A/N: Naruto is sadly not owned by me. Boo.
Starting your path is a rough street. That street is your subconscious questioning whether it is worth it. Once you get past that small, little street, then the path appears. However, the path may get cloudy from what is right or wrong
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Sakura stood among the villagers as the funeral ceremony for Tazuna ended. The dark clouds fluttered above, cascading freezing raindrops on all the extended umbrellas. Naruto stood next to her, and from his pained expression, she knew what he was thinking. How could the Akatsuki do something like this? Well, Sakura would never admit to him that it wasn't the Akatsuki.
Tsunami and Inari were found buried behind Tazuna's house. The original purpose of digging them up was so that they could be buried in a proper cemetery with Tazuna, but the bodies were found butchered. They had been murdered, and now everyone thinks the Akatsuki did it.
"Thank you for attending." Tsunade said over the soft murmuring. She stood next to his open casket, allowing people to say goodbye one last time. Sakura patiently waited as Naruto took his time saying his goodbyes. Finally, it was her turn.
He looked so fake… Sakura knew that it was just a puppet. But, even a puppet can't look real in death. It made her just a little sad. But even more confused. This was the work of someone who's dead. Someone who she witness die. And he wasn't in the Akatsuki, Sakura noticed, because Tobi had on his ring. A soft snap made Sakura examine him closely. She noticed something bulging out of his coat pocket. Making sure no one else saw her; she carefully slipped the item out. It was the rainbow colored seashell. Sakura watched as the shell shook in her head, then settled itself back in her palm. It now had a crack in the middle.
Tazuna's body had a sudden spasm, before it rested down. Sakura checked his vital signs, but he was still dead. "He died…" She looked back at the chipped shell, then at Tazuna. "What does that mean?" She wondered quietly.
"Sakura, are you done?" Tsunade kindly took Sakura's shoulder. Closing her palm, Sakura nodded. She walked off from the ceremony, intent on researching the shell.
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"So you failed…" Coffee-colored eyes glared venomously at a young man.
"It was not my fault. They interfered once again." Sighing, the young man took a seat nearby. "Sousui-sama, who are they anyway?"
"They are the Akatsuki." Sousui stared at the redhead. 'But that won't concern you any longer.' "Don't worry about them, soon, the Akatsuki will be destroyed."
"Sure… But. They got the Kihaku Stone."
"Just focus on the Sosei Stone now."
"Hai."
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Sakura stared into the Kihaku Stone. The gold color brightened up her dark room. Her reflection stared back, sad looking and tired. She had just read through the torn pages, yet found nothing valuable. Feeling dejected, she took out a kunai and began scraping the dirt from her fingernails. Who said kunoichi's didn't have the right to take care of them? Not too long ago, she felt that if you had to give up something that wasn't as important, just to fulfill another dream, you didn't have any guts. Which is why she began to grow her hair back out. Reflecting on her thoughts, she didn't notice the small prick as her kunai cut the tip of her finger. A small blood dripped out, and landed on the closest thing, the Kihaku Stone.
The bright light of the stone blinded her eyes. Squinting, she saw the stone moving. It glided over her head, and she had to turn to see where it was going. She followed it to the kitchen, shielding her eyes with her hand. The stone began to pound against her fridge, fast and swift. Sakura shut her eyes and grasped the stone in her hands. She felt something firm flutter against her hands, then a bright pain settled into her arm, making it stiff. Incredulously, she got a strong hold on it with her other hand. The stone settled down, and when she let go of it, it fell down with a loud crash on the floor.
"It poisoned me!" She yelled to herself. Fortunately, she had antidotes ready in her room. With her free arm, she carried the stone and placed it under her mattress, making sure it didn't go anywhere. She got out an antidote and a needle. Dipping the needle into the liquid, she slid it beneath her skin into her veins. Instantly, she felt her arm grow back its use. Sakura took out the stone, expecting it to try to poison her again. But when she held it, it was a normal stone.
"Haruno-sama, Tsunade needs your presence in the hospital immediately." A shinobi interrupted her.
"Sure." She said and left for the hospital with two things on her mind. What was the stone doing, and how would she get this Sosei Stone.
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"Tsunade, what is it?" Sakura looked around at the crowded hospital. Nurses ran from station to station, nearly tripping over thin air. She could feel the nervousness from all of the nurses.
"Sakura, good you're here. Inside please!" Tsunade motioned for her to follow. She led them to another floor, where Sakura noticed was completely empty.
"No one is here… " Sakura said.
"That's because no one except me, you and Shizune are allowed in this floor. At least, until he is better." She opened the farthest door, and told Sakura to go inside. Following her orders, Sakura slowly walked into the room. The beeping sound of the machines told her that who ever was in it had a steady heart rate. Sakura first saw the dark hair, tousled from a bad fight. Next was the young, handsome face that was she so familiar with. Then, the burn that left his shoulder disfigured.
"Sasuke…" She whispered. Her heart stopped for just a second, at least until her medic side kicked in. "What happened to him?" She walked towards him and inspected the burn. His skin was shriveled and nearly black, she knew that unless there was a way to completely heal it, he would either have to cut his arm off, or live having a shriveled shoulder forever.
"He got into a fight with his brother. This injury is a result of the Gokakyu no Jutsu, his fireball technique." Tsunade tried touching the burn, but the broiling heat made her flinch.
"That jutsu isn't this powerful." Sakura said, staring at his shoulder.
"Apparently, Itachi Uchiha has made it that powerful. Sasuke Uchiha was found outside of Konoha just a few moments ago." Tsunade told Sakura to stay with him.
"Sure…" She nodded and sat next to Sasuke. Tsunade closed the door as she left. The burn was still a dark red, turning soon to black. "Did Sasuke walk to Konoha, or was he left here?" Sakura wondered out loud.
"Tobi dropped Sasuke off!" Sakura nearly jumped as the two same Akatsuki members jumped through the window. "Leader ordered Tobi and Deidara to take him to you!" Sakura watched as Deidara looked at the burn.
"It wasn't Itachi who did that-un." He said. "We found his little brother outside the base-un." Sakura gasped. "Leader searched through his things, and found this-un." Deidara gave her a folded paper. Sakura opened it, and found that it was one of the missing torn pages. The number at the bottom read 61.
"But why would he leave Sasuke here?" Sakura asked. "Shouldn't you kill him or something?"
"He said it was a gift or something-un. Just look inside his bag and stop whining-un." Deidara grew impatient with the kunoichi.
"Ok…" Sakura looked at the burnt bag that rested next to Sasuke's bed. She opened it, with the chard remains falling off. Inside it, was nothing but the small red pebble. She took it out and examined it. "This one was the fake… right?" She asked.
"Orochimaru realized that it wasn't real-un. He also somehow found out that you're searching for the whole stone-un." Deidara looked over at Sasuke. "So Orochimaru sent him to "help" you. Just realize that he isn't a friend-un." Deidara took a hold of Tobi and turned around to jump out of the window.
"Wait!" Sakura called. Tobi turned around, but Deidara remained looking out the window. "The Kihaku Stone began to fly around and poisoned me!" It sounded ridiculous to her, but she said it anyways.
"Did Sakura-chan get any blood on the Kihaku Stone?" Tobi asked. Seeing her nod, she continued. "The Kihaku Stone is one of the most purest stones over. It has an automatic danger alarm. So when any time blood sheds on it, it thinks its in danger. Inside the stone, are tiny shards of poison. Tobi looked this up himself!"
"Don't be a liar Tobi-un! I told you that-un!" Deidara knocked Tobi in the head and dragged him out the window. "And you little brat don't need to know any more details-un!"
Sakura watched as they both disappeared into the night. "He hates me…" She said to herself. She knew that she shouldn't care, he was an Akatsuki member! But she couldn't help herself… she felt bad that he loathed her so much.
"Mmmm…." A soft murmur made Sakura check up on Sasuke. She had no idea what to do with his burn, but also that he wasn't at Konoha for forgiveness.
"Sakura-san…" Shizune walked quietly into the room. "I've made plans for his burn. He would never like having an arm cut off…"
"Oh who cares what he likes!" Tsunade barged into the room as well. "In fact, I think we should cut both arms off! What do you say Sakura? Should we cut both off, or do what Shizune wants and just heal the burn?"
Sakura blinked. "I think healing it would be better… Maybe he'll accept it, and tell us information on Orochimaru." A lie, of course. But Sakura needed to have a little talk with Sasuke.
"Oh fine. But make sure it hurts Shizune!" Tsunade grabbed Sakura and went out of the room. "It's not if he'll accept us, but if we'll accept him…" Tsunade said.
"We could try…" Sakura muttered. She didn't like pretending, but she had to.
"Well… I think it would be best if you told Naruto." Tsunade told her that Naruto was waiting for her outside the hospital.
"Okay…"
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Sakura walked out into the raining sky. Her thoughts were scrambled, and she wondered what to do next.
"Sakura-chan! Is it true? Is he really back?" Naruto nearly jumped on her.
"Yeah… He's fine, but there's a serious burn mark and-"
"I don't care! I want to know if he's staying!" Naruto pushed Sakura aside, trying to get into the hospital. She nearly fell into a puddle as she called out to him. But he ignored her as he argued with a nurse to let him see Sasuke. "I don't care if no one is allowed there! He's my team!"
"Fine…" She whispered to no one. "But there is no team…" She walked to her home and wondered if all this was worth it. She made a deal with the Akatsuki, all for Naruto's sake. Inside, she got a hold of the Kihaku Stone. "Where is the Sosei Stone…" She asked herself. "Or, at least something like that?" The glow on the stone brightened, but only a little.
"Sakura-san!" Shizune appeared behind her. "Sasuke Uchiha has awoken. I thought you would like to see him…"
"I just got home!" Sakura argued, but nonetheless followed Shizune to the hospital. She carried the stone in her bag and sighed. All she wanted to do was rest.
"Sakura, maybe you can talk to him?" Tsunade met her outside the hospital. Naruto stood there, looking away from everyone.
"Sure…" She said and walked inside. The chaos had settled down, but she still felt some anxiousness. She walked to the floor Sasuke was on, and began to feel nervous. Entering the room, she saw that he was fully awoke, and very pissed off.
"I won't tell you one more time, I wont have my arm cut off." He said out loud.
"S-Sasuke… It's… It's Sakura." She walked closer, but he turned to her and glared.
"Are you going to cut my arm off? I thought you would 'never hurt me'" He mocked her.
"I'm not going to cut off anything other than you sperm producing tools." Sakura glared at him, feeling every bit as pissed as he was. "So shut up and listen. Where did you get this?" She took out the torn page from her bag.
Sasuke looked away. "I've never seen that." He said. Sakura felt agitated and took out the fake pebble.
"And this?" She saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes, but he shook his head anyways. 'So he is still with Orochimaru…' Her hope of him being a part of Konoha faded. But she wasn't going to turn him in… not yet.
"Naruto get back here!!" Sakura turned as Naruto barged through the door. Tsunade followed, glaring daggers into his back.
"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled. The two boys stared at each other, not one talking.
"Naruto, do you want to have your rank stripped?" Tsunade screamed at the blonde.
"Is that dobe still acting up?" Sasuke asked no one in particular.
"I'm not a dobe anymore!" Naruto walked up to Sasuke, ignoring Tsunade.
"So, you finally admit that you use to be one?" Sasuke smirked.
"Hey!" Naruto couldn't find a response. Sakura looked between both boys, and sadly began to walk out the door.
"Sakura." Tsunade called. "Can you finish the paperwork in my office? I have some things to take care off here." She took Naruto by the ear and sat him down on the chair.
"Sure." Sakura took one look at Naruto and Sasuke, and left. 'What happened to us…'
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The bright light shone through Sakura's bag as she walked inside Tsunade's office. With every step closer to her desk, it got brighter. Sakura took the stone out, and showed it to the desk. She slid it over every thing, until finally it started shaking once it got near the top drawer. "What's happening…" She opened the drawer, and the light immediately went out. Inside the drawer, was a small, lone key. She picked it up and inspected it.
The back of it had a small word inscribed.
Uchiha
Sakura gasped. Was this the key to the Uchiha's house? All right, so it was much more than a simple house. She looked over the unfinished paperwork and decided to tell Shizune to do it later. This stone obviously wanted something at the Uchiha's. The name made her remember her second part of the deal. To fix Itachi Uchiha's eyes. She wasn't very sure how that was going to work out, or if she'll be able to even be around him without babbling all over the place. The man was capable of so many things. So many torturous, life-threatening things. Already scared for something she hadn't done yet, she closed the drawer and headed towards the Uchiha Manor.
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Sakura walked down the streets where the Uchiha's once lived. She never knew it, but they almost had their own town. She stared at the abandoned buildings and shivered. How many people did Itachi kill? In the back of her mind, she envisioned smiling people as they went on with their normal tasks. She saw old women, sweeping the streets and making conversation with each other. Men, busy with their work. And young boys, practicing the latest moves in the Ninja world. All the ordinarily lives ended with that one person. One person who haunts Sasuke's dreams. And here she was, Sakura, a Konoha shinobi who is technically helping that person. How wrong was that? But Sakura kept telling herself that it was for good reasons.
She saw where Sasuke once lived. The empty house where so many murders took place. Sakura grasped the key and walked up to it. She unlocked the front door and entered. Taking the Kihaku Stone out of her bag, she held it up. The bright light shone just a little brighter. Walking in various rooms, Sakura told herself that this was not breaking and entering. She didn't snoop in anything, and never took her time. Just walking in and out of rooms, until the stone got brighter and brighter.
"It's this room?" Sakura asked as she looked around. The dusty mattress was torn in half. The walls had kunai slashed everywhere, and the desk lay against a wall crumbled. Curious, Sakura kneeled down to the desk, and picked up a broken frame. She looked at the picture and wondered if this was Itachi's room. His face stood emotionless in the frame, as he looked somewhere other than the camera's direction. The two lines on his face betrayed his youth. It wasn't anger she felt towards the boy in the picture, but it was a total different emotion that she expected. Sympathy. His eyes looked as if they wanted to frown. "He looks… sad." She whispered. A small spider climbed onto the frame, and Sakura swiped it away. She slipped the picture into her bag. She wasn't sure why, but leaving it in an abandoned and torn up room just didn't seem right.
The stone shone clearly as she walked around the room, but it never went completely dark like last time. Finally, she was at the closet. It was a walk-in one, with cobwebs and spiders in every corner. The stone began to shake uncontrollably as Sakura walked deeper inside the closet. Once she got the wall, the stone stopped shining. She looked all around but didn't find anything. The closet was completely empty. Kneeling down, she felt the soft carpet on the floor. Her hand brushed an area that seemed to pop up. Sakura used her fingers to feel around it, and eventually got a hold of something. Lifting it up, she saw that it was a secret compartment. Inside the little hole underground, was a large cerise stone. The color reminded her of a deep red as she went to pick it. Unlike the Kihaku Stone, this stone felt 10x heavier than it should have been. It was bigger than her hand, and she had to use both to hold it. Placing the Kihaku Stone in her bag, she carried the red stone out.
"Is this the Sosei Stone?" She pondered. Who knew that it was actually real? Deciding that it was time for her to leave, she left the Uchiha Manor in a rush and headed back to her house. She had both stones… now what? And why was the Sosei Stone in Itachi's room? For the first time, she wished that Deidara and Tobi were there to take her to the Akatsuki base. She didn't want to waste any time with giving the Leader the stones. "Deidara… Tobi…" She called into her empty house. "Hurry up."
"Ah! Sakura-chan got both of the stones?" Tobi ran towards her smiling enthusiastically. "Now Sakura-chan can join!"
"Don't be a dobe-un!" Deidara smacked Tobi's head. "She still has another part of the deal-un!"
"That was fast…" Sakura noted. Tobi tried to nod but his headache didn't allow it.
"Leader got us on call-un. He wants these stones ASAP-un."
"Ok… well… take me to him." Sakura put both of the stones in her bag.
"Oh! Let Tobi knock Sakura-chan out!" Tobi ran forward but Sakura took a step back.
"Can't you just poof us in directly to his office?" She asked.
Deidara sighed but took her arm. "Fine-un."
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"You got both of the stones?" Leader asked as Sakura took them out from her bag. Deidara and Tobi stood behind her.
"Yeah. But, the Sosei Stone was at the Uchiha's house." She told him.
"I'll look into that." Leader motioned for Deidara to take the stones. The Sosei Stone didn't seem to be heavy at all when he took it in one hand, but as he went to reach for the Kihaku Stone, the gold surface shot a bright yellow substance out of it.
"The poison-un." He said as he backed up. Sakura expected it to her poison her, but it just remained in her hands, like a good stone.
"Let Tobi try!" Tobi went to take it, but it shot the poison at him too.
"It seems as if the stone has taken a liking to Sakura." Leader said. "Very well. You may keep that until we are in need of it." He took the Sosei stone from Deidara and put it in his desk.
"And the deal?" Sakura asked.
"You're first half is done. Now you heal Itachi's eyes. The sharingan has weakened his eyesight greatly."
Sakura gulped and nodded. She heard Deidara chuckle behind her.
"There's no way he'll let a little brat you like touch his eyes at all-un."
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And the path to your goal is a tough one. You slip on obstacles, and stumble through hardships. The bigger your goal is, the more life-threatening it may be.
So I ask once more, just how far are you willing to go?