The Atrophy and Redemption of Uchiha Sasuke

Chapter Three: Thunder and Lightning


Sakura groaned.

Everything hurt. Everything.

With a heavy sigh, she used her elbows to push herself up into a sitting position. Pain shot from her shoulder blade and down into her wrist, signaling to the medic that her back had taken the brunt of her collision with the wall. And . . .

Where was the wall?

Squinting through the explosion's dust, Sakura surveyed the destruction and realized with a sudden sense of panic that the entire southeastern area of the mountain was simply gone. What had once been the wet rock ceiling of the prison was now an open expanse of azure sky. The pinkette's ears were still buzzing incessantly and she focused minute portions of healing chakra to her eardrums to minimize the damage. Something warm dribbled down Sakura's brow and she assumed it was water. Where the hell was her hitai-ate? She pressed a hand to the liquid at her hairline—her fingers came back stained with red.

"Dammit," she cursed, head clearing as the dust began to disperse, ". . . Sasuke?"

Sakura struggled to her feet. A wave of nausea slammed into her and nearly sent her sprawling back down into the charred rock and debris.

The cool water that had previously formed the waterfall's reservoir cascaded in rivulets throughout the unrecognizable terrain. Remnants of granite wall lay in heaps, water shooting up from the fractured ground.

"Sasuke . . . Sasuke-kun!"

Frustrated almost to the brink of losing her sanity, the pinkette wrenched a hand violently though her filthy hair; a clump of knotted pink strands ripped out in her hand.

Angry tears flooded her emerald vision, her teeth and eyes clenching under the torment of failure.

He was gone.


"Over there!"

Startled, Sakura turned her attention to the panicked shouts of the prison guards rushing over the shattered rocks and straight towards her.

The young medic bit her lip, mind kicking into her honed strategic mode as she took stock of all possible escape routes. Her ears registered the sound of splashing somewhere south of her in the distance. She remembered seeing a river beyond the small forest bordering the mountains, the source of which must have been the waterfall and its now decimated reservoir.

But before she could make any move to escape, the heat of a small katon nearly singed the hem of her medic's apron. Leaping away, rose-colored clothing lifting from the flare of her somersaults, the pinkette managed to avoid the Rock Nin's further onslaught of fire attacks.

Sakura grit her teeth as she watched the five ninja attempt to circle her. They looked furious, watching her cautiously, and searching with shielded eyes that didn't quite hide their fear of the escaped criminal—they knew he was free and dangerous, and probably in the immediate vicinity. However, Sakura herself doubted this assumption and knew that she either needed to flee or choose to face this battle completely alone, which wouldn't be wise considering the present state of her chakra reserves.

And as far as the enemy was concerned, the small kunoichi before them was the one who helped their prisoner escape. Granted, that had been the pinkette's initial plan from the beginning, but it seemed Sasuke would rather put her in danger and escape by himself than return to the village.

I'm sorry, Naruto Sakura reached into her weapons pouch, if I don't make it out of this.

Her fingers looped around the frigid handle of a kunai, And for holding you to your promise . . .

One of the Rock ninja charged, chokuto slicing through the air.

. . . When I couldn't even keep my own.

Sparks flew as chokuto met kunai and Sakura ducked down, spinning on her heel and swiping the man off his feet with an outstretched, chakra-enhanced leg.

Shuriken cut the air by her ear before she disappeared in a burst of cherry blossoms, and rematerialized ten feet away. With a yell, Sakura surged chakra into her fist and punched the ground; the earth shattered beneath the behemoth-like force and rock exploded outwards; long, wide fissures cracked the rock bed of the ground; the terrain shook with a violent rumble.

Falling to avoid getting hit and crushed by the debris, the five enemy ninja almost lost sight of the pink-haired kunoichi jumping from the cliff and fleeing into the forest.


Doubting that she had ever run so fast in her entire life, the medic leaped over the large boulders and debris. Her feet splashed through the waterlogged, knee-deep grass at the base of the cliffs until the forest drew closer and closer. The only thought going through her mind was get away from these Rock Nin and get away fast.

Trying to prove that she was a ninja from Fire Country, Iwagakure's ally, and not a rogue ninja would only serve to get her killed under the pressure of the moment.

Her chest felt like it was going to burst as she weaved in and out of the maze of thick greenery, chakra pulsing on the soles of her shinobi boots. Sweat and blood oozed from her pastel hairline and caressed the curve of her cheek before dropping from her chin and leaving a trail of crimson dotting the forest floor.

Her throat was raw from the cold air and her lungs were burning. Oh, Kami, were they burning!

Sakura only had a brief moment's time to worry about Sasuke and wonder where he was before the edge of something sharp sliced across the length of her back. She caught herself before she stumbled in pain, and swiftly changed course, deciding to head for the river. There she would have a better chance of losing her pursuers. Her chakra was already low from finding and healing Sasuke; if the five jounin managed to trap her, her chances of survival were frighteningly slim.

The pinkette hissed and wished she had a soldier pill so that she could heal her wounds. But she had used them up during the journey to Iwa, and the medic needed all her chakra to run.

After all, she was never as thick-skulled as Naruto. If you can't face them, evade them. This really wasn't the time to entertain herself with amusing thoughts, but in the midst of her panic, Sakura found herself wondering at how Kakashi seemed to just be a well overflowing with wisdom.

How silly to think such things.

And in the back of her consciousness, inner-Sakura was shouting some nonsense about too much blood-loss.

Huh. How strange.

Now that she thought about it, Sakura found that her surroundings were moving a lot slower than they were before . . . or was she the one that was slowing dow—

There!

With a deeply ingrained instinct that only the most adept shinobi were gifted with, the pinkette spun around, despite the further dizzying effect it had on her vision, and flung three kunai from her hand, all buzzing with the razor-sharp green glow of medical chakra.

"Ngh!" the Rock ninja that had been about to strike Sakura again with his chokuto collapsed to his knees with a kunai in his throat and one almost completely piercing his stomach to the hilt. The other kunai had embedded itself in a nearby tree, due to Sakura's badly impaired aim.

The sword, stained with the young kunoichi's blood, dropped silently onto the fallen leaves and bristles. And its defeated wielder soon followed after.

Sakura steadied herself with a shaky, battered hand against the closest tree trunk. The deep cut across her back stung as drops of sweat spilled into the wound. But underneath the sting was an underlying ache that seemed to be spreading down the young woman's spine and up the back of her neck.

Poison . . . ? She thought, overcome with sudden nausea.

Thundering footfalls and the yowling barks of several Ninken echoed beyond the trees, quickly approaching the medic and the corpse of their fallen comrade. Desperate and exhausted beyond reason, Sakura spun around and continued her trek towards the river, which was now her only chance to disguise her scent from the summoned hounds.

Stumbling steps carried the disoriented kunoichi closer to the rushing body of water; she tried in vain to use chakra to clear her hazy vision, but refrained from overdoing it; it was a deadly hazard to attempt any kind of complicated chakra manipulation when under the effects of toxins, unless it was to remove the poison itself.

"Dammit," Sakura collapsed on the tree-lined hill that led down to the riverbank.

The sun was settling lower and lower on the horizon and the mist was beginning to rise from the water as the warmer temperature of the river became visible in the dwindling light.

"Give up, kunoichi."

The pinkette leapt upwards and spun around in one unsteady yet fast movement, turning to face the four Rock ninja cresting the top of the hill after their Ninken. The dogs halted obediently and began growling at Sakura, who was slouched, deep forest-green eyes glaring, hair completely dampened by moisture, sweat, and blood.

"Forget it!" she growled and thrust her heel against the earth. The ground ruptured upwards.

Upon orders of their master, the three Nin dogs disappeared in small plumes of smoke. The other jounin struggled to back away from the flying upheaval and the cracking of the hill's foundation beneath them. Taking full advantage of the distraction, Sakura made haste and took refuge behind the large wall of rock and clay she had created, and settled four shuriken between the fingers of her least scraped hand. Suddenly, a torrent of pressurized suiton breached the makeshift shelter. Weight down by impending chakra drainage, the pinkette barely managed to avoid a direct hit by the water dragon and fled from behind the wall that now resembled a shapeless heap of mud.

The water-using jounin cautiously circled around the barrier; his hands were already weaving through seals.

He paused, eyes never leaving the young kunoichi before him, "Akio, Hayate, you two spread out and find the prisoner."

Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw two of the men retreat over the collapsed remnants of the hill and back through the forest. The water-style user glanced at the remaining prison guard and motioned with his head; in response, the taller looking jounin drew what looked like a stolen samurai's katana from its sheath and leveled it in front of him as he moved opposite the water user, who appeared to be the guard with the authority.

Attempting to keep both the remaining Rock shinobi in her sights, Sakura constantly began adjusting her stance, desperately trying to keep either of them from circling around to her back.

The shorter, more muscular man, hands still frozen mid-seal, watched as blood slowly soaked the violet fabric around the pink-haired girl's waist as she slowly dragged her feet. She was trying to edge herself backwards, closer to the river, but the blood and chakra loss was obviously taking its toll. His fallen subordinate had done well.

"Kunoichi," he addressed her coldly, "where is the criminal you helped to escape?"

Much to the Rock Nin's surprise, she didn't respond with the expected sneer. Nor did she insist that she was innocent.

"He's no criminal," Sakura panted. "Do you have any idea what he and his family have sacrificed for our villages?"

Before either of the Iwa shinobi had a chance to scoff, the pinkette released her four shuriken and ducked under them as they flew through the air. The head ninja's eyes were preoccupied with the whirling pieces of steel and barely saw Sakura as she sprung forward to engage him in hand-to-hand combat. Her taijutsu skill took him by surprise and he nearly took several barrages to the face from her chakra-enflamed fists. The man jumped backwards to avoid having her shatter his defensive forearms.

Once she realized that her attacks had missed, Sakura retreated, only to end up having to duck the swipe of the taller shinobi's katana.

It seemed that her speed was already suffering.

The water-style shinobi caught her by surprise as she dodged his subordinate, and his leg shook from the force of his roundhouse kick, the vibration of his boot connecting with the young woman's head traveling up his femur.

Sakura collapsed ten feet away in a misshapen heap.

The water user smirked.

With a groan, the pinkette shifted a hand to cradle her head.

He frowned.

Of all things, she was getting up. She couldn't possibly manage to evade them any longer.

Her taijutsu attacks had been a last-ditch attempt at taking either he or one of his men out, and now her chakra reserves were dangerously low. But, spirited as ever, Sakura picked herself up, forced her beaten body to stand, and resumed backing away from her ruthless enemies.

"I'll ask you again, kunoichi," the man spat her title as if she was undeserving of the very word. "Where is he?"

Casting a brief glance over her shoulder, Sakura continued stepping backwards. The entire slope of her back was warm and wet with her blood. The pestering sting at her hairline and the crusty feeling of a drying wound confirmed her suspicion that she had indeed lost her hitai-ate during the explosion. Her arms and legs felt like pillars of lead.

She spoke the words that many before her had also uttered.

"I would never betray a comrade," and she threw herself into the river.

"Shit!" the katana-wielding Rock Nin ran towards the edge of the steep hill, his superior following closely behind. He turned to the water user, "What should we do, taichou?"

"She's low on chakra, so she'll most likely follow the current," he observed the large, winding trail of silvery liquid that continued on through the cliffs and into the trees, "Fujita-sama will be pissed if we lose her and the prisoner," he fetched a kunai from the pouch at his hip and headed down towards the river, signaling for his subordinate to follow him, "Hayate and Akio will meet up with us with news of the Uchiha's whereabouts. Until then, Kiro, we'll just have to follow this little kunoichi."

"Do you think she's a Missing Nin?" the tall man named Kiro looked down at his captain. "Like the prisoner?"

The water user shook his head, "It doesn't matter. But we can't let word get to the Tsuchikage that we went through with the unauthorized incarceration of a war prisoner. If that happens, he'll shut Fujita-sama's prison down, and we'll be out of a job."

The two men continued down the riverbank, eager to catch up with the evasive kunoichi before nightfall.


With a violent cough, Sakura broke through the surface of the water and began taking in sputtering breaths of air. It was only pure adrenaline that was keeping her moving. Nevertheless, she was beyond thankful that the tall ninja with the katana would no longer be able to summon Ninken to track her any time soon, and for the rushing current that was making up for her lack of speed.

But the water was as freezing as hell was scorching.

She wondered how her friends were doing. About Naruto. He would be so worried about his "Sakura-chan" if he knew that she was suspended helplessly in the middle of a river, cold, bleeding, chakra reserves almost completely drained, and abandoned by their stoic, turmoil-ridden ex-teammate. Again.

The pinkette's teeth chattered, and she wished she had enough chakra left to circulate warmth throughout her system, but evening was fast approaching and the Iwa air was only growing colder and colder.

In the midst of her reverie, the young medic found herself sinking beneath the chilling surface.

Kami, it's cold.

Her lungs grew frigid as she inadvertently swallowed river water, and she lunged back to the surface with a weak kick of her legs.

I can't die here, Sakura thought weakly to herself, I can't. Sasuke's still out there. He still won't come home. Naruto and I—we have to keep our promises to each other. So this can't be it.

Feeling her body growing number—from both the cold and the easily recognizable symptoms of an Iwa-made poison—Sakura reached out blindly. Her shaking hands, one carved up by shrapnel and the other pale from the chill, found purchase upon a liquid-slickened boulder. The current nearly wrenched her away from the bank but she held on for dear life, eyes shut weakly, warm tears of finality leaking unbidden from the corners of her eyelids.

When she opened her glassy green eyes, she could see the fading amber glow of the sun as it escaped to find solace behind the shelter of the trees and snow-capped mountain peaks in the far off distance of snow country. Even beyond the strange hills of the Land of Iron . . .

And beyond that was Konoha, with its always green terrain and the bustling streets filled with people that would forever remain naively ignorant to the violence of the world. Of the pain of those who truly suffered. Because in truth, the young kunoichi knew that people had suffered as much as she was right now and a million times over. Many of them were her dearest friends. And even friends that were lost to her because of that very suffering.

She attempted to stand, though she knew it was futile. The swarming flood of four approaching chakra signatures was already teasing at her faulty, toxin-blinded senses. Her knees shook as she tried to step from the water.

Vision tunneling drastically until the sky became the earth, and all sense of time and location turned irrelevant, Sakura collapsed and tried in vain to grip onto the slippery boulders framing the riverbank.

Her ears were still buzzing from the merciless kick to the head. She quite possibly had a concussion. Sakura found herself thinking what a shame it was that despite being able to see the river she was nearly submerged in, she was not able to hear the soft bubbling sound of the rushing liquid as it meandered over the rocks and rushed coolly over her body, the welcomed chill dulling the pain of her extensive injuries and chakra-exhaustion.

With a painful pop Sakura's eardrums stilled the incessant ringing and began to reverberate the sounds around her clearly—almost too clearly. Her emerald eyes dulled and fell shut against the sudden onslaught of sounds. Consciousness fading.

"Looks like she didn't get far, taichou," she recognized the gruff voice of the katana wielder Kiro directly above her. Her ears observed the foreboding sound of a metal weapon being drawn from a scabbard.

Through the slits of her eyes, she saw blood splatter across her arms that were just barely anchoring her body to the shore. The stench of death and iron rose into her nostrils.

Is that my blood? she wondered blearily, That's funny . . .

I always thought death would be so much more painful.

Her head lolled to the side and snatched her verdant gaze away from her crimson speckled skin, until all she could see was the bubbling water all around her. She was losing consciousness with every tired blink of her eyes. The sound of roaring thunder echoed around her rapidly darkening world.

The silvery surface of the river seemed mystically fascinating under the forest eaves.

How pretty . . .

The pinkette's delirious mind was filled with fleeting, fluttery thoughts of how sparkly the water was under the harsh rays of the setting sun, as the dancing glares comingled with a red wash of her blood . . .

. . . almost like the artwork she had painted as a young, carefree girl in the academy . . .

It appeared almost as if sky-blue lilies were blooming delicately on the surface—no, the shining blue water looked more like a reflection of stormy skies, static with clouds and the beautiful, forever-changing patterns of lightning dancing like windswept tree branches on the horizon.

She heard several agonizing screams.

And then the terrible, nostalgic scream of a thousand birds.


A/N: Lightning! Lightning!

I am so unbelievably excited right now!

Much warm gratitude for reading. Thank you, thank you, thank you; words just cannot begin to express my appreciation.

What did you think of the ending?

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