Eighth Tenant of the Shinobi Neutrality Pact
A village may leave the pact upon formal written declaration, signed by the village leader. Leaving the pact revokes all rights to protections and trade routes guaranteed under the pact. A village that has left the pact, or any newly founded village that has yet to join the pact, may submit a written request to join that will be considered by pact ambassadors.
Several things went through Sakura's mind all at once.
The first, ever pressing, was that she was trapped inside Itachi Uchiha's genjutsu, and normal disruption techniques did not work. She thought back to Kakashi and Sasuke, who'd both experienced the full effects of Itachi's Sharingan and had been bedridden for weeks until Tsunade had treated them. It hadn't escaped her thoughts that she might end up in that position if she couldn't find a way to awaken herself, which meant Fuu was in immediate danger.
The second, increasingly pressing, was that Itachi had suggested that Root had not only condoned the massacre, but had supported Itachi's wishes regarding Sasuke. Sakura wished that surprised her more than it did. Root was involved in some nasty shit, but to be involved in the Uchiha massacre, even tangentially? Unacceptable, unless Itachi was lying to distract her. Assuming she got out of this alive, Shikamaru needed to know of this. They needed to investigate further.
And that led to thought three: even if Sakura did manage to break this genjutsu, how was she going to take on two Akatsuki members at once?
She needed to find a way out. She needed to think.
Pain. She needed to distract Itachi long enough to be able to make a move with her kunai. It was the only shot she had, but distracting Itachi at all would be difficult. She had no idea the extent of how the genjutsu had affected her, if the scenery being shown was the same scenery that was actually around her, if Fuu was nearby, if Kisame was nearby...she could hurt Fuu on accident if she tried a flashy jutsu. And Itachi could easily hide his true location now that she was trapped in his gaze. No, attacking Itachi wasn't the answer.
Well, he did seem in the mood to talk.
"Do you honestly think that's believable?" Sakura demanded, taking a tentative step to the left to see how Itachi would react. He didn't move...good. "Nobody in Konoha would agree to the destruction of one of their strongest clans on any terms, not even Root. Losing the Uchiha crippled the village. And Root didn't even try to get Sasuke back when he ran off with Orochimaru. They're more interested in me than your brother."
"...liars and schemers." Itachi replied, his voice low and stewing with rage. "It doesn't make sense."
"No, it doesn't." Sakura took another step, then took a fighting stance. She had one shot, she needed to make it count. "For all I know, you're just trying to distract me while your partner kills my friend." It was possible they didn't know about what Fuu was, and she wasn't going to give them that information for free.
"You're right." Itachi answered. "This is a distraction, I'm sorry to say. I have appearances to maintain, and we are too close to the enemy for me to go easy on you. I apologize, Sakura Haruno, but I cannot allow you to interfere with Akatsuki's goals. Trapping you here is the only way to ensure that you survive this encounter."
"You think you're being merciful, then?" Sakura spat. "I'd rather fucking die then let Akatsuki get away with anything they have planned." She took her anger as a cue, feigning to throw both of her kunai towards Itachi at once. Instead, she threw neither, turning the blade of one kunai back so she could run the blade into her arm.
The blade went through, and she felt a searing pain.
But she did not wake up.
"You are brave, but the illusion of the Mangekyo Sharingan is made to induce pain upon your mind. I only stopped you before so that your mind would be clear for our conversation."
Her kunai faded from her hands, as well as the rest of the scenery around them. Sakura stood within a dark red void, with only Itachi left before her.
"We will be taking the Jinchuuriki." Itachi told her. "Rest assured that it will be for the continued prosperity of Konoha, even if you do not believe me now. Unfortunately, I cannot set you free. I must let my Tsukuyomi run its course."
"Let it run all you like. The last person to get into my head found out the hard way what happens when you screw with me. The instant I'm out of this stupid genjutsu, I am going to kick your ass so damn hard there won't be anything left for Sasuke!"
"I see." Itachi answered. "Then I shall have to dissuade you from taking action against me."
In the blink of an eye, Itachi was gone. Then, Sakura heard his voice right by her ear.
"The Tsukuyomi will show you your worst nightmares for the next seventy-two hours. You will suffer. But you will live. Do not try to interfere with me, or else I will be forced to revoke my leniency."
When Sakura turned to look, Itachi was gone. And that was when she saw the first nightmare.
Gaara, held in the air by unknown force, screaming in agony as chakra, the chakra of Shukaku, was forcibly ripped from his body. His cries of pain seemed to hold Sakura hostage, unable to move or look away as she watched the life literally drain from his eyes. He fell to the ground, limp and unmoving, and Sakura let out a desperate moan.
Instantly the image was replaced, and it was Naruto in the air this time, the screams so real that for a moment Sakura could feel herself actually believing it.
She saw Kakashi, ripped to pieces by an unknown enemy. Sai, executed, horror showing on his face for the first time. Sasuke, the last of his will fading as he was slowly taken over by Orochimaru. Her parents, Ino, Onoki, Fuu, everyone she'd ever met and cared for in her life, dying in horrific ways and all she could do was watch.
And then, once the visions had run their course, Sakura turned and saw Gaara once again, and the cycle restarted anew. She realized, now, what tortures Sasuke and Kakashi had been put through at Itachi's hands. She would be stuck watching this for what her mind would perceive to be three straight days, and nothing she knew how to do could stop it. And by the time the genjutsu was done, she'd be powerless to stop them from taking Fuu.
It couldn't end like this. It couldn't end like this.
Sakura threw her hands together, once again trying to cut off the flow of her chakra, but for all she knew she wasn't actually even moving her hands in reality, only in her mind. If she was trapped in this illusion and unable to move, there was no real way to cut off her chakra, no real way to stop the genjutsu. She was trapped, she was trapped, she was trapped, and even when she tried to close her eyes she found herself incapable of doing so, incapable of looking away from the nightmare that Itachi was showing her.
Please... she thought to herself. Please set me free.
She'd lost count of what cycle of the nightmare she was on. Her hands reached up to clasp at the amulet around her neck, and maybe it was stupid, but what else could she do but pray for help? If there was a god, if Hidan's Jashin did exist, they would be the only one that could provide her with the miracle she needed to break free of this.
Please.
She felt the tears streaming down her face. She saw her friends die in front of her once again.
She felt a tingling in her hands.
The tingling started as a soft vibration, eventually becoming a warm feeling that grew and grew into an almost unbearable heat. But Sakura couldn't open her hands, in fact she felt herself clasping tighter as the amulet burned.
And then, all at once, everything went to black.
Sakura heard a ringing in her ears, and an ache that spread across her entire body. It took her a minute to realize that the pain had to be coming from her chakra coils, as she no longer could feel the familiar sensation of power that she'd been born with, that she'd honed under Onoki's tutelage. It was as if all of the chakra in her body had suddenly left.
The ringing grew louder, eventually becoming the sounds of wind and rustling leaves. Sakura opened her eyes and saw the sky.
The real sky.
Her whole body felt numb from the sudden lack of chakra, but Sakura could feel a hot sensation around her heart as her chakra began to slowly bleed back into herself. Somehow, she'd managed to completely empty her body of chakra and wake herself up.
Time seemed to stop as she turned desperately towards Fuu.
Itachi and Kisame were now standing in front of them. It appeared as though they hadn't actually moved at all from their spot on the cliff, as Sakura could make out the scenery of the Mountain's Graveyard beyond the two Akatsuki. Fuu had summoned her chakric wings and drawn a blade, but looked desperate. She had probably realized that Sakura had been caught in a genjutsu, as she was pointedly looking down at the Akatsuki's feet.
Sakura wasn't stupid enough to meet Itachi's eyes again. But she could see his body language, and she could tell from his posture that he was looking towards her, and his mouth was open in shock.
She'd broken free.
She'd broken free and, son of a bitch, she didn't have any chakra.
It was slowly bleeding back into her body, but the sensation was getting more and more painful, like pins and needles in every coil. If she tried a jutsu now, it might force the chakra through her coils faster, and Sakura wasn't sure she could handle that sort of pain. But Fuu's life was in danger. She didn't have a choice.
"Hey, Itachi…" She heard a voice, Kisame's, echo through the ringing in her head. "Did you hold back? Not even Kakashi could break out of that jutsu."
"I…" Sakura heard Itachi stammer, and got a bit of smug satisfaction out of knowing she'd caught the Uchiha off guard. "I'm not sure."
Sakura had the advantage. Itachi hadn't expected her to break out, and she had one good chance at a move to fight them off. She needed to do something that would ensure Fuu's safety. She needed to do something that would ensure Fuu had a chance to get away.
Because Sakura wasn't sure if she'd be conscious after she forced a jutsu through her body now. The pain of it might prove too much.
One move. One shot. She knew she wasn't capable of taking on two Akatsuki on her own at full strength, how the hell was she supposed to take them down in one move?
And then, all at once, it hit her.
She could take them down in one move. Literally. It would take her down with them. But Fuu had wings. Fuu would make it, would get her chance to run to the village. Fuu would be safe.
Sakura was the head ambassador to the Shinobi Neutrality Project, tasked with ensuring the peace and protection of all shinobi villages. It was Sakura's personal mission to ensure that all Jinchuuriki remained safe from the clutches of Akatsuki. These were the missions she was determined to dedicate her life to. She had to do it. For Gaara. For Naruto. For Han and Roshi and Fuu and all the Jinchuuriki whose lives were threatened.
Sakura shakily stood to her feet, forcing herself to give Itachi a grin.
"What did I tell you, you son of a bitch? I'm out of your genjutsu. Now it's ass-kicking time."
She had spent months studying the properties of earth under Onoki. She knew from a glance what sort of soil she was standing on, she knew from her memory of climbing this cliff what sort of rocks made up its structure. Her mind began to run calculations, and she pictured in her head a half circle surrounding herself and the Akatsuki, lined perfectly with the side of the cliff. If she used a well placed fissure technique, she could separate this part of the cliff from the rest of the earth, which would send everyone but Fuu down to the ground of the Mountain's Graveyard, hundreds of feet below. It probably wouldn't kill the Akatsuki, but it would delay them.
Onoki had always told her to fight smarter, not harder.
Sakura ran through the hand signs at rapid speed, and before either Akatsuki could react thrust her hands to the ground. Chakra was forced through her coils, and true to her prediction, Sakura had never felt such pain in her life. She screamed, but willed her fissure into existence, willed it despite the pain. She heard the earth crack like thunder around her, and then the ground beneath her shifted as the cliffside began to crumble away from the impact. Her stomach lurched as gravity kicked in, and she saw both Kisame and Itachi struggling to try and reach solid ground in time, but they weren't going to be quick enough.
Sakura's body went limp, and she felt herself begin to fall.
Seconds passed, and then she felt a hand grab the back of her shirt, and instead of falling she was soaring over the Graveyard. Her vision blurred, but she could still make out the giant bones that had held her fascination before, and as she struggled to figure out what was happening, her eyes locked on to a mountain far in the distance.
Her amulet burned.
Strong arms suddenly wrapped around her, and Sakura realized that she was being carried by Fuu back towards the cliff, over the trees, soaring over Taki Country.
"Sakura, stay with me!"
Fuu's voice became fainter and fainter, and Sakura slipped into a blissful, painless unconsciousness.
"We'll need to send word to Tsunade. If she's been hit by Itachi's Sharingan, Tsunade is the only one that will be able to wake her."
"She won't wake up?"
"And I'm telling she, she was awake! She broke out of the genjutsu and fought them off!"
"I was only able to keep conscious after that jutsu because of my Sharingan, Fuu. Sakura doesn't have the Sharingan, there is no way her body would be able to-"
"You just don't want to admit she's stronger than you, you dirty old man!"
"I-I'm not dirty, and my reading habits are not the point here-"
Everything hurt.
Her head throbbed. Her body felt as though it had been poked with thousands of needles. Her hands felt raw and sore. Sakura didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to deal with the world. Sleep, that was what she needed, more sleep.
She felt a pressure on her hand as another wrapped around it. The person's skin was rough, but warm, like sand on a beach. She felt another pressure against her head, and heard a familiar voice speak into her ear.
"Sakura, please, you have to wake up."
Gaara. It was Gaara.
Sakura willed herself to move. She forced motion into her hand, enough to gently squeeze, to let Gaara know she was okay. She heard his breath hitch in his throat, and heard the room go silent around her.
Sakura opened her eyes.
She saw Gaara first of all, his head close to hers. He pulled away as she awakened, looking the picture of relief. Beyond him, Sakura saw Kakashi, Sai, Fuu, Shibuki, and several Taki shinobi she did not recognize, all looking equal parts relieved and confused at her awakening.
"Well, perhaps you should have known better." Sai was the first to speak. "Fisticuffs doesn't do anything right. Of course she wouldn't react to a genjutsu properly."
Kakashi let out a hollow laugh, and next to him Fuu let out a whoop of triumph.
"I told you, old man, I told you!"
Sakura didn't hear Kakashi's reply. She was overwhelmed as Gaara suddenly hugged her tightly. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again." He whispered, and Sakura felt the boy tremble as all of his emotions came free at once.
Sakura was alive. Sakura was alive and Fuu was safe.
And for the moment, that was all she needed to care about.
"Fuu, you will no longer be patrolling the Graveyard border. If Akatsuki have taken up residence in the area, the last thing we want is to give them further reason to try at your life again."
Sakura could barely keep herself awake, but the last thing she wanted to do was miss this important meeting of the Taki council. She was the only one beside Fuu who could give the full report on what had happened, and more importantly, she needed to show strength as a head ambassador. It didn't matter that she could barely move her body, or that Gaara had to push her around in a wheelchair. She was now the shinobi that had survived a fight with Itachi and saved the Taki Jinchuuriki from Akatsuki's hands. If anyone dared to try and look down on her for her current weakness, well, what they thought just didn't matter.
No one did, of course. In fact, Taki's council seemed to take her even more seriously than before. Sakura wondered if there was any question now that Taki would join the Pact. She'd proven both her strength and her determination to keep others safe.
As Sai had privately put it, they'd be idiots not to join after her display.
"We should restrain Fuu within the village borders until Akatsuki are dealt with." One councilwoman suggested. "Why risk her and Choumei's life at all? Akatsuki could never breach our defenses in a hundred years."
"No, but similarly so, I don't think we could keep Fuu in one place for a hundred seconds, let alone a hundred years." Another councilman retorted. "Our village cannot be without her assistance. She is the most capable among us of taking out the demons that threaten our borders."
"You don't need to face these threats alone." Sakura took the opportunity to speak up. "If Taki joins the Pact, Konoha, Iwa, and Plains will be obligated to provide you with aid. Konoha borders the Graveyard as well. If they understand the gravity of the situation, I am certain they will be more than willing to increase their force at the border, which would take pressure off of Taki's shinobi."
"We have the captured demons that Miss Haruno has helped provide us." Shibuki added. "The villages will be unable to deny us if they see living proof of the forces that seek to do us harm. Forces that we have reason to believe might be aligned with Akatsuki, if the Zetsu demon is any indication."
Shibuki brought forth the written Pact that Sakura had given him before. He presented it before the council, pen at the ready.
"Are there any here who would speak against this proposal? Are there any here who still doubt Miss Haruno's dedication to her treaty's aims?"
The council was silent. Without another word, Shibuki signed the treaty. Sakura couldn't help but smile. Sure, she had the physical capacity of a wet noodle currently, but it had all been worth it. She felt Gaara squeeze her shoulder in excitement.
"Welcome to the alliance, shinobi of Takigakure." Sakura announced. "We are tremendously grateful for your support of world peace."
"And I have something to add." To Sakura's surprise, Kakashi spoke up. "There is a rather perfect opportunity coming up for Taki to demonstrate the threat we face. Konoha is going to be attempting to host the chuunin exams yet again, and every village is invited to send their shinobi to participate. That means that village leaders will be invited to witness the exams as well, potentially including villages that have not yet signed the treaty. If Taki decides to participate, you would be able to speak to those leaders yourself, Shibuki. And Sakura, you would be able to convince those villages yet to join that your pact is worth their time."
"That would mean leaving my village without my leadership for a time. And without whatever shinobi we decide to bring to said exams."
"Use it to your advantage!" Sakura suggested. "You're worried about Fuu's safety, aren't you? If she's on one of the teams participating, she'll be the safest she could possibly be! Akatsuki would be stupid to try and attack with so many shinobi present."
"Orochimaru was that stupid." Sai pointed out.
"Orochimaru had forcibly assumed leadership of Suna without our knowledge." Gaara pointed out. "And even with two villages attempting an assault on Konoha, Konoha was still able to hold us off. Now that Suna is not under such influences, they are aligned with Konoha. Coupled with those villages who have signed the pact and will likely show up as well, that will mean at minimum five villages, including Taki, who will be defending from any would-be attackers."
"We are more than capable of defending the village in your absence, Lord Shibuki." A councilwoman added. "Taki shinobi are the strongest in the land. You know this."
"I know this." Shibuki agreed. "Yes, perhaps this would be a wise course of action. Prepare sealing scrolls for the transport of the demons. And Fuu, you will pick two shinobi to join you for participation in these exams."
"I get to go to Konoha and show everyone how strong I am? Yes!" Fuu pumped her fist into the air. "Today couldn't get any better!"
"This is a serious matter, Fuu. The exams are secondary to our goals." Shibuki reminded her. "We will prepare for travel immediately. Once Sakura is well, we head to Konoha."
"Tell me again what Itachi told you."
"He said that Sasuke was supposed to stay in Konoha. That Root promised him this. He also said that helping Akatsuki right now was somehow going to benefit Konoha in the long run."
"None of this makes sense at all."
Kakashi paced back and forth, looking far more agitated than Sakura had ever seen him. Even Sai didn't know what Itachi had been referring to in regards to Root, and that just meant either that this went deeper than any of them had believed, or that Itachi was an incredibly convincing liar.
"And you're telling me you somehow made your chakra just vanish? Even under the effects of the Mangekyo?"
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei, and no I don't know how I did it. I just remember…" Sakura reached up to touch at the amulet around her neck. "I remember being desperate. Pleading for someone to help. And then it happened."
"Sakura, we have all seen some fairly incredible things, but I think we all find it hard to believe that someone's god suddenly decided to take pity on you in a moment of need."
Sakura shook her head. "I...I think there was more to it than that? I'm not sure. But right now I don't have a better explanation for you." She frowned, looking down at her hands. Though she had only touched the amulet in the illusion, her hands still had the effects of a mild burn. Kakashi was right. It didn't make sense at all.
"Listen, Kakashi-sensei, if I figure out what I did, you will be the first one I tell."
"I...I know." Kakashi softened. "And what's more important is that you're alive."
"Yes." Gaara emphasized. "You're alive, and he'll never get the chance to do that to you again."
"Good, because I'm going to be honest, whatever that was sucked and I don't want have to do it again." Sakura flexed her arms, feeling the now familiar sensation of pins and needles shoot through it. The Taki healers had told her that she'd likely damaged her coils by forcing chakra through them so quickly. She would recover, but it would take time. "Too bad I'm not Naruto. I'd love to be able to bounce back after a single night's sleep."
And that reminded her…
She had a letter to write. Shikamaru had told her he was gathering the remnants of Rookie Nine to secretly investigate Root and bring them down from within. And now, with Taki about to be on route to Konoha, she'd be able to join them.
Sakura smiled.
She was…
She was coming home.