A/N Just want to let you know that I kinda quickly went through the encounter with Itachi. Sorry if you're disappointed.

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I have exams coming up and usually have little time to write. And when I have time, I find myself with no passion to write. It's slowly coming back though.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 26

It was a shock - to say the least. Who knew that Sasuke had a brother? What was even more shocking was the pure hatred the Uchiha boy had for his elder sibling. To use the Chidori on him signified that they were obviously not on good terms.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried once Itachi held her teammate against the wall, stopping the ferocious attack with just his hand. On instinct, the pinkette stepped forward but Kisame got in her way. Watching him tower over her, she felt a sense of fear travel throughout her entire body and she froze.

What is this? I need to do something!

"Not so fast, Gobi." The shark reached for his sword but a barrage of Naruto clones came out from behind Sakura. Swinging the sword, the Akatsuki member made quick work of the clones and proceeded to swipe at the kunoichi. However, the Toad Sage appeared in a white poof and kicked at the sword. Kisame slid back and smirked. "This will be fun."

Just as Kisame finished speaking, Gai arrived. He said a few words - but Sakura didn't hear him because she was focusing on Itachi and Sasuke - and did a few poses before getting into his fighting stance.

"No." Itachi said to his teammate, walking away from an unconscious Sasuke. "They're too strong and this is too much attention we want. We'll retreat for now."

Jiraiya wouldn't have it. Placing his hands on the floor, he used his Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap and the setting began to turn pink - looking like the inside of a mouth. The Akatsuki members began to flee, and flames from the sanin's jutsu followed them. But, in the end, they got away. A huge hole in the wall marked their escape.

"Who were they?" Sakura asked the blonde's master before running over to her fallen teammate. Naruto followed her.

"The Akatsuki." He answered. "They were after what's inside of you two." The Gallant then turned to Gai and began to speak to him.

The teammates shared a look with each other. Sakura wondered why people were so obsessed with the Tailed-Beasts. First Akihiko and now there was a whole organisation after them.

"He isn't waking up." Naruto said, referring to his rival. "We have to get him help."

"Sakura, Naruto. I need to tell you why we actually came here." Jiraiya said. "I'm searching for a woman named Tsunade. She's a medical ninja and she could treat Sasuke."

Sakura could vaguely recall the name from somewhere but she couldn't remember where. "So we just find her and Sasuke'll be okay?" She asked and the sanin nodded.

Gai then took Sasuke back to Konoha while Naruto and Sakura began the search for Tsunade with Jiraiya.

Finding this woman was a lot harder than it seemed at first. In actuality, Jiraiya wasn't even sure she was in Tanzaku Town, but he said that there was a high possibility that she was since she was addicted to gambling.

It had been a couple of days and they still hadn't found her. Naruto still trained with both Sakura and Jiraiya but the former found herself getting bored when she had nothing to do. When Naruto wasn't training to use the Rasengan, he was looking for Tsunade, training his Wind nature with his fellow jinchuriki or going through stamina exercises with her instead.

"I did it!" The blonde cheered as he threw the two pieces of leaf into the air. The cut was odd and wonky but he had still done it.

"Great." Sakura said, relieved that he was finally done with that. "Maybe we should find something bigger for you to cut." She began to look around the field but more complaining from her teammate stopped her.

"Can you just show me one Wind jutsu? Please!" He begged and the cherry blossom relented.

She walked over to a tree and was ready to strike it down. Wind Style: Deep Breath Jutsu! Pushing her chakra up her throat, a huge gust of wind was let out of her mouth and headed towards the tree. The tree was blown off the spot and sent flying away.

"Whoa!" Naruto cheered. "That was awesome! I'm gonna be able to do that, believe it!"

"Maybe you should try adding chakra to your kunai now." The kunoichi suggested as she sat back down with him. He took out a ninja tool and concentrated with his eyes closed. Blue chakra appeared around it.

"Did I do it?" Naruto asked, opening his eyes and admiring the kunai.

"Uh... Kind of." Sakura replied. "You transferred chakra to it but it's bumpy. Wind chakra needs to be sharp, like a blade, remember?"

"Right." He closed his eyes again and began to concentrate. Sakura noticed a change, it was getting sharp but he wasn't quite getting it right. Every few seconds, the chakra around the kunai would change as Naruto tried to get it correct. He was improving, the kunoichi would give him that, but maybe him using Wind Style was better than transferring chakra to create a blade for him specifically.

"Have you seen a woman who's probably so drunk off her ass that she doesn't even know where she is?" Sakura heard Jiraiya ask someone and she rolled her eyes. The person, whom the sannin was asking, quickly walked away.

"I'm hungry..." Naruto groaned out his favourite words to his teammate. It was getting late and it had passed dinner time long ago.

"Can we get something to eat?" Sakura asked Jiraiya. He seemed to think about it for a while before ultimately agreeing. The old man already had a restaurant in mind and the trio made their way to it.

I wonder how great this Tsunade is... If she can help Sasuke-kun, she must be amazing at Medical Ninjutsu.

"I've been around long enough to know a bit about her." Kokuo admitted. "For starters, she is known as the world's greatest medic and strongest Kunoichi. And she was given the title 'Sannin' along with Orochimaru and Jiraiya when they faced Hanzo of the Salamander and survived."

The world's strongest Kunochi? Sakura thought. To be known as such a powerful woman... Sakura wished she could achieve this once day.

"Ero-sennin..." Naruto whispered - thinking his teammate couldn't here him. "Look at how big that woman's breasts are."

Sakura felt the need to beat the shit out of him but, once she saw the Toad Sage's reaction, she became intrigued in this big-breasted woman.

Looking at the woman, the pinkette immediately knew that this was Tsunade. She just looked like a Tsunade.

The two sannins having a reunion wasn't all happy and nostalgic. Instead, Tsunade seemed annoyed.

"Let's go in. My treat." Jiraiya offered and the cherry blossom noted how different he was when he was with his teammate. It was like how Naruto was with her.

Reluctantly, the drunk agreed and all five of them (there was another woman with Tsunade) went into the restaurant.

As soon as they sat down, the blonde woman demanded to know why Konoha ninja had come to see her. Jiraiaya had told her to calm down and order something but she only glared at him. (She also asked why her teammate was babysitting two genin but Jiraiya didn't grace her question with an answer).

Sakura wondered what the Toad Sage's business was with the woman. Whatever it was, the pinkette hoped that they would hurry so Tsunade could heal Sasuke.

"After the death of Sarutobi-sensei, Tsunade, you have been offered the title of Fifth Hokage." Sakura's head whipped to Naruto who was staring intently at the Hokage candidate. After so long, Konoha was going to have a Hokage and it was this woman who they had just met.

"Never in a thousand years." Was her answer. Sakura whipped her head once again but to Tsunade this time. Did she just... refuse?! Why?!

"All of the other Hokage..." She continued. "Sarutobi-sensei. They were all fools."

Sakura felt herself heat up. Her fist clenched on the table and the other woman, Shizune, noticed. Who did she think she was to call them all fools? The Hokage had all protected Konoha! What had this woman done?!

Calling Sandaime-sama a fool?!

"No one insults the old man while I'm around!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hand onto the table. The pervert of an old man tried to calm his student but to no avail. Sakura's teammate and Tsunade began to argue, and then curse at each other until Naruto challenged her to a battle.

"Is that wise?" Sakura asked him as they now stood outside.

"She insulted the Hokage." Was the boisterous blond's response.

The fight was over with a flick, literally. The Hokage candidate flicked him and he flew away.

Holy shit. Sakura cursed. Holy motherfucking shit! What the hell is she?!

"Jiraiya." Big Breasts was mad. "How dare you teach him that move?"

"What?" Her teammate asked. "He's learning a new jutsu. What of it?"

"Not correctly. His technique is flimsy, it's insulting."

"That's why we train." Sakura spoke to the woman for the first time. "No one ever gets it perfect the first time." Tsunade regarded the pinkette with interest.

"I'll learn it." Naruto said, dusting himself off. "And I'll clobber you next time."

"Oh, yeah? Wanna bet?" The female sanin asked, taking her eyes off of Sakura.

A bet was made that day. Naruto was determined to win (even though all he got was some crummy necklace. Sakura thought the only reason he agreed to the bet was to try and win something after being beaten badly). Jiraiya forced the genin duo back to the hotel after that. A new hotel after what had happened to the last.

Now that Naruto's going to be training his Rasengan more, I need to do some more independant training. Sakura thought. Maybe I should brush up on chakra control tomorrow.

Sakura stood, all by her lonesome, in the outskirts of Tanzaku Town. She had just finished warming up and, now, the sun had completely risen. Taking out a scroll from her bag, Sakura began reading the contents of a basic medical textbook. This sudden interest in medical ninjutsu may have sparked from seeing Tsunade even though Sakura always kept the book in her bag just in case she wanted to do some light reading. However, she had never opened up the front page.

An hour later and Sakura was hooked. It was all... intriguing, to say the least. Not just did being a medical ninja mean you needed to do the weird chakra glow thing, you also needed a vast knowledge in herbs and plants. You needed to know what worked with what and why it did. Okay, it's more interesting than I'm making it out to be. But, Sakura berated herself for reading when she was supposed to be training and began to do some chakra control exercises.

If only she had seen the curious person spying on her.

Day one of the bet was over. Two more remained. Sakura hoped the next two days came and went quickly. She just wanted to go home. She needed to see if Sasuke was alright and she felt like she had no purpose here, in Tanzaku Town.

That night, Sakura dreamed of being awarded a certificate for being the best medical ninja in the world. She dreamed that she was praised for her ability to heal five people at once. And she was praised for her-

Without warning, her nice dream shifted into a nightmare with Konoha at night, calm and quiet. Until it exploded and a grey figure, that looked all too familiar to Sakura, was seen running away, seemingly responsible.

A/N I will update Sakura of the Sharingan soon. If you haven't read that yet, I recommend you do so.