Disclaimer: Naruto, its world, and its characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and not me. I do own Ookamika Saori, the Ookamika Clan, and the plotline.
Author's Note: I am sort of happy to be back :3 My BIF and I both concluded that Saori is more than ten times better than Saisuki (who you wouldn't know if you were here circa 2007), so I hope this turns out much better than My Life With the Akatsuki/Revenge Was Never Bittersweet. Also, please check out my deviantART account! I have a companion project, 100 Flashes, which follows Saori's life in images in chronological order, unlike this, which lives mainly in flashbacks. My dA username is Saisuki.
As my first lovely reviewer pointed out, I must confess I forgot to notify readers. This is not a NaruSaku story. The main pairing is SasoSaku and contains original characters. Other pairings that are to be found (though not firmly decided yet) are: ShikaTema, SaiIno, NaruHina, PaiKo, SuiKa.
Please, enjoy!
Prologue
Every time I stare at the little thing in my hands, my heart thumps faster and faster. I know staring at it half the day isn't going to get me anywhere, but I want to chicken out. I want to be the coward I've tried so hard to overcome. Who wants to walk up to the murderous Uchiha Madara and his Akatsuki, one of which was immortal, and try to use a foreign object left behind by her late master?
It was not like I didn't have a choice. Things are so much easier in those unrealistic fantasy novels, where the hero has no choice but pull an amazing defeat on the main antagonist. Instead, I'm not the main protagonist. I may not even be on the protagonist's side. I am the gray of the black and white, of good and evil. I suppose being gray and being unable to be stereotyped to a certain side lets me get to make a tough decision - whether or not to make an effort in stopping Uchiha Madara or not. By all logical means, the decision should be an easy "yes, kill him" but it isn't as easy for a coward, like me. Forget that my life is at stake if I don't try to stop Madara, but I'd have a hand in endangering the life of two very important people. Those two would be the lover of a man I most admired and their son.
Gosh, how long ago was it that I broke out of Iwagakure no Sato's prison with two infamous Akatsuki and the late Godaime Hokage Tsunade's pupil? It seemed ages ago when it really wasn't. I got to experience some kickass things while I was fleeing from Iwagakure, a place I had once called home. I learned what it meant to have a best friend, how much it hurt to fight with that best friend, what it felt like to have a father. Don't get me wrong, I knew my father. He was one hell of an egotistical, sexist jerk. The man I had come to admire was far from the heart-touching, loving father I had always hoped for, but he was far better than my own biological one. He'd yell at me for doing careless things, but it wasn't only because it inconvenienced him, it was because I would hurt myself. My biological father would just yell at me for getting in "God-damned" way.
Of course, I also got to experience what nearly dying was like. Wasn't that fun?
After having faced death mere inches from me, I stopped thinking about dying. I stopped fearing it. It's not that death isn't scary or anything; some things in our shinobi world is just ten times scarier. Such as being one of the first to realize my sensei, in which my existence is solely present because of him, was dead. And that the Akatsuki was attacking my home. I'd rather face death every day of my life than get that feeling of shock and helplessness. Sometimes, I can't even believe he's dead. All more the reason to fear getting into the face of Uchiha Madara with a foreign object that may not work.
Oh great. I hadn't even considered that this weird talisman thing of sorts might not work.
Sighing, I look back up to the battle before me. I have no idea what I'm doing, just standing here while the rest of Konoha is getting obliterated. It's been what, three years? That sounds about right. It's been three years since the late Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara, was assassinated, and yet none of us had a clue of who killed him yet. You can't blame us, we're too busy, you know, staying alive.
The credit of all this chaos goes to the Akatsuki, as you might've expected. As their numbers dwindled, everyone expected them to just die off. Instead, they somehow managed to bond all the countries together against Konoha and attacked. No one had expected it; everything was quiet when, out of the blue, bombs went off, and the Great Hokage Faces trapped and killed over half of the residents in Konoha. I hadn't been there, but a kunoichi I know, Tenten, told me it was terrible, all that screaming, all that blood.
Tenten was one of the few known survivors. If there were more, they were in hiding and they would not be coming back out until it was clear. The only help Konoha received were that of renegade groups, shinobi who had fled their countries, low-class missing-nin, and the faction of Suna who had supported the late Kazekage. I am one of those low-class missing-nin. I come from Iwagakure, the Hidden Stone Village. I was met with over all distrust, naturally, when I was delivered to the main force of Konoha's remnants. I had been on a suicidal mission when I was compromised. While I had been out of sight, Madara had spread the rumor I had joined the Akatsuki. It was entirely plausible, too - I had spent the greater part of a year with two Akatsuki, called one of them my best friend, and the other I idolized. Even Haruno Sakura, who had spent the same amount of time with them, could believe it.
I was kept imprisoned in my own clan's ruined compounds - the current main base for Konoha - until Akatsuki's only female member announced Madara was on the move to this location. A boy named Sai, whom Sakura apparently had told the entirely of our adventures fleeing from Iwa, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten had vouched for my reintegration. Neji and Tenten had refused to believe the crap about me aligning myself with the Akatsuki as they had known my operation. Sai just knew.
A few days ago, I was placed in an underground barrack, in which Sakura and I shared with three other Konoha girls – Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino – a girl from Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud Village, and a girl from Sunagakure, the Hidden Sand Village, who went by the name of Temari. I was told Temari was the brother of Gaara, and had lost her other brother, Kankuro, as well.
I usually sit and stay up throughout the night, both in fear of an attack and in fear of eternal slumber. The other girls are always crying, and I want to cry, too, though my tear ducts dried out a long time ago. Sakura always cries about a boy named Uzumaki Naruto in her sleep. On occasion, I hear her murmur the name of another boy, Uchiha Sasuke. Each time she does, I get an uncontrollable anger. He was the reason why I lost my best friend. He was the reason why Uchiha Itachi was dead. He was the reason why Madara was so difficult to stop.
I asked the Ino girl who Naruto was, and she almost broke up in tears as well. I hated myself for it, but I was dying to know. I later found out he was one of the loser kids who tried so hard to get to the top, the type of kids I learned to respect. He was like Sakura's brother, and was now one of the many shinobi from Konoha who was missing. I pray with them from time to time for Naruto's welfare.
Temari never mentions either of her brothers; I think she tries to forget they were even there, and we respect that. Hinata lost her little sister, Hanabi, her father, and most of the rest of her family. Tenten spends most of her time with Neji. They lost their sensei, Maito Gai, and their other teammate, Rock Lee. Ino's the only one who tries to be optimistic, even though she lost one of her teammates, Akimichi Chouji, too. She's almost always with a woman named Yuuhi Kurenai, who has a two year old child.
A kunai flashes by me, catching me off guard. A shriek follows, and an ex-Suna nin goes down in pain. I leap away, taking to the shadows of the few trees that survived the treacherous fire that consumed my clan eleven years earlier. What had gone wrong? How did we even get in this situation? I close my eyes, throwing a few projectiles into the messy blur, pinning down a few Kumo nin, though hardly impeding their movement. Against my body's will, I move, knowing someone must've seen my projectiles and was probably coming to see if I was there. Unfortunately for them, that'd be the last thing they did. A platoon of four Kiri nin cautiously walked around the trunk. One of them stepped on my wire, springing off my hastily made trap, silencing them. Good. Now I just had to get into the Akatsuki's defense unnoticed and in one piece… or at least with a functioning body part that could get this foreign talisman thing to activate, whatever it was.
Leaping from my position back into the fray, I spot Sakura, using her unusual strength to beat the crap out of the other guys. I smile a little but as soon as she looks my way, I lose it. Sakura still doesn't believe I have good intentions. Hinata is with her cousin, Neji, and Tenten, fighting the Akatsuki Alliance off. Temari is blowing her opponents away, her eyes blaring in the pain of losing both of her brothers. I spot Sai, one of three sympathetic hands that came my way, painting away. His eyes meet mine for a split second; in that split second, he knew what I was going to do. He didn't need a Kekkei Genkai that could read minds, like mine, to read me like an open scroll. He shook his head and sprinted after me, his kunai skillfully taking out whoever was close enough. Soon he was matching my steps, speeding through the crowd.
"Are you out of your mind, Saori-san?" Sai demands to know. I firmly close my eyes and nod.
"I'd say I'm worthy of being the greatest nightmare for a psychologist, but somebody has to go crazy. They say it happens to those with my Kekkei Genkai," I reply, ducking before a giant wind shuriken slices me in half. Sai redirects it the other way.
"Is this what Jigoku left you to do?" I wince as Sai mentions my late sensei's name. I remember Jigoku's face well; a sudden mixture of emotion – something he had never shown before – had exploded on his face when he told me exactly how to stop the war and kill Uchiha Madara. It was just days before he up and left without warning, attempting to stop Pain from destroying the clan he had sworn to lead and protect.
"Yes, Sai, this is the thing that's supposed to kill Uchiha Madara." Sai was quiet for a bit, Madara just another few thousand of meters off.
"So… this is it?"
"Yeah… this is it." I feel his hand on my wrist as he pulls me to a stop, nearly ripping my arm out of my arm socket. "Ow…"
"Apologies. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Well Jigoku-sama left me this for some reason, right? He could have left it with one of his other students, but he chose me to use it. I'm not ready for the level of jerkdom it takes to not give this an effort."
"Humans do weird things, Saori-san."
"Or it's just me," I sadly smile. Sai returns the favor, but a slight twitch at one end of his mouth gives him away. "I'm sure you'll find Naruto-san, Sai. Don't worry about it, people will eventually warm up to you."
"Huh?" Confusion replaces Sai's smile. "Was I obvious?"
"Yeah." Against my will, I turn away, all traces of happiness gone. Madara's even closer now. My legs just want to turn tail and run for all it was worth. But I can't. I have to think about the kids, like Kurenai's, and Sakura's. I have to think about them. I bolt away from Sai; he doesn't bother to convince me otherwise. It isn't long before the Hachibi host - Killerbee of Kumogakure, the Hidden Cloud - feels a presence at his back. It's yours truly.
"What're you planning?" Killerbee asks, not bothering to rap. The guy loved to express himself and took a relaxed approach to life, but this was no time. The world hung in the balance.
"Well, I have this… erm… thing. I think it's meant to restrain Madara somewhat. I'm going to try to pull my Kekkei Genkai, the Mind's Eye, in Fifth State on him after I activate this thing. I probably won't work -"
"- because of his damn Mangekyou Sharingan," snorts Killerbee.
"Right. Because of that damn thing."
"I thought your clan's Kekkei Genkai only goes to Fourth State. The way I hear it is that Fifth State is unattainable."
"While that is true, I think I can force my eyes to it, or close to it. It doesn't matter; as long as Madara thinks he's seeing Fifth State activating, he's going to lose his game. That when I need you and your brother to come in." Killerbee nods, quickly catching on as he pounds one after another with lightning-laden fists. Likely my only advantages I have against Madara are his fear and his - what I consider - miscalculated judgment of my Kekkei Genkai's potential. My Kekkei Genkai - the Mind's Eye - has four states, each with its own unique ability. The first is to read minds. The second is communication through the mind. Second state is most commonly when evolution ends for those gifted with the Mind's Eye in my clan, the Ookamika Clan. The third state is the hardest to achieve, which is the ability to control someone through the mind. The fourth is to kill someone through the mind, though it carries its own risk of complete chakra drainage and slow recovery. The fifth state, which is unachieved according to written record, was made to cover the errors of the fourth state - to ensure the death of any one person in exchange for your own.
Both Jigoku and Madara knew I had a very promising Mind's Eye. It has already proven itself, having evolved the Fourth State with a mound of help, mind you. I admit I don't believe I can get to the Fifth State, but I know I can force it. I'll likely lose my eyes but if it can push Madara off his pedestal for a moment, it was good enough for me. Just a small opening was all that Killerbee would need to pull off a devastating blow with his brother, the Raikage, who defected because he didn't believe in "this bullshit" with the Akatsuki. The whole thing was a risky and foolish affair. Maybe you won't blame me for wanting to submit to my cowardice. "The window of opportunity will be small," notes Killerbee.
"I know. I don't think that this thing will restrain Madara long. He'll probably force one of the Mangekyou Sharingan's many abilities on me, and that thing will break. I'm worried that if this thing breaks, it might cause some sort of explosion or something. Keep your eyes out for that and jump out of the way if it happens."
"You're a bossy girl, aren't you?"
"Only when it counts." In the next moment I am gone from his side, ducking and weaving through the masses of bodies that have pitted against each other. The remaining, and some revived, Akatsuki are an impediment to Madara. Their formation seems loose but their defense is tight, and lacks a weak point in terms of members. They're all S-Ranked, stronger than I am. Controlled breaths pass by my lips. I'm starting to shake. To my left is Hoshigaki Kisame, whose blade, Samehada, sucks chakra like a leech. It supplied the reason for the rising pile of bodies around him. To my right is Hidan, who swings his three-bladed scythe. If my blood catches on that blade, I'm done for, I'm told. I wouldn't like to know how the peculiar man named Zetsu would like to kill me. Hidan it is.
Hidan laughs with disdainful disrespect to the lives he's reaped. His blade is a tad bit heavier in his grip, and his violet eyes flash immediately to its source. I admit, I don't have the lightness of touch I used to. Floating unconsciously down a river can do that. "You damn bitch!" growls Hidan. "You've scuffed my scythe! What kind of dumb kunoichi does that anyways?" I land on the other side of him, but he's after me anyways. That is, until a blur of dark gray and platinum blonde collides into his front. Its blue eyes flash up at me - it's Ookamika Tamaika, a fellow kinswoman I'm not too fond of.
"The hell you waiting for? Get him," Tamaika hisses shortly before Hidan shoves her off and goes one on one with her. I can't help but feeling a little downcast. The likelihood I come out alive is looking slimmer and slimmer. But I've no time for such morbid thoughts.
"Well, well, if it isn't Ookamika Saori, the girl who traded her life for the sake of Deidara. What's this? You're going to destroy the very being who spared your life?" Uchiha Madara chuckles. I growl in return. Of course, Madara knew how to get to me. The night I almost lost my memory floods back unwillingly. "What is it that Jigoku-san left with you?"
"He left something to kill you with."
"Kill? Kill me, you say?"
"Yes, I said to kill you with."
"You are talented in a few areas, yes, but kill me? I am Uchiha Madara, soon to be the bearer of peace."
"Wonderful, I really hadn't taken the time to notice."
"How you've survived this long still befuddles me. Right, I suppose I really should have killed you that day…"
"Too late, I don't take rain checks." I throw up Jigoku's pendant into the air. Madara must have recognized it; he hoarsely roars a "No!" before it begins to glow and activate. He holds up a hand to one of his eyes, his other bleeding eye staring at me. It's too late for him to stop the pendant, perhaps he hopes to stop me. His concentration is momentarily broken. The whites of my eyes are displaced with the same shade of gold that my irises usually are. And those said irises become black, that which represents the Mind's Eye's First and Second States. The color drains from Madara's face as he watches my eyes change to completely white, signifying the Third and Fourth States. But I don't intend on stopping there.
It's the eyes he wished he would never see. Black voids of emptiness.
"You can't… you can't get to the Fifth State…," he half mutters to himself. The black is slowly eating away at the whites, I can feel it like an awful cancer. "No, no, no, NO!" His Mangekyou Sharingan spins wildly, and the pendant cracks. I'm running out of time and out of chakra. I press even harder, but not before he inflicts his jutsu on me. I'm caught in his Tsukiyomi. The world flickers; Madara is weak - he can't hold it up for much longer. Suddenly, I hear his evil chuckle above me, though I can't see him.
"Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?"
End note: please review! If you dislike this story, please write something constructive. It really does help!
