A few things to note:
"This is Inner Sakura speaking internally." - if it is in the spirit world, it is just normal dialogue
This is Sakura thinking to Inner Sakura.
"Bold Italics are unison thinking of Inner and Outer Sakura."
Italics alone are either emphasis or the spirit world. (you'll see)
Inner Sakura will be addressed, 'Inner' or 'Inner Sakura.' Anything else refers to Sakura herself.
Enjoy!
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Sakura wept. Though she didn't know how, she knew these people were bad . She recalled a brief lesson in the academy about chakra sensing. Iruka-sensei told them that once they had a feel for their own chakra, they could begin sensing others. And since she was easily able to access her chakra, sensing others had come fairly naturally to her.
And from the dense and malevolent chakra signatures she could sense, these people were beyond even the jounin who spoke to them about different career paths once at the Academy. It only helped her feeling of foreboding that the iron stench of blood still lingered from the man who pounded on the door.
She began to hyperventilate. She was in so, so much trouble. Beyond trouble. She was a man in an unknown location, surrounded by very scary ninja! This wasn't a genjutsu or any normal prank; something was horribly
Her vision had began to darken around the edges when a familiar entity spoke.
"Get a grip! This is a crappy situation but we are also in danger!"
Inner. Sakura sobbed. Her only comfort, her only familiarity was
Inner Sakura's tone softened, gentle but firm.
"Hey now. Wipe that snot off. What if Sasuke saw you? Not even Ino-Pig can make tear streaks and snot look good! We need to come up with a plan."
But what can we do? It's not like I know how I got here or in this body in the first place!
"Well, that's what we need to figure out. But first, we need a plan. Remember what Iruka-Sensei taught us? The Interrogation Scenario?"
Of course she did. Her memory was one thing that Sakura had prided herself on. So she easily recalled how the class was split into groups of three and then how two squads were paired up. One squad, Squad A, chose one of its members, the hostage, to receive the secret message from their teacher. The other two members were the rescuers. The second squad, Squad B, was responsible for picking one interrogator and two defenders that would prevent Squad A's rescuers from saving the hostage.
Sakura had been the hostage and she managed to hold up. Though it was really her rescuers and Squad B's defenders doing the bulk of the work, sparring continuously until the allotted time ran out. Her interrogator was half-hearted in his pursuit, after all, nobody wanted to be the villain. Children in the Academy were naive, always wanting to be the hero, always so sure of the themselves and their mediocre ability.
Regardless, she still remembered the training exercise like it was yesterday and not six months ago.
Still, how would remembering that help, Sakura thought to herself bitterly. I may be trapped in this body, but I have no clue how to escape ninja stronger than jounin! And ideally, she didn't want to be in the position where these terrifying people could interrogate her. They would probably torture her beyond repair, looking for answers she honestly didn't have, and once they realized it, she would be disposed of. Probably not respectfully either. Most likely dumped in the middle of a swamp
Her breathing picked up.
"Would you quit that? You're just gonna kill us faster by hyperventilating! Seriously, think. What were the steps Iruka-Sensei taught us to follow?"
Sakura thought hard back to the exercise. Sensei's exercise was basic, but their textbook went into more depth. There were countless amount of scenarios that one could find themselves interrogated in, but there was once she specifically remembered in that chapter.
It had steps to do if a ninja found themselves imprisoned without their captors around! She wasn't a prisoner exactly, but out of all the textbook scenarios, this one seemed the most applicable. After all, there wasn't a 'How to Switch Bodies With Someone You Don't Even Know' chapter.
Sakura backed into the furthest corner of the room from the door and sunk down to the floor. She landed harder than she expected; her new body was taller and caused her to be even less graceful than normal. At least now she could see the room in its entirety. She took a few deep breaths and began to go through each sequential step.
"Now we're cooking! Hmm, let's see. First, ascertain if you are in immediate danger."
Sakura was silent for a moment.
No. For the moment, I am in no immediate danger.
Her pounding heart seemed to refute that.
"Alright. Step two said to start collecting intel as unobtrusively as possible."
Sakura had already familiarized herself with the layout of the room. She detected around nine additional chakra signatures besides hers, but one seemed somewhat muted somehow, as if it were underground. She didn't know for sure, but it was possible that these ninja were working together. She didn't know the goal of these people or if they were responsible for her body change. By the way the man who knocked at the door, it seemed like she was welcome. Or at least it wasn't abnormal for her to be there.
Except she wasn't who they thought she was. Which could get her killed very, very fast.
Just great.
She despaired for a moment longer before she stood up. She had to brace herself against the wall after she mentally thought she was standing before she actually was and almost fell. She took a few wobbly steps until she got used to the comparably giraffic legs.
"What are you doing? Where are you going?"
Sakura put on the simple weapon pouch and slid on the black cloak. The long sleeves easily hid the kunai she was gripping for support in her right
I'm collecting intel. Something tells me I don't want to wait for someone to come get me again. I'll just stay quiet and see if I can gather any information that will explain what happened to me. After that, we can decide on a way to escape.
"Che! I knew you would come up with a plan! Go get 'em tiger!"
Sakura sounded calm, but on the inside she was a mess. Forcing back her feelings of trepidation and foreboding, she opened the door.
A rush of cold air swept around her. The hallway was void of all life. In fact, it appeared as if the walls were made of sheet metal. It was evident this place didn't pride itself on its style. There was a strange sound, like water dripping even though she saw
She took a deep break and left the relative safety of her room.
Following the cluster of chakra signatures, hardly possible to ignore due to how powerfully their chakra pulsated, she slowly made her way through the dark hallway. The air was cold and humid, just barely warm enough to preserve the minimal body heat the cloak was providing. She followed the curving hall left and saw a single door encompassed by light. The mass of chakras were gathered behind this one door.
"Don't be afraid to run away. I don't know what happened to make us switch bodies, but this body has some serious chakra and muscle tone. If we strictly ration it, I bet we would be fast enough. "
Sakura gritted her teeth. As afraid as she was, the last thing she needed was to be given an out. She would love to leave, in fact, her unceasing pounding heart would welcome that option completely. But the logical side of her brain informed her that if she left now, she would lose a lot of intelligence that she would never have access to again. She had to know what happened to her and how to get her body back. And these people could be her only hope.
Besides, maybe these people weren't as bad as she imagined. Just because they were powerful doesn't mean they weren't good. Maybe they could even help her!
With that thought, she twisted the knob and went into the light.
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Sakura was dead wrong. There was nothing remotely welcoming or kind about the - the killers in this room!
As soon as she had walked in, she was immediately assaulted by icy, apathetic stares. She had thought Sasuke-kun's glares were cold, but he was nothing in comparison to them!
"Oh my gosh, these people are a bunch of freaks," Inner Sakura shuddered, "I can't even pick which one I think is the weirdest!"
Outer Sakura had to agree and tightened her hold on the kunai. To her immediate right, there was this hunched, mound of a man. He barely came up to her waist. He had brown, wrinkly skin and-
"He literally has screws. Stay away from him."
She didn't need to be told
Next to Mound Man, there was a very pretty girl with gorgeous blond hair pulled into a side ponytail. She had a swath of hair framing her face. Her face would have been pretty if it weren't for the twisted look of hatred she was definitely directing at
"Great. She doesn't like us, rather, this body very much. Could she be this man's ex girlfriend? Better avoid her too."
Next to the pretty girl who could have given Ino-Pig a run for her money was a tall man with bright, fluorescent green eyes. His head and tan face were almost completely covered. He would have been the most normal one if it weren't for stitches covering the rest of his exposed
"His eyes are literally the same green color as radioactive waste. If you value at least a normal-ish body, stay away."
Radioactive Man had a what most people would call handsome man standing next to him. His face and overexposed body looked young, but his silver hair revealed his age. His giant, red scythe glinted maliciously in the light and sent a shiver down her
"Look at that arrogant smirk on his face. And how he refuses to wear clothes. Our kunoichi classes have prepared us for He HAS to be a womanizer. I know we're like, a dude now, but stay away from him too."
The man next to the womanizer was seemingly unremarkable besides the swirling orange mask that revealed a single eye. He was gesturing wildly to the Ex-gf. Something about getting dango after their next
"Ok, maybe we can talk to him. He seems..energetic, but friendly."
Mask Dude was standing beside a pretty woman-
"WHAT IS THAT VEGETABLE GROWING UP FROM THE GROUND," Inner and Outer Sakura yelled in unison. Internally, of course.
That thing looked similar to a human if it weren't for its Venus flytrap body. Oh, and his face was black and white with short, spikes green
"Do I have to say anything about this one?"
Anyways, the Venus Flytrap appeared next to a woman with blue hair. She was beautiful but she went a little heavy with the eye makeup and piercings, in Sakura's opinion. The delicate paper flower in her hair contradicted the hardcore look she was going for to be honest. Regardless, she felt some kinship with the woman because Sakura totally understood what it was like to have unusual
Speaking of unusual hair, the man next to the blunette had bright orange hair and tons of facial piercings. It was sort of hot,
"What are you saying! Sasuke-kun is way hotter than this dude. He looks more metal than human!"
Of course Sakura knew a taken man when she saw one. It was obvious that Metal Man and Paper Girl were an item. They had matching piercings and Paper Girl seemed to hover over the
Sakura was picturing them getting matching tattoos when Metal Man stared her dead in the eyes and spoke.
"Itachi, you and Kisame did well on your last mission. Regardless of whether you two think a seemingly empty piece of parchment was worth it, the scroll will play a large role in capturing the jinchuuriki."
"He was looking at you when he said that. So this body's name is Itachi? That's a pretty hot name for a hot dude like us!"
Inner, we don't have time to be distracted by how hot we are. Focus! For all the crap Inner Sakura gave Outer Sakura, she certainly did not seem to be taking things seriously.
"Oh? That's a relief, isn't it, Itachi?" said a voice from behind her.
A large hand smacked down on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura whirled around and immediately wished she hadn't. Behind her was an incredibly tall man with blue skin and gills. He had dark blue hair and grinned down at her with sharp, spiked teeth.
"Oh my gosh, he looks like a shark. Like, for real. He has gills. And pointy teeth. And he is touching us!"
"Sheesh Itachi, don't be so jumpy! It's just your favorite partner." And the Shark dude winked at her.
Sakura passed out.
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Sakura awoke to the sound of voices. She tried to open her eyes to see who was there, but any bit of light seared her retinas. Her body was so heavy. She couldn't move.
"Pein, something is off about Itachi. His chakra feels unbalanced and it keeps spiking."
"Very well, Kisame. You may send for a medic."
Hey Inner, do you know what is going on? What made me pass out?
There was no reply.
Inner! What's happening? Everything hurts real bad. Sakura whimpered.
After trying to call for her inner several more times with no answer, Sakura succumbed to the overwhelming pain and passed out.
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Sakura awoke once more, but her room was silent. The intense pain that had radiated her body before she passed out again was gone, but she was still hesitant to open her eyes. Gathering her courage, she opened them. She was in the same room she had woken up in the very first time. She sat up and glanced around. The room was void of people and light.
"I guess it must be nighttime now." Sakura said aloud and nearly jumped. Her voice sounded like normal and not like a man's! She promptly glanced down to her body and gasped. Her hands looked odd, almost as if her hands-
Her hands were see-through! Sakura jumped out of bed and screamed. The male body she had inhabited was still lying on the bed. Sakura herself was transparent, like a ghost.
lololol I know I haven't updated in ages but heartbreak and finishing your first year of college makes for pretty big distractions. Sorry for any errors and thanks for reading! I'll be elaborating on the spirit world next chapter, plus Sakura and Itachi officially meet.