Okay all. Here's the next chapter of Second Best. I hope you all like it.

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Second Best.

Chapter Twenty-Nine – A Wedding And…...

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Today was the day. Everything had been planned, primped and cosseted until it was perfect. Ino had been running around like a crazy person, helping Sakura, as her maid of Honour of course. Hinata also helped as much as possible, but she was getting exhausted easily. Naruto made sure that things went well on Sasuke's side. After all, he was the best man. The whole of Konoha had been talking about this wedding. That wasn't surprising however. Gossip was always rife in Konoha, especially as the gossip was this juicy. But the day had come. The guests were at the Uchiha compound, which was now practically perfect with Naruto and Sasuke working on it in every spare minute, along with all the other guys. Even the lazy Shikamaru had come along to help. Sasuke was standing in a traditional male kimono, nervous in every possible way. His outward appearance was calm. The epitome of a true Uchiha. Then Sakura started her walk down the aisle. Everyone turned to see Sakura in a cherry blossom pink kimono, with lighter cherry blossoms and white apple blossoms embroidered around the cuffs and collar, and around the obi. Her hair was pinned up gracefully with cherry blossom charms dangling from the pins. Her emerald eyes sparkled in the spring sunshine. The children were all sat in the front row. Hinata was also sat with her children, and smiling at the ceremony. Everything seemed perfect. The priest was soon performing the ceremony. "If anyone knows a reason why these two should not marry, speak now or forever hold your peace." The priest said solemnly.

"I object!" The whole group looked stunned as Mitsuko, her head on her shoulders, her neck stitched with thick black thread. "He's my husband. She can't have him." Mitsuko hissed. Maggots flew from her mouth as she rasped. Then she pulled out a kunai and threw it at Sakura. She felt the knife pierce her heart…

Then Sakura sat up in bed, breathing heavily, her heart racing.

"It was just another nightmare." She said to herself softly. She was trembling. It was only a couple of days until the wedding, and Sakura had been having awful dreams for the last month. This one was just the latest in a stream of nightmares. Sometimes it was Kankuro who interrupted the wedding, looking hurt and betrayed. Sometimes it was Itachi, attempting to kill Sasuke. But it seemed she never got past the point of objections. Sakura sighed as she got out of bed and went to wash her face. She knew she wouldn't be going back to sleep now anyway. She never did after having a nightmare. It was small comfort that she knew she would always dodge a Kunai, as a Kunoichi she had the skill, but that wasn't the point. She got dressed and went to the kitchen to make a start on breakfast.

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Pein, the leader of Akatsuki, was furious. He'd found a diary of Konan's and read through it. He'd found out exactly why Konan had sent Aoiyuki to Konoha. Konan had found out that Madara Uchiha, wanted to use the girl in his own plan to overthrow Konoha, and capture all the tailed beasts for himself. Pein realised that he had become a pawn. That wasn't something he wanted to be. He'd also worked out that Madara had arranged for Konan's tragic death to happen. Pein hated the betrayal. "Konan was like my sister. I owe her so much. Maybe I can make up for all I missed by making sure Aoiyuki is safe." Pein thought to himself, as he left the Akatsuki base. The black cloak with red clouds lay forgotten on the dusty ground.

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The next day, Aoiyuki was working in the hospital. She smiled as she healed a small cut on a child's knee. The little boy giggled and thanked Aoiyuki. Then he hopped off of the examination table. The boy's mother also thanked her and left after her son. Aoiyuki had made leaps and bounds in her studies. Everyone was impressed especially when they found out she had never used Sharingan in her studies to help her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. She knew she was being watched. She looked out of the window to see Pein. Her eyes widened greatly as he jumped in through the open window. "I'm not here to cause you any trouble Aoiyuki. I found out some things." Pein said gently. He handed Aoiyuki a book, bound in blue leather.

"Mother's diary." Aoiyuki said softly, recognising the book straight away.

"Madara planned her death. He wanted to use you. He did use your Mother and Father. He also used me. Your Mother was the only family I knew after we were both orphaned. I let her down. I won't make the same mistake again. That's why I'm here." Pein told Aoiyuki sternly.

"What do you mean Uncle?" Aoiyuki asked.

"I mean that I'm going to protect you as I should have been able to protect her." Pein replied. He looked deadly serious. Aoiyuki smiled widely.

"Thanks Uncle." She said happily. Pein gave the girl a soft smile. "You do realise I'll have to tell Naruto-San that you're here though, right?" Aoiyuki quipped. Pein nodded his understanding.

"I know. Hopefully, the information I have about Akatsuki, will be worth the trouble of letting me stay here." Pein said. Aoiyuki felt herself smiling widely and couldn't help feeling glad that Pein was there. He'd been around her, for her whole life, and she was glad that he was there with her. She could only hope that he was allowed to stay in Konoha.

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Naruto was sat at the Hokage's desk. Tsunade and Jiraiya were also sat in the office.

"What do you know about Pein, Ero-Sennin?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya frowned.

"He was one of my students, once. So was Aoiyuki's mother. They were orphaned in Amekagure, and I stayed with them, trained them and looked after them for a while. Once they were able to look after themselves, I came back to Konoha. I had been informed they died years ago. But obviously that wasn't the case." Jiraiya said.

"Can Pein be trusted, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked.

"He wants to protect Aoiyuki. He sees her as family, and with Konan dead, she is all he has left. Aoiyuki wants to stay here and be a Medic Nin. He'll stay and protect her. Aoiyuki is his main priority. So I think he can be trusted." Jiraiya replied. Naruto nodded.

"Allowing him to stay, would give us an advantage over Akatsuki. After all, he used to be the leader." Naruto said. Jiraiya frowned.

"If the information he gave me is correct, Pein was leader in name only. Madara Uchiha has always been pulling the strings from the background. He wants to take the Jinchuriki, but Pein isn't even entirely sure why Madara wants them, apart from the need for power. But whatever he wants the Jinchuriki for, we can't allow him to succeed." Jiraiya said.

"It means sharing our information with other villages and building alliances." Tsunade added. Naruto nodded.

"We need to prepare the village for attack, and send out missives to the other villages to do the same. Making an alliance for peace isn't going to be easy. There's a lot of bad blood, on all sides." Naruto said. Tsunade and Jiraiya both nodded.

"You're right about that kid." Jiraiya said.

"But it has to be done." Tsunade said. "We'll be here to help you along the way, Naruto. It's going to take time." She added. Naruto nodded.

"Is there anything we can use right now?" Naruto asked.

"Madara intends to start with you, Naruto. You're the strongest of the Jinchuriki. You'll be the hardest one for him to get to. We don't know when he'll head for Konoha, or when he'll attack, or how many members of Akatsuki will come with him, but we know Konoha will be the first in line to be attacked." Jiraiya told Naruto. Naruto nodded.

"For now, we need to tighten the security in Konoha, and do everything we can, so that when they do come, we're prepared." Naruto said.

"What about Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.

"Telling him about this now, will just ruin Sasuke and Sakura's wedding. I think we should tell them after the wedding, at the very least." Naruto said. Tsunade and Jiraiya nodded their agreement, and the trio began to arrange the village's security, none of them sure how well it would work, against someone like Madara.

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One month later, the wedding day was actually here. The real one this time. They had already gone past the objection part. Sakura felt relief swell within her when that happened. Even though she knew her nightmares shouldn't have bothered her, they still had. Now they had to recite their vows. Sakura was looking straight at Sasuke. "Sakura, you're the one woman in this world that I truly respect and admire. You've accepted me in the good times and the bad. You've accepted not only me, but my Niece and Nephew, and even my son, as though he were your own. You've always shown me kindness, even on the darkest days when I didn't deserve it. You deserve better than me. Although I'm glad that you chose to marry me. All I can say is that I'll love you until I die, and probably longer." Sasuke said. His voice was calm and steady. Still Sakura could see he was nervous, just by a glance in his eyes. Now it was her turn.

"Sasuke, I love you more than I can really put into words. You may not always be perfect, but no human being is. I know that you'll always be by my side and I'll always be by yours until death separates us. Even then I'll still be looking for you in the afterlife." Sakura said seriously. Sasuke gave her a half-smile.

"Do you Sasuke Uchiha, take Sakura Sabaku, to be your lawful wedded wife?" The priest asked. Sasuke nodded.

"I do." He replied.

"And do you Sakura Sabaku, take Sasuke Uchiha, to be your lawful wedded husband?" The priest asked Sakura.

"I do." Sakura replied. Her eyes never left Sasuke's.

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." The priest stated. Sasuke and Sakura leaned forward, their lips touched only briefly before a voice interrupted the proceedings.

"How very sweet." Everyone turned to see a man with an orange mask on his face. Naruto pulled out a kunai from nowhere, and Sasuke stood in front of Sakura. Any Shinobi there, had taken up a stance to defend or attack. "Looks like the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan are actually quite friendly with each other now." The man said. Suddenly, Pein was next to Aoiyuki.

"What kind of trouble do you want to cause now Madara Uchiha?" Pein hissed.

"Uchiha?" Sakura asked. Sasuke looked stunned.

"Of course, you didn't know, did you Sasuke? I have been watching over the clan. I helped Itachi kill the lot of them. For some reason, he loved you too much to kill you. Pathetic really. Now you've been breeding your own replacements. Then again, so did Itachi. I'll have to remedy that." Madara stated.

"You won't be touching Aoiyuki." Pein hissed out. He pulled out his own kunai, his eyes blazed with the Rinnegan bloodline. Zetsu, Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara and Sasori appeared beside Madara.

"Are you sure you can win such a fight Pein?" Madara stated coldly.

"It's not just me you're fighting Madara. The Shinobi of this village will not let you kill its citizens." Pein replied. Things happened in moments. Madara smirked and made a hand gesture and the rest of Akatsuki began to attack. Sakura heard Sasuke yell at her to get those who couldn't fight out of there. Sakura found herself pinned between the defenceless and Sasori of the red sand. She could see Sasuke, Naruto, Jiraiya and Pein, were matched off against Madara himself, whilst Tsunade was against Hidan. Kakashi was against Kakuzu, and Neji was facing Deidara. Gai and Lee were facing Kisame, whilst Kurenai, little Asuma, Temari and Shikamaru were near Zetsu.

"It looks like you have nowhere to run Sakura Uchiha. You'll be dying here." Sasori stated plainly.

"I'm not going to die that easily." Sakura replied angrily. She tore the sides of her kimono, to make splits, so she could move more easily. Then she prepared for the fight of her life.

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Sasuke, Naruto, Jiraiya and Pein all glared at Madara. "What is it that you want?" Naruto hissed.

"Kyubi, and of course, your death." Madara replied cockily.

"It's not going to happen." Sasuke hissed.

"It will. I will win. You can't fight me." Madara stated.

"We'll certainly do our best." Pein spat out. Their battle began then.

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Tsunade glared at the maniacal looking Hidan. "You can't kill me bitch, so do your fucking worst." Hidan chirped out.

"My worst isn't even something you can imagine." Tsunade hissed.

"So? Bring it on you fucking weak woman. I will sacrifice your pathetic female arse to Jashin-Sama." Hidan replied. Tsunade growled angrily then charged at the grinning Hidan.