Naruto: As the Heaven's Cried

A/N: I hate you people…seriously… T.T

Except my now 2 reviewers, who are awesome!

The rest of you I curse with SUCK! for being too lazy to review.

Whatever, read.

As the Heaven's Cried

What Lies Beneath

~sSSs~

Growing up, Sakura did not know much about Uchiha Itachi. Since she was the first shinobi in her family in three generations and being unaffiliated with any of the major clans that made up Konoha, she simply was not involved with them while growing up.

It was not until the Academy when they were taught about the founding of Konoha following the First Great Shinobi War that she started to learn about the clans. As Sasuke and Hinata were classmates with her, she knew the Hyūga held the powerful Byakugan eyes and that the Uchiha were, at one time in the past, descendents from them. The remaining clans like the Senju and Sarutobi were only briefly discussed in passing, as blood-line limits were normally what made clans powerful to begin with and were protected to a higher extent than even Konoha's secrets.

And while it had never been discussed in detail, Sakura knew a little about the Uchiha clan massacre. She first marked it as the two weeks Sasuke did not come to class at the Academy, a topic of great discussion between her and Ino and the other girls that were obsessed with him. However, as time went on she could catch snippets of conversation between Academy instructors and shinobi in the street. Somehow, the police force of Konoha, the powerful clan of the Uchiha possessing the famed Sharingan, had all been wiped out in a single night save for one savior:

Sasuke.

When Sasuke did return to classes, he had changed. What little friendliness he had shown his fellow year-mates was extinguished, buried under some dark pain he refused to talk about. Five years later, when Sakura had been given the coveted spot as Sasuke's genin teammate – while also being the object of great pity for also being stuck with Naruto – she had been surprised when Sasuke announced his goal in life was the death of a certain man.

It was even more of a shock when she found out that "man" was actually Sasuke's elder brother Itachi, whom Sakura had simply assumed had been murdered along with the rest of the Uchiha that fateful night. Slowly, from Kakashi and later Tsunade, Sakura learned that it had been Itachi who had killed – no, slaughtered – his own family, sparing only his younger brother. There was still no explanation why the prodigy had done it, though Kakashi shared that Sasuke had once mentioned something about "proving his own capabilities against those of Itachi".

In the three years following Sasuke's abandonment of Konoha to join Orochimaru, Sakura only heard about Itachi through the movements of Akatsuki they found every few months. Jiraiya, while training Naruto, sent Tsunade reports on all rumors he was able to dig up during their travels, but nothing he found ever proved concrete.

Then, after Naruto's return to Konoha after two and half years, everything seemed to suddenly pick upt. Rescuing Gaara, meeting Sai, and seeing Sasuke for the first time in nearly three years – everything went so fast and suddenly Itachi's movements and those of Akatsuki became suddenly traceable. Then, that fateful day when they came so close to finding Sasuke, Itachi died.

For her and the rest of Team Kakashi, it meant that Sasuke would finally return to Konoha, return home. Instead, the man who had seemed to have directed the movements of the shinobi world since Naruto's birth sixteen years ago, Uchiha Madara, stepped in and the board was re-arranged again. Sasuke joined Madara and became further out their reach than ever.

In that moment of insight, when she saw how much her reliance on Naruto to bring Sasuke back to them and that decision to go after Sasuke herself rather than see her year-mates kill him, Sakura learned the true history of the Uchiha family and the person who brought about their destruction. The story came from Kakashi, Naruto, and Yamato after Sasuke killed Danzo and she failed to kill him.

What Sakura learned that day shifted how she viewed the elder Uchiha.

Itachi, who in her mind she blamed as the ultimate evil for taking away Sasuke, forcing him to seek out Orochimaru to beat his older, had killed his own family to protect Konoha and the only family member that meant anything to the prodigy. The hidden motives of the Uchiha clan and their plan to attack Konoha so they could control the village and the subsequent counter-attacks by the Sandaime Hokage, Danzo, and the two Elders, every dark detail came to life after nearly ten years. And in the middle of it, it seemed, had been Itachi, who had wanted his village safe, for the Uchiha taking over Konoha surely would have caused the next Great War.

Madara's arrival and his planned destruction of Konoha had only made things worse for Itachi. To protect the village he willingly killed his family, a move that made his one of the worst villains in the history of Konoha. The fact he left Sasuke alive, Sakura realized, was proof that somewhere inside Uchiha Itachi was not truly evil.

Three months later, during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, when her squadron came across Itachi, brought back by Kabuto, she found herself playing backup to Kakashi as he fought the resurrected Uchiha as the others took care of the other enemies around them. Even under Kabuto's control, the Uchiha seemed to be fighting on a lower level compared how he had in the past, something that Kakashi both noted and commented on.

"I have never wished to fight against the shinobi of Konoha," Itachi announced softly, even as he sent Amaterasu after Kakashi who easily evaded. "Kubito may control my body and my powers, but without my full consent his movements are limited."

"Uchiha-san." Startled to realize the voice that had spoken was her own, Sakura froze when the Uchiha had turned her way. Regardless of his past motives, he was an enemy and she was foolish to attract his attention when he had seemed content simply to fight with Kakashi. Still, Sakura realized there was something she had wanted to say to him since she had learned about the past months ago.

"F-following Danzo-san's death, Uchiha Madara told Naruto what happened the night of the massacre and why it happened," Sakura forced out, staring at his shoulder. Even as her control over genjutsu grew and her ability to repel attacks of that nature, she would be helpless if caught in Itachi's Tsukiyomi.

"Madara seems to be rather talkative for a Uchiha," Itachi commented dryly, but made no move against her. Even Kakashi had paused, but Sakura had a feeling her old teacher was still on high alert and was simply humoring her.

"Uh, I know this will sound odd," Sakura told him, fear and anxiety tightening her chest, "but thank you!"

There was a moment of silence and as she was still alive Sakura rushed on, ignoring the stinging heat in her cheeks.

"Thank you for saving Konoha, my home! For sacrificing yourself and your family so that the village could get stronger," she breathed, still staring at his shoulder. "And thank you, thank you for not killing Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun….Sasuke-kun is very important to many of us now, a comrade and a friend! And I swear, on those of us who wish to see him return, and for Naruto, we will bring him back to the home you saved!"

Ignoring the tears that threatened to fall, Sakura continued to stare at Itachi's shoulder until it was suddenly empty air. A second later she felt a hand wrap around her neck and with a strangled gasp, Sakura found her head tilted back to meet Itachi's red gaze. As uncontrollable fear formed as she met the Sharigan gaze, she blinked when they suddenly went black.

"Don't thank a traitor like me, Haruno-san," Itachi said with a small, sad, smile and Sakura felt the hand wrapped around her neck spasm before loosening as Itachi's form started to crumble away in front of her. Behind him, Kakashi released the Raiki he had forced through where Itachi's heart would have been, her teacher's own red eye gazing that the dissipating Uchiha with sadness and regret.

"I'm glad Sasuke has such good friends," Itachi finished, smile in place as Sakura stared up at him in surprise, tears trailing down her cheeks as she tried to recapture her breath. "You all surely possess Konoha's "Will of Fire" and will not lose against Madara. I will leave everything to you."

Just as the sky opened above then and the first raindrops hit the ground, the last of Uchiha Itachi faded from in front of her and the two remaining shinobi were quiet for a few minutes before Sakura turned to Kakashi to heal the wounds he had accrued during the fight.

"Uchiha-san…was a great shinobi, wasn't he, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked softly after some time, as they rushed to meet up with the rest of their squad.

"One of the best," Kakashi agreed and Sakura gave a brief smile before looking ahead of her in determination. She would carry on her goal of returning Sasuke to Konoha, and she would do it with Itachi's blessing on her shoulders.

Ending A/N: I don't really care for this one, but I don't hate it. I think, ideally, I wanted more an exploration by Sakura on Itachi, but…it is what it is. And I know I spent a lot of time regurgitating already known information. It's the reason why I posted with another immediate chapter (which isn't happy, but it is smut XD).

Anyways, please read and review you bastards!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I want to own Naruto. (Now Kiba, Neji, Kankuro, and Itachi... I want to own them. Just my own little personal harem...)