Kabuto walked towards the Hokage-office with stern footsteps. His face drawn into a deep frown as he slowly cracked his hands in an annoyed manner. This rumour would either be their rescue or their death – it all depended on the situation. He opened the door and Orochimaru looked up. His face was as always hidden behind a cloth, but the usual smirk of his could be sensed.
"oh? Kabuto – what brings you here?" he spoke calmly and leaned back into the chair. Kabuto looked from side to side, making sure there was no one that would be able to listen. When seeing there was no one he stepped up to the table and spoke. "you remember your plan right?"
Orochimaru snorted and looked at him. "of course I do…"
Kabuto nodded, as if wanting him to tell him the plan all over again. The snake-man closed his eyes and started all over again. "first thing we must do it convince the council that there is need for a new hokage – kick Naruto off. Second, gain the village's trust, turn them against the foolish boy. Third, take his most precious person, if capable turn the person against him, and then kill the person in front of him." His mouth turned into a wide grin. "lastly – destroy Konoha"
Kabuto nodded. "yes, and how far have we come in the plan" Orochimaru looked over his shoulder to the city, seeing the people walking around chatting calmly – feeling safe in the arms of their Hokage. He grinned. "I believe the second stage is nearly done, people are getting too secure here. I believe they feel more secure now than they did with that Naruto-runt"
He then looked back at Kabuto, the evening sun illuminating the room. "but why the rush then?"
"a precious person right?"
Orochimaru nodded at what Kabuto said, which made him continue.
"we have that girl he adopted, Uzumaki Tohru…but…I believe she has connections to the Akatsuki and as far as the rumours go, they plan on having her as a future member. This small detail makes it both insane and risky to even try and capture. You already have Akatsuki on your back already" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at him and motioned him to continue.
"However – I believe…we might have another opportunity to hurt naruto-kun. I do believe he has more than one precious person" this caught the nanadaime's interest and he leaned forward. "Haruno Sakura has arrived in the Suna/Rebel camp…" Kabuto nearly whispered.
At this Orochimaru laughed loudly in relief and ecstatic. "Marvellous! Marvellous! Truly !"
His grinned widened and he laughed even louder. "finally! I can get my revenge." He looked at Kabuto, behind the white cloth the smirk could clearly be seen. "that kid took away the sharingan-eyes from me. He took away most of my suna army with our attack a few years ago. He has almost destroyed sound to a certain extent. The yondaime took away Konoha from me, he took away my chance of being Hokage…but since there is no Yondaime anymore."
Orochimaru stood up and looked out of the window, down at the city below. "…why not let the revenge hit his legacy?"
"I shall begin planning the events on how we shall capture Haruno Sakura." Orochimaru grinned at Kabuto's words and answered. "please do."
-
Naruto ran and ran and ran and ran. To him is seemed as if he wasn't reaching a destination. His hand was clutching his left eye, which bled furiously – he couldn't see with it. He stumbled and hit the ground hard, biting his lip hard. This made him spit out blood – he couldn't let himself fall now, he had to see Tsunade – he had to!
He jumped up and ran, the streets full of blood, but no dead bodies – only blood.
It was as if the street continued endlessly, there was nothing coming near, and the hokage-tower still hung over the red city depressively. There was no hokage, but he needed to see her – he had to!
With that he finally managed to run fast enough to reach the gates. His left eye was hurting from the pain, and he felt like fainting, but he couldn't- it was impossible. Then he looked for the first time – before him lay thousand of bodies and his right eye widened. Kakashi, Shikamaru, Lee, Tenten, Jirayia, Neji, Hinata – Tohru.
Naruto stepped back, terrified, but none the less, this only made him run faster. Each step smashing against the stone-floor. Twenty year old, and he had managed to kill half of the sound-army in one stroke. As if he was forgetting the unfortunate events he opened the door to the room Tsunade was in, making it fall to the floor. "I did it! I defeated them!"
However …there was no Tsunade – not even her body was visible, instead a lone figure sat in the middle of the room…sobbing.
Her pink hair could never be mistaken, and so could her red dress neither. In her arms she clutched a figure against her chest, but Naruto couldn't see who it was. He stood there paralyzed. Sakura was never there – she was travelling…
A small murmur could be heard in the room. "Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun…"
Naruto hissed as the pain returned in his eyes, but it didn't make her react – only her murmur and sobs was an answer. His eye widened when the figure in her arms slowly rose and looked at him over her shoulder. There was no mistaking it…
Itachi…
Itachi's arms snaked themselves around her form, and held her close. The sharingan shining brightfully in the dark room, before he smirked and spoke. "mine…"
Naruto readied his fist, just about to strike…
"monster…monster…you killed Sasuke-kun…" her weak voice spoke.
-
Naruto sat up in his bed quickly, his eyes wide. His breath was quick and he examined his tent for any intruders. The sun had yet to rise and the tent was quiet. The occasional steps of ninjas walking past was the only sound that could be heard. Naruto bend forward, burying his face into his hands. There were no tears…
…but so much else.
"monster…monster…you killed Sasuke-kun"
Naruto threw the bed sheet away by the memory and marched up to the table in the middle. He placed his hand on top of the hard wooden surface, his face drawn into a tight grimace of pain. He brought a hand to his left eye…
"let me heal it…"
"monster…monster…"
Naruto snorted and gave a small ironic laugh. "wouldn't surprise me if she actually felt that way." His hand clenched on the table. "it was good that I kept her away…" even when he spoke, there was still the smallest hint of doubt.
-
Sakura stood surprised, to be honest, surprised could not even cover the feelings that rushed through her body. She blinked and looked at Temari shortly, who just nodded and then back at Gaara who sat before her. "excuse me?"
The Kazekage sat emotionless as usual, his hands folded as he watched the pinkhaired woman. The hood had fallen and revealed her face fully. It was clear to see that she must've spent many months in the dessert of suna, her skin tanned from the sharp sun.
"you heard me right Haruno Sakura"
He could see that the dirt was cleaned from her face, apparently Temari had allowed the girl to take a bath and eat some food before showing her to him. It didn't help that his sister had told him about Naruto's meeting with Sakura, but he would have to deal with it.
"I have asked you to join us, since it would be very beneficial for the camp to have a medic with your skills. Also, I have to say that Tohru has missed you, and you must finish the training of the girl."
She didn't know what to say.
"You will work under suna-orders, and will be a suna-nin until either you or I decide otherwise. You will be working on your own most of the time, and I will not interfere with your private-life or anything like that." Sakura didn't know Gaara would be able to speak that much, but the monotone never left his voice. "I will give you missions from time to time…"
The room went silent.
"do you accept?"
-
Shizune was sitting at the desk in the hallway before the hokage-office. Kabuto and the Hokage had been discussing for over two hours now, inside herself she hoped that either one of them would die from talking that much – but it was wish-thinking.
The door opened and Iruka entered, surprised to see Shizune alone in the hallway. Usually it would be full of people, and that kid Kabuto would be there too, taunting her. It had come as a surprise to the village when the Hokage had announced that Kabuto had redeemed himself, and wanted to become a part of the village again.
It had not taken people a lot of time to accept that, especially because of the chaos of having Naruto running away. Shizune looked up at Iruka and smiled. "hey, I am almost ready can you wait a few minutes?"
Iruka smiled and nodded, and as he did that, the door to the room opened and Kabuto exited. He looked up at Iruka and gave him a glare. "hello" the young medic nin spoke. They stood for a while, exchanging their glares, until Shizune spoke. "ah! Done! Ready to go?" she said, directed to Iruka.
Kabuto raised an eyebrow and looked at them. "where are you going?"
Iruka picked up Shizune's bag and swung it over his shoulder, before turning his face to Kabuto. "nothing much, me and Shizune-san are going on a date, she must've told you so"
The grey-haired youth looked surprised and turned his face to look at Shizune. "you have?"
She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed Iruka by the arm. "well – company can be good once in a while."
And both of them left the Hokage-tower, but not without having the suspicious glare of Kabuto's on their walking backs.
-
Sakura yawned as she walked through the many connected tents. The kazekage's tent or the suna tent, where all the big meetings were held, was a huge complex with connected tents. They were white and the hallways that connected the tents were covered with white sheets as a ceiling, to protect them against the sun and the rain. Temari was walking beside her and looked at her, smiling.
"well, congratulations with your choice Sakura – I believe you will enjoy your stay here."
Sakura turned to her and readjusted her cloak, admiring the work done with the tents. "it is really an amazing work you have done here, so what is it with this camp?"
Temari pushed her lips forward as if thinking and slowly began. "well – this is the main-camp. The Kages reside here and it is also the camp with most people and most protection. Of course there have been attempts on infiltration, but with Naruto and Gaara here, they just died just like flies." She pointed towards the north. "to the south is a refugee-camp, that is the camp you entered when you arrived, before you were transferred here. The camp is mainly holding refugees we consider letting into the camp, most of the people you travelled with will either be scattered to other small camps or the major camp, which we are in now."
"the major camp is devided into a smaller Konoha-area and a larger suna-area. You are going to live in the suna-area since you are a suna-nin now. Naruto doesn't have a larger connected tent like this, he only has one – and so does all the other Konoha-ninjas, who have fled from Konoha."
Temari turned left into a smaller 'hallway' and Sakura followed. "it is in these suna-tents that the larger meetings are held. Whenever that occurs, you will not interrupt and try not to run into Naruto when you are here. If Gaara wants you with him to the meetings there are always lunches afterwards, which you have to join – get that?"
Sakura nodded and Temari opened the opening to one of the smaller tents. "there is a huge dinning tent in the middle of the camp, where everybody eats – the food is delivered from the country we are in now, so we cannot run short – even if we do, we have a lot of other ways to get food, so you eat as much as you want" Sakura blinked when she noticed the nicely furnished tent.
Temari looked proud and placed her hands on her hips. "we may be at war, but the least we can do is furnish our tents properly." It made the pink-haired kunoichi raise an eyebrow when she noticed the dressing table and a bed with madras, it made her grim in away. "isn't this too much?"
It caused the sandwoman to laugh. "hah – you're in the kazekage's tent Sakura, nothing is too much here – war or not – be grateful with what you get. Anyway, I have to go, Asuma needs to be fed."
With those words she left the smaller tent and Sakura was alone. The bag on her shoulder was dumped on the madras and Sakura looked at herself in the mirror.
She needed to cut her hair….
-
Naruto lay in the cottage still, his arm hanging loosely over Sakura's sleeping form. Her head was buried into his neck, his eyes watching how her mouth slowly breathed out the air. Temptation he knew it was, and yet he couldn't stop himself, so he kissed her. It wasn't desperate or longing. She didn't wake up, but a small smile claimed her lips.
-
Neji looked up from the book in his hand, Hinata entering the tent. She didn't say anything and took her overcoat off, it was always like that between them. He would be quiet and she would be quiet…it was no secret that they wasn't talking well.
Hinata sat down on the bed and began to cry, it wasn't one of those heart wrenching cries, but it was none the less a cry. Neji placed his book on the table and moved over so he could sit behind her. His arms went around her waist, hugging her. The smaller woman turned around and buried her face into the crock of his neck.
Neji had to convince Naruto to not let Hinata work in the medic-clinic for a while; it was a day to day reminder of her sister's death.
"don't worry…it will be over soon." He muttered.
Perhaps it was very stereotypical for him, but this was war, and in war everybody turned soft around one another.
-
Ohuhru rose her head to meet the face of Deidara, surprise was written across her face, but was soon replaced by a gentle smile. She stood up. "Hello Deidara-san – what can I do for you?"
He eyed her still flat stomach, but there was no mistaken the fact that she was with child. "where is your husband?"
Ohuhru stood up fully, her hands full of dirt since she had been doing garden-work. "Orochimaru-sama commanded that they were to attack Konoha, I guess he'll be back in a few days."
Deidara watched her smiling face, gentle, but that wasn't what caught his fascination. It was as if her face were made to perfection, not a single flaw – and yet…in this world all she could find was a husband who couldn't evens stay faithful.
"if your husband one day should disappear? What would you do?"
Ohurhu looked at him surprised again and raised an eyebrow. "Deidara-san, that is a most inappropriate question, why should I even consider what I should do if it is not the current case?"
Deidara frowned and the two became silent, before she once again spoke, but gentler.
"but…if me and my husband should disappear I want you to take care of my child" her hand went to her stomach. "find her a new good mother and a new good father…that is all I would ever want my child, I want my child to have a family…and love its family."
Deidara watched her…
-
Deidara stood before the former house of Sakura's. The walls were cracking here and there and it seemed as if the rock ninjas had been searching every corner of the house. It was small and it probably housed a lot of Tohru's fond memories.
He walked around the grounds and found to his surprise a small memorial tomb, probably in honour of Sakura's former team-mate.
It had come as a surprise to the Akatsuki when Itachi had had his neck broken, luckily he had survive. It was not by luck Deidara admitted, but by skill. The event had intensified Itachi's hunt for Sakura and the Akatsuki had become sure that he looked upon her as a source of power. No one had before managed to bring him so close to death as she, so it must've been transfixing.
Deidara smiled fondly when he saw a small doll lying discarded in the house. It was one of Ohuhru's gifts to her daughter, he would bring it back to her…but now he needed to find the Tuschikage – he had a business deal to seal with him.
-
The small black-haired boy looked up from his father's desk. The man who stood before him looked like a shark and had a huge sword on his back. "I would like to buy some of your medical herbs" he spoke in an annoyed manner, the boys father didn't flinch at all.
"of course" he looked down at the seven year old boy, who stared transfixed at the sharkman. "go and pick up the herbs" the dark-haired boy nodded and ran into the store.
He looked up surprised when his older brother smiled down at him, only five years between them. "hey – so what are you going to pick up for dad today?"
The boy didn't answer and picked up the herbs and ran back to his father, who took it gracefully as if he had done it a thousand times. "here you go sir – and don't worry about payment, it is free…" his father didn't shake, but he knew that it would be dangerous to ask for payment with this man.
The blue haired shark man just groaned. "Name's Kisame and here is your money" he placed the money on the table and looked down at the small boy. "hmmm…you know boy, you remind me of my partner's diseased brother" with those words he exited the shop, and the boy's father looked down at him.
"I wonder if it is the same boy Sakura-san referred to also?"
-
A/N: it seems that there are some confusion about what is going on, I will try my best to clear that out.
One year has passed since Sakura left. In that year a war has erupted between the sound and the rock. Naruto and Gaara has won land in the fire-country and it is hard to control all that land from the Suna-capital, therefore they have placed an enormous camp in the middle of that piece of land. Konoha doesn't fight Naruto and those he has with him! Instead it is Sound and rock that fights instead. (that was twisted) Anyway, Naruto and Gaara have been living in that camp for a good year now – Sakura though, has been travelling around and met a group of refugees, she has been travelling with them ever since.
Gaara after a year figured out that Sakura must be in that group, because the group miraculous never had any wounds, as if they had a good medic with them. He sent Temari out to get Sakura to him, because he was interested in having her at his side and because she might have information he could use. Also because Tohru has shown signs of missing Sakura too, so Gaara thought that Sakura would be a good add to the camp.
Naruto got very suspicious of why Gaara sent out his ninjas to a small refugee group and this made him sent out Neji to retrieve whatever seemed suspicious. Neji found Sakura. He brought Sakura back to the refugeecamp outside the larger camp, here he brought her to Naruto. Naruto wanted to know what Gaara wanted from her, Sakura of course didn't know – they yell at each other etc.
After that Gaara made his proposal to Sakura, which means she is at this point a Suna-nin.
I don't know if this helped anyone!