Pt.2
Prompt: Elusive
There was no time to consider many options. Sakura bit her lip in frustration, she needed to decide if she should take Itachi back to Konoha and convince everyone of the truth, or if it would be better that they go on the run?
Itachi was sitting near her on a rock, listening for sounds of a nearby battle, Kisame was fighting her teammates and one group would be among them soon enough. He glanced at her and got up, reaching for her face.
"Haruno-san, please don't bite your lip, it's distracting" he said on purpose to gain her attention.
Sakura ceased, and looked at him in bewilderment, for everything she had heard about him was not what it seemed.
"Now, either your team or Kisame will notice us, once they run out of chakra, we must make haste and leave" he commanded, gathering her up in his arms for a quick retreat.
On the run, it was.
Kisame had already noticed that Itachi and the kunoichi had left the area and he couldn't sense Itachi's signature? He was suspicious of what had happened because he felt Tobi for a moment grabbing the other Uchiha and disappearing as well.
"Nine tails, I will gather you another day" he stated plainly before retreating hastily, he needed to contact the others to figure out what had happened.
Kakashi and Naruto raced to where they last knew Sakura to be, There was no Itachi or Sasuke and Sakura had disappeared as well.
"What happened?!" asked Naruto dumbly.
Kakashi summoned his dogs to analyze the area for clues and came to the conclusion that Sasuke was taken by an unknown Akatsuki member who left abruptly because the trace was dissipating at an accelerated rate and Sakura encountered Itachi and it seemed like they left together somewhere.
"Sakura has gone off on her own..." Kakashi told Naruto.
"If she's not dead, I don't know who I'm more worried about," Naruto commented, slumping to the ground exhausted.
Kakashi suspected that Sasuke was in more danger, but knew he could probably handle himself, if he was ready to kill Itachi.
Obito kept Sasuke in his alternate world to prevent his escape, he was a capable foe. Upon his capture, he immediately attacked Obito and wasn't falling for his usual tricks.
"Halt! Sasuke, I want to know what you think of Itachi's deception?" he asked him gruffly while blocking an incoming attack.
Sasuke's eyes darkened, he had seen what Sakura forced him to see, but wasn't sure if she was just trying to distract him.
'I have terms...I will help you exact revenge against the Uchiha clan...But you are not to harm the village itself. Nor… Uchiha Sasuke.' a vision of the past, where Itachi was speaking to Obito… why did he agree to kill the clan but protect him and the village?
"So it's true that Itachi was actually a Leaf spy this whole time? Why did he even need to kill our entire family then? Were they part of his plans, it was definitely convincing enough when he left that he actually betrayed us!" Sasuke screamed in rage, not quite sure how he actually felt just yet.
Obito smiled darkly, Sasuke wasn't convinced that Itachi wasn't evil and he was going to take advantage of that.
Itachi ran until twilight where they ended up in a small village on the border of Tea and Cloud.
Sakura helped him to the inn, where they paid for a room for the night.
Dumping her back pack she vanished into the bathroom, leaving him alone while she took a shower.
Itachi had some time to think about what they would do, needing somewhere remote but also with medical supplies…
Deciding to trust her, Itachi dozed off, feeling the effects of low chakra wash over him.
Sakura finished with her shower and let the now cold water wash over her still form.
She had just deserted her friends with Uchiha Itachi of all people! Who she grew up believing to be cruelly evil and hoped that Sasuke got some closure with battling his brother but thought now that he was being foolish and that even if he killed his brother, no peace would come.
Having second thoughts of her choice, she gathered up her clothes and got ready to face him. To her surprise, Itachi let down his guard and slept on the floor when she entered the room.
He's so fragile looking… she thought to herself.
She kneeled down and brushed her hand through his bangs, wondering how much he had hid all this time.
Not surprised, he gently grabbed her hand and held it away from his face.
"Haruno-san, it's not wise to touch an enemy," he said bluntly.
Sakura creeped backwards and replied.
"We just ran away together, are you still an enemy?" she groused back.
Itachi didn't say anything else before getting up and leaving the room.
Though fragile he is strong minded…
Kakashi and Naruto trailed them for 5 kilometers before the trail ended in a clearing. Kakashi knowing that she specialized in these kinds of missions, as Tsunade sent her many times to retrieve precious cargo, he knew to look beyond what he saw.
Sakura left them a sign in the form of a moss formed cloud pointing towards the Cloud Nation. A tiny scroll, hidden by a seal said.
"Don't follow, Itachi is secure and let Hokage-sama know that I'm with one of our spies, and will return in due time."
"Leaf spy?" Naruto replied, still confused.
"I don't know the details but perhaps it's something from Lord Third's time" Kakashi mused slightly before telling Naruto they were going back to the village, Sakura would be fine and they needed to trust her.
Sasuke was biding his time, the more Obito spoke, the more he became convinced that Sakura was telling the truth. This man knew too much already and he had the feeling that he was just a pawn to him on a bigger scale than he first thought. What was he after?
"If I were to join Akatsuki, what benefit would it be for me? I'm after Itachi" he asked, eyes darkened.
"Itachi has fled, and I don't suspect he is coming back, but if you join our cause, you may gain a power well worth it, Itachi won't matter anymore." Obito tried bribing.
Sasuke wasn't convinced but if saying yes for the time being meant he could leave, he would just say yes, besides, he could end Obito as well if he meddled any further.
Sakura calculated that if they went to a seaside town of cloud they could board a ship to one of the remote sea islands, and she would just need to gather some supplies first and she would work on helping him.
During their travels so far, she had determined that whatever was ailing him, was connected to his chakra reserves, for he grew tired quite often throughout the day, and any prolonged use of his eyes showed him growing weaker with each use.
She would repair what damage she could, when they ran into some cloud ninja in a middle size town, and were clearly recognized as leaf nin who had no business there.
Itachi easily defeated them, and they escaped, but he collapsed, not long after.
Sakura was slowly starting to see certain signs of what his body was going through.
Itachi was almost legally blind, after years of massive use of the advanced sharingan.
His body depleted his chakra use faster than normal people, it was hard to tell since he had managed to surplus a much larger chakra reserve then she first thought.
She also was seeing signs of body inflammation throughout his limbs, which typically pointed towards his body fighting itself… an autoimmune disease.
With this knowledge in mind, Sakura determined they would need to sneak into the Hidden Cloud village for specialized equipment.
Sakura bought a room at an inn in the surrounding edges of the village border, purposely out of the way. She instructed Itachi to stay put. She needed him to rest, while she tried something out that would help her further diagnose him.
She needed him to rest and build back his chakra reserves, while letting his eyes repair, for she had found a jutsu that would repair at a extremely slower rate, without her presence, but it would have him being extremely vulnerable while she was gone. This would allow him to borrow more time, so that perhaps she could save him, she was starting to see that he was right, he may only have a few more months before his body would succumb and he would die.
Sakura had a contact in Cloud, another medical nin who had learnt from Chiyo-sama years ago.
She was training to become the village's head medical nin and was a friend of Tsunade's from years ago as well.
Sakura disguised herself as a blonde, blue eyed lady who was a civilian passing through. She gave her paperwork to the guards at the main gate and they allowed her passage. She knew that Cloud nin were always on guard and they would surveillance her for a few hours before leaving her alone. She shopped for some basic necessities while being tailed.
Hours later, when she sensed that they had left her, she carefully winded her way to the western part of the city and met up with Juri.
"I don't have a lot of time… I have to get back to my patient but I wanted to pick your brain on a theory I had." Sakura pressed.
Juri listened to her explanation of inflammation and what she knew about doujutsu and eye kekkei genkai.
"Sakura-san, is your patient perhaps a member of the Hyuga clan… or perhaps an Uchiha?" Juri asked, already seeing what she was thinking.
"I can't answer that," she replied firmly.
"It's ok, I understand," Juri replied.
She walked over to her bookshelf and picked out two books before handing them over to Sakura.
I don't know if these will help, but with the limited information you provided I do think you're onto something, I also put together the equipment you asked for into this bag" she told her handing over a small package.
"Thank you Juri" Sakura said graciously before leaving for the inn.
Kakashi and Naruto reported to the Hokage what had happened. Shikamaru, Shizune and Tsunade were present.
Tsunade had been aware of Itachi's true status but Sensei also mentioned that it wasn't likely that he was going to report back to the village and asked her to trust Itachi's judgement within the Akatsuki.
"Sarutobi-sensei didn't expect Itachi to live, if he was discovered as a spy" she stated plainly.
"I can't see Sakura acting reckless, she must know something we don't." Shikamaru spoke out loud, thinking of possible scenarios, based on what they knew.
"She was quite adamant of intercepting Sasuke… and I don't think it was because she wanted to stop the fight for Sasuke's sake" Kakashi put forth his theory.
Shizune stayed silent, for she knew Sakura was good at adapting to rapidly changing situations and thought that maybe she should check in with some trusted cloud colleagues to see if Sakura contacted.
Sakura and Itachi travelled by night and hid during the day in order to avoid more people. She couldn't be sure that someone hadn't reported their last whereabouts after battling cloud nin, and after getting back from the main village, Itachi wasn't healing as fast, which was one of the first signs of deterioration. She had to move them quickly.
Two days later they made it to the harbor and got a boat to an island where Sakura would set up a makeshift lab and get to work.
The island crossed over into land of water's territory, so they would be super hard to track if someone tried to track them, Sakura did this on purpose.
It got stormy towards the end of their boat ride and Sakura discovered that Itachi was prone to seasickness and held him in place as they rocked side to side, Itachi heaving occasionally. She concocted a serum to abide his symptoms.
She is more resourceful than I first thought. Itachi thought lightly as he began a coughing fit, blood trickling on the side of his mouth.
Sakura frowned, time was running out.
They docked, hours behind when she thought they would arrive and hurried to a field on a rocks plateau where it was easily defendable for one person.
She set up camp, and got Itachi situated.
Once he was comfy, she set up a medical station with iv bags and hooked him up to some suppressor meds and anti-inflammatory agents with some fluids to keep him from getting dehydrated. Next she set up her mini lab, and the equipment she had gotten from Juri.
Sasuke had gotten away from Obito, giving his fake allegiance to Akatsuki, they wanted him to track down the 8 tailed beast jinchuriki but locating Itachi &Sakura was more important. He went back to the clearing where Obito abducted him and traced the area for signs of Itachi or Sakura.
Unfortunately he only found flutters of them and couldn't determine any direction. He punched the ground in anger, he needed the truth.
He thought of things that could draw her out, and his thoughts went through to Naruto… two stones with one throw…
Sakura's scream echoed as she charged into the middle of both of them and fear crept up that he couldn't avoid her… Naruto's eyes widened in terror as well…
What would she do in a similar situation? Without Kakashi's interference?
Three days of observation and Sakura had come up with a diagnosis, Itachi had a very rare ailment and there was no cure at the moment… she had been right. There may not be enough time for her to come up with an antidote. Itachi's body was rebelling against him more each day. She had one treatment he wouldn't approve of but it may keep him alive long enough.
Itachi was feeling weakened. Sakura had run several tests today, he was certain she must have found something out, he had maybe she even found out Uchiha secrets with how much blood she took…
Sakura decided she would reveal her findings and let him decide.
She brought him some lunch and sat at his bedside.
"You have a rare form of an inflammatory autoimmune disease that had attacked your eyes and moved onto your lungs… you have maybe a few more weeks to live before you succumb, that is if you give up being a shinobi this moment on…." Sakura explained softly.
Itachi frowned. He had waited too long to seek help, she would need a village's resources to find an ailment in that amount of time and it wasn't guaranteed to work if his body was going to reject it. He sighed.
"You have done what you can and I appreciate the help, Sakura" he replied using her given name.
He dropped his formal speech… must be coming to terms with his impending demise… she thought surprised at the differences in tone.
"I have one method that could prolong your current state and give me the opportunity to put together something but you won't like it…" she stumbled over her words, feeling nervous.
"I'll hear you out." He commented wearily.
"I can put you in a medically deep coma and preserve your body. I have a hidden hideout that would look after you and let me work back in Konoha…"
She was right he didn't like it but if he could be saved he was willing to bet on it.
"I agree to your terms."
"I'll start the process right away and transport you in the morning… I don't know how long you'll be gone, and if I fail I'll get Shizune to wake you up." She promised solemnly.
a/n: This continuation is dedicated to my reviewer who encouraged me to write more 3
This story may have up to 3 or 4 parts in total. Please feel free to fav, follow, review, kudo's, comment or follow for more :)