CHAPTER 12: WHERE THE SHADOWS MEET
No matter the village or town, all shinobi act as though civilians don't have ears.
Sakura learns three things, that morning at another small, nameless village: that Suna had been slaughtered and revived, that Konoha's weapon was an integral part of the incident, and that the Kages will convene for an emergency summit.
Naruto.
She almost drops the apple she wants to buy, but thankfully the shinobi with their Konoha hitai-ate, do not notice her at all. She rushes back with some apples, vegetables, and a small tray of dango for Itachi.
The moment she flits past the usual genjutsu Itachi casts over every camp, his voice calls out: "Did you bring back anything good?"
"To eat? Yes," she says. "But I have something even better. Suna was attacked, and there will be a Kage Summit soon," she explains as she shrugs off her cloak. This is one of their better camps that is both cavernous and dry, and as comfortable as they come. "The Hokage will surely be there."
Itachi's eyes find hers, and she can feel his fervour. She brings her palms together in a snake seal to release the henge transformation while he picks up the basket from the ground, and begins unpacking her spoils. "Oh, you got dango."
"I'm going to bring Danzo to you, which is the real treat."
"Ha," Itachi replies dryly. "Do you know where and when the summit will be?"
She shakes her head. "I need to gather more intel."
"We can use my crows to help. We should resume your training."
Sakura laughs. "Don't think I'm good enough yet, nii-san?"
"Danzo is no mere shinobi. It's better to be safe rather than sorry since you'll be alone."
"Oh," she says, smile fading. "I thought you'd want to come along."
"I don't want to get in the way of the Goddess of Genjutsu."
"Why are you always so humble," she mutters under her breath.
Itachi chuckles and rests his palm on her head, ruffling her hair. It's a habit he's developed recently, and it's enough to make Sakura beam with pride, heart softening. "I believe in you."
From here on, time speeds up. The crows have intel: the Kages will move in a week's time, to meet two weeks from now in the Land of Iron. She never finds out who attacks Suna and whether Naruto is okay, but she doesn't ask. Eye on the prize, she tells herself.
When she's not refining her genjutsu under Itachi's watchful eyes, she's sending healing chakra into Itachi's lungs. She can feel it penetrate skin and muscle, but never deep enough into the organ. She can only do so much without proper training, and Itachi always warns her to not push too far, in case anything happens to the Sharingan she cradles in her palms.
When she's not doing either of those things, she's thinking about Naruto, the worry almost overpowering the sheer sense of fear that coats her mouth and tongue and lungs, the fear that settles deep within her over her most important mission.
"Focus," Itachi reminds her.
She is the most focused she's ever been in her entire life.
"Again," he says, and Sakura pulls him into her genjutsu and into a world where everything is bright and nothing hurts. Itachi playing with Sasuke, Itachi cooking for his parents, Itachi sitting by the pier with a dark haired girl with big eyes; she watches it all.
In an ideal world, she would let him stay in there for hours and days and years. Her chakra reserves say otherwise, and when she pulls him out fifteen minutes later, Itachi's breaths come out in heavy pants. "Sakura," he gasps. "Thank you."
Something is wrong.
She rushes to his side and falls to her knees. His hand automatically finds her the top of her hair, heavy and warm. "Don't waste energy moving," she says. "I can heal you. What's wrong, tell me where it hurts-"
"Sakura," he says. "You know I've been dying."
Already she is crying without knowing it, so she wipes them away roughly as she shakes her head. No. Futile emotions will not help her or Itachi right now.
"Emotion is good," Itachi says, as though he can read her mind. "Use it to your advantage. Our clan has used emotion to our advantage since the birth of our kekkei genkai. Take my eyes once I'm gone. The Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan will be yours."
She can feel the eyes in her palms swirling around, agitated.
"I'm sorry I can't help you any more, because from here, you will go into things alone."
"Why-"
"Not even the most gifted medical-nin can stop the ravage of a terminal disease. You gave me extra weeks and months, Sakura. That is more than I could have asked for. Think of this as all part of the plan."
"I'll kill him," Sakura says, tears blurring her vision as she allows them to fall uncontrollably. "Don't worry. Just - thank you." For teaching me all I know now, for showing me the truth, for giving me my purpose, she thinks but cannot say. Her throat is seizing up. For all those meals you cooked, for all the advice you shared, for making every cave we moved to feel a tiny bit like home. "Thank you for everything."
There's a flash of searing pain in her palms, and she looks down to find its tomoe spinning faster and faster, before merging into a black star. Sasuke's eyes have been refined, stained by her grief.
Sakura loses Itachi inrasping breaths, hand perched peacefully atop her dark hair.
She works quickly throughout the night: she buries Itachi's body in the grassiest area she can find, transplants the eyes into her palms, which take seamlessly, and packs her worldly belongings into the bag. The fruit knife, worn-out scrolls, a few pieces of extra clothing. Her newest addition is Itachi's hitai-ate, a single line carved straight through the heart of the symbol.
By sunrise, her fingers are blistered from digging the grave and implanting the eyes, but her heart is calm and steady. She sets off on foot, chakra deactivated, cloak billowing behind her.
This time, her head is held high.
Iron is not far, but the journey is treacherous. It snows two days after she sets off, the cold biting into her feet and curling into her lungs. Her hands are kept deep within the pockets of her cloak, fingers curled into her palm, protecting the most precious gifts she's been bestowed.
I will kill Danzo, she repeats to herself as she forges onwards. I will kill him.
Sakura now knows that the mind is just as powerful as a lithe body or kunai. Grief can manifest as physical pain; illusion can create reality. Believing is half the battle won.
Ahead, the sharp peaks of the snow-covered mountain ranges fill the horizon. The harsh winds sound like mourning cries, and instead of being scared, it's reassuring: this is destiny, calling out to her.
The meeting room is large and circular, with vaulted ceilings and their country's flags hanging down, billowing above their heads.
The Kages of villages from the Five Great Shinobi Countries are gathered, the tension stiff and thick in the air. All five of them are seated, four faces concealed by their wide Kage hats. Four Kages and Mifune, their neutral facilitator for the Summit.
"Shall we begin?" Mifune says, clearing his throat.
"Before we go into our official agenda, maybe we can start with an informal discussion. About whether it's appropriate for the Hokage to be sitting here, representing two hidden villages?" the Tsuchikage asks.
"I for one would be interested in delving deeper into this subject," the Mizukage replies.
"Danzo," the Raikage says gruffy, "what do you have to say for yourself?
"The appointment of the Kazekage comes under the supreme decision of the Wind daimyo and his council. As such, the daimyo has decided to let the Hokage lead Sunagakure for a number of different reasons, none of which concern the Kage of other nations."
The Tsuchikage's face turns a violent shade of red, but Danzo continues talking before he can even begin."Instead of discussing trivial matters, why don't we move into actual concerns?" he says, undeterred. There's a flurry of activity as the Mizukage places her hand on the Tsuchikage's shoulder, holding him back, while the Raikage stands quickly, his chair scraping backwards.
"The reason why we're all meeting is because the Akatsuki attacked Sunagakure, slaughtered its people, and levelled the village to the ground. Their powers are immense, and they come collecting the tailed beasts. Who knows when the next attack on your village would be?"
"What happened to Konoha's jinchuriki?" the Raikage questions, still standing.
"Yes, Danzo," a voice calls out from above, and this voice is rough and unfamiliar. "Where is Naruto?"
Five pairs of eyes glance upwards simultaneously, finding a strange girl standing on the ceiling, her dark hair trailing down like poison ivy. Eyes the colour of cloudy jade, translucent and fragile, glare down at one Kage in particular.
The girl reaches into her cloak, and a series of kunai with explosive tags rain down on them. Danzo leaps up, his hands forming seals and sending a wind jutsu at her.
"Vacuum Sphere!"
The wind is unforgiving, slicing her down almost instantly. He catches her by the throat as she falls, pinning her to the wall so hard her head slams back with a sickening thud.
Still, her gaze never leaves his eyes.
"Who are you?" he snarls. Danzo doesn't know what the other Kage are doing, and frankly he doesn't care. This girl, this attack, this attempt at humiliation in front of the most powerful shinobi in the world: it's personal.
She laughs, and Danzo loses control. He tightens his grip, and feels a brittle crack.
His ANBU agents have arrived by his side. He releases the body, watching it crumble by his feet. Behind him, the Kages are silent, watching him wield his power. He bites back a smile as he straightens himself up; he didn't even have to use the Sharingan.
"Take the body back to Konoha," he tells Rabbit, who nods swiftly. "I want to know who she is."
"Danzo," Mifune says, "I didn't know you were so powerful."
"I have to admit, your reflexes are incredibly quick," the Raikage admits. "Almost as fast as mine."
"Maybe Wind does know something about your power that we don't." This comes from the Mizukage, the respect in her voice as smooth as silk.
Danzo can only shrug, even though the reluctant veneration makes him want to laugh aloud. "Don't tell me you've never experienced assasination attempts. Some are more...impressive than others. This one was a joke. Let's continue with the Summit."
He lowers himself into the chair, and before he can get comfortable, a breath tickles the back of his neck. Instantly, his body is immobilised. He can only turn his head in rough, jerky movements, coming face-to-face with a ghost.
The girl he just killed smiles at him, eyes haunted. At the corner of his vision, the light catches the glint of a small knife.
Her words come out hoarse, as they should be, because they are whispered through a crushed windpipe. "They know me as the Goddess of Genjutsu, but my name is Haruno Sakura."
Genjutsu.
The walls around them melt away languidly, along with the flesh of the rest of the Kages and Mifune. Everything drips away until they're left surrounded by skulls and bones, in the middle of an abandoned building, all crumbling walls and musty air. It looks familiar, and it takes him a few seconds to realise they're in the Uchiha's abandoned shrine.
"How—" he rasps, and she just answers by pressing the cool blade harder against his throat.
Her smile never wavers. "Uchiha Itachi sends his regards," she says. She doesn't wait for a reply as the small knife is dragged across his throat. Death is not instantaneous; the knife is too blunt to make a clean cut. The metal pulls roughly across his skin, over and over again.
Shimura Danzo dies slowly, with Haruno Sakura's sparkling laughter ringing in his ears.
Note: exercising more artistic license here lol with sakura's sharingan/mangekyou sharingan/eternal mangekyou sharingan. in canon, she would only be able to awaken the MS if 1. the sharingan was implanted into her own eye and connected to her optic nerve, and 2. the original owner still had possession of one of the sharingan, who is the one witnessing a traumatic event (like obito and kakashi).
sakura's entrance and laughter is 100% a tribute to sasuke's iconic entrance to the kage summit and his maniacal laughter after killing danzo. this is BAMF sakura in your area