Tsunade peered scornfully at the stack of papers on her desk, sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. The endless workload of administrative tasks was starting to wear on her psyche. The end of the war and the subsequent diplomatic alliance between the five great villages had brought with them a greatly-increased demand for diplomacy.
The blonde hokage knew that the age of militaristic leadership was nearing its end. While Tsunade acknowledged that this paradigm shift would benefit the world in the long run, it still didn't seem all that great for her personally. The fiery woman was a medic-nin, and, like most shinobi, a fierce warrior. Her place was on the battlefield: fighting and saving the lives of those who were wounded on it. She knew there would be little room for an aging fossil of a bygone generation like herself in this new world she was building.
Of course, these mixed feelings of doubt were not the only ones plaguing Tsunade. The absence of her pupil was also burdening her. It had been a little more than a week since Sakura had left the Leaf village under the auspice of 'taking a vacation'. The world-weary hokage had had no illusions about what might end up happening when she granted her permission, but she hadn't imagined that Sakura would have been gone for so long. It wasn't that Tsunade feared that Sasuke was capable of hurting her; the woman had received many reports that suggested the Uchiha had spent the years of his absence making a genuine attempt to atone. Rather, Tsunade feared Sakura may have joined Sasuke permanently as a missing nin. It was a difficult thought to contemplate, and the kunoichi wondered, not for the first time, if she had made a grave mistake.
"No. She's got a good head on her shoulders," Tsunade whispered to herself. "She'll come back." Then she stood and trotted over to the large window in her office and stared out at the sprawling expanse of the Leaf village.
Much of Konoha was still under construction. Efforts to rebuild after Nagato Pain's attack were slow and laborious. Still, a great deal of progress had been made in the past few years. As it turned out, shinobi with superhuman abilities were quite adept at hard labor. Moreover, the shinobi alliance had graciously decided to assist the Leaf village, an acknowledgement of their sacrifices and role in the war. Tsunade's advisors estimated that everything would be as restored as much as physically possible in one or two more years.
The fifth hokage's heart surged with pride and relief. A moment later, a pang of sadness stole the feeling from her. Despite the bright, hopeful feature ahead, Sakura had found no happiness in the Leaf since Sasuke's departure. It was a shame, really: the Haruno was probably the world's most talented medical ninja aside from Tsunade herself, in addition to being a top-tier shinobi. Sakura could've had an illustrious career due to her role in defeating Kaguya. What was it that had caused her to fall hopelessly in love with a tortured, ex-criminal of a soul like Sasuke?
Tsunade sighed again. In all honesty, she couldn't blame her pupil. The hokage knew better than anyone that the heart wanted what it wanted. After all these years, she still hadn't gotten over the death of her own lover.
"You're more like me than you think," Tsunade muttered at the glass panes in front of her.
The blond sanin was about to turn around and head back to her desk when the door opened. There were only a few people who barged into her office. The door hadn't been slammed, which meant it wasn't Naruto, and since Sakura was gone, that left only one person…
"Shizune," Tsunade said with a nod as she turned around.
Her assistant smiled. "Lady Tsunade," she replied.
Her voice was strangely breathless, as if the woman had hurried to the top of the hokage tower. "Something wrong?" the blonde asked.
"Possibly," came Shizune's reply. "We've received a messenger hawk."
Tsunade frowned. "Strange. We're not due to receive any communications." In fact, there were hardly any ninjas currently out on missions at that moment. Tsunade was in the process preparing an escort for her visit to the Village-Hidden-in-the-Sand, which was hosting a gathering celebrating the end of the war.
"That's correct," Shizune elaborated. "It's not one of ours?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Cloud? Mist?"
Shizune shook her head. "It's not from a village. Its unaffiliated."
Tsunade scrunched her beautiful face in concentration. "What did it look like?"
"Let's see," the assistant answered, glancing at a clipboard. "It had brown feathers and…" she trailed off, then looked up in shock. "A purple eye with radiating lines in it."
"Bring me to it," Tsunade firmly requested without hesitation.
Shizune's face was an expression of worry. "Are you sure, Lady Tsunade? We don't know if the bird is trapped or possibly…"
"It's not."
"If you say so, hokage-sama," Shizune said, bowing.
The pair of women walked brusquely to the hawkmaster's tower, Shizune struggling to keep up with Tsunade's intense, purposeful strides.
"Is…is something wrong?" Shizune asked delicately, afraid that her superior was in a poor mood for some reason.
Tsunade turned and forced a smile. "No, not at all. It's just that…"
"You're worried about Sakura and fear this might have something to do with her."
The sanin nodded.
Shizune was aware of the reports concerning Sasuke, and Tsunade had confided her true reason for Sakura's departure. She elected to finish the walk in solemn silence. The woman didn't know that much about Sasuke Uchiha personally, aside from all the nasty things everyone else had heard. She knew that he had been formally forgiven by the Alliance, but she still didn't trust him. If Sakura was potentially with the Uchiha…the report might not necessarily be all that good.
It didn't take long for the duo to arrive. Tsunade strode into the room atop the hawkmaster's tower. There, one Hyuga clan jonin and the hawkmaster himself, a Yamakana clan intelligence member, stood off to one side quietly chatting as they cast suspicious glances at the bird. It was perched in the stone sill of one of the room's windows, silently regarding the humans occupying it with an ominous rinnegan in its left eye socket.
"Hokage-sama," the men said, bowing.
"I appreciate the prompt report. What have you learned so far?" Tsunade said.
The Hyuga shinobi gestured at the hawk. "Only that it has strange chakra signatures," he said. "Which isn't surprising, given the eye."
Tsunade nodded and reached for the hawk.
"Hokage!" the Yamakana blurted, reaching out as if to stop her.
Tsunade bat his hand away as gently as she could manage. "Please. I'm not some doddering old crone," she shot back. "I can handle myself."
The two men looked at each other skeptically after their leader turned away from them but did not argue.
The hawk did not flinch in the slightest as Tsunade approached it. She put her hands on a small scroll pouch tied to one talon and removed the item. As she did so, the hawk looked up at her, squawked once, and flew swiftly away.
Tsunade let it go. She was more interested in the scroll she was holding. Unrolling it (much to the dismay of the three other nervous people in the room), she saw that the paper was littered with encrypted language. Luckily, the woman was able to read it; as the hokage, she had kept herself up to date on the ever-changing codes used for Leaf communications.
As she read, her face silently changed from one of frustration, to anger, to relief, to worry.
"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked as she peered at her superior from the side.
Lord Fifth took a deep, steadying breath, turned on her heel, and stormed off. "Follow me, Shizune. You too," she added, signaling for the byakugan user. "We have something important to take care of."
The forest clearing echoed with rhythmic slapping sounds. Interspersed between them were harsh, feminine grunts accented by deep breathing.
"Excellent," Sasuke remarked. "Your strength and stamina are recovering."
Sakura kept punching the mulch-filled sack without skipping a beat. "How many?" she asked.
"You were supposed to be counting," Sasuke smirked. "I guess your mental focus needs more work."
Sakura shot the Uchiha a simmering look as her eyebrow jerked in annoyance. Her next hit against the makeshift training dummy was several times harder and caused the fabric to rip open. The contests spilled from the mock wound with a dry hiss.
"Tch," Sasuke admonished with a shake of his head. "You've ruined my hard work."
Sakura leaned back and put her hands on her hips as sweat beaded on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry for ruining your masterpiece, Sasuke!" she exasperated.
Sasuke shrugged. "Fine. Be that way. I'm not making you another one." He picked up a rock and tossed it to her.
Sakura jerked in surprise but managed to catch the object. The kunoichi shot him a mischievous look as she hefted it several times.
Evidently, Sasuke was oblivious to her intent. "Crush it. I want see how much…" he began, suddenly interrupted by a smirking Sakura throwing the rock directly at his face.
The Uchiha waited until the last instant. Then, Sakura saw him blur, his upper body leaning to the side as the rock sailed harmlessly past. In the same motion, his left arm shot out from beneath his cloak in a parallel line to the ground. A kunai appeared mere inches away from Sakura's body almost before she realized what was happening.
The kunoichi's hand snapped upward and blocked the projectile. She held it victoriously between her index and middle finger, raising the weapon to show Sasuke. "What was that for, Sasuke-kun?" she teased with mock hurt in her tone.
"I told you, don't call me that," he growled angrily. "I figured if you had enough to energy to throw rocks at people who are trying to help you, you had enough energy to block a kunai."
Sakura grinned. "It seems you were correct," she said, dropping the blade for a brief instant before catching it again with her full hand. A blue field of energy surrounded the appendage as she violently made a fist. The weapon instantly shattered into hundreds of pieces, their shrapnel flying in every direction.
"Hrm. Impressive," Sasuke reacted emotionlessly when Sakura raised her unbloodied hand. "But a total waste of chakra you could've been using to heal."
It was evident that the stalwart kunoichi wanted to argue, but it was difficult to do so when her arm was visibly shaking. "I'll be fine," she said. "Not that you care."
Her tone of voice indicated a joke, but Sasuke didn't laugh. "You've made excellent progress for it only being a day and half," he said, unwilling or unable to contradict her statement. "You'll be fine by tomorrow night."
Sakura nodded her affirmation. She had dramatically recovered from her ordeal, given the circumstances. "The perks of my fighting style," Sakura chimed as she walked over to a flat rock and rested her weary legs.
Sasuke rumbled a low, baritone chuckle. "True. I'd argue it's more effective not to get hurt in the first place, though."
Inner Sakura's face contorted with rage. Was he trying to make her hate him?
Outer Sakura just opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it. "Not all of us have legendary doujutsu," she shot back.
A soft grunt was her only reply.
Sakura sighed and reached into her pouch for some of the rations Sasuke had procured. The bread was semi-stale but packed with nutrients, so the kunoichi brought it up to her mouth and took a bite.
Sasuke must have seen her grimace, because he took out a scroll. There was a puff of smoke, followed by the sudden appearance of a tomato in his hand. "Want one?" he asked.
Sakura blinked. Then she burst out laughing.
Sasuke winced. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing," Sakura tried to recover politely as she wiped a tear away. "It's just that…I hadn't imagined you really kept tomatoes for on-demand summoning."
The last Uchiha raised one eyebrow. "Why? They're good," he answered, turning away and pointedly sulking. "See for yourself."
Sakura caught the thrown fruit as Sasuke conjured his own tomato with a puff of smoke. He took a slow bite, savoring the juicy red morsel. Based on what little she could perceive of his facial features, Sakura guessed that the dour ninja was satisfied with it.
Speaking of his face…the kunoichi noticed small rivulets of tomato juice flowing across his chin. For an instant, Sakura imagined what it might be like to gently clutch that beautiful face of his in both hands, peel back those locks of hair, and slowly clean the liquid off him with her tongue.
"Thank you," Sakura blurted with a shake of her head. Now was not the time to be thinking such thoughts. While the Haruno was at least clothed now, she still didn't want Sasuke seeing evidence of her arousal. She reached into her nearby pack for a bit of salt and rubbed it on her tomato.
"What are you doing?!" she heard a sharp male voice ask her from across the clearing.
Sakura looked up in confusion, hoping that the blush had faded from her face.
"Why did you do that?" Sasuke clarified with a scowl.
Sakura looked around in confusion. She glanced down at herself, her equipment, and then finally at the tomato. Realization dawned on her. "You mean…the salt?"
"Tch. What else?"
Sakura frowned indignantly. "Because. It's good that way," she replied, taking a bite of the salt-covered fruit for emphasis.
Sasuke did something surprising. He gagged. "Disgusting. You're ruining it," he complained.
Sakura slowly chewed her bite of refreshing, salty tomato, making half-fake moaning noises as if to contradict him. "Purist," she spat, closing her eyes and looking away as she continued to eat.
The ninja pair ate in silence, seemingly ignoring each other from opposite ends of the green forest clearing. Sakura savored the natural beauty of her surroundings as she ate, stealing quiet glances at Sasuke every now and then just to see what the Uchiha was doing.
The answer: not much. As usual, Sasuke was brooding with his shadowy aura that seemed to devour the light around him itself, doing his best to ignore her existence as much as possible. In all honesty, Sakura didn't know why she ever expected anything else. Yet, as always, her eyes were inevitably drawn to him all the same. The kunoichi could never get enough of eyefuls of his gorgeous form. To her, Sasuke was to most appealing person in existence. While she knew this wasn't exactly an unreasonable or even uncommon feeling, the woman embraced it all the same.
Vaguely, Sakura wondered if Sasuke ever looked at her that way. The answer obviously 'no', but she liked to think that maybe the mysterious Uchiha at least regarded her as mildly pretty. Her large forehead was still a major insecurity for her, and while she had received her fair share of suitors, it hadn't been many. For all her life, Sakura had felt like nothing special: an average ninja (at best) who was living in the shadows of the prodigies that were her teammates. And in the field of femininity, she was overshadowed by the likes of her fellow kunoichi. Almost all her female peers were paired up with someone: Tenten with Lee, Hinata with Naruto, Temari with Shikamaru, and so on. Sakura knew she was one of the few people who was alone and unloved.
Not that I need that to be happy, the pinkette told herself.
It only sounded half true. Sakura took great pride in her medical career, in her ability to make a difference in the world, whether it was saving lives or breaking the bones of her enemies with just one punch. There was something severely missing in that equation, though. Sakura didn't just want to assist with the collective good. She cared about the individual, too.
That was why she kept finding herself drawn to the complexities of Sasuke. The kunoichi knew that the man was deeply wounded and had been for most of his life. Perhaps it was girlish and naïve of her, but she honestly believed that she could help him. Pure fantasy though it might be, Sakura would have found it immensely satisfying and meaningful if the Uchiha would at least let her do that. She didn't need his reciprocation. All she wanted was to heal the man she (inexplicably, at times) loved.
I'm pathetic, Sakura reminded herself for the thousandth time.
It was only when the silent awkwardness had dragged on for half an hour that she finally gave in and called out to her silent companion.
"Sasuke," she said (and how she loved saying that name), "I was thinking that we could…" She stopped, seeing that the man was as still as a stone statue, his head drooped downward as if in deep contemplation.
What I wouldn't give to find out what goes on in that mind of his, the kunoichi whined with an audible sigh of frustration.
Sasuke Uchiha heard his pinkette companion, but his conscious mind didn't register the words. As usual, he was far too busy with his inner world of dreams, memories, and personal demons.
He cast a glance at her with his sharinnegan, peering through his black bangs so that she couldn't see. The woman's mouth moved, but Sasuke didn't hear her.
Sakura, he thought to himself. If only you knew.
Sasuke was no longer in the forest clearing where had been helping Sakura train. Instead, he was transported back in time, two nights before.
Sakura was nuzzled against his side, her soft, feminine skin tantalizing his own even through the obstruction of his clothes and her bandages. The woman's small—but still noticeable—breasts were just barely touching him, and Sasuke could not stop himself from imagining what it would be like to cup those orbs in his hands and tease them mercilessly, to own and dominate them completely. Likewise, images flashed into his head involving him and Sakura in all sorts of lewd positions: her glorious body spread out before him as he pulled apart her thighs, or her back arched as she offered herself up to him with a beautiful pout over her strong, yet womanly shoulders. Sakura would tease him with a playful shake of her rear, flaunting that delicious, needy eagerness before Sasuke until it whipped him into a frenzy of desire that could only culminate in abusing her supple ass with his reddening palm strikes as he took Sakura furiously to the rhythm of her ecstatic begs for more—
The Uchiha gripped his fist tightly, his nails digging into his skin until they drew blood with the force of their intensity. He embraced the pain, used his ever-present companion as a tool to override the avalanche of lust.
As Sasuke did so, new images flashed into his mind that had nothing at all to do with sex. He saw the bloodied faces of his own clan, the mutilated bodies of his relatives, their lifeless eyes searing into his brain with the sheer, incompressible, existential horror of death and cruelty. He saw the gore of Uchihas disemboweled or burned, the foul smells intermingling in a putrid sensation that rocked the child version of Sasuke to his core. He remembered what it had been like to cry and vomit for hours as his heart pounded out of his chest, his head and eyes thrummed with agony, and his very bones vibrated with the terror of loss.
He remembered Itachi's haunting eyes and statements, which Sasuke knew would mercilessly torture him to the end of his days, even though he now knew the truth and reasons behind his older brother's actions. The emotional pain was insensate and irrational, yet it was still there, inescapably etched on his mind. Abandonment, loss, loneliness…these feelings that always simmered within him were intensified as he forced himself to recall their origin. They loomed before him like a vast, dark, infinite sea from which he could not escape.
Even more emotions settled over the scene, becoming a bitter storm of lightning strikes and thunder that whipped the water into a terrifying frenzy. Regret and self-loathing joined him as Sasuke's view switched from the massacre to his memories of attacking the five-kage summit. The Uchiha saw the samurai he had cut down like wheat before the chaff. He imagined their families, and how those men must have been mourned with no less intensity than Sasuke had mourned the death of his own mother and father.
Sasuke felt sick as more regrets joined the storm: his attack upon Bee, forcing the Raikage to amputate his arm, his attempted murder of Naruto, of using Karin like a tool before stabbing through her…
Worst of all, though, was his attempted murder of Sakura.
The Uchiha's heart skipped a beat as the writhing sea became a tidal wave in response to the gravity of this final sin. The foaming, black waters morphed into the shape of Sakura's face. She smirked at him as her visage crashed down towards him for the retribution that was rightly due.
Sasuke tried to flee, to teleport away, to conjure a shinra tensei…to do anything. But he could not. In his heart of hearts, Sasuke wanted to stand there and let the water drag him down into the punishing depths of his evil.
And so, he did.
Sasuke opened eyes that he hadn't realized he'd tightly shut. He let his tensed muscles relax as the icy sensation of a sea that didn't exist washed over him. He panted heavily, a calm focus returning to the ninja as he took solace in the fire several feet away. Not even the warmth of his favored element could remove his cold sweat, but Sasuke let his mind empty as he watched the dancing shapes.
Some time later, he blinked and tore his gaze away. The Uchiha looked down at the kunoichi, thankful that she had found a peaceful sleep and was therefore unaware of his ordeal.
It would utterly crush her to know just how uncomfortable her presence made him. As much as Sasuke enjoyed Sakura's closeness, as much as he wanted her with an intense male need, Sakura annoyed him. Her touch sent electric chills through his body that made him want to shove the kunoichi away in annoyance just as much he wanted to pull her closer for comfort.
Sasuke grit his teeth, both sides of the inner conflict making him feel painfully vulnerable and weak. He despised the thought that he wanted…no, needed someone like her. Attachments were a weakness. Attachments meant that there was just another way for the universe to inflict anguish. Love was a deviously sweet poison that would inevitably be ripped away.
Yet, at the same time, Sasuke hated his sensitivity. He knew that he was broken, that his desire to be alone was a flaw that others did not seem to possess. At his core, Sasuke knew he was a broken man made of nothing but contradictions. In everything, he was passionately needy, whether what he needed was independence, affection, or both.
The Uchiha debated with himself for several minutes whether he should wake Sakura and ask her to sleep on her own or not. At length, the argument was rendered moot. Sasuke knew it would be cruel to wake the beaten woman's sleep and exile her to cold loneliness. After all he had done, he owed her this, at least. It was a small contrition, but it was worth the torment her touch inflicted.
Not for the first time that night, Sasuke marveled at the absurdity of his situation. Here he was, slumped in a cave next to a cozy fire as a vulnerable, naked woman cuddled him. What had he ever done to deserve such devotion and trust?
Baffled, Sasuke reminded himself that the answer was that he didn't deserve it. He had done nothing but shove people away and hurt them for almost his entire life; most of all, Sakura herself. It was only fitting that he endure the same fate.
This confusion, this pain, this is what I deserve, Sasuke mused. All of it.
He didn't sleep at all that night.
But neither did he move.
Sasuke returned to the clearing, his vision re-focusing on the kunoichi seated several dozen feet away from him. He had been staring at her the entire time, he knew. Hardly surprising.
Sakura was beautiful. There simply was no other way to say it, and the sentiment could never be overstated. At least, not to him. For Sasuke, Sakura was the epitome of perfection: she was loving, caring, kind, patient, and every other positive attribute one could associate to a person.
Everything I'm not, he told himself.
Sasuke had seen almost every part of Sakura's body while taking care of her, though he had tried his best not to look more than was strictly necessary. The Uchiha knew full well just how gorgeous the woman was. Her limbs were athletic and muscular while still retaining that lithe, feminine slimness. She was graceful and had glowing, vibrant skin Sasuke felt compulsions to caress. Her waist was maddeningly small and curvy, giving her a near-perfect hourglass shape. Her hair was clean and smelled like cherries…Sasuke's second favorite fruit, next to tomatoes. Her breasts were petite but delightfully perky, her lips were soft and inviting, her expressions could be as cute they were fierce, her hair looked silky and clean…Sasuke could have gone on and on describing his perceptions of Sakura forever.
There were times when it physically hurt that he couldn't let himself have her. And the fact that he knew she would submissively allow him to do whatever he pleased if he simply asked made it even more frustrating.
Still, if the woman's exterior flustered him, it was only because her interior was equally beautiful. If there was one thing Sasuke respected, it was the ability to wield power with purpose. Sakura was no sage of six paths like himself. However, that only raised his opinion of her even more. Sakura was a self-made woman: she had not been born as the reincarnation of the inventor of ninjutsu. She had not inherited legendary kekkai-genkkai, nor had the kunoichi been blessed with the powers of long-dead gods. No, everything that Sakura was had been earned by tooth and claw. There was a quiet nobility about this that Sasuke could not help but deeply admire. It fascinated him to no end that Sakura could snarl with rage while pummeling her enemies one second and smile sweetly the next. Even Sasuke, for all his power, found the latter beyond him.
It would have been inaccurate for Sasuke to say that he merely desired Sakura's body. Sure, he was a man who had hormonal needs…but that was only half of the equation. Countless times Sasuke had entertained the possibility of returning to Konoha and the loyal woman who he knew awaited him there. Perhaps he might even start a family, revive the Uchiha clan, and live out his days as peacefully as he could while trying to do Sakura justice by returning her passion with as much love as he could muster.
As Sasuke scrutinized Sakura, her vivacious aura became cold and dead. He saw her eyes blacken, her skin rot, and her scar-covered wounds bleed. She withered and died before his very eyes.
Sasuke-kun, the Uchiha imagined the woman's grey-blue lips say. Why did you do this? Why did you let this happen, when I only loved you?
A tear dripped down Sasuke's face. His mouth moved before he realized he was experiencing a mere sleep-deprived hallucination. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke forced the image of a dead Sakura away. It was swiftly replaced by the dead bodies of his parents.
That is why you can never know, Sakura, Sasuke told himself with a sad frown as he focused on the grim visual.
"Sasuke, are you ok?" Sakura said.
Sasuke jolted, waved a hand in front of his face, and looked at her. "What?" he asked.
"I said, are you ok?" Sakura reiterated with a concerned frown. "You were just standing there…"
"I'm fine."
Sakura eyed the Uchiha suspiciously. She decided against commenting on his obvious distraction, though. "Well, as I was saying, I think I'm up to a little sparring match, if you are," she said.
Sasuke considered this for a few moments, examined Sakura carefully, and nodded. "All right. Taijutsu only. No chakra."
Sakura rolled her eyes as she stood. "Fine."
The shinobi faced off and bowed.
A split second later, Sakura came in swinging.
"What are we going to do?" Naruto's clone heard Shizune ask.
"I don't know," Tsunade replied. Some of the next words were cut off, so the clone inched closer to the window sill and cupped its ear.
"…devote them all to uncovering as much as we can," Tsunade said. "If this Shin Uchiha is as dangerous as she described, then that should be our primary concern."
Uchiha? the clone thought. Like Obito and Madara? No wonder Granny Tsunade has been acting weird lately…
"I understand," a male voice Naruto did not recognize replied. "I'll get my squads on it right away."
"Likewise," another man said. "We'll check the minds of as many prisoners as we can."
"Thank you. Both of you. Yamakana-san, you have my permission to interrogate that bastard Oorochimaru, as well," Tsunade replied. "But start with the weaker subjects first."
The men acknowledged the orders, and then Naruto's clone heard the shuffling of feet.
Oorochimaru? it wondered. Just what the hell is going on that they would need to talk to him, huh?! And who's 'she'?
The room was a silent for a while. Tsunade broke it with a sigh.
"I'm worried, Shizune."
"So am I," the assistant replied. "From the sound of it, Sakura almost…"
"I know. If it hadn't been for Sasuke, it sounds like she would have. I knew I hadn't misjudged him. Still, it's that bastard who caused her to leave in the first place. Sometimes I don't know what to do about her…infatuation, Shizune."
The shadow clone inwardly recoiled. Sakura! Sasuke! Just like its original, the clone wasn't the smartest shinobi out there by any metric. Still, it was able to piece the clues together. Evidently, Tsunade had lied to him about why Sakura had left the village. The betrayal stung him, but at the same time, the blonde had matured in recent years. He understood why his hokage had done it. Admittedly, if Naruto had known, he probably would have followed her.
In recent years, Sakura had become somewhat of a big sister to him. He no longer pined after her like he used to. Some things just weren't meant to be. In some corner of his heart, Naruto still loved Sakura and wondered what things could have been like. He loved Hinata though and would never betray her.
It was for this reason that the Naruto duplicate found its heart pounding with worry. Based on what it had heard, it seemed like Sakura had probably fought some powerful Uchiha named Shin and been saved by Sasuke.
Good job, Teme. I knew you could do good. The fox-ninja smirked. It was obvious to everyone that those two belonged together. Well, everyone other than themselves, at least.
Still, Naruto was worried. It made sense that Tsunade was desperate to find information about this Shin, especially if Sakura had written that there was some way he might still be alive. He felt a sudden urge to rush off and find his pink-haired friend, who at that very moment might still be in danger. Rationally, though, he knew there was no way Tsunade would give him that information. He was supposed to be an important part of the trip to hidden sand, and it might be a moot point anyway. It was possible that Sakura hadn't told Tsunade where she was. It would be just like her and Sasuke to sacrifice themselves so that no one else could get hurt.
Damnit, you two! the clone thought. You guys are awesome as always, but you need my help! Don't you get that? Don't you remember Kakashi-sensei teaching us Tobi's rule?
"…one thing I know for certain, it's that we can't tell Naruto about this," Shizune's voice interrupted the Naruto-copy's thoughts.
"Agreed," came the fifth hokage's reply.
Naruto's eye spasmed in annoyance. Really? he bemoaned. I need time to figure out how to handle this.
Conversation in the room hit a lull, so the clone turned around and prepared to slide down the skirt of the tower's top level. As it did, though, it came face to face with a looming ninja who was barely two inches away.
"Ah! Jeez, Kakashi-sensei!" the Naruto imitation complained as it jumped back in shock.
The masked jonin laughed from behind his mask. "Oh, I'm sorry about that. You don't like being spied on?"
The clone grit its teeth in annoyance. "Look, I saw a rinnegan hawk flying in. You know what that means, right?"
Kakashi stepped back and nodded.
"Right, so, I just had to know what happened. And I'm glad I did. You heard what Granny-Tsunade said, right?"
Kakashi chuckled. "Yeah. I wish I could say I was surprised. An Uchiha suddenly popping up and attacking Sasuke was pretty low on my list of possibilities, but I knew it might happen."
The clone frowned. "How can you be so non-challant when Sakura-chan almost…"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Died? We're shinobi, Naruto. Death is always a strong possibility. Besides, Sakura can take care of herself. Especially with Sasuke around. You should know the truth of that from firsthand experience. Even if they did end up fighting an Uchiha freak."
"Wait a minute…" the clone said, its eyes in a thin line. "Tsunade didn't say anything about that guy being a freak."
Kakashi chuckled again and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, actually, about that…"
"You already knew."
"Caught red-handed," Kakashi said, pointing a finger sheepishly at the window above them.
Warily, the Naruto-copy scooted up to the sill and peered over the edge. There, standing in the office and chatting, was the real Kakashi. It swiveled back before the original could notice and faced its master's shadow clone, which was now advancing menacingly.
"You're not going to tell anyone about this or otherwise act on this information, right?" it asked while leaning over to peer at the crouched, orange-clad man.
"Uhhhh…" the addressee flailed.
Kakashi's clone put its hand in its pockets. "Right. Well, better swamp you with D-rank missions and training exercises while I still can, Chunin. Just to be safe, you know?"
The fox clone wore a mask of horror, then it put on a devious grin. "Not if I puff you out first," it blurted while forming a rasengan in one hand.
As it leaped forward with its palm outstretched, the Kakashi casually leaped backwards into midair and put its fingers together in the sign of kage bunshin. "If you're going to attack someone, don't announce it first," he warned, then disappeared in cloud of smoke.
Color drained from the Naruto clone's face. It let the rasengan slowly die, then cursed. "Idiot! Well, the original is gonna need to know about this anyway." It laughed aloud. "Poor bastard."
Then it too disappeared with a pop.
Sasuke swayed dexterously to one side as Sakura closed in on him. Her attack flew right past him, though not by much. The woman seemed to be as fast as she ever was, despite her condition. The Uchiha hadn't had to steady himself with his one arm but was close to needing it. The whoosh of air created by his opponent's fist slammed into him, blowing his bangs away from his face and exposing his left eye.
Sakura pivoted and kicked in crescent-shaped circle. Sasuke was faster than her, though, and jumped several feet backwards. The kunoichi frowned in annoyance at the way he somehow kept his cloak immaculately wrapped around his body as he did so.
"Are you just scared to hit a girl, or you going to fight me?" she taunted.
Sasuke straightened and narrowed his eyes. "This is a test for you. Not me."
"Shannaro!" Sakura roared.
Instead of charging forward with an uppercut like Sasuke expected, the woman threw a pair of kunai at him. He readied himself to leap upwards but realized he didn't need to. The weapons sailed past, missing by a wide margin.
Sasuke frowned. "Sakura, I think we'd better stop," he mumbled.
Sakura winked at him in response and leaped high into the air with a raised fist. Sasuke swept his cloak to the side as he charged towards her, preparing a move that would turn her own momentum against her and cause her to wind up pinned on the ground.
It didn't happen like the Uchiha expected. Sakura yanked at something midair, and the medic-nin somehow flew to his right side while still in midair. It was only when she had landed next to the kunai that Sasuke figured it out.
Damn, I would've seen the wire if I wasn't so tired, he lamented.
The Uchiha tried to figure out a counter, but his opponent was too fast. She hit the ground and swept out a leg, trying to take Sasuke's footing from beneath him. He would have stopped her, but he lacked an arm on that side. Ordinarily, Sasuke's new fighting style revolved around using perception, speed, and tactics to plan and re-adjust his position to make effective use of his left hand.
All of these were nullified by his overconfident state. There was nothing he could do to stop Sakura, so he let himself get hit and fall backwards. His shins ached, but he used the momentum to brace himself, pivot upside-down, and flip away from the kunoichi at an angle.
Sakura was in front of him as his feet hit the ground. She was slowing by the second, but until the time came that she would stop completely, Sasuke knew that she would be relentless.
He ducked a series of jabs, weaved around a hook, and slapped aside a few kicks. With his repositioning, the kunoichi's waning energy could not outmaneuver his lack of a right arm. She just kept attacking, making up for her handicap with sheer skill and determination.
Sasuke smiled. He had to admit, she was fun to watch like this. Maybe he'd let Sakura stay with him long enough to have a proper duel after all.
Sakura swung back a heavy left-punch. Sasuke saw it coming far ahead of time and calculated a good trajectory with which to launch a counterattack that would end the fight.
Before the Uchiha could execute it, Sakura rapidly changed motions. Her attack revealed itself to be a feint, and she used her own top-heavy, leaned momentum to swing a savage right kick in a circle. Sasuke had already started rolling past the fist, which put him in a perfect collision course with the strike.
For a second, he thought about using a shinra tensei to repel the hit.
He changed his mind. Sasuke pretended to be confused and let the kick hit him. He stumbled back, groaning, and was legitimately surprised when Sakura still wasn't done. The kunoichi did a full revolution and followed up by planting a foot on his chest.
And then, she shoved.
Wind whipped sharply at Sasuke as he sailed back through the air. He was lightheaded and confused for a split second. Then, his eyes shot wide open as he remembered the tree-trunk that was behind him.
Idiot, he cursed himself before slamming solidly into the pillar of wood.
There was a subsonic boom, and the next thing Sasuke knew, he was leaning against something hard. His head and back ached and he was dizzy. Stars danced in front of his vision as his head lolled for a few seconds. The Uchiha saw Sakura fall back on the ground, her arms and legs spread wide.
Sasuke frowned and tried to take a step forward, but his legs didn't work. It took him a moment to realize that he was sitting and not standing.
Damn. She's stronger than I thought. The shinobi knew he was in a completely different class and would easily obliterate Sakura if it ever came down to a serious fight, but the fact that he'd lost still injured his pride.
Sasuke groaned and managed to stand. He wiped the blood from his nose and limped over to Sakura. I probably deserved that, though, he thought. Let her work some frustration out.
"Sakura?" Sasuke called, more worried about her state than his own. When he finally stood over the woman and saw her smiling face, he laughed out loud despite himself. She was unconscious but obviously so, so self-satisfied.
"Fucking cheater," he half-complained while taking a seat next to the kunoichi. "Last time I ever fight you in a straight-up taijutsu match."
They spent the next two days in much the same way as they had spent the previous ones. Sasuke and Sakura trained, fought, and talked between meals, hunting, scouting, meditating, and the kunoichi healing herself with her ever-increasing chakra reserves.
Even Sasuke found himself growing uncomfortable with the tension between him, so he broke it by asking questions and answering Sakura's own. The duo talked about the battles they had fought: Sasuke told her about fighting Deidara and Danzo (two kills he did not regret and for which she did not blame him), just as Sakura told him about fighting Sasori.
As they compared notes, Sasuke grew more and more interested in the kunoichi. The Uchiha had already known that his ex-team mate had undergone changes, but the harrows Sakura spoke of only boosted his respect for her. In his blind rage, Sasuke had never imagined some of the experiences that the woman might have had during the war. To know that she was strong even as a chunin (she was now a jonin, he learned) was utterly mystifying.
Sasuke spoke a little of his travels. He explained that he had drifted from place to place at first, most avoiding contact until he was brave enough to show his face around people. Eventually, hostile shinobi began to show up, but not everything was violence and fear and hate. There those that accepted Sasuke and those that didn't. He studied at shrines and temples whenever they would let him, seeking whatever wisdom he could in the hopes that it might quell the dark feelings in his heart. It had helped, Sasuke told her, but not entirely.
Quietly, the Uchiha suspected he would never heal.
In addition, Sasuke had visited almost all the famous ninja lands and just about every hidden village other than the cloud. At times he disguised himself, and at others he approached dojos peacefully and politely. When people didn't yell at him to leave or look terrified, he quietly learned whatever ninjutsu they were willing to teach him. In this manner, Sasuke told Sakura that he had advanced all five of his elemental ninjutsu up to chunin level, at least.
Whenever Sakura asked about or commented on a report of his movements she had heard about, Sasuke told her the full story. He spoke of everything from a deadly game of cat and mouse he had played with an arms dealer, to the bizarre tale of how he had been swept up in a lover's quarrel.
It felt strangely satisfying for him to confess some of those experiences. These stories of trying his best to use his powers for the benefit of others were his most common ones. Next to that, the rinnegan-user had spent most of his time trying to advance his proficiency in the six paths. Although Sasuke would never quite be on Pain's level, he knew he could certainly approach it. By using them in combination with his speed, fire styles, chidori, sharingan, and susanoo', Sasuke was sure that, other than perhaps Naruto, he was easily the most dangerous person alive—for better or worse.
Sakura was wide-eyed and patient through all his tales. Then, when there was little left to say, she told him about life in the Leaf village. She said that everyone was happy and prosperous after the war, that missions had slowed down due to the lack of political hostilities, and that the shinobi system was approaching a new age where the five nations worked together to protect civilians from criminals and rogue ninja. Sakura described how she had risen the ranks of the hospital until she was chief medical officer, how Naruto had been elevated to chunin, then promptly failed the jonin exam due to rambunctiousness, and how Tsunade was grooming Kakashi to soon take over her role.
Sasuke listened patiently to everything Sakura had to say, taking secret pleasure in knowing that life shined on without him—just as it should. It made him genuinely happy to know that he wasn't needed and that his actions hadn't steered the world away from the noble course Naruto had envisioned.
Despite my best efforts, Sasuke admonished himself.
By the fourth day, even Sakura's scars had healed to such an extent that he wouldn't have been able to tell something had happened. Her chakra level was nearly full as well, and their spars were so dangerous that they had to call them off. After all, there was little in Sasuke's repertoire of skills that wasn't instantly lethal. And, although satisfied with her recovery, Sasuke had insisted they wait out the complete fourth day before deciding what to do next.
In truth, Sasuke did know what he wanted to do. Although he admitted to himself that their time together had been the most pleasant he had experienced since being a genin, it was not meant to last. Shin was probably still out there. The relatives of those killed by the crazed man at the resort would be screaming for vengeance, and there was enough evidence and fear in to world to blame Sasuke for it. In fact, it was highly likely that, in addition to dealing with Shin, he'd have to contend with shinobi squads as well. Kill the former, evade the latter.
Moreover, there was still the matter of the Otsutsuki-related clues he needed to investigate. Based on the few conflicts he'd had while chasing down relevant leads on the secretive and all-powerful clan, Sasuke knew that it would be better if Sakura didn't come along. Her place was in the village, happy and safe in her old life. It would be a grave injustice for her to die protecting him. Better for Sasuke to give his own life trying to safeguard the world against alien invaders than anyone else—especially her.
He'd never forgive himself.
Enough is enough. No more death but my own, Sasuke told himself on the eve of the fourth night. He briefly considered waking Sakura up and at least telling her why he was leaving. Ultimately, the Uchiha decided against it. The kunoichi would never understand, and all that would accomplish would be to start a big argument that Sasuke didn't have the patience or the time for. He regretted that this one last, final abandonment would hurt her, but Sasuke also knew that it had been inevitable. He wasn't good for her. Nothing good could come from them being together, as much as the last Uchiha desperately wished otherwise. Sakura would curse him and cry, but it was for her own good.
And, perhaps, hopefully, she just might eventually realize that and move on. Get over him. Choose someone else to give her heart to. Her pain at least had a chance to fade, while his did not.
That was the burden Sasuke knew he was destined to bear. His punishment for a life of mistakes. He was satisfied with it, in a way.
The thought of another man touching her, of loving and kissing and holding his Sakura, it made him sick. It made Sasuke wanted to grind a boulder to dust with his knuckles and then confess everything to her.
But he refrained. It was not his place to steal the gem of Sakura from the world. She would be wasted on scum like himself.
"Goodbye, Sakura," Sasuke whispered so quietly even he could barely hear it. "And…I'm sorry," he added over his shoulder. There was one backward glance as he left the cave, and it was the most painful thing Sasuke had ever done in his entire life. It felt as if his neck were bound to Sakura's sleeping form by an intangible string of glue, and it was only with an intense effort that he was able to quietly seal the cave entrance once more.
He didn't look away until the rock wall completely stole the treasure of Sakura from his vision for the final time.
Then, as silent and as invisible as the living shadow of a person he was, Sasuke disappeared into the cold night.
