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Chapter 2 – Unexpected Discoveries Part 1

Sasuke and Naruto were currently sitting in Naruto's apartment in silence. Sasuke was trying hard to comprehend the startling information. His teammate was missing and no one knew if she was dead or alive.

" Naruto, please tell me everything you know. What happened? Why? Who did this? "

" Whoa Sasuke, slow down. I'll tell you everything we know. " Naruto sighed and looked in his hands. " She, along with Hinata and 2 other ANBU members vanished on a mission. "

"Wait! What? Sakura was on an ANBU mission? Why? "

Naruto turned to him with a confused expression. He didn't understand why he was so eager to know everything about their pink haired teammate, but he let it be.

"She became an ANBU captain along with Hinata, Neji and Tenten. " he added.

Sasuke's eyes widened. " Sakura made ANBU? "

" Yes, she did. " His face fell a little. " But to tell you how, I must start one year after you left Konoha and I left for training with Jiraya. "

Sasuke wondered why he had to go back to those days, but something told him it was important, so he didn't say anything.

" You know, things weren't the same ever since you left Konoha. " Naruto's voice was like a whisper, which was totally unexpected. " No one was the same. Especially Sakura. When you left, she cried for days. She locked herself in her room and didn't speak to anybody. Not her parents. Not me. Not even to Ino or Tsunade. When it became possible that she might commit suicide, Tsunade barged in her room and what she found there was horrible for all of us. "

Sasuke shivered at the thought of Sakura commiting suicide but he prayed she didn't do that.

" What have you found there? Please, tell me she didn't do anything to herself or even worse....."

" No, she didn't....sort of. "

" What do you mean by that? "

" When Tsunade found her, she was total wreck. She was starving herself for 5 days and she hadn't been sleeping at all. By the time they had found her, she was underfed and barely conscious. Tsunade had to put her in intesive care for a few weeks. "

Just now Sasuke finally understood how much pain he had caused her. He had broken her heart by leaving and she was constantly suffering every day since he had left. He was such an idiot. He was trying to scare her away, trying to be cold, so he didn't need anyone, but truth be told, he needed them. He needed her, because sha always was there for him. She wasn't like the others. But, that was the main reasonwhy he was such a coldhearted bastard towards her....He was afraid he would lose her, like he lost his family. He was afraid that every person he loved or cared about would be gone.....

" And the worst part, " Naruto continued his speech and broke Sasuke's train of thoughts " she didn't want to see or talk to anybody. She was like a ghost. Like a corpse warmed over. "

Naruto thought back to all times he couldn't even look at her because he hadn't been able to bring Sasuke back. He was so afraid that she would break. But he didn't feel the need to tell Sasuke about it.

" But how could she have made Anbu, if she was...."

Sasuke couldn't even finish his sentence before Naruto grabbed the collar of his shirt and sent him a death glare.

" Don't you even dare to speak about what you don't know, you coldhearted bastard. You don't know anything about her. After everything she went through, she is everything but weak and useless. "

Naruto was almost yelling at the end of the sentence.

" How am I supposed to know, when you don't tell me? " Sasuke yelled back at him and pushed his hand away, obviously pissed from the situation. " Dammit Naruto, I am trying but the last time I saw her was 5 years ago, when I knocked her out and left her on a freaking bench in the middle of the night! Do you think it's easy for me? "

They were glaring at each other for a few more minutes, but Naruto saw that the raven haired boy was feeling really guilty about what had happened.

" Sorry Teme, it's just....its been so long and no one knows where Sakura and Hinata are or if they are even still alive.... "

" Ok Naruto, could you tell me what really happened? How did Sakura make Anbu and everything?"

" I don't know all the details except for what Hinata-chan told me. "

When Naruto saw Sasuke looking rather oddly at him, he continued to explain.

" Eh, you know, I left too. To train with Jiraya and when I came back, everything was totally different. "

Flashback
Naruto and Jiraya stood in front of the Konoha gates. It was almost two and half years since they had left and Naruto was wandering what had changed.

" It feels so good to finally be back at home. " he said as they stepped in, only to be greeted with the sight of Kotetsu and Izumo, who were waving at them in response.

" Sure it is. " he smiled at his student. He has grown quite a lot since they left. He wasn't the same kid he was before. Now he was a grown young man and he could say, he was proud of him. They headed for Hokage tower and when they came there, Jiraya knocked on the door. After they heared a muffled "Come in" they stepped in the room only to be surprised to see backs of 2 ANBU members.

" Ok. So here are the scrolls for your mission. It's an S-rank, so be careful. Failure is not an option. "

" Hai. " both of them answered together only to be interupted by Jiraya.

" Are we interupting something Tsunade? "

The Godaime Hokage looked up at the faces of the new comers and immediately her face lighten up.

" Naruto, Jiraya....no, not at all, come in. "

Both of the ANBU members turned their heads in their direction. Both of them were wearing a typical ANBU coat with masks on their faces, so Naruto couldn't really tell who they were.

" Naruto-kun. " one of the ANBU's stated and the blond boy immediately knew that this voice was very familiar.

He was deep in his thoughts about who this could be, when Jiraya asked. " Oh my.... Tsunade what did you do to them?

Naruto looked up to see what he meant but didn't expect to see what he did.

" Hinata-chan? Sakura-chan? " his jaw dropped to the ground. He couldn't believe that his former teammate and Hinata made ANBU.

" You're both ANBU members? " Before he could say anything else, he was interupted by Tsunade's laughter.

" I didn't do anything to them Jiraya and, yes Naruto, they are both ANBU along with Neji and Tenten. "

" Hey Naruto-kun, how was your training? " Hinata asked, a hint of blush crept onto her cheeks, although it was obvious she has already grown up from her shyness.

He observed her carefully and was surprised to see she had grown from a little, shy girl into a beautiful young woman. She had slim figure and her hair was long and smooth (she has a normal hair style like in Shippuden ) and she was wearing a typical ANBU uniform. They were looking at each other for a moment before they were interupted by a cough and another voice.

Naruto turned to see Sakura, though he knew in an instant, that the young woman wasn't the same girl he knew before he left. She, like Hinata, was now a beautiful young woman. Her pink locks were down to her midback, braided free together. Her figure was slender with muscles, an evident proof of her hard training but also a reminder of her lack of food she ate. But it were her eyes that reminded Naruto how much she had changed. Her green eyes used to be full of life and happiness, but now, they were cold and empty.

" Naruto. " That was the only thing she said before she nodded lightly at him and turned to Tsunade with a bow.

" Shishou, am I allowed to leave now? "

Tsunade looked at her student and sighned. " Yes, you may leave but don't forget about your mission. "

" Like that would happen. " she rolled her eyes in response and turned around to face Hinata. " See you later. "

Hinata nodded and the pinkette was gone in a swirl of black and pink petals. When she left, Hinata and Tsunade looked at each other sadly. " I'll talk to her later. "

" That sure was weird. " Jiraya stated and tried to find out, what really happened. " Wait a minute, she adressed you shishou, right? " he asked and looked over to his former teammate and new Hokage.

" Yeah, she did. Is something wrong with it? "

" No, not at all. It's just that I never thought you would have an apprentice Tsunade. "

" I can't believe that's the same person I knew. " Naruto said, interrupting Tsunade before she could punch Jiraya. They all turned to him.

" She is Naruto, but....she went through a lot you know. " Hinata said softly.

" Yeah, sadly, Hinata's right. "

It was quiet for a moment before Hinata spoke again.

" Lady Tsunade, can I please tell him? He has every right to know. "

" I know Hinata. Actually, I was hoping you would take that into your hands. I have too much work to do. " Tsunade sighed and looked at Hinata.

" What are you two talking about? What should I know? "

" It's a long story. What do you say we go eat ramen and I'll tell you? "

" Hmm, yeah sure...."

Both of them were on their way out of the office when Tsunade stood up and said " And Hinata! "

The girl turned her head and looked at the Hokage. " Yes, Tsunade-sama? "

" Take care of Sakura. You know how she is...."

" Of course Tsunade-sama. Like always. " And they went out of the office.

" Hey Hinata-chan, what did she mean by that? " Naruto asked as they were on their way out of the Hokage tower.

Hinata just sighed and looked at him. " You know, Sakura can be very reckless sometimes. For her own sake, Tsunade-sama always sends me, TenTen or Neji with her. "

Naruto just nodded his head and looked away.

" Look Naruto, I know you're maybe confused about Sakura but she has been through a lot really. And she made the decision to never to be the weak little girl she used to be. "

" But, what about her attitude? She is so cold. Even her eyes are cold and distant....She was always so cheerful. "

By the time he had spoken, they came to Ichiraku ramen. Naruto ordered two bowls while Hinata just politely declined. She then sighed, and looked away before she started speaking.

" After you left, Kakashi got assigned on a long mission, so Sakura had technically no team left to be in. She was really sad because Sasuke left, you left, Kakashi had to leave and she was blaming herself for it. She said she was far too weak and that was the main reason why she couldn't have a normal team. When she was released from the hospital, she started to train really hard and without anyone knowing, she asked Tsunade to be her sensei...to be honest, I knew about that."

Hinata said but was interrupted by Naruto, slurping his bowl and then asking.

" Sakura is Baa-chan's apprentice? And how did you know? "

Hinata sweat dropped and thought if he really has grown up.

" Geez Naruto, weren't you listening? Sakura addressed Tsunade-sama as sensei. Of course she is her apprentice and everyone knows she is the best apprentice Tsunade can have. "

Naruto scratched his head as he was trying to remember. When did she said that? Hinata just sighed again. ' This is going to be a long night. '

" And I knew about it because Sakura told me. We have grown quite close together, because besides her parents and Tsunade-sama, I was with her the most. And then she was temporarily placed in our team. So we were training with Kurenai-sensei or with Neji and TenTen. Sakura was growing stronger as was I and it seemed she will be happy again even with her team gone. Until that night....." Hinata's voice came out as a whisper and when Naruto observed her, he saw she was sad.

" What night? What are you talking abou Hinata-chan? What happened? "

" About a year after you left.... Sakura's parents were killed. "

End of the Flashback