(A/N: Play music for more effect.)

Warning: If squeamish to blood and gore, take caution reading this chapter.

"Please, please, please!" Naruto dropped to his knees, begging to the Hokage. "That last mission was lame, —ttebayo! How was that C-ranked?! Since then, all we've done are D-ranked! Please, Oji-san, dattebayo?!"

Hiruzen sighed and sat back in his chair. "What do you think Kakashi?"

All three genin stared at the jōnin expectantly. "Well," He scratched his head and closed his book before putting it in his pouch. "My team has been obedient for the last few missions...why not?"

"B-but, Hokage-sama—"

"Very well. You will be escorting Tazuna, a bridge builder, back to his island in the Waves." The old man gestured for the doors to open, revealing a man with a bottle of alcohol.

"These kids're escorting me? Don't look reliable to me," he slurred, stumbling over his own two feet. "The short idiot looks like the worst, though."

Naruto laughed, "Teme, looks like you're the idiot!"

"Tch, what do you think, Sakura?"

Sakura glanced at the blonde. "It seems you are the short idiot, Ramen-boy."

Naruto looked from him, to Sakura, and then Sasuke. "I'll kill you!" He thrashed against his sensei's firm grip.

"Naruto, you can't kill the charge," He explained.

Tazuna sighed. "I'm gonna be killed."

:::

"Second time outta the village, dattebayo! I can't wait!"

"It's not that big of a deal," Sasuke said, kicking a rock.

"Duckbutt is right. Leaving the village is not important." As their group passed a puddle, Sakura glanced at it, then turned away. It has not rained for days. That puddle is truly a person in disguise, from a village to the east. The charge is expecting an attack, which means he has not told us the necessary to protect him.

"W-watch out!" Sakura turned to see her sensei get annihilated by two chains that cut him into multiple pieces.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto looked in horror at the bloody chunks of his sensei.

"Duckbutt. Assist me," Sakura called out, brandishing a kunai. She turned to the bridge builder, and stood in front of him, ready to protect. I am not doing this because I want to protect him, nor because I was assigned. I am doing this to gain trust with my team so that they are not suspicious of my true purpose.

"SAKURA!" She blinked to see Sasuke in front of her, blocking a chain. "This isn't like you to be blanking out, do your job!" He snarled at her, showing off his pearly whites, then turned to the enemy.

Despite the warning, she closed her eyes, and breathed in. I am a shinobi. I assist allies and destroy enemies. If I help Duckbutt, who is a Konohagakure genin, am I turning my back on Orochimaru...?

"S-Sakura!" The pink-haired girl looked up again, her green eyes snapping open with newfound resolution.

Swiftly, she took out three shuriken, and pinned the other brother to a tree, then reappeared next to him, pushing her kunai into his neck, watching the blood run along the blade's edge. "Sakura-chan?"

She pushed harder, blood spurting onto her cheek.

"One day, you will appreciate the only way to feel truly alive—murder!" Golden eyes closed as the dark-haired man laughed before patting the tank and walking away.

Sakura dug even deeper, finding the jugular, and then cut into it, severing the ends to never connect again. "Jugular; one of the eight points of the Silent Killing technique." Had I not been as skinny and physically weak as I am right now, it would have been a cleaner kill. When I return to the village of Konohagakure, I must continue to build up muscles.

...You killed him in cold blood.

It was kill, or be killed.

She turned, ignoring the blood dripping down her face, and faced her teammates. Even the other brother was silent. After a short moment, he kicked away Sasuke and dodged Naruto, whom had finally come to his senses, and sent a chain towards the girl, who easily deflected it so it pierced the dead man's chest.

Just as she went in for the deadly blow, a wrist stopped her. "Kakashi," she greeted without looking back. I suggest he should let go of my wrist. I have already thought of several way to incapacitate him.

"Sakura." The tone suggested friendliness, but she knew better.

:::

"You have been scratched because the old man left out an important detail," Sakura said, directing her gaze to Naruto, who flinched.

"I-I'm fine, Sakura-chan, dattebayo! Re-really!" The blonde skittishly walked to Sasuke.

"No. As we continue the mission, the poison will effect you more, deeming you useless, and the useless are severed. Do you wish to be severed?"

Naruto flinched again. "No!"

"Well...I did expect more from the future Hokage. I didn't think you'd...freeze up."

The boy stopped moving, then turned to face his sensei. He frowned, took a kunai from his holster, and slashed where he had been cut.

"You will surely bleed to death," Sakura noted, grabbing his wrist. "He got the poison out, but the bleeding shall not cease." She reached for her pouch, being watched carefully by all, and pulled out gauze. Harshly, she wrapped his hand and dropped it before standing up and declaring they begin moving again.

Kakashi didn't bring up how she knew assassination techniques the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist were infamous for, or how easily she killed and disposed of the body.

Sasuke and Naruto found themselves shivering when she passed by, and when she spoke in the same cold tone used before killing the rogue, and how she spoke with them. It was all too similar, and they couldn't stop thinking of what the palm-reader psychic said.

"A long, wavy head line. You are very intelligent, and think things thoroughly before acting. You have a lot of inner conflict, and are usually unstable or untrustworthy..."

"...untrustworthy..."

"Untrustworthy," Sasuke muttered, then glanced at Naruto.

Dun dun dun! Sasuke and Naruto are onto Sakura!

Why is Kakashi ignoring all of these obvious signs that she's a potential threat to Konoha?

When will Sakura begin to lighten up?