The Burden of Future

~Chapter 11~

Hello, my beloved readers! I know, I know, I haven't really written anything for the past month and, if you've read my profile, you already know the reason. Now, let's skip the chat and go straight to the point, shall we?

Enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Naruto. If I did, Temari would have been a boy and Neji, a pervert. Oh, pity…


'Breathe,' Sakura kept telling herself as her breathing became more and more hectic with each passing moment. Streams of sweat were flowing freely on her neck and forehead, the small drops reaching her eyes and making it hard for her to see.

'Breathe…' she insisted, forcing herself to regularize her hastened intake of air, but failing miserably in the end.

"DAHH, the Hell with it!" and she dashed full speed ahead of her, not caring a bit by the fact that she was now as loud as an engine in use. She leaped on the roof, the rush of adrenaline giving her a last boost of energy, making the soreness disappear and get her all excited, enough to let her reach her limit. It was a good thing the others couldn't see her face as she would have scared the poop out of them with her unique expression. She was grinning widely and wildly, almost like a predator seeing its prey cornered, only she wasn't really hunting something, she was just a little more hyped from her run than usual.

Sakura stopped near her neighborhood, wanting to walk the streets for a while before going back to work. After the unexpected discussion had with Itachi two days before, she had been spending quite some time thinking about the next few steps they were more or less set on making. She had doubted it at first, she had almost regretted it happening, that being her revealing her secrets to none other than the infamous Uchiha prodigy. She had played and replayed the scene in her head multiple times, trying to spot any suspicious behavior coming from Itachi, but she didn't see anything. Although it all seemed quite legit, she couldn't trust him, at least not yet. It was too risky giving his highly advanced abilities in masking his emotions and in making detailed plans on the spot. She couldn't be sure about those memories, either, as it all happened in her mind and it could have easily been a genjutsu. Despite all that though, she had to try. After almost 5 years of planning and thinking about the changes to be made, she was a little bit reticent about it, even now.

Actually, she was scared, no, terrified of what was next for her and the others. How the heck was she supposed to stop all that!? The odds of her succeeding on her own were so small that she couldn't do anything but admit that she needed Itachi's help, whatever his initial reason might have been. Plus, she couldn't do without him in the first few parts of the plan, especially when it came to what they were already working on.

'I really hope it will be okay…' she said to herself, thinking about their secret mission that was already going.

She jumped on the balcony of her house, from there leaping directly into her cozy little room. She took a shower, changed her clothes and put her books in her bag, ready to get out again.

"Time for school…" she said to herself, going the direction of the Academy.


The boys kept kicking and hitting, trying to get the upper hand in their usual session of sparring. Their limbs were a total blur, the only thing distinguishable in that extended mass of shades being those two constantly moving spots of gold and pure obsidian, inevitably identified as her best friends' heads. She watched all their movements: their aim, their defense, their attack, the improvement being clearly seen one her two beloved subjects. It was almost three months since they had been training together and she'd enjoyed every moment of them. The time spent with them became more and more valorous as she tried as much as possible to teach them certain values, certain unwritten laws regarding their future life as a shinobi, so that, if she wasn't around, they could deal at least a little better with the situations they were bond to be in.

Finding herself in a daze, she looked back to her boys, only to notice that it had got quite dark outside all that time she had been meditating.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Sakura said, jumping on her feet. "Naruto, Sasuke, got to go! See you guys tomorrow!"

"Aa," the dull answers came, the two boys being way too concentrated on the fight to give her more attention than that.

'Pff… and to think I've sacrificed my whole afternoon to teach them that chakra trick.'

She jumped on the rooftops, seemingly going the direction of her house, but changing course as soon as she was out of her teammates' sight. She was heading towards the same old training grounds where the whole incident had happened, expecting to meet Itachi, as promised. That was decided as being their meeting point from then on in hopes of being more at ease with training and planning as such. She reached the side of the forest, entering it without hesitation. Her feet where a little numb from training and she wasn't concentrating aswell as she used to as she was suffering from mild chakra depletion from her previous training.

'Hope it's okay without my chakra sense…' she thought, carefully scanning the area before stopping the constant flow of chakra signals sent to her surroundings. Although she could still detect presences even without them, she had to cut off the chakra used to extend and sharpen her sense as she could already feel the fatigue creeping through her body, weakening it bit by bit.

"Phew, got to sit down for a bit…" she said, reaching the clearing of the said training ground. She could already see Itachi sitting leisurely on a log on the side, most definitely waiting for her. Sakura walked to him and sat down beside him, both looking at the clear sky already darkened and starry.

"Did you speak to Shisui?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence. She kept her gaze on the stars, waiting patiently for his answer.

"Yes," he said and silence once more settled.

"Did he accept it?..." Sakura asked, anxious about the possible response.

"… No," Itachi said, his voice quiet with a tint of disappointment in it.

"The heck with it!" Sakura said, suddenly enraged at the boy's final answer. "Doesn't he know he'll die if he doesn't do something?" she said, her voice getting louder as she got up, pacing around in anger.

"Sakura…" Itachi said, trying to calm her down.

"This way, it's almost sure Danzo will have his way," she said looking at her feet, thinking about their plan. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, by a sudden shift in the air coming from towards the forest. She looked around, catching a trace of chakra in the air.

"I'm sorry." a voice behind her said.

"Wha..." but she didn't get to finish her question as a sharp pain erupted at the base of her neck, making everything around her turn black as she was falling unconscious on the ground.


This is all I have for today, my friends. A school is starting next week, with all its homework and lengthy lessons to be learnt by heart, I decided it would be best if I updated once a week, of course, with a much longer chapter than usual. I wouldn't have time to do otherwise, anyway, but I'll try my best to update as I'm really starting to like writing this story! Don't forget to review if you have anything to tell me and, well, thanks for reading ;D!