J A D E

Chapter Fifteen

"I believe in you, Sakura-chan." Tsunade-sama smiles gently at me. She coughs out a blood and looks at me with sad gaze. "It's... It's over for me, Sakura-chan." She whispers, ignoring my tears and pleas. She pushes my hands away from her wounds and smiles. "I am finally going to meet Dan again." She whispers to me.

"You can't leave me." I shake my head, tears cascading down my face. "You can't leave us. What...How... What would we do without you?" I sob the words out, ignoring the horrified looks of other ninjas circling us.

"You have surpassed me long ago, Sakura-chan." She gently taps my seal on the forehead, smiling. "I am proud of you. Don't ever let anybody tell you that you are weak." She coughs once again. "Because you are more than just enough."

"What?" Shisui-san is the one, who loses his cool. I look up at his, confused. I have never witnessed him like that. He always left impression of being obedient and loyal to his village. But now, watching him only makes me feel warm. "You can't be serious." He mumbles, shaking his head. "She is just a child." He sneers, angry.

"That's why, putting her in this mission would be convenient." Danzo answers instead of Third. I now know that this man needs some backbone. "No one would suspect, such innocent looking girl to be actual danger."

Shisui grits his teeth. Itachi is standing quietly. His gaze never leaving me. Ibiki-san does not even move. I can feel KI radiating off of him in waves, crushing, suffocating waves. But no one says anything else. No one can say anything.

"The mission will start tomorrow morning. The team leader will be Shisui." Danzo finishes the meeting and dismisses us with his eyes trained on me.

That bitch.

***

"Mother, father." Itachi starts talking in his usual, monotone, yet gentle tone. He looks at his cousin, who seems to be immersed in his own world and anger. "Tomorrow, I, Shisui-san and Sakura-san are sent in week-long mission." He states and looks straight in his father's eyes.

"Sakura-san?" Fugaku asks confused. The only Sakura, he can think about it a small girl in Hokage's office.

"The little girl, who is trained by Morino-san." Shisui answers instead of Itachi, clenching his fists once again. "She is the same age as Sasuke." Sasuke perks up at the mention of his name. But what interests him more is the girl, who is already being sent on missions.

"She is what?" Mikoto Uchiha looks around the table, horrified. Even Itachi was sent on the first mission when he was seven, and not five.

"It was Danzo-san's orders." Shisui looks down at his plate, losing appetite entirely. "due to his orders, she has already completed her first torture and interrogation." Bile raises up in Shisui's throat, burning it. Mikoto gasps, looking at Fugaku, who only nod in agreement.

***

"Sakura-chan..." I look up at Naruto, whose gaze is farewell. He looks at me with sad, blue eyes and looks down, in shame. "Do you remember our dreams?" He asks me suddenly, taking me back. I nod, carefully at him. I do remember my stupidity and how naïve I was. "Is your dream the same?" He asks me tiredly.

"No." I shake my head and sigh. "I don't wish to be married to Sasuke anymore." I chuckle humorlessly and sigh. "It... It is not my dream anymore. My dream..." I bite my bottom lip. "It's to become strong. Stronger, than I am today. It's to reach my limits and to be acknowledged." I whisper and put my face in my hands. "What about you, Naruto? Did your dream change?"

"Yeah..." Naruto mumbles and sighs. "I... I have... I had no idea how it was." He shakes his head. "I don't think that being Hokage is something, I still want."

"Then what is your dream, Naruto?" I look at him, surprised. I believed that Naruto always would want to become Hokage.

"I want to survive." He whispers and sighs. "I want all of my friends to survive. I want to have family..." He whispers and smiles kindly at me. "I want to feel what is like to have a real family, when you have wife and children waiting for you at home. I... I want to be Jonin, maybe even ANBU, so that I would still have time for them..." He sighs and hangs his head low, feeling ashamed of his dream. I smile at him and hug him. After all, he is brother I never had.

I wake up with pain in my chest. I still remember this conversation. It was after Tsunade-sama's death. Just two years before it all finished. By that time, we had lost all hope. We could not stand being in the same hopeless situation day and night. We could no longer stand seeing our friends dying in front of us.

I get ready for the mission and head towards the gates. I meet two Uchihas by the gates and smile at them tiredly. I know that none of them seem amused by the fact that I am tagging alone in ANBU mission. Hound appears just a mere second later. He looks down at me and sighs loudly.

"Hello, Sakura-chan." He greets with a small wave.

"Hi, Hound-san." I greet back, instantly feeling safer when I know that Kakashi is around. He is here because of me, to make sure that no matter what happens, I am not killed off. He lifts me up and then, we all disappear.

***

"Think you can manage it, Sakura-chan?" Shisui asks me thousandth times. I nod at him, a bit annoyed and look back at the hideout. The missing-nins we are hunting down have made a camp in the middle of forest, too sure about their abilities to worry about intruders. "Good luck." He whispers in my ear before letting me go.

"Who is there?" I hear a loud shout as soon as I approach the camp. Instead of answering, I et a loud sob out, gaining more attention. There are ten missing-nins and all of them circle around me, while I continue sobbing loudly. "What are you doing here, brat?" The same one asks me with bitterness.

"I..." I sob again. "I am lost." I cry out again, more tears pooling in my eyes. Missing-nins look at one another, smirking at each other before one of them kneels in front of me.

"Ne, girlie, do you know that we are very, very bad people?" He smirks at me and laughs loudly, making me flinch. He is about to touch me, when kunai falls between us. This seem to alarm them as riot breaks loose. Before anyone can grab me, I make Headhunter Jutsu, the one Kakashi used on us during the bell test, when he hid himself in the ground.

My hand pops up underneath one of them, the one who was kneeling in front of me and I drag him in the earth, leaving only his head out. I smile happily at him and turn around, leaving him. Most of the missing-nins are engaged with Shisui-san and Itachi-san, but they are nine against two. Hound has direct orders not to get involved, unless things get ugly.

I watch as one of them start attacking Shisui from behind, while he is engaged with three other shinobis. I look at him wide eyed, knowing that screaming would not help him. Without thinking, I start making head seals, I have only read about. I have never even tried it and now, if it did not work, it would get him killed.

Horse. Dog. Bird. Ox. Snake.

"Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon!" I yell loudly, finishing the hand seals. Faces turn towards me, forgetting about the fight for a second, when large, stone made dragon emerges from the ground, swirling its way towards the missing-nin that was about to attack Shisui.

I look awed at the dragon, relief flooding my senses as I feel light headed. I stumble on my steps. Hound-san catches me before I fall down, while Shisui and Itachi finish off other missing-nins. And just before I black out, I realize something.

I just killed a man.