Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto and never will

IMPORTANT!!! You will need the song at this link. Just remove the spaces between the h of .........http to the m of com "h t t p : / / r a p i d s h a r e . c o m/files/230823780/21_-_The_Dark_3"

AN- Sorry about the flow of words in this fic. It's meant to be quick and sharp actions. But I will understand if when you're reading you think it should have been fleshed out a bit more. It's just kind of tough to time it properly with the song and I've been out of writing for some time now.



Silence rang loudly into the pitch black of night. The sky was starless and void of light. It was a perfect night to match the mood that had befallen the village as of late. A community that was so deeply woven into the lives of one another that everyone in Konohagakure could call themselves, family.

And they all felt it. They all felt the huge loss to their home, to their family.

None however, felt the loss more than the pink haired woman who was staring out of her window. Her eyes, filled with unshed tears.

She shut her eyes tightly so she would no longer see the watery orbs in her own reflection. The small flame in the fireplace behind her illuminated her features, making it impossible to hide. It was a good thing she was alone in the living room of her house………. of their house.

A small whimper escaped her lips as her throat reddened slightly. Her hand went to her eyes as she tried to calm herself. She knew……that she had every right to cry. But once again, she tried to be the strong one, even when there was no one around to see her fall.

She knew it was one of her major faults but she dared not change it, because it was one of the things he loved about her. 'But what's the point,' thought Sakura as the hand not on her face clenched tightly by her side, 'if you're not here to love it?'

Oh yes, the thought really did blend well with the sorrowful aura the village exuded. After all, it was just two days ago when Uzumaki Sakura stood in front of the entire population of Konoha…………….to say goodbye.

The words that Sai spoke in the eulogy he had given floated around her head haphazardly and unorganized. She was in no state to take in the beautiful honor and admiration, or so she heard, from their pale faced teammate. Although she vaguely remembered the pauses, hiccups, and the tears that had somehow graced the once emotionless nin.

The only statement that she could remember clearly was the end of the speech. 'It is important that we remember; and we teach our children; and even our children's children; that Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime…………………….. died, so that we may live.'

That day the village mourned and the skies cried. But, as with everything else, the next day was different. Anger had taken over the people. Their screams and demands were near riot proportions and even though it was said in different ways, the universal question was, "why?"

Shikamaru had merely raised an eyebrow feigning confusion. But Sakura could tell he knew exactly what the citizens and his fellow ninja were asking him, their temporary Leader.

"Why aren't we going on a manhunt for Uchiha Sasuke!!! He killed the Hokage!!" she remembered a particularly vocal ninja shout out. The chorus of agreements drowned out the first words that escape Shikamaru's lips as he tried to speak. The noise ended as Chouji did a Bubun Baika no Jutsuand his two enlarged hands clapped together and made a near ear splitting sound.

"Go after him and do what?" Shikamaru muttered darkly.

"And capture him obviously! Kill him! Something! Anything!" cried a tall shinobi with a desperate and pleading tone.

"Capture and kill a man who managed to kill the Rokudaime?! Oh well that'll be easy won't it!"

The tall man looked as though he was scalded, but then again, so did the rest of the mob.

Shikamaru's scathing tone had no remorse however as it continued brutally and frankly.

"The Rokudaime was the strongest Nin the world had ever seen and if he did not have to protect us he would undoubtedly have won the fight."

He looked around at everyone, his eyes calm, yet dark.

"But he DID protect us. And apparently he died to protect a bunch of ungrateful monkeys that just want to go and throw away their lives by running blindly to their deaths. The very same lives he died to protect."

The crowd's eyes had grown wide for a couple seconds and they stood still, frozen stiff. After a while though, their bodies loosened before eventually bowing their heads in shame. The silence was deafening.

It was only then Shikamaru had looked to his right and seen her, looking as though she was choking due to the constant swallowing and the tears in her eyes.

She saw the instant regret in his eyes, obviously not planning for her to be right there as he had blatantly rubbed her husband's death in their face. She did not cry however, because she knew that if the calm and reliable Shikamaru was that much on edge, that he was crying on the inside and Sakura felt no need to make him add guilt to his inner feelings.

She watched as he turned his head back around and, in a calm voice this time, tell the crowd they were in the middle of forming a plan to capture the man responsible for the death of Konoha's most beloved figure.

As Sakura was suddenly sucked out of her reverie she found herself standing on the balcony of the master bedroom, holding something. She did not know when she had walked upstairs and she did not know when she had taken the picture off the bedside table and walked out the porch door. But as she looked at the memory frozen in the wooden frame covered by a sheet of glass her hand gripped against the side till her already ivory skin looked even whiter around the knuckles.

Her teeth clenched and her eyes shut tightly. She tried to control herself again, but this time there was no stopping it and the angry tears came right out.

She eventually gave up trying to keep the tears in and her eyes flung open to glare at the picture. Three people stood happily, in front of the Hokage tower.

She was on the right of the picture. Her pink hair dull against the bright red of her kimono. She was smiling, no, beaming at the camera. A hand was on her waist. It belonged to her husband, who was in the middle of the picture decked out in the robes of the Hokage. Her hand lay on her husband's shoulder as he too smiled widely into the camera. But it was not herself or her husband she was glaring at……… but a raven haired, gorgeous looking man in a black kimono who wore a small, but noticeable smile on his face.

Sakura's breathing got heavy and her mouth turned into a near snarl.

The picture was taken after a festival they had all gone to together not a year ago.

Sakura's head shook from side to side a little trying to hold it in. But her teeth and hands clenched, her body shook with pure rage and eventually, the picture shattered against the porch door.

Her chest heaved up and down as she continued glaring at the broken picture on the ground as though it was her most hated enemy.

"You shouldn't do that……..Sakura."

Sakura's eyes widened as she heard the voice. In less than half a second she shook off her shock and whipped her kunai from behind her back and spun around to the uninvited guest on her balcony.

Before she fully turned however, the blade was kicked from her hand. She instantly jumped backwards, into the bedroom, eyes never leaving the man.

His sword was drawn and he slowly walked inside, and the same as Sakura, his eyes never left hers.

He stopped his advance when he was fully inside, and they stared at one another.

The man was calm as he had always been, but Sakura was absolutely livid.

"What are you doing here Sasuke?!" she demanded.

Her throat was red, her eyes puffy, and though the tears leaked out, her face was as scary as her mentor on a bad day.

Sasuke tensed at her outburst. He shot a glance over his shoulder to see if any lights came on in the street.

When he was satisfied that no one had heard her outburst he turned back to Sakura.

"Keep your voice down why don't you!" he scolded.

The Kunoichi didn't even flinch and her face lost none of its fury.

"Answer the question Sasuke," she started. "We have Anbu squads patrolling the area for you. I would have thought you were smart enough to stay away from Konoha for a while."

Sasuke stood, unmoving, and seeming bored with the conversation.

"Loose ends needed to be taken care of……………." He trailed off and looked to the side. His eyes, staring into the nothingness.

"I needed to pay some root members who were involved ………………………….a visit."

The darkness in his voice did not go unnoticed by Sakura.

"You killed them didn't you?" she asked, much softer than she wanted to.

Sasuke just glanced at her with the faintest of looks before he averted his stare back to the side.

She knew that was a yes. But for some reason, she found herself not really caring.

She looked down at the ground, as though ashamed, embarrassed.

They stood like that, not looking at one another for a long time, before her head rose up and it looked like a new Sakura.

Gone was the anger; gone was the rage, instead, only worry remained.

Sasuke, who had seen her head rise from his peripheral turned to meet her gaze.

"Sasuke……." She said softly while trying to find the best possible way to say what she needed to. "You can't be here."

Her voice was a mix of pleading, and regret.

"If they find you……….." she stopped, as her tears fell.

Quickly, she shut her eyes and put her face in her hands while sitting on the bed.

Her sobs came out soft and muffled while her slender shoulders shook.

Sasuke's eyes softened as her saw her in this state. He knew she had been bottling it up for the past week.

He sheathed his sword, but made no move to get closer to her lest somehow, someone saw.

Sakura moved her hands from her face and looked at him with tears smeared all over.

"I lost Naruto………….. I can't lose you too."

Her lip trembled as she said it and her hand made its way across her face furiously trying to wipe away the tears.

Sasuke's eyes fell to the floor and he could not hide the sullen look on his normally stoic face.

Sakura knew that he still blamed himself for what had happened but that would not deter her. He shouldn't be there.

But as she was going to voice her concern again, he cut her off.

"It's better, if I keep taking out the root members and corrupted Anbu."

The pink haired woman's eyes grew wide and she seemed to recoil.

"Sasuke! You ca-"

"It was members of the Anbu gave Naruto away to Kyouhei, Sakura."

Sakura's eyes closed at Sasuke's regret filled voice and she was taken to a new place.

They were totally out of chakra, worn from the battle of Leaf vs Rock. Sasuke was off with the rest of Konoha's forces chasing the remaining rock army off. Shikamaru lay on the ground with a broken leg. Sakura was kneeling beside him using medical chakra. She looked to their side, and there he stood. His orange cloak with black flames flapped violently in the wind. His blue eyes no longer full of the naivety he once felt as a child, but the maturity and experience of a veteran of war. His face had a nice scar across the left cheek that was not healed due to the Kyuubi being now integrated into Naruto's chakra coils and no longer a separate entity.

Sakura saw him surveying the damage. Behind them, hundreds of shinobi lay dead. Some were the Rock's, some were their own.

He had sadness in his eyes and Sakura knew, it was not just for their fallen comrades but for the rock shinobi too as well as the agony of war. He knew now that war was a part of the shinobi's life, but that did not mean he liked it one bit.

Suddenly, about fifty figures surrounded them. The Rokudaime didn't flinch at the arrival of the root members but merely looked around slowly.

"So……………….. Kyouhei decided to follow in 'Uncle Danzo's' footsteps, huh?" he asked quietly.

The root member he addressed said nothing and did even less.

Naruto sighed and bowed his head. He then chuckled before raising his head again to look at the clouds in the sky.

Sakura watched him intently and she was instantly worried. They were surrounded, which on a normal day would be nothing for the two of them even with Skhikamaru being injured, but they were completely out of chakra.

Yet there Naruto stood, looking at the sky, smiling peacefully.

It seemed as though he was just going to stay there and do nothing while the root ninjas attacked him before he finally chuckled and mused out loud, "I never thought I'd say I wish I had the old furball in me still."

He brought his head back down to gaze at the 'ne' members. As he gazed at the ninja in front of him Naruto suddenly got a fox like, near demonic grin. "Let's get wild!"

Everything after that happened so fast that they were mere blurs in Sakura's brain. Naruto fighting to the brink of death; a huge combined technique of the root members to wipe out the village, and Naruto jumping in the middle of the technique and the village with his most powerful Rasenshuriken in sage mode.

Sasuke and Lee had arrived first out of the Konoha forces because they were the fastest of them all. They killed the remaining root members with ease, but could only watch as Naruto kept their technique at bay with his own. The jutsus eventually exploded and a chunk of the village was destroyed…………as well as………..

And now, Sakura was once again knocked out of her dream world at the sound of her bedroom door opening. She saw Sasuke grab the hilt of his sword quickly, and anxiety filled her body. It seemed like hours for the door to open when in actuality it was mere seconds.

Waiting…………..waiting………….waiting. And no sooner did dread fill her being that immense relief followed.

Sasuke's hold on his sword was released immediately with a huge sigh of relief as the figure in the doorway flung itself at him.

"Uncle Sasuke!"

The little blond boy latched onto Sasuke's legs and nearly butted him in the stomach with his head. Sasuke let out a little 'Oof' before looking at the street again to make sure no lights went on.

When he was satisfied he turned back around and patted the blond on the head and gave a small chuckle.

"Not so loud Minato. I'm not supposed to be here remember?"

The blond looked up at Sasuke's face with a pout that looked EXACTLY like Naruto when their genin team was newly formed. The only difference was that this boy had green eyes instead of blue.

"But it's not fair. Why can't you just tell everyone what really happened to Dad? Why can't you just say it was Kyouhei and not you?"

It was quite a humbling experience for the two adults in the room to see that this child had accepted what happened to his father so easily. Sakura saw what had happened when Iruka tried to comfort him a day before the funeral.

"Why would I be sad? My Dad did what he did so we could live happily. He would be mad at me if I was sad."

"Ten years old, and so much like your dad," chuckled Sasuke.

Minato let go of Sasuke's legs and grinned up at him. The grin soon turned to a pout however at Sasuke's next words.

"That's not necessarily a good thing," he finished with the typical Uchiha Sasuke smirk.

The young boy pouted even more and folded his arms while looking away.

"I still don't see why you have to leave."

The sadness in Minato's voice was heartbreaking. Sakura knew that even if Minato knew that his father had died for them that he would still miss him terribly. But in one swoop he had not only lost his father, but his 'uncle' as well.

Sakura saw that Sasuke made no attempt to speak, probably not sure how to say what he wanted without being blunt. She came to his rescue.

"Come here Mina," she said gently.

Minato padded across the room to stand in front of the bed. There, his mother put her hands on his shoulders as though it helped to keep his attention. "You may not understand it now," said Sakura as she looked gently into her son's eyes. "But one day, you will understand why this was done."

As she moved a hand to stroke Minato's hair she glanced over and saw Sasuke lost in his own thoughts. Probably thinking of the exact reason why they didn't tell the citizens of Konoha the truth. The reason why he was now ostracized from all he had grown to love since Naruto brought him back to the light.

Suddenly, she saw him tense. He flung around and looked hard into the night.

It was at that moment, Sakura felt it too.

"Sasuke!"

.

She jumped up, and no sooner did she reach her full height was Sasuke's arms wrapped around her and Minato and a tight embrace.
Her brain warned her and her heart was crying. He should have been running already, but she couldn't help but think that this might have been the last time she ever saw her dear friend.

[Dark Knight 1:30]

No sooner Sasuke had embraced them when she felt his arms leave. He scowled. "Tch. I always hated the Inuzuka's sense of smell."

She did not smile. Instead, she stared at him for a while. Then, she begged with pleading eyes and a cracking voice, "Take care……… Sasuke."

The pink haired medic saw the Uchiha's expression turn somber. He gave a slow nod as though signaling the understanding of the gravity of this parting.

Sasuke looked down and looked at Minato and did something that almost made Sakura laugh despite the impending danger.

He flashed a foxy grin. "Don't worry. I'll be in touch buddy," he told the young Uzumaki. And then, he turned and disappeared. Sakura ran to the balcony with Minato at her side. As they stared into the night, they saw Sasuke's silhouette, cloak fluttering in the wind.

[Dark Knight 2:15]

Sakura heard the voices of the Anbu squads approaching, saying things like halt and whatnot. But it was not important at that moment as she stared at Sasuke. There he was, standing tall and proud in the moonlight. It did not matter that the people who were approaching had a killer intent so strong it made even Sakura's skin crawl. It did not matter that they would never know he was doing this for them. He stood, proud, strong. Yes, a pillar of strength he was, hidden by walls and shrouds of deception. She stared at him so intently, because they would never know, that he was their savior.

'You always had the power to change people……………………...Naruto'

[Dark Knight 2:50]

The battle started and she saw him weaving and parrying as he took on the first squad to reach him.

"He didn't do anything wrong mom."

It wasn't a question, but Sakura felt she needed to answer.

"Because he's not the kind of hero your dad was…………"

She knew Minato was glaring at her, angry and confused, but she continued.

"He's the hero we deserve………….but not the one we need right now," she explained.

Her son's eyes widened slightly as he followed her line of sight and caught his uncle once again.

"So…………"

They continued watching the fight knowing that Sasuke was holding back but could still be killed at any moment.

"We'll hunt him…………," she stated with a near smile.

[Dark Knight 3:24]

"………we'll track him and offer bounties for him…….."

They saw him jump from roof to roof as a stray kunai ripped through his cloak and barely missed his body.

"Because he can take it."

Sasuke roundhouse kicked a jounin and jumped over some thrown kunai.

"Because he has the will of fire," said Sakura beaming as tears spilled from her eyes.

Sasuke disappeared onto another roof and started to run off into the darkness as four more squads arrived to apprehend the 'traitor'.

[Dark Knight 3:56]

"He'll always be watching over us and Konoha………………………but from the shadows," she finished with the smile turning a bit sad as they watching him dodge various jutsus in his flight.

"………….as a silent guardian…."

Sasuke sprinted along the rooftops while the Anbu struggled to stay close.

"……………………………a watchful protector………….."

The Konoha forces had no chance of catching him as he reached the gates, and Sakura barely saw the blur that was Uchiha Sasuke, former missing nin, former dark avenger……..now……….
"………A Dark Knight."

[Dark Knight 4:22]


AN: So………… good? Bad? Never put a song in again? And before u flame, it's a COMPLIMENT to the movie. I loved it so much I wanted to put our beloved Naruto characters with the dark knight theme. For those who liked it, it's supposed to be the first of three fics. The other 2 are from Sasuke's pov at the time of this fic. And the 3rd is the pov of Naruto coming down to his last moments. So please review and tell me what you thought. Oh and ps. Sorry if the music was way ahead, it happened to me a lot too. Couldn't control the damn thing.