A Different Take
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters – they belong to Masashi Kishimoto. The only thing I own is my creativity.
This story isn't going to be a completely different AU and will contain some manga spoilers, yet, it will be vastly different. If you don't know who Tobi and Danzo are, then I suggest that you read the manga first or I'll ruin the surprise.
This is my first fanfic ever. Feel free to correct me if I make any mistakes, both spelling and Naruto-universe wise. I've written stories before, but in a different setting and with my own characters. I'm just trying to expand my horizons. Reviews are welcome. I have cookies! ^^
Dedicated to: Ker, the crazy emo werepuppy who challenged me into writing a fanfic.
Now that this is outta the way… Let me get started.
The medic had appeared on the battlefield because she noticed two familiar chakra signatures fighting each other in the distance. She gasped from exhaustion. Jumping over those black flames in her mad dash to get there hadn't been easy; without her great chakra control, she would have failed and would have been burned, just like the rest of the forest. Sakura was late, despite having rushed to the scene as fast as she could, replacing herself with a kage bunshin clone to fool 'Aloe Vera', the orange masked Akatsuki member and even her own teammates; they were busy enough fighting each other and hadn't noticed it when a new Sakura stepped out from behind a tree to replace the old, real one, in the blink of an eye. At moments like these, she was glad that Naruto was a show off and that the kage bunshin was one of his favourite, frequently used moves. Sakura had no trouble with memorizing the hand seals. The two of them had worked together for years, so they both knew their partners' techniques well.
She was completely sure about the identity of one of them – he was the reason why she was out in the forest in the first place – but she had only met the latter a few times, so she couldn't be entirely sure about his identity.
First, she had met the latter when she visited Sasuke Uchiha during their ninja academy years in the Uchiha mansion during his birthday party. He appeared as a reserved, nice, role model older brother which everyone would have liked to have instead of their own annoying siblings. He didn't only have a pleasant personality, but he was a ninja prodigy too. Of course, Sakura was too little to understand Itachi Uchiha's importance back then.
Later on, she met 'him' again when her team went to rescue Gaara from the Akatsuki. Although, once Naruto's rasengan finished 'him' off, he turned out to be some kind of strange clone. Probably the result of a forbidden jutsu.
But instead of the chakra signature's owner she searched for – her former teammate, Sasuke - she found someone else. Sakura Haruno already knew it that she would be too late once she felt that the other, more familiar chakra signature disappeared. All chakras that remained on the battlefield were mere fragments of the jutsus which were used during the fight, although, she could have mistaken them for people if she hadn't undergone her advanced training. Sakura couldn't help it but shrug at the thought of how powerful those techniques must have been if the remains were so big and numerous.
She would have ignored the dead man – the quantity of chakra inside his body was lesser than in any of the places where jutsus had been used - if she hadn't noticed something strange. While she was sure that Sasuke would have finished his hated elder brother off properly, she felt that something was off.
Her emerald eyes scanned over the corpse in front of her routinely. She had examined her fallen comrades several times before; to make sure that they really died from the cause which they were rumoured to die from; to make sure that nobody was pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Shinobi always had to be aware of the existence of hidden secrets, even if nothing indicated their presences. You never knew whether someone else was plotting your demise behind your back. Living in a constant paranoia was part of the way of the ninja, unfortunately.
A badly but irregularly burned bare right arm – his sleeve probably had been burned off… At least it had provided some sort of temporary protection. Several other horizontal burn wounds were scattered all over his weakened body. There were countless bruises across his arms and legs. She noted some smaller cut wounds near his wrists and on his hands, as if he had been unable to counter some shurikens properly. The kunoichi was convinced that he had been showered in those deadly throwing stars by his little brother. A ripped open left knee – Sasuke's katana of course.
But what shocked her the most were his bleeding, horribly damaged white eyes, devoid of coloured irises. Despite being the Fifth Hokage's self-proclaimed best apprentice, Sakura had never seen that pair before anywhere. They slightly resembled the byakugan in their current state, but she had witnessed those several times before, as she often hung out with her friend Hinata; the byakugan's pupils were transparent. The man in front of her had pupils, though. She retreated her hand carefully, allowing both long eyelashed eyelids to close again. The sudden movement prodded the tiny pools of blood to flow down his pale cheeks. Sakura was mystified. All of these weren't enough to kill an S-rank missing-nin who managed to slaughter his whole clan in just one night. The pink haired girl followed the trail of blood down his chin. That was when she noticed that blood was smeared all across it. Sakura raised one of her eyebrows curiously and slightly opened his mouth. It was filled with blood.
Internal bleeding? she wondered. The medic easily formed the ox and tiger seals to summon the faint green glow around her hands – the mystical palm technique - and started to scan the missing nin's mouth, throat and eventually his lungs. She couldn't help it but gasp at the horrible knowledge once her brain processed it, It's that lung disease, isn't it? Honestly, her thought was more of the observation of a fact than a question. She was completely sure of it. Itachi Uchiha had been infected by a deadly disease which hadn't been treated for years. This led to his death during his final battle against Sasuke.
Sasuke has gotten his revenge… Although, not fully, as it wasn't really him who killed Itachi... Will he finally return to Konoha now? she hoped, but her intuition told her that this was impossible. He disappeared after the fight, while she was pretty sure that he felt her coming. He was avoiding her on purpose, she guessed. Although, this didn't surprise her. It only made her feel heartbroken. As much as she wanted it, she and Naruto both knew it that Sasuke wouldn't just walk back into Konoha and act as if nothing happened… Nothing would be the same ever again, even if he returned. Many wouldn't accept the ex-missing-nin as part of their community too. He knows it that I'm a medic… Why is he avoiding me? I'm sure that he needs help after fighting Itachi… she thought, frowning. The ninja bit her cherry blossom coloured underlip. Sakura remembered Sasuke's words which he spoke during their previous meeting too well for her own good. They still haunted her. The chance that he would return was incredibly small. There's nothing I can do for him anyway. He has vanished without any traces once again… She stared at the air in front of her absent minded and let out a downtrodden sigh.
She shook her head and directed her gaze to the corpse again. According to her memories, his disease was impossible to cure before Itachi massacred his clan. But recently, one of Tsunade-sama's close friends had discovered a way to treat it. Konoha had made great improvements on the medical field the last few years. But the treatment was only known by a select few and it needed extremely skilled medics to perform. Sakura herself had learned how to do it; it was her final 'test' before her teacher had officially called her her most talented apprentice – making Ino-pig very jealous. Ino had ignored her attempts to socialize for two weeks. After that, she demanded that Sakura would help her choose a new dress for her birthday party as a compensation.
The kunoichi was so distracted by checking the lung damage that it took her a long time to realize that she had forgotten to check one last thing. The disease was rare, and it amazed her so much to view its symptoms in real life that she forgot one of the basics. Sakura checked the fallen Akatsuki's pulse. Nothing, just like expected. She was about the retreat her hand when a tiny wave of blood flew through the Uchiha's veins. Sakura Haruno nearly jumped from disbelief, "What the-?"