sasuke were the most heavily damaged, that she'd strap them to her back with the remainder of the roll of bandages to avoid bumping into their wounds. They had looked comically similar to the puppets Kankoro Sabaku had chained on his back.

Squatting to the floor, Sakura lifted Kakashi bridal style. As she rose from the ground, her limbs shook and her face contorted in concentration. She had lifted over five times her own weight and although she had "monstrous strength" as Naruto called it, it was still rather hard for the twelve year old girl.

She had to pump a fifth of her remaining chakra throughout her body just to keep them up, and even with that, she still had trouble with their weight. She considered using more of her chakra, but there was only so much she could spare; Sakura needed all of her remaining chakra to perform the teleporting justsu.

Sakura shifted Kakashi deeper into her arms, so that she could conjure up the required hand signs. She grunted as her sensei's weight settled in her arms. Sakura breathed in deeply, trying to put all her concentration into the hand-signs. She ignored the slight breathing Naruto emitted into her neck, and just focused at her finger placement. Her hands moved painfully slow. Since she only had one shot at the jutsu, she had to get it perfect; Sakura could not afford to form a wrong hand-sign.

Before she form the last sign, usagi, she scanned her surroundings to make sure nothing was left behind. She realized then that the missing-nins's bodies were thrown all over the field and should be properly disposed of; she supposed she should leave that for the hunter-nins instead because of course, her first priority was to keep her team safe, and turn in the scroll to the Hokage.

Forming the last sign, she summoned all her remaining chakra towards her fingertips. A wave of nausea hit her, and her head began spinning, she tightened her grip on Kakashi to keep herself balanced.

Once her sandals came in contact with solid ground she immediately snapped her eyes open, apparently too soon for her body's liking. Dizziness slammed into her ten times harder than before but she willed her eyes to open. She chanted in her head, "Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun, and Naruto will not die. If they could do it, so can I!" It became a mantra and soon the head settled down a bit. Sakura scanned her surroundings hurriedly, hoping that her jutsu had not failed. She hadn't spotted any familiar buildings, in fact she saw none at all. She begin to panic, she had failed! Now because of her, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto will die! Then it hit her, she was in Konoha's forest, just outside of the village!

Her chakra reserves had been emptied and now it began to take its toll. She had only a smudge of chakra left and her consciousness was slowly beginning to fade. "No," she thought, "I have to get someone's attention!" Sakura spiked the remaining chakra she had in hopes of signaling the gate's guards.

She knew she couldn't keep awake any longer, yet her thoughts still lingered on her injured teammates. As Sakura fell unconscious, she shifted to her right so that she wouldn't fall on any of them; a whisper of "I'm sorry" escaped her lips. She passed out before she even hit the ground.

A whisper broke Sakura from her deep sleep. Slowly, her eyes fluttered to reveal dazed irises. She sat up slowly, her muscles ached and cracked as she did. The nurses that were previously engaged in conversation hushed at the sound of her groaning. Memories of yesterday rushed into her already fuzzy head.

She locked gazes with one of the nurses, coldly she said, "Where are my teammates." It was not a question but a demand. She had to know that they were safe.

Upon seeing her serious, threatening gaze, the nurse stuttered out, "H-Hatake-san is up and
w-well. We told him to stay put in t-the hospital, but he escaped," Sakura glared at that, "B-but he's fine! As for Uzumaki-san and Uchiha-san, they're just across the room. You don't have to worry, they're well taken of, you should just stay he- Hey!"

Sakura pushed her covers off immediately when the nurse told her the location of Naruto and Sasuke. She broke into a run towards the door, she wouldn't take the nurse's words, she had to see them for herself.

Sakura practically ripped the door off the hinges as she entered their room. She skidded to a stop as soon as she saw the comforting smile on Naruto's face.

"Sakura-chan!" exclaimed the lively blonde.

Relief slid through Sakura, and her eyes visibly warmed at the sight of the knucklehead.

"Baka! Don't be so loud, this is a hospital!" Sakura teased. To emphasize this, she gave him a good punch in the head. It was beginning to look a lot normal.

"Itai! Ne, Sakura-chan that hurt!" He rubbed his head soothingly, smiling as widely as his female teammate was.

Just then a groan came to Naruto's right. Sasuke had awakened at the sound of their antics; one hand rested on his bed to support his upper body, while the other was placed on his head, ruffling his bed hair.

"Would you two just shut up." The three smiled. They weren't stupid, they knew how close to dying they were. As if to complete the picture, Kakashi appeared crouched on the window sill.

"What's everyone smiling about?" he said amusedly. The genins shared a look of exasperation and promptly thrown their pillows at their sensei's head.

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It would have been a rather happy memory if it wasn't for the fact they almost died. That wasn't the first time Sakura had witnessed her teammates fight as she stood in the sidelines. Before, she thought it was okay, she thought she was contributing to her comrades as well, but that had only been a lie to herself. Sakura knew that she couldn't be weak anymore, not if it affected others, especially her comrades.

Team Seven had decided to take a break for a while, to "rest up." However, knowing her boys, Sakura knew that there wouldn't be a lot of resting involved, in fact it would be training twenty-four-seven.

She took the free time to advantage as well. Sakura went to the library to read healing scrolls, jutsu scrolls and any other useful material that could help her on the field. When she wasn't in the library, Sakura was on the training grounds.

It wasn't secret that Sakura Haruno was smart, however, to make it in the ninja world, smart isn't going to cut it; you have to be able to follow through with action. She tried and tried to the point of exhaustion, but still she hadn't managed to master every single jutsu (however she did come close).

Of all the ninja arts, the one that stumped Sakura the most was taijutsu. She had never been good at it, even in the academy. After the chuunin exams, Rock Lee had become good friends with her, although he still proclaims his love for her daily, much to Sakura's annoyance. She had asked the Green Beast of Konoha to train her in the art of taijutsu and he was more than happy to comply to her wishes. Although his love for her burned as bright as the sun, he never went easy on her; that was one of the reasons Sakura enjoyed training with him so much.

When ever Team Seven had a training session, she could be partnered up with Kakashi while Naruto would be with Sasuke. The reason Kakashi did this was because out of all the three options, he had been the most controlled; although it was highly unlikely, he feared that the boys might accidently hurt her, plus they wouldn't have been training really if they sparred with Sakura. The way Kakashi saw it, the boys were way over Sakura's level, she would be a distraction to their training. Meanwhile, Kakashi hadn't much training to do, so he thought he could humor her and spar with her.

Whenever they trained, Kakashi would charge at her half-heartedly, he didn't even give Sakura a single glance; all of his attention to his precious porn novel. He never said this, but Sakura knew it. She wasn't stupid she knew that Kakashi had favored Naruto and Sasuke over her, but she never once commented on it.

Sakura trained hard during those two weeks of break, and she hoped that when she came back on the field with them, they would treat her differently, equally. However, it didn't turn out that way. Not at all.

This time, they were assigned a C-rank mission. The objective was to guard Takeru Imoshi, a noble of Suna to the Tea Country safely. Unsurprisingly, there had been ninja that attacked, however, they were merely genin level nin. Sasuke and Naruto charged at the sight of them, Sakura was about to follow through when Kakashi intercepted her attack. He had told her to look after Takeru. No matter how much Sakura wanted to yell and scream at him for his actions, she complied to her sensei's wish because she knew it was not the right time or place to do it.

Naruto and Sasuke were bickering as usually as they returned and Kakashi was reading Ichi Ichi Paradise. One thing was out of place though, the thing being Sakura. She was awfully quiet, she was never that quiet.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto's brow scrunched up in confusion, his ocean blue eyes washed with worry for his teammate.

At the sound of his words, all the members of Team Seven looked at Sakura. Realizing they were all giving her concerned looks (more of a blank stare from Sasuke though :P), she immediately shoved down her growing hurt and pain.

"I'm fine Naruto." Sakura gave a warm, sunny smile. Naruto sighed in relief and began conversation.

The smile she gave had been filled with happiness, however, it never reached her eyes. No one had noticed that and Sakura didn't know whether to be relieved, or disappointed.

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Slowly, Sakura forgot about her earlier upset and joined her boys at Ichiraku's. She ordered a Miso ramen for herself and sat herself down in between Sasuke and Naruto as she always had. Kakashi sat to the left of Sasuke, eyes glued to the orange book. They made light conversation throughout the whole meal, Sakura felt her mood rise as time flew by, she loved bonding with them. She laughed as Naruto argued with Sasuke, and teased Naruto as he drowned himself in bowls and bowls of ramen.

Optimistically, Sakura decided that even with the mission, it wasn't that bad of a day after all. Heck, even Kakashi-sensei decided to pay for ramen! What could be upsetting about that? Then Sakura Haruno's world began to crumble, for the second time.

"So," began Naruto, "Ero-senin said he'd train me! I mean like seriously train me! Even though that guy's a big time pervert, he's a good shinobi, I can't wait till tomorrow!"

" That's great Naruto." Sakura smiled softly, "I know you're going to be great someday." All playfulness evaporated, leaving only happiness and fondness she felt for the boy.

"Haha! You hear that Sasuke-teme! Sakura-chan thinks I'm going to be better than you! Man! I can't wait to go! YOSH! Hokage position here I come!" Sakura froze.

"Tsh. Dobe. No way you'll be stronger than me. Not when I leave with Kakashi-sensei to train." Sasuke retored.

"Leave." whispered Sakura. She seemed in a daze, her emerald eyes turned dull. She repeated the word in her mind again and again.

"What did you say Sakura-chan?" Naruto cocked his head to the side, confusion smeared on his face.

"Leave. Wha? What do you mean leave?" Sakura felt desperate. They wouldn't leave her, would they? Her face was almost frighteningly pale. She was mortified to even think about it.

"Well yeah. Ero-senin said we're going to travel together, learning new jutsu and..." Naruto began sprouting out his plans, but Sakura paid no mind to it.

She was in turmoil. How could he, how could he leave her? Then she remembered.

"and we're going to -" Sakura interrupted the blonde.

"Kakashi-sensei. Your going to train with Sasuke away from the village?"

"Ah yes. I was going to tell you guys but it slipped my mind. The environment of Konoha isn't very suited for the training I had in mind for Sasuke. We're going to the Land of the Stone tomorrow. Isn't that right Sasuke?"

"Hn."

"T-tomorrow?" Sakura felt like throwing up, she'd never thought something like this would happen.

"Hm, yes, apparently Naruto is leaving with Jiraya tomorrow as well." She was devastated. Sakura wanted so badly to yell at them, to scream all her frustrations. To keep them from going, but she didn't.

This was a big opportunity for them, that would help them get stronger. This meant a lot for them.

Naruto had never met his parents, he had no family and never knew the privileges of it. Jiraya was like a dad to Naruto, who was she to take that away from him?

And Sasuke. He had wanted to avenge his elder brother, Itachi. Sakura was one of the few to know this. Oh, she knew, but she didn't like it one bit. Yet, who was she to make choices for him? He could get strong this way, Sasuke would be able to fulfill his dream.

So she held in all the pain for them, so they could be happy.

"Congratulations!" Sakura's voice was sickly cheerful, yet on the inside, she was hurting.

"Thanks Sakura-chan! I better get home now, big day tomorrow! Thank's for the meal Kakashi-sensei!"

"Hn." Sakura smiled, it was Sasuke's own way of saying thank you. The Uchiha stood up form his seat and began walking towards the compound.

"Ne!" Sakura yelled, getting the attention of the boys, "Be careful." Naruto waved his hand in reply while Sasuke just continued to stalk home.

Her shoulders fell a bit and she slumped down onto the counter. Upon seeing the number of ramen bowls piled on Naruto's table, she felt pity towards Kakashi.

"Oi, Kakashi, you have to pay a whole year's worth of salary!" Sakura joked half-heartedly with a crooked smile. Her smile faltered even more when she saw that he was not there. She was the only member of Team Seven at Ichiraku's.

"Check please." She whispered bitterly, "What a nice way to remember them by, huh?"

Team Seven had left her there alone, with a massive bill, and a broken heart. It was only until she reached her bedroom did she allow her sunny smile to drop.

Her room was dark. The pale glow of the moon was the only source of light. Not even bothering to take off her shoes, Sakura flopped face first into her mattress. Tear leaked from her eyes, and shudders rammed through her body. She shook as the pain free flowed from her heart.

Sakura somehow found a way to forgive the boys, just like she always did, just like she always had to.

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