„missing piece"

Early in the morning, Naruto and Sakura patiently waits by Hanako's side. She's been out for three days and this worries them. There's no doubt that the unconscious girl has already made them attached to her.

Tsunade mentioned that this was bound to happen. The girl's memories are still incomplete and there's probably something that triggered it.

"I should've stopped her from training that day, she already told me that her head ached so much.", Naruto says with his eyebrows furrowed.

"There was nothing we can do, all we have is to wait for her.", Sakura comforts the blonde, she knows how much Hanako meant to him.

Hours passed, the two teenagers decided to leave for now. Naruto went to training to get his head off Hanako, if ever it's possible. Sakura needed to go home and do some errands.

－

Hanako's body jolts up from the hospital bed. She quickly removed everything from her wrists and runs to the Hokage's office.

I have to tell her now.

She jumps building to building, not caring if anyone can see her and her bright hair, she can't waste anymore time. The people in the village can see the mysterious blue glint and starts pointing at it. Children smiling at it, saying that it was some kind of magical entity.

This commotion caught a certain blonde's attention.

Is that－ Hanako-chan!

He rushes to her, trying to catch up.

"Hanako-chan! What are you doing out here!? You're supposed to rest!", he shouts at her but to no avail, she was running so fast.

Baa-chan's office? Why?

Hanako slams the doors open, catching Tsunae off guard.

"Hanako? Wha－", Tsunade exclaims before being cut off by the girl.

"I remember! I remember why I lost my memories!", she says as Naruto follows behind.

Naruto grabs her shoulders and let's her face him.

"Are you out of your mind!?", the boy shouts at her with worry.

"Naruto, stop. Hanako remembers something. She wouldn't be running here if it wasn't so important."

Hanako turns away from Naruto and places her hands at the Hokage's desks.

"I was with－, well, they captured me.", Hanako feels the tension of the room, not sure what would be their reaction. This was a touchy subject, especially for Naruto.

"Who?"

"Orochimaru captured me from a group of people who kidnapped me. He said I owe him my life so he trained me there, along with", she gulps as she looks at Naruto, "Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto's eyes widen in shock.

"You saw him?!"

"He acted as my guard. They didn't let me go so I had to be guarded at all times.", she sighs, "But he's the reason why I was able to escape though."

"He helped you?", Naruto says in disbelief. Then, he smiles.

I knew it, you still have the good in you, Sasuke.

"Yeah, I planned escaping. They didn't know that I already mastered genjutsu so they tried to trap me in it and I went along with it. It took six months of planning to get out of that shithole, I wasn't going to fuck up and go back to square one. I really wanted to leave that place."

"Of course, I reached the exit and ran as far as I can. Orochimaru isn't stupid, he would send someone to catch me. The person who was assigned to do that was Sasuke. We fought a little and I cursed at him a lot, sorry that wasn't necessary. I remember him grabbing my katana without any word and kicked me off a fucking cliff.", Hanako says angrily.

"I was too slow on comprehending what he did and I had too much injuries to process everything. So, I landed on my head too hard. That's when a couple saved me and called me their own."

I guess they were scared to tell me they just adopted me because I would probably leave.

"Thinking about it now, he probably kept my katana to tell Orochimaru that I was dead. Or probably he kept it because he was always so jealous of my katana.", Hanako rolls her eyes.

"I rushed to tell you because I know where Orochimaru is.", Hanako says happily.

Am I finally becoming useful?

"Are you sure you're ready for this?", Tsunade questions the girl.

"Of course! I've been training nonstop for weeks now. Plus, surprising him that I'm still alive would feel amazing."

Tsunade looks at Shizune for a second and nods at her.

"Alright, Naruto, call Team Kakashi. You're going on a mission.", Tsunade announces. Hanako looks at Naruto with a bright smile but to her dismay, Naruto wasn't as excited as her.

They exited together. Naruto kept silent the whole time, not saying anything to the Shinozaki.

"Oi? Naruto-kun? What's wrong?", Hanako tries to make him face her but he shrugs her hands off.

"What are you thinking Hanako-chan? You just got out of the hospital and now you want to go chase someone?", Naruto shouts at her as Hanako flinch at his voice.

"What are you talking about? I know the location of the hideout and you want me to stay put? We don't have time! Every 3 or 4 months they would probably move!", Hanako shouts at him at the same tone he used.

"I thought you would be at least happy. Of course I want to beat Orochimaru's ass but I also want you to finally see your friend.", the girl says with a low voice. Naruto's face softens at what she said.

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried ya'know? It got out of hand.", Naruto apologizes to the girl. It's true, he was really worried about the girl. She just woke up from a three-day coma, who wouldn't be worried?

What am I thinking? I would probably do the same. Plus, Baa-chan approved of it even if Hanako came from the hospital. She probably has a plan for this.

Naruto opens his arms wide and the girl happily embraces him.

"I won't die Naruto-kun, I still have to see you become a Hokage."

－

The location wasn't that far. Hanako can even see the cliff she fell from.

That asshole really pushed me that high. I'll fuck him up when I see him.

"Hanako-chan, are you sure you're feeling fine?", Sakura asks her with concern. They were travelling since morning. The last time they were travelling, she got really tired.

"Of course Sakura-chan!"

Team Kakashi were given the mission to go to the hideout Hanako knows about. It didn't matter if Orochimaru was there or not. They can scoop the area and gather intel on where he probably is and what he is planning. Although, it was still important that they have enough manpower if they encounter him.

"We're near, we just passed the town where I'm from.", Hanako informs the group.

Sakura didn't know what to feel when she heard about Hanako's recent memory. She wanted to ask so much questions about Sasuke but she'll save it for later. It felt weird knowing that they had this connection.

"Let's stop here first.", Kakashi says.

He explains their situation and the plan they're going to follow. It was important that they have proper formation and offense if ever they are going to encounter enemies.

"You guys know what to do, don't mess it up."

－

The group arrived at the hideout, they follow the said plan and split up. They scatter through the place.

"Same old ugly-looking and dark corridors.", Hanako says to herself.

She opens the door that Orochimaru usually stays in and finds something horrifying.

It was his body, someone just killed him.

Is it Sasuke?

"I can't believe that little shit beat me to it.", Hanako says angrily before punching the wall, resulting it to break.

Hanako runs to the direction where she can sense a familiar chakra. She moves as quickly as possible, not wanting to miss anything.

Meanwhile, Naruto was staring at his old friend. Hoping that he would just come home with him. Let him know that his revenge is consuming him with darkness.

"Sasuke!", he shouts with anger.

Sakura, on the other hand, just arrived at the scene, and when she heard Naruto say their former teammate's name. She immediately looks for the Uchiha. When her eyes landed at him, she feels the tears forming in her eyes.

The Shinozaki arrives at the place. It was outside, it seems like an explosion took place because rocks and debris were scattered everywhere. Hanako looks above and saw a familiar face. They both lock eyes with each other, she can see the slight shock on Sasuke's face that slowly turned into a smirk.

"I see you made friends.", he suddenly speaks.

"I'm still mad at you for pushing me off.", Hanako hisses at him.

Everyone else was quiet but on their guard, they don't know what could happen.

"You were supposed to die from that.", he replies nonchalantly.

"Hanako! Stop!", Kakashi shouts at the girl but it was too late.

The Shinozaki charged at Sasuke with full force. Their swords clang with each movement.

"Like old times huh?", Hanako says to him with a smirk.

Everyone stare at them and how fast they were moving. Sakura stares at Hanako's actions.

Hanako-chan is really talented with that sword.

"I've spent all this time training, you can't beat me anymore.", Sasuke replies to her as he swings his sword that was coating with what seems like electricity.

"Neat trick, dumbass", she jumps high and focuses all her chakra to her leg and slams it on the ground, creating distance between them. She charges him again and twists her body to create a stronger impact that usually throws the Uchiha's sword away.

But that wasn't the case. Instead of his sword flying through, Hanako's katana broke into pieces.

Fuck! So much for that cheap piece of shit. If I was using my old katana, that would work.

"Hanako-chan! Stop!", Sakura shouts at her, worried for friend's dear life.

Hanako raises her arms in the air, gesturing that she gives up.

"Alright, you win.", Hanako says with a calm face, "Sike."

Hanako lowers her body to the ground, catching the Uchiha off-guard. His body fell into the ground. Before Hanako can give a final blow, she sees a glint of red and feels a presence behind her back. She turns around and sees Sasuke. Without hesitation, he stabs her with his sword. The blade punctures her shoulder, if he stabbed her a little lower, she could have bled to death immediately.

Hanako lets out a scream of pain. Kakashi quickly interrupts the battle as Sasuke creates distance between him and the two. Letting the sword come out of Hanako's wound, which made her yelp in pain once more. Sakura rushed to Hanako's side, trying to ease her friend's wound.

"You really want to kill me that bad? That's creepy Sasuke!", Hanako manages to shout at Sasuke. The boy merely chuckles at this.

"Rasengan!", a familiar voice came out of nowhere. The Uchiha quickly jumps to dodge the attack.

"I don't have time for this.", Sasuke says with annoyance laced to his voice. He throws a familiar black katana to the Shinozaki, making the girl widen her eyes.

The scene shocks everyone in the area, Sasuke takes this opportunity to escape. But before he does, he secretly smiles at Hanako.

And Hanako just flips him off.