I'm back! Yeah, yeah… I'll save three minutes of your life complaining on how this chapter was so slow to come out. I have been sick and unmotivated to write this chapter. I felt that it wasn't fair that readers have to read through crap I didn't even put effort into. School has also been a real bitch lately too… I was originally going to post this chapter earlier this week but there have been some connection errors in the local area. Don't worry, our council has already fixed the issue and the internet is up and running again. I'll update you on the votes:
Full Color- 6 votes
Memory Escape- 2 votes
Light within Darkness- 0 votes
Past Colors of Darkness- 2 votes
Remember, voting ends at chapter 11! Either PM me or write a review!
Now the reviews!
CherryblossomWarrior:The first few chapters just introduced Sakura and a few characters in. From now there will be a lot more moments in SasuSaku. NaruHina and ShikaIno will come a little later on. When I posted the chapter it was mid-afternoon I guess? You have a good day/night too…
Patrick the almighty observer: I must admit you are quite observant but I'm afraid you missed a crucial detail; Danzo did in fact give direct orders for Sukai. Danzo had already been suspicious of Sakura for a while and I'll just say that Sakura developing a poison confirms his suspicions. If you remember, a few chapters back Danzo stated…
'Your first ROOT mission; operation Haru-Gyakusatsu, do not hold back. Do anything to complete the mission,'
Haru-Gyakusatsu is very specific. These are the orders and he also said 'do anything to complete the mission,' Danzo didn't care how the mission was completed as long as it was completed. Do you see where I'm going with this?
As for why Sukai was following Sakura… You are forgetting that Sakura is in the body of a five-year old; Sukai couldn't possibly kill Sakura directly with arousing suspicion of why anyone would want to assassinate a civilian child so she made an example of her parents. She had even left a note in the hand of Mebuki warning Sakura to stop her plans of trying to poison someone.
Sukai was simply making sure that Sakura didn't continue with her plans.
Wow that was lengthy…
BizzyLizy- Oh wow! Lucky! You must rich or something… My family can't even afford to fix our car. I totally wish that I could at least have a holiday home made of cabbages… Sorry that the update came a little slower than usual! I've been having a few personal issues at school and not to mention I'm sick! Thanks for reviewing and good luck to you too… I'll probably need it as much as I can get.
Just a note,
Again this note is quite unnecessary so this can be skipped. This note is a bit of info about Itachi and Sukai's relationship. So you already know that Sukai is the same age as Itachi and hangs around him a lot. Clearly, Itachi doesn't mind her presence which brings me to my point. A similar relationship to Itachi and Sukai would be Neji and Tenten however; Sukai is a little more fangirl-ish. Sukai may seem annoying in some ways but Itachi sees her in another way. Say… I wonder how Itachi would react if he found out what Sukai did to Sakura's clan?...
Constructive criticism is recommended, if you are unsure about anything in the chapter just ask and I'll happily reply… Just don't be mean…
It has been terribly long since my last update so I've made this chapter extra long…
STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY
One year, nine months until the Uchiha massacre…
Sakura licked her lip and shakily poured the last of the poisonous herbs Ino had given her. Sakura wiped her brow and held up the bottle of bright blue liquid. The rosette grinned happily as the bright blue faded into a clear, transparent colour of water.
Over the year, Sakura decided that she would continue developing the poison in more secretive spaces such as Ino's room. The curtains were closed and the room was dark. A figure leaned forward in anticipation before accidentally falling off the chair she was sitting on and yelped. Sakura placed a kunai one her throat before the girl turned on the light revealing Sakura's blonde haired friend.
Sakura withdrew the kunai and smiled cheekily at Ino.
"What the hell were you doing forehead?" Ino demanded while rubbing her throat soothingly.
"Sorry pig, I didn't sense your chakra so I was surprised," At least the rosette hadn't thought to. She was too absorbed in the poison she was developing to even notice her friend's presence in the room. Sakura mentally groaned she had to be more careful.
"Why are you so tense anyways?" Ino grabbed the bottle out of her hand and opened up the lid, despite the rosette's protests.
"You were so tense over water? Geez forehead, you should have better things to worry about," Ino shrugged nonchalantly and chucked bottle back to Sakura who swiftly caught it.
"Pig, don't touch my stuff," Sakura punched Ino's arm playfully.
Since Sakura's parents had perished, the Yamanaka clan agreed to give the rosette a place to live to the joy of the heiress. Sakura was grateful and gained newfound respect stronger than the respect she had before in her old life.
Sakura shook the bottle slightly before opening and checking the poison was still intact. She let out a breath of relief and ripped open one of the flaps on her backpack. Carefully, the rosette placed down the bottle quietly. Ino tilted her head as a look of confusion came over her face.
"Hey… forehead,"
"Yeah?" The rosette hummed.
"I-"
"Get ready girls!" Inoichi's loud voice boomed and effectively silenced the blonde.
"I… Do you… Never mind," Ino looked downcast as her lips slightly trembled.
Sakura furrowed her brow but grabbed her bag and hoisted herself up.
"Race you there,"
The young Yamanaka flashed a smirk before pushing past the pinkette and racing her way to the academy.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Ino proudly boasted the whole way to the classroom. Sakura rolled her eyes for the fifth time since they'd made their way to the academy. Ino pushed the door open and let out a small squeal as she spotted the familiar hairstyle of the famous Uchiha
"Come on forehead! There are two spare seats next to Sasuke-kun!" Ino left the rosette's side and joined Sasuke near the back of the classroom. The blonde motioned Sakura to take the seat beside her.
Ino cuddled up against the Uchiha much to his disgust but she didn't seem to notice how uncomfortable he was. Sakura made her way up to join the two only to find her feet rooted to the ground.
'They seem really happy… Don't they Sakura-chan?'
Sakura jumped at the sudden voice and instinctively looked around her only to find the chakra signatures of some nearby chunin-instructors and the children in the room.
'Silly duffer! I'm non-existent; I'm all just inside your head. Of course I have no chakra signature,'
'Inner… Sakura…?'
The rosette hadn't heard the sound of her inner's in a while. When she was chunin, Tsunade-shishou had trained her to hone her inner self and lock it away inside her head. Tsunade had taught her that another soul could be a distraction in battle but could be used for other purposes such as strategizing. As time went on, Sakura had completely forgot about her inner that she had locked and slowly grew comfortable with the silence that echoed in her head. The rosette supposed that time travel had loosened the chains she had used to box and lock away her inner.
'That's right Sakura-chan… I'm back, just look at the two lovebirds…'
Sakura gazed up at the Yamanaka and Uchiha up in the higher stands. Ino gazed lovingly at the boy whilst Sasuke caught her gaze and looked pleadingly to her… Well as pleadingly as he could be.
She felt her heart pang against her chest. Her insides hurt and sadness welling at her eyelids.
'Are you really going to let your attraction to Sasuke ruin your friendship with Ino again? Just let her have him, perhaps your feelings will fade over time…'
There was so much wrong with her statement but Sakura couldn't bring herself to contradict what her inner had said. In her old life, her feelings for Sasuke had not simply faded away but had grown stronger even when he wasn't with them in Konoha.
'I hate how much you're right,'
Her inner didn't reply and locked herself away into the deeper parts of her mind. Sakura sighed and felt the numbness in her feet fade away. The rosette walked up the stairs and slowed down near Sasuke and Ino. Sasuke almost looked relieved as she weakened her knees to seat herself next to Ino.
'So you plan to not change the future huh?"
Sakura swerved around and took a seat in the next row, next to Naruto and Hinata.
"Forehead! I told you to sit next to me!" Ino whined.
"Y-You need some a-alone time with… S-Sasuke-k-"Sakura stopped herself.
"Don't you?" Sakura flashed a fake grin at Ino and turned around to talk to Naruto.
Ino shrugged her shoulders and snuggled closer to Sasuke. The Uchiha looked slightly downcast and looked away into a nearby window just before Sakura quickly turned her head and secretly gazed at him, lost in her thoughts about the future. She would never admit out loud that she was jealous, there was no point, Sakura would make sure that Ino and Sasuke got together no matter what she had to give up. It was time she gave back to the blonde.
OoOoOoOoOoO
That night, Sakura headed back to the Yamanaka compound.
"Come in girls! Unpack your bags, do your homework then go to sleep!" Inoichi called across the yard.
Ino happily chatted away with Sakura until she fell into a peaceful and dreamless sleep. The rosette however just glanced out the window where ominous moonlight shun upon her. Sakura gripped the glass vial in her tightly.
A few more minutes until midnight…
The rosette was going to use all her chances to complete her mission. She was slowly growing impatient but the best choice was to sneak out into the darkness of night. Sakura quickly smirked as the moon passed directly over the Yamanaka compound.
Perfect…
Sakura quietly opened the window and slipped out while also making sure to carefully conceal her chakra. She shivered as the cold air brushed against her bare skin. With a second thought, Sakura quickly jumped back into the room and grabbed a small overcoat before closing the window. The rosette silently hopped from roof to roof in the direction of her target.
Occasionally, she turned her head to check that her parent's killer wasn't following her. Sakura bit her lip as she approached the roof of Danzo's residence. The rosette scanned her surroundings thoroughly before formulating a plan.
-Eight ROOT ANBU guarding the front
-Twelve more surrounding the premises
-From what I presume, there will be more inside. Currently, I can sense about five but there could be some ANBU that have concealed their signature
-Six ROOT ANBU in the courtyard
-Sixteen others on patrol elsewhere
The rosette frowned, she had not realised how guarded Danzo was. She had always presumed Danzo would have a lot of bodyguards afterall, he was an elder. Sakura had just never realised how important he was to have at least thirty guards.
Sakura unconsciously drew out the plan on the roof tiles of the building. First, she would throw paper bombs in areas clustered with guards but of course, a distance away so it lured the guards elsewhere. There were about twelve groups of clustered guards in the area, it would be hard.
Sakura let out a quiet sigh that didn't alert the guards. If her plan didn't work, she would be caught and her plan would fall apart. Danzo could easily get the poison extracted if he realised that he had been affected the spray. The rosette would have about twenty seconds to get in and out without anyone seeing her spray the poison.
Even then, she had to deal with the guards that were inside.
Without a second thought, Sakura scattered fifteen paper bombs and rushed into Danzo's room. The rosette gritted her teeth as she speeded through the courtyard while pushing her chakra into the soles of her feet. She burst into the room, feeling quite surprised as she was only greeted by one guard.
"Sai?!"
The boy quickly covered her mouth and pointed to Danzo.
"I cleared out the guards in here so that you could him. You've got about one minute before the guards get here, I've created another diversion for them. Just go and do your thing," Sai gave her the famous fake smile.
"H-How did you-" She stared at him dumbfounded before he cut her off.
"You're not the only one who was sent back ugly; I'll be joining you in a few years. I have a few mistakes I wish to redo,"
Sakura nodded and turned to Danzo without a second thought. The rosette knew Sai was talking about Shin.
"Come back, no matter what?" Sakura grabbed the older man's hands and carefully dripped the poison in the cuticles of his nails. Sakura gave one last look at her old friend before making her escape in a nearby window.
She heard the click of the window and a vague silhouette of Sai's small figure. Sakura hid behind a tree and calmed her breathing before listening in to the conversation.
"Did the intruder make it in here?"
She assumed the emotionless boy shook his head. The ROOT ANBU that sounded like he was in his 20s chuckled.
"You'll make a great man one day Sai,"
"Just promise me you won't ever leave me Shin,"
Sakura let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding and smiled. She knew that Sai was in good hands. The rosette knew that one day, she would meet him again. The circumstances were sure to turn out different but somehow, they would meet in a different way. With the ruffling of her cloak, the rosette left without a sound.
Her night wasn't over; she still had two more elders to kill.
OoOoOoOoOoO
All elders were announced dead seven months after her killing spree. Once the poison entered the bloodstream, she had complete control over the victim's heartbeats and nerves. The rosette also had the ability to terminate the poison while it was in the bloodstream too. That way, there was no trace of her poison in their system. Sakura occasionally spiked their emotions and feels until she stopped their hearts. Their deaths seemed completely natural since they had visited the hospital, medics and assigned appointments from time to time.
No one suspected a thing about their deaths.
Danzo died one month after her eventful night, Koharu perished four months after and then Homura two months after that. It was assumed that Danzo died of old age, Koharu passed when she was unable to awake and Homura perished from the stress of being an elder by himself. Three new elders were chosen the next day.
Fugaku Uchiha
Shikaku Nara
Hiashi Hyuga
Sakura also noticed that the Uchiha seemed much more relaxed after the death of the elders. She smiled at the thought of the Uchiha clan having their glory restored to their clan. They no longer had any reason to resent the village therefore Itachi would have no reason to murder the clan and there was no one to give the order. Sakura really had changed the future.
Her day had been quite normal. Ino had been absent so she had gone to the academy alone, not that she minded. She was mentally much older than she seemed. Sakura hummed quietly as she skipped through the streets of Konoha until she was pulled into a nearby ally.
The ninja muffled her screams as their figure emerged from the shadows. She recognised the sky blue tresses that framed the girl's face. It was the girl that had always hung around Itachi. Her eyes showed betrayal and anger. Sakura's emerald orbs widened in horror as the girl pulled out a kunai. In her current state, there was no way she could break free of the kunoichi's grip without revealing her strength.
"You killed him didn't you?" She hissed.
"That poison! I killed your parents! I warned you… Now you've just caused your own demise," The tip of the kunai inched closer to her neck.
With unknown strength, Sakura pushed back the girl without hurting her and arousing suspicion. She resisted the urge to fight back and let her feet take her as far away from the girl as possible. Sakura heard the small breaths again and frantically threw kunai and shuriken at the girl in a desperate attempt to hold her up.
Sukai growled and tackled the girl into a tree, at that moment Sakura realised how far away she had run. The girl held up the silver kunai.
"I wish I didn't have to do this…" The sky-blue haired kunoichi mumbled.
She angled the kunai to point towards a pressure point on her neck. She bit her lip as a menacing smile overtook her features. Then, she tightened her grip on the kunai and struck.
CLIFFHANGER! Longest chapter I've done in a while… Almost 3000 words, I guess it makes up for the long wait. I'll see you guys on the next chapter.
Kudos to readers, appreciate any reviews whether it is constructive, flames or positive reviews.
-LucidClockwork
