The Last Mission - Naruto Undercover

Chapter 7

A few weeks into the academy, Naruto was starting to understand all his classmates, from their personalities to their behavior. On that striked him as odd, was surprisingly a civilian named Haruno Sakura. With her bright pink hair and abnormally large forehead, it's hard to miss her. From the reports he got from the Hokage, Sakura was a slightly above average fangirl. But then again, who didn't have a crush at 12? What got Naruto confused, was the abrupt change in Sakura's behavior. On moment she'll be fangirling over 'Sasuke-kun!', and the next, she flinches and freeze. Shadows overtake her features. In those moments, she seemed so broken.

No matter how hard Naruto thought, he couldn't make any sense out of it. She was a civilian who hasn't even graduated from the academy. What happened to her that haunts her so badly?

Because there was a chance of Sakura being assigned to his Genin team, Naruto decided to do a little research on the pink haired girl.

What started out as an innocent curiosity darkened as Naruto dugged deeper into Sakura's history. Apparently she's been admitted into the hospital more than thrice, the reason not disclosed. To normal shinobi that is. But to an Anbu Captain, it was a simple task to find out the truth. But, sometimes not knowing is best. This was one of those times, Naruto realised as he read through Haruno Sakura's surprisingly thick file.

If he thought that Sakura was from Konoha before, he was wrong. Terribly wrong. Sakura was discovered at the gates of Konoha ten years ago, when she was two. Alone, and crying. From then on, Meibuki Haruno and Kizashi Haruno adopted her.

Sakura's life was average and happy until 5 years ago. Her adoptive mother was murdered and Sakura herself was heavily injured. That was the first time she was admitted into he hospital. And her dad...? Her dad was out for a business trip to Kazekagure. But further research showed that Kizashi was a low ranked merchant in his company, so why would they send someone like him to Kazegakure for such an important trade?

And why would anyone want to murder a harmless civilian? Something was fishy, and Naruto could almost smell the disgusting scent of the sea. Who exactly, was Sakura?

A few days later found Naruto in Kakashi's house, free loading as per usual. But for once, he was there to consult the older ninja about what he should do about Sakura. As someone with zero social skills, he almost went up to Sakura and ask her straight in the face what is wrong with her family, but thought better of it at the last moment.

Kakashi sighed as he heard Naruto's story, problem whatever that was. Why does Naruto always get himself into troublesome things? And why does he always come to him for help? Does it look like he knows? He was labled as an antisocial prick for a reason. But Naruto never seems to get it.

"Well can't you just go up to her and interrogate directly? It would be fast and efficient." Kakashi shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

At that answer, the blonde mustered up the most unamused stare at Kakashi. Really, can he get any stupider?

"It won't be nice if I were to do that would it? That's why I'm asking you for help. Blockhead." Naruto muttered under his breath, but Kakashi was still able to make out the words. He glared at the blonde as a result.

Naruto lifted his eyes to meet Kakashi's glare. After staring blankly at each other, the duo realised that the atmosphere was starting to get awkward. Kakashi coughed into his fist, while Naruto turned away.

"Come on. We are not getting anything done at this rate." Naruto grumbled, ending with a whine.

"Consult. Let's find someone to consult." Kakashi finally said something intellectual.