Chapter 3
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Underneath the Underneath
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Itachi yawned letting his eyes flutter open from his uncharacteristic lie-in. The lines under his eyes having faded slightly with the extra sleep, it was peaceful until he heard a loud laugh and several other voices from downstairs; he wanted to groan at the presence of guests in the house. He was sure if he stayed in his bed much longer his father was likely to come up shouting at him about clan duties and that was a conversation he did not want to have.
Throwing the covers off his body he stepped out into the cold of his room and softly padded his way to the shower. The warm water was a welcome relief and he let his long hair soak in it before shampooing. Stepping out he threw on a pair of slack jogging pants and let the towel hang around his shoulders, he pulled on his tight ANBU vest and made his way downstairs.
When he reached the bottom it wasn't hard to tell the guests, Sasuke's team seemed to never leave the Uchiha home. He said nothing as he walked into the kitchen, briefly glancing at the pink Kunoichi on his way to the sink for a glass of water.
"So Sakura-Chan, it's only a month from your exam now, nervous?" Naruto smirked at the immediate doubt etched on Sakura's face.
"A little." She smiled noticing Itachi with his hair still damp falling over his shoulders, yet again she was taken by surprise at seeing him so relaxed.
"You've nothing to worry about, Kaka-Sensei says your landing more and more punches on him every day, and he said you even broke his jaw!" Naruto praised her and she smiled at that particular memory.
"Yes and he well and truly beat me to a sorry pulp the next day for breaking said jaw." She grimaced.
"Anyways I've got training to do believe it or not." She said stretching as she stood from the kitchen chair, her back giving an appreciative pop to which the boys cringed. "It is ok for me to use your lake, right?" she checked with Sasuke.
"Yea its fine, you won't be disturbed there." He replied leading her out of the house.
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Sakura took her place in the centre of the huge Uchiha Lake, she couldn't think of a more perfect spot for practicing her Suiton. She began the series of hand seals of the water release jutsu and out from her mouth came a powerful blast of water. It had been particularly satisfying when Sakura discovered her element to be water, she hid this fact from Sasuke until a sparring session when he attempted to just Katon and she extinguished it. In his surprise she was able to leap forward and give him her best right hook. Needless to say, it didn't happen a second time.
Sakura's next water technique was one which required a bit more concentration and she relaxed, controlling the flow of chakra in her system and she methodically went through all the signs. Erupting from the water was a powerful and ominous dragon, it wailed loudly and soared high into the air twisting around her protectively before she released it.
"That's quite impressive." Said a voice beside her and she jumped at the surprising appearance of Itachi, it seemed he never made his presence known unless he wanted you made aware of it.
"Thanks." She said politely as he took a stance opposite her, Sakura didn't know what he intended to do but she prepared for an attack as his hand started to form an unfamiliar Katon jutsu. Sakura was quick to resurrect her water dragon as Itachi's flaming phoenix soared above her head.
Their creatures collided with a powerful bang that rippled the water beneath their feet; Sakura felt the pressure of his bird as it knocked into her dragon, powerful and unyielding. Although his phoenix was weak to water they seemed evenly matched and she was having a hard time keeping her dragon alive.
Itachi didn't know what lead him to the lake; he put it down to curiosity. He was unaware that the woman possessed water jutsu, another surprise from the medic. When he saw the dragon emerge from the water he was genuinely impressed, wanting to feel for himself how powerful the beast was, his feet were moving before he could stop. Itachi wasn't particularly sure what it was about the Sakura that fascinated him so but he found himself unable to resist following her.
He saw an emotion flit across her face when she saw him; he wasn't sure what it was exactly. It seemed like apprehension? He shouldn't be surprised, almost everyone found it hard to be around him, he didn't intentionally want to push people away but he had unfortunately built some sort of barrier that kept everyone else out. She looked at him as if she felt uneasy in his presence. Itachi shrugged his suspicions aside when his phoenix collided with her dragon, he was impressed that it remained intact after their collision, but he noticed the concentration on her features. It was clearly taking a lot of control on her behalf to sustain the dragon.
On her second strike he found himself needing to apply more force than he deemed necessary to keep his phoenix in the air and he smirked at the challenge. He knew he could easily end this but the medic seemed determined to fight him. He held back as her dragon swooped to the waters' surface rotating with mesmerising speed until a vortex had formed, the dragon circled in the vortex, rising in the air as it captured his phoenix.
His phoenix broke free from the trap and he noticed the twitch at the corner of Sakura's eye, the frustration evident in her face. His bird shot a burst of flames from its mouth and the dragon attempted to counter with a rapture of water from its own, but it wasn't powerful enough and the flames engulfed her dragon reducing it to steam. He smirked allowing the bird to sail to the waters' surface. He looked at the girl who had a grin on her face rather than a frown and he immediately knew his mistake.
Itachi Uchiha was not one to usually underestimate his opponents, so when Sakura saw the way he was taking her too lightly she knew there was an opportunity to get the upper hand on the noble Uchiha. When his phoenix broke from her vortex she knew immediately what she was going to do, so she waited until the bird landed on the waters' surface when Itachi held a satisfied smirk on his features and she grinned. He noticed, but it was too late, her dragon came underneath the water and engulfed his phoenix in its mouth with a satisfying fizzle.
Itachi couldn't believe his eyes, she had outwitted him, when was the last time he had let his guard down like this, even in a meaningless spar. The only thing could do in such a situation was admit his defeat, something he normally resented in doing but as with everything surrounding this woman it didn't seem so painful.
His hands clapping together shocked Sakura, she half expected him to resurrect it and kick her ass into last Sunday. But yet he stood before her admitting defeat. She pondered for a moment whether letting her face break into a smirk was pushing it, but she did it nonetheless.
"As Kakashi-Sensei would say, always look underneath the underneath." She grinned triumphantly.
"Wise words." Itachi smirked taking his leave.
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Sakura sipped her tea sitting opposite her blonde best friend, she was unsure whether she was allowed to tell her friend about her upcoming exam, but she couldn't see Ino blabbing. She knew Shikamaru was in ANBU, she actually knew most of the ANBU force so Sakura shrugged, it wasn't particularly hard to tell which Shinobi were in the force.
"I've an exam in a month." She said watching Ino's unimpressed face, "It's for ANBU." She then said and Ino shrugged impassively.
"Ino, did you hear me?" asked Sakura before Ino exploded on her.
"How could not tell me!" She snapped and Sakura was taken back at her anger.
"I'm sorry Ino I didn't think." Sakura answered genuinely.
"Now I'm going to be left behind with you and Shika both in ANBU." She groaned smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of her forehead.
"I haven't even got in yet, will you calm down, you're not going to be alone." Sakura sighed taking another sip of her tea as her irate friend relaxed.
"Dad always wanted me to go into the interrogation squad." Ino said contemplating it before shaking off the thoughts, having seen Sakura's gruelling training sessions she had decided otherwise.
"And did you think I wouldn't be the least bit suspicious at all your hard ass training." Laughed Ino and Sakura grinned.
"I suppose not." She replied as another thought tugged at her mind, unsure whether to voice it, her curiosity however got the better of her and she had to let it out.
"Ino," started Sakura as her friend watched her with mild interest. "What do you think of Itachi Uchiha?" she asked exhaling slowly.
"Why, do think he's hot?" the blonde immediately quizzed.
"No, well I mean he's attractive but I mean as a person." She asked hoping that her feelings around him were normal and not something deeper that she didn't want to uncover.
"Hm, he's a very powerful man." She began, "he's rather introverted Sakura, I doubt many could tell what he's like as a person. Why?" Ino immediately quizzed and Sakura knew what that look meant.
"I was just wondering, he makes me feel uneasy when he's around." Sakura admitted and Ino frowned, half expecting Sakura to announce she was madly in love with the man.
"Yes well he can seem intimidating with that whole I don't talk to anyone personality of his, it would make me creped out too if all he did was stare." Ino nodded taking a sip of her tea and Sakura refrained from telling her that Itachi didn't just stare at her.
This was not helping her confused opinion of the man. She groaned in her frustration and after her tea with Ino she headed home.
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Sakura was relieved that she didn't have to see the infuriating man ruling her brain in the two weeks that had passed since the incident on the Uchiha Lake. She was on her way to the Hokage tower, Tsunade said she wanted to see Sakura immediately and she picked up her pace knowing her mentor's impatience.
She knocked on the familiar door and entered the room seeing her mentor smiling unusually wide. She had a bad feeling about this.
"So Sakura, how's the training going?" She inquired with that maniacal grin.
"It's going good, I guess." She answered as her mentor stood.
"That's good but I think I need to judge that for myself." The Godaime said as Sakura froze in shock.
"What." She blurted out before her words even reached her brain; her mentor smiled and rose from her chair.
"Stop gawking and let's go. I have a hundred other things to be doing." She said leaving the room.
When Sakura arrived at the training grounds with her teacher she didn't expect to see a crowd but team seven were there, along with Itachi and his team, to her dismay and even Lee made an appearance. Sakura gulped, she was not prepared for her Shisou to defeat her in what was sure to be in an embarrassing fashion in front of all her comrades.
"Don't look so worried Sakura, this isn't your real exam." Grinned Tsunade as the crowd looked on intently.
"Who do'ya thinks going to win?" asked Naruto excitedly beside Kakashi and Sasuke.
"Tsunade." They replied in unison and Naruto frowned; so much for having faith in their teammate.
"Well I think Sakura-Chan stands a good chance." He grinned watching as she pulled on her infamous gloves.
"Alright Shisou, I won't go easy." She smirked and her mentor laughed.
"Nor will I." It happened in a flash as the two women tore towards one another, their fists extended. The explosion that occurred once the inhumanly powerful fists connected was far beyond what anyone, even what Sakura and the Godaime herself had anticipated. The entire training ground fell beneath their feet as the crater expanded whilst their fists locked. The ground shuddered violently and trees began to creak and bend with the sheer force. Buildings felt the glass in their windows shake and the group of Shinobi that had been watching at the side lines stood with their mouths hanging somewhere at their knees.
"Well that was unexpected." Shisui smiled as he finally overcame the shock and watched the two women at the centre of the damage.
"That was amazing!" cheered Naruto as Tsunade and Sakura jumped apart from each other.
"My, my Sakura-Chan, your enhanced strength is on par with my own. I must be losing my touch." She grinned and Sakura gathered chakra at her feet.
"On the contrary taichou, I'm just getting better." Grinned Sakura as she and Tsunade came to blows once again sending ripples through the ground at their feet.
"The earth style users are not going to be impressed trying to fix this mess." Genma mumbled dodging the occasional lump of rock heading their way. "Remind me again to never try and hit on Sakura." he added as her shrill voice rang in their ears as she grabbed a tree, uprooting it as if it were a twig, swinging it towards her master with speed one would think physically impossible for such a large object.
Tsunade jumped narrowly avoiding the tree as she lunged for her apprentice and they began close combat taijutsu, moving almost faster than the visible eye could see.
"Since when did Sakura get so fast?" asked Sasuke mildly surprised, she had not demonstrated as much power or drive when he had last sparred with her.
"Hm, it seems that when one has something to prove it can awaken strengths even the user was not aware they possessed." Kakashi mused uncovering his Sharingan to better follow the movements of his former student. He had to admit he was extremely impressed at how she was handling the Godaime; it was almost as if they were evenly matched.
Itachi watched the battle with morbid fascination; the girl's movements were perfect. It was the way her body arched dodging everything so gracefully; even if the noises from her mouth were less than attractive. He was astonished at the rate at which she had improved, perhaps Kakashi was right. The need for Sakura to demonstrate to her master that she was capable was all that was needed to push her to her limits. He was brutally pulled from his thoughts when an ear splitting scream hit their ears, he watched Sakura soar through the air vainly trying to turn her body in time to miss the Hokage who appeared in the air next to her, bringing her leg down on the girls back sending her rocketing into the ground.
The entire arena was silent. Tsunade landed in the crater walking over to the dust clouding where her student had fallen. As she approached the clearing however she was suddenly taken back at the empty sight in front of her.
"Oh sensei." Growled Sakura from the left swinging her leg connecting with Tsunade's stomach knocking the wind out of her as the Kage was fired across the decimated grounds.
The men were once again silent but this time in shock. Had Sakura really just defeated the Hokage? Their answer came from the laugher the other side of the field as Tsunade picked herself up and made her way back to where Sakura stood. Moulding the sufficient chakra Tsunade moved faster than Sakura could track and she felt herself being jolted with tiny pricks of electricity. Sakura cursed, her master's body point's disturbance technique.
Tsunade took a step back from the fuming Sakura who tried to move her right arm and instead her left leg moved.
"Taichou!" groaned Sakura at her masters sadistic mind. "This isn't fair."
"There's no such thing as fair in a fight Sakura." Laughed her master as Sakura tried to move her legs as her arms swung instead.
"This has got to be the most infuriating Justu in the history of the world." She snapped impatiently trying to use her medical ninjutsu to reverse the effect but Tsunade was in a particularly sadistic mood today and made to hit Sakura with a chakra laden punch, thankfully she managed to reassembled her chakra and dodge the full blow, instead taking a hit to her ribs which cracked painfully and Naruto and Sasuke hissed as if they felt it.
"How did you do that?" her mentor immediately asked standing above Sakura intimidatingly.
"Do what?" groaned the girl healing her broken ribs inhaling short painful breaths.
"I've never seen anyone reassemble their chakra after I disrupted it so powerfully." Tsunade inquired lending her hand to Sakura, pulling her up.
"It's not hard; I just have good control over my chakra." Sakura replied not understanding what the big deal was.
"Sometimes Sakura I think you were a Hyuuga in a past life." She laughed.
"I call this a draw." Said the Hokage hopping out of the training grounds, making her way back to the tower where a long awaited bottle of sake sat.
"Wow, Sakura-Chan that was awesome!" Naruto said as she jumped up clutching her side.
"Sure." She mumbled sending what little chakra she had left to try and ease the pain in her chest.
"What's wrong Sakura?" Sasuke asked not sure why she seemed so displeased, she had performed better than any of them expected and no doubt better than she thought possible herself.
"Nothing." She said ignoring the puzzled looks as she stomped off. She didn't exactly know herself why she was so annoyed but something in the look that Tsunade gave her when she had so easily rearranged her static chakra left Sakura feeling unsettled. She was more annoyed than anything, did no one think her capable of such powerful control of chakra. She had worked unbelievably hard in her years and it seemed to get her down that she never received the attention Naruto or Sasuke gained when they pulled off a cool new move. All she got was a look of confusion and surprise.
Sakura was determined that at the ANBU exams she would blow everyone away with her new move.
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I know I tend to immediately jump into things, like I haven't given a proper reason as to why Itachi suddenly finds Sakura interesting, I do explain a bit better later on but the way I look at is that when you like someone, you just can't explain what it is that attracts you to them. Well in my case anyways I often find someone attractive with no real explanation behind it.
Also Sakura has been in Suna for two years so she's come back eight months ago and suddenly looks like a woman to everyone now, I believe that plays a part in the scheme of things.
Just felt I needed to give that little explanation, also Itachi will not be sadistic, or creepy, or power-hungry in this fiction. He may seem a little intense now but that will change!
Anyways leave me a review and trust me the next chapter is a good one!
ps. I also randomly decided to start another Itachi/Sakura fiction called The Uchiha Family Chronicles, I have too much time on my hands!