Chapter One

Corruption

It was a cold day in the frigid Land of Steel. To be expected, of course, but regardless Uchiha Sasuke drew his crimson red scarf closer around his mouth and nose while his black cape billowed behind his back, snow hitting his numb cheeks and nose and melting in the sweat that poured down his face while he attempted to scale the miniature mountain before him, seeing the dim yellow light up ahead and knowing food and shelter awaited him there. The sack slung around his shoulders began to slip, and the raven's hand shot out to grip the falling bag and the objects held within clanged and made a ringing noise that grit on Sasuke's ears like an untuned symphony. Cursing under his breath that they should have chosen somewhere less elevated for their base, Sasuke eventually managed to peer through the blizzard and glimpse the one story cabin in the dim of night.

His feet left smoking prints on the snow due to the amount of chakra had had infused into his feet to ensure he didn't slip on the less-than-gripping ice and snow of the hill as he had climbed, and he ensured that no-one (alive) had been around to witness his ascent to where he and Sakura had currently been staying, for the past two weeks. And the trip to this frozen land was proving to be less than fruitful, Sasuke thought with a scowl once he approached the cabin, which to any passing eye actually looked welcoming and friendly, but Sasuke knew that two murders and thieves dwelled within. Monsters to society.

Ever since he and his partner had left their former client's black market base in the Land of Stone, they had followed the information on the scroll that they had retrieved for the man all the way to Samurai Country, tracking the one person they both had a need, a want, a dependencyfor, to survive. Wind howled in Sasuke's ears like a dying animal as his free hand, the one not gripping the sack, closed on the brass handle of the door in front of him. As soon as he swung the door in, Sasuke stepped back as a pair of swords swung into the doorway from either sides of the wall and, if Sasuke had been walking into the home, they would have dug into his sides and held him there until Sakura had come to retrieve his dying body.

The thought somewhat amused and disturbed Sasuke as he placed the back of his armored glove under one of the blades and pushed it up so he could enter the home, and then he ducked down as yet another axe came swinging from a raft in the ceiling, intended to chop any intruder's head off. Sakura had often complained that the security was a bit too much, even for the two of them, but the secrets that they guarded were well worth the protection, Sasuke argued. He turned and replaced the swords into their separate holders on either side of the wall, his finger lightly flicking the string that was connected to the door and the hilts of the blades, such that once the door was opened the swords would be loosened from their holders and swung into the doorway. Then he replaced the axe and checked to ensure the chakra seals were in place, avoiding touching them since they had not been activated, and made his way to the one room that was illuminated in the home.

Passing through a virtually empty living room, where an empty stone fireplace held the remains of a still smoldering fire and two rocking chairs, placed on a faded and tattered green rug with a diagonal yellow pattern running across its frayed surface, Sasuke entered the kitchen-turned-strategy room to find Sakura bent low over the scroll they had obtained, her eyes trailing the hand-written characters and he noticed her eyes linger on the face on the parchment longer than they did the rest of the paper. "You took awhile," the rosette said without looking up as Sasuke set his bag on the counter that she stood at, completely ignoring the slightly broken stools behind her and the table pressed against the wall. A candle glowed dimly on the surface of the island, lighting up the scarred surface of the wood.

"But I got them," the raven muttered in reply and poured out the contents of the sack; a small gold ring, a steel necklace missing its locket, which was laying cracked next to a rusted shruiken, and a piece of black fabric with a swirl sewn into it with white string. "These all belonged to him apparently," the Uchiha explained when Sakura picked up the ring and stared at it curiously. "They all have chakra signatures on them too." The rosette inhaled a sharp breath and her emerald eyes flicked up to meet his own hard obsidian. "That's..unusual," she stated slowly. "We never find anything with his chakra on it."

"He must've been in a rush," Sasuke said and went to find a stool which was missing a leg and now balancing precariously on the floor, setting it by the counter and sitting down while taking off his gloves and running the bare fingers of his right hand through his hair, propping his left elbow on the counter and leaning his face onto his palm." Sakura nodded once, her eyes on the ring still and turning it over in the light, examining it closely. "You do realize today is..." "Yeah, I know." Sakura looked over at him and he met her eyes evenly, but each of them felt the pang in their hearts as they remembered...

Remembering the day Konoha took their most precious person from them.

It was a sunny spring day in Konoha. May eighteenth, to be exact, and at the present moment in time a thirteen year old Haruno Sakura lay sprawled in the long, waving strands of grass that lay outside of Team 7's training grounds, along with one Uchiha Sasuke and one Uzumaki Naruto, each of which asleep due to the hard amount of training they had pushed themselves through, but neither would never admit to the other that they had lost consciousness after the fact. Sakura felt a warm smile touch her lips as she glanced over at each tired boy, Sasuke curled on his side and sleeping peacefully while Naruto, ever the more obnoxious even in slumber, had his limbs spread every which way and a sloppy grin on his sleeping face.

The rosette heard a rustle off behind her head, and she sat up with her short pink hair swinging to meet the back of Kakashi-sensei standing before her and three ANBU facing the white-haired Jounin. Figuring that Kakashi was just chatting for no reason, Sakura laid back down and stared up at the small clouds that dotted the sapphire blue sky, the noon sun bearing down it's rays onto the Village hidden in the Leaves. Shutting her eyes, the kunochi listened to Sasuke and Naruto's even breathing while imagining herself floating on a cloud.

Sasuke seemed to shift on her left, and Sakura imagined him pressing against her back. She giggled despite herself, and she knew that the fangirl-ish crush was ultimately going to get her no-where, that if Sasuke chose her as a girlfriend it would be because he genuinely liked her back...but she just couldn't stop her mind from running free sometimes. Sighing contently, Sakura felt the warmth of the sun hit her perfectly smooth, petal-pale skin and relished in the early break Kakashi had given them. Speaking of Kakashi...Sakura heard the Jonin's voice raise considerably and he seemed to be almost shouting, and Sakura opened her eyes while sitting up to watch the wolf gesturing to the three ANBU once more, movements jerky and wild as his voice, devoid of words that Sakura could make out, seemed angry and panicked at the same time.

"Hey...Naruto," Sakura whispered and put her hand on Naruto's shoulder, shaking it gently and keeping her eyes trained on her sensei and the three mysterious shinobi. "Ehhh...What is it Sakura-chan," Naruto groaned and sat up as well, eyes blinking lazily as he rubbed at them with his left hand, curled into a fist like a child and yawned loudly. "Look," she whispered and pointed forward. "Yeah, Kaka-sensei is talking...what's so great about it," the blonde mumbled, and Sakura heard a rustling off to her left and moments later Sasuke's navy blue tee came into view. "What's going on," he growled, seemingly upset at being disturbed. "Sakura-chan thinks there's something going on between Kaka-sensei and those ANBU," Naruto filled the raven in quietly, and Sakura noticed the ANBU in the middle of the trio in front of Kakashi lean around the Jonin and point towards them.

The two on either side of the masked person nodded and all three vanished, reappearing in a triangle around the Genin. "Woah!" Naruto exclaimed, and Sakura sunk back to sit between Sasuke and Naruto, the Uchiha narrowing his eyes and standing at the same time Naruto did. "Uzumaki Naruto?" The one in front of Sakura asked coldly. The blonde's head whipped to the right to face the one who had stated his name. "Yeah?" He asked suspiciously and Sakura stood as Kakashi's furious masked face appeared behind the ANBU. "Don't you dare," he growled. "You will come with us," the ANBU in front of Sasuke stated as if Kakashi hadn't spoken. Sakura gasped and bolted to her feet, and she heard the shing of a kunai as Sasuke drew a blade from his weapons pouch. "What the hell did I do?" Naruto exclaimed. "For committing treason against the state of Konoha, you will be put on trial without parole," someone said, but Sakura was unsure who as the field erupted into chaos.

Two of the masked shinobi- one with a bear mask and another with a wolf mask- sprang forward to restrain Sasuke and Sakura while the one in front of Naruto went to grip the blonde's collar. Sakura backflipped out of the way before the shinobi's arms could wrap around her shoulders and Sasuke slithered out of reach while Naruto ducked, bucking up once the ANBU's weight pressed against his back and flinging the shinobi backwards. The three Genin gathered farther away as Kakashi sprung into battle, his left hand lifting his hitai-ate to reveal his sharnigan as he parried a fist blow from the Bear ANBU. Naruto pressed his back against Sakura's, and Sasuke joined them in the middle, forming a mini triangle as the Wolf and Hawk (the one who had gone for Naruto) ANBU appeared in front of the Uchiha. "Resisting will only bring the charges filed against you up," Wolf said, and Sakura flinched as she felt Naruto tense. "I asked what I did," Naruto said lowly.

"This sentence is absolute," Hawk replied stiffly, not giving a straight answer. "Tell us what he did," Sasuke said lowly, and Sakura heard the hidden anger in his voice and knew that Naruto was in serious danger. "He is being tried for counts of murder." If possible, Naruto stiffened even more and Sakura suppressed a gasp of shock while she retrieved two kunai from her weapons pouch and held them in each hand. "Who," Naruto growled. "Countless victims, who died thirteen years ago." "That's ridiculous!" Sakura exclaimed and the triangle shifted so Naruto was as far away from the ANBU as possible and instead Sasuke and Sakura faced the two. "He was a baby! How could he have killed anyone!" The Wolf shook their head. "You don't understand," they growled and each shinobi took a step forward. Sasuke raised his weaponry. "Don't come any closer without giving us better evidence," he said.

"If he will not come with us willingly, we will not hold back and take him by force," Hawk warned dangerously. Sasuke and Sakura both lowered into fighting stances and she noticed Sasuke reach back and put a restraining hand on Naruto's chest, silently telling the blonde to not fight. Sakura knew his impossible situation would get worse if he did, and she begged in her mind for Naruto to get the message. "No," the raven and the rosette growled in unison, and that's when it all started.

Leaping forward, the Hawk ANBU vanished in thin air, but Sasuke suddenly lifted his arm and with his kunai blocked a blow from a dulled katana as the shinobi swung at his legs, meaning to incapacitate him and in the same downward motion, kicked his feet out to trip the ANBU. Sakura focused on the fight for a moment until she saw the Wolf sneaking his way around the perimeter, attempting to get past Sakura and get Naruto from behind. With a mutter of "Oh no you don't", Sakura sprung back and managed to intercept the shinobi as he circled around Kakashi's fight and was heading straight for Naruto at breakneck speed, and she crossed her arms in front of her face to lessen the wicked punch the shinobi sent towards her. Skidding back, she dug her sandaled feet into the dirt and glared into the brown eyes that stared back at her through that mask, and attempted to push him backward using the strength training she had received from Tsunade, and then kicked into his abdomen (it was definitely a he) and sending him cartwheeling into the air, only for him to backflip in the middle of his decent and land gracefully.

Running forward once more, Sakura barely dodged a dulled shruiken that definitely would have hurt if it had hit her arm as intended and she brought herself to the ground as the ANBU leapt over her body. Gripping his ankle, Sakura sent him crashing to the ground with a loud explosion, but then confusion racked through her when the figure disappeared from her grasp. Then she screamed as two arms wrapped around her arms and pulled her out of the crumbling crater, and she kicked while looking up to see Wolf staring straight ahead at the fight between Sasuke and the Hawk. The raven seemed to be losing. Badly. He was barely keeping up with opposite shinobi's blows and Sakura knew if he didn't have the sharnigan then it would have been even worse, but even so he managed a wicked roundhouse kick to the person's mask and made them stumble back a few feet, clutch the area Sasuke had hit with his palm before dashing forward again, and this time even Sasuke looked confused as he glanced around, trying to find where the person was.

Then Sakura noticed the shadow descending above the raven. "Sasuke-kun!" She screeched, and he glanced over at her to see her wide emerald eyes trained above his head, he quickly looking up to see the masked figure bearing down on him. Leaping out of the way, Sasuke narrowly avoided being knocked out as the figure clasped their fists together and slammed them into the spot the Uchiha had been standing moments previous. But as he made to escape, a gloved hand closed around his ankle and he was pulled back into a restraining Hawk ANBU. Snarling, Sasuke kicked and tried to free himself, but the shinobi held him too tight and left no room for maneuvering. His desperate eyes connected with Sakura's, and both seemed to have the same idea as they simultaneously looked over to where they had last seen Naruto. The blonde was backflipping away from the Bear ANBU, who seemed to have knocked Kakashi out as Sakura looked over at the unconscious figure to her right, and was currently slashing at the blonde with a sharpened katana.

Clapping his hands together, Naruto shouted "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and eight clones of himself appeared in a cloud of white smoke. Four lined up next to the other's awaiting palms and began to rotate the air in their hands, and four Naruto's began to wield Rasengans as the Bear charged forward after a momentary daze of seeing eight of Naruto. The four with the Rasengans sprinted forward as well, two diverging to either side of the ANBU while the four that had formed the attacks charged in a straight line formation.

What happened next almost seemed to occur in slow motion to Sakura.

The Narutos holding Rasengans began to close in on the ANBU, palms outstretched and as the first two barely grazed the ANBU's exposed shoulders, the Bear suddenly ducked and spun, kicking out his legs and twisting three-hundred and sixty degrees, violently dispelling the four Kage Bunshins holding the attacks, and then in the same motion stood and went straight for the Naruto on the left edge of the four left. The blonde's cerulean eyes widened as the ANBU rammed into him, sending the blonde cartwheeling back and the three Kage Bunshin vanished in pops of air. "Naruto!" Sakura and Sasuke cried out in unison as the blonde landed with a dull thump on the dusty ground, skidding back and once he had stopped, he didn't get back up. Meanwhile, the Bear continued to run forward and Sakura heard the sound of metal sliding on metal, and saw the dark pommel of the katana arc into the air in the shinobi's hand.

"No!" The rosette screamed and fought again against the Wolf's hold as the Bear brought the handle of his sword down on Naruto's skull with a sickening crack.

Silence fell down on the clearing as Naruto cried out once, his pained shout echoing around the grassy field, and then the Bear bent down and roughly picked the blonde up, swinging him over his shoulder. Sakura saw blood dripping from Naruto's temple as his forehead bumped against the ANBU's shoulder, the crimson falling to the ground like tears. Nodding once to his companions, the Bear flickered and vanished, and Hawk followed, leaving Wolf to abandon Sakura last. She fell to her knees, staring at the bloody spots on the ground in horror as she kept replaying the scene of Naruto being struck over and over in her mind, hearing Sasuke's voice oddly screaming Naruto's name and a string of curses and threats directed at the ANBU who had attacked them...

Sasuke noticed Sakura clench her fists around the golden ring in the present time, and he too reached out onto the counter for the few objects that he knew for a fact belonged to the blonde who had somehow managed to escape Konoha, alive. He lifted the cracked oval locket into his palm and weighed it, appraising it in the lighting of the candle and his eyes tracing the spider web break on the otherwise smooth surface, the cracking starting in the bottom left side of the oval and gradually making its way up the left side. Placing his right index finger under the clasp of the small locket, Sasuke tried to pry the object open.

The lid didn't budge.

Frowning slightly, Sasuke stared at the oval which now seemed to be mocking him and he noticed Sakura staring at him curiously. "What," he snapped and felt his temper rise as he came to the realization that another year had passed without knowing what had truly happened to their blonde teammate, marking this as fourth anniversary since he had watched someone close to him get dragged away from him..again. Sakura looked away and placed the ring back on the table. "No sign of him down there then," she asked after a few tense silences. "No," Sasuke replied instantly. He removed his cloak from his shoulders, revealing the grey zip-up tank with the Uchiha crest stitched into the back, the black shinobi pants he had on and the black boots that rose to his knees, buckles lining the inside of the leather footwear as he carelessly flung the clothing into the corner of the room, removing his katana and arm-guards as well, but placed them more carefully under the counter.

Sakura, for her part, had her now back-length rosette hair (she had grown it out and refused to cut it) in a high ponytail, her bangs sweeping low over her hard emerald eyes and was wearing a tight fitting sleeve-less red shirt with a low-cut collar, a fish-net shirt covering her chest and stomach, which was revealed since the red cloth cut off just before her navel, and a very unusually cut skirt; one half ran down to her right knee while the other side was cut at mid thigh, a triangular slit cut between the two different sides. She two wore knee-length black boots, but these had wedged heels as opposed to Sasuke's flat gear, and her buckles ran along the backs of her calves. Her right arm had a spiraling red metal bracelet on it while her hip held a silver belt, which contained three different pouches: one for weaponry, one for medical supplies, and the third...well...

Even Sasuke didn't know what was inside that third pouch.

Her double bladed scythe was buckled into the hoister that was strapped to her back with a leather strap that arched over her right shoulder and connected to her belt, and as Sakura went to remove the weapon, Sasuke took in the very strange design. Each blade of the weapon had eleven holes running down the middle of the blade, varying in size from the largest near the hilt and gradually growing smaller until they reached the tips of the blades. The hilt, for its part, was painted a crimson red, like a rose, and was very thick by the blades and slimmed out to the part that was covered in leather for easy and comfortable grip. The raven never did learn where Sakura had obtained such a unique weapon, and since he had been with her almost 24/7 since the two had left Konoha, it remained a mystery to him and probably always would.

"I've got to go get more herbs," the rosette muttered, and Sasuke noticed her finger the bottom blade of her scythe, which hung by her right heel. "Don't go overboard with it," he replied. "No promises," Sakura growled and swung her own, smaller black cloak over her torso. "I'm not in a good mood right now." "We aren't done here yet," Sasuke said and looked over his shoulder at his retreating partner. "If you kill anyone important we'll have to leave." "Then I won't kill anyone important!" Sakura's voice drifted to Sasuke from the foyer. He sighed and didn't even feel the concern he used to at Sakura's sudden bloodlust, almost great enough to rival his own, but knew it came from a brewing hatred and anger directed at those who had hurt Naruto. He knew that...

Because he felt an even greater pain at the loss of his best friend.

Placing the locket down before he crushed it into silvery dust in his palm, the Uchiha stood and pushed his stool back while sweeping out of the room and going to the bedroom he had created out of what appeared to have been either a pantry or a shed that connected to the overgrown, snowy backyard. Stepping inside and closing the worn wooden door, he went straight for the tattered futon he had spread on the floor along with the grey blankets and the backpack filled with spare clothing that he used as a pillow, sitting on the futon and sighing while extending his legs.

Sasuke knew he was most likely clinically insane; he enjoyed the blood he shed, he looked forward to, and relished in, it because each drop would ultimately lead himself (and Sakura, he tacked on begrudgingly) to Naruto...and he would swim through a sea of blood and tears if it meant he could reach the blonde again. He knew Sakura would too in a heartbeat, but that was the difference between himself and Sakura. Sasuke would always rush to Naruto without second thought, and Sakura would hesitate for that split second, that one frame in time that meant the difference between who could get their hands on Naruto first. Sasuke grit his teeth as he promised himself, again, that it would be him who got to the blonde.

Oh, the raven knew Sakura was a dangerous enemy to make and she cared about Naruto just as much as he did, perhaps more in some ways, and he knew that when it came time for him to take Naruto and abandon her he was in for a hell of a chase. But after spending the past four years traveling with her and not in a romantic way at all (Sasuke refused any advances Sakura had made in the beginning...he had eyes for someone quite different) he had learn all of her weaknesses and how to exploit them in battle. As he thought of that wicked scythe of hers, Sasuke knew she was almost unstoppable when she wielded it, because with a simple twirl she could cut through a man's torso like butter when she combined the already sharp edges with her unnatural strength. Sasuke shivered just thinking about the furious joy that always crossed Sakura's pale features at the blood she spilled in battle.

Four years certainly had changed the kind, lovable rosette into a cold-hearted, relentless murderer.

But Sasuke knew he could match her viciousness with equal intensity. He was used to hating someone, or in this case, an entire village, with all of his being. He knew how to use that feeling to his advantage and in a hand-to-hand situation, Sasuke could probably gain the advantage if he was quick enough on his feet and poured every ounce of negative emotion into his battle...Sakura would be done. Because Sasuke was not about to share his prize. Maybe he was insane, yes...

And maybe his soul was corrupted beyond repair...

But he will always chase that blonde hair and sky blue eyes until the day his heart stopped beating. That would always be his true goal as long as he was certain Naruto was still alive. And as he sat in the dim, cold room that belonged to a family now long dead at his hand, an insane laugh escaped his lips when he whispered aloud...

"I will avenge you, Naruto."