Chapter-43

It had been a week since Uchiha Itachi came and took Sakura. Naruto was training harder than before. I have to become strong to protect people I care about. I'll get stronger. As kept sending chakra from his hands into the empty balloon. But this time it poped.

"Hell yeah! I did it! Pervy sage look I did it."

Jiraiya smirked. This kid sure is fast.

"Alright. Now this is the last exercise. I got you some thick rubber balls. Now you have to pop this. After that, I'll teach you rasengan. A jutsu with the 2nd highest difficulty level. It was created by th 4th Hokage himself"

Naruto nodded in excitement. And again, Jiraiya went into town to get information about Tsunade. 4 hours later, Jiraiya came running and told Narutoto pack up.

"I found out her location. She went to the nearest town 2 week ago. Hurry."

In the next town, Orochimaru had found Tsunade.

"Hello, Tsunade. It has been a while."

"what the hell do you want? You're a traitor."

"My arms were sealed with Reapers Death Seal while I was fighting with Sarutobi sensei."

"You attacked Konoha and killed Sarutobi sensei?" she said angrily

"Yes. I want you to heal my hands. Otherwise I will force you to do it."

"Give me your best shot, you bastard. I'm not gonna help you."

And after saying that, she stomped off.

Naruto and Jiraiya were halfway there when Naruto popped the rubber ball successfully.

"Yatta! I did it." He said proudly.

"I can see that. Now comes the main thing. Rasengan is a mixture of these 3 exercises you did the past 3 weeks. You have combine the three techniques and then you can make a perfect Rasengan."

"Allright! I'll try" Naruto focused and after a while he made a medium sized Rasengan. He looked at Jiraiya excitedly

"I made it!"

"Well lets see how powerful it is. Crash it into that tree." Naruto crashed it into the tree but it didn't get much damage.

"Well it seems what you lack is the speed of the chakra. If you increase that, you will be able to make more damage. Anyway that ends today's training. Now lets go to Tsunade."

"fine"

They soon reached the town. They were walking by a bar when the voice of something being crashed came from thee bar. Jiraiya entered and saw Tsunade. He walked up to her with Naruto following him.

"Hey Tsunade, still addicted to sake?" asked Jiraiya with a chuckle

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here?" asked Tsunade

"I came here with some important news." He sat down in front of her and Naruto went and sat next to Jiraiya. "Sarutobi sensei died while protecting the village from Orochimaru."

"I know. Orochimaru came to see me today. Apparently Sarutobi sensei sealed away his arms with Repears Death Seal. He wants me to fix that. Naturally, I said no."

"I see."

"so tell me, what do you want?"

"The council of elders have deemed you to be the best for becoming the next Hokage."

Tsunade found out about Naruto's dream and it made her clutch her necklace. It was an aqua colored crystal stone. She believes that whoever gets this necklace dies. Very soon Orochimaru attacked Tsunade and Jiraiya. During the fight Naruto mastered the Rasengan and defeated Kabuto who was working with Orochimaru. They got away. Tsunade gets impressed by Naruto and his determination and she kissed him on the forehead. She gave him the necklace deciding that he must be different.

"I accept the position as the 5th Hokage." Said Tsunade in a definitive tone

"Great. Then lets head back. A kid needs your help too. Only you can wake him up."

"what happened to him?"

"He's Uchiha Itachi's younger brother. He came to kill Itachi but Itachi put him under Tsukuyomi so he cant wake up. Only you can heal his mind."

"Hmm okay."

And then they arrived at the village next morning. Tsunade took her oath as the Hokage and the whole crowd cheered.

"Okay, now can you please see Lee and Sasuke?"

"Fine. Don't rush me, you brat."

She first went to Lee and checked him out.

"He has suffered serious damage. I can perform a surgery but there's only 50 percent chances of survival. Let me know if you want to have the surgery."

Gai who was there talked to Lee and told him to live his dream. When decided that he wanted to get the surgery, Gai rushed out to inform it to Tsunade.

"Come on, baa-chan. Sasuke's in here!"

"Don't call me 'baa-chan' you brat. Im your Hokage!"

She went to Sasuke's bed and put her hand on his head and started releasing him from the Tsukuyomi. Slowly and gently he opened his eyes.

"There. Happy now, you brat?" she spat as she walked out

"Thank you baa-chan!" screamed Naruto as he was dragged away by Tsunade for shouting in the hospital

Sasuke felt groggy for a minute then he started remembering the events. I went to kill Itachi with Sakura. Itachi broke my arm and slammed me against the wall. He took Sakura with him and put me under Tsukuyomi. As soon as he remembered, he started shaking. Itachi took Sakura…he took her away! NO! NO! this can't be true. Im under a genjutsu right? He tried releasing himself but nothing happened. Oh no… she's going to die! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Itachi! Why did he have to take her?! I couldn't do a damn thing. Neither Itachi was killed nor could I save Sakura! Sasuke was pulling his hair in anger and was shaking with wide eyes. She gave up her life for me. He remembered her words 'Sorry Sasuke. I treasure you more than my life' and then she smiled at him so sadly his heart started twisting in pain. Sakura… Sakura… I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! He started crying. When he calmed down, he thought about Itachi's words. He mentioned something about needing a medic. I'm sure he'll use her first so there's a high chance she's alive. I have to find her and save her from Itachi. For that, I'll do anything. He said determinately.

Kakashi came back from his mission 2 days ago. He heard about Tsunade becoming Hokage so he was now sure that Sasuke would be awake. He went to Sasuke's room and saw him staring at the wall with rage.

Damn. He's really not okay.

Kakashi sighed and went inside.

Going back to the day Sakura was taken, Itachi was carrying her. She started waking up and Itachi put her down.

"Kisame, go ahead without me. I have to deal with some business with her."

"okay, Itachi-san" and then he left

Sakura sighed inrelief and looked at Itachi and gave a small smile and greeted him.

"Hello. My name is Haruno Sakura."

" Pleased to meet you Sakura."

"I think Kakashi-sensei has briefed you about the future."

"Yes, he has. Its hard to believe it though."

"Well if you want you can see my memories. I hope that will concrete your belief."

"Alright. Please sit"

Sakura sat on a medium sized rock and let Itachi read her memories. After 15 minutes, he stopped.

"So it seems all of this is true."

"So, do you believe in me and agree to help me prevent this unfortunate future?" she looked at him pleadingly

After a little contemplation, he nodded.

"Thank you so much, Itachi-san!" she said with a bright smile

"I must tell you this because you are a medic. Due to excessive use of Sharingan, I am going to blind soon. Can you restore them?

Sakura thought for a minute and then she grinned and nodded.

"Can I take a look at them?"

Itachi faced in front of her as she stared into his eye and then put two fingers on the side of his head and focused her healing chakra into it. After a while, she placed her hands on Itachi's eyes and started reviving the iris' tissues. After one hour she removed her hands from his eyes.

"Done. Now open your eyes."

Itachi slowly opened his eyes and gasped as he could see normally. No more faded objects. Everything was clear. He faced Sakura and took her image in.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm breathless because I haven't seen everything so clear in years. You are truly exceptional, Sakura. No medic could do what you just did. Now I understand why Kakashi-san has faith in you."

Sakura blushed a little and muttered a quiet thank you.

" Well first thing is first. Where are you going to stay? You will be treated as a missing ninja now so you will have to live in a secluded area."

"I agree. Once I went on a mission in Suna and I found an old abandoned home there. I think that would be safe. Plus, it's really not that far from the village. I'll be in disguise and work there and live in the abandoned house."

"Hm. That seems all right. I will give you a crow that will relay our messages from one place to other."

"Okay."

And suddenly her curse mark acted up. Damn it. I used medical ninjutsu! She groaned in pain as she held her neck.

"Sakura? Are you all right?"

She groaned again and gave no reply. Itachi quickly lifter hand from her neck and saw the curse mark.

"Who gave you this curse mark?"

"Orochimaru. He wants me as his next vessel."

Itachi looked around and saw or sensed nobody. He activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and a large red skeleton appeared.

"Susano'o? why?"

" I can free you from that mark. Hold still. It may hurt a little."

She nodded.

Itachi got the Totsuka blade and jabbed it in the curse mark. Sakura whimpered a little as a white snake crawled out of her skin and when it was completely out, the curse mark disappeared. She could feel her chakra freely flowing. Itachi cut the snake with the blade and stopped the Susano'o.

"Do you feel alright?"

"Yes. Very much. Thank you. I couldn't use medical ninjutsu because of that."

"but you just healed my eyes…"

"I knew it would bite back but I can't just ignore someone when they need and deserve help. And you deserved it." She said as she smiled

Itachi gave her a small smile. She's amazing. No wonder Sasuke loves her.