Chapter Thirty Two

"Come on! Get the hell up!" Carver yelled as he banged on Naruto's front door. "We are going to be late!" The door slowly opened a half-asleep Naruto peeked out to see his two new teammates. Raiden pushed the door open and walked into his apartment, Carver and Raiden saw Naruto was barely put together for the day.

"Well..." Raiden said running the back of his neck. "...he is dressed."

"He looks like an extra from the walking dead." Carver muttered.

"Better than nothing." Raiden smiled.

"True." Carver agreed nodding, "Alright come on." He said grabbing Naruto's arm.

"Where are we going?" Naruto yawned as Carver locked Naruto's door for him.

"We don't know yet." Carver sighed and Sasuke came out of his apartment hearing voices.

"What?" Raiden asked seeing Sasuke's face, "Why do you look so surprised?"

"You actually got him up before noon." Sasuke looked at his watch.

"Yeah, no thanks to you." Raiden muttered with a playful glare.

"I gave up years ago." Sasuke shook his head, Naruto yawned again as he was dragged to Tsunade's office. He closed his eyes, trying to shield them from the bright sun once they pulled him from the building.

"Raiden sleeps likes a lot like Naruto does." Carver muttered, "They sleep like a bunch of rocks."

"Naruto is a rock." Sasuke muttered to himself and then waited to hear Naruto's loud voice defend himself, but when he didn't Sasuke turned. Carver pulled his lips together seeing the depressed look on Naruto's face. Hinata had been killed nine months ago and Naruto was still acting like it was just last week.

Raiden looked away from Naruto and focused on dragging his newly formed team towards the Hokage tower for their first mission out together. Carver and Raiden had finally become Leaf shinobi. It took some adjusting to having rules that needed to be followed and it was different having a hokage to listen to. Carver and Raiden were so use to Sakura being their one and only boss. Raiden frowned at the thought of her name, he hadn't seen her since Kakashi's funeral. She doesn't call or answer her phone.

This part Raiden was used to, but he knew this was her way as well as Carver and Raiden's way of dealing with death and he wasn't so sure it was healthy. When a person would die that they were close too, they would instead of taking the time to feel those emotions and learn how to make room in their lives for that numbing pain they pushed those feeling into a bottle and threw the bottle in the farthest parts of their mind and worked none stop in order to avoid it. Raiden knew if he bugged her and made her feel guilty about staying put inside this village or even her own, she would go mad. Sakura was doing what she needed to do even though it was self-destructive.

Carver understood losing Kakashi damaged Sakura in ways even she didn't understand, she needed her time and space to learn how to deal with it. Carver and Raiden would fight about this almost all the time when they were alone. Raiden wanted to go find Sakura while Carver said they should just leave her be. But now that they had a hokage and belonged to a village they couldn't just take off like they were used to doing. The two went to Tsunade for advice on how to deal with this situation.

She explained that Sakura; how badly as Tsunade wanted to send team seven after her, she couldn't. Sakura was the commander of another village and even if Tsunade did send team seven out, they had no idea where Sakura was or if she would even be inside her village. She wasn't answering the hundred phone calls they sent her or replying to text messaging, it was simply too risky to send a team out. It sucked but that was how things were.

"Good morning." The new team seven turned around hearing a voice, they watched Ino walking out of their apartment building.

"Good morning." Raiden muttered, Carver and Sasuke ignored the blonde woman, Naruto was too lost in his thoughts to realize they were standing inside a conversation and the polite thing to do would be to reply.

"Morning Sasuke." Ino smiled as she walked past the group of men on her way to her parent's flower shop for her shift. After Kakashi died his apartment was cleared out quickly, team seven didn't know it was by Sakura and placed back up for rent. Ino jumped on the opportunity to be closer to Sasuke faster than anyone could breathe. Ino against her parent's advice moved in three days after the apartment was put up.

It was hard for Naruto and even Raiden and Carver to see someone else living inside what was Kakashi's home, and of course of all the people inside the entire leaf village it had to be freaking Ino Yamanaka.

Carver half assed an excuse to leave Ino standing in their dust as he dragged Naruto away, moving towards the Hokage Tower. Team seven moved quickly into Tsunade's office just barely making it in time. Naruto's head tuned out as Tsunade explained their mission thinking about Hinata and her pretty face. He missed her...he missed her smile, her eyes, the cute way she blushed when Naruto complimented her, it felt like years since he had seen her. He missed talking to her on the phone until she fell asleep.

"Naruto-" Tsunade called snapping Naruto's head up, "-get going, the princess is waiting for you at the gates of the village." Naruto simply nodded as he followed his teammates without question. Their mission wasn't anything spectacular, a high-class daughter of a high-priced rich guy wanted his daughter escorted back home to the land under the moon. It seemed her last group of bodyguards quit on the spot so here she was inside the leaf village.

"Oh, we are going to that place?" Naruto finally spoke in a muttered tone; he was not looking forward to how long this trip was going to be. Naruto didn't like boats; he would get seasick quick.

"You have been to the crescent moon kingdom?" Raiden wondered.

"Yes." Naruto said, "You haven't? That is weird I thought you guys have been everywhere."

"Yeah well, the moon kingdom is a wealthy community they can afford their own protection, so they don't really need us." Raiden explained.

"I am sure Sakura has been there though." Carver added in, "Now there is a person who has truly been everywhere." He laughed at his own joke.

"What took you there?" Raiden questioned.

"Um.." Naruto said looking away not feeling like talking anymore. "The king or whatever Michiru Tsuki when I met him he was this guy who loved money, he thought that was all you needed in life to be happy, but his wife Amayo hated that about him so they split up. They had a kid named Hikaru and he was a total brat at first, but I got him to open and not suck as much. I guess Michiru remarried and now he as a stepdaughter and that is who we are escorting back home."

"What's the girls name?" Sasuke asked.

"Um..." Raiden muttered looking at the sheet of paper. "Cressida Tsuki."

"Great." Carver sighed, recalling that name from one of Sakura's stories.

"I don't want to do this." Raiden said, Carver looked up from his phone seeing Raiden was glaring at something, Carver followed his eye seeing a girl wearing a tight green dress and high heels. Her hair was a foot tall, Carver wanted to see if something was going to crawl out of it; her makeup was caked on and she was on her phone talking about how cheap the leaf village appeared to be.

"Great first impression." Sasuke muttered, making Raiden chuckle. The four men walked over to the princess.

"Cressida?" Carver asked approaching her, the princess put up her hand to the four men signaling them to shut up. Carver stepped up and took the girls cell phone, the young princess whipped her head around quickly; Naruto almost got whiplash.

"How dare you!" Her voice was high pitched, stinging the ears of Naruto.

"Are you Cressida Tsuki?" Carver needed to confirm.

"Yes, I am and I'm not interested I have a boyfriend." She said taking her phone back.

"Wait what?" Carver asked confused, "We are your escort team." Carver said annoyed.

"My what?"

"We are here to take you home." Sasuke said already feeling bored, Cressida looked Sasuke up and down.

"Ok." She said putting her phone away. "You can take me home, but you three always must stay six feet behind me-" Cressida pointed to Carver, Raiden and Naruto. "-I have a reputation to keep intact."

"What the fuck?" Raiden shook his head. Princess Cressida pointed to a pile of seven bags behind her.

"Get my things and let's go, you are wasting my time and my stepfather's money." The four men looked at each other than to the woman who was already walking out of the village. Team seven picked up the bags feeling scornful.

"What the fuck are in these things-?!" Raiden growled looking down at the three extra bags in his hand, "-rocks?" Team seven quickly caught up with Cressida.

"How is she going to travel in those?" Raiden asked tilting his head as he gazed down at her shoes.

"She's not." Sasuke muttered, "She's going to bitch to us the entire way there."

"Hey uh, Princess Cressida shouldn't you change into something more-"

"Do not give me fashion advice! Just because you all want to look like you all got your clothes out of a donation box doesn't mean I have too." Cressida snapped at Raiden. Team seven were left blinking as the princess turned back around texting away on her phone.

"This is going to be a long mission." Carver sighed,

"I want a raise." Sasuke thought out loud.

"I don't want to do this." Raiden repeated his statement, "Can we change our minds? We are not too far from the village."

----

Naruto yawned as his back muscles were feeling stiff, after a week outside the leaf village while escorting princess Cressida back to her village, team seven was ready to snap her in half. Carver understood why her previous guards quit out of the blue leaving her unattended.

Naruto sighed hearing her complain about the hotel room they were staying in for the night. Team seven was stopping while in Hagi island to stock up on supplies and get a little rest while before taking a boat ride the rest of the way to the village hidden under the moon. Cressida was an extremely needy individual; she didn't like lifting a finger to do anything. The princess was rude and inconsiderate towards the people around her, she made Naruto think of Hinata...how sweet and wonderful of a person she was.

Naruto checked his phone again after plugging it in, it had died a day ago and as it lit up he was hoping to see a message for missed call from Sakura, but to his dismay he saw nothing waiting for him...a piece of him stared at the screen praying to see Hinata's name pop up but he blinked and remembered that she had died, it would be strange if he was to get a message from her phone which had been destroyed when the reapers invaded the leaf village.

"What are you getting for dinner?" Cressida asked coming into the room from taking a shower.

"Whatever you want." Carver rubbed the back of his neck really wanting a peaceful hour of silence.

"I want to go out and eat." Cressida crossed her arms over her chest, Carver groaned seeing that wasn't going to happen.

"No." Carver said again, "Our job is to protect you."

"And do what I say." Cressida added.

"No." Raiden stepped in, "We are your guards, not your servants."

"That's the same thing." Cressida rolled her eyes.

"No--it's not—I can't-" Raiden held his hands up washing himself of Cressida, "-I am going to kill her."

"It isn't safe Princess." Sasuke flashed a fake smile, Cressida blushed as Sasuke moved closer to her. "We don't know who could be lurking around this town, it is better if we stay put and keep you out of sight. After all you are royalty-" Naruto's face was scrunched up as he observed Sasuke sweet talking Cressida into shutting up. Carver could see how Sasuke got laid all the time, Sasuke had a smooth voice and was creative with his word choice.

"I guess we can stay in." Cressida giggled as Sasuke flashed another smile.

"Thank you." Sasuke appeared completely out of character, but if it made the princess quiet Naruto wasn't going to question the method.

As the night progressed team seven was getting ready to wind down, they were about to play rock, paper, scissors to see who had to take the first watch. Carver and Raiden felt a tingle run up their spine. They flipped around to gaze out the cracked window,

"You ok?" Sasuke noticed.

"Uh-" Carver breathed feeling the familiar chakra spilling into the hotel room. Carver and Raiden jogged into the outside, the chakra saturated the nearby air.

"Sasuke stay here." Raiden ordered giving no other detail as he and Carver jogged towards the thick forest behind the hotel.

"What-!?" Sasuke called after them, Naruto didn't understand but knew he wanted to follow the two who were running into the forest. "Naruto!" Sasuke was visibility annoyed as Cressida walked into view.

"What is going on?"

"Nothing."

"Where did those three go?"

"Everything is fine."

"So...we are alone?" Cressida asked leaning against the door frame.

"They will be back-" Sasuke cut himself off seeing Cressida had undone a few buttons on her shirt revealing her large bust.

Carver, Raiden and Naruto ran through the forest, Naruto followed as a hundred questions leaked through his head, he felt the chakra now he understood as he kicked himself off a tree branch harder. Team seven had ran through the thin forest and stood at the mouth of a part of town. The three men walked slowly through the hollow town looking at the bodies lying on the ground.

"What-" Naruto breathed out staring at the thirty dead bodies that littered the ground.

"Do you hear anything-?" Raiden turned to Carver.

"No." He answered, not understanding what was going on they rounded a corner and stopped moving. Naruto's mouth dropped open taking in her foreign appearance. She pulled her sword from a man's chest; he fell to the ground lifeless. "Sakura..." Carver breathed catching her attention. Naruto stepped back as Sakura walked towards them.

A black mask rested over half her face, her hair tied up as she wore the waterfall villages black ops uniform and not her own that Naruto was used to seeing. That wasn't what bothered Naruto and made him feel unsettled, it was her glowing Christmas wreath eyes echoing against the darkness of the night. They didn't look how he expected them too, they weren't full of pain with the loss of a loved one but wild like a tiger in the middle of her hunt.

The closer Sakura got to team seven the more of a forest fire she reminded them of, each step she took was filled to the brim with rage, her body was tense ready to burn everything to the ground. Naruto didn't understand this hunger for war that swirled around inside her eyes, he remembered while inside her home of the waterfall village her explaining to him that she used to love the fight, the thrill of the chase but Naruto didn't believe that until now. Naruto didn't recognize this woman before him, this woman was an enemy not a friend.

"S-" Was all Naruto could muster as just stare.

"Sakura?" Carver shook his head, "What is going on?"

"How are you outside the training grounds?" Sakura questioned, Naruto frowned hearing a different tone wrapped inside her voice, it felt dominant. That tone was the kind of voice you bowed down to and never questioned.

"Outside the...what?" Raiden didn't understand.

"You failed-" Sakura looked from Raiden to Carver, "-you have two more weeks inside the training grounds, what pulled you out?"

"What are you-" Raiden didn't understand what she was talking about and it frustrated him!

"No..." Carver breathed, understanding what was happening.

"Sak-" Naruto wanted to step into the conversation, he wanted to know where she had been and why she couldn't answer her phone! But Carver put his hand up, stopping him from speaking as he quickly dropped to one knee. Raiden and Naruto looked at Carver stupidly.

"Get down." Carver harshly whispered, Raiden looked back at Sakura and shook his head.

"No." He said, he couldn't...he wasn't a soldier anymore and Sakura wasn't his boss she was his best friend. Sakura was his person!

"Raiden." Sakura's deadly laced eyes pulled onto him, he felt himself shirk under her gaze.

"N-No." He said, "You're not—we are not-"

"Commander-" Carver bowed his head, "-please forgive us we-" Carver stopped talking seeing her close the space between them. Raiden almost peed himself feeling the tip of Sakura's blade running across the top of his headband.

"Care to explain yourselves?" Sakura turned to Carver, seeing Raiden was too stunned to speak.

"Black ops mission." Carver lied bowing his head, "We were sent by Daw-Commander Dawn, our mission was to gather information from inside the Leaf Village."

"I wasn't informed of this." Sakura glared down making Carver sweat.

"I-I am not sure why Commander." Carver's heart rate quickened, peeking through his hair to gaze at her masked face.

"Hm-" Sakura hummed pulling her eyes off Carver, he instantly relaxed hoping she believed him. "-I am pulling you from your mission, I don't give a fuck what the Leaf Village is doing."

"Yes Commander." Carver nodded,

"Let's go." Sakura stated, turning to walk away towards a portal that opened a couple feet before her.

"I-I am-" Raiden's face felt hot watching Sakura turn to look at him,

"Let me guess." Sakura's orbs burnt Raiden, "You like them."

"They-They are-"

"I don't give a fuck." Sakura cut him off, "Either get those headbands off and let's go or I am done with you."

"Sakura-"

"It's Commander." Sakura corrected.

"Right..." Raiden breathed looking over at Carver. So many questions circled team sevens head, Raiden didn't understand what had happened to Sakura or why she was acting like this.

"Coming Commander." Carver stood; Sakura turned as she began her way to the portal.

"Carver-" Raiden shook his head.

"Stay with the Leaf Village." Carver whispered,

"What-" Raiden's eyes widened surprised by Carver. Carver glanced back at Sakura's back. He knew something wasn't right, he also knew if she stepped through that portal without either Carver or Raiden behind her, there was a strong chance they may never see her again.

"I'll go with Sakura."

"Are you insane!? She is-"

"Something is wrong with her; she is acting like she did before the Nine was put together."

"Which is why you shouldn't-"

"One of us needs to be beside her, you know as much as I do if she gets in that thing, we won't be seeing her again! Stay with Naruto, I will call you when I figure this out."

"This is a terrible plan." Raiden whispered,

"It is the best we have." Carver said untying his headband, giving it to Raiden.

"Please-" Naruto quickly stepped up, "-take care of her, Kakashi's last words were-"

"I know." Carver said with a quick nod. "I will do my best to keep her safe."

"Let's go!" Sakura called, "I have shit to do." Carver jogged over to Sakura's side as Raiden felt a need to submit under Sakura's authority, it had been a while since he felt this way and Raiden didn't like it one bit. That wasn't his best friend standing across from him, it was the commander of the waterfall village and that terrified him.

"Raiden isn't coming." Carver said bowing his head.

"Figures." Sakura rolled his eyes, "I didn't think he would last long." Raiden felt a sharp pain in his heart as his mouth dropped open from Sakura's brutal comment. Carver turned back with pained eyes as he followed Sakura through the portal, leaving Naruto and Raiden alone with a bunch of dead bodies on the ground.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Naruto breathed pulling his hands to his hair.

"Carver left with-" Raiden was about to state the obvious.

"I know what happened Raiden, I mean why did it happen!?"

"I know it may not seem like it, but I think Carver is trying to safe Sakura's life."

"How?!" Naruto panicked. "You saw her, that was not Sakura!"

"Not the one you know."

"What does that mean!?"

"I am worried." Raiden said,

"Wh-Why-"

"That woman you just encountered was the Sakura I first met, that was the war machine Kaguya made by her hands."

"What does that-"

"That Sakura loved Purgatory..."

"You think...you think Sakura will bring Purgatory back?"

"I-I honestly don't know." Raiden breathed. "But I think someone, or something wiped her memory."

"Her...memory?"

"Yeah, it would explain why she acted the way she did."

"What does that mean? What do we do now!?"

"We wait for Carver to contact us."

"But-"

"That is our next move." Raiden said, "We don't know how long she has been like this; we don't know how much damage she has done. For all we know the Waterfall Village could be in ruins."

"I can't believe this..." Naruto breathed.

"I know, but we should get to Sasuke and the princess."

"Yeah..."

"We need to wrap this mission up quickly, get back home inform Tsunade of what is going on and so I can try and get a hold of Dawn or Diem."

"Right." Naruto nodded as the two men turned to head back to the hotel room. Naruto remained quiet as he walked beside Raiden, both shinobi felt uneasy. Naruto looked at the sky hearing Kakashi's dying words echo inside his head...

"Protect her."

Naruto closed his eyes stopping the tears, what kind of man would Naruto be if he couldn't protect her? He couldn't save Hinata, TenTen or Lee...he couldn't even protect his own sensei from dying...why was Naruto even a shinobi if he couldn't keep his friends safe?

"Ah."

Raiden's eyes widened as he opened the hotel door, Naruto bumped into him seeing he stopped in the doorway.

"What-?" Naruto turned his attention back onto the world around him. "What!?" Naruto yelled seeing Sasuke in bed with Cressida on top of him. Cressida quickly covered her exposed chest as she yelled at them to get out.

"Shut up!" Raiden yelled walking into the room, pulling Naruto with him so he could close the door.

"Get-" Sasuke started but was cut off by Raiden's hard face. Raiden was a fun-loving person; he was goofy and fairy rarely serious. Sasuke sat up as the princess moved to cover her naked body with the sheets of the bed. "Where is Carver?"

"Get dressed-" Raiden continued, "-We are moving out."

"Why?"

"We will explain on the way." Naruto said picking up his bag as he gathered his things.

It took team seven one week to complete their mission of escorting princess Cressida to the moon village. Once she would officially off their hands team seven quickly made their way home. On the boat in which they needed to take Raiden called Tsunade and explained to her what had happened with Carver and Sakura.

"If the reapers attacked Sakura and somehow had the strength to take her down and wipe her memory why let her go?" Sasuke asked as they sat inside their rented room on the boat, they were brain storming ideas on what could have happened to Sakura Haruno.

"I mean..." Raiden sighed leaning against the wall near the window. "As painful as it is to admit the Sakura from back then she was so unstoppable, she was so much more ruthless, she didn't have a heart she could step over her teammates dead body and never look back. If the Reaper's were the ones who did this it does not surprise me that Sakura got away from them and returned to the Waterfall village." Raiden said looking at the two. Sasuke nodded agreeing, he could see this scenario happening.

"What if it wasn't the Reapers?" Naruto wondered.

"Who else could it be?" Sasuke asked.

"Raiden and Carver said that other people were after Sakura for her seals."

"That's a possibility too." Raiden sighed looking out into the black water.

"What about Kaguya?" Sasuke asked.

"Kaguya?" Raiden said turning to Sasuke.

"Yeah, from what you and Carver say Kaguya is obsessed with Sakura. If Kaguya did this would it really be a surprise?" Sasuke thought out loud.

"Kaguya can't overpower Sakura, she has tried before and failed." Naruto countered.

"That is true..." Raiden muttered, "...but Sakura did just lose Kakashi and that fucked her up, it is possible Kaguya used that against her."

"We have no idea what could be true or where to even start." Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose.

"There's no telling who to pick a fight with first." Naruto agreed.

"We can't randomly pick a place and start a fight." Sasuke said, "Tsunade would never allow that."

"We are just going to have to wait for Carver to get a hold of us." Raiden said still staring at the dark water beneath them.

"Oh yay..." Naruto grumped, "...waiting...my favorite thing to do."