Chapter One
An Old Friend
Nezzumi bolted upright in her bed. She was panting hard. Tiny beads of sweat fell down her forehead. "Sasuke…Sakura…Itachi…" Her voice was monotone. It had no emotion.
She quickly threw on a short, black kimono. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her Sharingan eyes stared back at her. Her long black hair flowed behind her. She looked a lot like her older brothers. She tied her Konoha bandana around her forehead. Next she grabbed her blue, diamond-shaped locket. She opened it and at the pictures inside. There was no expression on her face. She sighed and tied it around her neck.
She looked at the walls of her small shack. They were covered in newspapers. Most of them said: Uchiha Clan Whipped Out! Or Uchiha Clan No More! On another wall there were articles of her supposed death. She sighed. Seventeen years old and all alone, She thought to herself, You'd think I'd be used to it by now. She sighed and walked out of the small shack. It was raining hard. As soon as Nezzumi stepped outside she became soaked. Great, She thought sarcastically.
She wandered through the forest. She heard her stomach growl. She looked at it confused. I am a little hungry…It growled even louder …or maybe really hungry. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly she opened them again and began to run fast. She slowed her pace down at a waterfall. She recognized this area. She heard a noise in the distance and crouched behind a bush. A boy with blonde hair held, what looked like, a typhoon in the palm of his left hand. He stuck a tree. The tree had been demolished. She smirked. Interesting… She thought. She spotted a green backpack on the ground just a few feet ahead of her. Next to the back pack sat an ANBU mask. She reached for the bag when suddenly the boy appeared in front of her. He crouched down, so their eyes were level with one another. She gasped.
"You know," The boy began, "Stealing is not a good thing to do."
Nezzumi quickly pulled out a kunai, got to her feet and took a stance, ready to fight. "I wasn't going to steal anything." She stated clearly.
"Oh, then what were you do-" He stopped suddenly. He had just noticed her eyes. Her Sharingan.
Nezzumi became uncomfortable. "What? What is it?"
The boy stepped up to Nezzumi. Their eyes were locked. Nezzumi blinked as he stepped close to her. They were less then an inch away. "You…you look just like…"
"Oi! Naruto!" Naruto looked out to see an ANBU running towards him. The masked figure stopped at Naruto. "Naruto, what are you doing?"
Naruto looked back to Nezzumi, but found nothing. She was gone, nowhere to be seen. Wow, she's fast. Naruto stared at the ground. His thoughts were interrupted by the ANBU.
"Naruto!" The ANBU then removed the mask. It was Sakura.
He snapped back to reality. "Sakura. What is it?"
"Tsunade-sama wants us. C'mon. We need to leave now." She replaced her mask and turned and left.
Naruto bent down to pick up his backpack, but that was also gone. He inwardly cursed to himself as he put on his ANBU mask.
Nezzumi watched them leave from behind a tree. "Sakura…" She smiled slightly.
Sakura and Naruto ran quickly to the fifths office. They knocked on the door.
"Come in." Tsunade calmly said.
Sakura opened the door and walked inside with Naruto. Sakura and Naruto took off their masks. They walked over to Tsunade's desk.
"Naruto, Sakura. I have a mission for the two of you." She paused, "And Kakashi…That is when he gets here."
As if on cue Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, holding Nezzumi. She was unconscious. "Sorry I'm late. I ran into some trouble." He laid her body gently on the ground and tossed Naruto his green backpack. "I believe that's yours."
Naruto caught the bag but couldn't stop staring at Nezzumi. Who the heck is that girl? He thought to himself.
Sakura looked at the girl wide-eyed. Some how she felt she knew her. Her eyes spotted the blue diamond shaped locket around her neck.
Her thoughts were broken as Nezzumi sat up. Their eyes met. Sakura suddenly felt like she wanted to cry. Sakura suddenly appeared behind Nezzumi. She held a kunai to her throat. "Where did you get this?" She asked pressing the kunai deeper in her throat she continued, "I thought I lost it a couple years ago."
Nezzumi looked hurt, "What's wrong Sakura? Don't you remember who I am?" She asked in her monotone voice.
"No, I don't." Sakura cut the locket free from Nezzumi's neck.
Nezzumi gasped, "That's mine! You gave it to me. Don't you remember?"
Sakura didn't care what Nezzumi had to say until she opened the locket. Inside were two pictures. On the left was a picture of Sasuke, Sakura and Itachi. On the right was a picture of the four of them. Itachi and Sasuke stood back-to-back. Itachi was holding Sakura up on his shoulders, and Nezzumi stood in between her brothers. Itachi was ruffling Nezzumi's hair and Sasuke made the peace sign with his fingers. Sakura was holding tightly onto Itachi and smooshed her face against Itachi's. She wore a big smile.
Suddenly a memory flashed through her mind:
Nezzumi nodded, "I know." She smiled, "You're my best friend Sakura! I know we'll be friends forever."
Sakura smiled, "We will. No matter what. We'll grow up together and we'll share everything."
"I know Itachi feels the same way too. And Sasuke, even though he doesn't show it."
Sakura began to breathe heavily, "Who are you? What relation do you have to Sasuke?"
Nezzumi stepped forward, "You know the whereabouts of my brother? Where is he?" She demanded.
"Brother?" She heard Tsunade and Kakashi gasp; after all she was supposed to be dead.
Naruto leaned forward suspiciously, "Sasuke is your brother? Is that why you look like him?"
Tsunade stood, "That is enough." She looked at Nezzumi, "There is no possible way you could be Sasuke's sister. She died ten years ago."
"That'd be true," Nezzumi began, "If I had died. I'm seventeen. My name is Uchiha Nezzumi."
"That's impossible!" Tsunade yelled.
"Why doesn't Sakura remember me? My family?" She paused, "What did you do to Sakura?"
Tsunade looked at Sakura, who stared back at her. She looked back at Nezzumi, "Uchiha Nezzumi is dead." She stated coolly.
"I'm not dead." Nezzumi said, challenging the great Tsunade.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Nezzumi, "You're also not Nezzumi Uchiha."
"Sakura tell her. Tell her who I am!" She paused, "C'mon, you've got to remember. Why don't you remember?"
"Follow me." Tsunade suddenly said. They all fallowed her. They made their way to a cemetery. Tsunade stopped in front of a grave that read: Here lies Uchiha Nezzumi.
Nezzumi gasped. Sakura fell to her knees, she began to have another vision:
She was soaking wet. Suddenly, she felt a warm pair of hands engulf her in a hug. She cried silently into his chest.
"You'll freeze to death out here, Sakura."
"Itachi," She swallowed hard, "I-I keep waiting for her to come back, but she's not coming." She paused, "She's not coming."
"Sakura. Sakura-chan!" Naruto began to shake her.
Sakura snapped back to reality. She was shaking slightly. Why does this keep happening to me? What the hells going on? She asked herself.
"She came back…" She whispered under her breath. She looked at Nezzumi and the back to the locket. "Tsunade-sama…" She paused, "This is Uchiha Nezzumi."
Nezzumi smiled. "Sakura! You remember?"
"No." She replied. Everyone stared blankly at her. Then she continued, "I keep having these visions. Of my childhood…" She paused, "I could never remember my childhood until now." She turned to Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, please believe me when I say this is Nezzumi."
Tsunade blankly took that into consideration, "Alright, Sakura, if you feel so strongly about this then I will allow Nezzumi to stay in my village, but she is to stay with you and you are to keep an eye on her at all times." She said.
"I understand." Sakura replied.
"Now, for that mission. I want you four to capture the S-Rank criminal," She looked at Nezzumi, "Uchiha Itachi."
Nezzumi's eye's widened but she understood. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning."
