The Cherry blossom chronicles
The darkness of night had descended far quicker than Itachi would have anticipated. The cold-hearted S-rank criminal, who sat alone atop a tall cliff which overviewed the vast and moon-illuminated forest below him, gazed impassively up into the star-lit sky with his piercing crimson eyes. The full moon was out tonight, signifying that it was time to take action and commence the "Akatsuki's" newest operation. It was time. Itachi let out a low, pained sigh and buried his head into his hands. He had always hated looking into the full moon. It reminded him too much of that night: the night he abandoned his own village after slaughtered his own family, leaving only his younger brother, Sasuke, alive. Itachi quickly shook those thoughts from his mind. He knew that he couldn't afford to dwell on the past. Not now at least. Not when there was a task that needed to be accomplished. Just then, the harsh commands of Pain, the Akatsuki leader, echoed in Itachi's mind.
"I want Orochimaru's corpse at my feet by Friday night," Pain had instructed. "If we cannot manage to assassinate him by then, our entire operation will surely collapse."
Itachi had no idea what the leader had meant when he said "their entire operation would collapse," but he hadn't even bothered asking. Itachi knew his place. After 22 years of living, Itachi realized what his purpose was. He was simply a tool used to serve those superior to him. If it was his decision, Itachi wouldn't have chosen this fate, but by now it was far too late. From the day he was born into the Uchiha clan to the day he entered into the ANBU black-ops, and even now as an Akatsuki member, Itachi was just a disposable pawn to be used for the will of others. He knew his place well, so he didn't ask the leader why it was so important to have Orochimaru dead by Friday night. All he knew was that it needed to be done. With that thought set firmly in his mind, Itachi rose to his feet.
What day is it today? Itachi pondered for a moment. After a moment of thought, Itachi realized that it was only Tuesday, meaning they still had three days till their deadline. With that, Itachi's body instantly dispersed into a large flock of crows and flew out into the darkness of the night.
Hurry up Deidara, Itachi thought as his crow bodies soared across the sky. I'm counting on you!
Elsewhere…
The white light of the full moon shimmered through the iron bars and hit Sakura Haruno on her pale face. Slowly, Sakura's eyelids began to open and revealed two emerald eyes which seemed to glimmer in the moonlight.
W-where am I? Sakura wondered hazily as she slowly began to take in her surroundings. She appeared to be in some type of filthy prison cell. Sakura looked down at her body and realized that she was constricted in chains. Suddenly, a searing pain shot through Sakura's body. She felt as though she had suffered some type of head injury.
What happened to me? Tiny pieces of Sakura's memory began to return to her. She could just vaguely remember that she had been sent on a mission to return Sasuke to Konohagakure. So how did she end up here? Just then, the face of Sakura's best friend and eternal rival, Ino, flashed through her mind.
Sasuke…
(Flashback: In Konoha, half a day ago)
Sakura stood silently by the entrance gates of Konohagakure.
This time, Sakura thought determinedly, this time I'll bring back Sasuke-Kun for sure!
"C'mon, Sakura!" Naruto Uzumaki, her idiotic and knuckle-headed friend, yelled in frustration. "Let's go! Sasuke-Teme won't wait for us while we just sit around!" Sakura responded to this by punching Naruto in the face.
"We need to wait for the rest of our team to show up, idiot!" Sakura yelled angrily. "We're going to be heading into the Hidden Sound Village, so we need a full team!"
"I don't know, Sakura-Chan," Naruto said, grinning slyly. "If it was just the two of us it would be like a date!" Sakura, once again, delivered an earth-shattering punch to Naruto's face and sent him flying backwards a couple of feet.
"How many times do I need to tell you? I DON'T want to go out with you!"
Naruto sighed and returned to his feet. The two of them waited for a few minutes and Naruto began to pace thinking, where the heck is Neji supposed to be? Suddenly, Naruto heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind him. He spun around excitedly but he looked disappointed when he saw, not Neji, but his younger cousin Hinata. A small blush appeared on Hinata's face when Naruto looked at her.
"Um, h-hi, N-Naruto-Kun," Hinata stuttered nervously.
"Oh, it's only you, Hinata," Naruto said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Do you know where Neji is?"
"Well, um… Neji couldn't make it. He has to attend a jonin meeting so I'll be his replacement."
"Oh, okay," Naruto said with a dumb grin on his face. "I suppose you're better than nothing." Sakura noticed the look of disappointment on Hinata's face and thought, Naruto, you idiot! You hurt Hinata's feelings. Basically everyone knew how Hinata felt about Naruto except… Naruto himself.
Hinata blushed, thinking that maybe this could be the day she could tell Naruto how she feels about him. Hinata didn't want to hide her feelings anymore. "N-Naruto?"
Naruto turned around. "Yeah, Hinata?"
Hinata blushed and thought, I can do this! She swallowed hard and screamed, "NARUTO, I LO-"
"Hey, guys!" a voice said from behind them. Naruto and Hinata turned around and saw Shikamaru Nara, a chunin around their age, walking toward them. The laid-back chunin wore an indifferent look on his face and his black hair was in the shape of a pineapple.
"Hey, Shikamaru!" Naruto said, greeting his lazy friend. He then turned back to Hinata and said, "What was that you wanted to tell me?"
"Oh, nothing," she said. Hinata sighed to herself, I was so close!
"So you're going to be leading the mission?" Sakura asked Shikamaru.
"Yeah," Shikamaru replied glumly, "but it's a pain in the…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Shino, another one of Naruto's friends, whose body was almost completely covered in his clothing, appeared out of nowhere. "Shikamaru, watch your mouth," Shino said coolly. Shino's hood covered his entire face except his eyes which were covered by his dark sunglasses. In his left hand, Shino was holding a jar which contained eggs of some kind.
"What are the eggs for?" Naruto asked dumbly. Shino explained that his beetles went through mating season, inside his body, and as soon as the eggs hatch he will train the bugs how to fight.
Sakura let out an "Eeeew!" in response.
"So you're coming to bring Sasuke back too?" Naruto questioned the bug tamer.
Shino nodded and added, "I will be helping Shikamaru lead this mission."
Naruto looked back at the village behind and asked, "Are Choji and Kiba, or maybe Bushy Brows and TenTen, coming with us?"
"They are all on missions," Shikamaru explained. "But as soon as they come back they'll come after us and help us with the mission."
"Well, all right then," Naruto yelled excitedly. "Now that the gang's all here, let's get going!"
"Okay guys," Shikamaru said. "Let's roll!"
(End flashback)
Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by the blasting sound of an explosion.
What was that? Sakura thought, startled. Then, all of the sudden, she could barely make out the sound of someone's voice as soon as the explosion sound died down.
"All right then. We're in, hmmm?" Sakura heard a deep and masculine voice say.
Sakura could have sworn she had heard this voice before. Then a second voice spoke. This one was more childish than the other.
"Yeah, Tobi did a good job taking out those guards right, Deidara-Senpai?"
What's going on? Sakura thought as the voices continued.
"All right, let's find Orochimaru, Tobi wanna play with him!"
"Idiot! Stay focused, yeah? Un."
Suddenly, Sakura could barely make out the sound of two heavy footsteps from outside her cell. The footsteps grew louder and louder and, suddenly, everything grew quiet. Just then, the door to Sakura's cell clanked opened and two men stepped in. One wore an odd uniform, with red clouds on it, and had an orange spiraling mask. The other man beside him appeared to be only a few years older than Sakura. He had rather feminine features, the most noticeable one being his long blond hair which was brought into a ponytail. He wore the same uniform as his companion and had a camera for a left eye. There was a brief silence as the blond-haired man focused on Sakura with his camera eye. Then the man in the orange mask broke the silence by saying, "Hey, Deidara-Senpai, who's the cutie in the chains?"
Sakura felt her face get hot, no doubt turning red. Deidara smacked the speaker over the head, hard. "Hey!" yelped the masked man, "Don't hurt Tobi! He is a good boy."
"Then be a good boy and shuddup!" Deidara then turned to Sakura. "I'm sorry", said he with a smirk, "It seems we made an error. Let's go, Tobi."
"Awww! But Tobi wanted to talk to the pink-haired cutie!" Sakura began to blush even more.
"Tobi," Deidara said with a serious look on his face, "Do not forget our mission, un?"
Tobi ignored him and turned to Sakura. "Tobi wanna know your name," he said.
"S-Sakura," she stuttered, "Where are we?"
"Orochimaru's lair," Tobi replied casually.
Sakura's mind was reeling. I don't understand. Why am I in Orochimaru's lair? What's going on?
"Tobi we're going, hmmm?" Deidara said.
Finally, bits of Sakura's came back. Deidara was part of the Akatsuki. Why is he here? Why am I here?
Tobi replied, "Can't Tobi talk with cutie a little longer?"
Deidara responded by saying, "Come on Tobi, she's not even that pretty." In the instant before Deidara turned away, Sakura saw him blush.
"Clearly you don't mean that," Tobi said, slyly.
"Shut up! Un?" Deidara responded, blushing even more, mixing with rising anger. Tobi giggled.
Sakura asked, "Why would you two be in Orochimaru's lair?"
Deidara smirked and said, "To kill Orochimaru, of course!" Then his smirk widened into a smile and he said, "While we're here we might as well kill the Uchiha brat."
Sakura's eyes widened. They're here to kill Sasuke-Kun! She thought franticly. What should I do? What can I do?
Deidara turned to leave and said, "C'mon Tobi, lets git `er done, hmmm? Let's kill the Uchiha and Orochimaru…nice and slow."
"W-wait!" Sakura yelled before Deidara had the chance to leave.
"What do you want now, un?" Deidara asked impatiently. "Tobi and I are on a tight schedule. We don't have time to waste with you."
"You can't kill Sasuke!" Sakura yelled sounding braver than she felt.
Deidara smirked again at Sakura.
"And if I do?"
"I'll, I'll…" Sakura was not quite sure what she should say at this point. She glared at Deidara and said, "If you defile Sasuke with your touch, I'll kill you the same way I killed your puppet-maker friend!"
Deidara's real eye widened at this statement. Then there was a long silence. Deidara broke the silence by bursting into laughter. "You sure are a feisty one, un?" Deidara said between his laughter. He began to walk across the cell room towards Sakura with a weird grin on his face. Sakura began blushing, for Deidara was getting a little too close. Deidara gazed over Sakura's body. He smiled and walked even closer to Sakura. Sakura's face turned red as she asked, "Could you back up a little?"
"What if I don't want to, hmmm?" Deidara added, "You're even cuter up close."
Is this guy hitting on me!? Sakura's ninja training taught her to expect anything, to react to anything, but she was not prepared for this!
"Are you gonna ask her out?" Tobi asked in an excited tone. "Cause you two would make a great couple!"
Sakura and Deidara turned crimson, and in unison they said, "Shut up, Tobi!" (except Deidara added "un" at the end of his sentence).
Deidara turned around and gave Sakura an evil smirk. Sakura's cheeks were burning. She hated him looking at her that way.
"Have you ever kissed a boy?" Tobi asked out of random.
"Um, n-no", Sakura answered in an awkward tone.
"Well Deidara can fix that for you now," Tobi said with a girlish giggle.
Deidara who was at this point blushing as much as Sakura once again whacked Tobi over the head. "I don't like her. I just think she's pretty".
Sakura shuddered. Why was Deidara saying these things about her it? It creeped her out. But much to Sakura's and Tobi's surprise Deidara pulled out a kunai knife, moonlight reflecting on the sharp blade. He grinned in a sinister way, saying, "But all beauty dies out, eventually."
With Naruto
"Dang it!" Naruto hollered. "We've been searching all day and we haven't found a single trace of Sakura!" Naruto and the rest of the Sasuke-retrieval team were setting up camp in the forest on the outskirts of the Hidden Grass Village.
"D-don't worry Naruto-Kun," Hinata tried to reassure him. "I'm sure we'll find Sakura soon enough." Then, much to everyone's surprise, Naruto shot Hinata an enraged glare.
"Shut up, Hinata!" Naruto yelled. "It's your fault that Sakura got kidnapped in the first place! When Kabuto came and grabbed her he just ran right past you! You didn't do a thing to stop him! This whole thing is your fault! Neji sure was right when he called you a failure!"
"N-Naruto-Kun!" Hinata gasped, sounding as though she was going to cry. "I'm s-sorry."
"Yeah," Naruto snarled. "You should be!" That did it. Hinata burst into tears and Naruto didn't care.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as Shino went over to console Hinata.
"You didn't need to be so cruel," Shino said as he passed Naruto. Naruto just growled and began to walk away.
"Where are you going Naruto?" Shikamaru called after him, but Naruto didn't even bother answering. He just kept walking. Once he was deep within the forest, away from his teammates Naruto uttered a cuss word under his breath. He hadn't meant to be so angry with Hinata but he just felt so frustrated! He had already lost Sasuke to Orochimaru so he couldn't let him take Sakura away to. As he thought this over, Naruto suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. Naruto's body tensed and he reached for his kunai knife.
"Whose there?" Naruto called out. Then, out of the bushes, stepped Naruto's worst enemy: the man who had tortured Sasuke for so many years and the man who pursued Naruto for the demon inside of him. "Itachi!" Naruto exclaimed, hatefully. The man peered down at Naruto with his red eyes.
"It's good to see you again… Naruto."
Kabuto's P.O.V.
"Oh, Ssssasuke", Kabuto heard Orochimaru say in his sleep. "Your body is so big and strong. I really, really want it. Come here, Sasuke, heh, heh, heh." Kabuto shoved his earplugs in harder, making his ears slightly bleed.
Why is that Michael Jackson wannabe so interested in Sasuke? I mean I am sooo much better looking and Sasuke's curse mark makes him look even uglier than Sakura's mom.
"Wait, how would I know what Sakura's mom looks like? Weirdo!"
I am not a Weirdo!
"Whatever you say, stalker"
I am not a stalker!
" Are too!"
Are not!
"Are too!"
Are not!
"Shut up!" Orochimaru said bolting out of bed. "KABUTO, can't a guy dream about Sasuke in peace?"
"I'm sorry Lord Jackson, uh, I mean Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto silently left the room as he heard Orochimaru say, "Oh, Sasuke, your face will be so much more beautiful when it's mine."
Kabuto felt like vomiting.
Maybe you should check on Sakura, Stalker.
"I AM NOT A STALKER!"
"KABUTO! SHUT! UP!" Orochimaru hollered.
With Deidara
Deidara smiled as he saw the terrified look on Sakura's face.
"What did you say?" Sakura asked fearfully.
"Are you deaf, un?" Deidara asked. "I said that I want to kill you! Do you think I've forgotten who you are? You're that pink-haired brat that killed Master Sasori! It's only fair that I get to settle the score." Deidara slowly advanced toward Sakura with a murderous look in his eye. As soon as he was close enough he raised his knife. "This is for Sasori…"
(To be continued….)