The Burden of Future

~Chapter 9~

Hello there, buddies! Chapter 9 is up! Hope you'll enjoy it :D!

Disclaimer:

"What will it be: chocolate cake or ownership over Naruto?"

"CHOCOLATE CAKE, CHOCOLATE CAKE!" (Sorry, guys, I can't help it.)


"Almost seven years ago, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Beast. Its attack was so powerful that over half of Konoha's force was whipped out while trying to protect the village. In the end, the Forth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, managed to seal the tailed beast, but with the price of his own life. He is remembered as the hero who saved us all, who sacrificed himself for the sake of his village."

'Yeah, for the sake of the village…." Sakura thought bitterly, thinking of the blonde-haired child who had to suffer so much from that unfortunate incident. She didn't exactly remember the attack, her being only a few months old at that time, but she recalls feeling it, feeling that terrifying, suffocating chakra that made every person's heart stop in shock of its accumulated hatred. Simply thinking of that horrifying sensation, that she had felt such long time ago, gave her the chills, her body instantly reacting to that ill-fated reminiscence. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by the bell, which announced the short break they were to have before the next class. Gathering her belongings, she was ready to go after Naruto and Sasuke, who had gone ahead earlier, but she was mildly surprised when a group of girls stopped in front of her, arms crossed and frowns put on display.

"What do you think you're doing with our Sasuke?" Ino said, unfortunately leading the crowd. It wasn't even a month in the Academy year that she was already infatuated with her raven-haired friend. She didn't remember it happening so fast, but she guessed having missed the battle for the Fanclub President's position, it was meant for this kind of things to happen faster. She would make her grow out of it later, but that wasn't the time yet.

"What happened, cat ate you tongue?" another girl said, proud of her 'witty' comeback.

"Yeah, I'm out of here." Sakura said, wanting to walk away, but being stopped again by the girls.

"Where do you think you're going, Billboard Brow?" Ino said, a mischievous grin on her lips.

'Oh, damn, she touched your soft spot…'

'Yeah, better get out of here before I kick their asses for insulting me.'

"Howmuchwoodcouldawoodchuckchuckifawoodchuckcouldchuckwood?"(1)

….

"What?" the girls asked, puzzled.

"Bye, see ya later," and she dashed away, leaving the mob of fangirls baffled at her antics.

"What took you so long?" Sasuke asked when she came running from behind, catching up with them.

"Had to deal with some imaginary ex-s."


"Your defense is weak of the left side, Naruto," Sakura shouted to her friend while observing the two spar. It became a habit for them to come after school to the training grounds and train together. Even Itachi had shown his pleasure in his brother's obvious progress, which brought a large smile o Sasuke's face as soon as he heard the praise. Naruto was now at high Gennin level in taijutsu, his style being based on power inflicted hits swiftly combined with sudden movements done during attacks to surprise his adversary.

Her blue-eyed teammate had grown so much since they first met: the training made him more patient, more elaborate in his acting, suppressing to a certain level those childish urges he used to have. He was still a loudmouthed individual that sometimes annoyed her to a veeeery large extent, but he still made her smile whenever she was down and he was always beside her when needed.

He was swinging a right-sided blow to Sasuke's cheek, hoping to make the latter give up on his own attack to protect himself. His premonition came to reality, as expected, basing his decision on Sasuke's fast reflexes. As a result, with an obvious opening in his opponent guard, he moved his weight on his left foot and landed a powerful kick in the Uchiha's shin, one that made him stumble and fall to the ground. In the process, though, Sasuke, landing on his hands, made a quick move and swept Naruto off his feet in an instant. The fight ended with Sasuke's close call win and they started gathering all the kunai and shuriken they'd thrown during their training. After everything was put in place, Sakura and Naruto were about to go their way, only to be stopped abruptly by their teammate.

"Wait," Sasuke said, suddenly flustered,"…. Um, Kaa-san wanted to know if you could come over for dinner tomorrow evening… She wanted to meet you, guys, since we're always training together."

"S-Sure, we'll be there." She said, stuttering slightly, which wasn't in her character at all. They parted ways as the sky was already dark and promised to meet tomorrow at the same place for dinner.


The next day went quickly by, Sakura being overly excited about the whole meal-with-the-Uchiha thing. With her parents being gone on a mission, she was feeling a bit lonely anyways, so she was glad she was invited to the Uchiha Manor. It struck her later on, while she was waiting for the time to come, that that was the perfect opportunity to dig in a little in their family's history. She wasn't planning to be rude, just observant with different situations and boy did she make a good decision!

Ten minutes before dinner time, she left her home, thinking of taking a short promenade to the said neighborhood. Pacing like a shinobi, though, she got there in less than 3 minutes, meeting with Naruto who was waiting for her on the roof. They knock at the door, making their presence known and in no time, hurried steps could be heard coming towards the entrance.

"Oh, good evening! You must be Sasuke's friends. Come in, come in, don't be shy!" Mikoto said, opening the door for them to enter. Returning the greeting politely, they took of their shoes and entered the house.

Mikoto Uchiha was a really beautiful woman, on the outside and on the inside as well. She was one of those people that could smile with their eyes, each glance making the others feel safe and content. Her voice was soft and calm, giving off the feeling that she was truly kindhearted. Although she might have seemed fragile with her petite figure, she wore herself nobly, each gesture having, along that caring touch that her whole being described, a certain trace of authority. She led them to the dining room, that having already been prepared beforehand. Sasuke and Itachi were already there, waiting patiently for the rest to come. Sasuke got up as soon as they entered, them thanking his mother for her kindness. As soon as they sat down, Fugaku Uchiha, Sasuke's father and head of the clan, entered the room. He had a solemn aura surrounding him, his stance prideful but stiff, with an expression bare of emotions. It was pretty clear now who the two brothers resembled. They all sat down at the table and started eating quietly. Sakura could Naruto, in the corner of her eye, trying hardly to seem as mannered as possible, the flustered look on his face, though, giving away his intentions.

They made small talk about their training and such, Mikoto wanting to hear as much about them as she could. As each day was almost the same as the others, they were soon left without a topic to discuss about. Right when the silence started to become awkward, the door opened, revealing three men, three Uchihas from the Konoha Police Force. Itachi and Fugaku went out, leaving the three alone with Sasuke's mother. They could hear their voices from outside, talking calmly at first, then their tone slowly rising as they continued discussing. Mikoto tried distracting us from the fight outside, but we were all too concentrated on it to let it slide. Suddenly, someone screamed and that's when Sasuke opened the door, revealing a crouched Itachi, who had seemingly thrown a kunai at the Uchiha sign on the fence. Hearing Sasuke's voice, he turned around, his Sharingan swirling rapidly in his eyes, somewhat having no control of his actions.

Calming himself down, though, he excused himself and entered the room once more along his father to finish their dinner. As soon as it was over though, Sakura and Naruto said their goodbyes, not wanting to disturb the family anymore.

Sakura, parting with her blonde teammate, was about to go home when she saw a faint shadow leaping on the roofs speedily.

'Itachi…' she thought and she followed him instantly.

She kept quite a distance so that he wouldn't notice her, her only way of tracking him reduced to her chakra sense, activated to its limits. He seemed to head to some old training grounds, isolated from the rest, perfect for bigger jutsus to be practiced. She kept the distance until he landed, but she got closer and closer as soon as she sensed him engage in what seemed like taijutsu training. With her guard up, she was now close enough to see him clearly in the middle of the place, him hitting and kicking the dummy recklessly. His hits were so strong that the logs and the dummies were almost completely destroyed from his powerful punches and the ground around him had slight cracks from the repetitive impacts. She took one step closer to the clearing, but she regretted her action to no end as she stepped on a branch, making a slight noise and giving away her position. In an instant, her body was trapped to the ground, her arms and legs unable to move. She looked up, only to meet the vividly red eyes of the Sharingan staring back at her, the tomoes swirling rapidly. She looked right into them, not afraid of the possible consequences. Her stare was confident, but giving away a sense of comfort and serenity at the same time. The scarlet glance softened after a while and Itachi wanted to stand up to finally free her, but she grabbed him, trapping him and letting him go.

"Sakura?..."

"Itachi, can I ask you a favor?"

"…It depends," the uchiha answered, curiosity clearly present on his face.

"Then," she said, looking him straight in the eyes,"… cast me in Tsukuyomi."


(1) - How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I know, I know, you're probably saying 'What the hell?!' at this very moment but don't worry, I have everything planned out. Hope you liked this chapter and don't forget to review! :D

Ja ne!