A/N: Hey guys. Another thing for you to see and enjoy. I got this from Andrew Joshua Talon. Just seeing where I can take this. This is what he originally wrote. All credit goes to him. Thanks!
He had no particular desire to go off on one of Orochimaru's missions, but if he was going to get that next Justu, that's what he would do. And the next, and the next...
A troublemaker had emerged in Rice Country, torching villages that supplied Sound with the needed materials to continue, seemingly moving along with the location of the hidden village itself whenever it moved. Orochimaru discerned a pattern, and was confident Sasuke could handle it.
This is what brought him to this grain silo, thanks to a few local tips that this was where he could meet someone who knew about the troublemaker.
He frowned as he scanned the interior with his Sharingan. Everything seemed normal... One single chakra signature within, civilian level...
Everything was dark. He snorted. Coward...
He pushed open the doors and walked in. The door closed behind him, and a light came on over his head.
"So glad you could, ahem, make it," the chakra signature spoke. The voice was female, though shrouded in darkness Sasuke wasn't able to make out much else beyond her general figure.
"You said you had information?" Sasuke asked flatly. The woman nodded enthusiastically, then looked carefully back and forth.
"Yes... Information. Information, the life's blood of the world. Armies don't move, couples don't marry, kids don't move without it!"
Sasuke maintained his aloof appearance. He'd dealt with lunatics before-Relied on them. Making sure they knew who was in charge kept them reliable.
"Don't waste my time."
The woman giggled. "Oh, believe me, that's the last thing I want to waste..." She tossed him a small box, and Sasuke caught it.
"What's this?"
"All you need in order to find the troublemaker for Orochimaru," the woman giggled. Sasuke frowned, and scanned the box. No obvious traps he could see.
If he couldn't see it, there was nothing to fear. He pulled open the box.
BANG! Something within it went off, blasting gas into the surprised Sasuke's face. Coughing as it clouded his mind and made his body numb, he slumped to the floor, eyes wide in shock.
What...?
He passed out.
Sometime later, he became aware that he was looking at darkness, under yet another light. He tried to blink but his eyelids wouldn't cooperate. His arms and legs were bound, and in horror realized that that was all he could do. He was paralyzed.
"What... What is this?" He snarled defiantly. The woman's giggles reached his ears, and he sensed her walking around from behind.
"Well... You found me, Sasuke-kun~!" The woman entered the pool of light cast by the lamp above, Sasuke's eyes widening minutely. All his practice in maintaining total emotional detachment seemed to fly out the window the moment she came into view.
"... Sakura?" He asked incredulously. The woman giggled again, licking her bright red lips. The white face paint she wore and the red lipstick she'd drawn all over her face into the form of a big smile reminded him of a geisha. She wore a long white coat over bright red and black clothing. She walked up to him, absent mindedly twirling her knife. Sasuke looked around.
"Where's the idiot?" He demanded. Sakura giggled again.
"Hahahaha..."
"I'm not going back to Konoha! I have my revenge! Didn't you get this the last time, Naruto?! NARUTO?!"
"I'm sorry, Naruto isn't here right now," Sakura said. "No, he's nowhere near here, to be honest."
Sakura walked forward and leaned down, bringing her face close to his. In disgust, Sasuke saw that the red lines going up her cheeks outlined grotesque, knit lacerations in her skin going from either corner of her mouth.
"You...?"
"Oh, do you like them?" Sakura asked, moving her head back and forth, showing off. "I've always felt that everyone should have a nice, big smile." She slid her knife to Sasuke's cheeks, lightly tracing its tip against his skin. Sasuke shivered, all of his ninja classes on body language screaming that something was very, very wrong here.
"Sakura... What are you doing?" Sasuke managed. Sakura giggled.
"Oh, that's good, that's good," she purred. "You always did try to hide your fear didn't you? Keep it under wraps, as it were... But I know better. We know better, don't we, hm?"
Sasuke glared defiantly back, activating his Sharingan. She was looking him right in the eyes, he could easily...
Easily...
Sakura cackled, throwing her head back and shaking her dirty pink hair.
"Oh, that is funny! You waited until I was looking you right in the eyes, trying to put a genjutsu over me... Won't work, uh uh."
"Why not?" Sasuke growled. Sakura grinned and spun around.
"Because I'm special that's why! Just like your eyes! So very, very special, mmhm." She leaned her face back close to his.
"Which is why I'm here. You see... I've come for your eyes." She turned, snapping her fingers. More lights flared into existence to Sasuke's right, and he turned, staring in growing horror at what Sakura had revealed.
There were three dead Sound ninja strung up before him. The first had hair dyed blonde and messy, bloody whisker marks carved into his cheeks, wearing an orange jumpsuit. The second, a girl whom he'd seen observing him in an all-too-familiar way, was dressed in Sakura's old dress with her hair dyed pink. The last, a short-haired boy who wore tops that exposed his belly, was now dressed in his old blue Uchiha shirt and white pants.
All three had their eyes gouged out, sitting on a dirty wooden table in front of them. Sakura giggled, coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around him in a hug, reminding him of how Ino used to glomp him from behind.
He shivered in fear.
"But you see, first I needed some practice! And what better practice than on your friends? Hello all!" She exclaimed cheerfully, waving her hand at the corpses. She slunk around, sitting in Sasuke's lap and tapping her knife around his eyes. Sasuke gulped, sweating hard.
"There it is," she purred. "That wonderful fear. I've seen it a few times before..." She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "And you know what? It's just as pathetic looking as I remember mmhm."
"Sakura... Please... Let me go," Sasuke managed quietly. Sakura stared at him, before throwing back her head and laughing.
"HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! Oh, were you overrated," she got out in between guffaws. She lowered her head and smirked at him.
"You were always so blind, even with such wonderful eyes! Blind to affection, blind to friendship, blind to love..." She grinned widely.
"But I know... Oh, I see now," she whispered. "It's all just one giant illusion. The mighty Uchiha clan... You see, that's why I've come for your eyes."
Sasuke took a deep breath. "Why?"
"Because, Sasuke-kun~, you don't need them anymore," she hissed. She grinned and leaned in, placing her lips next to his ear.
"Because I killed Itachi... All by myself," she hissed. Sasuke gritted his teeth and glared in rage at her.
"You couldn't-!"
"Of course I could, Sasuke-kun~! I did it! It was so easy, too," she taunted. "Blew him to teeny, tiny Uchiha pieces, mmhm. So really... Your eyes are no longer needed."
"No! NOOOOOOOOO!" Sasuke screamed, as Sakura's laughter grew in volume, until it was the only thing he could hear...
~ COFTJ ~
"HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAA!"
The house was burning around them, and even with everyone escaped, everyone safe, even with just the two of them there and her plans ruined... She stilled laughed.
Naruto, eyes red with the Kyuubi's power, snarled and grabbed Sakura by her coat, slamming her into the nearest, non-burning wall. She just looked at him and kept laughing, that horrible sound.
"Stop it Sakura. SAKURA! STOP IT!" He roared in her face. She just giggled and looked him in the eyes, smiling almost sweetly with the scars cut into her cheeks.
"But I can't! I CAN'T STOP IT! HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAA!" She grinned insanely.
"Don't you see, Naruto-kun~? This fire was ready to burn long before I got here! I'm just the match! The spark!" She cackled.
"Oh, the delicious fear! All I did was blow up a few buildings, a few hospitals, kill a few people and look at what I've done!" She grinned mockingly at him.
"That demon inside you knows the truth. It smells the fear, thick in the air like smoke. Ahh, can't you smell it?"
"Sakura, stop! You're sick! This isn't you!" Naruto tried again, anger gripping him. What had done this to her? Why? He couldn't understand it.
This was no enemy he could crush, no bad guy he could beat up. It was a disease inside of the person he loved and he could do nothing for her.
No, he thought angrily. NO! There's always something I can do! I WON'T GIVE UP!
Strangely, as though reading his mind, Sakura gave him a compassionate, almost serene smile.
"There's nothing you can do, Naruto," she said plainly. "This is me... How I am, how I was meant to be. The entire world is a joke, one big laugh. There's no such thing as heroes..."
"Yes there is! There are heroes!" Naruto cried out desperately. Sakura giggling, the flames growing more intense.
"Heroes?! Like Hokages?! They kill people to preserve their precious village, they make women abuse and dirty their bodies, they do ALL off this to keep things together, maintain order. They praise worthless traitors like Sasuke and grind loyal, wonderful people like you into the dirt. You had to struggle for every piece of respect you have, and he was just handed it" Sakura laughed harder.
"Ohhh and me... Me. Me. Me. Worthless, weak, pink-haired me. What was I? Just the same." She looked directly into Naruto's eyes, and he struggled to look back into the horrific deadness within them.
"Just the same as you..." She leaned down and breathed against his ear.
"The only difference is... I've gotten the joke," she whispered. Naruto shuddered as she wrapped her long legs around him, and continued speaking in a seductive tone, even as their surroundings continued to burn.
"Come on, Naruto... Give it up. As Hokage you'll just have to do bad things to preserve a world that wouldn't exist without those things. Without you compromising your morals, the hero dragged down into the dirt, destroyed. Even if you try to do the right thing they'll hate you, mock you, and call you an idiot or a warmonger..." Sakura lightly nibbled his ear and sucked in a deep breath.
"At least I'm honest in my intentions," she whispered. Naruto pulled away, and looked her right in the eyes.
"You're sick, you're hurt, you hate the world and everything in it, including yourself," Naruto stated in a quiet but strong voice. "You want to make everything burn because it abandoned you. You have the power now-You have everything"
Sakura stared at him. Naruto took a deep breath, even in the choking smoke, and growled.
"In the end though, you'll have nothing but yourself and ashes... And what then?"
Sakura just cackled.
"Why Naruto-kun... It won't get that far..."
"Why not?" Naruto asked angrily. She smirked.
"Because, you'll always be there to stop me," she purred, rubbing herself up against him. "Unstoppable force... Immovable object." She grinned in his face.
"You can't be turned... And really, what kind of fun would I have if you were? No one else could stop me... Sasuke was too weak. He didn't understand, you see? He didn't get the Joke. Oh, but you do, Naruto-kun, you do." She grinned.
"There will always be the darkness and the light, the yin and the yang... Sakura and Naruto. You'll always stop me... I'll never stop..." Her grin widened even as Naruto threw her over his shoulder and leaped out of the way of a collapsing pillar.
"And what fun we'll have! HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAA-URK!"
Naruto lowered his fist, Sakura slumped unconscious over his shoulder. He sighed, the Kyuubi's power fading. He looked in the direction of the Hokage Monument, considered...
"No," Naruto said at last. "I'll break this cycle... I'll save you, Sakura... I promise. And I don't ever, ever go back on my word."
With that, he set out for the village, eyes firmly on the future.
A/N: Yep. So, what will Naruto do with Sakura? Where will they go? How in the hell is Naruto going to fix this shit? Well, anyway, here is what was at the top of the page originally:
Author's Note: When I have writer's block, I often write a lot of random snippets of ideas, omakes, and continuations of other author's ideas that kind of petered out. As I'm afflicted with a bit of writer's block regarding Key through the Heart (again), I've decided I'm not going to leave you guys in the lurch. Therefore, enjoy some writing I've been doing over at The Fanfiction Forum.
This is another older idea that wasn't originally mine, but I added on and developed further. During the time skip Sakura is captured by missing Nin and tortured horribly. Nobody comes to her rescue, nobody saves her-She breaks, and Inner Sakura takes over. This transformation leaves Sakura with all her old beliefs that Naruto would always save her or that there was good in the world, gone. She sees it all as one big, colossal joke.
So, bearing scars on her face that give her a nice, big smile, she seeks to let everyone else in the world in on The Joke of life.