I OWN NOTHING! It's just a story that I like, and has been tickling my brain.
Chapter 9
Sakura stood with Yamato and Naruto and looked forward at a large mound of boulders. The doorway to the Hideout was in the middle of a barren wasteland, somehow that made sense in Sakura's mind. That Orochimaru hid in the barrens where nothing else existed. Yamato dispelled his clone and the clone reverted back into a small seed in his hand. Yamato presented this seed and another to both Sakura and Naruto.
"These seeds will allow me to track you guys. I slipped these into Sai's clothes and food, as well. But now you need to take them." He offered them ,and Sakura took it and swallowed it and Naruto followed suit.
"Now we will begin the mission. We are going to use Earth style to tunnel down to the passageway and then we will follow it until we meet the Hideout underground." He turned back to them to make sure they were following. Then, he flashed through some seals and smacked the ground. The earth under his hands cracked and crumbled away.
"Alright, Now you two wait for my signal and when you hear it follow me down here." He leapt down into the dark hole. Then two seconds later they heard a whistle and they both leapt down after their captain.
They spent a few minutes, trailing after Yamato before they reached him. When they reached him, he was already at the end of his tunnel and examining the wall in front of him. When he heard them coming up from behind he turned to them and began speaking to them.
"This entire hideout is covered with a stone wall." He turned back to the wall examining very closely. "However the problem with such defenses is all it takes is one small crack..." He pushed his finger into a crack he just found and created a wooden block, and extended the size causing a large square hole to appear in the wall. "to break in."
He jumped through cautiously, and turned back to the two younger nin.
"From here on in, you must supress your chakra as much as possible. If you don't then Orochimaru will know we are here." He said pointedly and lead them down a corridor. They moved quickly down the halls as they searched for Sai. Then, Yamato suddenly made a turn and headed down a large corridor, and stopped at one door. He touched the door and searched around for traps, upon not seeing any he put his finger to the hole and sent wood in to make a replica of the key, and twisted the lock. the door swung open to reveal Sai standing in the room, looking in shock at the three Konoha nin.
"Ah, so managed to get in and find me." Sai said with his fake smile up. "I shouldn't be surprised at anything less coming from one of the Hokage's Personal ANBU."
No one spoke for a while, then Sakura stepped up towards him lifting her hand with the picture book in it. Sai stared at it, then gently snatched it back. "Thank you." He muttered his thoughts clearly disturbed.
"Sai, the fact that you are here means that Danzou, has sought out Orochimaru then." Yamato said bluntly.
"I see no point in trying to lie. Yes, Danzou-sama sent me here to be the go between for Him and Orochimaru, yes. But i was also to spy on Orochimaru and send as much information to Danzou-sama as possible. I am in effect a spy." Sai said quietly. The three Konoha Nin stared at him, then Sakura spoke.
"That is such a dangerous mission! And for one so young!" She gasped out.
"Sai belongs to an Organization known as ROOT. They are a special branch of ANBU that practices a special ceremony. One similar to Kirigakure's graduation ceremony." Yamato said quietly. "They match up two young recruits and have them live together and then they make them kill each other."
"Thats horrible, Barabric!" She gasped. "Then you killed.."
"I did not kill him." Sai said tersely. "My onii-san was killed by disease." The room went silent.
"Sorry Sai," Yamato said quietly. "But you need to come with us."
Sakura watched as Yamato placed a bound Sai at the entrance of the tunnel. She was about to turn away when she heard Sai ask Naruto a question.
"Naruto, Why do you do so much for Sasuke-kun? I saw him, he is not the person you know anymore. He is a monster."
"Hmm...In the beginning I couldn't stand him. But over time by being on the same team we became rivals, then eventually we became friends. I want to save Sasuke, because he is the first person who ever acknowledged me. He acknowledged me the most." Naruto said softly. Sai seemed to take that in with interest. Then Yamato stood up and began to flash through seals, when Kabuto appeared next to him.
"Still as pathetic as ever, Naruto-kun." He drawled as he grabbed Sai. Sakura felt her blood heat, and gritted her teeth. Then, Naruto called out to Kabuto and two Naruto clones popped down and slammed a rasengan into the ground where Kabuto had been. He dodged upwards, and shot up the boulders. Suddenly huge pillars of wood shot up and split and tried to smash Kabuto. Sakura hissed and jumped onto one pillar and ran at Kabuto pulling as much Chakra as she could into her swing. Kabuto dodged at the last second, and She smashed a huge hole in the boulder. Kabuto landed a short distance away, and studied them for a short while. then he used his chakra blade to free Sai. For a second, Sakura was sure she was going to have to fight both of them, then Sai gripped Kabuto's arms and pinned him down.
"What are you doing?"
"These people have shown me that i still have bonds with another. i want to see the true extent of their bonds." Sai said quietly. Then Yamato summoned wooden binds. Then, Sai asked in a small voice.
"Where is Sasuke-kun?" Kabuto laughed.
"I don't even know that. All I know is that Sasuke-kun is in the Inner Section, but i would be careful if i were you. You might search the wrong bush and a snake will come out and bite you." He said with a quiet laugh.
They all jumped back into the tunnel, and headed back into the Hideout. This time they split up into the same groups as before, Naruto with Sai and Sakura with Yamato. Each team headed down the two main hallways of the Inner Section, and began to check each room. It was all Sakura could do to remain calm. She could sense, they were close and getting closer. This time, this time we will bring him back! She ran down the endless corridors,and opened endless doors. She was almost at her wits end, when Yamato noticed her distress.
"Sakura, remain calm. Think of something calming or else we might fail this mission because of your lack of focus." He reprimanded softly.
She nodded in assent and focused on the reason for this mission. Her thoughts floated back to the night he fled the village. If I had been stonger then it wouldn't have happened! She could still see his face in the moolight, his pale skin glimmering mysteriously, his hair rustling in the wind, his eyes they were solid with resolve and yet something else was in there, and she heard his last words to her. Arigato, Sakura. She blinked away tears, somehow he always managed to mess her up, even now when she was so close to him. THen, Yamato straightened up and looked to his side. He flashed through several seals and sent a huge pillar of wood through the wall. he then pulled the pillar back out and dashed through the hole and Sakura followed. They landed just behind Naruto, who was facing Orochimaru.
"Heh, I guess I'll let you live this time Naruto-kun." Orochimaru said with a sneer and vanished. As soon as he was gone, yamato spoke.
"Naruto where is Sai?"
"He went to find Sasuke."
Sakura lost their conversation when she saw a pack on the floor. She walked over to it, and pulled a book out of it, and looked at the center page to see the completed new picture of Sai and his brother. Sakura was about to comment when she looked up and saw Yamato holding a grey book and shaking. "Yamato-taicho?"
"This is a bingo book." He flipped it around to show Sasuke's face and a bounty next to it.
Sakura was running down the hall, her pulse going up and she tasted bile. She was now rushing forward with everything she had. She heard distantly her teammates behind her. Then the tunnel shook violently. Sakura ran faster, completely heedless of her companions calling out to her, she already felt tears stirring in her eyes. As she ran through the dark dank corridor she immediately headed for the bright spot that was the light at the end of her tunnel, she burst into the light with a sob. As soon as the light subsided from her eyes, she looked up at the edge of the crater and felt her heart jump at what she saw.
Sasuke allowed a temporary flash of anger as he gazed down at the impertinant pale boy before him. He was about to start a technique when a flash of bright color caught his attention. A pale face with pink locks and green eyes gazed up at him in awe and longing. Seeing this face, so familiar, and yet so different, caused some small distraction for him. Her eyes dazzled him, and looking at her, he felt the strangest longing to touch that face and console her sadness. But as quickly as those foreign thoughts came, he shut them down. He grit his teeth and stared down at her, at the two of them. Then, another flash of color disturbed vision, The blond finally enters. He thought as Naruto strode up next to Sakura.
"He must be my replacement." He gave Sai a pointed look. "Well, If you two are here, then that means Kakshi-sensei must be somewhere nearby." Another Leaf ninja appeared next to Naruto and called up to him.
"Sorry, but I'm not Kakashi-san, but I am the leader of Team Kakashi and we are here to return you back to Konoha." At that Sasuke almost smiled, even now after three long years they still thought that he would return "home." He was about to retort when the pale boy next to Sakura drew his blade.
"Sai youre-"
"No. That boy disturbed my sleep with some nonsense about protecting Naruto's bond with me." Sasuke said from above.
"I was supposed to kill him, yes. But now I don't care about my orders. I think that Naruto can help me remember something important, to remember how to feel." Sai said quietly.
Sasuke laughed mirthlessly from his perch atop the crater.
"Bonds? Fellings? Those are things that merely distract you from achieving your desires." Trust me, I know. Sasuke finished with as little emotion as he could give. He looked at Sakura, her electric green eyes so filled with pain and anguish, made his breath catch. Then he gritted his teeth, and launched himself down, anger fueling his speed. He appeared in front of Naruto, and drew his blade and swung it fast. He frowned internally when the pale boy stopped his blade. Instead of scowling, he smiled.
"That is how you should have stopped my blade. Chidori Nagash!" He said. Lightning exploded from his body surging outwards sending Naruto, Sai and Yamato's secret attack flying. The lightning blazed and danced around him, lighting his eyes and hair. Then he sent lightning down his blade and danced back as Sai and Naruto attacked him. He dodged and weaved around them, toying with the idea of attacking them, when he saw Sakura's face the pain obvious and open, somehow this enflamed his anger. Then, she started running at him, he could see her pumping chakra into her fist. his eyes widened a bit, When did she learn to do that...She could be a little bit dangerous. He thought. Then he started at her and stabbed forward only to get the other ninja, who jumped in the way trying to block with a kunai.
"That was the wrong way to block my sword." He said as the sword sank through his kunai and bit into Yamato's shoulder. He sent a chidori through his sword, and then he noticed a change in the air. He looked at Naruto, sensing a strange chakra bubbling up from within him. So he channeled his chakra at him and bound the Kyuubi within him. Then sudden his blade was shoved from teh unknown ninja's body and he was thrown back into a sudden trap. He growled and lept smashing through the wooden confinement, to alight on the edge of the crater. He stared down at them and brought his hand up and began to summon up his chakra. Lightning began to dance on his fingers when a cold clammy hand snatched his arm. He looked up into the cold reptilian gaze above him.
"I wouldn't use that if I were you Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru purred. "Now it's time for us to leave."
Sasuke stood there for a second gazing down at his one-time friends.
"You are all pathetic. Naruto, you still think you are a child. The only thing that matters to me, is my revenge. If it means I give myself to Orochimaru, then that is what happens. Don't bother trying to follow me anymore." He said coldly. Then, stepped back with Orochimaru as he cast his genjutsu to cover their tracks. As he followed Kabuto and Orochimaru away from the hideout, sasuke had to fight the impulse to look back hard. The vision of a petite pink haired girl, staring up at him with those vibrant green eyes which used to radiate such happiness, now shadowed with sadness. The image tore at what was left of his heart. He clenched his teeth, unwilling to even entertain these thoughts, he tried to banish them, but they continued to resurface, stabbing his heart with ice needles with every appearance.
