A/N: second instalment of the Italian saga, after "Missione Seduzione". It's not strictly indispensable to read that one first, but it surely helps.
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With her mask in place, Sakura remained quiet among the bushes. She listened carefully.
No sounds came from the clearing in front of her. Nothing at all.
And that was the most certain proof that something was wrong. They were in the middle of the forest, there should be some signs of life, or at least the wind should move the leaves. Instead, there was nothing.
Very carefully, making sure she didn't make any sounds herself, Sakura brought her hands together.
"Kai!" she whispered, making her chakra flow stop for a short second and then flaring it.
That second was enough. The forms in front of her eyes began to change. The clearing disappeared, and a large, antique building materialized in its place. Not moving even a muscle, the pink-haired woman waited for her captain to give a signal.
A solitary bird made its appearance in the forest. Flying around serenely, it came very close to the medic.
Close enough to allow her to make sure it was a raven.
Without thinking, the young woman acted. She disappeared from the place she was to reappear behind Genma and Shisui, who were running at full speed towards the building. She followed them closely, at the same time checking the area behind them for any threats. She found none.
Her two teammates had stopped right in front of the ancient building. They moved to the side to leave her an opening. With a jump, she landed exactly next to it, aimed a punch, released it and jumped away again.
If anyone had been assisting, the scene would have seemed ridiculous to say the least. Two males had run at full speed towards a massive structure, only to stop right in front of it and move aside. Then, a small and delicate-looking female had followed, and had tried to hit the building with her fist. And all of them had strange masks on.
What an occasion to have a good laugh.
But, if anyone had really been watching, they would have stared in shock only two seconds later. The spot which the fragile woman had aimed her punch had exploded, making an entire wall collapse. The two men had been waiting for that moment, and entered the building as soon as the dust had dissipated. The young woman scanned the area again and then followed. But this time she wasn't alone.
A tall, raven-haired man was at her side. The mask made it impossible to see, but his eyes were spinning with the Sharingan.
As soon as they were in, Sakura made sure to stay next to her captain, as she had been instructed to do. After making sure that there were no suspicious movements around them, she took a moment to analyse the place.
The building was anciently decorated on the inside, too. The large room in which they were seemed to be some kind of music room, with an old and clearly broken piano in the middle and some other very damaged instruments like violins and cellos on the walls. It had not been Sakura's punch to destroy them, however, because she had calibrated it perfectly. No, someone else had intentionally and systematically taken pleasure in ruining every piece of decoration of the room. Glancing at other rooms, the pink-haired woman saw clearly that the other rooms had not been spared from whoever had decided act like a savage.
Still, that wasn't the time to think about those details. A whole little village on the border of the land of Fire had been abducted. Who the culprits were, was still to be determined, but there was the strong suspicion that the Sound nins were behind it all, as a form of threat to the Leaf Village. The few villagers who had managed to escape had come to Konoha, begging for help. And Tsunade had not refused. The ones who had not been kidnapped had only heard the words 'antique manor', but that had been enough for the Hokage. She had sent ANBU squad Alpha to an ancient house in a secluded area of the land of Fire, where the Daimiyo had once lived. It was now abandoned, and it was certainly large enough to hide a whole village in it.
So there they were. Sakura, however, didn't see any signs of living creatures in the nearest rooms. She reflected quickly. The building was an ancient one; what were ancient houses famous for? Of course, their mysterious crypts and underground vaults. In that moment, Itachi met her gaze. She immediately understood that they were both thinking the same thing. She nodded briefly, letting him know she was aware of his intentions.
Finding the entrance of the cellar proved to be easy enough. There were at least three doors that led under the house. In a way, it was good, because there were more places from which they could let the villagers escape; but at the same time, they made it possible for the enemy to attack from more sides. Genma and Shisui, who had the task to go through the whole house and look for enemies, would have to work hard.
As the captain and the medic walked down the stairs, all their senses were alert. They arrived at the bottom without incidents.
In front of them there were many passageways. Both extended their chakra and found a huge gathering of people in one of them. They took that path immediately, but still cautiously.
A very depressing spectacle awaited them. All the people of the village were together in a huge vault, with large prison bars to separate them from the exit. Those bars reached the ceiling and were completely locked.
As soon as they saw Itachi and Sakura, they immediately began to ask for help, begging them to free them. After checking the area, the ANBU captain gave a curt nod to the young woman. She broke the lockets with the sheer force of her hands, but quietly and subtly, so she wouldn't scare the people. The village was not a ninja one; they were all civilians.
Then, before letting them out, she told them to be silent and follow her quickly, because there was still danger. The villagers, although scared, understood and went together with her quietly. Itachi extended his senses, but again, no one seemed to be there.
While Sakura led the people out of the house, gathering them all in the forest, placing a very powerful seal upon their whereabouts, which had been prepared in advance by the Hokage herself, Itachi thought about the situation. Something was definitely not right. It appeared as if the kidnappers had already left. What was their purpose then?
Outside, Itachi and Sakura waited for the rest of the team to come back. Shisui and Genma arrived shortly, saying that nothing was wrong, except almost every room had been badly damaged.
Right in that instant, they were attacked. At least a dozen shinobi, all dressed in black and with long katanas, appeared from nowhere and charged. Sakura knew her duty and quietly retreated, knowing they were nothing the ANBU squad couldn't handle. As a medic, she had to keep away from fights, at least at the beginning. When she had first been told to do so, she hadn't been happy, but then she had understood. It would give a false idea of her strength to the enemies, and it gave her also a good opportunity to observe the battlefield.
As expected, the black-clothed shinobi saw the small figure of one of the ANBU not engage in the fight, and thought her an easy target. Two of them leaped towards her, katanas ready. But before they could reach her, they were both taken out by the captain, with only one move of his own katana.
Sakura knew better than to feel offended at being protected by him: it was a strategy they had discussed in advance. Seeing the captain shield one member would make the enemies think that she was an important but weak element of the team, and they would become careless when in her vicinity. She would be very much like a spider, luring the 'flies' directly in her carefully laid trap.
And indeed, that was what happened: after Shisui and Genma had taken out their opponents, the three remaining ninja avoided them to aim towards the pink-haired woman. With a swift move, she sent three poisoned senbons in their throats, killing them instantly. She didn't want to make too large use of her chakra-laden fists at the moment, because they didn't know if there were other enemies.
Team Alpha gathered together to decide the next course of action. The enemies that had attacked them were down and there was currently no one else around them, but there could still be other threats. So it was decided to take the villagers back to their place. But not before disposing of the ancient manor. It wouldn't do if it was used by Orochimaru or other people for the wrong purposes. So Itachi scanned the whole building carefully with his chakra, checking for any presences they might have missed. Founding none, he inclined his head towards the only female member of his squad.
"You have only one punch. We must move quickly," he reminded her, taking a step back to leave her space.
A feral grin appeared on Sakura's lips, even if it wasn't visible due to the mask. "One punch will suffice, Taichou."
The young woman gave the building a quick glance, tilting her head to the side. Her teammates observed her with interest. Then, in a swift move, she threw her fist against one of the external walls.
With a deep rumble, the ancient manor collapsed on itself. Nothing remained standing. Even the cellar had collapsed, as they could see, because the whole building seemed to have sunk under the surface of the forest.
The ANBU captain sent an approving nod to his newest member, and then he began to prepare the teleportation jutsu for the villagers. The amount of chakra necessary for it would be significant, and all members of the squad would have to contribute.
The seals were places all around the people. At the village, ANBU squad Beta would be expecting them. Sakura had quickly checked if there were any injured, but thankfully, there were none. So the jutsu was immediately made effective. With a last bow of thanks, the villagers disappeared.
Team Alpha had to go back to Konoha to report. They ran through the forest, changing positions often in their formation, as they always did, without speaking. Until they were back within the village walls, and sometimes not even then, they couldn't afford to drop their alertness.
Finally, after some hours of silent running, the walls of Konoha appeared in the distance. Sakura sighed inwardly in relief. She could go home, take a shower and rest for a while. Those missions with ANBU were very interesting, but also very demanding.
By the way, how had she, head medic of the hospital of the Leaf Village, ended up in the top ANBU team of Konoha?
Sure, her current captain, Uchiha Itachi, had overheard her conversation – or better, argument – with the Hokage about seduction missions. But that hadn't been the beginning. It had been a little after that event.
Oh yeah, it had all started with a huge panic attack…
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A/N: I threw Sakura in the middle of her new missions, but now I'll go back to where I left off after "Missione Seduzione".
"Combattere Insieme" is in Italian and it means "fighting together".
The next one is going to be called "Attacco Di Panico".
Thank you for reading!
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