Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. As sad as it sounds, it is a fact. :'(
This might stink now, but trust me, it gets better later. I'm just not good at writing introductions, yup, so please continue reading and review while your at it.
"Naruto, you're so immature!" Sakura screamed as she hit him square in the arm.
"Sorry Sakura-chan! Ow! That really hurt!" Naruto complained as Sakura reminded herself not to put too much chakra into her punches.
Kakashi sensei walked on the right side of Sakura, his lazy eyes staring at his favorite book. This would just be a normal day at Konoha if it wasn't for team Kakashi going on a mission. Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai were already in the trees before noon.
This mission was a simple C-ranked mission to help a family through the woods without getting ambushed by rogue ninja. It would take a week at the most. At sundown they decided to camp out for the night. With the fire going, Sakura decided to start a conversation.
"So where are we going again, Kaka-sensei?"
"Mist", he replied still reading his stupid perverted book.
Why was it so interesting? Maybe I'll take a peek later, Inner Sakura thought. Well so much for a lively conversation. Giving up, Sakura lay down and closed her jade eyes.
Morning came and Sai was already up and drawing some abstract thing. Sai was an amazing artist. Sakura knew this by experience. Naruto stirred which shook Sakura out of her thoughts. "Everybody ready?" a voice from behind said.
"Yea, we'll leave as soon as Naruto's packed," Sakura said as she packed her last kunai.
Five minutes later they were already sprinting past trees on the way to mist.
"What's so special about this family, Kaka-sensei?"
"They are very distinguished people who own a gold industry. That is why the ninja are after them, to steal some of their goods," he explained lazily in a drawn out manner.
"Maybe they'll give us a little gold reward for our hard work!" Naruto gave a wicked grin at Sakura, who just rolled her eyes.
"Like they would give anything to you, Naruto!" Sakura blurted out.
"Well, it's worth a try!"
"Naruto, if you make us all look like a bunch of idiots, your head will be the centerpiece on my dining table!" Naruto knew not to piss Sakura off, or it would lead to bad places.
For the rest of the way there, Naruto kept his mouth shut firmly.
They reached a small village with rice fields. Naruto growled.
This was where Orochimaru took Sasuke to train him to become strong enough to beat his brother, Itachi. Sakura tried not to shed any tears at the thought of the cold stone bench, Sasuke left her on that night. That is why she sought out Tsunade-shishou, to make her stronger so that that would never happen again. Actually, all of them did.
She did because she didn't want to be hurt, physically or emotionally. Now, as a very well known medic of Konoha, and student of one of the Sannins, she was in the bingo books. She was known also for her epic fight against Sasori of the Red Sand, alongside Lady Chiyo. It's not hard to forget of a pink-haired kunoichi like her.
They were disagreeing on how many should protect the family. Kaka-sensei told them that all of them have to and they need to forget about Sasuke for the time being. Naruto and Sakura fought against that. They believed that this mission only requires one jounin. This was a simple mission. Kaka-sensei knew that, but he wasn't one to go breaking the rules. Naruto, on the other hand, would do anything to bring Sasuke back. There were so many failed attempts but he thought that this time was different.
They have been walking for a while, when Sakura sensed some foul chakra. Being a medic, she was very sensitive to chakra levels. This wasn't just any chakra. She felt it before. It felt all too familiar. Like a snake's. Snake's? That's not a good sign. But as fast as it appeared, it was gone.
This was both relieving and heartbreaking for Sakura. It was a chance to see Sasuke, to take in his appearance. Gone. Simply gone. Without telling the others of her sensing Sasuke's chakra, she kept walking.
"The house is right here," Kaka-sensei said tiredly. As soon as that was said, they were greeted by three people.
"Hello! I'm so glad you arrived. My name is Airi. This is my husband, Hotaka. This is my daughter, Kasumi. It is a pleasure to have you come by."
"The pleasure is all ours," Sai said.
"Yea, we can go anytime!" Naruto said impatiently.
"Okay. We're ready now. Let's go."
With that they were already heading out the door. Since the family wasn't ninjas, they had to walk without the use of chakra. Once they got out of mist and into some woods, Sakura felt that chakra again. This time it was also another type. It made explosions in the ground and this time, the others felt it too.
"Did you feel that?" Naruto whispered, too shocked to say it any louder.
"Yes, it felt like it was coming North," Sai said unemotionally.
"No matter how much you want to, we cannot check it out. We are on a mission to keep these people safe. Got it?" Kaka-sensei said sternly. He glared at the three, but kept it longest at Naruto.
"Humph! Fine!" Naruto blurted with a pouty face. Sakura was secretly very curious too. As the chakra got more noticeable, Sakura and Naruto got more curious.
"Hey Sakura-chan, we need to check the chakra out," Naruto whispered so that only she could hear it.
"But Naruto, Kaka-sensei"
"I know, but we NEED to! I'm serious. This could be our chance to save Sasuke-teme. This mission is easy enough for Sai alone, and a jounin. They can defend them for enough time for us to get a quick peek. We'll be back with Sasuke-teme before you know it!" he interrupted.
Sakura was excited. She wanted to. She needed to.
"Ugh! Fine, Naruto, you win. But only for a second!"
"Yes! Thank you Sakura-chan. You're awesome!"
"Yea, yea, I know I am," Sakura said quietly, "now let's go." Sneaking around a turn, they quietly sprinted to the source of the chakra.
Strangely enough the only thing left was a blonde dirty man wearing a ripped cloak lying on the ground. Sasuke's chakra was completely gone. As they approached, they hot a closer look at the man. He looked about 20, only a couple years older than her. He had some sort of scope on his left eye. He was scratched and bleeding all over his muscular body.
His whole heart region was just gone. He must have been in a really big battle to get that. Maybe it was Sasuke who he was fighting and Sasuke won and left the area. Finally her eyes averted to one thing that made them both gasp. Akatsuki cloak.
"A-an an Akatsuki?" Naruto whispered, barely audible. After that, the unexpected happened. The near dead body started breathing audible breaths. Sakura, being too considerate and caring, ran from her spot and knelt down on the side of the man. A faint green glow was emitted from her delicate little hands which could destroy mountains in one touch.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto yelled, confused to the umpteenth degree.
"He's an Akatsuki! They want to kill me!" With that she stopped healing him and looked up at Naruto.
"We need to get information from him! It's the smartest thing to do to save you, Naruto!" A strange look came from Naruto. He didn't know what to do. He knew Sakura was smarter than him, so he would put his trust in her plans, no matter how crazy they sounded. This was different, though.
"I don't know. What if he is bait or something, this could all be just a trap to get me!" Naruto seemed a little proud of himself for sounding smart.
"Ugh! Fine, let's just go back before Kaka-sensei notices our absence!" Sakura said as she stood up and brushed her knees off.
"Thank you Sakura! I know I'm not that smart, but I have a feeling that healing him wouldn't be the best idea."
You're right. You aren't smart," she giggled to Naruto. Naruto smiled sheepishly back and snorted. They sprinted away towards the rest of their team.
Oh great! So close to healing him! Since when does Naruto sound smart like that? I don't care what he says I'm getting my information, Inner Sakura shrieked.
For once, she listened to her inner self. Just when they caught sight of Sai, Kaka-sensei, and the family, they slowed to a jog. Thank goodness for chakra infused speed. Inner Sakura said thankfully.That didn't take too long, did it? Well, he didn't notice them. They were 's not what Sakura came back to see, though. She just came most of the way to trick Naruto into thinking that she wasn't going to heal the Akatsuki.
As soon as Naruto's eyes left her, she used chakra to jolt backwards. This was easy since she had perfect chakra control and is an expert at hiding her chakra. Within seconds she was out of sight of her team. Within a few more seconds, she was back into the open field with the mysterious man.
She knelt down next to him and a green glow, once again, emitted from her hands. After a few minutes, she could feel a pulse from his chest. She worked hard to close up the terrible wound on his chest. She wasn't going to heal him completely, but enough for him to be able to talk properly.
A couple minutes his would was closed. It would leave a scar, but that's good, right? Everybody wants a battle scar? Anyway, he was going to have it either way. She worked in silence until a dark chuckle broke through.
"Weird, yeah? Suicidal bombs don't even work these days? I wanted to go out with a bang, yeah."
"Wait, you tried to kill yourself? You're crazy!" Sakura breathed out.
"Crazy or not, I find it respectable, yeah. By the way, who are you?" The man questioned.
"The better question is who are you? Well, I'm Sakura Haruno. I just happen to be coming through when I saw you. You should be lucky!"
"Lucky? I was supposed to die, yeah! That's why it's called suicidal! Ow!" He grunted, noticing that he wasn't in the best position to be making her mad. "Hn. Oh, I'm Deidara, by the way."
"Well Deidara, you really are crazy. I can heal you with this chakra, so it is obvious that I can do some pretty nasty things with it too!" she snorted out, already on the verge of another nasty fit. She was known all around for her legendary short fuse. With that, Deidara let out a wicked grin.
"If you want to test out your interesting chakra techniques on me, please be my guest, yeah."
"Don't get any ideas, Deidara. You're such a pervert!" She said angrily, but she secretly started to like this guy. Aside from the crazy bomb guy, he was kind of funny.
Her inner laughter abruptly stopped when she felt large chakra. Dark chakra. She immediately turned around and was face to face with 3 other men wearing the same black cloak with red clouds. Oh God! This isn't good! You're too caring Sakura! You forgot to check your surroundings! Naruto was right, he really was just bait! You've been outsmarted by Naruto of all people! Inner Sakura yelled once again.
The first person she recognized was Itachi Uchiha. His crimson eyes were slightly visible under the straw cone-shaped hat. Raven locks hugged the sides of his face. There was a very tall man with a large bandaged sword. She had heard of him. He was none other than Kisame Hoshigaki. The third one wore a weird orange swirly mask that only had one eye exposed.
She didn't have much time to react when Kisame lunged forward with that big sword. He was fast for his size. She jolted back only to be awaited by the orange-masked man. She dodged his kunai and kicked him in the gut. When she did, he grabbed her foot and dragged her down. She used chakra scalpel to slice his hand. It left a good sized gash.
As he grunted in pain, she took in the opportunity to throw a few kunai at him, careful not to waste any. Within a second, a blurry flash of black filled her eyesight as she was pinned to a large tree. Itachi's emotionless face shocked her, how closely he was like Sasuke. The same arrogant personality, I guess it was an Uchiha thing.
"What do you want, Itachi!" she yelled, her voice shaky from being in a chokehold. The only answer was a dark chuckle, followed with a knee to her gut. The impact was so violent that she most likely broke a few ribs. Next thing she knew she was over his shoulder and finally she blacked out.
She woke up in a large room. Not nice, just large. It was very empty except for a table and a couple chairs in the corner. There was a bed in the other corner and she wondered why they didn't just put her on it. She was a hostage. Did she expect them to tuck her in all comfy?
Of course not! She was thrown on the ground unceremoniously. She tried to move but her legs and arms were numb from sleeping on them, not to mention the terrible ache in her gut. She didn't have any chakra left so she couldn't heal herself. She heard someone stir in the room. That was when she noticed that the bed was occupied. A blonde man sat up slowly. Something inside of her snapped at that moment.
"You were bait?" She yelled. He arched one eyebrow at her sudden fury. Without anytime to answer, the door slammed open.
"No, we were coming to collect his ring when we noticed that he was alive. We know who you are and we need information on the Kyubi," Itachi elegantly interrupted. His face was emotionless as usual. He leaned casually against the wall near the door.
"Does that answer your question, yeah?" Deidara said after a short silence. She could have sworn that Deidara was glaring at Itachi. There was some sort of hatred between the two, but she didn't know why. She didn't care either way.
"What do you want with me?" she asked to no one particularly. She got a mild glare from Itachi and a lazy smirk from Deidara.
"I don't like to repeat myself, kunoichi. We need information in order to get the Kyuubi. You also would work well as bait. The vessel has feelings for you, am I right?" Itachi said smoothly.
"I'm not telling you anything, you monster!" Sakura yelled, her body being overtaken with rage. Itachi smirked and started walking out the door.
"As you wish, but you will eventually," he said quietly. Sakura gulped and quickly turned her head back to face Deidara. He emitted a low growl and looked at her. They stared at each other for a few tense seconds until she jerked her head sideways, suddenly embarrassed.
"You were fighting Sasuke?" she said quietly.
"Little Uchiha brat, yeah. Stupid arrogant Sharingan," Deidara growled. Sakura was confused. He had some sort of grudge between both Sasuke and Itachi. He mentioned something about the Sharingan. Maybe it has to do with an experience with it. Sakura knew how brutal some of the attacks could be, being a witness to them. Sakura stayed silent to his remark. Sasuke did have a reputation to be a little over the top with arrogance, just like his brother.
Even with his attitude, he had a ton of fan girls, Sakura included. She punished herself internally for that. She wasted so much time just gussying up. As if he would ever notice her. The more work she did to make herself pretty and the less time she worked to practice her skills and chakra control. Sasuke hated her even more for this.
Once she sought out Tsunade-shishou, she got stronger physically and internally. That led her to her present strength. She is a very high ranked jounin for Konoha. Although not the loyalist ninja of fire, she was a very useful asset. If Sasuke gave her the chance, she would, without hesitation, join him.
That was her dark secret, the one that could get her put in jail or ever get her killed if it was found out.
Before things got anymore awkward, she stood up shakily. Her legs and arms weren't numb anymore, but her ribs still hurt. She needed to gain some chakra.
Before she got to take more than one tiny step forward, she was interrupted, "It's chakra locked, yeah."
She turned around, only to see him on his back, not even looking at her. She snorted, but could she expect less. She was a hostage. She was surprised to be treated this good, if good is the right word. She was brutally thrown on the floor, but at least she wasn't chained down or something, right? She didn't know anymore. Everything happened so fast and was so unexpected.
Where does my team think I am? Nobody knew that I was going back to heal him? Maybe they didn't even notice that I was gone. Yea, right! You've been gone for hours now! Of course they would've noticed! Inner Sakura bickered. A frown found its way to her lips.
Seeing nothing better to do, she laid down to rest. There was no better way to get back chakra then to sleep. Curled up near the corner, she closed her eyes and drifted into a light slumber.
There's my first chapter. I hope you liked it. I know that theres a lot of grammer mistakes and stuff, but who cares, right? This is fanfiction, not a real published book. *nervous look* heh heh? ok nevermind, just don't kill me and REVIEW! Yea, this chapter might suck, but it gets better later. ;)
~Bowmangirl123
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