From the Ashes
Well this is my first story. Its just been floating around in my head, begging to be written down, so here it is. Hope you enjoy.
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"No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected."
―Julius Caesar
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Chapter 1
Ubiquity
Sakura walked down the unfamiliar corridor, searching for somebody or something—she wasn't sure. There was only the faint hum of the flickering light fixtures overhead. She started to break into a jog down the hallway swerving through the corners as they came. After a while the walls started to close in on her, emitting a piercing shriek as they scraped across floor. The air was like a dense liquid, and finding that it was getting harder and harder to breath and harder and harder to move, Sakura sluggishly came to halt and found her attention being diverted to something at the end of the hall.
A door had appeared at the end of the corridor. Opening with a thunderous clap, an enormous amount of light spilled through. A shadowed figure stood in the doorway. It took a step forward and placed its hands on each side of the passageway, and the walls ceased their movement. As it walked away from the blinding light, Sakura was finally able to register who this figure was. The word escaped her mouth before she could stop it.
"Mom," Sakura said to herself.
"You let me die, Sakura," Her mother said as she slowly approached her. The light being emitted from the end of the hall disappeared as the door slowly closed. "You let us die."
Sakura took a step back, and her mother's movement came to a stop. Her mother's head slowly slid off her shoulders and came to rest on the ground in front of Sakura, only about five feet away. The now headless body slumped to the ground, and Sakura watched the head while its eyes grew a dark red and formed three black tomoes.
"Weak," spoke the head. However, it was no longer the voice of her mother but the voice of someone who she hadn't seen in six years.
"Sasuke," Sakura whispered.
As if on cue, the walls started to move again, this time more rapidly. Sakura put her hands out from her side in an effort to stop the advancing walls. It wasn't enough; she heard the bones snap as the walls crushed her protruded arms. After the immense pain finally registered, she let out an terrible scream. She started to flail around helplessly, trying to find a way—any way—to survive her imminent death.
Her eyes shot open. She sat up and realized how quick she was breathing and slowly composed herself: taking in deep breaths to even the flow of air. Her hair was plastered to the sides of her face by a layer of cold sweat.
After her breathing returned to normal, she looked outside her window. The sun had yet to rise. This became even more apparent when she turned toward the clock and it read: 4:51. She let out a sigh and removed the covers from her.
After walking into the bathroom, she flicked on the lights and observed her image in the mirror. Not only did her face and shoulder-length hair glisten with perspiration but so did her arms and legs. Sakura shifted toward the shower and turned the faucet, releasing the warm water. After stripping herself of the sweaty clothing, she stepped into the shower and instantly felt relief when the water made contact.
After her shower, she stepped back into her room. From the window she noticed the Sun finally creeping past the horizon. 5:43, her clock read. It was a tendency of hers to spend more time than necessary in the shower after one of her nightmares.
Wrapped in a towel, she made her way to the dresser and fished for her standard jonin vest. After finding it, Sakura placed it on her bed and went to retrieve the rest of her clothes. Her eyes stopped on the object on her dresser.
Her ANBU mask.
Some people thought it was strange that Sakura decided to have a life of extreme danger, than of the simple one she found when she used to work for the Konoha Hospital. Many of her friends, Naruto and Ino the most, urged her not to join the ANBU due to it being hazardous, even Tsunade was against it when she told her that she wanted to quit her job at the hospital. But, deep down they knew why she quit. The place held too many memories.
Her mother used to work at the same hospital as her, and after she died, Sakura started seeing her everywhere at her job.
It was too much.
So, she quit, and opted to join the ANBU as a medical shinboi, instead. She needed something to keep her mind astray. The missions that the ANBU members received more than sufficed, so it was fine with her.
Unwillingly, her thoughts wandered to Sasuke and his teammates, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo, whose current whereabouts were unknown. She wondered if he was still with them. After their victory in the Fourth Shinobi World War, Team Taka somehow slipped away amidst the celebration and hadn't been heard from in the six years following. Two years ago, however, her ANBU team was sent to recon an area near Amegakure due to thoughts of Team Taka residing there, but nothing turned up useful. That was the closest to Sasuke she had gotten in the past years, if you could define it "close," anyway.
She finished dressing and slipped her vest over her attire. She wasn't scheduled for any ANBU missions today and didn't expect to be called for any.
She stood and finally turned on the lights in her bedroom.
She no longer lived in her old home. She, instead, lived in an apartment by herself. It consisted of a living room and kitchen conjoined to it. It had only one bedroom and two bathrooms—one near the entrance of her apartment, and one in her bedroom.
Sakura ventured from her bedroom to the living room and flicked on the light switch. Wanting to pass the time, she strolled over to the book case and picked up a book labeled, On the Anatomy of Humans. Sakura sat down on the couch and began reading.
After some amount of time she heard a knock. She placed the book back on the shelf and walked over to the door. She opened and let the bright light pour into her apartment. Her eyes took a second to adjust to the new level of light. However, when she could see clearly, she saw a giant smile on her favorite blond-haired ninja.
"Hi, Sakura!" Naruto said loudly. Her eyes went to Hinata who stood next to him.
"Hi," Hinata greeted, giving Sakura a small wave.
"Hey, guys," She smiled back in return. Sakura never understood how such a loud person could be perfectly paired with a soft, gentle one. But, whatever they were doing, it was working because they moved in with each other over half a year ago, and have been a couple for a little over four years.
"Sakura, we were just wondering if you'd like to go with us to Ichiraku's," Naruto asked. "We haven't seen you for a whole week since you were on a mission and all."
"Can I safely assume you will be paying for all of our meals?" Sakura playfully quipped. Hinata chuckled.
"Uhh, sure, I guess," he replied looking into his wallet and counting the money he had.
"I'm kidding, Naruto. I'm ready to go when you are," Sakura said as she closed the door behind her.
The three of them walked to Ichiraku's, making idle conversation on the way. They waved back at many who people who recognized Naruto as the "village hero" and Sakura as a "medical prodigy." After about fifteen minutes, they could finally see Ichiraku's. Naruto quickened his pace and sat near the middle. He signaled for Hinata and Sakura to sit on either side. Sakura sat on Naruto's left and Hinata on his right. A cheeky grin crept on his lips.
"I'd like Miso Ramen, please," Naruto suddenly exclaimed. Ayame gave him a warm smile and shifted toward Hinata to get her order.
"Same, please," Hinata said. Ayame turned her head to Sakura.
"I'll have Tonkotsu ramen," Sakura said giving a smile back.
"Hey, Ayame, where's the old man?" Naruto questioned.
"We're sort of running low on noodle dough, so he went to pick up more," Ayame answered after she finished writing their meals on a slip of paper. "Okay, two Misos and a Tonokotsu?" She asked.
They nodded their heads in confirmation.
"Alright," she said. Ayame turned around and started on preparing the ramen.
"So, Sakura, was the mission difficult?" Naruto asked, turning his head in her direction.
"Not really," Sakura spoke truthfully. "A hospital near Kumo just needed help with some of its patients." They continued to talk about her mission when Ayame softly interjected.
"And here you go." She had three bowls of ramen on one of her arms, and she expertly placed them down in front of their respective owners.
Sakura broke her chopsticks apart and muttered a soft, "Thank you." Sakura inhaled the scent of her food and was about to start eating, but a small pigeon landed softly on her shoulder, immediately diverting her attention. A small note was being clutched in one of the bird's feet. Sakura removed it, and the bird fluttered away. She looked down at the note and read it in her mind.
It was a summon from Tsunade.
Sakura let out a small sigh and stood from her stool.
"I need to go, guys," Sakura said. They both gave a nod of understanding.
"It was good seeing you, Sakura," Hinata said.
"Hey, Sakura, since you're going to be leaving how about you...?" Naruto pointed at her food. Hinata gave Naruto a gentle accusatory shove. Sakura could only laugh.
"Yeah, yeah." She gently pushed her bowl of ramen to Naruto.
"Thanks, Sakura!" Exclaimed Naruto with a cheeky grin.
She handed the money her food cost to Ayame and quickly walked out of the ramen shop toward the direction of the Hokage's office. She walked through various amounts of doors and up a flight of stairs and reached Tsunade's door. She lightly knocked on it.
"Come in!" Tsunade shouted from her office. Sakura stepped inside and waited for Tsunade to acknowledge her. "Sakura," Tsunade said lifting her head from her work. "Ibiki, needs you for a second in the dungeons."
The dungeons. Sakura always hated going down there. The terrible stench and the occasional scream of pain or anguish always got to her the most.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," she said giving her mentor a bow of respect. Tsunade offered her a sad smile.
"I'm sorry, Sakura. We all have our duties."
"I understand."
"You're dismissed," Tsunade said gently. Sakura gave her another small bow of respect and backed out of the door behind her. She shut the door and took a deep breath, then started walking out of the building.
She honestly hated going to the dungeons more than pretty much anything. She was often called when a prisoner was either acting rebellious and was, therefore, punished, or when a prisoner got interrogated and was harmed physically.
Walking through the streets, she finally came upon the interrogation headquarters and was ushered inside by Ibiki. They swerved through multiple rooms and eventually got to one with a small, square door located on the floor. Ibiki undid the lock and walked down the stairs that appeared. Sakura closely followed.
The odor attacked her nose like a punch to the face. No matter how many times she ventured down into these walls she could never get used to the pungent smell. After walking down various stone hallways, lit only by the faint flickering candles on the walls, she came to the door that led to one of the many interrogation room.
"Let's get this over with quickly." Ibiki opened the door and she could see the bloodstained, stone slab being washed clean by two other people. "Are you ready to tell us, what we need to know?" He said as he walked to the direction of the dark cell in front of them.
No answer.
Ibiki let out a sigh. "Sakura, can you heal the prisoner's back?" Sakura noticed the man, who was facing away from them, shift slightly in the chair he was sitting in. "Don't worry, his chakra's been sealed." She nodded and waited for Ibiki to unlock the cell door. The prisoners always had a large portion of the chakra sealed before being placed in a cell, so they could be handled easily without fear of being overpowered or killed.
She stepped inside the cell and watched the prisoner lower his shirt to unveil his wounds. Nearly every inch of his back was filled with slashes, glistening with blood. Noticing that even though this was the case, none of the cuts were particularly deep so they would heal without even a scar left. She began to focus her chakra into her hands and waited for them to turn a soft green color. After she let her hands hover slightly away from his back, she watched as the cuts on his body began to slowly and completely heal. After finishing, she walked out of the cell and was getting ready to ask Ibiki if he required more of her until what he said next made her stop dead.
"Uchiha, want to start giving us answers?" Ibiki said flicking on the lights of the cell. Wait. Uchiha? Sasuke Uchiha?
The man in the cell turned his head slightly, with his arm over the back of the chair, and looked at the both of them.
It was definitely Sasuke Uchiha.
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The ending was pretty obvious, of course, at least in my opinion. My first piece of writing and right now I'm just trying to build up the story.
Review, please. Tell me something you liked, disliked, and maybe a little bit of constructive criticism.